With Thanksgiving on our doorstep, the idea of pulling down the holiday decorations is looming in the air. I always unpack my wreaths and they look a little sad.

After a fluff and a brush off, they always hold a little dust from the year before. Then there's a mental dilemma: Leave it as is and hope my mother doesn't mention it or spend an hour with a pastry brush and take the time to dust it off. Here's a quick trick to clean them without minimal effort that will work every time and best of all in seconds!

The fine folks over at Real Simple are at it again with another easy trick that feels like we should have known it our entire lives. You start with a brown paper bag, add 1/4 cup of salt, fold the top over and shake.

The salt will clean off all the dust that can get stuck down inside faux foliage and pine cones. Use caution with breakable glass ornaments, or use a finer grade of salt (like table salt instead of Kosher salt) to help reduce the chance of breakage.

Image: James Baigrie for Real Simple