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If you’re a visual sort of person, clutter probably bothers you—but being appalled by it may not necessarily make it any easier to clean up. If you are having a hard time getting motivated, try this little trick that taps into the universal obsession with a good before-and-after pic.
This tip comes from Becoming Minimalist and is really simple on the surface: Pick a small section of your home, like a countertop or junk drawer, and snap a picture of it. Then, clean it up. Just focus on the small area you photographed. Once you’re done, take a new picture and compare the two.
Do this any time you have a few minutes to dedicate to a minor cleaning task, so the pics are right next to each other in your camera roll. When you can see the difference just by swiping between the two photos, you’ll feel motivated to keep going. Without the pictures, it can be hard to remember what the mess even looked like, so you won’t stay as motivated to clean or keep it clean. You need a reminder of where you’ve been to get where you’re going.
Like other popular decluttering techniques, this one asks you to work in short bursts and on smaller spaces. That’s important, especially if you feel overwhelmed when you consider the volume of how much you actually have to clean up. If you frame your organizing in terms of “I have to clean my house,” it’s going to feel like too much, but if you think, “Today, I have to clean the bathroom cabinet,” that’s a lot easier.
I tried this last weekend when I cleaned and organized my makeup, which is as task I haven’t done in… well, a really long time. The “before” photo didn’t really shock me much in isolation, but once I had an “after” photo to compare it to a few hours later and I was able to see the difference when I swiped between them, I was really stunned. While I was cleaning, I got used to the new, organized look, so by the time I was finished, I was happy enough with it, but not super thrilled, since I couldn’t really remember what it had looked like earlier, anyway. The tangible proof in the pictures was rewarding and motivated me to move on swiftly to the shelf I reserve for hair tools and clips.
You want to do this pretty quickly so you don’t lose steam, so make sure you have some baskets on hand where you can sort items into four categories: Keep, toss, donate, and sell. Don’t spend a lot of time debating on what you should keep, either. (If you need help deciding whether or not to keep something, try this related technique.) Your goal is to move swiftly from “before” to “after” so you can see the results of your work and feel motivated to keep grinding.
Like so much else, decluttering requires you to consider both the theoretical and the practical. Yes, you have to get in there at some point and physically start throwing things away and organizing what you keep, but you also have to do a little work on and with yourself.
Not to sound all woo-woo, but there is an element of visualization and self-knowledge that comes into play. For instance, some of the most popular decluttering methods call on you to visualize your ideal space so when you start actually decluttering, you’re always building toward the creation of that vision. The deep thinking doesn’t end when you get to work, either: You should be intellectualizing your choice of whether to keep or get rid of every single item, too. Try asking yourself just two simple questions about each thing.
This approach, like the “packing party” decluttering method, comes from organizational gurus The Minimalists. It’s called the 20/20 Rule and to use it, you need to ask yourself two easy questions when you’re deciding between keeping or getting rid of an item. It’s especially important when you think you’ve found something you ought to keep around “just in case” you need it some time in the future.
First, ask yourself, “Could I replace this item for less than $20?” Then, ask yourself, “Could I replace it in less than 20 minutes?”
If the answer to those questions is “yes,” you can afford to get rid of the thing. A good example is, say, a lighter. If you’re not someone who regularly lights candles or smokes, you may never use a lighter, but it’s something that could easily strike you as a “just in case” item. You might rationalize you need it just in case someone comes over with a cigar or just in case you host a birthday party. But realistically, that’s not going to happen. And if it does, the few bucks you spend on another one at the corner store down the street are worth the space you save by getting rid of the original one.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because the 20/20 rule isn’t the only example of an easy, two-question quiz you can give yourself when decluttering. When following the “Decluttering at the Speed of Life” method, you are supposed to ask yourself, “If I needed this item, where would I look for it?” If you can’t answer that, you ask yourself, “If I needed this item, would it occur to me that I already own one?” Those “just in case” items you hold onto are usually so infrequently used that you don’t even remember you have them at all, let alone have a specific spot to store them.
For some people (myself included, for transparency) decluttering is hard because of a hangup on these “just in case” items. I can rationalize keeping anything on the basis that I might need it one day, but the truth is I just never do. That’s where the two questions come in: They’re objective, yes-or-no questions that remove the sentimentality and guesswork from deciding whether to keep something. They remove the emotions and provide you with a backup plan (spending less than $20 without inconveniencing yourself) in the event you ever actually do need something, so you don’t have to get hung up on worries about the future and can just trash the item and move on.
You can get this outdoor flashlight and power bank on sale for $39.99 right now (reg. $62.99). It has 1,000 lumens of brightness, a 24-hour battery life, and four speed lighting modes. It's also rechargeable by sunlight with the built-in solar panel or with a USB-C cable, and has a fireplace simulator with adjustable flame settings. You can also use it as a 2,400mAh power bank for your devices with up to 15W of power. It's a great 3-in-1 gadget, and it only measures nine inches long and weighs just over a pound.
You can get this outdoor flashlight and power bank on sale for $39.99 right now (reg. $62.99), though prices can change at any time.
No one ever brags about their roof. We all have know people who actually send you photos of their perfectly manicured garden, or someone who speakings lovingly of their new kitchen backsplash. But the roof? No one thinks about their roof—until it starts leaking.
Roof leaks always happen at the least opportune moment—like, when it’s actively pouring out. If you experience the horror of water dripping from places water’s not supposed to drip from, hopefully you have a roofer in your contacts and can get them over for an inspection pronto. But before you make that call, don’t waste any time—you’ve got some roof triage to do if you want to limit the damage from a roof leak.
Your first priority is preventing damage. This is the moment to spring into action:
Move stuff out of the way. Any furniture, electronics, or rugs should be immediately removed from the area where the water is dripping.
Cover the stuff you can’t move, like a big, heavy couch or any built-in furniture. Any kind of plastic sheeting will do in a pinch. If the water leak is significant, you might also place the furniture legs in plastic containers or raise it up on risers if you’re unable to move it.
Contain the water—place a bucket underneath the stream and mop up the floor to prevent the water from soaking into the flooring. If the water leak is causing your ceiling or wall to bulge like a balloon, pop the bulge to let the water drain; otherwise, the water will just slowly soak into areas far away from the leak.
Consider keeping a roof leak diverter (or two) in storage. These tarp-like contraptions attach to the ceiling and divert the water into a hose that can be run to a drain. This way you don’t have to worry about emptying a bucket while keeping your floors dry.
Once you’ve restored order to the interior of your house, it’s time to see if you can put a temporary fix into place.
Start in the attic, if you have one. You might see the source of your leak immediately, or you might have to go hunting for it. Bring a flashlight and look for damp spots, slow seeping water, or literal holes in your roof. If you see obvious damage, you can try patching it from the inside with some roof cement or roofing tape, but keep in mind that while a successful interior patch might spare the inside of your house from further damage, the leak in your roof will still be there and will require repair.
If you don’t have an attic or you can’t see any obvious leaks from inside, your next step might be to get up on your roof. This is where you should be very careful—it’s a bad idea to head up onto your roof during a rainstorm. Wait for the storm to pass, and follow best safety practices at all times when you do go up there. When you do get up on your roof, it’s time for some detective work:
Remember that water flows, so the source of your leak might not be directly above or even near the spot where the water came out inside your house.
First, look for obvious damage: Missing or visually damaged shingles, flashing that has pulled away, stains or sunken areas, tears or cracks in the roof membrane.
If you don’t see anything immediately obvious, look at the most common problem areas: places where vent pipes emerge from the roof, where two planes meet, flashing around chimneys or skylights, and roof valleys.
Once you’ve identified one or more potential sources of the leak, you can apply some roof cement (make sure it’s explicitly for use in wet conditions if the roof is still damp or if it’s lightly raining) or even some Flex Paste. If you’re dealing with discrete damage to your roof, this might stop the leak until you can have a proper repair done.
If you can’t identify a specific area to patch (or as an added layer of protection if you do patch), you can throw a tarp over the area where you suspect the leak is. The tarp should be at least six millimeters thick, and you’ll need enough of it to extend several feet around the leaking area. In a pinch, you can just weigh the tarp down with some lumber, but ideally you would secure the tarp to your roof using roofing nails.
Finally, document the damage, especially if you have an insurance policy that includes roof coverage. If you wait until after the repairs are done, you might find your insurer reluctant to pay out on the claim. A few quick photos of the inside and outside as well as any damaged furniture or electronics will go a long way toward making that claim go smoothly. Plus, when you contact a licensed roofer about getting your roof repaired or replaced, you can send them the photos so they can determine the scale of the problem.
Marie Kondo and Peter Walsh are great organizational masterminds in their own right whose tips on decluttering people's homes and lives have helped tons of people. While their techniques have some similarities, they also have a few differences that make them better suited to different styles and situations, so before you choose one to follow, here’s what you need to know.
Marie Kondo’s infamous KonMari method of organizing follows a few simple steps designed to ensure “you will never again relapse to clutter.” Here’s what she calls for:
Commit yourself to tidying up.
Imagine your ideal lifestyle.
Finish discarding first.
Tidy by category and not by location.
Follow the right order.
Ask yourself if it sparks joy and get rid of it if it doesn't.
In this method, you’re first committing to tidying up and imagining what your life would look like if you were organized and decluttered all the time, then throwing away trash, sticking to a routine, and assessing your clutter so you only keep the things you truly value.
Walsh’s method is a little more intense. The five steps are sort of like Kondo’s, but you’ll notice some differences:
Empty your space.
Create a vision for the space and set an intention for it.
Sort everything you removed into a “vision” pile and an “out-the-door” pile.
Get rid of the “out-the-door pile” by donating or throwing everything away.
Move everything from the “vision” pile back into the space.
Walsh calls on you to remove everything from a space or room, set a specific goal for that room, and be a little brutal by discarding anything that doesn’t align with the vision.
While both Kondo and Walsh advocate for taking some time to visualize how a decluttered space could and would look in your life, their approaches to meeting the goal you set are different.
First, KonMari involves cleaning up by category, not location. Walsh’s technique, on the other hand, is very space-oriented; he suggests doing it room by room. Kondo asks you to start with your clothes, then your books, papers, and miscellaneous items before finishing up with anything that may have some sentimental value. Walsh is much less interested in sentimentality and advises you to chuck out anything that doesn’t align with your “vision” for your future space.
To really perform Walsh's method as he prescribes, you have to totally empty a space or room, then slowly refill it. That can be a little overwhelming, especially when the parameters around what you can keep are so tight. Kondo’s steps are slightly more relaxed and welcoming; they leave some space for you to hold onto things that have meaning to you and work at your own pace.
Both techniques are valuable in their own way; Kondo and Walsh have both sold books and starred in shows because they both have an audience of people who find real benefit in their ideas. Which method you choose depends on a few factors, like how attached you are to your possessions, how much space you have to declutter, and whether you find the task overwhelming.
Some decluttering techniques are really intense and time consuming, requiring you to use a bunch of storage bins or even clear out entire rooms and rebuild them bit by bit. All of that can be pretty overwhelming and, if you’re overwhelmed enough, you may not want to do it at all. If that feels familiar, a simpler, more laid-back technique might be a better fit.
This decluttering method comes from Dana K. White, who has chronicled her “deslobification” journey on a blog since she began in 2009. She took notes of all her wins and failures, keeping track of what worked and what didn’t—and ultimately published a book, Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff.
Though she’s got lots of great content after 15 years of working on different ways to spruce up a home, her tips can be broken down into five easy steps that don’t require extra purchases, any kind of deep visualization, or fancy tricks. Her technique is simple, straightforward, and built around small bursts of cleaning that anyone can manage, even when the overall task is overwhelming.
To follow White’s method, first identify one small area you want to take care of. Don’t try to do a whole room or the entire house. Keep it manageable and opt for a shelf, a cabinet, a tabletop, the floor, or another very specific area. Then, do these five things:
Start with trash, like receipts, wrappers, bags, anything that is broken, expired food or products, or anything you simply don’t need or use at all. Throw all that away.
Do the easy stuff. This means that anything you see that has a place somewhere else should be removed and put back where it belongs. Don’t put everything in a pile and return it all at once; that will just keep your workspace cluttered. Instead, if you find one thing that goes somewhere else, like a hair tie that could be returned to the bathroom, do a quick scan for anything else that belongs there, too, and bring it all.
Categorize “duh clutter,” or anything that could be donated. Keep a box on hand and toss anything worthy of donation into it.
Ask yourself one or two decluttering questions. First, “If I needed this item, where would I look for it?” If you can instantly think of an answer, take the item where it belongs. If you can’t think of an answer, ask a follow-up: “If I needed this item, would it occur to me that I already had one?” A good example of this one is if you aren’t much of a wino, but find a corkscrew in your drawer. If friends were coming for dinner and you picked up some pinot for them, would you even realize you already had an opener at home or would you buy a cheap one at the liquor store checkout counter? If it’s not something you use or seek out often, donate it. Spending a few dollars to repurchase one on the off chance you ever actually need it in the future will be worth the space you save by not keeping that thing around.
Finally, make it fit. This means you can only keep things that you have space for in the area you’re cleaning. Don’t buy new storage containers or force anything to fit. Only the most necessary items get to stay, or else they have to be stored somewhere more appropriate or gotten rid of.
By working through these steps in small spaces, you make incremental progress without getting overwhelmed. All of the steps are designed to keep this easy, in fact, even the little details about removing trash right away to create a more visually decluttered (and motivated) space to work and returning things to their proper place one at a time instead of all at once to avoid creating a secondary box of clutter while you clean.
This method is also great for people who struggle with decision-making. When you start, you know you can’t keep it all. You’re aiming to reduce the amount of items so everything can fit in the space. Asking the two decluttering questions is a helpful way to discern whether something really is necessary to hold onto and removes the sentimentality or excuse-making from tossing something out. If you struggle with motivation and the ability to make quick decisions when you’re decluttering, this could be the method for you.
If you’re a book fiend and love reading, you probably accumulate books at an alarming rate. They overflow your bookshelves and start stacking up on the floor, on tables, in just about every nook and cranny of your home no matter how weird or inappropriate. Books stacked on the toilet tank? Sure, why not.
You might be able to handle this by buying more bookcases—until you have literally crammed as many bookcases into your space as the laws of physics will allow. And yet I can guarantee that even when you have filled every possible space in your house with books you will continue to buy more books. Such is the nature of this disease. If that describes you, don’t start purging your books just yet. There are ways to double the book capacity of the bookshelves you already have.
One of the easiest and most impactful ways of increasing your bookshelf capacity is to add some risers at the back of every shelf. This instantly and literally doubles the amount of books you can cram onto each shelf, as seen below. Essentially you’re creating a slightly raised second shelf, sort of like a display in a store. Then you can line up a whole second row of books in the back—they won’t be quite so accessible, so it’s best to put the books you don’t grab every day back there, but the extra space is magical.
You can do this the DIY route easily by using unneeded shoeboxes or egg cartons—just line them up in the back and cut them to fit. Or you can make your own—if you’re moderately handy with woodworking, a few pieces of wood will make a sturdy riser with very little effort. Or you can buy risers made of acrylic, like these—they come in a variety of lengths, so you can mix and match to accommodate the width of your shelves.
The riser solution works best with paperback books; hardcovers are larger and probably can’t be doubled up like this on standard shelves. If you have adjustable shelves, you might be able to raise the height of your shelves to make this work with hardcovers and larger books, but that will reduce the space for the other shelves so it might be a wash—you’ll have to do some measuring to see if it’s going to work.
One TikTok user shared a brilliant solution for increasing your bookshelf capacity: Makeup palette organizers, like this one, or this one. By filling these with books, you can horizontally stack your books and easily pull them out when you want to browse your collection—six or seven books deep, typically. The holders are easy to pull out, and you can mix them in with some traditionally vertically-stacked books for a more attractive look—or use as many as you can to get as many books as possible in there.
A basic but effective way to increase your bookshelf capacity is to add one or more shelves to the unit. You probably won’t double your capacity this way, but it’s an easy, cheap way to get more books in there. If your bookcase has pre-drilled holes for shelves, this is pretty easy:
Sort your books. First, organize your books by height.
Organize the shelves. Place your shelves so that each one has exactly enough height to fit a specific grouping of books.
Your goal is to be as efficient as possible, opening up enough space in the case for at least one more shelf. You can get standard-width (30-inch) shelves from Ikea individually that will match up well with most finishes (don’t forget to get some extra support pegs if you need them).
