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February Fun-damentals

Spinach Seedlings poking through the soil

As I was reminded last night in my Garden Club meeting, February is the month for the 4 p’s: Planning, Planting, Propagating and Planting.

1. Planning – Decide now how you want your Spring, Summer and Fall landscape to look.  Draw it out on a piece of paper so you do not over plan or over plant.  There are scads of garden websites that can help you choose the right plants that will bloom in succession.  This year, try planting combinations of successive growers in the same space.  That way, plant once and enjoy two or three seasons.
2. Planting – Trees, Shrubs, Spring and Summer Annuals and hardy vegetables can now be planted directly in your garden.  Keep in mind that we have not seen the last frost date so you may still need to cover them at night but at least you’ll have a head start on your neighbors.
3. Prune – Trees, shrubs and roses.  Wait on hollow stemmed perennials like lantana until next month.
4. Propagate – If you are the adventurist type,  you can begin propagating from cuttings this month.  Check out Dave’s Garden website for a wealth of information to do it right.

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10 simple ways to save on your heating bill this winter

From: Scambusters: If you’re worried that saving money on your home heating bills means spending a lot of money up front, worry no longer. We have ten simple and inexpensive ways to cut your home heating bills this winter.

The most obvious solution to saving on home heating bills is to turn down your thermostat. Even a couple of degrees can make a difference. However, here are 10 useful tips that are less obvious:

1. Clean Your Furnace

A clean furnace is an efficient furnace. If you’re looking to save money on energy bills, you should start with having your furnace checked and cleaned. While this isn’t the cheapest way to save on home heating costs, it is one of the most effective.

2. Change Your Air Filter

For less than $20 you can change the air filter on your furnace. A dirty air filter will block the airflow from your furnace and can actually decrease the furnace’s life expectancy. I change mine on the 1st of every month to keep it simple.

3. Use Your Ceiling Fans

This advice may sound counter-intuitive, but you should actually use your ceiling fans during the winter. A ceiling fan set in reverse can draw warm air through your home, helping to keep it warm.

4. Use Washing Machines and Dishwashers Wisely

When running your washing machine or your dishwasher, make sure that you only do full loads of laundry or dishes. If you don’t run full loads, you’ll need to run your appliances more frequently, wasting energy in the process. Believe it or not, I discovered that it’s cheaper to fill and run my dishwasher once a day than to do dishes along and along.

5. Use Compact Fluorescent Lighting

Compact fluorescent light bulbs use less than half of the energy of incandescent light bulbs, and they last longer as well. Fluorescent lighting technology has improved dramatically over the past few years, so even if you didn’t like fluorescent lighting in the past, it’s worth trying again now.

6. Keep Shades Up and Blinds Open

Take advantage of natural daylight and solar heat through your windows. Rather than having light bulbs running all day, keep your shades and blinds open and you’ll be able to make use of the natural sunlight and the warmth that naturally comes from the sun.

7. Insulate Your Water Heater

If you have an older model water heater, buy insulation wrap and insulate your water heater. It will help the heater retain heat and will help reduce your energy bill by about $20 per year. When you need to replace your water heater, buy an energy efficient model. (This is also good advice when you need to replace your furnace — buy a high-efficiency model.)  Better yet, invest in an on-demand hot water heater.  I just did and love every bit of it.

8. Install and Use a Programmable Thermostat

If you talk to any heating and cooling specialist, they will tell you that one of the best things to do in order to save money on your energy bills is to install a programmable thermostat. You’ll be able to program the thermostat to reduce the heat of your home when you’re away and when you’re asleep. Do yourself a favor though.  Take the time to learn how to program it.  So often we have these things but don’t use them properly.

9. Seal Leaks

If you have air leaks in your home, seal them up with caulk or weather strips. Drafts can add significantly to your home heating costs during the winter, so make sure that you locate and seal off any drafts in your home. There’s lots of gadgets out there to help you find and seal leaks but my all time favorite is silicone based caulk and R30 insulation.

10. Turn It Off

A simple rule of thumb is if you’re not using it, turn it off. From lights to televisions to appliances, if you’re not using them, make sure you turn them off or you’re wasting energy on things you’re not even using. This is especially true for electronics. Every night before bed, I unplug the computer, phone chargers, etc.  Make it your nightly routine.  Put out the cat, lock up the house and unplug the pc.

The U.S. Department of Energy offers a complete website designed to help you find ways to save money on your energy bills. You can find it here.

And our friend Tim Carter has an excellent article with more advice on how to winterize your home and save money on home heating bills here.

Let’s face it; home heating costs are escalating. By using these 10 tips, you should see significant savings on your energy bills and you won’t waste money on energy scams.

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Time to brighten your interior space?

Stained glass can add the color without having to paint

The ABC’s of Staging your home. A do-it-yourself guide.  

Getting the paper this morning I couldn’t help but notice all of the ads for furniture, linens, and interior décor items on sale. If you’re like me, you probably have too much stuff already but the drabness of the outdoors seems to create a desire to brighten up the indoors. As a Realtor I help clients do this before listing their house.  The process of staging before listing your home is very simple:

 

•  Clean
•  Un-clutter
•  Minimize accessories
•  De-personalize
•  Neutralize
•  Enhance the architectural features

 But how do you proceed when you don’t want to sell? Or after you buy? The process is not that different.  

• Clean
• Un-clutter
• Functionalize
• Choose the most pleasing accessories that go with the space
• Personalize
• Enhance your favorite features of the space
• Add Wow

Although this sounds easy, it can be daunting, especially if you and your significant other differ on styles. So here’s a tip from the staging and design experts.  After you get the cleaning and un-cluttering out of the way, remove everything that doesn’t have a specific function for that room. 

In other words, take the office supplies out of the kitchen.  Move magazines to the reading areas. Have one area for each function.  (I had a bad habit of keeping tools in the garage and on the porch and then in a drawer.  Now, I have one place for all tools.  When I need one, I always know where it is and consider going to the garage as exercise.)

Next, personalize with caution.  This is where couples get into trouble.  His golf trophies and her scrapbooking projects in the same corner of the room.  Consider his and her space to break it up.  Then, group likes together for better impact.  

Enhancing your favorite features does not mean cluttering.  It means accessorizing with items that lend to the overall functionality of the room.  For example, the media room (formerly called the den) is a great space to hang movie posters and memorabilia. Children’s art can become high scale decorating if it’s well framed. Decorative cookie cutters make great kitchen wall art. 

When it comes to adding Wow, proceed with caution.  Sometimes, just cleaning and un-cluttering will do it for you.  The room will suddenly seem bigger and more open.  If it still needs something, consider adding color.

There are thousands of ways to use color to make or break a room.  But I’ll save those for another day.

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