Handy Tips for Christmas Lights and Trees

Knee-Saving Watering Technique

To make tree watering easier, hang a funnel from a tree branch with a loop of clothes hanger. Then slip a plastic tube over the end of the funnel and run the tube along the trunk and into the water reservoir. To prevent overfilling, have one of the kids watch the water level or put a finger in the reservoir and tell you when it's full.

A voltage checker will identify and often times help you to fix most problems in miniature and icicle light sets

Hose Reel for Holiday Lights

To keep holiday lights from getting tangled and make it easy to string them around the yard, roll all the strings of lights onto a portable hose reel with wheels and a handle.

How to Pest-Proof Your House in 15 Minutes

Watching the leaves change is arguably the greatest pastime of fall. The worst? Dealing with unwanted house guests—rodents, cockroaches, stinkbugs, spiders, and other insects that are looking for a warm, cozy place to curl up for the winter. Opting for the chemical pest-control sprays at your local hardware store will only pollute your air, and could put you at risk for various types of cancer and nervous system problems. Also, they’re unnecessary. Most pests can be controlled with some do-it-yourself pest-control tricks that take less than 15 minutes and could actually save you money in the long run.
Got a few minutes? Here's what to do:
#1: Set out some sticky traps. It can take all of five minutes to set out glue traps, such as the Victor Poison-Free Insect Magnet.
What you'll trap: Anything that crawls—spiders, stinkbugs, roaches, ants, crickets, and silverfish.

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#2: Clean up your kitchen. Set aside 15 minutes of every day to wipe down your countertops with vinegar (vinegar removes odor trails left behind by foraging insects such as ants), put dirty dishes in your dishwasher, sweep your floors, mop up any spills, put away food, and empty your garbage, if needed. On grocery day, transfer any food that comes in a plastic bag from its original packaging to tightly sealed glass jars, particularly grains, rice, pet food, and nuts.
What you'll trap: Pests coming inside looking for a meal, from roaches and ants to rodents, as well as wasps and spiders, which feed on the insects coming indoors looking for food.
#3: Seal up their entry points. This project could take longer than 15 minutes, only because it involves a little bit of hunting. Insects and rodents will use even the tiniest hole to get inside your warm, cozy home, and a tube of low-VOC silicone caulk, which you can find at any hardware store, can be your best friend in sealing up those holes. Pay particular attention to window and door frames, the seal around your external dryer vent, anyplace where pipes enter or leave your home, and anywhere TV or cable wires come inside. Stuff some steel wool into larger holes, or cover them with wire mesh, before sealing them up. The good news? In sealing up all those pest entry points, you'll also be sealing up tiny air leaks that allow precious heat to escape your home during the winter.
What you’ll trap: Every pest that views your house as its new home.
#4: Install a door sweep. Another tool that keeps pests from entering your home and will save you energy this winter, a door sweep blocks the gap between the bottom of your door and the ground. You can buy one at any hardware store, and for a super-easy fix, buy the kind that simply sticks onto the door with an adhesive strip—no drilling needed.
What you’ll trap: As with caulk, every pest that views your house as its new home.
#5: Vacuum. It won’t be possible to seal up every hole or keep every critter from crawling indoors. That’s where a weekly vacuuming session comes in handy. You’ll suck up any crawling insects that make it indoors and trap them before they can get crushed and stink (stinkbugs) or leave stains (some varieties of ladybugs). Plus, if they’re gross—cockroaches—you can vacuum them up without having to squish anything.
What you’ll trap: All crawling insects.
#6: Clear the clutter. In addition to weekly vacuuming, spend 15 minutes a week clearing out piles of newspaper or junk mail and removing piles of clothing from your floors. All these things serve as nice, dark hiding places for insects.
What you’ll trap: Roaches, spiders, stinkbugs, and silverfish.
#7: Fix leaky faucets. Insects need water to survive, and the most common source for them is a drippy faucet. Fixing leaky faucets is a lot easier than you might think and, like sealing up cracks, it’s an insect-control measure that’s good for your wallet and for the planet.
What you’ll trap: Rodents, roaches, and spiders.

