Pete & Jay's Tip O Da "Day"

To make up for lost time, here are 10 Tips in one handy 2 minute video:

Walking into any appliance dealer and you will see rows and rows of fridges, dishwashers, dryers, and ranges. The first step when buying kitchen appliances is not to be distracted by the big ol TVs. You're here for the kitchen, and no you don't need a 56" plasma in the kitchen. What you do need is stuff to cook, cool and/or clean your food and dishes. It can be a daunting process, so that is why you need to enter Appliances R Us with a plan. The first step is determine what you need. You can literally spend anywhere from $300 to $3,000 on a single appliance. So the best thing to do is to determine what you need and want in an appliance. If your stove is broken, you probably need a stove that works. Any other amenities you want? In the next few days we'll be talking about specific things to look for in the different appliances, but you probably already have a pretty good reason why you're buying new appliances. So list want you like and don't like about one'...

I don't care how much of a neat freak you are, we all leave clutter around the house from time to time. You set your keys down on the table, the mail on the couch, the DVD you just watched on top of the TV, your jacket on the back of the chair. No big deal. Until, like me, you realize there is a trail of your personal effects in every spot you've been in the house. To declutter the little things that accumulate over time, I tried having lofty goals. "Oh, I'll just make sure I always put the mail in this nice little bin out of the way." Or, "I'll always put my shoes over there." Well, it works for a day. And before you know it, it's far too hard to organize your life. Most clutter consists of items we use and rearrange every day. Clothes, toiletries, papers, shoes. Things that aren't used daily can easily be organized into closets, pantries, etc. But your everyday items have to be easily accessible if they're going to stay organized. What ...

Round numbers can cost you money. If your bidding on a website or selling your house, people are less likely to haggle if you don't use round numbers. That's why Wal-Mart's $2.74 feels like they cut the price by as much as they can because it's not $2.99

The attic is a great place to keep things out of the way when you are not going to need them for a while, like Christmas lights. But it is not a good place to keep things that will melt, like Christmas candles. There is one advantage to keeping them in a warm place all year, you'll have a truly unique decoration! Thanks Jen and my co-works

If you're considering how many dogs to keep in your pack, consider this. One dog is fine. Two dogs is a bit more work. Five dogs is too many.

Good old Bob Vila (ok, one of his minions) tells you how to get your sink drain unclogged in this little video .

If you are a teacher/student and choose not to work in the summer, here are some productive things you can do to occupy your time: Clean the Microwave Scrape paint off the front door Exercise Knit a dish rag Paint your bathroom And here are some fun things you can do: Meet friends for lunch Read a book Shopping Watch a movie Take a trip

While at Asbury, I learned a few things about rats. Basically, they're neophobic , crafty and supposedly like peanut butter. But, I learned something recently that may be helpful in catching an innocent little mousey running around your housey. I've developed the perfect bait cocktail to nearly guarantee the catch of this unwanted critter. Critter Control suggests using peanut butter to bait the trap, but with the Asbury Rat Endemic of 2005, we found this seldom worked. I knew that mice traditionally liked cheese, so figured, why not make a sticky cocktail of peanut butter AND cheese. Works like a charm. I won't go into the gory details!

I recently received in my inbox a list of 50 things you can do to help take care of our world and save some money in the meantime. That email was titled "Going Green" although my husband would rather emphasize the fact that it saves you money, rather than worry about the possibility that he accidentally married a liberal. Some of the suggestions were easier than others. For example, I don't currently have $8500 for a solar water heater, even if it will pay for itself in six years. Sooo, that one's not likely to happen. My condensed list of "so easy it's stupid" things we can all be doing, will follow over the next few days. 1. Update your lighting Make it a policy to buy energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs. You can now get a variety of shapes and perfectly match the color hue and lighting for each room. They look good and use at least two-thirds less power than regular lighting. 2. Wall Warts Those clunky power adapters draw energy from...

This tip is special thanks to Chad at the Cre8tive Group , who didn't realize his helpful information would become a tip for the world to see! You'd think that if you have a high-price item in your home or business that it would be covered, in almost any circumstance by your homeowner's insurance. But you may not realize that most insurance policies only cover individual personal items up to $1,000, often times close to your deductible. Of course, if your house burned down, flooded, or was otherwise destroyed, of course insurance would replace the home and the items inside. But, if someone broke in, stole that one item, and left, it would only be covered to $1,000, unless you have a separate type of insurance for the item. So, Chad informed me that a type of insurance offered by most providers is a great solution. It's a type of insurance called inland marine insurance, which you can use to insure any piece of property at almost any value. The best part is that this ins...

Here is a guide to test the trust in your marriage: Have husband hold ladder on stairs in narrow, dark hallway Wife stand on top of the ladder Wife sprays hot chemical mixture- spritz oozes all over husband below Using a very sharp tool, girate body while scraping walls Wallpaper shreds and crumbs drop all over husband Reassure husband that razor sharp tools are not going to drop on his head Ask husband to move ladder to next step, spray more stinky chemical, and repeat scraping motions Thank husband for his time, patience, and strong, steady grip -Kathryn This just happens to be our 800th Tip! Thanks to all our contributers and commenters. Keep em coming!

A big big house may not be all its cracked up to be. That's a whole lot to clean. If you really really hate cleaning, a 300 square foot house may just be the thing for you. Cleaning, at least, seems a snap – the whole house in just one or two Swiffer laps.

Have a window with no screen that you want to open. Well check out this awesome expandable screen thing you can stick in there. It fits to however wide your window is:

Many of you know I have been putting in long hours at the house recently and have felt the side effects in terms of tiredness. I will take this opportunity to apologize to everyone who has had to deal with me the last month. Well, this fatigue, lack of energy and muscle weakness have not subsided, even with 14 hours of sleep on Tuesday. I was getting quite concerned with this lingering problem, when Peter made a brilliant connection…paint fumes and me sleeping at my house. I moved in and painted three rooms (large ones at that) over the same weekend and have been inhaling the aroma ever since Saturday night. Well, I come to find out that side effects of inhalants are…fatigue, lack of energy and muscle weakness along with other things that I am lucky enough not to experience. So I do feel there is a connection here and my tip for all those out there is don’t hang out in a newly painted house and definitely don’t sleep there until well aired out. It will get to you – trust me! -Jen

For anyone who has heard my numerous key stories, I have another one that has prompted me to write a Tip O Da Day. In turn, I will follow my own advice. Making the switch from an apartment to a house lends itself to many adjustments, one of which is the ability to lock doors from the inside prior to leaving the house and simply pulling the door closed with no dead bolt option, as is the case in my new garage. After a long night of housework, which may have been a contributor to the night’s events, I start to collect my things and was very concerned that my coworker Rick had all his belongings. You can imagine me asking repeatedly, “Do you have all your stuff? Do you have your keys?” as I ran around trying to collect my own things. Well, I am sure you can see where this is going! I found myself in my garage with Rick, his stuff, and all of my stuff minus my keys--which ironically were the most important item. It sure didn’t take long for me to have my first house adventure! After unsucc...