Hot Housekeeping Posts — Page 8 of 22 « Housekeeping

How To: Organize and renovate your closet

Frank, with Home Depot's Trend and Design Department, and Chatelaine demonstrate how to organize and renovate your closet. If you want to make your closet as functional as possible without a lot of wasted space, introduce a fun wallpaper as an accent and install a basic Rubbermaid closet organizer system. Use a centralized bar for support and put in rails two feet apart from each other to allow for flexibility in shelving. Additional accessory pieces include sliding baskets for shoes and an a...

How To: Unclutter your CD & DVD collection

With the CDs and DVDs you want to do less purging and more organizing. A good way to unclutter your DVDs is to dedicate a bookshelf to your collection. Put the adult movies on top and alphabetize them so that they are up away from the kids reach. Put the movies for the family and kids down lower so that they can get to their movies and watch them. For the CDs a binder will hold a lot of them and allow you to get rid of all the hard plastic cases. You can put hundreds in just one binder. A gre...

How To: Organize your home office if you are visually impaired

This video tutorial demonstrates tips for how to organize your home office when you are visually impaired. Here a rehabilitation specialist is helping a visually impaired person. The person who is visually impaired should know what is visually important to him/her. Mostly these people obviously need to know where every thing is because they don’t have their eyes to depend anymore. Here visually impaired person is 66 year old Deanne Jackson. She has wet macular degeneration. In order to set up...

How To: Organize your bathroom

Counter space is a tough thing to find in the bathroom. Follow along as Linda Gemal gives us hints on how to organize our bathrooms.

How To: Build a fire with a Duraflame firestarter

Build a fire with a Duraflame firestarter. This video is going to show you how to do this. Crystal Whole from Duraflame is demonstrating the process in this video. First get your chimney cleaned and inspected. Keep all inflammable material at least 3 feet away from the hearth. Use dry wood that has been seasoned for at least six months. Or you can use stax logs in lieu of wood. Three stax logs are sufficient to keep the fire burning all evening. Open the flue of the chimney, put two stax logs...

How To: Fold a fitted sheet like an expert

This video explains how to properly fold fitted sheets. The first step is hold the sheet with the pattern, outer side closest to you and put your left hand into the first pocket and your right hand to the second pocket. Put your right hand over your left hand and flip the sheet on top of itself. Keep your hand on the top sheet and follow the edge all the way down to the third pocket. Place your hand on the underside (non-patterned part) and match it to the first two pockets, and then flip it ...

How To: Clean laminate floors

In this video we are shown how to clean laminate floors using HG Laminate products. HG laminate powerful cleaner is used to remove grease, stubborn dirt as well as old layers of HG laminate gloss coating. To use, dilute it with water depending on how severe the staining is. Apply with a slightly damp cloth and work it in briefly. Make sure to mop up well afterwards. Another product, HG laminate wash and shine leaves tiny acrylic balls behind on surfaces that you've cleaned with it. These prot...

How To: Prevent and remove mud stains from garments & footwear

Good Housekeeping shows you how to save your shoes and delicate garments from exposure to rain and mud. If you get mud on your suede shoes, wait until the mud completely dries, then brush the dried mud off with a soft brush. Remaining stains can be safely removed with the delicate side on an emery board.

How To: Fold a clean fitted sheet like a pro

Take the sheet and fold one corner into the other corner. Now spread the sheet flatly on the floor with its corner in the other corner. Take one side and put it inside the other side.

How To: Keep a dust mop clean

If you’ve gone through one too many dust mops then you might want to try preserving your new dust mop. By placing a stocking over the mop portion you will be able to keep this mop looking newer for a longer amount of time.

How To: Choose and clean your eco-friendly countertops

-It is very important that you choose the right counter top. Although granite and marble may look good, they are not kind to the environment because they are mine deep out of the Earth.

How To: Make your own non-toxic disinfecting cleaner

In this video, Jennifer Taggart Of Healthy Child Healthy World shows us how to make a non-toxic disinfecting cleaner. You can use this cleaner for almost any surface in your home. What you'll need is a re-purpose spray bottle, some castile soap, some tea tree oil, and water. For the water, it's preferable to use distilled water, but you don't have to. The distilled water ensures there's no bacteria or anything in it. First, if you're re-using a spray bottle make sure it's clean. Add 2 cups of...

