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…
How to Clean a Whirlpool Front Load Washer
Before our LG, we had a Whirlpool front loader for eleven years. It arrived the summer our oldest learned to walk and left the house on a dolly the week…
Is Samsung’s Self Clean Cycle Enough to Keep the Washer Clean?
My sister called on a Sunday night to complain that her Samsung washer smelled like a basement, even though she ran Self Clean every month. She said it was like…
How to Clean an LG Front Load Washer Using Tub Clean
The first time our LG flashed “tcL” at me, I assumed it was an error code and that the washer had picked a terrible week to die. I stood there…
How to Clean a Front Load Washer and Keep the Mildew Away
I know, a machine whose entire job is washing things apparently also needs to be washed, inspected, wiped down, aired out, and occasionally fussed over like a slightly needy houseplant.…
How Spring Cleaning Became an American Ritual
It is the end of September, so naturally I am writing about spring cleaning while wearing socks and eyeing the radiator. Bear with me. Every March, most American households feel…
Why Your Washing Machine Smells Like a Swamp
You open the washing machine expecting, at worst, the smell of damp towels somebody forgot to move. Instead, you get hit with something closer to pond water in August. Lovely.…
Why Cleaning Feels So Good When Life Gets Out of Control
When life feels messy in ways I can’t fix immediately, I clean something. Not the whole house. It’s usually the first annoying thing I notice, like the kitchen counter, a…
Even Marie Kondo Stopped Keeping a Tidy House
Marie Kondo built a global career around tidying. Her KonMari Method turned decluttering into bestselling books, a Netflix series, and, for a while, the idea that every object in your…