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How to Clean Curtains + a HomeRight SteamMachine Plus Giveaway

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Alright, let me see a show of hands.  Who is long overdue on cleaning their curtain panels?

Yep, I was, too.  In fact, I’m going to go ahead and admit that I haven’t cleaned any of them since they had been hung…and for some of them, that has been years.  Gross!

But, when the magazine came to photograph my house a few weeks ago, one of the things that they wanted to do was switch out my master bedroom curtains for some that would be lighter in the images.  As I was taking them down, I couldn’t believe how dusty and gross the top of the curtain panels had gotten.  And we sleep in there, y’all!

There are a few different ways to clean curtain panels, so I thought I’d share them with you in case you are like me.  Ahem.

How to Clean Curtains

1.  Shake It Off – Like Taylor Swift says, “Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake.”  But seriously, if it hasn’t been too terribly long since you hung your curtains, take them off the rod and head outside.  Give them a good shake so that the dust and dander flies off.

2.  Sticky Roll – No, it’s not a new sushi roll (mmmm….sushi).  You can use a sticky roller (or a thick dishwashing glove) to remove any lint or pet hair that’s stuck to your curtains.  My big, sheddy, white dog loves to sleep up against our dark gray curtains, so we use this method a lot.  It works pretty well for a quick fix.

How to Clean Curtain Panels

Yep, he looks like trouble next to dark fabric, doesn’t he?

3.  Suck It Up – If you have a vacuum with good detail attachments, you can use it to clean the curtains.  Pay particular attention to the tops of the panels near your rod, as that is where dust seems to collect the most.  I’m about as good with vacuum cleaner  attachments as I am with hair styling tools (read: not at all), so I generally avoid this method myself.

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Five Easy Ways to Remind Yourself to Change Your HVAC Filters

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There are few things more boring, or easily forgotten, than performing routine home maintenance tasks.  Mowing the grass, resealing grout, replacing caulk around the windows.  Yawn, right?  Well, as tedious as those tasks seem, they are very important to the way your home physically operates.  A properly maintained home helps keep your energy costs down, which in turn (if we are being totally honest) means you have more money left over for decorating. Woot!

I am notorious for conveniently forgetting routine tasks, like changing smoke detector batteries before they start beeping at me or the HVAC filters before they are disgustingly dirty.   I’m pretty good at remembering things that happen once a month, like giving my dogs heir heart worm preventative on the first of every month. But if something is supposed to be done once every few months?  My brain refuses to participate.  I mean, y’all saw my dirty HVAC filters a few months ago.  They were gross! Thank goodness I usually use the Filtrete Allergen Defense MPR 1000 filters that help to reduce airborne allergens in my home and clean indoor air by capturing dust, pollen and lint from passing through the system.  That at least makes me feel a little bit better when I forget about them.

Since I’m trying to do my best to turn over a new leaf and save us a little money by properly maintaining an efficient heating and cooling system, I have come up with a system to help myself remember to perform certain tasks.  One of my friends (shout out to Sara!) just told me it cost her $7,000 to replace an old HVAC system – you could buy a lot of paint with that money, y’all!  Replacing her system wasn’t dirty filter related, but there’s no reason why I should send mine to an early grave by ignoring it.

Just in case you are in the same boat as I am, I put together a list of a few ideas I had for setting up a system for these types of reminders:

Set an Alarm

I tend to rely on my iPhone for just about everything.  I need it to make calls, send emails, search the Internet, do some pinning and tell me if its going to rain.  Now, I think it needs to remind me to change my HVAC filters, too.

There are a few ways you can set such an alarm on your phone.  With either an iPhone or an Android, you can download a free app called Any.Do (I LOVE this app, y’all).  You can schedule a task, like Replace HVAC Filters, every three months (the recommended time between changing filters) and set an alarm to go off.  When the date and time you selected arrives, a chime and a notification will pop up on your phone.

Five Easy Ways to Remind Yourself to Change Your HVAC Filters

Any.Do even has a web app now which makes it even easier to schedule tasks.  I use it for reminders for all sorts of things.

Five Easy Ways to Remind Yourself to Change Your HVAC Filters

Jot it Down

As much as I love my Any.Do app, I’m a paper calendar type of girl.  I know, I know.  Make fun of me all you want, but writing appointments down on a paper calendar is pretty much the only way that I’m going to make it there at the right time.  I’ve tried – and failed – several times to convert myself to a digital calendar on my phone/computer.  Each time, it ended badly. …

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