How To: Fold a traditional fitted sheet

This video demonstrates how to fold a fitted bed sheet neatly. For this, first spread the bed sheet on a flat surface like a bed. The outside of the bed sheet should be facing down and the inside should be facing up. Make sure all the corners are visible. First take the right corner over your hand like a puppet with the inside facing out. Then take the left corner over your hand in the same manner with the inside facing down. Repeat the same with the other two corners of the bed sheet. Once y...

How To: Clean a stain in your washing machine

This video shows how to clean a stained washing machine. Stains are typically caused by brown dirty water in the washing machine. Water is usually brown because it contains high levels of iron. The narrator demonstrates a product called CLR, which can be purchased at Home Depot. It is a product designed to remove iron and lime. He shows how to apply a small amount of the product with a sponge to the inside tub of the machine. He advises to let it soak for about 5 minutes. He then wipes the in...

How To: Clean up after a party so your parents won’t know

You are great at throwing a party but how are you at hiding the evidence? All you have to do is be good and thorough at house cleaning with maybe a knack for stain removal. The trick is to dispose of party trash far away.

How To: Make your own non-toxic flea killer

Educational Specialist, Jennifer Taggard shows her viewers a very easy and accurate process to making non-toxic flea killer. This flea killer will not harm children in a household or any dog being treated. To make the flea killer, 1/2 of a cup of baking soda and half of a teaspoon of orange essential oil was used. The two ingredients were mixed together and simply applied and rubbed into the dog.

How To: Shrink a cereal box before you throw it away

The top flaps on the cereal box should already be open. Then you must open the flaps on the bottom of the cereal box (the side parallel to the opening) and flatten it. Now use the creases made by the corners of the box and fold them inward; it should be flat again. Fold it length wise thus leaving a little rectangle of the flattened box that is not overlapped by the other half of the flattened box. Tax this tab and insert it into the opening in the adjacent half of the cereal box. Your cereal...

How To: Organize your closet

To organize the closet you have to start with the donate or keep principle. Start your piles and get rid of the stuff that you no longer need. You can also have a "can't decide" pile that you put somewhere until you decide but the general rule is, if you haven't used it in a year you probably never will. There are six areas in a closet. First is short hang. It is the most common and includes shirts, blouses, and folded pants. Short hang can be hung in one level or double hang levels. Hangers ...

How To: Fold a fitted sheet for maximum storage space

This video shows the way to fold a fitted sheet for maximum storage. Folding a sheet can save a lot of storage space. The time taken for folding the sheet is less than the time taken for searching through unfolded sheets to find the right match. Start by holding the sheet lengthwise with the right side towards your body. Fold corner number one over corner number two. Slide down the edges and tuck corner number three and four in. Straighten the edges and place it on the table. Fold the sheet i...

How To: Fold a fitted sheet like a pro

Fitted sheets can be quite a hassle if you are unsure how to tame the elastic edging and odd form. Cure Wrinkles, with Erin Bried, teaches you how to fold a fitted sheet correctly. Start by having the sheet inside out and place one hand in one of the corners and the other hand in the corner closet to the first corner. Then put one of your corners into the other corner so that one hand has two corners and the other is free. Watch the rest of the video to learn how to turn that clump of a sheet...

How To: Make an all-natural dryer ball from yarn

Tired of static cling? You can make your very own dryer balls that will prevent your clothes from having static clean and it only takes some yarn and pantyhose. You can even make scented dryer balls using this method.

How To: Wash pillows

Remove all those dust mites and pet dander from your pillows on a regular basis with a good wash in hot water. Pillows can be a little trickier to wash than other linens so keep you pillows fresh and new by following proper washing instructions.

How To: Fold a clean fitted sheet

Are you tired of your bed sheets looking like a crumpled mess? How does something this simple turn into something so difficult to achieve properly? Learn how to fold your bed linens neatly and without unsightly creases. The easy to understand video will turn you into a household ace! It will show you secrets to the easiest and most painless ways to keep your bed linens neat, folded, and organized, without tearing your hair out! Learn how to tame the largest sheets with ease. You’ll always hav...

