This column will be a bit different from my usual rants. As summer may have finally arrived, I want to share some things that work for me around the home.
Maybe they might be useful for you.
First is my little notebook - hard cover - to record the millions of things you need to remember about house repairs and facts.
Say goodbye to those loose scraps of papers on which you have been scribbling down information.
The book I use has pages half the normal size. I number each page. The first several pages are a table of contents - three per page - for the various rooms/areas in our home.
In the rest of the book I make notes of what happens as time goes on - the specs of the paint I used for the trim around the kitchen door two years ago, when we last painted the north side of our house, with what paint and from which store.
I jot down what was done when the electrician was called in to fix a circuit that wasn't working, how I got rid of the squirrels in our attic, when the furnace was last serviced and what was done, etc.
In the front of the book under the appropriate heading I place a single line title and the page number on which the note is recorded. A few years later, it becomes a valuable tool to help me remember how old the hot water tanks is, who did the gutter repairs and so forth.
Another notebook I use is for recording the myriad of issues with my computers. I seem to have problems that no one else has and so I am on the phone/email for help from time to time, especially when upgrading software.
Who can remember the toll-free number to get help? Sometimes I am told to do "thus and so." Can you remember that three weeks later? I can't, so I copy down the instructions, read it back and then I can refer to them weeks and months later.
If I get a 25-digit code, it's recorded in that book for future reference.
I cut our lawn with an electric lawn mower and trim bushes with an electric hedge trimmer. That means 150 feet of extension cords. Rather than a gaggle of wires, I use an old hose caddy on which to wind up the cords. My hose caddy comes with wheels so I can pull the cords to wherever I'm working.
This spring I had to again clean the outside decks. I don't use a high-pressure hose as that destroys wood and brick by making the surfaces quite rough and porous. Instead, I use environmentally friendly detergent, a scrub brush on a long handle and a secret weapon.
The weapon is as an old floor polisher - the kind your grandma used way back. They can be found at thrift shops for next to nothing. They dramatically reduce the hand scrubbing needed.
I hope one of these ideas will work for you.
