Cleaning
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Quickle Wiper genuine dry sheets beat dollar-store refills
Swapped to Kao’s Quickle Wiper dry sheets and dust pickup doubled on my morning sweep. Why the genuine refills are better than dollar-store ones, plus a 3-minute routine.
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How to Throw Out Plastic Storage Drawers: Don’t Saw Three, Pay the Fee
I unified my storage drawers and tried sawing the old ones to avoid bulky-waste fees. Taking apart three was brutal, messy, and slow—just pay the 200-400 yen fee.
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Bath slippers that are not freezing in winter
Plastic bath slippers were icy on bare feet. EVA slippers (Crocs-like) stayed warm, fit well, and have not molded after a year--worth the ~1,000 yen.
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Quieting a 10-year-old washing machine with anti-vibration rubber
My 10-year-old washer started rattling and walking. Swapping the 100 yen EVA pads for real anti-vibration rubber (New Shizuka/Hanenite) made it quiet enough to run at night.
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I love the Marna fish sponge
After many kitchen sponges, I settled on Marna’s fish sponge—perfect size/firmness, great suds, cute colors, and better durability than cheap packs.
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How to reliably remove that musty damp smell from clothes
That “wet rag” odor after washing comes from leftover grime + bacteria. Heat or oxygen bleach kills it; a simple hot soak with oxygen bleach works best.
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Clear lint from Velcro with a toothbrush and packing tape
Velcro hooks full of lint? Lift debris with a brush, finish with packing tape, and the straps grip like new—no special tools needed.
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My plastic clothespins kept snapping, so I tried 100-yen polycarbonate ones—nine years later they’re still fine
The plastic pinch hangers on my laundry rack crumbled. A 100-yen “2× stronger” polycarbonate set looked dubious but has survived nine years of sun with no cracks. Here’s what I learned and what else I tried.
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Using Seria’s dressing bottle for natural cleaning powders
Seria (and Can Do) sell a white-cap dressing bottle with a wide spout—perfect for decanting powders like sesqui washing soda, citric acid, and oxygen bleach for quick cleaning mixes.
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Master 100-yen storage by knowing the maker (Inomata)
Instagram fridge-storage tags were full of Daiso Color Life baskets I couldn’t find. I dug into the actual manufacturers and standardized on Inomata baskets—stocked at nearly every 100-yen chain with tons of size options.
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I read a stack of cleaning books to make our home comfortable
I tried to keep possessions down and ended up with a bare, slightly inconvenient home. I binge-read cleaning/organizing books—minimalist, “German style,” label-happy, pro tactics—and took notes on what might actually help.
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How many days can you reheat bathwater?
I thought reheating meant I could carry bathwater over to the next day to save money. Day 2 was already slimy. Here’s what I learned about costs, bacteria, and humidifier risks (Legionella) from a Japanese household perspective.
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How I killed food waste odors for about ¥20k
Rotten sink smells drove me crazy. A countertop food waste dryer plus a local subsidy solved it better than baking soda or sprays—here’s exactly what worked in Japan.
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Year-end deep clean? Duskin’s PDF checklist is all you need
Duskin published a printable plan sheet for Japanese year-end cleaning. It maps tasks, areas, owners, and dates so you stop winging it—and reminds you to buy supplies first.
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Taming outlet clutter with a cable box—options beyond Bluelounge
Hiding power strips cuts dust and tracking-fire risk, but Bluelounge boxes are pricey and yellow with UV. Here’s what I learned from my own boxes and cheaper alternatives.
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Washing bath towels daily feels impossible? Go smaller.
I was dreading the smell from bath towels I didn’t wash every day. Switching to compact bath towels made washing easy and also solved mildew and stink.
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White specks in my tea pitcher weren’t mold—they were limescale
Water-brewed tea left white bumps on the pitcher walls. Turns out it’s mineral scale from tap water sticking to micro-scratches in plastic, not mold.
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Killing tea stains in a Thermos: the melamine-sponge bottle brush that finally worked
Big brushes splashed everywhere, bead brushes loosened, but a ¥100 melamine-sponge brush scrubbed my Thermos clean without drama.
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Why does toilet dust pile up so fast?
Toilet tanks and corners get fluffy dust even with the door shut. It’s mostly toilet-paper lint and clothing fibers—and a bit of splashback.
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Cheap Uniqlo pack tees and the fight against pilling
I bought the 500 yen Uniqlo Dry Color pack tees, they pilled fast, and I tried razors, sponges, and a Tescom lint remover to rescue them.