Bathrooms

Today's tip:

Recently, we had our tub enclosure area replaced with acrylic. It's lovely, but delicate. That means, you just can't clean it the way you clean porcelain.

According to our manufacturer (and if your manufacturer has a different list, then use that one, by all means), the following are safe products to use on acrylic:
* Clean Shower Mountain Rain or Unscented
* Pure White Vinegar
* Glass Plus Glass and Surface Cleaner
* Old Dutch Cleaner with Bleach
* X-14 Instant Mildew Remover
* Windex Glass Cleaner
* 409 Cleaner
* Simplex Marble Safe Cleaner Sx
* Clorox Clean-Up
* Mild Dishwashing Liquids (Joy, Dove, Dawn, Ivory, Sunlight and Ultra-Excel)

Note that the label must state that it's safe for acrylic - don't just go by this list!

Also note that sometimes manufacturers change their products' formulations, so don't just buy blind. Check the label every single time you buy (yes, this is a pain, but it's an even bigger pain to get a new tub enclosure!) and you won't have to worry.

And, since the tub enclosure is starting out nice and clean, it's best and easiest to keep it that way by giving it a spritz every day.

Bathrooms

Today's tip:

One area that is often neglected, but still gets dirty, is the shower curtain rings. Once every few months or so, take the shower curtain down (and wash it while you're at it) and inspect the rings. If they are covered with dust and/or mildew, soak them for about ten minutes in a solution of hot water and mild soap.

The kitchen

Today's tip:

Organizing clothes closets

Accessories (handbags, ties, etc.)

* These are all of the odd-sized and odd-shaped items that pretty much everyone owns. Therefore, solutions will be somewhat unique, depending upon your individual needs. But here are a few suggestions.
* Handbags, fortunately have a built-in storage-facilitation system. That means that most of them (except for clutch bags) have straps. Make sure the bags are empty (otherwise you'll weaken the straps) and hang them from hooks on the walls or door of your closet. Backpacks may be dealt with similarly.
* The best solutions for clutch bags are shelves, cubby holes or crates. Your main goal is to keep them as dust-free as possible, and to prevent scratches to the leather or damage to whatever other materials they are made of. Since clutch bags are often used for formal occasions, they are often made of fine materials like silk, satin, lace and the like. Another option is to use the bag(s) or box(es) they came in, although you are left with the issue of dealing with more odd-sized pieces. However, if you use bags or boxes, you'll be able to store these items on the floor.
* Ties work best on a tie rack. This is one of the few instances wherein a specialty storage item needs to be used. Whether you use a ring-shaped one or a bar-shaped one is your choice, of course, and depends upon how much room you have in your closet and how many ties you own.
* Scarves don't work as well on a tie rack, as they aren't all one uniform shape and size. Some are oblong whereas others are square. One solution is to tie them to something, whether that's a hanger or a hook is your choice.
* Belts work well on a belt rack. Again, the best solution is a specialty storage item, and your choice as to configuration is only limited to the size of your closet.
* Hats usually work best hanging on hooks. You can hang a handbag on a hook and then a hat over that, thereby having it perform double-duty. If you don't use your hat(s) too frequently, or if it is (they are) somewhat formal, then a better solution is a hatbox, just like the kind used in the the 1950s. This will keep the hat from being crushed and will keep out dust, while providing a fairly uniform storage container so that you can either place the hatbox on a shelf or on the floor of the closet, and can even stack items on top of it without worrying about possible damage to the hat. For baseball caps and the like (e. g. far less formal headgear), go the hook route and simply dust them off when you go to use them.

