Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with household

To repair or to replace?

hjd — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:50:24 -0800

To repair or replace? Should I repair a boiler with renowned reoccuring faults or replace it with a new reliable boiler with a 5 year warranty? I am having issues with my boiler at the moment. It is an 8 year old Baxi 100HE and it's ignition is frequently locking out. It is a renowed fault with the Baxi range which I have read about in forums. The way to repair it involves calling out an engineer and perhaps having to pay for expensive parts to be replaced (not sure what the parts cost but on forums they were referred to as expensive). According to MoneySavingExpert.com boiler repairs and maintenance come to about £180 a year - but I guess if this boiler has a reoccuring fault it might be more, although of course I cannot be sure.

Do I sink money into this boiler by having it repaired and then perhaps regularly maintained after that, or invest in a new boiler by Viessman which I have read is reliable on forums and also comes with a 5 year warranty. This may cost about £1200 though for the boiler and the installation.

Cost wise they may end up amounting to the same over the 5 years based on conservative estimates, but since I do not have experience of hot water/heating systems on a long term basis I am not sure which is the most effective choice.

Also, even if the boiler is under warranty I suppose I will still have to have it serviced each year to ensure the warranty is not voided, so that would potentially be another £100 a year on top of the original £1200 installation.

Does anyone have any advice based on their own experience and knowledge?

Well at least my Halloween costume looks good...

lucy.jakobs — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:29:28 -0800

How do I remove sticky residue from Elmer's Multipurpose Spray Adhesive from my wooden desk? I used Elmer's Multipurpose Spray Adhesive while working on a Halloween costume and accidentally sprayed...well...quite a lot of it onto my wooden desk. It's been over a day and the desk is is now very sticky. For better or worse I've tried basically everything I can get a hold of (water, water and soap, fingernail polish remover, Vaseline, hand sanitizer, and Apple Cider Vinegar) but the residue is still there. I'm hoping someone will be able to help me figure out how to get my desk back to normal! Some things to note: The residue isn't gummy...just sticky. It doesn't look any different from the rest of the desk, but it feels very sticky. And the desk is a generic dorm room desk, meaning I have no idea what kind of wood it is or what the finish on it is or anything.

Skirts and Rushes: a Medieval Mystery

taz — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:59:19 -0800

Drafty castles, stone construction, floors strewn with rushes, noble ladies' trailing gowns... Anyone who's read any historical fiction set in the Middle Ages is familiar with these popular Medieval motifs, but I have been troubled by a number of questions about these items. Perhaps we have some period history mavens who can ease my confusion? (Warning: Long! Strewn! Possibly moldy.) I was completely fascinated to find this page of notes about real life for the upper classes in the Middle Ages, and it addresses one of the things I've always wondered about. In fact, I came upon it while specifically searching for information about rushes as floor covering. In this piece, the author rejects the idea of loosely strewn straw-like rushes (in rich households), because of the impracticality of the ladies of the house, with their sweeping gowns, navigating such domestic terrain. She opines that what was actually used were woven mats made of rushes, which seems to make more sense, especially since woven/braided rush mats have been in existence since at least 4000 BC (scroll to the bottom) - and so why wouldn't these wealthy families have these instead of scattered rushes, at least in all the areas where the family members were likely to frequent?

Could "rushes" just have been shorthand for "rush mats" in some cases where we have recorded references to this practice?

Yet, Erasmus (1466-1536) wrote this about Medieval floors in England:

"The doors are, in general, laid with white clay, and are covered with rushes, occasionally renewed, but so imperfectly that the bottom layer is left undisturbed, sometimes for twenty years, harbouring expectoration, vomiting, the leakage of dogs and men, ale droppings, scraps of fish, and other abominations not fit to be mentioned. Whenever the weather changes a vapour is exhaled, which I consider very detrimental to health. I may add that England is not only everywhere surrounded by sea, but is, in many places, swampy and marshy, intersected by salt rivers, to say nothing of salt provisions, in which the common people take so much delight I am confident the island would be much more salubrious if the use of rushes were abandoned, and if the rooms were built in such a way as to be exposed to the sky on two or three sides, and all the windows so built as to be opened or closed at once, and so completely closed as not to admit the foul air through chinks; for as it is beneficial to health to admit the air, so it is equally beneficial at times to exclude it".

