Tag Archives: homeowner

5 Apps To Help Organize and Pay Your Bills

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5 Apps To Help Organize and Pay Your Bills – There is an app for everything these days! What if you could use apps to help you manage your bills, budget and pay bills on the go? Of course, there is an app for that! Check out this list of 5 apps to help you manage your bills…

Check the best app if you are often notoriously late paying your bills. It sends customizable reminders and alerts as those important deadlines near. 

Spendee is a cool app that reads your financial data, analyses it, and spits back financial advice to help you organize your funds. You can even download your data into reports to print out for your personal files. 

Mint is a secure and safe place to store all your credit card information, bills, checking and savings accounts. This app will track your spending as well help you set monthly budgets.

If your troubles have to do with traveling for work while keeping up with bills, Expensify is an ideal app to download. This app not only updates and monitors your flight and travel information, it can help track business expenses and bill pay. 

Dollarbird is a great app for long term planners- you can plan out up to five years of financial goals. This app also lets you track expenses and reminds you to pay your bills on time. 

What's your favorite app? Have you ever tried a bill pay app like the ones listed above?

Tree Planting Tips For Ohio Homeowners

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Wanting to amp up your landscaping? Planting trees in your yard will yield a multitude of benefits, including shading your house, decreasing energy costs, curb appeal, improvement of the quality of air you breathe, and more! The best part is, trees are low-maintenance once planted and can help improve your home’s property value. Check out the tree planting tips below help you get started.    

 

Where to Plant Trees: Where you plant trees on your property can affect a variety of things. Houselogic.com suggests the following tips to guide you.  

  • Plant deciduous trees on the west side of your house for shade in the summer and to let the heat in the winter. Deciduous trees are trees that shed their broad leaves seasonally, such as the fall months.

  • Use evergreen trees on the north side of your home. These thick-branched trees keep their needles all year long, blocking icy winds from the north in the winter.

  • If you are planting trees decoratively, make sure to avoid planting below power lines. As trees grow taller, branches can become entangled in the lines. Furthermore, broken branches can fall into the lines causing power outages and potentially harmful electrical conditions.

  • Plant trees a safe distance away from your home’s foundation. When trees mature, roots can grow into the foundation, causing expensive and unsafe problems.

 

What to Plant: Better Home and Gardens recommends the variety of trees below to suit your tree-planting needs.

  • Decorative Trees- If it’s beauty you are looking for, the following trees may be idea for your landscape and curb appeal: Japanese Maple, Crabapple, Redbud, or Weeping Cheery

  • Shade Trees- Seeking trees to nap under or shade your home? Check these options out: Honey Locust, Willow Oak, Northern Red Oak, Freeman Maple, or Slippery Elm

  • Conifers- Love conifers? Want to block those cold winds? The following options might work for you: Arborvitae, Pine, or Spruce

 

How to Plant: Depending on the tree you purchase, the ways in which you need to plant your tree will vary. The Arbor Day Foundation provides specific instructions for the following types of trees.

  • Bare Root trees come as they sound- with their bare roots exposed and ready for the ground. These trees dig into the ground quicker once planted effectively.

  • Containerized trees are small trees that are rooted into a container. Planters loosen the dirt from the container and plant the soil and tree directly into the ground.

  • Balled and Burlaped trees are trees with roots wrapped in wire and burlap. Once in the ground, the burlap is cute loose for roots to freely breathe and plant.

 

Planting the right trees for your home is worth the while. Visit your local nursery today and begin soaking up the benefits of beautiful trees as soon as you can.

5 Hidden Dangers In Your Home

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Every homeowner wants to sleep well at night, knowing their home is safe and sound for the health of their family. Yet did you know there are hidden hazards lurking in your home that you may be unaware of? Check your house against the list of hazards below, and your home and health with thank you.

 

9-volt batteries: 9-volt batteries, though useful and necessary for many electronic devices in the home, can ignite when coming in contact with anything metal. You may want to make sure your 9-volts are stored separately, or come with small plastic caps that you can use to keep them safe.

 

Hidden gas lines: Older homes, particularly ones that were built between 1860-1920, were all once fitted with natural gas lines to supply lighting in the home. As modern electricity improved these lines should have been capped off or converted, but many lines are still active today. Have a home inspector double check these lines to ensure they are dealt with properly.

 

Carbon Monoxide Levels: This is an odorless and tasteless gas that can be extremely dangerous when levels are high in the home. To prevent levels of carbon monoxide from rising in your home, have your heating appliances maintained regularly and install detectors on every floor in the houses.

 

Ionized smoke detectors: According to realtor.com, over 90% of smoke detectors found in the U.S. are ionized detectors. Unfortunately these detectors are less reliable when it comes to detecting slow burning fires, and lack of reacting can lead to major house damage or worse. Consumers should look for photoelectric detectors when purchasing detectors for their home.

 

Lightwood truss construction: This type of construction uses metal gussets to join trusses instead of screws or bolts, but unfortunately is susceptible to heat and fire. When the home heats up, the gussets pop off, collapsing structures.  Installing a proper sprinkler system above these structures can aid in fire prevention.

 

Worried about potential hazards in your home? Luckily, there are ways to cope and deal with these problems. You can check out the Green and Healthy Homes Initiatives website for tips and resources to combat these hidden hazards and put your mind at ease.

