Here is an easy and effective way to keep down the clutter that often accumulates. If you're in the habit of collecting unopened mail, unread magazines, and unlooked-through miscellaneous papers that pile up around the house, get yourself a couple boxes--you can get decorative ones at Target--and set them up in the spot where these unread items tend to most accumulate. One box is for things that need to be dealt with in the next few weeks. The second box is for things that you're interested in but just not right now. 

At the very end of the year, go through the second box and see what you want to save and what you're now willing to throw out. After months out of sight, chances are most of that content you'll simply want to toss. This will keep things out of the way through the year and also cut down on the effort of mulling over whether you have time to deal with things each time they arrive in your home.

Besides playing tennis, of course! You can use them to get up heel marks off of wood and linoleum floors. Just rub the tennis ball on the marks and you're good to go!

One of the great things about certain hardware stores is that they will do little hacks for you with things that need fixing. My vacuum cleaner wand popped a rivet. That simple problem could have required a pricey repair. But a visit to my hardware store solved the problem. The manager deliberated with me on several possible solutions and we decided on reinstalling a rivet. In the back, they keep a rivet gun and, presto!, the vacuum cleaner was back in action. 

Stove tops often get burnt on residue that is really hard to clean. Short of spraying it with some toxic cleaner like Easy Off, it's tempting to just let it sit and become a permanent feature of the stove top. But an easy solution is: steel wool soap pads! Test it on a small area first, of course, but have I found that soap pads can be used for that burn on crud anywhere on the stove top without scratching the finish--and they are effective! (Do not use them on brushed steel though!)