8 Surprising Household Hints

8 Surprising Household Hints
By Barbara Pronin

Home store shelves are full of goop and gadgets for cleaning or fixing just about anything. But, says Julie Edelman, better known to readers and viewers as The Accidental Housewife, you can save a lot of money by cleaning and fixing things with the goop and gadgets you already have at home.

Edelman offers specific tips in a recent issue of Bottom Line Personal:

Polish glass and faucets with newspaper – Newsprint ink is a wonderful polishing agent, so crumple a piece of newspaper and rub.
Shine shoes and plants with banana peels – The inner peel contains oil and potassium, two of the key ingredients in shoe polish. Wipe shoes or plant leaves with the inside of the peel, then buff with a soft, clean cloth.
Clean the dishwasher with Kool-Aid – Fill the dispenser with lemonade Kool-Aid or any powdered drink mix that contains citric acid. Run the dishwasher through a full normal cycle to wash away gunk, lime or rust stains, and odors.
Quiet a squeaky door with cucumber – Rub a slice of cucumber all around the hinge. Wipe away any residue and enjoy the quiet.
Mend minor cracks in china with milk – Milk contains casein, a protein that, when heated, turns into natural, plastic-like glue. Place the cracked plate in a pot large enough to cover it with milk. Bring the milk to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and simmer for 45-60 minutes. Let the milk cool. Rinse the plate. The crack should be sealed.
Repel ants and roaches with citrus rinds – Bugs hate the oil that is found naturally in citrus rinds. Place pieces of orange or lemon rind in door or window openings or wherever bugs are prone to enter. Replace every few days.
Clean a toilet bowl with Alka Seltzer – Drop two of the tablets, or a couple of Polident effervescent tablets, into the bowl. Let them fizz and remain for 15-20 minutes. Clean with a toilet brush and flush.
Fix a small wood scratch with walnuts – Gently rub the walnut meat, with a circular motion, into small scratches on your dark wood furniture. Let the natural oil seep in for up to10 minutes, then buff with a clean cloth.

Judy Gratton Your Real Estate Edge

Simple Ideas in Preparing Your Home to Sell

Tanya Howard the Founder and Interior Designer/ Stager with “The Final Piece” gives us some simple ideas to clean up, brighten up, and bring your home up in $$$ when selling.

Tanya Howard shares simple ideas

I have worked with Tanya Howard on many listings and I am always delighted, as are my clients with the results. She is available too to give sellers a “to do” list to prepare for listing with a thorough walk-through.

If you would like to contact Tanya for more information you can reach out to her on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/The-Final-Piece-257951174360341

A Home Inspector Shares The Simple Yet Important Things You Can Do To Keep Your Home In Good Shape

Mike Wright with Wright Way Home Inspection is a home inspector that I have personally had a working relationship with for years. He has so much knowledge on what is necessary to maintain and protect your most valuable asset your home.

He will give you ideas that will protect your home now and also protect you from any big surprises when you do decide to sell your home.

You can also stop by his website: https://wrightwayhomeinspection.com for more tips and information on home maintenance.

5 Ways to Make a Personal Statement at Home

White flat interior with simple storage unit, desk, computer, chair, armchair, commode and decorative houseplants

There’s so much advice out there about neutralizing your home design for maximum resale value that our personalities are in danger of getting lost in the shuffle. Unless you’re getting ready to put your home on the market soon, go ahead and let your individuality shine through with interior design that reflects your tastes and interests. Here are five easy ways to do so:

1. Make it a grand entrance. Maybe it’s an unusual door knocker or a doorbell that plays Beethoven’s 5th—or a whimsical piece of statuary or planter filled with something unexpected, like a well-stacked group of beach rocks. Try hanging a small sign with a favorite saying that welcomes guests. Whatever you choose, small touches like these make a personal statement before anyone even gets inside.

2. Put furniture in the ‘wrong’ room. Remember when Joey and Chandler opted for a foosball table over a kitchen table? Maybe something similar will work for you. Perhaps there’s a spot in your kitchen for a chaise lounge? Add a loveseat to a bedroom instead of the requisite side chair, or an antique, full-length mirror in your living room. When done tastefully, furniture in unexpected places can work wonders by making a very memorable impression.

3. Make your walls a self-expression. Don’t play it safe when it comes to wall décor. Go beyond the usual framed prints and accent mirrors and do something that reflects your personality. Music lover? Frame and hang beloved album covers or concert posters. Traveler? Turn a wall into a collection of photographs and framed objects that reflect your favorite destinations. Poet? Use stencils to inscribe your favorite quote right on the wall. Artist? Go a step further and add a mural.

4. Put your passions on display. Whether it’s comic books or collectible snowmen, weave your collection into your interior design with creative and tasteful shelving or a display unit. The key here is to choose one area—don’t let your collection take over your entire home.

5. Show off your green thumb indoors. If you’re a plant lover, don’t refine your passion to the garden. Incorporate more indoor plants and flowers within your home and keep your hobby going year-round. Select a sunny spot and start cultivating an orchid or African violet collection. Or choose strategic locations for hanging plants, using attractive planters made from copper, ceramic or other finishes of your preference.

