Clever Ideas Around the Home & Yard

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

20 Jan 2009 01:16 PM

Sometimes you have a problem around your home that can be fixed with just a little bit of ingenuity. How many times have we lived with an issue or paid for an expensive solution while wishing for something better? Well, most families are pretty smart and creative about coming up with great ideas. For example, in a previous blog I posted about How I heard that you could use your solar pathway lights for indoor lighting in the case of losing power.

There is a magazine that we get called Living The Country Life. (livingthecountrylife.com). It is a magazine devoted mostly to homesteading and real country living (such as in farms not "country kitchens." My favorite part of the magazine is a section called "All Around The Homestead." In it, clever readers come up with great solutions.

This month, for example, one brilliant reader made what he calls a "boot box." It is a framed-out box in which he puts newspaper. When he comes in from the outside, he steps in the box and takes off his boots. This keeps all of the wet and the muck from getting on the floor. We have a few inches of snow on the ground now, and cleaning up all of the wet by the door hasn't been pleasant during the last two days. I think I am going to suggest this as a project, but maybe pretty it up a bit with some contact paper or at least paint or stain.

I bet if you look at a current issue in your house with new eyes, you may find a solution or a clever idea of your own that will work. If you do have a unique solution to something, please let me know. I'm sure everyone would love to hear about it.

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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