By Irene Phillips

There isn’t a single person out there who enjoys mopping the floor, including me. In fact most of us hate it with passion.
Being a man of construction, my husband had just finished installing tile in two of our previously carpeted rooms. He also built us an additional bedroom/bath and a closet — all tiled.

It dawned on me that now I have to deal with mopping all those extra areas I didn’t have before. I’ve seen the infomercials advertising steam mops which claim to clean, disinfect and deodorize without using chemicals, detergents or soaps. Everyone knows that infomercials exaggerate, and I was more than apprehensive when it came to actually purchasing one. I’ve read a gazillion reviews on H2O, T1 Steamboy, Bissell and Shark. While the H20 and T1 apparently create a watery mess… Bissell is good but has a short cord (big disadvantage)  and on the other hand, Shark is the most lightweight  plus Bed Bath and Beyond carries it. The cost of those mops is anywhere between $70 and over $100.00. I knew I didn’t want to spend this kind of money on a darn mop, but I just wanted one so bad!

I decided that my dream mop is the Shark by Euro Pro. Its $80.00 retail price including 2 pads, and if you need additional pads (you will need them trust me), they cost a hefty $19.95 for a set of 2. I began my search on Ebay for a deal and was astonished at how many people were trying to do the same thing I was. The competition was fierce, but I finally won the auction for a barely used one for $35.00 bucks with shipping. It did not come with any pads. I saw that those same pads manufactured in China were being sold on Ebay for about $13.00/set of 6 and ended up buying them. The mop finally arrived, it looked brand new and the quality of pads was excellent. All that under $50.00 and I could not be happier.
I love my mop. No more buckets of nasty water, constant rinsing, dragging the dirt around, putting on gloves… and so on. This mop is definitely convenient. The only chore is you have to wash the pads in the washer after each use. It is recommended to get several pads so you’re not running the washer for just 2 pads. The time stream mopping takes is about same as regular mopping. It implements a pushing forward technique, which some people may find that they have to apply a little bit of force. I found that the sticky type messes on the floors are stubborn for this mop to handle, so you have to go over them a few times. I wish the mop had like a scrubby edge. Also I did notice some streaking going on, but not too bad.
And it does not magically remove grout dirt like the infomercials claim it does. But the surface dirt… I could not believe how filthy black the pads got… regular mop could never pick up that much dirt EVER. Not to mention pet hair. Changing pads frequently is the key to clean floors, otherwise you will drag the dirt around like in regular mopping.

This mop is quick, easy and actually enjoyable to use. I love that I don’t have to use cleaners and go through an ordeal of rinsing and wringing. My next stop is a steam cleaner for my mattress and rugs — dust mites are no fun!
Want more home improvement tips? Contact us @ www.PhillipsandAssociatesInc.com. And by the way, does your logo suck? Drop by IrenePhillipsDesign.com for a makeover.
Thank you for reading Malikas blog!

Washing Dishes

• Set water heater’s temperature at no higher than 120F, especially if you don‘t have a temperature sensor on your dishwasher or clothes washer. Here is why, it takes 1 kilowatt-hour to heat up 10 gallons of water from 80F to 120F. If your water heater’s thermostat is set at 140F, it will take 1.46 kilowatt-hour to heat up the same 10 gallons of water. That is almost one and half times more energy for the same amount of water. If your dishwasher does not have a temperature sensor, it will use the same amount of water from your water heater, whether its temperature is 120F or 140F. Most dishwashers have a minimum water temperature requirement of 120F, so any temperature above 120F would not make a difference in cleanliness of dishes.
• If you have to rinse your dishes before you put them into the dishwasher, rinse them with cold  water. Cold water does not require energy input.
• If you don’t like the idea of rinsing dishes with cold water, rinse them with warm water but don’t open the faucet all the way.  Open it just enough to get some flow and it will be just as effective as having the faucet fully open.  It will significantly reduce your hot water use.  Here is a test you can do.  All you need is a bucket of known volume (they usually come in 3- or 5-gallon sizes) and a stop watch.  Place the empty bucket in your kitchen sink, turn on the faucet at the same flow you usually rinse or wash your dishes and use a stopwatch to time how long it takes to fill up the bucket.  Then do the same experiment with using the low flow.  Here is what I got from my test:

1. The first time it took me just under 1 minute to fill up at 3-gallon bucket, Assuming that it takes you 10 minutes to rinse/wash your dishes, with the average water temperature of 100F, you will use up 30 gallons (3 gal * 10 min = 30 gal) of water at 100F. It will take 1.46 kilowatt-hours total to rinse your dishes (assuming your cold water is 80F, if it is lower, it would take more energy).
2. When I timed my low flow conditions, it took me 8 minutes to fill up the same bucket. This time my flow was 3gal/8min = 3/8 gallons per minute. For 10 minutes I would use 30/8 = 3.75 gallons total. It would only take me 0.183 kilowatt-hours to wash my dishes. That is (1.46/0.183= 7.98) almost 8 times less energy use!

