Fort Blocks! Kiddie Proofing Your Home

Picture

We all know it's very stressful having kids. From the first time you see them; you know that there is nothing more important to you in this life, especially when they learn to walk! So this means that everywhere in your house could be a potential danger spot, and some are more dangerous than you think! Let's have a look at what you can do to make your home kiddie proof.

First Thing's First...

It's time to check the home. Start to look at what could be a potential danger, and maybe you want to get a home inspection company in just to check the foundations of everything, but what you can do is to get a different perspective on the situation. In other words, get down on your hands and knees and get a baby eye view of the house. Think about what would tempt you, are there loads of things that look very intriguing, especially to a young child?

Some Of The Hazards...

Let's go over the basics, firstly the electrics. Make sure that all sorts of wires, extensions, as well as anything that juts out, is tucked away safely. And also, think about putting wires and electrics away securely, not just putting them behind the television! If you didn't already know, children can easily get themselves into small spaces, especially when there are shiny pictures concerned! Also, think carefully about what in your home has a lot of sharp edges, do you have items of furniture or tables and bookcases that are sharp and come up to the eye-level of your little one? Also, start to think about potential climbing hazards. That mahogany bookcase may look pretty, but does it look very tempting for your little one to start climbing up, especially if it's precariously balanced, as antique furniture is not always the most even or load bearing of items.

Major Threats...

Yes, there are things that you can do to provide a sense of superficial protection, but there are some things that are incredibly dangerous to your child, and can potentially be life-threatening. One of these are found in every home: strings, curtain cords, anything like this that hangs off is a hazard for strangulation. Also, no doubt you have started thinking about baby gates, be sure that you have good quality, strong baby gates. Cheap baby gates are all well and good if your child is very young and not very strong, but those gates will certainly look like something that they will want to climb or pull open as soon as they have the strength. And also, when it comes to baby gates, you may want to be overprotective, and place one at the top of the stairs in addition to the bottom. However, this is not recommended! Keep the baby gates at the bottom of the stairs only.

When your kids are getting older, it is difficult to keep an eye on them all the time, but regardless of the safety features you have in your home, this is no replacement for proper and constant supervision of your children!

Fastest ways to liven up your home

From time to time, it becomes necessary to find a way to give your home a new lease on life. When this time comes around again, it can be hard to actually know how to do that. Many people struggle with keeping their home as fresh and exciting as possible. It’s also true that for a lot of homeowners, the issue of time is something that can quickly get in the way of such concerns. Chances are, you want to give your home a new breath of fresh air, but you want to do so as quickly as you possibly can. Fortunately, there are many ways to do just that. In this post, we are going to look at some of the quickest ways to liven up your home - no matter what kind of house you have.

Pic Credit - Color & light affect a home’s atmosphere in powerful ways

A Lick Of Paint

If there is one thing that is always going to make a difference to how your home looks and feels, it is the paintwork. If you are serious about wanting a quick fix, and you don’t know where to begin, a good start is always going to be adding a fresh layer of paint to the walls. This is so effective, and yet is one of the cheapest and swiftest changes you can make to your home at all. It is worth trying to find some decent professionals who can do it for you, even if you think you are not so bad at painting yourself. They will be able to ensure that your interior house painting goes off as successfully as possible, and it is also likely to be done much quicker that way. You might also be pleasantly surprised at how inexpensive it can be to get these teams in to paint your house. It’s worth looking into if you want a quick and dramatic change in your home today.

Change The Furniture Around

The ways in which we become bored of our homes can often be so subtle that we hardly notice them. A good example is when it becomes clear that the furniture has not moved for a very long time. Unconsciously, this has a subtle way of making the home not feel quite right, and it is definitely worth looking into changing the furniture around if you want to give your home a new lease on life as soon as possible. Even if you just rearrange the furniture in one or two rooms, you will probably find that it makes a considerable difference in hardly any time at all. If you like, you can even hire professional interior designers who can help you to arrange your furniture successfully - or even seek the advice of a Feng Shui master for the same kind of effect.

