Life is full of tiny things: wedding rings, teeny-weenie parts of kids’ toys, screws, hair pins…..the list goes on and on. Ever lost any of these small things? Trying to find something microscopic in your home can feel like, well, finding a needle in a haystack.

I remember one time I lost my grandmother’s ring. I looked everywhere for it. I checked in the couch. I checked under the couch. I looked all over the floor. Nowhere. Then I looked at my trashcan and thought “Oh no….did it come off when I was peeling potatoes? Did I throw the ring away?”

Ugh. And so I started looking through my trash. The fun part? Still no ring. Frustrated, I went back to the couch, where my foot stepped on something sharp and hard. Yes, the ring was right where I was sure I looked before.

Just so you’ll never have to experience your own trash-diving fiasco, here’s one great tip to remember. If you’ve ever lost something tiny, just grab your vacuum and some pantyhose/tights. No, we’re not about to play “dress up the vacuum”! Trust me on this one.

Grab your vacuum’s hose attachment and slip it all the way into one of the legs of the tights. Once it’s on, secure it in place — you could wrap a hair tie or rubber band around it, or even just tie the tights onto the hose if you’re in a hurry.

Turn the vacuum on and aim the hose in the general direction of where you think the lost item is. If you think you lost it under the couch, for instance, just sweep the hose attachment back and forth underneath for a few minutes. Every so often, inspect the end of the hose to see if the lost item has been found. As long as you leave the vacuum running while you check, the lost item will cling to the tights.

The suction action of the vacuum helps pull the lost item back to recovery, but the tights keep it from being sucked all the way into the vacuum. Neat! We love the idea of hacking a basic cleaning tool to make it even more useful.

And the hose attachment makes this a great trick for finding things lost in tight places: underneath the couch, along floorboards, in vents, behind heavy furniture, and so on. You could even use the same technique with the crevice attachment to get into even tighter spots.

Keep this tip in your magic bag of cleaning tricks, and share it with your friends! This is definitely one of those cleaning hacks that everyone should know about. Inevitably, it will come in handy, and it just might save you a lot of headache (and potentially mess). What do you think about this neat trick?

Source:
Apartment Therapy