Sometimes the old ways are the best – after all, the tried-and-tested methods your grandparents swore by have been getting the job done for generations.

From natural cleaning recipes to money-saving ideas to make your supplies stretch further, click or scroll on to take a look at these age-old household hacks that will make your home sparkle and run like clockwork.

With a fierce 'make do and mend spirit', Grandma always swore by home remedies. If your best knits are suffering from moth holes, make like Grandma and create your own repellant.

Simply place dried bay leaves or lavender into a small cloth bag and hang them in your wardrobe or put them in your clothes drawers to keep the critters at bay. You can also use rosemary or thyme if you prefer those scents.

Grandma always kept a tidy linen closet with everything in its place. Make changing the bed sheets a breeze with this handy tip: simply place the folded duvet cover inside its matching pillowcase and fold. Next time it comes to changing beds there will be no searching for a matching set.

Another handy pillowcase hack is to place knitted jumpers inside a pillowcase to keep them safe from moths and dust. It will offer protection for your prized knits while still allowing the fabric to breathe. Clever!

Flowers don't always arrive in tip-top condition so if they are looking a little drab, this hack will be sure to revive them.

Plunge your blooms into hot water to bring them back to life, making sure to move the flower heads out of the way of any steam. After the water has cooled, trim the stems as normal and pop them in a vase in some fresh cold water. 

It can be hard to pull out long nails that have been driven deep into thick wood without this handy trick. Placing a small block of wood underneath your hammer or carpenter's pincers will give you extra leverage to pull out the long nail without losing grip. 

Notoriously hard to clean, the inside of bottles can be rinsed out with a mixture of sand and water. After a good shake, the abrasive combination will clean out all those hard-to-reach corners. Just make sure to properly rinse out the bottle afterward and leave it to air dry. 

Stacking glasses is perfect for saving space, however, when they get stuck they can be in danger of breaking. The easiest old-school way to remedy this is by filling the upper glass with ice-cold water and plunging the lower glass into warm water. With a slight nudge, they should come apart easily.

While a dustpan and brush will sweep up larger shards of glass, to get rid of all the tiny unseen bits, there are a few effective things you can use, as shown here by YouTuber Laura Morey.

Try using children's play dough, a piece of bread or even a damp cloth. Simply dab your chosen material on top of the small splinters so they adhere to the surface and then throw the used material away. Your floor will be clean and safe to walk on.

Keep on top of housework with a schedule that follows the seasons. Include daily tasks such as making beds, then add in weekly chores such as changing bed linen, monthly jobs such as washing windows and finally seasonal projects such as curtain laundering.

Grandma probably made her own but you can find plenty of templates online, from daily checklists to decluttering plans. Thanks, internet.  

Grandma always told us we should make our bed as soon as we rise to get a jump on the day and we now know this to be true.

But did you know that turning down your blankets to air the sheets reduces bacteria in the bed? Also, open your bedroom windows at least once a week – it really does help clean out dust and germs.

Remembering our grandparent’s spick and span house, it almost seems miraculous. How did they keep it so neat? The truth is, you can’t tidy clutter because there’s no real place to put it.

Try and have a monthly clear-out to avoid things building up. If there's no space for something, ask yourself if you really need it or if a redundant item can be thrown out to make space for it. 

This orderly utility set-up from Garden Trading keeps only the essentials within arm's reach. 

Our grandma used to say: "look after the corners and the room will look after itself", which strikes us as profoundly accurate now that we’ve got our own home.

Corners are often problem areas where we throw things that we don’t know where to put. Try adding one storage basket for random items and go through it when it gets full and put everything away or donate it to charity.

In this scheme, a beautiful rug from Alternative Flooring anchors the space, while a strategically placed wicker basket in the corner helps keep clutter at bay.

Our grandma would use any excuse to rearrange the furniture – so much so that our grandad would often whack his shins on a newly positioned coffee table – and now we can really see the benefit.

As well as shaking things up if your home is feeling a bit tired, you can experiment with where to place furniture to get the optimum layout. You can even swap whole rooms around to see if they function more efficiently.

Waste is the ultimate sin according to Grandma and one way to keep on top of it is to know what's in your pantry. Check what you have before you buy extra and try to use up what you’ve bought before you get more.

