Easy and unexpected ways to clean and maintain your home and belongings.

Watch Out, Windex

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 This simple, chemical-free cleaning tool will leave your windows and mirrors with a shockingly non-streaky shine. (VIDEO)

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SHOCK & AWE | We live in a house filled with reflective surfaces that we are currently sharing with our daughter, her husband and their very curious baby, Dylan.

Dylan loves to press herself up against the windows and to touch the small human who eyeballs her back every time she looks into a mirror. And wherever she goes, this sweet child leaves tiny paw prints behind.

Not that her baby smudges bother us much. They’re kind of endearing really, but add them to the bug splats and floss bits that accumulate routinely on what-are-meant-to-be-sparkling surfaces, and there’s always a mess to contend with. Read more

Shine Your Silver To Perfection Quickly Without Commercial Polish

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This homemade concoction will put a shine on your silver with minimal cost and effort. (VIDEO)

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THIS STUFF WORKS | Until recently, I have polished my wee cache of silver—both sterling and plate, everything from jewellery to flatware—with pricey silver polish from a local jewellery store. “Why do you use that stuff?” my friend and Frugalbits contributor Brendan Power asked one evening after I complained about the bits of pink paste that had become lodged in the nooks of my newly cleaned Tiffany bracelet. I could avoid this residue, and polish up everything nicely, he explained, “using tin foil, soda and salt.” Read more

Starck Happy D.2 BATHTUB

Magic Eraser Really Does Remove The Most Stubborn Stains

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The stain was so stubborn I thought I would have to replace my bathtub. Turns out all I needed was a small miracle.

Starck Happy D.2 BATHTUB

 

THIS THING WORKS | Shortly after we moved into our house, the acrylic tub in the master bathroom became stained. It looked as though something had spattered the finish and damaged it, but whatever the cause, the problem was finding a solution. Read more

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The Best Way To Care For Bed Pillows

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Most of us are fastidious about changing bed linens, but pillows often fall by the wayside. Here’s how to keep them fresh.

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HOME SCHOOL | Is there anything more ewww inspiring than a big perspiration stain on your bed pillow? Or knowing that in the time it took for the stain to materialize, entire nations of allergy-inducing dust mites have taken up residence inside the cushion where you lay your sweet head every night?

While most of us are fastidious about keeping sheets and pillowcases clean, pillows often fall by the wayside. Here’s what we know about keeping bed pillows fresh and in tiptop shape. Read more

Puddle of olive oil

How To Remove Oil Stains From Clothes

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Here is a dead easy way to remove any cooking oil stain from clothing.

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THIS STUFF WORKS | Quick, which home cleaning product has grease-cutting properties as a big part of its raison d’être? Anyone who has ever watched daytime television even once knows the answer is dishwashing liquid. What I didn’t know until this past weekend is that the grease-cutting effectiveness of liquid detergent on pots and pans can also be applied to clothing. I learned this the hard way, of course, when I dropped a big glob of salad dressing containing olive oil on my A&F Bermuda shorts. Read more

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Yes, You Can Get Your Kids To Pick Up Their Dirty Towels

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How to get your messy kids to stop leaving soggy bath towels in a pile in their room.

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NAG LESS| Have you ever experienced Disappearing Towel Phenomenon? This occurrence is not to be confused with Disappearing Object Phenomenon, a documented paranormal event where random objects mysteriously disappear and then inexplicably turn up later. In the case of Disappearing Towel Phenomenon, the objects are neither random nor their whereabouts unknown. Parents of teenagers know precisely where to look for their vanished bath towels: in multiple, soggy piles on the floor in their offspring’s bedrooms. Read more

Eurow Microfiber Kitchen Towels

Finally, Attractive Microfiber Dishtowels

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These microfiber dishtowels look stylish in the way that linen ones do—and function superbly, too.

Eurow Microfiber Kitchen Towels

 

GET THIS | I can’t help but think that if for some mysterious reason Fog Linen Work, a Japanese company that produces an exquisite line of linen products coveted by design devotees everywhere, were to suddenly go rogue and use microfiber rather than Lithuanian linen to make their kitchen towels, they might make a waffle-weave product like the one pictured here from the American company Eurow & O’Reilly. “Yes, aren’t these towels awesome,” my designer friend Margo concurred when I enthused about how attractive and effective hers were as we stood hand-drying dishes after dinner at her place awhile back. Read more

incandescent bulb

3 Ways To Help The Health Of the Planet

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You can make a difference in the health and well being of our planet by changing just one thing.

LandfillWASTE NOT | Here are three ways to get started:  Read more

nonwoven garmet bags

Keep Your Best Clothes In Nonwoven Poly Bags

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Who knew that nonwoven polypropylene could actually protect your best garments from evil clothes-eating moths?

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THE FIX | I’ve done a lot of things to rid my home of casemaking clothes moths (CLICK HERE for our Frugalbits how to) but, until recently when I read about it on goop, I didn’t know that a particular material used to make clothing storage containers might actually ward off these hungry insects. According to Gwynnie and, as it turns out, a gaggle of other Internet home-keeping pundits, breathable nonwoven polypropylene, the material found in those ubiquitous grocery shopping bags, may do just that. Read more

Schmutz Haken Broom

Pusher Broom Love: Meet The Schmutz

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Swept away by a funny looking broom with the funny sounding name Schmutz Haken. (VIDEO)

Schmutz Haken Broom

 

BUY RIGHT | When it comes to sweeping indoors, I prefer an angled broom with a dirt-catching split-fibre tip that can wiggle into corners (Vileda makes a good one). Outdoors, I want a broad brush that can cover more ground and sweep away heavy debris so I always go for a pusher, though I had no idea how inefficient most push brooms are until I tried a Schmutz Haken, the silly looking sweeper pictured here. Read more