HomeEc for Adults.. LOL

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I have often felt like you, yet I am older and hopefully wiser for my experience. I pretty much didn't even want to learn to cook until my children and I went on a special allergy free diet this year and I had to go and learn things all new along side my children as we did a sort of home ec course and cooking. I think home making is a lost art. I am a book junkie and I love buying old totally politically incorrect books from the really old days that tells you absoloutly everything from start to finish. I hate ambiguous instructions such as are found in products bought today ect.

I don't have a ton of advice, or the website you seek, but found infomation through trial and error, and also in "unit study" information look ups for home schooling my children. I found that though I am very intelligent, I like reading simple child geared instructions for things as concrete as laundry and cooking.

-Smart Spin Containers are all the same size lid, come in a spinning caddy, and are likely very cheap by now b/c it was one of those "as seen on TV " things about five yrs ago or so. There are three sizes of bowls and all the same lids. I'm thinking you can for sure get this set for well under 20 bucks at walmart or whatever. I've had mine at least 6 or more years and they hold up great. They even have the measuring lines on the side of the containers. That comes in handy.

- Laundry- anything that isn't super dirty can be washed in cold and still gotten very clean and make the garment/ cloth last longer. It is also better for your bills if you pay for your water to be heated! Also, good detergent is a must, and for us allergy prone, sensitive types I find a good quality brand like Charlie's soap we buy online lasts way longer than commercial soaps and our clothes last longer too. Our washing machine is even cleaner and doesnt' have the build up it used to get. So in laundry soap, that is an area we splurge.

- Produce- we recently got those green containers, more lids to keep track of, lol, but those things really do prolong the life of your produce by quite a lot. Another as seen on TV thing, lol, about 10 bucks.

- Towels and sheets will be softer with baking soda/ vinegar rinses in equal amounts than any fabric softner you can buy. You don't want to do this too often or go over about 1 cup each per load b/c the vinegar will break down the fabric similar to bleach. You can do this with clothes too.

-You don't need much more than baking soda, vinegar, and if you like lemon or essencial oils to clean just about anything. Cheap and non toxic. Look up the dozens and dozens of uses for vinegar. You'll be amazed! Okay, I was anyway.

- I love that someone else mentioned gold toe socks, just buy off season and you can get them cheaper than the store brands in my experience. Even places like target carry gold toe now and used to be just the highter end stores. Hanes are okay after multiple washes as far as underclothes but higher end stays soft longer and is softer all together. I can't usually afford it so have lived with hanes sweats/ tees quite nicely, they just fade, get mishapen and such sooner. Also I get really dirty sometimes in my line of work, lol, stay at home mom and home school mom... so I wash in hot a lot, so that will likely mishape any cotton, lol.

- alterations; I still can't figure out how to sew, bought the books, the machine, the supplies, but still depend on a little something called the "stitch witchery" to hem my pants when I do, haven 't for years but most always need to b/c I am very petite. Anything more than that I do strange things with saftey pins and other accessorties such as scarves, broaches, lol, not the best tips really. But that stitch witchery thing is great. Holds up under a lot of washing and is just an iron-on thing.

-As far as cooking goes, Rachel Ray ROCKS. Got the magazine subscription for my birthday. I read every sigle page of the thing b/c it is that full of good information.

-Helpful Hints by Heloise, or somthing like that. THis lady is the guru of stain removal, tidy containing of things, crafty and frugal ideas. I have a book by her I got at an library sale of their older books and it is so useful.

- Someone else mentioned a favorite of mine one of my magic happy words, lol "Sharpie"! I love to label everything and it really helps in the smooth daily running of things to gather and sort nearly everything into categories. I love that they now have retractable sharpies, sharpies with the little clip for your shirt or folder, one on my key ring..... mmm yea! Love me some sharpies. They help make my household go round, ha ha.

-Generic is good for the following in my experience; canned goods, paper plates, bowls, utensils, pregnancy tests, most cold medicines and otc meds (check label for same ingreadients or sometimes the same manufacture!) Things off the top of my head that are NOT a deal for generic and seems you spend more from using more are; toilet paper (ouch) fem procuts, paper towels, q-tips (again, ouch)

Good luck and keep searching! I'll be checking back for tips for my own home and for maybe a good website/ book reccomendation I've not heard of. I think a lot of it is trial and error. I like reading blogs of other women who write about their home keeping for ideas and strategies to declutter and organize life a little more so there is more time to enjoy.

