My dear pal, David Staskowski, shared this smart ‘use what you have’ pot rack idea. You remember David, don’t you? He was the clever ‘Ask David’ columnist from the late, great magazine, Metropolitan Home.

Plus, here’s a suggestion for storing your pot lids from my book, Downsizing Your Home With Style:

Hang your lids over the pot handles to keep them together and save space.

Besides putting up Christmas trees, garlands and ornaments, here are a few inexpensive and easy holiday decorating ideas I have used to spiff up my clients’ homes in the last month:

1. Change dish cloths and potholders. Solid black or white dish towels and potholders really freshen up a kitchen.

2. A set of new kitchen knobs. This simple upgrade can instantly transform cabinets and give the whole room a more modern look.

Snuggle up!

3. A pretty throw for the sofa can make the conversation area look more inviting and feel cozier. Look for brushed cotton in a solid neutral color that will coordinate with the existing color scheme.

4. Invest in a pretty ceramic bowl  to use as a centerpiece now and for seasonal displays later.

5. A square orchid pot can show off a beautiful holiday amaryllis and be used year-round to elegantly display other potted plants.

Make your house smell great

6. A ‘Holiday’ scented diffuser can make the whole house smell like a field of Christmas trees.

If you’re busy getting ready for the holidays, consider a new idea that could become a tradition: this year have the whole family make homemade decorations, together.

A holiday decoration that is easy to make, for all ages.

You might want to start on Thanksgiving when the family is gathered together or the day after, if you’re not in the mood to shop with the crowds on Black Friday. Just put out some arts and crafts supplies on a big table, in pretty, matching baskets, along with some old Christmas cards for recycling, ribbons and greenery.

Here are some more easy-to-accomplish ideas from eHow.com Home that you can share with your loved ones.

Let the fun and great memories begin!

When it comes to appliances, simply saving money may be a good enough reason for you to repair rather than replace, especially if the units are not very old.

Is it time to repair or replace?

There are also several other benefits of using the appliances you already have:

1. It keeps things out of the landfill
2. It reduces environmental pollution
3. It creates more value
4. It saves time needed for shopping to replace items
5. It makes you feel confident about the quality of the things you own

A new dishwasher, oven or fridge, can cost a bundle. So, how can you tell if it’s more cost-effective to repair a broken machine or better to replace it? Easy.

Partselect.com came up with a very cool diagnostic infographic for some of the most common problems that affect appliances. (Disclaimer: I have no connection to partselect.com.)

Just go to the site and click on the appliance in question and the graphic will display the cost of replacing the appliance as well as what the cost of parts are to fix the problem. You’ll even find a scale of difficulty to give you more insight into each repair. A pretty darn clever “use-what-you-have” tool that is fun to use and pretty darn good for the planet. I like that a lot.

If you like it, too, you may want to bookmark the site for future reference. After you finish playing with it.