If Fido is sniffing at tabletops and other spots you wish he’d stay away from as soon you turn your back, just press a few cloves into the skin of several clementines, place in a bowl and display on any surface you want your pet to avoid. The odor of cloves is overpowering to his sensitive nose, so he’ll steer clear, besides cloves make the house smell festive.

Placing moist cotton balls with peppermint oil wherever the pests tend to gather will make them get out and stay out. Ants, silverfish, caterpillars and mice register the mint’s strong menthol scent as an olfactory alarm, which will keep them away.

If glasses are coming out of the dishwasher wet, coffee filters are perfect for drying them, especially stem wear. It leaves them sparkling and spotless.

Chances are there is build-up gunk in the teeth. To clean instead of buying lubricating sheets or lubricating oil, just deep a piece of paper in baby oil, shake off excess oil and feed the paper through the shredder. Keeping the blades lubricated will end paper jams.