Lifestyle Choices

Vacuum cleaner: Don’t bang it about, it’s a sensitive machine and not magic. Pick up hairgrips or pins by hand because they might damage the engine. Empty the bag before it’s full. Service it regularly, because repairs are expensive, and stop using it if you suspect that it’s faulty.

There are basically three types of vacuum cleaner:

1. A hand-held, heavy upright model, which will be necessary for acres of carpet.
2. A small upright model, light enough to carry upstairs (even if you currently have a flat, people move house on average once every eight years).
3. A cylinder model, easily stored, for small areas and stairs, with special attachments for curtains and upholstery.

There’s also a heavy-duty model on castors which follows you like a dog. I use this; it’s light to lift and cleans everywhere easily. Try Black and Decker’s Majorvac.

Washing machine: Do you want an automatic, a semi-automatic or a twin tub? An automatic does everything unsupervised while you go out to the cinema but the washing programme isn’t always adaptable and each load takes a long time and can use a lot of water (up to 3o gallons). If your hot water is limited buy a self-heating model. A semi-automatic machine will wash by itself but you have to operate it in order to rinse, and spin dry. A twin tub needs constant attention but you can probably do the family wash in two hours.

You have to bend down to a front- loading machine but you have to leanover a top-loading model and heaveout the damp load. Short girls with weak backs should avoid them. Obviously, you can’t build a top- loading machine into a laundry `wall’.

Roller-type wringers can leave youwith a damp floor and backache. Try to get a spin drier, which leaves clothes damp-dry. Drying cabinets are heated and ventilated cupboards fitted with clothes racks. Useful if you haven’t a tumbler drier.

Do not be swayed by glamorous advertisements. Before buying household machinery trot along to your local library to see which model is recommended by Which.

When buying machines don’t forget to consider three points:

Installation: Will it need new wiring, plumbing or a ventilation fan and if so is it possible and how much will it cost?

Will the shop you’re buying the machine from arrange to have it installed, or will you have to arrange it yourself? If so, who does the maker recommend in your area?

Maintenance: Is this the responsibility of the shop, or the maker? If the latter, how long is it likely to take for repairs to be done and how much might they be?

Guarantee: Is the shop or maker guaranteeing your purchase? How long does the guarantee last? Does it include the cost of spare parts and labour? Does it include standard ‘ visit ‘ charge and VAT?

Before you buy anything ask to see it demonstrated or ask if the store can suggest one or two satisfied customers who have bought the same item. It may be worth asking recent owners if they are satisfied with what you’re about to invest in. You’re likely to get a quicker reply if you telephone but if you write it is polite and sensible to enclose a stamped addressed envelope.

Repairs: Stand’over the man who’s repairing your tumbler drier and see what he does and make a note of what was wrong with it. Also the date and what it cost. This might be useful ammunition with which to write to the manufacturer if the machine develops the same fault three times a year; or it might eventually teach you to empty the lint bag of your tumbler drier, or whatever.

AND SO TO BED

Cooking apart, what a bride needs to know most about — and generally knows least about — is what to look for when buying a double bed.

Apparently most women make three big mistakes when buying their first double bed.

First mistake: They economize. Most of the cost of a mattress is inside, where you can’t see it. Women will buy a good bedspread because they — and their friends — can see what they’re getting for their money. But faced with two beds which look alike and are the same size, they don’t see why one should cost more.

Second mistake: Women buy too small a bed. A 6-foot man needs more than I+ inches at his head and feet, yet standard beds are 6 feet 3 inches long. Customers rarely ask for anything longer.

Third mistake: They buy a bed because they like its cover, although they see it only when they’re turning the mattress.

What do you need to know before buying a double bed?

What is a bed? A bed is a mattress supported by a base, which may be of open coiled springs, wire mesh or laminated wood, which is generally specified for slipped disc sufferers. If the base is upholstered it is made of covered coiled springs.

How long? At least 6 inches longer than the height of the taller occupant. Incidentally, a 5 foot 9 inch bed is called `Scottish size’, which implies that Scots are either small or mean.

How wide? Sleeping alone you need 3 feet width, but two people together need less than 6 feet because, as one expert said, ‘ Whether or not it’s deliberate, there’s a certain amount of animal magnetism when two people sleep together.’ But unless they snuggle up like a couple of puppies they need a bed 5 feet wide and not the traditional 4 feet 6 inches.

How high? Expert opinions vary between i8 and 20 inches but on one thing they all agree: beds are getting lower. Elderly people find it easier to get out of a high bed and it is certainly easier to make. Mattresses on the floor are very difficult to make unless used with a sleeping bag, which should have an inner sheet or sheet bag, otherwise the sleeping bag will smell fusty. If you buy sleeping bags, get the sort which can be unzipped to use as a quilt or zipped to each other to make a double sleeping bag — you never know.

Castors can be fitted to a bed in order to make it easier to pull out and make it, and easier to clean underneath: buy them from a hardware store.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY (Household Gadgets) part 2

• The Pleasure and Nutrition Principle
• Food Products From Soybeans
• Preoccupation with food
• Nothing requires more Skill in the Home than Cooking: Principles of Good Cooking
• The Good Health Kitchen continued
• The Good Health Kitchen
• Home décor Shopping, buy the Right Blinds
• Interior Décor and Window Treatment
• Home Precaution against Food Poisoning (Infection: Hands Kitchen Dishcloth)