Condo Blues: How to
Showing posts with label How to. Show all posts
Showing posts with label How to. Show all posts

Sunday, May 19, 2019

How to Make a Grill Cover

The four seasons have taken their toll on the cover on my outdoor gas grill. I need a replacement grill cover. 

I don’t want to buy a vinyl grill cover because they rarely last more than two years in the elements. Fabric seems the best way to go since the BBQ cover I made from a drop cloth lasted seven years.
I planned to scope out the heavy duty outdoor fabric at the fabric store after a stop at Homegoods when I found a cheaper and cuter outdoor fabric option – an indoor /outdoor tablecloth.

Which also just so happens to go with this majestic beauty that I also picked up for the front yard.

Her name is Divine.

She is 6 feet tall.

And I love her.

Yes, I am THAT neighbor. You know the one.

How to Make an Outdoor Grill Cover from a Tablecloth

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

12 Ways to Reuse Old Pillows

When our bed pillows flatten I fluff them up after washing them by popping a couple of dryer balls like these into the dryer along with my pillows. (I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.) That usually does the trick but after many years, there isn’t much left to fluff in our current set of bed pillows. It is time to replace them.

12 of the best ways to reuse old pillows
Pin these clever ideas to your Pinterest Boards for later! Share them with your friends!

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

How to Hang a Shelf on the Side of a Kitchen Cabinet

I hung a shelf on the side of my kitchen cupboard to give the succulent planter I got for Christmas a fighting chance at life by the only sunny window in my house. I’ve always wanted add an aloe plant since they are so handy when it comes to burns and to add visual balance by hanging a plant shelf on the empty cabinet on the other side of the window.

Which was a little tricky because I have thin builder grade kitchen cabinets. There just isn’t enough wood in the cabernet wall to hold a nail for a picture let alone the weight of a lightweight shelf.
But it can be done and all you need is a simple wine cork.

how to hang a cupboard shelf with a wine cork
Pin this hack to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!


How to Hang a Shelf with a Recycled Wine Cork



Monday, April 29, 2019

Gardening Hack: How to Know When to Water Your Vegetable Garden the Lazy Way!

The only reason my first attempt at growing a vegetable garden survived is because my husband and I worked on the project together.

Basically, I forget that plants need water to grow.

Gardening experts say vegetable gardens should be watered 2 to 3 times a week to promote healthy growth and nice deep roots. I start out doing that after I plant my garden but once you throw rain into the mix,  I either accidentally over water or under water depending upon if I wait for a rainstorm.

Either it doesn’t rain enough to water the plants enough or I don’t want to take a chance on the weather forecast for rain failing me again and water the garden only to be followed by a heavy thunderstorm.

So yeah, up until now my garden fails are a result of watering too much or not enough.


how much water does a vegetable garden need
 Pin this post to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!
Photo used with permission by MSI Sakib on Unsplash

Sunday, February 10, 2019

How to Research, Buy and Install the Best Personal Home Weather Station for You!

Ohio weather changes so wildly and so often you can’t help but be some sort of weather nerd if you have to spend any time outside during the year. It also doesn’t help if like me, weather changes affect your have seasonal allergies. That really makes you pay attention to the local forecast. Good times!

At my allergist’s suggestion I have a humidity monitor (this is the exact indoor thermometer and humidity monitor I have. I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.) on each level of the house. It is accurate and an easy double check if I need to change the indoor climate controls but all of that goes out the door the second I step outside.

Sure, I ask Alexa the temperature but she’s only going to give me the outdoor air temperature reading from the local airport (all official weather equipment is installed at local airports) and not factor in things like the wind chill factor or the heat index which, as you know, is why you get local TV weather forecasts of: The temperature is X but it feels like Y.

If you don’t live in close proximity to your airport summer (and other factors beyond your control) your home’s outdoor temperature may vary from the “official” local reading. That difference can be a super huge big deal when my husband takes off on a long run or I will be marching in a parade during the summer.


how to install an easy personal home weather station
Pin this tips to your Pinterest boards for later! Share them with your friends!


Which is why I bought my husband a personal home weather station for Christmas. (Actually he asked for one.) I gotta tell ya, it was nerve wracking trying to research the best weather station for us because home weather station vary wildly from a cheap standard outdoor thermometer to hundreds of dollars for something that measures rain, wind, humidity, temperature, and the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.

Sunday, January 27, 2019

How to Make a Bed with Folded Hospital Corners

Apparently it is a huge big deal whether or not you make your bed and use a top sheet. This something that is totally out of my frame of reference because if you don’t use a top sheet, you need to clean blankets and/or duvet weekly and is way too hot and gross to use during the hot and humid summer.

