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They also come with silicone tips and a cleaning brush. Cons: Lengthening may not be easy at first and may be too short for some...
Ask a real estate agent:
Sarah McDaniel, owner and operator of Greenbelt Realty, shared some of her recommendations for buyers and sellers in the current New Braunfels real estate market.
What are your top picks for homebuyers right now?
"Have great faith in [the real estate agent] you work with. Second, I think it's practical not to shy away from some of these lending programs like homeward.com... At this time of year, the 65% of all deals that most mortgage brokers have closed have been refinances. And of course, with rising interest rates, that's not the case. Lenders are suffering too... This is not the time to mess with part-time agents, and I'm not afraid of non-traditional methods of financing.
What are your top picks for doorstep sellers right now?
"As stock continues to increase this time of year, making your home the best it can be is always a big problem... Our strategy is always to list where the house is available at a reasonable price... it will give your agent a better one." Chance to bargain better Valuation language... Even when the market is that hot always list your house at a reasonable amount that could actually be valued say don't go crazy.
Sarah McDaniel, Owner and Broker, Greenbelt Realty
147 S. Academy Ave., New Braunfels • 979-308-1385 • www.sarah.greenbeltrealty.com
Ask a roofer:
Ami Feller, owner of Roofer Chicks, shared some tips to keep in mind about the condition of a roof when buying a home.
What are your top picks for home buyers, whether new build or older?
"I usually tell people that it would be their job to have a roofer inspect the roof; many inspectors aren't specialists, they're generalists. Very often they don't know what they are when they look at the roof, to be honest 50% of them don't even go up on the roof, they just take pictures of the ground or climb up the ladder and take pictures of a ladder so I would ask a roofer to come and look at the ceiling for example we charge $185 for an item inspection and it's worth it so you can be sure it's not hail damage because if it does have hail damage it will need to be replaced and the seller's insurance will likely cover most replacement costs. It's really good to have that too Understand before you buy the Mai Su."
If someone is looking for a new roof or buying a newly built home, what recommendations might they have?
"For most builders, the roof is where they save money. We don't build new because the prices are very low. The roof quality is just pretty low. Even in million dollar houses. They go out and look for teams, and the teams aren't necessarily roofers. They know how to nail shingles, but they're not very good at all the details. And again I would encourage people to at least inspect the roof before signing and agreeing to this.
Ami Feller, owner, roofer chick
808 W County Line Road, New Braunfels • 830-783-1328 • www.rooferchicks.com
NEED a trick to make cleaning more manageable? Just look at the Founding Fathers.
A savvy social media user shared her "George Washington method" for a truly presidential cleaning experience.
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TikToker Abby posted a video of how she cleans her room and shared a tip she learned from her mom and dad.
"I think more people should learn how to clean," she says.
"I think there should be clear instructions on how to clean. It's so much easier for me to get things done when I have my parents' voice in my head."
Her parents certainly helped her with a practice they called the "George Washington Method."
The method depends on the part of the room you choose to start organizing and decluttering.
Abby says, "The George Washington method, or the Oval Office method, is to start in a corner and walk around the room in a circle, cleaning as you go."
He marks the messy area near his bedside table as his personal vantage point.
Once it looks clean, he turns his camera to the next part of the room that needs some work: a bunch of stuffed animals.
Most read in Fabulous
In the same video, Abby adds that there's one thing you should always do before you start.
"Always make your bed first. Boom! Now you have a flat surface to put things on.
"In addition, everything looks better immediately and motivates us to keep cleaning," she explains.
Commenters wrote that they wished their parents had provided them with purification methods when they were children.
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One person wrote: "Do you have METHODS? And not 'just do it' followed by 'do you think it's clean?'"
"My parents would yell and make me do it over and over again until it was done right without explaining it," added another.
Other people are just grateful for Abby's cleaning tips and tricks.
One person commented: "Thank you. I was always so embarrassed that I didn't know these seemingly basic things, but nobody taught me!"
"I love you. Thanks for sharing!" someone else said.
I love adding beets to summer salads for extra color and sweetness, but I don't really like the cleaning process. Dark beet juice leaves a hard-to-remove purple stain on my wooden cutting boards. Luckily, I recently found a trick to keep beets from messing up my boards using a simple staple: cooking spray.
When it comes to cutting boards, I prefer wood for fruit and vegetables and plastic for meat and fish. It's an easy way to remember what each board was used for and avoid cross- contamination .
