My Daily Smile

Life is short - begin every day with a smile!

Why it pays to never let your car’s gas level drop below half-full

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I’ll admit it – back in my younger days I loved to live life on the edge.

Yep, I would drive all around town or even on the interstate and backroads with my car running on fumes, waiting until the very last minute to wheel into a gas station and pump a gallon or two in the tank.

The first time I ran out of gas it was sort of a thrill. I had lived on the edge and finally teetered over it. Even the two mile walk to the nearest gas station and the two mile walk back had me humming to a great tune.  [Read more…]

How to add an electrical outlet to a finished wall (without attic or basement access)

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If you have ever remodeled a home you’re probably familiar with the process of adding new electrical outlets in places where no outlet has existed before.

This is usually accomplished by either running the wires before new drywall is installed or feeding the wire into a finished wall either from the attic or the basement/crawl space.

But what if you need to add an outlet to a finished wall and you don’t have attic or basement/crawl space access?  [Read more…]

Video: How pros wrap extension cords, cables & hoses

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If you’re like me, you probably find it extremely difficult and frustrating to try and wrap an extension cord in a way that makes it easy to use it again the next time you need it.

I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. That neatly coiled cord quickly turns into a snarled mess when you start unwinding it and stretching it out.

Well, the fellow featured in today’s video is going to show you how to wrap extension cords, cables and even hoses in ways that prevent all those problems from arising when you go to unroll them next time.  [Read more…]

How ‘Shrinkflation’ is sneakily inflating your everyday expenses

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I’m sure you’re well aware of the price hikes that are seemingly taking place on a monthly basis.

Right now we’re all experiencing inflation the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades.

Inflation itself is bad enough, but there’s also something else going on that’s making the situation even worse…

In case you haven’t noticed, the quantities of many of the products we use on a regular basis are shrinking while their prices either stay the same, or even go up.

This is what’s known as “shrinkflation”, inflation’s closely-related, but extremely deceitful cousin.  [Read more…]

Warning: ‘Free Trial’ offers can cost you dearly if you aren’t careful.

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I’m sure you’ll agree that the Internet has changed the world in many ways.

Most of those changes were for the better (in my humble opinion), but some of them were actually for the worse.

The Internet’s most awesome benefit is the way it lets us access needed information from home in seconds instead of having to drive across town to the library.

Nowadays you can instantly get an answer to most any question via a simple web search.

But unfortunately, the Internet also makes it a LOT easier for the scammers of the world to take advantage of unsuspecting victims.

[Read more…]