To find out how much energy your dishwasher uses, see my post Find Energy Use by Appliance. Dishwashers use between 4 and 6 gallons of water per cycle.  Energy Star dishwashers use 4 gallons and non-Energy Star use 6 gallons.

Showering

Average flow from the shower head is 2.5 gallons per minute.  So if you are taking a 10-minute shower, you are using 25 gallons of warm water.  It takes 1.3 kilowatt-hours to heat up this much water from 80F to 100F and double that if the cold water temperature is 60F.

• Now days market is flooded with all kinds of low-flow shower heads.  My shower head has a lever that adjusts the water flow by adjusting the size of the holes for the water to flow through. Low-flow shower heads use up to half of the flow of regular shower.
• Another no-brainer is to take shorter showers!

Washing Laundry
Average clothes washer uses 40 gallons of water per cycle.  Your energy use will depend on the cycle’s water temperature.  The hotter the temperature, the more energy it will use.  So here are some tips:

• Choose a cycle with cold rinse, rather than warm or hot rinse.  It is not the “washing” part that takes a lot of water, it is the “rinsing” part.  So washing in hot or cold water won’t consume nearly as much energy as rinsing in hot or warm water.
• The operation of washer itself does not consume a lot of energy.  You can find out how much power your washer uses by checking out Find Energy Use by Appliance.

As a general guideline for the water heater, if you are leaving town for few days, it is good to turn off the water heater as well.  This way it will not use the energy to maintain the set temperature.  In the perfect system, all of the heat would stay within boundaries of the heater.  This is not the case in the real world, some of the heat does escape to the surroundings.  If you go and touch your water heater, more likely it is going to be warm (if it is on).  This is the heat escaping to the surroundings.

• Set thermostat at the lowest possible temperature that meets your comfort level.  The smaller the temperature difference between the outside and the inside, the less energy it would take to heat up the inside.  For better efficiency, it is recommended to set your thermostat at 68F or lower.
• Lower thermostat’s temperature or turn off the heat if you’re leaving the house for over 4 hours.  If you have a set schedule every day, it might be good to invest in a programmable thermostat, so you don’t have to worry about remembering to reset the temperature every time you leave the house for extended period of time.
• Instead of using central heat, use space heaters, especially at night.  The investment will more than pay for itself within the first month.  I personally prefer the oil circulating heaters, versus the ones that have open prongs.
• The heat-generating appliances like the clothes dryer, oven, kitchen stove, dishwasher can help warm up your house, so use them when you’re home.

• Set thermostat at the highest possible temperature that meets your comfort level.  The smaller the temperature difference between the outside and the inside, the less energy it would take to cool down the inside.  For better efficiency, it is recommended to set your thermostat at 78F (26C) or higher.
• Run a ceiling fan when you‘re in the room.  Ceiling fans use a small fraction of energy compared to the air conditioner and they do help with cooling you down. Don’t forget to turn the fan off when you leave the room, remember, the don’t cool the room, they move the air around to make you feel cooler.
• Raise thermostat’s temperature if you’re leaving the house for over 4 hours.  If you have a set schedule every day, it might be good to invest in a programmable thermostat, so you don’t have to worry about remembering to reset the temperature every time you leave the house for extended period of time.
• Keep your blinds or curtains closed, if you are not home.   This will eliminate additional heat coming in through the windows.
• Avoid use of heat-generating appliances like the clothes dryer, oven, kitchen stove, dishwasher during the hottest part of the day.  They will make your air conditioner work harder.
• And last, but not least, change your air filters regularly.  Air conditioning unit re-uses the air over and over, so when the cool air comes in, the hot air has to make its way back out to the heat exchanger through the ducts with the air filters on them.  If the filters are clean, the air will leave easily.  If the filters are dirty, the system will have to work harder to bring back the used air.  This will reduce the efficiency of the air conditioning unit.  Which reminds me, I have to check my air filters!

