What lives by your front door?

Things we keep by the front door: a small tray for keys, a card wallet with the one card we can't leave without, and a lint roller nobody admits to using.

What lives by your door?

Limescale on the shower head: the overnight fix

Tie a small bag of white vinegar around the shower head, leave it overnight, rinse in the morning. The same trick works on most tap aerators.

Skip it on brass or anything with a special coating. Check the manual first.

The junk drawer, twenty minutes later

Our kitchen junk drawer had three tape measures, eleven pens and a charger for a phone we sold in 2021. Two small trays and twenty minutes sorted it. The trays cost less than a coffee.

What's the strangest thing living in your junk drawer?

Towels that stopped feeling soft

Skip fabric softener for a few washes and add half a cup of white vinegar to the rinse instead. Softener leaves a coating that stops towels absorbing. Dry them fully before folding.

How often do you replace yours? Ours are embarrassingly old.

The paper test for a worn fridge seal

Shut the fridge door on a sheet of paper. If it slides out with no resistance, the seal is worn and the fridge is working harder than it needs to.

Replacement seals for most brands cost less than a takeaway.