Tag Archives: lights

Mar14

Reduce Your Bills With A More Energy Efficient Home

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Reduce Your Bills With A More Energy Efficient Home

Household expenses are continuing to rise, all thanks to inflation. Many individuals and families are being forced to look for savings to stop their expenses from getting out of control – which is often easier said than done. Making your home more energy efficient is a great way to help you reduce your bills, and can help you develop less wasteful habits too. Making a few small changes could add up to big savings, and teach you some things about your energy use. Take a look at some of the best and most effective ways to reduce your energy bills:

Turn off your lights and appliances when they’re not in use:

It’s easy to leave your lights on in another room or keep your TV on standby throughout the night, but these things and various other habits can add unnecessary costs to your energy bill. Being better at turning things off or pulling the plug can make a big difference in your energy use. While it’s easy to forget to do these things, you’ll soon see a noticeable difference in your energy use if you make it a habit.

Make your home a smart home:

Another way to manage things like your lighting and heating is to make your home smarter. Smart home devices can make it easier to control your home so you can control what you spend on energy. From dimming the lights with the sound of your voice to shutting off the heating when nobody is home, a smarter home can help you take a much more economical approach to your energy spending. Adding smart technology is also one of the ways you can increase the value of your home, making it more modern and appealing for potential buyers in the future.

Upgrade your windows:

Better insulation can make your home more energy efficient. This is because newer windows are better at keeping the heat in your home, meaning you could reduce how much heating you use throughout the colder months. Explore local energy-efficient window installation companies to help you find someone to replace your windows. New windows can make a huge difference to your home, helping to make it warmer and more modern if you choose contemporary frames.

Consider changes to your heating system:

Older heating systems can use a lot more energy than newer systems, which are designed with energy efficiency in mind. Choosing a different type of home heating system can reduce your bills, and make your home warmer or cooler where needed. It’s also important to maintain your heating system regularly to ensure it’s not using excessive energy to compensate for poor performance caused by a fault.

Making your home more energy efficient can future-proof your home while reducing your bills in the process. Look at your current usage rates and set targets to bring them down. You’ll be amazed at the difference and can feel proud of your efforts to reduce your energy bills!

Featured Image By: Unsplash

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Jan9

Hagrid’s Hut Harry Potter LEGO Set

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Hagrid’s Hut Harry Potter LEGO Set

Hi! Johnny and I love to build with LEGO and we were so generously gifted with the Hagrid’s Hut set from Harry Potter for Christmas. Although it was a much smaller set than what we’re used to, it took us a good three and a half hours plus to finish it and it was such fun to be doing something other than watching TV! Just because it was a small set doesn’t mean that it was any less challenging to assemble and there were lots of exciting surprises incorporated throughout the build. I think it turned out awesome! Take a look at the finished product and let’s discuss:

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Johnny and I have wanted to begin expanding our Hogwarts grounds for a while now and Hagrid’s Hut is the perfect set to start with. It has been sitting on our coffee table since its completion and I can’t help but smile every time I look at it because it is so freaking cool! It really is a to the T replica of Chez Hagrid’s in LEGO form and I almost forgot the sense of achievement and the downright fun that comes with building with LEGOs because it has been so long since we got a new set.

I am particularly fond of the pumpkin patch with Buckbeak and his passenger, the Minister of Magic. He is definitely not supposed to be on top of the hippogriff but, hey, whatever works! I am also completely charmed by all of Hagrid’s tools and utensils hanging from the rafters in his sitting room. The piece de resistance of this set, however, has to be the light up brick used to mimic the fire heating up Hagrid’s dragon egg. All you need to do is press on the rooftop above from the fire place and it lights up. It is such an awesome, simple idea and it still delights me every time I light the fire!

I would highly recommend the LEGO Hagrid’s Hut set if you have a Harry Potter LEGO collection, too. It is also a really nice beginner’s set if you have never built with LEGO before. Johnny and I are very eager to keep expanding Hogwarts and this just lit that fire even more… See what I did there?!

Who else enjoys building with LEGO? Did anyone watch the competition show LEGO Masters? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Apr7

Making Your Home Comfortable Doesn’t Need To Break The Bank!

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When people think about a really comfortable home, they often assume that it’s the kind of thing that can only be achieved through spending large amounts of money. That to get the most comfortable, relaxing, luxurious atmosphere possible, you need to fork out the kind of cash that most of us would usually prefer to spend on things like food and paying off bills.

Of course, that’s completely ridiculous! In fact, the idea that you have to pay out the nose to do anything to your home is something that a lot of people really need to get past. Aside from big projects like extensions or knocking down walls, there are creative, thrifty, DIY solutions for pretty much anything in your home. So here are a few simple, easy, and cheap ways to make your home as comfortable as possible without breaking the bank:

Get Creative With Light: It’s strange that people tend to forget about the importance of lighting since the way that you light your home can make a lot of difference to the way that it feels overall. A poorly lit home can feel far smaller and more cramped than it really is whereas using too much cold light has a tendency to make things feel a little clinical and impersonal. Natural light is always your best bet for creating a warm, comfortable atmosphere but when the sun goes down why not think about things like trailing fairy lights along the walls or mixing and matching different lamps throughout a room? There’s no real limit to how creative you can get with light so just experiment and see what works for you.

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Love fairy lights!

Beat The Heat With A Portable A/C: There’s nothing worse that being unable to stay cool on a really hot day. A lot of the time the solution is to simply get outside in the fresh air and find some shade, but sometimes you’re either stuck in the house, or it’s simply too hot to expose yourself to the sunshine. When that happens, it’s important to try and keep the temperature in your home as low as possible. Things like fans are good but they often just move the air around. A portable A/C is a great, affordable way of making a room instantly more comfortable. There are plenty of portable A/C units for pretty much any budget that you can find at CoolAndPortable.com. This isn’t something that you’ll want to use all of the time, but you’ll be grateful for it when you’re stuck at home, sweating like a pig!

There’s No Such Thing As Too Many Cushions: Seriously. This one pretty much explains itself! People might try to tell you that there is such a thing as too many cushions, but they’re wrong, and they don’t know what they’re talking about. Cushions can turn even the plainest room into somewhere pleasant and cozy. They can make sofas and beds more luxurious and they can make even the hardest chairs more comfortable. Seriously, just get cushions, as many as you can. You’ll never have enough. Ever.

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SO. Comfy!!

Use Your Other Senses, Too: When people talk about improving your home they almost always just talk about them in terms of one sense: sight. But, it’s important to remember that you experience your home with more than just that one sense. Your sense of smell is a major factor in how it feels to enter any room. Why not get some nice smells floating around the house? Of course, the best way to do that is with some plants and flowers, but there are plenty of scented plugins that can make your home smell fresh and inviting. Switch it up every so often, too, because it’s incredibly easy to end up getting so used to a particular smell that you simply fail to notice it anymore. By changing it up every now and then, you’ll be able to step into your home and be greeted by a pleasant fresh scent every time.

There are dozens, maybe even hundreds, of different ways to make your home feel more comfortable, inviting, and luxurious but hopefully this list has shown that it’s possible to create the kind of home that you’ll never want to leave without having to empty your savings account. Of course, if you want to do something a little more drastic then you’re probably going to have to pay for it, but it’s important to know that there are other options available to you for a quick but effective spruce up of your home!