Category Archives: House Cleaning

Air Purifiers, Are They Worth The Money?

February 07, 2025   Matt

Air Purifiers, Are They Worth The Money?

When you suffer from allergies or asthma, you may think it may be a good idea to purchase an air filtration system for your house. But one legitimate question would be: is it worth paying the money? Experts say that it can ease your symptoms, but that is true only if you make other changes in your environment, too.
These changes concern avoiding the carpeting, finding another place for your pets and using air conditioning during the warmer months in order to get rid of the pollens or allergens. You should as well clean the air filters, the air conditioner filters, and the duct filters every season. Another possibility is not to open your windows and to avoid staying a lot outdoors, during the period when your allergies are acute.
If you have tried all these and didn’t find adequate relief, then it may be better for you to think about using an air filter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as the American Lung Association recommends air filtration for those who suffer from allergies and asthma, but not as a solution per-se. Controlling the pollution and ventilation that can cause allergies is more important; there are arguments on whether filters can give relief from asthma in a house that is clean and well ventilated. Air cleaners may be helpful in some situations and may help reducing allergy or asthma symptoms, but that air cleaning is not the one to reduce consistently the symptoms.

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Fleas- A Common Resident In Every House

February 02, 2025   Matt

Fleas- A Common Resident In Every House

They are one of the greatest bloodsucking parasites which can cause lot of damage. These different types of fleas live by sucking blood from mammals and birds. Some of the very common fleas are the cat flea, dog flea, human flea, northern rat flea and oriental rat flea. You may suffer from an allergic reaction and may also get transmitted with severe diseases due to these fleas. Because of the warm, humid and readily available environment in your home, these fleas easily survive without much hindrance.

They procreate in huge numbers which makes them next to – indestructible. Many a times these fleas just become a nuisance other than anything else. Their small fish like structure goes unnoticed which makes it difficult to detect. Presence of pets in your house is another reason for fleas to attack humans. Having a spick and span environment keeps them off from your mattresses. The growth rate is so high that it becomes next to impossible to end the reign of terror. Some of the common affects fleabites have on us is loss of hair, severe allergic reaction – rashes, itchy skin and severe diseases.

Home Remedies for Fleas

Keep your house clean by regular vacuuming as well as cleaning and bathing your pets to avoid any circulation of these parasites.

One of the most natural repellents which we have come across to fight fleas is the eucalyptus leaves. Somehow the smell is a major turn off for them.

You can use borax, which works great against the fleas. Spread it across your house; let it sit for some days and later vacuum your house to remove those fleas.

Spreading cedar chips along your fence line or in your room can keep the fleas at bay. You can also have a tansy plant outside your dogs’ pen to keep the fleas away.

Make garlic an important part of pets’ food. Mix it, crush it, mince it, powder it and use it in any form to keep the pest away from the pets.

Adding yeast pills in your dog’s diet also gets rid of the fleas. These yeast pills can be easily found in any of the medical stores.

Try diatomaceous earth, is one of the most natural ways to get rid of fleas. It can used be in your house, around the house and on your dog.

Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.

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Asthma 101: Everything You Need To Know If You Have Been Diagnosed (2)

January 28, 2025   Matt

Asthma 101: Everything You Need To Know If You Have Been Diagnosed

Whether you are a longtime asthma sufferer or have only recently been diagnosed with the condition, chances are that you have come here to find only the best and most useful advice for managing the symptoms and discomfort of asthma. Continue reading for a selection of the best tips and tricks for asthma care.

Use natural cleaning products in your home instead of store bought chemical cleaners. Harsh chemicals can produce harmful fumes that can trigger an asthma attack. Even if you are not the one doing the cleaning, the fumes linger and can affect you for days. Use natural cleaners: they are better for you lungs and the environment.

Although it may seem trivial to most people, it is important that you live near your doctor or an emergency room if you have asthma. Living in a rural area can mean that paramedics cannot get to you in time to save your life if you have a severe asthma attack.

Buy cleaning products that are labeled as environmentally-friendly. This will not cost you more, and they are just as efficient as chemical products. These green products will reduce the risk of asthma attacks and allow you to keep your house clean at the same time. Look for non-toxic cleaning products.

Be sure to do your research. If you have asthma, be proactive about it. The more you know, the better. There is always a wealth of information handy in books and on the internet. Learning as much as you can about things that directly affect you is always a good idea.

If you’re caught without your inhaler when you have an attack, grab a cup of coffee. The caffeine in the beverage will open up your airways and allow you to breathe a little easier. If you don’t have a caffeinated beverage on hand, the small amounts of caffeine in a chocolate bar can also help.

