Kitchens are no longer rooms unto themselves. They are part of a larger multipurpose rooms, which allows families and friends to gather, entertain, cook, confer over homework and watch television. The kitchen is the heart of the home and people have finally realized that you are not going to get everyone out of the kitchen.
Kitchen layouts and cabinetry have changed to meet these needs. The advent of dual-chef households also changed the way in which kitchens are used. Husband and wife often want their own prep sinks and other food preparation areas so that they are not tripping over each other.
Islands are becoming more important. Effective storage is also necessary
Aesthetically, homeowners are avitating toward contrasting cabinets within the kitchen with the island cabinets looking totally different from the perimeter cabinets as a focal point to accent stained wood cabinets elsewhere are very popular now. Islands and stove cabinets are the areas most commonly chosen to be painted accents.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
Point, Click, and Cut Remodel Bills
For high-end appliances
A new Viking, SubZero, or other commercial-grade appliance can run $10,000. Greendemolitions.com sells used units with years of life left in them. Some well-off homebuyers tear out two- and three-year-old, high-end kitchens. 50% to 90% below the cost of buying new.
For remodeling
Diggerslist.com is a Craigslist for so-it-yourslefers, selling all sorts of renovation castoffs from other weekend warriors' projects. Pick up bricks, door, tiles, lumber,and cabinet hardware for 50% to 70% discounts. Everything is sold as is; go see it and make sure it's in good shape before you buy.
For stone counters
When you need only a small stone countertop - for a kitchen island say - you can save about 50% by buying a remnant instead of a full slab. Thestonbroker.com lets you search local yards' remnants. The site tacks on $200 for any stone you end up buying. Buy you save $500 or more on the $1,000- to $2,000-and-way-up cost of using a full slab.
For Luxe lighting
High-end light fixtures make your home distinctive, a single chandelier can cost $800 to $1,500 or more. Buy factory direct from one of the finest manufacturers at rejuvenation.com. It offers dozens of lighting styles, made to order in your finish and size needs, for 20% to 30% less than what you'd pay for a similar fixture at a specialty shop.
A new Viking, SubZero, or other commercial-grade appliance can run $10,000. Greendemolitions.com sells used units with years of life left in them. Some well-off homebuyers tear out two- and three-year-old, high-end kitchens. 50% to 90% below the cost of buying new.
For remodeling
Diggerslist.com is a Craigslist for so-it-yourslefers, selling all sorts of renovation castoffs from other weekend warriors' projects. Pick up bricks, door, tiles, lumber,and cabinet hardware for 50% to 70% discounts. Everything is sold as is; go see it and make sure it's in good shape before you buy.
For stone counters
When you need only a small stone countertop - for a kitchen island say - you can save about 50% by buying a remnant instead of a full slab. Thestonbroker.com lets you search local yards' remnants. The site tacks on $200 for any stone you end up buying. Buy you save $500 or more on the $1,000- to $2,000-and-way-up cost of using a full slab.
For Luxe lighting
High-end light fixtures make your home distinctive, a single chandelier can cost $800 to $1,500 or more. Buy factory direct from one of the finest manufacturers at rejuvenation.com. It offers dozens of lighting styles, made to order in your finish and size needs, for 20% to 30% less than what you'd pay for a similar fixture at a specialty shop.
Insulation choices to consider when what's in the walls isn't up to par.
If you're looking to take advantage of a renovation to add or replace insulation, you've got a lot of choices - fiberglass, shredded paper, even plastics, denim scraps, and wool - in several forms. Which material is best for you? Things to consider: site conditions, your budget, the material's efficiency (expressed as an R-value that measures resistance to heat transfer), and the skill level needed for the installation; insulating with rolls or batts, for example, can be a do-it-yourself project, while filling walls with pray foam is a job for the pros. To get a handle on some of the options that may best suit your renovation, read on.
Rolls or batts
They are fluffy blankets in long strips or precut pads that fit between studs. These are most commonly made of fiberglass, but you can also find ones made from cotton, mineral wool, and real sheep's wool.
