I rented a house once that the previous tenant had been living in for about a year with 3 little kids. She had mentioned to me that the dryer worked ok when she moved in but it wasn’t working anymore. It still ran but it didn’t really dry anything.
Not a big deal I thought. Went over to the dryer and took a look at it. First thing I did was pull the filter. It was clogged solid. She didn’t even know it had a lint trap, never mind that you’re supposed to clean it after every single load. Not only was the trap plugged, so was a bunch of the hose and ductwork. I spent several hours taking everything apart and cleaning it out, finally got it all back together, turned the dryer on, and it worked like a champ. Not a single problem for the 7 yrs I lived there.
She was a lady already in her thirties with 5 kids (3 lived with her)… you’d think she would have known how to use a dryer at that point. I’m just happy she never burnt the house down…
I genuinely think that you should take a class in highschool that teaches basic life skills like this. 1 class each year. It could cover cooking/nutrition, mental health, chores, financial literacy, First aid basics, etc. Then by the time thye graduate they have had 4 years of teaching about basic stuff like that. I bet it would save tons of lives.
This is a common opinion that never holds up. Kids’ schedules are insanely bloated compared to a few decades ago and honestly, think about what would have been taught as “useful” at home 30 years ago and how much of that would still be in use today… Its just a waste of expensive teaching resources for something that anyone with a search engine can teach themselves.
I think your arguement is kind of silly. Kid’s schedules are bloated? With what though? Is it actually valuable? Maybe if they’re bloated we should… get rid of the bloat and add in things that would actually help them.
Also, you aren’t teaching them what will be useful in a home in 30 years. You are teaching them what will be useful NOW. When they go to college, or get an apartment in a few years. If we didn’t teach people things that changed we wouldn’t teach SCIENCE! But we do. Because when you have a baseline and things change you can update what you know over time.
On top of that, your argument is self defeating. You are similtaneously saying kids are too busy for a class on this stuff but also saying they should just teach it to themselves in their free time. If they’re so busy when do you expect them to do that? The entire point of a class is so that we can MAKE TIME for them to learn this stuff.
Which appliances do you cover cleaning on though? I have never owned a tumble dryer, or a furnace (is that american for boiler or are they a bit different?).
Meanwhile I do have a heat pump, not had to clean it yet, I think its more of a problem when you have lots of trees around, especially ones that drop sticky residue.
I think a furnace would refer to forced hot-air heat, with the furnace being the thing that heats the air being blown around through the vents.
Boiler would be to heat water/steam for radiant heat.
I am wondering what other appliances would be covered. What about electrical work or plumbing? Even if you don’t do the work yourself, knowing a bit about what’s involved can help avoid getting ripped off.
I’m regularly shocked by people who are incapable of doing basic home repairs.
I’d say anything that is relatively common and could potentially be dangerous if not maintained properly. You don’t need them to be masters of every appliance. Just to be aware of the dangers of the most common ones.
Maybe. She grew up on a small farm outside town but I’m guessing she must have got out of chores a lot. She was moving to get married to another guy I knew which lasted for 8 months, but at least she carried the knowledge on how to use a dryer with her.
I know her parents had a washer and dryer, I assume she wasn’t allowed near them I guess. Clotheslines are very rarely used up here because we get a lot of snow.
I rented a house once that the previous tenant had been living in for about a year with 3 little kids. She had mentioned to me that the dryer worked ok when she moved in but it wasn’t working anymore. It still ran but it didn’t really dry anything.
Not a big deal I thought. Went over to the dryer and took a look at it. First thing I did was pull the filter. It was clogged solid. She didn’t even know it had a lint trap, never mind that you’re supposed to clean it after every single load. Not only was the trap plugged, so was a bunch of the hose and ductwork. I spent several hours taking everything apart and cleaning it out, finally got it all back together, turned the dryer on, and it worked like a champ. Not a single problem for the 7 yrs I lived there.
She was a lady already in her thirties with 5 kids (3 lived with her)… you’d think she would have known how to use a dryer at that point. I’m just happy she never burnt the house down…
I genuinely think that you should take a class in highschool that teaches basic life skills like this. 1 class each year. It could cover cooking/nutrition, mental health, chores, financial literacy, First aid basics, etc. Then by the time thye graduate they have had 4 years of teaching about basic stuff like that. I bet it would save tons of lives.
This is a common opinion that never holds up. Kids’ schedules are insanely bloated compared to a few decades ago and honestly, think about what would have been taught as “useful” at home 30 years ago and how much of that would still be in use today… Its just a waste of expensive teaching resources for something that anyone with a search engine can teach themselves.
I think your arguement is kind of silly. Kid’s schedules are bloated? With what though? Is it actually valuable? Maybe if they’re bloated we should… get rid of the bloat and add in things that would actually help them.
Also, you aren’t teaching them what will be useful in a home in 30 years. You are teaching them what will be useful NOW. When they go to college, or get an apartment in a few years. If we didn’t teach people things that changed we wouldn’t teach SCIENCE! But we do. Because when you have a baseline and things change you can update what you know over time.
On top of that, your argument is self defeating. You are similtaneously saying kids are too busy for a class on this stuff but also saying they should just teach it to themselves in their free time. If they’re so busy when do you expect them to do that? The entire point of a class is so that we can MAKE TIME for them to learn this stuff.
We could call it something like Home Economics, or “Home Ec.” for short.
Which appliances do you cover cleaning on though? I have never owned a tumble dryer, or a furnace (is that american for boiler or are they a bit different?).
Meanwhile I do have a heat pump, not had to clean it yet, I think its more of a problem when you have lots of trees around, especially ones that drop sticky residue.
I think a furnace would refer to forced hot-air heat, with the furnace being the thing that heats the air being blown around through the vents.
Boiler would be to heat water/steam for radiant heat.
I am wondering what other appliances would be covered. What about electrical work or plumbing? Even if you don’t do the work yourself, knowing a bit about what’s involved can help avoid getting ripped off.
I’m regularly shocked by people who are incapable of doing basic home repairs.
Knowing how to wire a plug or change a fuse is apparently a vanishing skill. Even calling it a skill feels odd, its barely any harder than Lego.
I’d say anything that is relatively common and could potentially be dangerous if not maintained properly. You don’t need them to be masters of every appliance. Just to be aware of the dangers of the most common ones.
You dont have to clean lint traps at the laundromat. I wonder if this was her first in-house one
Maybe. She grew up on a small farm outside town but I’m guessing she must have got out of chores a lot. She was moving to get married to another guy I knew which lasted for 8 months, but at least she carried the knowledge on how to use a dryer with her.
I’ve never had a dryer so only ever heard about lint traps from random internet stuff.
Sounds like her only was with clotheslines. Having a dryer must have been absolutely glorious, at least at first.
I know her parents had a washer and dryer, I assume she wasn’t allowed near them I guess. Clotheslines are very rarely used up here because we get a lot of snow.
If I’m around, I clean it mid-load. Makes a huge difference on every model I’ve ever had.