Swiffer Bathtub Cleaner

Frugal Village: Remove hairspray residue

Dear Sara: I had a longterm house guest, who was an abundant user of hairspray. When she moved out recently, I noticed that the bathroom door, which she always stood in front of to do her hair, is coated with the sticky residue from her hairspray. The door is a stained polyresin door, and I'm unsure as to how to get the residue off without ruining the finish. Can you suggest any solvents? Thank you. —  Debbie K., email Dear Dewey: Wash your towels alone (without any other articles of clothing), in hot water at the highest water level, and use baking soda, washing soda, borax or Charlie's Soap (www.charliesoap.com) instead of your usual laundry detergent. Use 1⁄4 cup (up to a cup if you're able to) vinegar in your rinse cycle — using the fabric softener reservoir — and a double rinse cycle. Then dry. If you find that the towels still have buildup and are still quite scratchy, continue to launder with the above products. It might take a couple of washes to remove all the residue. You might need to check the hardness of your water, too. Dear Anne: For holiday storage, I really like giant popcorn tins, plastic coffee canisters, large plastic kitty litter buckets and shoe boxes. The plastic bags with zippers that comforters come in work well for garland, wreaths and stockings, too. I did invest in some plastic totes. You can find the Christmas-themed totes and even plastic laundry baskets on sale after Christmas. Keep a few snack or appetizer recipes on hand. You can whip something together in no time rather than ordering takeout. For example, you might want pizza or doughnuts. Try making cinnamon tortilla strips. Cut tortillas into strips (a pizza cutter works well) and spread a small amount of butter on top, or spray with cooking oil. Then sprinkle the tortillas with cinnamon and sugar and put them in a 350-degree oven for five minutes. You can also fry a few plain tortilla strips in oil until they're light golden-brown. (Fry a few at a time.) Drain the strips briefly on paper towels, then drag each of them through a sugar-and-cinnamon mixture. Preheat the oven at 400 degrees F. I placed a piece of parchment paper the size of my pan on the counter and sprayed it with Pam. I then rolled out my square pizza crust. I placed the cheese sticks on the dough, spaced evenly apart, and cut the dough into individual strips. I rolled the cheese up in the dough, then cut and pinched the ends so as to make sure that no cheese was peeking out.

CONQUERING THE CLOSET

Many homes in Europe do not have closets. Wardrobes or armoires are the way to go for clothes and what not. Two years ago I would and did wonder why on earth this was. Why wouldn’t people and families want a built in space they could use for storage? A space to keep whatever you don’t want seen, hidden away. A place that when one closes the door, it’s out of sight, out of mind to the max. I can’t imagine that wardrobes can store or provide enough space for clothes, coats, shoes, storage and stuff. I would have needed many a wardrobe to fit what I have in my one spacious closet. Well, it’s spacious for a studio apartment I suppose.

Then I discovered the simplicity of minimalism and the ease it brought to my life. At this point, I still wouldn’t consider myself a full fledged minimalist but I am most definitely on a minimalist journey. On this important, conscious and sometimes hilarious journey, I have come to understand why one would prefer a wardrobe over an actual closet.

The main reason for me is the idea of conscious consumption.

Without a closet, or many closets as is the case in the typical homes of this country, one would need to be more conscious of their consumption habits. I remember when I first moved into my 210 square foot studio. Beyond excited, I purchased cleaning supplies to keep my small space fresh and clean. I bought a swiffer, a swiffer wet jet, a dust buster vacuum, floor cleaner for my wood floors, bathroom cleaner, tile cleaner, grout cleaner, kitchen cleaner…etc. The list goes on and on. At one point, I even purchased one of those robotic balls that rolls along the floor cleaning dust along the way (cringe!). The problem with all this stuff was I had no where to store it all! I have one large closet and it was filled with clothes, shoes, jackets and whatever else I needed a space for like my skateboard, roller blades, purses…etc. I did not want the cleaning supplies in along with my clothes. I was able to store a few spray cleaners in the cabinet underneath the kitchen sink. I was stuck with storing the rest of the supplies in a corner of my apartment. Over the years, I threw out the swiffer and swiffer wet jet, they don’t last long anyway. And the dust buster never really worked so that got thrown away as well. This past year I have really pared down on the cleaning supplies. Becoming an Eco conscious junkie helped. I learned about the nasty, harmful chemicals in today’s cleaning supplies. So I switched to the Eco options. Then I went a step further. I learned that all I need is some baking soda, some white distilled vinegar and some elbow grease to clean most of my apartment!. It works wonders on the kitchen and bathroom and even keeps insects away. Creepy crawlies don’t like baking soda. You can see how with a little thought and intention, we don’t really need all the stuff we think we need. My intentions were in the right place by buying all those cleaning supplies but there is a better, simpler, cheaper and easier way. The best part about it? Less stuff! Less of a need for more closet and cabinet space.

Nancy Eshelman, A Piece of My Mind: Columns from the Patriot-News

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