Household tips for the independent Aspie

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Well, I pulled a dilapidated Dyson out of a recycle bin and fixed it...

Best move I EVER made.

Even the "dust mote" is now a thing of the past.

Before that I was more inclined to follow the teachings of that well known Domestic Goddess, Quentin Crisp:

After the first four years, the dust doesn't get any thicker

M

A few quick and easy to make meals:

Pizza: If you want slices, snap it while it's frozen, otherwise fold it in half to make it easier to eat. Serve it on the box and you've made no washing up.

Soup and Noodles (not supernoodles): Get yourself some big mugs (the kind you can fit your whole fist in). Take 2 packets of cup soup, and one packet of cheap noodles (throw out the packet of MSG+flavourings, the soup tastes much better), put the soup in a mug and add boiling water to 1/4 fill the mug and stir until all the lumps are gone, add the noodles ant the rest of the water and stir it a bit more. Wait till it's cooled down and by then the noodles will be done. Endless variety by mixing soups.

Chilli/bolognaise: Cook a lot, and if you have a freezer you can put it into single serving bags, then once it's cooled down put them all in the freezer. You can take one out to defrost overnight in the fridge, then either nuke it or reheat in a pan. If you didn't defrost it, break the frozen lump into smaller pieces and spread it out in a pan or microwave dish and make sure it's cooked thoroughly.

If you're a bit ADD like me and tend to forget things are cooking, then boiling the kettle is your best bet. Noodles and pasta can be done just by pouring boiling water on them and waiting, and they just go soft if they're forgotten, not burned. If you want to do rice then a rice cooker is a good idea, and it even keeps the rice warm all day, just don't leave anything in it more than a day, as you can get food poisoning from bad rice.


If you're inclined to let the washing up pile up, let it soak, so it's a lot easier to do when you get round to it, and do the washing up while you're cooking (and only buy enough plates so you have to wash up), so you don't wander off to get on with something more interesting and end up burning things again.

This site has a ton of easy, affordable recipes : http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/FoodandFamily/
You can sign up to have a magazine delivered to your home for free, or just read on-line. Over half of the meals that I prepare for my family come from their magazine.

Run it under boiling hot water. Be careful not to get burned. The wax will peel/melt right off. Make sure it doesn't go into the drain, that could cause a clog. The last residue will come off like a charm with a light buff from a rag dipped in dishwashing liquid and hot water. Rub, rub - voila'. Clean menorah!

When it starts getting colder, and darker it's nice to have a crockpot simmering with some nice stew or soup, ready and waiting for you when you get home. It's easy to make - just wash, peel and slice veggies - whatever you have, onions, potatoes, garlic, parsley, carrots and some beans, together with chicken or some other meat, add tomato sauce (or ketchup) sweet paprika, salt, black pepper and any other of your fav spices, add water to cover and set the temp and timer. In about 2 hours your house will be filled with delish smells and you will be calm and happy knowing that good food is there for you.

Olive oil is a great moisterizer and hair conditioner. It can also be used as furniture and shoe polish.

Pure Apple Cider Vinegar is a great PH balancer for a face cleanser, and can also add a touch to the washing if you have cat pee or other strong smell on anything because it removes the smell. And its great as a salad dressing too. Versatile, isn't it?

If cooking a batch of food to freeze, try to wrap it in brown paper, not plastic. The plastic on frozen meat can leak some unwanted chemicals into it. If you buy fresh fruit or veggies from the store, remove them from their plastic bags straight away and instead put into an airtight container in the fridge.

Clean your bathroom often, guests will appreciate it.

Oh yes - I do miss his dry humour!

If, like me, you are perfectly capable of cooking but hate it, or you aren't too good in the kitchen, then may I recommend potato waffles? I have them 4 days a week. On the others I have chips/fries, the other two I usually don't eat that meal, but thats just me at the moment.

A few I've picked up...

1) Don't buy fluffy toilet paper! Buy the regular stuff! The whole rationale for the fluffy toilet paper is that you use so much less of it because it's more absorbent, but that's baloney! A roll of 1000 sheets of normal toilet paper lasts way longer than a roll with 12 sheets of fluffy toilet paper. They can claim that you only need to use one sheet, but are you REALLY going to ration out your toilet paper like that?

2) A mixture of rubbing alcohol and white vinegar is great for cleaning glass and almost anything else. If you want it to smell good, add an essential oil. I like eucalyptus. The eucalyptus helps you breathe better, too! And there's no weird chemicals! It also repels bugs.

3) You save lots of money making your own bread and pizza dough, and kneading it can get out lots of aggression! Takes a bit of work, though. Keeping dough in the fridge to use whenever you need it is nice, too!

4) Product reviews are awesome, but make sure they're actually about the product, and it's better if there are more of them! Sometimes disgruntled people write reviews that don't have much to do with the actual item.

5) Unless you have massive self-discipline, don't go to walmart. The more stuff you see, the more stuff you buy, and walmart has way too much stuff! If you must go to walmart, go very infrequently for the specific stuff you have to get there, have a list, and don't get distracted! If you didn't need it when you made your list, seeing it doesn't make you need it!

