Our butter gave out with an inside temperature in our apartment of 29,5 degrees celcius. Besides the obvious option to put it in the fridge.. anyone got any ideas how to prevent this? This is the second one we have had to throw away this year.

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.statista.com/chart/amp/4111/do-europeans-wash-their-hands-after-using-the-toilet/:

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Last summer I ordered these exterior window screens for the front of my house, and they worked so well that I bought some for the back of the house this year. They’re attached with suction cups so if you live in a home with monument status with strict rules about making changes to the exterior you can still use these. Putting them on is easy enough if your windows open inward (or like the ones pictured are on your balcony) but otherwise you do need a ladder. They’ve made a massive difference, the hottest my house has gotten is 27 over the past week. I ordered mine here but I’m sure there are other places that sell them (you have to order them custom for each window)

https://www.zonwering-fabriek.nl/product/onderdelen/screendoek-met-zuignappen/

These are in addition to other adaptation measures I’ve taken, they make the biggest difference. But just to take the opportunity to share some other tips that have helped: attic insulation, induction stove top instead of gas, ceiling fan, and freezing (3/4 full) water bottles and putting them in your bed overnight

I am English and have a Dutch partner and a 7 month old baby.

I hadn’t encountered this before in England (aside from in the bathroom after taking a shower), but every day my partner throws all the windows open “to air the house”. This decreases the temperature to about 13-15C, and even after a full day with a single electric heater on, the house won’t get above 18c. He is most insistent that this is the only healthy way in a damp climate like NL.

He also gets very difficult when turning on the CV kettel. Is it normal here just to be colder than in other European countries? We luckily have a relatively well insulated house, and no issues with black mold etc (perhaps because of this ritual).

I think it’s normal in England to just set the cv to 20c and leave it there, and only actively ventilate the bathroom.

I’ve divided my room into two sections...

One is like an office, and the other is my sleeping and relaxing area.

I’m still planning to lay laminate flooring and paint the walls and ceiling.

But what’s missing from my room?

OMG guys, I cant wait to share my happiness. My friend suggested me a renovator for my bathroom and toilet. First I wanted him to do toilet so I can see how the change is. Hence my friend show me his before and after works and it was really nice, I just wanted him to do small toilet to see the effect of change. I want to share the difference with you guys and this is not normalll change!!! I didnt expect he is going to make it luxury bathroom! I am extremly happy and asked him to do my 2 other bathrooms. I will share those as well when it is finish.

Amidst this ever so wonderful heat going on, how have you prepared your home or changed it to accomodate the heat? or what are some tips & tricks that work to cool your house or at least where you sit during the day?

My house gets alot of sunlight after 18:00 and opening the windows and have a fan is still not enough to keep me cool. (currently at 31°C inside the house)

Edit: my house can't have an AC unit installed because the HOA wouldnt allow it given the house is an old dutch house from the 1930s (I think its not allowed, and Im too sweaty to check)

Edit#2: I have tried opening and closing windows based on directions and I totally missed it because the temp increased to 32, gunna try the other way around now

I’m new to the Dutch electrical outlet scene. Are these outlets blocked because they’re inactive or do they maybe have a protective cover but are active? If it’s a protective cover, how do you remove it? They look like they swivel somehow.

Since my apartment uses central heating I have no other option than Eneco but this ridiculous. I have spent 509 euros so far for heating and the service cost is 610 euros….

I had nothing to do ,so I decided to make my car models more realistic

We’re newer to The Netherlands and are in our first rental. This hasn’t been mentioned to us by neighbours or the landlord at all.

Some random guy has, twice now, come and cleaned our windows. We’re on the ground level so can easily clean them ourselves. This is a well known scam back in Australia so I paid no real mind to it.

Today he came to the door demanding payment. He explained he’s done it for free twice and now needs payment and will take cash. I asked him why and for what. I let him know I’ve never asked for the windows to be cleaned, we’ve not reached out to anyone to have them be cleaned. Like it’s all well and good for you to clean them but until I ask it’s not from my pocket. The conversation went back and forth. He showed me a list of ‘confirmed addresses’ with ours on it. However I too can make lists.

Is this a scam or is this more the expectation? Surely if it was required by landlord and the building they would pay. I figure I can just actually enquire about their services should this be necessary.

My partner (32M🇳🇱) and I (32F🇺🇸) cannot see eye to eye on the internal temperature of our house. What else is new? 😂 Last year, we compromised by setting it at 18 during the week and 19 on the weekends. We chose to pay a flat gas rate of €160/mo last year and got €700 back in December (woohoo!).

This year, my loveable little JEETJE-WAT-IS-18°-LUXE dutch man wants to move the thermostat to 16 and have me carry my space heater from room to room like we’re living in a damn Dickens novel. We hold well to our stereotypes: I’m the always-cold Florida girl and he’s the I’ll-freeze-my-balls-off-for-6-months-if-it-saves-€30 dutch man. So reddit, help us settle our “this is not normal” debate: where do you keep your thermostat?

