Taking Proper Care Of Your Blender

Why they’re more like pets than you might think.

We've all heard 'how is a raven like a writing desk', but have you ever thought 'how is a blender like a pet?' Blenders, much like our pets are finicky and need care. Also like our pets, they give back even more than we give them. Read on to learn all about caring for your blender to keep it going for a long time.

Let’s work up to a full run. 

Just like you work up to an all out run with your dog, your blender needs to warm up. Even if you’re only using it for a few minutes, start at low and work your way up too high.  This not only is easier on the gears, it also protects your kitchen. Think about it, how many times have you hit high, only to end up with something spattered on the walls? 

All of their shapes have a purpose. 

It’s like a lab’s webbed toes, or a blood hound’s nose, the ridges of a blender have a purpose. They’re there to fold the contents of the mixture back into the center rather than leaving the same food at the same levels. 

If it gets too upset, it starts to gnash its teeth. 

Just like many dogs, if your blender gets too stressed out, it starts to grind and ruin its teeth. 

To prevent this, follow these 3 tips: 

-Always make sure the top of the blender is properly seated in teh base. 

-Don’t rock the blender while its blending. 

-Make sure the blender has fully come to rest before you take off the top. 

It’s louder than your dog… 

Or your other appliances for that matter. 

A blender, on standard anyway, emits 92 decibels. That’s louder than any other (properly working) appliance. It’s even louder than many outdoor appliances. The only things that are louder are an electric garbage disposal, an electric drill, a leaf blower and a chainsaw. 

Hot temps and blenders don’t always mix! (Some blenders love the heat, others are more like huskies and need to avoid them.) 

Before you go pouring in hot liquids, check if its safe.  Two go-to places are the manual and the blender’s lid. If a blender can handle hot temps it will have a feeding hole in the lid that allows steam to escape. The manual will also tell you in the warning section if it isn’t made to handle the heat. 

Sometimes it gets stuck. 

Just like your dog, cat, or cow, (yp we’ve seen it happen) your blender can get stuck. Unlike your pet, the issue is an air bubble, and  not it climbing somewhere it shouldn’t. If you still have the blender on, but the mixture isn’t moving, an air bubble might be trapped around the lbande. 

To fix this, turn the blender off and grap a rubber spatula. Use it to scrape down the sides and push the blade around a few times. If it happens again, your mixture might need more liquid. 

Give it a bath regularly. (No one wants a smelly blender.) 

Even though many of today’s blenders say that they can go into the dishwasher, they really shouldn’t. Just like knives, a blender is better served being washed by hand. 

Most of the time that just means pouring in 2 cups of water (or ½ the container’s max volume), a few drops of dish soap and running the blender on high for a minute. 

It needs to breathe too! 

That max fill line isn’t just for looks! Fill a blender beyond that point and one of two things will happen. Either your blender won’t work. Or you’re going to have food and liquids everywhere. The space that’s at the top makes sure that your blender can create a vortex. This brings the whole ingredients down to the blade and pushes liquids up. 

Make its pulse race! 

What’s the best button on a blender and the least used? The pulse button. 

Whether you’re making smoothies or salsas, milk shakes or just dicing up fruits,. This your best friend. It’s able to use small powerful bursts to chop foods down to a uniform size and handle ice. So you can make chunky salsas or creamy milkshakes with ease. 

So, what do you think? Did we cover all the ways they're alike? Did we miss any? Do you have any idea why a raven is like a writing desk? Let us know over in our Facebook.

If you're having issues with your larger appliances, we're more than happy to help. Just give us a call or set up an appointment on our site. 

The Five Most Common Types of Clutterbugs

And How You Can Deal With Them…

Are you a clutterbug? Do you live with one? Are you tired of it? While there are deep psychological reasons for people being clutterbugs, there are still practical ways to deal with the clutter. The question is: what type of clutterbug are you dealing with? 

The Pack Rat

This clutterbug is the type to keep EVERYTHING. Stuffed in every available nook and cranny are the things they collect or keep because it’s useful. 

How to deal with this: 

• Make a plan. Don’t just say “I’m going to tackle the living room today!” No. Break it down a) in a way that makes sense to you and b) is small enough you won’t get overwhelmed. 

• Go slow. Again the point here is to make sure that you can emotionally tackle this not just physically. 

• Consider the system of ‘Keep’, ‘Toss’, and ‘Donate.’

  • Keep - If you cannot part with it either because it’s useful or important. 

  • Toss - It’s broken and you don’t know how to repair it or don’t have time to learn how. 

  • Donate - You don’t want it or it’s not useful to you, but it could be useful to someone else. 

The ‘Archivist’ 

Letters, magazines, newspapers, books, all forms of the printed or written word are valued by this clutterbug. Their home is full of stacks and shelves. It may be sorted, it might not. 

How to deal with this: 

• Sort by type. Start by figuring out how much of each item you have. Sometimes, seeing just how much of something you have makes it easier to select out what to keep. 

• Cull out any duplicate items. Two of a book? A magazine? Set them aside either to recycle or donate. 

• Scan it! Letters, magazines, newspapers, recipes etc. There are several different scanning apps that can be used to save and store material items against degradation or loss. (This blogger favors Evernote personally.) 

• When it comes to books, if you’ve only read it once, put it aside to be donated. Why keep it if you don’t enjoy it? 

Landing Zones 

 These are the people who collect clutter in specific places. Maybe it’s a table near the entry door. Or a chair in the bedroom. Or the dining room table. It doesn’t matter, these spots are catch-alls. This type of clutterbug will drop the contents of their pockets or purse here, mail, clothes they want to wear later, etc. 

The best way to work with this is to: 

• Create ‘no fly zones’ or areas where things can’t be. 

• Block those areas  with something. It could be a cute pillow, a tray or  a vase, something that clearly says ‘this is not a place to drop things.’ It’s just meant to be a trigger to help you change how you view that space. 

• Include areas where it is ok to put things, but that you have to sort it out once a week. 

The Abundance Clutter 

This clutterbug isn’t what you might think. Their home is mostly clean. They don’t have obvious clutter. But if you go into the kitchen and open up their cabinets and pantry... That’s when the image changes.  This clutterbug buys things on sale that they don’t need. They buy surplus ‘just in case something happens.’ Six or seven of one type of chips. Boxes upon boxes of Rice a Roni, which lets just say you should NOT eat this way for months upon months. 

How to deal with this:

• Make a meal plan. Go through what you have already and decide what you can use soon, what you will use within a month or can store for 6. 

• Go to the store next.  Ask yourself, will I eat this within the next 3 months? 3 months is a healthy middle ground between ‘saving for the future’ or ‘just in case’ and ‘buying only what you need for this week.” Buy only what you will use within that time period.

• Check yourself before you go to the counter. Make sure that you haven’t grabbed more than what you need. 

Organizing Only When Things Are Messy

This is the type of clutterbug that leaves things slowly building up. One day at a time, until there isn’t any space left. Coffee cups, plates, mail, magazines, Everything! 

And it stays that way until one day they realize how messy everything is and they burst into a cleaning frenzy. 

Repeat ad nauseum. 

For some people this works just fine! For others it becomes far too much. Or it could be the spouse, friends or family of this clutterbug. 

How to deal with it: 

• Dedicate 10 minutes a day to clear. Just pick up anything that you can and put it away. 

• Dedicate time every week to sort through and put away other things that built up over the week, or to organize your home. 

So we ask you again, are you the clutterbug? Or are you the one living with the clutterbug. Either way we hope that we’ve helped you to see a way forward that doesn’t involve huge time commitments or trying to turn your personality inside out.

What about you? What are some techniques that you’ve found that work for you in corralling the clutter? Let us know on Facebook. Remember, we’re not just here to help you keep your home clean, but to also make sure that it runs smoothly. If you’ve recently found that one or more of your appliances aren’t working properly, feel free to reach out. You can call and schedule an appointment or  go to our website and schedule one there. 

Painting New Spaces

Walls don’t need all the color!

