Welcome to week eight of the Home-Ec 101 Deep Clean. This series is a way to refresh your home in manageable steps without any daylong cleaning marathons that ruin your day off. Today we are tackling your refrigerator(s) and freezer(s). Some of us suburbanites are lucky enough to have either a garage or basement fridge […]
Clean It
Deep Clean Your Entryway or Foyer
This week we’re going to start at the front door and not only that, we’re going to take it a little bit further and include your front porch or stoop if you have one. (If it’s pouring down rain, wait until it’s a bit drier for the outside bit). If you have an outdoor broom, […]
Deep Cleaning Your Table/Dining Area
You’ll notice this week isn’t necessarily a whole room. Homes vary a lot. Some small apartments may have just a nook in the kitchen. Open floor plans may have a corner in a wide space. You get the idea. The goal today is to take control of that space and make it shine. By now […]
Deep Clean the Living Room, Family Room, Great Room or Den
Whether you call it the living room, family room, great room or den, that’s the room getting cleaned today. The layout of homes has changed a lot over the years. All it takes is watching any home renovation show to hear plans of ripping out all the walls to open the space up. Now, after […]
Deep Clean Your Bedroom The Home-Ec 101 Way
Welcome to Week Four of the 14 Week Home-Ec 101 Spring Clean/Deep Clean. (Of course if you’re just here for ideas on how to clean your bedroom, you are always welcome.) Make Room to Work A clean bedroom can help start your day with a sense of peace and control, so if you didn’t clear […]
Bathroom Cleaning 101: What you Need, What to Use and How to Use It
Heather says: Thursdays mean clean bathrooms here on Home-Ec 101. Don’t believe me? Please check out the printable weekly chore chart or look at the ever-popular sticky note right there –>. What if you’re a Home-Ec n00b? Don’t be ashamed. We all start somewhere, and not everyone’s parental units taught them essential life skills like […]
The Deep Kitchen Clean-Up
Welcome to Week 2 of the Home-Ec 101 Spring Cleaning event. This week we are doing a deep clean of the kitchen. To make this project easier, I created a checklist. If you like to work from a checklist. I’ve got you covered, I turned it into a printable. (I am not a designer, this […]
Spring Cleaning Clutter Clearing Kick-Off
Sorry, my oldest son has been playing football for twelve years. Sports references now slip in whether I want them to or not. It’s been one heck of a year, and we are not quite done with everything COVID has to throw at us, but that light at the end of the tunnel is getting […]
How to Remove Sticky Residue From Furniture
Dear Home-Ec 101,My furniture has become very sticky after years of polishing it. Sticky to the point of having to give it a little pull to lift it off the furniture. Googling for a solution, I have used a mixture of water and vinegar. It helped a little but not much. What next?Signed,Sticky in Stockton […]
Why Do I Have Fruit Flies With no Fruit?
This week’s random pest question comes from Twitter: Calling @HeatherSolos and her @HomeEc101 knowledge: How do you get rid of fruit flies? Note: There’s no fruit in the house. Twitter If I had suspected my friend had fruit flies, I would have suggested the following. (I didn’t) Fruit Flies in the House Generally, when you […]
Removing Diaper Ointment From an Old Couch
Dear Home-Ec101, So, I turned my back for just a few moments, while I had to help a client—remote work is such a blessing and a curse—and in that time my two-year-old took the full tube of diaper cream and smeared it all over one of the couches. Now, I’m about to get rid of […]
How Do Hand Sanitizer and Rubbing Alcohol Kill COVID-19?
Heather says, Dear Home-Ec 101, How does hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol kill COVID-19 and if they do such a good job, why do we need to spend so long washing our hands all the time? It’s been eight months of this coronavirus nonsense, my hands are raw, I’m tired of this. I just want […]
Overwhelmed by Mess
If you’re overwhelmed by the process of cleaning your home, quit worrying about finding the best option. Stop trying to learn everything and start doing something. We all know that in a perfect world we’d make our own ecologically sound cleaners -not all homemade cleaners are, you know-, always reach for a rag to clean, […]
How To Remove Dried Dog Poop (Feces) From Fake Wood Flooring
Dear Home-Ec 101, My dog had a runny tummy and couldn’t make it outside during the night. Unfortunately, I overlooked the accident until it had hardened. How can I clean it up without damaging the floor (it’s a rental place, the floor looks like wood but isn’t – I don’t think its linoleum). Thank you,Desiccated […]
How Can I Remove a Hard Water Stain on Enameled Cast Iron?
This question is from the comments on How to Clean Stained Enameled Cast Iron Q: I just used my Tramontina dutch oven for the first time to attempt to cook some peas. Steam from the simmering beans condensed and ran down the outside of the pot and left what looks like hard water stains. No […]