If your bookcase doesn’t have pre-drilled holes you’ll have to drill your own, of course. You can buy a shelf-pin jig that can make this a lot easier (and neater). And you can save a small amount of money by buying wood and cutting and finishing it yourself, of course, though you’ll pay in time and sweat equity.
Finally, if you don’t want to physically transform your shelves, you can just stack your books horizontally. If you organize your books carefully, horizontal stacking will generally squeeze a few more books onto your shelves because you can use all the vertical space. You can probably put two layers of books on each shelf—although the back layer will be hidden and difficult to access. This won’t yield a ton of extra space, but it might be worthwhile if you just need to cram a few more tomes on those shelves.
Decluttering is something we all need to do periodically and probably put off too long, which is why there is a whole industry built around decluttering tips and methodologies. While most of the techniques are unique, many of them have something in common: At some point in your decluttering process, you're going to need some storage boxes.
A number of decluttering approaches call for you to sort and categorize your items, usually into at least three categories: Keep, throw away, and donate (with a possible fourth category of items to sell, if you want). You can use boxes for categorizing and sorting when you're employing approaches like 12-12-12 method, the Peter Walsh method, or the "packing party" trick, for instance.
The 12-12-12 method calls on you to throw away 12 items, donate 12, and keep 12—every day. Obviously, you won't bring 12 items to the donation center every day, but you can set them aside and take them all in one go later on. The Peter Walsh method, on the other hand, requires you to clear out an entire room, figure out what you really want from the room, and then only put back items that fit with that vision. The rest get—you guessed it—tossed or donated. While you could use cardboard boxes for these, it might be better to get something sturdier, especially if you plan on repeating your process room by room and reusing the boxes in the process.
First, consider this four-pack of bins from HOMZ if you have larger items or a high volume of stuff to clear out. They have lids, so they're stackable and easy to move without spilling, plus heavy-duty handles that will help you cart them from room to room. They're big enough to hold a considerable amount, too, so your trips to the dump or the donation center won't be so frequent.
These smaller, stackable baskets are also a good option, especially if you're going through smaller areas or items. They have a smaller footprint, so you won't feel as stifled while you're in the thick of decluttering, and they allow you to sort through smaller things, like the stuff you'd find in your junk drawer, without compromising on movability as you go room to room.
The second category of storage bins is the kind you use after you've categorized your possessions and made the tough decisions about what to keep and what to toss. Big, transparent, plastic behemoths like the bins above aren't exactly stylish, nor are they practical in small spaces, but some organizing methods, like Core 4, are pretty explicit that you need bins in your home to keep your stuff in order and prevent everything from getting cluttered again. Simply put, you need function and style. Try these.
There are a few nice things about these StorageWorks boxes: First, they're white and unassuming, so they'll look nice in practically any home, but still have convenient handles and lids. Second, the brand offers a variety of sizes, so you can get the same patterns and boxes no matter what you're looking to store. Even if the contents of the boxes are a little messy, the outer appearance of cohesion will go a long way toward giving a decluttered impression over all.
These are what I've used for years. Simple storage cubes fit nicely on shelves, preventing whatever you're storing on those shelves from looking messy or unappealing. They're great for small spaces where you might have no choice but to put your stuff on open shelving. Best of all, they're collapsible, so if you're not using them, you can just flatten them and stash them away.
Amazon is full of decorative storage bin options, and while it might seem a little clinical or uncreative to have a home full of boxes, the organizational opportunities they provide are worth compromising a little on your self-expression, so take a look for some boxes that match your unique style. If that really is too much to bear, though, Amazon is also full of multi-function storage furniture like ottomans, mirrors, and picture frames with hidden compartments inside.
If you’re trying to upgrade your porch or patio, or if you have some gardening updates planned, your DIY projects can go a lot easier with some simple build plans. Having measurements and scale can help you purchase the right amount of lumber, and most plans also have suggested hardware as well. I've collected some of my favorite build plans for you—and bonus, they're free.
Your yard, deck, or patio can always be made more comfy with some good chairs. For a modern look, you can try this set of plans from The Creative Mom on the Kreg website. This project plan comes with detailed build drawings, a materials list, a cut list, and instructions. While it says this is an easy project, it does require use of a saw, a pocket hole jig, and some other measuring and marking tools. For a chair that doesn’t need cushions, you can try your hand at this one from Ana White. These plans also come with detailed build drawings, a materials list, cut list, and instructions; you can also choose to print out a PDF of the various steps involved so you don’t need to have a phone or tablet out while you’re working.
Building in some seating for gatherings or to stretch out for an afternoon nap can level up your outdoor space. This simple 2x4 bench from Construct 101 is a project you could probably complete in a day. It comes with build drawings, materials and cut lists, and step-by-step instructions with illustrations. The only drawback to the materials list is that it lists the number of boxes of screws you will need instead of the number of screws. Make sure to double check that your count is accurate before heading to the hardware store. There’s also a reclined 2x6 bench plan from Rogue Engineer that comes with drawings, a materials and tools list, and illustrated instructions. If you’d rather have a couch than a bench, you can try your hand at building this outdoor sofa from Angela Marie Made. It has photos, a materials list, detailed instructions, and a link to a video tutorial. In addition, the author regularly posts updates about how to find the right cushions for your DIY couch project.
This porch swing from Plank and Pillow has a materials and tools list, drawings, and detailed instructions. It uses a crib mattress as its cushion, making it a big, comfy swing. You can also try a simpler bench swing from Yellow Brick Home. These plans come with detailed photos, instructions, and a tools and materials list. It’s important when you're planning your porch swing to take weight and proper hanging points into consideration so that you don’t damage your porch (or injure your porch swinger).
To build a deck, you’ll need to make sure to check zoning rules and you will likely also need to dig footings. These require a higher skill level than furniture projects, but if you have some experience, they can be a DIY project. These plans from Decks.com are a good resource for detailed instructions. The plans have materials lists, instructions, drawings, and specs that are all downloadable. You can customize your deck size and get plans that fit with your particular space.
A good set of plans will either have detailed schematics and illustrations or photos that include measurements. In addition, materials and tools lists are helpful, as well as instructions. Look for plans that contain not just finished measurements, but also measurements for each cut, a cut list, and an overview of how to make the cuts with the lumber included in the materials list. If there isn’t a materials list, you should be able to easily calculate what you’ll need from the included dimensions and drawings. If the plans don’t have this info, chances are the instructions aren’t very good.
Most people assume that Roombas, which are nearly synonymous with robot vacuums, are still the best option on the market—but that could not be further from the truth. Roombas are fine, generally speaking, but it has been struggling to keep up with the competition for a while, long before its Amazon deal fell through and the layoffs began, leaving many people wondering what the future of Roomba will look like. Meanwhile, the competition has been picking up where Roomba left off.
Roborock, one of the most promising robot vacuum brands, makes some of the best high-end robot vacuums that you can buy right now. The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra is one such example, and according to price-checking tools, it is currently at its lowest price ever via Amazon. It's on sale for $999.99 (originally $1,599.99) after a $600 discount. Yes, it is still expensive, but this is truly a premium robot vacuum.
This vacuum's 6,000Pa suction power is powerful. For reference, the comparable vacuum from Roomba, the Roomba Combo j9+, is estimated (because Roomba doesn't like publishing suction power figures) to be around 2,200Pa, according to T3's review. Like most premium vacuums, the S8 Pro Ultra is self-washing, self-drying, self-emptying, self-refilling, and self-cleaning. It has a 200 ml water tank capacity for mopping and a runtime of 180 minutes.
While this is a premium robot vacuum, it is not perfect. PCMag's reviewer said it lightly scratched their floor during testing. There is no camera for monitoring the vacuum while you're away from home, which other competitors at this price point do have. Also, the mop cloth is not detachable, so if you have a plush carpet, it might get stuck, and there's not much you can do about it.
A clean home is a peaceful home—but what if the act of cleaning it could be peaceful, too? That’s the guiding principle behind the FlyLady cleaning method, popularized by organizational guru Marla Cilley. Let’s go over what the FlyLady method is—and why you should employ it now to start seeing some benefits in your space over time. You won’t get instant results, but you’ll get long-lasting ones that will contribute more to your sense of overall cleanliness and peace.
Cilley’s method has been around for more than two decades, but it’s found new life on TikTok, where CleanTok influencers have brought it to the digital masses.
The goal of using this method is to be less overwhelmed by the prospect of cleaning—and maybe even start to enjoy it. You do this by changing how you approach cleaning altogether. On her website, Cilley instructs would-be method adherents to break their home up into “zones” and set aside just 15 minutes per day to clean through them at a set time each month. She promises there will be a noticeable difference after a week: “It didn’t get dirty in a day, and it is not going to get clean overnight.”
There are only five zones to think about in this method, but they're pretty all-encompassing. Here’s how the zones are broken up:
Zone 1 is your entryway, front porch, and dining room. You complete this zone in the first week of the month.
Zone 2 is the kitchen, which is done during the first full week of the month, meaning the first week in which there are seven full days.
Zone 3 is the main bathroom plus another room in your house, like maybe an office or pantry. This happens during the second full week of the month.
Zone 4 is the master bedroom and its closets and bathroom during the third full week.
Zone 5 is the living room, but because it is not a full week, it may overlap with Zone 1.
Cilley’s primary goal is for cleaners to not burn out, so spending 15 minutes a day in the designated zone for that week is sufficient. Routines are key for maximum, efficient cleaning, so make sure your 15-minute chunk is scheduled and you do it every day, ideally at the same time so it becomes more of a habit than an all-out chore.
While this is great for giving you a schedule and guidelines for what you should be focusing on at a given time, it's pretty vague about how to clean those areas. Call in another method, like the Core 4 technique, to make sure your 15-minute bursts and weekly zones are reaching their maximum potential. Core 4 asks you to clear out, categorize, cut out, and contain your clutter in a systemized way. Once you have all the clutter and overall mess contained, you can more easily do the nitty gritty of cleaning and disinfecting of open spaces, vacuuming, and dusting.
Try using some decorative storage containers for this so you can keep everything organized without compromising on the overall appearance of your home.
Decluttering can be stressful and hard. How do you decide what stays and what goes? How do you part with the things that have taken up your space for so long? One way is by making it kind of fun. Try throwing a “packing party” with your friends to declutter over time.
This idea comes from Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, a duo known as the Minimalists to the fans of their books and podcasts about decluttering and living a more meaningful, scaled-down life. You may even have seen their documentary on Netflix.
On their blog, Nicodemus shared a story about the origins of his minimalistic lifestyle and how a packing party with friends helped launch it. Before getting into what a packing party looks like, it’s worth mentioning a few things: First, you don’t have to do this with the goal of becoming a total minimalist and restructuring your entire life and philosophy; you can simply want to declutter your house a little bit. Second, having friends help you with cleaning and decluttering can be a smart (and more fun) move, but they're not super necessary for this. You can undertake this on your own if you don’t want to invite people to see your mess or you just want to get cracking on a personal project.
You’re going to need boxes. You’re going to need a lot of boxes. That’s because you’re going to pretend, initially, that you’re moving out of your home. Step one is to pack everything you own into cardboard boxes as if you were heading out to a new place. Make sure you label every box with clear descriptions of the contents, like “kitchen utensils” or “athletic wear.”
While you’re doing this, you can invite over some friends (to add the “party” element to “packing party”), order some pizza, and make a fun night of it. But don’t declutter while you’re packing. They’re not there to make judgment calls on your junk; they’re there to help you stick it in boxes. The actual decluttering will happen later.
Once everything is boxed up and labeled, do nothing. Live your life as normal for three weeks, only pulling out what you need from a box when you need it. At the end of the three weeks, you’ll still have boxes full of stuff, plus the things you actually used in that time put back in their places within your home. For everything you haven't used, seriously consider if you need it in your life. Nicodemus says that after the three weeks, he sold or donated everything that was left in his boxes, which he estimates was a whopping 80% of his possessions.
Obviously, there are exceptions: In those three weeks, for instance, you might not use the suit or nice dress you keep on hand for weddings, or the slow cooker you whip out for holiday meals. The idea of getting rid of everything you don’t use over a 21-day span is nice, but not entirely practical, so use your judgment. Consider sorting everything that remains in the boxes using the 12-12-12 method, setting limits for how many things you’ll throw away, donate, and keep.
For three weeks, you’ll be living like you just moved into a brand-new home, but by the end of the experiment, the home actually will feel a little brand new.
Roombas have become nearly synonymous with the concept of robot vacuums, and for good reason: They're perhaps not the absolute best robot vacuums on the market, but they do the simple things right, and the iRobot vacuums have some of the best user-friendly in-app experiences around. Roombas also tend to get discounted pretty frequently, like the Roomba Combo j5, which is currently $299(originally $599.99) after a sizable 50% discount.
The Roomba Combo j5 can both vacuum and mop, although calling what it does "mopping" is a bit of a stretch for me. The mopping feature is available when you attach a separate "Roomba Combo bin," which you must fill up with water. The attachment drips water into a cloth on the bottom that is dragged on spaces right after they are vacuumed by the machine. It doesn’t provide much pressure, so it won't get rid of any stains. It's more of a light swipe with a damp towel.
The Roomba Combo j5 is good at avoiding obstacles that are on the floor, like cords or dog poop. The only thing that I've seen my Roomba Combo j5 get stuck on are the strings dangling from my window blinds, which sometimes pool on the ground. The battery lasts three hours and charges itself if it needs to more juice to finish a task.
If you don't like the idea of emptying out the debris on the Roomba Combo j5, you can opt for the Roomba Combo j5+ for $150 more. The Combo j5+ is $449 (originally $799) after a 44% discount. The vacuum itself is the same, but it comes with a home base that auto-empties the debris, with the capacity to hold up to 60 days' worth of junk. If that seems worth it to you, consider getting the home base. If not, $299 for the basic Roomba Combo j5 is a great deal, matching its all-time lowest price.
You know that adage, “The time will pass anyway?” A little over two years ago, I was applying to grad school and telling my friends that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be 30 years old in a classroom. Someone told me, “The time will pass anyway,” meaning I could either be 32 with a Masters or 32 without one, but I’d end up being 32 either way. I graduate in three weeks, but that lesson will stick with me forever. It applies to many things: Thinking about what you want in the future can be a little demoralizing because there's so much space and potential work between now and then—but the time will pass anyway.
Looking around your home, you might imagine how you want it to look in a year. And whether you start working toward that goal or not, the time will pass anyway, so you might as well spend the next 365 days contributing small efforts towards the decluttered home you want. Here’s how you can work on decluttering your home every day for a year, building the space you want and habits that will last.
The technique is called 365 Less Things. It comes from Colleen Madsen, who decided in 2010 that she wanted to make an impactful New Year’s resolution and set out to get rid of one item in her home every single day. She ended up turning her year-long experiment into a system of decluttering that has grown into something pretty major in the 14 years since it started. And, of course, you don’t have to start on January 1. The real trick here is just committing to getting rid of one thing every single day. You can, of course, get rid of way more, but the primary goal is to just make incremental progress each day.
To start decluttering your home one day at a time, it might be helpful to set a recurring reminder in your phone as you start to develop the habit. The beauty of this method is that while it takes time, the time is actually beneficial: Eventually, it'll become second nature to find and get rid of one thing in your home every day. Plus, decluttering so incrementally is a lot less overwhelming than other methods of home cleaning and organization. Decluttering a whole room in a day, as some techniques call for, can be so daunting that some people can never bring themselves to begin, but one item a day is an easy habit to build and maintain.
That said, you should focus, generally, on one area or room at a time. While you totally can use a more free-wheeling approach and just pick up one item every day when you see one that could get tossed, it's better to move through your home in waves. A few days can be dedicated to the hall closet, a few to the kitchen, and so on. In the course of a year, you’ll certainly end up doubling back on some areas, and that’s fine—something you might not have been able to part with early on in the process could be a little easier to let go of once you’re in the habit. Going space by space will also help you see results a little quicker, which can help keep you motivated, too.
As with most decluttering methods, you'll need to make some decisions beyond “keep” or “get rid of.” For the things you’re getting rid of, you’ll need to decide if they get thrown away, donated, or sold. It might be more useful to adapt this method a little, vowing to throw away one thing a day and, ideally, find something to donate or sell a few times a week, too.
Because this method is almost entirely about getting rid of clutter, whereas other techniques also make space for reorganizing and putting away the things you’re going to keep, you could even consider adding another adaptation that allows you to find one thing to toss, one to sell or donate, and one to put away every day. While you’ll be down 365 items, at least, by the end of the year, the home won’t truly be decluttered if a bunch of your stuff is still where it doesn’t belong.
