Save Time, Space, and Money with These Genius Hacks

No doubt taking on this project has crossed your mind, so why wait? Grab some paint and update your backsplash – the area of the wall in your kitchen behind your stove or sink – and get it a color you can stand. The classic is white – to brighten the room, add more energy, and make it look a little bigger – but any color you want can be yours.

It’s not a difficult project, but it might take some time, depending on how your kitchen is set up. If you have family members around, get them to help for a job that will go even faster.

Washing machines have gotten smarter and easier to use in recent years, which saves us plenty of time, but what about saving money? Well, it turns out that most detergents work best when the water is between sixty-five and eighty-five degrees (Fahrenheit). If you’re heating up that water, you could be paying a hundred dollars a year for a worse wash.

Try washing in warm – instead of hot – or cold water. Check the water temp right after it fills, and you may find that the “cold” setting on your machine is warm enough that you don’t even have to bother changing the dial.

If you have a fast-growing family and that old tower rod in the bathroom just doesn’t have enough real estate to handle it anymore, get an upgrade. Replace the rod with a row of coat hooks, and you’ll have enough places for bath towels, hand towels, and more.

Be careful to install an item like this where there are studs to maintain the weight, or you might get a busted wall as well as a broken rack. And if you do choose to add this, make sure your towels are getting enough ventilation, or you might start getting some mold.

If you shave, but not all that often, you might find a little bit of a surprise the next time you lift up your can of shaving cream. You see, shaving cream comes in a metal can, and if you leave it for too long, then a ring of rust can appear on the shelf, cabinet, or counter where you’ve left it.

As a way to avoid this unsightly addition to your bathroom décor, leave the can of shaving cream upside down. It might look a little silly if somebody spots it, but it’s not their bathroom, is it?

For people who can fill up their storage space in the blink of an eye, it gets tough finding space for everything. For those with small cabinets in the bathroom – or anywhere else – you can install rolling storage. It might not increase the amount of space you have, but it does make it easier to utilize it all.

Get out the tools and get a little bit of hardware for an upgrade to your cabinets. Fill up every inch of your cabinets, and make it easier to get to anything you have to store.

Stainless steel appliances give a kitchen new life. They’re hardy, sturdy, and are easy to clean. If you don’t have the cash for a full stainless-steel kitchen, you can still get the look with the help of metallic contact paper. Stick it over the appliances, and you’re on your way to a kitchen that you can be proud of.

Use it for your dishwasher, your refrigerator, oven, stovetop, microwave, and even items like a coffee maker or stand mixer. It’s not too expensive, and it gives you all the benefits of real stainless steel – beauty and ease.

It’s surprising home time-consuming, such a little job can be. Cleaning the interior of your microwave, if you don’t do it often enough, means battling against caked-on food, stains, and old pieces of food. It isn’t out of the question for all this hard scrubbing to take hours, but there’s one simple tip to make it all easier.

Heat up a bowl of vinegar in the microwave. Yes, it will stink, but if it gets hot enough to create some steam, it will break down the gunk coating the surfaces. Let the vinegar sit for a while, open it up, and wipe it all clean.

It’s a fact of life that all box springs are ugly. It’s one of those things we just have to accept. Or do we? Instead of letting it ride and throwing off the decor of your entire room, grab your favorite fabric and a staple gun and upholster your box spring.

No doubt you have a color scheme or design in mind for the room that is your most inner sanctum. It’s an easy job to pull off, too – just staple the fabric around the edges of the box spring—no need to do the whole thing since your mattress will cover it.

When people think of “cute,” cinder blocks are one of the things furthest from their minds. But you can still utilize these bog-standard pieces of construction stonework. If you’re trying to get more space for your little plants, stack a number of cinder blocks on top of each other.

Tuck a few plants inside the holes to give them a place to grow, and you can also use them as supports for a table or workbench. Create this easy item outside or in a greenhouse, and add some green to the gray in an easy way.

There’s nothing like a clean, close shave to keep your appearance sharp, no matter where you’re shaving. A dull razor, however, will be a blow to your personal style, and it can also result in painful and dangerous cuts on your skin.

