Housekeeping How-Tos
How To: Clean beach coins
According to Outer Banks, cleaning coins found on the beach is an easy job. First of all he doesn't clean pennies as he doesn't think its worth the time. First use a rock tumbler. They're not expensive and cost under $100.00. Toss the coins in a tumbler with small rocks or gravel as this helps clean and separate the coins. Use a couple of squirts of dishwashing liquid and water about 3/4 full. Let it tumble about three to four hours. Using a colander rinse your coins once tumbling is complete...
How To: Erase permanent marker from a dry erase board
In this Home & Garden video tutorial you will learn how to erase permanent marker from a dry erase board. Well, there are various methods of erasing permanent marker from a dry erase board. One of the methods is to use some clear spirit. Soak a small piece of cloth in the spirit and rub off the dry marker and it will vanish in no time. But, what if you don’t have spirit? This short video clip shows you how to do this very easily and quickly. All you have to do is to apply more of permanent in...
How To: Clean and shine coins with an eraser, vinegar and salt
In this how-to video, you will learn how to clean your coins to make them look shiny and new. This is useful if you collect coins. First, you will need coins, vinegar, salt, paper towels, a pencil, and a jar for the mixture. Take the coin and place it in the jar. Next, add a small amount of salt to the jar. Now, pour three caps full of vinegar into the jar. Mix it with the pencil and let it rest for ten seconds. Now, take the coin and place it on the paper towel. Use the eraser on the pencil ...
How To: Remove permanent marker from Legos
Lego owners sometimes decide to personalize their Lego pieces by drawing on them with permanent marker. If you've ever needed to remove permanent marker from your Lego pieces, here's a surprisingly easy way: You'll need a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a small bowl of water (only about an inch of water will be needed), and of course your marker-covered Lego piece. First apply toothpaste to the toothbrush. Next dunk the Lego piece in the water. Then place the Lego piece in your hand and lightly s...
How To: Clean clad coins with a tumbler
Ever wondered how to clean those dust clad coin? It is hard to clean the coins all at a time. This how-to-do video gives an easy way to clean those stubborn clad on the coins. An old tumbler would accommodate this task. An old tumbler can be bought from eBay. The tumbler consists of two tumbling barrels connected to a small motor. The tumbling barrels are connected to a motor through a rubber belt. Fill the tumbling barrels with water and tumbling medium. Add Gravel or Pebbles from aquarium, ...
How To: Remove a stain from a carpet
How to remove a stain from a carpet
How To: Remove permanent marker from plastic surfaces
This video is a demonstration set to music about how to remove permanent marker from a plastic surface. It is not narrated. To follow along with this video, all you need is a can of Axe body spray, some clean, dry tissues, and a plastic surface that has permanent marker on it. The video shows a clean video game case, then the person draws and writes all over it with a black sharpie. The person proceeds to spray some Axe body spray all over the permanent marker writing. He or she grabs a clean...
How To: Easily clean your coins with clr
How to easily clean your coins with CLR
How To: Get permanent marker stains out of your carpet
To follow along with this video, you will need a few supplies: a spray bottle filled with lukewarm water, a couple of clean white blotting towels, and a product called Legacy of Clean. To remove the stain you begin by applying a few drops of Legacy of Clean onto the stain. Use the blotting cloth to agitate the product into the carpet fibers by rubbing it a bit. Then find a new clean spot on the towel, place it over the stain and apply pressure from your fist to blot the stain. You will see th...
How To: Clear up office clutter
It's easy to find yourself drowning in a pile of papers and nick-nacks if you're not armed with a good organization system. By taking the time to set up a system where everything is condensed and has a place you'll find it much easier to keep it that way.
How To: Organize & unclutter your closet
In this how-to video, you will learn how to organize your closet. You will need motivation first and foremost in order to fully go through with this project. The closet of course is the best way to motivate yourself to clean your entire house. First start by getting rid of the items you do not wear or do not like anymore. You can easily get rid of things you do not love by doing this. Next, purchase matching hangars. You can even just rework what hangars you are currently hanging. Items such ...
How To: Fold a fitted sheet for perfect storage
Folding fitted sheets is always trickier than folding a conventional rectangular sheet. First, throw the sheet onto the bed. Then use your hands to tuck all the corners in on themselves. Then lay the sheet back down and straighten it. It makes a horseshoe shape with its elastic. Then fold one corner over the top so that all your elastic hangs over one hand. With the other hand grab the other corner so you can lay it down flat in a half moon shape with all the elastic together in one place. Th...
