Adorable, lots of shapes and colors, slow-growing, and trendy as hell. Succulents are also extremely popular because they’re supposed to be easy to take care of, but lots of people who have taken the dive know that they are tricky — mainly for those who don’t live in the in their natural habitat: hot, sunny & dry.

I’m located in the US north-east. I have about a billion plants (that are mostly thriving) and two succulents that are kind of sad. Over the years I’ve had a LOT of succulents that were all kinds of sad, and usually died. Why?

Fancy store-bought chemical cleaning products didn’t hit the shelves until the 40s. Before then, people were cleaning their homes with basic & highly effective ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen.

Why should you start using those clean ingredients instead? Fun Fact: The Poison Control Hotline was a direct response to chemical cleaning products becoming widely available. Basically, store-bought chemical cleaning products are toxic, bad for your body, and dangerous to have in the house if you have small children. Not to mention, those single-use spray bottles are expensive and wasteful! But don’t worry, there’s a better way.

Building and repairing your own things is one of the most rewarding skills you can learn. Sometimes its as simple as fixing a crack in your favorite bowl, sometimes its as complicated as building a custom shelf for a strangely shaped corner. Either way, being able to do it yourself will make you more self-sufficient and confident, and give you a new sense of ownership over your belongings and your spaces. It all starts in one place: Your toolbox.

Making a toolbox can be overwhelming when you’re just starting out. There are a LOT of options out there, and its hard to know what you need and what you don’t. There are certainly pre-designed starter toolboxes you can buy, but they won’t necessarily have all of the essential things for the kind of thrifty DIY'ing that I find most useful. This is a breakdown of the essential tools with the most bang for your buck — and janky alternatives that can successfully replace them.