At the grocery store, I’m the queen of store brands. I don’t have such discerning taste that the Publix-brand paprika or yogurt seems any lesser-tasting than the name brand on the shelf with a higher price on the label. (And you know that often the store brands are exactly the same as the name brand, right?) But there ARE times when I’m willing to splurge. It doesn’t only have to do with quality—although that’s certainly a part of it.

Bring back the glory days of your 1990s childhood in one fell swoop with this effective—but also really, really fun—way to clean. It starts with a few handy household ingredients, which become mixed into a substance similar to Nickelodeon Gak (remember that stuff?). You can use the resulting goop to reach crumbs in hard-to-clean crevices all around your home (plus your office and your car).

Beautiful cleaning supplies are so underrated. Just allow me to list for you a few of the perks of splurging (and some of these are certainly a splurge) on some seriously stylish tools. One, if you have limited storage, you should buy gorgeous brooms and brushes that are chic enough to leave out in the open on hooks in the entryway or on a shelf in the kitchen — I mean, these handmade beauties are practically art.

Moving in with your significant other isn’t all sunshine, rainbows and picking out throw pillows. It’s a struggle to learn to live together. Think about it: You’re two different people who grew up in different houses around different people, and you’re coming together under one roof for the first time—bringing with you two totally distinct sets of home habits.

Abbreviated summer hours are a great perk in any workplace; they offer you the chance to get out of the cubicle and kick off your weekend early to enjoy some of the great weather. Or—hear me out on this—you could take advantage of the extra free time on summer fridays to get a head start on housework.

Nobody likes to throw away money. Even though kitchen sponges are, like, 50¢ a piece, there are still some small, simple habits you can do to squeeze more mileage out of your most hardworking kitchen tool. Ta da! Instantly, your tools last twice as long. Chances are, a smaller sponge can still tackle all your normal use with finesse. In fact, it might make it easier to get into tight nooks. Get yourself a sponge holder that will keep your sponge upright and let air flow all around.

I grew up without a dishwasher in the house, so nobody really ever taught me how the whole thing was supposed to work. After a few years on my own in dishwasher-equipped apartments, I’ve got the big lessons down (it only takes one occurrence of covering your entire kitchen floor in 2-foot-deep suds to know that dish soap and dishwasher detergent are not the same thing). But there are lots of finer points of machine-washing life that even experienced homekeepers might not know.

There’s a reason they call cleaning up a “chore.” Nobody wants housekeeping to take up their whole weekend, so we all go looking for shortcuts to clean house in half the time. But here’s the truth: The secret to a speedy cleaning routine is just that – routine. You need to establish a system of rules that gets the work done not just quickly, but efficiently.