How dirty is your microwave? Does it have the remnants of last night’s (or last week’s!) lasagna splattered all over the door and turntable?

Does it smell funny from the pancake you burned accidentally two days ago (whoops!)?

Here’s a really quick and HANDS OFF way to clean your microwave that really works. I know this, because I literally just did this ten minutes ago and was so thrilled with the results that I ran to the site to post it.

As anyone who reads this site regularly knows, I like to do things “automatically”…..duh. So when I opened the microwave to warm up some water for tea this afternoon, I decided I would take a few minutes to let the microwave clean itself. Yep, I barely did a thing!

 - You’ll need a microwave-safe bowl (I used a glass Pyrex medium-sized mixing bowl), water and a splash of regular white vinegar. Fill the bowl about half-way with water( or about 2.5 cups of water) and about three to four tablespoons of white vinegar.

- Microwave the bowl of water and vinegar on HIGH for about 10 minutes. Kick back, relax…check your email. Come back right after it’s finished (don’t wait too long after the microwave turns off) with some paper towels and start wiping down the inside of the door and sides. You’ll find those areas will come clean the easiest.

- If you’d like, and I did this myself, dip the paper towel in the bowl of hot water and vinegar to use it for extra scrubbing. Be VERY CAREFUL though as the water is literally boiling hot. Just dip a corner and use it for the extra grimy spots.

If it doesn’t work the first time or if you have some really baked on stuff, just go through the process again until it’s clean. YOUR total investment of time is minimal since all you’re doing is cleaning up for a minute or so after the microwave does most of the work, so running through the process a couple of times isn’t a big deal in my opinion.

Not only does it clean the surfaces, but it helps to deodorize as well….burnt pancake smell….all but gone!

I mentioned in an earlier post, MUCH earlier, that I was on the hunt for a dishwasher and I compared the cost of “time” to the cost of the dishwasher itself. Sometimes, when you have to make up for a machine’s inefficiency and you lose time doing so, it just makes simple sense to replace the machine and regain your time.

Well, I’d love to say that I followed through on my own advice way back when, but…I didn’t. Life, as it were, got in the way and we never replaced the dishwasher. Now I’m finding myself in an even worse situation because it works even more horrendously than it did before, even after a good cleaning and maintenance. Sixteen years, this little workhorse did it’s job, but I’m afraid it’s time to put it out to pasture.

So the 2010 Dishwasher Hunt is on! Coupled with some stimulus money in Minnesota as part of their “Cash for Clunkers” program for appliances, we hope to get a good deal and get a dishwasher that can keep up with us!

We’re looking for:

* Energy Star Rated: we want to save energy AND money!

* Better capacity than we have now…enough room for big pots and pans, but also able to handle little stuff like sippy cups.

* QUIET…we really need for the dishwasher to be quiet since our kitchen is right next to our family room.

* Some sort of way of keeping our two year-old out of it! The lever alone doesn’t work…he’s mechanical!

* A way to really sanitize our dishes, especially the things our son uses. It seems like our current dishwasher gets hot, but not REALLY hot.

* Some sort of mechanism that pulls the grit out and away from the dishes rather than sloshing it all around. A grinding and filter mechanism would be great!

Our dilemma: We have white appliances now…OLD, white appliances. We’d like to upgrade, but we’re stumped. Do we add one mismatched stainless steel appliance to our kitchen with the HOPE of upgrading them all at some point, or do we go with white again? It’s a tough decision. What if we sell our house before we have all of the stainless steel? That’s a tough one!

So the 2010 Dishwasher Hunt is on….your opinions and recommendations?

Wow! I just did the “math” on what it really costs to use that new Bounce Dryer Bar. To be fair, I have never used it and never purchased it so this isn’t a review on it’s efficacy. I have no idea if it really works, so don’t take this as a “review” per se but more as an alert to how sometimes, even something efficient that saves time might not be worth the money.

In this week’s Kmart circular, there is mention of a 44-use Bounce Dryer Bar at a price of $5.49. Right next to it is mention of a box of Bounce dryer sheets, 120 count for $5.49 as well.

If one can get 44 uses out of the dryer bar, that means that per use, the cost is 0.127 cents. By contrast, the cost per sheet of dryer sheets is 0.045 cents. If I were to compare the dryer bar in the same terms as the sheets, that would mean that it would be the equivalent of paying a whopping $15.24 for a 120-ct box of dryer sheets!

Um, no thanks.

In fact, I wouldn’t even spend the $5.49 they want for the sheets! THAT’S too much too in my opinion and I never pay that much.