Our gran also had her cupboard organised with little baskets like this nifty stackable storage system from A Place For Everything. It’s an absolute game-changer.

Look under your grandma's kitchen or utility room sink; we bet all her cleaning products are organised in a caddy. It's a simple storage solution that makes household tasks quicker and easier.

Opt for a design with a handle like this Garden Trading caddy and use it to carry staple products like polish, antibacterial spray, cloths, rubber gloves and window cleaner about the house. Trust Gran – your cleaning jobs will take much less effort with a cleaning caddy. 

Ceiling fans collect dust quickly. Stop blades from throwing particles around the room by cleaning them weekly with an old pillowcase.

Slide the open end of a clean pillowcase over the paddle, press down and then slide back, keeping all the dust inside the pillowcase as you remove it. 

Vinegar and salt work very well on brass that's seen better days. In the book The Miracle of Vinegar, authors Aggie Mackenzie and Emma Marsden suggest cleaning brass by rubbing it with a damp cloth soaked in any type of vinegar and sprinkled with salt. The metal will instantly take on its original lovely shine. Rinse and buff dry with a soft cotton cloth to finish.   

After cleaning windows with your usual cleaning product or a diluted white vinegar solution, use an old sheet of newspaper to wipe away streaks on the window pane glass. The paper and ink act as a light abrasive when you wipe in a circular motion and the results are flawless.

Want to renew the steel soleplate on your iron? Here's a simple time-tested hack to revive your iron with a couple of simple household items.

Place a plain piece of A4 paper on your ironing board and sprinkle it generously with salt. Run a warm iron over the paper a few times, then unplug and leave it to cool down. Once cold, you should be able to easily wipe away the salt and grime. 

Almost every 1950s housework book advises washing walls from the bottom up. This is because if cleaning solution runs down the wall it is less likely to cause permanent streaks on a clean surface than a dirty one.

However, if you make sure your cleaning solution is sparingly applied and dribbles are wiped as soon as they appear streaks should be minimal. 

Give your stainless steel kitchen appliances, pots and pans a professional streak-free shine with regular baby oil. First clean items with dish soap and water along the grain to get rid of watermarks and stubborn food spills. Then polish up with baby oil for a gleam that would impress a chef. ​

Good quality vegetable oil does the job too and is safe for anything you might want to cook with.

Pictured here, YouTuber turns out im kevin shared his brilliant tips for removing tarnishing from silver.

Combine one tablespoon of salt, one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda and a little warm water in a glass container lined with aluminium foil. Place your silverware or jewellery into the container and a simple chemical process cleans away the tarnish. No need to scrub, just gently rinse the items in clean water and polish them with a soft cloth.

Odd socks are a laundry day dilemma. So, here's a new purpose for the lonely 'soles'. Pop them on like mittens to transform them into a practical dust buster.

They apparently also make especially good Venetian blind cleaners – tilt slats to a fully closed position and wipe across them or open fully and run the sock gently in between the slats. 

Another bicarbonate of soda household trick is to use it to refresh carpets. Apply liberally in piles when removing both greasy and non-greasy stains.

Or to eliminate odours simply sprinkle the powder over carpets and rugs in the evening and leave it overnight. In the morning when you vacuum the area, you’ll find it smells fresh and odour-free.

Vanish carpet dents left by heavy furniture with ordinary ice cubes. Lay the cubes on the affected area and leave them to melt. Blot any excess water and repeat if necessary. Then when the fibres are all back in shape and the area is dry, you can vacuum the carpet normally.  

Lemon is a natural cleaner and deodoriser. It cuts through grease leaving a refreshing citrus scent. Cut one in half and rub it over a wooden chopping board, leave for a few minutes, then rinse and blot dry. It will neutralise those lingering onion and garlic smells.

You can also leave half a lemon in the fridge to keep it smelling fresh.

Grandma knew a thing or two about natural cleaning products and air fresheners. If you’re keen to avoid chemical-laden air fresheners and plug-ins, why not try this tip from Shirley from Louisiana: "Before I invite guests over, I boil a small pot of water and I add a few drops of vanilla extract to it. Sometimes I add orange peels. I leave this on the oven for a few minutes to get my entire home smelling good." 

