How to Find Your Grill’s Hot Spots

Cooking on the grill is a staple of summer meals, but to do it right, you need even cooking over the length of your grill. Hot and cool spots can ruin your food. Find your grill’s hot spots and eliminate them for a summer full of great meals. You can discover your grill’s heat pattern very easily. First cover the surface of your grill with slices of white bread. Turn the burners on high and run the grill for a few minutes. Shut off the grill and flip all of the slices of bread. You will be able to see … Continue reading →

Having a Happy Summer Home

Having a happy summer home requires a leader, a visionary, or perhaps a mom to keep everything under control and flowing. Summer can be an easy time of the year, but it has it own challenges. Keep the following in mind to have a happy summer home. Realize that each person may have a different vision of summer. It is important to have a family meeting to determine what the expectations are for summer. Dad might want to spend most of the time working outside on projects, while Mom might want to do day trips, and the kids just want … Continue reading →

Two Cost Free Ways to Get Your Home Ready to Sell

My real estate friends tell me that it is not impossible to sell a home in a short period of time, it just depends on the home. Still, with the housing market the way that it is, you don’t want to spend a lot of money getting your home ready for the market, but you don’t want it to sit out there forever being passed over for other houses that are also for sale. Use some smarts and a little elbow grease to make your home stand out among all the rest of the housing inventory, and do it for … Continue reading →

High Efficiency Washer Tips

High efficiency washers are wonderful for saving energy, saving water and saving money. They are also prone to problems that traditional washing machines don’t have, such as mold growth, suds overload, etc. Here are some tips that you can use to make sure that your high efficiency washing machine works to its maximum potential. Detergent High efficiency washing machines require special high efficiency (HE) laundry detergent to work, otherwise, the wash load may produce too many suds. Regular detergents can cause an overload. Using less of a regular detergent might help, but then you may not get the concentrated cleaning … Continue reading →

States with the Worse Housing Markets

The housing market continues to go into decline according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Expert indications are that it will continue to decline in 2012. Some areas have been hit worse than other areas. Recently, the Housing Misery Index was published by Trulia, an online real estate search and marketing website. The reports lists and ranks each state’s housing market, taking into consideration the changes in home prices plus the rates of delinquency and foreclosure. They also tend to have high unemployment. One thing that is interesting to note is that many of the states hit … Continue reading →

Got $400,000? Buy an Entire French Village

For sale, one deserted village in France. Includes several buildings with exposed beams and fireplaces, a tennis court, a horse stable and even a swimming pool. It was the homesite of Jeanne d’Albret, mother of King Henry IV, and is said to have several springs that have healing powers. Price: $400,000 or best offer. Hmm, maybe it is time to move to France. For the cost of one smallish house here in my neck of the woods, we could have an entire french village, Courbefy. Wow–think of how much fun the kids would have. Maybe we could even grow grapes. … Continue reading →

Mom Poses Her Nude Daughter on the Internet

My husband and I have frequent talks about how we can protect our kids from the dangers of technology, including the Internet. We want to make sure that they don’t become victims of any pedophiles or other predators that are out there, or come across images or text that would harm them. While we do put some pictures of them on Facebook, we use the full security controls to ensure that only the friends and family that we want to have access to the photos of our kids can see them. Of course, these are wholesome images of them doing … Continue reading →

Picking a Pod Coffee Maker

Pod coffee makers are very popular right now, and more manufacturers are making them. How do they compare to the more traditional kinds of coffee makers and how can you choose the right pod coffee maker? Here is some information that will help you decided if a pod coffee maker, also called a pod coffee brewer is right for you. Pod coffee makers make one cup or mug of coffee at a time, although most pod coffee makers let you choose the size of your cup. They work by using pods, or little cups filled with coffee grounds that are … Continue reading →

Common Real Estate Terms Defined

Ever wonder what all of those real estate terms mean? They can often be confusing. I remember the first time that I ever heard about points and how they could lower your interest rate. Everyone just assumed that I knew all about them, when I had never heard about points before and how they played a role in getting a mortgage. Heck, I had never lived in, let alone purchased, a home before. Just in case you find yourself in a similar situation or want to be able to point a friend in the right direction about real estate, I … Continue reading →

What Do the Postal Service Cuts Mean for Your Household?

It was bound to come to this. The US postal service is an independent bit of the government that while subject to government rules and regulation is not supported by government funds or tax dollars. For years it has been hurting financially, and is now requesting to be allowed to make some changes to help reduce that debt. USPS asked the Postal Regulatory Commission for a number of changes that may affect when and how you get your mail. One of the items for change is the standard delivery service. Currently set at two days, it would be changed to … Continue reading →