4/19/12

On a warm, sunny day, use the sun's rays to disinfect and deodorize your mattress. Completely strip the bed, open the bedroom windows and let the sun's rays pour onto the mattress. The ultraviolet light will help clean the bed. While you're at it, vacuum the top, sides and bottom of the mattress to collect dust, pollen and dander. And wash the mattress cover in hot water to sanitize it as well. That night, you'll have a fresh, clean mattress that will be almost as good as new.

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.