Top tips for rainy days

July 15th, 2013

Appliance Talk

Living in a land of droughts and flooding rains, you can never be completely sure when you’re going to get hit by the next downpour, regardless of the season.  While there have been more than a few floods, great and small, to deal with over the past few years, on a smaller scale a sudden shower can quickly spoil even the most simple of plans.

Pretty bad for barbeques, I tell you whut.

Regardless of how the weather’s looking out the window, it’s a good idea to start planning early for the next rainy day, so you won’t get caught unprepared when the clouds burst again.  Here are a few ideas, and some appliances that can help out:

Get dry and stay dry

It should be fairly obvious, but just because the outside world is wet and cold and miserable, it doesn’t mean you have to be.

“I has a sad…”

You can get your home warm and dry by double-teaming a heater with a dehumidifier, or by running a reverse cycle air conditioner on its warming setting.  And since there’s nothing quite like the feeling of wearing warm dry clothes, a condenser or heat pump dryer will get your garments nice and crisp while not filling the laundry room with hot steam.

7kg Bosch Heat Pump Dryer WTY88700AU

If you do find yourself having to venture into the big bad wet world, here’s a tip from one of our office’s resident Englishmen: always bring a spare pair of socks with you, or stash a pair in your desk drawer at work.  Even if you get soaked, or have to wade through the train station, you can still sprend the day with dry feet.

STRAIGHT to the washing machine with you…

Good advice – some day, I shall pass it on to my children.

Watch a movie

If you’re at home and stuck inside, now could be a great time to watch that DVD  or Blu-ray you grabbed at the sales and never got around to watching, or to settle in with some old favourites, guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.

Remember to quote along to all the witticisms

Even if you’ve watched absolutely everything in your collection, a TV and home theatre setup networked up with an internet connection (possibly using a wireless dongle or internet kit), you can easily get access to YouTube’s endless parade of cat videos, all in glorious big-screen splendour.

Well done please, chef.

If you’ve a strong tolerance for internet humour, I am certain you will never, ever run out of material.

Make a meal with whatever’s handy

Even winter warmers don’t have to be unhealthy fatfests.  Have a look through your fridge and pantry for whatever could work well together, then rummage through your kitchen storage cupboard for the right small appliances to transform them into something more appetising.

A slow cooker filled with winter’s bounty.

If worse comes to worse, throwing everything you’ve got handy into the slow cooker and leaving it to slowly heat for a good six hours or so should create something that’s at least edible (though success is not guaranteed – I’ll spare you the details of my epic jambalaya failure…).

Clean the house

It’s not just good for your home’s organisation and your own health for your house to be un-encrusted of filth, but it’s also good for your sanity and your soul!

An unintentional soothing mantra.

Sure, it’s hard work and not exactly what many people would call “fun” but carving order out of chaos is a great way to get what feels like an out of control home life feeling managable again.

So dig out the vacuum cleaner and steam mop, load the dishwasher (or make yourself do the dishes), and if the dust and dirt gets a bit much to handly, crank the air purifier.  It won’t be easy, but you’ll feel better for having done it.

Exercise

Trapped inside and don’t want to venture out into the miserable world?  Not even to go to the gym?  You don’t have to!

Don’t rely on this kind of stuff alone – it doesn’t work all by itself.

While not everyone has the same variety of workout equipment as that found in even a modest gym just lying around at home, you can still recreate a reasonable facimile by turning your TV to a music video channel (or using the Smart TV‘s apps to watch an aerobics instruction YouTube video), blasting high-energy tunes through your stereo, and keeping the place at a manageable temperature with your air conditioner while you feel the burn.

Good luck, and… hey, is that thunder?