To save yourself time and money by resharpening them, run the old razors over denim to hone the edge and give yourself a few more shaves for each one. We recommend using an old pair of jeans for this.

If you love some classy wooden furniture, you probably live in fear of each and every scratch. Scratches reduce the value, make them less attractive, and, unfortunately, are bound to happen eventually. But there’s a common food item you can use to get rid of small scratches quickly: walnuts.

Yes, it’s true – rub a walnut over a wooden scratch several times, and then rub the scratched area with your fingers. The oil from the nut can fill in the scratch without affecting the color. In the end, use a soft cloth to buff the area. This is best for small scratches and not deep gouges, but it seems like magic.

Keep your flooring clean, and don’t spend money on buying reusable mop pads with a, just like Mom used to use. All you’ll need to do is buy one reusable mop head, such as a Swiffer and a bundle of white towels. After a little bit of work tying the towels together and attaching them to the mop.

You’ll have a mop that you can use with just a bucket of water and some soap to keep your bathroom or kitchen floors – or any other room that doesn’t have carpet – clean for less.

For homes that have a specific look from the moment you enter the front door, a boxy and modern-looking router, while important, might be a little bit of a sore item. There are plenty of ways to camouflage or hide this internet item.

For one example, take an old book you don’t want anymore, remove the pages. Slip the router inside the now-empty cover, leaving the wires and antennae free, and voila – it’s now hidden. Put a few other books or some other items on top of it to complete the facade.

Is there any homemade meal that doesn’t require a cutting board? It’s a kitchen necessary that everybody will end up using at least once or twice a day, but where do you put them when you aren’t using them? Plenty of people keep them on the counter at all times, but there’s another way.

Build a quick and easy cutting board holder under your sink or in another place in your kitchen with just a few pieces of wood and some hardware. The most complicated item you’ll have to use is probably a power drill. You can handle that, right?

Making a beautiful garden is something that soothes the soul and the mind, even if you live in the city. Depending on where you live, however, you might have to have a propane tank to keep the home warm when it gets cold, which can be an unsightly addition to your natural yard.

Keep the tank hidden until you need it with a plastic rock box, which you can build to your specifications, no matter how your yard looks. Different colors of rocks and different configurations of the box will fit into any kind of outdoor garden. Don’t let the realities of the world get in the way of your green sanctum.

Having a spice rack in the kitchen is an easy organizing tactic, but why not take that same lesson into the bathroom with you? Take an old spice rack, or build your own with a little bit of lumber and some handyman skills, and attach it to your wall.

There’s plenty of space for soaps, condition, deodorant, shampoo, and more. Put up two to create a “his and hers” shelf, which will keep the organization at a maximum. Just make sure you attach them to studs, so they don’t fall off.

If you have an old bathroom, then you know mildew and grime can accumulate in the blink of an eye. There are plenty of substances out there that break down that gross stuff between tiles or in cracks, but you’ll still have to put in the elbow grease to attack it.

Or, you could attach a bristle brush to a power drill and take all the work out of cleaning your bathroom. You’ll have to figure out the best way to attach it, and that will take a little bit of time, but think of how clean your bathroom will get and how clean it will stay once you’re done.

Depending on what kind of space you have, rolling your towels up can give you more space to work with, but it will also give you some more aesthetic options.

Of course, if your shelving is too small, it might not work to do this since each towel now has a larger vertical profile, but it’s still an option if you want to change things up.

Ever since showers and shower curtains came into vogue, people have been dealing with water that sneaks out from the confines of the bathtub and creates a puddle on the ground. Not only does it make a mess that can get clothes or bath mats wet, but it can also create a bit of a danger when you’re done with your shower.

Most of the time, the shower curtain is enough, but there are some tubs or bathroom designs that will leave the floor wet. If you’re looking for a way to avoid this, weigh down the shower curtain with a few bottles of shampoo, conditioner, or whatever else you have handy.

A septic vent – well, if you know what it is, you know you need it. It’s good to have as a last resort, at least. But it’s still a little bit unsightly to look at. You shouldn’t clog it – no, never, never do that – but hiding it? Now we’re talking.

