Housekeeping

Don't "temporarily" set things down

2006-04-04T12:43:00.000-04:00

Recognize that if you're like me (and most people), if you set something down there is a significant probability that you are going to forget to pick it up again. The most foolproof solution is just not to do it. If you have something in your hand that needs to be put away, go put it away right now. Don't lay your sunglasses down on the restaurant table while you are eating. And never set anything on top of your car.

Babysitter cheat sheet

2006-01-18T19:18:00.000-05:00

Many people, when leaving their kids with a babysitter, will just scrawl their cellphone number down and leave it at that. Most of the time, of course, this is fine, but cellphone reception isn't perfect, and it's notoriously bad in many of the places that might require a babysitter (e.g. in movie theaters). For peace of mind, if nothing else, write out a babysitter cheat sheet and tape it to the inside of one of your kitchen cabinet doors. This should include, among other things, your address and home phone number. Remember, you know this, but in a pinch your babysitter might not. If you have neighbors nearby who would be likely to help in an emergency, include their names and phone numbers. And, of course, any special instructions such as food allergies.

Credit-card cleanup

2006-01-09T18:25:00.000-05:00

An article over at Bankrate discusses closing credit cards. I've always had the habit of getting my credit-report periodically and closing all of the cards I rarely use. (This is even easier now that you can get your credit reports for free, which you should do anyway to check for accuracy.) It also discusses -- this part was new to me -- when you shouldn't close cards. Apparently lenders like to see a low ratio of debt to available credit, so having open cards with low balances is actually helpful to your credit scoring.

Dedicated credit cards

2005-11-28T13:29:00.000-05:00

I keep two credit cards dedicated to specific tasks. One is used for all of my directly-debited bills. This card is used for nothing else, and I don't carry it with me; the idea is to minimize the risk that I'll ever need to cancel this card, because that would require a painful round of notifying all of the people who debit their bills to that card. Similarly, ever time a company gives me the choice of billing to my credit card or to my bank account, I choose this credit card. The second dedicated card is used for all online shopping (except for a few trusted sites like Amazon), and for any other merchant that I might not quite trust. I keep the credit limit on this one quite low - in my case, $1000. The idea with that one is to have one card that I can cancel at will with no irritating repercussions.

Live Simple

2005-11-27T18:13:00.000-05:00

John December has published an e-book entitled Live Simple, which describes a variety of ways to make your life simpler and less stressful. None of this is particularly new, but it's concise and well-organized, and worth a read. I already do most everything in there, except that (a) There is no way we are going to get rid of our TV, though I do strive to watch it as little as possible, and (b) The suburbs where we live require a lot more driving than I'd prefer; there is really no other practical way to travel from here. However, I love it here, so that's life.

A few I'll add to his suggestions:

If you can't live without TV, get TiVo (or some other digital video recorder solution). You can watch a '1-hour' TV show in about 45 minutes, and more importantly, you watch the stuff you care about and not whatever happens to be on when you feel like watching TV.

Organize your home so that it is easy for your children to clean up after themselves. For instance, we have a bench by our front door under which are three baskets, one for each of our children to store their shoes in. They know where they go, and do a remarkably good job of putting them there; most amazingly, they really seemed to quickly recognize the value of always knowing where their shoes are when it is time to wear them.

Of course, I'll second all he says about decluttering. If you're not sure, you don't need it! With a few exceptions, I only own things that I use almost every day, a handful of things that I don't use every day but love anyway, and a little seasonal stuff (e.g. Christmas decorations).

Deluxe Laundry Rooms

2005-11-10T15:19:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post had an article today about the trend toward increasingly deluxe laundry rooms. Highlighted was the new Whirlpool Family Studio line of laundry appliances, which includes the expected washer/dryer as well as a drying cabinet, an ironing station, and a clever jetted sink for agitating very delicate clothes. I love it, though it certainly does seem a little over the top. I'll have to settle for slowly migrating my laundry room in that direction, though I have quite a way to go before I achieve "deluxe" status. (I can't really complain, though; it's a big, ground-level room with two windows.)

In related news, Cheryl Mendelson (author of our beloved Home Comforts) has a new book out called Laundry (three guesses what it's about). I haven't even finished Home Comforts yet!

