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

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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

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I’ve been ordering mine online for years, and the pricing and convenience is awesome. I just click a couple of buttons every month, check the mail in a few days, and start wearing my new contacts. The prices are great, and you can even order cleaning and soaking solution along with your lenses.

They also have deals where you order 4 boxes, but only pay for three of them – this is the one you should look for.

Give it a try – order your replacement lenses online today and save time and money

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Order Your Contacts Online

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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

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Why is that?

It’s not greener than the others. Everyone mows once per week. We all water on just about the same cycle. We all fertilize two or three times per year and aerate at the same times.

The answer is that mine just looks more “finished”, more professional.

The secret is in the edging work I do after I mow.

I have the normal gas-powered string trimmer that everyone else has, but my secret weapon is a rotating blade edging tool that swaps out with the string trimmer head so that I have two tools in one. The string trimmer gets all the curved edges, around the trees and drainpipes, etc. while the rotating blade makes a perfectly straight up-and-down cut along the sidewalks and driveway edges. The combination of these two tools gives you a professional look that leaves most people wondering how you managed to get such a perfect edge.

You can get the same setup I have at any big box store — the trimmer is about $110 and the edging attachment is about $60.

Of course, you can pay someone else to do all this for you — which is what I recommend if you don’t enjoy yard work like I do — as your time is precious and should be spent with family and friends rather than out in the yard…

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Anybody Can Mow a Lawn – The Secret is in the Edging and Trimming

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Groupon posts a new deal each morning, and if enough people show an interest in that deal it goes “live” and starts selling quickly. The reason they test the interest level is to insure that the product or service provider will get enough new business to justify the discount provided. Very smart, and a win / win for all involved. If I was a business owner looking to boost my sales I would sign up with Groupon right away.

Here are just a few of the past deals they put up for my city (Denver):

• 1/2 price lube, oil, and filter change for your car.
• $20 for a microdermabrasion facial that usually costs $60.
• $49 for a 90-minute massage that usually costs $110.
• $5 for $10 worth of ice cream.
• $49 for two mani-pedis that usually cost $110.
• $15 for $35 worth of pizza.
• $29 for a one-hour psychic reading that usually costs $125.
• $49 for a month of unlimited yoga classes that usually cost $149.
• $25 for $50 worth of Mexican dinners.
• $25 for an intro to wine class that usually costs $50.

As you can see, there is something for everyone, and most of the deals are well worth buying. Just from the list above, you could have saved yourself over $350!

Your biggest problem will be self control — not signing up for every single deal will take some discipline as this happy customer relates:

Sign up for Groupon today, or you’ll miss out on even more deals!

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Groupon – The Best Deal of the Day for YOUR City

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I love playing online poker for lots of reasons:  I can play on my laptop from anywhere in or around my house, I never have to wait for a table longer than 3 minutes, I don’t have to get dressed up and go to a casino, I can jump in and out of games whenever I feel like it, and there are no arguments about which hand beats what or who played out of turn.

Even with all of these advantages, the one thing I don’t like about online poker sites is the waiting between hands. I’m a naturally impatient person, and HATE to wait. Of course playing online is better than live action because the dealer is much faster, but you still get stuck with morons at the table who take forever to make a decision. I always seem to get stuck with that guy who waits until just before the timer runs out to either raise, call, or fold — and he does it every single time!

Full Tilt Poker has just come out with an awesome solution to the “waiting game” of poker. They call it “Rush Poker”, and it works like this.

1. Instead of being seated at a specific table, you are put into a “pool” of up to 2,000 players.
2. As soon as you fold a hand you are “rushed” to a new table and dealt a brand new hand.
3. You play out your hand any way you want, but as soon as you fold or decide you want to fold when it comes around to your turn, you get rushed away to a new hand.

Do you see how cool this is?

You’ll never have to sit and wait for that “slow guy” unless you actually want to be in the hand — most of the time, you just click the “fold” button and get rushed right into a new hand.

