I don’t think there’s a thread like this with info to share. I saw these at the vet urgent care and had no idea the pavement could get so hot on a pleasant day!
They’ve done warnings similar to these on our local news. But sometimes we need more information than one reminder
Booties would be another option. Normally you think of them for dogs in winter, but they’d help a lot for summer too if there’s no accessible option for low-temp pavement walking.
Routes that avoid asphalt are definitely on my mind when I’m doing dog-walking stops at my job.
Apparently many “green” laundry strips and also dishwashing/detergent pods are full of plastic that go into our water systems I had been thinking about trying out Tru Earth recommended by a friend but it has polyvinyl alcohol in it.
Also, I have to share this somewhere, from that thread where this info was shared:
Summary
The original post was someone asking about laundry strips to handwash undies in one of the wool groups. One person responded that she buys cheap cotton undies on Amazon and throws them away after a day or two-- and added that this is a hill she will die on-- I am so horrified that I am speechless but I’m not about to get into an online confrontation about it. How is this an appropriate response to someone asking about what soap to use to handwash underwear?!
My friend wrote me an email and said I absolutely had to watch this two-part video about dishwashers. She was right, I was riveted! The guy’s voice is so calming and the info is so interesting, and our dishwasher that wasn’t cleaning well and has been used as a drying rack for the last couple of years might be fixed due to his tips and tricks? We ran a load last night after I opened up all the remaining pods and crushed the powder, and all the dishes appear clean! In retrospect the poor cleaning may have started when we switched to pods and we never made the connection.
Part 1:
Part 2 Follow-up:
Summary of his tips:
- Always run the hot water at the kitchen tap until it’s hot. The dishwasher expects hot water and the prerinse won’t be as effective without it.
- Filling the small prerinse area next to the main area with powdered detergent is key! That’s why pods don’t clean so well. He did experiments with truly disgusting dishes and most of the cleaning happens during the prerinse. Also, don’t do the quick cycle which skips the prerinse.
- Don’t use too much detergent unless you have hard water. Your dishwasher only uses 4 gallons of water but over several hours, so you don’t need to fill up that container.
- Rinse aids are cheap and helpful (we don’t use one but I may get some). He buys the absolute cheapest grocery dishwasher detergent and said it performs the same as long as you follow the tips above.
- Don’t prerinse your dishes and remember to clean the filter! Save your water.
He ended the second video by saying that your dishwasher uses very little water and electricity and it’s better for the environment for you to use it instead of handwashing!
Depending on the dishwasher model, it may have an electric heating element inside that heats up the incoming water to the optimal temperature if it’s not cold enough. One of my exes had no hot water for months in her kitchen, but her dishwasher worked just fine, because it had an internal heating element.
The detergent amount is definitely on point, for those without super hard water. Same goes for laundry washing machines.