(I'm assuming "doors" is just a typo here, and should have been "floors.") Was he speaking of more common dwellings, instead of rich families who had the manpower to have the rushes at least changed quite regularly, if not replaced by much more practical woven mats that could be removed, shaken out and/or washed, allowing for the floor beneath to be cleaned?... not to mention solving the problem of "strewn rushes" being plowed through by trailing gowns, capes and cloaks?

But perhaps those lavish gowns and outer garments were rarely worn, for significant events and high social occasions only? Did even the most aristocratic ladies wear far more practical, floor-escaping dress in their day-to-day lives?

I've also wondered about dried rushes as flooring in castles where candles and lamps were the nighttime light sources, in combination with tapestries hung over the walls, curtained beds, etc... the stone floors and walls wouldn't have burned, but it seems like the inhabitants of those rooms would certainly have been at great risk.

And... of course, it doesn't take a modern mind to recognize that insects and vermin will quickly infest aging/moldy straw/rush debris. For poor people who spent every waking moment struggling to merely insure their basic survival, this is perhaps simply one of the many things that they didn't have the luxury to address, but what about the luckier few... what were their floors & rushes practices?

Also, I do understand we are talking about a period that spans centuries, and significant geographical and cultural differences - in a time when few were literate, so precise Best Practices manuals addressing something so mundane cannot be expected, but if you have more info, well... I'm oddly curious, and welcome any insights and/or links.

Poodle Attempts to Destroy Household Harmony! Barking and Peeing Popular Weapons!

amelioration — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:52:45 -0800

Help us de-neurose, de-jealous-ize my cranky canine please! I have a 3.5 year old male (neutered) standard poodle (see the muppety cuteness here). I also have a boyfriend of a year and a half (whose cuteness I am not authorized to share). The Poodle, he does not like the Boyfriend. Not one little bit.

It all started on our fourth date. Poodle went directly from "hey, you're a fun and interesting new visitor" to "oh god bad man hate hate hate." Poodle has never been aggressive, but whenever Boyfriend arrives at house Poodle initiates the following sequence: 1) Bark wildly, 2) Run and hide, while continuing to bark wildly, 3) Quiet down, but continue hiding, 4) Maybe, just maybe, be in the same room, but spend all time staring warily at the bad, bad man.

Poodle is very territorial, but doesn't have problems with people in general (or anyone else at all, specifically). Since the arrival of Boyfriend in our lives 1.5 years ago, he's gotten to be wary of tall men, but chills out once he realizes that that tall man isn't Boyfriend. He is crated during the day, and loves his crate -- it's clear he considers that a safe space, which I think is good.

This has been going on, as I said, for a year and a half. Boyfriend spent 2 to 4 nights a week here. Last week, we commenced cohabitating (in my, and Poodle's, house). In the past 24 hours, Poodle has begun doing some submissive peeing when Boyfriend gets too close. Y'know, like when Boyfriend's got the leash in hand and is offering to take Poodle for a walk.

We're searching desperately for any suggestions on how to mitigate this situation. Things that we have tried thus far include:
1. Bribery! Dogs love snacks, right? Well... not this one. Poodle would rather forgo the tasty bit of steak than get within 4 feet of Boyfriend.
2. Boyfriend has taken over feeding duties for Poodle. Occasionally augmented with a delicious drizzling of bacon grease on the kibble. This has been the case for the last week or so. No lessening of the ohmygodbadman attitude.
3. Ignoring Poodle. Maybe if we don't reinforce the behavior it'll go away? Ummmmm... no.
4. What I like to call "Corporal Cuddling." Essentially, I'll grab Poodle for some cuddles, Boyfriend will also rub on him. Poodle will enjoy the attention, but run, run, run like the wind as soon as he can.
5. Playing! Hooray for a dog's favorite toys! Oh, wait, no. Poodle will not behave playfully when Boyfriend is around. No way. Altogether too risky for a Poodle, clearly.
6. Walks! What kind of dog can't be won over with a walk? Boyfriend has started taking Poodle on some walks that are just the two of them. Poodle chills out a bit for a while, but the next time Boyfriend arrives home it tends to be back to normal. So...no progress yet, but this is still in it's early stages.

