The Cheapest Thing in Your House Is the Thing You Already Own

I have developed a household rule that has saved me a ridiculous amount of money over the years: Before I replace anything, it gets one last chance to redeem itself.

The vacuum gets an examination. The cloudy glass gets vinegar. The sluggish shower head gets an intervention.

Only after reasonable attempts at rehabilitation have failed do I pronounce the patient deceased and start shopping.

We’ve developed something of a replacement reflex. An item stops looking or performing the way it once did, and our brains leap immediately to: I need a new one.

Sometimes we do. But often what we really need is 15 minutes and the willingness to figure out what’s wrong.

Consider cloudy drinking glasses.

Before you replace them, find out whether you’re looking at permanent etching or simply mineral buildup from hard water. Here’s an easy test: Soak one cloudy glass in white vinegar for five minutes, then wash and dry it. If the cloudiness disappears or improves dramatically, you’ve found the culprit. Give the rest the same treatment.

Next patient: the shower head that has gone from an invigorating spray to something resembling a light drizzle.

Those little openings can become clogged with mineral deposits. Remove the showerhead if it’s easy to do, and soak it in white vinegar. Use an old toothbrush to loosen remaining deposits, and a toothpick to carefully clear stubborn openings. Rinse well and reinstall. Congratulations. You may have just purchased a new shower head for $0.

Dingy towels deserve a reprieve too.

Before deciding they’ve reached the end of their useful lives, consider how you’re washing them. More detergent does not produce cleaner laundry. Too much can leave residue behind, and fabric softener can coat towel fibers, reducing absorbency.

Wash towels in the hottest water on the longest was cycle — no detergent, softener or any other product. If detergent buildup is severe, you have a situation requiring a fairly easy process known as “laundry stripping.” Sometimes the problem isn’t that your towels are worn out. They’re simply wearing too much laundry product, which encourages bacteria as it turns things dingy gray.

Wood furniture is another category where we can be awfully quick to pronounce a death sentence.

A small scratch does not necessarily mean a table needs refinishing, much less replacing. Furniture touch-up markers and wax repair sticks made for wood finishes can make minor scratches far less noticeable. Always test any product in an inconspicuous spot first. We’re attempting a rescue here, not creating a larger emergency.

And then we come to the vacuum cleaner.

Poor thing. It gets accused of being worn out when quite often it is simply constipated.

Before replacing a vacuum that has lost suction, empty the canister or replace the bag. Clean or replace filters according to the manufacturer’s directions. Check the hose for blockages. Turn the machine over and inspect the brush roll for hair, thread and string wound around it.

Then follow the airflow path looking for the obstruction that has turned your formerly powerful vacuum into an expensive noise machine.

Not that everything can or should be repaired forever. There comes a time when appliances wear out, towels become threadbare, and furniture reaches the point where no marker on earth can save it. The trick is knowing the difference between worn out and temporarily misbehaving.

And here’s something we often forget: Replacing an item costs more than money.

First, you research. Then you compare. You read reviews. You shop or order. You wait for delivery. You unpack the new item, figure out what to do with the old one, and, if it’s an appliance, spend 45 minutes trying to understand why the manufacturer apparently hired an escape-room designer to write the instruction manual.

Sometimes fixing what you already own is faster than replacing it. So before you toss something because it has become cloudy, sluggish, dingy, scratched or weak, give it one last chance.

Clean it. Unclog it. Adjust it. Repair it.

You might discover that the cheapest replacement available is no replacement at all.