131. Sugar And Olive Oil
Best Place To Purchase: Grocery stores, Walmart
Average Product Price: $5-$10* (Olive Oil), $2-$6* (Sugar)
Though too much sugar and too much olive oil might cause stomach issues, together, they work as a great exfoliant and moisturizer for your skin. If you’re looking for a quality hand wash but don’t want to spend $10 to $20 on it at the store, mix olive oil and sugar.
Sugar And Olive Oil As Handwash ©Robert Przybysz / Shutterstock
Sugar exfoliates your skin, while the oil moisturizes it. The oil will also prevent the sugar’s grains from doing too much exfoliating. For this hand scrub, mix one-cup of regular sugar, one tablespoon olive oil, and one tablespoon Dawn dish soap. Scrub your hands thoroughly, and then rinse off to feel how silky smooth they are.
132. Rinse Aid
Best Place To Purchase: Target
Average Product Price: $3.99*
Vinyl records are a blast from the past (though they’re still sold in stores now as collectors’ items), and there’s not much bad you can say about them. The only downside to a vinyl record is that it has the tendency to get dirty easily. Luckily, these records are easy to clean.
Rinse Aid To Clean Records ©TonelsonProductions / Shutterstock
First, remove dust and static using a record brush. Then, inspect the record for any blemishes like scratches or dents. Spray a 1:30 ratio of Rinse Aid, a surfactant you can get at Target for $3.99, to water on any problem areas, and wipe the record clean with circular movements. To prevent future issues, store your records carefully.
133. Kitchen Sponge
Best Place To Purchase: Dollar stores, Amazon, Walmart
Average Product Price: $2-$4*
We love our furry friends, but they shed a lot. The majority of dogs and cats, even if they have short hair, get their fur everywhere. If you’re tired of seeing your couch made over with cat or dog hair, you can use a clean, dry sponge to catch it.
Kitchen Sponge To Remove Pet Hair @guarinicarmela / Pinterest
Run the sponge slowly over the upholstery. The hair will cling to the surface, removing it from the furniture. If that’s not doing the trick, you might have to take the next step and invest in a vacuum that is specially designed to suck up pet hair from your floors, furniture, and bedding.
134. Felt Tip Pens
Best Place To Purchase: Amazon, Target
Average Product Price: $10-$20 per pack of pens*
For this ThoughtCo hack, you’ll need colored Sharpie felt-tip pens (the permanent ink ones), rubbing alcohol, a plastic cup, and a white or light-colored cotton shirt. First, smooth part of the t-shirt over the plastic cup, securing it with a rubber band. Then, dot a Sharpie in a circle in the center of the area stretched over the lid of the cup. Make sure the circle is a ring 1” in diameter. Use more than one color, if you want.
Felt Tip Pens For Tie Dye @scholastic / Pinterest
Then, drip rubbing alcohol onto the blank part of the t-shirt circle. Continue adding more alcohol until you like the pattern. Let the alcohol evaporate before moving on to other sections of the t-shirt. When the shirt is totally dry, set the tie-dye colors by putting them in the dryer for fifteen minutes. When you pull it out, you’ll have a colorful, fun pattern.
135. Comb
Best Place To Purchase: Dollar or beauty supply stores
Average Product Price: $1*
If you want to keep a nail steady while you’re hammering it, you don’t need to go to Home Depot or Lowe’s and buy any fancy equipment. Just use a regular comb, like the $1 kind you can find at any dollar or beauty supply store. The comb will also help protect your fingers.
Comb For Hammering Nails @ManoManoUK / Pinterest
Use the tines of the comb to keep the nail steady and tight, placing the nail in between the tines. The comb will keep the nail from moving or getting off-track, ensuring that your hammering job only takes ten or fifteen seconds, at the most.
136. Lego
Best Place To Purchase: Walmart, Amazon, Target, LEGO
Average Product Price: $25-$150*
Some broken things, when they’re fixed, can become something even better than the original. Artists like Jon Vormann look at old, ugly, damaged walls and turn them into colorful art pieces using only Legos. Vormann’s project, Dispatchwork, began in Bocchigano, Italy. Vormann patched-up surfaces around his local Italian town with Legos.
