All these years your home was filled with laughter and the sweet babble of your kids. Suddenly you realize that they are grown up and have decided to move out for study, marriage or work purposes. This is called the ‘empty-nest’ syndrome.

You can ease this pain of separation by doing some simple things. Hang pictures of you and your family around the house. You can also place small photo frames on the coffee table. One more tip is not to make any changes to the kid’s room after they are gone.

Just enter the room and relive the past moments!

Are you bored of the same kitchen walls and color? If you have been staying in this home for long, chances are that the walls also display some modern artwork done by kids.

Simply give a fresh coat of paint to your kitchen walls and make it look like new. You can opt for the ‘eggshell’ paint that is a little shiny. If you are confident that you can maintain it, go for semi-gloss wall colors. Also, giving a lighter shade of paint to your kitchen wall will make it look spacious.

Avoid dark colors for small and closed kitchens.

The utensils in our kitchen portray the amount of cooking done in our house. If the utensils and glassware look sparkling clean with the labels still on, you can make out that this family survives on reheated frozen food.

But sometimes our experiments in cooking can lead to burnt food (and no dinner!). This can be remedied by adding some chopped onions to the vessel and pouring some boiling water over it. You need to let it stay that way for five minutes and then wash off. The vessel will be clean and all the burnt food particles will be removed.

Sometimes it is really frustrating when a door does not close properly just because it has a loose screw. You can fix such minor issues yourself if you keep a screw-driver handy.

You can as well invest in the basic screw driver set available in the market. This set contains varying sizes of screw drivers that are useful in different situations. Once you have this set at home, you will discover so many uses for it that even you might have not thought of.

This set will also save you the fees charged by the technician in case you need his assistance.

I know you must be thinking I have gone nuts after reading the title. This one is really interesting. You will like this tip after reading it.

There are times when you yearn for a hot cup of coffee, but are simply tired to make it yourself. Whenever you make coffee, freeze the leftover amount in an ice-tray. Or better still make extra coffee to freeze it later.

When you feel like having coffee the next time, simply microwave these coffee cubes in a mug. Your hot coffee is ready to sip!

Call friends over for a cup of coffee any time!

The best thing would be to finish fruits as soon as possible before they become stale and lose their moisture. But to keep them fresh even as you are consuming them, here are some tips.

To avoid a cut apple from turning brown, apply some lemon juice on the exposed surface. Also, if it is not going to be eaten soon, any cut fruit pieces should be stored in Tupperware or any other good quality, food-grade and air-tight plastic container.

Any container that is not certified food-grade is harmful for you. It reacts with the contents and can cause health problems.

During spring time, all of us feel like going out in the open and enjoying a sumptuous barbeque party with friends. But hey! Is that greasy mess not ready to wash off? The answer is simple…scrub it off with a wire brush and baking soda.

If your window screens have gathered grime due to storage, baking soda is the answer. Dampen the wire brush and dip it into baking soda for scouring the screens. They will come out as clean as ever! You can clean the interiors of the fridge using baking soda and water.

Are there any other uses?

Selling a home without a real estate broker’s services has its own advantages and disadvantages. The only advantage according to me is that you save on the commission that he has to be paid.

The disadvantages are manifold. You have to invest your precious time for showing off your home to potential buyers. Other than that, there are costs of advertising about the sale in the local classifieds section. The legalities involved are totally a different issue.

So think twice before deciding to sell your home all by yourself. The buyers are more difficult to handle than probably anybody else!

Before selling your home, you need to take care of certain things. Is your home in a god condition? This means that is it free from leaks and worn out paint? If not, are you ready for making the minor repairs that the buyer might ask for?

Try and find out the market price for homes in your locality so that you will get an idea of what to expect in the sale. Also put up your home on sale only if you have an alternate home ready to move in. Some buyers need immediate possession and that could cause you inconvenience.

When the climate is humid or moist, coffee powder tends to stick at the bottom of the jar and loses its flow. Even biscuits tend to be soggy. I will tell you today how to avoid this.

Just before monsoon, or even otherwise, place a blotting paper in the coffee or cookie jar. This paper will absorb all the moisture and keep your coffee fresh and biscuits as crisp as ever. However make sure that the lid is tightly closed and does not let in any air. If it is so the blotting paper holds no use!

Try it this monsoon!