After a party with lots of guests, the champagne and wine glasses pile up in the kitchen. You don’t feel like washing them all by hand. Can’t you just put the wine glasses in the dishwasher? Opinions differ on this question. Anyone who has ever had to pick up the shards of a champagne glass from the bottom of the dishwasher is more likely to use washing-up liquid and a washcloth to clean them. However, there is an ingenious trick that allows even delicate champagne glasses to survive every wash cycle without damage.

Putting wine glasses in the dishwasher?

They still exist: spontaneous inspirations that make the scales fall from your eyes. That’s what happened to X user Anna Klatsche. When she didn’t feel like washing her champagne glasses by hand, she simply put them in the cutlery basket of her dishwasher.

Not only do the champagne glasses get clean there – they are also much safer than in the sink. Killing two birds with one stone and not even lifting a finger! You praise tricks like this for everyday life.

Anna’s post caused a storm of enthusiasm online: “How incredibly good, simple!” it says. “This ingenuity almost makes me want to start drinking prosecco …”, writes another user.

But not everyone is thrilled. They are annoyed because their dishwasher doesn’t have a basket – or only one that isn’t the right size. For some it is too small, for others too big, so that the glasses would wobble dangerously with every jet of water.

You may also be interested in these articles:

Very well. A single trick – however ingenious it may be – rarely solves all the world’s problems. But there is a clever alternative to Anna’s idea. Many dishwashers have their own wine glass holder – without their owners knowing about it. Simply open the holder on the sides of the upper basket and lean your wine glasses against it at an angle.

You can safely store both wine glasses and champagne glasses here. Annoying washing up and broken champagne glass stems in the sink are now a thing of the past!

Note: Wine glasses and champagne glasses should not be washed too hot. Therefore, select the eco or gentle program of your dishwasher.

Source: twitter/Wirrbelkind

Every well-stocked cleaning cupboard also contains a bottle of glass cleaner. You can use it to make your windows shine again and ensure a clear view. But did you know that you can also use glass cleaner as a universal household cleaning agent? Thanks to its ingredients, the cleaner ensures that smooth surfaces anywhere in your home, such as your bathroom tiles, become streak-free.

But before you grab the all-rounder and spruce up your home, you should know that glass cleaner is not suitable for all surfaces. In this article, we tell you which surfaces should not come into contact with it.

6 surfaces that you should never treat with glass cleaner

Used incorrectly, glass cleaner can damage some surfaces instead of cleaning them. Find out which ones here:

Mirrors

Admittedly, this sounds a little unusual at first, as you are probably one of those people who clean their mirrors with glass cleaner. But you’d be better off not doing that in future. This is because the substances contained in the glass cleaner attack the silver coating and dissolve the film over time. This is shown by the mirror suddenly getting brown stains that look as if they have been burnt in. Particularly with old mirrors, it is therefore better to use warm water or, for more stubborn stains, white spirit.

Granite worktops

Unfortunately, using glass cleaner on granite or marble worktops is not a good idea. The porous stone surfaces are corroded by the ingredients, causing permanent damage. Glass cleaner also causes stains on these surfaces and makes them look dull and dirty.

Car windows

Very few people know that car windows should not be cleaned with standard glass cleaner. This can lead to streaks and stains, which are not only unsightly but also impair visibility. It should also never be used on tinted windows, as the ammonia it contains can damage the film. It is better to use a cleaner specifically for car windows that is less aggressive.

Screens

To remove fingerprints or grease stains from a laptop, computer or TV screen, many people like to use glass cleaner. Although this degreases and cleans well, its ingredients are too harsh for sensitive screens. Instead, use a microfiber cloth with a little water or a special cleaner for electronic devices.

Wood

Care should also be taken with wood. Untreated wood should never be cleaned with glass cleaner. It can be used on varnished wood from time to time, but a thin layer of varnish may well be attacked. In the case of leached or oiled wood, the glass cleaner draws the protective oil out of the wood, making it much more sensitive to stains and water. It is better to use special wood care products such as oil or wax.

Skin

Some time ago, there was a tip circulating on the internet to reverse unsuccessful self-tanning results with glass cleaner. However, this is not recommended as it damages the skin’s protective acid layer and dries it out extremely. Sensitive people may even develop a rash or allergies.

Some products that are effective and harmless to health when used on their own can have unexpected consequences when used in combination with other cleaners. As a general rule, you should therefore never mix glass cleaner, especially not with bleaching agents. This is because the ammonia contained in glass cleaner releases a potentially toxic substance called chloramine, which irritates the eyes, nose, bronchial tubes and throat.

So when cleaning, be careful which products you use for which things, as not all of them are universally applicable. Chemical cleaning agents in particular can damage the surfaces in your home by causing stains and streaks and thus have exactly the opposite effect to what you want to achieve.

Source: tippsundtricks

Many families do their dirty laundry at the weekend. If you don’t have a tumble dryer or garden, you’re probably familiar with the situation where the freshly washed laundry hangs on the drying rack for what feels like ages and just won’t dry. But this has now come to an end! A simple TikTok trend promises a shorter drying time. Read here how you can dry your laundry faster in your home to make room for the next load of laundry.

Drying laundry at home: these basics make all the difference

Before you search the internet for tricks to dry your laundry faster in your home, you should consider a few basics:

Insert an extra spin cycle
The drier the laundry comes out of the machine, the faster it will dry completely on the rack. For heavy fabrics such as jeans and towels, it can help if you insert an additional spin cycle.

Ventilate correctly
In a room with closed windows and doors, the moisture from freshly washed laundry cannot escape. Make sure you keep the windows and doors open so that your laundry can dry in your home.

Keep your distance!
Items of laundry that hang close together on the line dry more slowly than those that can move freely. So don’t hang your laundry too close together on the line.

You may also be interested in these articles:

Simple trick shortens the drying time

Have you considered all the basics and want to shorten the drying time of your laundry even further? Then this trick from the internet is just the thing for you! All you need is a nylon stocking 🛒 or a pair of nylon tights and some cat litter 🛒.

Fill the stocking with cat litter, tie a knot in it and hang the whole thing on the clothes horse together with your damp laundry. The cat litter draws the moisture out of the air – like a mini dehumidifier! This speeds up the drying process considerably, especially in small or poorly ventilated rooms.

Cat litter also has the advantage of neutralizing unpleasant odours. If your laundry smells a bit musty after washing, you can simply hang up the litter sock!

Tip: If you don’t have any cat litter to hand, you can also put rice in the nylon stocking. This also absorbs the moisture.

The trick with the cat litter is not only ingenious, but also extremely cheap and easy to implement. Try it out and your laundry will finally stop drying forever!

Source: gofeminin.de

The links marked with the shopping cart 🛒 are affiliate links. The products are researched to the best of our authors’ knowledge and some are recommended based on personal experience. If you click on such an affiliate link and buy something through it, our editorial team will receive a small commission from the online store in question. For you as a user, the price does not change and there are no additional costs. The income helps us to offer you high-quality, entertaining journalism free of charge.

Tidying up your home is one thing, but keeping it tidy over a longer period of time is another. If you want to keep your household tidy in the long term, it’s no good just cleaning up the occasional mess. Instead, you need a functioning organization system that you can use to keep your household tidy. Read here about the mistakes you are sure to make when tidying up and the tidying tips you should know.

Tidying up the household: these mistakes cause chaos

A tidy household has less to do with discipline than with a clever organization system. Unless you’re a born cleaner, you should avoid the following mistakes that make keeping your household tidy unnecessarily difficult.

Keeping things tidy is difficult if they don’t have a fixed place

Every item should have a fixed place and not simply be quickly hidden away in a drawer as soon as a visitor arrives. If your possessions have a fixed place, you will no longer have to search for them in future. Because now you always know exactly where the remote control or key is. What’s more, your home will be less cluttered as you can put everything back in its designated place immediately after use.

Store items in hard-to-reach places

Probably the most common reason for clutter is leaving items you use every day in hard-to-reach places. Hanging the key that you regularly need on a hook that is too high will ensure that you put it somewhere else next time to save you having to stretch and reach.

Clutter builds up, especially in cupboards, when you first have to pull out lots of other things to reach exactly what you need. Then, due to a lack of time, everything is stuffed back into the cupboard. You should therefore store your belongings in such a way that the items you use most often are easy to reach.

Store different categories together

If you store different categories that have nothing to do with each other together, it’s easy to lose track of where things are. You should therefore divide your belongings into suitable categories and store them separately.

Do not use transparent storage boxes

If you store a lot of things in storage boxes, you quickly lose track of what is actually in which box. If you are looking for something, you have to search through all the boxes until you finally find the desired item. You can counteract this by simply using transparent boxes. This allows you to see at a glance what is inside without having to rummage around.

Leave labels on cosmetic products

A mistake that pretty much everyone makes: leaving labels on cosmetic products. These are a visual distraction in the bathroom and unconsciously create the illusion of clutter. It is therefore advisable to simply remove the labels. The shape and color of the packaging is usually enough to distinguish the different products from one another.

Leave piles of paper on the desk

There’s nothing worse than a huge pile of paper on your desk. It makes the whole study look messy, even if the rest of the room is tidy. So in future, simply store your paperwork in binders or folders, label them and then put them on a suitable shelf.

