Hello everyone! Merry Christmas to those who celebrated December 25th, like my household did. We had the lights outside, the Christmas tree inside, with lots of presents under it. Now the early morning hours are over and everything has been unwrapped. Hopefully for some of those tough electronic items, which are encased in the hard plastic, I hope you had some scissors around for them. Or better yet, the box cutters work best! They are super sharp and can be used for much more than just your holiday boxes. A box cutter or safety knife has an advantage over other things like knives or a pair of scissors. They have the extra sharp blades in them, which makes it much easier, tearing into those electronic gift packages.

Now the clean-up process is underway and where do you start? It’s best if you just go ahead and bring the whole box of garbage bags in the living room or den with you. So you have plenty of places to throw trash in. Take 4 or 5 bags out and strategically place them around the room. Save yourself some steps, by placing these trash bags in every corner of the room and a couple of them in the middle of the room. Now when you find a piece of trash or something that needs to be thrown away, you will have a bag nearby to pitch it in. I can’t tell you or stress enough, how much time this will save you.

Don’t throw away any goodies! Be sure to keep your small packages, like the batteries, away from the trash and big pieces of torn Christmas paper. It is so easy to throw them away too. While you watch the kids opening the presents, it’s best to start the sorting process then. It always seems like something gets thrown away on Christmas morning or we think we threw it out. You don’t want to go through 5 garbage bags of trash, to find out, it was under the Christmas tree the whole time. And no matter how well you, the kids, or anyone else knows a certain product, like a new cell phone or a video game, be sure to save all the instructions. I see lots of households every year, wishing they would have kept the instructions, so they could do this or that. No matter how cheap or expensive, it doesn’t matter how big or how small the Christmas gift is, just do your self a big favor and save the instructions!

I hope your family enjoyed the morning today. I hope you only throw the trash away and none of the goodies or those valuable instructions; which you will need in a day or two. Break down the boxes if you need more room in the dumpster or trash cans. Don’t be afraid to get the utility knife out and cut down the boxes to a smaller size. Just think, only 364 more days and we get to do it all again!

It doesn’t matter whether you live in the sunbelt of the Southwest or the chill belt of the Midwest and Northeast, right about now seems like a pretty odd time to start thinking about patio furniture. Heck, right about now even folks in sunny Los Angeles and Las Vegas are starting to spend more time indoors. If you’re in Chicago, New York, Toronto, or Montreal, patio furniture must seem like an absurdly distant thought as temperatures plummet and the weather gets ever wetter. Spring is a long ways off, we admit.

But let’s think about this another way. Right now is actually an excellent time to shop for outdoor furniture for a few reasons. First of all, there’s no rush. It’s only human nature to overspend if we’re super-anxious to get some nice outdoor furniture so we can start enjoying the warm sun. If it’s chilly, we’re likely to drive a much harder bargain with retailers and be a lot more selective in our shopping. Also, retailers of patio furniture have to get rid of their current stock to make some room for new items when the weather starts to get warm next next March. That means, of course one thing that we’ll say three times: bargains, bargains, bargains.

There’s one more good reason to consider patio furniture right about now. We have months to think about creative ways to design our back and front yards so that we get the most out of the items we’re getting ready to buy, as well as whatever it is that we already own. We can also consider all the practical matters that we should, like which materials will hold up best under local climate conditions when kept outdoors. Really, the more we think about it, the more it seems to make sense that the best time to start shopping for patio furniture is the worst time to actually use it.

While technology continues to go at light speed, we are never too far away from our parents, grand parents, or even our ancestor days. It just takes one power outage in the neighborhood, to remind us all, how vulnerable we really are. Most of us forget about this, until the lights go off and we realize how dependent we are on the power companies.

I use to say the best values in life was a postage stamp and a gallon of gas. These two things were so minor in price and could help us send a letter across the country or take our whole family to another state. Now with the rising prices of today, neither one of these items is considered a “good value” anymore. I think with the help of technology, our energy is the best bargain in America today.

Just think about it. A big twister cuts right through the middle of the Lone Star State and knocks out everything in its path. Then the next day, the home builders begin to rebuild; while the power companies work day and night trying to string the power grid back up. The residents will get the power bill next month and see that the electric rates in Texas are the same price. Regardless of what Mother Nature does (for the most part) the energy prices stay regulated and pretty soon, we start to see the value in this industry.

