If you have dreams of having a clean and clutter-free house but you just haven’t been able to get a handle on this yet, you’ll be glad to know that there are all kinds of things that you can start doing to help your home feel a little less cluttered and a lot more organized, regardless of whether you’re living at home on your own or in a house full of people.

To help you in learning how this can be accomplished, here are three tips for managing clutter around the house.

Devise A Reasonable Decluttering Plan

When starting from the beginning with decluttering your home, it’s important not to burn yourself out. If you come into it thinking that you’re going to be able to declutter your entire home in one fell swoop, you’re bound to bite off more than you can chew and wind up tired and disappointed. But with a reasonable plan for decluttering, you can have the stamina you need to go through your entire home.

In many cases, a reasonable decluttering plan will involve going room by room around your home. Give yourself an entire weekend or at least a few devoted evenings to go through everything in a given space. You can even set deadlines for yourself for when you want certain areas of the home decluttered. This way, you can pace yourself and get everything accomplished that you’re wanting.

Give Everything A Place

In order for your home to not feel cluttered, or to not go bad to being cluttered after you’ve done your decluttering, you have to give everything in your home a designated place for it to live. This way, you’ll easily be able to tidy up at the end of the day when things have gotten out of place.

For some items, resting on a bookshelf will be a good enough place for them. For others, you might need to purchase storage solutions so that you can have an organized place to keep everything.

Try Incorporating Clutter-Free Guidelines

Once you feel like your home has been decluttered to your liking, you should then try to incorporate certain clutter-free guidelines as you live your day-to-day life so that you’re able to maintain the progress that you’ve made.

There are a few different guidelines or rules that you can follow to help keep your home free of clutter. You might want to practice the 20/20 Rule, which means you get rid of everything that you could easily replace with $20 or within a 20 minute timeframe. Another option is the Five Second Rule, which means that if it takes you more than five seconds to remember when you last used an item, you donate it.

If you want to do a better job at managing the clutter in your home, consider using some of the tips mentioned above to help you in doing this.

Have you ever dreamt of a spa day but at home? Bathtubs with hydrotherapy jets might be your answer. These fancy tubs aren’t just about luxury soaks. They’re designed for massage benefits, too.

However, they cost more and need extra care. So, you may wonder if hydrotherapy jets in bathtubs are worth the cash. That’s what we’ll explore in this article to help you make a smart choice.

Enhanced Relaxation and Stress Relief

Hydrotherapy tubs are like having a spa at home. They help you relax and shake off stress instantly. Those jets deliver an invigorating massage that loosens up your muscles, helping you relax.

The sensation of water swirling around the body can mimic a professional massage. It hits all those pressure points and helps soothe any pains or discomfort from the day, which is fantastic after work or hitting the gym. So, if turning your bathroom into an “at-home” retreat spot sounds good, hydrotherapy bathtubs can do this for you.

Therapeutic Benefits for Health

Beyond relaxation, hydrotherapy jets are touted for their health benefits. The combo of warm water and massage boosts your blood flow, cuts down arthritis symptoms, and helps muscles bounce back after injuries.

The buoyancy of water takes off pressure from joints, which is helpful for easing pain or even improving movement. If you’ve got chronic issues like fibromyalgia or lower back problems, hydrotherapy could be an ace part of dealing with that pain day-to-day.

So, it’s more than just lush luxury. Having a hydrotherapy bathtub means also putting money into keeping healthy and simply feeling good.

Considerations for Installation and Maintenance

However, it’s essential to weigh the practical considerations of installing and maintaining a hydrotherapy bathtub. You’re looking at trickier plumbing work and more electric connections, which means costs might go up.

Hydrotherapy bathtubs need regular cleaning to keep the jets in top shape; no one wants bacteria hanging out there. Also, remember that fixing any issues or just heating all that water uses energy, so over time, you may spend a few extra bucks on bills.

So, if you’re thinking about getting one, it’s an excellent idea, but do some homework first. Look into these things and be sure it’s really something you want to commit to.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Are you thinking about getting a hydrotherapy bathtub? Don’t forget to weigh up the costs and benefits. Sure, buying one and setting it up can hit your wallet hard initially, but think long-term. You get relaxation on tap, stress relief whenever you need it, and possibly some health wins.

However, bear in mind that maintaining these special bathtubs comes with its own price tag. This includes regular maintenance and potentially needing specialized extras like bathtub stoppers, which aren’t always easy to find.