The surface of a wooden cutting board is more porous than that of a plastic board. This means that after slicing a vegetable like beets, the black juices have already seeped into the pores of the wood, making it difficult to scrub.
But you can avoid beet juice stains with a quick tip from Cook's Illustrated , which calls for spraying the board with a light coat of non-stick cooking spray before use.
Cooking spray acts as a barrier that prevents beet juice from seeping through the pores of the wood. Also, a cooking spray like PAM Original Cooking Spray ( $4.12 at Walmart ) contains canola oil, which is flavorless and doesn't affect the flavor of beets and other vegetables.
I first tried the cooking spray trick on one of my older, cheaper cutting boards that hadn't yet been marred by beet stains. I sprayed a coat onto the board and gently rubbed it over the surface to create an even coat.
Next, I diced two small boiled beets on the board. I immediately noticed that the cooking spray acted as a shield against the juices, preventing them from being absorbed into the wood.
After dicing the beets, I placed them in a bowl and hand washed the cutting board. This step impressed me the most: the remaining beet juice slid off without leaving any stains.
In my second test, I used my new 14-inch Fifth & Cherry Gloss Wood cutting board. This board ( purchased from Fifth & Cherry, $299.99 ) is made from sustainably and responsibly sourced cherry wood.
I decided to break the board down by testing if it could resist pesky beet stains, and with this cooking spray hack, it passed the test. Beetroot juice did not remain on the surface of the plate and did not stain the material.
Now I can continue to use the same board to chop vegetables or serve grilled meats like juicy steak and tender chicken at summer barbecues.
This handy trick sure saves me time and effort when I want to add beets to a dish. Looking for another way to keep your cutting boards looking their best? Check out some cleaning tips in our article on caring for a wooden cutting board .
We write about products that we think our readers will love. If you buy them, we get a small portion of the vendor's revenue.
Opening a window can help reduce the risk of indoor COVID transmission. Tanishka R./NPR
We regularly answer frequently asked questions about life in the Corona crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for an upcoming article, email us with the subject line: "Coronavirus Weekly Questions." Here you will find an archive of our frequently asked questions .
In the last two years we've all taken a crash course in understanding how to prevent respiratory infections.
And we've learned that clean air through ventilation (meaning the flow of fresh air through open windows and doors) and filtration (removing particles from the air with a filter) is really important to preventing COVID and other respiratory diseases. Many experts have known this for a long time. Now the public is getting involved.
"Most of the air we breathe in our lives, we breathe indoors," says Richard Corsi , dean of the University of California Davis School of Engineering. And virus particles can stay airborne in unventilated places, increasing your chances of getting sick.
Of course, these particles are not visible. "If people could see COVID in the air, it would make a lot more sense to clean the air in your home, change the air, get fresh air to improve ventilation so you don't have a lot of air circulating where others do People can breathe them in and become infected," says Abraar Karan , an infectious disease physician at Stanford University.
As an individual, what can you do at home, at work, at school, at the gym to make the air cleaner and safer?
We asked three experts.
What is the most basic way to improve ventilation?
"Just having more air in the house helps," says Karan.
Open the windows if you can, says Linsey Marr , a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech. "Especially when you can open them up on opposite sides of the room to allow for cross ventilation: air flows in one and out the other. "
Even if you can't open all the windows or you can't open them all the way, opening the windows a little is still very helpful. "They don't have to be wide open," says Marr.
Opening doors to shops and gyms also helps.
Marr worked with his local gym owner to improve ventilation early in the pandemic. The gym did not have central air conditioning, so filtration could not be relied on. The easiest way was to open the doors. "I calculated the benefit we would have by opening the doors, and it was a lot, so we kept them open all winter," says Marr.
And there have been no known transmissions at the gym, says Marr, who has advised the facility and monitored COVID developments. Even if employees have contracted the virus elsewhere, they don't seem to have transmitted it to work, she says.
How can I improve my home's filtration system?
If you have an HVAC (heating/cooling/forced ventilation) system, there are two main things you can do: run the fan more and upgrade the filter to capture more virus particles. Every HVAC system has replaceable filters that capture airborne allergens and dust, as well as viral particles.
HVAC systems do not typically circulate air 24/7, but only run intermittently when the indoor temperature drops or rises.
To ensure the air is filtered through the HVAC system, "run the fan continuously if you can," says Corsi.
