Decluttering old or useless junk might make you feel jubilant and free, but not everyone shares that mindset. Whether it's a ratty old recliner your spouse won't give up, an overabundance of cookware in the kitchen, or a collection of weird posters your roommate hung in your living room, there are ways to compromise when it's time for a thorough spring cleaning.

When you have a few guests over to an apartment, and you don't have a dedicated coat rack, coats usually go on the bed. But if it's wet out, and you have a nice bedspread, grab some hangers and have guests hang their coats from the shower curtain rod over the tub instead.

Dear Lifehacker, I consider myself a pretty organised person. The rest of my family? Not so much. It's not that we're totally out of control or anything, but with three kids, there are lots of activities, messes abound, and schoolwork is always a hassle. What can I do to get us all more organised and in sync with each other?

Most of us have a knife block in our kitchen, but not everyone has the knowledge of a master chef. When you need to peel, chop or serate something, it pays to use a knife that was designed for the task at hand. This graphic explains the proper use of the nine main types of kitchen knife, along with a few useful tips.

Some people have problems that require delicate advice from a qualified professional. Others just need a random a guy on the internet to kick 'em in the teeth with their blunt honesty. I'm the latter. Welcome back to Tough Love.

Is your home always stocked with the cushiest brand of tissues, toilet paper, paper towels and napkins? Good, stop reading. Everyone else: This is a remedial course in how to fill your home with paper hygiene products like an adult. I realised the importance of this course when discovering that several of my younger friends don't buy tissues. Before you send another guest to the bathroom to blow their nose, please read.

Getting kids out the door in the morning can go one of two ways: They wake up early and then dawdle, forcing a last-minute scramble, or they wake up late, forcing a last-minute scramble. I know very few people who get to school or day care on time and with serenity - maybe those folks who have a late start time and a short commute? But after a particularly spectacular late-fest in our household last week (late waking, breakfast eaten one crumb at a time, generic dawdling, forgotten backpacks), I decided to look around for some time-saving tips. Here are seven.

Your garbage smells bad. If you get one of those airtight lidded bins, your garbage only smells bad when you open it, releasing a wet rancid fog right into your face. The best fix is to separate your food waste and store it in the freezer. But unless you're composting that food waste, that's too much work. Instead - or also - add some essential oil.

Cleaning out your house is a monster job, physically and mentally. Every decision to toss something becomes a reckoning of your lifestyle. Even when you decide to get rid of a hat, a DVD or a vase, you have to decide whether to give it away, sell it or actually toss it. Today let's just focus on the easy decisions: The stuff you can actually throw away, recycle or (good for you!) compost.

You have problems, I have advice. This advice isn't sugar-coated - in fact, it's sugar-free, and may even be a little bitter. Welcome to Tough Love.

Many foods typically eaten around Christmas can be particularly troublesome if they happen to land on your clothes or tablecloth. PartSelect offers this holiday stain removal guide covering everything from gravy to sticky candy canes.

When you find a bit of mould on food, it might seem like it's OK to salvage some of it because the mould doesn't cover the whole thing. That seems like the logical step, right? It turns out that's not true for a lot of foods, like bread, because the mould can hide deep in the surface where you can't see it.

I'm gonna tell you a secret about picking your stuff up: It isn't any harder when you do it right away.

What do you do with pair of jeans that you could wear a couple more times? How about a tee that you donned for only an hour? A sweatshirt that isn't quite dirty enough to be laundered, but isn't pristine, either? These, as it turns out, are burning questions on Ask Metafilter and people have strong opinions.

People who calmly and happily do chores when they need to be done, you can stop reading now. Everyone else: ugh, I know, right?

You have problems, I have advice. This advice isn't sugar-coated - in fact, it's sugar-free, and may even be a little bitter. Welcome to Tough Love.

You're in bed, cosy and comfortable and ready to sleep -- then you hear it. A high-pitched buzzing. You swat it away and turn on your lamp, but it's too late. You've been bitten by a smooth mosquito. Here's how you find the bastard.

A while back I decided my apartment looked like a teenager lived there. Video games were front and centre, comic books were lying all over the place, and there were toys strewn about for no reason. So I made my place look a little more sleek, organised, and "grown up" - without sacrificing the things I loved.

At some point in your car's lifespan, you've probably considered having the interior and exterior professionally cleaned. If you're anything like me, you then looked at the quoted price tag and went "yeah, nah." Grime adds charm and character, right?

Well, it turns out you don't need to spend a fortune to make your car look good as new. As this handy infographic demonstrates, a little DIY can go a long way. All you need is a can of WD-40 and some junk lying around your house.