Help a MN'er out - random niggling life problems we need to sort out but aren't' worth their own thread.

[RobinEllacotStrike]

A supportive thread for women who have lots of shit to do. Below are some issues that pop into my head at random inconvenient times that I really need to sort out.

Things I need to sort out but I'm not quite sure about.

1. I really want to cancel my TV licence, but I'm unsure about the rules around this now. It used to be virtually impossible to do but now many are. What do I need to know?
2. My dentist has been hassling me for years to get an electric toothbrush - I had one but it rattled my brain so I got rid. A few weeks ago I gave in and bought another one - Superdrug own brand. About £40 on offer. IT CUTS MY LIP!! This cant be right? there seems to be a gap between the vibrating head and if it touches my lip it cuts me. Even if I am really careful it does this. Its this faulty? Is this a normal hazzard when using electric toothbrushes? Its probably too late for a refund but is it worth buying another one?
3. Kitchen sink is starting to be slow draining - what do I do that doesn't involve a plumber.
4. Newish tyre - dramatically lost air pressure. I topped it up thinking I had a slow leak & it seems to be fine 2 weeks later. Is it?

Let me know if you have any random issues we can support with.

Why does my phone send me a notification whenever i’m within a few miles of a Cineworld?? I don’t have their app, I can’t find any reference to them in my apps or notifications, I don’t have them saved in Maps, it doesn’t do this for any other business 😂

Jesus, I was just about to post this, we need electrics and rads moved and new flooring, then decorating, or is it the other way round do you do the decorating first. I used to be good at this and refurbished a whole flat on my own in my 20s, flooring, electrics the lot. Now, not a clue

We have heavy furniture, a house full of furniture, how on earth do the logistics work. We have several rooms to do, so do you bring the electrician and plumber back for each individual room or do it all at once and if you do it all at once where does the furniture go?

Fantastic thread OP and I will be clogging this up with my own conundrums over time

Just to say about the toothbrush - I found that when I first started using an electric toothbrush I found the sensation odd and a bit too much unless I pushed my tongue firmly behind the tooth that was being brushed.

Obviously only works if you’re cleaning the front of the tooth but over time I now don’t need to do this but just thought I’d suggest to see if this helps!

There is a cheap kit designed especially for this purpose. I bought one from Amazon. I keep my fridge very clean but I I was amazed at the junk I got out of it. The other really important thing is to ensure that there is enough room behind the fridge to give the condensing bars on the back of the fridge the ability to work properly

With carpet they will expect as clear a room as you can get. It's easier when younger as you don't tend to own things like victorian wardrobes and large corner sofas!
I'd check with the company you are looking to use but some will agree to work around 1 or 2 items as long as they are told in advance. I remember them working around a large triple wardrobe in my room decades ago anyway; they somehow lifted it to get the carpet underneath!

I think the issue is the drying. When I took my superking to the laundrette she said that the biggest mistake people make with down is not drying it long enough, because it feels dry but the feathers clump together then go mouldy. You have to "over dry" them.

But how are you getting the notification? Is it through a third party app such as the Vodafone app?

Do you have a Cineworld account? If so there might be setting about notifications and event registration, make sure they're all turned off or opted out of.

Our decorator always says bring him in last, because if he painted first then it’s bound to get knocked or scraped by the next tradesperson coming in.

Having been sucked down the UPF rabbit hole this summer in an attempt to stop a really serious flare of my autoimmune condition, my attention has now been diverted to microplastics.

I can’t bear the smell of cling film and look at the roll with deep suspicion. Am I sprinkling my food with microplastics each time I use it?

So my niggly question is what are the alternatives to cover a plate of food going into the fridge? And what can I use to store food in the freezer that doesn’t involve plastic boxes and lids.

I have tried Beeswax covers for the fridge dilemma but they dont feel very hygenic. Does anyone have better ideas?

@Marramgrass I have those foil takeaway boxes - I get the in the pound shops or on Amazon if I need a lot. I had the same worry as sometimes it can be in the freezer for months and I know plastic degrades more over time. I recycle them but do find them handy as you can usually also put them straight into the oven.

Re the blocked drains, you can buy a tool on Amazon called a flexible grabber claw, basically a long thin pipe with a grabber on the end so you can literally grab the gunk and pull it out. They’re about £5/£6 so a good stocking filler present for DIYers or anyone who likes tinkering under car bonnets for eg if something small is dropped in a hard to get to place. Along the same lines there’s a telescopic inspection mirror for a similar price.

We use stainless steel boxes with those clip on lids or glass/pyrex boxes if we're using it to reheat etc

You can put the glass ones in the freezer too.

And if you have a grease stain on an item of clothing that wasn't soaked right away, is there ever any hope of getting it out?!

I have a little spray bottle with a mixture of 3parts water, 2 parts washing up liquid and 1 part glycerin which I spray on marks before washing. It works on everything - biro, blood, grass stains and greasy marks to name a few. My mum used to use it to get the grass stains out of my brother’s cricket whites.

You can get glycerine at chemist shops

Cable tie. Long and bendy and used by the fridge repair man when we had this issue. It works a treat and now lives on top of my fridge.

Because direct debits are set up by the money-taking company rather than the account holder, you’ll need to ask each company. Some you can probably change online, eg utilities, credit card if you have online accounts/apps.

a combination of good storage boxes, beeswax wraps and when i put a plate in the fridge, i go old school and put another plate on top of it.

ETA: you can clean the beeswax wraps with a dishwashing brush and cold water. Then heat it up with a hairdryer to redistribute the wax, and let it go cold/dry before putting away or using again

also it should really only be a problem the first time it happens?
After that you are being paid the same so it should last the whole month. Unless you have the "spend it when it hits the account" thing going on in which case you have to contact the companies doing the DD and ask them to change the date.

I bought some glass storage boxes from Tesco. They have plastic lids but the lids don't come into contact with the food. You can use them in the microwave and freezer. You can also use them in the oven if you take the lid off. I use foil to cover a bowl or cup in the fridge, or just put a plate or upturned bowl over a dish.

I use those ziplock re-usable plastic bags. I appreciate there may be some microplastic leakage, but they are at least being used again and again (I wash them inbetween, obviously)

WD40 or similar will usually unstick a window handle.

Oh my God. Why didn't I think of this. DH has a 3D printer.

in my case (or my mum's) it is that they are locked and the keys are missing. It is either get a replacement key (not guaranteed) or replace the handle which looks like a straightforward process. (famous last words...)

My tip was for the stuck windows.
It is very easy to replace a window handle, some need to be in the up position though to get to the screw under the handle. Hope you manage to sort your mum's for her 😊

I use my water flosser in the shower- fill it with warm water from the shower too so no sensitivity and doesn’t matter if I squirt water anywhere by accident.

(Sorry, edited as I had tried to quote the post about cling film and plastics)
I have been using food bags with a process called d2w. Wanted to know if there were any safe food bags that work like the compostable bin bags. They are still a plastic I think, but recycle and then biodegrade more harmlessly after 2 years. I have found it's best to use 2 plates together to make a flying saucer shape, then to wrap that into a food bag or one of the above (although the d2w ones are quite small). So the plate stack is what does the covering and what makes contact with food. But it takes up a lot of space.
I also use the glass boxes with a cliplock lid if you can find them.