Pic Credit - The way a home is lit says a lot about its atmosphere

Invest In New Lighting

Again, something that has more of an effect than we often give it credit for is the lighting. The way that your home is lit makes a considerable difference to how the home feels as a whole, and it is something that you can change very easily, cheaply and quickly too. Lighting affects mood, the sensation of space, and much more besides, so there is a lot riding on it. The best thing here is to just spend some time playing around with it. If you approach it in an experimental manner, you should discover that you can easily change the way your home feels in no time at all. Think about what the mood will be doing as you play around with the lighting. This is what is mostly affected, and it is worth paying attention to if you want your home to be as comfortable and as homely as possible.

Pay Attention To The Atmosphere

Not all changes are physical. In many respects, you can easily improve how your home feels by simply working on the atmosphere. This is more difficult to work with, mostly because many people do not put much time or effort into making this so. But if you really want your home to feel like a new home, then it might be necessary to work together as a family unit in making the atmosphere one that you can all enjoy. This is mostly just a matter of behaving in the way that you would expect others to - and before you know it, your home will feel considerably more home-like for everyone.

Pic Credit - Forging a positive atmosphere takes a lot of patience - but it’s worth it

With the above take on board, you should be able to give your home the new start that you want for it in no time at all.

Go gracefully into old age

There’s no way of escaping it. As you go through your 20’s, you’ll realise hangovers aren’t as easy as they used to be. Your 30’s? You’ll have a spurt of energy and a lust for life, make the most of it! During your 40’s and 50’s you’ll be heading towards retirements and longing for no more work. You’ll start to realised that a night in front of the TV watching your favourite soap show is a lot better than meeting up with friends. If you do meet up with friends, it always seems like a lot more effort than it should do. You’ll notice the aches and pains are creeping in, and you can’t quite keep up with the kids like you used to. It’s easy for people to turn 30 and think, OMG I’m old! But you aren’t, when you hit your 50’s and 60’s is when you truly realise that you’re past your younger days, and it’s time to grow old gracefully with memories to look back on. Some people are very in denial of growing old, but if you do it with class and style it can be made one of the best times of your life. Take a look at these tips to try and give you a nudge in the right direction.

Pixabay

To grow old gracefully, you first need to enjoy your retirement to the fullest. Most of you reading this won’t be close to that age yet, only longing for it to come. You’ll have built up a pension that’s been hard earned, and you’ll most likely have a lump sum payout when you do leave, especially if you’re in the public sector. Use this time to go and live your life whilst you’re still able to. Travel enriches your mind and life. Go to that country you’ve always wished to. See that theater show you’ve never had time to. Just go and do all the things you’ve always wanted to do. By the age of retirement, you children should either be at college, or at least able to survive on their own for a while if you take a few trips. You need to enjoy this pure freedom. It might be worth creating a bucket list of all the things you’d have liked to have done before retirement age. Whether it be travel, buy a dream home, run a marathon. It’s all things that before you know it, you won’t be able to do. You need to use this freedom to find a love for life that you might not have truly understood whilst stuck at work.

One of the most important things you need to do is spend quality time with your family. It’s no secret that as you grow older, you’ll become more susceptible to health issues that will limit how you spend your time with them. You’ll look back one day and wish you’d done so much more with them, just like your parents will have with you. Yet it’s so easy to still get caught up in the whirlwind of life, and time passes you by before you know it. Include the whole family in your bucket list if time will allow. Before you know it, your kids will be old enough and independent enough that they won’t have as much time for family activities. Do what you can, whilst you can. Your friends are some of the best people in your life, they’ll most likely be growing old gracefully alongside you. Make the most of your time with them as well. If there’s one thing about the older generation, they always know how to have a laugh together. Make as many memories with them as you can, as well as family.