Remember, one of the many benefits of owning versus renting is that there are no restrictions when it comes to design. So make a personal statement and make your home your own.

Learn more about making a personal statement through home décor by contacting me today.   206-276-3289

Staying one step ahead on home repair

Turn Your Home into a Smart Home

Get Smart: 5 Ways to Turn Your Home into a Smart Home

By Mikkie Mills

Smart homes are rapidly gaining popularity. Being able to control numerous features of your home even while you are away is not only convenient, but it can increase security. There are all kinds of ways to turn your home into a smart home. Some are a little more expensive than others. The following five home automation steps can help you get started.

1. Control your appliances from your smartphone.
You can invest in new appliances that have this feature, or you can replace electrical devices, such as sockets or plugs, with a smart version. A smart power strip is another option. It is as simple as plugging it in and connecting your devices or appliances. Each plug in the power strip works independently. Android and Apple are supported by the power strip and you can control these devices from anywhere. You can turn any appliance on or off, get notifications when a television, computer, or other device is turned on, monitor carbon monoxide levels, and more.

2. Know how to control the security system.
Although most people have security systems in place, it is very beneficial to be able to control them from anywhere. When automated access is used, you can limit access to certain areas of the home, such as your office. In addition, your phone can notify you in the event of a problem even when you are not home. Cameras can be used so that you can see every room in your home from your smartphone. Outdoor cameras will allow you to see who has been on your property when you are at work or elsewhere.

3. Save energy by adding your heating and cooling to an automation system.
If you are gone all day and want to keep heating or cooling costs down, you simply lower or raise the temperature setting. Then you can put it on a comfortable level a half hour or so before you will arrive home. This gives the home time to warm up or cool down before you get home, so you are not heating or cooling an empty house. You can also control blinds with this system, allowing sunlight in for your plants and helping to warm the home during the winter.

4. Learn how to communicate with your home.
You can control your home using technology similar to what is used when you talk to your smartphone to tell it to dial numbers or look up information. Microphones and a software program which is put on your computer is the simplest way to set up your home to respond to voice commands. The system is set up to recognize words or a phrase to perform virtually anything from turning on or dimming lights to opening drapes, turning on music, enabling or disabling alarms, and more. If you want to know what the weather is like before going out, simply ask. The systems can be set up to answer questions, as well. There are many systems to choose from and with advances in technology, they are doing more and becoming less expensive.

5. Install a home theater system.
An automated home theater system will provide you with the feel of a movie theater in your home. Movies, videos, music, and more can be streamed throughout your home and even in outdoor areas used for entertaining. An app for your smartphone is simple to use to control all of this and more. Control the lighting for optimal viewing of movies. The sound can be adjusted, providing you with surround sound that is more like what is experienced in movie theaters.

These are just a few of the ways of making your home smart. Not only does an automated system in your home provide convenience and comfort, but it will also give you peace of mind.

Dodge Winter Lawn Damage

Dodge Winter Lawn Damage
Winter conditions can present a wide range of challenges to your lawn and landscape, but there are precautions you can take to protect your lawn, as well as your trees and shrubs, from seasonal harm.

Preventive steps from the lawncare experts at TruGreen can help your lawn survive the winter season’s harsh elements.

Snow Plow Damage

Install brightly-colored boundary markers along the edges of paved areas to help protect lawn and shrubs from snow plow and snow thrower blades. Lightweight wooden stakes, at least four feet tall with bright reflective tape and brightly covered fiberglass rods, serve as good markers. Avoid heavy metal, fence posts and other large objects, as they can pose a hazard to snow plow operators.

Cold Temperature Stress

More so than any other season, trees and shrubs are vulnerable to changing weather conditions during the winter. Wide temperature fluctuation and extremely low temperatures are the biggest factors of tree stress, meaning your trees are more susceptible to things like frost cracks, sunscald and winter burn.

Keep twigs and limbs from breaking under the weight of ice by carefully brushing away, whenever possible, any snow load from plants, which will reduce the weight on the limbs and decrease the damage. Placing a burlap cover around shrubs such as boxwood and yews will help reduce winter desiccation.

Proper fertilization can help keep your trees and shrubs healthy well into spring, and allow them to better tolerate winter. A service can help with tree and shrub services customized to meet your landscape’s every need, including applications to control overwintering insects, pests and mites.

Freezing Temperatures

Damage to plants, shrubs and trees as a result of sustained low temperatures can typically go undetected until spring or early summer, when plants fail to produce new growth. To help prevent damage, maintain a two- to three-inch layer of mulch to help protect the crown and roots from weather extremes.

Winter Dehydration

During the colder months of winter, plants cannot replace moisture lost from leaves and needles. This leads to “dehydration” – technically known as desiccation. To help avoid this problem, maintain proper watering late into the fall, or water during periods of winter thaw.

Ice Melt

Ice-melting agents, such as rock salt and products containing calcium and magnesium chloride, may accumulate in the soil and cause damage to plants. Use extreme care when applying ice-melting agents to prevent damage to your plants or concrete surfaces.

Source: TruGreen.com.

Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2017. All rights reserved.

Reclaim your junk drawer now!

5 pesky mistakes new homeowners make.

Make your new home yours!