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Home Front

Briefs and news of note.

By JUDY STARK
Published March 25, 2006

Strategically located

Lifestyles expert Katie Brown, who swears she does her own housekeeping, offers this cleaning tip: Keep a bucket of supplies for each room in the house. You'll have what you need at your fingertips, with no need to haul stuff from room to room. What's in your bucket, Katie? Sponge, paper towels, window cleaner, gloves, a small broom (to sweep out corners and attack the dust bunnies), disinfectant and air freshener. (Katie thinks you should use a different air freshener in every room of the house, which might be a bit much.) Oh, and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, for which Katie's the spokescleaner.

Party in purple

The newest color in Fiestaware: heather. That's purple to you and me. This new color, available in October, will be sold in four- and six-piece place settings with completer pieces such as serving platters, bowls and vases. Classic Fiestaware comes in 14 colors; heather might look great mixed with sunflower, persimmon or shamrock.

Clean it quickly

Lightning round, people: Five household chores you can complete in 30 minutes total, says Repairclinic.com (where you can find details). Get started:

1. Clean the dust off the black condenser coils under your refrigerator. Use your vacuum and a condenser-cleaning brush.

2. Run a cleaning agent (Disposer Care is one brand) through your garbage disposer to eliminate odors and scum buildup.

3. Clean your dryer exhaust vent with a vent brush.

4. Inspect the water hoses at your washing machine and replace them if they're cracked, blistered or more than 5 years old. Hoses with metal sheathing are less prone to bursting.

5. Change your refrigerator or icemaker water filters to keep ice cubes tasting fresh.

- Compiled by Homes editor JUDY STARK

[Last modified March 24, 2006, 11:45:39]