10/18/11

When you get a nasty stain on your clothes from food or grease, you probably spot-treat it with detergent and toss it into the washing machine. Sometimes it works, but often it doesn't. The reason? The laundry detergent needs time to penetrate the stain and break it up. Next time, spot-treat the stain and rub in the detergent, letting it sit for 15 minutes. Then wash your garment. It should be spot-free.

10/17/11

The automatic dishwasher can be far more water and energy efficient than washing by hand. But if your dishwasher isn't quite getting the dishes clean enough, it may be one simple problem: The detergent door is stuck. Make sure you don't pack the dishwasher so tightly that it jams the detergent door. If the door can't open completely, the detergent won't dissolve properly and won't clean your pots, pans and dishes.

10/16/11

Used cooking oil can be a problem for home cooks: You can't pour the oil down the drain without clogging it, and tossing it in the trash may mean endless wads of soaked paper towels. Here's one way to reuse oil: toss it on pesky weeds. Pouring the oil in areas where weeds proliferate will not only kill them, but prevent them from coming back.