Just a heads up on vinegar for cleaning... it will degrade some silicon caulks, like around the sink, etc. and it will break down the grout on tile counters. Baking soda is a better choice for those areas.

I tried the vinegar as a softener and it didn't make a lick of difference in our hard, hard water. So it probably depends on where you live. I've got a friend that has one of those drier balls (Haven't got a clue which one) and she swears by it.

I personally like staples for hemming....

have also used staples in a pinch! lol Funny story about doing that with a suit-skirt that slit up the back and one day while job hunting it split ALL the way up... lol, yeah, staple moment. A secretary of someone I interviewed had mercy on my bare butt in panty hose and called me aside for some creative alteration with her stapler!

dryer balls are good, I second that one

I have hard water too but over time it rinsed out the build up and made stuff softer, maybe that work was partly done by switching to high quality detergent.

Dunno about the grout n' stuff, I usually make a paste and it hasn't hurt anything, but my home is only 3 yrs old so we'll see how it stands up over time! So far, so good. I don't have fancy tile though, or tile grout now that I think of it.

I got inspired thinking about this as it is a big family cleaning day and decided to look up some things for myself. I find about.com to be very simple yet imaginative in home solutions and tips. Check it out.

I've always used trial and error when it comes to "spending more money=better quality". A lot of economy products are exactly the same as the regular, but sometimes you just have to test these things. Same with clothes - some things I've bought from cheap places have lasted years, and some things I've bought from a premium shop lasts a month. Unfortunately you can't guarantee quality, being that there are millions and millions of different places that sell things.

I'm the type of person who, when I find it, sticks to a product that's ideal. For example, I've found the perfect jeans for my size, yet I'm still trying to find a shampoo!

I would really like a tip on widening the waist on my new circle skirt without completely destroying it. I very seldom buy "new" clothes...but I became fixated on the color and the pattern and it was homemade by a sweet African girl at an outdoor festival so I shelled out the 20 dollars...and dang...it is way too small...

Does it button or zip?
If it buttons, maybe you could make a waistband panel in a coordinating color, with a button on one side and a buttonhole on the other side of the short waistband extension.

I don't know what you'd do for a zipper.

It zips...it also has this scratchy under-petticoat part that is very tight...for a circle skirt....a tad irritating....it has occurred to me that i never really have been one for hem-even-ness anyway...

Have contemplated putting slits in either side and patching in some stretchy fabric.
I have also been contemplating putting patch-pockets on it in a very-contrasting fabric...just because I see it in my head.

Take the zipper out and put the stretch panel there?

You're so enormously creative, I'm pretty sure you'll come up with something very cool (is 'cool' terribly dated?)

stretchy garter strappy thingies. A 'holster' for the talking sidekick (oh, sorry, I've forgotten her name )

Photo when you're done?

Puppetrina..

Probly not that elaborate...but a stretchy panel where the zipper should go sounds good...

Hi to Puppetrina!

She sez "Hah"...in Puppetrina voice.

My greatest annoyance has to be cooking. I learned some of the basics in Boy Scouts, but about 80% of recipes assumed I know how to do something I've never heard about. Decades later, I still run into this and I've never found a good text on basic techniques.

Sheets - flannel, the thicker the better.

Yes, it is sort of catch as catch can with the cooking techniques. I've picked some skills up from Cook's Illustrated magazine... they can do a very good explanation of things. If you've got access to a library that carries it, that might be helpful. Especially the more advanced techniques, like how to remove the membrane from a leg of lamb, how to make a really good roux, how to carmelize onions (I loove carmelized onions).

Also, cooking classes. They're more and more popular, and can be a lot of fun if you let go of the idea that you won't make a fool of yourself as you learn. In my experience, I make a fool of myself at least once per class... and so do most people. Don't put up with belittling from the teacher, but figure you're going to feel embarrassed and join the rest of the human race. Make a comedic farce out of it and carry on in the face of brick bread, fallen cakes, flat souffles, and curdled cream sauces.

I have to prepare a great vegetarian Thanksgiving feast...with nothing but a toaster oven and a double burner...

Gonna need to figure out that one....