Here’s a great tip on buying a water hose. If it flattens when you step on it, don’t buy it. Spend the extra money and avoid the cheap hoses. Trust me on this one.

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If you belong to PETA, please don’t read this next tip. It’s late at night and you hear a mosquito buzzing around in your room. You want to kill that little sucker but it is too quick for you. Here’s the tip. Find a can of hair spray and shoot the fly with it. It’ll drop that little sucker like a rock. Just make sure that the hair spray is water soluble so you can wipe it off of the walls that you accidentally spray it on.

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I was on an airplane the other night flying from Atlanta to San Diego. There was a child several rows in front of me who would not stop crying. Fortunately I always carry earplugs for just such a situation. If you’re a parent carrying a baby on an airplane, you really need to buy a box of earplugs, (they’re cheap) and hand them out to nearby passengers before your flight begins. If the baby cries, at least you won’t feel as guilty about it.

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