It’s probably unreasonable to think you’ll make a single trip to the donation center or post office every day, and you might want to save up a pile of things to put away until you have a sizable amount. Using three bins could help—one for what you’re keeping, one for what you’re donating, and one for what you’re selling—so even when you’re not throwing something away, it’s still out of your space. Every week or so, empty them out in accordance with whatever they’re holding.
There may be some days you feel more inspired to do a mass decluttering than others, but to the best of your ability, try to toss one thing every day, even if you don’t feel like it. It can be small, but just make sure you do it. After a year, your home will be transformed and you’ll have built up a solid habit of getting rid of what no longer serves you.
Before you clean your home, you should have to have some kind of plan. Before you have a plan, though, you should know what kind of organizer you are. Some decluttering methodologies help make plans that suits a particular space, but others, like Cassandra Aarssen’s “Clutterbug” philosophy, help with a better sense of who you are as a cleaner and organizer.
Aarssen is a professional organizer and has lots of experience helping the clutter prone to get their lives in order. She co-authored Real Life Organizing: Clean and Clutter-Free in 15 Minutes a Day with another big name in the space, Peter Walsh, and she’s broken down her personal system into four organizing styles that are meant to help figure out how you organize, so you can work with your own style instead of against it.
Overall, Aarssen advocates for determining your organizing style by identifying whether you’re a butterfly, cricket, ladybug, or bee. Once you’ve done that, you're meant to set clear rules about what you want to keep or get rid of, declutter hidden areas first, use bins to sort anything that doesn’t belong in your space and anything sentimental that you want to deal with later, and work in small areas to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
By first determining your organizing style, you can make the process of cleaning and organizing easier. What works for someone else might not work for you, so it’s important to declutter in a personalized way. Aarssen's focus on small spaces is also helpful for stopping you from getting overwhelmed, as it allows you to go at a slower pace, and her acknowledgement that some items are sentimental and deserve a little extra time to go through is less harsh and stressful than other organizers’ more severe calls to throw things away.
The first step in Aarssen’s decluttering method involves a little introspection: There are four organizing styles—butterfly, cricket, ladybug, and bee—and most people fall into one of them.
Ladybugs look nice on the outside but struggle with internal messiness, meaning they don’t have surface clutter, but their mess is hidden away in places like junk drawers and closets. If you’re a ladybug, a casual visitor to your home might think it was clean, but that’s just because they haven’t opened the door to the garage or gotten a good look in the cabinets.
Bees are people who find it hard to put things away or get rid of anything. There have unfinished projects all over the place and useless items strewn around, as bees are the kind of people who cling to things in case they come in handy in the future. If you have a bunch of charging cables or different-sized screws in a drawer somewhere, you’re probably a bee.
Crickets don’t want clutter around at all and are big on organizing everything down to the smallest level. They’re meticulous, but since that can get tedious, they're also easily put off from actually organizing at all. If you dream of having every single item organized just right but get overwhelmed by trying to do it and end up with a big mess, you’re a cricket.
Butterflies are more free-spirited: They don’t organize much at all because they prefer to have everything in their sight. They’re not big on details and would rather know (and see) where everything is all the time. If you walk in the house after work and toss all your stuff on a table near the door, you’re a butterfly.
To really dig into which Clutterbug style you are, try Aarssen’s quiz.
The good thing about realizing which of these categories describes your personal habits is that they also describe how you should be organizing in general. Assessing your style doesn’t mean you have to work hard to overcome it; it just means you have to work with it. For instance, a ladybug that likes a visually pleasing exterior but is hiding clutter should try keeping a bunch of small, decorative storage baskets around the house instead of relying on a stashed-away junk drawer. Better yet, consider multifunction furniture with hidden storage inside. On the other hand, bees and butterflies (or anyone who wants their stuff where they can see it for whatever reason) should opt for clear storage containers. Some, like these, have dividers inside that keep everything neat, but are still transparent, so you know exactly what’s in there when you need it.
Crickets need better time management and to be a little more relaxed and less focused on perfection, so if you fall into that category, try a method like the Core 4 technique to plan out a less overwhelming decluttering session when you have time.
Once you determine your category, you can get the storage solutions you need and start on a real decluttering journey, whether you follow Aarssen’s next steps or a technique like Core 4 or 12-12-12. You may need to try a few different methods, but keeping your own personal habits and tendencies in mind will go a long way toward helping you develop a cleaning strategy you can stick with long term.
I write a lot about decluttering and organizing, especially when it comes to closets, and that’s because I am in a constant state of overhauling my own closets. Tiered, cascading hangers that can accommodate multiple items of clothing are a go-to solution for small closets, but there are a few different kinds that do different things. Before you buy the first set you see, let me help you figure out what kind will suit your needs best.
There are a few different kinds of cascading hangers you can get. Currently, I have two: A hanging metal chain variety and a more rigid plastic kind.
In the past, I've mostly used the plastic kind, but the first major downsides of those is that they can break with too much weight on them, or the weight can slowly pull down on the part that hangs around the rod, warping it and ultimately rendering it useless. I have gone through a lot of these plastic ones for those reasons, which is why I ordered the metal ones a few months ago.
The metal ones come with their own challenges, however. While they're a lot sturdier, can hold more weight, and don't warp, the fluid movement of the chain is extremely annoying when you're trying to move it around on the rod. I keep a shelving unit behind my hanging clothes (which is a closet-organizing tip all its own), so I have to move the hanging parts to access the folded items on the shelf all the time. Grabbing the chain hanger from the top and dragging it along the rod almost always causes two or three hangers to fall out of their slots on the chain, which doesn't happen with the more rigid plastic version.
If your clothing is light or you need to move the hangers often, opt for something rigid, like these:
An eight pack of plastic space-saving hangers from Gillraj. ($8.99)
100 standalone hooks that attach to regular hangers, so you can make the chain of clothing as long as you want. ($9.99)
If your clothing is on the heavier side, consider metal versions for maximum holding power:
A six pack of hanging chains. ($6.99)
If you want the best of both worlds—a cascading hanger that is rigid, unwarpable, and strong—split the difference with this slotted metal hanger:
Beyond that, you can also use over-the-door racks to hold heavier items, like coats, blazers, and dresses. They're relatively inexpensive and make it much easier to see all of your items when you open the door. If you pretend hard enough, it's almost like having a walk-in closet.
Not every decluttering hack works for every person, but there's a decluttering hack out there for everyone. If you're looking to really clear out or revolutionize a room or space in your home, the Peter Walsh method might be the one for you. It's a little intense, but also sure to help you get your space in order.
Peter Walsh is one of those organizational gurus, and he has offered up a lot of organizing tips and tricks ain his books, which include Let It Go: Downsizing Your Way to a Richer, Happier Life and Enough Already!: Clearing Mental Clutter to Become the Best You. A decade ago, the "Enough Already” concept even served as the basis for a show on OWN in Walsh sought to help families across the country realize how destructive their clutter was—and deal with it.
In order to do do that, he used a five-step system that aims to reframe your thinking around not only your clutter, but the space it's currently cluttering up—which is why the first step involves emptying the entire space and creating a vision for what it could be without all the clutter. Research has shown there’s a significant link between clutter and your sense of wellbeing, and that relationship goes both ways: Think of what a downer it is to be in a disorganized room filled with junk, and how being in that negative headspace doesn’t exactly put you in the frame of mind to clean. That's why creating (or recreating) a strong, positive vision of what the space could be (with a little effort) is the crucial first step in Walsh's method.
Here are the five steps to follow to carry out this aggressive process:
Empty out the space. No, really: Clear everything out. If you’re decluttering your kitchen, put everything in bins and stick those bins in the dining room. If a room is too big and contains too much stuff, work in smaller chunks. Instead of pulling everything out of your bedroom at once, for instance, you can work these steps for your closet, then your open space, your desk, etc., one at a time. But be sure you select and define a space, then start by clearing it completely.
Create a vision for the space, and set an intention for it. Your vision and intention for the kitchen could be to have enough room to cook more often, but still have adequate storage space for the tools you’ll need. Your vision for your closet could be to see all of your clothes and accessories more easily so you can get dressed more efficiently. Ask yourself what you want from the space, and envision yourself living it.
Sort everything you removed into two categories: You need a “vision” pile and an “out-the-door” pile. If something aligns with that vision and intention you set, it can stay. If it doesn’t, throw it away or donate it. The point of setting that intention in Step 2 is to give you something concrete to work toward, so use that as a guide.
Get rid of what you don't need: Go through the “out-the-door” pile and designate any items you want to donate, then put the rest in the trash or recycling. Don’t hold onto them or store them anywhere else; Walsh makes it clear that procrastinating on getting rid of stuff will only lead to more clutter. Put your donation bin in your trunk or by your door, and the put the trash bag outside. It can’t stick around.
Reimagine what you want to keep: Move everything from the “vision” pile back into the room, arranging it in a way that will serve your goals for the space. This could involve finding a workable storage solution, like cabinet organizers or over-the-door racks. A crucial component of real organizing and decluttering is making sure everything you do keep has its own place.
Walsh's approach is obviously a little more intense than others, because it involves clearing a whole space and reimagining how you might use it—but keeping that idealized vision at the center of what you’re doing will not only help you declutter, but to keep the space decluttered once you're using it the way you really want to.
Every home comes with maintenance, repairs, and surprising challenges, which is why most of us already have the obvious essentials on hand—fire extinguishers, flashlights, basic tools, and the like. But there are a several items you might not think of as a “home essential” that are going to prove very useful to you one day. Here are the unexpected home essentials you’re going to be glad to have on hand.
The first time a contractor needs to park on your street, or your in-laws are visiting and they like to park right in front of your house or you have a broken sidewalk that could lead to a messy personal injury lawsuit, you’re going to want traffic cones. Having a few of these babies out in your shed or down in your basement will make your life a lot easier if you need to block off areas or warn pedestrians or drivers—or just save your parking spot when you run to the store for.
It sounds fancy, but an endoscope tool is just a small camera at the end of a flexible wire. Having one means you’ll be able to see inside small, closed-off spaces without tearing holes in your walls or floors, you’ll be able to discover the reason your kitchen sink won’t drain properly, where that screw wound up when you dropped it, and what is making that disturbing scratching noise in your bedroom wall. There are a lot of affordable ones that work with your phone as a screen, and you’ll be glad you have it.
Blackouts are going to happen, and pilot lights are going to go out. Rather than relying on wooden matches you forget to restock (and that can go bad over time if stored improperly) or a traditional fueled lighter that you can forget to refuel, a rechargeable lighter needs no fuel and has a flexible neck enabling you to get it into tight spots.
You might feel like spiders and insects belong outside, but they do manage to find their way in. Instead of smashing them or trying to catch-and-release with a glass or a paper plate, the Critter Catcher will help you scoop them up and deposit them back outside (without ever having to get too close).
Once you own them, you will use zip ties constantly. You’ll use them to tie stuff together, to tie stuff down, to make temporary repairs, and a dozen other ways. The simplicity, relative durability, and cheapness of zip ties makes them something everyone should have on hand in their home.
Whether it’s a couch, a washing machine, or any other large, heavy, bulky object or appliance, you need a mover’s dolly. Hang it in the garage and forget about it, and then when you need to transport your old fridge to the curb you can glide it out there with ease, or when you decide the living room needs to be totally re-arranged to encourage positive energy flows, you won’t break your back trying to move every piece of furniture by lifting it.
If you’ve ever used that blue gunk to put a poster up on the wall of your dorm room or rental, you know the fundamental nature of Museum Putty. But this stuff is incredibly useful, because you can use it to ensure that nothing ever slips off a shelf. Anything you want to display can be secured in place, and no amount of roughhousing children, clumsy guests, or earthquakes will knock it off. You can also use it to stabilize the shelves themselves if they wobble or rattle on their supports. It won’t damage surfaces and comes right off when you need it to.
We've got so many devices to charge, and all those cords and dongles need somewhere to go—installing USB outlets throughout your home will make your life easier. You won’t have to hunt around for the right adapter, you won’t have things plugged into your laptop all the time, and you’ll be able to plug in immediately if your phone or tablet (or anything else USB-powered) gets a low-battery warning. And they are easy to install even if you have no experience with electricity.
If you've ever dropped (and subsequently lost) a tiny screw or nail into a narrow opening, you need a magnetic pick-up tool like this one. Never lose a screw, bolt, or other tiny metal object again—even if it goes down your bathroom drain.
When you're cleaning your home, you fall into one of two categories: Someone who's cleaning up after people and someone who's cleaning up after people and pets. There is little reasoning to be done with a dog or cat, and accidents happen more than we'd like—so it's helpful to have the best products and tools on hand to combat them when they do.
These are the best products for battling fur, odors, and stains:
First, you need a vacuum that's equipped to deal with pet hair—and not all of them are. Pet-loving TikTokkers recommend the Bissell CleanView Swivel ($106.44) for its ability to suck up long hairs without getting clogged like a stick vacuum, and the Hoover Powerdash Pet ($109.99) is popular on pet care sites.
For smaller areas, rugs, and upholstery, try a pet hair rake. These are also wildly popular on TikTok and there are a ton of very similar ones on Amazon, like this well-rated two-pack for $8.99.
Arm & Hammer Pet Fresh odor eliminator ($18.29 for a pack of three) comes recommended by the pet experts at Rover, who say it truly does mask bad odors in your carpet. Just sprinkle it on before you vacuum.
Before you mask smells, of course, you do have to get that pee out of the carpet. Try the Resolve Ultra Pet Odor and Stain Remover spray ($9.46), which is formulated for this exact task. When dealing with bodily fluids, animal or otherwise, it's best to get a real cleaner than try any homemade hacks.
Because the best defense is a good offense:
To stay on top of hair and shedding, don't just stop at periodically brushing your pet and bringing them to the groomer. Take matters into your own hands with tech designed to groom and dry your dog. Try the Airrobo dog hair vacuum ($89.99), which has brushing attachments you can use while you literally suck the loose fur off your pet, or the Shelandy Groomer Partner dryer ($75.00) that is safe to use on your animal after a bath.
Get the right brush. According to Rover, a slicker brush ($9.99) works well for maintenance of any kind of fur, while a Furminator ($35.25) is especially good for dogs with double coats. You can also try a shedding glove ($6.99) if your pet is afraid of the brushes or you simply want to get in some extra petting and scratching time.
Where once it was standard to have just one bathroom in our homes, the number of bathrooms considered normal has steadily grown over the years, and the majority of new-build homes have at least two bathrooms these days. It makes sense: Why not have a private bathroom just for you and a second bathroom (or two) for the kids or guests?
This often leads us to wish for more bathrooms, for a lot of reasons: If you only have one, adding an en-suite bath feels luxurious, and having a dedicated guest bath makes your home feel more inviting. If you’re going to have a long-term guest (like a parent or close friend living with you for a while) or have frequent long-term visitors, a bathroom just for them almost feels essential. And if you plan to renovate your one existing bathroom, you might hesitate because you don’t want to run across the street to use a public restroom in your local coffee shop every day.
But adding bathrooms is expensive—it costs $90,000 on average to add a bathroom. Not to mention the non-monetary costs of time, inconvenience, and disruption. If all you need is a functioning bathroom, however, you can actually add one to just about any spot in your home for much less, without the need for plumbing, permits, or months of your life. All you need is a room. Here’s how to add a bathroom without plumbing.
First, think about where your bathroom should be. You’re not limited by the location of water or sewer lines, because you won’t need either one. A few ideas include:
Closets. If your goal is to have an ersatz en suite bathroom, a moderately-sized closet can work. You’ll need to measure out all the stuff you’ll be cramming in there, of course, but a general rule of thumb is 15 square feet for a half-bath concept, and 30 for a three-part bath. Those numbers assume you need to pull permits and pass inspection, and thus incorporate typical minimum spacing for drains and such, so you can likely go a little smaller.
Spare rooms. If you have a bedroom you’re not really using, or a flex space that was never defined, it can become a more spacious bathroom. Ideally, of course, you’d want a door—though you could always add an adjustable wall with a door to turn a bonus space or even a large landing into an additional bathroom.
A big consideration is water access. You don’t need to have water, drain, and sewer lines run—but if you want a shower in the room, it’s a lot easier if you can position it near a functioning water line like an existing bathroom or a washer hookup. If that’s not possible, you still have options, however.
