Desperate Housewives of ILX

it's actually not as bad as i would have anticipated (or i'm less militant/more lazy about it). but there are some things like throw blankets or shirts of a certain fabric that just cannot be de-furred.

it's a good thing he's so fucking cute

<3 he certainly is.

ha - we don't have a problem with pet hair; we have a problem with MY hair! i recently complained to ytth that our vacuum was a useless piece of shit, so he sat done for half an hour and removed the equivalent of a decent head's worth of hair from the little bristle things. it made a difference!

Hair wrapped around the axles will strain those little rubber belts that run the beaters until they burn out and snap. I remember the smell of burning hair and rubber quite well from my childhood spend using one of several vintage vacuums that my dad could always repair.

i actually hate clutter even more than i hate dirtiness. dealing with dirt is straightforward, if somewhat time-consuming and back-breaking, but clutter drives me crazy. finding places for things, sorting through and figuring out what to dump... ugh. and i just hate piles of stuff. it makes feel irrationally stressed out. when i moved to the US i was sad to let go of so many of my possessions, but goddamn it was freeing to only own 2 suitcases of stuff, instead of an entire household.

and laurel: i'm totally with you re mops. what is even the point of them, unless you use them literally every day, before the grime can get trampled into the floor.

yesterday, my bf looked at the bathroom ceiling and said 'is that your hair up there?' lol blow drying!

I secretly LOVE to leave dirty dishes in the sink, that's my chosen decadence: cooking and eating and saying "Fuck it, those plates will still be there in the morning and I'm okay with that."

this drives me crazy more than ANYTHING. i actually do not sleep well/have trouble falling asleep if there are dishes in the sink!

i saw a woman at bj's do a demo of the "MR STICKY" lint roller. cleans in water! never stops being sticky! it was kinda neat. but i probably wouldn't use it regularly.

i saw a woman at bj's

wut

i think i have a substandard sense of smell? so some things (like mildewy shower curtains) don't register with me until rather later, and i have no issues cleaning the litterbox.

but yeah clutter in general bothers me -- particularly when i visit my hoarder mom. like it really depresses me to be there.

it is a wholesale club like costco
xpost

I dunno if mildew smells that much unless the room has been completely shut for days or weeks? I think of it as more of a visual thing.

And if mildew is the smell of "basement", then I actually LIKE it, so that's no help.

i need to buy a new hamper. i have a 20% off one item coupon for bb&b that expires today! help me choose!

i had one from ikea that had metal frame and a plastic-ish bag, but the metal frame bent, and the plastic bag started ripping because of the weight of clothing. i think it was like $5 so i'm not heartbroken. but i'm wary of using another hamper like that.

Personally I love the hardcore canvas and steel rolling ones that are cutsified institutional-like.

yeah those are pretty awesome. might as well make it cute.

i was thinking something like this, though with a lid?

Bloodbath doesn't seem to carry them, though. Maybe...this?

http://images.bedbathandbeyond.com/assets/product_images/230/1416812265328P.JPG

this is what i have. it just can't stand up to the weight of a lot of a laundry being stuffed in it. maybe this just means we should do laundry more frequently?

Yr link doesn't work, T.

ok try this
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/jall-laundry-bag-with-stand-white__71279_PE186610_S4.jpg

No, the first link. In earlier post.

haha ok
http://images.bedbathandbeyond.com/assets/product_images/380/10742316470686P.JPG

i would like it to fit in the bathroom closet if poss. maybe 1 for bath closet and 1 for bedroom closet? fancy!

I looked at that but I dislike ones that taper because thanks a lot for making it HOLD LESS.

I have just sat down after cleaning/hoovering/dusting for the last three hours. And where is my cup of tea? Nowhere!

And now the kids have got back from school so that's that.

currently putting off housework.