Have you ever thought of painting all of your home? Not just the walls, but everything. The whole idea about a home is that it’s meant to reflect you. So why should you limit that to the walls? Who is to say that it has to be one solid color either? There are so many other areas that can be painted, even if it’s just adding small details that add to how your home looks and feels. Floors, ceilings, stairs, what’s stopping you from trying one of them? Here’s a few other places you could add a splash of color to to change the mood. 

Make Your Ceiling Stand Out

Surprisingly most people will paint their ceilings white and leave it at that. If they’re really daring, might continue the color of the room across the ceiling and that’s it. 

But… why? 

It used to be that you would paint your walls white and then paint the ceilings in different colors or designs, or even whole murals. This not only showed your wealth, but it meant that eyes were drawn upwards, and it gave a room a much brighter feel by leaving the walls painted white.

-You could paint patterns of stars, clouds or waves across your ceiling, using stencils or freehand, to bring either interest or peace to a room. 

-Consider using either a contrasting or complimentary color to bring attention to it, without making it overbearing. 

The Floor is Lava! 

Ok perhaps not, but depending on what you have as a floor material in a child’s room, it could be very entertaining  to paint their floor as a multitude of games and have an area rug that covers it 90% of the time. 

-Alternatively  no one said the paint in question had to be permanent. That opens up all sorts of possibilities  from encouraging messages to wild patterns that you’re testing out, workouts or game areas. The only limit here is what you’re willing to come up with. 

Paint the Walls Red! 

Or green, or purple or whatever the Pantone color of the year is. We didn’t say we were only talking about new places right? You’re right. We’ve been painting our walls for eons. What if we told you there’s a way to paint your home whatever color you wanted, even if you’re renting? More interested? There is now paintable, removable wallpaper. Yep, it takes more time than painting straight off, but the exchange is worth it. You can do so much more! 

• Test one color at a time in a room to find which one you like, without having ugly watches on the wall. Just paint a strip and hang it. 

• Change your walls every season! Are you the type to go all out, moving furniture and changing out slipcovers with every season? Why not give your walls the same amount of love? 

• What about for a party? You could easily put up some paper and paint it specifically for the party, or have the attendees write messages all over the wall, depending on what it is. 

• Paint your apartment that bold red you want, and don’t lose your security deposit over it! 

Step It Up

Yup. You knew this one was coming right? Whether you paint the tread or the riser,both are great spots to bring something new. 

-You can paint patterns going up the stairs, on the tread. 

-Paw prints, encouraging messages, family memories. They’ve all been done. 

-You can use the riser to paint a picture that only shows if you’re looking up the stair way.  If your walls are full of pictures already, this is a viable space! 

-Or you could reference things that matter to you or your family, like favorite books, sports, games, history etc. 

This is a seriously underutilized part of the home when it comes to painting! (Check out some of these great examples that we found though!) 

You could even get fancy and mix and match ideas, like putting the removable wallpaper on the stair risers so that you can change them out over time. 

So, are you looking at things in your home differently? Wondering how you could add color to your world? Let us know either in the comments below or on our Facebook.  We want to see where you’re adding color to your life. 

Don’t forget that if your appliances are acting up, or you’d like to schedule a maintenance check, you can do that by calling us or creating an appointment. We want to work with you and all of our customers in the Plano area to keep your home running smoothly. 

How to Work with An Interior Designer : Kitchen Redesign Part 4

Or, how to find the right person for redoing your kitchen that isn’t you.

If you’re looking to redo your kitchen, but don’t want to do it yourself, who do you call? An interior designer! Welcome to our final post in our kitchen redesign series. As promised we are looking at the following questions: 

What is the difference between a renovator and an interior designer? 

What do they want you to know? 

How do you make the relationship a happy one? 

At what point can you say “I don’t like it” and how do you do it? 

Can you ask them to do the upstairs bedroom while they’re at it? 

How do you say thank you after the job is done? 

What is the difference between a renovator, an interior decorator and an interior designer? 

A renovator is someone who will follow the design you give them, exactly as you give it to them, but you have to provide resources, plans, and make sure that everything is on spec and to your plans. 

