Worried about safety issues or high energy bills due to inefficiencies in your home’s appliances or heating system? The following 5 quick winter home improvements will pay dividends.
1. Wrap that water heater. If you have a traditional electric tank storage water heater, it may benefit from a blanket. Put your hand against the outside of the tank. If it feels warm, it may not be as energy efficient as it could be. Check out this guide for everything you need to know about the process and its benefits.
2. Make sure your carbon monoxide (CO) detector works properly. Gas and wood burning stoves and fireplaces can elevate CO levels to dangerously high levels. Beyond properly maintaining appliances, functioning CO detectors provide additional peace of mind.
3. Replace the air filter in your furnace. Filters coated with dust reduce air flow and make the unit run harder so change filters every three months for optimum efficiency. Buy a couple when they’re on sale so you always have them handy.
4. Install a programmable thermostat. Save on your heating bill by installing a programmable thermostat. According to the EPA, “By turning your thermostat back 10 to 15 degrees F. for 8 hours, you can save 5 to 15 percent a year on your heating bill — a savings of as much as 1 percent for each degree if the setback period is eight hours long.”
5. Close the fireplace damper when not in use. This one action, which doesn’t cost you anything, prevents warm air from flowing upwards and keeps it in the room where you want it. For more information on heating and cooling efficiently, visit Energy Star.
What are your thoughts on these 5 quick winter home improvements? Have any more? Share them in the comments!
I wasn’t always a Scrooge.
In fact, I have fond memories of Christmas as a young girl. Trekking out to find the perfect tree and decorating it while Christmas albums played in the background. Baking cookies. Poring through the Sears and JC Penney catalogs to compile a list of the toys I wanted. Opening a new window on the Advent calendar each day. Visiting the mannequin displays in the department stores downtown. Christmas Eve service and the thrill of hearing the congregation reverently sing “Silent Night” by candlelight. Playing “Guess the Ornament” with my sister.
When I had children of my own, I continued some of those traditions. I decorated the house, baked the cookies and bought and wrapped the presents. Watching two little girls on Christmas morning as they discovered their goodies? There really is nothing better.
But the joy I had as a youngster has faded a bit and I have come to regard this as the opposite of “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” In addition to regular day-to-day obligations, the season also piles on more: social gatherings, screwy schedules, shopping, spending. It can feel overwhelming. I’m offended by the holiday displays that appear before Halloween. I’m dismayed by Black Friday and the greedy behavior of some people who mere hours earlier focused on being grateful. I’m stressed about the never-ending to-do list. I feel tremendous guilt around the redefined version of our family and how it affects the girls during the season.
So I have to force myself to be conscious to look at the holidays through their eyes. Typically I don’t like to put up a Christmas tree until December. This year my youngest lobbied to get festive a week before Thanksgiving and I went with it. Intrigued by the concept of Black Friday, I knowingly took them to the mall on the most chaotic day of the year. In the coming days we’ll make cutout cookies and other treats, shop for Toys for Tots, drive around and look at holiday lights and hopefully do a whole bunch of sledding and ice skating over their winter break.
I will try my hardest to not get stressed out by it all, taking a cue from this, which lists a lot of good ways to do that. I don’t have a wish list per se, but if I did I’d want these things:
1) An appreciation of time spent with family and friends.
2) The ability to not demand perfection from myself or others.
3) To forget the bad parts of the past and start new traditions on my terms.
4) To enjoy each moment as it comes.
Have any tips on how to survive the most wonderful time of the year? Let me know in the comments!
School starts in a few weeks and we’re starting to get a twinge of back-to-school fever.
For the kiddos, it’s the allure of new school supplies and backpacks and being reunited with their friends. The supply lists have been posted at the local stores for weeks and each time we visit the girls ask when they’ll be getting their new stuff. I totally get that. I was the same way when I was their ages and the scent of fresh notebooks and no. 2 pencils for me is right up there with puppies and rainbows in terms of awesome things.
But as excited as they are for school to start again, I am hesitant to bite the bullet and set the preparations in motion. Call it denial, but I want to savor summer a bit more. The weather here has been sporadic in terms of quality summer heat and sun and when you live in a state that sees snow half the year you want as much warmth as you can get for as long as possible.
More importantly, though, is that time with the girls is precious. And that fact was reinforced when they returned from Y camp after a week away recently. It seems that in the blink of an eye they grew 5 inches and matured 5 years each. Don’t get me wrong. This is a great thing. Raising happy and independent kids is my first priority and I love that each day they get a little closer to that goal. But it’s bittersweet. Because soon they’ll be teens, and they won’t think Mom is as cool as their friends. And then they’ll be headed off to college and, well, you get where I’m going with this.
But, the reality is, life is nothing but change. And resisting it at every turn is fruitless and painful. I recently read this article and found many of the points pretty helpful. Much of it is about re-framing how you think about situations and opportunities.
So that’s what I’m going to try to do. Look at the start of the new school year as a new adventure, not only for the girls but for me as well.
What about you? Have any tips that have worked for you in this area? Let me know via the comments.
