DIY Un-paper Towels

I’m sure many of you have seen the cutesy cloth “paper” towels with the snap-together sheets and, while I am not in any way knocking them--they are super cute--I am just way too lazy practical to take the time to snap the sheets together each time.

Without another choice, we have been going through paper towels so fast it feels wasteful and I wanted something that felt a little more self-sustaining, but didn’t have the ~$30 for a single roll of cloth towels which might last us, um, I dunno, half a day?

Meanwhile in another part of the house I had a problem which screamed a solution to my paper towel dilemma. I downsized clothes and some of the boys’ and DHs shirts were too far gone to donate, but I felt bad just throwing them out. Then it hit me… cut them up in paper-towelish-sized pieces, toss them into a basket and use them like paper towels. Yes! Just what I was looking for and didn’t know it.

I quickly was able to fill our rag basket with unpaper towels and I love my new rags! They bring me so much joy. They work. They are almost endless, we almost never run out (ahem). They are wonderful for drying hands, cleaning up spills, drying dishes (if you just have a few to dry)… I totally recommend this no-skills-needed project. They have successfully replaced 95% of our paper towel use (I still use paper towels, for example, when I season my cast iron skillet, cleaning up oil oopses, or really icky pet/child messes, you know the kind.).

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Here is a list of tools that I use/need quite often for fixing my washer/dryer (Kenmore Elite 90 Series from the late 90s). I’m writing it down here in case I need to be reminded of tools required for the job.

You might find this helpful too, who knows.

Affiliate disclaimer: This post is not sponsored by any of the companies/products I am listing, these are just products (or product types) that I actually use, a lot, and if I misplace mine or need to replace them, I have a handy list here I can order from. If you choose to purchase any of these items from these links, I will receive a little reimbursement from Amazon which would be a help to our family and we would really appreciate you for that!

• Shallow 1/4” drive 1/4" socket or a Deep 1/4" drive 1/4" socket (for dryer disassembly)
• 1/4” Quick Release Ratchet
• Shallow 1/4" drive 1/2” socket or a Deep 1/4" drive 1/2" socket (For washer transmission screws…)
• 1/4" Drive Extension Bar Set (This is helpful in hard-to-reach places.)
• Screwdriver (Phillips and flat)
• Precision Screwdriver (This might be overkill, but it looks awesome!)
• Needle Nose Pliers
• Multimeter
• 9v Batteries (For the multimeter; ask me how I know.)
• Joint Pliers
• Work Gloves (To avoid the two cuts and a scrape I received fixing the dryer.)
• Wire Cutter (This one strips and cuts wire.)
• Flashlight (I usually use the light on my phone, but this one has a nice clip feature.)
• Hammer (This one is short-handled to fit into tight spaces. Also used for building.)
• Drill/screwdriver (Also used for building.)

These are things I used when building our chickshaw:

• Yardstick
• Measuring Tape
• Speed Square
• Miter Saw (when I make things out of wood, this is my go-to saw)
• Circular Saw
• see also Drill/screwdriver and Hammer above

These things come in handy in our garden:

• Pruning Shears
• Bypass Loppers
• Digging Shovel
• Square Point Shovel
• Pitchfork (the one I have looks like this and I like it better than our other garden forks)
• Gorilla Cart (these get used extensively! so worth the investment, imo)
• Crocs (for chicken and/or garden chores)
• Leather boots (love love love my Justin Gypsy boots)

How To: Clean a Mirror with Water

When one thinks of cleaning glass, I’m sure most people would think of a person armed with paper towels or newspapers and an ammonia-based spray, often colored blue.

Maybe it’s because I love simple ways of doing things or maybe because I don’t like buying single-use products or maybe because I don’t like using chemicals when they’re not absolutely necessary, I found a better way (at least in my opinion) of cleaning a mirror. I specify mirrors because if you can clean a mirror and don’t leave spots or streaks, you can most likely clean any glass successfully.

Here’s what you need:

• 1 microfiber towel, wet, wrung out
• 1 hand towel, dry

Here’s what to do:

1. Wipe a section of the mirror with the slightly damp microfiber towel, cleaning toothpaste splatters, smudges, smears as you go.
2. While that section is still wet, dry with the dry hand towel.
3. Repeat to remaining sections.

There. Done. Simple as pie and no chemicals. Oh, and I never have flecks or smears either, just a super-clean mirror. You’re welcome.

Bye Bye Bladder Infection

I can probably count on one hand the number of bladder infections I've had in my adult years. I had quite a few when I was a teenager and was treated with antibiotics every single time. I don't think people realized, back then, the dangers of over-prescribing antibiotics, but I know now and didn't want to go down that path when I got a bladder infection a week or so ago.

As I recall, cranberry juice cleared up the last infection I had several years ago, but this one's being tricky.

I've tried cranberry juice (bleugh!), vitamin C (1000 mg. every 2 of my waking hours), drinking tons of water (at least 2 quarts and to me that's tons... um, probably why I got a bladder infection :/), kefir (probiotics), golden milk (yum), iodine, oil of oregano (yuck), 2 Tbsp. of ACV in 8 oz. water every two of my waking hours, 3-4 raw garlic cloves a day, hot and cold therapy (hot water bottle & ice pack and hot/cold showers) and only noticed a slight improvement, but it kept hanging around and sometimes it seemed like it was getting worse. On good days I had to run to the bathroom every 10 minutes or less and I had a powerful sensation of my bladder being about ready to pop when I was done emptying my bladder.

