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deluxe-down-pillow- Linens N Things

The Best Way To Care For Bed Pillows

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Most of us are fastidious about changing bed linens, but pillows often fall by the wayside. Here’s how to keep them fresh.

deluxe-down-pillow- Linens N Things

HOME SCHOOL | Is there anything more ewww inspiring than a big perspiration stain on your bed pillow? Or knowing that in the time it took for the stain to materialize, entire nations of allergy-inducing dust mites have taken up residence inside the cushion where you lay your sweet head every night?

While most of us are fastidious about keeping sheets and pillowcases clean, pillows often fall by the wayside. Here’s what we know about keeping bed pillows fresh and in tiptop shape. Read more

Dirty Towels- 123rf

Yes, You Can Get Your Kids To Pick Up Their Dirty Towels

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How to get your messy kids to stop leaving soggy bath towels in a pile in their room.

Dirty Towels- 123rf

 

NAG LESS| Have you ever experienced Disappearing Towel Phenomenon? This occurrence is not to be confused with Disappearing Object Phenomenon, a documented paranormal event where random objects mysteriously disappear and then inexplicably turn up later. In the case of Disappearing Towel Phenomenon, the objects are neither random nor their whereabouts unknown. Parents of teenagers know precisely where to look for their vanished bath towels: in multiple, soggy piles on the floor in their offspring’s bedrooms. Read more

Eurow Microfiber Kitchen Towels

Finally, Attractive Microfiber Dishtowels

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These microfiber dishtowels look stylish in the way that linen ones do—and function superbly, too.

Eurow Microfiber Kitchen Towels

 

GET THIS | I can’t help but think that if for some mysterious reason Fog Linen Work, a Japanese company that produces an exquisite line of linen products coveted by design devotees everywhere, were to suddenly go rogue and use microfiber rather than Lithuanian linen to make their kitchen towels, they might make a waffle-weave product like the one pictured here from the American company Eurow & O’Reilly. “Yes, aren’t these towels awesome,” my designer friend Margo concurred when I enthused about how attractive and effective hers were as we stood hand-drying dishes after dinner at her place awhile back. Read more

Schmutz Haken Broom

Pusher Broom Love: Meet The Schmutz

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Swept away by a funny looking broom with the funny sounding name Schmutz Haken. (VIDEO)

Schmutz Haken Broom

 

BUY RIGHT | When it comes to sweeping indoors, I prefer an angled broom with a dirt-catching split-fibre tip that can wiggle into corners (Vileda makes a good one). Outdoors, I want a broad brush that can cover more ground and sweep away heavy debris so I always go for a pusher, though I had no idea how inefficient most push brooms are until I tried a Schmutz Haken, the silly looking sweeper pictured here. Read more

Water running down the drain.

Sink Clogged? Try The Drain-o Volcano

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Here’s how to clear clogged drains without commercial drain cleaners. It’s simple science, really.

Drano-Volcano-Sample-select

CREATIVE SOLUTION | Try as I might, I can’t seem to keep hair out of the bathroom drain, where it diabolically wraps itself around greasy soap residue to form stubborn, icky clogs. Since I dislike using harsh (and expensive) drain cleaners, I tackle drains first with a simple kettle full of boiling water,* hoping to dissolve the hairy sludge. But when hot water doesn’t dislodge the muck, I revisit my seventh grade science project—The Erupting Volcano.

Read more

GOOP turkish-t-for-goop

Hamam Or Huckaback: The Linen Towel Option

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Fed up with soaring energy bills? These stylish well-priced alternatives to triple-thick bath sheets could lead to savings.

GOOP turkish-t-for-goop

 

SHOPPING AROUND | Leave it to sophisticated Europeans to promote a stylish/ecofriendly way to dry your body after bathing. Flip through any of their high-style décor magazines and you’ll run into references to both linen and flat cotton towels, which are a true and viable alternative to those triple-thick terrycloth bath sheets we North Americans appear to prize—a choice that has our dryers set on overtime and our energy bills on the rise. Read more

Cleaning products-Shutterstock

These Three Inexpensive Cleaning Products Perform Miracles

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What we know for sure is that these three ordinary household cleaning products really can perform miracles.

Cleaning products-Shutterstock

 

BUY RIGHT | Supermarkets everywhere contain aisles full complex and sexy (the Method brand comes to mind) home and laundry products all claiming maximum cleaning efficiency. Would that everything their manufacturers said about them were true. Then again, there isn’t much any of these companies could say about their liquids and powders that would sway us away from our arsenal of basic, inexpensive household cleaners. Why make a switch when every one of them is a miracle worker—every time out.—Team Frugalbits Read more

Barbara Barry Bedding

Bed Making 101: Fold “Hotel Corners” Right

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Contemporary bed making requires a skill practiced by the military and hospital and hotel staff. Here’s how to do it right the right way.

Barbara Barry Bedding

 

DO IT RIGHT | The wedding cake bed—you know, the ultrafeminine one (pictured here) with a frothy meringue of duvet, pleated bed skirt and rows of European shams racked up against the headboard—may not be passé, but it is not what’s currently hot in bedding. What’s in fashion in bedding right now is a tailored, masculine effect, characterized by lean, clean lines and multiple layers of fitted sheets and flat covers drawn in tight to the bed frame. Read more

Make Artisan Bread In Under 10 Minutes

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You, your partner, your six-year-old kid: anyone can make sensational artisan bread with under 10 minutes of labour.

 

EASY BAKE | I’m not an accomplished cook. I can produce a nice meal and make complicated dishes when I need to, though I prefer to leave the culinary wizardry to my friends born with chef’s knifes in their mouths. Quick and easy are my things (along with tasty and attractive), so I was shocked when a good friend suggested I make my own bread. I’d been going on about how my family was plowing through Terra Breads’ pain de campagne to the tune of $10 to $15 dollars a week when she popped the suggestion.

“You’ve got to be joking,” I said. “Making bread is an art that takes years to perfect. I thought you knew me.” Read more

Distilled White Vinegar - C. Phaisalakani

Ordinary & Amazing: Vinegar Cleans Up Good

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When it comes to certain kinds of cleaning jobs, distilled white vinegar really is the liquid miracle it’s touted to be.

Distilled White Vinegar - C. Phaisalakani

 

THIS STUFF WORKS | What is it about ordinary distilled white vinegar that encourages list making? Google “vinegar” and you’ll see what I mean. Here are a few of the crazy numbers vinegar lovers throw around in their effort to woo you to their website:  “74 Little Known Uses For Vinegar,” “1001 Things To Do With Vinegar” and, I kid you not, “A Billion Bitchen Things To Do With Vinegar.” Read more