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Life is good for pets and owners alike, living in the apartments in Mountlake Terrace, WA, with downtown Seattle nearby and a host of beautiful hiking and nature spots ready for exploring. But living with a pet does add a few challenges to keeping the apartment clean. Here are a few tips to keeping home ship-shape, while being safe and non-toxic for four-legged friends.
Tips for Keeping the Apartment Pet-Friendly and Clean
- Learn to love your lint roller: When your roommate is furry, hair everywhere can become a fact of life. You don't have to wear your love for your pet on your sleeve when you have a lint roller handy to gather up the errant hairs
- Baking soda and vinegar is a great all-natural, all-purpose cleaner: You're not actually going to lick your clean floors, but your pup or cat likely might. Keep a spray bottle with a solution of vinegar, baking soda, and water for a cost-effective, quick and non-toxic cleaner.
- Get in the habit of wiping Fido's feet: You don't want to let the outside in if it means tracking in everything your pup's been stepping in. Keep a towel by the door, and if you reward the wiping of the feet with a treat, it will be a ritual your pup will look forward to.
- Use baking soda to clean pet beds: Keep cat and dog beds clean and smelling good by sprinkling with baking soda, leaving 15 minutes and then vacuuming. Add a few drops of essential oil for an extra nice scent, especially lavender, which not only calms but also has insect repellant properties.
- Rubber gloves for a quick trick to get fur off of furniture: Instead of using a special tool, just dampen a rubber glove and rub over the upholstery and other furniture. The fur will literally gather in your hands, ready for removal.
- Keep toxic cleaners safe: Sometimes messes need the big guns, and for those cleaners that could be poisonous, be certain to store in a place where wandering pups and kitties won't get into trouble.
Offering the finest in Mountlake Terrace living, Taluswood Apartments are not only pet-friendly, but they also offer a host of owner-friendly amenities. To find out more about all we offer, contact us.
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Spring is in the air! For many that means it’s time for some serious deep spring cleaning. You may have started taking note of the products you use for cleaning and the impact they have on your home, your family, your pets and the planet. These green spring cleaning tips for your apartment will let you clean without worrying about your wallet, your family, or the planet.
Clean With Lemons
Lemons are ideal for a variety of tough cleaning projects in your apartment. From tackling microwave messes to deodorizing your refrigerator and adding grease-fighting strength to your dishwashing liquid, lemon juice is a powerful cleaning component.
Need a little abrasive power for tough stains? Lemon and salt create an excellent scrub, which is great for cleaning burnt lasagna pans and other hard-to-clean messes. It’s also perfect for cleaning copper pots and pans, though not lacquered copper. Be careful when using abrasives to ensure that you don't damage surfaces.
Use Vinegar to Clean — Everything
Vinegar makes an excellent all-purpose cleaner. You can use it in a spray bottle for washing windows or cleaning around your bathtub to prevent or eliminate mold growth, or you can use vinegar instead of an artificial rinse agent in your dishwasher. You can even use it as a fabric softener and deodorizer in your laundry. Just put it in your rinse agent ball or pour it into your machine's “fabric softener” spot.
Use Baking Soda to Clean and Deodorize
Baking soda is an excellent choice for freshening the air in your home and for cleaning its many surfaces. Many people use it in refrigerators to eliminate food odors. Did you know you can also use it to get odors out of carpets?
Add a couple of tablespoons to your dishwater to tackle tough grease on your dishes. Use it with vinegar to tackle moldy messes in the bathroom, and add it to your laundry detergent to brighten colors and whiten whites in your wash.
Green spring cleaning tips like these can help you transform apartments in Mountlake Terrace into an oasis of spring and green for friends and family alike. Be sure to contact us today to see which floor plans are available.
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It’s nice to have an in-unit washer and dryer. You don’t have to worry about lugging baskets of clothing to a laundry facility. That means you gain more time at home with your friends and loved ones. At Taluswood Apartments, our floor plans offer this benefit. Here are some tips to keep your laundry space organized.
Make Laundry No Big Deal
With an organized laundry space, you may find it is pretty easy to get the laundry done. But, it is also easy to put it off because you have so much to do throughout the day. With a few helpful tips, you can stay organized enough to throw a load of laundry in whenever you have a few minutes. This makes it easy to get this chore taken care of without worry.
Create a Basket for Everything
Have a separate laundry basket for each type of load you do. You may want one just for towels. Use another for darks. By doing this type of organization, you can toss a load in as soon as you have a full load. You don’t get behind in the process.
