Hi all :) Sithy, 20, thirdyear archaeology student specialising in all things dead, proud rat owner and together with a childfree guy. Thaily pointed me out to this comm. I'm a big fan of 'domestic' communities but I often find them a bit too child centered for my tastes. I asked the following question in another community and though I got some great and very helpful answers, I also got a few 'well I have a child, so..' which irked me a little. (And a few that didn't.)

Without rambling on..I have a big issue with time management. Archaeologic fieldwork leaves little to no time in your day: you leave at 6 AM and get back at 6 PM. Even without fieldwork I spend a lot of time on reports and regular uni work such as translating Hieroglyphs, reading about ancient Germanics and so on. This all takes a lot of time, but it's time I'll gladly spend. My problem is that all the little things I should do around my house pile up. I keep up with:

- cleaning the rat cage
- vacuuming around the rat cage
- Meal plans to avoid daily trips to the grocery store -and- to save money
- Dishes/kitchen (I clean after cooking, I love love cooking so that has never been an issue)
- Laundry

But a lot of stuff just gets..left behind. I got tips such as 'set up a routine' but...where do I even start? I'd love to be one of those super organised people that has everything in one place, but I'm having a hard time doing it alongside my work. I've been advised to take 15 minutes out of each day to do a specific task. Now what are the tasks around the house that you find easy and quick to do? What should I do at least once a week? I'd love to have a more organised desk for example, but stuff always seems to fly around there while I work...

Perfect Lentil Soup


Ingredients
1 cup dried lentils (picked through for rocks)
8 Cups water
1 smoked Pig Knuckle
2 tbs Sriracha Chili Paste
1 (8oz) can Tomato Sauce
2 clove garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, minced
¼ cup Pancetta, diced (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions
In a large saucepan add water, pig knuckle, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, and chili paste. Bring to rolling boil. Lower heat to simmer, add lentils.
Simmer 40-50 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add Pancetta and simmer for 10 more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Remove pig knuckle before serving.

I'm sure this would be easy to modify to Vegetarian by omitting the pig knuckle and Pancetta. I would use a good veggie broth instead of all or part of the water.

The Sriracha really gives it a great spicy kick.

My partner and I are moving into a new apartment, which is lovely in many ways but does have one downside - the ceilings are not smooth, they have a heavy stucco texture to them. The management company said something dire about not harming them in any way as they're difficult to repair (? - not sure on this but I can believe it).
 
I know that I can suspend hanging plants from walls, but what about mobiles? (Very lightweight, if it matters). Is there ANY way to harmlessly attach things to a stucco ceiling, or are we out of luck?

I've been doing a lot of sewing lately and have a lot of fabric scraps - much too small to do anything with other than...idk....shred and use as pillow stuffing possibly?

Some natural fibers some not.

I don't want to just chuck them into the trash where they will eventually end up in a landfill. 

Any idea what I can do with these? can fabric be ... composted?

Thanks in advance...

 I decided to make a dry-erase board with a regular frame (it's approximately 2x3) because I read that dry erase markers work on glass as well.  I papered the inside part with a cream colored confetti paper so I could see what I was to write clearly.  I was about to put it all together and nail it up - and then I realized the glass part isn't glass - it's plastic.  No matter, right?  Wrong.  I had tried the dry erase marker and it worked fine, so I set it all up and wrote some things, but the next day when I went to erase something, the words wouldn't budge.  I tried scrubbing with a regular cleaner and the regular eraser thing but I can't get the words off.  I'd rather this not be an effort wasted because I really like the way this looks, so does anyone know how to get marker off plastic?  (Scrubbing with the eraser actually did more than the cleaner, but only removed a top layer.  The cleaner did nothing, basically.)  Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

Anybody know how to get those annoying white deodorant stains out of black shirts?

Does anyone know how to keep them clear?
I'm scraping paint off the ceiling in my hallway and they keep fogging over :/

What's the best way to get wax out of a glass votive holder?

Hello! I found this community through mutual interests, and I'm excited to read through it. I also started a new community recently - 👁 Image
ourlovelyhomes - and would like to invite everyone to post pics of your homes, design projects, and landscaping ideas! I cannot wait to get some ideas for my home. I've already done some remodeling, but have a lot of work left to do!

I just painted my 'office' (a bedroom in my house where I keep my computer)

Previously I had a collection of postcards, business cards and photographs taped to the wall.    I'd like to put them all back up... but I don't want to damage the paint.

I was thinking to use maybe stick-tac - "putty adhesive" but the package says not to use it on a freshly painted wall. 

How long is it considered freshly painted? After it is safe to use - will it leave a grease spot on the wall? 

