Home Strategies

Here are a few ideas on how to save time and money while you make your home a relaxing and entertaining haven.

Ever thought of taking Environmental Studies? For more information on this course of study or to learn more about environmental education take a look at the EPA's website.

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Sound: Spring Morning music with birds, dogs, and rouster.
Sound: Ding Dong door chime

Household Tips

Some “best practices” for the home:

• The best home and garden articles in one place
• Tips from Furniture Knowledge.com
• Don Aslett's CleanReport.com claims “the biggest cleaning library anywhere.”
• Database of flowers from Budget Stretcher
• To keep your kitchen/bathroom faucets sparkling like new, try rubbing alcohol.
• Gila films "Platinum" reflects up to 70% of summer heat and retains 55% of winter heat. sells 2'x15' for $17 ($1.88/sq. ft.) at Wal-mart and 4x15' for $47 ($1.28/sq. ft.) in Home Depot & Lowe's.
• Tintshield films also makes the glass bulletproof for $2/sq. ft. from ACE in Chandler, AZ

Prices your neighbors paid for their home

“Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.” —Proverbs 17:1

“Where your treasure is, there is your heart also.” —Matthew 6:21

“Through wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established. By knowledge the rooms are filled With all precious and pleasant riches.” —Proverbs 24:3-4

Rooms

How would one who doesn't have much money make a comfortable home?

(Adapted from the Serendity "Ice-Breakers and Heart Warmers")

The "Keeping Room" is where Early Americans families gathered. It usually has a fireplace.

The "Drawing Room" is where, in Victorian times, visitors are formally received and entertained.

Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him. Though while he lived he counted himself blessed—and men praise you when you prosper— he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light [of life]. A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish. —Psalms 49:16-20

Bedrooms

It's a santuary of serenity, with huge uncluttered walk-in closets connected (through an air-tight door) to the bathroom. There's a big bed with warm 300+ count/flannel sheets, nightstands full of books. The lights are remote controlled with convenient switches.

"Just when I get my room the way I like it, Mom makes me clean it up."

Design closets to have dimensions of multiples of 30 inches (60, 90, etc.) so that you can have a choice of the variety of organizing items at Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

I like white epoxy ventilated shelves because (unlike wood shelves from Mills Pride) they cost less, they don't emit gasses, they don't provide mildrew and bugs a place to hide, and I can see through them.

I prefer Emerson Closetmaid ShelfTrack over individual shelves supported by drywall screws (from Shulte) because it holds more weight, has no poles on the floor to maneuver vacuum cleaners around, and allows for easier installation and more flexibility of changes, such as making space to park a portable garment rack for use during ironing.

For maximum flexibility I prefer to mount a solid Hang Track to studs over the top shelf of the closet. On them I hang 40 inch high $5 support standards (no more than the standard width between wall studs of 16 or 24 inches apart). This allows me to use $4 solid brackets rather than unsightly support braces that get in my way. The $2 brackets hold $27 shelves 16 inches deep or 20 inches deep. $50 Hanging rod connectors hold rounf hanging rods. Contractor packs of all these items come 6 each.

This MSN page has nice cartoons.

KayLee's List Organizer.com steps to create an organized closet

Kitchen

The gourmet's delight! Restaurant-quality stove and refrigerator, pots and pans, knives, spices. Plenty of space on Corian or bacteria-free granite counters. Huge swing-out lighted pantry shelves hold a Y2K-size supply of foods and cooking parapanalia. The shelves are made of clear see-through plastic. The dishwasher doesn't break my back. All this with a view out the window or a TV screen with Emril on the Cooking Channel.

To reduce appetite, color with blue, black, and white.
To increase appetite, color with browns and reds.

Dining Room

Here we share delicious meals with a large family. A sparkling chandalier shines over mounds of food on colorful plates, shiny crystal glasses, and gleaming silverware neatly laid out on a table surrounded by comfortable highback chairs with arms.

But the life of the dinner comes from conversations about what one has learned about life and facinations about culture beyond.

Bathrooms

It's a personal spa, complete with glass bricks, ceramic tile, jacuzzi, dry sauna, and message table! There's plenty of large, soft, comfy 159° towels on warmers. Available are a large assortment of aromatic soaps, sumptuous lotions, and shampoos.