I will cop to having a housecleaner come in 2x/month, I fought it for a long time but we have the money and it is cheaper than marriage counseling. I am an awful housekeeper and having two kids who are not yet school-age in the house all the time doesn't help. It is awesome to start fresh twice a month even if it gets crudded up fast.

xp re tapering, seriously! also way to make it tippy when it's full!

i think w/ those you can pull the bag out to take it downstairs though... so less cumbersome?

yeah i think the cleaning thing is def gonna happen. although *someone* still needs to put their stuff away before cleaners could even come!

I have a straight-sided stripey one from Hold Everything before they went out of business. It's Paul Smith-y in colorway and about two feet tall and has cut-out carrying handles. Prob similar to these:

http://images.bedbathandbeyond.com/assets/product_images/230/120060120307C.JPG

I love having a laundry chute. at the end of the hallway it's bedroom x3 right next to the closet with the chute, I just chuck kids' clothes out into the hallway if nothing else, then it goes down the chute! Also fun to teach kids to take care of their clothes by chanting DOWN THE CHUTE DOWN THE CHUTE

omg a chute. so jealous.

i think 2 of those could work, theresa - and it is very handsome

ned, i wish i could make you a cup of tea!

I was so jealous of people who lived in modern houses and had laundry chutes.

Tapered baskets: They take up JUST AS MUCH ROOM as the top measurement, but hold less than you think AND tip over. Stupid stupid stupid.

god i LOVE chutes! so jealous, teeny!

l, my cousin's house was built in 1935 and has a chute!

WHOAH! If I had a laundry chute and a dumbwaiter, my 5 to 10-yr-old self would be so happy.

the laundry chute was one of my favorite things about staying at my cousin's house when i was a kid!

remarkably no kids have gone down the chute either!

Pets?

my technique for getting dog hair out of the carpet is to put leather gloves on and scrape it into batches which can be hoovered up, not pleasant at all.

I used to do that for my roommate's cat's hair, when I had a black rug in college, but instead of leather, I used a bowl of water and wet my hand every few passes. Works AMAZINGLY but fuck is it annoying.

Damp tea towel or hand wrapped in masking tape (sticky side out) is good for Kenny Whippet hair removal. My own dog will be a poodle, to avoid moulting issues.

Our chute in my family home was built into the bottom shelf of the bathroom cabinet in such a way that it makes more sense for my mom to jam 1000 bottles of shampoo and bubblebath onto that surface.

yup, we have a housekeeper come twice a month too...just never have time to keep up.

oh and hey let me spam you with a recommendation for green cleaners--the company is called Better Life and you can find them in many whole foods or they also have a directory of outlets on their site cleanhappens.com--the cleaners are really truly green and really effective. I don't have environmental sensitivity issues but I know people who do and they like these for not having volatile scents or whatever. They're on FB too and they're always doing contests for free product. They're local to me here in st louis and their owners' kids go to preschool with mine.

i love mrs meyers. i've had a bottle of all purpose solution concentrate that's lasted forever. it smells amazing and works really well.

good morning, ladies.

what a beautiful day.

i'm going to make some coffee.

ryan just told me some shorts were too tiny for me. so i put them on with a white belt. i don't think they're too tiny.

honestly i was buying lunch every day, and then eating whatever my boyfriend would make for dinner. but he's been doing all the grocery shopping for years and he doesn't always know what i like. so i've made it a point to start making regular trips to the store - and now i have things in the fridge like grapes and cold cuts! what a thought!

i try to do a weekly trip on fridays, saves $$ through the week

i just bought arugula for a salad -- i think i will prepare it with pine nuts, pears, and goat cheese.

also, i now make coffee every morning instead of buying it. i walk down to the office kitchen, i wash the thing, i scoop the coffee out, i press the On button. it's all very calming.

surm I had that yesterday with honey mustard grilled chicken and no pears
when you buy groceries you get to pick yourself up a treat, don't forget

thank you for the reminder! i almost did last time. and yes - i was definitely thinking honey would go in there as well :)