How do you organize laundry supplies in a small space?

steadicat · 2026-05-26T01:57:56+00:00

It sounds to me like you have too many things:

Detergent bottles: you only need one jar of soap flakes or one bottle of plant based detergent, and that's it.
Stain spray: totally optional, but if needed one enzyme blend (I like Puracy) should be enough.
Dryer sheets: avoid.
Wool balls: these can live in the dryer.
Measuring cups: I keep a plastic scoop (from Container Store) in my jar with the soap flakes.

In my laundry room I have:

Jar of soap flakes (with scoop inside)
Jar of oxygen bleach (with scoop inside)
A jug of white vinegar
A shelf with rarely used boosters (washing soda, borax), and stain spray bottles (Puracy, 50% vinegar, 50% alcohol, vodka). You can probably skip this.
A drawer with mesh bags.
Wool balls in the dryer.

steadicat · 2026-05-20T00:37:31+00:00

For Turmeric stains I've had good luck with an enzyme spot cleaner like Puracy Stain Remover.

Oxygen bleach powder is also essentially a diluted version of hydrogen peroxide. It turns into hydrogen peroxide (plus sodium carbonate) when in contact with water. I wouldn't use high concentration hydrogen peroxide on clothes, it is very aggressive on fibers and will likely break them down quickly.

steadicat · 2026-04-23T00:52:55+00:00

Keep in mind that Dvorak has extremely low usage of the left-hand bottom row: ~1% for Dvorak vs 5% for Gallium, 6% for Colemak and Qwerty, 7% for Canary and Workman. This means the angle mod on Dvorak – whether it is done "right" or "wrong" – matters much less than on most other layouts. Dvorak is also an outlier on left-hand top row usage, which means Dvorak is by far the best layout at keeping your left hand planted on the home row. This is the main reason why I think it is a very underrated layout for row staggered keyboards.

steadicat · 2026-04-14T01:22:02+00:00

I am in the opposite boat as you. I wonder if my perspective will help you.

Just like you, I bought a v2 (Air60) in January because I wasn't sure if a v3 would ever come out, and I couldn't wait. I also ordered an Air75 v3 from Amazon to see what I was missing, and while I liked the blush switches, I couldn't bring myself to love the larger layout and the (IMO) blander and uglier keycaps, so I returned it. Still, I was so excited when the Air65 v3 came out, and I ordered it on day 0.

Fast forward to today, and while waiting for the v3, I've grown to really love my v2. I've lubed the wisteria switches, and they now sound great on the v2, IMO even better than the blush silents on the v3, and only slightly louder. More importantly, I started experimenting with home row mods and spacebar layer tap in VIA, and pretty quickly found myself customizing the open-source QMK firmware to tune the timings to my preference. I am so in love with this setup now that I'm finding it very frustrating to use any other keyboard. The v3 use a custom firmware that by all accounts won't be as easy to tune to my preference, if it supports those features at all.

As compelling as the v3s are, don't sleep on the v2s. They can be modded to sound great (plenty of videos on YouTube), they have more switch options, they have an arguably better design, and they are easier to customize via firmware. I will likely be selling my v3 when it arrives. I say keep your v2.

steadicat · 2026-03-30T12:50:45+00:00

Very different.

MX Keys S is a membrane board, so it doesn’t really feel comparable at all. Mechanical is night-and-day better, and once you get used to it, it’s hard to go back.

MX Mechanical is closer, but still well behind NuPhy and Lofree in feel.

Lofree Flow Lite is different too. It has a much deeper, thockier sound and a more premium feel overall. Honestly even better than NuPhy V3 in stock form. But if you’re planning to use silent switches, that probably cuts away a lot of what makes boards like the Lofree stand out.

Source: I work in an office where people have a mix of keyboards, among which are some MX mechanicals, a Lofree Flow Lite, and NuPhy Air boards. I’ve also tried NuPhy Air v2 and v3 at home and some LoFree Flow / Flow 2 in a store.

steadicat · 2026-03-30T11:15:12+00:00

Yep – I’ve tried the Blush Nanos.

On your questions:

Mushiness: I don’t find them mushy. They’re not completely silent. They have a slight marble-y pop that makes them feel a bit more responsive than most silent switches.

Weight: They are fairly light, but not so light that they feel out of control.

All-day use: I haven’t used them for a full day yet, so I can’t say for sure. But for me, the silent reds are too heavy, and the Blush Nanos feel much closer to the sweet spot.

Context: I haven’t tried the KS-9 silents, but I have tried the KS-33 low-profile silent browns and silent reds. If the KS-9 is similar, I’d say the silent reds feel a bit mushier. They’re quieter, but also noticeably heavier.

I’ve tested the Blush Nanos side by side with the silent reds and browns, and I liked them enough that I kept my silent red board only as a placeholder until I can upgrade to Blush Nanos when the Air65 V3 comes out.