Here’s what you need:
A dry-flush toilet. The most important thing to have in a bathroom is a place for you or your guests to relieve themselves. Composting toilets don’t require plumbing or a drain, but they do require a vent pipe, which would require cutting through a wall or roof. A better option is a battery-powered dry-flush toilet like this one. It uses a vacuum-sealed mylar bagging system, and can be operated literally anywhere.
A portable sink. Portable sinks can look just like regular vanities, but have two tanks inside the cabinet—one holding fresh, clean water, one holding the drained-off gray water after use. They usually require a plug to run a pump for the faucet, as well. All you need to do is dump the gray water and fill up the fresh water tank as needed.
A portable shower. To really go for it, adding a shower to your unplumbed bathroom is the real power move. The Shower AnyPlace portable indoor shower hooks up to any faucet and pumps the gray water to any drain using a hose, which makes it a great choice if your bathroom location is near another bathroom or a laundry area, or even a kitchen or outdoor space. The EMS Portable Shower from Freedom Showers operates on a similar design.
If you want to be a little more luxurious, you could also consider adding a portable tub like this one, as long as you can run the drain hose to an appropriate spot and can easily get hot water to it.
Whether you need it for a few weeks to accommodate visitors or a renovation, or want the convenience of an extra bathroom without the cost, it’s a viable option—and since nothing is permanently installed, you can always remove it later. For just a few thousand bucks, you can have a usable bathroom in just about any room in your house, without any construction or plumbing needed.
In my home growing up, “spring cleaning” was kind of a misnomer. We didn’t clean so much as we decluttered—my hometown even had a day every spring where people were invited to put all their junk on the curb and the city would remove it by the next day (of course, the true self-starters used this as an excuse to go around in big trucks at night scooping up anything of value).
Maybe it's my upbringing talking, but I think spring decluttering is better than spring cleaning, because it sets you up to have a neater home all year. And decluttering isn’t even that hard if you have a good system to follow. The 12-12-12 method is a good system.
This idea comes from Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist. He has rounded up 14 achievable methods you can use to declutter, and 12-12-12 tops the list. It's simple: Every day, you find 12 things to throw away, 12 things to donate, and 12 things to be put away where they actually go.
Twelve is a good number to work with. It’s small enough to feel achievable, but big enough to present a bit of a challenge. The first five or so things you throw away will be easy: Find some trash and some broken stuff and toss it. But then keep going, being a little more judicious (or ambitious) so you can hit 12.
Pre-determining how many items you want to get rid of helps you stay on task and gives you a more concrete goal, which is key if you tend to back off a cleaning project when you start feeling overwhelmed. If you surpass 12 in any category, good for you! But keeping that as the benchmark can give you a little push when you're struggling.
Here’s the thing: Becker’s explanation of this method is just three sentences and one of those sentences is simply, “That’s it.” There’s a lot of wiggle room for you to adapt it to your specific needs.
I suggest going room by room, tackling a different room every day. I live in a studio apartment, so I don’t have “rooms” to take on, but I have “areas.” In my spring decluttering this year, I’ve chosen one a day, from my sitting area, to my eating area, to my kitchen, my bathroom, my bed loft, and, most dauntingly, my closets. Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to do two rooms in a day—for bigger rooms (say, the garage) you can even break it down so you’re attacking the same one for two or three days or more. (In the spirit of transparency, I have been battling my closets for a week and a half.) It's a good idea to take it slow rather than rush through, as that's a surefire way to get rid of things you might regret later, or get fatigued and start holding onto things you should really part with.
Choosing what to throw or donate can present a challenge, so I recommend starting with two categories: One will be the 12 things you need to put back in their proper place, and the other will be the 24 things you want to get rid of in some way—whether by throwing them away or donating them. If you’re having a hard time parting with things early on, call in reinforcements: An objective person, like a friend, is more likely to harshly (but lovingly) talk you out of holding onto something useless.
I’ve used this method in various ways for a few weeks now, setting goals for how many items I want to get rid of every day. I’ve also added in a bonus category: Items to sell. If you want something gone immediately, throw out or donate it. But if you could stand to hold onto it a while and it has a little value, list it or designate it to a pile bound for the consignment shop. I sell a lot of bags and shoes on Poshmark, for instance, but only list things I know I’ll keep wearing in the time it takes for someone else to find and buy them. If I truly don’t see myself wearing it again (and the resale value is low), into the donation box it goes.
If you aren't sure if something is worth selling, google it with "used" or "resale" to see how much others are selling it for, and decide if that amount is worth keeping around until it sells. A lot of resale sites, like Poshmark and Vestiaire Collective, will even show you how long someone's item has been listed, so you can get a sense of the demand for it. If someone else has had that item listed for six months and you don't want to keep yours around for six months, it's donation time.
Make the whole process easier by picking up a set of storage bins so you can do a sweep through each room or area, tentatively putting items into the “toss,” “donate,” “organize,” or “sell” box instead of dealing with everything one by one. Even two boxes—"get rid" and "keep"—will streamline things. As a bonus, you can use those bins for seasonal storage once you're done with your big decluttering.
If you own a house with some trees on the property, you probably don’t think about them much unless they require maintenance—and in those moments you think of them as expenses. Sure, those trees have value due to their natural beauty and shade (or possibly the fruit they grow), but few people think about the trees in their yards in terms of having a monetary value.
But you should, because trees on your property actually do have value—and that value is often substantial. First of all, maintained trees in good condition add property value in general—as much as 15%. But some species of tree can be worth a lot of cash if they’ve been allowed to grow to enormous proportions in your yard—a nondescript elm tree with a 20-inch trunk, for example, might be worth as much as $30,000. And some trees have been appraised for more than six figures. Some trees are so valuable poachers actually invade people’s property to steal them.
If you’re currently peering out your window at the trees in your yard and wondering if you’re sitting on some sort of woody goldmine, here’s how to find out the tree value on your property.
The simplest way to get an idea of how much your trees might be worth is to use an online calculator like this one, which uses the USDA Forest Service’s i-Tree software, or the slightly simpler ones here. These calculators rely on you to input accurate information, so you might need to sleuth out the species of your tree and do some measurements and observations in order to get a truly accurate valuation.
It’s important to note that these tools offer a sense of the value your trees are adding to your property—by providing shade, cleaning the air, removing carbon, and cooling your home. If the calculator says your tree is worth $15,000, you probably can’t just sell it for $15,000, or add that amount to your home’s listing price when you sell your house. But these tools do offer a starting point for valuing your tree.
If you want to get a more accurate value for your tree, you’ll need to hire an arborist to conduct an appraisal, which is a real, actual thing with a lot of science behind it. You can find a consulting arborist at the American Society of Consulting Arborists (ASCA) website.
Tree appraisals are mostly used to determine insurance values in case your trees are damaged, destroyed, or improperly removed from your property and you need to make a claim. But you can sell a tree from your yard if the tree is valuable enough, and if you can find a nursery or other entity interested in buying it. And if you have a lot of hardwood trees on your property, you can find companies like Sell Your Trees that will pay you for them, then come and remove them at their own expense (making an appraisal even more important so you know you’re getting fair value for your trees). If your trees are valuable and mature (meaning they’re fully grown and not a sapling, like the trees you buy at a nursery), you can also sell them on an online marketplace like Re-Tree, which can also give you an idea of how much that specific tree is worth.
The most valuable and easiest to sell trees (based on Re-Tree’s catalog) include:
Japanese Maple. These majestic and colorful trees can sell for $400 to more than $8,000 depending on health, maturity, and specific type.
Flowering dogwood. Whether pink or white, these beautiful trees can be worth as much as $4,500.
Tricolor beech. This ornamental tree changes colors with the seasons, making it a beautiful addition to any landscaping project, and can sell for as much as $8,000.
Gingko. These slow-growing trees are terrific shade trees, and can sell for $5,000 to $6,000 each.
Black Walnut. The wood of the Black Walnut is valuable for furniture makers, and can sell for as much as $2,500.
Even if the trees in your yard aren’t super unique and rare, you can still often sell them for a few hundred bucks if they’re healthy and mature. If you’re looking to monetize your trees, it’s worth having them appraised and seeing what the market will bear.
Getting your spring garden into shape, doing some pruning, or planting might call for some new tools. If your tools have been stored outdoors, they might have some rust, or your tools might be worn out after years of service. Even with meticulous maintenance, shears, mowers, and other equipment will wear out over time. Gardening equipment generally need replacing after about six years, although with good maintenance can last as long as 10 to 12 years. If you're running into trouble with some of your gardening tools, Fiskars—known for their high-quality scissors—makes tools with a good reputation for durability and sharpness. Here are some of the best sales on offer this week from Amazon.
For cuts up to ⅝ inches thick, a pair of Fiskars bypass pruning shears will do the job. The pruners are on sale for $9.98 right now, 52% off their regular price. You can also get a set of pruning shears that comes with the bypass pruning shears as well as a pair of micro tip pruning shears on sale right now for $24.40, 40% off their usual price. These are good quality all-steel shears and they come with a lifetime warranty from Fiskars.
For precision trimming your grass around landscaping features, outbuildings, or hedges where a string trimmer won’t work, a pair of Fiskars grass shears is a good solution. These grass shears are on sale right now for $17.99, 44% off their regular price. This set of grass shears has a rotating head to allow both vertical and horizontal cuts to save your wrists when you’re getting into tight spaces or odd angles.
The Fiskars lopper for trimming tree branches up to 1 ½ inches thick is on sale right now for $17.99, 42% off their regular price. The handles of these loppers are extendable from 24 ½ inches up to 37 inches to give you added reach as well as leverage.
If you’re looking for a quieter, zero-emission mower, you can go with a walk-behind push mower. The Fiskars 17” push mower is on sale right now for $171.58, 24% off its normal price. In addition to being quieter and having no emissions, this mower uses no power source besides you, so it’s also the cheapest to run.
If you’re doing some spring planting and find that you need a new garden trowel, the Fiskars ergo trowel is a good buy. It’s a heavy duty trowel that’s designed to be comfortable to hold while you’re digging and it’s on sale right now for $8.79, 32% off its regular price. It has an aluminum head, so rust won’t be a problem, and it’s lightweight as well.
Cutting overgrown weeds and vines can be a challenge—plus, machetes are fun. Fiskars has an 18-inch curved blade machete ax that’s on sale for $39.58, 52% off its normal price. A machete is good for cutting back dense brush and thick, overgrown areas, and the sharp, curved tip can also be used for trimming small branches and cutting through roots.
If you’re anticipating having some bounty from a vegetable garden, a container for harvesting will come in handy. The Fiskars harvest basket is on sale for $21.59, 42% off its usual price. The basket has three compartments, one large one that can double a colander for rinsing produce, one small compartment with smaller drainage holes, and one compartment with no drainage for collecting flowers or other plants you want to keep fresh in water.
If you have some garden beds to dig out, or some dirt to move, you’ll need a good quality shovel. The Fiskars digging shovel is on sale for $28.99, 37% off its regular price. The shovel blade is about 8 ½ inches wide, with a foothold on the top side of it to make it easier to push into the soil with your foot.
Upgrading your outdoor space with a TV can be a fun way to blend indoor and outdoor living, especially when entertaining. The process might seem daunting, but with the right hardware and placement, it’s actually a pretty simple DIY job.
The first thing to consider when choosing an outdoor TV is where you'll be putting it and what kind of sun exposure the area gets. TV companies sell full shade, partial sun, and full sun models, so make sure you take that into account. You can also consider the time of day you generally plan to use your outdoor TV. If it’s after dark, a screen that’s less bright will likely work, while one you plan to use under full daylight conditions will need to be significantly brighter. If you only plan to use your TV at night, you can also choose to use a projector and screen for a larger image at a lower cost. However, you will need to bring the projector indoors overnight or cover it well to keep it from getting damaged by moisture or dirt.
Mounting your outdoor TV can be as simple as mounting one for indoor use, but you should make sure that the hardware you choose is as water resistant as your TV to avoid damage from a broken hanging bracket, for example. A good outdoor bracket will be waterproof and weatherproof, and it should be able to tilt so that you can get the best view. To attach your mounting bracket, you should also make sure to use good quality screws that are intended for outdoor use as well.
Even though an outdoor television is designed to withstand some of the outdoor elements, a cover will extend its life and better protect it from moisture, dust, and debris when you’re not using it. Cutting down on rain and dirt will keep all the inputs for power and networking safe and sound for longer than an uncovered TV.
Protecting your cords can prevent electrical shorts from moisture making its way in between the ends of your cords and causing damage to your electronics as well as reducing the risk of fire. For networking, you should make sure you’re using a weatherproof cable that’s intended for outdoor use. Even if you have a TV that uses only a wireless input, you should still make sure that your power cable is protected. Where cords are plugged in to each other should be in as dry a spot as possible, and you should use a cord that’s meant for outdoor use. You can use individual covers for extension cord plugs, or you can use a larger weatherproofing connector box for multiple cords and power strips.
While you can use an outdoor TV anywhere that you can get power and a signal to it, you can greatly improve your viewing experience by placing your TV in the right spot. Keep your eyes out for the sun when picking your spot, and think about how glare will affect your picture quality at different times of day. Also, while outdoor TVs are listed as “weatherproof,” cutting down on direct sunlight, rainfall, and wind will prolong the life of your appliance. Consider placing your TV on a porch, under an awning, or beneath an overhang to keep it protected. You can install a standard door or window awning for around $100 that can give your outdoor TV some extra protection from the elements.
If you’re a tall person and find yourself struggling to live in a home that isn’t designed for someone of your stature, you might dream of a gut renovation to fix the problems vexing you most, or even a custom-built tall person house, with everything sized and scaled for you.
While those options aren't likely possible (nor practical), there are a few products you can buy that can have a huge impact on your comfort level at home, without a major renovation.
If you find yourself peering easily over the shower curtain and you’re forced to contort yourself into odd shapes in order to fit under the shower, an adjustable shower head like this one from Waterpik will change your life. Its flexible design means it can be adjusted to accommodate just about any height, so if you’re sharing your bathroom with a shorter person you can both be comfortable while taking a shower. Alternatively, any detachable shower head (like this one) will improve your situation by allowing you to at least get under the water without doing impromptu yoga poses.
The standard height for kitchen countertops is 36 inches. This works for most people, but if you’re very tall, you probably have an aching back after a short time hunched over your counter to make dinner. If raising your cabinets or renovating your whole kitchen isn’t an option, a raised cutting board can at least make food prep more comfortable for you.
If you’re living in a home designed for a much shorter person, a kneeling chair (or two, or three) will make everything a lot easier. Instead of standing, hunched, over a low counter or having to sit down on the floor to deal with your fridge or dishwasher, a kneeling chair will get you to a comfortable height, er, comfortably. Use one in any situation where you would normally crouch or kneel for long periods of time and be happier for it.
It might be obvious, but if you’re a tall person a bigger mattress will absolutely change your life. A California King is 84 inches long, which should be big enough for most taller folks—but there are several even larger choices if you can fit them into your home and need even more legroom. The Texas King is 98 inches long, and the Alaskan King is a whopping 108 inches square, which should be big enough for even the tallest people.
Standard toilets are 14-15 inches high. If you’re a tall person, using one can be a very unfortunate experience. A few extra inches will make using the toilet a lot easier, and replacing a toilet isn’t a difficult job—it’s actually something most people can do DIY. And if DIY isn’t your bag, it’s not terribly expensive, averaging less than $400 (t counting the cost of the toilet itself).
Tall folks have big clothes, and big clothes have a tendency to fall off (or be deformed by) standard hangers—but if you’re reading this, you probably know that. Adjustable hangers that can expand to fit your shirts and other clothing items prevent both of these scenarios, keeping your wardrobe looking good—and off the floor.
Finally, a small renovation can pay huge dividends. If you’re constantly dodging light fixtures and ceiling fans that seem to have been placed directly in your airspace, recessing the lighting in your home and switching out standard, head-chopping ceiling fans for flush-mounted, low-profile versions will eliminate a real danger and make your house a lot easier to navigate—especially in the dark.
If you want to create a garden retreat and have a convenient spot for hosting, or just a quiet spot to enjoy your morning coffee, a garden room is just the thing. With more insulation than most sheds, a garden room allows you to enjoy your outdoor space while having some cover from the rain—and some shade, too. Here’s what you need to know to build a garden room on a budget.
