New Uses for Old Things

From handling those unpleasant odors to cleaning your toilet, here are three things you will likely look at differently from now on:

Chalk is a great tool for removing moisture. Use this to your advantage by throwing chalk in pairs of shoes that aren’t smelling too swell, then just dump the chalk out before you put them on again. The chalk will counteract the moisture (and the odor) in the shoe, and you’ll be left with a much better smelling shoe!

Whether you use denture tablets or not, picking some up might not be a bad idea for an easier, scrub-free way to clean the toilet—and your diamond ring or your favorite vase. The effervescence in the denture tablets break dingy gunk free and are designed to kill bacteria: that’s a two for one cleaning deal just from tablets.

To clean your toilet bowl: put in the denture tablets and let them soak for 20 minutes, then flush. And that’s all you have to do.

To bring back your diamond ring’s sparkle: put the ring in a glass of water and drop in a denture tablet. Wait for five minutes, then retrieve your ring.

Can’t get inside that vase to clean it? Try this: Fill it with water, drop in a tablet, and let it sit for 15 minutes. Rinse out the vase and it’s good as new!

Brown sugar and homemade cookies both tend to get a little on the crusty side if left to their own devices, but this is actually easily prevented with a simple marshmallow.

Drop a couple of big marshmallows in your brown sugar bag or in your cookie jar. The marshmallows will keep the brown sugar soft, and you can just switch them out once a month to help your brown sugar last a lot longer.

Housekeeping is a lot more fun with these nifty tricks.