It’s possible to put a large plastic birdbath right on top of the vent. Not only will you have more birds about the place, but in the case that the septic vent does become necessary – fingers crossed – it will just drain out the bottom, under the birdbath. You might have to do some cleaning, but overall it will be an improvement.

Small metal objects are necessary for anyone in the bathroom. From bobby pins and nail clippers to mustache trimmers, nail files, and more, it can be hard to keep track of where they all are.

Attach a magnetic strip, or some other magnetic item in the size and shape of your choice, to the wall or counter of your bathroom.

Printers have been shrinking and becoming more reliable over the years, but they still need a certain amount of space to make sure they function right. In addition, they can be a bit of an eyesore if they don’t match the way the rest of your office is decorated.

To avoid this, get a decorative box and cut a hole where the paper will spit out. You’ll still have to open the box up and refill the paper, put in a new ink cartridge, or mess with the printer’s settings, but most of the time, it will be hidden away until it’s needed.

There are lots of ways to rid yourself of clogs in bathroom sinks, kitchen sinks, showers, or anywhere else, but a lot of them can turn into long, messy jobs or force you to use expensive and dangerous chemicals. For clogs that are just organic material like hair, all you have to do is remove the cover of the drain, slip an unrolled zip tie inside, and hope you snag the clog.

It will be a little nauseating when you pull the gross, sudden mess out, but at least it means you won’t have to fill your house with powerful chemical smells or payout for a plumber.

When you’re first planting your garden or doing your landscaping, you’re usually using infant plants to make things easier. Once all those plants grow up and hit their adult sizes, you might have wished you had done things a little bit differently. Here’s a way to customize your yard: get double the plastic pots and bury some of them in the ground.

Slip the actual pots into the pots you buried, watch them grow, and then if you want to switch them, simply pull the pots out of the buried pots, and slip them into new homes. The one stipulation is all of the pots have to be the right size.

The garage is where work gets done. Fixing that broken taillight, repairing a towel rod, or fixing a grandchild’s toy, it doesn’t matter what needs to get done around the house. Chances are part of the job will take place in the garage.

Don’t forget about any of the things you have to do or what you need to buy next when you put up a wall or section of chalkboard paint – just like blackboards they used to have in schools; you can write on them or draw designs. It’s a great way to spruce up an area that is all function, no form, and keep you working at optimum efficiency.

It’s a weird fact of life that we all wear clothes and wash them once they’re too dirty, but it’s for some reason embarrassing to see the dirty clothes that someone else has worn before they’re washed. Society is strange sometimes.

Thankfully there is an easy way to make those dirty clothes disappear if you have handyman skills. Find – or build – a large drawer with enough space for the hampers your home needs. They can go in the bathroom, the hall – wherever you have enough space. You might not even realize it, but that little bit of extra space will be a treat.

Having enough light in the house, well, that’s something that every home needs, no matter where you live or how big it is. Old ceiling lights can be an eyesore, and they can be one of the harder things to swap out if the redecorating bug bites you.

But with just a few items you can find at any craft store or second-hand shop, it’s possible for you to create something unique and creative. Get an old hanging planter, drape it in yarn or another material that will allow light to pass through. Attach the planter over the light in your ceiling and change up the entire focus of the room.

If you’re looking for a way to spruce up your bathroom, take a look at one of the biggest items in the room. The mirror is something that you use to brush your teeth, floss, comb or brush your hair, and do lots of other things, so why not give it a makeover?

Use molding to frame your mirror with any color and material you wish. If you pick the right style, you can get something that fits with the rest of the décor in one of the most important rooms in your home. Make the exterior of the mirror look great – since what’s inside already looks good.

Daily hygiene products are critical to our lives and livelihoods, but that doesn’t mean we like the bottles and packages they come in. Instead of garish and brightly-colored jars and bottles that take up a lot of space on our counters and in our showers, replace them with simple and attractive glass jars or coffee mugs, such as we see in the picture.

Be sure to label or remember which bottles are which, or you might end up having a mess on your hands – or on other body parts. The best part about this route is it will work in any bathroom design and might even bump it up a notch or two.

