Category: Home Tips

If you are looking for some quick solutions to tidying up common kitchen clutter, we have a few hacks for you. The beauty behind these hacks is that you are using fairly inexpensive products—some not typically found in the kitchen—to create the solutions.

1. Towel Shelf: While these shelves are often found in the bathroom, they can also be the perfect solution for kitchen clutter; simply mount the shelf on an open wall to give your kitchen additional storage. The top shelf can store those bulky, yet often used pots, pans or colanders, and the rack below is the ideal place to hang hand towels.
2. Towel Bar: A bathroom towel bar can also create additional storage options in your kitchen. Instead of hanging your wet hand towels on the oven handle or over the cabinet door, install a long towel bar on the side of your island or a small circular towel bar on the edge of a top cabinet, near the sink. Either addition will keep the towel handy and your kitchen looking less cluttered.
3. Robe Hook: Install a robe hook to keep your oven mitts and pot holders handy.

Note: With all of these kitchen hack ideas, be sure to keep the towels, oven mitts and other flammable items away from the stovetop. Source: Moen Home Hacks

Here are a few more:

1. Lazy Susan: Lazy Susans make great use of a corner because you can put a lot of items in a confined, often unusable space. Set the Lazy Susan on the counter and place jars of spices and other frequently used cooking items on top, or mount the Lazy Susan underneath a cabinet, add hooks and hang your large utensils.
2. Curtain Rods: Mount curtain rods on the inside of your under-sink cabinet and use those to hang your trash bag rolls for easy access.

Many homeowners have a hard time deciding what type of lighting they should have in their home. Pendant, chandelier, lamps or recessed lighting? With so many choices, how can you decide? Furthermore, which light fixtures work better in certain rooms?

Here are a few tips on the best lighting choices for your home

Living Room. Consider lighting at least three corners of this room with lighting that focuses on an object (plant or chair). Select a table or floor lamp that has both a downward glow and some upward shine, too. Consider adding a dimmer for overhead fixtures and choosing lamps on three-way switches for reading areas.

Dining Room. Your dining room or kitchen table should be the brightest spot in the room. Add a chandelier or a pendant above the table and limit the wattage to 100. For a subtle glow, add a pair of small table lamps to a sideboard.

Kitchen. Your kitchen, as you know, becomes the hub for conversation for your family and friends; therefore, your lighting should be either natural or pendant lighting with dimmers. Your kitchen is also the work-horse of your home, too, so there should be plenty of lighting options for tasks. Consider installing under-cabinet lightings for illuminating work surfaces and sturdy table lamps for additional lighting, when needed.

Bedroom. This is your place for peace and quiet and should have a cozy feel. Use reading lamps or sconces by the bed, but make sure the light points away from the bed, not directly on it. Select recessed and track fixtures that angle towards your dressing area. For a more peaceful atmosphere, add a small lamp with a tinted low-wattage bulb almost like the glow of a candle.

Bathroom. Add an overhead light to fully illuminate the room, and if possible, position sconces to flank the mirror (not above) as this allows for a more flattering and natural lighting for grooming and putting makeup on. You should also have a light directly over the shower.

Many of us have been conditioned to remember to change our smoke detector batteries when we change our clocks for daylight savings time. But let’s be honest: we don’t always remember to do it. As a reminder, November is the month to do this very important task to keep your family safe.

Here’s a tip: Before replacing your old smoke detector batteries with new 9-volt batteries, use a permanent marker and write the date on the face of each battery. That way, in the future you can easily refer to the date when you last changed the batteries. Writing the date on the batteries will also trigger you to remember to do so the next time – and the time after that.

This same tip is handy when replacing your furnace filter, too. When you change it out, write the date (with a permanent marker) somewhere on the filter, and if in a month you check it and it doesn’t need to be replaced, write the date on it again. That way, you’ll start to see how long each filter lasts during different seasons of the year.

Get in this habit and this will become an easy way to keep track of two home maintenance essentials.

As time goes by our homes need more care from us. That is why we need to routinely go through home maintenance checklists to make sure we are keeping our homes in shape.

Here we break down some easy home maintenance tasks that anyone can do along with a few that you may want to contract out.

