Author: Katelyn Thomas

Did you know that Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest holidays of the year? I don’t know the exact figures, but it seems to me that it seems to be about tied with Halloween, which used to lag pretty far behind. Anyway, the important thing is that if you want to decorate for Valentine’s Day, there is no shortage of available accessories. Walk into the nearest Target or Pottery Barn and you’ll see tablecloths, decorative bowls and cute little heart shaped things all over the store.

I mentioned the other day that I like to decorate my banister for Valentine’s Day, but I don’t really do anything outside. I was thinking it might be fun to put up a few outdoor decorations this year. If I don’t get around to it, though, I’ll still be bringing Valentine’s Day inside! Here are a few ways I decorate for Valentine’s Day each year:

• Change out the doormat – This is really easy and actually does bring a little of the holiday outdoors and in. You simply pick up your old doormat and plop down a new one that says Happy Valentine’s Day on it or has a cute heart print and you’re done.
• Change throw pillows – I buy my Valentine’s Day pillows on clearance for 75 to 90% off the year before and store them til the holiday is approaching instead of buying them for the full price right before Valentine’s Day. Changing ordinary pillows to cute heart shape pillows or red or pink solid pillows immediately gives the room a holiday feel.
• Change your wreath – You’d be surprised how many people have a Christmas wreath still languishing on their door. Hang a heart wreath in its place for a quick touch that welcomes friends and family into your home with love.
• Change your curtains. I have one curtain in my kitchen, so it is really easy and cheap to change it out. I buy the fabric for holiday valences after the holidays from the clearance table. I sew my curtains, but you can hem them up with a hot glue gun just as easily.

How do you add Valentine’s Day decorations to your home?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Tips for Bringing Valentine’s Day Into Your Home

It seems like a lot of people decorate their staircases for the Christmas holiday and then forget about them for the rest of the year. I love to decorate my banister for all the different holidays and hope some of you do, too. Here are several fun tips for decorating your staircase for Valentine’s Day:

• Choose a color scheme. I have been pretty big on pink and brown for a few years. This year, I might do pink and white instead. I just need to find the supplies I want in the right colors. Other schemes that are popular are red and white, black and red, or red and pink.
• Decide whether you want to let the kids do the decorating. My guys have fun cutting out hearts, birds and flowers to stick on stair risers. It may not be the look I dreamed of, but it is certainly Valentiney!
• Select a base for your banister decoration. I like to use pom pom fringe. You need something that isn’t too bold if you will be adding more decorations, but you don’t want it to be so quiet that it fades into the railing.
• Add your accents. I made a heart garland from brown and pink scrapbooking papers I love to use. This year, I am thinking about using the glass birds from my Christmas decorating stash, but that would involve getting out the ladder to get into storage. Hmm. Those hearts are looking mighty cute! Maybe a new heart garland for the banister like the one I made to hang on the door last year?

Do you have any tips for decorating the banister for Valentine’s Day?

Photo: K Thomas

Post from: Blisstree

Decorating the Banister for Valentine’s Day

I’ve heard a couple of people say that they would love to give a donation to Haiti, but they just don’t have the funds. Some of them have wondered about donating clothing or other items. At first, I thought that was the perfect solution, but then I saw the news last night. The Haitian embassy is so overwhelmed with donations that they are piled up in mounds outside the gates and the embassy is trying its best to protect the donations from the elements. I saw a package of diapers that had tumbled off a pile sitting off to the side. So, I’m thinking that giving items to the Haitian people, well intentioned as it is, may not be quite the right solution.

Instead, why not sell all the items you’ve collected from cleaning out your pantry or closets to send to Haiti? You can sell them through yard sales, thrift stores, or sites like eBay or Craigslist. Then, you can use the money you’ve earned to give a cash donation to a reputable charity that is dedicated to helping Haiti. The Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and several other charities are working hard to get medical care, food, water and shelter to people.

Thinking that selling things to collect money will take time, while the clothing or food you donate will provide immediate help? It might not. With all the mail and other delivery services being disrupted and search and rescue people having trouble getting in, I’m not sure if the embassy will be able to ship in all the goods that are already stacked outside the gates in a timely fashion. And the truth is, as Sherry from Pitt Watch mentions, they’ll need your money next week, next month, or next year just as much as they need it now.

