clever trick

[chrisatpsu]

you guys are probably already using this, but those little plastic stakes at walmart that hold the c7's, or c9's
they come in a box of 25, and most people hardly ever look at them...

they work great for...

i have the metal tomato cage mini trees, i use three of these stakes to hold onto the metal stems of the cage to keep them from rolling over in the wind...

AND...

if i keep the clip pointed straight up, i can use them to hold my power and cat5 cables a couple inches off the ground so they dont sit in water...

what have you guys tried?

[rimist]

They were also available at big lots for $2 and lowes (more). I bought a few hundred (stakes, not packs) mostly used for original purpose, which has kept breaker issues away. I also use them to keep sockets off the ground, where strings plug in

-Rimist

[Steve Gase]

doesn't solve the shorting problems, but I use landscape staples to hold my tomato cages to the ground.

[chrisatpsu]

hopefully, i'm ok with mine, but i wrapped the lights really loosely on my cages, and tried to make sure a socket wasn't near a metal piece of the cage.  so far it's been ok

[sirloinofbeef001]

you guys are probably already using this, but those little plastic stakes at walmart that hold the c7's, or c9's
they come in a box of 25, and most people hardly ever look at them...

they work great for...

i have the metal tomato cage mini trees, i use three of these stakes to hold onto the metal stems of the cage to keep them from rolling over in the wind...

AND...

if i keep the clip pointed straight up, i can use them to hold my power and cat5 cables a couple inches off the ground so they dont sit in water...

what have you guys tried?

Hmmmm. Thats what I used them for.. Doesnt the box say for cat 5 cables too?  lol

[denverstone]

I like the idea of keeping the plugs off the ground but I keep my tomato cage trees down with the small metal tent stakes. 

I made a couple shorter trees by cutting down a large cage.... I turned the scrap material in to tent stakes ised to  hold the trees down..

[chrisatpsu]

never a bad idea here...    keep going!  we're all learning!

[SteveMaris]

I used them to keep my extension cords off the ground. (At the plug ends) They work great for this.
As a matter of fact, the one spot I did not use one, (A bunch of animal tinsels grouped together)
Was the cause of the only GFI trip I had this season.

[chrisatpsu]

what's animal tinsel?

[Whip]

I use the green plastic coated aluminum garden stakes to hold my mini's down. I get 6' ones and cut them to 2' (cheaper than buying shorter lengths) and push half of the pole into the ground and zip-tie the tree to the 1' sticking out. They withstood 40+MPH winds...so far. 

[mms]

To keep my plugs safe from moisture I wrap the plug/cord connection with the plastic Home Depot bags my lights came home in.  (Any bag will do, it doesn't have to be HD.)   

I'm hoping to use those stakes for some broken/lost parts on my string of candy cane lights in the front yard.  Right now, some of them are zip-tied to some wood stakes.  It looks a little ghetto during the day, but luckily those have been covered by snow since mid-December!

I've found that the broom clips that hold my PVC in place are great multi-taskers for holding extension cords out of the way/in place.

Speaking of multi-taskers, the "gifts" in my display are storage boxes wrapped with tablecloths from the $1 store.  Now I have somewhere to put the inflatable Eeyore, his backbone/extra lights and the arch around my front door.

That's a good synopsis of what I've learned in my first year!  I love reading others' tricks of the trade!

Steve