I’m not a fan of rainy, cold days. To avoid the dreariness, I hunker down inside, either with a book or surfing the ‘net. Sure, I could mop the floor or rearrange the pantry, but the computer is too tempting and I’m too weak.
One of my favorite surfing stops is power washing videos. From driveways to tractors to old rugs, power washing videos are satisfying entertainment because you can see the actual change from filthy to clean in a matter of minutes.
Maybe that explains why I like watching Julian Baumgartner restore damaged paintings. Julian takes old, damaged paintings and painstakingly removes the grime, dirt and varnish to restore the painting to its original vibrancy.
As a bonus, you can watch the conservator work without the sound on if you’re on a boring Zoom meeting.
Cleaning videos are also right up there on icky days. There’s often some good ideas, but I draw the line at the people who steam clean their ovens or pull out appliances to clean the floor under them. Also in the “no-way” column are people who use power tools to remove lime scale from shower walls.
The videos I enjoy are the ones where someone takes a messy room – much like mine – and demonstrates how to tidy up and clean with the least amount of effort. They’ve taught me how to use every-day items in creative ways.
Dawn dishwashing liquid can be used on everything from rehabilitating ducks to removing dirt from bathtubs. Dishwasher tablets are quite effective if you want to remove baked-on gunk from oven doors, remove built-up dirt from the inside of the washing machine or have sparkling clean toilets.
Who knew?
As great as YouTube is, there are still fabulous tips our parents and grandparents taught us back in the day.
My grandmother taught me that baking soda has universal uses. When my eldest son was an infant, he suffered from colic. Grandma Marguerite was visiting one afternoon and noticed his distress.
She told me to get a teaspoon, a small glass of water and the baking soda. She mixed some baking soda in the water and gave the baby a few teaspoons of the mixture. Nick must’ve burped for a full minute. After that, the baby was relieved, calm and happy.
My Lebanese grandmother was thrifty. She washed out plastic bags and used those to store extra raw hamburger meat.
She taught us to wash the rice before cooking to remove some of the starch and to use our hands to mix salads to evenly distribute the salad dressing. No need for specialty spoons and forks.
My Aunt Bev wasn’t a fan of cooking, but she had a few tips she passed on. One was to fill the sink with hot, soapy water before I started cooking. Whenever I used a measuring cup, spoon or plate, drop it in the water to make clean-up quicker and easier.
Aunt Bev was also a master shopper, and she taught me how to spot name-brand labels in thrift store clothing.
Our mom taught us how to take leftovers and items in the pantry and create a meal in less than 20 minutes. The writers of “Stone Soup” were amateurs compared to our mom.
My dad taught us that black electrical tape can fix anything. Brother Jeff remembers Dad “repaired” a rip in our tan ottoman with the black tape and “fixed” the ceiling fan with the black tape but left the wires wrapped in tape dangling out of the fan.
Dad’s best use for black electrical tape was to keep his toupee on when he ran out of toupee double-sided tape.
You’ll never see that trick on YouTube.
These new cleaning hacks are great, but nothing beats old-fashioned wisdom.
This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.