6) Whenever possible, don't use disposable stuff! It's expensive to buy the same stuff over and over again, and bad for the environment! If you don't want to have much cleanup, you can put aluminum foil over stuff. And you can recycle it!

7) Bleach is great for really heavy-duty cleaning, but use moderation! Don't go overboard with the bleach! And DON'T mix it with anything that has ammonia in it! (Of course, if you use an isopropanol/vinegar/essential oil mixture for more routine cleaning, you don't have to worry about that as much!)

Unless it comes from the FLYlady, don't trust microfiber! Microfiber is not good for sheets.

1. When drying clothes, always--and I can't stress this enough--clear out the lint collector. I have learned through experience that if you allow dust bunnies to collect in there, you might end up with clothes that are still slightly damp even after the drying cycle is complete. (hehe, I said "bunnies")

2. Many grocery stores have pre-packaged meals (and I don't mean TV dinners) that you can zap in the microwave. This is a major option for me if I can't afford going out to eat, and because I have qualms about electric stoves (most apartments don't have gas stoves).

3. When buying soda, a 24-pack is cheaper than two 12-packs.

4. Sometimes it pays to shop different brands. I am one who shops for quality rather than cheapness (i.e. I feel that the name brand products are in fact better than generics)

5. If you are a college student, you can save gas by taking shuttle buses, if you don't mind claustrophobic conditions. If it's a problem, walking is always good, and it's good exercise as well.

6. When eating out, sometimes getting an appetizer as a meal is a good idea (at places like Chili's, TGI Fridays, Applebees, etc., there are many options in the appetizer category alone).

7. Wash dishes promptly, or else mold can form. I can't stress this enough.

AS Practical topic

Wow, I do not think I have ever seen such a long post by our most prolific poster, Tim Good tips.

Mine:

Do not waste water. I use a half sinkful when I wash dishes, and I scrape them first into the green bin for recycling. I limit my shower time, too.

Turn off every unneeded light. Use cheap fluorescent ones. I buy them on sale.

Do not overcook. Uses too much hydro. I hang my clothes to dry, and only use full loads in the wash. And a stitch in time saves nine! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Restore and Recover.

I use the D. Myers green bags for storing produce. They work for me.

I freeze half a bread loaf, and freeze the other half, in case the bread is not used within 2 days.

If instant coffee is on sale, i buy 2. It has a long shelf life, and I am not fussy about taste.

Meats and poultry is frozen in meal sized portions so i only use what I need. I stock up if there is a sale. I do not make huge meals, only what I and the kids will east in up to two meals. My kids do not like leftovers. I bake, too--family favourites.

I can use slightly stale veggies in the beef stew I make, and no one is the wiser.

Not to get on the same soapbox again, but the FLYlady has a kit that helps get out all the lint that collects that the lint trap doesn't get. Apparently the lint trap only gets like 75% of the lint.. so if you spend years ONLY emptying the lint trap.. that's a whole lot, and it can catch on fire. It's like $16 plus shipping, and you get a brush for right under the lint trap, a vacuum cleaner attachment, and a long flexible brush for the tube that goes outside. The long flexible one can also unclog a vacuum cleaner. (Oh! And about vacuum cleaners, they have filters! If your vacuum stops sucking despite having emptied the chamber, look for a filter! You need to clean that too!)


On soda, wait for the sale and stock up! It's a LOT cheaper.


Sometimes. Not always. Shop the generic brands too! Sometimes they're even better. Other times, you check the ingredients and they're identical. I found generic Listerine with the EXACT same ingredients in the exact same amounts for less than half the price! At first I didn't eve look at the generic because I figured it wouldn't work as well. Then one day when I was at the store, I figured I'd just look at the ingredients to see.. and they were the same, down to the tenth of a percentage point... completely identical.


Oo, just checked them out! That's a good idea! Thanks!
Edit: I was looking at the GreenBags on Amazon, and the reviews were pretty bad. One of the replies to one of the reviews said that if you wrap veggies in a paper towel before putting them in the fridge, that keeps them fresh longer than the green bags do. I would think a dish towel would too.. Hmm, that effect might increase if you washed the dish towel in baking soda.. that helps get rid of mold and nasty odors and stuff..

Last edited by Maggiedoll on 10 Oct 2009, 7:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Zips: so they don't get loose and sloppy and not stay up Put clothes in the washing machine with the Zippers done up.


Cats fur: Those brush type things that you use to clean lint off clothes.. the ones you flick to reverse to clean the cleaner by rubbing on your hand , Excellent for cat's fur....you may have to repeat the process a few times.


NB Don't try to remove the fur from cat only from clothes or sofas etc

Two words: Rubba Scrubba! There was one in the box of animal stuff my mom packed when I moved down here.. I thought it was just an animal brush until I joined the FLYlady list. Then I learned all about what it can do! And it can do almost anything. There was even a testimonial that someone wrote about how she was supposed to brush her autistic son to help with sensory issues, but could never find a brush that he liked... until the rubba scrubba!