Today it got so bad that it felt like my bladder was going to explode at the end of peeing. It was the first time since it started that it felt more than VERY annoying; it actually felt a little painful. So I started searching again. I found that creating an acidic environment in the bladder (like I was trying to do with the ACV) works in many cases of cystitis (bladder infection), but in some cases, especially those caused by e. coli, this strategy might not work as well. Bummers!

During this journey I would think of something (especially things I had on hand) that might work and see if it had ever been used successfully to treat a bladder infection; ginger (check), coconut oil (maybe), turmeric (anti-inflammatory), garlic (yup)... today I remembered another one I hadn't yet investigated: grapefruit seed extract (GSE).

Sure enough, GSE has had some good results against e. coli induced cystitis. I knew I had some GSE at one time so I went digging. I came up with a mostly-empty bottle of GSE, but it did have a few drops left. I started off with 5-6 drops in a little water and swigged it down real quick (super yuck) and then chased it with a bunch of water.

This was around noon today and by 2:00 I was actually quite comfortable and wasn't in nearly the pain I had been before. Also, I wasn't having to run to the bathroom quite so often. I took another dose around 5:00 and by 10:00 I had totally forgotten that I even had a bladder infection.

Is GSE a cystitis wonder cure? I don't know, but I'm hopeful enough that I bought another bottle and have some vcaps on order so I can take GSE without the nasty taste.

The Washer Felt Left Out

Almost as soon as the dryer was working again, the washer decided that it was done spinning the clothes dry and went on strike. I did a quick search online to remind myself what might cause that and was reminded that it might be the drive coupler. I was hoping that would be the problem as it would be a relatively easy fix.

It wasn’t the drive coupler.

Then I thought maybe it was the clutch so I took a look at that and it did look a little worn so I ordered a new one. I thought I’d be back in business when it arrived, but no.

When I got it all back together, it was behaving strangly. The tub started rotating a little bit with each turn of the agitator during a wash cycle. That was different. Also, when it started to spin, I was able to stop the drum by just putting a little pressure on the tub (erm, don’t try this at home). I thought if I could stop it that easily, a load full of wet clothes wouldn’t spin out well. I asked the helpful folks over at Appliantology.org and someone suggested that I might have put the inner ring of the clutch in upside down. So a little while ago I checked and, sure enough, it was in the wrong way. I flipped it around, reassembed the washer (no easy feat in my tiny laundry room) and did a test load of towels. Hooray! It’s running quieter and better now than it has in a long time and boy did it spin the towels out “dry.”

#thankful

Fixing the Dryer

So the dryer decided to stop putting out hot air last night. Right after Geo said he needed clean jeans for piano lessons this morning. Oops. I always inwardly groan a little when the appliances need tending, but I still rolled up my sleeves and got started with the troubleshooting last night. I was SO hoping it was going to be the fuse as that looked like the easiest fix, but, no (and I’m actually thrilled it wasn’t the fuse). This is the video I watched that pointed me in that direction and gave me the courage to tackle the job.

As soon as we got back from piano lessons, Eli (11) and I set to work. We watched another YouTube video about the different parts to test to hopefully determine the problem. Bill was not as clear as I would have liked about what a normal multimeter reading looked like (vs. abnormal), but I think I figured it out enough to rule out the timer as the culprit. The next thing he suggested testing was the thermostat on the heating tube. He also said that if it registers as “bad,” that there’s a way to reset it. His trick made us laugh… Throw it really hard on the floor or bang it on a hard surface. If at first you don’t succeed, try again (and again if necessary). You know what? It WORKED! Eli enjoyed banging the daylights out of the thermostat, but after we tested it (after 2 or 3 bangs), it registered normal. Woohoo!!! Thanks, Bill, for that wonderful tip!

We hooked up the front door panel and plugged it in and turned it on and… the heating coil glowed red! I’m so thrilled it was a relatively simple fix (Eli did most of the unplugging (not of the power cord) of connecting cords, unscrewing screws, reassembling the drum cable… So really it wasn’t that much work for me at all. The dryer also got a good cleaning out while I was at it which is always a good thing! Now I’m off to dry some clothes.

UPDATE:

Ok, so sometimes when something seems too good to be true, it is. After a load or two, the thermal cutoff shut off again. I “reset” it and tried the drier and this time nothing happened. No heating, no turning on, nothing. Um, … now what?

So I went to my favorite appliance fixit blog to see what they’d say. 

I checked all the connection, everything was connected properly. I was getting power because the door light came on when I opened the door.

I tested the starter, the relay switch, circuit board, couldn’t find anything wrong with those. I tested the thermal fuse, it was still good. I tested the element, it wasn’t shorting out.

Finally I found a wire that had come unplugged that I had missed. I plugged it back in and voila, the dryer now turned on. But…

It still wasn’t heating. I did some internet sleuthing and found a site that said the felt seals on the drum get old and that might let heat into the cabinet causing the thermal cutoff to trip. Sure enough, my felt seal was very worn and hanging in strips. So I replaced the felt seal.

I took the lint screen out and scrubbed it with soap till it looked almost new.

Finally after taking the dryer apart and reasembling it more times that I can count, the new thermal cutoff arrived in the mail. I installed it and it hasn’t tripped since. Thank you Lord!