How-to

INTERESTING AND HELPFUL INFORMATION ON MANY SUBJECTS

YOUR OWN WEBSITE? If a reader wants to establish their own website like this one I can testify that it is not difficult and it is not expensive. My son, Chuck, has a website hosting business. This site costs about $80 per year from him and includes the disk space, a personal domain name (mine is jcharlescheek.com), and a web building program that is easy to use. Anyone interested can contact him by clicking on the Contact Us tab on his website at http://www.douloswebservices.com.

HOW TO ORGANIZE THE SEARCH FOR A LIVING PLACE. This website has cleverly mapped the location of all those living places offered for sale on Craigslist.com It should save hours and hours of searching time for those looking to buy or rent a house, rent an apartment, or rent a room. Very easy to use: http://www.housingmaps.com/

HOW TO RIP A PHONE BOOK IN HALF. http://www.wxpnews.com/JH9UCS/070417-Phonebook

FREE CLASS TO LEARN COMPUTER SKILLS. The Uninvesity of Washington has developed an online course to teach people how to make good use of the Internet. It is a free online tutorial. Learn all about it at http://courses.washington.edu/benefit/FIT100/

GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH. Who were your ancestors? Where did they live? What did they do?

The time trusted web source for searching for anything genealogical is the website run by Rootsweb. Their Internet address is : http://www.rootsweb.com/

Rootsweb also publishes a free weekly bulletin titled RootsWeb’s Weekly E-zine. Sign up for the bulletin at the Rootsweb site.

HOW LONG WILL YOU LIVE? Take the longevity test at the following website:
http://www.wxpnews.com/JH9UCS/070116-Longevity-Test

CAUTION: USES OF WD-40 E-MAIL CLAIMS. An e-mail has been circulating for years that describes a long list of uses for WD-40. Some of the uses are not recommended by the manufacturer. A statement in the e-mail I received on January 10, 2007 says, “Ken East (one of the original founders) says there is nothing in WD-40 that would hurt you.” Don’t believe it! Go to this site for additional information: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/wd-40.asp.

FREE TAX PREPARATION SOFTWARE. H&R block is allowing their tax preparation program, TaxCut, to be downloaded free. It is a fully functional program that I have used for years. What’s the catch? Not much other than they will have your address and e-mail address and may send you something occasionally. If you wish to file electronically they will charge $15.95. Also, the program will not allow you to print the results but you can copy the entries by hand to tax forms if you want to not pay anything.

PERSONAL FINANCIAL TOOLS. I recommend the following website as worthwhile to review personal finances and plans for the new year: http://www.debtadvice.org/. It has some good analysis tools as well as information on the typical spending of households of various sizes and incomes.

ANOTHER LONG LIST OF HELPFUL HINTS. Flies,bees, opening sealed envelopes, storing electric cords, removing crayon marks, window washing, burnt food on skillet, and many more. As above, e-mail me for he entire list.

THREE PAGES OF CARPET CLEANING HINTS. Hints are centered on cleaning carpets economically. As above, e-mail me for all three pages.
Some Dryer Softener Sheets can Clog your Lint Filter-Truth! per www.truthorfiction.com
Summary of the eRumor
The eRumor is a first-hand account of a person whose heating unit in a clothes dryer failed.
The man who repaired it pulled out what appeared to be a clean lint filter but when taken over to the kitchen sink would not allow water to run through it.
It was clogged.
The repairman said it was the result of using dryer sheets, that they result in a film that clogs the filter and that can only be removed by scrubbing the filter with a brush as well as soap.
The Truth
There appears to be some truth to this one, although not all dryer sheets are the same.
We did some checking and found several manufacturers of clothes dryers who discouraged using dryer sheets.
The owners manuals for Eurotech brand tumble dryers say “We recommend using a liquid fabric softener in the washer’s rinse cycle. We do not recommend using fabric softener sheets in the dryer. Over time, the chemicals on these sheets can build up inside the lint filter and clog the holes that circulate the air.”

The Asko Corporation, which makes washers and dryers, publishes a “Dryer Use and Car Guide.”
They have the same recommendation against using fabric softener sheets in dryers because of chemical build-up that can clog the filter.

Frigidaire in its FAQ about dryers says that not only should the lint screen be cleaned after every load but occasionally washed in soap and water to remove built-up residue from dryer sheets.

Dave Harnish of Dave’s Repair Service in New Albany, PA, publishes a newsletter about appliances titled DRSNews.
In his 10/18/03 edition, he said “If you use dryer fabric softener sheets, be careful to use only one sheet per load (or two). The chemical used in these sheets can clog lint filters…”
He recommends washing them with hot water and soap, scrubbing with a brush.

Most of the articles we found said the build-up on the lint filters is because of chemicals used in the dryer sheets.
There are some products that claim to reduce static, soften fabric, and do not use chemicals, but we’ve not seen an independent evaluation of those.
Doing a search at www.google.com for: dryer sheets “chemical free” will list some of those.

Last updated 2/24/05 www.truthorfiction.com

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