Simple Fixes For Everyday Annoyances
They say, "Don't sweat the small stuff," but if a lot of little things go wrong, they can cause a huge amount of stress.
So, The Early Show consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen recommended some simple solutions to everyday situations that can drive us nuts.
PROBLEM: KIDS WRITIE ON WALLS
Crayons on the wall can be a huge headache. Or magic markers. The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser ($2.19 for a two-pack) works great when it comes to taking crayon off the wall. Just dip it in water and rub. You can also use the sponge to clean up scuff marks, baseboards, even your hub caps. If you have a stain that just won't come out try this.
PROBLEM: PLASTIC PACKAGES THAT ARE HARD TO OPEN
These packages drive us crazy. Normally, you use a knife or scissors. You can hurt yourself that way. But there's a product called the Open X ($7.95) that's useful for this. You make a little slit in the plastic, then use one side of Open X to zip right through the plastic and, in seconds, your product is open. Open X is sold on numerous Web sites.
PRODUCT CALLED "GLAD PRESS-N-SEAL" CAN BE USED FOR A LOT MORE THAN JUST WRAPPING FOOD
If you kids don't drink all of their milk, you can put this on top as a lid. It even holds the milk upside-down. And you can take it in the car with you.
Also, say you bring your salad to work and don't want it to be soggy from the dressing: You can make a small little package with the Press 'n Seal ($2.99), pour in your dressing and, when you're ready to eat the salad, you just open it up.
What's more, you can use Press 'n Seal as a shield for your cookbook. Put the Press 'n Seal on the pages and, if you spill flour or eggs or oil, the stuff gets on the Press 'n Seal, and not your book.
FOR SHOE LOVERS: ZAPPOS.COM
It's great for people with big feet, little feet, narrow feet, wide feet. If you're tired of not being able to find your size in the store, this site probably has it. It offers more than 2 million pair of shoes. You can search for your exact size. It's also good if you need gold shoes to go with a dress and need them fast. There's free overnight delivery and, if the shoes don't fit, you can send them back with free shipping.
DETAILS ON THE SOLUTIONS ABOVE:
Editor's note: The information in these descriptions was provided by the companies involved.
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser can erase scuff marks left on your floor. Keep your home's interior doors, trim, and baseboard looking like new by using Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to remove scuff marks and dirt. Make over your ride by using it to shine up your car's hubcaps and the interior console and dashboard. Use Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to remove scuff marks on your patio furniture. It's available at grocery stores, drug stores, and other mass merchandisers.
OpenX is perfect for opening FedEx envelopes, Paks and boxes, cereal bags, video cassette wrappers, detergent boxes, pet food bags, pill containers, padded envelopes and Jiffy packs, snack pouches and more. It's available online at www.myopenx.com and at select stores like Walgreen's.
GLAD Press 'n Seal wrap is a versatile food storage wrap that combines many benefits of today's wraps, foils, and food storage bags and containers. While other wraps cling, GLAD Press 'n Seal wrap actually seals to surfaces including plastic, paper, wood, metal, Styrofoam containers and glass. It's the first sealable plastic wrap. It uses Griptex, a proprietary gripping technology. Think of the textured surface of GLAD Press 'n Seal wrap as having thousands of tiny hills and valleys. Only when you apply pressure do the valleys seal to the desired location. The sealing actually works with the help of the primary ingredients typically found in chewing gum — an old idea now applied to wrap! These ingredients have been approved by the FDA for over 35 years and are frequently used for labels found on fruits and vegetables. Griptex technology allows GLAD Press 'n Seal wrap to seal to plastic, paper, Styrofoam containers, metal, wood and many other surfaces. GLAD Press 'n Seal wrap is available in the Food Storage aisle nationally at mass merchandisers (such as Target, Wal-mart, and Kmart), local grocers, and drug and club stores.
Zappos.com: Shoe sales is a $40 billion market in the US, and in 1999, $2 billion of that was sold by mail order catalogs. According to Zappos, in retail shoe stores, about 1 in 3 sales are lost due to the customer's size not being in stock. Brick and mortar stores are limited in how much inventory they can carry, and therefore they are limited in the number of brands, number of styles per brand, and number of sizes and widths they can carry. Zappos.com now carries over 500 name brands, over 90,000 styles, and close to 2 million pairs of shoes in stock and ready for immediate shipment. Last year, Zappos.com said it sold close to $600 million in merchandise.