When the windows are open, you can also turn on other fans, like bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans, to "suck in that clean air from outside and get rid of the virus," Mar says. Sure, they can be noisy, but they can create an airflow by pulling air up the ceiling and out of the room.
But when the windows are closed, most home HVAC systems simply circulate the same indoor air, and the standard filters you use may not be effective at trapping tiny virus particles. Therefore, you can also consider replacing these filters with higher quality options such as: B. a filter with a minimum efficiency (MERV) of 13.
"If you put a MERV-13 filter in your HVAC system and let the fan circulate continuously, you're removing a lot of aerosol particles," says Corsi.
Most school ventilation systems can also be upgraded to MERV-13 filters, he says.
However, he warns that not all systems can handle the most efficient filters, so it's a good idea to have yours checked out by an HVAC specialist. You don't want your entire system to fail because it's overworked to pull air through mismatched filters.
HEPA is another type of filter that is even more effective at removing viruses from the air, but most home HVAC units will not work with HEPA filters. However, you can get a portable HEPA air purifier.
Can portable air purifiers help?
"When it says HEPA, it filters over 99% of the air that goes through it," says Marr. "Usually the price depends on the size in relation to the amount of air that goes through them." That means the bigger the device, the more expensive it is.
Finding the right size device to clean the air in a room in an hour or two is important. "There's a big difference between a $50 model that can purge the air out of a closet in a reasonable amount of time, and a much larger model that probably costs $200 or $300 and will purge the air out of one in a reasonable amount of time can clean room. ", he says. March.
But, he says, there are cheaper options: For example, a DIY system with a simple box fan, a portable model that's usually square, has a propeller and often fits in a window, and MERV filters. This "is actually more efficient in many cases" than expensive HEPA units, says Marr.
Known by its developers as the Corsi-Rosenthal box, this DIY filter is easy and cheap to make : create a square shape with four filters forming four sides and the fan facing the ceiling and at the top is attached. A piece of cardboard is glued to the floor, and the home air purifier can be placed anywhere a more expensive air purifier can go.
Karan agreed. "Basically, the Corsi-Rosenthal box is a very cheap way to achieve better ventilation."
Corsi also agreed, and only partly because he was one of the inventors . When he first outlined the idea early in the pandemic, he thought it might be a more cost-effective way to offer air filtration. And that's it: The materials cost between $80 and $100.
"But I also didn't realize how incredibly effective it would be," says Corsi.
According to a study by other researchers, the boxes can be up to 2.5 times more efficient than a $300 HEPA filtration unit.
Whichever portable filtration system you use, be sure to place it carefully. Do not place the device in a corner where it could easily circulate the same air. Keep your air purifier about 12 inches from the wall for the same reason.
For large rooms, two or more units can be a good idea, Corsi says, and you can place them across from each other so all the air in the room is well filtered.
What about those little travel air filters? An advantage ?
You may have seen small HEPA cleaning devices the size of a water bottle that fit in a purse or backpack. But are these little devices really useful?
"You should, and you'll want to direct the airflow," says Marr. "You can clean a small area from a small amount of air."
Just make sure to position the clean airflow as close to your face as possible and place it in front of you on the table or desk.
"By wearing them so that the air is directly in front of you, by working at your desk and blowing air in your face, you can reduce aerosol concentrations when you breathe," says Corsi. "I wouldn't overstate its benefits, but there could be some benefits."
These air purifiers, ranging from $30 to $50, can add another layer of protection when you travel, eat out, or go to work or school.
Should I buy a CO2 monitor to check the quality of ventilation in the different places I am?
"If you're a very cautious person, this can be a good tool for assessing risk in different areas," says Marr.
CO2 monitors measure the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. You can't tell how much COVID is in the air, but if there's a lot of CO2 in a room, it's not well ventilated.
If your CO2 reading is under 1000, you're pretty good. Anything over 1800 is a warning sign that a room is poorly ventilated. At high rates, you're breathing in a lot of "other people's exhaled breath, like drinking water," says Marr, a cute way of saying you're drinking other people's saliva while sharing a drink.
However, these are loose rules based on the size of the room, the number of people present, the wearing of masks and the number of cases circulating in the community.
"I'm not a big fan of using CO2 monitors for very specific analysis," says Corsi. "You are not accurate." But, he says, they're very useful for telling you when the air quality is very good or very bad.
Does the improved ventilation mean I can avoid wearing a mask?
