Life never fails to throw us a curve ball when we least expect it. For those moments of alarm-sounding anxiety, here are a few of our top tips for handling the situation:
• Panicking over how you're going to finance your newborn's post-secondary education?
Start by saving a loonie a day. Assuming a future rate of return of 7.5 per cent, in 20 years you'll have saved $15,806. Double that to $2 a day, and you're looking at about $31,612.
• The real estate agent is coming with a potential buyer for your home.
Straighten out the family photos hanging on the wall by affixing 1/2-inch diameter stick-on vinyl bumpers to the bottom corners of the back of each frame. "The soft, antiskid rubber keeps the frame from sliding out of position," says Karen Kirk, Canadian Living's senior decor editor.
• "While renovating the kitchen, I scuffed my linoleum floor. Is there any easy way to cover this up?"
Your floor will look like new in no time with either of these easy fixes,
says Kirk. Simply rub the mark with a small amount of white (non-gel) toothpaste and a dry cloth. Alternatively, spray some WD-40 on a towel and rub the scuffed area lightly. (Clean with liquid dishwashing soap and warm water to remove any greasy residue.)
• Don't get stuck in the cold.
If your car battery goes dead, try one of these remedies straight from your medicine cabinet: either drop two acetylsalicylic acid pills (such as Aspirin) into the battery, or dissolve about 2 tbsp of Epsom salts in warm water and add to the battery cells.
• Nut too big for the wrench?
According to Five Minute Fixes (Reader's Digest, 2005), you'll need a wedge (and they don't mean a shoe). Simply place a coin between the nut and the wrench to fill in the gap.
• If your door lock freezes, try one of these two solutions, also from Five Minute Fixes:
1. Spray some WD-40 into the lock to loosen it.
2. Heat your key with a lighter or match, then put the key in the lock to thaw it.
Page 1 of 5 - Learn more quick fix solutions on page 2.
