Tips For Making Life Around The House Easier

PICTURE HANGING MADE EASY

Isn’t it dreadful when you attempt a simple home improvement task like hanging a picture and it goes completely wrong? You struggle to perfectly center the hook, you work on measuring the wire on the back of the picture so that the height will be just right and when you go to hang it you just can’t find the tip of the hook. What’s that all about? How do you get the wire on the hook without becoming completely frustrated you ask? Well, the answer my friend “is not blowing in the wind”. Actually, it is in the pantry, which is exactly where you will need to go to find a straw. Yes, we said a straw! You can leave it whole or cut it in half depending on the size of the picture – the bigger the picture – the longer the straw. Place the straw over the end of the picture hook. It will extend the hook to a point above the picture frame where the angle and position of the hook cease to remain a secret. Isn’t it crazy how the simplest trick allows easy alignment and a smooth connection?!?

A HOMEMADE VACUUM SEALING DEVICE

If you watch TV at all you’ve probably seen one of those infomercials where they sell the latest and greatest vacuum seal machine. You know the one where you buy in quantity to save money and then take the big package home and distribute it into smaller “vacuum sealed freezer bags”. Well, they work and do accomplish exactly what the TV barker claims. And, they really are neat machines. But, when you consider the cost of the machine and the highly expensive storage bags that they want to sell to you, you can actually end up spending more than by purchasing smaller quantities – individually wrapped – directly from the butcher. Now don’t get us wrong. We are not against vacuum sealing anything from sweaters to food. But we are in favor of not wasting money – and here’s what we’ve discovered. Did you know that you already own a vacuum sealing machine and that you don’t have to go to the store to purchase anything? It really will amaze you how simple good old Yankee ingenuity really is once you read on. Think for a second. Ask yourself, “Do I own a food storage vacuum”? Of course you do! It’s more commonly known as a vacuum cleaner. And all you have to do to vacuum pack food, clothing, camping supplies or whatever is the following:

1. Put whatever you want to store into a good quality plastic (food or clothing) storage bag.
2. Place the mouth of the bag around the tip of your vacuum cleaner hose and turn on the vacuum.
3. When all of the air has been completely sucked out of the bag simply twist it several times, fold at the twist and use tape or a rubber band to maintain the bend.

Keep in mind that several twists followed by a fold in the twist and then tape or a rubber band will be all that’s needed to guarantee freshness and an air tight seal. Want to start your own in-house vacuum sealed product infomercial? Go get your vacuum cleaner!

BUNGEE CORDS – OH NUTS THEY’RE IN KNOTS

There is absolutely nothing more frustrating than going out the work shop to look for something and discovering that between that moment and the last time you were there someone managed to totally jumble everything you now need completely into a big glob of knots. String, rope, rubber bands and especially bungee cords – it happens to them all. Well, we have a solution for at least one of these problems. Pipe! That’s right we said pipe. It could even be tubing. We suggest a lighter material like plastic, but any kind of pipe will do. Cut the piece just a little longer the cords you want to store. Then all you have to do is hook the bungee to one end of the pipe, stretch it slightly and hook the bungee over the other end of the pipe. Cut as many pipes as you have bungee cords. And keep in mind that the diameter of the pipe can be whatever size you need.

By the way, string and twine are easy too. Cut the letter “H” out of a piece of cardboard, plastic or thin plywood. Wrap your string or twine around the center part (horizontal section) of the H. You will never have to fight with knots again. And, that’s all there is to it.

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