My kitchen junk drawer fought me every morning. Two hands on the handle, full-body yank, and it would lurch open like I was starting a lawnmower. I looked up drawer slide lubricant. It was twelve dollars for a tiny tube.

My grandmother happened to be visiting. She watched me struggle with the drawer exactly once, walked over, rubbed a bar of dry soap along the wooden runners, and fixed it in four seconds. A bar of soap is the cheapest, most effective drawer lubricant there is. I have not bought drawer slide lubricant since.

How the soap trick works

Pull the drawer all the way out. Look at the wooden runners — the rails on the sides of the drawer and inside the cabinet that the drawer slides on. Rub a dry bar of soap directly on the wood. Plain white bar soap works best. No need to wet it. The thin film of soap wax fills the microscopic rough spots on the wood and dramatically reduces friction.

Do both the drawer rails and the cabinet rails. One pass is usually enough. Push the drawer back in and slide it a few times to spread the soap evenly. It will glide like it’s on ball bearings.

This works on: wooden drawer slides, wooden window tracks, wooden door edges that stick, and even zippers. Yes, zippers — rub a bar of soap along a stuck zipper and it’ll free up immediately.

What about metal drawer slides?

If your drawers have metal ball-bearing slides — the modern kind — do not use soap. Soap can attract moisture and cause rust. For metal slides: use a dry silicone spray or white lithium grease. WD-40 is a temporary fix at best — it cleans but doesn’t lubricate long-term. A week later your drawer will be sticking again.

Actually, don’t use WD-40 for anything that needs lasting lubrication. WD stands for Water Displacement. It was designed to prevent rust on missile components. It’s a solvent and water displacer that happens to have light lubricating properties — but it evaporates. Use the right product for the job.

Other things soap fixes around the house

Sticky lock? Rub the key with bar soap and insert it — the soap lubricates the tumblers. Squeaky hinge? Soap shavings in the hinge pin, work it in, silent. Screw that won’t go into wood? Rub the threads on a bar of soap first — it cuts the friction by half.

My grandmother knew all of these. She never bought specialized products for things a bar of soap could do. When I told her drawer slide lubricant was twelve bucks, she looked at me like I’d told her I was buying bottled air.

• Wood drawers: Rub dry bar soap on runners — instant friction reduction
• Metal slides: Use silicone spray, not soap (soap attracts moisture)
• Also works on: Window tracks, stuck zippers, squeaky hinges, tough screws
• Avoid: WD-40 for lasting lubrication — it evaporates quickly