Can you imagine living without electricity?  I can’t.  It powers my alarm clock to which I wake up in the morning, makes my shower water hot before I go to bed and everything in between.  Electricity, you are my savior!  But it doesn’t come cheap, every month energy company sends me a bill for the luxury of having electricity.  For some people the bill amount is surprising, for others it’s expected.  But wouldn’t it be nicer to understand how this figure gets to be, so you can have a better control over your energy bill?

Understanding Your Electric Bill
First, how is energy produced?  Here in the US about 70% of electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels, mainly coal.  Gasoline is used as a fuel to burn the coal at a steam generating plant.  Steam is then converted to electricity by a turbine generator.  This Wikipedia link explains this in a lot more detail if you are interested http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel_power_plant.
Electricity usage is accounted in kilowatt-hours.  Each residence has a counter showing how much total electricity it used.  Electric company representative takes counter reading on a monthly basis.  The difference between the two consecutive readings is the total electricity used for the month.  The energy units appearing on the counter are kilowatt-hours (KWHRs), which is the same units that appear on your electric bill.  To help you understand, one kilowatt-hour of energy will raise 3413 pounds (or 410 gallons) of water by one degree Fahrenheit.
Some companies have programs where they will give you credit, if you reduce your power usage during pick times of the day.  Pick times of energy use are usually during the day, picking right around noon.  The energy company will send someone to evaluate your house and install timers on the high energy consuming appliances, like the water heater.  Talk to your energy company’s representative to see if they have such programs and if it would work for you.

What is Electricity Used For?
All appliances in your house require electricity to operate.  Which appliances take a lot of it and vice versa?  Any appliance that has to do with heating or cooling of space or water is a high-energy load appliance.  This includes the air conditioner, the water heater, the clothes dryer, the oven, the hair dryer, etc.  Lighting can be a significant part of the bill depending on what kind and how much of it is being used.  Thankfully there are ways to save electricity by knowing where it goes and how much, so you can have a better control of your energy bill!

Check out my next post Estimate Cost of Running Your Household Appliance

#KWHRs = #A * #V / 1000 * #HRs    or

#KWHRs = #W / 1000 * #HRs

Keep in mind that even if the appliance’s on switch is ‘ON’, it doesn’t mean that it draws the same amount of power all the time it stays ‘ON’.  For example, even though refrigerator is plugged into the wall all the time, it turns on and off automatically.  So, when it is ‘ON’ (you hear a light buzzing sound coming from it), it draws the power according to its label, and when it is ‘OFF’, it draws a very insignificant amount of power.
Calculations for estimating power use by the water heater are more complicated, but if you are curious enough, then read on.

To find out how much power appliance is using due to its hot water use, you need to know how many gallons of water your appliance uses, the temperature of your water heater’s thermostat setting and the temperature of cold water in your house.
Use following calculation:

(# of gallons of water) * 8.33 * (hot water temp F - cold water temp F) / 3413 = #KWHRs used

To estimate how much money it costs to operate, find out how much your electric company charges per kilowatt-hour from your energy bill.

# KWHRs * $/KWHR = $

Example:
According to the label, my dishwasher uses 120 volts and 2.7 amps and say it takes approximately 1 hour to complete the wash cycle.  My dishwasher is Energy Star, so it uses 4 gallons of hot water per cycle.  Since I live in Florida, I’m assuming my cold water is 80 F and my water heater’s thermostat is set at 125 F.  My electric company charges 10.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.  So a load of washing dishes in my dishwasher costs me:
120 volts * 2.7 amps / 1000 * 1 hour = 0.324 KWHRs
(4 of gallons of water) * 8.33 * (125 F - 80 F) / 3413 = 0.439 KWHRs
(0.324 + 0.439) KWHRs * $0.105 = $0.08

When it comes down to the core of it all, do babies really care whether they are wearing a new Disney onsie or the one that was worn by their older cousins? Do they care whether the crib they are sleeping in, cost you an arm and a leg at Babies’r'Us, or if you bought it at a garage sale for a fraction of the cost. You know the answer, babies don’t care! As long as the baby industry has you convinced that you “need”, “can’t live without” everything that they are so successfully pushing on you, they will stay very successful.

I guess the difference between me and many other parents is that I draw a more defined line between “want” and “need”, “necessary” and “optional”. So anyways, here is the story of how I decorated my nursery.

