I finally tried the toothpaste trick for nail holes instead of spackle

My grandma always used toothpaste to fill small nail holes before painting, and I figured it was just an old wives' tale. Last month when I was patching up the living room wall after taking down some frames, I ran out of spackle. Decided to give her method a shot with plain white toothpaste. I pressed it into three holes, let it dry about 20 minutes, then sanded it smooth. Honestly it worked better than the store-bought stuff. No shrinking, no cracking, and it paints right over just fine. Has anyone else ditched spackle for toothpaste on small repairs?

2 comments

2 Comments

loganm521mo ago

Yo, that's awesome! Grandma knows best, right?

faith_torres831mo ago

You said "Grandma knows best" and that's true in a lot of ways, but here's something I don't see people talk about. That generation grew up with totally different ingredients and cooking methods. My grandma used lard and full-fat everything because that's what was normal back then. Now we're all scared of fats but she lived to 92 eating butter every day. Just saying, maybe the "grandma wisdom" we're missing isn't just about recipes, but about not overthinking food so much. Take it with a grain of salt though, your mileage may vary.