When you learn minimalists weren’t actually about the looks but about keeping stupid adult responsibilities on the low.
Case in point: I replaced my coffee machine with a chemex. So much easier to maintain.
I just eat the beans. Nothing to maintain
I eat the dirt the coffee grows in and suntan my butthole. No relation to the topic at hand, just thought you should know.
How do you keep your butt cheeks spread during the tanning process? Asking for a friend.
For anyone else who doesn’t know what a chemex is and can’t be arsed to google it:
V60 is even easier to clean
Can’t beat $6 melitta plastic cone. Unbreakable, and pour straight into cup so less things to wash.
Btw doesn’t v60 made of heavy, fragile ceramic make the water cold? Plastic is cheaper and better, change my mind.
https://shoponline.melitta.com/products/1-cup-pour-over-coffee-brew-cone-black
Plastic 1-cup V60 is about the same price.
The costs is not in the dripper. It’s the €225 coffee grinder, the €200 pouring kettle and €200 coffee scale. Not to mention the specialty coffee at €75 or more per kilo.
I use a plastic v60
✋
I use a phin filter.
Yep, I mentioned to my mum a few times that I’m ‘baking’ in my microwave, which I know is terrible for this task. So, she’ll tell me I should be getting an oven, I should be getting an air fryer etc. etc… I always tell her, I don’t have the space for it, but really, I don’t want to be cleaning yet another appliance.
Yes!
Wife was saying big, far away houses are getting cheaper and we should buy and retire there. Nope, the more space the bigger the mess she’ll do. Can’t literally take 2 steps further to drop whatever it’s in her hand. I have a dozen reading glasses spread through the house, usually accumulating at a few preferred places.
Clean your dishwasher filter.
Wipe the gasket on your laundry machines
If equipped, clean out your detergent/softener dispensors. Most pop out, but some may need a screw or two removed.
Also, some washers have a sump filter that needs cleaning. (little panel at the bottom-left of the front on Samsungs)
I have a bi-monthly calendar reminder for the Samsung filter. 3 dogs means that thing is constantly packed with hair and we get the dreaded filter error code if it’s not cleaned regularly.
You’re not my mom, you can’t tell me what to do.
Well I am a mom, so I’ve learned it’s a lot less disgusting if you do it every month, but you don’t have to listen to me.
Editing to add: if any of the rest of you are also women, it’s a good idea to pick a day for the recurring calendar reminder that doesn’t align with the part of your monthly cycle when you’re already miserable and grossed out by the whole world, you’ll be crying into the kitchen sink. If it happens, because cycles are irregular, reschedule for one week ahead, when it won’t bother you at all. I guess the same goes for guys except the wild swings of your emotional cycles are less predictable.
Holy shit, if anyone ever does figure out how to predict my emotional cycles I want to hear about it.
I’m a guy, I’ll sign up too
Anyone selling snake oil around here? Shut up and take my money
I am not a woman, but my girlfriend is and she is tracking her cycle with an app, and it’s pretty accurate. We can see the mood changes that fits with her cycle.
It works for her because she is pretty regular, so I don’t for people with irregular cycle.
I know it’s gross, I do it often because I can see the difference in the cleanliness of the dishes.
I was just jesting.
Yes it was a good jest, no worries!
Change your furnace air filter
Being a functional adult is essentially self parenting. It’s cheaper to clean and maintain than to constantly buy new or neglect issues until they snowball. Easier said than done, it’s definitely not always easy but worth the time.
Yeah, the only problem is, only now I’m starting to realize some things. I’m 53 - but hey, it’s never too late…
While I completely agree, maintaining your items will make them last much longer, I feel the degradation of quality over the years works so much against us. Many items are made these days to not be able to be fixed. Sometimes a digital display or button breaking can brick a well taken care of item. No matter how well you take care of clothes and furniture like your grandparents did, that particle board will fail and that fast fashion shirt will pill. Even high end brands have gone down in quality significantly, so investing more in something you think you trust can still be frustrating. It’s so much energy to figure out what you should invest in vs buy cheaper.
Thank God my water supply is reasonably soft. Never had to descale my kettle.
You’ll love thinking back to the coffee machine as a problem when you have to handle your parents estate. I won’t sugar coat it: Adulting is hard.
When building his house, my father took many shortcuts and often picked the cheaper option, even if it would be more costly in the long term. And even when a cheap piece of crap breaks becuse it’s a cheap piece of crap, he goes and buys another cheap piece of crap to replace it.