Improving air quality means you get sick less because there are fewer viruses in the air. But it's not 100% effective.
All experts agreed that wearing a mask is one of the most effective ways to further reduce the risk of getting sick or, if you are sick, transmitting the virus.
This means you should continue to wear masks in closed public places when cases are high, as they are now in the United States.
And if you are sick or someone in your household is sick, wearing a mask can prevent the virus from spreading at home too.
"If you have someone who is sick, you should try to have them wear a mask if possible, as it reduces the amount [of the virus] that gets airborne in the first place," says Marr. . And it's a good idea to cover up when you're around to protect yourself.
If a family member gets sick, will proper ventilation keep me from catching COVID?
Yes! It may take a bit of work, but it's possible to stop streaming at home.
As an infectious disease doctor, Karan has treated many patients who have been ill at home by other family members. "That's the only thing we're really struggling with right now," he said.
But "I know there are ways to make the house safer; I did it myself," says Karan.
All of the advice given by the experts here is especially important for preventing cases from spreading around the home: opening windows, blowing air through a fan, using masks as source controls, improving air filtration.
In the hospital room, try to keep the door closed and face a fan blowing through the window so "what you throw into your room doesn't go back into the rest of the house under the door, and so on." ," says Corsi. "It will go a long way in preventing others in the home from getting infected."
Should you be pushing for better air quality in public spaces?
Sometimes you are in places where you cannot control the air quality, e.g. B. at work, at school, in restaurants or companies.
But it doesn't hurt to wonder what improvements these places have made to air quality. For example, if you're worried about your child going back to school in the fall, you can talk to the teacher about opening the windows or using a portable air filter.
"We need to hold companies, and then government, accountable," says Karan, to ensure they improve ventilation and set new indoor air quality standards.
"It's not just about COVID," he says. Cleaning the air can reduce other respiratory viruses such as influenza and RSV, as well as mold and allergens.
It's easy to want to forgo COVID precautions because you think it's the best thing to do. But "people need to know that there is a way to solve this problem," says Karan.
"We will not eliminate COVID. But what we can do is drastically reduce transmission of COVID."
Her verdict: "Airing is the right way."
Melody Schreiber (@m_scribe) is a journalist and editor of What We Didn't Expect: Personal Stories About Premature Birth . versus
Working from home during the pandemic has made people take a closer look at their homes. What can we save or throw away? Does the old office chair deserve a little attention or does it need to be replaced?
Spending more time at home means more maintenance. You use your appliances more often, dirty dishes can pile up and your bathroom gets dirty. Tap or click here to see some of our other favorite home solutions .
If you're often looking for the best way to clean up spills, stains and dirt, we've got good news. There's a page for that. Read on to find this amazing new resource that you'll want to bookmark immediately.
Is there anything worse than a stubborn stain you can't get rid of? Say goodbye to fighting; Stain Solutions has all your carpet, upholstery, hardwood floors and clothing covered. It's basically an online encyclopedia of stain guides, best practices and tips for keeping your home spotless.
Familiar solutions and other old tricks often lead to undesirable results. If a lemonade spray just doesn't work, check out stain removers to find the solution you need.
Along with general care guides and lists of the best household products, you'll also find the site's Stain AZ tool, an indispensable lifesaver if you're in a hurry to spill.
If your home needs more than just a spit plaster, you might want to consider a makeover. To find out how much it will cost to fix your house, tap or click here .
Dive into the Spots A to Z section and you'll be greeted by an intuitive interface that allows you to filter your results based on the type of spot or blemish you're treating.
Just search AZ, click on an image and learn everything you need to know to get rid of the stain once and for all.
A list of cleaning supplies and equipment is accompanied by comprehensive instructions to guide you through each step of the stain removal process. Many of these stain lists also include important warnings and precautions. They are listed in yellow and red at the top of their respective pages.
The smell of smoke, the stickiness of super glue, and the indelible splashes of red wine all have entrances on this page. You'll find solutions to grease, blood, makeup and food stains like beets, ketchup and deeply pigmented berries. Common problems like mold, spilled paint, and rust also appear.
Related: house in the market? 5 ways to increase the value of your home when you're not getting any offers
This page opened our eyes to the world of stains. We had fun going through the worst we could imagine. There is an entry for Fish Slime . Raw! All the more reason to know how to get rid of it.
This database really does cover everything.
