Household Tips

You might be like me. I’ve already dumped my resolutions. Didn’t succeed so well at those. But then I got to thinking… Why can we only turn over a new leaf once a year? Here’s a great list of things we can all do — daily! — to be better people!

– Do a clean sweep. Take a weekend to get rid of things from your office or your home that you don’t use anymore. Break away from clutter by letting go of unnecessary things once and for all.
– Choose one thing to boost your health and well-being. Instead of the usual weight-loss goal, start with one new healthy habit and focus on that until it really becomes a habit. Then add another. For instance, drink six to eight glasses of water a day, add 20 minutes of walking or add five fruits and vegetables to your diet daily.
– Name a theme for your year. Give your year a clear focus and an intention. The “Year of The New Career,” “The Year of the Diva,” “The Year of Getting Fit” and “The Year of a Positive Attitude” are some examples.
– Do one thing a day towards your dream. Make a commitment to do one thing daily, no matter how small, to move ahead a dream or project.
– Give back. Raise money or volunteer your time to improve your community or the condition of people who are in need of help. You’ll be surprised how good helping others will make you feel, and motivate you to do good in your own life.
– Recruit a cheering squad. Make sure you have good supporters in your life to help you stay motivated to make your change. Teach the naysayers how to be more helpful and call on your cheering squad whenever you need them.

Someone recently wrote (while I was being a very bad and very absent blogger)…asking how to easily put a duvet on a comforter.

HA!

I truly believe that a whole industry has grown around making duvets the most incredibly complex household items possible! But there is hope. For one, choose a better duvet! Several companies now make duvets with hand slits at the corners. That way you don’t have to actually crawl into the duvet with your comforter! If your duvet doesn’t have hand-slits, you can easily make some!

Find a seam ripper (you can buy one for $1 at any store that sells sewing supplies!) Now, very carefully remove the stitching on the edges a right angles with the nose seam. (By nose seam, I mean the top of your duvet! The seam that would touch your nose while you sleep.) Carefully remove about 6 inches of stitching. If you sew, you can now apply bias tape and re-edge the seam. Otherwise, simply iron it in place. If you’re afraid of the fabric fraying, you can apply a small amount of fray check along the unfinished seam.

OR… You can simply go with the old standard method. Grab one corner of the comforter. Insert that corner into a nose corner (see above) of the comforter. Hold the joined corners in one hand. Take the opposite corner and insert into the opposite nose corner. You should now be holding both nose corners — duvet and comforter. Shake the duvet down over the comforter and button.

Good luck. I hate this chore!