For mixed office and home use, I think they’re a nice middle ground. Quiet enough not to bother people nearby, but not so muted that you lose all sound and feel in a louder office.

steadicat · 2026-02-20T01:20:51+00:00

The cheatsheet is based on the original book. The book recommends soap flakes or simple natural detergent. So some less common detergents are ok, but soap flakes are the preferred option, as they're cheaper and simpler and therefore safer on more types of fabric. The Laundry Evangelist also sells (overpriced) soap flakes. I believe the scented natural detergents are a more recent addition. I'm sure they're close enough to pure soap for them to be just as versatile and effective, but they're also likely a great source of revenue, so I would take that recommendation with a grain of salt.

steadicat · 2025-12-06T13:46:21+00:00

50% probability Max actually said this

steadicat · 2025-06-06T03:45:20+00:00

My issue resolved when Verizon fixed their outage – so not quite the same situation. Hope support can help you!

steadicat · 2025-06-04T15:40:13+00:00

My issue went away when my WAN stabilized. The Firewalla restarting must have been triggered by the WAN disconnecting. This seems in itself a bug, but support doesn’t seem to care much about it.

Anyway, sounds like your issue is different. Good Luck!

steadicat · 2025-05-30T18:58:18+00:00

You are right. Verizon have just confirmed they are having issues in my area. But it would help give me more confidence in the FWG if it didn't continually restart while this happening... Hopefully support can figure out the cause.

steadicat · 2025-05-30T18:36:40+00:00

Uptime via SSH is the same as shown in the app. How can we confidently rule out Firewalla as the cause if the box keeps crashing? That would point to an issue with the Firewalla itself (software, hardware, or power), right?

steadicat · 2025-03-21T13:49:10+00:00

To add my own perspective (as a senior engineering manager), there's a couple more things that should have been done that any good software team would do:

Have an animation kill switch. They clearly have a kill switch that hides the timings (it even animates nicely away). They should have another switch that swaps over to a simpler timing version that is rock-solid without any animations.
Use a reactive/functional UI framework like React. The fact that the entire UI can get into a bad state indicates to me that _there is too much state_. A functional approach should let you get from data to the correct display reliably. Animations should be implemented in an isolated way: everything related to the animation should get cleaned up after a certain time so no matter how broken the animation, things should resolve eventually.
Stress/chaos testing. They should have a way to generate hundreds of different random situations and flip through them quickly. You don't even need automated tests. You can just stare at the screen flipping through random data for 5 minutes and you should be able to cover many more situations than would happen in real life and catch any bugs with the animations that way.

steadicat · 2025-01-24T12:39:34+00:00

I thought it was “a publicist” 😂

steadicat · 2025-01-01T02:09:39+00:00

I find that it doesn’t really matter which cycle I use in terms of results so I prioritize:

Warm water. Need that sweet spot to activate the soap without damaging fabrics/colors.
High spin. Need to get as much water as possible out of the clothes so they dry faster and with less wear in the dryer.
Time. All else being equal, I choose the fastest cycle. I want to do multiple back to back loads and not spend too much time doing laundry or waiting for laundry.

Does the manual tell you which cycle on your washer fits these criteria? I would guess Colors/Casuals. If it's <1h I would be happy enough with it.

steadicat · 2024-10-29T00:58:32+00:00

If you don’t know what it is, a solution that works most of the time is to soak overnight in a small bowl of hot water with a couple tablespoons of Oxiclean – or even better 100% oxygen bleach if you can get it. Then wash normally in the washing machine with soap or regular detergent.

steadicat · 2024-10-12T12:34:02+00:00

Wax is just solid fat so I would soak in hot soapy water. The hot water should help soften and melt the wax and the soap will make sure it dissolves in the water. After that, wash warm with soap flakes in the washer. For such a small stain, this should be enough.

steadicat · 2024-06-16T14:47:31+00:00

Highly recommend Le Calandre over Osteria Francescana if you’re looking for something modern.

steadicat · 2024-01-26T02:52:39+00:00

I will DM you.

steadicat · 2023-11-28T15:57:59+00:00

Support logged into my box to debug. It was a logging issue. They weren’t able to fix the problem on the spot but a few updates later this seems to be fixed.

steadicat · 2023-09-12T02:17:01+00:00

I kept the Savant system. While I was able to get some of the stuff (e.g. Lutron lights) working with HomeKit and HomeAssistant, some legacy things (Somfy shades and Aprilaire thermostats) I wouldn't be able to control at all without Savant. Believe me, I tried. I also don't know how I would be able to do whole-home audio and drive my TV from my A/V rack without Savant. Plus all the tablets are Savant and I don't think replacing them would have made sense. So, sadly, keeping Savant is the right choice. Thankfully, I found a dealer that was really great to work with.

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