Tag Archive for: trending

What to Do When You’re Too Tired to Cook

If money is leaking out of your household and you aren’t quite sure where it’s going, I have an idea: Fast food. Busy households mean tired parents—too tired to cook. and that can easily result in getting take-out two or three times a week. Does anything there sound familiar?

young woman stressed and too tired to cook

The last thing you need is someone to tell you to get a grip and plan ahead. So I won’t. Instead, I’m going to tell you what worked for me when I was in somewhat your situation (two boys 17 months apart, self-employed, debt-ridden) and a few things I’ve learned since.

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Important Papers Every Family Should Keep to Be Safe Not Sorry

I receive a lot of informative mail from my dear readers, but none can top the letter from Bob Ford about the important papers every family should keep …

Large thick folders with important papers and documents on a working office desk with stationery and accessories.

Good planning

Meet Bob Ford, Certified Retirement Planner and volunteer teacher for the Retirement Planning Group of Southern California—an organization that offers free seminars on all aspects of retirement planning.

When Bob began teaching retirement planning he had a relatively short list of items he believed every family should keep in a locked safe, deposit box, or home safe with a minimum fire rating of two hours. Read more

How to Get Outdoor Windows Sparkling Clean—Cheaper, Better, Faster!

We moved into our new Colorado home just in time to experience our first Rocky Mountain spring. No words describe this adequately, but this picture does a great job. 

Rocky Mt Spring Flowers

 

The thing I noticed the first time I walked into this house—the windows. Tons of windows framing our new view and every one of them dirty. It looked to me as if no one had ever washed them.

I did my due diligence in researching local professional window washers. For sure we would have to pay to have these windows cleaned properly. Foolishly I assumed it would be one and done.

The price was ridiculously high, but the job got done, and the windows sparkled. But not for long. And that’s when I set out to discover the best (easiest, fastest, cheapest, sparkly-est) way to keep these windows clean—not only dust-free but also clean.

Surprise. It’s not with Windex, paper towels, newspaper, or other methods I may or may not have recommended in the past, which produce a big mess—dripping, soggy, dirty paper towels, and windows with streaks that can be difficult to remove.

 

Get Outdoor Windows Sparkling Clean

When to clean exterior windows

Selecting the appropriate day is a crucial initial step when it comes to cleaning exterior windows. Avoid cleaning them on a sunny or hot day; the heat and sun can cause your cleaning solution to bake on the window. Choosing overcast days, colder weather, early mornings, or evenings is recommended as these are more conducive to cleaning exterior windows effectively.

The right tools

I have invested in the right tools to clean outdoor windows quickly and efficiently. You can find similar items at your local big-box store, home improvement center, or online. For your convenience and also so you can see what I’m referring to below, I have provided Amazon links for each of these specific tools.

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How to Clean a Steam Iron (Inside and Out) To Make It Like New

Before you toss that steam iron because it refuses to steam but spits and gurgles like a champ, and the soleplate has turned into a brown, burned-on, gross mess—you might want to give it a little love with a good clean out and clean-up. It’s not difficult to bring a tired steam iron back to working like a dream!

white collar shirt and iron on ironing board

As always, check the owner’s manual before proceeding with any cleaning process.

Clean the soleplate

The soleplate is the iron’s flat surface that has the tiny holes where the steam comes out—the part that gets hot. Over time, it can get dirty with a buildup of scorched, ugly brown build-up of various stains caused by things like accidentally ironing the wrong side of fusible interfacing to repeated use of spray starch.

steam iron with burned on soleplate mess

A dirty steam dfs iron will not press fabric properly, will not glide smoothly the way it’s supposed to work, and might even leave streaks of dirt and stain behind on your clothing.

While there are myriad sources out there with soleplate cleaning tips suggesting everything from baking soda/vinegar paste, salt, waxed paper, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, and even a heat-and-scrape option—this is the hands-down the best method because it’s fast, easy, mess-free and foolproof.

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