Lego For Wall Repair @ARCFLY/Facebook | @GoogleStreetArt/Twitter.com
The reception was very positive, as people loved the creative, colorful approach to wall repair. Since then, Vormann has started a phenomenon, and a lot of city artists are turning to Legos to repair walls that their local officials have forgotten to fix. If you have a broken wall near you, grab your nearest pack of Legos and get building.
137. Shoe Polish
Best Place To Purchase: Amazon
Average Product Price: $10-$20*
If your handbag is made from delicate or sensitive leather, you do not want to do this hack, as the polish might strip the handbag and cause the leather to permanently stain. However, if your bag is durable or made from fake leather, shoe polish can be used to give it an extra sheen.
Shoe Polish For Purses ©TFEX_SHUTTER / Shutterstock
To clean the bag, first, rub the leather with a damp cloth and saddle soap ($4.96 on Amazon). Then, wipe away any moisture and soap from the bag, and use a dry cloth to buff the leather. Take a tiny amount of shoe polish and apply it to the cloth, rubbing it in a circular motion. Leave the bag to dry, and, when you come bag, it’ll be good as new.
138. Bath Bombs
Best Place To Purchase: Bath & Body Works, Target
Average Product Price: $10-$30*
If you want to freshen up the scent of your closet (and the clothes in it), you can use bath bombs. This hack, courtesy of Colorful Bouquet, requires a bath bomb of your choosing, tissue paper (or little organza bags), scissors, and ribbon.
Bath Bombs For Closet Freshner ©Irina Bort / Shutterstock
Place the bath bomb into the tissue paper or bag and cut a piece of ribbon to tie the bag or paper shut. Put the DIY air freshener into your closet for a fruity, fresh scent. If you want to make the scent stronger or weaker, you can always add more bath bombs (to strengthen) or wrap it in another bag or tissue paper (to weaken it).
139. Coffee
Best Place To Purchase: Grocery stores, Walmart
Average Product Price: $10-$15*
Fleas are the worst. You can take a lot of precautions against them, but they sometimes get in anyway. Flea shampoos have very harsh chemicals in them, so it’s not surprising that a lot of pet parents want to explore alternatives. Coffee grounds are an alternative to these caustic chemicals, as these grounds can repel fleas.
Coffee To Remove Fleas ©Masarik / Shutterstock
After you shampoo your pet’s fur, gently scrub coffee grounds through his or her fur. You’ll only need a cup or two of dried, used grounds. Work them through the fur thoroughly, down to the skin. Not only will the grounds kill the fleas, but your pet’s fur will also be silky smooth. It’s important to note that the coffee scrubs can be harmful if ingested by your dog, so be careful.
140. Salt
Best Place To Purchase: Grocery stores, Amazon
Average Product Price: $1-$5*
It would surprise you how dirty cutting boards can get. According to The Daily Beast, if cutting boards are not cleaned properly, they can end up harboring “harmful bacteria.” Salt is a great, cheap way to ensure that your board gets a proper scrub.
Salt For Cleaning Cutting Boards @cnet / Pinterest
For this hack, you need a half-lemon, coarse salt, a clean cloth, and hot water. Scrub your board with a one-third cup of coarse salt. Let it sit for ten minutes. Then, rub the salt with the half-lemon, squeezing the fruit to release the juice. After that, rinse the board with hot water, removing any residue with a clean cloth.
141. Toothbrush and Clean Shower Doors
Best Place To Purchase: Dollar stores, drug stores
Average Product Price: $3-$5*
There are a lot of hard-to-reach crevices in your shower—specifically, the grout. You don’t need to shell out for a precision cleaning tool if you have a clean, old toothbrush on-hand. First, you’ll need to sanitize your toothbrush thoroughly. Otherwise, you’ll just make the shower grout more bacteria-filled.
Toothbrush To Clean Shower Doors Oleksandr Nagaiets / Shutterstocok.com
Then, mix two parts of hot water and one part of white vinegar. Dip the toothbrush into the mix and scrub the grout. When you’re done, rinse with clean water and, if you want, towel-dry the shower grout. Do this in small sections, refilling the mix when necessary to avoid scrubbing with dirty water.