Dryer Sheets

I was definitely a hoarder in my past life. Like without a doubt, I needed an intervention. I'm sure I only hoarded the finest things though, like avocados, diamonds and silver spray paint. That's the life!

I love to repurpose things. Anything that has potential for another use, really. 

Exhibit A: dryer sheets

I use two in each load of laundry, which means by the end of the week, I have quite a few sheets to throw out.  But not before I use them for other purposes.  This is the certified pre-owned of home care, if you will.  Isn't the term "used" so ugly?

1.  Baseboards -- I've already shared my trick for cleaning baseboards.  And I still do this often.  As in, at least once a week.  Just run the sheets over the baseboards to quickly freshen up.  Literally one sweet and you're done! 

2. General dusting -- Dryer sheets attract dust like nobody's business.  And really, my dust situation isn't anybody's business.  So it's a good match.  I use dryer sheets to dust many a surface from furniture to picture frames to candles.  Have you ever noticed how dusty candles can get if left untouched?  One swipe of a dryer sheet and you're set!

3. Mirror cleaning -- I have an issue with fingerprints on our bathroom mirror. We are lucky to have three very large mirrors covering our vanity cabinets which means they get a lot of action.  As in - which cabinet did I leave the Le Mer in?  I will open each one until I find it. Totally kidding, this is not a problem I currently have. Although I would love to have the problem of misplaced luxury skin products, Le Mer is currently not in my skincare regimen. Back to the important things!  After cleaning a mirror, I occasionally noticed pieces of the towel I used to dry the glass would appear on the mirror. Even, at times, the towels specified for mirror use! No go, folks. But I soldiered on, and discovered dryer sheets work wonders on mirrors -- both in the drying department and the buffing department. If you're a fingerprint-phobe like I am, you surely can understand my excitement when I discovered this trick. Just by running the sheet over the fingerprint, you can turn back time. Not a mark in sight. 

It goes without saying that as an added bonus that since most dryer sheets do not emit all of their heavenly scent in the dryer, your baseboards, picture frames, furniture and mirrors will begin to smell like "fresh rain" or "summer cotton" or in our case, "gardenia". While I'm not suggesting anyone should smell your baseboards, I've yet to meet someone who doesn't enjoy the clean scent. 

Have you ever tried any of these tricks?

xx,

The Future Mrs. Wolf

Imelda Marcos Never Suffered This Fate

I had a favorite pair of boots in need of some serious TLC.  I'm not just talking about a shoe shine.  She needed leather dye, shoe polish, the whole nine yards.  And lots of it. But this is NYC and the guy on the corner can do that, amongst a million other things. Resole Louboutins? Yes! Fix the leather and chain link strap on a Chanel bag? Done. You get the picture...

The boots looked so good when the cobbler was finished with them. And I couldn't wait to wear them. Literally. Boo and I had dinner plans last night and I needed to wear them. So I did. And woke up this morning to 50 black scuffs covering the floor in kitchen to the living room to the bathroom.  My first thought was that this was just rubber scuffs from the soles of our shoes. But all this in just one night? Then it hit me - our apartment was covered in black shoe polish.

Call in the National Guard. This was no joke. I can't have it. How can I get this out? Will it stain? How will I explain this to prospective buyers if we put the apartment on the market? "Sorry about the shoe polish, I really wanted to wear boots after a fresh dye job." Yeah, no. Not going to fly. 

Here's a brief showing of our flooring:

I parked myself in front of my cleaning supplies, wondering what I could use. I tried a damp towel...No. Windex...No. Clorox wipes...No. Then, I remembered I has fresh pack of my best friend - Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. And He worked!  Not only did he remove the actual markings, he left no trace of them at all. In fact I couldn't even find the spots after I scoured our entire apartment. It worked on granite, hardwood and marble. That's pretty good for a petite white sponge...

Directions:

1. Dampen the sponge and wring it out (you don't want the sponge to drip)

2. Apply pressure with the sponge to the area in need (in my case, our whole apartment - NBD) 

3. Continue step #2 until stain is gone

I have found that Magic Erasers work for so many household cleaning issues: mirrors, sinks, an accidental spray paint error, kitchen appliances and baked on messes in stoneware.  I could go on.  I wish I understood how these guys worked so that I could impart impressive knowledge to you all.  But, I don't.  Then again, they are magic.  We might never know...

Have you recently suffered from a home mishap?  

xx,
The Future Mrs. Wolf