Tips, Tips and More Tips from July 2011

Save your broken dishes, vases and other decorative china to make mosaic stepping stones or tabletops for your garden. Chipped vases can still be used for flowers, or turned upside down to make toad homes.

Never store an iron pan while it is damp. To be sure it is dry, heat it on a stove burner for a minute.

If a thread in a woven fabric, carpet or sweater pulls or tears, do not cut it. Get a crochet hook or large pin and weave the thread into the fabric.

If you are buying a safe to store coins, jewelry, valuable papers, paper money, rare sports cards or other valuables, don’t forget that a thief can just carry the safe away if it is light and not bolted to a wall or floor. We laughed at the full-page ad in our local newspaper that shows a mailman carrying a boxed new safe to the buyer’s front door. A large safe, however, may be too heavy to put anywhere but in the garage or basement and too big to fit through a standard door.