Balancing these costs against the personal value and usage of the hydrotherapy features will help determine if the investment is justified for your lifestyle and wellness goals.

Wrapping Up

To wrap it up, hydrotherapy bathtubs sure do represent a significant upfront investment. But they bring along major perks like relaxation, healing vibes, and that at-home spa luxury.

Before you splurge on this fancy purchase, though, check if it lines up with your personal taste, lifestyle choices, and health goals. You want to make sure its benefits are worth the investment for years down the line!

 

Owning a home comes with plenty of pride and above all, freedom. You don’t have to worry about asking a landlord for permission to paint your walls, or any of the inconveniences of neighbors that come with apartment living. However, along with this freedom and independence also comes a considerable amount of responsibility.

After all, if a pipe bursts, it’s you who has to call a plumber, not your landlord! Home repairs can start to add up over time. That’s why it’s in your interest to maintain your home yourself as much as possible. This will not just save you money, but it will also preserve the value of your property, and help you sell it for a more attractive price one day.

Check Your Roof Regularly

Replacing your roof is a big expense. So, you want to make sure that you conduct it regularly to identify any issues like leaks or missing shingles. The problem with roof issues is that the more you let them persist, the worse they can get. So the sooner you can identify the problem, the sooner you can fix the problem and avoid extensive damage and a hefty bill.

Clean Your Gutters

Gutters are one of those things that you need to stay on top of. Letting them get clogged can lead to water overflowing which could damage your actual home and even your home’s foundation.

Clean your gutters regularly and consider investing in gutter guards to minimize the amount of leaves and other objects that accumulate. Remember, your gutters are there to help water flow smoothly, not build up debris.

Trim Back Trees

If you weren’t born a garden lover, then you’re not alone. A lot of people would rather do anything than go outside and do weeding, or trim back the bushes. However, letting the trees alongside your house get too overgrown can lead to serious issues.

For one, if you live in an area prone to storms, a tree could fall in your house and significantly damage it. Another problem with overgrown trees is pest issues. Remember, all sorts of critters and animals live in trees, so the closer the trees are to your windows, the more you give pests an entry point to enter your house.

Seal Your Windows

Sealing your windows will not just save you a considerable amount of money on your energy bills, but it will also help protect your home from the elements. Sealing all of the gaps and cracks will help protect your home during the rainy, snowy months, and also keep your home cool during the warmer months.

What’s more, once you decide to sell your home, advertising it as a fully insulated home can be a great selling point for people concerned with how and maintain a comfortable temperature.

Nowadays, it seems like the price of everything just keeps ticking up, with no end in sight. As a result, we’re all looking for ways to save money, and one of the best ways to do so is by cutting down on monthly energy costs. There are several tricks you can use in order to spend less on heating your home, such as turning the thermostat up by a few degrees, but ultimately, if you really want to take advantage of long-term savings, you may have to opt for a new heating system entirely. Before you do so, however, you’ll need to figure out what the most cost-effective method of generating heat is for your home.

While there are many different ways to heat a building, gas furnaces and electric resistance heating are among the most common. But which one is the least expensive? Below, we’ll help you to determine the answer to one of the most commonly asked questions in HVAC: is gas or electric cheaper?

Gas Heating: How It Works

When we refer to “gas heating,” we’re referring to a furnace that is designed to use natural gas as a fuel source. Natural gas is not the same thing as the gas you use in your automobile. It’s actually primarily methane, although there are plenty of other compounds found in its chemical makeup as well. It’s “natural” because, unlike gasoline and other commonly used fossil fuels, it does not require any sort of refinement or synthesis to be an effective fuel source. Instead, it’s mined directly from the earth and transported through a series of pipelines.

In a gas furnace, the natural gas is pumped through a pipe into an ignitor. The ignitor has a pilot light that causes the gas to combust. The resulting flame is controlled and used to heat the air inside a device called a heat exchanger, which is an essential element of any furnace system. Once the air has been heated, a large fan is used to circulate it through the home’s ductwork, where it enters each room through a series of vents. The heated air will continue to flow until the thermostat detects that the desired temperature has been achieved. It will then shut the system off.

The Secrets of Electric Heating

An electric furnace is similar, in many ways, to a gas furnace, in the sense that it also makes use of a heat exchanger, a blower fan, and your home’s system of ductwork. Where the two methods differ, however, is in the way they generate heat. While a gas furnace ignites a fuel source to release heat energy into the air, an electric furnace uses a method known as resistance heating.

