At the Fence

Just picture it; you’re sitting down, you’ve got guests around and you’re having a wonderful time. You’re eating some delicious food that you personally cooked and you’re just about to bring out the dessert to close a successful dinner party. Then suddenly, two of your guests need to go to the toilet. You guide one of the guests to the downstairs toilet, a meticulous designed and thoroughly cleaned room that you’re proud of. Perhaps it’s the decor choices, maybe it’s the new features you installed in anticipation for your guests, or perhaps it just smells lovely because you remembered the air freshener. Then comes the disastrous part. Your other guest also needs to use the bathroom, and the only one left is your main bathroom—the one you haven’t put much effort into. The bathtub is caked in grime, you haven’t wiped the mirrors clean and you’ve left a bunch of toothbrushes and toothpaste lying around. You smile nervously at your guests and ask them to give you a moment. You rush

Summer’s here and for most of us it’s the time for barbecues, gardening projects , and sipping a cool drink with family and friends as you talk long into the night, bathed in the amber glow of the setting sun. However; it’s also the time for sweaty armpits, feeling the need to shower three or four times a day, cranky kids and (possibly worst of all), thrashing around all night trying to get to sleep in the intense heat. Image by Pixabay The importance of a good night’s sleep Starting your day feeling sticky, fuzzy-headed and  cranky through sleep deprivation is a guaranteed way to ruin your day before it’s even properly started. While the hot summer nights aren’t exactly conducive to a good night’s sleep, it’s especially important since the long days and earlier sunrises can significantly shorten our sleeping hours. A good night’s sleep is absolutely essential to your health . It maintains healthy brain function, helps to maintain emotional well being and it’s a vital c

Picture Source We all have ambitions for how we want our home to look. These might be simple things like decorations and color schemes , but they might also be more significant things like renovations, extensions, and repairs. The issue with these larger projects is that they can often end up racking up a serious price tag which is often enough to discourage many people. But if you're really sure about undertaking some kind of large home project, there are some things that you can do to avoid emptying your bank account. Here are just a few surprisingly simple things that you can do to stay in the black when you're renovating your home. Do your research One of the most common ways in which a large home renovation or repair project can end up costing far more than you were expecting is when people don't actually do the right amount of research on it before they get started. If you don't research every aspect of it, then your project could easily end up spiral

If you run your family home, you’ll already know how difficult it can be to be energy efficient. When your child tells you they need their sports kit for tomorrow and you find it stuffed at the bottom of a dirty laundry basket, you have no choice but to do an emergency washing and tumble dry session. However, being aware that you should be making your home greener, rather than using unnecessary energy could make you feel guilty. So, here’s what you can do to calm that guilty feeling. Flickr Insulation One of the biggest reasons many homes use more energy than they should is because they lose heat through their walls and floors. Heat is also lost through the roof, and because heat rises, the ground floor often feels much colder than it should be. You can solve this problem by making sure your roof, walls and floors are insulated. Initially it will cost you a significant amount of money, but your heating bills will more than pay you back over the next three years. Draughts

Image source We all try to live within our means. Most of us do anyway. Most of us are always one dollar short of our monthly bills, which makes that last week of every month a true testing period, even at the best of times. Then comes an unexpected cost we hadn’t factored in, namely a handful of home repairs that start to leak dollar bills. That is when we really start to sweat. After all, how are we meant to figure out exactly where to direct the limited amount of cash we have put away for such emergencies when more than one repair job has suddenly cropped up? That is where we come in. You see, we have been speaking to a few people in the know and asked them if they would kindly throw their two pennies in by explaining exactly which home repairs shouldn’t be put off until the finances allow it. The reason they shouldn’t be put off is that, when left to continue along their faulty path, they can worsen and do so fast. To put it into simple terms, when left alone, a hundred do

We’re always looking for savings, or at least complaining that we wish we could be saving more. From cutting down on socializing to saving money on your shopping, we all know that there are easy ways to save money. But did you know that there are quick ways to save money in your home? Here are five things you can do today to save money in you home. Image: Pexels 1. Change your grocery shopping habits Grocery shopping is one of the things that you can save money on easily, as it is not a fixed cost. Are you spending too much money on your groceries ? If so, it’s time to cut back. Work out how much you spend a month and try to reduce it by a certain percentage - put the money saved into savings. Keep an eye out for coupons and shop around for the best price to help you make those savings. 2. Change your eating habits too While we’re on the subject of food, changing your eating habits could also save you money. Making food in batches (a slow cooker is a great investment) an

Being at home is the best place to be. Wandering around in your robe with a cup of tea, inspecting your garden early in the morning, and lovingly looking towards your kitchen where all the action happens during the day; to be at home is to be happy and comfortable. Image source: Pexels That’s until the boiler breaks down, however, until the oven suddenly betrays you and stops working - or, even worse, until you light the fireplace for the first time in months and take down the poor family of birds that lived in your chimney. These unfortunate events make your home less comfortable and far less pleasant. Luckily, we have brilliant advice from all corners of the world on how you can keep loving your home, and avoid unexpected unpleasantness when you’re trying to be in your element. Kitchen Hacks: Neat cooking and storage solutions A lovely kitchen is clean , tidy, and smells of cookies without showing any evidence of baking. It’s not always easy to pull off, though, and e