Archive for the ‘Energy Tips’ Category
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013
By Lillyan Baker
Reduce. Reuse. Upcycle
Break free of the circle and follow the arrows to sustainable cleaning. Save money and fresh air this season by spring cleaning your household with products you can find behind milk cartons and spaghetti boxes. No need to make a special trip to the store, discover cleaning goods within your home that can transform your kitchen from the winter blues to the bright white of spring. Instead of recycling a used lemon wedge in compost, upcycle the acidic slice for a fresh and natural cleaner to help make your kitchen sparkle like season.
- Freshen Up. Eliminate odors by pouring vanilla extract into a bowl and wipe down refrigerator walls with a paper towel.
- Beyond the shelves. Clean condenser coils located behind the fridge with a brush or handheld vacuum to remove dirt, dust and pet hair.
- Cool it down. Place a handful of ice cubes and citrus peels in garbage disposal, turn on cold water and then the disposal for 15-30 seconds. After turning off disposal continue to rinse with hot water for 15 more seconds.
- Wash away. Remove stuck-on food residue by running an empty dishwasher with a cup of white vinegar.
- Mix it up. Wipe interior microwave surfaces with a mixture of two tablespoons baking soda and one quart water to remove food stains.
- Bright white. Use a sponge with a mixture of ½ cup bleach, ¼ cup baking soda and four cups warm water to avoid yellowing of white appliances. Let it set for 10 minutes before rinsing and drying.
Tags: cleaning for kitchen, household cleaning, how to clean kitchen, Lillyan Baker, Live Laugh and Learn with Lillyan, Mr. Appliance, Mr. Appliance Blog, MrAppliance, organic cleaning, organic kitchen cleaning, spring cleaning ideas, Spring Cleaning Tips, sustainable kitchen cleaning, sustainable kitchen ideas
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Wednesday, May 15th, 2013
By Lillyan Baker
Love Your Kitchen
Take time to love your appliances and they will love you back. Follow these steps from Mr. Appliance to cook up some romance, instead of frustration with inefficient appliances.
Give Your Oven Some Lovin’
- Don’t run the self-cleaning cycle within one week of a big dinner – ovens have a tendency to fail during or right after a self-cleaning cycle.
- Clean the reflector bowls under the burners to help cook more efficiently.
XOXO For Your Dishwasher
- If you’re unsure whether or not an item is dishwasher safe, just wash it by hand.
- Run an empty dishwasher with a cup of white vinegar to eliminate odors and buildup.
Keep Your Garbage Disposal Smelling Like Roses
- Place a handful of ice cubes in the disposal. Add lemon, orange or lime peels and run disposal with cold water for 15 to 30 seconds. Continue to rinse with cold water.
- To avoid clogging your garbage disposal, remember to not pour grease down the drain.
Rekindle Your Refrigerator
- Unplug your refrigerator and use a vacuum to remove any dust from the coils. This will help it run more efficiently and trim your utility bills.
- Make sure it’s loaded properly. Contents should be evenly distributed.
Tags: dishwasher tips, fridge tips, Garbage Disposal Tips, how to kitchen, Kitchen appliance tips, kitchen energy tips, Kitchen Household Tips, Kitchen Love, Kitchen maintenance tips, Kitchen repair tips, Lillyan Baker, Mr. Appliance, Mr. Appliance Blog, MrAppliance, Oven Tips, refrigerator tips
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Friday, May 10th, 2013
By Lillyan Baker
Simple Solutions
Simple solutions to get your household safe and clean with products you can find within your pantry.
After eating an orange, don’t throw away the peel. Citrus peels, including oranges, lemons and limes, can help deodorize your garbage disposal. Excess waste put down your disposal can cause an unforgiving odor. To avoid a stench that can linger, try this simple tip to deodorize your garbage disposal. Place ice cubes in the disposal. Add orange, lemon or lime peels and run the disposal with cold water for 15 to 30 seconds, then turn the disposal off. Continue to run the cold water for 15 seconds thereafter. This eliminates stubborn odors without harsh chemicals, leaving your sink smelling fresh and clean.
From cookies to countertops, vanilla extract can smell your kitchen fresh all week long. Cover up the fish from last night’s dinner by heating up a microwave-safe bowl of vanilla extract for three minutes. Then grab a rag or paper towel and use it to wipe surfaces for stubborn stains and residue in the microwave. To eliminate fridge odors, pour vanilla extract into a bowl with a paper towel and wipe down the refrigerator walls. Your kitchen will smell like fresh baked cookies without the baking!