How To: Organize your home closet
This video shows us how to organize our closet without breaking the bank. As summer comes around and winter is finishing up, it’s time to do some spring-cleaning. Some tips to help get additional space in your closet: Tip 1. Use your luggage to store winter items not used during the summer. Tip 2. Use those old boxes that have just been piling up to store items. Tip 3. Invest in a hanging shoe bag to preserve the shoes you love. Tip 4. Invest in a clear storage rack where your accessories can...
How To: Remove candle wax from carpets easily
The video shows you how to remove candle wax from carpets with ease. All you need are paper towels, an iron, and a butter knife. First, you have to turn the iron on to a medium or high temperature. Next, use the dull side of the knife to dig up the excess wax from the carpet. Afterwards, you have to place the paper towel over the area of wax. Next, you simply iron the carpet very lightly. You have to be careful so that you don't burn the carpet. When you iron the carpet, the wax should absorb...
How To: Clean laminate floors safely
The basic idea of cleaning laminate floors is to use a dry or damp mop or cleaner for cleaning spills and as little moisture as possible. Laminate floors are resistant products and are made to last, but they also are sensible to moisture and thus it can produce damage. Also very important for defending against stains like tomato sauce and red wine is to be vigilant and clean them immediately. The longer a stain like that sits, the longer it is the probability of being permanent, so the best a...
How To: Unclutter your bedroom
In showing how to unclutter the bedroom, the information provided focused on jewelry rather than other areas of the room. Tarsa Mar, the host of the video had a huge jewelry collection and showed the various ways to store those items. One of the boxes she shows is a wall case. One of the features of this item is the fact that necklaces hang. This prevents them from becoming tangled with other necklaces. There was space for rings and bracelets but the main objective was keeping necklaces separ...
How To: Iron a shirt quickly and easily
Ironing a shirt is simple and easy when you follow the suggestions outlined by Matt McGuire in this tutorial. You will need an iron, wrinkled shirt, and ironing board. Lay one end of the shirt on the board. Take the iron rubbing it from side to side, pressing out the wrinkles. It is a good idea to fill your iron with water prior to heating it up. This allows you to steam your clothes making it even easier to get a clean press. When done ironing this section, lay the other portion of the shirt...
How To: Build a fire when the electricity goes out
This video shows the viewer how to start a fire without sing matches or electricity. This is done by first selecting a fairly large dry log. The aim is to ‘chip’ or peel smaller pieces of wood off from this log. These pieces will burn more easily and as such will make it easier to start the fire – a small hatchet is a useful tool to use when breaking down the larger log. Once you have the kindling place it on an alcohol wipe. Then use a flint or a fire steel to ignite the alcohol wipe. Once t...
How To: Organize a closet with a shelves and compartments
You can organize your closet with simple drawers and shelves or racks that you purchase at a discount store such as Target. Outside of your closet you can have drawer space (use transparent drawers) by labeling your own drawers with large labels that you have written the contents of the drawer on and placed this at the front where it will be visible. The drawers can be divided into short sleeved sweater tops, long sleeved sweater tops, tanks, vests, short sleeved tees, long sleeved regular to...
How To: Iron a men's button up shirt
This Home and Garden video tutorial shows how to iron a men's button up shirt. This video will show you how to iron a cotton shirt. Switch on your iron and set it to the hottest setting or cotton setting. Place the shirt on an ironing board and start with the collar. Iron both sides of the collar. Now get on to the sleeves; first iron both sides of the calf and then the whole sleeve. Repeat the other sleeve. Then iron the front of the shirt; pull the fabric slightly to even out the creases, i...
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: Make a humane mouse trap from a paper towel tube
How to Make Anything demonstrates how to make a humane mouse trap from a paper towel tube. If you have a pesky mouse that you would like to catch alive, make a tube mouse trap in a few easy steps. First, put something delicious in the end of the tube. Then, balance the tube on the edge of the counter top. Below the tube, place a mouse catching receptacle like a trash can. The mouse will crawl into the tube to get the treat, tip the tube off the counter and be caught in the trash can. You can ...
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...