Laura - Avoiding everyday disasters: stop murdering your houseplants, reheat leftovers without ruining them, dont owe your arm and leg in credit card debt, and dodge 500 other common pitfalls of adulting

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WARNING

All do-it-yourself activities involve a degree of risk. Skills, materials, tools, and site conditions vary widely. Although the editors have made every effort to ensure accuracy, the reader remains responsible for the selection and use of tools, materials, and methods. Always obey local codes and laws, follow manufacturers operating instructions, and observe safety precautions.

For every evil under the sun There is a remedy or there is none If there be one, seek till you find it. If there be none, never mind it.

Mother Goose

TOP SCREWUPS

Not measuring before you move

Wedging the sofa

Damaging the doorframe

Its moving day. Your dishes are wrapped in newspaper and packed in boxes. Your friends have come with a U-Haul, and theyre ready and willing to help. There is only one problem: that sofa. It doesnt look like it will fit out the door. Dont panic. Unless you built the apartment around the couch, it had to have come in somehow, which means you should be able to get it out. (This doesnt guarantee it will fit into your new place though.)

You want to get this thing out the door without breaking it, wedging it in so it cant move, or dinging up the paint around the door. So here is what you do. First, measure the doorway and the couch. If the sofa is a little bit longer than the doorway is tall, it will be OK. If the couch is wider, at its narrowest, than your door, though, it is not going anywhere.

To be sure you get your security deposit back, attach some cardboard to your doorframe to protect it. When you do this, make sure you use something that will not peel off the paint when you take it down.

The goal is to make the couch as skinny as possible, so remove any cushions or legs that you can. If its a very tight fit, you may need to take the hinges off the door to give you a few extra millimeters.

Now stand the sofa upright on its end next to the door. Sigh deeply and look at the door. Say to yourself, I know it will fit. Have one of your friends stand outside the door and another inside. The one on the outside is going to lift the lower end, so it is a good idea to assign this task to the strongest of your moving buddies.

The person inside should now tip the couch in his direction until it is at a 45-degree angle to the floor. Keeping the furniture at as close to a 45-degree angle as possible, start moving the sofa through the door. With a little pivoting and adjusting, you should be able to get your couch on your truck.

WHEN ALL ELSE

FAILS

If all else fails, and the furniture is important enough to you, you may need to contact an upholsterer who offers knock-down service. They can take your couch apart and reassemble it for you. This is not something you are going to want to arrange in a panic on a hectic moving day. If you suspect your divan wont clear the door, measure it well before you plan to move and give yourself enough time to get a few quotes.

TOP SCREWUPS

Wrecking the house while hunting

Overlooking the obvious

Trying too hard

You are about to curl up and read the copy of War and Peace that you checked out of the library. (OK, its actually Harry Potter. ) You brew a cup of tea, find a comfortable place on the couch, wrap up in a blanket, open the first page, and... Oh, man. Where are my reading glasses?

We have a way of hiding things from ourselves and then working ourselves into a house-wrecking frenzy when were about to start a project that requires the use of said things, or when were about to head out the door and cant possibly afford to be late to where were going. (Car keys are a major culprit.) Dont panic. As long as you are systematic in your search, you and your things are likely to be reunited.

Before you even start looking, take a moment to calm your nerves and clear your mind. Running around the house and pulling things out of drawers that havent been opened in two years does not help. When youre in an agitated state, you can look straight at an object without seeing it.

Start by checking where the object is supposed to be. Are your keys on the key hook? Even if you do not think you left it there, someone else may have put it away. If your item has not been put away, try to remember where you used it last. There is a good chance it is still there. These may sound like duh, I already did that s, but focusing on these two places works. How many times have you found something exactly where it should be, but just under something else that shouldnt be there? Did someone put a newspaper down on top of your reading glasses? Could your pen have rolled under your computer printer?