If you haven’t had a power outage recently, just wait til the next one. You soon learn how valuable our electricity is in this country. All of this modern technology we have, is no good without our energy working properly. No way to recharge the cell phones, when the lights go out. You can’t check the email and forget about snacking on microwave popcorn, until the power comes back on.

Our family recently went through a 6 hour power outage and it seem to last forever. I’m not sure how well we could do if the lights stayed off for days or even weeks. I don’t want to think about losing power for a whole month, but it could happen. What if the lights never did come back on? Could you and your family survive? We really wouldn’t have much of a choice, would we? When you understand how much our lives depend on the lights staying on, its pretty easy to see how precious it really is. The postage stamp and a gallon of gas are too costly for the average American. The best value in America for 2011, is the energy we buy each month for our homes, to help make our lives normal and modern.

Guest post from: Kent Lara

There is a mouse in the house. I repeat- there is a mouse in the house. Actually, there is more than one mouse in the house. We just moved in to our first home, and I’ve been so excited to finally own a home. My husband and I have been saving for the past 2 years for a down payment, and found what we thought was the home of our dreams. When we first found out that we were moving in to a new house we were overjoyed at the thought of home ownership. We have enjoyed several parts, but parts like having a mouse infestation is not something that we’re used to. We also have had some problems with roaches- yuck! While we’ve been settling in, we’ve also had to remember to do things like signing up for water and electricity. We compared electricity providers at: HTTP://WWW.texaselectricityproviders.com . Now that we have that figured out, we just have to figure out this mouse problem! After that- the cockroaches can meet their match!

Husbands who decide to have a family will have a big responsibility one day. That job will be to take care of Mom; when she goes through her 9 months of pleasure, pains, and troubles. It’s not all bad and she won’t be moody every day. However, for those days she isn’t in the best of moods, the man of the house will have to help make the home more comfy for the first time mother or for the 2nd baby, 3rd baby, and so on. Cooking meals, cleaning the house, and waiting on her is just a few of the things the Dad can do. It’s the simple things that she will see or notice that will make the biggest difference during her pregnancy. Like moving the furniture further apart in tight areas of walking spaces. Adding extra pillows on the bed and couch. Making a few more stops at the store and keeping a lot of snacks around. Just make sure to not get the high calorie junk foods or the new father might find his self shopping for plus size maternity clothing for the wife. This doesn’t sound like a comfortable job for the husband, if he has to visit a store to buy maternity clothes. Hopefully there is a computer in the home and he can shop for extra pregnancy clothes online, without making the trip to a real life store.

The good news for Dad and Mom both, these new lifestyle changes aren’t really for 9 months. It is less time, but you both will feel like it lasted a year or longer, since time does seem to slow down near the end. Everything you do now, will all be worth it, when you can see the little one for the first time and the title of “mom” and “dad” become official. Congratulations and the second time around is always easier. Since both parents learn things from the first pregnancy, they weren’t expecting or was prepared for the first time.

If you are the head of your household, then it is your job to make sure it is secured. There are a number of ways to protect your home in the 21st century. No matter which route you choose to go, isn’t really important. What is important, is that you do something to provide protection for you and your precious family.

More home owners today are not counting on the neighbors as a form of remote security for their homes. They are choosing to hire the professional security companies to take care of this type of security. A live person, who sits at a control desk 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, is the type of remote security and remote technology you should employ for your protection at home.

Also, there are other hidden benefits when you get a team of professionals to start monitoring your home. Security companies already know how the thieves and other “bad guys” think and operate. Their experience in the field can not be measured on any types of scale. You just have to keep thinking about your smiling and happy family and figure out the best ways, to keep everyone with smiles at your house. Stay safe America!

For anyone who has been outside recently, knows that the winter season is still here. The calendar does tell us it won’t be much longer, until all of this cold weather disappears and the warm days of spring will appear. A lot of merchants know that winter is quickly fading into a warmer weather pattern and they are looking to make room for their warm-weather items. This is a good time to find discounts on those winter items, so you will have them for next year. Not many people will be using a heated blanket this summer. If you buy one now, you will be glad you did, when the cold weather returns at the end of the year. You can order an item like this and maybe use it once or twice this year (to see if it works) then put it back up and save it for the 2011/2012 winter season.

