Play-Doh Used to Clean the Walls Before It Made a Mess
I have picked Play-Doh out of our living room rug for years without once asking where it came from. My son is seven, and a…
Play-Doh Used to Clean the Walls Before It Made a Mess
I have picked Play-Doh out of our living room rug for years without once asking where it came from. My son is seven, and a rainy Saturday with him usually…
Freshly Washed Workout Shirts Picked Up Bacteria From the Machine
My daughter joined the high school cross-country team this fall, and by late September her practice shirt had a reputation. It came out of our LG, dried on the laundry…
The Chair Full of Clothes Is Solving a Problem Closets Ignore
Two summers ago, I spent a weekend reupholstering a secondhand armchair in mustard velvet for our bedroom. Within ten days, it was holding my husband’s jeans, his work sweater, and…
How to Clean a Front Load Washer Gasket Without Missing the Folds Where Mold Hides
For years I believed I cleaned our washer gasket. Every Sunday I ran a cloth around the rubber ring of our old Whirlpool front-loader; it looked fine, and I moved…
We Learned to Associate Lemon Scent With a Clean House
On Saturday mornings in the house where I grew up, my mother sprayed Lemon Pledge on the coffee table before anyone was allowed to watch cartoons. To this day, that…
The Dishwasher Was Invented by a Woman Tired of Servants Chipping Her China
Every Thanksgiving, the good plates come down from the top cabinet in our kitchen, and every year I wash them by hand while everyone else watches football. My husband once…
Black Flakes in Your Washing Machine and Where They Come From
I pulled a set of white sheets out of our LG one Saturday and found them sprinkled with tiny black specks, like someone had shaken a pepper grinder over the…
Does Your Washing Machine Really Need Cleaning Every Month?
Most washer manufacturers recommend running the cleaning cycle once a month, or after roughly 30 to 40 loads, whichever comes first. Check your own manual, because the exact number varies.…
Are Affresh Tablets Enough to Keep Your Washing Machine Clean?
There has been a box of Affresh tablets on the top shelf of my laundry room for fifteen years. It started with our old Whirlpool, survived the move to our…
When to Use Bleach to Clean Your Washing Machine
We came home from a lake week the summer before last to a laundry room that smelled like a forgotten gym bag. Someone, and I have suspicions, had left a…