Parrot on a Porch » Home Management

Finding Broadband Deals and Other Money Saving Tips – mepacircuit.org

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:22:28 +0000

Owning a home and raising a family, while very rewarding, can be quite expensive. If you are a typical home owner, you search for all possible discounts to help cut back on household costs. Here are a few top ways you can begin spending less and saving more.

Find Internet Deals
Most people now pay for Internet access in their homes. While this access is very convenient, the cost through some providers can be quite expensive. Therefore, to cut back on Internet access costs, be sure to shop around for broadband deals before selecting a provider. These ways, you are sure to find a good deal and will have more money left over after each month’s bill is paid.

Reduce Energy Consumption
Many home owners don’t realize how much energy their family consumes each month. This energy consumption results in high utility bills and less extra money for you to enjoy. You can easily start cutting back on utility costs by establishing energy consumption household rules. These rules could be anything from shutting off lights when leaving a room to taking shorter showers – whatever you think will help reduce the utility bill.

Use Coupons
As your family grows, you will have to buy more household products each month just to meet everyone’s needs. The cost of these items such as toilet paper and light bulbs, can add up quickly so use coupons whenever possible. Coupons are now easily accessible online so you shouldn’t have difficulties finding them to save on commonly used products. Even just $1 saved per product can begin adding up quickly.

Hopefully these tips will be useful in helping you save more each month on your household costs. The saved money can then be used to pay off other bills or to take that family vacation you have been putting off.

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Our Shoe Closet

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:02:41 +0000

This is one of my favorite organizer finds when we’re doing our home stuff shopping the other month. We had plans of buying an ordinary shoe rack then but when my eyes stumbled upon this shoe closet at Handyman, I instantly fell in love with it. This costs about Php 900 and I believe considering the nice and sturdy quality, functionality and design, the price was just fair. It has five layers plus six pairs of pockets on the sides. I like that it has a zipper closure so that the shoes will not have to be exposed and an eyesore.

The uppermost layer plus the side pockets are intended for the little one’s shoes (which are a lot by the way). While the husband and I share from the second to the bottom layers.

Pardon if the little one is present in most pictures that I take. He now likes the camera and he always requests to have his picture taken. Further, he loves following me wherever I go. Whatever I do like let’s say I’m reading apidexin reviews, expect that he’s just beside me attempting endlessly to catch my attention.

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Window Film.

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:36:26 +0000

I’m about to sleep already but I decided to work on a few more online tasks since a number of them are due by tomorrow. Besides, my back can’t seem to bear the uncomfortable temperature of the bed tonight. I know it’s the humidity and all but it really feels like there’s a fire beneath our mattress hence, the febrile feeling. Now, I’m puzzled what to do since there are already 2 fans blowing our way yet it still feels hot. The only consolation that I have is that, at least tonight’s way less hotter than this afternoon.

I wonder what can we do to somehow alleviate the humidity we’re toiling especially at noon time. The sun’s glaring straight through our window (which is just made of capiz and wood) so just imagine how the room seemingly is steaming us. If only we have glass windows, perhaps we can adapt this technology that are normally used in buildings called window film los angeles. The window film can keep out as much as 83% of the sun’s heat thereby provides a cooler room as well as energy usage..consequently, lower electricity bill. The window tinting los angeles process makes it even more effective as it shuts the sun’s glare awat and keep it from penetrating through. Know of any other solutions?

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Quick Easy Dinner Recipes

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 02:21:43 +0000

The recipe books above are my recent additions to my ever growing collection of cookbooks. The recent fascination about collecting such has got to do with the Big Move since, as I’ve shared long before, that I’m not a good cook. We will be on our own soon (meaning no MIL or a house maid to cook for us) so there’s no other better way to prepare myself for this challenge than to collect and compile recipes from all resources I could get hold.

It is also in this light why I put up a food blog a few months ago so I’ll have an online venue for my kitchen chronicles – all those adventures and even the misadventures I’ll be faced. For now, I have linked in there a few Quick easy dinner recipes which will be my very first undertaking in my pursuit to become the Queen of the Kitchen. Most of these recipes include the common native dishes that my boys’ palates totally adore like Sinigang, Paksiw and Sinampalukan for the little boy and Nilaga for the big boss. (Take note how their taste buds differ). I have also already compiled a few pasta dishes (for me) like variants of spaghetti and a carbonara recipe which has become a holiday staple for us.

I’ve always been wishing to attend culinary schooling to improve and further my newbie cooking skills but unfortunately, I don’t have that much money to splurge for such formal cooking studies. I heard that a year’s tuition in ICA’s about Php 300,000. I can’t afford that much so I’ll just wait and rely on free cooking demos sponsored by big time brands like Nestle and Del Monte, if ever there will be. I have also signed up to their cooking clubs where they send out newsletters, freebies and free recipes via mail. So if in case cooking demos won’t be available, I’ll just explore in my own turf and stage my own cooking demo.