Rarely-used items

* The best place for these is the very top of your closet. Most closets are somewhat high-ceilinged, even in newer homes, as this is a place for builders to save money on ceiling tiles while providing additional storage. However, most people don't use this space terribly efficiently.
* Plus, this space collects the most dust and is hardly ever cleaned. So, the best thing you can do for whatever you're going to put up there (Hallowe'en costumes, etc.) is to cover it well so that it remains as clean as possible. This means dry cleaner bags inside boxes.
* A great box size to use up there is the kind used for underbed storage. These boxes are wide and shallow and may be stacked. They're available at discount stores like K-Mart and Target, are inexpensive, and are made of heavy cardboard, so they may be marked with a permanent marker denoting their contents.
* You may also want to make a list of everything you're putting up there and keeping it taped to the closet door so that you don't have to take anything down in order to know what's up there. This will prevent you from taking down everything in the top of the closet when all you want is the scarf Aunt Mildred crocheted for you.
* Formal wear is different. If you own a floor-length gown or tuxedo or the like, you may wish to store it with a local dry cleaner in order to better protect your investment. Another option for items such as these is to keep them in dry cleaning bags (make sure they are covered from top to bottom) and placed on hooks on the closet's back wall. That way, they are accessible if you need to go somewhere formal, but they are out of the way so that you don't accidentally knock them over when you're hunting for a regular work outfit.
* Wedding gowns are a special case. Many women retain their gowns, in the hopes that their daughters or nieces will use them someday. Or, the gown is kept for sentimental reasons. Since this is a significant investment (often costing several times more than even a standard formal gown), it needs special treatment. It also requires special treatment because it's often composed of delicate fabrics (silk, satin, tulle, taffeta, etc.) and/or is delicately detailed (lace, beadwork, sequins, etc.). You can do a few things with it. One is to store it at a dry cleaner's. This is fine, but it will run into serious money before the next generation is ready to consider using it. Another option is the back of the closet. Since the gown usually has a train, it needs more than just a dry cleaning bag to keep the dust out. You can use either the bag which came with the dress or and a plastic garbage bag at the bottom. Yet another option is to fold up the gown and store it in a crate or chest. This is generally the best option, as it keeps dust and mildew out while keeping the fabric away from too much light and plastic. The combination of plastic and light shining through it, over the course of a couple of decades, can discolor the gown and make it unusable. No matter what, the gown will need to be dry cleaned prior to use. Even if it appears to be damaged or discolored, the dry cleaner may be able to work a little magic, so don't despair even if the storage of the gown turned out to not be as good as it should have been.
* Wedding veils and other paraphernalia should be stored with the gown in whatever manner is being used. My own veil is hung up on a hanger and covered with a dry cleaner's bag. While I have no daughter, I do want to keep it nice, but I'm not concerned about it looking absolutely perfect. However, after ten years, it still looks pretty good, although the flower ring which was worn around my head at the same time has, of course, faded and dried out.

Glass surfaces/Mopping

Today's tip:

Organizing clothes closets

Double-length items (dresses, coats, bathrobes, etc.)

* This is generally more of an issue for women than for men.
* There really are only two ways of working with these: (a) simply hanging them up on regular hangers or (b) folding these items.
* Folding may work for a bathrobe, but it's certainly not an adequate solution for caring for dresses. As for coats, folding won't work for them, either, as they're often too thick to fold.
* So you're left with hangers. Use padded hangers to avoid a hanger crease in the shoulders. There is much more of a chance of this than there is with hanging shirts and sweaters, since dresses are far heavier so they drag down.
* Hang dresses on either side of the curtain rod in order to avoid bowing.

Shoes

* This seems to be much more of an issue for women than it is for men. Whether that's due to a desire to have the latest fashions from head to foot; or because feet (unless you've gained or lost 100 lbs. or more) don't change their sizes; or due to a genuine need for a lot of options; or some other purpose, is probably going to differ on a case-by-case basis.
* There are a few options: the floor, shoeboxes, a crate or carton, cubbyholes, a shoe rack on the floor, or a hanging item with sleeves for shoes.
* Placing shoes on the floor, with no protection and no organization, is the worst idea of the bunch. Pairs become separated, infrequently-used pairs get dusty, leather cracks, hardware may be lost, etc. Unless you only have a few pairs of shoes, this is a terrible option.
* Shoeboxes are a slightly better idea in that they at least keep the pairs together. However, if you leave the covers off, then you're still dealing with the issues of dust and damage. If you leave the covers on, then you will forget what's in each box, and be constantly opening and closing boxes - a pain and a time-waster. One solution is to photograph each pair of shoes and paste the appropriate photo on each box cover. However, if you're going to go to that kind of trouble, you may as well work towards getting the shoes better organized.
* A crate or carton has the disadvantage of separating pairs, but it has the advantage of (assuming there's a cover) keeping out dust. But throwing shoes into a carton or crate every which way will result in damage. This is another not-very-good choice.
* Cubbyholes are a far better choice for keeping pairs together, but they lack protection against dust. Another disadvantage is that, if they're built in, you are dealing with a limited number of them. Of course, you can double up or triple up on the number of pairs in each cubbyhole, but then you lose the advantage of being able to put together a pair immediately.
* A shoe rack on the floor is a decent choice in terms of keeping pairs together. Again, there is a dust issue, plus you may lose track of things on the floor as it can get mighty dark down there (closet lighting is notoriously awful, as it can't be too strong; otherwise there would be a fire hazard). The main reason why this is a better choice than simply lining up shoes on the floor is that the rack provides a second shelf. Hence, you can fit in twice the number of shoes.
* A hanging item with sleeves for shoes is truly a superior choice. Whether it hangs from a hook on the wall or door, or from a modified clothes hanger, this choice keeps everything off the floor and closer to the light, so that you can more readily tell the difference between navy and black. Furthermore, the sleeves offer some protection against dust (although you may find that you still need to clean infrequently-used shoes before wearing them) while keeping pairs together. The sleeves tend to be small enough that, unless you are dealing with collapsible shoes such as slippers or thongs, you can only keep one pair in each sleeve at a time. It's main disadvantages are (a) limited space; (b) if it's hanger-based, then it will take up some room on the curtain rod; (c) it brings shoes up to a higher level than normal and, with them, their smells; and (d) it isn't a perfect cover so, as stated above, you're not completely out of the woods when it comes to cleaning pairs that you hardly use. One solution is to use sachets or sneaker balls in your shoes. This will cut down on smells considerably. This virtually eliminates problem (c). The other problems aren't quite as readily solved. Hence, there truly is no perfect solution to this problem.

Dusting

Today's tip:

Organizing clothes closets

Pants, slacks and skirts (e. g. stuff you wear on the bottom)

* You have few choices in this area, namely hangers with clips (or a clip bar), hangers with horizontal bars, or folding.
* My preference is hangers with clips or bars, with five or six attached in a vertical line. That is, there is one hanging hook with five or six bars or clip bars, all cascading down. These are generally thinner, overall, than using the same number of clip hangers or horizontal bar hangers. You can find them at K-Mart or Target and the like.
* Hangers with five or six bars or clip bars can become extremely heavy. Therefore, you'll need to hang them on either side of your closet, and not in the middle, so as to avoid bowing.
* When a hanger with five or six bars or clip bars is unavailable, my second choice is individual hangers with clips or a clip bar. That way, you can hang pants straight down (by the cuffs), rather than creating a crease you'll have to iron out. These are half the width of horizontal bar hangers. Plus, this is really the only way to hang skirts.
* If all else fails, you can fold. The downside to folding is that it creates creases you will have to iron out. Another downside is that you'll need to take up either chest of drawers room, or use cubby holes, shelving or a small dresser within your closet. These can take up floor or shelving space that's probably better used for accessories or shoes and should only be used as a last resort.

Bathrooms

Today's tip:

Organizing clothes closets

Shirts, sweaters and blazers (e. g. stuff you wear on top)

* Most people own a lot of these. Fortunately, most hangers are designed for these very items.
* Your choices are generally wire hangers (Joan Crawford notwithstanding), wooden hangers or plastic hangers. I generally go with wire ones as they are thinner, so you can fit more in a closet. The advantage to wood or plastic is that these usually have a far wider shoulder base, so that whatever you're hanging up doesn't get a hanger crease in the shoulder. Essentially, it's up to your own judgment, whether you want to iron less or be able to fit more items into the closet. And, if items aren't as closely packed, they will need less ironing. Short of eliminating a portion of your wardrobe (again, I'm assuming that you want, need and love everything that you're trying to fit into the closet), then you'll need to make a choice in this matter.
* You need not be consistent when it comes to hangers. They can be a mix of wooden, plastic and metal; that's the way most people's closets are. If a hanger goes in a particular direction, though, keep all of them facing in the same direction and keep all of that type together. That'll keep things slightly neater and will also afford you with a little more space.
* Hangers with clips or a bar or a set of bars are helpful and will be looked at tomorrow.
* Hang the heaviest items on the sides, and the lightest items in the middle. That will help to keep the curtain rod from bowing.
* Hang like items together, as much as is possible in conjunction with the last tip. That is, blouses go together, sweaters go together, blazers go together, etc. Shirts or blouses can go in the middle (since they're lighter), and then you can put blazers on one side and sweaters on the other.
* Hang items in color order. Personally, I like rainbow order (Red/Orange/Yellow/Green/Blue/Purple), with whites next to reds and browns, then greys, then blacks, then patterns next to purples. For me, this system works, as I have a lot of different colors and often build an outfit based upon the color of a particular blouse I've selected. So, if I want green, I want to find it immediately and then I'll set about looking for slacks or a skirt, shoes and accessories to go with it. Your own color order might be based on something more like preference, e. g. perhaps you like black best, so you put your black tops first, and then your blues, then your oranges (or whatever). Or perhaps you put the primary colors (blue, yellow and red) first. Or patterns. Whatever - it doesn't matter - so long as the system works for you.
* You may want to keep particular outfits together. Personally, I don't buy these too often as, to me, they seem to have less versatility than buying separates. However, many people purchase suits that must go together, or skirt sets or slack sets or whatever. If you have a lot of these then, by all means, keep them together. And, even if you only wear one item at a time (say, just the shirt), wash the items together every time. This will assure that they fade at the same rate, so the dye lot continues to look good together.

Trash day/Outdoor work

Today's tip:

Organizing clothes closets

Let us assume (and this may be a leap of logic, but here goes) that the only things in your closet are things that you want, need and love (if not, then, of course, toss what doesn't work for you).

You've probably seen ads for closet organizing systems of one type or another. They always look great, don't they? Well, yeah, but they always seem to be used on underfilled yet oversized closets. So they don't address your reality - an overstuffed and/or undersized closet.

We'll divide closet stuff as follows:
* shirts, sweaters and blazers (e. g. stuff you wear on top)
* pants, slacks and skirts (e. g. stuff you wear on the bottom)
* double-length items (dresses, coats, bathrobes, etc.)
* shoes
* accessories (handbags, ties, etc.)
* rarely-used items

The first thing you want to do is, clear everything out. Since this blog is in the form of daily postings, it'll take a few days to get through every aspect of this type of organization. Naturally, you should use your own best judgment in terms of putting things back in the interim. But the first thing you want to do is take everything out and make certain that you want it, need it and love it, and that it's in good repair.