Chances are, if you own a toaster, you are already somewhat familiar with the concept of resistance heating. You’ve probably even witnessed it in action. When you press the lever on your toaster, you may have seen the metal coils inside of it turn red as they heat up. The reason this occurs is that, when the toaster is activated, an electrical current is sent through those coils. The voltage from the current excites the electrons inside of the coil, causing it to heat up (the red glow results from a phenomenon known as incandescence).

Electric furnaces, space heaters, and other electric heating methods use the same principle as the toaster. Electricity is passed through a medium, generating heat. The heat energy can then be transferred into the air and circulated throughout the home.

An Alternative Method: The Heat Pump

Besides the two methods of generating heat we’ve mentioned above, you can also opt to use a heat pump instead of a traditional furnace. Technically, the heat pump is considered a type of electric heating because it does require electricity to operate. However, in this case, the electricity is not actually used to generate the heat. Instead, it’s simply used to transfer heat energy from one area to another.

Unlike a gas or electric furnace, a heat pump is usually smaller and mounted somewhere on the wall of the home it’s being used for. A small set of tubes connects it to the outside unit, which is a device that can collect heat energy from outside and transfer it into the home.

A heat pump actually uses the same underlying technology as an air conditioner (in fact, it can even be switched into a cooling mode and double as an air conditioner during the summer). Refrigerant coils absorb heat energy, but when the system is in heating mode, the heat is vented into the home instead of away from it (as an AC unit does).

So Which Method Is the Cheapest?

So, at the end of the day, is gas or electric cheaper? Electric heating has plenty of advantages. For example, it doesn’t require a gas main, and it’s comparatively safer since it doesn’t generate harmful byproducts. However, when it comes to the question of which is cheaper to run, electric is usually the more expensive option, costing an average of a little over $2,000 a year to run.

On the other hand, a gas furnace can cost as little as $400 a year to run. On the face of it, this is much cheaper than electric. However, you will also have to consider that an electric furnace tends to last a lot longer, meaning you’ll have to replace it less often. This can balance the cost savings of a gas furnace somewhat.

Finally, a heat pump costs around $1,500 a year to run. While this seems much more expensive than a gas furnace, remember that it’s being used for heating and cooling, so that price tag covers your air conditioning bill as well. It’s an excellent choice for energy efficiency.

Whichever heating method you choose, installation should be performed by certified contractors, such as Entek HVAC, whose installers and technicians are specifically experienced with the type of heating method you’ve chosen.

 

 

If you love giving yourself pedicures but don’t feel like you have the perfect system set up for this yet, you’ll be glad to know that there likely are things that you’re not doing that can drastically improve the process and the outcome for you.

To help you in figuring all of this out, here are three tips for better at-home pedicures.

Choose The Right Time Of Day

Not every hour of the day is a good hour to be giving yourself a pedicure. Ideally, you’ll want to choose a time during the day when you can keep your feet outside of socks and shoes for an extended period of time. Because when you have to put on socks or shoes soon after giving yourself a pedicure, you always run the risk of smashing or scraping off the nail polish that you took so much time and energy to apply.

To keep this from happening to you, you should start doing your pedicures in the evening when you know that you’ll be home for the rest of the night. This way, you can sit down and relax as you’re doing your pedicure while also giving your nails the time they need to dry thoroughly before crawling into bed and wearing socks and shoes the next day.

Give Your Feet A Good Soak

As you’re setting up your space to get started with your at-home pedicure, one step that you shouldn’t skip is the soak.

While soaking your feet is arguably easier to do when you’re getting your pedicure done professionally, if you have a foot bath or even just a normal bathtub, you can still soak your feet before moving on with the rest of your pedicure. And when you do this, you’re softening up your cuticles and making it easier for you to remove any calluses that have come to be since the last time you did a pedicure.

Get The Right Tools To Clean Your Feet And Nails

In order to do your pedicure right, you’re going to need to get the right tools for the job.

While you might think that just getting the nail polish color that you want is the extent of the supplies that you need, there are plenty of other supplies that you can and should get so that your pedicures always look professionally done. These supplies include things like quality nail clippers, cuticle creams or oils, a nail buffer, a pumice stone, and feet moisturizer. While there are other supplies that you can get, these are the basics that you should have to give yourself a quality at-home pedicure.

If you’re wanting to consistently give yourself a great at-home pedicure, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you in doing this.