Whether you've stripped a screw hole, drilled a hole bigger than your screw, or you're encountering any other series of events that's left you with a hole too big for a screw, reader wjglenn suggests using a matchstick as a quick fix.

Here's a little tip my dad taught me this weekend. The hinges on my daughter's bedroom door were loose and when I went to tighten them, it turned out the holes in the wood frame were a little too big and the screws were just turning loosely in them.

I didn't have any wood putty, so my dad told me to put a matchstick into the hole and then tighten the screw right into it. (Ed. note: After removing the flammable tip, of course.) Worked like a charm.

The screw basically shreds the matchstick, which fills the hole enough for the screw to tighten.