How To: Remove stains with strong solvents

In this video Wally Makowsky from Coin Laundry Association shows you how to remove stains with strong solvents. Drop off laundry services use various strong solvents for cleaning stains but Wally Makowsky gives two recommendations. One is Laundry Wetspo which is an excellent general solvent. It can remove lipstick, paint, shoe polish, inks and regular food stains. The other recommendation is yellow go laundry which removes similar stains. Out of the two recommended methods, Laundry Wetspo is ...

How To: Clean your dirty tile grout

Dominick from AskMeDiy demonstrates what he says is the right way, and the easy way, to clean your tile grout.

How To: Organize a linen closet at home

The following are the steps to be followed to organize a linen closet: 1. First, you need to clear a work space. This works really well because you need to remove the contents from the linen closet.

How To: Sharpen kitchen shears

It’s frustrating trying to cut with a pair of dull scissors. Make sure you have a good time in the kitchen by sharpening your shears. Just stack several pieces of aluminum foil and cut through them with your scissors to get those blades sharp.

How To: Clean your gutters

Removing the gunk from a gutter but with proper methodically will ensure a clean job and keep you safe while doing activity on top of a ladder. Don’t let this chore get you down, with a little work you’ll have free flowing gutters all season.

How To: Organize and declutter your closet

Solutionsbyscott teaches you how to organize and declutter your closet. You start out by taking all of your clothes out of the closet first. You then place them in piles of things you wear daily, things you only wear sometimes and things you don't need anymore. You have to be honest in order to make room in your closet. Now you only have one horizontal pole for hanging clothes. To make more room you elevate the first pole and add a second one. Now you have doubled the space in your original c...

How To: Clean artificial flowers

Artificial flowers are a wonderful way to add joy and color to your home without the cost or mess of freshly cut flowers. They don’t need to be watered but they can get dusty. Keep your artificial flowers shining brightly with this simple trick.

How To: Organize your garage

This video demonstrates the process for organizing your garage. The video interviews an employee from The Container Store which offers organizational products for every room in the house. They stress that organizing a garage is not a one day project. The Container Store recommends taking three full weekends to organize a garage, start out by focusing on one wall at a time. Labeling is a big part of The Container Store's organizational plan, everything has its own place with a label. The label...

How To: Fold a fitted sheet for neater storage

This video is a crash course presented by Murphy, Sam and Jodi on how to fold a fitted sheet for neater storage. The guy presenting the video picks up a fitted sheet and shows you how your fitted sheet usually ends up - like a ball in your closet. He then takes you through the steps to fold it neatly. First you have to take the long side of the sheet and put your hands inside the cover on the sheet edges. Next, stretch your hands with the plain side of the sheet facing outside. When you have ...

How To: Create furniture polish from scratch

This video describes how to make a cheap and effective furniture polish from scratch. To start, you should find some sort of dispenser to put the polish in. The video suggests an oil and vinegar dispenser because it works effectively with the furniture polish. Put a funnel in the container to make pouring easier, and add 1/4 cup of organic olive oil (make sure it is organic for cleaning). Then add 1/4 cup of vinegar and 20-30 drops of essential oil. The olive oil will keep the wood looking ni...

How To: Clean up a cracked egg

Those smooth oval shells just seem to jump right out of your hands. When an egg hits the floor it is a gooey mess but not need to use an entire roll of paper towels trying to pick up the pieces. Cover with salt and the mess and be swept up after only a few minutes.

How To: Folding a traditional fitted sheet like an expert

Ever have trouble folding your sheets perfectly? Well follow along as we are given quick and simple instructions on how to fold a traditional fitted sheet like an expert.

How To: Clean antique porcelain and pottery

Show your antique porcelain and pottery a little TLC. Spruce up your favorite antiques with these safe cleaning techniques. Remove the dirt and let the beauty of porcelain and history shine through. Just because your pottery is old, doesn’t mean in needs to look like it came out of a tomb.