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Help Haiti and Clean Out Your Closet at the Same Time

I just finished sorting through the last of 12 bins of stuff. A few days ago, I sorted through 20 bins. So, I think I may now be able to offer a few pointers to anyone else who’s sorting through a ton of stuff, either because of an impending move or because of an estate issue. (I actually have years of experience with this type of thing! The first time I got too much stuff to sort through all at once was when I bought a house crammed with stuff. It was an estate sale and the woman who had passed away kept quite a lot of things. Her family took a few things and then left the rest because they felt overwhelmed. The next time was when a family member moved to a retirement community. The next time, another house filled with stuff that the previous owners didn’t clear out before settlement. And so on.) Before you run weeping to a hotel and refuse to go back home until the stuff is gone, give my tips for sorting out way too much stuff a try:

• Break the job into sections. Twenty bins or even 12 bins was way too much to handle. So, I divided the amount of stuff by the amount of days I had to sort through it. The last set or bins I divided by two days, which meant six a day. If you have a month to get the job done, you can do a lot less a day, but I hate cluttery messes and do as much sorting and organization as possible in a day.
• Set up sorting stations in each room. I label a bag for trash, a bag for charity (Nothing like getting to the thrift store and realizing you’re holding the wrong bag and you threw away the stuff to donate…) and a bin for each category of whatever I’m sorting in that room. For example, if you are sorting a toy room, you might want to have an animal bin, a stuffed pet bin, a car bin, a doll bin, etc.
• Get help. If you are sorting kids’ stuff or sentimental family stuff, enlist someone else to help you with the iffy things. For example, you might tell a child that you are going to give away ten old toys to make room for the mounds of birthday gifts he or she just got and then have the child tell you to keep or donate until you reach the magic number. You’ll be surprised at the toys your child won’t part with or can’t stand.
• Be ruthless. If you have the slightest hesitation over whether something is worth keeping, it probably isn’t. (If you are dealing with possible collectibles or antiques, box the discards up to take them to an appraiser before donating them.)

Do you have any tips for sorting out way too much stuff all at once?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

How to Sort Out an Overwhelming Amount of Stuff

Did you know that the paint companies follow trends to create the colors they make? This helps consumers find paints that match all the great new accessories and to easily create the look they want to see. I was able to talk to two color experts from Valspar the other day and got a lot of wonderful tips about paint trends and how to use paint colors in our homes. I thought I’d start with the heart of the home – our kitchens. Valspar color consultant Ann McGuire and Valspar color trends and forecast specialist Sue Kim both had some great advice for painting your kitchen.

Sue says that in today’s homes, the kitchen is seen as a second living room. People spend three or more hours in their kitchens. Because of this change, colors are changing, too and colors that are more common in master suites or living rooms are being pulled into the kitchen. This means that traditional reds and greens are being replaced by more tranquil colors, like Brushed Lavender or Baked Scone. Besides creating a relaxing atmosphere, these new colors harmonize well with stainless materials.

“We’re also seeing more open spaces that lead into family areas. People are asking how you transition from the kitchen to the family room. One option is to bring chalky, calming colors into the kitchen and have a transition wall into family areas. For example, you could have a scallion color in most of the kitchen and then transition to a bolder color on the wall leading into the family room space.”

Ann also stressed the importance of thinking about using color to transition from space to space. “Being able to experiment a little with an accent wall is fun. People will take a palette and put their own signature on it by using a bolder color on an accent wall.”

For people who are looking for a fresh, soothing color for kitchen walls, here’s Valspar’s spring palette that includes the colors these experts suggest for the kitchen:

Peaceful Optimism: This palette draws on the continued trend of purples/lavenders and yellows.

·         Brushed Lavender

·         Midsummer Twilight

·         Baked Scone

·         Churchill Hotel Ivory

·         Lovely Bluff

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Painting Tips for Your Kitchen

I saw the most amazing pirates birthday cake today. No one could believe it began its life as a store bought blue generic birthday cake with big icing roses in the corners. While it still took some time to decorate and there was a bit of icing reshaping involved, the birthday boy’s mom was able to save about an hour and didn’t have to deal with a lot of messy bowls and pans right before the party started.