Living Room

Woman: "Our furniture goes back to Louis the Fourteenth." Neighbor: "Ours goes back to Sears on the fifteenth."

Workshop

A room full of all the tools you'll need neatly arranged. You could make anything here!

Playroom

Brightly colored.

Yard

A big green yard for garden parties where kids could run around. Cicely Mary Barker garden fairies.

An acre is 43,560 square feet. That's a square plot of 660 x 660 feet.

Feng Shui

Feng Shui (pronounced fung shway) — Chinese words for "Wind Water" — is the complex of supersitions for living in harmony with the environment. Wind moves Chi (also spelled Qi) — the Chinese word for life force or vital energy. Water both moves and retains Chi.

There are two basic schools of Feng Shui. The traditional or "scientific" type as taught by the American Feng Shui Institute in Monterey, California, is not based on spirtuality. The "Black Hat" version, founded by Thomas Lin Yun in 1986, is associated with the Tibentian Sect Tantric Buddhism.



Talismans

The table below has been traditionally been used to select the most appropriate talisman to enhance each area. Christians who put up crosses do not have the same intent. Crosses are reminders of faith in God who create the world and is in constant control of everything. Crosses testify of trust.

Oh Thou, who dwellest in so many homes,
possess Thyself of this.
Bless the life that is sheltered here.
Grant that trust and peace and comfort abide within,
and that love and life and usefulness
may go out from this home forever.
— Recorded by Claudia ("Lady Bird") Johnson, First Lady

Wealth (money)	Fame (reputation) FIRE	Marriage (Love life)
Family WOOD	Health EARTH	Children METAL
Knowledge (skills)	Career WATER	Benefectors (help)

^ Entrance ^

Their arrangement is modeled after the energy at each point on the Ba-gua "stop sign" containing tai xuan jing tetragrams overlay to a home (Derek Walters). Note that this map is upside down: North is at the bottom because ideally, since Fung Shui favors the main entrance to a home facing North, which would put West on the right side.

Do not rely on mediums and psychics, for you will be defiled by them. I, the LORD, am your God. —Leviticus 19:31

The LORD has rejected the people of Israel because they have made alliances with foreigners from the East who practice magic and divination, just like the Philistines. —Isaiah 2:6

If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord, to do good or bad of my own will. What the Lord says, that I must speak? —Numbers 24:13

Home Work

Mom and Dad were watching TV when Mom said, "I'm tired, and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed."

She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches, rinsed out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table and started the coffee pot for brewing the next morning.

She then put some wet clothes into the dryer, put a load of clothes into the wash, ironed a shirt and secured a loose button. She picked up the newspapers strewn on the floor, picked up the game pieces left on the table and put the telephone book back into the drawer. She watered the plants, emptied a wastebasket and hung up a towel to dry.

She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom. She stopped by the desk and wrote a note to the teacher, counted out some cash for the field trip, and pulled a textbook out from hiding under the chair. She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope and wrote a quick note for the grocery store. She put both near her purse.

Mom then creamed her face, put on moisturizer, brushed and flossed her teeth and trimmed her nails.

Hubby called, "I thought you were going to bed?"

"I'm on my way," she said.

She put some water into the dog's dish and put the cat outside, then made sure the doors were locked. She looked in on each of the kids and turned out a bedside lamp, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks in the hamper, and had a brief conversation with the one up still doing homework. In her own room, she set the alarm, laid out clothing for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack. She added three things to her list of things to do for tomorrow.

About that time, the hubby turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular "I'm going to bed," and he did.

“Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.”
—Actual statement by former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle on Republican family values.

My notes on Parenting

"Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them." —Bill Vaughan

Temples

Comparison of the Temple (1 Kings 6:1-38) with Solomon's Palace (1 Kings 7:1-12) - in feet, calculated at 18 inches or 45 centimeters per cubit.

-	Temple	Solomon's Palace of the Forest of Lebanon
Height	45	45
Length	90	150
Width	30	75
Sq. Feet	2,700	11,250
Years to build	7	14

Bless This House

Bless this house, O Lord we pray,
Make it safe by night and day;

Bless thee walls, so firm and stout,
Keeping want and trouble out;

Bless the roof and chimneys tall,
Let Thy peace lie over all;

Bless this door, that it may prove
Ever open to joy and love.

