How many times have we all joked about scuffing around the house in sock feet, picking up dust bunnies and dog fur on the soles of once-clean socks all the while, due to the fact that it never seems to be Anybody’s turn to do the sweeping up? Answer: about a kajillion times.

So what do I see when surfing the internets instead of doing the housework this weekend? Dust mop slippers! Seriously.

Microfiber fluffliness for the feet, toasty toes plus impressively clean floors, all in one swell foop. Throw a little bit of slipper rumba or ballrooom dancing in there, too, and you’ve got super-clean floors and burn off enough calories to justify a second piece of bacon. Bonus, if you’ve got a kitten on the premises, who likes to chase random string-like things, you might even get a little cat exercise into the dustmop action as well.

Where to buy?

This is the Evriholder Slipper Genie for Women (with Bow!) for Woman, one size fits size 6-9, found on Amazon.com – but I think it’s vitally important to note that you can get all kinds of dust mop slippers (who knew?) and they have them for MEN and kids, too. Just mentioning that last bit in passing, y’know…

Whoever actually got off his duff long enough to put “invent cleaning slippers” onto his to-do list is a flipping genius, and I bow graciously (with a little dusting footwork) in his general direction.

Soap scum and mildew are icky facts of life, and they just love a shower curtain.

Frugalistas refuse to toss out a shower curtain and buy new, however, when it’s so easy to clean them!

Fabric shower curtains can usually be laundered in lukewarm water and a gentle machine cycle — check the tag to be sure — but how do you clean a vinyl shower curtain?

In fact, it’s actually very easy to get a vinyl shower curtain looking as clean as new.  Just pop it into the washing machine every couple of weeks with the bath towels and a splash of ordinary laundry detergent, and wash the whole lot in warm water.

• Note that the water has to be warm — not hot and not cold. Hot water will shrivel up the curtain and end its useful life — and cold water will make it too stiff to slosh around in the washer.
• The other key here is to be sure to throw it in with the towels, because the towels will buff gently against the curtain and help to get it clean. (Saves a lot of “elbow grease”!)

Stop the washer before it progresses to the cold-water rinse, and take out your nice clean vinyl shower curtain while it’s still warmed up, and all soft and flexible.

Hang it back up on the rod over your tub, and just use the showerhead spray to rinse off any leftover detergent.

There you go!

And here’s a sneaky little mildew-fighting tip that I discovered by happy accident:

See, our upstairs bathtub is set under a sloped ceiling, so the shower rod is set a bit lower than normal. That means the average shower curtain is always a bit too long, so I just trim it off at the bottom with scissors to keep it from dragging underfoot in the tub.

And that’s how I discovered the benefits of cutting off the stupid little hem they put at the bottom of a vinyl shower curtain (why do they do that, anyway? It’s not as if vinyl will ravel and fray like a woven fabric!)…

That turned-up hem is just a trap for mildew and grime. You don’t need it, so get rid of it.  Yes, get out the scissirs and just cut it off. Without the hem to trap moisture and soap scum and such,  your shower curtain stays cleaner-looking for much longer.

Curtain photo: PlayfulLibrarian

How do you know when it’s time for Spring Cleaning? Some people go by the calendar, to know when it’s time to roll up the sleeves and muck out the house.

My grandmother was one of those housekeepers. Not that Gran’s house was ever anything less than pristine (and we’re talking “eat off the floor” clean, not a concept with which I, myself, am intimately familiar!) — but she did watch the calendar.

Every year, immediately following St. Patrick’s Day, she’d boil up gallons of water and get out the scrub brushes. Curtains were washed and ironed with starch. Rugs were draped over the clothesline and vigorously beaten with a wire gizmo that was made for the purpose. Beeswax and lemon oil were melted gently together into a furniture polish that filled the place with that evocative scent that, ever since, has spoken to me of damned hard work, dust up my nose, and rubber gloves…

Some people go by the calendar to start their spring cleaning; but others go by the weather –

Is it warm enough outdoors to throw open the windows? Yes? Then it’s time to start washing those windows, inside and out.

Yep, that would be another way to go…

But the truly gifted Domestik Goddess relies on more subtle signs that Spring Cleaning Season is once more upon us:

• Your mother admires your attractive beige mini-blinds; but the blinds were white, when you put them up last fall.
• The mudroom has been earning its name for at least three weeks.
• No matter how often you put it firmly away, the vacuum cleaner keeps re-appearing, as if by magic, in the middle of the living room floor.
• The dog’s squeaky ball rolls underneath the spare room bed… and he refuses to go in there after it.
• The cobwebs are getting dusty.
• A visiting small child gazes around your home, then looks up at you wide-eyed with awe and wonder, and asks: “Did you know that people can tidy up sometimes?”

A few quick tips, the fruit of certain unpleasant experiences in the bowls and bowels of my own home’s plumbing system…

Prevention, prevention, prevention! Clear those clogs and slow-running drains before any real problems can begin:

• Catch hair and food scraps with a screen or drain trap;
• Never pour grease down the drain;
• Deodorize and maintain drains with a weekly treatment of 1/2 cup baking soda, rinsed with a kettle of boiling water; and
• Pour 1/4 cup vinegar down the drains every week or so to keep them fresh.

If a drain does get clogged, try a few simple, green and thrifty home remedies — before you rush out to the store for the caustic toxic chemicals:

• First off, grab yourself an old-fashioned rubber plunger, beloved of lame comedians and a certain cartoon dog who used to put one on his butt and pretend to be a chicken… Remove as much as you can of the crud that’s blocking the drain pipe, by pumping up and down to create some suction.
• If that doesn’t do it, wiggle a plumber’s “snake” down the pipe (you can rent them quite cheap at almost any place that, er, rents stuff). Yes, it’s disgusting. But it certainly beats paying for a plumber to make a housecall, and waiting around all day (two days?) for him to show up!
• To shift small clogs, pour 1/2 cup baking soda straight into the drain, then 1/2 cup vinegar. Quickly, plug the drain opening. Let it fizz away for 15 minutes or more, then pull the plug, and rinse with lots and lots of very hot water. Repeat as needed.

Then go back and start a whole new relationship with your plumbing, paying particular attention to my all-important first point — Prevention, prevention, prevention!