Any other suggestions?

Oy. So I have two puppies who have caused the grout in my tile floors to become quite gross. I have someone coming to look at my house tonight (I'm moving) and I tried using some kind grout cleaner stuff. I sprayed it on the whole entire kitchen, and turns out it didn't work and I'm out of time to delicately clean every square inch of my floor.

Now the puppies are coming back from the kennel and I'm trying to get this stuff off my floor before they get here. Any hints? Right now I'm mopping and just rinsing the mop off in the sink, but so far it's just getting soapier and soapier.

Next time I'm just sticking with the steam cleaner...

I've been cleaning all day and now my hands are all dry and icky :/

The end's not nearly in sight either so I was hoping if anyone had any advice on relieving "dishwater hands" because I'm going to have a lot of them in the near future.
Please remember I'm not in the US so I can't exactly nip by Wallmart or anything.

See... this is one of the reasons why I'm childfree. I have a housemate with all the conflict resolution skills of a fucking NINE YEAR OLD and I cannot handle it. If I had an actual nine-year-old about, I'd go batshit. If anyone's got any ideas on how to handle a housemate whose idea of solving conflict is to go running to the landlord, I'd appreciate it.

If not, here's a few more questions--

Tinfoil on the things under stove coils: unspeakably chavtastic or a more practical alternative to periodic soaking and scouring?

Dust that appears to have molecularly bonded itself to horizontal blinds: lost cause or a call to arms and elbow grease?

Apples: A replacement for caffiene or wishful thinking?

Thank you.

This post brought to you by the letter Q and the adjustment phase of Topamax which has gone and made my Dew taste all funny. ;_;

You guys still/already cleaning?

I'm not sure if you were supposed to clean before or during spring, but either way I'm still going at it. I gave away two boxes and a trash bag full of good stuff to a thrift store and I've thrown about 8 bags worth of crap from the bedroom alone, which I'll need to repaint and wallpaper etc. after I'm done.

My CFBF is skeptical I'll be able to clean and sand the floorboards down after we've pulled up the carpet (which was glued directly on to the boards, well done former owners) but I'm pretty sure I can get it off with some rough sandpaper and elbow grease.
Nevertheless, if anyone has additional hints I'd be much obliged.

How do I know I'd make a TERRIBLE parent? Well, one of the bazillion ways is that I've had my puppy since last April, and she's STILL not potty trained. Gross - I know.

But anyways, my boyfriend and I decided it was finally time to put our foot down, and the potty training is actually going remarkably well.

In the meantime, puppy has managed to pee ALL OVER our tile floor. And we're going to have to sell our place soon. The tile itself is easy to clean, but the grout in between? Not so much.

Fortunately - my EuroPro Steam Cleaner came to the rescue this weekend! My puppy is finally potty trained enough for me to start doing some thorough floor cleaning. I've been a scrubbing and a dubbing at the grout (that's what it's called, right? the stuff between the tiles) with the I-don't-know-what-kind-of-metal brush attachment, and it's working like a charm! It's not damaging the grout itself, or using dangerous chemicals that could harm my puppy, and/or sensitive sniffer. It takes a little elbow grease, but hey - I've been meaning to start working out more anyways, and my floors are seriously looking good as new. Hooray!

Hi, everyone. I just joined, and I hate seeing LJ communities sit quiet with no posts, so here's a survey, just for fun.



And, if you would like to comment, what do you do with your extra rooms? Guest room? Craft rooms? Library?

I didn't get any submissions so I made one from an image by Anne Taintor.

I'm sure you all know her from lovely images such as these;
👁 .
👁 .
👁 .

Hi, I've got a house full of lovely wood flooring, but keeping it clean and shiny is a constant battle. We've got a big dog, two cats and general wear and tear. I'm looking for a cleaner and/or cleaning method that works well to get the floor really clean and shiny, without damaging the wood or leaving it so oiled up it become slippery.

Hiii, a new community [how exciting]! I'm Ash. I'm pretty sure I spotted a few people on the userinfo that are on my friendslist so I will only post it here and not in my journal to save you the reading.

( It's not a huge problem but I'd like it to be fixed...Collapse )

First of all; spring cleaning.
Who still does it? I know my grandmother used to, my mother less so, do any of you still do it? O_o
If you or your (grand)parents did/do it, what did it entail exactly?

Second of all, I'm welcoming suggestions for relevant communities to link to. They don't have to be childfree, but if they're relevant to the householding topic, please feel free to share.

Also, we need an icon.
If I get multiple submissions we'll take a vote on which becomes the comm's main icon.