Bless these windows shining bright,
Letting in God's heav'nly light;

Bless the hearth a-blazing there,
With smoke ascending like a prayer;

Bless the folk who dwell within,
Keep them pure and free from sin;

Bless us all that we may be
Fit, O Lord, to dwell with Thee,

Bless us all that one day we
May dwell, O Lorder, with Thee.
As heard on the Prudential Jack Birth Show.

Styles

Periods of history

Description	Style Names	Offerings
Casual, Simple, Clean-lined, Comfortable, Utilitarian	Colonial (1880-1910) Arts and Crafts movement occured Frank Lloyd Wright and Gustav Stickley in California the Western United States and William Morris in England. "Mission" and "Craftsman" style of the Southwest . (1820-1860) Shaker (1720-1830) Pennsylvania Dutch, Amish The Dutch DeStijl movement (1917-1931) sought to create art which took abstraction to its logical extreme of pure (angular) form, as exhibited in the paintings of Piet Mondrian Mediterranean Scandinavian Contemporary	Amish Furniture Mart Natuzzi Italian sofas Pennsylvania House from Russells Redway Quatrine washable slip-covered furniture originates from Manhattan Beach! Restoration Hardware features mission style stuff. Mortise and Tenon
Ornate	Oriental Queen Anne	Henredon

Furniture Showrooms

• Bassett
• Broyhill
• Drexel Heritage
• Ethan Allen
• Eddie Bauer
• HomeDesign
• IKEA
• Lane
• Lexington
• LaZBoy
• Levitz
• Sherrill
• Thomasville is the largest.

Catalogs

• Lamps Plus
• Home Decorators and Home Decorators Outlet in Missouri have a hugh selection of area rugs and everything else for the home.
• Domestications
• Hold Everything
• Pottery Barn
• Front Gate in Ohio offers high-end gadgets and tools.

Architectural Digest magazine

DMOZ: Furniture

BizRate Home & Garden

Ebay Trading: Los Angeles furniture

Green Designs

JCPenny Furniture

Pop's Unfinished Furniture

doityourself.com

Appliances

• Washer/Dryer
• Microwave oven with turntable which uses an inverter rather than an transformer
• convection Oven
• Range
• Refrigerator/freezer
• Water filtration systems
• Dishwashers you don't bow to.
• Spa

  "Big 6" Manufacturers

• Amana
• Frigidaire (Kelvinator, Tappan, White-Westinghouse)
• Goldstar LG Electronics
• GE
• Kenmore (Sears)
• Maytag Neptune washers
• Whirlpool

  The Rest of the Manufacturers

• Asko
• Appliances International combination ventless.
• Bosch Model 6800 is the "World's Quietest Dishwasher" at 46 dB vs. the industry average of 66 dB.
• Crosley
• Dacor ?
• Gaggenau
• GE Appliances
• Hotpoint
• KitchenAid
• Magic Chef
• Panasonic
• Roper
• Samsung
• Sanyo
• Sharp
• Staber washing machines (owner serviced with phone help from 800-848-6200 at Columbus, Ohio) costs $1000 but uses 15 gallons of water per load vs. 45 gallons, so it needs less detergent and electricity (using 2 to 5 gallons of hot water vs. 13 to 20 gallons).
• Sunbeam HLT-Smart Mr. Coffee maker Coleman electric blanket First Alert smoke detector blood pressure monitor Oster bathroom scale stand mixer communicate with one another and a user PDA.
• Thor $975.00 washer/ventless dryer in one machine!
• Sub-Zero
• Thermador Speed Cooking oven
• Viking
• White Westinghouse

DMOZ: Appliances

Glossary of terms

Ebay Trading: Los Angeles Appliances

MySimon: Appliances

Appliances.com and Excite

HomeStore.com provides comparisons.

Ratings

About.com Frugal Living guide

EPA: What You Should Know About Combustion Appliances and Indoor ...

Energy Savers: Major Appliances Shopping Guide

California Database of Energy Efficient Appliances

EnergyStar labels

Handymanwire

ServiceMaster Appliances Tips

Appliances for the Physically Challenged

Forum on appliances

Ageless Design is a resource that helps make homes safer for seniors with age-related health problems.

Home Depot

Lowe's

The Internet Home Alliance is a non-profit organization to apply technology research to real-world pilots in homes.