Boats are expensive! Owning a big beautiful vessel is a luxury we have all wished for at some point, but it can prove to be extremely costly. Every boat suffers from immense wear and tear, since they are constantly exposed to the natural elements. But, keeping boats in tip top shape doesn't necessarily have to cost an arm and a leg.  It's important to keep these crucial habits if there's a chance at saving some money in maintaining these vessels: Keep a comprehensive checklist Inspection should be done on a weekly, monthly, and annual basis. Some components, such as cables, antennae, and electronic navigation equipment, only need to be checked annually for corrosion; but engines, batteries, and gear boxes should be inspected every time before you head off to open waters. With so many things you need to check and several checkup schedules to keep track of, it's easy to forget something - and you never know whether that something you forget could be the one that causes trouble for you in the middle of the sea. To make sure you don't overlook anything, you need to have a comprehensive checklist. You can easily get one from the Internet. Or if you have found a ...

If your cleaning company is responsible for carpet spotting or overall carpet cleaning, you are eventually going to run across gum that is smashed into the carpet fibers. You may be cleaning up just a piece or two or if you are cleaning the carpet in a school or bowling alley, you may be removing gum every few feet. So is there a fast, easy way to remove these rubbery pieces of goo? Begin by using a Scraperite blade and gently, but firmly scrape up as much of the gum as possible. This may remove the bulk of the gum, but don't forget you still need to remove any sticky residue that remains. For any pieces remaining, use a product such as Unbelievable Goo D-solv-r Pro (from Core Products). Spray the chemical on a white blotting cloth and then blot the gum - do not spray it directly on the gum or the carpet. Once you have removed the gum rinse thoroughly with hot water. This will remove any of the chemical that is left on the carpet and help to prevent it from re-soiling. Some people have found that after using the scraper they can use a volatile dry solvent and hot water in their extraction machine to remove any remaining pieces of gum. The heat helps to soften the gum and remov...

If you have heard about the Plastic Continent -- the floating island of plastic twice the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean -- then you understand how crucial it is to recycle plastic. Right now, only 5% of plastics worldwide are recycled. Some of this is ignorance: most of the world still simply doesn't understand the danger plastics pose to our environment and our food chain. But plastics themselves are complicated. Even if you want to recycle your plastics, and even if you dutifully separate plastics from the rest of your household waste and put it out on the curb in its blue or green recycle bin, your plastics might still end up in the Plastic Continent. Why is this? Different Types of Plastic Look at the underneath side of a plastic bottle or plastic container. Inside the familiar reduce, reuse, recycle triangle ("chasing arrows") logo is a number between one and seven. This number indicates what kind of plastic that container is made from. Some plastics are easy to recycle, but other plastics are much harder to recycle. As a result, most municipal recycling facilities only recycle the easiest plastics: plastics 1 and 2. What happens to plastics 3 through 7? At some recycling...

The wine bottles are empty. The candles have seen their last flicker. And the last guest has gone home. You want to put your feet up with a big sigh of relief, but wait — there's cleaning up to do. Doing any type of cleaning when your holiday party is over might not seem like a particularly glamorous way to finish the evening. But taking care of a few housekeeping matters right away will lighten your load when you wake up the next morning. And tidying up actually isn't that hard when you have a game plan. Clear the mess first Close Go around the house with two bags — one for trash and one for recyclables — and start clearing all the tables. Toss paper cups and plates, crumpled napkins and food in the bag designated for trash, and place bottles and cans in the recyclables bag. Preventive measures help too: for my holiday parties, I decorate big boxes with wrapping paper and put bows on the front with tags that say "Trash" and "Recycling." Then I line the boxes with big trash bags, so at the end of the evening, most of the work is already done for me. Round up the dishes Gather all the real plates, glasses and utensils, take them to the kitchen and place them in the dishwasher immedi...