Voicelessness and Emotional Survival > Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board
The "Mama Never Told Me" Thread
Redhead Erin:
Lets start a thread to ask all those ridiculous questions we cannot ask anyone else, and get feedback. That is the worst part about searching for info on the internet, IMO. You can get good advice but if you can't make the advice work for you, it can be hard to get feedback or clarification. For example, in my question about mopping the floor, (I haven't tried Hops advice yet) what if I can 't make it work out for me? Or what if I have additional questions? I owuld not want to admit on ah uge message board that I cant figure out how to follow simple instructions--but I would tell you guys here! :lol: :lol:
So I have another house cleaning question: Why is it, after I mop, there is still stuff on the floor? Why didnt all the sweeping/mopping/vacuuming gfet it all? I used to think it was something wrong with the house, but we moved and I have the same problem in this house! I swear I am very careful, because I know I have this issue, but it still seems as soon as I am done, there si stuff on my floor--just sitting there! What is up with it?
Hopalong:
Guesses:
Dirty mop?
Using too much detergent/cleaner?
Old house?
Dust coming out of ductwork?
I am no Heloise, but I think if that's a big problem, perhaps you want to choose a room and clean it from the top down. Bigger job, but perhaps there's dust falling from top edges as the air moves.
And remember, even if a mopped floor seems to have "stuff on it" afterward -- it's still a floor that's a whole lot cleaner than it was!
Perfection is the enemy of the good.
Make the goal to do an adequate job. That's all. And then to do it again every couple weeks. Just adequately.
(fwiw, when I clean a floor, I do tend to use a SMALL bucket or plastic basin, and I get up and rinse out the mop very thoroughly and wring it dry at least 4 times during the job for a small kitchen. Change the water each time, too. I use a very little "Simple Green" kind of stuff and add a cup of white vinegar. So nice to clean without those crappy fumes from those stupid expensive unecessary specialized cleaners that poison us and profit companies who spend most of it on marketing...all that hypnotic stuff about hygiene that taps into fear...). Google "home made cleaners" and you'll have a blast. SO easy. Vinegar and simple detergent. That's it!
xo
Hops
KayZee:
Thank you so much Erin for starting this thread...
I wish I could help with the floor-mopping question, but I'm hopeless at cleaning the house too. I can't seem to figure out why it takes me so long, never looks clean enough, etc.
I have loads of questions, mostly financial that I wish I could ask my folks. But NM would just rejoice too much in my present poverty... Mainly, can anyone out there tell me:
- Can you buy oil for the house on credit? Or with some kind of payment plan?
- What's the best way to scare up a few thousand dollars until a delayed paycheck comes? Will def. be able to pay it off by February. Just bought our house, so don't think I have enough equity for a home equity loan...
Also, on a beauty/personal care note: How the hell do you do eye make-up?
debkor:
Hi Erin,
I don't know I have the same problem. I even thought about bringing in the leaf blower 220mph out the door.....but I can tell you....
For your stainless steel sink not shiny any longer (little pledge spray will do ya)
For your inbetween (yuk) on faucets) ...Hello toothbrush...Works great (including) a little pledge spray to make shiny
For carpet stains (if your brave enough) and what carpet ......In my sons room before I would replace it I painted borders within borders. It looked great!!
Tape and paint from the arts and crafts in any wall mart.
Boring, boring, doors in my bedroom entrance to my bathroom....A curtain rod above, nice set of curtains, pull them back ..leave doors open and WOW.....bottom cabinet doors of sink Boring again a single white topper (with a ruffle) tacked.and wha la!
The best bathroom cleaner (IMO) Ka Boom!
The best way when I want to really get in there and Clean, Clean , Do it really Clean......for floor is on my hands and knees. For the pergo kind of wood floors and a neighbor that installs them told me that Windex is the best way. So far I agree.
The dust bunnies arghhhh.....Even when I empty my laundry from dryer I have to vacum again!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah and I take my vacum apart every now and them and clean that too. And then sometimes I don't!!
Hopalong:
Hi KZ,
I love answering questions about living life -- how odd, considering my performance. Ah well. I love flapping my jaw, giving advice. And I like the domestic realities of things that people don't discuss much. And looking up stuff about questions I have no clue about (which is most of them). Thanks for sharing these.
$$ -- the most enormous help to me even though I have a long way to go has been taking this class: http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu. I don't agree with him politically and am very far from where he is religiously. But he GETS IT about financial ignorance and how people get overwhelmed and confused and breaks it down into specific steps anyone can understand. If you take the class once, you can return to it as many times as you like, forever. I am so glad I did it and would like nothing better than to persuade others to.
Few thousand? Be brutal about your automobiles, is one thing Dave Ramsey would say. (My 4-person family NEVER owned more than one car. And I've never purchased a new one in my life.) Here's a column he did:
--- Quote ---Dear Dave: What's your rule of thumb about how much your car should be worth in comparison with your income?
-- Madea
Dear Madea,
Great question. My rule of thumb is that all of your vehicles - I'm talking about cars, trucks, boats and their Sea-Doo sisters, motorcycles and anything else like this - should not total more than half your annual income.
Why? It's because all of these kinds of things go down in value. You never want half of your income going into things whose value is dropping like a rock. You don't need a $20,000 car if you're making $30,000 a year. That's just stupid. Think about it this way. If you're making that kind of money, and I walk up and tell you I've got an investment opportunity that will turn $20,000 of your hard-earned income into $12,000 in just three or four years, are you going to take me up on the offer? If you've got a brain in your head, the answer's no!
Read more: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/10/01/1192812/daves-guidelines-on-buying-vehicles.html#ixzz1dVpZk95U
--- End quote ---
FUEL OIL:
Call your oil company and ask them if they have a budget plan. Most have special funds to help people who're having trouble paying for heating in hard times. Beyond that...read sites like this: http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/how-to-conserve-energy-at-home.htm And do searches like this: http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=buying+heating+oil+on+credit&pbx=1&oq=buying+heating+oil+on+credit&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=903l6805l0l7499l40l24l4l6l6l3l265l4542l0.16.8l33l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=606bb3eb2961e332&biw=1155&bih=579
INSULATE LIKE A CRAZY PERSON. Then add plastic sheeting over the windows with Velcro tape during winter, draft stoppers you can make out of old tights stuffed with newspaper. I retreat basically to one room during the winter and use a space heater. I have a housemate so have to keep it at at least 62 overnight, but if she's not here, it's down to 55 and I'm snug in the one bedroom. For a family, dictate "winter indoor downsizing" and turn off the registers in rooms that aren't vital...retreat to a cozy family zone...hang blankets over the doors to those unused rooms. Make like pioneers. Are you in the North?
I'm sure some of these thoughts veered way off the mark, but it was fun. Used to earn my living researching answers.
Eye makeup? Blow it off, you're gorgeous. Or--use light blush in one sweep over your lids and the cheapest eyeliner I've heard of is granulated charcoal. You buy capsules in a bottle at a drugstore. Dampen a fine brush, dip, and there ya go. I can't wear mascara and the heck with it. I'm adding a little brow powder since one's half white.
If it's more elaborate than that or magazine-image based, you're wasting your time. And being mean to yourself. And buying into somebody else's idea of what beauty is... (in my never-opinionated opinion). Our culture is sick-sick-SICK about the female body. It feels so good to make your own choices about it. Draw an invisible line in your head about simplicity, enjoy whatever beauty ritual you actually enjoy and tell the rest of the conjured-up stuff to go sit on a tack. ANYTHING you feel anxious about is something to stop.
Boy i'm on a roll. Would be nice if I was doing my paperwork instead of bloviating....
Hops
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