So what did she do? She carefully scraped off the flowers and smoothed out the corners. Then, she used some of the icing from a yellow rose to create a sand dune. She thoroughly washed some Playmobil pirate characters, accessories and sharks. Then, she used them to create a scene and added a ship “off shore” for the pirates to head to.

The whole thing really didn’t take long and this sand and surf look would be easy to use with other themes. Littlest Pet Shop characters or Polly Pocket characters could head to the beach for a party. Lego characters could surf.

Do you have any ideas for creating a great birthday cake using a store bought cake as a base?

Photo: K Thomas

Post from: Blisstree

Birthday Cake Shortcut

In my current house, I have a bathroom that has no windows. I guess a lot of bathrooms have no windows, but it seems like I’ve always had bathroom windows before. (All the scary movies have windows in the bathrooms, too, so the bad guy can sneak in and hide in the shower. Hmm. Maybe I should be glad I don’t have one!) Anyway, when you don’t have windows in a room, you really have to have a bit of color and plenty of lights and mirrors.

I’ve got the mirrors down and I’ve got walls that are a nice peach color, but all the accents are beige. Beige is so…beigey, you know? So, when I saw that The Company Store had a new spring line of bathroom products that are cheerful, colorful and just happen to match my walls, I was a little excited. For those of you who also want to bring a little spring to your bathrooms, here are my two favorites:

The hibiscus flower rugs are very colorful and would be fun in a tropical themed bathroom. I also think one of these rugs would look cute in a little girl’s bedroom.

These towel sets are also very colorful. I absolutely want the pink and peach stripe set. (I like the floral ones, too, but I don’t think the guys would be as excited about them as I am!

Do you plan to brighten up your bathroom for spring?

Photos via The Company Store

Post from: Blisstree

Put Some Spring in Your Bathroom

I’ve had good experiences with home inspectors. I’ve had terrible experiences with home inspectors. I know people who flip homes and act like their great home inspector’s name is a state secret. I don’t blame them. The one time I couldn’t use my good home inspector because he was booked up? That was a sad, sad day. So, how do you find a good home inspector?

In my experience, choosing a home inspector solely because he or she was recommended by your realtor is not a good idea. Now, I know that most realtors and home inspectors are incredibly ethical and would not dream of working together to cover up problems to get you to buy a home. In fact, I know realtors who won’t recommend home inspectors just in case buyers think they’re working together in this way. Unfortunately, there are some realtors who are not so ethical and will work together with a home inspector who also has flexible ethics to push a sale through by hiding a house’s flaws. I experienced this a few homes back and, unfortunately, I am not alone.

A better way to find a good home inspector is to ask friends, family, or if you are moving to a location where no one you know lives, your future neighbors who are new to the neighborhood for recommendations. Once you have a pool of prospective candidates, ask for references, ask if they have insurance and ask the Better Business Bureau about them.

Do you have a home inspector that does a great job?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Choosing a Home Inspector

Oh, you’ve found it! Your dream home. You made an offer before you left the building and now you need to get ready for settlement. But is the house as good a deal as it seems it is? Are any surprises lurking behind the walls? Time to call a home inspector. A good home inspector can help you figure out all the problem areas with the house you are planning to buy so you can make an informed decision. Here are ten things your inspector should check:

• The roof – If he doesn’t at least whip out binoculars to check the roofline, your inspector hasn’t done his job. You can’t really tell the condition of a roof 20 feet above you by staring at it without binoculars.
• The attic – Attics that are improperly insulated can be a problem and you can also check the roof again from the inside.
• The exposed pipes – Seeing a pipe that has a drip or noticing that they are wrapped in asbestos is pretty easy when they’re not in the walls.
• All electrical outlets – An outlet that doesn’t work can be a sign that someone who isn’t a licensed electrician did some creative wiring or it can mean that there is a more serious problem.
• The breaker box or fuse box – If there’s a problem with wiring or fuses, your house can burn down. As someone who has experienced the joy of an exploding fuse box in the house I had prior to this one, I absolutely recommend making sure your inspector checks yours thoroughly.
• The furnace – CO2 problems, cold, cold nights and more. The inspector should take a good look at yours and let you know if you should plan on replacing it soon.
• The water heater – Same thing, except it is cold, cold showers instead of cold, cold nights!
• Water pressure/hidden plumbing issues – You so don’t want to buy a house with broken pipes leaking away in your walls.
• House foundation – Since biblical times, we’ve known a strong foundation is important. Your inspector should get down into crawl spaces if that is the only way to check the house’s supporting structure. You want to know that the foundation is sound.
• Signs of water damage or mold – Sometimes it is really easy to see or smell this problem. “See that fuzzy stuff growing all over? Mold.”