Tags: appliance repair, clean with home products, how to clean your kitchen, kitchen tips, Lillyan Baker, LillyanBaker, Mr. Appliance, Mr. Appliance Blog, MrAppliance, organic kitchen, simple solutions
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Friday, May 3rd, 2013
By Lillyan Baker
Dishin' Out Tips
Cooking, baking and living in a green kitchen lifestyle is as simple as making a few changes to your dishwashing routines.
Eliminate a step from your cleaning process- no more pre-rinse! Save up to 20 gallons of water by hand-scraping your dishes, instead of running water for your pre-rinse. Not only will this save on water waste, but it can save your glassware, too! Dishwasher detergent is dependent on food particles to do its job. By having no food to attack, it usually moves to glassware, leaving your dishes cloudy with permanent etching damage.
To get cleaner dishes, purge your water in the sink before running the dishwasher to make sure it’s hot from the beginning of the wash cycle. The hot water will help break down stuck-on food particles and prevent clogs. Make sure your hot water heater is set between 120 and 125 degrees. Give your dishwasher a wash of its own by running an empty cycle with a cup of white vinegar. The cleaner will remove soap and calcium build-up that makes your dishwasher worker harder than it has to.
Use short dishwashing cycles and save the normal dishwashing cycles for your dirtiest dishes. Avoid using the “rinse hold” setting, since it uses three to seven gallons of hot water for each use. Give your dishes a breath of fresh air by turning your dishwasher setting to air-dry or open the dishwasher after the rinse cycle.
Tags: appliance repair, broken appliance, dishwasher energy tips, dishwasher ideas, dishwasher repair, dishwasher tips, home appliance repair, Household Tips, kitchen energy tips, Lillyan Baker, Mr. Appliance, MrAppliance
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Friday, April 26th, 2013
By Lillyan Baker
Hidden House Escape
Tired of your man retreating to his man cave after dinner while you are stuck folding laundry? It’s time to create a space for a weekly refuge that is just for you by building your own mom cave. Transform the one room in your house your husband would never think to look, the laundry room! See how a coat of paint and the strike of a match can turn a cinderblock basement into a sanctuary of suds.
A Few Strokes to Paradise
- Even though your sheets are white, doesn’t mean your walls have to be too! For a gallon of paint and a weekend of work, you can revamp your laundry room to give it that straight-out-of-the-magazine look! Pick a color that shows off your personality and brings you energy during a heavy laundry load week.
- For an inexpensive improvement with expensive results, change the pull knobs on drawers and cabinets to turn any outdated cabinet into a work of art.
- Upgrade your cabinets without the replacement cost. Take the time to restain worn panels that have lost their color from years of drippy, wet clothes.
Make It Your Own
- Drop those empty, multi-colored detergent bottles in the recycle; it’s time for some real decorations in your laundry room. Fill your soon-to-be retreat with photos of your most recent girl’s night out and favorite candle aromas.
- If you have the space, add a comfortable chair in your favorite fabric to give yourself a place to kick back and relax. Soaking the stains off your kid’s soccer uniform has never been so easy.
- No need to replace a worn floor, add a large area rug to cover dropped dyes and pickled panels. The added rug will give a soft feel to your haven and your toes.
Escape to Entertainment
- Amplify your playlist and charge your smart phone at the same time. Add a stereo docking station to your kid and husband free zone for simple sounds in your sanctuary.
- King of the remote, move over because the queen is here to stay! You can hang a small flat screen television on an empty wall to catch up on your latest soaps while washing with soap. This is one reality show you will not want to end.
- Give yourself a recess. From sewing to scrapbooking to painting, now you can create a craft area for your favorite hobbies to entertain you while you wait for the dryer to ding.
A Place for Everything
- Make more room for storage by upgrading your appliances to a front loader washer and dryer. These appliances allow you to place storage on top of the machine, not just around it. Now you can save on storage space and energy with every load.
- With your extra room you can create a drop-down ironing board that doubles as a workspace for arts and crafts and for folding clothes.
- No need to air your dirty laundry. Turn your saved appliance space into a hanging clothes rack for air-dry only clothes and peewee football jerseys.
To keep your new appliances running for years to come, schedule a service professional to visit your home once a year for an appliance check-up.
Give yourself a reason to fluff and fold everyday by converting your laundry room into your favorite room in the house with your personalized mom cave. By the time you are finished, your family may even help you with a load of laundry just to check out your new space. With a laundry room that looks this good, washing clothes is a chore no more.