Furniture

The baby was definitely on the way and I needed to get going on this whole nursery deal.  We decided to convert our guest room into the nursery. Our small guest room’s furniture consisted of a full-size bed, an old oak dresser, an office chair (don’t ask), a fake wood shelf and a bedside table. We packed up the bed and moved it into the garage. The chair and the bedside table we sold at the garage sale. We decided to leave the dresser in the baby’s room. My husband remembers having it in his room when he was a boy, so even though the dresser is old, it has plenty of character and history! I used furniture polishing oil to freshen it up. I chose to go with a new crib that matches the dresser (some things have to be new for the sake of baby showers). The match is not perfect, but it is hard to tell. We kept the fake wood shelf in the room to hold toys, books, diapers and other baby paraphenalia. My neighbor was getting rid of a rocker chair, so I decided to take advantage of the hand-me-down. I can see why she didn’t want it, it made a very annoying squeaking noise every time someone sat in it.  I decided to give it another shot by spraying some WD-40 around the joints and it helped with the squeaking. I decided not to get a changing table, since it already came with the new playpen.

Wall Decor

What about the wall décor? Why would I spend $20 on a little cloth wall hanging that half of America proudly displays in their nurseries? Too pricey and unoriginal for my taste.  I happened to find an old drawing that my husband did when he was five. It was so cute and free, a perfect decoration! Above the crib I hung my baby’s hand print along with her portrait from the hospital and some of the pictures from the baby shower. I decorated portrait’s frame with some scrap-booking materials that happened to be in a dollar pile at Target. I love these personal trinkets, each one of them carries a special meaning to us.

Bedding

After checking out pricey bedding sets for cribs, I decided not to get a set and settled for separates.  I could not believe that someone could get away with charging $100 or more for a blanket, bed skirt and a tiny sheet?  That seemed a little ridiculous to me.  I also wanted it to be more personal, special.  So I decided to make the blanket myself and I did.  Every time I look at it, it brings back the memories.  As I was sewing the blanket, I was imagining what it would be like to see my baby for the first time, to hold her, to cuddle her.  I would not trade this memory for anything!

Tonight I made french onion soup.  The recipie calls for condensed beef broth from the can, but I decided to substitute it with the fresh stuff.  I hate reading the ingredients for the canned broth.  It is stuffed with phosphates, some other -ates and tons of sodium.  Eeek.  I made the broth according to the book’s directions and used it in my soup.  Yuuummm.  I’m sure I’ll make it again!

Even though entrepreneurship is becoming more and more accepted by our society, most folks still can’t let go of the fact that it’s not as secure as working for someone else.  Even banks are so much more likely to loan money to someone with a ’stable job’ rather than (what??) self-employed.  And yea, I used to be part of the template too.  I did work for a big company, making pretty decent money, had great health insurance (not like I ever used it) and my company was matching 4.5% of my pay to my 401k plan.  When I went to apply for a mortgage, I had no problems at all getting a loan, even though it was a bit on a high side of what I could afford.  They didn’t care whether I worked for a company with a stable reputation, if it was large or small, if it was about to go under or prospering…  All they cared about for my loan approval is the last two stubs of my paycheck.

But when my husband told me what he had to go through to get his little house as a small business owner (that was before we met),  the process seemed to be much more involved.  O-o-oh, that’s right, he didn’t have the last two pay stubs of his paycheck.  No one gives him a paycheck, he owns the company!

So I guess part of me does feel somewhat insecure about having a blogger for a husband.  I do think about what it will be like when we get old and have no 401k or any other income to fall on, I think about the $2500 we have to shell out of our pocket before the health insurance kicks in if any of us gets sick.  I think about the economy and how it is going to affect our small business.

Sounds depressing?  It depends on how one looks at it.  I trust my husband enough to think that we will never get to the point of being in a financial hole, and if we ever did end up there, I am ready to jump right in to help.  Whether it’s getting a regular 9 to 5 job or helping out with the business.

It’s really not all that bad, there are definite upsides to having a self-employed hubby.  He is his own boss and he sets his own schedule.  Sometimes it’s nice to take a day off during the week and go to the amusement park.  They are definitely less crowded on the weekdays!  He is in control of his income, so if we need extra money, he can usually master it up.  Since he works from home, we get to see him during his lunch break, he gets to play with the baby and have a small chat with me.

I guess one of the downsides of having a spouse as an entrepreneur is that he works a lot.  Forget 9 to 5, it’s more like 8 to 10 with food breaks in between.

Enough of my opinions.  Want to hear from Dave himself?  Being his wife, I can get away with asking him some tough questions and getting some honest answers.  So watch my 7-minute interview with him where he honestly opens up about his lifestyle as an entrepreneur and a family man.