How to Protect Your House From Wildfires: I remember playing outside nonstop during the summer when I was a kid. That’s a luxury my kids can no longer afford. Between heatwaves being a regular occurrence, and the increased prevalence of wildfires across the U.S. and Canada dragging down air quality, outdoors is no longer as […]
Protecting Property From Fire: Fire Resistant Home Upgrades Read More »
Raise your hand if day-to-day life often seems overwhelming. Raising kids in the 21st century is not for the faint of heart. Wouldn’t it be great if there were an easy button to make things simpler? If you can relate to this, maybe this summer is the time to try minimalism with a family. A great
Minimalist Family Homes: Incorporating Minimalism With a Family Read More »
From Replacement Windows to Window Coverings: Make Windows More Energy Efficient Just as spring is a great time to spruce up your home’s curb appeal, the arrival of cooler fall temperatures is a great time to think about your home’s windows. There’s nothing worse on cold winter nights than drafty, naked windows. Shorter days mean
How To Make Windows More Energy Efficient Read More »
Do you currently live in your dream home? If not, what’s stopping you? In my experience, there are two ways to get to your dream house: Either the planets align so that you’re in a position to build the house of your dreams, or you buy a home with potential and create your dream house one
Resources for Building and Decorating Your Dream Home Read More »
How To Avoid Tick Bites This Summer: Your Best Bet for Preventing Tick Bites (Originally published May 20, 2017; last updated May 2020) Summer is just around the corner in the Northern Hemisphere. Are you ready to protect your kids from tick bites? Since at least 2017, it seems that each spring brings fresh warnings
How to Protect Your Kids From Tick Bites: What Works Best? Read More »
The weather is finally turning cooler in our neck of the woods! I’ve been reacquainting myself with my slow cookers and my cooler-weather attire. And dreaming of what we can do on the house between now and next spring. If you’re like most homeowners, you probably have several running lists of home projects: There’s the
Why To Jump-Start Home Projects in the Off-Season Read More »
Prevent and Get Rid of Mice, Grain Moths, Grain Beetles, and More: As I’ve learned the hard way, there’s nothing worse first thing in the AM than grabbing that box of breakfast cereal, or jar of oatmeal, to realize that its contents are moving. Even though I’ve written posts about getting rid of everything from
How to Pest-Proof Your Home Read More »
Create More Coziness In Seven Easy Steps: That time is here. The sun comes up later, kids are going back to school, the mornings are cooler and crisper – autumn is just around the corner. And with the return of fall each year, we all start thinking about ways to curl up and get comfortable
How To Make Your Home Cozy For Fall Read More »
Ways to Make Your Home Bug-Free This Summer: Are you enjoying your summer so far? We sure are. Alas, so are all the creepy-crawlies with whom we share our planet, from the dangerous ones like ticks, to those like ants, centipedes, crickets, and cockroaches that are just downright annoying. RELATED POST: How To Protect Your
4 Tips for Keeping Your Home Bug-Free Read More »
Cut Costs At Home With These Easy Hacks: How’s your family budget doing? Do you find yourself having to make the same amount of money stretch a little further, month by month and year by year, than it did before? How do you tighten your belts and keep costs under control? There are the classic
Easy Ways to Trim Your Budget Now Read More »
Minimalism for Parents 101: Your Get-Started Guide When expecting their first child, many people envision happy scenes of simple bliss. Then reality hits home. Yes, babies are cute – but they’re also messy, on so many levels. And they keep you awake almost round the clock. And they come with so much STUFF. Is minimalism
Minimalism for Parents: Can Minimalism and Parenthood Coexist? Read More »
Every night before bed, when Kimmie counts her blessings, the first five things she expresses gratitude for are “food, water, clothing, shelter, and books” (!). Things that many of us sometimes take for granted. It’s hard to take them for granted, though, when insects start to devour the home that shelters your family! I’m hoping
Help – Something’s Eating My House! Protecting Your Family’s Home From Insects Read More »
How to Lower Electric Bills in Seven Easy Steps, Starting Today: Earth Day (April 22) is just around the corner. And whether you’re most conscious of conserving energy every April, you’ve had a recent sticker shock has prompted you to save on energy bills, or conserving natural resources is always a priority, we all can
Seven Easy Ways to Lower Your Electric Bill (Starting Today!) Read More »
Organized Home. Hah. How many of us have grand plans (especially around January 1) of Getting Organized This Year? E.g., This is the year I’ll FINALLY get organized! This is the year I’ll FINALLY have a Clean Home! Which, for me, inevitably leads to: This is the year I’ll FINALLY have a More Organized Home!
The #1 Shortcut To a More Organized Home Read More »
How much do you like saving money? How about saving the planet at the same time? If both of these sound good to you, then you need this post on simple green home hacks that will help you do both! It’s hard to ignore the massive climate changes going on right now, or the mountain
Green Home Hacks to Save Money and Save Mother Earth Read More »
How To Make Your Own S’Mores Solar Oven: Looking for some summertime fun activities for your kids? S’mores always ranks at the top of my kids’ favorite summer activities list. And making solar oven s’mores is where easy kids’ crafts meets summer fun activities for kids. With supplies you already have on hand around the
Summer Science Fun: S’Mores Solar Oven (Easy DIY!) Read More »
(NOTE: I first wrote “Loving the Environment for Kids: My Top Five Tips for Raising Eco-Friendly Offspring” as a guest post for The Everyday Ecologist in June 2016. Since it’s no longer available on that website, I’m republishing it here with a few updates while I’m traveling. Enjoy! – Flossie) What do your kids know
Loving the Environment for Kids: 5 Tips for Raising Eco-Friendly Offspring Read More »
How’d you do on your New Year’s resolutions last year? My New Year’s goal for last year is still an ongoing effort, but remembering to use the Calm Mommy voice when I want my kids to cooperate is becoming more second-nature. My goals for this year center around being more mindful each day, saving myself
Mindful Decluttering: 5 Tips on Decluttering Your Home Read More »
Even though the first week of December was rainy and dreary in our neck of the woods, the girls and I have had a super start to our month. Part of the credit goes to the fact that I’ve made some very conscious decisions to simplify our lives, both for the holiday season and beyond.
Less Is More: Three Ways We’re Cutting Back and Living Better This Holiday Season Read More »
