For Homes

If you guys are thinking about buying a sauna than you NEED to check into infrared saunas.

Infrared Sauna

When my husband was talking about a saunas I was under the impression he was talking about one of those old fashion steam/water saunas or those ones that have heating rocks in them and/or ones with steam coming out of the units and etc.

What the heck do I know about a saunas?  Honestly, owning a sauna was the last thing on my mind.

I used to join Gold’s Gym when I was in college and I did use their sauna facility all the time.  I am not a work out person, and I really don’t like group exercise classes because I was always surrounded by skins young kids with skimpy workout outfits – they just made me look “bad.”

Anyhow … my brilliant husband said we (and yes, he said “we”) need to get a sauna for our health.  Health?  Are you serious?  What the heck is that sauna going to do for our health?

When he told me that I told him to take the dogs for a walk! Or taking the kids to the park!  Or go outside and cut the grass!  Or clean out the garage!  And etc.  Boy, I gave him so many options to get those sweating going.

Sadly … that was not the “fitness exercise” he was looking for.

Okay … back to these infrared saunas.  These saunas use infrared heaters and emit infrared radiant heat.  Apparently, these saunas are better for people because this type of heat is directly absorbed into the human body; unlike traditional saunas where the heat heats the body indirectly through air or steam.

Wiki described the infrared saunas:

“An infrared sauna is usually a small portable room containing several infrared heaters.  In an infrared sauna, the infrared heater produces

Infrared vs. Traditional

radiant energy, which is the same as the heat from the sun, only without the harmful ultraviolet rays.  Most of these heaters draw on technology developed in 1965 by Dr. Tadashi Ishikawa, a member of the Research and Development Department of Fuji Medical (Wiki).”

Moreover, infrared sauna’s benefits include, but are not limited to …

1)     Heat penetrates more than 1.5 inches into the body
2)     Increase circulation in the body
3)     Benefits to patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondlitis – decrease pain and stiffness, decrease fatigue, and etc
4)     Some websites claim that these saunas will help you with weight loss; but I think it’s a BS
5)     Helps out with acne
6)     Detoxifies your body
7)     Helps treat bronchitis

Also … it’s relatively cheap to run these saunas — according to our sauna’s manufacturer it uses same amount of energy as a household toaster.

It’s important to mention that there are so many “benefits” to the infrared saunaS, but I am little bit skeptical about “ALL” the benefits that some websites promises and claimes.

Well it’s been couple of months now since we bought the sauna, and we have used it every other day.  I have noticed that my face skin seems to be cleared out – the blackheads on my nose seems lighter.

However, it has interfered with my overall skin textures – I keep on getting little bumps/zits on back of my arms and side of my legs.

I have not called my doctor about the conditions, yet, but it’s not so bad that I have to stop using it.

I am going to use it couple of more weeks to see if there are some correlation between my general skin texture and the sauna.

I will keep you guys up-to-date about the sauna.

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Reference:

Infrared sauna.  Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia.  Retrieved 7/6/2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_sauna

Popularity: 1% [?]

Trying to find an affordable, yet “appropriate,” floors for basement is very difficult; especially when the most logical materials for the basement is SO expensive.

We have concrete subfloor or concrete basement (pardon my technical terms if I misuse it) so there were very limited flooring options for us.

We do currently have carpet in the basement (it’s only year and a half years old), but between the kids and the animals (dragging in dirt and God knows what), and the nature of basement (dampness) it made our living space almost unbearable for me – dirt and smell.

Unfortunately, I have been cursed with acute sense of smell.  Since I can smell everything and anything, for good or bad, the smells are amplified by ten folds for me.

According to Home Construction & Improvement website, “Whether … basement is fairly new or old … Concrete basements by nature are a very damp environment … has a moisture content of between 2% and 8% … (Todd).”

In Todd’s opinion he does prefer ceramic or porcelain tiles, but you can still use engineered wood floors and carpet (only if basement has history of being dry).

However, when I did talked with local contractors and flooring “experts,” tiles are not great solutions for the basement because if concrete floor cracks (guess, eventually most concrete subfloors will have crack lines due to moisture) it will transfer the problems to the grout and tiles on top.