Cola has been around for decades and thanks to its powerful cleaning properties, you can use it to help remove grease from your pots and pans.

If you have baked-on food in a pot or saucepan, add a can of cola to it and place it on the hob on a low heat. Leave it for 30 minutes or an hour if it’s really baked on, then remove from the heat. Use a scouring pad or sponge to scrub away the grime. 

Give your laundry and soft furnishings a natural and refreshing scent with a homemade linen and room spray. Use rubbing alcohol, vodka or natural skin toner as a base and add essential oils as desired. Dilute with distilled water to keep fabrics free from marks.

You could add a squeeze of lemon, lime or orange juice for a fruity aroma – you can also use the peel – or place sprigs of your favourite botanicals in the bottle, such as rosemary or eucalyptus. For a rich, warming scent, you can even use whole coffee beans. 

Drying clothes outside is cheap, eco-friendly and gives laundry a fresh clean smell better than any fabric softener. But did you know that sunlight is a great natural whitener and brightener too? For an extra boost, spritz stains with a mixture of lemon juice and water before washing. 

Changing bed linen doesn't need to be a dreaded chore. Once you've put two duvet corners into the cover keep them in place with pegs and then pull the rest of the fabric down into place. It's that easy!

Use traditional wooden clothes pegs like your grandma or go for discreet quilt cover clips, which can be kept in place while sleeping too. 

Keep underwear and delicates in a bag when washing and you'll never be left with odd socks again. This will also protect your washing machine from loose bra wires, beads and sequins, which could break the machine. 

Bicarbonate of soda is a non-toxic cleaning staple that works wonders on almost any cleaning task.

To make your washing machine as good as new, mix the powder into a paste with water. Then clean the inside of the drum, plastic rim and drawer to remove slime and grime. Finally, mix a new batch with white or clear vinegar and pour it into your detergent drawer, then run a hot cycle to thoroughly refresh the internal pipes.  

Teach your pets to stay away from furniture by mixing a homemade chew barrier. Cats and dogs do not like the smell or bitter taste of vinegar so will hopefully be repelled.

Try this recipe that costs just pennies to make: mix up one part vinegar with two parts apple cider vinegar. Simply, water it down for a milder spray. 

Crochet pads and cloths are sustainable and make a great yarn project for beginners. The texture of the crochet stitches is ideal for cleaning delicate surfaces without leaving scratch marks. Plus the pads can be washed and reused again and again.

Dried lavender has been used for centuries to add scent to homes but did you know it also repels moths, fleas, mosquitos and even scorpions?

Place lavender bouquets or linen pouches filled with dried buds on windowsills to keep those unwanted creepy crawlies outside. 

Here's a thrifty tip: make cleaning sponges last twice as long by cutting each one in half before use. Not only will this keep costs down but it's also better for the environment and the smaller sizes will help reach into awkward angles and corners.

To increase longevity further, pop them in the dishwasher to sterilise.

Whether it's made of polyester, a nylon cotton blend or linen, a long wet shower curtain stuck to the bath in a warm environment will breed bacteria and mould.

To eliminate the problem and increase the lifespan of your shower curtain, cut and hem the fabric so it falls a few centimetres into the bath or shower tray. Genius!

Make sure your houseplants are getting the water they need with a consistent watering system that keeps the soil moist even when you are away from home.

Feed a shoelace or piece of yarn – known as a wick – into a potted plant's soil and submerge the other end in water. Water will flow up the wick to water the plant with just the right amount of moisture. This is what's known scientifically as a 'capillary action'. 

It sounds impossible but it really works. Fold aluminium foil lengthwise several times to create a thick folded strip. Working along the length, cut the foil with a full cut so the entire blade is sharpened. Repeat several times and test the sharpness by snipping a piece of paper. 

Grandma had a few tricks up her sleeve when it came to using aluminium foil – this one helps keep the home cosy.

While you can buy radiator reflectors to reduce heat loss from your radiators, a cost-savvy method is to put a sheet of tinfoil behind the radiator to reflect radiant heat away from the wall. The foil will bounce heat back into the room and help reduce energy costs. Clever!

Loved this? Take a look at more ingenious home hacks and tips