Strip the wires about 3/4 inch and using the tip of the pliers or diagonal cutters bend it into a crook or loop turning in the clockwise direction so the screw pulls the wire in as it is tightened

  The ground is green , unless it doesn't rain .. then it's bare ... or ..
The single green screw  gets the green or bare ground wire

  The White or light screw on the side with the long slot gets the white or the light wire
  The dark or black screw  on the side of the small slot gets the dark or black wire and is the "hot" or powered side of the outlet . the slot on this side is smaller so it is more difficult for the kids to get the paper clip in because this is the side with the electricity that will hurt you .
The twist off tab on the side of the outlet between the screws is for seperating the two outlets for switched outlets  which often uses the red wire of a  3 conducter wire with ground
( 4 wires total ) . Use pliers or diagonal cutters to remove the tab on the dark screw side or hot side of the outlet
( Follow  how the old one is ).

Light Fixtures ;
When you remove the old light fixture and there are two white wires attached to it from the box ,  mark the wire attached to the black wire on the old fixture so you can attach it to the new black wire .
    Then simply connect the green or bare ground wire to the box and the mounting bar and any bare wire attached to the fixture itself ,  then attach the white and black wires to the black and white wires in the box and remount the fixture on the ceiling .
You may need to buy longer screws if your ceiling box is recessed into the ceiling .

Breaker panels ;
    Most modern houses have a Breaker panel rather than a Fuse box and if you do have a fuse box you might consider having it replaced by an electrician .
    If your power goes off in a circuit you can simply flip a breaker switch to restore it , providing the problem that tripped  it has been fixed .
    If you open the door on the panel box you will probably find  two rows of breakers that will shut off the power if they are over loaded . you will notice that when on , all the handles are held tight to one side and if "tripped" they will move partly to the off position , usually . Sometimes they don't move as much as they should so it helps find the tripped breaker by lightly pushing each handle towards the off position to see if it is loose , some of the breakers may be doubled with two handles tied together to make a 220 volt breaker , this is done by connecting to two 110 volt wires coming into your house .
    If you open the front panel enclosing the breakers and wires attached to them be very careful because even if you turn the main breaker off there are still parts with live electricity in them that are open and able to do you harm with almost unlimited power .
    Inside your panel box you will find many wires , most will be Black Red White Green or bare although you may find other colors as well . These wires attach to three main places .
    The Black , Red and often other dark wires carry the live power from the Breakers to the appliance , then the White wire returns the current back to the box where it then goes to the power pole then to a stake in the ground . the bare copper wire or green wire is the ground wire and is to provide a path for the power to get back through the box to a stake in the ground that is better than the path through you to the ground , it is also attached to the cold water pipe as a secondary path to the ground .
    Coming in to the box from your meter is three wires , one is for the white wire and the other two are alternating at sixty cycles a second from 110 volts positive to 110 volts negative so that the difference between them is 220 volts . In reality they are 125 volts each and 250 between them which may be why those 120 bulbs burn out so fast .

Aluminum wiring ;
Aluminum wire was use for general wiring in houses in the 60's and 70's and has been the cause of more than a few fires . I am not talking about large wires used for stoves or the main feeds to the house , though this wire should be used with special care and techniques that are needed when working with aluminum wiring and if you can afford it you should have any general wall wiring replaced with copper .  This is very expensive and requires much damage to the sheetrock walls and ceilings of your house to thread the new wires in and pull the old wires out . old wires should not be left in place if possible and if left in place should be wire nutted and taped .
    Any outlets or switches or wire nuts used with Aluminum wires MUST  be marked for use with AU ( aluminum ) .