Sometimes the solutions to life’s problems are right in front of your face, or inside your kitchen cupboard.
Brit Morin, founder and CEO of the lifestyle site Brit.co, stopped by Studio 1A to show Natalie and Christian Slater how to use common household items to fix common household problems, from clogged drains to hidden pet hair.
Remove hard water stains with lemons.
Are those hard water spots on the faucet handle going nowhere? Not for long. Cut a lemon in half and, holding by the peel, rub the inside of the fruit directly on the stains.
Your faucets, drains and shower doors will be sparkling in seconds.
Mix baking soda and vinegar to clean drains.
While stores are packed with chemically-infused products to break through drain grime, Morin says mixing baking soda and vinegar and pouring the solution down the drain will also do the job. "Baking soda and vinegar is a great chemical reaction to clean the drain," she told Natalie and Christian.
Untangle jewelry chains with baby oil.
Inside every jewelry box is a tangled web of necklace chains, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Morin suggests rubbing baby oil onto tangled jewelry, which loosens the knots and saves the necklace. Use a straight pin if the necklace chains are extra small.
Use clear nail polish to keep threads from breaking.
Keep threads from sticking out of your shirt's buttons by applying clear nail polish onto the buttons before wearing the shirt for the first time.
"Just put your nail polish right on and it will actually keep your buttons and the thread tighter together," Morin said.
Clean floors with dish soap and water.
Is it time to give your floors a good scrub? Morin says all it takes to get the job down is a little dish soap and H20. "Use a pH-neutral soap, like dish soap, and water," Morin said, "and you can clean your floors naturally."
Squeegee pet fur from carpets.
Pet hair can hide in carpet for ages as vacuums don’t always do the job. But Morin suggests rubbing a squeegee along the carpet to get unwanted hair out.
The rubber on the squeegee’s end loosens the hairs, allowing you to easily pick them up and toss them out. "It's really good for under sofas and places your vacuum can't really reach," Morin said.
Prevent ant invasions with baking soda and powdered sugar.
Do you have an ant problem? All that's needed to combat those creepy crawlers is sitting in your kitchen cupboard. Morin recommends mixing baking soda and powdered sugar, then placing the mixture on a plate near the ants' hideout. "The powdered sugar lures them in," Morin explained, "while the baking soda kills them."
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