Home & DIY hacks
Small fixes that save a trip to the hardware store.
Easy DIY home fixes anyone can do: squeaky hinges and floors, stripped screws, nail holes, stuck zippers and jars, using toothpicks, rubber bands and other household items.
14 hacks. Tap any hack to see how it's done.
Keep your paint can rim clean with a rubber band
Wipe your brush on a rubber band instead of the rim.
Find a tiny lost item with a sock on your vacuum
Cover the hose with a thin sock and lost earrings get caught, not swallowed.
Silence a squeaky door hinge
Pull the hinge pin, coat it with petroleum jelly and slide it back.
Hang a picture perfectly with painter's tape
Mark the hangers on tape, move the tape to the wall and nail through the marks.
Hide scratches in wood furniture with a walnut
Rub a shelled walnut over a light scratch and it blends right in.
Unstick a zipper with a pencil
Rub pencil lead along the teeth and the zipper slides again.
Fill small nail holes with white toothpaste
A quick fix for tiny holes in white walls when you don't have spackle.
Remove a stripped screw with a rubber band
Put a wide rubber band between the screwdriver and a slightly stripped screw for extra grip.
Fix a loose screw hole with toothpicks
Fill the stripped hole with glued toothpicks and the screw grips again.
Quiet a squeaky wood floor with cornstarch
Work powder into the gaps between the boards so they stop rubbing.
Stop a charging cable from fraying with a pen spring
Wrap the spring from a click pen around the weak spot near the plug.
Open a stubborn jar with a rubber band
Stretch a wide rubber band around the lid for instant grip.
Get every last bit of toothpaste with a binder clip
Roll up the end and clip it. Move the clip up as the tube empties.
Never lose the end of the tape again
Stick a paper clip or folded tab on the end before you put the roll away.