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amy vansant bestselling author
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A few years ago something was bothering me and I made a vow to never be constantly annoyed if I could DO something to fix that problem. Pay attention to your day and see how many things you bump into that bother you every day, and yet you do nothing about it because it is "no big deal." What if you found a solution? Drawer sticks every time you open it? Spray it with some WD-40! Hate walking all the way to the closet to get the dog's treats? Buy a treat jar that makes you happy and is handier! (Heck, go paint one at a DIY ceramics place with a friend-even better!)

Below are some things I've found to fix problems in my life...sharing them with you in case the same things are annoying you!

AWESOME BUG SPRAY

This will come as a shock, but Florida has some bugs. šŸ˜‚ Mosquitos and noseeums eat me alive at dusk and dawn. I needed a solution!

This one took a while to crack because I had some rules

  1. Not the sort of spray that fills the air with a mist I'm sure isn't good to breathe
  2. Organic so I don't spend the next 30 years rubbing carcinogens on my skin
  3. Not greasy
  4. Effective!

I found everything but #3 in a few products that are made from a mixture of oils that skeeters and biting flies hate. Unfortunately, they were so greasy I avoided using them and ended up in the same boat. Then I found Nantucket Spider! This bugspray is amazing. Not greasy, natural and works!!

Shiny fingernails without Polish

I don't like to paint my nails because I'm naturally a rammy person and I end up chipping them almost immediately, which looks worse than nothing. I ended up only "doing something" with my nails if I was going somewhere fancy, which sort of made me sad when I saw other people with nice-looking nails all the time. Then, one day at a rare visit to a nail salon I told the lady I just wanted my nails clear, and she buffed them. No paint. They were as shiny as if she'd painted them with a clear coat. I was like whaaa....?  So naturally, I ran out and got myself a product that did the same thing - now my nails always look great and I only have to buff them once every two months or so!

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AVOIDING BAD TASTING ICE CUBES

Our water doesn't taste good out of the tap and to be honest, these days I don't really trust it.  I didn't have a solution for the icemaker though...the fridge is attached to tap water. Tired of my drinks tasting weird, I bought a combination of things that have solved all my problems!

First I got REUSABLE ice that doesn't melt into your drink at all. These are what I use most of the time.

Then, for when I do want something that melts or something cool looking, I bought these trays for making large blocks and spheres which I fell from our water cooler instead of the tap!

WASTING LOTIONS AND SHAMPOO

I was sick of the pump on my shampoo, conditioner and lotion never getting the last 20% of the bottle. I was sick of trying to balance them upside down and smacking them against my hand. Then I found these little stands - take off the pump, put these on---then they stand perfectly stable upside down and you can use the last drop!

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