In other words, not making a bed without a top sheet is gross! Don't do it!

Stuffing a king size top sheet in a washing machine on the regular is way easier than trying to cram king size anything thicker than a sheet in a washing machine. If you have a smaller size bed than I do I guess it might be easier but nonetheless I’m rather replace a worn top sheet than shell out the extra bucks to replace s spendy duvet

I understand the argument of the to sheet getting all twisted up and becoming tucked itself when tossing and turning while you are sleeping. I get it. That used to happen to me until I found an easy fix: Make your bed with hospital corners. Problem solved!

How to Keep Sheets from Slipping off the bed


Save this tutorial to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!



Sunday, October 28, 2018

The One Thing You AREN’T Doing to Save Money on Your Heating Bill but Should!

In 2008, my husband and I started a year long project to reduce our utility bills by what we though was a too lofty goal of 20% with cheap home improvements and new habits. We beat our original goal and reduced our electricity and natural gas our use by 32%!

We’ve kept our yearly average lower than comparable size energy efficient rated homes in our area for 10 years running and with all of the things that make life worth living: holiday lights, electronics, and toasty warm toes in the dead of winter.

So while my heating bill stayed low and the rest of the house is toasty warm (thanks in no small part to adding weather stripping like this to the bottom on my window sashes installing a programmable thermostat like this one and using it) my laundry room was always colder than the rest of the house. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

the one thing you MUST do to save money on your energy bill
Pin this post to your Pinterest boards. Share it with your friends!


Sunday, September 9, 2018

How to Watch Spectrum Cable without a Digital Cable Box

Spectrum Cable TV is switching all of their customers over to digital cable boxes. Which means you now need a digital cable box on every TV in your house in order to watch to watch Spectrum’s new and supposedly improved digital cable TV signal.

That’s all well and good for our main television set in the living room but I’d rather not rent a second cable box for the older flat panel TV we intermittently use in our home office.

Yeah, yeah. I know. Cable TV is old fashioned and costly. This extra annoyance has made me think about cord cutting. (Well, this and I think Spectrum’s service has gotten worse since Charter bought them.)

But as of now cable TV is part of a bundle and I’d like to use what I’m already paying for to watch the news or a movie on the second TV in my office without the extra expense of renting a second cable box or buying a new TV.

Pin this post to Pinterest for later! Share it with your friends!


How to Watch Spectrum Cable on an Older TV Set

Sunday, August 26, 2018

How to Repair a Front Load Washing Machine that Will Not Drain

I think I am one of the only people in the United States who actually likes her front loading washing machine. That’s why I panicked when my trusty Whirlpool Duet washer stopped in the middle of a cleaning cycle and flashed me a F21 error.

I didn’t want to use a washing machine that will not wash as an excuse to buy a new one. We’ve been good to each other. I wanted to save her, not replace her.

Fortunately, an F21 error on my washing machine means the drain is clogged and is a very simple fix you can do yourself!

 

How to Clean a Clogged Washing Machine Drain


How to fix a Whirlpool Duet washing machine error code F21
Pin this tutorial to your Pinterest boards for later! share it with your friends!

Sunday, June 10, 2018

How to Extend a Downspout the Easy Way

Your local building code my differ but most recommend the water running through the downspouts of your house discharge the water at least six feet away from the house’s foundation. Otherwise, the water can splash back and erode the soil around the downspout where rain water can get in to damage the foundation of your home.

Putting a splash block under each downspout is the easiest way to divert rainwater away from the foundation of your house and fix the problem.  That’s what the builder of my neighborhood did to our houses.

The results are hit and miss because the builder used a one measurement fits all approach and some of our downspouts are too high due to hills in the neighborhood and some of us have soil eroding under their splash blocks like my neighbor’s house shown below.

How to prevent soil erosion and lengthen downspouts the easy way
Pin this tutorial on Pinterest for later and share it with your friends!

Two Easy Ways to Extend an Existing House Downspout

Sunday, May 27, 2018

How to Repair a Ripped Flag

Last summer, I repaired a rip in an outdoor garden swooper flag a new sewing client flies in front of his business to give it a second year of life. (I am including some affiliate links in this post for your convince.)

I didn’t write a tutorial at the time because I didn’t think there was much of an interest in how to machine darn rips and holes in a garden flag. Based on the number of questions I answered after I did the job it turns out I was wrong.

Luckily, I get a second chance to write a flag repair tutorial because the twin outdoor feather banner has a tear and a hole in the same place where flag sleeve (the part where the flag pole runs though) sits on and pulls against the top of the curved metal pole when the wind blows. The client asked if I would repair Flag 2 like I darned the tear and hole in Flag 1 since Flag 1 is still rip, roaring, and ready to fly.

The blob at the top is the client's attempt at repairing the hole in the flag with hot glue.
 Needless to say it didn't work.

How to Machine Darn a Rips, Tears, and Holes in Fabric

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

8 Zero Waste Lies

If you are trying to be a Zero Waste or Trash Fee home you try to reduce the need to use the landfill by refusing, reducing, reusing, repairing, recycling, and donating your household waste to get your output to as close to zero as you can.

There are some in Internet Land who show you how they do it with Pinterest perfect photos of bamboo toothbrushes like these, stylishly minimalist rooms (you can learn about the minimalism movement here), and  haughtily looking down their nose at people who  – gasp! – follow low waste practices because their primary goal is to pay off bills, live within their means, or save money, with environmental concerns coming in a close second or even lower down the list.

Disclosure: I am including some affiliate links in this post for your convenience.

8 Truths of Trash Free and Zero Waste Living

In my over 10 years of blogging about green living and doing it in one form or another for even longer, I know there are some truths to Zero Waste Living and I also know that the reality is not always what you see in those Pinterest perfect Zero Waste Kitchens either.


8 Truths of Trash Free and Zero Waste Living
Pin this post and share it with your friends!

Sunday, March 11, 2018

How to Research and Buy the Best Size Garbage Disposal for Your Kitchen

For us, Compost Season stops when the bin freezes shut during the winter. That’s when we reluctantly switch to using the garbage disposal to dispose of vegetable scraps. 

I say reluctantly because the garbage disposal that came with our condo jams easily and often, sometimes smells bad, and often shakes so violently that it comes loose from the plumbing pipes and sprays gunk inside the kitchen cabinet. Good times!

The “experts” say you shouldn’t put any of these items down a garbage disposal.
  • Vegetable peels
  • Eggshells
  • Pasta, rice, potatoes/potato peels, beans, and other starchy foods
  • Coffee grounds
So what exactly are you supposed to put on a garbage disposal? This list is pretty much everything we cook with and eat.

Although it explains exactly why even though “experts” claim a 1/3 horsepower mini garbage disposal like mine is the “correct” size for a two person apartment or condo household and why I celebrated the day when it finally became unfixable so I could replace it.


How to buy a garbage disposal
It really isn't the old garbage disposal's fault. At the very beginning it was a bad match. 
Keep reading to learn why and how to avoid the same situation when buying a garbage disposal.


When the garbage disposal started leaking from the side and needed to be replaced I practically did a happy dance. Finally a chance to buy a garbage disposal that doesn’t stink!

What Size Garage Disposal Should I Buy?

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

6 Ways to Use Less Plastic without Going Crazy

Many folks in the United Kingdom are looking for ways to live plastic free or with less single use plastic for the 40 days of Lent. This is as part of a national Plastic Free (Less) Lent Challenge influenced by the BBC TV program Blue Planet 2: Seas of Life (this show has such gorgeous nature photography and information that I have no problem recommending it to you and using my affiliate links to do it!)

So far, the folks I’m working with are excited when they find a plastic free bamboo toothbrush (read more about it here) or their grocery store allows them to use reusable cloth produce bags and that's fantastic! 

But as they have been living awhile with the low plastic challenge, there are many people who are becoming overwhelmed, or are too time poor to DIY plastic free everything, or worse, being shamed when they admit that they can’t afford the perfect plastic free option. That’s not cool.


6 Ways to Go Plastic Free without Going Broke or Crazy
Pin this list of ideas for later and share it with your friends!


I feel for ya, because I think I am the only person in the world who lives in an area where my farmer’s market, bulk food bins, and fresh vegetable summer CSA subscriptions are typically more expensive than a conventional grocery store. I want to do my bit but I don’t always have the time to regularly grocery shop at three or more markets every other week when one conventional grocery store has everything I need.

Sunday, February 4, 2018

How to Clean an Essential Oil Nebulizing Aromatherapy Diffuser

 I’ve been poking around at upgrading my candle essential oil diffuser. I didn’t realize how many types and choices are available since I bought my ceramic diffuser ages ago:
1. Candle Essential Oil Diffuser – Good for a start but it’s too easy for the candle to boil the essential oil and water dry. Not to mention the whole never leave a burning candle unattended thing.

2. Reed diffuser – Swing and a miss. Slow acting and only good for small rooms like a bathroom. You need new reeds every time you want to use a different essential oil in it.

3. Ultrasonic essential oil diffuser – Uses water and heat to produce a mist of essential oil in the air. They are often made out of a ugly hunks of plastic. The last thing I need (per my allergist) is to add humidity to the air in my home due to my (rather annoying) seasonal allergies which makes it a no go.