I love this dog, who is really a fantastically fun, sweet (though still somewhat neurotic) dog when Boyfriend isn't around. Boyfriend is awesome, and willing to try all sorts of things, even though this dog (unlike all other dogs he's encountered) has a real problem with him.

So, does anyone have any ideas of training/tricks/mesmerism we could try with Poodle? Any reassuring stories to share with me? We are far, far, far from giving up, but I certainly don't want Poodle to be this stressed out the rest of his life.

I feel the need to note that Boyfriend is a great guy, and all answers of the "Your dog is trying to tell you something that you can't sense and animals are totally able to see our souls and so DTMFA" will be roundly mocked around this house. Thank you for all practical advice.

Man-Skills 101

man down under — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:23:23 -0800

Help me man-up! Inspired by these questions, I would like some pointers about how to become a more capable, handy man. My Dad never taught me any real practical skills when it came to household maintenance so now I am a 26 year old married man that is always asking brothers-in-law for tools and small maintenance jobs to be done. I'd obviously like to man-up a bit and be able to get my own tools from my own tool box and fix my own damn door that won't close properly!

So my question is two-fold:

1) What tools will I be needing in my beginners toolbox and for what reason?

2) What basic maintenance skills should I know or pick up? Please provide links to online tutorials, YouTube clips, or just really thorough idiot proof instructions for for unblocking the toilet.

Thanks for the oncoming Father-Son chat, AskMeDad.

Flame on! Or not.

chengjih — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:45:01 -0800

One of the burners on the gas stove isn't lighting all the way. What should I do next? This stove has a central pilot light. For the burner in question, when I turn it on, the gas coming out of the little holes closest to the pilot light ignite, but the ones further away do not. If I gently blow on the burner while it's (partially) lit, this causes the gas coming out of the other holes to ignite properly, so this is not a problem with gas flow out of the other holes.

How do I get the burner to ignite completely, without having to blow on it?

How do we fix not having registered as a household employer?

carpographer — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 11:51:28 -0800

Last year, I hired someone to clean my house. I didn't do the correct registrations for US tax purposes. How do I make this right? Last year we hired someone to clean our house every couple of weeks. We wanted to comply with the law, so we did this above the table with the agreement that we would pay social security and medicare and such. We tracked all the payments to make sure this would happen.

What we missed was that we were supposed to register as an employer and employee in advance and file a W-2, and maybe other things. We didn't do this, though we did track all the payments to report them on our taxes. Now, doing the taxes, I realized this omission. How do we make this right? We are over the $1600 limit.

Any ideas? I won't take answers as legal advice, and am consulting an accountant tomorrow.

More Efficient Laundry System?

jacksides — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:08:54 -0800

How do you keep your laundry system running smoothly in a bi-level (or larger) house? I want to hear how others have set up hampers, etc or otherwise established a system to efficiently move clean and dirty clothes to and from the laundry room. Growing up, we had laundry chutes (one on each floor) that we used to send all of our dirty clothes down to the basement. It was a great system - clothes never piled up anywhere; it was so easy to just throw everything down (and the laundry fairy -- okay, my mom -- did laundry almost every day ... how she kept up with it, I'll never know...).

Now that we have a small family (1 year old + 3 year old + two parents) living in a bi-level townhouse, it seems like clothes pile up in corners constantly (especially upstairs). I've tried putting a hamper on the landing to create a centralized place for the dirty clothes upstairs, but that doesn't seem to be enough (plus, when we bring the full hamper down to the laundry room, it seems to sit down there for awhile ... which means clothes upstairs start piling up on the floor again ... aggggggggggh). When we do get the clothes clean, we tend to use the laundry room as our closets -- just grabbing what we need when we need it ... no one actually wants to put away an armful of hanging clothes or a whole laundry basket. Part of it is laziness, I'm sure, and part of it is that it just seems like I always have a baby on my hip, so having two free hands and a few minutes to go upstairs and put clothes back in my drawers is rare.

