How Many of these Handy Home Tips and Tricks do you know?

Whether you are a seasoned homeowner, or just purchased your first house, we've compiled a list of the most helpful home tips and tricks to save you time and money! How many of these do you already use in your life?

Flooding is one of the leading causes of home damage. Picture this: you leave Friday morning for a vacation, you have a great time, and really feel relaxed. You return home to find a burst pipe, and thousands of dollars in water damage. Save yourself the headache, it only takes two minutes to turn the water off, but those two minutes could potentially save you thousands! 

Inside your main electrical panel, you'll see labels or a list indicating which breaker controls which circuit. These labels are a reasonably good guide, but they're not completely reliable, especially in older homes that have been through remodeling projects.

For example, you might find that there's one outlet in a room that's not on the same circuit as all the others in that room, but it's not listed elsewhere on the panel. That outlet could be connected to almost any other circuit in your home. In some cases, you might even find wires from different circuits in the same junction box. The bottom line: Always use a voltage detector to make sure the power is off before you do any electrical work.

Here's a story we've heard a hundred times: Homeowners go toilet shopping and decide that an 'elongated bowl' would be an improvement over the old 'round' bowl. Only later to find out the bathroom door can't be closed. So, if you want a longer bowl, measure first. A typical elongated toilet protrudes 2 in. more than a standard model. Remember to also check the clearance for any nearby cabinet doors.

If you've ever taken a vacation without adjusting your water heater, you've already lost money! Many more modern dials make it easy and have a "vacation" setting, if your water tank's dial doesn't, fear not - turn the temperature to 50˚F. in the colder months, this is cool enough to prevent the tank from constantly running but not cold enough for the water to freeze and cause excessive damage.

Next time you stop into your neighborhood Valu for custom-mixed paint, ask the Associate for an extra label to wrap around a stir stick. When you're done with the project, let the stir stick dry and drill a hole near the top of it. Then, label both the stick and the can with the name of the room where you used the paint. Hang the stir sticks near the cans of leftover paint. With both the color formula and a dried paint sample in view, you don't have to pull down every can to find the right one for touch-ups!

A plugged dryer vent will not only cause your dryer to run inefficiently but also cause a house fire! 

Did you know: Dryers that are centrally located in houses are most prone to plugging due to the longer ducts? Excess lint is the most common cause of clogged ducts but pests, and stuck exhaust hood flappers can also cause backups. Watch out for pungent odors, and longer dry times which are signs your vent is plugged. To clean your vent: remove it from the back of the dryer and use a wet/dry vac, or a cleaning brush.  If your ducts need replacing, opt for smooth metal ducts, which will stay clean longer than flexible ducts.

Make smoke detector maintenance part of your spring routine! Test the batteries by simply pressing the 'test' button and making sure the unit chirps.

Ceiling fans should turn clockwise in the colder months, which pushes warm air back down into the room. Most fans have a simple switch that reverses the direction.

With a big, cheap plastic tarp you can drag leaves, branches, or mulch around your yard.

Sharpening the blades is an important part of a lawn mower tune-up. The hardest part about sharpening a lawnmower blade is detaching the blade safely from your lawnmower. Once the blade is safely removed and held in a vise, a good file is all you need to add an edge to the blade. Just make sure that you are sharpening the correct side of the blade!