You may also be interested in: Avoid Harmful Chemicals: 10 Affordable and Eco-Friendly Cleaning and Personal Care Products
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Cleaning expert Emily Grow, owner and founder of Grow Cleaning Services, came to Good Things Utah to talk about ways we are improving our... Whether it helps you eat, express emotions or speak, your teeth play an important role in your daily life, so it's important that you take care of them. With proper care and maintenance, you can keep your teeth healthy and happy for a lifetime.
Skyline Smiles dental health experts are here to share some tips to help you improve the effectiveness of your dental hygiene routine.
1. Use fluoridated toothpaste: While there are many different toothpastes that can help keep your teeth clean, not all toothpastes are created equal. When looking for the right toothpaste, it's important to look for key ingredients that help keep teeth healthy and strong, such as: B. Fluoride.
Fluoride helps rebuild weakened enamel on the surface of your teeth and may even help reverse the early stages of tooth decay. Not only does this make your teeth stronger overall, but it also helps prevent tooth decay and other dental health problems.
2. Floss regularly: Although brushing your teeth regularly can help keep them clean, brushing only cleans part of the surface of your teeth. Luckily, dental floss can help you get into those hard-to-reach nooks and crannies.
In addition to removing plaque from between your teeth, flossing also helps prevent tooth decay, gum disease, and even bad breath. Whether you prefer traditional dental floss, oral irrigator, or interdental brushing, remember to floss before brushing your teeth.
3. Use an antiseptic mouthwash - In addition to freshening your breath, using an antiseptic mouthwash as part of your dental routine can also help maintain your oral hygiene. Using an antiseptic mouthwash can help loosen plaque and food debris that may have been missed when brushing and flossing. It also helps prevent damage; bacteria that cause the infection.
When using mouthwash, be sure to follow the steps below to reap the full benefits:
Use about 2 teaspoons of mouthwash.
Swish the mouthwash around in your mouth for about a minute.
Use an antiseptic mouthwash every time you brush your teeth.
Rinse your mouth with mouthwash after every meal.
4. Brush your tongue – When you brush and floss your teeth, it's also important to remember to brush your tongue. Just like your teeth and gums, the surface of your tongue can harbor harmful bacteria without proper care.
To properly clean your teeth, be sure to follow the steps below:
Brush your tongue back and forth. • Use a tongue scraper. • Rinse your tongue after cleaning it.
5. Visit Your Dentist Twice a Year - Although many people come to the dentist's office with a toothache or a dental emergency, there are many benefits to seeing your dentist regularly.
In addition to a thorough cleaning, your dentist will likely take X-rays of your teeth and treat you with fluoride. This routine maintenance can help your dentist prevent and even detect early signs of the following oral health problems: tooth decay • gum disease • bad breath • jaw problems • certain types of cancer
Be sure to have a routine cleaning and dental check-up every six months. If you are unsure about your most recent visit, be sure to check with your dentist to make sure you are on the right track for your specific dental health needs.
At Skyline Smiles, we pride ourselves on providing quality, patient-centric dentistry to the Santa Clarita community. From routine checkups and cleanings to cosmetic dentistry, you can rest assured that your dental health is in the most competent hands. For more information about our dental services or to schedule an appointment, call 661-228-6077 today to speak to a member of our team.
It is not uncommon for me to see a patient who was originally referred from the Santa Clarita Valley for the highest level of care. Sometimes competitive pressures and financial alliances are behind the layoff. Other times...
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When it comes to landscaping and backyard ideas, work smarter, not harder, with low-maintenance landscaping. "A traditional American lawn requires tons of maintenance and water and doesn't really attract wildlife," says Camille Cimino, a Los Angeles-based landscape architect at Nature of Things, a company that specializes in low-maintenance, weatherproof designs. Drought. Luckily, beautiful landscaping with undeniable appeal doesn't have to mean hours of grueling lawn care and maintenance.
"I create spaces that use little water and require little maintenance," says Cimino. "But also lush, varied, and stacked seasonally so that different things bloom around the edge throughout the year." You really can have it all. If you're planning on transforming your garden anytime soon, know that with a little planning and preparation, you can eliminate the mowing, weeding, and watering and thrive in a hassle-free outdoor space.