Looking after your health whilst doing all of this should be your number one priority. As you grow older, you’ll notice that your body will one by one become a little weaker and more brittle. You’ll be more susceptible to colds and flus and will most likely have many other aches and pains that get in the way. The earlier you start to take care of your body, the easier old age will be. Focus on maintaining a healthy lifestyle and a good amount of exercise. Try practicing yoga or Thai chi to keep your muscles more stretched and flexible. Light exercise will serve you a lot better than than heavy weight lifting etc. Your body just won’t cope under the stress and you’ll do it more harm than good. Focus on a diet full of all the essential vitamins and minerals and a decent amount of fiber. You’ll notice the difference in your energy levels from the start. As you get older, your body will struggle to digest and process foods with high levels of saturated fats and salt. An organic diet filled with extra vitamin tablets will be perfect.

Now, as you move on through the years, and have hopefully completed all of the steps above, you’ll most likely be getting to the age where you just can’t seem to do things as well as you used to. Even simple tasks such as making the dinner, or hoovering the house become a little though, especially if you live on your own. There will come a time where you might have to accept some help. The one thing you’ll realise as you get is you fiercely try to protect your independence for as long as possible. Accepting that you might just not be able to do things for yourself is hard. But there are so many retirement communities out there that’ll still help you keep your independence, whilst helping with the little things you can’t do. See McKnight Place for more with regards to the benefits of a community.

Growing old gracefully is easy when you know how to do it. Just live life to the fullest and have plenty of happy times to look back on. Don’t be in denial about old age, embrace it for the better.

Protecting your home this winter

As winter approaches, there is a lot to think about. You’ll read countless articles about winter fashions and looking after your skin in the colder months. But, what about your home? Failing to take proper care of your house in the colder weather can lead to expensive repairs later on and could even leave you with a freezing cold home and no heating or hot water. Have you even planned your heating oil or gas delivery from sites such as eshenaurs.com yet? 

Severe weather conditions such as storms, flooding, hurricanes and snowstorms are a very real possibility in many locations over the winter months and seem to be becoming much more common as time goes on. Making it more important than ever that you protect your property.

Here’s a helpful guide to all the things you can be doing in the coming weeks to ensure your home is ready to take on the winter.

Image Credit - StockSnap

Check Your Roof

Image Credit - StockSnap

Roofs can easily be damaged over the winter time, and the worst thing is, you wouldn’t be able to tell until it started to leak or let in cold air. Contact an experienced roof repair company to get it checked out and make any repairs needed.

Loft Insulation

A massive amount of the heat from your home is lost through the roof. Loft insulation can help to keep some of this heat in. Both warming your home and cutting your heating costs. You may also want to consider cavity wall insulation to keep your home as toasty as possible all year around.

Insulate Pipes

Frozen pipes are another common problem over winter. In extreme cases, they can burst, cause a lot of damage, possible flooding and lead to expensive repair work.

Check Seals

Damaged seals around windows and doors can let in a considerable amount of cold air. Go around and little feel for a draught. Repair or replace where it’s needed.

Clear Gutters

Image Credit - Pixabay

During autumn, when the leaves are falling, it’s incredibly common for gutters to become blocked up. People often neglect to clear them as it doesn’t seem to be a huge problem. However, clogged guttering can cause water to back up against your house. Over time this can damage roofing and trim, even causing ice dams and leaks. Getting your gutters cleared is a relatively cheap and easy job which could save you a fortune long term.

Have Your Boiler Serviced

Your boiler gets a lot of use over the colder months. Then, once spring hits, it’s barely used for months. This means that you won’t know if there’s a problem until you need it, possibly leaving you without heating when it's freezing outside. For this reason, it's best to opt for a gas boiler service stockton, or else where more relevant, at the end of summer or start of autumn to make sure it’s up to the job of keeping your home warm. You may also want to consider boiler cover, so if the worst happened, you could get it repaired as fast as possible.

Preparing your home for winter could save you a fortune in heating and repairing the damage later in the year. Try to schedule these checks before it gets too cold, and do them every year.