Take note by keeping up with various home maintenance tasks you will find your home in top shape and health.

7 easy home maintenance tasks that you can be doing right now on your own:

1. Fix or replace any loose boards on your fence or porch (if you have one).

2. Clean the grill after each use making it easy to store it away for the winter

3. Check the weather stripping around windows and doors for any tears, breakage and replace soon.

4. Clean your dryer vent.

5. With rain comes grass and weeds – mow or weed eat around the home to remove any of it away from the house.

6. Change out your filters for the AC.

7. Test your fire and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms and consider replacing batteries with fresh ones.

These are easy, quick and inexpensive to do, and typically you can accomplish all of these in a few hours.

However, there are a few fall chores where you’ll probably want to call someone local to assist:

1. Power wash your fence, home and/or deck as another added prevention of mold and mildew growth due to rain and moisture. If it needs a protective coating before winter, now’s the time to do it.

2. Heat pump checkup – just like the AC needs an annual checkup, so does your furnace. Now’s the time to call your HVAC contractor to give it a pre-winter inspection before the cold weather comes in.

3. Roof repairs – If you notice any missing or damaged shingles, it’s time to have someone come and fix/replace before any rain and snow arrive.

4. Check your crawl space or basement for leaks and buildup of moisture

With summer coming to end here in a few weeks, take a weekend and walk around your home look it over and take care of making your home strong and healthy. If you find that there are some tasks you can’t do, ask a neighbor, friend, or family member if they have a local handyman they use and trust to work on their home.

How do you clean a washing machine? 

It may seem like an ironic question, but the truth is, even your washing machine needs to be cleaned to keep it sanitary and smelling fresh.

We suggest sanitizing your washing machine about once a month to kill mold, mildew and bacteria. First, clean the inside from dirt and lint with a clean, damp cloth. Then run a normal wash cycle – without clothes – using hot water. Add the normal amount of laundry detergent and one cup of chlorine bleach to the load. Once the machine has filled up with water and agitated for a few minutes, stop the cycle and let the washing machine sit for 15-20 minutes. This gives the bleach time to disinfect inside your washer. Then let the washer finish the cycle. While the washing machine should have rinsed the bleach during the rinse cycle, if you are concerned about bleach affecting your next load of laundry, run an additional rinse cycle.

To clean your washing machine from detergent build-up and hard water deposits, add 3-4 cups of vinegar to a hot water cycle – sans clothing and detergent. Again, once the basin has filled with water and agitated a few minutes, stop the cycle and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. From there, allow the machine to finish the load, as noted above.

Please note: It’s important to refer to your manufacturer’s recommended instructions before proceeding as directed above. Some machines may require different or additional care.

Source: Cleaning Washing Machines to Santize

From appliances and sinks to trash bins and storage containers, stainless steel is in our kitchens. We love it for many reasons. It’s a streamlined, polished look; its non-porous surface resists bacteria; and it’s highly resistant to corrosion and heat damage. 

One of the drawbacks of stainless steel, however, is that it shows everything: fingerprints, splatters, water drips and even Fido’s nose print. Keeping your stainless steel appliances clean doesn’t need to be difficult, but it does require some specific cleaning methods.

First, some don’ts when it comes to cleaning stainless steel:

• Don’t use abrasive cleaning products, steel wool or abrasive scrubbing pads. These can leave scratches on the surface.
• Don’t use cleaning products that contain chlorine.
• Don’t clean your stainless steel oven (or other appliances) unless it is cool to the touch.
• Don’t use excessively hard water (filter it first, if you must), as it can leave spots.

Now some tips for getting your stainless steel to sparkle:

• Select a cleaning product that is specific to use on stainless steel.
• Use vinegar to do a preliminary clean of your stainless steel surface. Place white vinegar in a spray bottle and spray liberally. Use a paper towel or soft cloth to wipe.
• Always, always, always wipe with the grain of the stainless steel. Begin at the top of the appliance and work your way down.
• For grease or baked-on food, use warm soapy water and a nylon sponge. Be sure to wipe down again with clean water and a soft cloth to prevent water spots.
• Consider buffing your appliances with stainless steel polish or lemon oil from time to time to rejuvenate that lustrous finish.