I’d say it’s age that makes me excited about things like outdoor extending clothes lines, but had I been 25 with my own garden, I would also have been really into the RAM 30 metre retractable reel clothesline. Giles humoured me and drilled a few screws into the side of the shed and I pull the cord across the garden and wind it round the cherry tree. Sturdy enough for everything except very wet towels and jeans. The horrendous weather has meant I haven’t used this much but when I have, I have been so into it.
This is the best laundry box ever, from A Place For Everything. It is very slim, fitting into a tiny space between a wall and a bookcase on my landing. And the great thing about it is that you can buy extra netting liners for it, meaning that you can hoik the laundry out in its net and ferry it downstairs, (rather than grabbing it all out of the box, piling it all up, stinking, in your arms and trailing knickers and single socks down the stairs to the washing machine), and immediately replace the bag with an identical bag, meaning you can transfer the old bag back up at your leisure.
I spend my life soaking cricket whites, stained with grass and nosebleed, (for it is nosebleed season), in laundry liquid, but it’s never very effective. I was always taught that you must never use Bio laundry powder as it’s very bad for the environment, but Ecover do a version of a bio powder, using biodegradable ingredients. And they must be telling the truth because it’s illegal to put that sort of claim on the box if it’s not true. You’re all going to say that this is bunk, now. But this stuff is so dynamite at getting organic stains out of synthetics that I might not be able to listen to you. Sam’s whites have been dazzling this season.
Speaking of nosebleeds, I have mentioned this before but will repeat, that the smallest size of non-applicator tampon, with the string removed, is a brilliant nose-bung for anyone suffering from chronic nosebleeds at the moment.
You may be unsurprised to know that I am very neurotic about the cleanliness of our food waste bin. I’m not sure how it rolls in your council, but round here we have a waste bin for food waste that is collected weekly. If you’re not careful, in the summer it can become a monstrous cesspit. I clean my bin after every collection from June - September with a blast of the garden hose, and then with every tied food waste bag that goes in to the food waste bin I toss in a teaspoon of dishwasher salt because I read somewhere that flies hate salt. I’m sounding so mad, now.
Speaking of flies, fruit flies (if you have them) live in your sink pipes. Get rid of them by douching your sink with boiling water 1 x per week.
If you are heading off to the beach soon, don’t forget a tub of talcum powder, which is essential for getting sticky sand off damp feet. You will also always find a use for spare freezer bags, bag clips and a pair of nail scissors. Don’t forget to cancel the papers and do yourself a favour and leave a pint of milk in the freezer for your future self.
We have been using Trusted Housesitters for a while now. They are unpaid house sitters who come and have a holiday in your home while you’re away, look after the cat, water the plants, do the bins etc. I have had a series of perky itinerant young television producers who are extremely capable and I recommend the whole thing to you highly. You pay an annual fee to the Housesitters website, but that’s it.
What else? What else have I forgotten?! I have been trying to read All Fours by Miranda July and, while I can see that this is a brilliant book, her observations are absolutely spot on and the writing is terrific, there is something about it that is very put-downable. I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it’s just me.
Anyway. Do you have any excellent going-away tips that you can share with the group? Please leave a comment in the handy box below.
I’m sorry but this is the best comments section I have ever read. I feel as though I’ve come home, somehow.
I never new that about fruit flies, waiting for the kettle to boil ...