As soon as they sprang up, life hacks have been constantly growing in popularity, for what can be better than easing up our daily chores? Most of these hacks are so devious that we could hardly cotton on to the ideas themselves. There are a lot of them around, but more of them are always welcome!

As emerged from OnePoll’s last-year survey (commissioned by Yelp), routine house care is apt to take an American citizen up to 13 hours and more. In terms of money house maintenance can run to $2,000 – as revealed by a study conducted by Bankrate in 2018.

That‘s where DIY and life hacks can step in and help you save hours of time and wads of money. Some of them, found below, might make you jump for joy and rush through the unpleasantest of your chores with unheard-of-before rapidity.

Use toothpaste to disguise furniture scratches

However carefully we look after the furniture, we can’t really prevent the pieces from developing small scratches. Things happen. And, while the first idea is to cart your favorite coach over to the carpenter and pay him through the nose, you may as well have a go at it with – guess what – your toothpaste. Pick a non-gel one, squeeze out a little, rub it onto a scratch clockwise and remove the surplus with a wet cloth.

Alka-Seltzer tablets with help you with cleaning pans

If you find the pan resisiting your best efforts to clean off the residue, pour in hot water, dissolve an Alka-Seltzer tablet, then leave it and return in a quarter of an hour. The messy stuff should come off quickly.

Take dust and dirt off the blinds with a towel on a pair of tongs

It isn’t easy to get your blinds properly clean – not if you know how to approach the procedure. Dig out your tongs and a couple of dish towels, wrap them around the prongs and keep in place with rubber bands. It is a really perfect duster to deal with filthy blinds and make them clean with surprising promptitude.

Fix LED lights on a stick to shed light on dark corners

There are sure to be some hard-to-get-at places in your home where the light doesn’t reach properly. You don’t need to install lights everywhere only for the sake of cleaning: a stick with a LED light stuck on the top will ensure the order in shadowy spots.

Sticky labels glue can be eliminated with cooking oil

If we need to get a label off a bottle or a jar it leaves a spot which remains sticky and unpleasant to touch. But you can always get rid of the glue residue using on it a drop or a few of simple cooking oil. Rub the spot with a pad dipped in cooking oil and in several minutes – as soon as the oil has seeped through the reside, it will come off with no trouble.

Problems with dirty ceramic cooktops can be solved using a Magic Eraser

There are people who definitely place ceramic cooktops over gas ranges; they may be better, but harder to clean. But if you have a Magic Eraser at hand, you are saved. Grab the sponge and swipe at the messy surface, you will clean it without fear of damaging the tiles.

Too many pans and pots? Hang them on the inside of cabinet doors

You don’t want your kitchenware to lie around cluttering up kitchen tables (whose space is requisite) and be in the way. An overhead rack would solve the problem admirably, but it’s not always convenient. But usually if you arrange to have them hanging inside cabinet doors, it will work fine. Don’t nail hooks; stick them on a cork=board fixed on the doors inside with foam tape.

A silverware tray will take care of your bathroom items

While a silverware tray is perfect as carrier of spoons, forks, knives and other small kitchen tools, why not use one in a bathroom? This way you will keep your makeup articles from wandering off all over the place, and you will be able to reach for your toothbrush without opening cabinets and fumbling on the shelves.

Spread paper on the bottom of the garbage bin to stop leaking liquids

When you dispose of your garbage, you don’t always suspect the trash of leaking – but it can. To prevent it from smearing the bottom of your bin, before you throw stuff away, spread a couple of old newspapers over the lower part of the said bin.

Tape the place on a plaster wall where you are going to drive a nail

If you chose to be better sound-proofed you must have gone for plaster walls instead of dry walls; yet plaster walls can be much, much worse when you try to hang something. They flake and they can develop cracks. Protective measures had better be taken before you put a nail to it.

So, cut a square piece out of painter’s tape or masking tape, place it over the relevant area, and drive the nail in with much less dust and flaking. Besides, this area isn’t so prone to cracking now – the plaster is more likely to stay put.

Some caulk stuck to the bottom of a rug will keep it from sliding

If your rugs display a tendency to slide along as you step on them, turn them over and fix two or three caulk lines to their underside – that will put a stop to it.

Pillowcases can be frozen up if the night promises to be hot

Summer is coming, and sweltering sweaty nights are almost upon us. It will be quite a thing to make yourself comfortable in the bed. The air conditioner will help, of course, but you might want some extra measures to ensure a nicely cool bed. Drizzle a few drops of water over your pillowcase and let it freeze for about a quarter of an hour. You will find the emitting cool conducive to falling soundly alseep.

To stop mixing up keys, get them in different colors

The keys in your bunch look and feel about the same, and if there are many of them, you may be constantly confusing house keys with office keys, and grab at the mail key when you want the car key. How can we put things right in a matter of minutes? Nail polish is what has the answer. If you can match places with colors easily, take a paint and give each key the right color distinguishable from the others. After five minutes‘ work you are sure to pick the one key you need at once.