Is there something you wish a home inspector would have checked into when you were buying your house?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Ten Things a Home Inspector Should Check

Put down that book. Now, step away from the bookshelf nice and slow and no one will get hurt. I can’t believe you’d try that. Seriously, just because it is missing the cover, is possibly the worst book to ever be published and none of us will ever read it again, you want to get rid of a book? What is wrong with you? I admit it. That was me. The book hoarder. The “I don’t care if they found out the earth was round, this book about the earth being flat doesn’t deserve to be tossed out!” book hoarder. I plugged my mental ears when we covered weeding in collection development courses in college. I felt sad when I weeded books that hadn’t been picked up in two years out of the collection. And at home? I didn’t weed at all.

Then, I took a hard look around my house, saw all the books I had and got ruthless. I designated one set of shelves for sentimental books, one set for home and garden books, one set for craft and art books and one for each kid. If it didn’t fit, it had to go. Once I decided on a specific amount of space for books, it was a lot easier to get rid of books we didn’t really need or want. I even dusted off my collection development skills to help me decide which books to keep:

• Medical books should be no older than five years. Drug guides should be only one to two years old. Even then, make sure you research anything that could have changed by making a call to your doctor or checking reliable websites. Even first aid procedures have changed a lot over the last hundred years, so grandpa’s first aid guide should probably be replaced with a new version.
• Encyclopedias should also be about five years old or less, although classic versions of Encyclopedia Britannica are worth keeping even if they are much older.
• Classic books can be as old as you want as long as they aren’t abridged.
• Kids’ stories are tough. I remember enjoying Little Golden Books when I was a child and have a big collection of them. They’re sentimental so I keep them, but most of them are not actually that well written and are hard to read at bedtime! If you love it, keep it. If you hate it, but the kids love it, keep it. Otherwise, even if it is a hardback that set you mom back $23.95, get rid of it.

Do you have a problem getting rid of books?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Home Organization – Sorting Out Books

I love watching all the different home shows on HGTV and DIY, but they usually have big redecorating budgets. Design on a Dime, for example, doesn’t redo a room for ten cents. It redoes it for a thousand dollars. If you are just making ends meet, you don’t usually have a thousand dollars to redo just one room in your house. $250 is a bit easier to come up with. So, I’m happy to see a lot of companies are realizing that people have limited redecorating funds and are giving them the tools to make over a room on a budget.

Sure Fit Furniture Solutions has created a recession friendly line of products designed to help people redo their living rooms for less than $250 and has some great  tips on creating a fresh new look while spending very little:

Rearrange furniture: Moving furniture may be the easiest way to change the look of your space. Try rearranging a room, or trading out furniture from one room to the next. That unused rocker could look great by the front window, it just needs to get brought up from the basement!

I love to do this. It can really make a room look completely different and it is free to do. If you hate it, you just have to put it back the way it was.

Pick a Focal Point: Adding an exciting focal point can punch up the look of any room. If you aren’t quite ready to paint a wall blazing red, try displaying photos in frames of assorted shapes and sizes, or utilizing wall decals – easy on easy off “stickers” that will complement any décor.

I love wall decals. I also like to display a group of mirrors on a wall. Since mirrors reflect light, you get a focal point and a brighter room at the same time.

Cover Up: Keep decorating expenses to a minimum by dressing up your furniture. Sure Fit has a seemingly endless variety of slipcovers for every personality, whether you’re looking for a punch of color, a classic update or just covering up worn out furniture. Now available in a variety of colors and materials (including stretch “leather”) for couches, chairs, recliners, futons, ottomans and more, you can update your entire set of furniture for less than the cost of a new couch. (Hint: Try mixing and matching “separate seat covers” for a great color-blocked look.)

