Every spring ants show up in my kitchen.

They come in around the sliding glass door in the back and start looking for crumbs to take back to their nests.

I used to put out ant bait and poisons that they would eat and take back to feed their friends, but now I have a 10 month old baby in the house so I had to find another way to get rid of the ants that was safe for the baby.

I came across an article that talked about how much ants hate cinnamon, so I bought a big jar of it at the local discount warehouse.

I tried to find where the ants were coming into the house by following the ones that had found crumbs and were taking them back to the nests. Just watch them for a while to see where they are going, and then sprinkle cinnamon on those areas. You can also dust the ants themselves with some cinnamon to take back and rub on their friends in the nest.

Next, I sprinkled a line of cinnamon along the entire sliding glass doors, both inside and outside to act as a barrier for future ants.

So far, it is working very well, and I don’t have to worry about my son getting into poisonous ant baits!

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Use Cinnamon to Get Rid of Ants

My baby was having a hard time sleeping – waking up constantly, stirring at the slightest noise inside or outside my house, etc.

Then I got smart and tried one of those sound generator alarm clocks that help you go to sleep at night.

It worked very well, especially on the “crashing waves” sound.

I keep it turned up full volume in his room to drown out any outside noise, and let it run during his naps as well as all night long.

He sleeps much better now, and thrashes around a lot less as well, so it seems like he’s getting a better quality of sleep.

When you get your new sound machine, make sure to test all of the sounds, not just the ones that YOU think will work best.

You may be surprised which sounds your baby prefers!

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Use a Sound Generator in Your Baby’s Room For Better Sleep

Right now, it’s the middle of the summer, and I have a black car — can you say HOT!

I used to get in my car, start it up, crank the air conditioning, and drive away. It always took FOREVER to cool down, and I was miserable the entire time. I couldn’t even hold the steering wheel because it was so dang hot.

Well, I got smart and figured out what I was doing wrong with my auto air conditioning. First, you have to keep your windows cracked a little to keep your interior from heating up so much. Just leave a couple of windows on opposite sides of the car down about a half inch. This makes an amazing difference. Some newer cars have solar powered fans that suck hot air out through a small opening in the sunroof while you are parked – awesome.

Next, when you get in your car, roll all of the windows down all the way — no matter how hot it is outside. Now drive for a block or two to exhaust all of that super-heated air out and THEN turn on the air conditioning and roll the windows up. This works because no matter how hot it is outside, the air inside of your car is even hotter due to the greenhouse effect of the sun coming through the windows and generating heat inside that has nowhere to go.

Temperatures inside of cars parked in the sun have been measured up to 130 or 140 degrees! This is why it is so dangerous to leave kids or pets in your car for any length of time unsupervised.  By getting rid of that super-heated air before you crank the AC you will get a head start on cooling your car, and you will be nice and cool much faster.

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Hot Car Air Conditioning Tip

When was the last time you wore hearing protection?

Do you even own earplugs or noise-blocking headphones?

I have a constant ringing in my ears (tinnitus) because I never used to wear any kind of hearing protection when mowing the lawn, going to concerts, watching airshows, etc. I was naive, and figured my hearing was invincible — boy was I wrong. Now I have this constant high-pitched ringing / buzzing in my ears and it drives me crazy.

I’ve looked around, and there is no cure for tinnitus, so now I’m stuck.

Do yourself a favor and always use earplugs whenever the noise level seems even slightly loud to you. You absolutely need protection when mowing, using a drill, hammering or construction work, attending a concert, anywhere near a jackhammer, etc. Even cranking the stereo in your car while driving can damage your hearing — it seems funny, but after the damage is done there is nothing you can do to fix it.

Like a lot of things, hearing damage seems like “something that happens to other people” or “that will never happen to me” or “I crank my stereo all the time and I can hear fine”. You don’t realize what is happening until it’s too late, and the damage adds up over time — little by little so you don’t notice it. Protect your hearing now or lose it later.

Post from: Clever Life Tips

Always Wear Hearing Protection