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It’s Math Time.

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 01:18:18 +0000

It’s the end of the month again and what do I have to deal with again in the next coming days are my excel file of expenses, bills and a calculator. It’s one of my most dreaded tasks because I get headaches after computing and budgeting the meager resources that we have. I wonder how even tougher it could get once our housing loan gets approved and I start allotting for monthly amortizations. Que horror! I can already imagine how hard it will be for me this coming May when I’ll pay our insurance online. Both of our (hubby’s and mine) insurance premiums are due on May of each year. It’s a good thing that the husband will get his 14th month bonus on the same month so we have something to expect.

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The Ideal Cabinet System.

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:55:05 +0000

Now that the Little Mansion is nearing its “finishing” stage, we’re ready to take into action the interior design plans that we’ve thought of and as recommended by a creative aunt-in-law (she took up Interior Design in college). We’ll be prioritizing the bedroom furniture as it’s included in the package and needs to be finished ahead. What’s great about this is that we’re given the freedom to “design” or layout how the customization of the cabinet will be like having in mind the dimension of the space allotted for the said furniture. I have a copy here of the design draft but I’ll be sharing it next time once I have scanned it.

But just an overview, here’s the model we’ve drawn inspiration from a bit. It’s a cabinet system from Ikea, actually. If only this is not too huge and shipping from abroad isn’t that costly, I would have ordered a similar one.

And here are just some of the details:

I only have a few pairs of shoes and so is the husband so a few plastic shoe boxes with zipper enclosures on the top level would just be perfect. Then the lower shelves could be used for our folded daily home clothes. I do not own that plenty of bags, too, so instead, that portion could be perfect for bed linens or towels. I also love how the rack hanger is designed. The slideable pants hanger is simply brilliant. Certainly, that part is reserved for the husband’s slacks, pants and our jeans. I like how it’s made to just occupy half of the compartment’s width. The other half’s intended for long clothes like dresses and coats. And of course, the storage with compartments are perfect for our accessories like sunglasses, belts and other trinkets that we have.

I tend to become disorganized and messy with things at times so I really need a cabinet system that’s as organized and tailored as this.

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SM Homeworld Warehouse Sale

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:54:46 +0000

Have to drag the husband to this event. Since we’re about to start shopping stuffs for Little Mansion, we might as well begin stocking hardware and home maintenance tools. A 50% off deal is huge and the free plastic container will come useful, too! Glad I have my SM Advantage Card.

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On Removing Stains and Peeves.

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:39:50 +0000

The husband came home so pissed after watching the Pacquiao-Clottey fight in a cinema house last Sunday. Aside from the boring fight (even though Pacquiao won), he’s annoyed by more likely of a cheese stain that smudged his shirt’s back. Tried to appease him by assuring that it’ll be removed by our ever reliable stain remover chemical. It’s actually as easy as to get rid of blackheads with a nose strip. But knowing how he’s so finicky when it comes to his clothing, I just know that he’s still peeved.

Anyway, let me share some quick tips on how to remove stains I learned from my Grandma:

1. For fruit juice stains, soak and wash in ice water.
2. For rust, create a pasty mixture of salt and lemon juice. Apply on the rust stains and leave for about few minutes.
3. For scorch marks, rub the flat side of a sliced (in half) white onion.
4. For grease, wet the stain with a little water and cover them with a bit of baking soda. Rub them off with a damp sponge or towel.

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Bills Disposal.

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:15:15 +0000

I did a little spring cleaning in our bedroom’s drawer and what I’ve unearthed is a stack of (paid) bills and insurance quotes. I’ve got tons of these enough to make a book when bound all together that I can easily flip the pages and compare the cheapest car insurance. I’m the type who compile bills for monitoring purposes that’s why I do not throw them upon settlement. Further, I’ve read somewhere that it’s not advisable to throw away credit card bills without shredding them first for security reasons. This reminds me though to start (manual) shredding the 2008 credit card bills that are still in the drawer.

How about you? Do you dispose your bills right away and how?

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Tools Are Home’s Necessities

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:58:37 +0000

When the husband learned that a friend bought a set of tools during the Black Friday sale madness at Walmart at an almost giveaway price, he immediately asked why I didn’t buy one for him. He said that I should have thought of that especially we’ll be having our own home soon and he need all those tools especially when there are repairs and restoration that need to be done. He further added, he may not be an expert repairman like those plumbers Richmond, VA, with the proper tools he’s confident that he can fix whatever patching up tasks that we will be faced someday unless of course for major overhauling tasks. I guess that’s how he shows his interest and excitement over owning our dream home that he will really be THE main man in the house.

I’m not sure if there will be such great deal again at Walmart for a set of tools but since I see the need to buy one, I think it won’t be a bad idea if I buy one in a local hardware store, with or without a sale price. I agree that these tools are necessities in any home because they actually serve like a first aid kit for the house.

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