A garden room can be a retreat if you want some peace and quiet, a place for entertaining, or an alternative to your home office. You can really use it for anything you want, and you can customize it to your own purposes. Adding furniture and decor to suit the needs of your space will help to make your garden room functional, and having plenty of windows to bring the outdoors in will help to keep your outdoor space open. Since a garden room is insulated, it can be comfortable year-round, but unlike a tiny home, you don’t necessarily need to worry about plumbing or running power.
If you plan to add a garden room, you’ll need to measure your space first to make sure you can fit the size and type you want. Make sure to check zoning regulations before deciding on placement of your garden room to determine if you have enough clearance from your property line and that you’re in keeping with any other rules or ordinances—and choose a flat spot with good drainage.
There are a few options for constructing an outbuilding that are worth considering as a basis for a garden room: You’ll need to either build a deck structure or pour a concrete slab for your structure to sit on. Here are a few good options for how to build a structure on a budget.
A metal shed is one possible option for building a low cost garden room. The pros of going with a metal shed to structure your garden room are that it is an inexpensive option at between $299 and $400, and you can usually get the size you’re looking for. The downside of a metal shed is that you’ll need to cut through the metal to add windows and it doesn’t come insulated, so you’ll need to add that yourself.
Using a wooden shed kit as the basis for your garden room is a good way to build a decent quality structure while saving some money. You can get an all-wood, cedar shed kit for less than $500 plus the cost of delivery, and you’ll be able to customize it easily with some basic woodworking tools. A shed kit doesn’t come with insulation, so you’ll need to add your own, and it’s a little more expensive than a metal shed, but it’s easier to customize and can be purchased with windows already installed.
You can choose to build your own frame for your shed if you have a chop saw and some basic carpentry knowledge. Framing your own allows you to customize everything, but it requires more skill because you’ll be cutting and assembling all your own parts. A simple structure isn’t too difficult to build, and you can also choose to use a framing kit that costs around $60 to make assembly easier.
Since most sheds don’t come pre-insulated, you can use radiant barriers like the type used for garage doors, neoprene insulation, or reflective heat barrier insulation, all for around $15 dollars a roll. These insulation types can be installed on interior walls and then covered with your desired finishing material to make the inside of your shed more comfortable. Once the insulation is installed, you can use paneling or drywall to finish your interior.
I got a slow cooker a few weeks ago and it was a rollercoaster of emotions. The high was eating some of the best chicken I’ve ever had after having to wait hours to consume it. The low was realizing after I was done that, all the sauce I cooked it in had hardened and become stuck to the interior of the device. It did not want to come off. Here’s what I’ve learned about cleaning these things since (because obviously I’ve used it every day).
First, there are things you should not do to clean a slow cooker: Never use anything that is abrasive, like a scouring pad or an abrasive cleaner, and never use cold water on your stoneware when it’s still hot. Of course, never immerse the bottom, electrical part in liquid at any point, either.
To really clean the device, fill it with water until the water goes over the line of leftover food around the walls. If your slow cooker holds three quarts, add a half-cup of distilled white vinegar. If it holds six quarters, add one cup. Next comes some baking soda, in the same amount you used for the vinegar. (You can get 128 ounces of vinegar for $3.99 and three pounds of baking soda for $3.39 at Target.)
Cover the cooker and turn your knob to the low heat setting, then let it heat up the mixture for an hour or so. After that, remove the lid and use a soft sponge to scrub at the residue around the inside. Once it’s all been cleared from the walls and bottom of the cooker, let it cool a bit before washing it in the sink with warm water and soap. Air dry it on the counter and you’re good to go.
There are two steps you can take to avoid the mess of caked-on leftovers, or at least mitigate it. First, you can use specially designed slow cooker liners when you’re cooking. These disposable liners go inside the cooker and stop the food from ever actually touching the stoneware. You just throw them out when you’re done. They can be a little pricey, though: In my research, I’ve found you usually end up paying around a dollar per liner. For instance, a four-pack of four-count liner boxes (so, 16 liners) from Reynolds is $16.24 right now on Amazon.
If you don’t want to do that or don’t have a liner handy, don’t turn your heat off when you’re done cooking. When you’re serving the food, keep the cooker on a low heat setting so the remnants in there don’t have a chance to cool down and stick to the stoneware as much. You can even transfer what you made to a different pot, add some water to the leftover mess, and keep it going on a low setting for a few hours, basically cleaning itself.
Mason bees are pretty incredible: They’re docile, they are easy to raise, and they are amazing pollinators of spring flowering fruit and nut trees. These bees don’t use hives the way honey bees do, instead preferring to place their eggs in narrow holes, plugged up with mud (hence the name “mason”).
Their gentle nature and solitary habitat preferences make mason bees a great species to “keep” in your yard. That is, if you do it right. If you don’t do it right, you might be harming them more than you’re helping them.
Former evolutionary biology professor Colin Purrington took to X (then Twitter) a few years back to tell us all the ways our good intentions have gone awry, and it's worth a reminder if you want to set up a mason bee house in your yard or garden this spring.
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If you’re going to make your own mason bee house, Purrington offers his own tutorial here, along with a slew of additional reading you can take advantage of. If you’re leaning toward a store-bought variety, don’t simply grab the first cute structure labeled “mason bees” that you see. It’s important to educate yourself about the species first to understand how to most effectively help them—and not accidentally harm them instead.
The biggest problem Purrington points out with some store-bought mason bee houses is that the blocks and reeds are glued to the back of the house. That means you can’t add new nesting material each spring, greatly increasing the risk of parasites and fungus.
You’ll find some great info here on the year-round care of mason bees, including storing the nesting tubes and blocks and harvesting the cocoons.
Mason bee houses should be placed against a flat surface in an area protected from high winds, approximately six feet off the ground and south-facing, if possible. Do not hang mason houses by a string from a tree limb; allowing the eggs to be knocked around in every passing breeze isn’t helpful. They’ll also need to be close enough to pollen-producing plants (they won’t travel farther than 300 feet), as well as a good supply of claylike mud to cover up their nesting holes.
The roof of a good mason bee house will have a bit of an overhang to protect the holes from rain and lower the risk of the larvae and pupae rotting inside the nest.
If you’re now questioning the quality of your mason bee house, you can always ask Purrington directly for his opinion (hey, he offered).
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Your 3D printer can be used for all sorts of hobbies and projects around the house. While a 3D printer is great to create fun stuff, it can also be practical. Designing and printing your own components for home-improvement projects is a fantastic way to develop your skills and make your home customized for your needs and style.
Making a cable reel to store charging and other power cords to keep them from getting tangled is a simple and practical project to try with your 3D printer. Depending on the size of your 3D printer, you can scale your cable reel to fit a variety of cable types all the way up to big extension cords for use in your home workshop.
You can use your 3D printer to create custom outlet covers and light-switch plates. Printing your own allows you to match the style to the rest of your home or create something unique that’s perfect for you. To make a switch plate or outlet cover, you’ll need to take into account the screw placement as well as holes for the outlet and light switch.
If you want to hang a shelf on the wall, you can print brackets with your 3D printer. You’ll need to create a shape that has a right angle and has holes for using screws to attach it. Adding an angled support to make the bracket more sturdy is a good idea to make sure your shelf is structural.
You can 3D-print coat hooks, plant hooks, and hooks for hanging up Christmas lights and other holiday decorations. Make sure to use the appropriate filament if you plan to use the hooks outdoors so that they will stand up to the weather. You can also create custom designs to fit with your decor as well as making multiple hook brackets for use in a bathroom for towels, or a mud room for coats.
If you’re updating cabinets or furniture, you can print some drawer pulls with your 3D printer to customize your new look. Make sure to take note of sizing if you choose to use a pre-made file instead of one you customize yourself. You can use your imagination to create a drawer pull that will look the best with your decor and function well with your furniture.
Keeping leaves from clogging up your downspout can be a challenge. But luckily you can print your own downspout filter with your 3D printer to keep leaves and other debris from ending up inside your downspout. While you can likely find a file that’s designed for your type of gutter, you might need to modify one for an exact fit.
To level furniture on an uneven surface and protect your floor from scratching, 3D-print some adjustable feet. Note that you’ll need to also get hardware in the right size. Once the feet are placed on the ends of your furniture legs, they can be screwed in and out for leveling.
If you’re a gardener, or if you just have an expanding collection of climbing house plants, getting the right support for growing plants or training them into the shape you want is important. You can 3D-print your own plant clips. There are a few different designs available if you don’t want to make your own file, so you can get the size and shape you’re after.
WD-40 is designed to prevent rusting by displacing the water in cracks and crevices in metal (that's what the "WD" stands for). It is also a versatile lubricant, and can even be used as a solvent—but there are some places you should never spray it.
WD-40 doesn’t have the same viscosity as traditional grease or oil, and it can erode certain finishes, and it can cause problems when used as a substitute. Though it's tempting to think it is a good idea everywhere you need to cut down on friction, here are some places you should definitely never use WD-40.
If you’re trying to lubricate a hinge on a pair of sunglasses or remove a price tag from the surface of a plastic container, you might be tempted to reach for the can of WD-40...but you should never use it on a clear plastic surface or on polystyrene or polycarbonate plastic.
Commonly labeled #6, products that contain styrene include things like toys, disposable cups and cutlery, and appliances like smoke detectors. Polycarbonate, known as #7, can be found in kitchen appliances like refrigerators, clear packaging, plastic lenses, and safety gear. Because of the chemical makeup of WD-40, it can cause damage to these plastics and ruin things like sunglasses with plastic lenses. If you’re in doubt, it’s better to avoid using WD-40 on plastic.
WD-40 can dissolve wax finishes. If you’re using WD-40 to clean, you should keep it clear of wood floors and furniture. Since wax creates a water resistant barrier that protects woodwork from water damage, it’s better to leave the wax where it is. Also, because WD-40 can seep into the grain of unfinished wood, it’s generally not a good idea to use it on any wood surface, not just waxed ones.
Because WD-40 is good for lots of cleaning tasks, you might be tempted to try it on stone tile or countertops. But natural stone is porous, and you shouldn’t use WD-40 to clean it—WD-40 can soak into the surface of the stone and stain it. Also, many stone surfaces are treated with wax polish, and WD-40 can dissolve wax finishes.
Some appliance companies recommend using WD-40 to clean stainless steel, but you should never use WD-40 on surfaces that will be in contact with food. While a streak-free shine is a powerful motivator, WD-40 obviously shouldn’t be consumed. and while incidental contact with food isn’t a big deal, surfaces where food is in frequent or prolonged contact should never have WD-40 on them.
You should never use WD-40 on electronics, which can react with some plastics as well as attract dust and other particles. Getting WD-40 on your smart phone or laptop can not only damage the screen, it can ruin the buttons or make its way into the internal components. It’s best to use a cleaner specially formulated for electronics.
Although WD-40 is sometimes used as a stand-in lubricant, it's not a good substitute for bike-specific lubricant. It doesn't have the right viscosity to be used as a chain lubricant and it can allow dirt and fibers to stick to it over time. While you can use WD-40 to clean your bike chain, it's not a good idea to use it as a lubricant, and if you do decide to use it to clean your chain, you should reapply your regular chain grease afterwards.
This should be obvious, but unfortunately requires saying: In spite of persistent claims to the contrary, WD-40 will not help relieve arthritis pain or creaky, stiff joints. While there are plenty of ways that WD-40 can help lubricate things, your joints will not respond to it the same way as a stuck bolt. Human bodies definitely don’t use the same lubricant as engine parts, and medical professionals recommend against using WD-40 to treat any type of medical condition.
The Stanley cup is certainly having its moment, but there are arguments to be made in favor of a number of travel mugs and cups. Whether you want to keep hot drinks hot, cold ones cold, or just have something eco-friendly and convenient (and big) to haul around your beverages, give these a shot.
First, let's look at some travel mugs that keep hot drinks nice and hot.
The Nextmug temperature-controlled mug ($99.94) is a techy twist on the standard travel mug because it's self-heating. Unlike others on the list, it's not necessarily designed to be to-go, as there's no lid, but it's a perfect companion for the office or, depending on your confidence in your driving ability, the car.
If you're more traditional, get the OG: A two pack of Thermos travel tumblers is just $20.98. If you regularly forget to wash out your mugs and cups, having a spare on hand is gold. Otherwise, designate one for the office and one for the house, the commute, or whatever else.
Amazon ratings and reviews can be tricky to trust, but when something has over 12,000 positive ones, it's a good sign. The Aloufea 12-ounce insulated coffee mug ($10.45) is a standard-sized mug with a tight-sealing lid and reviewers praise it for truly keeping the temp of their drinks up.
These cups work for both hot and cold drinks, so you can't go wrong by picking one up.
First up, we have to honor the Stanley, the almost-too-viral brand of travel tumblers that you see everywhere. Why do you see them everywhere? Because they work. The classic Quencher comes with a lid and straw, keeps your beverages at their temperature, and comes in sizes ranging from 14 ounces to 64, so you can drink as much as you want. Plus, you'll look trendy carrying it, if you're into that sort of thing.
Lifehacker managing editor Meghan Walbert recommends the Contigo West Loop stainless steel travel mug ($20.54), but she's not alone: Reviewers rave about its auto-seal lid that closes when you're not pressing a button to keep it open, its ergonomic design, and the fact that it "never" spills.
I am a Yeti girl. I love the Rambler ($35) because it's easy to hold, keeps my drinks the temp I want them, and comes in a bunch of colors and designs. It's not big or flashy (and it doesn't have a straw) but it gets the job done and is super easy to clean because the mouth is wide enough to stick your hand in and there are no tricky crevices inside.
Stanley culture (and travel-cup culture more broadly) has major roots in Utah, where aesthetics-obsessed momfluencers rule and locals have a thing for constantly chugging flavored Diet Coke. Obviously, I asked a Utahan friend what travel cup they opt for when leaving the house. The answer is, of course, a Stanley, but the runner-up is an Owala. The FreeSip (27.99) gives you the option to use a built-in straw or swig directly from the spout opening, plus the double-wall insulation can keep drinks cold for up to 24 hours. (Thanks, Ammon!)
You (hopefully) know by now that your hairbrush needs to be cleaned every couple of weeks at a minimum, which not only keeps the brush in good shape but also prevents your hair from getting dirty or damaged. Your hairdryer is another beauty tool—along with your makeup brushes—that you should be cleaning regularly.
Like your brush, your hairdryer quickly accumulates hair, dust, and product (like hair and protectant sprays) in its vents, which, when blocked, can cause the dryer to overheat. A hotter-than-usual hairdryer can damage or break your hair, and less airflow means it'll take longer for your hair to dry. It's also a fire hazard.
Ideally, you'll clean your hairdryer every one to three weeks, depending on how often you use it, but once is a good place to start.
At a minimum, you need a paper towel or cloth to clean your dryer:
Unplug your dryer before removing or cleaning any parts.
Remove the dryer filter. Depending on the dryer model, it may pop or twist off, or you may need to remove screws with a screwdriver.
Rinse the filter under running water until it's clean, and dry it with a paper towel or cloth.
Replace the filter once it has dried completely.
If you can't remove the filter, you can use a toothbrush to scrub dirt out (again, make sure the dryer is unplugged and the filter is completely dry before plugging it back in). You can also use a vacuum with a dust brush or crevice cleaner to suck dirt and debris out of the filter and vent.
Fabuloso is a cleaning product that lives up to its nombre. It degreases and cleans, leaving behind a pleasant, if strong, scent. I use it for pretty much everything, which the discerning nose knows within seconds of entering my apartment—but there are some things you shouldn’t use it on, so before bulk-buying, consider this.
First, the positives: Fabuloso can be used to clean sinks, toilets, tubs, and other ceramic and tile areas within your home, like floors. Sealed wood is also fine, so feel free to put it on floors and furniture. If you're mopping with it, you do want to dilute it, so mix a fourth cup into a gallon of water. For your bathrooms and other surfaces, apply it straight to a sponge. Its real skills are in its ability to degrease, so anything sticky, gooey, or messy can be tackled easily with the stuff.
Clean your walls or greasy kitchen fixtures with it by adding one-eighth of a cup into a spray bottle full of water, dump a splash into your toilet bowl before hitting it with the brush, and don't forget your doorknobs, which can be touched up with a little bit on a sponge.
That said, while this stuff can do a lot, it can't do it all. First and foremost, don't use it on anything porous. This means no unsealed wood and no granite or marble countertops, especially ones with a weakened or non-existent sealant. Cleaning granite and other porous surfaces is a lot more involved than just spraying on an all-purpose cleaner because chemicals can seep in and cause lasting damage. A little bit of soap and water on a soft cloth is all you should use for standard granite cleaning. Stone tiles, marble, and unsealed wood are the same: They're porous and require special cleaning.
