Cleaning & Organizing

Household staples like detergents and cleaners are always on the grocery list. But they don’t have to be. You can make those essentials at home—and effectively, never run out.

If you’re like most homeowners, you probably have a bucket list of repairs, maintenance tasks, or DIY projects you’d like to tackle around the house one of these days. Some tasks, especially the messy ones, tend to create nearly as much cleanup time as it takes to complete the projects, themselves. Fortunately, most potentially messy projects can be headed off at the pass with an easy trick or two. If you’re a diehard DIYer, you won’t want to miss the following tips and tricks, which are guaranteed to reduce the mess and the time it takes to clean up after your projects.

Embarrassed by your shoes’ lingering scent? Give your favorite pair that new-shoe smell again with these solutions for banishing bad odors.

If your kitchen sink is raising a stink, neutralize the situation with one or more of these seven fresh solutions.