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99-Cent Store Solution #1: Scuffed Countertops

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At HouseLogic, we love to find and share inexpensive solutions to household problems. Our five solutions this week—one a day—don’t even require a trip to your big-box home improvement store—not that we don’t love stocking up at Lowe’s or Home Depot. Instead, pay a call to your 99-cent store. Its aisles are crammed with the inexpensive (and multipurpose) wares to fix what’s ailing.

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Countertop scuff-removing tools

A crayon, a spatula knife, and a bowl are all you need to fix a countertop scratch. Image: Liz Foreman

Just watch out for the impulse to buy more than you intended at the 99-cent store. In all honesty, we couldn’t.

First up on the home repair list: Scuff marks on countertops.

If you’ve ever had a scuff mark on a colored countertop, you know that it sadly becomes the room’s focal point. But we found the right supplies to save you any embarrassment.

Supplies:

  • Crayons, 99 cents
  • Spatula knife, 99 cents
  • A microwave-safe bowl, 99 cents (If you have one you’re willing to sacrifice to melt crayons, you just saved another 99 cents.)

Total: $2.97. $3.96 if you throw in a weak lemonade-type drink.

What you do:

  • Pick the Crayon whose color comes closest to matching your countertop. Peel off the paper and place it in the bowl.
  • Pop the crayon and bowl in the microwave.
  • Pour the hot, melted crayon onto the scuff mark and work it into the indentation with the spatula knife.
  • Scrape off the excess with the spatula knife.

The Crayon mixture will harden and dry quickly, erasing your countertop flaw.

Tomorrow’s 99-cent store solution: Fix a torn screen.

What other inexpensive home fixes have you found or tried? What minor home repair job have you neglected because of lack of time?

harmonleon Harmon Leon

is a journalist, comedian, and filmmaker. His other stories have appeared in Esquire, Stuff, Salon, NPR’s, This American Life, Details, Maxim, Cosmopolitan, and Wired.

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