4. Nebulizing essential oil diffuser -  Uses an air pump to release the essential oil from the diffuser as waterless mist. Many people feel a nebulizer is a better option because it doesn’t change the makeup of the essential oil with heat or weaken the aroma with water – which makes it the perfect type for me!

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Easy DIY Snowflake Gift Tags and Friday Favorites Party - Week 351


I have two quick and easy homemade gift tag tutorials to share with you today. They are perfect for snow lowers and Frozen fanatics!

Or for people who should be cleaning their craft room and get distracted by a pile of leftover supplies and decide to make something with them instead of tackling the higher priority stuff on their Holiday To Do List.

Not that I know anything about that.

Pin this tutorial for Christmas, Hanukah, or Solstice, or Yule!

 

 Homemade Snowflake Gift Tags

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

How to Make Your Christmas Tree Look Fuller

In addition to our family’s main Christmas tree, my husband and I decorate the upstairs landing with my hand me down (formerly) single gal Christmas tree.

Our little Christmas tree is starting to show its age. The pine needles are in a perpetual state of squished and refuse to fluff.  When one of the branches snapped off in my hand this year, I thought it was time to retire it after many years of service.

But with a dose of Christmas magic in disguise as a few decorating hacks I made our scrawny tree look full and gave it new continued life!
 

Pin this post for later!

You can use these Christmas tree decorating ideas for both live and artificial Christmas trees although obviously you won’t be able to fluff and adjust the branches of a live tree like a fake one. Either type of Christmas tree will allow you to shove a broken Christmas tree branch back into the tree to fill a hole. Guess how I know?

How to Fill Holes and Make a Full and Fluffy Christmas Tree in Six Easy Steps or Less!

Sunday, December 4, 2016

How to Make Easy DIY Outdoor Giant Christmas Ornament Decorations

I am obsessed with Christmas ornaments ever since teenage me got my first few handmade Christmas decoration from my grandmother as a present. By the time I struck out into the big wide world, I had a variety of Christmas ornaments to decorate with that was a nice change from the red glass ball ornaments that hung on my parent’s tree.

 I love the variety of ornaments Husband and I have collected over the years but I guess absence makes the heart grow founder. Ever since I saw the gigantic Christmas ball ornaments for sale to commercial spaces (malls, outside a business, etc.) at Bronner’s Christmas Store during our vacation a few years ago, I lust after round ball ornaments – super sized!


I adore everything about this cherry Santa decoration from the happy polka dots and lights to the cartoony Santa. If only I had mile high ceilings and enormous living room….

Taking pictures of the big Christmas ball ornaments in the store and in public places when I came across them has not scratched my itch.  I could use a few more decorations the size of a yoga ball in the front yard to balance the lighted Dachshund Christmas decorations (learn more about them here) we bought last year. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

Yoga ball?

 Hey! That gives me an idea!

Keep reading! I'll teach you how to make this fun decorating idea!

Let’s make Big Christmas ornaments from exercise and playground balls!

How to Make Quick and Easy Exercise Ball Christmas Ornaments

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Recycled Wrapping Paper Gift Tags and Friday Favorites Linky Party - Week 389

I hate buying gift tags because it is usually the one important thing I usually run out of at midnight when wrapping Christmas gifts less than 24 house before they are going to be opened.

How's that for a little real world DIYer life?

So DIY homemade gift tags work best for me because I technically never run out. I just make a more! And in the interest of not hunting around the house for cute scrapbook paper  coordinating my Christmas gift tags to my wrapped presents, I craft them from wrapping paper scraps!

How to Make Quick, Easy, and Cute Recycled Wrapping Paper Gift Tags


Homemade gift tag ideas

Pin this step by step tutorial for later!

You will need to make this project

 

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

DIY Solar Snowman Jar Lights

I need to add new lighting to our outdoor Christmas decorations this year because for some inexplicable reason, our lawn service company felt the need to mow our  lawns in December. They ran over and destroyed my lights with a lawn mower despite the fact we are allowed to have holiday decorations in our yard for Christmas.

Uff da.

My HOA didn’t understand it either.

I’m turning an annoying head scratching negative and turning it into a positive. I’m taking the opportunity to change up our outdoor Christmas decorations a little bit this year by going green and making recycled glass jar solar snowman lights!


 Pin this tutorial for later!

I'm also giving my summer solar yard lights a big green reuse and repurpose by making them into energy efficient outdoor Christmas lights.

You can use glass Mason jars to make this project if you don’t have empty glass food  jars. At the time of this writing all of my spare Mason jars are storing and organizing food in my kitchen cupboards because it stays fresher longer and I can stuff more food in the cupboards than if I keep it in the original packaging.

How to Make Quick and Easy Solar Salsa Jar Snowmen