184. Paper Clips and Clogged Spray Bottles
Best Place To Purchase: Office Depot, Amazon
Average Product Price: $3-$5 per box*
Ah, the humble paper clip. It has been used for tons of different things, not just office-related doings. You can use it as a temporary hanger for decorative lights or ornaments, and you can even pick locks with it. Also, you can unclog a spray bottle with a paperclip.
Paper Clips Clear Clogged Spray Bottles @hunkerhome/Pinterest
Spray bottles tend to get clogged when they have been sitting around for a while. Rather than give up and throw the bottle away, unbend a clip and use its pointy end to poke through the spray nozzle. This will, hopefully, dislodge whatever is impeding the spray bottle from functioning.
185. Hair Dryer and Bumper Stickers
Best Place To Purchase: Beauty Supply Stores, Amazon
Average Product Price: $20-$100*
We’ve all had (or seen) bumper stickers that are regretful. Whether it’s a political view you’ve since abandoned or a joking sticker your friend stuck on your car, when you want a bumper sticker off, it can be frustrating to remove it. Try using a hair dryer.
Hairdryer Removes Bumper Stickers @family_handyman/Pinterest
Plug the hair dryer in and turn it on its highest heat setting. Hold it six inches from the sticker. Wave the dryer along with the sticker so that it heats up evenly. This will melt the adhesive, loosening the sticker so that you can peel it off. Keep at it—it might take a few minutes for the sticker to totally heat.
186. Carabiners
Best Place To Purchase: Dollar stores, Amazon
Average Product Price: $3-$10*
Carabiners are useful for hanging and stringing things, and they can even be used in place of closet hangers when you’re in a pinch. Just hook the carabiner through the shirt’s tag and loop it over the closet rod. These carabiners can help you stay super-organized, even when you’re short on actual hangers.
Carabiner As Closet Hook @goodhousemag/Pinterest
The same goes for hanging a shower curtain. If one of your curtain hooks breaks and you need to fix a lopsided curtain, a carabiner can stand-in. Just loop it over the curtain rod and through the curtain’s hole, hanging it like you would with an actual shower hook.
187. Plunger
Best Place To Purchase: Walmart, Amazon
Average Product Price: $10-$15*
According to CarHop, this is one way to get a dent out of a car (though, if you’re wary of DIY’ing your dent repair, we suggest you go to a mechanic or give them a call first). A plunger can help pop a dent out of a car, say some people for whom this hack has worked.
Plunger To Remove Car Dents @wonderhowto/Pinterest
Place the plunger over the dented area and pull it straight out. If you’re fixing a bumper, you can push behind the dented area to get the dent out. Keep repeating this trick until the dented area has popped back into place.
188. Pennies
Best Place To Purchase: U.S. Mint
Average Product Price: $0.01*
Cut flowers are a pretty addition to your kitchen or dining room, but sometimes, it seems hard to keep them fresh for long. This hack costs, literally, a cent. Drop a copper penny into the flowers’ vase. Copper acts as a fungicide, so it kills off fungi and bacteria that are lurking in the vase.
Pennies To Keep Cut Flowers Fresh @emilylexstudio/Pinterest
Without this DIY fungicide, the stems’ life spans are shortened. This isn’t the only household-item trick to make flowers last longer. Readers’ Digest says you can add a quarter-teaspoon of bleach to each quarter of vase water. The bleach, like the penny, will act as a fungicide to ward off pesky bacteria.
189. Mayonnaise
Best Place To Purchase: Grocery stores, Walmart
Average Product Price: $1-$3*
Mayonnaise is somewhat of a polarizing condiment. People either love it or hate it. If you’re in the first camp and in need of a hair treatment, consider using mayo. Yes, mayo. The eggs and oil in mayonnaise can strengthen your hair, fortifying it and shining it from root to tip.
Mayonnaise For Hair Care @buzzfeed/Pinterest
First, wet your hair. Then, work one cup of mayo from your scalp down into your hair. Use a wide-tooth comb to make sure it goes on evenly. Cover your hair mask with a cap. Wait twenty minutes, and then thoroughly rinse out, shampooing as normal. Your hair should feel softer from this homemade moisturizing treatment.
190. Teabags
Best Place To Purchase: Grocery stores, Specialty shops, Amazon
Average Product Price: $5-$15 per box of teabags*
Throughout history, black tea has been a helpful cleaning tool, particularly for hardwood floors. The tannic acid in tea cleans and shines a dull wooden floor, bringing it back to life. First, boil a pot of water and then add six black tea bags to it. Let the tea steep for ten minutes before pouring it into your mop bucket.
Teabags Shine Wood @Huzefa Akbarally/LinkedIn
Wring your mop thoroughly. Before mopping the entire floor, The Spruce recommends that you try mopping a small part of the floor to make sure the tea takes well. If no discoloration surface, use the tea to mop the rest of the floor.
191. Steel Wool
Best Place To Purchase: Amazon, Walmart
Average Product Price: $4-$7*
As we all know from elementary school science, metal is a conductor. Steel wool can start a fire in a pinch. All you need is steel wool and a nine-volt battery, and you’re on your way to a roaring fire.
Steel Wool As Fire Starter @snoopycomputer/Pinterest
Hold one end of the steel wool to the positive end of the nine-volt, and then hold another part of the wool to the negative. The charge from the battery as it passes through will cause the steel wool to ignite. FYI, it’s best to use very high-grade steel wool, as this will give you the most sparks.
192. Old Wedding Dress
Best Place To Purchase: Bridal shops, Secondhand stores
Average Product Price: $1,600*
There are a lot of things you can do with a wedding dress rather than let it collect dust in storage. You can gift it, sell it, or even get crafty with it, repurposing the dress so that you can see it every day, not just when you’re feeling nostalgic for your nuptials.
Wedding Dress Into Pillow @heathermkrebs78/Pinterest
For this hack, you’ll need a plain white pillow from a craft store. Cut the embellishments from your wedding dress and stitch them on, giving texture to the pillows. You can also upcycle your wedding gown into a memory quilt, baby dress, or teddy bear. More and more people are choosing to turn their gowns into something new instead of stuffing them away in the attic.
193. Old Lightbulbs
Best Place To Purchase: Costco, Walmart, Target
Average Product Price: $1 per incandescent bulb*
Light gone out? Before you toss that lightbulb in the trash or recycling, check your calendar. If you’re near a holiday, you can turn it into an ornament. After all, a bulb is usually the perfect size and shape for a little DIY ornament-making. And the glass can take paint pretty well, too.
Old Lightbulbs Into Christmas Ornaments @hgtv/Pinterest
You can paint Christmas (or any holiday) designs on old lightbulbs, turning them from boring household items into something whimsical and fun. If you have older kids, they can help you too, though younger kids, because of how delicate lightbulb glass is, might not be the best candidates to partake in this holiday project.