Kids' admission wristbands

2005-11-04T11:17:00.000-05:00

Many amusement parks and such issue adhesive wristbands that you (and your kids) must wear to prove that you paid admission (or, in some cases, to show a child's size). Trouble is, kids pick at them and in an hour or two they are torn off. At one of the parks this summer, a stranger shared this tip with me: Put the bands on the kids' ankles instead of their wrists.

"Snooze" your kitchen timer

2005-11-02T12:58:00.001-05:00

When a kitchen timer goes off, and the food is not quite done, never trust that you'll remember to come check it again in a minute (or two, or five, or whatever). Always reset the timer, even if only for a minute or two duration.

I've made this a personal rule: Nothing should ever be in the oven without a timer set.

Your message should include your phone number

2005-10-28T19:37:00.000-04:00

When you leave a message on someone's answering machine, voicemail, etc., always leave your phone number. Even if you think they know it, if you're wrong then they are going to have to go look it up, which annoys them and reduces the chances that they will call you back. Even if you know they have caller ID, they may be checking their messages from elsewhere, in which case the caller ID information on the phone you called is inaccessible. So, leave your number! Be sure to speak it slowly and clearly as well; I usually say mine twice, once at the natural point in the message and again at the very end. That way, they may have a chance to get a pen and paper before the repeat. The only exception to these rules is if you are positive that this person knows your number cold.

Talk to your potential future neighbors

2005-10-24T09:55:00.000-04:00

When you're considering buying a house, knock on some of the neighbors' doors and ask them if there is anything you ought to know about the house. This can uncover problems such as noisy or otherwise unpleasant neighbors, future construction plans nearby, and all manner of irritations that do not have a material impact on the property (and thus that the seller is not obligated to disclose).

Always carry your keys

2005-10-18T16:49:00.000-04:00

A piece of sanity-saving advice: Always carry keys, and spare keys. Never leave your house, even to get the mail, without a house key. Carry a spare car key so that you can get into the car when you lock your keys in it. I very rarely need to actually use these, but it's a tremendous stress reliever not to have to triple-check the doorknob to make sure I'm not about to lock myself out of the house, nor to ask my wife four times when we get out of the car whether she has the keys before I shut my door.

A similar tip: Always lock your house, car, etc. with the key. That is, shut the unlocked door and then lock it with the key, rather than locking it from the inside so that it's locked as soon as you shut it. (Using the car's clicker counts, assuming it's on the keychain with your car key.) If you need the keys to lock it, and it isn't locked otherwise, then there is no way to lock your keys inside.

Keeping baggies clean

2005-10-11T12:29:00.000-04:00

My better half just showed me a great trick for keeping the outside of a zipper bag clean when you put something icky in it (in this case, bacon): Fold over the top of the bag the way you would a pants cuff, fill the bag, and then uncuff it and zip it up.

Online Organizing

2005-10-06T14:13:00.000-04:00

Discovery of the day: OnlineOrganizing.com. Lots of info here, including an enormous trove of lists of organizing tips.

OpenX

2005-09-26T18:12:00.000-04:00

I'm not usually a fan of special-purpose gadgets like this, but I've had this one for a couple of months now and am really happy with it. It's a tool for opening those impenetrable plastic packages in which so many things are packaged. It works great, and unlike my former way of opening these (the serrated blade on my Leatherman), it's very unlike to damage you or the contents of the package. And you can't beat the price - as of this writing, $4.95 shipped.

O Discardia!

2005-09-22T11:04:00.000-04:00

Via 43 Folders, I ran across a web site called Discardia, which is about as dedicated as I've seen to one of my favorite activities: Getting rid of stuff. They've even declared a quarterly holiday (e.g. today through October 3). Packrats of the world, all you have left to lose is your clutter. I've seen lots of advice on how to choose whether to get rid of something; the most recent was: If I were packing up my stuff and moving it myself in a U-Haul, would I move this? Now, go get rid of something.

Newly discovered blogs

2005-09-19T15:50:00.000-04:00

I just discovered a couple of blogs that might be of interest, and which I've added to the "See Also" section on the right: Optimized Living and Spending Wisely.

Everything in its place

2005-09-15T14:14:00.000-04:00

The key to conquering clutter is to have, as in a kindergarten classroom, specific places where each object in your home belongs. Ideally, most of these places (wherever aesthetically possible) should be labeled. Make liberal use of plastic bins (such as Rubbermaid and Sterilite), or fancier bins made of wood, leather, or basketry where they will be visible. Target is a great place to find both kinds of bins at reasonable prices. When you finish using something, put it back where it belongs every time - just like you tell your kids.

