Top 4 Home Improvement Hacks You Never Knew You Needed
Keeping your home functioning and operational for all the family on a budget can feel like a full time job. When something breaks down, when a specific need arises, when an incident occurs, more often than not, fixing the issue requires time or money.
But what happens if you neither have time nor money? What happens if everything ends up happening all at once and you need to find a solution that is going to be both low cost and simple to carry out? What if you simply do not want to invest vast amounts of cash in tools or equipment to simply complete one job?
Luckily we have this amazing resource called the internet, on which DIY aficionados have dedicated many hours to writing up and recording an entire encyclopedia full of useful tips and information about repairing and remedying. We’ve trawled through pages and pages to find what we believe to be the most relevant and practical when it comes to improving your home. Some of them are pretty fun too!
1 – Don’t let the plastic bags take over!
Ever since the government introduced a mandatory cost on plastic supermarket shopping bags, families the world over have been hoarding them to avoid paying out extra at the weekly shop. There is probably not a family in the UK who do not have a kitchen cupboard holding a shopping bag which is full of shopping bags (and still we forget to grab some before we leave the house!
This problem can be easily solved with the installation of a very simple plastic bag dispensing solution fitted discreetly by the garage door. Use an old length of PVC pipe, or even a litre plastic bottle. Cut off the top and bottom sections, making sure they edges are free of jagged bits, and fix it to the wall. From the top stuff it with all your old plastic bags, and pull them through from the bottom as and when you need them.
2 – Home made drain cleaner
Unblocking drains is a job that needs to be done regularly if you are to keep the water flowing freely. Expensive, shop bought chemicals can do the job effectively, but often end up stripping away the chrome on your pipes and leaving an unpleasant, chemical odour. A low cost, natural de-clogger is a blend of baking soda and vinegar. Pour in a cup of the baking soda, followed by a cup of the vinegar. Leave the mixture to fizz for a few minutes, then rinse out with newly boiled water.
3 – Wine rack family organizer
Family homes are busy old places, with family members coming and going at all times of the day. It can be tough to keep on track of everything. A low cost, no-tech way of keeping everyone informed and up to date is to set up an old wine rack on the wall to act as a central ‘pigeon hole’. It can be used to leave notes, any post, reminders, money and any other issue that makes family life go round. Good fun, costs nothing to run, and works as a central system for all the family.
4 – Hang on to old scraps of carpets and curtains
While plastic dust sheets are available to be bought in most DIY stores, they are woefully ineffective in protecting your floors and carpets when redecorating. Hang on to all your old curtains and carpets, as these have a weight and thickness which means that they are more robust when it comes to staying in place as you move around a room. There’s also something very satisfying about dropping paint on your old carpet knowing that it really does not matter!