This seems simple enough, but I'm sure someone out there has a hack or two. I'd like to hear how other people have set up a productive laundry system -- from how/where you set up your dirty clothes repositories to how often you actually do your laundry. Are you on a schedule? Do you just do it when you run out of clothes? Do you return the clean clothes back upstairs immediately after washing them?

Towels should last x months.

backseatpilot — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:21:02 -0800

What's the typical usable life of common household items? I was thinking specifically about textiles when I was mulling this over - how often should one replace sheets, towels, pillows, etc? My question is more along the lines of, "At what point does a towel simply not dry you well enough to warrant getting rid of it?" rather than "How long will a towel last before it disintegrates?"

As I don't own my own home, I'm sure there are other household items that also need to be replaced on a regular or semi-regular basis - air filters? water heaters? windows? What about more mundane things like undergarments, sponges, dish rags, sneakers? Anything you could think of that is household-related, I'm interested in what its typical lifespan is.

Upgrade Me!

Balonious Assault — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:03:22 -0800

Can you suggest some replacements for standard, everyday household items that are far superior in terms of usefulness, luxuriousness and quality? A while back I got some Egyptian cotton bed linens with a ridiculously high thread count, and now I sleep like a baby and wonder how I ever got a full night's sleep on anything else. Another time I bought an expensive water-resistant fabric liner for my shower curtain, because I needed a liner and it was the only thing they had at the store. Now I'll never go back to the yucky vinyl liners. A few months ago my shower head broke, and I replaced it with a removable hand-held massaging shower wand, which has drastically improved the quality of my shower time.

What other upgrades should I consider? There are some excellent ideas in these threads but money isn't necessarily an object, nor am I really looking for new items to add to my collection of stuff. Just top quality upgrades for ordinary household items. The more specific, the better. Thanks!

Suggest kitchen cleaning products

grouse — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:53:11 -0800

Please suggest products that I should and should not use to clean different parts of the kitchen, such as a laminate counter top, stainless steel sink, or metal stove top. I am particularly interested in products that won't generate fumes that will send me out of the kitchen. I usually use Clorox Clean-Up on the counter, but the bleach fumes are such that I can't really hang out in the kitchen afterwards. I'd really like something that I could use while I am watching something on the stove and have a couple of free minutes. I'm not opposed to using something fume-generating as well after I'm done cooking if it will do a better job.

I know not to mix ammonia and bleach.

I would also appreciate general kitchen cleaning tips.

Bikes per household?

BeaverTerror — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:19:56 -0800

Bicycle per household statistics? I'm doing a presentation on bicycle commuting and I'm trying to find some North American bike ownership statistics. Help would be greatly appreciated.

What is the average number of bicycles owned by a North American household?

Seeking better dish-drying solution

dreamphone — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:47:38 -0800

We suddenly have a whole lot more dirty/clean/drying dishes by our sink. We have a small kitchen, and the pile is enduring and unsightly. Do you have a better method for drying a steady stream of dishes than leaving a big pile sitting out for most of the day? Now that I have a toddler, I find that the number of dishes sitting in our drainboard at any given time has doubled. This is the case mainly because:
- She eats small snacks throughout the day, constantly dirtying an array of drink cups, plates, spoons, etc. Because most of her plastic stuff can’t go through the dishwasher, I find myself rinsing them and setting them to dry in the drainboard.
- I’m now cooking more complete and homemade meals (with salad, side dishes, etc), the number of preparation materials (such as a bowl to make a salad dressing, the salad bowl to toss the salad, dinnerware for side dishes, etc) has multiplied.
- I use a lot of those gladware/tupperware containers to store leftover tidbits for my toddler – usually emptying anywhere from 4-7 a day and washing or rinsing them. Because the tupperware has a lip to make the seal, it creates a little channel where water gets trapped (therefore, these take a long time to dry). Shaking the containers and lids hard before placing them in the drain board minimizes drying time, but it still takes several hours for them to be ready to stack and store in the cupboard without becoming musty.

I empty the drainboard once in the am, and usually again before dinner, but this still means that from 9am-4pm and from 7pm-7am (that’s something like 19 hours in any given day?), the dish rack is stacked high with dishes, large bowls, cups, serving spoons, silverware, and the like.