Try instead: Fabuloso microfiber cloths (five packs of eight for $24.95), but just with soap and water.
Don't use Fabuloso for any kind of fabrics, either. Despite what you may see on TikTok, it's not designed for use in the laundry machine. The same goes for leather couches and chairs, because fabric violates the no-porous-materials rule. It could stain easily, the liquid could seep into the upholstery and cause some bad scents, and it's too abrasive for leather.
Try instead: Gain + Febreze Aroma Boost laundry detergent ($10.33 for a two-pack) and Weiman leather cleaner and conditioner wipes ($3.49 for 30).
The brand is also very clear that this product should never be heated. Not only does that mean you should avoid using it on ovens, air fryers, toasters, and other appliances that can heat up, it also means you should totally disregard all the viral videos suggesting you simmer it on the stove to make your house smell good, just as you should disregard the ones about boiling air freshener wicks.
Try instead: Easy-Off heavy duty oven cleaner ($3.70) and Air Wick plug-in scented oils ($16.99 for two warmers and six refills).
And finally, I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Fabuloso does not go in your toilet tank. This hack is big on TikTok, where (possibly well-intentioned but definitely misguided) people advise you to stab a hole in your bottle and stick it in the back of the toilet, ostensibly so you clean with every flush. Not only does this lower your toilet's flushing power by taking up valuable tank space, but the cleaning solution can do damage to the parts that keep your toilet working over time. Having purple toilet water and the ever-present scent of Fabuloso in the bathroom are not worth damaging your toilet.
Try instead: Lysol Click automatic toilet bowl cleaner ($4.47 for a pack of six gel stamps).
Oh, and don't mix your Fabuloso with anything else. Conventional wisdom and viral videos may suggest that mixing it with another cleaning product will double its effectiveness, but the outside of the bottle says very clearly not to do that, as does the company's FAQ page.
Your vacuum is an all-purpose cleaning tool—thanks to the many attachments included, you can use it to get dirt, dust, and debris off of everything from your floors to your mattress to your ceiling fan blades. But you do need to pick the right tool for the job (and know how to adjust your vacuum settings for different surfaces).
The extension wand is a plastic or metal tube that fixes between both your vacuum and chosen attachment tool. It adds length (typically 18 inches) for vacuuming out-of-reach places, such as fan blades, light fixtures, ceiling corners, door mantels, and the cracks and crevices behind furniture.
Some upright vacuums also come with a plastic hose attachment—standard with a canister vacuum—that serves a similar function to an extension wand. It allows you to get into places your upright otherwise wouldn't fit, such as under a bed or other furniture.
The airflow brush is just a miniature version of your vacuum's main head—ideal for reaching smaller spaces as well as for cleaning upholstery (especially if your vacuum doesn't come with an upholstery brush attachment).
The upholstery brush looks similar to the airflow brush but with tougher bristles. It sucks up lint, dirt, and hair from upholstery fibers and can also be effective for vacuuming your mattresses and carpets.
This is a thin, angled attachment tip that sucks up debris from tight or narrow spaces: around baseboard edges, under appliances, in window tracks, or between couch cushions. You could also use it to vacuum dusty shelves, car seat corners, and doorjambs.
The round dust brush has soft bristles for gently cleaning sensitive spots, such as lampshades, window treatments, decorative items, table and chair legs, and furniture that's easily scratched. You can also use this tool along baseboards, window screens, and refrigerator coils.
Some canister vacuum cleaners come with an additional attachment specifically for use on wood floors. This lighter-weight brush looks like the primary power head attachment. Otherwise, you'll want to use caution when vacuuming hardwood, as your attachment may leave scratches. If your machine has a rotating beater bar, consider sweeping instead.
Many gardeners like to use raised beds to grow their bounty—they create a lovely border, limit weeds, and are easier on your back—but they can also be quite costly to fill, especially if they’re more than a foot high. You don’t need to buy several bags of soil to get good quality, nutrient-rich material for your seedlings, though. Follow these tips to get cheap (and sometimes free) fill for your raised beds.
A good place to start if you’re looking for free or cheap soil is your local municipal waste disposal. If your community has a composting program, you might be able to get compost for free or at a deep discount. You’ll need to mix your municipal compost with coconut coir ($9.99/1.4 pound brick) or peat ($23.98/3 cubic feet), as well as some vermiculite ($16.34/8 quart bag) to get a good consistency and absorbency for growing plants.
While you’re there, keep an eye out for mulch from tree branches and garden-quality straw to lay at the bottom of your raised bed, underneath the soil.
To get free mulch for lining raised beds or for use to control moisture and weeds on the surface of raised beds, you can use wood chip mulch. Wood chips and scraps are also great for growing mushrooms. There’s a free service available in many areas called chip drop, where you can request wood chips, logs, or pieces from trees removed by local arborists and tree care companies.
It’s the same quality as the bagged stuff at the hardware store, but if you can haul soil in bulk from your local garden store, you’ll save a lot. Just be sure to use only garden grade soil for filling raised beds—using unmixed topsoil can starve your plants of nutrients, and using soil that contains weed seeds or invasive funguses will make for extra work for you in the future. You can often find bulk grade steer manure compost ($2.47/cubic foot) from hardware stores or garden centers for cheaper than other types of garden soil.
Hugelkultur is a gardening technique that originated in Germany. The idea is to fill the lower parts of your raised bed with organic material you can get for free: Tree limbs and branches, mulch, and even tape and plastic-free cardboard can be used along the lower layers of your raised bed to minimize the amount of soil you’ll need. Begin with the largest chunks of material and work down to smaller bits. Mulch and other tiny pieces should go toward the top, underneath your soil. You need about 8 inches of soil to plant your garden, so you can fill the first foot—or even two feet—of your taller raised beds with other organic material, saving you several cubic yards of soil.
Another way of getting free material for raised garden beds is through neighborhood gardening forums. Sometimes people are willing to give away unused soil, mulch from fallen tree limbs, or community-run compost. By connecting with other gardeners in your area, you might find some materials for free or get information about local deals.
Be sure to use materials that won’t import fungus or pests into your garden soil, though, and make sure to check any free soil you get for weed seeds. If there are a lot of seeds, you might rather pay for soil that doesn’t have seeds—unless you enjoy weeding, that is.
Your cell phone is often as much of a tool as your impact driver if you use it for keeping notes, playing music, or looking up specs, but if you're like me, you tend to go through charging cables and Bluetooth devices at a rapid pace. The new line of DeWalt cell phone accessories has a tougher design and construction to stand up to some abuse while also being convenient for use around tools. Here are a few of their products and how they stand up to a day in the shop.
DeWalt has a few chargers that are designed to adapt a DeWalt battery for use as a phone charger. The most practical kit they offer is the battery/USB charging kit that comes with an adapter that fits all 20 volt MAX and FlexVolt DeWalt Batteries and can charge the battery from a standard outlet as well as allow the battery to be used as a charger for cellphones and other devices. Because the adapter works with any device that can be charged using a USB cable and also allows the battery to be charged using the adapter, it’s a good deal at $65.87.
DeWalt also offers a wall charger for $32.99 that can accommodate two devices at once, including a USB-C and a USB-A port. The wall charger allows you to charge two devices at once and has a rubber coating that makes it a little tougher than your average charger, making it great for use in a shop or garage.
DeWalt makes two types of earbud-style headphones that are designed to withstand some worksite abuse. I’ve found that I tend to break headphones at an accelerated rate when I’m working in the shop not just because of the added wear and tear, but also because of exposure to sawdust and because I drop them so frequently. The neckband style wireless headphones ($49.99) are a good solution to this because the earbuds are attached to a stiff band that stays at your neckline, allowing you to remove your earbuds without dropping them. They can pair with your phone via Bluetooth, and work well as a hands-free unit for taking calls as well. The control on this system is simpler to use than on the behind-the-neck headphones ($37.99), and the neckband version is less prone to getting snagged or tangled because the neckband is stiff. Overall, the neckband style DeWalt headphones are a more durable option because there is less exposed cable to get damaged—and they’re also waterproof.
One of the new DeWalt phone accessories is their wearable speaker ($54.49) that can be clipped to your clothing or tool bag and will pair with a device via Bluetooth. This speaker can also be used as a hands-free device for calls. If you’re working on your own or in an environment where you can agree on what to listen to, a speaker can be a safer option than headphones because it allows you to keep your ears open for input. The clip-on system can be great for when you’re moving around a lot or working on a larger project because the speaker will go with you without needing to be hauled around. DeWalt also offers a larger Bluetooth speaker ($54.99) that is small enough to be hung from a tool bag and has resistance to both water and dust, making it a good choice for shop and garage use, but it doesn’t work for hands-free calling.
DeWalt makes charging cables that are a little tougher than most and have braided coating with a reinforced core to resist damage from kinks and tension. Their six foot USB-C charging cable is durable and will survive being tossed into a tool bag, tugged on, and even run over with rubber casters. There’s also a 3-in-1 multi-device retractable adapter that has the benefit of being as short or long (up to three feet) as you want it, and has the capacity to charge devices that use USB-C, micro USB, and lightning cables. The reel that it comes on keeps the cable out of the way when you’re not using it and protects the cable from damage from being dragged, run over, or stepped on.
A clean house is a happier house. But keeping a homes clean isn’t easy—the average person spends about five hours cleaning their home each week, and chances are good that doesn't cover all of it. (There’s a reason they call them “chores.”) One reason keeping the house tidy can take so much time and effort is due to the materials and design choices in your home. Some materials are just easier to keep clean, and some design choices that look cool can add minutes or hours to your cleaning schedule.
If you’re planning a remodel or renovation of your home, you have an opportunity to not only address the style and utility of the space, but also its how easy it is to keep clean. Making smart design decisions and selecting the easy-to-clean materials can save you time and effort.
Sometimes the way your stuff is shaped or placed has a big impact on how hard it is to clean. If you’re replacing furniture, fixtures, or more, here are a few things that will make your refreshed house much easier to clean and maintain:
Wall-faced and skirted toilets are easier to access and less fussy to scrub clean. One reason cleaning the bathroom is such a pain is the fact that toilets often resemble a piece of complex sculpture, crammed up against a wall with lots of nooks and crannies to collect dirt and grime. A wall-faced, skirted toilet like this one eliminates both of those elements, making it much easier to keep your toilet clean. Or go one step further and streamline your bathroom with a wall-hung toilet with an in-wall cistern.
Freestanding tubs give mold one less place to thrive. A tub that sits on the floor instead of embedded within a surround or caulked directly to the walls like this one allows you to clean under and around it a lot more easily, and the lack of caulk around the edges gives mold and dirt one less spot to collect on.
Frameless shower walls cut down on corners that will collect grime. If you’re planning on a step-in shower or a shower-tub combination with glass doors or walls, frameless options offer fewer edges that can become caked in hard water scale and dirt.
Large tiles are easier to clean than smaller ones. If you’re going to put tile on your walls and floors, large-format tile isn’t just a dramatic design choice, it also means less grout, and grout lines are essentially tiny valleys of horror where dirt accumulates. The fewer of them, the better.
Floating cabinets and vanities are easier to clean around. As with your toilet, any place where a piece of furniture sits directly on top of the floor will be a magnet for grime. Cabinets that float over the floor make it easy to run a mop or vacuum underneath. And while it’s true that cabinetry that goes all the way to the ceiling has its drawbacks, if your goal is less cleaning, they can eliminate the dusty desert ecosystem that develops on top of your cabinets.
Elevated furniture is easier to clean under. Similarly, avoid choosing furniture that sits low or directly on the floor. If you can’t fit a vacuum under the couch, it will soon be the dirtiest place in your home—but you won’t notice until the next time you move or refresh your furnishings. Choose furniture with legs that leave the space below accessible.
Flat doors wipe clean easier than paneled ones. If your kitchen and bathroom cabinetry has paneled doors, you will notice that dirt and grease collects in the seams, and this can be a tedious challenge to clean. Picking flat-faced cabinetry means cleaning your doors will be a simple matter of running a dust cloth over them—especially if you forego pulls or handles altogether.
The design choices you make are one aspect of an easy-to-clean home. Another comes in the materials you choose:
Microfiber upholstery repels stains. Our furniture collects dust, pet hair, and spills. Your best choices for your furniture upholstery are microfiber, which can be cleaned with a quick vacuum and the occasional soap-and-water scrub, or vinyl, which can mimic other materials (like leather) while being super easy to clean.
Seamless flooring will mop much more quickly. While hardwood floors and ceramic tile are durable and relatively easy to clean, both have one drawback: Seams. The spaces between wood planks and the grout lines between tiles will always be challenging to keep clean. That makes seamless choices like vinyl or sealed concrete the absolute best in terms of keeping things clean.
Opt for carpet tiles over carpet. If you want carpeting in your home, any stain can turn into an emergency situation. One way to make carpet easier to clean and maintain is to choose carpet tiles instead. If you spill something, or if a pet soils a spot on your carpet you can just pluck out the tile and wash it or replace it without too much trouble. (Granted, it might not be as plush or attractive as you'd like—but if you've ever had to pull up roomfuls of stained carpet and padding, you might not mind.)
Choose non-porous counters. Unlike natural stones like granite, quartz is a non-porous material, which means it doesn’t stain as easily and doesn’t require a lot of upkeep—you can usually just wipe a quartz countertop down with a damp rag. Solid surface materials like Corian are also easy to clean, but they’re also easier to nick, and aren’t as heat-resistant.
Stainless steel appliances...aren't. While stainless steel is a great choice for kitchen and laundry appliances, it’s not perfect in terms of cleaning—despite its name, stainless steel can rust and discolor, and will show every single fingerprint and water spot. If you’re replacing your appliances as part of a remodel or simple upgrade, your best bet is fingerprint-resistant stainless steel. This material includes a clear coat on top of the metal to protect it from smudges and other dirt, making it significantly easier to keep clean. Also consider a sealed burner for your cooktop, which will prevent crumbs, grease, and food particles from getting trapped under the cooktop.
Choose a wall covering you can scrub. As with floors, the easiest wall covering materials to clean will be seamless. Ceramic tile is durable, but those grout lines will get you every time. Paint can be one of the easiest surfaces to clean if you choose a gloss, semi-gloss, or satin finish (if gloss is too shiny for the space), especially if you choose a paint formulated to be easy to clean. Stay away from flat finishes if you are at all prone to messiness/if you have kids.
Another rarely considered option is back-painted glass (especially for backsplashes in kitchens, though it can be a great choice for bathroom walls). While this can be a pricier option, the seamless nature of this material makes it simple to clean.
Consider window treatments you can toss in the washer. Once you install window treatments you probably stop thinking about them—until the day you notice they've grown a thick pelt of dust. While you’ll probably wind up having to dust any window treatments regularly, blinds can be particularly maddening and time-consuming to clean. Curtains or fabric shades can be removed and tossed into the washing machine, at least.
A few weeks ago, I swapped my regular old Swiffer for a WetJet model and my boyfriend picked up a Swiffer PowerMop. Both the WetJet and PowerMop hold canisters that dispense cleaning product on the floor, which you then wipe up with the pad attached to the bottom of the device—but I wondered whether one was better at the job than the other. After mopping with both for a while, I have an answer.
First, let’s talk about the Swiffer WetJet, which has been around in some form since 2001. It’s 27.34 inches high, 5.5 inches wide, and 4.37 inches deep, so it’s a pretty small device that has some decent power behind it. It uses WetJet brand cleaner in a unique bottle to spray directly on the floor in front of where you’re mopping and, since 2009, has had a dual sprayer instead of just one.
A new WetJet comes in a “starter pack” that retails for about $27.99. The pack includes the machine, which you have to assemble (but that’s easy), plus one bottle of solution and five pads. It’s appropriate for use on most floors, including vinyl and wood.
The Swiffer PowerMop is a newer product that retails for about $33.99. It’s a little differently sized than its predecessor, at 28.47 inches high, 5.24 inches deep, and 4.43 inches wide. A starter kit includes the unassembled device, two mop-style pads, and a bottle of cleaning solution. Like the WetJet, it has two sprayers at the front.
A few differences stand out between the mops right away: The WetJet starter pack comes with five heavy-duty pads, but the PowerMop only comes with two pads, and those look unlike a standard Swiffer pad—instead, they have shaggy tendrils that resemble a real mop head. The PowerMop also has a unique feature in that there are small LED lights on the front that activate when you press the spray trigger button.