It is best used in walls gutted down to the studs or in attics.
This is a job you an handle
Loose fill
These are dry bits of insulation that get blown into attics. The material is also injected into wall cavities through holes about 2 inches wide. It goes in either from the exterior, which requires prying up siding and drilling through the sheathing - adding to the cost of professional installation - or from the interior walls, which require patching holes. There are three main types: fiberglass, either treated with formaldehyde or untreated; cellulose, which is about 80 percent ground-up newsprint and 20 percent borate, a mineral dded as a fire retardant; and mineral wool.
It is best used to beef up attic-floor insulation, or inside existing walls when the budget is thigh.
If you decide to do it yourself, you can rent a blower from a home center.
Expanding foam
This is made of either open-cell or closed-cell polyurethane, or a special cement, this insulation goes on as a soft foam or foaming liquids, filling all spaces, then stiffening in place. Applies only by professionals, it's more costly than other options but is the best at plugging air leaks. Open-cell polyurethane is a low-density, spongy foam. It's sprayed between exposed studs and expands to 100 times its volume in seconds. For finished walls, installers pour a tamer version through small holes; it expands over minutes to 60 times its volumer. Closed-cell polyurethane foams to 30 times its volume and dries to a very hard shell. Cementitious foam, which goes on like shaving cream but hardens over days into a meringue-like consistency, requires mesh across the studs to contain it.
The is best used when you can look beyond initial cost to long-term comfort.
You should most likely let the professionals do it.
Rolls or batts
They are fluffy blankets in long strips or precut pads that fit between studs. These are most commonly made of fiberglass, but you can also find ones made from cotton, mineral wool, and real sheep's wool.
It is best used in walls gutted down to the studs or in attics.
This is a job you an handle
Loose fill
These are dry bits of insulation that get blown into attics. The material is also injected into wall cavities through holes about 2 inches wide. It goes in either from the exterior, which requires prying up siding and drilling through the sheathing - adding to the cost of professional installation - or from the interior walls, which require patching holes. There are three main types: fiberglass, either treated with formaldehyde or untreated; cellulose, which is about 80 percent ground-up newsprint and 20 percent borate, a mineral dded as a fire retardant; and mineral wool.
It is best used to beef up attic-floor insulation, or inside existing walls when the budget is thigh.
If you decide to do it yourself, you can rent a blower from a home center.
Expanding foam
This is made of either open-cell or closed-cell polyurethane, or a special cement, this insulation goes on as a soft foam or foaming liquids, filling all spaces, then stiffening in place. Applies only by professionals, it's more costly than other options but is the best at plugging air leaks. Open-cell polyurethane is a low-density, spongy foam. It's sprayed between exposed studs and expands to 100 times its volume in seconds. For finished walls, installers pour a tamer version through small holes; it expands over minutes to 60 times its volumer. Closed-cell polyurethane foams to 30 times its volume and dries to a very hard shell. Cementitious foam, which goes on like shaving cream but hardens over days into a meringue-like consistency, requires mesh across the studs to contain it.
The is best used when you can look beyond initial cost to long-term comfort.
You should most likely let the professionals do it.
Safety First - Protecting your devices from onlie attacks.
Those who own a computer, smartphone, or tablet likely understand the importance of protecting their favorite digital device - and perhaps more important, the information that resides on it - but only a third of us are actually taking the proper precautions to do so.
Our PSs, Macs and mobile devices today house a larger number of valuable digital assets - everything from photos and music topersonal and financial data. Losing these asses can be devastating, given the money and yime we invest in acquiring them.
Also, a growing abundance of cyber-criminal acivity, perpetrated by people out to pilfer sensitive information like credit card, bank account and Social Security numbers, with the goal of stealing your identity for financial gain,
Potentially damaging software is infecting mobile devices through websites or downloaded apps that might contain hidden files, on top of the man voice-, email- and text-based scams.
The following is a short checklist that should help you protect your devices, your information and your family.
Back up your data.
