Ideas to Make Life Easier

Why didn’t I think of that?!  We guarantee you’ll be uttering those words more than once at these ingenious little tips, tricks and ideas that solve everyday problems.

Hull strawberries easily using a straw.

Rubbing a walnut over scratches in your furniture will disguise dings and scrapes.  Rubbing a walnut over scratches in your furniture will disguise dings and scrapes.

Remove crayon masterpieces from your TV or computer screen with WD40.

Stop cut apples browning in your child’s lunch box by securing with a rubber band.

Overhaul your linen cupboard, store bed linen sets inside one of their own pillowcases and there will be no more hunting through piles for a match.

Pump up the volume by placing your iPhone & iPod in a bowl.  The concave shape amplifies the music.

Re-use a wet-wipes container to store plastic bags.

Add this item to your beach bag.  Baby powder gets sand off your skin easily, who knew?!

Attach a Velcro strip to the wall to store soft toys.

Use wire to make a space to store gift wrap rolls against the ceiling, rather than cluttering up the floor.

Find tiny lost items like earrings by putting a stocking over the vacuum hose.

Make an instant cupcake carrier by cutting crosses into a box lid.

For those who can’t stand the scrunching and bunching: how to perfectly fold a fitted sheet.

Forever losing your bathroom essentials?  Use magnetic strips to store bobby pins, tweezers and clippers, behind a vanity door

Store shoes inside shower caps to stop dirty soles rubbing on your clothes.  And you can find them in just about every hotel.
 
A muffin pan becomes a craft caddy.  Magnets hold the plastic cups down to make them tip-resistant.

Bread tags make the perfect cord labels.

Bake cupcakes directly in ice-cream cones, so much more fun and easier for kids to eat.

Microwave your own popcorn in a plain brown paper bag.  Much healthier and cheaper than the packet stuff.

Install a tension rod to hang your spray bottles.

Turn your muffin pan upside down, bake cookie-dough over the top and voila, you have cookie bowls for fruit or ice-cream.

Freeze Aloe Vera in ice-cube trays for soothing sunburn relief.

Create a window-box veggie patch using guttering.

A Resolution Prayer

Dear Lord,

Help me to see myself as you see me this year. I don't want to get caught up in what looks beautiful to the world because I know that to you I am beautiful. Help me to remember that just as you created the stars, oceans and mountains, so you created me. I want to take care of this body that you gave me, Lord, simply because it is a gift from you that deserves to bring you honor and praise. I'm not perfect. I never will be. But I will try my best to put good food in my body, exercise it and not be lazy, and take time for my teeth, hair and eyes. I don't want this to be about losing weight or looking good, Lord. I want this to be about honoring the gift you have given me and treating it with respect. If I attempt to please the world by its standards, I know that I will surely fail this year. But if I keep my focus on you, I know you will give me the strength to do it. There is certainly desire in my heart to be healthy, thin and eating perfectly all the time, but I pray that you will teach me to care less about how I look and more about how my circumstances will glorify you in this effort. This year my resolution is to honor you with my body, mind and soul. Show me the way to do it, and give me the motivation and desire to do it. You deserve it, Lord, and I am willing.

Amen.