If you have a favorite shirt that took a bad tumble in the dryer and now it’s covered in wrinkles, getting it looking fresh and new again might be a hassle. But don’t worry, this classic tip will have wrinkled clothing looking like new again as soon as you’re clean.

Just hand the clothes up in your bathroom when you shower and let the steam flatten the wrinkles, and get shirts, pants, and dresses back to the way they should be – wrinkle-free and looking good.

This is the kind of hack that you can use almost anywhere, but cracks in the ceiling tend to pop up in the bathroom thanks to moisture and heat. You might think you’ll require expensive experts – and you should at least make sure there isn’t any more damage inside the walls – but there is actually an easy way to fix these yourself.

Step one is to simply tape over the crevice with wire mesh. After that, plaster over the tape and smooth it out. Finish it off by painting it to get it to the right color as the rest of the wall, and you’re all done.

Be they old towels, cinnamon-flavored mouthwash, or old toothbrush caddies; a bathroom can accumulate a lot of things you might not need on a daily basis.

It’s even an opportunity to spruce up the room a little bit if you want to, depending on your choice of wood, the ornamentation of the supports, and more. You’ll have to have some handy skills, but if you don’t, it’s not too hard to learn!

Chalkboard paint looks to be the kind of thing that can be used to increase productivity when used anywhere. For instance, take the kitchen. Cover the front of your refrigerator with the special substance, and you’ll have a handy place to write a grocery list, a “what’s inside” list, notes to yourself, and more.

Put some up in your bedroom, and you can make sure you’re ready for the day the night before. What about the bathroom? Well, if you run out of something, write it on the bit of chalkboard paint you’ve slapped onto the wall to remember the next time you go to the store.

When trimming your nails, you have to be careful not to tear off too much or cut in the wrong place. There’s not only your personal style to think about, but if you cut in the wrong place, you might end up doing some damage to yourself.

An easy way to make this odious chore easier is to do it right after showering or bathing – the moisture and heat soften your nails, making it easier to cut at the right place, and get the shape you want. Less hacking, less pain, and an easier time doing a personal mani-pedi.

Hanging out in a basement is a time-honored tradition of relaxing. They’re cool, they’re dark, and they have all the best toys. But the support poles that the home needs to keep it upright and to work properly can sometimes be an eyesore.

Whether there are just metal struts or full walled columns, there are always options to sprucing them up. Paint them a color that adds something to a dreary downstairs decor, cover them with posters of your favorite movies, or find the perfect artwork to avoid bare areas.

Rinsing the work off your body after a long day, or washing the sweat from your skin after an intense workout, is one of the great joys of modern life. But knowing that there could be mold growing in and around your shower head adds yet another layer of stress on your shoulders.

But there’s a simple way to get rid of that stress and the mold. Fill a plastic bag with vinegar and tie it around the base of the showerhead. Leave it there for long enough, and the vinegar will kill the mold. The shower might have that eye-watering smell for a little while, but cleaner is better, right?

Everybody loves to take on a wad of gum in their jaw. It can calm the mind, help you focus, or get through a craving, so you stick to your calorie limit. When something shocking happens and gum lands on a carpet, though, it’s a hassle. Before you call the gum cleaners, though, grab a bag of ice out of the freezer.

When gum freezes, it gets brittle and breaks apart, which means it won’t stick to wherever it has landed. Fill a little plastic bag with ice and set it on the gum for about half an hour. Once the gum is frozen, break it apart and pull it out of the carpet for no mess.

Up your functionality and style in the bathroom when you repurpose some old baskets and hang them on the walls. You can store fresh towels, bath items, personal beauty items like combs or toothbrushes, and more. Bathrooms usually have plenty of walls to offer.

Double up on space-saving tricks by rolling up your towels for a great look that guests, and yourself, will love. Baskets can even give off a pleasant smell – another bonus for the bathroom.

While you’re doing one of the classic home improvement jobs – painting – dropping a fully-loaded paintbrush onto your new carpet is a nightmare scenario. But for small stains, there are ways to clean up without shelling out to get the entire carpet replaced. Soak a rag with some denatured alcohol and scrub at the paint.

Try to use a rag that is as close to the carpet’s original color as possible, or you might find you’ve gotten rid of some paint by adding color from the rag. For big spills, this might be too time-consuming, but little messes you should be able to handle.

A clogged toilet is one of the biggest bathroom problems. You get a big mess, and you can’t even answer nature’s call. A plunger is one way to deal with it, but there is another, and it uses something from your kitchen. Cover the toilet with plastic wrap, and make sure there is no way for air to get in or out.

Flush the toilet, and press down on the plastic wrap. The pressure should press against whatever is clogging the toilet and sending it on to its correct destination. Try to get it right the first time – wrapping it wrong might leave you with a bigger mess than ever.

Have you ever taken a look at your boring white fridge and thought, “surely, there’s something I can do to spruce that up”? Well, if you have enough extra wallpaper lying around, then you have your next project.

You might have to remove the handles in order to get a smooth fit around all the corners, but soon one of the most important appliances in your kitchen will have a look to match the rest of your home.

We’ve all had the thought – why can’t I listen to music while I’m in the shower? The problem is, your shower is usually too loud to hear any music unless you have a big set of speakers. Not very feasible in a room that is going to be full of steam and water, unless you like electrical shocks.

There’s an easy way to add some power to your orchestra, however, when you place your phone, or whatever musical device you use, in the sink. The shape of the bowl funnels the sound up in a single direction and gives you a great backing band.

Most kitchens are something like seventy percent cabinets. We all need plenty of space to hold plates, cups, pots and pans, and everything else our daily lives need. Old wooden cabinets start to feel drab and boring after seeing them every day for months or years, especially if they all have the same dry color.

One solution you can try out is to remove the cabinet doors and replace them with fabric drapes. You still won’t have to look at your old dishes, but you can pick your favorite pattern or color, measure out the right amount, and staple it to the top of the cabinets.

Take a look at that picture. Can you see the double-wide light switch? We bet it will take a few seconds, at least. A light switch in the wrong place can throw off a wall’s or an entire room’s design. If you have a home with one or more of these weird placements, fix it by hiding the switch or switches among posters, paintings, and other items hanging on the walls.

At first glance, it seems like it would be hard to find the switches, but after a few days of training yourself, it will be second nature, just like always. Plus, it’s a conversation starter as long as you’re fine explaining where the light switch is over and over.

Reading your favorite paperback in the tub is a classic way to get all of your relaxing done at once. These days, though, a lot of people have an eBook reader. While it’s never fun to drop a book in the water, dropping a reader full of sensitive electronics will leave you with a useless item.

If you can’t keep away from those thrilling books even when you’re in the bath, slip your device into a plastic bag. As long as the seal is intact and there are no holes in the bag, your device will be fine even if it does land in the bubbles.

Even small cracks between your washer and dryer can be dangerous pitfalls for loose socks. Make sure they all have their pair every time you do the laundry when you build a laundry table on top of the machines. Take any piece of wood – or different material that takes your fancy – and cut it to the right size using a saw.

Not only will you have a workspace to fold laundry, for instance, but you can proudly tell people that you built a table. After only a few weeks of having this addition to your laundry room, you’ll start to wonder how you ever got by without it.

A magnetic board in your bathroom has lots of different uses. For the makeup gurus out there or those who need to keep all of their creams and colors organized, a big magnetic board on the wall makes it easy.

Glue little bits of metal to the bottoms of your jars or the backs of brushes, and stick them to the magnetic board. Once the jar is empty, pull the little magnet off and save it for the next jar. Never be afraid to look your best.

One of the things that informs the design of any room is where the electrical outlets are in the walls. Some cords are only so long, which means you have to put lamps in specific spots, make sure TVs are in the right spots, etcetera.

Those old outlets can start to look outdated after a while, but you can always upgrade them. New outlets will take a little bit of electrical knowledge, so if you aren’t comfortable, leave it to the professionals, but if properly installed, they can save money on power, be safer if you have kids around, and look better.