I have found these electric blankets to wear out over time. The less you use them, the better they seem to be about warming up. You want a heated blanket on the bed to be real warm and it must warm up quickly. After a couple of years, they seem to lose a bit of their heating abilities. So in general, you want a new electric blanket every 1 to 3 years. People who wait for the fall season or early winter to buy these special blankets, they will be paying a premium price for them. Consumers could save a lot more money on blankets, if they would order them now or during the warmer months of the year.

This is a good shopping tip, for those people who love to save money, when they go out shopping. As a fisherman, I can tell you the prices on bait, rods, and reels will begin increasing now. People who love to fish have missed their window for finding the fishing discounts. Fishermen need to survey the stores and other places, which sell fishing supplies, during the late summer and fall seasons. This is when the fishing merchants will be cutting the biggest discounts for fishing gear. So don’t buy anything related to fishing now, but do look for those things that help us to stay warm, like a good electric blanket does!

The address plaques and numbers you choose for your business or home can say a lot about you. Let’s first look at the commercial side of things. If you have a business with a lot of first time customers, they will be looking for your building or office the first time they come. If you don’t have any recognizable buildings or shopping centers near you, your address numbers is the first thing they will be looking for. The address of your business is the first eye-contact you will make with your new customers. I think if a small business owner buys the best address plaque on the block, it immediately gives his or her business an edge.

No reason to take a break when you go home either. Your home is your resting place and it says a lot about the family that lives there. Something as little as the numbers on your mailbox or a sign post can be a reflection on your household. Who cares what the neighbor next door or the rich family down the street has up in front of their home. This is your home and should have your touch on it. If you like classy and elegant things; then there is a wide variety of sharp-looking address signs you can get for your home. It’s actually hard to just pick one, because there are so many good choices for your home. I may change my mind tomorrow, but if I had to buy a sign for my address numbers today, I believe I would select this stylish plaque below.

I just really like this home or residential plaque. For it to be effective, you would need to live near the road. You could still use it for long driveways too, because people or delivery services visiting your house for the first time, would have confirmation they are or aren’t at the right location. For homes that sit on the corner of two streets, this sign clearly shows which of the two streets you live on. If you live on the corner in a subdivision, I think one of these home address plaques is right up your alley. It has the stylish and classy look, but it isn’t an expensive piece of material to buy for your home. This is a very affordable home improvement job. It takes just a few minutes to install. Even the lady of the house could put this street address and number sign up.

Guest post written by Barbara Newman

Being the mother of an aspiring fashion designer can be a little frustrating sometimes, like when she gets into my closet or insists on wearing all of these crazy things that she’s made herself. But I make sure to encourage Lindley to achieve her dreams and she honestly has enough talent and imagination to meet that dream. She’s even helped me started dressing a little better and we make watching Project Runway a mother-daughter bonding experience.

So coming up with some Christmas gifts to get her is actually really fun. A few years ago we got her a sewing machine, so she’s in constant need of supplies and fabric to make things. I already ordered her a gift card for her favorite fabric store online with my Clearwirelessinternet. She also has a ton of fashion books and fashion magazine subscriptions so she can learn a lot about the business.

But, when I was in her room not too long ago, I noticed one thing that she didn’t have, an inspiration board! So I set out to make her a DIY bulletin board so that she could put up things at her sewing station that would inspire her work.

Do the people you work with each day at your job, like to draw names for Christmas gifts each year? Most workplace environments will do the Christmas draw with a $20 gift limit. None of us want to seem like cheapskates, so we all try to buy as close to that $20 mark as possible. To leave no room for doubt on my end, I would usually go to a retail store and just buy a $20 gift card, for the employee I had to buy a Christmas gift for. Some employees may not have the money this year. Finding ways to stretch a dollar can be tough. Especially during the holiday season. Some co-workers may have kids to buy gifts for at home, so buying their fellow employee a Christmas gift is 2nd on their list.

If you hurry, you still have time to order this clever $20 gift for a male employee and will be able to spend less than $10! This is because Buy.com has this Skil 38 Piece Ratchet Set on their Weekly Deals page. I wouldn’t mind receiving a gift like this, if I was an employee at your company this year. I don’t have any immediate needs for a gift like this, but as men, we are always having to fix something. We can never have enough tools. The younger men out there, really needs to start a collection of tools, so they can have a full assortment, before they reach those older years. The older we get, the more things we have to begin fixing.