Do not use storage jars for food

Do you have food packaging all over the place in your cupboard and everything falls out as soon as you open the cupboard door? You can prevent this by simply using storage jars. Not only do they save a lot of space, they also look much tidier in the kitchen and keep your household tidy. You can see what’s inside at a glance.

Keep unused items

That old laptop that no longer works, or that souvenir from 10 years ago that you never liked but are keeping out of courtesy: If you no longer need or even like items, you should either sell them, give them away or dispose of them properly. Because if you own less, it will be much easier for you to keep things tidy in future.

You may also be interested in these articles:

Not using space properly

Many people have so much space in their home, but don’t use it properly. Some drawers remain half empty, while others are bursting at the seams. It is advisable to empty the cupboards once to see how much space is actually available.

Don’t get rid of the chaos in your closet

Organizing your closet by category is also helpful. T-shirts are on one shelf, pants on the next. Dresses and skirts are hung on the clothes rail. This way, you know immediately where things are and can put your outfit together in seconds.

If you avoid the mistakes mentioned here, it’s not that difficult to keep your household tidy in the long term. You’ll see that with these tidying tips, even unannounced visitors will no longer cause you any worry lines.

Source: brightside
Thumbnails: © flickr/Ulleskelf © flickr/Marné Lierman

You love your houseplants, water them regularly – and yet some of them seem sad or simply wither away? Sometimes you literally drown them, sometimes they are left to dry out for weeks. You’re not alone! Many plant lovers experience exactly that. So it’s no wonder that more and more are turning to a little gadget: the Moisture meter for plants. But does it really help? Or does it rather cause confusion?

How do moisture meters for plants work?

A moisture meter for plants shows you how moist the soil around your plant currently is. At first, this sounds like the perfect solution for all watering problems – but it is only partially so.

The device does not measure moisture directly, but the electrical resistance of the soil. The wetter the substrate, the better it conducts electricity – and this is exactly what the moisture meter shows you. Sounds clever, doesn’t it?

But there are a few catches that you should be aware of.

What a moisture meter cannot do

A big misunderstanding: many people think that a moisture meter for plants tells them exactly when they need to water. This is not true. You have to know for yourself what the optimum value is for your particular plant. And that’s not so easy.

There are also some disruptive factors:

• Different soils conduct electricity to different degrees. Organic soil often shows higher moisture values than sandy mixtures.
• The harder you press the soil into the pot, the more moist it appears according to the measuring device – even if it is not.
• Fertilizers and mineral salts distort the measurement. They collect in the soil over time and influence the resistance.
• The depth at which you insert the device also plays a role. The moisture differs significantly depending on the soil layer.
• Calibration is not possible with most devices. This means that if your moisture meter displays incorrect values, you cannot correct them.

And then there are plants for which you should completely dispense with the device – such as succulents or orchids. Their soil is either too dry or too airy to display meaningful values.

Measuring devices as a useful addition, but not as the sole aid

A moisture meter for plants can help you get a better feel for your soil – especially if you are just starting out with gardening. However, it does not replace your common sense or your powers of observation.

So don’t blindly rely on the display. Instead: Do the finger test regularly, feel with your finger about two centimeters deep into the soil. Lift the pot – that way you can quickly feel whether the plant needs water.

You may also be interested in these articles:

A Moisture meter for plants can be a useful aid if you use it correctly. It will give you an indication, but not exact watering instructions. Combine it with the finger test and a scrutinizing look at your plants. In this way, you will develop the right watering feel over time – without any technical frustration.

Source: Feey

On the shower head, on the sink, on the tap and in the sink – limescale builds up over time in all areas of the home that come into contact with water. A simple household trick using baking paper should now help affected areas to regain their shine and remove limescale stains.

Baking paper is a versatile household helper. Not only can you use it to decorate your cappuccino or replace muffin tins, but you can also fry a fried egg without a pan. But did you know that you can even use it to remove limescale stains? Find out here how this ingenious household trick works.

Remove limescale stains with baking paper

To remove annoying limescale stains, crumple the baking paper up a little with your hands. This makes the paper more stable and easier to hold. Now rub the limescale stains on the tap, in the shower or in the sink with the baking paper in your hand. After just a few seconds, the limescale stains and other discoloration will disappear, giving your bathroom a new shine. Cleaning can be so easy!

Reading tip: Have you ever tried cleaning your shower with a potato? This unusual cleaning trick shows how it works.

Before you start, make sure that the surfaces are dry. If the limescale stains cannot be removed immediately, apply a little more pressure with the baking paper. Simply rub the spots with the paper until you are satisfied with the result.

