Archive for the ‘Home Improvement’ Category

May 23rd, 2008 How to Make Our Homes and Our Lives More Enjoyable

We all know that our economy is in the tank, (Gas Tank That Is). It seems that every extra dime we have goes into the car to get us to work and to do those things that must be done. I don’t know about you, but it is definitely putting a damper on my activities. I am making different choices than I did a year or so ago. I stay at home more. I cook at home more. I use my home to entertain rather than meeting friends at a restaurant. I don’t go to movies or plays this year. Shopping is a rare indulgence. I watch the grocery ads much more closely and try to buy only what we will eat. I always have been a sale shopper but now I look even harder for the occasional bargain.

Well before we all get too depressed, I want to talk about a way that we can make our homes more enjoyable. It can be done without breaking the bank. Since I am spending more time at the old domicile, I have been looking around. I realized the other night that I hadn’t really looked at my surroundings for a while. When I was busy running from one thing to another, I just didn’t have the time to notice that there were things that needed work. My curtains are dirty, and need cleaned. The windows those curtains cover need cleaning badly also. I need to paint. The carpet in the living room looks like a parade has passed through on a rainy day. Needless to say the old place needs work. Now my quandary is: what can I do without breaking my already fragile budget?

Well I don’t like to paint, so that is out, and besides paint costs money I don’t have right now. I guess I will just wash down the walls. Perhaps hire my grandsons to come do that chore. The curtains will cost a small fortune to clean, so I think I will just take them down and while those same grandsons clean my windows, I will put the drapes outside on the porch and air them out and use the furniture brush on my vacuum to get the worst of the dust off . Now, the grungy rug. I have a carpet machine in the basement. I can dust it off and use it instead of hiring a carpet cleaning service. It all looks pretty good, now I can have company without dimming the lights to hide the dirty windows walls and rug.

With the house looking fresher, I need something to make it smell fresher. For that I will use fragrance. I will put some candles around the house. Perhaps Harvest Apple Scent for the kitchen. Make them think they are getting a homemade pie or maybe Vanilla Toasted candle to give them the calming influence of vanilla. For the living room, maybe Jasmine and Lily Essential Blend., Green Tea & Ginger or Gardenia for the bath. And just because I love it, Ylang Ylang & Sandlewood candles for my bedroom. All these candles are reasonably priced and now that I have saved so much money on redecorating I feel that I can buy them without too much guilt.

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May 4th, 2008 Vacuum Cleaner Ratings - How To Make Sense Of Them

When thinking of buying a new vacuum cleaner it makes sense to read as many vacuum cleaner ratings as you can. However, after reading them one is often left more confused than at the beginning of the search. The secret is not to completely trust personal ratings; for every person that loves the product, there’ll be one who hated it. The secret is to first know what you want in a vacuum cleaner and then find ones that match your criteria and then compare to find the most suitable for you.

We’ve all been there; we know nothing about something and so go and ask other people’s opinions and before we know it, we have dozens of conflicting advice. Some say ‘best product ever’ while some will only look at you in disgust if you mention the product’s name.

It’s all too easy to ask others’ advice when we know nothing but it’s harder to go and find out this information for our self. But this is what we must do if we are to make any informed decision about buying any product.

Therefore devise your own vacuum cleaner ratings and don’t rely on the opinions of others. No matter how well-intentioned, the advice you’ll receive will be biased in some way.

But how to begin? First, you should sit down and make up a list of your requirements. You see, there hasn’t yet been built a vacuum cleaner that is the best at cleaning everything. Some are good on certain aspects but are weak on others. To save yourself a lot of time and hassle you must know exactly what it is you’re looking for.

For example, do you have fitted carpets or hard flooring? Generally speaking uprights clean fitted carpets better whereas canisters clean hardwood floor and rugs better. Just asking yourself this question can eliminate many types of vacuum cleaner from your list.

Do you have pets? If so you’ll probably want one with a special pet-hair head. Only some vacuums, both canister and upright, offer this feature - the Shark Infinity vacuum cleaner being one such.

Do you want onboard tools? If you’re going to be cleaning drapes, sofas and window sills you do. So make sure the vacuum comes with them onboard. Be careful, many uprights come with extra tools but not onboard; it can be a real drag to have to go and get the attachment and then after you use it, to have to go fetch it again.

Bag or Bagless? The advantage of bagless vacuums is that you don’t have the ongoing expense of buying proprietary bags - if you prefer a bag version, check out the price of new bags first as you may find some are quite expensive.

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