I’ve found that instead of playing about 75 hands per hour, I can now play almost 300 hands per hour! That’s FOUR TIMES AS MANY HANDS as before! Do you have any idea how awesome that is?

Another awesome aspect of Rush Poker is that you can no longer be “nailed down” by the other players at the table. If you play with the same people for a long time they start to figure out your style of play — you only call with the nuts, you bluff a lot on the river, you raise on the blind with junk, etc. With Rush Poker, no one can figure you out because you never play with the same group of people for very long — every time you get rushed to a new table all of the other players are new as well…this makes for some very interesting strategy opportunities which I’ll be discussing in another blog post.

For now, just get over to Full Tilt Poker and sign up for an account — look in the Basic View and Standard Views of the poker lobby for the “Rush Poker” tables. Once you’ve tried this new form of poker you’ll never go back to the old slow way again.

Post from: Clever Life Tips

The Best Online Poker Site For Impatient Players

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Why?

Cheap paint is inferior in every way to premium mixtures — you will need multiple coats to get the same coverage, the durability is not as good, and you will need to re-paint more often.

According to some tests I’ve seen, Kilz Casual Colors paints from Walmart is an excellent choice when it comes to painting interior rooms. Kilz is scrubbable, stain-resistant, and very durable with just one coat. The last time I bought some it was about $25 a gallon — a bargain price for a premium brand of paint.

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Cheap Paint Actually Costs You More Money

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The washer stinks!

For the first year or so everything was fine, but then I started to notice a heavy, musty, mildew-type of smell inside of the washer after not using it for a while. I also noticed the smell in our clean towels after drying off with them.

What is going on?

I did a search online and found that this is a very common problem with front-loading washing machines and also found a bunch of ways to help fix the problem. I’ve tried just about everything listed here, and the smell is almost gone now. Go through this list and see if any of these suggestions will help you:

1. Always leave the front door open when not using the machine — this allows air to circulate and helps slow the formation of mildew.
2. If you have an exhaust fan in your laundry room (like you do in your bathroom) make sure you run it when doing laundry. This helps keep the humidity levels down and fights mildew.
3. After all wash loads are done, make sure you dry off the rubber gasket located inside the door. Just use an old towel and dry off all the rubber surfaces you see.
4. Once or twice a month, run an empty cycle with the hottest water setting you have and some liquid bleach to clean your machine. Many machines have a self-clean setting just for this purpose.
5. READ your owner’s manual. Most people never look at the manual, and they miss out on some important information from the manufacturer. For instance, most manuals will tell you to follow the steps listed here!
6. If all else fails, you can try some of the cleaning products for front-end washers. I’ve heard good and bad stories about most of them, but the one that seems to have the most success in getting rid of the musty smell is Smelly Washer Cleaner.

Some people become so frustrated with the front-loading washer smell that they give up and go back to the old-style top loading machines. Just follow your basic maintenance tips and you won’t have to give up your cool new washer!

Post from: Clever Life Tips

My Front Load Washer Smells. What Should I Do?

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The Current card by Discover is a new kind of debit card for teens with built-in parental controls and some amazing advanced features.

With the Current Card, parents can add money easily to a card for their teens, set spending limits and have e-mail or text message activity alerts sent in real-time, track purchases to the penny, and access exclusive discounts online.

Teens can choose from one of seven awesome teen card designs and have access to the following features and benefits:

• Parents can set daily, weekly, and monthly spending limits.
• Restrict card use in unwanted shopping categories like liquor stores, hotels, cigarette stores, etc.
• Free direct deposit transfers to fund the card.
• Free deposits from any bank account or credit card.
• $0 fraud liability guarantee.
• Withdraw cash at any ATM.
• Exclusive discounts at popular teen stores.
• Free instant email and text message activity alerts.
• No minimum balances, no loading fees, no credit check.
• All applications with valid information will be accepted – no credit screening!

Sign up for a new Current card for each teen in your family — you’ll have complete control over their spending, but they will have the freedom and acceptance of a credit card that is accepted almost everywhere. Click on the card below to apply:

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Debit Cards for Teens Now Include Parental Controls

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