A few other relevant details:
- I don’t usually leave dirty dishes next to or in the sink. I put dishes, when appropriate, directly into in the dishwasher.
- Because we try to minimize use of paper towels, I have a couple of dish towels on hand, which I change daily but are still often damp because I’ve used them to dry my hands, a countertop, and fruit/veggies after washing.

My husband has requested that I dry the dishes after use and put them away, and then store the dish rack under the sink. Although I’m willing to give that a try, it feels like a lot to just wash the dishes when they’re generated, and I’m afraid that having the dish rack under the sink will cause dishes to pile up in or next to the sink.

Any suggestions welcome – I’d specifically like to hear methods that work for you, whether it be a routine or a hardware solution (i.e., sliding dish rack in drawer under sink?).

What's the coolest thing I can buy for $200?

andreux — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:28:41 -0800

What's the coolest thing I can buy for $200? I have $200 to blow. What's the coolest gadget, camera, household item, computer accessory, service, software, etc. that I could buy?

I'll consider just about anything. I have an iPhone and an iMac if that helps.

Strange Electical Sounds

philmas — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:07:26 -0800

What is causing the strange metallic "clank" sounds that appear to be coming from one of the junction boxes on my ceiling? I live in a loft with high ceilings that had poor lighting and recently had some electrical work done. I had quite a bit of new conduit run, fixtures hung, and new switches installed. Towards the end of this project when I turned on one of the light switches, there was a loud metallic "clank" sound that seemed to come from one of the new junction boxes on the ceiling. Since then, the sound is completely random, although it is always associated with some new load to the electrical system, such as the AC unit coming on. Sometimes there won't be any sound for weeks, other times several times/day. It seems to be unconnected to how many or few electrical devices are on.

I asked the electrician when it first started what the sound was. He said he had never heard anything like it but would look into it. I asked him if the system was overloaded, if there was adequate amperage, etc. and he said that everything was fine in that regard. He is licensed. Unfortunately, I gave him his final payment before he sorted this issue out and I cannot get him to return to resolve this.

It is mostly a piece of mind thing. I want to know for sure what is causing it and correct the problem. None of the circuit-breakers have ever popped in my unit.

Is this the type of thing that an electrical trouble-shooter could sort out without huge expense?

Web-based chore tracker for multiple people

logic vs love — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:05:07 -0800

Are there any online goal or chore trackers that can be used by more than one person? I'm looking for a web-based app that allows my boyfriend and I to keep track of who does what when it comes to chores and various other goals. Joe's Goals would be perfect if it allowed multiple users to work together. I'd like something shiny and simple, instead of just a google spreadsheet, if at all possible.

How to overcome weird snags when I'm buying a house?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:14:00 -0800

Please help me with a weird house-buying situation caused by the mortgage crunch. My wife and I are first-time house buyers. We finally found a house we love, and we want to buy it. Apart from some old medical bills, we're in a "not bad credit, just no credit" situation, because we have a good income, and we don't have any credit cards but buy everything with cash. When we applied for a mortgage, we were rejected because the mortgage industry won't lend money to anyone who doesn't have really good credit right now.

The house was advertised several months ago (that's how long it took us to get the mortgage application together and get turned down) as having a rent-to-buy option, so our next thought was to move in, clean up our credit, rent to own, and try again for a mortgage in a year or so.

The de facto owner of the house is an immigrant man who thought he could make a living flipping houses in the US. He bought the house with the help of a friend (whose name is on the existing mortgage) and has sunk several tens of thousands of dollars into the house. Then the mortgage crunch hit. Now he's getting cold feet but is at the same time obviously desperate and doesn't know what to do. As far as I can make out, he's paying the $2300 monthly house payments with his credit card and sinking deeper into debt every month.

Now instead of the $1500 rent-to-own payment cited in the ad for this property, he's asked us for $2000 a month and $10,000 down. (The property is worth about $250,000.) The $10,000 is meant to cover the payments he's missed or had to pay with credit card. The $2000 or more per month is meant to cover his mortgage payments -- or not quite. He says he's not sure a rent-to-own situation is even feasible for him anymore.

I told him we could cover the mortgage payments he's put on his credit card and we could completely cover the $2300 monthly payments from now on if he would sign his mortgage over to us. He said he would let us move in if we did that, but he wanted to keep his name on the mortgage. This is when he told me how much money he had already sunk into the house, and how much he stood to lose by just signing over the mortgage. I certainly can't blame him.