An interior decorator is someone who makes improvements to how things look, but not to the structure of a space.  They typically work alone. 

An interior designer is a licensed professional who can manage projects that involve construction and architecture. They’ll oversee the project and all subcontractors, keep things running on a timeline, as well as making suggestions for designs that you hadn’t considered. 

What do they want you to know? 

A quick run down of the 6 biggest things interior designers wished we all knew before working with them. 

Even if we don’t live in the same city, we can probably still work together. 

It’s not easy! We have to go through an in-depth and rigorous education and training process like any other pro. 

We can use all sorts of tech on the cutting edge to help you see what your new space will look like. 

It doesn’t matter whether you want a single room or the entire home redone, we can do it. 

We can make sure your project conforms to building codes and safety standards. 

We typically can’t share our pricing and product sources with you. 

How do you make the relationship a happy one? 

Before you pick a  designer, interview several of them. Somewhere around 5-6 is a good idea. You want to find someone not only that you get on with, but also who fits your budget and has a style that meshes with yours. 

Ask questions. Ask all the questions you have. They can’t answer them if you don’t ask them. 

Once you have decided on the designer you want to work with, start as you mean to go on. This is someone who is going to be in your home for months. You’re going to become very well acquainted with them. Be friendly, be open and don’t forget to speak up. 

- If you don’t like something, tell them. It’s best to say this at the beginning of the process when you’re choosing materials and putting together a list of ideas and plans, but you need to say it. Remember, you’re the one that has to live with any choices made. 

- Make sure you have a budget and are fully prepared to spend all of it. 

- Present a united front. If you have housemates, you need to all agree on what the space is going to look like. 

- Have realistic expectations.  Miracles can be done, but there are limits. 

- Show off what you like and what you don’t. Explain why. The emotions, thoughts and experiences you attach to shapes, colors and textures go a long way towards how you will interact with a space. Magazines, Pinterest boards, swatches of color, all of these work.  Your designer needs to know both sides of what you like and don’t so that they can do their best by you and not bring in an element you despise. Which brings us to.. 

At what point can you say “I don’t like it” and how do you do it? 

The best time to do this is in the beginning, during the planning phase as we said. However, if something has come up during the process that your discussions missed, or you didn’t think of, don’t be afraid to say it. Be polite, be firm, and keep to the point. Whether it’s a motif, a color, the pairing between materials, whatever. Your designer isn’t a mind reader and they won’t know unless you tell them. 

Can you ask them to do the upstairs bedroom while they’re at it? 

The answer here is going to depend entirely on the designer in question. 

You’ll want to approach it has you have everything else to this point, politely and with curiosity, honestly expressing how much you’re enjoying working with them. Provided you mean after the current project is done, you might get a few different answers. 

• “No? You contracted me for this project and I’m booked for a while afterwards.” 

• “I’d love to, let’s get it in writing though.” 

And here you’d have to go back through the discussion and selection process that you did at the beginning. 

• “Let’s see how we both feel after the job is done.” 

How do you say thank you after the job is done? 

While the most common way is to just say ‘thank you’ , there is something better. Tell your friends! Heck, tell your enemies if you have any. The more you brag and show off your newly redesigned kitchen, the more you help their reputation. The better their reputation, the more clients they’ll get. Trust us, they’ll be just as happy as you are at that point. 

Thank you for joining us for this post and for this series! We hope that we’ve been able to answer the questions you’ve had about remodeling your kitchen. If you have further questions, feel free to pose them to us in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. 

And if you have any issues with your appliances, please let us know. You can call or set up an appointment over on our page. We want to help keep your home running smooth.

All of Your Laundry Questions Answered

Or At Least As Many As We’ve Been Asked

Laundry is like the internet, both necessary and a total time suck. With many contradictory instructions for how to get what you want out of it. This week we’re answering some of the most common laundry questions in hopes of cutting down the time you spend doing it. 

1. Is distilled white vinegar as useful as the internet thinks? 

When it comes to laundry, it is indeed that useful. While it won’t fix every problem, it can be used to 

• Soften clothing

• Reduce body odor

• Clean your washing machine between loads (really, a half cup in where you’d normally run your detergent and it helps get rid of that funk!) 

