Tips. Everyone has one 'sure fire' tip for just about everything. Mine is always have plenty of white vinegar, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar on hand. And maybe a few extra bottles of conditioner if you've got a school age daughter.

I use a rotating mixture of white vinegar/water or lemon juice/water to clean just about everything in my house. Windows, floors, toilet, tub, kitchen sink, even wood floors can be safely cleaned with vinegar or lemon juice (disclaimer: I've never used lemon juice on a wood floor, so I'd suggest a spot treatment before hand)

Apple cider vinegar is great if you've got a dog, or if you have long hair. I rinse my dog after her bath with a half-half mix of ACV and water. I put two teaspoons of ACV in her water bowl each morning in the summer time to add some "punch" to her flea repellents. (She's eighty pounds, so ask your vet if you do this trick, your dog(s) probably won't need as much).
When I know that I won't be washing my hair every day (weekends, camping, road trip) I will take a quart of water (I use plain tap water), add two tablespoons ACV, and give my hair a second rinse with that after I rinse out conditioner.

Children get lice. It's like the flu when school starts, it just passes around from child to child. What people don't tell you is that lice are now becoming like a 'superbug' and they're not responding to OTC or even prescription treatments anymore. Because we've been slapping those little buggers with the strongest things we've got, they've gotten used to them.
A friend of mine, whose three daughters all got lice at once and those same said girls gave it to Mom, and all four of them have hair as curly as Orphan Annie's, she needed a cure like Blue needs a clue. Behold! The cheapest, biggest bottle of conditioner you can find! Use one bottle per head, let soak for a few hours. (She said three, she just stuck everyone in pretty little shower caps and they went about their day). After soaking in the conditioner a few hours, strip everyone down, hop in the shower (but don't actually shower yet), and using a nit comb, comb out their hair. (While you're doing that, someone should be washing all the laundry, or sticking everything in a deep freezer to freeze dry those little fuckers). The conditioner makes the hair and scalp too slippery for the parasites to cling to, thus they come right off on the comb.

I also say make your own laundry soap instead of buying it from a store, but that's a personal opinion.