I pointed out that he would continue to lose money anyway if he didn't do something, because we're the only people to have shown any interest in the house in many months. (There's the mortgage crunch and also the fact that the house is unassuming, even ugly, on the outside, but beautiful on the inside, with special features such as a second detached building that would be especially useful to us in our professions -- but I'm trying to keep this anonymous, so I'll leave it there.)

So here we are on opposite sides of a chasm caused by the mortgagequake of 2008. We can see his position and he can see ours. We want to buy the house and he wants to unload it. But how?

Thoughts I've had: Our credit rating has improved a little in the past few weeks because we've been working on it while we're going back and forth with the owner. Should we apply again for a smaller loan, just enough to buy the owner out of his mortgage, paying off the house payments he missed and what he's sunk into the house? Or should we try to convince him that the money is truly sunk, and the best thing he can do is to get the hell out? After all, he's trashing his credit (or his friend's) if he defaults on the mortgage.

I'm really lost here and don't know what my options are. I will say that we have been working with a sympathetic mortgage broker and a real estate agent, ditto. The latter says she can't help much with rent to own, except that she can look over the rental contract to make sure it's sound. Still, they know us and we can marshal their help if necessary. My wife also stands to inherit (IIRC) some tens of thousands of dollars some months in the future (she must wait for a family property to be sold). Apart from that, we have some $15,000 in savings, some of which must be used for moving expenses. We also have good brains and the power of Ask Metafilter, so... Go Team Metafilter!

p.s. If your answer is "Ditch this clown and buy another house!", please don't. This is the only house we've seen that we've both loved, and it would break my wife's heart not to be able to buy it.

Organization at home and at work

mintchip — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:52:50 -0800

Please help me with oganization of daily tasks at home and at work. I am an adult who has been diagnosed with a learning disability that affects organization. Because of my age at diagnosis, and the fact that I'm out of school, I seem to be on my own as far as figuring out how to best manage with this.

I usually get everything that I need to do done, but it seems that I put in a lot more effort than might be necessary. Just the ordinary tasks of daily life often feel overwhelming. My life is full of daily frustrations and annoyances about not working at peak efficiency because of stupid things like forgetting my wallet at home, not being able to find papers I need, taking messy notes and having to rewrite them, having bought multiples of things because I didn't realize I already had them, etc. I also straighten up my apartment on a daily basis, but there are always clothes everywhere and a sink full of dishes (how does this happen???)

I often find myself doing double or triple duty in order to keep on top of work projects, for example.

I'm wondering if there are any general (or specific) principles I can apply to simplifying my life and work routine? I'd be happy to provide more info if necessary. What about you super-organized folks? How do you manage things? Thanks!

Why is our water white?

minicloud — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:08:50 -0800

Why does the water from our kitchen sink come out white? It appears to be thousands of tiny air bubbles and they eventually clear up a few minutes after I pour a glass of water. But what causes this? I'm assuming its safe to drink because its just air (and this is what I tell all our weirded out guests) but really...why?

How much was that stuff worth?

nakedcodemonkey — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:11:37 -0800

How much was that stuff worth? I have to prepare a fairly precise net worth statement for Sept 93 on short notice. Most is easily pulled off old statements, but how do I come up with a solid fair market valuation for household/personal goods? It's peak tax season, so impossible to get an fast answer from an accountant. The only obvious calculator just throws validation errors. The place has been through several clutter purges and a couple buying sprees in the interim. Darned if I recall what was and wasn't here so long ago. What's a good method for estimating the value of household contents?

