Every spring ants show up in my kitchen.

They come in around the sliding glass door in the back and start looking for crumbs to take back to their nests.

I used to put out ant bait and poisons that they would eat and take back to feed their friends, but now I have a 10 month old baby in the house so I had to find another way to get rid of the ants that was safe for the baby.

I came across an article that talked about how much ants hate cinnamon, so I bought a big jar of it at the local discount warehouse.

I tried to find where the ants were coming into the house by following the ones that had found crumbs and were taking them back to the nests. Just watch them for a while to see where they are going, and then sprinkle cinnamon on those areas. You can also dust the ants themselves with some cinnamon to take back and rub on their friends in the nest.

Next, I sprinkled a line of cinnamon along the entire sliding glass doors, both inside and outside to act as a barrier for future ants.

So far, it is working very well, and I don’t have to worry about my son getting into poisonous ant baits!

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Use Cinnamon to Get Rid of Ants

I have this tool called a strap wrench in one of my kitchen drawers.

It has a plastic handle with a long strap of rubber the comes out and then circles back into the handle. You can adjust the length of the rubber part to whatever size you need, and it really comes in handy.

Normally, a strap wrench is used on pipes or other plumbing applications, but I’ve found that it works very well to open those jars and lids that are impossible to open with your bare hands.

I used to take a butter knife and bang on the lids to try to loosen them, but that only worked sometimes, and if I slipped, I would hit the glass jar and break it.

So now I just grab my strap wrench, wrap the rubber loop around the lid, tighten the loop and then twist the lid right off. It works every time, and there is no danger of breaking your jars.

You can find a strap wrench for less than $5 in stores like sears, walmart, target, etc. Pick one up the next time you’re out shopping!

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Use a Strap Wrench to Open Impossible Jar Lids

Looking through my mail today, I saw an official-looking envelope and opened it.

It was a threatening letter / invoice combination with an amount due of $225 to renew my LLC registration.

I freaked out at the amount, because it used to only be $10 to renew!

I re-read the notice again, and noticed at the bottom of the page some disclaimer language that “this is not an official invoice, and no payment is due” in tiny print.

Now suspicious, I searched Bing for the name of the company and found lots of complaints on message boards like RipOffReport about these fake invoices.

This company basically scrapes the Secretary of State business database from each state and then mails these fake invoices out to everyone on the list.

I’m sure a large percentage of businesses actually pay these, making huge profits for these scammers.

The lesson here is to take your time, carefully read every invoice, validate the charges, and do your research. I just saved myself $215 by investigating these idiots.

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Watch Out For Fake Invoices

My baby was having a hard time sleeping – waking up constantly, stirring at the slightest noise inside or outside my house, etc.

Then I got smart and tried one of those sound generator alarm clocks that help you go to sleep at night.

It worked very well, especially on the “crashing waves” sound.

I keep it turned up full volume in his room to drown out any outside noise, and let it run during his naps as well as all night long.

He sleeps much better now, and thrashes around a lot less as well, so it seems like he’s getting a better quality of sleep.

When you get your new sound machine, make sure to test all of the sounds, not just the ones that YOU think will work best.

You may be surprised which sounds your baby prefers!

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Use a Sound Generator in Your Baby’s Room For Better Sleep

How much ugly bare concrete is around your house?

My entire neighborhood was built with ugly, bare, grey concrete porches and front steps so I decided to do something about it.

I went searching for a concrete stain that came in many different colors so that I could complement the paint colors of my house, and I finally found a great product at Ace Hardware.

The product is called Mason’s Select Transparent Concrete Stain, and it comes in about 10 different colors.

My main paint color is olive green with a cream colored trim, so I chose the terra-cotta stain to complement the existing colors. There are many different color wheel websites online that you can use to match or complement existing colors, so use that to work with your own colors.

I taped off the area to stain, cleaned the concrete thoroughly, let it dry, and then applied the stain according to directions.

It came out looking fantastic, and I get complements and questions almost every day from neighbors, people driving or walking by, and just about everyone who sees the finished steps.

My house stands out due to the unique, finished look and the faux-finish type of look that the stain provides.

Make sure to get the clear sealant that is sold along with the stain because if you don’t seal the stain it will eventually start to flake off and will need to be retouched once in a while.

One gallon of stain costs about $35, and the sealant is about the same price, so for about $75 total you can completely transform the look of your home.

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Stain That Ugly Bare Concrete For a Professional Look

My 10 month old’s highchair was scratching up our Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors every time I moved him around during lunch and dinner time.

I tried lifting up as I moved his chair, but it would still ding the floor.

So, I went searching around the house for a solution and found some old furniture-moving felt pads that are used to slide sofas, tables, etc. across hardwood floors without damaging them.

I had 4 of them, so I put one over each foot of the highchair and they fit perfectly. Now, no part of the chair actually touches the wood floors and I can move it around without worrying about scratching up the hardwood.