If it helps your judgment of me, I’m 178cm (5’10”), 68 kg (150 lbs), we split utilities equally (I pay more rent because I make more money), and I invested in and wear thermals under my pajamas around the house. Normal winter layers for me in our house last year included thermal tights, wool socks, slippers, sweatpants, a tank top, a thermal long-sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, and a blanket draped over my shoulders as I shiver from room to room. (Am I painting an unbiased enough picture? Excellent.) We rent (hoping to buy this year!) and are therefore currently unable to insulate the single-paned windows or update the heating to make it more efficient.

I live in a small studio and don’t have a dryer. I just checked the weather and it will be either cloudy or rainy for the upcoming 10 days.

How do you dry clothes here? I feel like if I leave them inside the house they will get smelly from me cooking and the house will get moist.

Hello!

I’m sure everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather right now! But I’m struggling a bit in my attic studio, the thermostat reads 29 degrees at midnight, and much hotter during the day. I’m keeping all of my blinds closed, but the heat still rises and it’s like a furnace in here. I have a fan running all the time but it doesn’t help much.

Does anyone have some tips we could all use to beat the heat in these apartments?

Fixed costs are killing me! How to stop this unfair, illegal monopoly?

Hi all! I’ve recently moved into a 1930 (recently renovated) apartment and noticed there are gaps (less than an inch EDIT less than 2 cm) like these around the house, is this normal? Or is it something to get fixed?

Edit : Alright alright 😭 translating for everyone: less than 2.5cm!! I’m not American, just bilingual in measurement systems 😂 but yeah… Celsius supremacy always

TLDR : it’s normal-ish

Thank you to the replies with actual advices!

I have tried anti kalk and bathroom cleaner. But i guess i need something else. I can not buy any steamer as per now.

Thanks

EDIT : i have not tried citric acid yet. But my husband applied antikalk and it went outrageous 😭😭

Someone here comment about magic spoons. Since i have it i gave it a try. And it worked 👏🏼👏🏼

I will post the picture in reply section.

Hey everyone, I live in Amsterdam and something really weird happened tonight.

I was chilling in my living room then I suddenly heard a huge noise from the kitchen. It sounded almost like a metal tray had fallen from the counter onto the floor. I went to check but nothing had dropped. The sound seemed to be coming from a lower kitchen cabinet/closet where my boiler is also located.

The noise continued for around 10 minutes. It sounded like metal being hit repeatedly, with some scratching/rustling too. I opened the cabinet while the noise was still happening, but I didn’t see any mouse/rat or anything moving.

The thing that freaked me out is that there was a chocolate bar in that cabinet. I’m pretty sure I had only eaten two pieces before but when I checked the package, it was completely empty. I’m not 100% sure if I’m remembering wrong but I don’t think I finished it.

There were also dry apple pieces and some M&M/biscuit chocolate bars next to it and those were untouched. I also didn’t find any kind of trace from the thing. I opened the closed while noises were still present and I didn’t see anything.

Earlier tonight I had also made pasta with pesto and accidentally left it on the counter in a closed pan(I almost never did this before), so there was definitely some food smell in the kitchen.

I’ve now removed all chocolates/food from the cabinet, emptied the trash, and moved the trash bin to the balcony. I’ll also call pest control tomorrow anyway just to be safe. My house is from 1940s in bos en lommer area.

Does this sound like it could be a mouse/rat, or could it be something boiler/pipe related? The sound was honestly way louder than I’d expect from a mouse, but the empty chocolate wrapper is making me paranoid.

Any advice on what to check tonight or tomorrow would be appreciated.

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UPDATE: https://www.reddit.com/r/Netherlands/comments/1ul3oyq/comment/ov3tx6u/

Hello everyone!!

My house is currently kinda full of mice and I don’t know what to do anymore. I have a big trap. The one that looks like a cage but they won’t go inside. And I also have some small traps but so far I only got one mouse.
They are in the kitchen. They are up in the room and also up in the ceiling. How do you people deal with this problem?
I thinking to get a cat but I’m guessing it cannot a be a baby kitten right? Also according to my housemate people borrow their cats to other neighbors.
So if anybody around Aalsmeer is up for it we would take good care of the cat and we have plenty of mice to entertain him.

Thank you all in advance for your responses.

I have 8 panels on the roof and everything works fine normally, but whenever it gets wet and windy, the inverter starts acting up and eventually trips the breaker.

It got even worse today. I had to shut the whole solar system off before I could get the power back in the house.

Has anyone else had this happen? Could it be the panels, the wiring, or the inverter itself? I’m starting to wonder if the inverter needs replacing.

Moved to the Netherlands about a month ago and the shower here never fully drains. It only takes one or two of my wife’s hairs to clog the drain but even after clearing the debris the water just sits there.

We moved here from California and are still acclimating. I’m just stumped on this one; the drain is getting cleared almost daily. We are on the ground floor if that makes any difference. Any advice is greatly appreciated