Picking Up Clothes? Drop Them In
As you pick up clothing from the bathroom or bedroom, immediately take them to the basket. Drop them into the appropriate basket as you go. When you do, you never have to worry about piles stacking up. Everyone can handle this task.
Keep The Area as Clutter-Free as Possible
Make sure to keep as little in this area as you can. Laundry rooms can often become a place everything ends up in. To avoid this, have a storage spot for every type of item you plan to wash. For example, store tablecloths in the kitchen. Create a single basket to collect socks. And, fold towels and put them away immediately.
Taking these simple steps can help speed up your laundry washing efforts. It also eliminates those days when you have to stay home to do the laundry.
Find a Home That Gives You Everything You Need
Are you thinking about a move? If you are looking for an apartment in Mountlake Terrace, WA, we encourage you to contact our team to learn more about our currently available floor plans.
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Thanks to the washer and dryer included in our Mountlake Terrace apartments, you probably find it quite easy to get the laundry done — but that doesn't mean that your drying skills are as good as they could be. There are some little known top tips for drying laundry that might just make your laundry day easier than ever. Here's what you need to do.
When You're In a Hurry
When you're in a hurry and need the clothes dry as soon as possible, add a thick cotton towel to the dryer load. Cotton absorbs some of that extra moisture and allows for quicker drying. For extra large dryer loads, you can put a couple of towels in.
When Your Clothes are Wrinkled
If you forgot that you put clothes in the dryer and just found them in a dry but wrinkled state, you don't have to start over. Put a damp cotton towel into the dryer along with the clothes. Start with 15 minutes and then check, repeating if necessary. The damp towel helps generate steam that can remove the wrinkles fast.
When Your Sweaters Develop Pills
One common side effect of drying sweaters is that pills can develop. This may also happen with knits. Use a pumice stone, moving it across the entire garment before you wash and dry it. The next time it comes out of the dryer, you'll notice less pilling.
When You're Drying Down Comforters
Down comforters are super cozy, but they can get flattened out in the dryer if you're not careful. For the half hour of the drying cycle, put in two new tennis balls. The balls generate a fluffing action that helps keep the down comforter in the best condition.
When You're Leaving Your Apartment
Never leave the dryer on when you're leaving your apartment. Make sure that you clean the lint filter after every load, as lint buildup is the main reason for dryer fires. You don't want to put yourself and others at risk by leaving a dryer unsupervised.
Looking for stylish and comfortable apartments in Mountlake Terrace that have a washer and dryer included? Taluswood Aparments may be just what you seek. Call our office to learn more about our one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartment homes.
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Like any home appliance, a dishwasher needs its fair share of maintenance to run up to par. The good news is that this maintenance is relatively straightforward and simple to complete. On that note, here's a look at some easy-to-implement dishwasher tips and tricks to keep your machine running as best as possible.
5 Tips for Making Your Dishwasher Run More Effectively
- Clean the trap: The dishwasher trap is located under the bottom-most sprayer. For best results and to minimize dish recontamination, this trap must be cleaned regularly to remove food debris and grime that doesn't get properly washed away. On most new dishwasher units, the trap comes right out for easy cleaning in the sink.
- Run hot tap water: Hot water is just better at cleaning than cold water. However, like any faucet or appliance, a dishwasher will often run cold water before the hot water has a chance to fully kick in. For a dishwasher, this may mean that the first wash cycle consists of either cold or lukewarm water. To ensure that the dishwasher runs hot water from the start, simply run the tap on hot water until it's hot.
- Clean regularly with vinegar: Aside from the trap, dishwashers need to be cleaned on occasion for best results. This is fairly easy to do – just place one cup of vinegar into the dishwasher and then run it on a standard cycle.
- Clean out the drain hose: If your dishwasher has standing water in it after a cycle, chances are it's not draining properly. This is an easy fix, but you have to get underneath the sink to do it. Find the connection where the dishwasher hose meets the sink hose and disconnect it. Typically, you'll find it's been clogged up with grime and debris that will need to be cleaned out.
- Don't overload: Last but not least, don't overload the dishwasher! While it's tempting to want to cram as much in as possible, an overcrowded dishwasher is going to result in soiled dishes.
An in-unit dishwasher is just one of the many amenities our Mountlake Terrace apartments offer to community members. Contact us today to set up an appointment to see which floor plans are currently available.
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