Tausi Insider

Photo : REDPIXEL.PL ( Shutterstock ) There are so many sm art ways to use a vacuum besides just running it over your carpet, but there are also some things you really shouldn’t be sucking up . You can avoid damaging your expensive machine by learning what can’t be vacuumed . Here are the things to always avoid vacuuming up: Glass Element Electronics , which manufactures vacuum cleaners, recommends never vacuuming up glass . The sharp pieces can do internal damage, especially if your machine has bags or hoses. If you’re worried about stray shards of broken glass that could damage you , try some upgraded sweeping hacks, like this one , to make sure you get it all contained. Large quantities of hair A little hair in your vacuum is fine, and likely unavoidable, but there’s a reason you see stylists sweeping after their shifts: Too much hair is not good for a vacuum. Per Element, long hair can tangle around your brush and lead to clogs, so you should get rid of the majority of it...

Photo : ESB Professional ( Shutterstock ) Does your gym bag reek ? You’re not alone, but it also doesn’t have to be this way. With proper care, you can keep your workout gear stink-free. Just do yourself a favor and start taking care of everything before it starts to smell. ( But even if you’ve already let things get bad, we have tips for you.) Rinse your gym clothes as soon as you take them off A lot of gym clothes these days are made of synthetic fabrics , because they provide stretch or sweat-wicking features to keep us comfortable. The downside is that bacteria can cling to synthetic fibers in a way that makes them nearly impossible to wash off. So it’s important that we don’t let those germ colonies grow in the first place. The bacteria I’m talking about are the ones that digest your sweat and skin oils. I know, gross. But that means it’s not the sweat itself that causes stinking, but rather the bacteria that multiply while your sweaty shirt is sitting in the laundry bas...

Photo : Africa Studio ( Shutterstock ) During a recent bathroom renovation project, my boyfriend had to disconnect his water softener, and it wreaked more havoc on our daily liv es than we expected . Showering and washing clothes, in particular, were much more difficult , as hard water leads to the formation of “soap scum” that is difficult to rinse away . We opted for quick, unfulfilling showers with poor soap lathering, but what can be done to keep clothes soft and residue-free? There are a few tricks to washing clothes if you don’t have a water softener , from combating crunchiness, to avoiding residue and staining. Add vinegar to your hard water washing loads Hard water is just water containing a higher amount of minerals—specifically dissolved calcium and magnesium . To keep your clothes feeling soft , you have to do what you can to neutralize those minerals, and that is where vinegar comes in. Add a half cup to a cup of white, distilled vinegar to your final rins...