What do you do if you spill a bottle of cooking oil on the floor? First you pour some flour over the spill and let it sit for a couple of minutes. The flour will absorb most of the oil, and you can simply sweep it up with a dust pan and broom. Finally, use window cleaner and paper towels to remove the remaining oil.

If you need to lose weight, try Weight Watchers. For those of you who are already WW members, I've got a tip for you. If you're eating out somewhere and you don't have your "points" calculator, you can use the unofficial Tim Thompson WW Points formula. It's not the same formula that Weight Watchers uses, but it's pretty accurate and you can do it in your head. There are three parts to the formula. First, determine how many times the number 50 will go into the number of calories. For example, if the calorie count is 230, you'll have four points. Second, add a point for every 10 grams of fat. Lastly, subtract one point if the food item has 5 or more grams of fiber. That's it. Check it out yourself to see how accurate it is.

Tim Thompson lives in Gainesville. E-mail Tim your ideas for tips, tools or tricks.