Q: Might be a silly question, but when a box of baking powder used for freshening the fridge has expired, can it still be used as a scouring powder? Or has it expired altogether?

Sent by Cynthia More

I'll admit it. I'm not a super neat person. It's not that I'm a slob but I can definitely handle a little more disarray than most people. But no matter what, when I go to bed at night I know one thing for sure will never greet me in the morning: a pile of dirty dishes. That's because over the years I've learned to make doing the dishes as pleasurable as possible. My current method has just two elements: really nice dish soap and a favorite podcast. More

Calling anything related to cleaning my "favorite" is a bit of a stretch. That said, I'd be absolutely lost without a few of these non-abrasive scrubbing pads beneath my sink. More

Cheese graters, small jars, juicer parts, sink fixtures ... when it comes time to clean all these and more, I reach for a toothbrush. More

My bench scraper is my go-to kitchen tool. It makes all my baking blunders, stuck-on dough, or boiled-over sauces disappear in an instant. But what I didn't realize is that using it before I clean instead of after saves me tons of time and money! More

OXO Good Grips Flexible Vegetable Brush

• $7.05
• Amazon

Fall vegetables tend to be especially dirty; they come out of the ground with wet October mud and grit all over them. So a good vegetable brush is very helpful for cooking in this season. This simple brush from OXO gets rave reviews from its fans. It's not as pretty as a wood-handled brush, but it's more practical, since the whole thing can be thrown in the dishwasher for easy cleaning.

Measures 5 by 2-3/4 by 2-1/4 inches. More