Search Results for: blog know yourself when decorating

Decorating Tips: Your Fireplace and Mantel

During the spring and summer months they may be two of the most overlooked items in your home. But once winter rolls around the fireplace and mantel become the center of attention. If you have a fireplace then you know–home is where the hearth is. And, with the amount of time friends and family members spend warning their hands and feet by the flames, you are almost guaranteed that they will be looking at your mantel. Long before you haul your Christmas tree indoors your fireplace and mantel can kick-start the holiday season. A mantel may be small (which makes … Continue reading →

Thinking Of A Seasonal Home Based Business?

As I was out shopping today, I saw workers in one of the stores putting up Christmas trees in their home decorating department. My first reaction was to feel disgusted that Christmas merchandising seems to happen earlier every year. Seriously people, it is not even officially fall yet. My second reaction was that if I were someone who wanted to operate a seasonal business around the holidays, now would be the right time to start planning and preparing for it. The holidays can take up a lot of time and energy for many people. If you have the time, energy, … Continue reading →

Inexpensive Valentine Decorations

Valentine’s Day decorating can be a lot of fun. Who doesn’t love all of the hearts in their colors of red and pink. It is just the thing to brighten up a drab winter month, celebrate your love of your special someone or your family and bring a little cheerfulness into your home. Another great thing about decorating for Valentine’s Day is that is a a fun activity for the kids to do, too. Children love cutting out hearts, adding glitter and all of the other activities associating with decorating for Valentine’s Day. You can also have fun surprising a … Continue reading →

Bargain Hunting for Your Home

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to make your home look nice. Bargains are everywhere; you just need to know where to look. I have one friend in particular who is great at this. She lives in a large, gorgeous house that they had built. So everything is very new. Her decorating skills are great. Every tine I would see something new, such as a wall hanging, I would ask where she got it and she would reply with something like, “K-Mart.” Yet everything looked so expensive. However she isn’t spending a lot of money, she knows … Continue reading →

Raising Kids On a Budget

Money is always a concern, even more so when you are a single parent. Kids need lots of stuff. They start off so small but quickly seem to take up so much space and need so many things. Some things you should not scrimp on, car seats, cribs, things that are important for your child’s safety. There are plenty of other areas to save money. Let’s start with clothes. Babies and toddlers in particular grow so quickly, clothing is usually outgrown long before it is outworn. Take all the hand me downs that are offered. They won’t all be to … Continue reading →

Books,Books and More Books

Continuing the saga of books in the house, this is where the others are. My study has mostly writing and poetry related books, umpteen journals and exercise books with my writing and quiet time times in them and several children’s books from writers I admire like Eleanor Spence and Madeleine L’Engle. Another shelf has bible translations and commentaries, dictionaries and reference books. I also have writing magazines from various writing related organisations I belong too as well as copies of my own books. Then there’s the second bedroom. It has children’s books from when the children were young as well … Continue reading →

Buying a New Lounge – Part 3

Decide on the type of lounge or sofa you want. Do you want causal or formal. A cane lounge will always be more informal and suitable more for a sunroom or family room than a traditional lounge suite. Fashion also plays a part in color choice. Back in the 1970s we had a lounge that was orange and brown striped velvet. It sounds awful now, but it was the height of fashion. Needless to say it dated very quickly and now when I look back on that I shudder. We later had it recovered in a more sedate fabric that … Continue reading →

The Garage Sale- Part 2

Some experts suggest you shouldn’t price items in a garage sale but let people offer what they think the items are worth. These experts claim people will often offer more than you would have put on the item. Others say to make sure items are clearly priced. It may be negotiable but it is a starting point. I adhere to this idea. If I went to a garage sale where I had to ask the price of everything I would quickly get fed up and leave. Be prepared to negotiate on price. Those who go to garage sales regularly usually … Continue reading →

Finding the Right Person for the Job

Finding a good tradesperson for your home renovations or minor home repairs can be a bit like a lottery, unless you are careful. You could consult the internet or phone book or advertisements in the local paper or take note of the leaflets that seem to proliferate in the letterbox. But it’s still flying blind.A better idea is to listen to people talk and ask friends or neighbors who they would recommend. Of course if you’ve just moved into a new area, you won’t know too many people. When you move to a new area, as we did a few … Continue reading →

More Ways to Save and Benefits of Living on One Income

Yesterday we looked at some ways to save money while living on one income. Here are some more benefits of living on one income and ways to save money. Buy generic products. This might include pharmaceuticals which are often cheaper than the brand names as well as grocery items. Just a word of caution on this: If you or your spouse is watching your weight, sometimes the generic product has a higher calorie or sugar content, so check labels carefully. It’s really a bit of trial and error. We buy a lot of generic products but on some, I definitely … Continue reading →