When ironing your shirts, use a hair straightener to iron out those hard to reach areas.

Yes, the microwave. Put the bulb in to nuke for about 20 seconds, after which the cloves will slide right out of their skins.  You can peel a whole bunch at once and then freeze the extra cloves for later.

After you’ve taken your shower in the morning, the mirror is often completely fogged up. Prevent this from happening by cleaning your mirror with shaving foam. Apply a little bit of shaving foam to the mirror and then clean it with a non-pilling microfiber cloth.

Let’s say that you decide that your New Year’s Resolution is to become a runner but you have never run before in your life. It probably is not wise to sign up for a half marathon for the first weekend in January. You probably just want to work on running for 1 minute and then adding an additional minute each week. By taking baby steps, you can gain motivation from the progress you have made to continue to push yourself into becoming a better version of yourself.

Start your day off right by drinking a healthy smoothie made with fresh fruits and vegetables; good fats, such as avocados; and high protein, such as Greek yogurt or protein powder. This quick breakfast will leave you feeling full and satisfied as it is packed with the antioxidants and vitamins your body needs which will give your morning the perfect energy punch you need to power through the day. Some great ways to start your morning smoothie include selecting a base of water, juice, or milk; two fruits and one vegetable; and a protein such as peanut-butter, protein powder, or yogurt.

Take an inventory of the Christmas cards you received this year. Make a spreadsheet of who you got cards from and their addresses from the envelopes. (Or check over your existing address book to make any necessary updates.) You’ll have a great head start for sending out Christmas cards next year!

Before you start your cleanup, use your phone to snap a few photos. If you loved how you arranged everything on your mantle, having a photo to reference will help you recreate it next year!

You can find them at any dollar store and they’ll make cookie decorating so much easier and less messy. Simply fill them with icing and let the kids go to town on the gingerbread men!

Use leftover eggnog for French toast. Just add a little cinnamon to it and it works wonderfully. You can also make eggnog pound cake.

Here’s an excellent festive party trick. Place two walnuts, side by side, in the palm of your hand. Make sure the hardest parts of the nuts – the ridges – are overlapping, then close your hand and squeeze. They should crack open easily.

One of the best ways to clean up loose pine needles from your furniture is using an over-sized lint roller. It might seem awkward but it does the trick. If you’d rather stand while getting rid of the needles, consider buying a rubber broom which works even on carpets: Use shorter strokes which will build a static charge and help you pick up needles quickly. If there are still small pine needles hanging around, use a piece of duct tape (sticky side out) wrapped around your hand to dab needles off the floor.

This is the ideal project for those who collected tons of popsicle sticks through the summer. Glue them together in geometric shapes then paint them in festive colors to create beautiful snowflake pendant which you can hang in many ways to cheer up your home.

Gather pine cones on a forest walk and use them as a pretty table display. Spritz with cinnamon and pine room spray or position in a bow with potpourri. Tie them with twine and you could hang them on the tree or just leave in a bowl – it’s free and wonderfully festive for the season.

Your wine bucket just gained the spotlight on your dinner table. Lay cranberries on a shallow tray and run just enough water to cover them. Freeze, then break into pieces. Add to your ice bucket with a collection of fir cuttings and pop some bubbly.

If each member of your family has, oh, four or five scarves, put some of them to work as a tree skirt. Arrange in a pinwheel fashion around the base of the tree and secure with safety pins.

It only costs a few dollars! All you need to buy is a supermarket potted plant, like mini mums or a Christmas cactus and place it (pot and all) in a large bowl. Fill the space around the pot with whole nuts, mini pine cones, ornaments or fresh fruit.

Wrap white duct tape around a red pool noodle — tying the hook down with fishing wire — to make jumbo outdoor candy canes.

Make Santa’s footprints in your house with baking soda mixed with a little glitter on the bottom of a boot. This is genius!

Tape red polka dot ribbon onto your kitchen cupboards and hot glue glittery red bows on top! Simple, really pretty, and you can reuse the supplies year after year for Christmas

Have a broken umbrella? Spray paint the frame white and twist twinkling lights around the arms for an instant holiday lighting fixture.

Add a festive touch to brownies or fudge by baking them in Christmas design cookie cutters.

Clean out used Pringles containers, cover them in festive paper and boom: easy and free Christmas cookie packaging

Reuse a wastebasket or a wine crate to corral your wrapping paper.

Turn them into ornaments that will last for years with three coats of varnish.

Wrap Christmas lights around a hanger to keep them from getting tangled.