Many of the terms you use around the house are actually trademarked. (“Grab me a kleenex, will you?”) Or at least they were at one point, before we all started using them as if they were just a regular part of the English language. And actually, a few of the brands on this list have lost the right to enforce their trademark because the term became so commonplace. So here they are in one tidy list (a little ammunition for your next trivia night).

Ahhh… Mondays. For most of us, they’re the start of the work week, bringing with them a bleak realization that the weekend is definitely over. But if you want to live a happy life, you’ve got to start looking on the bright side of things! Monday is just another day, with tons of opportunity to live, laugh, and explore. Changing your outlook on Mondays isn’t hard, it just requires a few small tweaks to your routine.

Nothing lasts forever. While it’s pretty easy to determine the shelf life of, say, Thanksgiving leftovers, it’s tougher to know when your seasonal decor has gone bad. Holiday lights, like a lot of things in your home, require maintenance and regular replacement. Do you know the life span of your lights? Incandescent bulbs should be replaced every 4-6 years. LED lights last a bit longer, for 7-10 years. Of course, these numbers are just a guideline.

October was a month full of travel for me; I think I only spent one or two nights at home at a time. It was equal parts exciting and exhausting, but I’m happy to be back home—for good this time. Funny enough, an extended vacation away from your apartment can actually teach you a lot about how you live your life at home. Here are three things you’ll only discover once you’ve spent some time away.

I’ve been a houseguest before, and there are plenty of things I have wanted to ask of my host that went unspoken in the spirit of gratefulness and generally trying not to be a pain in the chateau. I do want to get invited back, after all. But I’ve also been on the other side of the coin, and I know that any generous host wants their visitors to be happy and comfortable. Here’s the most important thing your guests won’t tell you. Your home is too cold, or maybe too hot.

You might already use your email or notes apps on your smartphone to keep track of little everyday reminders. But your camera app and photo album can be just as useful as a memory aid. Here are a few things that can easily be remembered with a quick snap of your camera phone’s shutter button: • A reminder of where you parked. Parking in the city is no joke. • Your printer cartridges. Make sure you can see the refill numbers. • Your family members’ clothing sizes.

The spookiest thing to happen in our house this past Halloween weekend was a toaster oven that mysteriously turned itself on. Was it a visit from a long deceased Bagel-Bites-loving ancestor? Probably not. It turns out that it’s part of a sporadic phenomenon that popularly plagues small appliances like toasters, microwaves and coffee makers. Has it ever happened to you?

Ah, the internet. Where else would we find answers to all of our random questions? Our latest internet research: Whether or not your cell phone can help you identify leaks in your microwave. The legend says that if you place your phone in a microwave and close the door, it will only be able to receive an incoming call if there’s a leak. But is that true?Paranoid about cell phone radiation? You’re not the only one.

Imagine getting ready to curl up inside your humble and comfy little abode. You’ve popped in a DVD and made your way to the kitchen to gather up some delicious treats and crack open a frosty brew. But when you sit down with your grub, you find yourself sitting through what seems like endless and unskippable movie previews and piracy warnings—what a buzzkill. If only you knew the remote-control trick that works on nearly every DVD Player (Hint: It’s not the menu button.