Back up your important files on a regular basis just in case they're compromised due to a malware attack, theft, fir or flood, or hardware malfunction. For you computer, pick up an external hard drive and make a backup of your irreplaceable digital photos and camcorder footage, documents, importnat emails, contacts, calender appointments, Web bookmarks and so forth.
To back up info on your smartphone or tablet, synchronize your device with your computer via USB cable or back up data to an online "cloud" service where it can be easily retrived, if needed.
Use anti-malware programs.
Invest in good antimalware software, which includes antivirus and anti-spyware toold, and a two-way firewall. Updats are usually handled automatically and pushed to your device, which will protect you from the latest threats as soon as they're identified.
Be safe and sensible.
Along with regular backups, this includes using strong passwords, downloading only from trusted resources and not leaving your devices unattended. Also, don't be tempted to act on email or text messages that ask you to reveal personal or financial information - they are likely a "phishing" attempt from a scam artist.
Rather than placing an Internet-conected computer in a child's rom, keep it in a central location in the home, such as a kitchen, family room or any other highly trafficked area. Kids can feel independent while surfing online but not be "alone."
Remind them to never give out their address, phone number or other personal information, such as where they go to school - or upload and photos that might reveal this info. This applies to social networking sites (such as Fackbook), instant messaging programs, chat rooms, and emails.
Our PSs, Macs and mobile devices today house a larger number of valuable digital assets - everything from photos and music topersonal and financial data. Losing these asses can be devastating, given the money and yime we invest in acquiring them.
Also, a growing abundance of cyber-criminal acivity, perpetrated by people out to pilfer sensitive information like credit card, bank account and Social Security numbers, with the goal of stealing your identity for financial gain,
Potentially damaging software is infecting mobile devices through websites or downloaded apps that might contain hidden files, on top of the man voice-, email- and text-based scams.
The following is a short checklist that should help you protect your devices, your information and your family.
Back up your data.
Back up your important files on a regular basis just in case they're compromised due to a malware attack, theft, fir or flood, or hardware malfunction. For you computer, pick up an external hard drive and make a backup of your irreplaceable digital photos and camcorder footage, documents, importnat emails, contacts, calender appointments, Web bookmarks and so forth.
To back up info on your smartphone or tablet, synchronize your device with your computer via USB cable or back up data to an online "cloud" service where it can be easily retrived, if needed.
Use anti-malware programs.
Invest in good antimalware software, which includes antivirus and anti-spyware toold, and a two-way firewall. Updats are usually handled automatically and pushed to your device, which will protect you from the latest threats as soon as they're identified.
Be safe and sensible.
Along with regular backups, this includes using strong passwords, downloading only from trusted resources and not leaving your devices unattended. Also, don't be tempted to act on email or text messages that ask you to reveal personal or financial information - they are likely a "phishing" attempt from a scam artist.
Rather than placing an Internet-conected computer in a child's rom, keep it in a central location in the home, such as a kitchen, family room or any other highly trafficked area. Kids can feel independent while surfing online but not be "alone."
Remind them to never give out their address, phone number or other personal information, such as where they go to school - or upload and photos that might reveal this info. This applies to social networking sites (such as Fackbook), instant messaging programs, chat rooms, and emails.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Check this out!
You can cut your heating and cooling costs up to 80%! ClimateMaster geothermal systems provides heating, cooling, and hot water by tapping the constant temperature of the earth. Your home will stay comfortable all year while trimming your energy use up to 80%. You can save an additional 30% with new federal tax credits on the total installation. ClimateMaster systems are a cleaner choice of investment for the environment. Visit climatemaster.com or call 877-436-6263 to learn more today.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Great Ways to Save
Car tips:
1. Buying a car at the end of the month is the best time because businesses are scrambling to make sales quotas.
2. Gasbuddy.com! This is a website in which drivers can use to check local gas prices. It has also gone mobile so you can use this as an app on your phone!
3. Be sure that your gas cap fits correctly and is twisted tight. 1 in 6 cars do not have caps that fit properly. A gas cap that doesn't fit properly can reduce a car's mileage by up to 10%.
4. Cut your costs by choosing the right credit card when getting gas. Some cards with cash back credit offers high rewards for purchasing gas.
Financial Tips:
1. Many jurisdictions give property tax relief. If you are an older homeowner, you can receive this based on your income. However you might have to submit documentation on your income and social security benefits.
2. Prepaying can dramatically shorten your mortgage life and save you a lot of money in interest.
3. BillShrink.com analyzes your everyday costs. FindABetterBank.com compares your checking account plans at banks and credit unions. BrightScope.com compares your financial advisers and your 401(k) plans.
Health Tips:
1. See if a local health club offers a pay-per-visit plan. By paying for a monthly membership, most people overspend because they are able to go to the gym only on an average of once a week.
2. New healthcare provides free preventive tests by medicare providers. Wellness checkups much of the time require a 20% copay. Check with your medicare participating doctor.
Utility Tips:
1. You can save up to $200 a year by insulating your electric water heater and its outgoing pipes. Pipe sleeves start at $2 for 12 feet, and heater blankets run about $20. Check with a plumber for the safety.
2. Install a programmable thermostat, and a homeowner can save up to $180 a year in heating and cooling bills.
3. Replace your incandescent bulbs with fluorescent light bulbs. By replacing a 60-watt incandescent bulb with a 15-watt CFL, you can save $69 over the life of a new light bulb.
4. You can save 6% on power consumption of your refrigerator if you keep your coils dust free.
5. If you are buying an oven, consider a convection model. This can cut oven energy use by 20%. Why? This is because it is continually circulating heated air around the food.
6. Only use bathroom and kitchen vent fans in the summer and winter. By using regular fans, it costs money and will blow your heated or cooled air outside. This forces your furnace or air conditioner to make up the difference.
7. Inflatable fireplace dampers keeps the warm air in your home from escaping through the leaky metal damper. You can save $50 to $200 a year if you pay $50 to $200 ONCE.
8. Turn off radiators or close heating and cooling vents to conserve energy in vacant rooms. Maybe invest in heavy drapes because it lowers energy bills.
Travel Tips:
1. Buy an airline ticket on a week day instead of a weekend when prices are often the highest. Tuesday is the best day to buy because many sales are launched on Monday nights. Competitors then typically try to match prices by the next morning.
2. Instead of paying for a day's fun around a Caribbean Island, invest in a day pass to an island resort. Or you can book your own excursions before sailing to avoid these high-prices outings which are offered onboard.
3. You can find senior discounts through clubs such as the Over the Hill Gang International and the 70+ Ski Club.
4. Find great rental car one way rates. In the spring, rental car companies move their fleets north from Florida.
5. Bring your ATM card. Use an ATM if you need a foreign exchange currency. This helps to avoid fees by using the machines which are affiliated with your home bank's global network.
6. Many credit card companies add 1-3% when you are overseas. Cards at sites like CreditCards.com and Cardhub.com makes sure that benefits aren't outweighed by interest rates or high annual fees.
7. To avoid rental car damage charges, take pictures just in case you are blamed for someone else denting the car.
8. If you are on vacation, shopping at thrift stores are the cheapest way to find well priced souvenirs or even a bike.
9. Instead of renting a car, you have the option by using public transit or a shuttle.
Shopping Tips:
1. Compare prices online. PriceGrabber.com, Nextag.com, Bizrate.com, and Pricewatch.com are good price comparing sits.
2. Wholesomewave.org brings affordable, fresh, local produce to american homes.
3. Devote 20 minutes a week to finding coupons to saving more money.
4. Join groupon, livingsocial and buywithme for daily deals to show up in your email. This promises local discounts on everything you cold ever need. Dealfind and Dealon feature deals on food, local events and services. Dealery.com and Yipit aggregate offerings from multiple sites for one-stop e-shopping.
5. Organicconsumers.com for bulk-buying co-ops is a good way for lower shipping costs for fruits and vegetables and to find farmers' markets in your area.
6. Before eating out, find dining bargains online and look at the menu.
7. Pay your bills online for free instead of buying checks, envelopes, stamps, and late fees.
8. 20-40% of shoppers never collect their rebate. Prove merchants wrong by saving all receipts, forms and packaging needed to apply for your rebate. Be sure it doesn't expire!
9. Many merchants will give you replacement items for free if something breaks, so don't rule out that nothing is returnable.
10. Buying homes, exercise equipment, and buying TVs is best to do in the winter time. Spring is the best for buying computers, digital cameras, and carpeting. Summer is the best for buying indoor furniture, camcorders, and snow blowers. Fall is the best time to buy lawn mowers, gas grills, and GPS navigation systems.
11. Ask if you can keep the hangers when you buy clothing at a store. Most clerks will say yes.
Home Tips:
1. Netflix! This is a movie streaming website which costs $8 a month. You can also see free TV shows at Hulu.com, TVClassicShows.com and TVLand.com. Redbox movie kiosks also cost $1 a movie.
2. Use your pantyhose to scrub dishes, shine shoes, train shrubs, or to store onions, flower bulbs and paintbrushes. This can also protect squash and melons from garden critters.
3. Cut your dryer sheets into two because each has has enough of an active ingredient for a large load of laundry.
4. Free music online. Internet radio stations like nuTsie, SeroMood and Jango offer music to fit your taste.
5. Do not brush your hair over a sink. Also, discard cooking grease into cans and not the drain. Pour a kettle of boiling water down each sink monthly so you can dislodge grease and soap scum before it clogs and hardens.
6. To control pests, spray simmered water near baseboards because cockroaches hate that. Also, to repel mosquitoes, dab lavendar oil on your skin or drink two teaspoons of cider vinegar in a glass of water for a pore-emitted repellent. Otherwise, check out the commercial products on the market if this repels you.
7. Some stamp dealers will sell you bulk quantities of old regular stamps at a discounted face value.
8. Cheap textbooks. Cut the average cost of textbooks for college by checking at Bartelby.com or Gutenberg.org for free downloads of selected textbooks. You can also rent books and Chegg.com, BookRenter.com and CampusBookRentals.com
9. Pet Meds. Walmart, Petsmart, and Petco offer lower-cost generic versions of products such as Frontline flea and tick protection. Ask these local pet shops and animal shelters also about lower cost vaccines and neutering clinics.
10. Hair cuts are cheaper at barber and salon training programs.
11. Sciddy.com lists discounts in your area for people 50 or older.
12. Home Spa- your kitchen has natural beauty products. If you want to soften your skin and exfoliate, pour a gallon of whole milk into a warm bath. Add honey or lavender oil for scent. Or you can wrap whole oatmeal in a cloth, immerse in warm water and squeeze out several times. Splash your face with this and make it into a scrub my mixing 4T cornmeal with the juice and pulp of half an orange.
13. Freephone2phone.com lets you call 10 minutes overseas for free.
14. Gather the free fireword which drops in your yard over the course of the year.
15. Use the water from your fish tank on your garden instead of throwing it out. This is great fertilizer.
1. Buying a car at the end of the month is the best time because businesses are scrambling to make sales quotas.
2. Gasbuddy.com! This is a website in which drivers can use to check local gas prices. It has also gone mobile so you can use this as an app on your phone!
3. Be sure that your gas cap fits correctly and is twisted tight. 1 in 6 cars do not have caps that fit properly. A gas cap that doesn't fit properly can reduce a car's mileage by up to 10%.
4. Cut your costs by choosing the right credit card when getting gas. Some cards with cash back credit offers high rewards for purchasing gas.
Financial Tips:
1. Many jurisdictions give property tax relief. If you are an older homeowner, you can receive this based on your income. However you might have to submit documentation on your income and social security benefits.
2. Prepaying can dramatically shorten your mortgage life and save you a lot of money in interest.
3. BillShrink.com analyzes your everyday costs. FindABetterBank.com compares your checking account plans at banks and credit unions. BrightScope.com compares your financial advisers and your 401(k) plans.