Both have a number of refills available, though the WetJet has a wider variety: You can get an antibacterial solution, one designed for vinyl, tile, and laminate, one that uses Mr. Clean floor cleaner, one that uses Unstoppables solution for a more intense scent, one made for wood floors, and a few different multi-surface cleaners in a handful of scents. PowerMop refills currently come in fresh or lavender scents, plus there’s a third one just for wood floors.
Both have their spray trigger buttons conveniently accessible on the handle and both feature the swiveling heads that make Swiffers, well, Swiffers. Assembly on both is easy, too: You locate the battery compartment and put in the two batteries that come with the starter pack, remove the cardboard from around the solution bottle, and attach two sections of pole to the machine to create a handle. The pole has a cord threaded through it, so the pieces just kind of dangle there, and it’s obvious how they need to be attached, by sticking them into one another telescopically. I set up both devices and each one took me less than a minute.
As far as cleaning goes, both do what they’re advertised to do—spritz solution onto the floor with the push of a button so you can mop over it with the pad. After spending some time using each model, I liked the WetJet better because it sprays a little more and the pad is more user-friendly. All the tendrils and fluff on the PowerMop pad prevented me from really scrubbing at the floor, whereas the traditional, flat pad on the WetJet made that easy. I also felt that the spray from the PowerMop was too easily absorbed by the thick, fluffier pads (though you might consider that a "pro" if you're concerned about drying time), and they were slightly harder to fit under small surfaces, like the edge of the couch. Keep in mind the PowerMop scrubbing pads are designed to mimic real mops, so they can get at gooey, sticky messes. Not to brag, but I didn't have any of those when I was using either device, so if you have kids or pets (or you're just a messy home chef), the PowerMop may be better for you.
The refills and pads for both are not compatible with the other device, either, and WetJet has more third-party and Swiffer-branded products available for refill. The PowerMop will probably have more of these available in the future, too, but since it only came out last year, its accessories and options are more limited.
Finally, the PowerMop’s LED lights are novel, but a little useless. When mopping with the lights on, they barely illuminate anything that the overhead light isn’t already lighting up. They obviously shone in the dark, but I’m not going to turn my lights off to mop.
Overall, if you’re looking for a Swiffer mop, you'll probably want to opt for the WetJet—at least for now. In the future, the lights may be brighter or the options for cleaners and pads may expand, which could change things, but as it stands, you’re paying an additional $6 for fewer options and superfluous lights.
As long as you know where to place them throughout your home, fans can be an invaluable tool in fighting the heat during the summer, saving you money on cooling bills and keeping your place livable. I use fans all year round to combat the the sweltering conditions caused by my ancient radiator, which my landlord controls and under which I suffer, so I know a thing or two about the best ones. Here are some great fans to keep you cool.
If you are looking for a big, heavy-duty fan that can cool a large room, here are some solid options.
Could this be the summer you finally pull the trigger on the expensive, but effective, Dyson? Dyson's whole deal is air, whether using it to suck up dirt from the carpet or curl wet hair, so they are trustworthy when it comes to fans. A Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 is $329 and a Cool AM07 Air Multiplier is $359.08—or you could nab a Hot+Cool AM09 Jet Focus for $424, using it to cool down in the summer and heat up in the winter. In addition to looking sleek, these things work and are convenient: Reviewers praise the magnetic remote controls that stick right to the machine, as well as the ease of cleaning.
The Vornado Silver Swan Alchemy ($179.99) is praised by the New York Times for being an "upgrade" over other fans because it is high performance, pretty quiet, and oscillating (plus it has an "attractive retro design" that makes it look cool in your home, pun intended).
Up until last week, I had this Lasko oscillating tower fan ($64.99), and it lasted me a commendable seven years. It would have lasted longer if I hadn't knocked it over so often and neglected to clean it as well as I should have, but even when the vents were full of dust, this bad boy blasted cool air far and wide. At 42 inches tall, it's a little cumbersome, so only pick it up if you have the space for it and the willingness to clean a bunch of tiny slats on the back. It's no-frills (save for a convenient remote control that enables you to change the speed and toggle on the oscillation from across the room), but it does mean business.
I replaced that Lasko with the Antarctic Star tower fan ($49.49) and am personally very happy with it. Like other models here, it has a remote control, oscillates, and has three different intensity speeds. It was easy to set up and what I really like about it is the light pink color. If aesthetics are important to you but you still want something powerful, give it a shot.
If you want something that has a wide radius, consider a Levoit tower fan ($59.97), which advertises that it can cool up to 25 feet. Reviewers have put the claim to the test, demonstrating that it actually does reach 25 feet, which is great news for anyone with a large room that needs some air circulation.
Sometimes, you just need a little fan for some direct cooling or help in a confined space. Try these.
I picked up this Conbola desk fan ($22.94) a few months ago and can't believe how much I like it. I use a small fan on my nightstand to generate white noise at night and while this is much smaller and sleeker than the behemoth I had before, it's just as powerful and just noisy enough for bedtime. What drew me to it was its pink color, of course, but what made me love it was its features: It only needs a small USB cord to function and when plugged in, it's also charging, so it can be moved around and doesn't need to be tethered to an outlet at all times.
For a simple desk fan, try the Black + Decker tabletop box fan ($14.07), which has rave reviews on Amazon from people who praise its tiny size and ability to fit on a windowsill. If you're short on space but big on heat, this might be the move for you.
Conbola, to which I have become strangely loyal after the great success of my little pink fan, also makes a bladeless desk option ($37.79) for those who want that Dyson look without the Dyson price. You get three speed options, touch controls, and the ability to charge it and move it around. The nice thing about bladeless fans is how easy they are to clean: Wipe out the inside and use a dust cloth on the vents without ever having to take it apart.
Keeping track of what you weigh is pretty important, even though there are reasonable arguments against keeping track of it too much. There are all kinds of scales out there that can help you, no matter how serious you want to get about it or how much you want to spend. Here are some great ones.
These have additional or cool features like body fat measurement—though you should probably take those figures with a grain of salt—that go beyond just telling you your weight.
I have this iHealth Nexus Smart Scale ($39.98) and love it so much I bought another one for my boyfriend. The price is accessible, but it still comes with a ton of features. It connects to your phone via Bluetooth, it assesses your weight, BMI, and even makes some estimates of things like muscle mass and bone mass. What I like about it is how easy it was to sync it with my other apps, like my health and calorie-tracking apps, and that it makes graphs that show my weight and other metrics over time.
If you're a Fitbit user, grab the Fitbit Aria Air ($49), which syncs directly with your Fitbit dashboard. It's relatively simple, only showing your weight and BMI, but really, that might be all you need. It's lightweight, "sleek," and "minimalist," according to reviewers, so it's not a bulky addition to the bathroom, either.
The Shapa scale ($120) is an innovative smart scale that shows you colors, not numbers, so you don't get too caught up monitoring your exact weight. The colors refer to your average weight over time and if you see blue on your app, you're losing weight. Teal means you're starting to lose weight, green means you're maintaining it, light gray means you're starting to gain, and dark gray means you are gaining weight. That's it. It's popular on Reddit, where users praise it for helping them get over scale anxiety.
This Renpho smart scale ($59.99) is cool because it lights up, either to remind you periodically to weigh yourself or to serve as a nightlight, depending on your preferences and needs. It's a versatile option that's great for small bathrooms.
Don't need the bells and whistles? That's fine. You can pick up an inexpensive one that just shows you your weight, easy peasy.
The basic scale I use when I'm not using my iNexus isn't available on Amazon anymore, but this HomeBuds digital scale ($14.39) is very similar: There's an easy-to-read, bright LED display and the machine turns on automatically when you step on it.
This GE digital scale ($21.59) is inexpensive, but shows you your weight and BMI.
Earthquakes can be a real bitch. These seismic catastrophes are the most deadly of all natural disasters, claiming an average of 60,000 lives per year. But if you manage to hunker down in the right place when the ground starts shaking, you might be able to save yourself.
Many/most earthquake deaths could be prevented through wider implementation of earthquake-resistant buildings—but even if you live in a shake-proof structure, there are still steps you can and should take to be as safe as possible.
The absolute safest place to be during an earthquake is probably in the middle of an open field with no trees around because the main danger from quakes is falling debris. But since you will have no advance warning of an earthquake, staying safer may involve quick thinking, wherever you happen to be.
In general, earthquake survival is based on protecting yourself from falling debris and not falling down yourself. So if you are inside when the earthquake hits, think: “drop, cover, and hold on.”
Drop: Get down on your hands and knees when you feel the first shake. This way you won’t fall, and you’ll be ready to crawl under a nearby desk or table. Don't try to run or walk for a safer area because you're likely to fall. Exception: If you are in bed, stay there. Put a pillow over your head and wait it out.
Cover: Put one hand over your neck and head, because you must, as the Wu Tang Clan taught you, Protect Ya Neck. Then crawl under a strong desk or table if one is nearby. If there isn’t one handy, crawl toward an interior wall, not an exterior wall. Exterior walls have windows and windows are not good in this situation. Stay on your hands and knees with your hand covering your neck and to protect both your skull and your vital organs.
Hold on: Hold on to your desk or table with one hand and keep the other over your neck and head. Be ready to shift with the desk or table you’re clutching onto for dear life. Think to yourself, “how long can this go on? Surely it must stop soon!” but wait until it’s really stopped to move.
If you are in a wheelchair: Lock your wheels. Cover your neck. Hold on.
Do not stand in a doorway. This once-common advice is terrible. In modern homes, doorways are no stronger than any other part of the house, and if you rush toward one, you’re likely to fall.
Do not run outside or into other rooms: Remain inside if you are inside and outside if you are outside. Generally, moving about is liable to make you fall, but it might make sense in some situations (see below) if it can be done safely.
The “find something to hide under” strategy usually doesn’t apply if you’re outside, driving, or at the beach.
Outdoors: Move to a clear area if it is safe to do so, away from power lines, trees, signs, and any other potential hazards. The most dangerous place to be is outside, next to a building, as windows and decorations can fall from the sky. Still drop, cover, and hold on, once you’re away from structures.
Driving: Pull over safely. Set your parking brake. Avoid overpasses, bridges, power lines, signs and other hazards if you can. Stay in the car until shaking stops. Then drive home slowly with your caution meter set to 9,000—there could be any number of hazards on the road after a quake.
At the beach: If you’re near the shore when a quake hits, you probably won’t need to worry about falling debris, but you may need to worry about tsunamis. When the shaking stops, head to high ground. Right away. Don’t wait for any kind of official confirmation, just go.
Realistically, there is only so much you can do when an earthquake hits, but there’s a lot you can do to prepare for one before the ground starts moving. Making sure you’re ready for the “big one” (and the less-big ones) means making a plan: preparing your home for the quake and knowing what to do when the shaking is over.
Earthquakes are more common in some geographic areas, but as the recent 'quake in the Northeast proves, even places that are generally seismically stable, with few past earthquakes, can experience an occasional trembler. So no matter where you live, you should take the time to make your home safer in the event of an earthquake.
In the United States, most earthquake-prone areas have building codes designed to prevent the structural collapses that take the most lives and cause the most injuries in earthquakes—but even if your walls and roof hold up, a house can still be deadly in a quake. The danger comes from falling or flying objects. In California’s Northridge quake in 1994, only 1 percent of injuries were caused by buildings collapsing, while 55% were caused by unsecured items in the home.
Start by looking around your home and imagining it shaking back and forth and up and down violently at a rate of several feet per second. How many things could be shaken loose that would kill you? That unsecured bookcase is a deathtrap; the heavy-ass, glass-framed painting over your couch could cut you to shreds if things get shaky.
Now take a little time—maybe do one or two thing a weekend—to secure everything. Literally everything.
Here are some specific things to think about, according to California’s Earthquake Country Alliance:
Hang plants in lightweight pots with closed hooks, well secured to a joist or stud and far away from windows.
Install strong latches on kitchen cabinets.
Use flexible connections where gas lines meet appliances.
Remove or lock refrigerator wheels, secure to studs.
Secure valuable electronics items such as computers and televisions.
Keep breakables in low or secure cabinets with latches.
Move heavy plants and other large items to floor or low shelves.
Hang mirrors and pictures and pictures on closed hooks.
Secure free-standing woodstove or fireplace insert.
Keep heavy unstable objects away from doors and exit routes.
Place bed away from windows or items that may fall.
Secure knick knacks and other small valuables with museum putty.
Brace overhead light fixtures.
Place only light weight/soft items over bed.
Secure top-heavy furniture to studs.
Secure water heater with metal straps attached to studs.
Trim hazardous tree limbs.
This is not a complete list by any means.
Once you’ve taken care of securing all the potential deadly projectiles in your home, gather these emergency items:
Store fire extinguisher (type ABC) in easily accessible location.
Keep several flashlights in easily accessible places around the house.
Keep wrench or turn-off tool in water proof wrap near gas meter.
Know the location of your main electrical switch (fuse box or circuit breaker).
Have your emergency plan accessible and discuss with all family members.
Know whether you live, work, or play in a tsunami hazard zone.
Obtain a NOAA Weather Radio with the Public Alert feature to notify you of tsunamis and other hazards.
Keep flashlight, slippers and gloves next to beds.
Keep gas tank at least half full.
Keep an emergency backpack with copies of important documents near the door to grab and go.
Store emergency food and water supplies in a dry, accessible area. Include first aid kit, extra cash, portable radio, extra batteries, medications and other necessary supplies.
Unless you are psychic, you will not have much warning that an earthquake is going to hit, but you might get a five-second or so head start if you subscribe to an earthquake warning system like California’s My Shake app. (Apple, Android) A few seconds may not seem to be much time, but it’s long enough to scramble under a heavy table, brace yourself, and say a quick prayer.
When the earth stops shaking, the danger is not necessarily over. If it was a big quake, it’s probably going to be a really bad day.
If you are trapped: If you are trapped by your collapsed home or something, protect your mouth, nose, and eyes from dust. Try to signal any way you can, whether it’s with your emergency whistle (that I’m sure you carry at all times), a cell phone call, or loud knocking. Knock three times every few minutes on a solid piece of the building so rescuers can find you.
Head to high ground if you are in a tsunami zone: Earthquakes often lead to tsunamis. Check out my guide to surviving a tsunami for detailed info on how to not be swept away by a tsunami’s water. Again, do not tarry or wait for anything. Move quickly as soon as it is safe.
Tend to the injured: If anyone in your home is hurt, perform first aid. Call for an ambulance if you need one, but don’t expect one to show up right away. They will be busy.
Fires: Fires are a huge secondary danger from earthquakes. If there’s a small fire in your home and you’re uninjured, know what you’re doing, and remember where your extinguisher is, put it out. If it’s a large fire, evacuate. Call for help, but don’t expect the fire department to show up any time soon. They’ll be busy.
Check for signs of leaking gas: You should only close the gas valve if you suspect a leak—if you see a broken pipe, smell gas, or see the meter spinning quickly, turn off the gas. If not, leave it on.
Check for damaged wiring: If there is damage to your house’s wiring, shut everything down at the main breaker.
Don’t use candles or a lighter: Use flashlights only after a quake. You could start a fire accidentally or, even worse, blow yourself up if there’s a gas leak.
Note other hazards in your home: The massive upheaval of tectonic plates is likely to rearrange your environment significantly. Take a moment, take a breath, and access the damage. There is likely to be broken glass everywhere, spilled liquids of all kinds including chemicals, broken masonry, and other terrible destruction. Don’t be dumb and hurt yourself after the quake.
Let people know you’re OK: Everyone is worried, but your cell service might go down, so make a call to someone out of the area so they can tell others you’re doing alright. Conserve your cell batteries.
Check on your neighbors: Especially if they’re older or have any disabilities. (This implies you like your neighbors, of course. If not, eff ‘em.)
Determine if your house is safe: If you’re worried that your home is unsafe, don’t chance it. FEMA is already setting up their shelters, and they’d love to see you.
Stay informed: Keep up with local radio and television reports on where to get emergency food, clothing, shelter, and first aid.
Food and water: If your power is off, eat frozen and refrigerated food first, canned food last.
Document: Take pictures of your messed up house so you can file insurance claims.