As long as your sofa and chairs still are in decent shape, why not keep using them with slip covers instead of spending a thousand or so on new pieces? The new faux leather covers seem like a great idea to update a room without tossing out a perfectly good plaid sofa that no longer fits your decor.

Subtle “Ac-scents”: A smell can bring on a flood of memories, influence people’s moods and even increase efficiency. Give your nose something new to smell by adding seasonal candles, flowers, or aromatherapy diffusers for a subtle update.

I think most people will agree that a smell can really set the tone. Need more help with choosing some spring smells? I recently wrote about Slatkin & Co.’s tips for using spring floral scents in the home.

Add Artwork: You might not be able to afford the Picasso you’ve always dreamed of, but adding artwork to walls can make a huge difference in contributing interesting and uplifting elements to your space. Affordable artwork is easy to find, you just have to look for it! Check out thrift stores, flea markets, yard sales and auction websites, or create your own by simply framing fabric swatches or enlarging photos for a personal touch.

Photo via SureFit.com

Post from: Blisstree

Redecorate Your Living Room for Under $250

Allergies always really seem to flare up with all the spring pollen. People with allergies to dust mites and other things we find in the house usually have worse allergy symptoms all round once pollen begins filling the air. If you are one of the people who suffer from year round allergies and have even worse allergies in the spring, why not make your home as allergy free as possible to give yourself some relief?

• If you have pets, contain them to a specific room, preferably one with a floor you can mop down on a daily basis. This helps you keep all that dander and slobber off your furniture, rugs and curtains.
• Consider switching out rugs for hardwoods or laminate flooring.
• Use pillow and mattress protectors on your beds to keep dust mites down and to help you avoid mold problems. You should also wash your bedding frequently in hot water.
• Have your furnace filter changed and ask about getting your ducts cleaned to get all the pet dander and pollen out of the house.
• If you are a flower lover like me and bring in bouquets of tulips or lilies to enjoy, snip the stamens out of the centers of the flowers. Otherwise, that yellow pollen will create a mess and make your allergies worse.

Photo via protectabed.com

Post from: Blisstree

Reducing Allergens in Your Home

So, your child’s room is a mess. Shut the door and walk on. After all, the parenting folks say to pick your battles and, as long as the hazmat guys don’t come knocking, this is one of the battles you should forget about fighting, right? That depends. How is your child’s report card? Is he or she struggling to get homework done? Is getting your child to concentrate on a simple task in that bedroom virtually impossible? For many children (and some adults), a messy room can actually affect concentration.

I was reminded of how important keeping clutter contained and having clear spaces around you can be this weekend. I was given 20 storage containers filled with stuff, which were stacked in the family room. I literally couldn’t get any work done, because I could see the containers out of the corner of my eye from my desk in the next room. I finally had to give up and spend hours sorting through the bins and loading up the car with the stuff we didn’t want so I could work.

Shortly after I finished, I went into a child’s room and noticed a desk which had about 12 square inches of space to work on. Hmm. Could that be why he has been doing homework at the table instead of at the desk?

Now that the house is clutter free, I’m hoping we’ll all see an improvement in how long it takes us to get things done. Does clutter make it harder for you to concentrate on tasks, too?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Is Your Child’s Messy Room Affecting Homework Performance?

I wouldn’t want everything in my house to have a family photo on it, but sometimes it is really nice to have a few small personalized things around your home. Paying for a personalized item that someone else designs for you can be costly. That’s why I prefer to do the personalization myself. There are two ways to do this.

Using Print on Demand Services Like Cafe Press or Zazzle

Using one of these services, you can make your own small accessories, such as mouse pads, canvas prints, mugs, or sculptures. They are fairly easy to use. Uploading a photo, adding text and playing around with fonts and the way things are aligned is really just a matter of clicking on things and dragging stuff around.

Doing Personalization Completely on Your Own

Printable iron on products make creating your own placemats, pillows, or virtually anything else made with fabric a snap. Just use your photo editing software to adjust your picture, add text and follow the instructions on the iron on paper to print out a transfer. You can also make transfers with a ton of different mixed media products, like gel medium and transfer mediums. Some of these products work on glass or wood. I used gel medium to transfer a laser printed color copy of a heron onto a flat piece of driftwood that I’d primed in the spot where I was putting the transfer. I painted the last name of the person I was giving it to on the driftwood, sealed it several times and now she has a completely unique sign for her house by the water.