On those inevitable occasions when you must stow something that either doesn't have a place or whose place you can't get to (e.g. it's in a napping child's room), don't think about where is a convenient place to put it. Instead, think a moment about where you would look if you were trying to find this object. As obvious as this sounds, people too often look for a place that is easy at the time they are putting the object away, rather than a place that will be easy later when they are trying to find it. And it goes without saying that if the object doesn't have a place where it belongs, you should remedy that situation as soon as possible.

DIY knife block

2005-09-14T09:08:00.000-04:00

A very cool build-it-yourself knife block made out of a box filled with bamboo skewers stood on end. Note: For a project of this size, you don't need a brad nailer or even a palm sander; regular neanderthal woodworking is quite sufficient. (Via Frugal For Life.)

Lockers

2005-09-09T09:33:00.000-04:00

In yesterday's Washington Post, an article about installing lockers (or similarly-functioning but more attractive cabinetry) for your kids to store their stuff in. Great idea - we've accomplished a similar purpose with an entry bench and coat rack, both with basket storage in them. I also keep thinking about getting a bank of high-school-style metal lockers to put in my garage.

Disposable pocket-sized planner

2005-09-01T12:46:00.000-04:00

PocketMod is a flash application for creating a pocket-sized planner. The application allows you to fill the planner with various functionality (calendars, note pages, checklists, etc.), which you then print out and eight-fold to create the planner. Personally, I'm quite wed to my big planner, but for those Hipster PDA types who like to keep everything together and in their pocket, I would think this would be pretty handy. (Via 43 Folders.)

Home improvement classes

2005-09-01T08:26:00.000-04:00

Did you know that both Home Depot and Lowe's offer free home-improvement clinics? An article in today's Washington Post discusses these classes, and schedules can be found for Home Depot and Lowe's. I've attended a couple of these, and they're mostly pretty good. Home Depot also offers kids' workshops, to which I've always meant to bring my daughter but haven't yet.

Getting rid of stuff

2005-08-30T15:58:00.000-04:00

I am absolutely fanatical about decluttering. A big part of the effort of decluttering is what to do with the clutter. You can toss it, but this is wasteful for items that are useful to someone (just not you). Further, many items are worth money to someone; anyone who has held a yard sale knows that people will pay for things that many would consider valueless. So, what to do with your clutter?

Hold a yard sale (aka a tag sale). This is the tried-and-true method; however, it requires a lot of work, and worse, a lot of saving up your clutter until you have a critical mass that is worth yard-saling. This is probably still the most expedient, if not the most profitable, if you happen to have a lot of clutter all at once (e.g. if you are about to move).
eBay. If you are, more typically, parting with just a few items at a time, you can auction them on eBay. This is particularly well-suited to items whose value you really aren't sure about; if it is something that more than one of the many eBay visitors wants, the auction process tends to produce a fair price. Packing and shipping is a bit of a hassle, but it's manageable if you don't have too much stuff. Of course, this isn't really practical for large, unwieldy items like furniture that are impractical to ship.
Amazon.com Marketplace. You may have noticed that when you look at most items on Amazon, there is a button on the right that says, "Buy it Used." Those used items are being sold by regular people just like us. Just set up a marketplace account, list your items, and ship them when (if) they sell. Amazon pays you your sale price, minus a commission, plus a shipping allowance based on the size/weight of the item (which, of course, they already know). This is good for commodity items whose price is easy to establish, such as books and electronics.

If, for whatever reason, the item isn't worth selling (its value is low, or it can't be shipped), but it's too good to be trash, there are several options for just getting rid of it that are better than putting things in the trash.

FreeCycle. This is an email-based organization that connects people with stuff to give away with people who want that stuff and are willing to come get it. The web site hooks you up with your local organization(s), where you then sign up for an emailing list. People send to the list when they have something to give away, choose which of the respondents to give it to, and you go get it. This is great for hard-to-move stuff, since you can insist that the receiver move it from where it sits.
Charity. Certainly the most noble way to get rid of it, but typically you have to do the schlepping. Some organizations (e.g. in my area, Salvation Army) will pick up, but typically they want you to either have a lot of stuff or stuff of some clear value (e.g. decent furniture). Plus, there is often a long wait until the next pickup. However, stuff that's easy to move (and often, a piece at a time, low in value) is generally appreciated by someone. We give clothes, shoes, blankets, and the like to women's or homeless shelters. Low-value books like paperbacks go to the local public library, who sells them.