If I understood it correctly, having tiles in small areas are fine (e.g. around the bar areas or entrance/exit areas by the door and etc), but trying to lay tiles on over 1500 sq. ft areas is not a great option for basement floor.

Laminate wood floors are not viable option for us because of the price and durability.  Even though laminate floor are known to be durable if possible scratches were to happen by animals (we have very destructive dogs – I don’t even want to go into this topic because if I do I will give those dogs up!) or kids you cannot sand it down and fix it  – basically, you will have to live with damages.

Also, even though laminate floors will be glued down for us, if dogs were to urinate or kids were to drop liquid onto the floor there are possibilities of liquid going through the joint lines.  Actually, my cousin has installed laminate floor in his basement and I have noticed joint lines showing up more and more – don’t know it’s due to moisture in the basement or his puppies leaving accidents or what?  Didn’t really ask.

So, with that said.  I did receive numerous estimates for my basement floor (including materials, removal of carpet, fixing up holes and things, and installation) for tile and laminate wood flooring.

Remind you that I only chose these options to share with you guys because of the price.  There were many other flooring options, but they wanted over $9,000 for the basement (no glue or installation or  taxes included) !!!  Forget that!

Lowes wanted $4485 (not the best line I remind you) for the materials plus $2385 for installation; total of $6870 without price of the glue, taxes, and etc.

My local store said they would do it for $6500 (including glue, installation, and glue).

For tiles I found a company who would lay the tiles for me for $5000 or so; but these tiles are ugly!!!

I came home very disappointed, and my husband asked me “why don’t we put vinyl?  Honestly, I was shocked and applaud by his comment.  Come on vinyl floors?  They are so ugly!

Even with such reservation I went along with him to the store to look for vinyl floors.

Wow, vinyl floors have come along away.  When you probably think about vinyl floors you are probably thinking about floor your parents had in their kitchen or entry way and etc.

However, vinyl floor come in many styles and pattern – it’s endless.

Anyhow, we were educated with FiberFfloors made by Tarkett Company.  You might be asking what the heck is FiberFloor?

Well, FiberFloor is a resilient flooring with “… convenience combining the comfort of carpet with the easy maintenance of resilient flooring (Flooring Trends).”

These floors are easy to install and clean, comes in endless patterns and color (look of wood to slate), it’s cushiony and warm to underfoot, flexible and bendable, indentation resistant, reduces impact noise and sound, will not expand, contract, crack or curl, engineered to lay flat and stay slat, glueless installation, and consumers only need to measure the room, cut and lay.

If you do hire a professional to lay such flooring they “heat glue” the seams so the vinyl floor looks like a one huge piece – you will not see any seam lines.

After learning about this product I just fell in love with the bamboo look FiberFloor.  The product usually cost $3.50 sq ft, but we got such great deal from the local flooring store — $1.85.

So … even with installation fee, removal of carpet and other materials to finish up the floor we are actually going to pay couple of thousand dollars less than laminate and ceramic tiles.

I just can’t wait to get the flooring next week!

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Reference:

Flooring Trends.  Flooring-trends.com  Retrieved on 4/4/2009 from http://www.flooring-trends.com/fiberfloor.html
Todd.  Basement Flooring Options.  Homeconstructionimprovement.com  Retrieved on 4/4/2009 from http://www.homeconstructionimprovement.com/2008/07/basement-flooring-options.html

Popularity: 4% [?]

Online coupons!!

Am I the only person in the world having problems with online coupon services?

Economy is in trouble, and like most of you our pocket books are getting squeezed as well – it seems like we are getting punched every which way.

I am now starting to look through grocery store advertisement pamphlets that come in the newspaper, and started to jot down things that are on sale – going to the stores to purchase “on-sale” items only.

Guess roaming through the store to just fill up the shopping cart days are clearly over.  Don’t get me wrong I still do buy things that are not on-sale (sorry, I am not that discipline), but I need to start saving money here and there.

About a year ago or so I used to load up a cart with grocery, and would probably pay around $250 to maximum of $300 – reminds you that this included basic staple items as well as “luxury” items(not on sale) that would last us for five days or so.

However, when I went to the store to get grocery for the week I spent over $350!!!  AND I didn’t really spend money on the luxury food items!

