There are few places where Americans spend more of their discretionary funds than cleaning house and keeping their body care regimen up to date.
Stop wasting money at the store. Most of what you need to keep your home and skin looking good as new could already be hiding in your pantry.
We've rounded up 21 clever uses for household items.
Use beer to ward off slugs.
If you've got a slug problem, use leftover beer to keep them at bay.
Turns out the little pests will wander right into jars of brewski if you leave them hidden properly in the ground, according to Wisebread.
Be sure the rims of the jars are at ground level and check back on them a day or so later to easily dispose of the unsuspecting critters. It's just as effective as salt without the hassle of finding the slugs yourself.
Leftover tea can take care of unwanted smells.
Sara Noel, founder of the Frugal Village, found a great use for used tea bags:
Feet deodorizer. Try soaking your smelly soles for about 30 minutes in enough black tea to keep them covered (about three bags boiled in a quart should do the trick––add cold water to cool).
Fire starter. "Tuck dried tea bags into a cardboard tube from toilet paper or paper towels and light them to start a fire," Noel says. "You can add dryer lint or crumpled newspaper to help fill the tube, too."
Odor remover."Put some used tea bags in a jar and place in your refrigerator to absorb odors," she adds.
Use olive oil in lieu of shaving cream.
The price of shaving creams these days is enough to make any girl's leg hairs stand on end. But if you're well-stocked in the olive oil department, you'll be glad to know that Rachel Ray's favorite kitchen staple is also great as a makeshift shaving oil.
Bonus: According to Woman's Day, olive oil is packed with skin-nourishing nutrients, so go ahead and skip the $10 moisturizer afterward to save even more.
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