Whenever my friend's daughter comes over for dinner, I make her favorite -- homemade macaroni and cheese, the gooier the better. The only problem? It covers my baking dish in a grimy, baked-on layer of cheesy mess.

We've all run into these messes from time to time. It used to be that I'd leave the baked-on disaster soaking overnight in hot water -- which was just gross by morning. Then I tried using hot water and vinegar or baking soda, letting the dirty casserole dish sit for hours. These methods worked to some degree, but no matter what I did I would still have to scrub and scour to get the dish clean. Then I had an aha moment.

All those steamy hot showers you enjoy so much? They're costing you big-time. Hot water is the US consumer's third largest energy expense, accounting for around 12% of the average utility bill. A water heater upgrade is one way to cut costs. But it also leads to the question of whether to replace it with another traditional storage tank heater, or to opt for a tankless water heater. Should you or shouldn't you?

HOW DO TANKLESS WATER HEATERS WORK?
Let's take a closer look at water heaters.

A conventional water heater draws hot water from a thermostatically-controlled storage tank that refills automatically. The entire tank of hot water is held on standby 24/7. A lot of energy is gobbled up keeping the temperature constant, replacing hot water you've used and compensating for heat lost to the surrounding environment.

A tankless heater, on the other hand, conserves energy because it doesn't keep hot water in reserve. Instead, water is heated on an as-needed basis, routed through a powerful heating unit whenever a hot water faucet is turned on. Typically gas-fired (although you can buy electric versions, too), tankless heaters depend on electronic sensors to detect and regulate water temperature and flow.

Got a wood fence that's flaking or peeling apart? You might have a case of wood rot.

Wood, particularly if it's untreated, can easily succumb to rot once it comes in contact with moisture. Rotted wood in and around the house is commonly thought to be beyond repair, but this couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, it's a pretty painless DIY job. With a bit of epoxy , wood hardener and know-how, rotted areas of wood on decks, fences, doorways, and windows can be healthy again!

Need help diagnosing wood rot? Test the wood by tapping it with a dull knife. If it feels very soft or crumbles, it's rotted. As long as the area of rot is less than fifty percent of the total area of the wood, follow these steps to restore your wood to its former glory:

You know that door that won't quite close? Or that drawer that fits a bit too snugly? You can rummage around for a chisel, a scraper, a jigsaw, or even a power planer to trim the edges of uneven and too-tight drawers and doors. Or you can turn to the one tool that will do the job the right way: a block plane. A block plane is a small hand plane whose blade is set at a lower angle than other woodworking planes. The lower angle makes the block plane useful for cutting the wood's end grain -- in other words, trimming at a right angle to the wood's grain. Larger planes with higher blade angles are designed to work in the direction of the grain and would tear the wood if used across it or against it.

And that trusty jigsaw or chisel? Even worse. Some other tools may seem like good substitutes in a pinch, but it's very easy to accidentally remove a little too much -- and once you do that, there's no going back. The block plane is nice and small so it can squeeze into tight corners where a larger tool can't reach. It also removes only a tiny fraction of an inch of material, so it's hard to overdo it on just a pass or two. Because of the low blade angle, the block plane allows you to work with the grain of the wood as well as the end grain. This versatility is unmatched by other planing tools for at-home jobs.

Anyone who has built a home or taken on a hefty home improvement project can tell you that there are lots of measurements, calculations, and costs to keep track of. Even for seasoned DIYers, it can be overwhelming.

Enter the construction calculator. This handy device -- available in handheld units, iPhone apps, and web-based apps -- makes short work of the dizzying array of computations common to the construction industry. Figuring board/feet, fractions,slopes, and converting feet to inches or metric can be challenging on common or scientific calculators, but a construction calculator handles all of this with ease. It's built for the job.

So, you want to give your Valentine a gift that's original, adorable, and straight from the heart? Well, you have less than a week to do it (yes, V-Day is this Sunday). No worries, though: I have just the project to keep you in the good graces of your spouse, kids...well, just about anyone this February 14th.

Inspired by David Stark's blog, I'm excited to present this super-easy and totally doable craft that you can personalize to your heart's content: custom clocks!

Yep, you can make a clock out of virtually anything. All you really need is a simple clock kit -- which includes the hands and the movement (the case that houses the clock's mechanism). Check out the easy (and affordable!) project after the jump, complete with a tutorial and a few ideas to get you started.

YOU'LL NEED:
(1) Clock kit (I used this model from Amazon, which came with handy instructions and a few spare parts)
(1) Power drill
(1) 9/64" drill bit
(1) Item to drill the clock onto. Feel free to get creative here! Think of an object that represents something your Valentine is particularly fond of.

It's no mystery why stainless steel is one of the most popular finishes for the kitchen: it's chic and goes with everything. But if you own stainless appliances, you know the cold, hard truth: they're a chore to keep clean. Every time you wipe off a fingerprint, a new one seems to appear.

Here are a few tried-and-true techniques for eradicating smudges on your stainless -- and preventing those smears from showing up in the first place.

Guests arriving at 6pm. Quick! Get the main course in the oven and start on dessert. Grab all your baking equipment and -- oh darn it, those glass mixing bowls are stuck together again! Always when you're in a hurry, right?

Don't fret: there's an easy way to separate nesting bowls or stacked glasses that have become wedged together: drip a few drops of vegetable oil between the items in question and wiggle very gently. If they still won't budge, add a bit of warm water to mix things up. They should pop apart without a problem.

No luck? Here are some other suggestions worth trying: