The U.S. Post Office is going digital! In many areas of the country, you can sign up for a service where the USPS will email you a digital scan of your mail BEFORE you get it! I found this service by chance when browsing the USPS website. It’s called...
These narrow floating wall shelves are perfect for decorating a blank wall without spending a lot of money My wife and I had a huge blank wall above our couch that needed decorating. Our first instinct was to put some paintings in that space, but after hours of...
We were looking for modern, compact yet comfortable bar stools that would go with my bar. We have limited space, so back-less saddle style was the way to go. Plus, this style is actually pretty popular right now. We found the perfect ones at Wayfair.com, the Mahaffey...
These products worked better than a professional exterminator for us. We had a bad ant problem. It got to the point where if a crumb fell on the floor, in thirty minutes there would be an ant trail going to it. We tried some of those ultrasonic insect repellents. They...
When I moved to the East Coast, I only took a fraction of my stuff with me. I left a lot of it back in L.A: most of my music equipment, lots of books, some clothes, furniture, and so forth. The interesting thing is the entire time I was away, I didn’t miss any...
It’s a common problem: you have a bathroom with thin walls and/or a flimsy door adjacent to a living room or other common area. Whenever someone uses the toilet, everyone can hear the person doing their thing. My condo has that problem. It’s embarrassing...
After years of sun and water damage (see above), my front door was in need of a re-stain and re-varnish. I decided to save some money and do it myself. Here’s my story and some lessons that I learned. Tools and Materials Here is a list of things you’ll...
Living in a condo is fundamentally different than living in a free-standing house because your property decisions are intermingled with the desires and needs of other people. This is very important to understand, and many current or potential condo-owners don’t...
After over ten years of service, my old iron went up in a poof of white smoke that smelled like burning electronics. Unfortunately, it had special screws holding it together so I couldn’t open it up and try to fix it. Time for a new iron. I did some research online,...
If your house plants are in various states of near-death, this article is for you. I got the information for this article from my Mom, who used to own a plant store and loves gardening. Drawing from her years of experience dealing with plant customers and plant-owning...
I would never describe myself as a “pack rat”, but when I took on a roommate, I had to smush everything that filled two bedrooms into one. At that point I realized I had way too much stuff. I could barely walk around in my room because it was so full of...
I have a porch light controlled by a wall switch in my entryway. Rather than having to manually turn this light on at night and off in the morning (or worse, forgetting and wasting energy having it on all day), I wanted to install a timer where the existing light...
Moving across town can be stressful enough, but moving across the country can compound your worries. I’ve found that moving companies can be pretty slimy and unreliable. Plus, you might have to coordinate having your car shipped as well as a flight for yourself. ...
A while ago, I had to sell a bunch of stuff quickly to prepare for a move. I didn’t have time for eBay, so I put it all on Craigslist, and through some trial and error, was able to sell most of my items in a day, with a few taking two days. Here are some...
I had never even seen a mouse until I moved to an older building on the East Coast. Workmen were doing some repairs on the outside, which I think disturbed a couple of critters and caused them to come into my apartment. Here’s how I got rid of them. Types of Traps I...
