CLOTHES AND PERSONAL ITEMS
Accidental damage can shorten the lives of our clothes and shoes, and put essential accessories, such as eyeglasses and hearing aids, out of action. And a stone lost from a brooch or a snapped necklace can be heartbreaking because such objects often carry sentimental as well as financial value. There are plenty of steps you can take to save money and protect your investments.
WATCHES AND JEWELRY
Repairs to watch mechanisms and to valuable jewelry are best left to the professionals, but it’s worth attempting some simple fixes to less-precious items to keep them looking their best.
I’ve scratched my watch face
Polish it back to perfection
A shallow scratch on your watch face needn’t mean a trip to the jeweler’s—polish it out yourself.
- • For a glass-faced watch, try using a jeweler’s cloth to polish out the scratch. If you don’t have one, dab a little non-gel toothpaste onto the face and rub it in gently with a lint-free cloth. Wipe off with a damp cloth and buff with a dry cloth.
- • If the cover is plastic, try dipping a cotton swab into nail polish remover (acetone). Rub it along the scratch in a circular motion and then remove any excess liquid. Check the watch against the light and repeat until the scratch has disappeared.
My necklaces are tangled
Sprinkle on some talc to unravel them
If your jewelry box looks like a bowl of spaghetti, take a little time to untangle your necklaces.
- • Lay the tangled mass onto some newspaper. Sprinkle on a little talc to lubricate the chains and use two straight pins to carefully ease any knots apart. Once they are all separated, wash the necklaces in a mild detergent, rinse, and carefully pat dry.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Jeweler’s cloth
It’s worth buying an inexpensive jeweler’s cloth (available online or from jewelry stores). The cloth is made of two separate layers—one is impregnated with a polishing compound, the other provides a gentle buffing surface. Rub with the first layer to clean and remove tarnish from gold, silver, and other metals, and then rub with the second layer to buff the surface to a shine.
To open a jump ring, grip it at each end with a pair of needle-nose pliers and carefully twist the ends in opposite directions. Stop once the gap is large enough to slip the jump ring over an adjacent ring or other fitting. Close the ring by twisting the ends back with pliers until the gap is closed.
The pendant has come off my chain
Repair the jump ring
Jewelers use jump rings to link together pendants, chains, and clasps. A jump ring is simply a metal ring with an opening that you can twist open and close tightly. Repairing a jump ring that has worked its way open is simple (see above). For added security, use a soldering iron (available from hardware stores) and lead-free solder to close up the gap in the jump ring.
GLASSES AND HEARING AIDS
You’re lost without them, so when your eyeglasses or hearing aids break, you need a really quick fix. Loose screws are usually the problem with broken glasses, so it’s worth investing in a set of tiny screwdrivers to tighten them up. The most common problems with hearing aids have to do with battery failure and blockages of earwax.
A screw has fallen out of my glasses
Make a temporary fix with fishing line
The hinges on the arms of your spectacles are held together by tiny screws. If one gets lost, there is a chance that the lens may not be held tightly in the frame and could drop out and break. Get a replacement as soon as possible, but in the meantime, make a temporary repair by cutting a short length of nylon fishing line. Put the glasses in their “open” position and thread the line through the screw hole with a pair of tweezers; loop the line through several times and then trim both ends so that only 2mm protrudes. Heat the tip of a knife over a flame, and touch it briefly to the free ends. This will melt them into small blobs, which will keep the line in place.
WARNING
Tiny screws, gemstones, and pieces of metalwork in jewelry can get lost very easily. Always work over a sheet of white paper so you can quickly spot anything you drop. Should a piece fall into the pile of your carpet, simply fetch your vacuum cleaner and stretch an old pair of nylon tights over the nozzle. Vacuum away, and the screw or stone will appear on the mesh of the nylon.
My glasses aren’t level
Check the ear pieces
If your glasses sit askew, try bending their ear pieces to adjust their position. If you can’t get a good grip with your fingers, use needle-nose pliers. Most opticians will adjust frames free of charge, but if you want to try your own repair, heat the metal of the frame in the steam from a teakettle to make it more pliable, then carefully, and little by little, bend the arms until they are straight once more.
The bridge has snapped
Soften the plastic and pin it back together
If your plastic-framed glasses snap at the bridge, carefully hold one snapped edge of the frame over the steam from a teakettle. When the plastic softens, insert a small needle into the broken edge so that half of it protrudes; allow the plastic to cool and harden around the needle. Now soften the other broken edge in the same way. Push the protruding pin fully into this softened section of the glasses, ensuring that the bridge is correctly aligned. Allow to cool before wearing.
My hearing aid is not working
Check the settings and clean it up
Make sure the hearing aid is switched on. Then check that it is not set to pick up a hearing loop—it should be on the “microphone” setting for normal use.
- • A dead battery is the most likely cause of a silent hearing aid. Try a replacement. Make sure that the battery is inserted the right way and that the compartment is fully closed. Some new batteries are supplied with one or both terminals covered with clear plastic film to protect them in storage—be sure to peel this off before use.