Tags: appliance repair, home appliance repair, how to fix up laundry room, how to washroom, laundry room, laundry room appliances, laundry room DIY, laundry room ideas, laundry room retreats, Lillyan Baker, mom cave, Mr. Appliance, MrAppliance
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Tuesday, April 16th, 2013
Evolve Your Home This Earth Day
By Lillyan Baker
Celebrate Earth Day by making an effort to live a green lifestyle and grow some green in your pocket, too. This month, make an effort to break old habits and take a step away from energy-waste to energy-smart.
“By maintaining your appliances regularly, you can extend the life of your investment and save energy,” said Doug Rogers, president of Mr. Appliance. “The harder an appliance has to work to do its job, the more energy it consumes in the process, which puts a strain on the appliance, the environment and on your energy bills.”
Follow these simple tips from Mr. Appliance to make your appliances not only benefit planet earth, but also your pocketbook.
Open the Door to More Savings
- Give your refrigerator some breathing room by keeping the appliance at least two or three inches away from the wall. Place your refrigerator away from direct sunlight and appliances that produce heat to make your refrigerator run more efficiently.
- Do you crave a midnight snack, but can’t decide what to eat? Keep your fridge full, not only to satisfy all of your midnight munchies, but also to help the fridge save energy after recovery from the door being open.
- Check and care for the rubber seals surrounding the inside of your fridge by using mild soap twice a year to help prevent cracked and torn seals. Use your money to test the seals by placing a dollar bill halfway inside the refrigerator door. If the dollar pulls out easily, then your losing money in more than one way and it may be time to replace the rubber seals.
- Enjoy a night of leftovers and defrost your fridge regularly. The frost build-up wastes energy by making the compressor run longer.
Keep the Heat Inside of Your Oven and Out of Your Pocket
- If you notice your food cooking unevenly or it is taking longer than before, it may be time to replace cracked or torn door seals that can allow up to 20% of heat to escape
- When cooking up your favorite meal, turn off electric burners two to three minutes before you finish cooking and let the residual heat sauté the rest to perfection.
- Save yourself a step by planning out your cooking schedule to only bake in the oven instead of preheating. Sometimes there is no need to preheat if the food requires more than an hour in the oven.
- When tidying up your kitchen don’t forget about your electric and gas burners. Clean burners allow for a more efficient use of energy.
Clean Plate, Clean Mind
- Save up to 20 gallons of water by hand -scraping your dishes, instead of running water for your pre-rinse.
- Give your dishes a breath of fresh air by turning your dishwasher setting to air-dry or open the dishwasher after the rinse cycle.
- Hold off on washing your dishes until you have a full load. Your dishwasher uses the same amount of water per cycle, so fill it up with all of your hand-scraped plates.
- Give your dishwasher a wash of its own by running an empty cycle with a citric acid-based cleaner. The cleaner will remove soap and calcium build-up that makes your dishwasher work harder than it has to.
Follow these do-it-yourself energy efficient tips periodically by adding them to your family calendar. To help prolong the life of your appliances, combine these tips with regular visits from your local appliance repair professional.
Through the use of simple maintenance tasks you can extend the life of your appliances, your bank account and most importantly, our planet.
Tags: dishwasher tips, Earth Day, earth day 2013, Earth Day ideas, Earth Day tips, energy efficient home, fridge tips, Home Tips, Lillyan Baker, LillyanBaker, Mr. Appliance, MrAppliance, Oven Tips, Stove Tips, washer tips
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Monday, April 8th, 2013
Save Some Green
By Lillyan Baker
Wash out your family’s green grass stains and wash in even more green savings. The laundry room can be the busiest room in your house, and if your washer and dryer aren’t performing at their best, it could show up on your energy bill. It may be time to give your family’s laundry habits an energy-saving makeover.
“Busy schedules and full households can cause lots of wear and tear on laundry room appliances,” said Doug Rogers, president of Mr. Appliance. “Home owners should take special care when using their washer and dryer to make sure they keep working efficiently. The harder an appliance has to work to do its job, the more energy is wasted in the process.”
Follow these simple tips from Mr. Appliance to help your laundry room conserve energy and money.
Washer:
- When appropriate, wash clothes in cold water. This saves the energy needed to heat the water.
- Wash full loads. Washing machines use about the same amount of energy for all load sizes, so fill up the load to avoid wasting energy.
- Use the high-speed spin cycle, to take moisture out of your clothes resulting in less drying time and more energy saved.
- If you have an older top-loading washing machine, consider converting to a front-loading washer, which uses about 70 percent less water.
Dryer:
- Keep the lint filter clean to maximize air circulation, energy efficiency and to help prevent a potential fire.
- Dry full loads and use the moisture sensor setting. Not only does this save energy, it also protects your clothes from heat damage.
- Keep the dryer’s outside exhaust clean to prevent dryer fires and reduce drying time, which saves energy. Keep the dryer at least four inches away from the wall to prevent kinks or tears from forming in the exhaust vent.
