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Tips For Saving Your Paint Brushes

I have been doing a lot of painting lately and I will say I am pretty lazy when it comes to clean up and being lazy when painting can be costly! So I have been noting and pinning these techniques on how to clean paint brushes on Pinterest and thought I would share them with you fine people so maybe we can all save some cash.

First you must properly clean your brushes. Better Homes and Gardens suggest using a solution of 1/2 cup liquid fabric softener to 1 gallon of warm water for about 15 minutes.

How to clean paint brushes.

This tip suggest soaking them in vinegar for 30 minutes...

Love this tip (soak old paintbrush in hot vinegar for 30 minutes and good as new).

You should also thoroughly clean all the paint off of the brush by using an old golf club brush or a wide tooth comb. But be sure not to bend the bristles!

via familyhandyman.com

After you get them all clean, BH&G also suggests wrapping them in craft paper like so...

How to store paint brushes.

I'm not entirely sure why but my guess is to protect the bristles.

Another creative storage idea is to use a wire and hang them from the handle in an way so they won't get damaged.

Hang brushes on a rod or wire

Or by a magnetic strip...

Paint Brush Rack

Now let's see if I actually DO any of this stuff!

Fun Tip O' The Day: I once had a contractor tell me that if you are in the middle of painting but need to let the paint to dry overnight, you can freeze your paint brush. Then take the paint brush out the next day and let it thaw out and you can continue to use it. Now I have not tried it but I am dying to know if it works...has anyone out there tried this??? Let me know!

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