For example, he refuses to connect to the city water supply, instead he built a well. This can be a good way to save on water costs, as long as your regularly replace filters and test the water to make sure it’s safe, and descale it if too hard.
However, he rarely replaces the filters and refuses to install a water softening system. We got sick a few times because of the water (now we just buy bottled when visiting), and all appliances, faucets, water heater are clogged with limescale that cause low water pressure. Fixing or replacing all of them is going to be super expensive.
Similarly, he bought the cheapest doors, and we got stuck because the door handle broke. The house is full of improvised electric stuff. The fridge is so bad it regularly breaks, and even when it’s working sometimes food spoils after just 1-2 days because it doesn’t cool evenly. He is also a bit of a hoarder, and has a terrible taste in furniture and decorations.
I am the most likely to inherit the estate, and I’m honestly not looking forward to having to deal with all that crap.
Some localities may not even allow the sale of that house until it is connected to municipal water.
It is entirely possible it is more cost effective to remove the small amount of belongings you want to keep (a huge task in itself if he’s a hoarder), and raze the structure and sell the land cleared.
If you do go that route of destroying the house, contact your local fire department. They may be interested in burning your house down as part of firefighter training. They do this for free. It could mean significantly less costs of clearing the land if the house is burned down.
It’s not that bad that it needs to be torn down. The structure is fine. It just needs some expensive renovations to replace the inside doors (outside ones are fine), do some professional cleaning of the scale buildup in the pipes, fixup the electric stuff, insulate the roof, replace some of the flooring, replace some of the bad appliances, and some cleanup of the old junk.
Connecting to municipal water is not a problem, it can be done, it will only need digging a trench to the road.
I need to descale my coffee machine. How do I do that?
Read the manual. It might have a descale mode that pushes some descaling chemical through the pipes without heating it.
Source: I did it like a month ago. The water that came out was quite pulpy.
I cannot describe the expression I made at the word “pulpy” but “horrified” is probably as close as I’ll ever get.
It’s best not to think about the non-water stuff that exists in the water pipes. I once had to open up our 200-litre water heater (which supplies the entire house) to replace the heater coil, and now have to live with the knowledge of what, and how much of it, was inside. “Ignorance is bliss” couldn’t be more accurate.
White vinegar works, or you can pick up “sour salt” in the Kosher section, which is citric acid and since you don’t need much the rest is handy as a substitute for lemon juice. Dilute with plenty of water, run the machine, it removes calcium deposits.
Good call. I was going to suggest citric acid. It’s what we use for our electric kettle.
what if i want some tasty calcium in my diet
Oh, that kind has microplastics mixed up in it, and it slows down the coffee maker. You want tasty calcium you’re going to absorb properly, try this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004KWGHCO
(Just the easiest link for a description, not pushing Amazon)
I used this stuff called Durgol to descale my CNC spindle and it worked wonderfully.
You gotta use a tougher kind of scale like a dragon scale to scrape it off!
I am still struggling with laundry, fr
Pro-tip - newer HE detergents are very concentrated. Use less than you think you need. A half cap is for highly stained items, we’re talking grass stains, blood, turmeric, etc. You only need a little for most loads. Maybe a quarter cap or less, or a quarter cup if using real measurements.
Also, if you’re using a newer HE washer, also be sure to enable the “extra rinse” on the cycle. They really, really suck at rinsing off detergent by default (especially if you use too much) and will bleach/fade your clothes in the dryer if not fully rinsed.
I thought everybody just sent into the trashcan every item that needed cleaning, and bought new ones weekly
This adult doesn’t do coffee. Caffeine capsules washed down with grape flavored carbonated water. My adult issues are the expectations others seem to have of me, like visiting or calling/texting. I usually don’t unless I have business to work out.
The 20 dollar coffee machine that holds 12 cups doesn’t need descaling
it still does if you have hard enough water
No kettle. No dishwasher. No coffee machine.
Yeah. Adulting is hard :)
My choice to go with instant coffee is paying dividends!
Instant coffee with a fancy creamer is underrated
By Darwin, so much this. If somebody could actually convey the insane amount of work and responsibility that is heaped upon your shoulders when you start having children and running a home, you’d never grow up.
Whatever load you think you’re carrying as a teen - it’s not as much as you think.
The most adult part of that sentence is the admittance you can’t just go out and buy coffee everyday either.
The real reason we have disposable products.
Fuck, I gotta descale my espresso machine too. Thanks for the reminder
Screw that, I’ll descale it when it refuses to work due to he built in descale timer! Not anytime before!