These tips are easy for you to do yourself, and can even help prolong the life of your appliances when combined with regular visits from your local appliance repair expert.
Tags: Dryer Tips, Earth Day, earth day 2013, Energy Tips, Green Laundry Tips, laundry ideas, laundry tips, Lillyan Baker, LillyanBaker, Mr. Appliance, MrAppliance, washer tips
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Thursday, April 4th, 2013
Make your fridge work for you and save some energy. As the months begin to warm up with spring and summer weather, take the time to use what you’ve got with these tips that will not only color your energy green but your pocket too.
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A Healthy Fridge
Your schedule is not the only thing packed during the week, with parties, potluck dinners and your kid’s friends, so is your fridge. Your fridge is designed with certain shelves and drawers for a reason, so use them. Keep juice and condiments in the door shelves and fruits and vegetables in the crisper drawer. This will move most items to the outer edges of your fridge to clear space for leftovers and other food.
- From cookies to countertops, vanilla extract can smell your kitchen fresh all week long. Cover up the fish from last night’s dinner by heating up a microwave-safe bowl of vanilla extract for three minutes. Then grab a rag or paper towel and use it to wipe surfaces for stubborn stains and residue in the microwave. To eliminate fridge odors, pour vanilla extract into a bowl with a paper towel and wipe down the refrigerator walls. Your kitchen will smell like fresh baked cookies without the baking!
- Check and care for the rubber seals surrounding the inside of your fridge by using mild soap twice a year to prevent them from drying out, cracking or splitting. Use your money to test the seals by placing a dollar bill halfway inside the refrigerator door. If the dollar pulls out easily, then your losing money in more than one way and it may be time to replace the rubber seals.
Tags: a clean refrigerator, clean your fridge, Energy Tips, Energy-saving fridge tips, fridge energy, fridge maintenance, fridge tips, how to save energy with fridge, Lillyan Baker, LillyanBaker, Mr. Appliance, MrAppliance, refrigerator ideas, refrigerator tips
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Monday, March 18th, 2013
By Lillyan Baker
Solve all of your dishwasher blues.
March is the season to spring clean your home, why not spring clean your appliances too? Solve all of your dishwasher dilemmas with these simple and efficient dishwasher maintenace and energy tips.
Eliminate a step from your cleaning process- no more pre-rinse! Save up to 20 gallons of water by hand-scraping your dishes, instead of running water for your pre-rinse. Not only will this save on water waste, but it can save your glassware, too! Dishwasher detergent is dependent on food particles to do its job. By having no food to attack, it usually moves to glassware, leaving your dishes cloudy with permanent etching damage.
To get cleaner dishes, purge your water in the sink before running the dishwasher to make sure it’s hot from the beginning of the wash cycle. The hot water will help break down stuck-on food particles and prevent clogs. Make sure your hot water heater is set between 120 and 125 degrees. Give your dishwasher a wash of its own by running an empty cycle with a cup of white vinegar. The cleaner will remove soap and calcium build-up that makes your dishwasher worker harder than it has to.
Cooking, baking and living in a green kitchen lifestyle is as simple as choosing the correct dishwashing cycle. Use short dishwashing cycles and save the normal dishwashing cycles for your dirtiest dishes. Avoid using the “rinse hold” setting, since it uses three to seven gallons of hot water for each use. Give your dishes a breath of fresh air by turning your dishwasher setting to air-dry or open the dishwasher after the rinse cycle.
Tags: appliance repair, Dishwasher consumer tips, dishwasher energy tips, Dishwasher maintenance tips, dishwasher tips, home appliance repair, how to dishwasher, Lillyan Baker, Mr. Appliance, MrAppliance
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Friday, March 15th, 2013
By Lillyan Baker
Sizzlin' Stovetop
Put a spring in your stove by helping you kitchen conserve energy. If your stove has radiant or halogen burners, always have a pot or pan on the burner when you turn it on to start heating immediately. A cold pot that comes in contact with a hot burner could cause a crack in the stove. Also, remember to keep electric and gas burners clean. Clean burners reflect heat better and use energy more efficiently.
Save yourself a step by planning your cooking schedule to bake in the oven instead of preheating. Sometimes there is no need to preheat if the food requires more than an hour in the oven. When cooking up your favorite meal, turn off electric burners two to three minutes before you finish cooking and let the residual heat sauté the rest to perfection.
Tags: appliance repair, home appliance repair, Lillyan Baker, Mr. Appliance, MrAppliance, stovetop energy tips, stovetop maintenance tips, stovetop tips
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