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

Water running down the drain.

Sink Clogged? Try The Drain-o Volcano

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Here’s how to clear clogged drains without commercial drain cleaners. It’s simple science, really.

Drano-Volcano-Sample-select

CREATIVE SOLUTION | Try as I might, I can’t seem to keep hair out of the bathroom drain, where it diabolically wraps itself around greasy soap residue to form stubborn, icky clogs. Since I dislike using harsh (and expensive) drain cleaners, I tackle drains first with a simple kettle full of boiling water,* hoping to dissolve the hairy sludge. But when hot water doesn’t dislodge the muck, I revisit my seventh grade science project—The Erupting Volcano.

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Old windows collage

An Easy Way To Insulate Single-Pane Windows

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Replacing single-glazed windows with new double-panes used to be the energy-wise solution. Now there’s a less expensive alternative.

Old windows collage

 

WASTE NOT | When it comes to improving the energy efficiency of older buildings, one of the major things we tend to think of is replacing single-glazed windows with double-glazed models. A CMHC report on energy savings proves otherwise. In 2004, their case-study research found that replacing doors and windows averaged just 12 percent energy savings compared to 34 percent from insulating the foundation and ceiling plus draftproofing the rest of the house, 14 percent from insulating exterior walls and 39 percent from upgrading the furnace. Read more

Io moth

Here’s How To Get Rid Of Evil Clothes Moths

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How one Frugalbits warrior waged a holey war against an empire of evil casemaking clothes moths.

Io moth

 

THE FIX | There are many beautiful species of moth in the world (like the Io moth pictured here), but the villainous casemaking clothes moth is not one of them (CLICK HERE if you want to have a look).

As someone who has battled clothes moths, and hopefully won my holey war, let me predict this: if you leave your windows open a lot in the summer and have lovely 100 percent natural fibre garments (regular wool or cashmere; silk; fine cotton—whatever) evil brown casemaking clothes moths will find them, they will lay eggs, and their damn little label-savvy larvae will feast on your Hugo Boss, Mackage and Missoni.

Here’s how I retaliated when moths went to war with me. Read more

Front Loading washing machine - 123rf

Get Rid Of Stinky Washer Once & For All

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What you need to know about eliminating the disgusting smell in your front-load washing machine.

Front Loading washing machine - 123rf

 

THE FIX | Stink happens. If you have one of those pricey front-load washing machines and do not micromanage its maintenance, the chances are great that the tub will develop a foul odour and your freshly washed clothes will eventually take on the sickly sweet smell of pond scum. Read more

Sheffield Heirloom Silver-Plated Flatware - Pottery Barn

Now Is The Time To Replate Silver Flatware

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To replate, or not to replate your worn out silver-plated flatware: that is the question. Acme Electro-Plating & Silversmiths’ semiannual resurfacing sale may help you address this conundrum. (SALE ALERT)

Sheffield Heirloom Silver-Plated Flatware - Pottery Barn

 

DARE TO REPAIR | As interesting as it looks and as cool as they make it sound, Pottery Barn’s Sheffield heirloom mixed-pattern silver-plated flatware (pictured here) feels like a waste of money to me. But then, buying any new silver-plated flatware doesn’t seem like a good investment unless it’s from a rarified manufacturer like Christofle or one of the few ornate patterns that for whatever fickle reason retains its collectability. Read more

Cleaning products-Shutterstock

These Three Inexpensive Cleaning Products Perform Miracles

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What we know for sure is that these three ordinary household cleaning products really can perform miracles.

Cleaning products-Shutterstock

 

BUY RIGHT | Supermarkets everywhere contain aisles full complex and sexy (the Method brand comes to mind) home and laundry products all claiming maximum cleaning efficiency. Would that everything their manufacturers said about them were true. Then again, there isn’t much any of these companies could say about their liquids and powders that would sway us away from our arsenal of basic, inexpensive household cleaners. Why make a switch when every one of them is a miracle worker—every time out.—Team Frugalbits Read more

Using Products at 1/2 Strength Makes Sense

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Using everyday products at 1/2 strength is often more than enough.

 

WASTE NOT | It all started with my first highlights. My stylist swung me around to the mirror for the reveal, and I basked in the glow of my glorious, glittering bangs, confident I would gleam forever in a radiant halo. Then he pulled me back to earth with a thump: “You’re going to have to stop washing your hair so much.” My wise stylist explained that daily washing strips the hair of colour and leaves it dull and dry.

I’d spent big bucks on my hair and was determined to protect my investment, so I cut down on the number of times I washed, and I revisited everything I thought I knew about shampoo. Instead of Shampoo, Rinse, Repeat, it became Shampoo, Rinse for me, all the way. Then one day it occurred to me—not only was my hair looking just as good or better, my shampoo budget had been cut in half. Read more

Bleach Bottle - Shutterstock

Is Bleach Superbad For The Environment? You?

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Is common household bleach a threat to the environment? Can it kill you?

Bleach Bottle - Shutterstock

 

BACK TO BASICS | Call me a freak, but putting on rubber gloves and plunging my hands into my own toilet bowls to clean them with a scrubbing sponge doesn’t bother me at all. What does bother me is that no matter what cleaning products I use, the bowls of my newish toilets look dirty again in days. Frustrated by the ineffectiveness of Vim, Ajax, Lysol et al., I turned to cheap, common household bleach. Read more

Spilled Wine - Dreamstime

The Natural Way To Remove Wine Stains

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When that splash of red wine lands where it shouldn’t, this fresh, natural product will remove every trace.

Spilled Wine - Dreamstime

 

Murphy’s Law should have a corollary along the lines of, Anything that stains is more likely to spill—and that especially applies to wine. Read more

James Perce White Tee Shirt

Yesss! OxiClean Is A Miracle Stain Remover

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We’re kind of obsessed with clothing stains around here, and guess what? We’ve finally found the perfect—and easiest—way to remove them.

James Perce White Tee Shirt

 

PROBLEM SOLVED | At Frugalbits we’re suckers for expert advice so last spring, when we wanted to know how to remove perspiration stains from white tee shirts, we contacted Madame Paulette in New York City, an international expert in fabric care. The company president graciously shared Madame Paulette’s DIY stain removal formula with our readers (CLICK HERE for the story), and although it is good and useful, we’ve recently been introduced to an even simpler solution that’s equally effective and no work at all. Read more