Shoes
When your favorite boots start looking worn-out, don’t get rid of them just yet! Take worn-down shoes to a repair shop to get them resoled or reheeled. Websites like My Shoe Hospital even offer repairs by mail. Dull shoes can be shined naturally by rubbing the inside of a banana peel over the shoe and buffing with a cloth. For another DIY leather shoe polish that adds extra protection, try a recipe for a homemade olive oil and beeswax polish from the blog Hildablue.
Coats
Getting tired of your workhorse winter coat? Instead of ditching your old outerwear, try sprucing it up by replacing old buttons with unique vintage ones, covering holes or faded spots with colorful patches or adding a splash of style with a handmade scarf, cowl or even a belt.
Shirts
Underarm stains are a common scourge of favorite T-shirts and oft-worn button-ups or blouses. To get rid of them, combine one part castile soap and two parts hydrogen peroxide. Apply to stains, and let sit. After an hour, rinse the clothing in cold water, and run through the washing machine to give tired shirts a new lease on life.
Stains
Stains are one of the most frustrating ways to damage clothing. Get great suggestions for tackling every kind of clothing stain from the Cleaning Institute.
Baking Pans & Kitchen Utensils
Have the rigors of holiday cooking left you cursing the state of your kitchen tools? Try this trick from the blog One Good Thing By Jillee to get them looking like new again: Pour ¼ cup baking soda into a nonreactive bowl, and add just enough hydrogen peroxide to make a paste. Apply to a grimy baking sheet and let it sit for one to two hours before scrubbing. For metal spatulas or cooking utensils, simply apply the paste with a sponge and wash as normal.
Small appliances
If your mixer, blender or toaster oven isn’t working as well as it once did, consider getting your small appliances checked out and repaired, rather than simply tossing them for something new. Making a small investment in a trip to the handyman can lengthen the life of your appliances, and save them from the landfill.
