First-Aid Guide For Furniture

When furniture arrives in your home, it's factory-issued, perfect and clean. From that day forward, however, accidents can happen, causing damage to your pieces. Sometimes the damage is permanent.
Know how to react when the inevitable spill or scratch occurs and you can "save" your furniture and extend its useful life.
From Martha Stewart, these "first-aid for furniture" tips should come in handy.
Wood

• Moisture "rings" : Pour table salt on the white rings/haze and cover with a terry cloth. Apply hair dryer on low setting until rings are gone.
• Alcohol spills : Blot spills immediately, do not rub. Apply small amounts of ammonia to damage.
• Wax spills : Allow to cool and harden, then freeze the wax with an ice cube in a sandwich bag. Use a butter knife to gently scrape off wax.

Fabric

• Red wine stains : Cover wine with table salt and let sit until salt has wicked up the wine. Vacuum salt and repeat, as necessary. Blot remaining stains with damp cloth and dish soap.
• General spills : Repeatedly blot with a damp white cloth. Use white cloths to prevent dye transfer.
• Oil spills : Cover spill with baking soda and vacuum once absorbed. Blot remaining stains with rubbing alcohol

Leather

• General stains : Blot with all-purpose household cleaner. To prevent fading in the upholstery, avoid products with bleach or bleach alternatives.
• Scratches : Apply saddle soap to a damp cloth and rub the scratch to help it "blend in". It won't go away.

The tips on leather furniture also makes mention that you should never bother with touch-up kits or colored markers. It's nearly impossible to match leather colors and your repair work will only make the scratch more noticeable.

How To Remove Stickers And Adhesive-Based Price Tags From Just About Anything

Sometimes, price tags just don't want to unstick. No matter how hard you scrub and scrape, tacky residence stays behind. Turns out, getting "the stick" off your stickers isn't so hard when you have the right tools.

In this 2-minute video from eHow.com, you'll learn how to remove stickers and adhesive-based price tags from common household items including:

• Wooden furniture
• Glass vases and other glassware
• Plastic pieces
• Cardboard boxes

The best part? All the supplies you'll need are already in your home.

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Flipping - Your Mattress Not your House!

If you're not rotating your mattress every 3 months, you may be shortening its lifespan. Constant nightly pressure can "wear out" the areas on which you sleep, creating in-bed divots and reducing your sleeping comfort.

The ExpertVillage.com video above -- "How To Flip a Mattress" -- is pretty self-explanatory. But there's a few other steps you can take to protect your bed and your health.

First, consider the use of a mattress cover. A mattress cover protects against spills and stains and can stop liquids from dripping inside of the mattress itself. Mattress covers are marked down 43% at Amazon.com right now and can be purchased for cheap at Bed Bath and Beyond, too.

Second, each time you change your sheets, remember to vacuum the mattress surface. A thorough cleaning will reduce the number of allergens and mites living on your bed, promoting better health hygiene.

And lastly, remember to occasionally apply an upholstery-grade cleaner to your mattress for stubborn stains or soilage. Using this particular type of cleaner is important because the product is meant to be near human skin. This is different from, say, carpet cleaner.

A good mattress can be expensive. Extending its usable life is not.