Stay indoors during high pollen count days. Pollen and other airborne allergens account for many asthma symptoms. When pollen counts reach higher levels, the number of patients in the ER with severe asthma attacks increases. Avoid an attack, by staying indoors with an air conditioner or other air filtering system.

When you use your asthma inhaler, you must be sure to use it right. Remember that the target is your lungs, not your mouth! Inhale deeply and hold your asthma medication in your lungs for at least three seconds, at most five seconds. Follow this by exhaling very slowly and deliberately.

An excellent suggestion for improving control over your asthma is to limit the amount of time you spend with animals. Even if animals themselves may not cause you to have an attack, they can also carry dirt and other substances that can potentially cause an attack. Because of these things, you should keep your time with animals to a minimum.

So if you or someone you know has been diagnosed as an asthmatic, keep these helpful words of wisdom in mind as you discuss symptoms, triggers and preventive measures to combat the discomfort and breathing difficulties that come with the territory. Combined with the care of a healthcare professional, you can use this information to breathe more easily.

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How To Sell A Residence Without An Agent

January 23, 2025   Matt

How To Sell A Residence Without An Agent

With a robust real estate market, selling a residence isn’t particularly difficult. Here’s a primer on how to sell your own house.

How To Sell A Residence Without An Agent

First and foremost, you need to educate yourself on how real estate transactions happen. There are online guides and plenty of books on the subject at your local bookstore. When you decided to sell your own house, you are considered a FSBO seller [for sale by owner]. This FSBO market is growing like mad, which means you can find form contracts and agreements ready made for your particular state.

A second thing to realize is real estate laws are generally governed by states, not the federal government. This means the particulars of real estate transactions in your state may be different from those in another state. You should look for references related to your state, not nationwide advice. Nonetheless, here are a few universal pointers.

1. Determine the price of comparable homes in your neighborhood. This is going to give you a very good idea of what you can ask for your house when you put it on the market.

2. Objectively look at your home and make a list of things that need to be fixed. Selling a house often comes down to the details. Buyers are making a big investment, so they are going to be very picky about little things.

3. List your house online with photographs.

4. Post flyers or ads in your local property listings magazines.

5. Put a sign on your lawn indicating you are selling.

6. On the sign post, put a box with flyers describing your home and the asking price.

7. Hold open houses for buyers to view your house.

8. Clean your house before all open houses. Add fragrant flowers to rooms, mow the lawn and so on.

9. Get rid of your junk through a garage sale and the trash. This includes cleaning out the garage and basement. Everything should be pristine.

10. Create a documented record of all the improvements you’ve made to the home to show potential buyers.

11. Become conversant in the offer, counteroffer process.

12. Develop a clear understanding of what happens during closing and make sure you’ll be able to take care of your part.

13. Figure out what you plan to do when you sell the house, to wit, are you going to buy another house and when will you move?

While these guidelines will take you a long way, it is important you understand the specific laws of your state. Once you have those down, the process typically goes fairly smoothly. Considering you’ll save thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in real estate commissions, any bumps in the road will be more than worth it.

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The History Of Vacuum Cleaners

January 18, 2025   Matt

The History Of Vacuum Cleaners

Before the vacuum cleaner the simple task of cleaning floors was not so simple. Area rugs would need to be taken outside, hung from posts and beaten by a large wooden beating stick. Floors were swept and the the debris was picked of by hand and then discarded. Today when we vacuum our floors and carpets it usually takes about ten minutes, but before 1880 cleaning carpets and floors was an all day task.

When vacuum cleaners were first invented they did not resemble the vacuum cleaners of today. These first vacuum cleaners were large and heavy and were usually transported from house to house by horse and carriage or were built in the attics of larger homes with a suction system that was run throughout the house. One of the first large vacuum cleaner units was invented by British engineer called Herbert Booth. Herberts invention consisted of a large box with a gas powdered motor that turned large fans to create suction. Long bendable houses were fed through the doors and windows of a house and debris was sucked into the gas powered unit outside. This first vacuum cleaner was large and heavy and required it to be pulled by horses.