When it comes to creating a low-maintenance landscaping design, it's important to figure out what aspects of your yard really need maintenance before getting too hung up on front yard landscaping ideas. Minimizing your lawn is always smart as mowing your lawn can take a lot of time and effort. "Gravel or mulch are great for reducing yard work and creating a place to linger," says Cimino. When going down this path, it's important to always think about ways to keep the green in the garden. You can introduce other landscape elements, such as B. a larger driveway, a concrete patio or sidewalks that reduce the lawn area.
Blythe Yost, a landscape architect in Pearl River, New York, and co-founder of Tilly, an online landscape design company, says the easiest way to have a low-maintenance landscape is to use plants that thrive in your area. "These can often be native plants that we promote, but also plants that require less care," she says. For example, if you have a sunny yard and you plant shade-loving perennials, they will need more sprinkler heads and require more maintenance to stay alive in your yard.
"I think weeding is the biggest maintenance task," says Yost, noting that a low-maintenance garden would be the one that would remove the most weeds. To do this, he recommends planting a lot of flowers in the garden beds so that weeds have no place to grow. "The beds should be full of plants with little visible mulch in between," she says. Keep this in mind when determining how to plant grass seed in the fall and spring .
Cimino specializes in creating sods, also known as carpet grass, in front yards, which they believe is one of, if not the, best way to create a low maintenance garden. . "A meadow is basically the opposite of a grass field," she says. These are native plants, wildflowers and various grasses. "It doesn't require a lot of watering, as many grasses and wildflowers are chosen to harmonize with the surrounding climate and its natural rainfall levels," he adds.
The easiest way to start a low maintenance garden is to only use items that are low maintenance and low water use. Start by thinking about your lawn: will you choose gravel or mulch over carpet grass? Should you add landscape features like these retaining wall ideas that don't require additional trimming or pruning?
This story is part of Try This , CNET's collection of simple tips to improve your life, fast.
You probably wash your clothes, towels, and linens regularly, if not weekly. But how often do you clean the washing machine? If your answer is never, then I'm here to tell you there's a very good reason to start.
Your washing machine could harbor mold, making your machine dirty and leaving your clothes smelling fresh. Your washing machine needs a thorough cleaning on a regular basis, especially if your clothes smell like sulphur. The good news is that if you already have mold in your washing machine, you can remove it and prevent it from appearing again.
I'll tell you how to make your laundry and washing machine smell fresh and clean again and how to keep bad smells away in the future. I'll also show you how to spot nasty dirt, get rid of it, and keep bacteria away forever. (We also have plenty of other tips on how to remove pet stains from carpets , how to remove makeup stains from bedding, and how to clean your mattress .)
Also Read: Wash Your Clothes This Way and Save Money on Your Energy Bill
Mold thrives in dark, damp areas, which is what your washing machine turns into after you unload your clothes. Leaving the lid closed traps moisture, which can lead to bacterial growth and odor. Instead, leave the door open to ventilate the washing machine and prevent mold from forming in the first place.
If you're planning on throwing out a load of laundry, make sure you're home to remove the laundry when the timer goes off. That means not turning on the washing machine before going to work or going to bed. This not only prevents mold from forming in the washing machine, but also mold on clean clothes.
When you are done with the washing machine for the day, wipe down all wet parts of the washing machine. This includes the lid, drum, door, rubber seals and detergent drawer (if your machine has this feature). Keep an old towel handy for this purpose.
Be sure to dry the seams with the rest of your washing machine to avoid leaving moisture behind. And while mold growth can occur in any washing machine, it's particularly common in high-efficiency (or HE) front-load washing machines. Therefore, you should wash the seals around the door regularly and keep them dry. The seals keep water from leaking around the door and also seal out moisture that can encourage mold growth. You should also immediately remove any pet hair, crumpled paper, or other debris from the washing machine.
Read more : How to buy a washing machine
Liquid detergents can leave residue in your washing machine and provide a source of food for mold. So if you have an HE washing machine, the first thing you need to make sure is that you are using a detergent that is specially made for this type of washing machine and produces less foam. (Look for the letters HE on the soap container.) Better yet, skip the liquid detergent and switch to powder detergent or capsules. And whatever you choose, make sure you only use the amount needed to wash your clothes. If you use too much, your clothes may have odors and residue.
If you are using an HE washing machine, it is best to use a detergent suitable for HE washing machines.
Taylor Martin/CNETIf you have mold in your washing machine, do the following:
1 . Start by putting on gloves and grab an old towel you don't mind.
2 . Mix a solution of bleach and hot water OR vinegar and hot water. Never mix bleach and vinegar as this creates chlorine gas which can be harmful to you.
