Easy and unexpected ways to clean and maintain your home and belongings.

Skunk

Skunk Got The Pooch? Here’s What To Do

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It’s that time of year, when spray-happy juvenile skunks wreak havoc on pooches everywhere. Here’s our popular recipe to get rid of the stink.

SkunkBE PREPARED | Sometimes it’s impossible to determine the genesis of an urban myth, but there is good reason to believe that David Cassidy and the rest of the Partridge Family clan either started or fanned the flame of fallacy by suggesting tomato juice removes skunk scent from dogs. The truth is it doesn’t, though it might temporarily mask the odour. In a now famous 1970 television episode, the family dog, Simone, and all the kids wound up bathing in gallons of the red stuff after a run-in with a certain Pepe Le Pew. Eeeew.

With skunk season now in full force and the air filled with the scent so familiar to Metro Vancouverites, Frugalbits decided to put together what we call a (pre)-Catastrophe Kit. The ingredients are small (and inexpensive) and the instructions are few, but preparing a deskunking kit in advance will save you time and stress should an altercation ensue. Read more

James Perce Long Sleeve White Tee

No Sweat (Marks)! How To Remove Them

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It’s the bane of white tee shirt lovers everywhere—fabric discolouration due to perspiration. Frugalbits asked an international expert how to remove this pesky stain—and he told us what to do.

James Perce Long Sleeve White Tee

 

DO IT YOURSELF | Many general stain removal charts do not even include underarm perspiration as a category. Google “how to remove perspiration/ deodorant stains from clothing” and you’ll find a confusing number of disparate solutions. If there’s a rule of thumb for dealing with this universal problem, who could rightfully claim to know what it is: Martha Stewart; Linda Cobb, the self-proclaimed Queen of Clean; Heloise? Learned as these ladies are, they are home-keeping generalists, not laundry stain specialists. For the definitive answer, Frugalbits asked a leading light in the stain removal industry. Read more

Dryel Home Dry Cleaning - Casey Phaisalakani

Why Not Give Home Dry Cleaning A Shot

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If you’ve never tried it before, why not give home dry cleaning a shot.

Dryel Home Dry Cleaning - Casey PhaisalakaniDO IT YOURSELF | So this is what it feels like to be taken to the cleaners. For the tidy sum of $17.25, I had a beloved blouse ruined by the professionals. It came home from the dry cleaners with an unusually strong chemical smell that no amount of airing out seemed to diminish—it was enough to finally make me try a home dry cleaning product. Read more

Clothes line with colourful pegs

Why You Need A Clothesline In Your Life

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Save your clothes, cash and the environment with an indoor or outdoor clothesline.

Clothes line with colourful pegsWhat is it with us? We can’t wait to air our dirty laundry in public but scorn hanging clean laundry outdoors to dry. Years ago I lived in the heart of Montreal’s Latin Quarter yet had a clothesline running from my back balcony to a post on the lane—and so did everyone else. Here in Vancouver, I can’t remember the last time I saw laundry flapping in the wind. A 2007 StatsCan Environment Survey shows the percentage of B.C. residents drying clothes on a line or rack at just 54 percent; in P.E.I. it was 75 percent. Read more