I bought them at Home Depot, but you can probably find them just about anywhere. They’re gray, fuzzy like shag carpet, and about the size of a pancake. Sometimes they come packaged with 4 of the white smooth discs that you put under furniture to move it across carpeting.

Give them a try, and save some money in hardwood floor repairs…

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Baby’s Highchair Tearing Up Your Wood Floors?

Confused about which credit card to pay off first?

Let’s say you have five credit cards with balances on them, and you want to get them paid off as fast as possible…how do you do it?

Most people will tell you to sort the cards by the interest rates, and then pay off the highest rate card first.

This makes a lot of sense, but it ignores the “momentum” aspect of paying off cards.

How do you get momentum?

You pay off the card with the smallest balance first, and then take focus all of your payments on the next smallest balance.

This gives you a mental boost when you go from 5 credit cards with balances to just 4, and so on.

You get an immediate sense of accomplishment, and you are more motivated to pay off the next card in line.

If you go by the interest rate method, you could be paying for a long time if your highest rate card is also the one with the largest balance. It seems like you’re going nowhere, even though you are doing the right thing!

Another trick to try is to split your extra payments between the highest interest rate card and the card with the lowest balance — this gives you both momentum and near maximum savings on the interest you pay each month.

Pay off those cards, then throw them in a drawer and enjoy your new sense of freedom!

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Which Credit Card Should I Pay Off First?

Right now, it’s the middle of the summer, and I have a black car — can you say HOT!

I used to get in my car, start it up, crank the air conditioning, and drive away. It always took FOREVER to cool down, and I was miserable the entire time. I couldn’t even hold the steering wheel because it was so dang hot.

Well, I got smart and figured out what I was doing wrong with my auto air conditioning. First, you have to keep your windows cracked a little to keep your interior from heating up so much. Just leave a couple of windows on opposite sides of the car down about a half inch. This makes an amazing difference. Some newer cars have solar powered fans that suck hot air out through a small opening in the sunroof while you are parked – awesome.

Next, when you get in your car, roll all of the windows down all the way — no matter how hot it is outside. Now drive for a block or two to exhaust all of that super-heated air out and THEN turn on the air conditioning and roll the windows up. This works because no matter how hot it is outside, the air inside of your car is even hotter due to the greenhouse effect of the sun coming through the windows and generating heat inside that has nowhere to go.

Temperatures inside of cars parked in the sun have been measured up to 130 or 140 degrees! This is why it is so dangerous to leave kids or pets in your car for any length of time unsupervised.  By getting rid of that super-heated air before you crank the AC you will get a head start on cooling your car, and you will be nice and cool much faster.

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Hot Car Air Conditioning Tip

When was the last time you wore hearing protection?

Do you even own earplugs or noise-blocking headphones?

I have a constant ringing in my ears (tinnitus) because I never used to wear any kind of hearing protection when mowing the lawn, going to concerts, watching airshows, etc. I was naive, and figured my hearing was invincible — boy was I wrong. Now I have this constant high-pitched ringing / buzzing in my ears and it drives me crazy.

I’ve looked around, and there is no cure for tinnitus, so now I’m stuck.

Do yourself a favor and always use earplugs whenever the noise level seems even slightly loud to you. You absolutely need protection when mowing, using a drill, hammering or construction work, attending a concert, anywhere near a jackhammer, etc. Even cranking the stereo in your car while driving can damage your hearing — it seems funny, but after the damage is done there is nothing you can do to fix it.

Like a lot of things, hearing damage seems like “something that happens to other people” or “that will never happen to me” or “I crank my stereo all the time and I can hear fine”. You don’t realize what is happening until it’s too late, and the damage adds up over time — little by little so you don’t notice it. Protect your hearing now or lose it later.

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Always Wear Hearing Protection

Have you noticed that the grass in your lawn gets thinner each year while more and more weeds keep showing up?

There is an easy way to fix this and it’s called overseeding.

What the heck is overseeding? You simply buy a bag of grass seed at your local hardware store, core aerate your lawn, spread the seed, cover it with a light layer of compost, and then water twice a day until the seeds sprout. Once they sprout, you can cut back to watering once a day.

After about 4 weeks your lawn will be thick, green, and lush.

The core aerating is an important step — it helps get more water, nutrients and air down into the root zone of your lawn. It also helps remove some of the thatch layer that builds up over time.

The type of seed you buy should match your existing lawn or complement it. For example if your lawn is thin under your trees or in shady areas make sure you buy seed that does well in full shade. Are the areas in full sun burning up? You may need seed that thrives in high heat.

The type of compost you use is not really important. I’ve used sheep manure, steer manure, chicken manure, etc. The steer manure was only $1 per bag while the other two are $5 per bag, so I usually mix them together to get more coverage for a lower cost.

The increased thickness of your grass will force the weeds out and keep them out. The thicker and healthier the grass, the fewer weeds you will have.

Overseed early in the spring and again in the fall during cooler temperatures. Grass seed does better when it’s cooler and hates the high heat of mid-summer.

Post from: Clever Life Tips

The Easy Way to Get a Nice Thick Green Lawn