The vacuum cleaner as we know it today was invented in 1908 by James Murray Spangler. This first version of the vacuum cleaner is a far cry from the vacuum cleaners of today due to its simplicity and lack of power. Around 1920 William Hoover purchased the patent for this first vacuum cleaner from James Spangler and the Hoover Vacuum Cleaner Company that we know today was born. This first upright vacuum cleaner resembled a box on a stick with a satin bag attached to catch debris. The actual vacuum cleaner itself was made from a pillow case, an electric fan and a modified soap box. The beater bar was added to the vacuum cleaner around 1926 which dramatically improved the performance of the unit. This Hoover vacuum cleaner soon became know as the Hoover Model 700 and was an instant hit. William Hoovers new patent was soon to catch on and by 1950 nearly every household in America had its very own Hoover vacuum cleaner.

The basic design and principle of the vacuum cleaner remained the same from the 1950’s through to the 1980’s. In this 30 year span additional modifications were made to the principal design such as vacuum cleaner self propulsion and an exterior hose that could quickly attach to the vacuum cleaner to clean baseboards and other hard to reach areas. In the 1980’s James Dyson invented the cyclonic bag less vacuum cleaner with increased suction and the added savings of not needing a filter bag to catch the debris. This cyclonic vacuum cleaner creates a vortex in the debris chamber that sends the debris to the outside walls of the container and the air is then pushed out through an exhaust vent.

In the late 1980’s to early 1990’s many vacuum companies started to manufacturer hybrid vacuum cleaners that were built to perform different vacuum duties. The back pack vacuum is one of these hybrids and consists of a canister like vacuum cleaner that is worn on the back like a back pack with a long hose that is used to clean walls ceilings and hard to reach places. The wet dry vacuum cleaner was introduced not only pick up dry debris but also liquids. This type of vacuum utilizes a motor and a float valve that protects the motor against water contact and damage to the electrical interior of the motor windings.

The latest and greatest innovation in vacuum cleaners is the closed system vacuum cleaner. It is currently being designed in England and its primary goal is to not suck air in and then exhaust it out but to circulate the air in a closed chamber so that dust particles are not released into the air. By keeping dust and other particles in the vacuum cleaner chamber the air in the environment that is being cleaned is not polluted.

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Some Ideas To Help You Shop For Jewelry

January 03, 2025   Matt

Some Ideas To Help You Shop For Jewelry

If you’ve purchased jewelry, it’s important to take the time to take care of it. Just a little effort can make even a simple piece of jewelry last for a long time. In this article, you’ll find out ways you can take better care of your jewelry, and how you can make old jewelry look like new.

To best protect the investment you made in your jewelry purchase, take care of it. Do not wear it when you do something like cleaning your house. If you do this, the chemicals you expose your jewelry to could harm the precious metals and stones. It’s likely worth the minute that it takes to remove it.

Keep your silver jewelry untarnished and clean. Your pieces do not look good when they are dirty. You can clean them at home using toothpaste or baking soda. Lightly scrub with the toothpaste or soak in baking soda overnight. You will wake up in the morning to clean shiny silver.

Jewelry is a very personal item, and picking a nice peace is largely a subjective decision. You should examine your tastes and decide whether you would like to spend you allotted budget on a few nice pieces or on many pieces of lower quality. Once you have made this choice, you can focus on what pieces you need.

Try displaying your jewelry with a fine jewelry box that opens with drawers or a vertical jewelry box with glass doors. Don’t just allow your jewelry to hide away in the dark; properly display it, complete with a gorgeous box. Most vertical boxes also include hooks for fishhook earrings, necklaces and bracelets.

Use broken jewelry as well as odds and ends jewelry pieces to glue onto a picture frame to hold a special photo. A clear silicone is all that is needed to create a dazzling frame just perfect for a wedding photo or use old costume jewelry from the right era to surround a photo of a favorite grandmother. Jewelry-covered frames make gorgeous gifts too!

When looking to invest in jewelry containing sapphires, opals or rubies make sure that you understand what lab created means. Lab created gemstones are grown in a laboratory using scientific means. Jewelry that you see labeled as lab created such as sapphire has never seen Mother Nature. If you are looking for natural gemstones, you may be paying a higher price and spend significant time looking for a vendor outside of your local mall.

When it comes to taking care of your jewelry be sure that you are using only mild cleaning solutions when cleaning it. This will ensure that you are not compromising the structural integrity of your jewelry as well as not causing further surface damage such as discoloration. When in doubt, look for jewelry safe cleaning products when shopping.

Taking care of your jewelry lets you get the most for your money. A quality piece of jewelry should be able to last you a lifetime. Thanks to the tips in this article, you now know how to keep your jewelry looking great. If you keep the advice here in mind, you’ll be enjoying your favorite earrings and necklaces for years to come.

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