Do you make your own personalized home accessories?

Photo: K. Thomas

Post from: Blisstree

DIY Personalized Home Accessories

Sierra Club Green Home’s Director of Sustainability Jennifer Schwab has some great tips for going green on a budget this spring. Since it sometimes seems that being eco-friendly is expensive, it is really nice to see some tips that cost less than $40. In fact, some are completely free, but I’ve simply never thought of them. Here are a few of my favorite ideas from Sierra Club Green Home:

Use a Bathroom Fan – ensure your bathroom fan is turned on for 20 minutes AFTER your shower to avoid mold build up (and be sure your fan’s wattage is equivalent to your bathroom’s square footage!)

I knew that bathroom fans were important, but I wasn’t running mine long enough after anyone showered. I was going with about five minutes, which is only a quarter of the time I needed.

Install Low-Flow Water Fixture ($29.90) – faucets account for more than 15 percent of a typical household’s indoor water use and showers 17 percent. That adds up to more than 2.2 trillion gallons of water in the United States every year. Cutting that by 40 percent by installing low-flow fixtures— available at Home Depot for only $29.90—would save 880 billion gallons of water…every year.

I don’t know what your area is like, but around here, every town is raising water and sewage rates. Some of them are doubling and tripling rates. That means that this isn’t only a green idea. It is also a money saving one.

Open the Window – when using a gas stove in order to ensure you and your family aren’t breathing harmful fumes.  Our ovens and cooktops article tells more.

You know, I cook with propane all the time and don’t open my window. I plan to start though. It makes sense to get some fresh air in when you’re using gas.

Take Your Shoes Off before entering the home so pesticides aren’t brought inside.

Taking off shoes as soon as you come in the back door is mandatory at my house because I don’t want to spend two hours hunting for someone’s sneakers. Now I have a second reason for my rule!

Update Spring Colors with Low-VOC Paints ($35) – maintain indoor air quality by eliminating harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by paints, carpets, and furniture.  Glidden low-VOC paint is available for about $35.

If you’re planning to repaint, taking a look at low-VOC options just makes sense.

Are you planning to make any little changes around your home to be greener this spring?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Spring Green Your Home for $40 or Less

Harry Slatkin from Slatkin & Co has a great tip for getting your home ready for a new season. He suggests keeping your house smelling wintery until the end of January or the first few weeks of February. That means keeping those nice Christmasy pine and cinnamon candles and other scented products out after you take down the tree. (As a major fan of Christmas, I love the idea of keeping at least a bit of it around for awhile.)

As you move into February, you should begin to pack away your wintery scents and replacing them with traditional springy smells. I love the smell of spring flowers – scented hyacinths, old fashioned daffodils, cherry blossoms and all the others. I prefer to use forced bulbs to bring some of these scents into my home, but, if you have a black thumb or want to add scent to rooms that aren’t , having candles, sprays and other scented products is a great option.

I force bulbs by planting pots and leaving them on the porch for a few months over the winter to chill and then bringing them inside. You can also force bulbs in water. If you have really harsh winters or your area is too warm for bulbs to chill, you can buy a kit with pre-chilled bulbs it it around this time of year. Another option is to simply buy a bouquet from your florist every few days, but it can get a bit expensive.

Do you think about the scents in your home when you are redecorating for a new season?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Bring Spring to Your Home With Floral Scents

I know you probably have snow on the ground. They’re calling for more here, too. However, I am spring cleaning in a state of complete denial. As part of my cleaning, I am doing a clean out. It doesn’t seem possible with the constant sorting and donating, but there is a ton of stuff just sitting in the way that we don’t even want. In fact, Kijiji.com says I probably have about 35 things that I never even use taking up space in my house. I would feel sad about that fact, but there’s another little piece of trivia they sent me. Those things I don’t use? They could be worth as much as $670 if I decide to sell them. I sort of skimmed over the amount, thinking it was nice, but selling stuff takes time. I’m so busy lately. I was thinking I’d just do another run to the thrift store when I saw that Kijiji had broken down what that much money could buy. How about 489 loaves of bread? No? 97 movie tickets? Still not worth it? 172 gallons of gas? Yeah, I thought so!