2. I feel like my colors are getting dingy since switching to a High Efficiency machine. What gives? 

HE machines bounce the clothing around in the wash instead of submerging them the way traditional machines do. That leads to additional wear and tear, and greater potential for dye transfer. Pretreating your clothes with color safe bleach will help them stay vibrant, and get even cleaner as well. 

3. Does a High Efficiency washer have to use HE detergent? Or can I use what I have? 

HE washers are designed to use less water. What that means is that if you use standard detergent it could take as much as 5 rinse cycles to get all of the suds and residue out of your clothes. 

If you don’t have any choice, you have to get your clothes clean today, consider using less than a quarter of the amount of detergent you would have before. 

4. Do I have to sort my clothes? 

Simply? Yes. 

If you throw it all in together you end up frying shirts and lingerie just to get your jeans and towels dry. Not to mention you’re dealing with  transferring dyes, lint build up, piling, and snags or holes. 

An easy solution is to keep a hamper that has one section for whites, one for lights, one for darks and one for dry clean only. 

When it’s time to do laundry, sort by fabric types and your clothes end up not only looking nicer, but lasting longer as well. 

5. How much can I cram into my dryer before I cause damage? 

If you’re using the word ‘cram’ odds are you’re already doing damage. 

Overloading is one of the biggest reasons dryers break. The dryers belts or pulleys are strained and then the motor overheats. 

Fortunately, it’s easy to avoid this outcome. If you’re dealing with lighter fabrics,  you can get away with filling the dryer ⅔ of the way. If it’s towels, jeans or bedding though, you shouldn’t fill it past ½ way. Stick to these two amounts and your dryer will thank you. 

6. I shrank my favorite shirt! Can I fix it? 

If you dried it, it’s possible, but much more difficult. 

If you caught the shrinkage when you pulled it out of the wash, maybe. 

-Cotton is very forgiving, as is polyester. These can be both be gently stretched out and laid flat to dry.

-If it’s wool… we suggest you go shopping? 

7. I have multiple pets and the fur is always in my washing machine. What can I do? 

Get a lint roller. Not only will it remove pet hair before you wash, but using it will keep that hair out of the washer drum or the drain pumps. 

8. Can I hand wash clothes labeled dry clean only? 

In short? No. 

The manufacturers test their clothing during the deign process to see which method of washing holds up best and keeps the clothing lasting as long as possible. 

There are kits for the dryer like Dryel which will help freshen clothes, eliminate odors and even get rid of light stains and wrinkles. However things like velvet, leather and silk, even some nylons, polyester or spandex, don’t hold up very well in the wash and should  be handled with care. 

9. My T-shirts are being destroyed by sweat stains. How do I stop looking like I don’t care? 

Start by pre-treating the shirt in the areas where you know your  sweat collects., You’ll want to do this every time you wash them, even if you can’t see a stain. 

If the stains are in a white shirt, soak the shirt in boiling hot water in a dish pan to loosen up the stains. Then use a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, water and baking soda, rubbing the fabric together to get it worked into the fabric.  Rinse and toss it into the wash with color safe bleach. 

10. My white linens keep ending up dingy. What am I getting wrong? 

With time and repeated use, whites become dingy from missed stains, dye transfer and redeposited dirt. 

Try these tips to fix it. 

-Always separate your lines by color, whites, lights, darks. Each gets their own load. 

-Don’t overload the machine. 

- If the fabric is packed too tight the dirt will just get moved around instead of washed down the drain. 

-Use hot water instead of cold to more easily remove dirt and body oils. 

- Skip dryer sheets and instead dry on low heat so that any remaining dirt isn’t baked yellow. 

In short, it’s always better to ask questions when it comes to laundry, rather than having to replace your wardrobe or linens. We hope we were able to shed some light on your questions and if not, feel free to ask in the comments or on our Facebook. If your washer, dryer or any of your other appliances are acting up, feel free to call and set up an appointment. Or you can go to our appointment page and use that to set one up. 

We hope to see you again next week.