Regina Yunghans

Wash your washing workhorse.

Dry ice can bring an air of mystery to your Halloween party, elevating the spooky vibes with billows of chilly fog that hang around or come straight out of a cauldron of punch (aka witches brew). But once the night is over, getting rid of dry ice isn’t as straightforward as you may think. In fact, it can even be dangerous to handle. Luckily, there’s a “spell” (method) to do this safely. Below, the best way to safely dispose of dry ice.

Just like a charcoal water filter, charcoal briquettes can be used to absorb moisture and remove odor from the air in your home. You may know that you can use charcoal to remove fridge odors, but they also work in other rooms. We’ve found them particularly helpful for “old apartment smell” if you’re in an old building or moist smells in basement-level units.As for how to distribute them, you can simply lay a few out in a metal tray.

If you’re preparing to host Thanksgiving dinner this year, you may be feeling like this week is the silence before the storm. Rather than let nerves build to a day-of crescendo, here are some things you can check off of that Thanksgiving to-do list a full week in advance, freeing up time on the holiday itself: Make a shopping list. Depending upon what’s on your list, you might be able to even get your shopping out of the way now, before stores are overcrowded.

If any of you set off fireworks on the sidewalk or driveway (if you have one) last night, you might wake up this morning to black powder and sulfur stains marring the concrete. Want to rid any concrete surface of them?

As we all probably know from experience at one time or another, it doesn’t take much for the kitchen to get away from you. Especially if you cook at home a lot, have a particularly small kitchen, or share the space with family or roommates; it’s a room that can definitely develop a mind of its own. Here are some of our best tips for reigning in the beast without becoming a slave to kitchen cleaning: Clean as you go. This is a big one that we had to include prominently in the title.

All rugs can use a good overall cleaning occasionally. But if you have a small stain or flaw that you want to address immediately without having the entire rug cleaned, spot cleaning is an important skill to have in your arsenal. Following are spot cleaning techniques for a few different scenarios: Get it while it’s wet. Once a stain dries, it’s much more difficult to remove.