Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: More Painless Ways to do Our Part

Sometimes, we hardly have enough time in a day for the barest necessities. Maybe we don’t feel that we have time for extra projects. Then there are those who think the whole “green” thing is over the top, so they don’t want to go out of their way with the environmental stuff. Good news! Either way, the following options are not only painless, but some of them will even save us time and money while doing something good for the environment. It’s all good. Just Say No to Bottled Water First, it costs too much, in my opinion; it’s water. … Continue reading →

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

*“Use it up; wear it out; make it do, or do without!” ~L. Reid The above quote (*from WiseOldSayings.com) is filled with wisdom. This is the way people lived for many years. While technology can be fabulous and innovation does much to make our lives easier, we’ve become a very consumption oriented, “disposable” society. How many of us throw things away instead of re-using, recycling, or repairing them? As we begin to shift away from convenience and “disposability,” at least slightly, we’re learning more ways to make do, make things last longer, or find new ways to use things instead … Continue reading →

Tips for Dying your Hair without Killing Furnishings

Hair dye is a fantastic product. Hair color is available in a great variety of colors and formulas that can be used at home at an affordable price. Some of us even use hair color to hide a little gray (um, not me of course, but I’m sure some people do). The problem with hair color is that it can stain things. It stains pretty much everything it touches other than hair. The idea then is to avoid letting it touch anything besides your hair. So, try these tips if you’d like to dye your hair without changing the color … Continue reading →

Three Tips for Staging your Home

Staging a home is much like setting a stage for a play. Instead of a play, you set the “stage” to sell your home. Some people don’t realize that it often takes a lot of effort to stage the home just right for an open house or a private showing. There are a few simple things anyone can do to make a home more appealing to the largest number of people. Try the following tips if you’re trying to sell your home: Not just Neutral While you will often hear that you should paint the walls neutral colors when selling … Continue reading →

How Much Paint Do You Need?

Getting ready to paint a room? User this guide to determine how much paint to purchase. There are some great paint choices out there these days. I ought to know. I’ve been priming up a storm in this house to get it ready for interior painting. Primer is pretty easy to measure. You just get a big bucket of it and use it throughout your rooms. The “real” paint, however, is a little bit tricky. You don’t want to overbuy and waste money, especially when some custom and designer paints are so expensive. And you don’t want to underbuy and … Continue reading →

Conserving Natural Resources at Home: Saving Water

Part of being environmentally conscious includes saving natural resources and each of us can do our part in our own homes. One important aspect of conserving resources is saving water by finding ways to avoid waste. One simple method was described in a previous article on environmentally friendly tips. Collecting rain water for watering plants, flowers, gardens, and lawns is a good first step. Another good way to avoid wasting water is to capture water when you turn on the faucet and let it run until it gets hot. Between half a gallon and up to several gallons of water … Continue reading →

Prepping and Painting Stained or Damaged Surfaces

A leak? Oh, no! What a mess. After you get the resultant dampness out of the way, treat to prevent mold, and repair the area where the leak occurred, you’re probably going to need to repaint. If you’ve replaced wood, drywall, or other surface materials, you can prep as usual and get down to business. In other situations, say you’ve replaced the outer materials and the insulation, but the inside materials are still useable (and have been thoroughly cleaned and dried) you may need to do a little extra prep work before pulling out the paint brush. First, make absolutely … Continue reading →

Family Issues: Stay Close to Distant & Traveling Family

Many of us have extended families that do not live nearby but with today’s technology, we can easily stay in touch and remain close. We can find great cell phone plans with lots of “any time” minutes or free nights and weekends, we can choose long distance plans for home phones that cover particular areas that we call most often. We can send an e-mail or an e-card, create an online newsletter, and of course, we can still write an old-fashioned letter if we get the urge. We can also make recordings and videos to send so family members have … Continue reading →

Removing Furniture Stains

Furniture and stains are a part of life and there’s no need to panic if odd-looking things have come to roost on your wooden tables, chairs and the like. The thing to do is to get rid of them, send them off and running to someone else’s house, someone you don’t particularly like before they have a chance to reproduce and multiply. Consider these tips for quick stain removal. (Getting rid of those unwanted relatives should only be so easy!) General Stain Removal Make your own all-purpose stain removal for your wooden furniture by combining lemon extract, oil of peppermint … Continue reading →

Top Five Tips for Winterizing Your Home

While temperatures are still on the mild side in many areas, it’s already getting cold in some places. Besides, even if it is still warm in your region, it probably won’t be too long before the cold winds begin to blow. Now is a very good time to start winterizing your home, before old man winter arrives, and these tips will help: 1. It may seem to go without saying, but unfortunately, many people forget to install storm doors and windows before cold weather reaches their destination. Once frigid temperatures hit, it is much harder to get motivated enough to … Continue reading →