007 Handyman

Tip of the Day: Stretchy Painting Helper Don't you hate it when your paint cans get dried paint all over them, so now keep a box of rubber bands with your paint supplies. Before you start painting, you wrap a rubber band around the paint can so that it stretches across the opening. You use the rubber band to wipe excess paint from the brush instead of the can's rim, which helps keeps your cans clean.

Tip of the Day: Dust with Your Dryer Blankets, pillows, slipcovers, drapes, and other textiles not only trap household dust, but they create it as they shed and disintegrate. Curtains and drapes, in particular, get dusty because they absorb moisture and dirt from the outside and act as a landing pad for dust from ceiling fans and air vents. The best idea for how to clean dust is to buy machine-washable items and launder them twice a year, at least once a year. For non-machine-washable textiles, throw them in the dryer on the air-fluff setting (no heat) for 20 minutes with a damp towel. The damp towel will attract pet hair, and the tumbling movement and airflow will remove the smaller particles for you.

Tip of the Day: Quick Fix for Dents Simply soak a washcloth in water and ring it out a bit so its not sopping wet. Put the damp washcloth on the affected area. The water will wick through the wood, and that's fine. Now, with your iron on its highest setting, place it on the damp washcloth over the affected area, and make small movements back and forth in circles. Press down firmly and continue until your washcloth is dry. It won't take long to evaporate. At this point, the wood fibers are absorbing the water and should expand back to where they were originally. Continue this process and repeat by adding more water until the dents rise up to be flush with the rest of the material.

Tip of the Day: Zip-Tie to the Rescue When my bathroom sink gets clogged, I don't reach for chemicals as a bathroom sink cleaner. Instead, I use a long zip tie. I cute several notches on the zip-tie's end. It'll hook the hair clog, allowing you to pull it out. Problem solved. The size of the eye of the zip tie prevented me from inadvertently pushing the tie past the stopper.

Tip of the Day: Changing a fluorescent light Unplug the light and twist the bulb 90 degrees with both hands. Pull one end straight down to free it from the socket and then lower the entire bulb. Then do these exact steps except opposite to install a new light bulb.

Tip of the Day: Destink the Interior To neutralize tobacco smoke, buy an aerosol can of Dakota Non-Smoke. Holding the can 12 to 14 in. away from fabrics, lightly spray the headliner (don’t soak it), seats, door panels and carpet. Then turn the fan to high and switch the system to recirculate mode (max. A/C if you don’t have that option). Find the intake opening by holding a tissue near the blower motor. Then spray the mist into the opening. Leave the windows closed for at least one hour. Your vehicle will smell like baby powder for a while, but that’ll go away. You can also change your car’s air filter once this is done.