4/18/12

Tired of squirrels or raccoons raiding the bird feeder or digging through the recycling bin for food scraps? Try this simple trick: sprinkle in red pepper flakes. Rodents hate the taste of the peppers and will quickly learn to avoid stealing the food. Birds can't detect the flavor and will love to devour it up. Sprinkling red pepper flakes throughout your recycling bin stops animals from rummaging. It's a great, natural deterrent, and it doesn't hurt the animals that ingest it. It really works!

4/17/12

Avoid the temptation to "top off" at the gas pump. When filling up, allow the machine to shut off automatically when it's full -- you'll hear a click, and the nozzle will stop pumping gas. Adding more gas wastes money because gasoline is often fed back into the tank via a vapor-recovery system, which prevents gas from escaping. So that extra bit isn't going to get your car any farther down the road. When the tank's full, stop filling up.

4/16/12

Many of us fill bags with unwanted clothes and drop them off at Goodwill as a way to help the charity, clean out the closets and feel good. While we may forgo the receipt for tax-deduction purposes because it can be laborious itemizing every single item donated, consider getting a receipt when donating larger items. Furniture, artwork and major electronics all retain value when donated, so research the estimated retail value and place a sticky note on each item you donate. You'll be able to deduct around 30 percent of that value from your taxes.