No matter what you do for a living, cleaning around the house can get expensive.

There seems to be a chemical cleaner for every mess around the house. Windex for the windows, Pledge for the dust, Simple Green for the counters, etc.. These cleaning solutions really start making a dent in the old pocket book. The "solution" to the problem is to identify the many uses of common household items that most every household will have in their pantry. Here are five cleaning hacks that are safe, cheap, and thoughtful.

1. Stop the squeak in floors...with baby powder.
         That's right, just identify the squeaky floor-boards, and sweep talcum powder in the cracks. The powder will compress and keep the floor-boards from grinding and squeaking. College students will love this hack, and so will the people who try sneaking to the kitchen for a midnight snack.

2. Easily clean your shower, and wash your worries down the drain!
      Many people prefer to stay away from harsh cleaners like bleach, because it tends to singe your nose hairs. It is important to stay on top of cleaning the shower, especially for college dudes. Simply fill the soap wand with dish soap and vinegar and get to scrubbing! 

3. Finally, a cure for FODC (Fear Of Dirty Couch).
     At a microscopic level, It's an easy guess that your couch is pretty dirty. Without drenching your couch in a water-based solution, there really aren't many other methods for cleaning a couch, or is there. "Baking Soda acts a cleaning agent because it is a mild alkali," which means that if you sprinkle a bunch of baking soda on a couch cushion, let it sit for about 30 minutes, and finally vacuum it all up, the couch will be clean.