How to deal with good person who is a bad roommate

vegsister — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:55:46 -0800

I bought a house a few months ago, shortly thereafter asked a friend and former housemate to move in with me, and am now feeling almost constantly enraged by behaviors that didn't bother me so much when I didn't own the house we shared. In fairness to myself, I think some of the behaviors are genuinely unfortunate--but I need some advice on what are reasonable limitations and how to stop my own complete transformation into a raging, miserable Nazi. My roommate leaves unwashed dishes around, and seldom lifts a broom or takes out the trash or recycling. She leaves a space heater on almost constantly so she can wear tank tops inside in the winter, and the utilities--which I made the mistake of including in her monthly rent--have doubled. She brought home a new boyfriend a week after she'd moved in, and he was over 3-4 nights a week until she dumped him two weeks later and the next day brought home a new one. I didn't much like the first boyfriend, and certainly wasn't happy with sharing a roof with him so frequently. When I bought a house, I wasn't planning on sharing it with random 20-something guys I'd never met, who my roommate has no qualms about leaving in the house when she goes off to work (the boyfriends have been unemployed). I know a renter needs to be comfortable having guests and it's none of my business whom she dates, but I feel uncomfortable in my own house. Buying it was of course a major investment and no small emotional and financial feat, and in exchange for all that I feel I should at least be able to enjoy some sense of sanctuary and control.

On the plus side, my roommate loves and tolerates my dogs (now three of them) and my boyfriend (who is over 3-5 nights a week) and is almost unfailingly relaxed and friendly. I never had a talk with her about my expectations and comforts before she moved in; when we lived in a group house before she wasn't a serial dater and seemed to keep things clean. Also, now that the house is my own I feel more protective of it and my own expectations have risen.

From looking at my finances I think I can also afford not to have a roommate; my boyfriend also plans to move in this fall at which point I'd like to have the house to ourselves. My problem is that since my roommate is a friend and I really like her as a person--she is 10 years younger than me but in many ways I really enjoy her personality and who she is--I can't bring myself to raise any difficult issues with her. Since she never says anything awkward or uncomfortable to me, I can't seem to ask her to use the space heater less, do her dishes, or take out the trash. Not to mention say anything about the ever-changing flux of arrogant young guys.

I know I am within my rights as the property owner to say all these things, and to have her move out whenever I choose as long as I give her ample notice--I am simply wondering what is the decent way to do it. Are my concerns at all reasonable? What's a good way to raise them with a decent, kind, if very lazy, friend and roommate? Should I tell her as soon as possible that I'll want her to move out by the fall, so she doesn't get used to the idea of staying there for years? Should I take the passive aggressive way out and make it so uncomfortable for her to be there that she leaves on her own volition? Yikes!

Chewing gum stuck inside the dryer

prodevel — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:23:00 -0800

How do you get a good amount of chewing gum out of a clothes dryer most efficiently. I removed most of it w/a method that I thought was fairly thorough but was less than perfect to say the least. I ran a load of bedding through previous to my jeans and button-downs. Even so, I got a small amount of gum/discoloration on one of my shirts (of course the brand new one.) I'm just happy it was a $15 shirt and not a $60 dollar shirt. I digress. I suspect some parents have run into this before and I'm very curious as to their methods.

I say parents because I've not run into this problem since I was say, 17 and now I've a new roomate.... ;) Thanks a lot.

MOLD

beccaj — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:38:57 -0800

What are the real dangers of mold?? Our master bathroom with something leaking somewhere and it has damaged the wood floor under the vinyl. There is what i think is black mold on the ceiling (it grows). And I'm sure all under the floor is mold and prob behind the walls.
We've had it for sometime.
Partner isn't concerned but I am.
We have a newborn that co-sleeps right in our room.

I worry about EVERYTHING so I am used to putting my fears aside and trusting it's no big deal.

Any real evidence it's dangerous or can cause any real harm?

Here's the mail, it never fails, it makes me wanna wag my tail. When it comes I wanna wail: MAAAAIL!

Ambrosia Voyeur — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 10:23:28 -0800

How do you keep incoming mail neat, organized, and dealt with in a timely fashion? Is mail-opening best made one person's responsibility? How often is it done? What are the tools you use to keep the mail organized? Where is this task performed in in your house? Help me eliminate enormous piles of paper and envelopes!

Not clean, not yet dirty

bookish — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:33:45 -0800

I don't normally wash my clothes after each wearing. I'm lazy/cheap and I hate wastefulness. But I also don't like to fold them up and put them back in the drawer, because even a little smell or dust will negatively effect the surrounding clean clothes. Both my boyfriend and I do this, and we do not have a good place to put these limbo clothes in our apartment. Where/how do we store our not clean, not dirty clothes?