Monday is a good day to clean...

With bubble wrap

Protect produce in the fridge

Line your refrigerator's crisper drawer with bubble wrap to prevent bruises to fruit and other product. Cleanup will be easier too – when the lining gets dirty, just throw it out and replace it with fresh bubble wrap.

Cushion your work surface

When repairing delicate glass or china, cover the work surface with bubble wrap to help prevent breakage.

Keep cola cold

Wrap soft drink cans with bubble wrap to keep beverages refreshingly cold on hot summer days. Do the same for packages of frozen or chilled picnic foods. Wrap ice cream just before you leave for the picnic to help keep it firm en route.

Cushion bleachers and benches

Take some bubble wrap out to the ballgame with you to soften those hard stadium seats or benches. Or stretch a length along a picnic bench for more comfy dining.

Monday is a good day to clean...

With a cardboard box

For Storage

Protect glassware or lightbulbs

Safely store fine crystal glassware by putting it in an empty wine or liquor carton with partitions. This also works well when moving - saves time from wrapping everything in newspaper and no need to wash before unpacking! Your can also use it for storing lightbulbs, but be sure to sort the bulbs by wattage so that it's easy to find the right one when you need it.

Store Christmas ornaments

Wrap each ornament in tissue paper or bubble wrap and store it in an empty liquor box with partitions. Each of the segments can hold several ornaments.

For the do-it-yourselfer

Protect your fingers

To keep from hitting your fingers with a hammer, stick the nail through a small piece of thin cardboard before you do your hammering. Hold the cardboard by an edge, position the nail, and pound it home. When you're done, use your bruise-free fingers to tear away the cardboard.

Keep upholstery tacks straight and evenly spaced

Mark the spacing along the edge of a light-weight cardboard strip and press the tacks into it. After driving all of the tacks most of the way in, tug on the strip to pull the edge free before hammering them in the rest of the way.

For the kids

Play liquor box "ski ball"

Place a liquor box with the partitions still in place at an angle and build a small ramp in front (a rubber mat over a pile of books will do). Assign numbered values to each section of the box, grab a few tennis or golf balls and you're ready to roll.

Easter traditions

What would Easter be without a little egg decorating? I bought the executive kit this year (mostly because I left it to the last minute - as any busy mom would - and they had them all on sale). It had sparkles (my favourite), stickers, sponge stampers and even foil wrappers. The kids loved the magic crayon that leaves their lettering in white after dying - a great way to identify whose egg is whose... (Mom made one too). There were the usual surprises - okay one fell on the floor and cracked, ending up as a "mommy egg". Colours turned out a little different than the visions in their heads and both kids wanted to use pink at the same time (of course). We had great fun, though and had a proud exhibit to show off when all was said and done in my nifty ceramic egg holder.

Now to clean up all the sparkles...