5 Things You Should Never Do

At the radio station this morning we were swapping disaster stories from our houses. My boss once told his son to clean the microwave...so his son carried the microwave over to the sink to wash it off! While that is a bad idea (especially if you don't unplug it first) there are worse and more damaging things you can do at your home.

DISH SOAP IN THE DISHWASHER

This one I did at my parents house. Have you ever loaded the dishwasher and realized that you are out of detergent? Here is a tip - you can use a small amount of liquid dish soap...do not fill the cup all the way to the line! You will not only be cleaning your dishes, but you will also be filling your entire kitchen with lots of bubbles!

MICROWAVE METAL PLATES

Connie in HR says her son did this one. While this one is obvious - metal and microwaves don't mix...unless you are looking for a light show. But what we don't think about sometimes are the fancy plates. The good china or the dishes you only get out on special occasions...the plates with the gold painted ring around the outside that you later find out is actually a metal stripe. That is not a good idea. So always be careful with the dishes. You also have to be careful with small metal shavings from a can opener or stuck/hidden pieces of tin foil.

MICROWAVE AN ENTIRE EGG

BOOM! That is what happens. My wife had the misfortune of finding this one out. I believe it is the same with a potato and that is why you are supposed to poke a hole in it with a fork before you microwave it. At least when she cleaned the microwave after she didn't carry it to the sink :)

VACUUM UP LIVE SPIDERS

My brother says he did this. Rather than killing the group of spiders living in his window, he decided to just put the long arm on the vacuum and suck all of them up. It worked...for a while. He has a vacuum that you can see inside where all the dusk goes. The next time he used it, there was a beautiful spun spider web inside. At least the spiders were contained though!

SUBSTITUTE BAKING SODA FOR BAKING POWDER

This one is courtesy of my wife. She made delicious looking cookies a few years ago for a party we were going to. When we got to the party she gave some cookies to the kids - who were all very excited for the treat - each of them took a bit and then asked if they had to finish eating them. We all tasted them and decided that no, nobody should eat them! When we got home my wife had put a bunch in the freezer to save for later. She pulled them out - and they weren't frozen! She had made the cockroach of cookies - nobody liked them and they were impervious to destruction! She says she may have also used Crisco instead of butter...but she doesn't remember. Right.

What mistakes have you made at your home while cleaning, cooking, or doing home repairs?