Inexpensive household hacks

The latch on my clothes dryer broke. It’s a small plastic rectangular piece that keeps the door shut. Apparently, it’s essential, if you want the dryer to actually operate. I tried to turn the dryer on and thought I had broken it somehow.

Then, I realized the door wasn’t completely closed. I finally discovered the broken latch and after toying around with variations, discovered the dryer would run, as long as the door was shut. It was apparent right away I couldn’t stand there holding the door shut for an entire drying cycle.

And, because I’m cheap, I couldn’t see paying a repairman $75 just to make a service call, not including repairs, when I could possibly jerry-rig it. Plus, it was also 10:30 at night. After some contemplation, I decided to try using tape. I’m not exactly sure why, but I had a plethora of tapes to choose from.

Scotch tape probably wouldn’t be strong enough, twosided tape wasn’t going to work, shipping tape was too challenging to tear a piece off without the tape catching on everything in a tangled mess. Thankfully, I was out of duct tape. I was instantly annoyed, envisioning having to clean off sticky residue.

I had narrow masking tape that didn’t even want to stick to my fingers. My last resort was a roll of wide, bright blue painters tape. I was skeptical how that would work, but decided to give it a try.

It worked like a dream. It doesn’t leave any marks of any kind on the machine and it can be used repeatedly without adversely affecting the stick action in any way. So, I ripped off a generous 4-inch strip. That was two years ago, and I’m still using that same piece of tape. I cannot praise this marvel of engineering enough.

That’s just one example of homemade make-do repairs I’ve had to implement.

Another source of irritation, is my toilet paper holder in the bathroom. The blasted thing pulled out of the drywall. It’s not as if I’m hanging on it, swinging back and forth. This is the third holder that has done this. I even tried filling the screw holes with spackling compound, with no luck. My solution was to put a bungee cord through the toilet paper roll and hook it around the grab bar, that’s mounted on the wall, near the toilet. Take that, drywall.

I have an assortment of various-sized bungee cords I purchased several years ago. I was hauling something in the back of my car, which was a little too large to allow the trunk to close completely, so a bungee cord worked perfectly for that. In the winter, the small cement slab, leading into my garage, heaves with the frigid temperatures, which, in turn, causes the entry door jamb to shift, thus preventing the door from closing and latching.

Bungee cord to the rescue. I wrap one end around the doorknob and the other end hooks on a nail on the outside of the door frame. It works like a charm, until the frost is out of the ground and the slab settles back into place. When I back the car out of the garage to go anywhere, I wedge a small rock against the garage entry door, inside, to prevent the door from blowing in the wind and potentially slamming against the interior wall, shattering the glass window.

The dexterity of my fingers isn’t what it used to be and I have trouble picking up small things off the floor, such as bobby pins, Q-tips, hair ties and safety pins. I discovered using a lint roller makes fast work of the task, though it also picks up hair and lint as well.

A recent purchase has been not only a problem solver, but a money saver, as well. It’s an 18-inch plastic drain rooter. I discovered it at a dollar store. It’s basically a drain snake scaled down. It has plastic barbs up and down the length of it, and it’s used to clean hair clogs out of drains. It’s disgustingly horrifying, yet strangely intriguing, all at the same time.

It’s unbelievable how much revolting material it pulls out of the drain. It’s almost embarrassing. I regularly pour baking soda and vinegar down the drain to keep the water draining freely, but you wouldn’t know it by the amount of soap scum-covered debris I kept pulling out of the drain opening.

While my slapped together repair attempts may not look aesthetically pleasing, they get the job done and it has helped keep repair costs down.

As my Grandpa Snidle used to say, “It’s no sin to be poor, but it sure is darn inconvenient.”