When I say luxury items I mean beef jerky, Haagen-Dazs, conveniently packaged snacks , filet mignons, leg of a lamb, imported cheese or specialty cheese, deli meats (where you pay $8.99/lb for turkey meat), and etc.

So, when I came home I searched through bags of grocery, and studied my receipt to see what I bought from the store — I couldn’t find anything overly “shocking.”

I didn’t buy the top of the line meat selections, bought generic ice cream cones for the kids, bought large bags of cookies and pretzels (so I can pack them in individual snack bags to save money), stocked up on canned sauces (tomato pastes, sauce, and etc), bought fruits that were on sale for $1.99/lb or less, and etc.

From the receipt, it was $1.99 here, $0.59 here, $1.45 there, but when I added up the receipt it was closed to $350!

I couldn’t believe it – when did food get THAT expensive? 

With this shocking revelation I decided to subscribe to online coupon “stores” – coolsavings.com, Pillsbury.com, clipngocoupons.com, and coupons.com.

Unfortunately — I guess I am an idiot — I couldn’t get those coupons to print even after installing the printer software onto my computer.

I followed every step carefully, but no success!

Here are the problems I have encounter.

In the Coolsavings.com website, I couldn’t complete the printing process – menu to install printer function did not function … so, it was in idle mode.

In clipngocoupons.com, even after I sign in as a member, I kept getting the survey page – come on, I already did that!

With coupons.com and Phillsbury.com sites I did successfully pick the coupons I wanted, but even though it said “print successful” my printer didn’t print out the coupons – yes, I did check if my printer was on and there were sufficient amount of ink.

So .. to make sure my printer was working properly I did print couple of pages of documents; which was successful (but not the coupons).

Bottom line – my attempt to shop “smarter” didn’t quite work well.  I guess I am going to cut out coupons that come in the newspaper.

Popularity: 3% [?]

My neighbor and I were talking this morning about mosquitoes; exciting conversation right?

Anyhow her house backs up to a ravine, but they had little (almost minimal) problem dealing with mosquitoes last year.

Granted they have a screen porch in the backyard I see them all the time playing with their children and dogs outside on the grass – same time we are outside enjoying the summer days.

We spray on insect repellants, burn candles, wear “protective” clothes (light long sleeved shirts) and etc., but we are still eaten ALIVE!!!
I don’t know what to do anymore!

I saw a segment, in one of those HGTV shows, about mosquito misting spray or MistAway Systems where the company strategically places each misting nozzle sprays to create a “dome” or “shield.”

Mosquito Mist Away System is an automated system to control insects like spiders, mosquitoes, gnats, fleas and flies.

These nozzles are installed around the perimeter of your house (e.g. fence lines, decks, on trees, flowerbeds and etc.) to give most efficient and effective protection of your family.

I would love to have this system installed around our fences (so we can REALLY enjoy our backyard), but unfortunately I couldn’t find local companies offering such services around us – poor me!

Also, I couldn’t find the average cost of installing such device – I am not asking for an exact number, but the general idea of what would cost me.

SO … since I didn’t win the lotto, and the money tree I have planted last year didn’t grow so well I opt for cheaper alternative ways to control mosquito infestation.

Last night I searched online to see our local nurseries carry citronella plants, and found bunch of information about natural (and effective) ways to repel mosquitoes.

This is basically what I learned …

Pelargonium citronellas are known as the mosquito plant and looks like lemon grass

Citronellas are also known as cymbopogon nardus

There are citronella scented geraniums in the market – works very well against those pesky insects

There are other alternative plants:
1.    Horsemint — grown in most eastern US, Mexico, and up to Minnesota to Vermont
2.    Herbs like Rosemary are natural mosquito repellants
3.    Marigolds
4.    Ageratum — contains coumarin; which mosquitoes detests, but don’t rub it against your skin
5.     Mosquito plant — lso known as agastache cana or Texas hummingbird mint or bubblegum mint, or giant hyssop or giant hummingbird mint
6.    Catnips — most powerful mosquito repellant – 10 times more effective than DEET; but short lived perennials

I have also read, from online reviews, that these plants don’t work or doesn’t work that well against mosquitoes.

Apparently, Pelargonium citronella plant(s) must be shaken by the wind to distribute the citronella fragrance, and all the other plants’ leaves must be crushed to release their aroma – that’s the trick.

You just can’t have these plants on the table or plant stands or in baskets to repel these blood thirsty insects – you have to initialize the repellant process by releasing the plants aroma.

I guess it’s really not that difficult to do.  Hey, if I get five less mosquito bites a night I’ll crushed those dang thing for hours.

Reference:

Johnson, S.  Mosquitoes in Your Garden? Try Planting These!  thefrugallife.com
Retrieved on 4/1/2009 from  http://www.thefrugallife.com/mosquitoesgarden.html

Plantfiles: citronella grass, Nardu, Capim Santo Cymbopogon nardus.  Davesgarden.com  Retrieved on 4/1/2009 from http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/62172/

Popularity: 3% [?]

Electric Fireplace

We have a portable indoor fireplace (compact all-in-one electric fireplace bought it at Lowe’s a year ago for about $260 + tax) downstairs and we put the sucker on at night time.

During winter nights, after we put the kids into their designated beds, my husband and I like to just lie down on our couch and vegetate.

Even though the thermostat is set at a comfortable temperature it still gets very cold downstairs; especially when you are not moving around the house chasing or cleaning up after the kids and/or animals.

I went to our local Lowe’s store and tried to find a “Energy Efficiency” portable fireplaces (not a space heater) to replace our current fireplace; however, the salesperson told me that they do NOT carry such items.

Our current heater specification says it uses 1,350 watts and 4,600 BTU, but the smaller space heaters sometimes do not include wattage usage or has a higher wattage use: i.e. 1500 watt Energy-efficient silent operation.

Don’t know about you guys, but it’s really energy-efficient; is it?

Furthermore, the sales person told me that space heaters that are oil-filled are more efficient than others; however, I couldn’t find the exact specifications online.

Well, after doing some research on my own, and talking with the sales associates I decided to keep the one I have at home.

Here are some reasons why I decided to keep mine (A) vs. the oil-filled space heater (B):

1)     A – is prettier or better looking in the room
2)    A – provides evenly distributed heat – the vent is in the middle
3)    It has faux “flames”
4)    A- heats up 900 sq. ft. room comfortably
5)    A- is little bit louder though (However, I don’t know if B is loud either)
6)    I didn’t want to spend additional money on “non” energy efficient heater

All-in-all I am happy with it, but I just wanted to save some money on my electric bill – Don’t know if your electric company has raised their rates or not, but ours did – great, like I don’t have other things to worry about.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Do you own a Twin Draft Guard?

Twin Draft Guard

My husband bought two “Twin Draft Guard” at our local Wal-Mart Store couple of weeks ago for our downstairs bathroom.

My husband smokes, but smokes outside; however, it has been so cold where we live (10 degree F. or colder) that I felt it was not worth for him to get a pneumonia.

Yes, I know I should be advocating non-smoking, but he can’t be perfect; right?

Anyhow, back to the point … I hate my house to smell like cigarettes, so I told him that he can smoke downstairs bathroom IF he uses the fan to ventilate the smell and air-tight the door.

He is so cute!  He placed the guard under each door, bought candles and air freshener, and set his things up – he was excited that he didn’t have to freeze his butt anymore!

The guard worked for a while (a week or so) without any problem, but the more you use the door (opening and closing) the more it moves; especially when you have smaller doors like ours.

I guess I could have cut the fabric casing shorter, but then I would wind up cutting off the loop-and-hook — trust me, the last thing I want to do is sew up loop-and-hoop.

I think this product would be great for front or back doors (for energy efficiency purpose) where the door sizes are little bit larger than the interior ones, but the commercial didn’t mention it would not be ideal for interior doors – you know what I mean.

Anyway, I am not terribly disappointed about the purchase – he only spent $20 for two “Twin Draft Guard.”  However, I kind of expected more from the product; especially having watched the infomercial.

For instance, if you check out the infomercial or their website, the guard sits nicely snug onto the bottom of the door, and it looks sturdy; but it’s not – it’s very flimsy.

If you have old and large doors than by every mean buy it, but if you have “newer” house with newer doors it might not work as efficiently and effectively as you might expect.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Are you fed up with paying hundreds of dollars a month to an electric company?  Well, I sure am.
On a good month we only pay around $150 (this is not on summer months with my air conditioner on).