I’m all for things that take out a step or making something more dummy-proof. Goodness knows there are days I need a little help like that. But this is just not something that seems worth it to me at all! Not to mention that the 44-use dryer bar is touted as a “Two Month” bar.  That would mean that it would only truly last 60 days if you did less than one load a day. I do two loads a DAY and it’s just me, my husband and our son. When you consider towels, sheets, blankets, throw rugs, shower curtains, hand towels, dish towels, dog beds, high-chair covers, etc. you can see how even two loads a day is being conservative.

I know some people love this thing, but I just don’t see how the price is justified. I went to the Bounce website to see what else I could find out about it and the opinions are definitely mixed. In fact, here is one person’s opinion about it…boy, not happy! Damage to her dryer! I have to say, even before reading that I wondered whether attaching something with adhesive to a burning hot appliance was a good idea. I had qualms about even trying it even if I could get my money back as per their money back guarantee.

But my main point is that you have to be careful about conveniences…even things that realistically *could* save you a bit of time. I just don’t happen to think the Bounce Dryer Bar is one of those conveniences for which I’m willing to part with so much cash.

In an effort to declutter our home and get ready for a move, I’ve been trying to find places willing to either buy used items or accept them as donations.

One thing that has really accumulated in our home that I have tried desperately to get rid of over the years are old books. We have used textbooks (I recently finished a degree so I have some stray books that were never sold back to the bookstore) and books that I accumulated from a used bookstore and a store that went out of business. I tried Amazon’s service that allows you to sell books to other users, but some of the titles weren’t purchased. When you list a book on Amazon, you name your price and hope someone buys it. No luck.

But I recently discovered a site that will simply name the price they are willing to pay…no messing around! While the amounts for some of these books weren’t extraordinarily high, they were better than nothing and allowed me to get rid of the books easily and get cash via PayPal in days! They even pay the shipping costs!

The site I’m using for my book decluttering project is Cash4Books and it’s super-simple to use! Just flip the book over and type in the ISBN number and the site instantly searches for the title and gives you a quote! You enter all of your ISBN’s in, and the page automatically updates the page with a running total of what they will pay you. It’s a really slick site and accomplishes my goal of decluttering in just minutes rather than storing the books forever hoping to get an extra buck or two later.

You know I like things that solve my problems, help me accomplish my goals and are fast. Cash4Books definitely meets all of my requirements! Goodbye books, hello closet space!

Technorati Tags: used books, sell used books, sell used books online, declutter, organizing, organizing tips

Ok, AutomaticMoms…..here’s the deal: Anyone with kids, pets, husbands (ha ha) knows how important it is to have a decent stain remover in the house.

I have tried literally EVERY stain remover made in the past five years trying to find one that works consistently on as many different types of stains as possible. If you have done the same thing, you search is officially over!

After using this exlusively for a year on every stain you can imagine (including baby poop recently) I can officially endorse a stain remover and give it the “AutomaticMoms.Com Seal of Approval”.

And the winner is…..Spray and Wash Dual Power Laundry Stain Remover!

This stuff seriously works! It is actually comprised of two chambers with two different ingredients that mix mid-stream while you are squeezing it onto a stain. You apply it to the stain and then pop it into the washing machine…..no rubbing or scrubbing. It foams up to show you its working and then in less than 5 minutes it’s ready to be dropped into the washer.

I usually start the washing machine so that it has a little head start and then fill it with like-colored clothing. Then I apply the Spray and Wash Dual Power to the stained item and then lay it on top of the other clothes in the washer (away from the water filling area) so that it has some time to work while the washer fills up.

One caveat….you don’t want to put it on something and then forget about it….it’s a tough stain remover and WILL cause damage to some colored items. That’s why I always have the washer started and ready to go so I can drop it in immediately, close the lid and walk away knowing that I didn’t forget about it on the counter or something.

It is reasonably priced, often on sale somewhere, and there are periodically coupons available as well. In fact, as of today at their website, there are coupons although not for this specific product at this time. But a quick registration form will notify you of new coupons as they become available.
Their site is at Spray and Wash…..

Here’s another tip…if you have clothes with sweaty stains or residual smell (think your husband’s lawn mowing t-shirt in the summer!) this works great. Even if you can’t see a stain and just the yucky smell, if you turn the shirt inside-out and put a little on that area, it will work great!

Also, if you just want to boost the cleaning power of your current detergent, you can squeeze a little into the water as the washer fills up before you put in the clothes. It also smells great, which is a little bonus.

I’m all about finding things that work right the first time…after all, that saves time and gets you back to doing what you really want to be doing, and Spray and Wash Dual Power fits the bill!

Technorati Tags: laundry, laundry tips, cleaning tips, cleaning products, cleaning product reviews, product reviews, stain removal, stain removal tips, stain removal products