The reason that makes this gift so special, is because it is normally a $19.99 item, so you’re giving your male employee at work a $20 gift. They will never know, that you really bought it online for the low, low price of $6.99. Be sure to hurry, so you can lock in this low sale price and still have plenty of time to have it delivered by Christmas.

I don’t really miss working a real job that much, since I have started my own home business a few years back. I will admit, when the holidays roll around each year, I do miss the fun employees have at work. I like the fact everyone is in a good mood. It’s fun to be around folks; when everyone is jolly and happy that Christmas is coming and those paid holiday work days are near. Exchanging names at work and getting Christmas gifts for each other is something I miss too.

Now once the New Year gets here and it’s back to work for all the employees. I am glad to be right where I am at home, being my own boss. I wouldn’t trade my work at home for that 1 month of holiday fun at a real job, but for now, I am just a little jealous of everyone. Have a Merry Christmas and I hope your co-worker enjoys the Skil ratchet set!

There is always something we can be doing at home, to fix it up or to make small repairs, before we have to make the major ones. Every home owner needs to realize the time it takes to keep a house up and running. You need to do something each year to make your home continue running properly or to just make it look better. Many of our home improvement jobs get done in the summer time. However, the tasks inside the house can be done at any time and these cold weather days, are perfect for indoor home improvements.

One of the jobs you can take care of this year is the tile work in your home. You may just need to replace a few broken or misplaced tiles or would like to tile an area of your home, that has never had tiles before. Your best bet for a huge selection of tiles, is at the Glass Tile Store; which you can find online. They do have a online website for finding subway tiles or any other types of tiles you seek to use. If you have been searching for a unique or hard-to-find tile pattern, odds are the Glass Tile Store will have what you are looking for. So check with them first, before you buy any tiles for those home improvement jobs, which will need brand new tiles.

I think most of us think of tiles being in the bathroom and this is probably the most common place for tiles. The bathroom tiles have a very useful purpose in our bathrooms. They hold up well to moisture and makes cleaning up a snap, when you have tiles in the bathroom. If you have failed to do any touch-ups on your homes for this year, then the bathroom is a great place to start now. Just go online and find the tiles you would like to use in your bathroom. Once you have bought your tiles and had them delivered, you’re pretty much ready to start. Not a lot of hard work in laying down new tiles, to an area that has never had tiles before. To replace tiles, you may have to put your back into it a little more or get the kids to help remove the old tiles first. Get rid of the existing tiles and then you’re all set to begin installing your new tiles. Decorating the bathroom with a new tile pattern can be very fun for the whole family and rewarding to look at, once you have completed the tile work.

One of the important things every home owner should do to their home, is make it very easy for others to find. You can achieve this by having a professionally made address plaque installed in a very visible spot on or around your home. A plaque that contains all of your important information, like your specific house or mail box number is very important for everyone to have for their home.

You never know what the future holds for you and your family. If there was ever an emergency at your house and you needed to call 9-1-1, you would want them to find your home as fast as possible. A medical emergency could occur and someone living in your household now, could have their life depending on a medical rescue. It would be important for the proper authorities to get to your residence in the quickest fashion possible. By having one of these address plaques attached on the outside of your home, it could let emergency officials know for sure, they were indeed at the right place. The same thing could happen late at night with a burglar trying to break into your home. You might find yourself placing a call to the police and would want them to arrive as fast as possible. A plaque with your correct home information, could come in handy in one of these or any other emergency help situations; you and your family might need one day.

Do you like cold pizza? Well some folks do like to eat cold pizza, but for the ones who don’t, you want the pizza delivery guy to find you as quick as possible. Your pizza deliveries and any other food delivery companies, will be searching for the home address plaques, so they know they have the right customer. If you don’t order pizza, you may still need a furniture delivery one day. Also, those other private companies that bring packages to your house, are not as familar with your home as the local mailman. A plaque with address information or a home number, could allow for a trouble-free delivery. So you don’t miss an important package or parcel being delivered to your home. It just makes good sense, to have your home information visible and clearly seen by anyone who is trying to find your home. Keep this in mind, the next time you’re doing home improvements around the house.

Our lawn chairs come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some are used for simply sitting; while others allow for a more relaxed fit. For most home owners, they have had to host at least one big event, that has taken place at their home. If it was Christmas or Thanksgiving Dinner you hosted; then you probably didn’t have too many guests sitting outdoors. Perhaps for a big birthday celebration for Grampa or Grandma, who has a warm weather birthday. It might have been for the warmer holiday events, like Easter or the 4th of July. I’m sure the fourth day of every July is outdoor weather for most home owners, living in the U.S. of A..

