How to make a pedicure last longer

This may be the most frivolous post I've ever written.  But after a really heavy week, I'm ready for some frivolity.  And I discovered a little trick that I just had to share--how to make a pedicure last longer!

Told you it was frivolous.

I got a professional pedicure on June 27--my first in a long time.  I love to get a pedicure, but I don't do it very often, because it's time-consuming and expensive.  My French pedicure made me feel like a million bucks, though, so it was worth it. 

Unfortunately, within a couple of weeks, my toes looked like this:

The tips still looked fine, but the nails had grown, leaving an unsightly mess at the base.  Lacking the time or money to go get another pedicure, I pulled out these trusty tools:

I simply used the block to smooth away the roughness at the base of my toenails, being careful not to disturb the tips.  (I just held the block at an angle so that it only touched the part of my nail that I wanted to file.)  Then I applied a new clear coat over the top of my toenails.  

Believe it or not, I took this photo on July 27--a whole month after I first got this pedicure.  At this point I'd done my smooth-and-recoat trick twice!

While they're perfect like freshly done nails, they look pretty good to me!  And all it took was a few minutes of my time.  

Got any beauty tricks to share?  I'd love to hear them!