Hopefully, civil society will be restored in your community relatively quickly. When it is, make sure you post pictures of your damaged home on social media. Promise you will rebuild! Ask yourself why you even moved to San Diego in the first place. Marvel over how strangers came together to help strangers, or curse uncaring humanity for its indifference (depending on your experience). Consider all the ways your earthquake plans failed, and either vow to do better next time, or decide that you are too small to fight fate, and that the Great Earthquake of Death will claim you no matter how many battery-powered radios you own. Hopefully, your earthquake trauma will fade and become a funny story you can tell at a bar. Until the next one hits.
There’s something pleasurable about taking all the steps to brew a perfect cup of coffee, but there’s also something nice about doing as little as possible to get your caffeine fix when you’re having a busy enough morning as it is. Single-serve coffee makers produce one cup of java with little fanfare or effort and have been popular for a long time, but there’s enough competition out there that you might not know what to get.
Nespresso's Vertuo line offers not only the speedy espresso option of the brand's classic machines, but different size options that allow you to make full cups of coffee. In fact, thanks to my Nespresso Next ($128.50), I'm drinking one right now, but any of the machines in this range are great choices; your pick depends on the footprint size you want on your counter. What I love about Nespresso machines is how fast they work: My Keurig takes considerably longer to heat up the water from its tank and turn that into a cup of coffee, but the Nespresso pumps out a full serving in a little over a minute.
If Nespresso offers fancier options, Keurig offers variety. I have a K-Mini ($89.99) with a tiny footprint that gives me six- or 12-ounce brews on demand with no frills. Other, slightly more expensive options, offer temperature controls, strength controls, iced coffee settings, heating plates, and more, depending on what you need—but most are priced no higher than $199.99. It takes longer to heat up than the Nespresso, but in general, offers more features.
If you're not sure you want to spend a lot on this endeavor yet, consider a Famiworths mini coffee maker ($37.99), which uses the same K-Cups as a Keurig and even has cup size options. It's a great introductory single-serve maker because you can get the hang of using the pods and getting quick cups without shelling out major money first.
The Moccamaster Cup-One ($250) is a sustainable option if you're not sold on using disposable, single-serve pods. It is a brewer that serves up one cup at a time, so you get the convenience of not having to have a whole pot of coffee just sitting there all day, but don't have to feel bad about wasting plastic. “Use 18-19g of coffee for a 10oz cup, grind it medium, and you should get a cup as tasty as most single-serve pour-overs," says Maciej Kasperowicz, director of coffee at Trade Coffee and one of 400 certified Q graders—or trained coffee evaluators—in the world.
Kasperowicz also recommends the Aeropress ($39.95) for anyone open to doing a little manual (but fun!) work to get a single cup. It brews coffee by infusing it into water within the main plastic tube. You push a second tube in to move the coffee through a filter cap. "The AeroPress is really versatile. You can make a really strong, almost espresso-like cup. You can make something that tastes like regular drip coffee. It can look a little intimidating, but the internet is full of easy recipes to make your Aeropress taste great," he says.
To get the best experience from your single-serve coffee maker, you might need to buy a little more stuff.
I've used reusable K-Cups to brew regular old coffee grounds for years. These are easy to find (Amazon sells a two-pack for $5.75) and are a sustainable alternative to using and throwing away a bunch of single-use pods. Those single-use pods also take up a lot of space. If you use those, consider a holder, like this drawer from DecoBrothers that holds Nespresso Vertuo pods ($28.77) or this spinning rack for K-Cups ($13.89).
If you want to upgrade your outdoor space, you can get a prefab pergola shipped right to your door and assemble it yourself. These kits are convenient and can save time and stress if you want to add some shade to your yard. But there are some potential pitfalls if you’re tackling this type of improvement for the first time, so here’s what you need to know before you buy a pergola from Amazon.
There are lots of styles of pergola to choose from, including wooden and aluminum types. In addition to materials, your pergola can come with a roof, a sunshade, or a trellis top for climbing vines. You can also choose between a freestanding pergola or one that attaches to the side of your house. If you choose a pergola that adjoins a house or other structure, make sure the existing structure can hold the extra weight before choosing one.
In order to make sure your pergola will fit in the space you have, you should measure the open space first, then look at the manufacturer specifications for the widest measurement of the pergola. In most cases, the roof of your pergola is the widest part, so make sure the roof fits within your intended footprint. You will also need to measure to place the footings for your structure, making sure you have space to position your pergola in your desired orientation.
In some cases, local ordinances prevent structures from being built within a certain number of feet from a property line or adjacent structure. There might also be rules about how tall an outdoor structure can be without requiring a permit, or the total area that a structure can cover before needing a permit. Check with your local town hall or municipal permitting office before you choose your pergola to avoid a hassle or potential fines down the road.
Installing a pergola requires footings to hold the posts that support the roof. Your kit will likely come with footings, but you’ll need the proper tools to dig a hole to anchor them. Check what type of footings your kit has to help you determine what tools you’ll need. Always remember to dial 811 before you dig to avoid costly and dangerous incidents with utility lines.
If your pergola is supported by the wall of another structure on one side, you’ll need to attach it to the second floor rim joist for it to be structurally sound. The rim joist is a horizontal board that holds the floor joists for the second floor. In most cases, your pergola kit will come with hardware to attach it, but make sure that the screws that come from the manufacturer are long enough and sturdy enough to attach your brackets to the rim joist. Since this is a project that involves some knowledge of framing, it might not be a beginner DIY job.
If your pergola has a roof, you should make sure that either the roof is retractable or that your footings and hardware are designed to withstand wind gusts. If you have a wooden pergola, you can add hurricane brackets or hurricane ties to reinforce the connections between your roof beams and cross members. With a welded metal framed pergola, it will usually be rated to withstand wind of up to 130 miles per hour.
For some reason, my spring cleaning efforts have been way more intense this year than usual: I’ve been reorganizing all my stuff, getting rid of old things, and trying to find better ways to store what I keep instead of just sprucing the place up as-is. This has gone great with my clothes, kitchen gadgets, makeup, and decorations, but I’ve found myself getting frustrated as I try to find a better way to store my bags. By their very nature, purses and handbags are spacious and the idea of folding or crumpling them is unappealing, since that makes them look so much worse when it’s time to actually use them. I’ve been scheming on bag storage for about a week now and I think I've finally come up with some good solutions.
I make my living by writing and I’m also in grad school, so where I go, my laptop goes, which means I have a ton of totes and large-capacity bags. When I’m not staring at a screen, though, I like to dress up and go out, which means I also have a ton of small bags. I saw a hack from a vintage seller named Aarica Nichole on Instagram for storing small bags using materials you can pick up at your local hardware store, so I tried it out.
What you’ll need:
One hanger or a drywall hook
Large chains
Some S-hooks, like these
You simply hang the chain up, either on a hook or a hanger, thread the S hooks into it, and hang your bags off the hooks. Nichole actually anchored hers into her ceiling, but I decided to try hanging mine in a closet. What you do depends on how into the concept of storage-as-decoration you are and how much space you have. Here’s how mine looked before adding some bags:
I noticed right away that this was not a solution for larger bags, but I could potentially put some totes toward the bottom, so I added one and didn't see any indications that it was too heavy. Figuring out how to arrange the bags so they laid as flat as possible was hard, as some had structured bottoms that made them take up space. Because of that, this wasn’t ideal for my closet at all; the bag storage was just too space-consuming to exist next to my clothes. Nichole had the right idea keeping this free-hanging in the room. Here’s what I ended up with after my trial run of five differently-sized bags:
This hack works great if you have a lot of smaller-sized or lightweight bags and the right space to hang them up. So while I’m not a fan of my closet version, when I get the rest of my apartment sorted out, I plan to hang a few of these chains around. But for clutches, big bags, backpacks, and cross-bodies with unwieldy, long straps, there are still other options.
Not every bag is right for hanging on the chain, but check out these storage solutions you can get for everything else:
This purse organizer ($19.96 for two) hangs in the closet and has eight separate pockets designed to hold medium-sized bags while keeping them safe behind a plastic screen.
Try over-the-door solutions, like this unit with two shelves and 11 hooks ($24.99). It attaches to a front door or closet door, making it easy to keep out of the way without sacrificing much actual closet space.
Utilize the space under your bed or couch with these flat, rolling storage containers ($31.49 for two).
Otherwise, consider going all-in on storage and picking up some storage furniture that can hide your bags while serving other purposes in your home.
Finally, I have an anti-recommendation: Learn from my past mistakes and don't try to store bags within bags. Not only does this cause them to get wrinkled and distorted, but it makes it frustrating to try to remember what bags you have at all, let alone which other bags they're stuffed in. If storing them individually annoys you because of how much space it takes up, even when employing hacks, try storing other things, like shoes, cords, or infrequently-used items inside the bags themselves. I do this with my totes: One is for swimsuits, another is for important papers, and a third is a catch-all, kind of like a junk drawer. When I want to use that bag, I just dump out its contents onto the shelf where the bag was sitting and go on my way.
If you’ve got a desk, you’d probably benefit from equipping it with a lamp—the lights from your computer screen can feel harsh in the dark, after all. But the best one for you to choose will depend on your specific needs and the features you’ll benefit most from, whether you need charging ports, mobility, or something with a small footprint. Here are several options to check out—all for less than $40.
I have this Jostic LED lamp ($27.02) and personally love it. It has a wireless charging pad for my phone, 10 brightness settings, five color modes, and a USB port, so I can make it bright and white to focus during work and dim and yellow to relax at night, all while it charges my phone and powers my desk fan through the USB port.
A Gondsily LED lamp with a USB charging port and holders for your pens and pencils ($23.99) is a cost-effective way to keep all of your materials organized, especially if you do a lot of work on real-deal paper.
A Wanjiaone lamp ($35.99) has the same features as the one above, plus a few extra for just $12 more: A clock face, calendar, and nightlight are built in, making it perfect for staying on track without having to look at your phone (and get distracted).
A Mubarek lamp ($20.91) is the opposite: If you want to keep an eye on your phone, it has a holder built right in, plus it comes with the USB port and holders for other tools.
Instead of sending light down on your workspace from off to the side, the KableRika desk lamp ($24.99) sits behind and well above your computer or materials, casting light more evenly.
Try a wearable lamp, like this one from Glocusent ($18.99) if you like to read in bed or work from different locations around the house. It sits around your neck like a reverse necklace, casting light in front of you and slightly downward.
If you're looking for something cute, try this Aluocyi lamp ($23.99) that features a heart-shaped mirror at the base, plus a pen holder and a USB charging port. Lamps don't have to be boring or ugly.
Another portable and even more economical option is the Woputne desk clip on lamp ($9.99), which can be used on a desk, a headboard, a table, or wherever else you need it—and it has 10 brightness modes, so you won’t keep anyone up with the light, wherever you are.
Americans love our stuff. We love our stuff so much we’re willing to rent small rooms far away from our homes just to store all the stuff that won’t fit anywhere else—about 20% of the U.S. is paying for a storage unit. Most of those people are using their storage units exactly as intended—they’ve packed them with furniture, boxes of stuff, and even larger items like vehicles or appliances.
But a storage unit can be much more than just a place to dump all that junk you can’t squeeze into your tiny dwelling. In fact, a storage unit can be the ideal place to do a lot of other things. They’re secure, climate-controlled, and relatively private. Not to mention cheap: They cost an average of $185 per month. As long as you familiarize yourself with your local laws and read your rental agreement carefully, a storage unit can be a cost-effective place to do a lot more than store things.
First things first: There are a lot of laws covering storage units and what they can and can’t be used for. These will vary from area to area, but there are a few constants. For one, you absolutely, positively cannot live in a storage unit—so don’t imagine you can throw down a rug and a futon and crash there every night. You also can’t use a storage unit as an office in the sense of literally running a business out of it (although you can use it for a business, as we’ll see).
And if you read a storage facility’s agreement, you’re also probably prohibited from storing food or animals in there. There may be a lot of other restrictions, so if you’re contemplating a storage unit as anything but a dumping ground, you should read the rental agreement carefully—violating it could get you evicted.
If you’d rather not go to a gym every month and get sweaty in front of total strangers, or if you have a bunch of great exercise equipment you can’t fit comfortably in your current home, a storage unit can be a terrific place to set up a small personal gym. It gets all that equipment out of the house and gives you a quiet, private space to work out.
Not every storage facility will allow this—local zoning laws may prohibit it. But a lot of facilities won’t object as long as you’re not staying there overnight or trying to store gym snacks in there. Your best bet is to speak directly to the facility’s management before renting the unit to make sure it’s legal and that they have no objection.
You can’t run a business out of a storage unit in the sense of sitting at a desk and listing the unit’s address as your business address. But you can use that storage unit as a place to get stuff done. Whether as space where you conduct phone calls or video meetings in perfect privacy (as opposed to sitting in a coffee shop with your laptop balanced on your knees while you scream over the crowd) or just a place where you bring your laptop every day to work in peace (most storage facilities offer complimentary wifi), a storage unit can help you present a calm, professional face to existing or potential customers and clients.
Another way a storage unit can help your business is by using it as a warehouse. As long as the stuff you’re storing there doesn’t violate your rental agreement (if you need to store food products in there, this won’t work) you can avoid having your inventory piled up in your house. This is ideal for folks who sell stuff through Amazon or eBay, Etsy, or other online portals, but any business can benefit from having a place to store spare parts or supplies.
A storage unit is also a great place to store your business’s documents and unused equipment. If it’s a seasonal business like landscaping, for example, a storage unit might be a cheap and safe way to mothball your lawn equipment during the winter months.
Storage units are just boxes of empty space. Within legal limits, you can really use that space in any way you like—as long as the rental agreement allows it. One great way to use one is as an art or music studio or rehearsal space.
You’ll need to check with the facility to ensure there are no objections, but a storage unit can be an ideal place to paint, sculpt, dance, or practice (or even record) music in a private, secure, climate-controlled area for less than $200 a month. You could also use your storage unit as a workshop—even a mechanical workshop where you work on smaller vehicles. There are some limitations here depending on how much power you need and the use of flammable or hazardous materials in your work (again, a conversation with the facility’s management is probably a great idea), but in general, you could be using your storage unit as a creative space very effectively.
A storage space can be a surprisingly calm and meditative area. If you’ve ever dreamed of having a zen zone where you can meditate or simply be, or a place where you can spread out your yoga mat, put on some soothing sounds, and flow through your favorite poses to your heart’s content, a storage unit is a great alternative space if you don’t have a spare room in your home for it. A personal yoga studio is a natural use for a storage unit in a lot of ways, available any time that works with your schedule.
There is a wide variety of ways to clean and buff a stainless steel sink. Some require the purchase of specialty products, and others are more reliant on household materials and DIY hacks.
While I won't dissuade you if you want to choose a ready-made, store-bought solution like Bar Keepers Friend or Weiman Stainless Steel Sink Cleaner, I did some testing to determine whether or not the cheaper methods work—and experienced some success. It turns out all you may need to clean your stainless steel sink is a melamine sponge and regular old baking soda.
Because I am a renter, my sink, like everything else in my apartment, came to me "pre-loved"—and it shows. It shows some serious scratches, evidence of its long history of being used to clean up cookware messes I can only imagine. A big part of cleaning stainless steel involves scuffing out minor scratches, which is why the internet is filled with recommendations for using abrasive cleaners or other granular agents. I opted for baking soda as my cleaning agent.
I next had to choose my cleaning implement. Perennial wisdom may tell you that you can use lemon wedges to remove stains, but in my experience, lemon-based hacks are hit or miss. I split the difference by choosing a lemon-scented S.O.S. steel wool pad.
The first step to cleaning the sink is removing any dishes and wiping away any obvious residue. Since I just did a massive dish-cleaning session, my sink was extra grimy, so I pulled out a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Ultra Foamy and scrubbed every inch.
Next, I sprinkled plain baking soda all over the sink. It’s abrasive, but mildly, so it’s perfect for removing light scratches and polishing the steel. I scrubbed the baking soda with the Magic Eraser, then rinsed and looked for lingering, more serious scratches or stains. I then used my S.O.S. pad to lightly buff at those spots, and saw a little improvement. Obviously, it’s hard to remove deep scratches by hand, but what little polishing I did had a noticeable effect.
I then rinsed out the sink again, and dried it with a soft cloth before applying a light layer of baby oil as a cheap, efficient polish.
Overall, I was pleased with my low-cost, minimal effort results. If you're dealing with more stubborn stains, you can spring for an abrasive specialty cleaner like Bar Keepers Friend, but it's hard for me to justify the purchase when I only deep clean my sink every month or so. The baking soda worked perfectly well at buffing and shining my stainless steel sink, and I didn’t have to spend anything to do it, since I used products I already had on hand.
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