Go to it! You packrats out there, I cannot express how satisfying it is to live a clutter-free life.

Big ziplocs

2005-08-28T14:24:00.000-04:00

Ziploc bags now come in a couple of really big sizes: 2ft x 1.7ft or 2ft x 2.7ft. I'm not even sure what I need them for, but I'm pretty sure I need them.

Shopping online

2005-08-28T08:02:00.000-04:00

Though internet retailing is now fairly mature, many people are still skittish about shopping the internet. In part this is because people are slow to change, and are uncertain of how to get the best deals on the 'net. However, it isn't difficult; unlike the old days, when comparison shopping meant driving all over town or poring over the advertising inserts in the Sunday newspaper, on the internet you can visit different stores as quickly as you can surf. Better yet, you can use one of the many sites that will do the comparison shopping for you.

For just about anything, the first place I check is Amazon.com. For the inexperienced, Amazon.com probably sells a much larger variety of wares than you realize, and it is fairly rare for me to run across something they just do not sell. Look it up on Amazon.com, and use this as a baseline for your price comparisons. Amazon is also one of the better sources of customer reviews, so I always start with Amazon when researching exactly which item I want to purchase. Amazon's prices are generally quite low, so if you just want to go to one place and buy, they're the one. But you can often do much better with just a little work.

Once you know exactly which item you want, there are a variety of comparison-shopping sites that will point you to the retailers with the best prices on that item. I generally use Shopping.com (formerly Dealtime), Froogle, Pricescan, or MySimon. Sometimes I check more than one of these. These sites will show you each retailer's prices, their shipping charges, and will offer ratings of the reputability of each retailer.

Another resource of which few people take advantage is promotional coupons. Many sites offer promotions in the form of free shipping or dollars or percentages off of an item or an entire purchase. As with comparing prices, there are many sites that consolidate these promotional offers for one-stop service. The one I generally check is Amazing-Bargains.com. If I don't find anything there (or if I'm feeling exceptionally greedy), I do a web search for "retailer name coupon." These promotions are not as common, nor typically as lucrative, as they were in the earlier days when internet retailers were desperate to attract customers, but often they can still be found, especially at the less well-established sites that are hungrier for business. Generally these coupons take the form of a code (a string of letters and/or numbers) that you enter in a field on the order page.

A weakness of this strategy is that the best price produced by the comparison shopping sites may not be the best after whatever promotions you can find, so a little work is required to get the very best deal, if you're so inclined.

A case study: Recently I wanted to buy a piece of luggage, a Travelpro TPro 36 rolling duffel. The first place I checked was eBags, because I happen to know that luggage is one of the few areas where Amazon.com's prices and selection are weak. eBags's price was $139.95. I found a promotion that gave me free shipping, but for some reason eBags felt the need to charge me sales tax, bringing the total to $146.25. (Amazon.com's price is the same, but no sales tax.)

Now, I check Shopping.com. It tells me that the same bag is available at Luggage Online for $124.95. I visit their site, and see that they offer free shipping and no sales tax, so I'm already about $20 ahead. But I'm not done yet.

Amazing-Bargains.com doesn't show any coupons, so I do a Google search, and turn up a coupon for Luggage Online that gives 10% off my purchase. So I bought the bag for a total of $112.46, a savings of $33.79, or 23%, off of the first place I looked.

The extra time I spent searching for the best price was maybe 10 or 15 minutes. Investing that much time to save $34 makes sense no matter who you are.

Shower care

2005-08-27T08:37:00.000-04:00

If your shower has curtains, be sure to close them when you're done showering. Not only does it look better that way, but when the curtain is left open, water stands in the folds where the curtain touches itself, and mildew grows there. If you get in the habit of closing the curtain, you will have to clean it far less frequently. When you do clean it, you can just take it down and put it in the washer on gentle cycle with a little bleach.

If you have glass shower doors, get a squeegee and wipe the water off of the doors after you turn off the shower but before you get out. Again, this will help prevent mildew from growing, plus (for clear glass) eliminate unsightly water spots.