Much to the dismay of my lovely other half Carrie–I recently broke my ankle playing hockey. Trust me–the pain has been worth the benefits. I get to lounge around having palm fronds waved at me, grapes fed to me by hand, and I don’t even have to take the dog out. This has given me time to think of things like: What if Yoda was a carpenter? Help you I can, yes. With expanding your Jedi finish carpentry training. Talking trim we are. [click to continue…]
All year, you’ve worked to get your home in shape. Whether you’re a renovator, making small improvements or have been taking care of projects and repair as they’ve come up, it’s been a year of effort, money, sweat and – let’s admit it – a few tears.
The last thing you want is for much of it to go up in smoke because of a holiday-related fire. [click to continue…]
Not every job you face around the house is going to involve a mammoth amount of work – and thank Jebus for that! However, there are things that come up that could use a little more attention than duct tape, especially if you want to prevent future damage that WILL result in a buttload of work.
A collection of handy, well-organized tips can be found in When Duct Tape Just Isn’t Enough – a resourceful book by Popular Mechanics’ C.J. Petersen. The book details what you can do on your own and gives advice on when you might want to call in a pro – all with a conversational and sometimes humorous voice we think HomeFixated readers can appreciate.
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It’s nice to know that more and more cities are getting on board with green bin programs (it might be called something different in your town – “community compost”, “green cart”, “wet recyclables” and “organic waste” collection or pick-up are a few terms floating out there. If you’re in the United States, the EPA’s website can show you what’s available in your city.). If you’re not down with the g-flow, I’ll give you a primer: Basically, just like garbage day, the city comes by and collects a special bin (or in some cases – a clear or clear green bag) that is filled with just organic waste – like scraps from the kitchen (vegetable peels, eggshells, old leftovers), garden waste (grass clippings, weeds) and soiled paper products (used napkins, cheese-crusted pizza boxes). Instead of going to the landfill with the rest of the garbage, the city mulches it into compost to make fertilizer. Nice, huh?
But, as usual, there’s a downside. Green bins and bags can fill up somewhat quickly and ooooooheeeee, they can STINK – especially in the summer months. Depending on the style of home you have, you might keep this bin outside (preferred), in your garage (if you must) or the mini version is somewhere inside your house (ugh). Regardless, keeping it as clean and stench-free as possible is something everyone’s gag reflex is aiming for. Here are some tips to reduce the odor:
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