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The Homeowner’s New Year’s Resolution List
When most people think about New Year’s Resolutions, they think about self-improvement, like losing weight or saving more money. But the new year is also a good time to change some things about the way you treat your home. This time next year, you’ll be glad you did. Whether it’s paying closer attention to your
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7 Reasons You Should Keep Rubbing Alcohol in your Home
Rubbing alcohol sounds like some kind of old-timey health product that never even worked in the first place, but in reality, it’s a really inexpensive solution to a lot of minor problems you may encounter around the house. You won’t need to use it often, most likely, but it’s a good idea to keep a bottle
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5 Old Wives Tales That Turn Out To Be True
Ah, the old wives tale, a bit of passed-down superstition that seems just weird enough it might be true. Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis, swimming on a full stomach causes cramps, shaving makes the hair grow back thicker — this sort of stuff. Most of it is hooey. To the point that calling something “an
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10 80s and 90s Commercials to Take You Back
Believe it or not, 1995 was 20 whole years ago, which means kids who were watching television in 1995 are how buying homes and raising kids and reminiscing about the 80s and 90s the same way their parents waxed nostalgic about the 60s and 70s. That goes for a lot of us here at Chesmar
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7 Tricks to Save Money on your Heating Bill
Winter is upon us here in south Texas, and furnaces all over are kicking on to make toasty homes for the holidays. It’s a lovely time of year, but it can be an expensive one too. Fortunately, there are a lot of simple things you can do to ease the pain on your heating bill.
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8 Cooking Mistakes You Didn’t Know You Were Making
There are a tremendous number of myths and old wives tales that surround the home kitchen, and lots of well-meaning cooks make mistakes based on misinformation or a misunderstanding of some scientific process or another. Here are eight common mistakes you might not even realize you’re making. Stirring Lumps out of Pancake Batter For perfectionists, it’s tempting
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Why You Should Compost, and How To Do It
If you have a garden, or need good soil for any reason whatsoever, composting is just about the most sensible thing you could possibly do. Here’s what a compost pile is: A whole bunch of organic material — grass clippings, food scraps, dead plants, pet waste, etc. — piled up together for long enough they turn into
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Trust Us, Just Try this Gravy this Thanksgiving
We know, we know, we know: Grandma has a certain gravy recipe that you’ve been having at Thanksgiving as long as you can remember, and it’s not Thanksgiving without it, and if it is not served, you’ll have a full-blown mutiny on your hands, with gravy boats being toppled over and rolls being throw’d. We
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How to Build a Fire in Your Fireplace
Winter culture is not much of a thing in these parts, but it nonetheless is true that many south Texas homes have fireplaces. Maybe more for ambiance than anything else, but there are sure to be a few night this winter during which a nice warm fireplace would do the house well. Incredibly, building such a
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How to Make a House Seem Clean in 5 Minutes (Without Actually Cleaning Much)
This post is for a certain kind of homeowner. A homeowner that likes a clean home, sure, a homeowner that maintains their house and mows the grass and gives the whole home a nice cleaning once a week or so, but, you know, doesn’t necessarily keep it that way all the time, and has company