You can also use this household trick to remove limescale from the sink, kettle and all stainless steel surfaces. Light soiling in the oven can also be tackled in this way.

Long-lasting shine

Another advantage: this trick not only removes limescale stains, it also ensures a long-lasting shine. The treatment with baking paper acts like a protective layer and new limescale cannot build up so quickly.

For water stains and light limescale deposits, you can achieve remarkable results with this household trick. For stubborn limescale deposits, however, it is better to use one of the following household remedies. The baking paper is then used to polish the surfaces!

Reading tip: Here you can find more tips for cleaning stainless steel surfaces.

Sources: ruhr24, brigitte
Preview image: ©Media Partisans/FUNKE Digital

You think you save energy with every wash because your washing machine has a good energy efficiency rating? A new study reveals that many of us are still making a big mistake when doing the laundry. Find out more about the eco program on your washing machine here.

Eco program in the washing machine: what you need to know

You buy a washing machine with the best energy efficiency class A and think you are doing something good for your wallet and the environment with every wash cycle. However, a survey by the manufacturer Beko shows that 91 percent of respondents attach importance to a good energy efficiency class, but misunderstand a crucial fact.

You may also be interested in these articles:

The energy efficiency class only predicts economical consumption for the Eco program. This means that only if you wash your laundry in the Eco program are you actually using the high energy efficiency of your washing machine. However, according to the study, only around 33 percent of respondents regularly choose this environmentally friendly program. Instead, colored, dark clothes/jeans and easy-care programs are much more popular.

Fears about the Eco program unfounded

One reason why many people avoid the Eco program could be the fear that their clothes will not be sufficiently clean. Here, too, the all-clear can be given: As a rule, the cleaning performance of the Eco program is equivalent to other programs, even though it may run for longer. This means you can save energy and still get fresh, clean clothes. So it really pays to rethink here!

However, for hygiene reasons, you should make sure to run the washing machine at higher temperatures – 60 degrees or more – once every few weeks to prevent mold, bacteria and deposits from breeding. Öko-Test also advises this.

Source: Utopia, press portal

When you finally go on that long-awaited vacation, you want to relax – and not worry about your houseplants or bothering friends and family with these tasks. But what happens to your green roommates if you leave them alone for two or three weeks?

Fortunately, there are many plants that require little water and are therefore ideal for surviving a longer vacation. They can cope with drought, store moisture and look great at the same time. Here you can find out which plants are particularly suitable for your absence-friendly plant care.

Lucky feather: The carefree beauty for those who don’t like the sun

The Lucky feather (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) is one of the most robust houseplants around. It stores water in its thick roots and fleshy stems and can easily survive two to three weeks without watering. You should only water it when the soil is completely dry. Make sure it is in a bright, semi-shady spot without direct sunlight – then your lucky feather 🛒 will grow almost by itself.

Aloe vera: The vacation queen among succulents

If you are looking for a plant that is both easy to care for and versatile, the aloe vera perfect. Its fleshy leaves store water so that it can easily survive for a long time without replenishment. Only water it every three weeks or so and place it in a sunny, warm spot. It feels most at home in well-drained cactus soil.

Bow hemp: The survivalist for frequent travelers

Bowhemp (Dracaena trifasciata) is almost indestructible. Even if you forget about it, it will remain faithful to you. It loves dry conditions, needs little light and grows reliably even in darker corners. Water it sparingly – every two to three weeks is enough. However, make sure to avoid waterlogging, otherwise its roots will rot.

Ivy: Air purifier with low water consumption

The ivy tute is not only pretty, but also extremely frugal. It improves the indoor air and copes well with dry soil. Simply wait until the top layer of soil is dry before watering again. A bright, not too sunny spot is all it needs.

Palm lily: tropical flair despite a dry spell

The Palm lily (Yucca) stores water in its sturdy trunk and manages without constant watering even in the summer heat. Use loose, well-drained soil and give it a sunny spot. A drainage layer prevents waterlogging and keeps its roots healthy.

You may also be interested in these articles:

Vacation tricks for your plants

Before a long trip, you can give your plants a good watering and put them in a bright but cooler place. Alternatively, neighbors or friends can help out. An upside-down water bottle with holes in the lid provides additional security – this way you can keep your plants hydrated even when you are away.

Source: My Home Book

The links marked with the shopping cart 🛒 are affiliate links. The products are researched to the best of our authors’ knowledge and some are also recommended from personal experience. If you click on such an affiliate link and buy something through it, our editorial team will receive a small commission from the online store in question. For you as a user, the price does not change and there are no additional costs. The income helps us to offer you high-quality, entertaining journalism free of charge.