Smart Living - Home-Ec 101

It’s Time Again for Hurricane 101

How to prepare your home for hurricane season. Know what supplies to have on hand if you need to stay or evacuate.

How Long Do I Need to Boil Water When Under a Boil Water Advisory?

Dear Home Ec 101: I live in Hurricane Country and there are often boiling water advisories after a storm. How long am I supposed to boil the water before it is safe to drink? ~Avoiding the Runs in Ravenel Heather says: Boil water advisories are much more common than you may think. Advisories can be …

Canned goods on an emergency pantry shelf

2020 Update: This post on stocking the emergency pantry was written in July of 2010. Ten years have passed and it’s more relevant than ever. I want to emphasize that I am not saying hoard all of the toilet paper. As you make your trips to the grocery store just set a little aside each …

I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the information being spread with regard to how to prepare for a disaster, like a hurricane. Bad Advice I’ve Seen Circulating Hotels must take your pets in due to a law passed after Hurricane Katrina. No. This is patently false. Hotels and motels are private businesses and not …

Dear Home Ec 101, Do you know how to reduce lint in the laundry? My husband just started a new job that has him wearing dress slacks—like Dockers—and dress shirts instead of the jeans and t-shirts he’s always worn. Even though I wash and dry them separately (to avoid any ironing!) they still come out …

I received a concerning email yesterday that made me realize it was time to send this post out again as a reminder. This is the first in our series on household chemicals. Over the past few years, I have gotten the impression that many people are using chlorine bleach in an unsafe manner. Chlorine bleach, aka …

Dear Home Ec 101, Can one substitute vinegar -lots of it- for the bleach when cleaning and disinfecting?I can’t be around bleach, it triggers SEVERE migraines. Signed,Pickled in Pickens Original opening written in 2014: There are certain times when I am reluctant to give a hard answer. In our litigious climate, I’m sure you can …

Water Storage Solutions for Hurricane Preparedness

*** Post-Harvey/Pre-Irma 2017 Update: This post has been getting a lot of traffic as people get ready for the upcoming storm. You are thinking ahead, and that is smart. The Aquapodkit is still my best recommendation for hurricane prep that doesn’t take up your entire storage area. The WaterBob is rising in price as the …

Home-Ec 101 Reader’s 71 Quick Q-tip Tips

Heather says: Last week I posted a quick video suggesting that Q-tips could be used to clean a computer keyboard. I then asked for your Q-tip Tips. I thought it would be fun to share the tips that came from the Home-Ec 101 Audience -(Do you remember when we did this with uses for leftover …

What is Modified Food Starch?

Heather says: Yesterday on Twitter, during the What is Vegetable Extract kerfuffle, my good friend @notoriouslynice asked: @HeatherSolos I’d like to know, too, if you find out. Also, what is modified food starch? First what is starch? Starch is a white, odorless complex carbohydrates that serves as primary means of energy storage for plants. When …