Think you don’t have anything sitting around that you don’t use? Then you are one of the 30 out of a hundred households that already got rid of the old TV set and that stereo you shoved into the corner of the garage.

Are you planning to get rid of your 35 items?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

How Many Unused Things Are Taking Up Space in Your Home

Jules asked about recycling a toaster. If a small appliance is in good shape, the answer is easy. You simply pass it on to another person. Freecycle, Craigslist and thrift stores are all good options for rehoming an appliance that still works. The toaster in question seems to be at the end of its useful life, though. Unfortunately, when it is not working or has become dangerous to operate, getting rid of that appliance without tossing it in the trash isn’t so easy. So, what do you do?

One option is simply leaving an appliance unattended in your yard in a spot that can be seen from the road for a few minutes. You’ll hear the roar of a truck streaking away and look out at your nice empty yard. (If your neighbors are polite and don’t trespass, you might need to put the appliance out at your curb instead with a free sign on it.)

Another option is to call around to repair shops and see if they take free appliances to use for spare parts. It can be tough to find repair shops these days, but a few still exist.

A final option is to see if your small appliance would be useful to a salvage operation. If it has any metal, the operation may be able to reclaim it before disposing of parts that can’t be recycled.

Do you have any tips for recycling small appliances?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Recycling Small Appliances

I watched a tv show the other day called Hoarders that gives you  a look inside the homes and minds of people who hoard. It was just so sad to see the houses falling apart and the trash several feet deep mixed in with former treasures. After seeing the show, I started to think about the fact that these people didn’t start out hoarding to that extent. So, how did the whole thing get so out of hand and how can you tell if you are predisposed to be a hoarder?

I think that, for many people who have this problem, the hoarding was pretty manageable for many years. It seems like it only got to the catastrophic level seen on the show after the death of a close family member. The surviving person was unable to part with anything the deceased person had used, even an old razor. Then, he or she started worrying about whether that package had anything important on it. A UPC code? Diagrams? So, he or she set it aside to look at later and never got back to it, added a few newspapers and the junk mail that needs  to be read cover to cover and rinsed and repeated until there was a foot or more of stuff littering the place. I’ve seen hoarding mentioned as an OCD related behavior, as well.

Here’s my unofficial “Could You Be a Hoarder?” quiz:

• Do you feel sick or anxious when you think about sorting through a closet, a drawer, or a stack of paper?
• Do you sort through things someone else is throwing out and put most of it back into the house instead of the trash?
• Are you sentimental to the point that you kept every baby tooth every child lost, every school paper he or she brought home and every little memento, no matter how trivial it was?
• Is your walking space becoming more and more limited as you try to navigate between piles of stuff?
• Are you scared to throw things out in case you might need them? I’m not talking about important financial documents and your house deed. Totally keep that stuff. I’m talking about every receipt you’ve ever received.

For more information about hoarding, read Mayo Clinic’s hoarding article or make an appointment with your doctor to discuss your concerns. Hoarding can take over your life and keep you from enjoying all the wonderful things many people take for granted, like having friends over for tea.

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Are You Developing Hoarding Behaviors?

I’ve been watching home shows today and saw the same thing over and over. A realtor would come in and be horrified by all the individuality showing through and they’d make the house nice and plain. Then, in the next show, decorators would come in and say the house was bland and not individual enough. They’d add tons of color and pattern. So, what do you do if you don’t plan to stay in a home long term?

• Paint a big canvas with bold colors and hang it on a wall.
• Screw a piece of drywall onto a 2×4 frame that you attached to a wall with a few screws to keep it secure. Paint your fake wall as vibrantly as you want. When you move, it is just a matter of unscrewing the false wall and the frame and patching and touching up the screw holes.
• Hang fabric. There are some beautiful textiles in the home decor section. You can tack fabric across an entire wall to really add a ton of texture and color. Just be sure you take it down a few times a year to clean it or you will get insane allergies!

How have you added color to your walls without painting the whole room?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Adding Color When You Don’t Plan to Stay in a Home