Cheap and simple DIY fixes for 10 annoying cottage problems

Wrap flashlights with glow-in-the-dark tape. Depending on the tape, even as little as 30 minutes of light exposure gives it enough juice to glow for four hours. Other products stay illuminated for as long as eight hours.

Tie a long piece of string around the end of the faucet head. The water will travel silently down the string—and you can get some sleep.

The ground is never level when you want it to be. Cut a couple of dedicated 1x3 wood board "ladder levellers" and store them with the ladder. Use them as necessary when positioning the ladder on uneven ground. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than, say, a random rock. (Who would use a rock to keep a ladder level? Some people. Ask us how we know.)

When these chains snap, you can no longer flush the toilet using the lever. Annoying! Until you replace the chain, connect the two broken chain sections with a paper clip.

This matters for food safety reasons, of course. Fill a small plastic container with water, and put it in the freezer. Once set, place a coin on top. If, the next time you check, the coin hasn’t budged, you’re gold—the power wasn’t off long enough for the ice to melt. But if the coin is at the bottom of the container, carefully inspect your food and ditch anything suspect.

Turn an old, empty drawer into underbed storage by attaching four casters to each bottom corner and cutting a piece of plywood to fit overtop as a lid. Bam! You've got a rolling storage bin.

Don't want to wear long sleeves? Apply a lot (no, a lot) of body lotion on your arms, and other exposed skin, before painting. Paint splatters won’t stick to your skin nearly as easily and removing them won’t require aggressive scrubbing.

Don’t make the mistake of storing bread in the fridge (that’ll make it go stale faster). Keep bread fresh by putting a piece of celery inside the bag. It’ll add moisture to the loaf and extend its life. And celery is boring. You weren't going to eat it anyway, right?

DIY a sanding block by wrapping the sandpaper around a chunk of wood—it’ll make the work much easier.

Insulate the window with bubble wrap. Mist the surface with water and cover the entire pane with a piece of wrap, bubbles toward the glass. Press and hold in place briefly so the wrap adheres. It’s not pretty, but it will work.