Renew, Retreat, Rewash

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• For an inexpensive improvement with expensive results, change the pull knobs on drawers and cabinets to turn any outdated cabinet into a work of art.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.

Your Opinion Matters

Your opinion matters to us, we’d really appreciate it if you take a few moments to review your experience with us

CLICK HERE

to leave your review. Thank you kindly for your time.

Mr. Appliance of Clearwater

Deep Clean Refrigerator Every Six To Twelve Months

We get more calls to repair refrigerators during summer than any other time of year. Your fridge is working over-time now that the kids are home and we all need cold drinks more often to stay cool.

These are our recommended steps to deep clean your refrigerator every six to twelve months to help keep it in top working order.

• Turn refrigerator temperature to “off.” Pull fridge away from the wall and unplug it.
• Remove all food. Have an ice-filled cooler nearby for storage.
• Remove drawers and racks and clean in the sink with hot, soapy water. Have both a scrub brush and toothbrush on hand for stubborn stick-ons.
• To loosen up tough stains inside the refrigerator, heat a water/vinegar solution. Place in fridge and close door for 10 minutes to let steam.
• Clean the condenser coils at the bottom of your fridge (may be at the back on older models). Remove the access cover and use an elongated brush or vacuum nozzle to remove dust.
• Clean the drip pan at the bottom of your fridge that collects condensation (generally located above the refrigerator coils.) Be forewarned: drip pans can get moldy so use gloves for this. Let the pan dry completely before replacing.
• To prevent cracks, clean the rubber lining of your fridge with warm soapy water.
• When finished cleaning, return shelves and drawers, plug fridge back in and turn temperature back to recommended setting.
• Wait until fridge is thoroughly cooled before returning food.

Are You Using Too Much Laundry Detergent?

Being part of the Mr.  Appliance corporate staff doesn’t mean that I love to do laundry.  In fact I think of it as a necessary evil.  It has helped me make the chore less objectionable that I’ve gained some tips that make it a little easier and more effective.

I have to admit that I was one of those people guilty of using too much laundry detergent.  More is better, right? Well, no.  It turns out I’m not alone – using too much laundry detergent is one of the problems our technicians see most often.

Using too much laundry soap works your washing machine harder and doesn’t get your clothes cleaner.  In fact, using too much detergent can shorten the life of your washer and your clothes.

I was surprised to learn that the soap isn’t what cleans your clothes. According to franchise owner, Harry Grubbs in Houston (www.mrappliance.com/conroe), the soap actually bonds with the hard particles in water (like calcium) to allow the water to better clean the clothes.  The soap holds those solid particles in suspension, which dissolves the dirt in the water.  I know, the concept is a little like physics, but Harry assures me that’s the way it works – and I believe him.

When you use too much soap, the water cannot properly dissolve the dirt and the soap stays in your clothes.  It also causes a residue buildup in your washing machine, which can become a breeding ground for mold. That may be what’s causing that smell you might be wondering about in your front-loading washing machine.

A good test to determine if you use too much soap would be to wash a load of clothes or towels as you normally do – if you see suds you are using too much.  Wash them again without adding detergent – if you still see suds, that’s what was left in the clothes after you washed them the first time.

If you have soft water you need even less detergent than those with hard water.  It’s important to always read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions to ensure you are using the correct amount.