Health Tips:
1. See if a local health club offers a pay-per-visit plan. By paying for a monthly membership, most people overspend because they are able to go to the gym only on an average of once a week.
2. New healthcare provides free preventive tests by medicare providers. Wellness checkups much of the time require a 20% copay. Check with your medicare participating doctor.
Utility Tips:
1. You can save up to $200 a year by insulating your electric water heater and its outgoing pipes. Pipe sleeves start at $2 for 12 feet, and heater blankets run about $20. Check with a plumber for the safety.
2. Install a programmable thermostat, and a homeowner can save up to $180 a year in heating and cooling bills.
3. Replace your incandescent bulbs with fluorescent light bulbs. By replacing a 60-watt incandescent bulb with a 15-watt CFL, you can save $69 over the life of a new light bulb.
4. You can save 6% on power consumption of your refrigerator if you keep your coils dust free.
5. If you are buying an oven, consider a convection model. This can cut oven energy use by 20%. Why? This is because it is continually circulating heated air around the food.
6. Only use bathroom and kitchen vent fans in the summer and winter. By using regular fans, it costs money and will blow your heated or cooled air outside. This forces your furnace or air conditioner to make up the difference.
7. Inflatable fireplace dampers keeps the warm air in your home from escaping through the leaky metal damper. You can save $50 to $200 a year if you pay $50 to $200 ONCE.
8. Turn off radiators or close heating and cooling vents to conserve energy in vacant rooms. Maybe invest in heavy drapes because it lowers energy bills.
Travel Tips:
1. Buy an airline ticket on a week day instead of a weekend when prices are often the highest. Tuesday is the best day to buy because many sales are launched on Monday nights. Competitors then typically try to match prices by the next morning.
2. Instead of paying for a day's fun around a Caribbean Island, invest in a day pass to an island resort. Or you can book your own excursions before sailing to avoid these high-prices outings which are offered onboard.
3. You can find senior discounts through clubs such as the Over the Hill Gang International and the 70+ Ski Club.
4. Find great rental car one way rates. In the spring, rental car companies move their fleets north from Florida.
5. Bring your ATM card. Use an ATM if you need a foreign exchange currency. This helps to avoid fees by using the machines which are affiliated with your home bank's global network.
6. Many credit card companies add 1-3% when you are overseas. Cards at sites like CreditCards.com and Cardhub.com makes sure that benefits aren't outweighed by interest rates or high annual fees.
7. To avoid rental car damage charges, take pictures just in case you are blamed for someone else denting the car.
8. If you are on vacation, shopping at thrift stores are the cheapest way to find well priced souvenirs or even a bike.
9. Instead of renting a car, you have the option by using public transit or a shuttle.
Shopping Tips:
1. Compare prices online. PriceGrabber.com, Nextag.com, Bizrate.com, and Pricewatch.com are good price comparing sits.
2. Wholesomewave.org brings affordable, fresh, local produce to american homes.
3. Devote 20 minutes a week to finding coupons to saving more money.
4. Join groupon, livingsocial and buywithme for daily deals to show up in your email. This promises local discounts on everything you cold ever need. Dealfind and Dealon feature deals on food, local events and services. Dealery.com and Yipit aggregate offerings from multiple sites for one-stop e-shopping.
5. Organicconsumers.com for bulk-buying co-ops is a good way for lower shipping costs for fruits and vegetables and to find farmers' markets in your area.
6. Before eating out, find dining bargains online and look at the menu.
7. Pay your bills online for free instead of buying checks, envelopes, stamps, and late fees.
8. 20-40% of shoppers never collect their rebate. Prove merchants wrong by saving all receipts, forms and packaging needed to apply for your rebate. Be sure it doesn't expire!
9. Many merchants will give you replacement items for free if something breaks, so don't rule out that nothing is returnable.
10. Buying homes, exercise equipment, and buying TVs is best to do in the winter time. Spring is the best for buying computers, digital cameras, and carpeting. Summer is the best for buying indoor furniture, camcorders, and snow blowers. Fall is the best time to buy lawn mowers, gas grills, and GPS navigation systems.