- • If you have a behind-the-ear hearing aid, gently pull off the plastic tubing, wash it in soapy water, rinse, and leave to dry inside and out. Don’t remove the elbow (the hooked part of the unit) or get the hearing aid itself wet—just wipe this part carefully with a soft, dry cloth. If the plastic tubing is brittle or cracked, buy a replacement.
- • Clean an in-the-ear hearing aid by wiping it with a dry cloth—don’t use water. Use the wax pick supplied with the hearing aid to clear any wax blocking the opening.
My hearing aid whistles
Adjust the volume
First, try turning down the volume setting on the device. If this doesn’t work, remove and reinsert the hearing aid—a snug fit in your ear canal will help reduce the feedback and whistling.
- • Some models of hearing aids give an audible warning when the battery is low, so check the battery and replace if necessary.
Make it last GLASSES
Use two hands to put your glasses on and to take them off—this helps prevent bending their arms.
Don’t rest your glasses on their lenses, because they are likely to get scratched. Store them in a case that doesn’t put any pressure on the frames or arms, or else they will get scratched. Don’t store them in a case that is too small.
SHOES AND CLOTHING
Good-quality clothes and shoes can last for decades with proper care. What’s more, well-made items fit well and look good, and become more comfortable with wear as they mold to your body shape. So rather than buying rounds of cheap clothes, invest in quality clothing and keep it looking great. Even some serious clothing disasters can be fixed with a little knowledge.
My sweater has shrunk in the wash
Try a little hair conditioner
Some garments are liable to shrink if you don’t follow the manufacturer’s washing instructions. There is a way to restore them to their proper size, but it’s not guaranteed to work on all fabrics.
- • Soak the garment in a bowl of warm water into which you have mixed a couple of squirts of hair conditioner or baby shampoo. Leave it for 20 minutes to let the fibers in the clothing relax.
- • Pour out the water and gently press the garment between two towels to squeeze out most of the water; don’t wring it out.
- • Lay the garment out flat on a dry towel and carefully stretch it back into its original shape and size. Leave it to dry fully; you may need to replace the towel a couple of times as it gets damp.
A stray sock has turned my white clothes blue
Bleach and rewash
If your white cotton sheets pick up dye from a colored item in the wash, first try rewashing the load a couple of times at the recommended temperature with a powder detergent. If this doesn’t work, you have one more option:
- • Add a cup of bleach to a tub of cold water and soak the sheets in the solution for 10 minutes. Wash again as normal. Don’t use bleach on fabrics made of wool or silk.
My clothes have wrinkled in the dryer
Smooth them out with a damp towel
Clothes should be removed from a dryer as soon as it has finished its cycle or they will wrinkle. If you’ve left them for too long, simply moisten a small towel, put it in with the load, and run the dryer again for a few minutes.
My coat is covered in dust
Improvise a lint remover
Picking hundreds of tiny fragments of lint off a dark wool coat is a tiresome task. Save time by rolling up a magazine and wrapping some wide packing tape around it, with the sticky side out. Roll the sticky edge along your coat to pick up the lint quickly and efficiently.
My dress is wrinkled
Give it a quick steam bath
When you’re getting ready to go out and find that your dress is wrinkled, run a hot bath and hang the dress on an adjacent shower rod. The steam will quickly get rid of the creases.
WARNING
Don’t hang woolen clothes or garments with a loose weave on wire coat hangers—they may get permanently stretched at the shoulders. Invest in some high-quality wooden hangers.
My zipper has broken
The pull tag has come off
Zippers, buttons, and fasteners are the weak points of any garment. If the tab snaps off your zipper, you can make an emergency repair by threading a safety pin or paper clip through the hole in the slider. Some sliders don’t have a hole, but the tab clamps into two slots on either side of the slider. Find an old item of clothing with a similar zipper: use a pair of pliers to pry off the tab and fit it into the broken zipper.
The teeth don’t line up properly
When a zipper gets misaligned, it becomes impossible to close fully and the fitting will “gape.” On a coat or other garment where the zipper opens completely, it’s often easiest to replace a new zipper, but if the zipper is sewn into a dress or a pair of trousers or jeans, you may be able to save it.
- • Using a pair of pliers, pull off the bumper (the metal stopper at the bottom of the zipper). You may need to use a bit of force to remove it. Open the zipper, stopping just one or two teeth from the bottom.
- • Lay the garment on a flat surface and arrange the zipper’s teeth symmetrically and straight. Close the zipper up halfway, making sure the teeth lock together correctly. Use a needle and thick thread to make a few stitches at the bottom of the zipper, where the bumper used to be. This will stop the slider from coming apart when the zipper is fully opened.
The zipper has caught on the fabric
Pull the garment taut along the length of the zipper. Ask someone else to pull the fabric out from under the slider; avoid pulling on the slider itself if at all possible—it may get damaged or stuck further.