Household hacks are always nice to have on hand. Who doesn't need a few more ways to make their home run a little smoother?
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Garage Floor Dam
Garage floors are puddle prone: springtime floods, melting ice from tires, you name it. You can keep that water away from your tools and toys with a dam made of expanding foam. This is one of our favorite household hacks because it sticks, it’s waterproof, and you can walk or drive over it without damaging it. And come summer, it’ll scrape right off.
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Poop Pipe
“My dogs and I have an arrangement. They poop; I pick it up. But rather than make daily trips to the trash can, I built this poop pipe. It’s just a large piece of 4-in. PVC drainpipe sunk into the ground a foot or so, with a trash bag lining it and a cap sitting loosely on top. A rubber band holds the bag in place, and the cap helps keep odors at bay. When the bag gets full, I just take it to the trash bin and put a new one in the drainpipe.” — reader Kelley Griswold
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Lighted Screwdriver Hack
No need for fancy hand tools with built-in LED lights, opt for this lighted screwdriver hack instead. When working in a dark space such as inside a cabinet, make your own lighted screwdriver by taping a keychain-size flashlight to the shaft. It’ll shine the light right where you need it.
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Skinny Laundry Room Cart
A lot of laundry rooms have a narrow wasted space either next to or between the washing machine and dryer, and it’s usually a hideout for socks and lint. To take advantage of this space and organize your laundry room, build a simple plywood laundry room cart on fixed casters to hold detergents and other laundry supplies.
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Lift Gate Protection
“When you open the lift gate of your van or SUV, it’s easy to hit a cross brace of the garage door and chip the paint on the gate. Protect it by using a swim noodle as a cushion. Just slit the swim noodle with a utility knife and slip it over the brace. You can also use pre-slit foam pipe insulation. If it slips off, use double-face tape to hold it in place.” – Mary Sprang.
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No-Slip Cutting Board
Most cutting boards don’t come with any kind of rubber surface on the bottom to prevent them from sliding on a countertop. And no list oh household hacks would be complete without a simple solution to wobbles like this. With a couple of rubber bands, you can stabilize your cutting board and keep it from moving around during use. Slip on two rubber bands—one at each end of the cutting board—and you’re good to go. Make sure that the rubber bands lay flat and aren’t twisted when you put them on so the board will sit steady on your countertop.
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Toilet Paper Roll Wrapping Paper Sleeve
This hint will save you from wasting wrapping paper each time you bring it out of storage. Rather than sticking a piece of tape along the loose edge, cut an empty toilet paper tube lengthwise and wrap it around a roll of wrapping paper. Cinch it up and secure the sleeve with a piece of tape. Next time you use the wrapping, you may rip the sleeve when removing it, but your wrapping paper will remain intact.
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DIY Tiered Hangers for More Closet Storage
Short on closet space? Use a lightweight piece of chain to stagger hanging clothing in tall closets to maximize space. Just loop the first link of the chain over the first hanger, and hang subsequent hangers on every other link after. You can hang up to six shirts for the rod space of one.
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Remove Hard-Water Buildup with a Lemon
Some of the best household hack are the simplest. You can remove hard-water buildup on your faucet with a simple, natural solution. Place half of a fresh lemon on the end of the faucet, wrap a small plastic bag around the lemon and secure it to the faucet with a rubber band. After a few hours, remove the lemon and wipe the faucet clean.
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Luminous Light Switch
Who said household hacks can’t also be artistic? A dab of glow-in-the-dark paint means no more groping for the light switch in the dark. If it’s the switch in your child’s room, you can use a stencil to make small shapes along the switch cover as well.
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Pinecone Scooper
“My pine trees drop cones all summer long, and my old back doesn’t like me bending over a lot to pick them all up. I don’t have a dog, but a pooper scooper has turned out to be this man’s best friend! Gently squeezing the handle opens its jaws, allowing me to pick up pinecones with no back pain.” — reader Don Greer
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Make a Homeowner’s Journal
“Buy a ring binder and keep insurance papers, repair receipts and all other paperwork pertaining to the house in it. Storing all your house information in one handy place makes life easier for the homeowner and can be a sales ‘plus’ when selling the house later.” – reader Debora Emmert
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Squeaky Door Hinge
Spray squeaky door hinges in place with a little all-purpose lube, silicone spray or dry Teflon spray. If the squeaks persist, remove the hinge pins and rub off any rust or corrosion with a steel wool pad, and then coat the pins with a lubricant before replacing them.
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Hold Knives, Kitchen Utensils and Other Gadgets
One of the most common ways to use magnetic strips for kitchen organization is to hold kitchen knives and utensils. Magnetic strips work great in small kitchens, because they help get items off the countertop so there’s less clutter. This is one of our more versatile household hacks. You can adapt it to most of the other rooms in your home. For example, a magnetic strip in the medicine cabinet can be used to store tweezers, clippers and small scissors.
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High-Visibility Boundary Marker
Each year I mark the boundaries of my yard so the snowplow driver doesn’t damage my lawn. For years I used rebar along the perimeter, but the driver couldn’t see it at night. Even with reflectors on the rebar, it would still get hit, bent or broken. Now I’ve found a better solution. I slip a brightly colored swim noodle over the rebar. You can’t miss the markers now. – Bill Remia.
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Restore Free Flow to a Faucet
When a kitchen or bathroom faucet loses pressure or starts spraying to the side, it’s usually due to a dirty aerator screen. Luckily, cleaning a screen is an easy job. Start this fix by closing the drain plug so you don’t drop parts down the drain. Then remove the aerator using a rag or masking tape so you don’t mar the finish with your pliers.
To remove the sand and other deposits, soak the aerator in vinegar, then scrub it with a toothbrush. This usually solves the problem. If you have to disassemble the aerator to clean it, lay out the parts in the order you removed them so you can reassemble them correctly.
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Identify Your Keys at a Glance
“It seems the older I get, the more keys I carry around. Between the car, house, shed and garage, I have a whole pocket full of keys. To make it easier to quickly find my most used keys, I paint both sides of the key head with brightly colored nail polish. I use a different color for each key. The nail polish is extremely durable and you’ll be surprised how much longer it lasts than spray paint.” —Joseph Grayson
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Lawn Mower Grass Chute Saver
“To avoid a lot of string trimmer work, I like to mow as close as possible to trees and buildings. But the grass chute on my riding mower prevents it. So I drilled a hole in the chute and tied a rope from the chute to a handle on the side of the tractor. Now I can lift up the chute without missing a beat, and cut way down on string trimmer work. — Travis Larson
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Dust Bunny Broom Cleaner
Our list of household hacks extends to chores as well. Every time you sweep, clumps of dust and hair collect at the ends of the broom’s bristles. To solve this problem, hot glue a wide-tooth comb to the top of a dustpan. Just run the bristles through the comb to remove any excess gunk dangling from the broom.
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Homemade Heating Pad
While this last option isn’t a DIY fix for a specific room or appliance, we still felt that it belonged on any good list of household hacks because of how simple and useful it is. Next time you have a sore neck or back, don’t reach for an electric heating pad. Instead, fill a sock with uncooked rice, tie the end and microwave it for two or three minutes. It’s better than a heating pad, as it conforms to whatever body part that needs heat. You can even put in some fragrant herbs like cinnamon or lavender to make it smell nice!