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Garage Safety and Storage Tips

For many Americans, garages are the most well worn entryway to their homes.  Besides the daily family traffic, the garage is also a place where we risk safety by mixing things together for storage that would never be found in the same place anywhere else in our home.  Toys and toxins are a dangerous combination but check any garage and you are likely to see just that:  toys, bikes, and balls stored within inches of insecticides, turpentine and gasoline.
It should be no surprise, then, that these same spaces can be the source of many injuries.  Here are the main sources of garage dangers and what you need to know to make your garage safe:
DANGEROUS DOORS - The overhead door is most likely the largest and heaviest door in your home.  It is also the cause of three types of injuries:

• Crushing - According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4 children a year are crushed by garage doors.  These doors, powered by automatic openers, come down and simply don't stop.  While garage door openers have been required to have automatic reversing mechanisms since 1982, these mechanisms can wear out or fail if not properly maintained.  To be safe, test your door's ability to reverse by placing a 2x4 under the door.  When the door hits the wood, it should reverse and go back up.  If it doesn't, replace it.  Also, if your opener is more than 5 years old, it is also a good idea to replace it.  Garage door openers are an important piece of safety equipment and it's just not worth taking a chance with an old one.
• Pinching - Most garage doors are made of 4-large, horizontal, panels on hinges.  Unfortunately, these door sections can pinch children's fingers and cause severe injuries.  The solution is a pinch-free door design, which effectively pushes a child's fingers out of the way as the door closes.
• Flying Springs - Most garage doors are powered by very large, heavy, springs that provide the extra strength to lift the door.  The problem is that eventually, these springs WILL break.  When this happens, they'll fly off the door and across the room, potentially injuring anyone in their path.  The solution is a simple do-it-yourself safety trick.  When the door is in the closed position, thread a wire (picture hanging wire works well) inside the extended spring and secure it to the eyelet at each end.  With the wire in place, a broken spring will have no where to fly except safely back on the wire itself.

UNSAFE STORAGE - Playthings and poisons are a bad combination.  To keep your family safe, be sure to store dangerous chemicals out of the reach of children, or better yet, in a locked cabinet.  Also, be sure to keep chemicals in their original container with the labels in good condition.  Never purchase chemicals in quantities more than you will use in a reasonable period of time.  While it might make sense to buy a case of canned vegetables at the local supermarket warehouse, having to store leftovers from a 6-pack of ant poison isn't worth the risk.
Storing combustibles like gasoline, propane and kerosene is also something that needs careful planning.  These fuels must be stored in containers designed especially for them.  Gasoline cans, for example, have special vents to avoid the dangerous build up of combustible fumes.  Storing gas in anything else is an explosion waiting to happen.
Finally, common, everyday products like ladders and lawn tools can be unsafe if not stored correctly.  Ladders, for example should always be stored in a horizontal position so that children can not climb on them and tumble over.  Rakes, hedge trimmers and shovels left on the garage floor or leaning against a wall can easily fall under foot and cause injuries.  To be safe, use wall space and get as many of your tools off the floor as possible.
ELECTRICAL SAFETY - Electricity and water don't mix but this dangerous combination can easily happen in a garage.  To be safe, all garage circuits should be protected with a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter).  While regular circuit breakers are designed to prevent wires from overheating and causing a fire, a GFCI breaker is specifically designed to prevent shocks. A GFCI can be installed at an outlet or in the main circuit breaker panel and works to prevent a shock.
Secondly, most garages are not properly lit.  Fluorescent lamps tend to dim in colder weather and most garages simply don't have enough fixtures to help you see your way clear of storage and other hazards.  To avoid trouble, make sure that all garage outlets are protected by GFCI's and add additional lights as needed to see your way to safety.
SAFE STRUCTURES - Building codes require that garages be constructed to protect the rest of the home from fire damage should they become engaged in flame.  For the most part this is accomplished by what is known as the fire wall, a wall-assembly constructed to keep fire at bay by the use of fire resistant drywall and other similar tactics.  Unfortunately, older homes may not have a firewall and even modern homes may have had their firewalls rendered ineffective.  For example, in an effort to make use of every available space, many families install an attic stairs in the ceiling of the garage.  Unfortunately, doing so creates a hole in the fire wall and a short cut for fire to take out your entire home.  To ensure safety, make sure all walls and ceilings between your garage and your house are constructed with at least 5/8ths inch thick drywall and that any attic stairs are covered with sheet metal for fire resistance.
Finally, make sure your garage has a fire extinguisher rated A-B-C.   This means the extinguisher can handle all types of fires, including fires from wood and paper, electrical and gasoline or grease.
GREASY RAGS MUST GO - Old towels or t-shirts might make convenient rags to have in a garage, but when they become soiled with grease, oil, gasoline or any other flammable materials, they must be tossed.  These rags are nothing more than kindling that, with the right ignition source, can become the fireball that destroys your house.
Never try and wash rags like these.  The petroleum will leach into your washing machine and leave your next load of laundry smelling like yesterday's lawn mowing session.  Also, placing any rag that has contained a flammable substance into a hot dryer is extremely dangerous. Rags are cheap.  Always toss them and find new ones for your next project.
Garage safety is not hard to achieve.  The key is to get storage organized so that unsafe situations never have the chance to develop. For help with your projects