You are probably wondering “Do you have energy efficient light bulbs, appliances, and etc?” The answer is “YES.”

My husband and I bought our dream house couple of years ago, and we replaced all appliances and updated lighting.

We went to Lowe’s and bought highest energy star refrigerator, dishwasher, stove, microwave, washing machine, and dryer.  Also, we replaced all incandescent bulbs to standard and dimmable CFLs.

The only two things we didn’t replace (because of our budget) are our water heater and the central air unit.

My husband has been looking into installing solar panels Click Here! to decrease our electricity bill.  Every time we turn around our rates are increasing, and I am having a difficult time decreasing our power consumption.

Luckily our town offer additional rebates and other incentive, and we are looking into getting them by next summer.

Supposedly installing panels are easy, but I am married to a man who doesn’t do physical labor.  In a way I am grateful because he’ll take apart a dishwasher and put it back a refrigerator.

Here are some pros and cons – there are more pros than cons.

Pros:

1)  Decrease utility bill
2)  Decrease dependency on a utility company
3)  Panel’s life expectancy is about 20 years
4)  Low maintenance
5)  Can be mounted on the roof or ground mounted
6)  Add value to your house
7)  Keeps environment clean
8)  Rebates and tax breaks
9)  Sun is always there for you, and it is free
10)  Energy credit — if your system is generating enough power to run your house, your electric meter may even spin backwards.

Cons:

1) Can be expensive
2)  Location of your home — it makes sense to have solar panels if you are living in a sunny location rather than surrounded by mature tress (so you don’t get enough sun).  Also, you might need more panels depending on number of hours of sunlight you get.
3)  Aesthetically, it’s not really pretty.
4)  No sun = No power

Like I have mentioned there are more pros than cons, and I can’t wait to have these ugly panels on our roof.

Popularity: 1% [?]

There are simple and cheaper ways to update your bathroom mirrors without remodeling (breaking down old mirrors, patching up dry walls, and painting). 

I have those cheap large NO architectural detail mirrors (construction grade) glued onto my dry walls.  My husband and I are not handy people, and we do not want to spend thousands of dollars remodeling our four bathrooms.  Don’t get me wrong I would love to do it, but with this economic down turn we (like most of you) have to count our nickels and dimes. 

I went to our local Lowe’s store, and found Mirror Edging or Mirredge bathroom product (similar products are also available online).  They are usually packed in pairs – wooden or acrylic edging, corner plates, and seam plates.  The 59 ½” X 1 ½” Mirredge stripes run around $16, 36” X 1 ½” strips around $12, corner plates (set of 4) cost around $10, and the seam plates (2 per pkg) runs around $8. 

If I have bought it for manufactured suggested price for my all four bathrooms I would have spent around $75 per bathroom; which comes down to $300.  This price does not include the Mirredge adhesive – runs around $3.50 for a small tube of glue.  When I talked with the Lowe’s associate he told me I would need at least 2 glues per bathroom, so another $28.  

 Well, I was not about to spend $300.  Lucky for me the store was discontinuing all the Royal Birch Wood-grain products; so I packed up my cart.  They definitely were not pretty, and I was not going to further down grade our bathroom conditions, so I purchased black spray paint and spray them all up. 

Also, since I was too cheap to buy the Mirredge adhesive I used Liquid Nail 601 for $5 a bottle (according to the pamphlet it was okay to use either LN 601 or 701). 

So, with my cheap bargain mirror edges, corner plates, seam plates, glue and spray paint I spent roughly $50 to do my all four bathrooms in the house. 

It was a slow going process since I had to spray all of my mirror edge products with black spray paint, but I think it was definitely worth it. 

If you do not like these products you can also use regular picture frames and put it on top of the existing mirrors — just make sure there are in proper proportion.  For instance, if you have large mirrors don’t use 8X10 frames; you know what I mean?

Another alternative is using those man-made trims.  They come in many decorative details and sizes, and they are very light; which is perfect for this job.  Just remember, the more ornamental it is the more expensive it will get.

My husband loves the end result, and our bathrooms look finished.

Popularity: 2% [?]