11. Ask if you can keep the hangers when you buy clothing at a store. Most clerks will say yes.
Home Tips:
1. Netflix! This is a movie streaming website which costs $8 a month. You can also see free TV shows at Hulu.com, TVClassicShows.com and TVLand.com. Redbox movie kiosks also cost $1 a movie.
2. Use your pantyhose to scrub dishes, shine shoes, train shrubs, or to store onions, flower bulbs and paintbrushes. This can also protect squash and melons from garden critters.
3. Cut your dryer sheets into two because each has has enough of an active ingredient for a large load of laundry.
4. Free music online. Internet radio stations like nuTsie, SeroMood and Jango offer music to fit your taste.
5. Do not brush your hair over a sink. Also, discard cooking grease into cans and not the drain. Pour a kettle of boiling water down each sink monthly so you can dislodge grease and soap scum before it clogs and hardens.
6. To control pests, spray simmered water near baseboards because cockroaches hate that. Also, to repel mosquitoes, dab lavendar oil on your skin or drink two teaspoons of cider vinegar in a glass of water for a pore-emitted repellent. Otherwise, check out the commercial products on the market if this repels you.
7. Some stamp dealers will sell you bulk quantities of old regular stamps at a discounted face value.
8. Cheap textbooks. Cut the average cost of textbooks for college by checking at Bartelby.com or Gutenberg.org for free downloads of selected textbooks. You can also rent books and Chegg.com, BookRenter.com and CampusBookRentals.com
9. Pet Meds. Walmart, Petsmart, and Petco offer lower-cost generic versions of products such as Frontline flea and tick protection. Ask these local pet shops and animal shelters also about lower cost vaccines and neutering clinics.
10. Hair cuts are cheaper at barber and salon training programs.
11. Sciddy.com lists discounts in your area for people 50 or older.
12. Home Spa- your kitchen has natural beauty products. If you want to soften your skin and exfoliate, pour a gallon of whole milk into a warm bath. Add honey or lavender oil for scent. Or you can wrap whole oatmeal in a cloth, immerse in warm water and squeeze out several times. Splash your face with this and make it into a scrub my mixing 4T cornmeal with the juice and pulp of half an orange.
13. Freephone2phone.com lets you call 10 minutes overseas for free.
14. Gather the free fireword which drops in your yard over the course of the year.
15. Use the water from your fish tank on your garden instead of throwing it out. This is great fertilizer.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Makeovers for your Backyard- Four low-cost-do-it-yourself projects!
While fixing your frontyard may improve curb appeal, fixing up your backyard can improve your life. By doing this, it will draw your family outdoors for everything from dining alfresco to tending a kitchen garden to playing lawn games. Here are four do-it-yourself projects which can help you out there.
1. Create natural screening. Skip getting a wooden fence, and plant a row of evergreens. Choose a naturally slender variety. This won't eat up land or need much pruning.
2. Quiet the din. Drown out the noise of your neighbor's parties and that barking dog. Invest in a water fountain. Get a self-contained model which requires no excavation work or piping.
3. Control the sun. Build a simple pergola if you have basic carpentry skills. Build this with a few hundred dollars' worth of cedar or redwood timbers.
Add attractions! Put in an easy to grow fruit bushes like blueberries or grapes. Invest in a fire pit! Or invest in a hammock!
1. Create natural screening. Skip getting a wooden fence, and plant a row of evergreens. Choose a naturally slender variety. This won't eat up land or need much pruning.
2. Quiet the din. Drown out the noise of your neighbor's parties and that barking dog. Invest in a water fountain. Get a self-contained model which requires no excavation work or piping.
3. Control the sun. Build a simple pergola if you have basic carpentry skills. Build this with a few hundred dollars' worth of cedar or redwood timbers.
Add attractions! Put in an easy to grow fruit bushes like blueberries or grapes. Invest in a fire pit! Or invest in a hammock!
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