Month: December 2020

As Good Housekeeping’s senior home editor, I come across tons of home-related products, both good and bad. But there are some special finds that are just too great to keep to myself. That’s why I’m sharing my favorite home items with you — our readers — here on our website every month in the hope that you’ll appreciate them as much as I do.

Lately, I’ve found myself craving moments of self-care and searching for a few simple accessories to make the various spaces throughout my home more inviting. Between last-minute holiday gift shopping and reflecting on the many challenges that arose this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, I’m ready to discover a new sense of comfort in my home. Here’s a peek at the home products I have my eyes on at the moment, including a relaxing aromatherapy diffuser, chic dinnerware and a personalized charcuterie board.

Keeping my closet organized has never been easy. Between having a significant wardrobe and struggling to find enough room for my ever-growing makeup collection, I’ve never managed to assemble a closet that made getting ready a breeze. As much as I tried, on any given day, I’d find myself hunting for a top buried at the back of my closet or searching endlessly for that one backup of a face cream I swear by. To say I grew tired of the disarray was an understatement.

When Yelp offered to help me find a professional organizer and cover the cost of a closet refresh, it felt like Christmas came early. On top of that, the company paired me with New York-based organizer Jeni Aron, founder of Clutter Cowgirl, and I couldn’t have asked for a better match.

Keep in mind if I was searching for an organizer on Yelp.com on my own, I would simply click the “Request a Quote” feature on the site. After answering a few basic questions about the organizing project, you receive quotes from up to 10 different professional organizers in just minutes. And the best part is Yelp

We’ve all been there before, with the daunting, sticky kitchen messes: cinnamon roll residue on a baking sheet, melted cheese “glued” to a casserole dish, burnt bits of rice fused to the bottom of a pot—not to mention that lingering layer of grease or food film you feel but can’t even see.

Even with a dishwasher on your side, cleaning ultra-dirty dishes is a huge pain when you’re not sure how to tackle them—but if you’re armed with the right products and some smart strategies, it can be a breeze. These five fast fixes will have you cleaning, scrubbing, and scouring like a pro.

Give it a good soak

If you don’t happen to have a dishwasher, this easy method takes some time but calls for hardly any elbow grease. First, scrape away whatever debris you can with a plastic spatula or brush. Then, place your gunky baking pan in the sink, fill it with hot water and add a few drops of dishwashing liquid. Then top it off with a dryer sheet (yes, really!) and let the pan sit like this for one hour. When the 60 minutes are up, wipe the pan all over with the dryer