3 . Dip the towel in the mixture and begin scrubbing off any visible mold. Be careful to hit the detergent drawer and around the seals.
4 . If there is a seal around the door (front-loading washers do), thoroughly clean and dry it, including any creases.
5 . Run a wash on the hottest setting on your machine with a cup of bleach or vinegar. (Not both!) If you use bleach, pour it into the bleach compartment. If using vinegar, pour it into the detergent slot. If your machine has a self-clean cycle, you can use this setting. This should remove any hidden mold that you may have overlooked.
6 Then use another old towel and wipe all the moisture out of your washing machine. This includes the drum, manifolds, seals and any other area you can get to.
7 . Finally, leave the door of your washing machine open to allow air to circulate and any forgotten items to dry. Doing this monthly will prevent mold growth.
Once you've cleaned your washing machine, it's time to move on to the rest of your home. Start in the bathroom: Here's a simple, science-backed, hour-long trick to unclog your showerhead , and here's how to unclog a toilet without a plunger .
Thrifty homeowners should be aware of this little-known problem that affects home appliances.
Limescale build-up in your kettle can make drinks taste bad, but heavy build-up can also reduce the efficiency of the heating element.
And it's not just your pitcher: scale can build up in other appliances, too, adding to your bills every year.
By following these simple steps you can save £36.81 every year; this is how it will be solved.
Dirt in your kettle can be minimized by using a water filter to reduce the impurities that are causing the problems.
The kettle can be descaled with lemon juice or white vinegar .
Whichever option you choose, you only need to fill the kettle halfway with lemon juice or vinegar and halfway with water.
Then let it sit for at least an hour before cooking. After cooking, all you have to do is drain it and boil it a second time with water to remove the remaining sour taste.
When costs are broken down, limestone placed in a cauldron can add an additional £9.18 to the average annual cost of £76.51.
Some of the most expensive appliances are in the kitchen, including washing machines.
Try this trick to get rid of not only limescale but also the buildup of dirty bacteria .
Run a regular vacuum cycle on the hottest setting (minimum 60°C).
Pour about 250ml of white vinegar into the detergent drawer.
White vinegar is an excellent natural ingredient to neutralize bad odors and kill bacteria present in the washing machine drum.
While waiting for the cycle to finish, wipe down the outside of the machine with a white vinegar cleaning solution and a cleaning cloth.
One trick Ms. Hinch uses is to use Stardrops White Vinegar Spray and a SonicScrubber to remove limescale.
Run another regular hot vacuum cycle, with no detergent or vinegar, but try adding 1/2 cup of baking soda to the drum to help dislodge any buildup.
When the cycle is complete, take a cloth and your choice of cleaning spray to clean the inside of the machine .
Wait for it to dry completely before closing it as this will prevent mold from forming.
White wine has been shown to work wonders on limescale build-up in the shower.
According to Harvey Water Softeners, scale can shorten the life of our appliances and bathroom fixtures.
Harvey's Tony Jones says he is urging household cleaners to steer clear of expensive products and start with a commercial limescale cleaner .
He says, "They're cheap, but read the label carefully to make sure they're appropriate for use on the affected area."
Naturally removes scale by breaking down calcium carbonate for easier cleaning.
"The only tricky part here comes when you're cleaning vertical glass.
"This makes it difficult to soak the affected area. But that can be fixed. Just apply a little more wine and repeat the process several times until the stains are gone."
Take a squeegee to remove any residue for a brilliant shine. Ikea has them for 75p.
Will Owen, Energy Saving Expert at Uswitch.com, said: "Studies suggest that heavy limescale build-up can reduce heating output by 12%, which translates to an extra £19 a year from shower use in the average home."
Dishwashers tend to get pretty gross pretty quickly, but one busy mom of two shared her trick to cleaning them up in no time.
Carolina McCauley posted her grooming trick to Instagram, where it has been viewed more than 150,000 times.
The beginning of his video shows his dishwasher looking stained, dirty and with limescale deposits.
The caption reads: "If your dishwasher is a little dirty inside, simply add 2 tablespoons of citric acid to the cup of dish soap and run a quick cycle.
"You will be amazed at the difference."
Look out for cleaners that you can use for a wash every few months that removes unpleasant odors and limescale.
It's antibacterial and removes pesky tartar, leaving your clothes clean, fresh and bug-free.