If you did host one of these warm-weather celebrations, I’m sure you got a few extra outdoor seats, for all the extra guests. If you had to guess, what would you say is the number of lawn chairs you had the most of, for any one event?

My family hasn’t hosted anything in recent years, but we use to host a few things here and there. We don’t have too many good parking places at my house, so it usually gets my family off the hook, from these large family events. When we did host these celebrations like Easter for example, I don’t recall a big number of yard chairs. I believe we had a picnic table that could seat about 8 people (at most) but more like 4 comfortably. As far as the chairs, I can only go by memories as a kid and a few small home movie clips we have, and I would say about 5 chairs. We had some descent size gatherings, but most families will split into two groups. You have the outdoor bunch and the ones who just prefer to stay inside the whole time. No way could we have found chairs for everyone, if they all wanted to come outside. Plus you always have kids as part of the visitors and they mostly just run around and play non-stop.

If you’re planning a big warm weather celebration for any future events; then no need to buy extra lawn chairs for the yard. If you have a few already and a porch area (with seats or steps); then you have plenty of seating for your guests. Your visitors will find a place to sit inside or outside. There is no need to buy any extra lawn furniture, since everyone will be spread out, all over the place. I know it might sound like a good idea to have 15 or 20 outdoor seats for a group of 50 or 60 people, but that would be way too many. If you got 5 or 6 chairs, your guests will share the seating and make sure the correct people are getting the best comforts outdoor. I hope I saved you a trip to the store and that you will trust 6 outdoor seats, will work fine for 50 to 60 visitors to your home. As long as the usual things are taking place inside, like cooking, watching TV, and kids playing on the computer or with their video games.

While most people may have the dream to build their own house one day, there is really no reason to. You can save a lot of money right now, by buying a new home that is already built. The recent recession has sent so many homes into foreclosure and back to the banks, that buyers can find a lot of good deals in the housing markets. I would hold off on those blue prints for building a new home. If you can save a lot of money on an existing home, you would be better off to buy a home that is already built.

Once you get your new home, you can work on getting it paid off. After you pay for your new home or almost have it paid for, you can turn around and sell it for a profit. By the time you get close to paying off your new home, the housing industry should be back up to normal then. You would be able to make a nice little profit and then you could begin the construction process on the home you want to build and design yourself. It’s true that a buyer has the upper hand right now. Folks should use this leverage to their advantage and make a huge profit from the new homes that just aren’t selling at the moment. Things will turn around soon, but until they do, the housing market is a big bargain for anyone, who seeks to make a profit.

No need to ask anyone, if the housing industry has regained strength again. All you have to do, is drive through a sub-division and see how many “for sale” signs you see in the front yards. There should be a couple on every street you turn down and that’s your sign the housing industry hasn’t fully recovered yet. Things will be back to normal, once those signs are gone.

There are a number of cheap and High End Planters a homeowner can choose to use for a home improvement job. Recently I have seen how these planters can be used on a porch rail. I believe our home would be the perfect candidate to support one of these porch rail planters.

While our porch rails are not exactly like the ones in the picture above, there are some similarities. The porch banister we have at my house could easily be fitted for one of these Outdoor Planters. Finding a way to make it work would be the easy part for us. Finding a beautiful mix of flowers to put in them and keeping them alive, would be my family’s biggest challenge. We all like to play gardener at my house, we just don’t actually posses any professional green thumbing skills in my household.

Do you like to play in the garden? Perhaps you have a few home improvement jobs around the house this fall and would like to add a planter on your porch somewhere? These carefully crafted planters can also be installed under the windows at your house. In fact, it is more common to find a Decorative Planter underneath a window; than to have one on your porch.

Any type of Garden Planter can easily be installed for a homeowner. There is really a variety of ways this can be done. I just never thought to put one of these wooden planters on top of our porch railings; which is also made out of a wood product. I already have a visual of what this might look like. I believe it would make the front of our home, much more attractive from the outside. I would like to plant flowers instead of a vegetable plant. For the color pattern, I would like to find a bigger flower, which had a dark red color to it. Along with my big red flowers, I would have a lot of tiny yellow flowers, for my combination box planter on our porch rails. What color of flowers do you think looks best in a flower pot or a window box planter?