 

DIY: Homemade Cleaning Products

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DIY: Homemade Cleaning Products – Have you ever ran out of cleaning products in the middle of cleaning your home and don’t have time to run out to the store to get more? Or do you just want to be more conscious of the chemicals you’re using to clean your home? Lucky for you, there are a number of cleaning products that you can make right in the comfort of your own home. Not only will you be able to control the portions of your cleaning products, but you will also have visibility into exactly what you’re using. Here are five homemade cleaning products you can make and use today.

 

All-Purpose Cleaner

An all purpose cleaner is a must-have to take care of the messes around your home. To make, combine 3 drops liquid castile soap, ¼ cup washing soda, 1 cup white vinegar, ¼ cup vodka, 4 drops tea tree oil, and 8 drops essential oil for scent (optional).Heat the vinegar in a microwave until boiling; add the washing soda and stir until totally dissolved. Lastly, add castile soap, tea tree oil, vodka and essential oil, and shake until combined. Keep it in a spray bottle and shake it before you use it every time.

 

Glass and Mirror Cleaner

No Windex? No problem. Create an easy glass cleaner with 1 teaspoon of dish soap, ½ cup of white vinegar and 3 cups of distilled water. Combine in a spray bottle and use on the mirrors and windows around your home.

 

Heavy-Duty Scrub

Every cleaning closet needs a heavy-duty scrub for things like rust stains, sinks and tubs. To make and use, dip half of a lemon into half a cup of borax and scrub directly onto any surface.

 

Oven Cleaner

Everyone needs a good oven cleaner, but a lot of the products on the market are crawling with unnecessary chemicals. For an at-home option, combine ½ cup of baking soda and a few tablespoons of water. Spread the mixture all over the oven and allow it to sit overnight. In the morning, wipe away the mixture. Add white vinegar to a spray bottle and spray over any remaining baking soda residue. Wipe it down with a dampened cloth until interior is shiny.

 

Furniture Polish

Keep your furniture looking fresh and clean with a combination of ¼ cup of white vinegar (you can also use ½ cup lemon juice) and ¾ cup of olive oil. Spray the mixture onto any surface and wipe with a clean rag.

 

Ice Dams: What They Are and How to Avoid Them

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Ice Dams: What They Are and How to Avoid Them – Colder temperatures means less lawn care, but the cold and snowy weather can lead to several serious problems for your home. These issues can be troublesome and costly while adding stress to your life. One such problem is ice damming, which if left untreated can damage your roof, gutters, paint, drywall and structure extensively and even lead to mold. In this post, we’ll discuss what ice dams are, how they form and offer several tips to help you avoid them.

What are ice dams?

Ice dams occur when melting snow runs off your roof and refreezes at the edge, causing water to become trapped on your roof and creating a larger ice dam. They form most often after a large snowfall because the snow acts as an insulator. The heat from your home makes your roof warmer than the freezing point and the snow begins to melt, then refreezes in the cold winter air.

How can I prevent ice dams?

The best way to prevent ice dams during the winter is to reduce or get rid of any sources of heat in the attic of your home and ventilate the attic space of the roof. The goal is to make the roof of your house the same temperature as the eaves, so water won’t freeze at the end of your roof. There are several things you can do to properly ventilate the area under your roof and prevent heat from escaping:

  • Cap the attic hatch or whole-house fan with weatherstripped caps made from foil-faced foam board held together with aluminum tape.
  • Make sure all exhaust goes to the outside, preventing heat from warming the roof.
  • Add more insulation on the attic floor.
  • Seal and insulate your ducts.

If you’d like to learn more about how to prevent ice dams, this article from This Old House offers good advice.

Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be able to prevent ice damming, keeping your home in top shape this winter.

Do you have tips for winterizing your home? Leave them in a comment below and we could feature them in a future blog post.

6 Ways to Prepare Your Home For The Cold Weather

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6 Ways to Prepare Your Home For The Cold Weather – We just experienced our round of snow for the year and many homeowners are preparing for the cold weather. Preparing your home for the change in season can be very helpful to you in the long run, and even keep your home looking and feeling like new. Here are six ways to prepare your home for the cold weather this year.

Use Plastic on Your Windows

Covering your windows with plastic might sound crazy to some, but it will help to cut down on your energy bill this season. Some homes are draftier than others, but keeping the warm air in and the cold air out will always be helpful.

Clean The Gutters

Whether you’re home is near trees or not, be sure to clean out your gutters before the weather becomes too cold to do so. Natural things accumulate in your gutters throughout the year, so cleaning them before snow starts falling can help to prevent ice dams and other potential damage.

Boost Lighting

Winter tends to be a dark and dreary time, so boost the lighting in your home for days like that. It will keep you more energized and ready for each day.

Reverse Your Ceiling Fan

Reversing your ceiling fan will help it do the opposite of what it does in the summer times, it will help to keep the warm air circulating throughout the room. This works particularly well in rooms with very high ceilings, but has the same effect all over.

Inventory Your Supplies

Nothing is worse than not having a snow shovel or a brush for your car when you’re trying to get out of the driveway. Make sure you have the things you need before the weather becomes bad and it’s too late.

Prepare For A Storm

The weather is a unpredictable thing, so make sure you are prepared for any scenario. If there is a winter storm and the power goes out, how will you keep warm or prepare food? Being prepared for a situation like that will keep you more calm in the long run.

To learn more about how to prepare your home for the cold weather, visit here.