A Trio of Reuse Ideas

I've been wanting to post this for a while, and since it's a new year I figured I should start blogging again, so here goes.

A good use for at least two of those flower vases that you have sitting around (because you buy your wife flowers so often...) can be put to good use.  One can become a plastic bag dispenser and the other can hold your dead batteries until you get a chance to recycle them.

You can also use an empty diaper genie container to hold strings of stuff like the bead garland from the Christmas tree.

Quick Tip: Skewer Your Caulk

Ummmm, yeah....



I like to use a bamboo skewer from the kitchen to puncture the inner foil seal on new tubes of caulking. Then when I'm done, I use it to seal the tube. I find it works better than the little cap that sometimes comes with the caulk.

Quick Tip: Painter's Tape Pointer

Let's try a video Quick Tip. I apologize for the quality, but it's the best I could get out of my camera.

Now for the tip... In order to get a nice clean paint line when using painter's tape, it is very important that the tape be well-stuck to the wall. I like to use an old credit card (or one of those fake ones you get in your junk mail all the time) to "seat" the tape, especially in hard-to-reach places like around trim. Watch the video for a demo.

Couplings are Your Friends

I've been too busy with other stuff to work on the kitchen for the past week so I'll give you a Quick Tip instead of an update.

Whenever you're buying PVC, copper, or other types of plumbing, be sure to pick up a few extra couplings. You can use them to "glue" together 2 pieces of short pipe to make a long piece should you run out or make an incorrect cut. One time I found myself at the Home Depot needing a 10' piece of pipe, but I was in my 4-door with both kids so I didn't have an easy way to get the pipe home. Solution: carry the pipe over to the moulding section and use the saw to cut it in half, then re-assemble it at home using a coupling.

Happy Plumbing!

Finding Your Center

Here's a technique for finding the center of an object whose overall length isn't easily divisible by 2. I'm using my kitchen window for this example.

Step 1: Estimate the total length
Measure your item and round up or down to the nearest length that you can easily divide by 2. My window is about 25 13/16" wide. I'll round that to 26", which gives me 13" when divided by 2.

Step 2: Measure from both ends
Take the number you got from step 1 and measure that far from one end. Make a mark. Repeat from the other end. You should now have two marks that are pretty close together.

Step 3: Eyeball it!
Yes, that's right, eyeball it! The two marks you made are equally distant from the center, and they should be less than 1" apart. You can eyeball the center with as much accuracy as you need for general finish work.

Quick Tip: Knot your Extension Cord

Knot your cords as seen in the picture to keep them from coming unplugged. This is especially handy when you're using your weed whacker, but I've taken to doing it every time I plug something into an extension cord.