It’s easy to make new plants from existing plants by taking cuttings and transplanting them into soil to grow. When you want to grow a new plant from a cutting, one simple ingredient from your kitchen pantry can help: cinnamon. Cinnamon powder is just as effective as commercial rooting hormone powders and helps stimulate root growth in cuttings. Just dip your cutting in water, and then dip it in cinnamon. Plant the cutting in a pot of soil and watch it grow. The cinnamon is naturally antibacterial and will help fight off disease.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

If you have a little leftover uncooked oatmeal, why not sprinkle it in your garden to help give your plants a nutrition boost and keep pests away? This tip works with non-instant, unflavored, pure uncooked oats. Sprinkling oats around plants that are tasty to slugs and snails will give them an alternative treat; when they eat the oatmeal, it’ll expand in their stomach and naturally kill them. And any leftover oatmeal will break down and give your plants iron and help stimulate root growth. If your hands get sticky from sap when gardening, rub them with oatmeal; it’ll help absorb the stickiness and get your hands clean in a jiffy.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

An automatic thermostat is an easy upgrade to put in your home and one that pays for itself in very little time. When installing a thermostat, it’s location that’s the most important thing to consider. Because the thermostat regulates the temperature in your home when it senses if it's too hot or cold, avoid placing it near a bathroom door (where hot steam can escape), near a door that goes outside (letting in cold or warm air) or on window-filled walls where hot rays could shine directly on it. And never place it on an outdoor wall; it will always read the temperature as too cool or too hot and will never get your indoor temperature right.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION