The buzz of activity during the holiday season can make organizing your home and keeping everything neat quite a challenge. Here are several tips you can follow to control clutter in your home so you don’t get too stressed-out over the fast-approaching holidays.

Don’t overdo the Christmas decorations. Matching your display according to your personality, budget, and time limitations will make it easier for you to enjoy the holidays. If you don’t have extra time to dust, don’t put a lot of indoor decorations that will require you to dust them perfectly. Keep everything minimal and only put out a few well thought-of decorations like wreaths and centerpieces.

Plan out your clutter. Focus on getting your shopping done first then spending an entire evening wrapping gifts instead of leaving out your gift wrapping supplies during the days before Christmas. That way, you only clutter up your house once then everything gets put away once the task of wrapping gifts is done. You can do the same for other activities like baking, making decorations with your kids, or writing cards for family members and friends.

Finally, control incoming clutter that appears during the holidays. During this time of the year, your kids will probably come home with holiday projects done in school. Whether you want to display it, send it to grandma, or archive it, make sure you have a plan in place so you can enjoy your children’s holiday efforts while knowing that it won’t add clutter to your busy home.

Putting these simple tips together to control the clutter in your home will make the holiday season something to enjoy instead of something to stress over. After all, spending time with the people you love is what’s important during the holidays.

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Basements can be damp and musty places to be in unless they’re waterproofed well. Basement waterproofing can be done in several ways–some require professional assistance, but most of these can be done on your own.

In order to save money on unneeded repairs, it’s important to first discover the root of your leakage problem. Inspect your basement thoroughly and check if the leakage is coming from the plumbing or cracks in the windows, walls, and concrete. You can clean and repair the damaged areas yourself by patching up and sealing the concrete with a sealant.

It’s important that your basement has a drainage system installed. Without a good drainage system, you’ll definitely experience leaks even after sealing the concrete.

Make sure your drain pipes and gutters are unclogged and working properly. Extend the drain spout so the water from the gutter falls far away from your home and your basement.

If your lawn slopes towards the home, you could have some drainage problems. If your basement gets damp after you water your lawn, that means your lawn hasn’t been graded properly. To prevent this from happening, make the lawn slope away from the house by terracing it and making the area close to your home the highest. You could also build the ground up towards the house.

Finally, you can seal your basement’s walls except the last three inches closest to the floor. On those three inches, install a drainage system to collect and bring water out of the basement. You can purchase a drainage system at a hardware or home improvement store and install it yourself.

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Awnings are great for seeking shelter from the sun or rain in your backyard; it also performs a double-duty of increasing your home’s aesthetic appeal. However, it’s important to store your awning before wintertime; otherwise, the build-up of snow will cause its lightweight structure to collapse.

Make sure you clean your awning thoroughly before keeping it away because dust encourages mildew growth, especially in cloth awnings. Not only are mildew marks incredibly difficult to remove – your awning’s going to stink! Even awnings made out of polyester and acrylic need to be cleaned properly. They can be stored wet for 48 hours but any longer than that and mildew will start to settle in. Since the stitching of the awning is made out of cotton, the mildew will definitely cause it to rot and for the whole thing to fall apart. Mildew also thrives in damp environments so make sure you keep your awning in a dry location to prevent growth.

Getting a retractable awning might be more convenient if you live in an area where it constantly snows. This type of awning can be folded and rolled against a wall and is self-storing once retracted. During the winter, you can remove the loose hanging valance of your retractable awning. Another way of storing it is to keep the awning retracted and keep the crank handle in the garage.

Awnings are a rather costly buy but with proper maintenance, they should last you for several years. Keeping them free from dust and storing them in a dry place during winter will definitely increase its lifespan.

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The increasing popularity of gas logs led manufacturers to come up with several appliances that use this technology. One of these is the gas log fireplace, which you can mount to the wall of your home. But did you know that the residue from burning gas logs is not always ventilated outside? Before having a gas log fireplace installed, learn the difference between vent-free and vented units and their advantages or disadvantages.

Vented gas logs can replace wood logs in a traditional chimney. There are those that use natural or propane gas, and they burn with the damper open. Keep in mind though that this is not a solution for a chimney problem. If you’ve got a dirty or damaged chimney, using a gas log could still cause a chimney fire. Before burning gas logs on a traditional fireplace, make sure that your chimney gets professionally checked for any cracks and that any creosote buildup gets cleaned.

As for ventilation, direct venting is your best option. This system uses a two-layer pipe placed through the wall behind the fireplace unit, or above it. One pipe gets air from the outside to make the gas combustible, the other takes waste to the outside and effectively reduces the risk of carbon monoxide buildup inside the house.

Vent-free gas logs, on the other hand, come with their own Oxygen Depletion Sensor, which turns the gas off before the carbon monoxide levels in the room get dangerously high. They are designed to create a very hot flame that decreases the level of soot and carbon monoxide produced by other types of gas logs. Since vent-free gas logs create lots of heat, it’s very important to keep combustible materials far from the fireplace. While in use, make sure the fireplace doors are left open and leave a window slightly open to let fresh air into the room.

Whether or not you get a vented or vent-free gas log fireplace, make sure you follow the manufacturer’s instructions before burning any fuel. Observe basic fireplace safety at all times to prevent any fireplace accidents.

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