Keep Your Apt Cleaner for Longer

These tips can be as easy as putting stuff away as soon as use it, or we have some great DIY tips that will also help you in the never ending quest for a clean home.  You can learn more at apartment therapy.


Put it back after you use it: This is the simplest tip and the one that, if it's the only tip you take away, will render your house clean enough. It's also the one I'm most guilty of not following. I realized that the number one reason I feel grumpy about putting stuff away is that most of the time, it's not easy to put it away — the shelf it goes on is too high, the closet it goes in is too crowded, the drawer is too full. Recognize yourself? Then it's time to rethink the homes of the things you hate putting away the most. For me, it was the vacuum cleaner. Once I moved it from the coat closet (seemingly convenient but I had to move a lot of stuff to get it out) to the scary closet (a few steps further away but all I have to do is shove it inside), not only did I vacuum more often but after I did, the vacuum didn't sit out for days while I got up the "courage" to put it away.

Keep it where you use it: A sharpie in the freezer to mark those bagged leftovers, pens by where I plug in my iPhone, laundry detergent with my clothes, dishes stashed near my sink, the extra set of sheets stored underneath the mattress. The less effort I need to make to put something away (or find it), the more often it will actually get put away (see above). Even if the place you put it seems crazy (jewelry in the kitchen, vitamins by the front door) if it works for you and it gets put back, work it. It's your house.

Chuck the stuff you don't use: As Laure pointed out in her post about decluttering, some stuff, as much as you love it and think it's ridiculously beautiful and useful (the usual criteria for keeping something), is just not working for your life. As hard as it is to admit that there isn't a place in my life for that fully-equipped wicker picnic hamper, that I will never be a person who wears Mary Jane flats and that teacups are made for people who actually drink tea from teacups not mugs, getting rid of these things can have an enormous affect on your cleaning routine. Donate them to someplace that gives a receipt so I can take them off my taxes or gift them to a friend that will love and use them. I can even photograph the things that are sentimental to me or that I find particularly beautiful. Now my home has more room to house the things I actually use and I feel a lot less guilty.

Have an outbox: I started using an outbox during my first Cure and I haven't looked back. Most of us have a problem detaching from our stuff even if it's stuff we don't use or want. Of course there's the junk. That's easy to get rid of but man do I feel guilty when I'm getting rid of something I paid good money for, that was gifted to me by a good friend or that I inherited. That's where the outbox comes in. I use a bag but you can use a box, a spot in the closet or a little-used corner of a room. I put stuff here while I live without it (and subconsciously work through the anxiety of getting rid of it). After about a month or so, it's easier to make a rational decision about what to do with it.

Quality over quantity: My life got a lot simpler when I started to cut down on how much of any one thing I bought. For example, I have two sets of sheets. One for the wash, one for the bed. It feels good knowing that I have less to store and I don't feel guilty about buying stuff that's a little better quality because I know I'm definitely going to using it.

Make one thing in every room a priority item: I learned this from Flylady whose famous directive is to keep your kitchen sink clean. There's a "sink" in every room. Concentrate on keeping that one thing clean and the rest of the room will feel clean and eventually the clean will spread to the surrounding areas. For me, that means keeping the bed made, the coffee table clear, my desk free of papers and the bathroom sink wiped.

Use a landing strip: It's not only a place to put down the mail and the keys, it's also a launch pad where I put stuff that I'm planning to take with me for the next day. While this may seem to be more of an organizing tip rather than a cleaning tip, once I started using it, I found that it was much less likely that I was going to rip apart the house looking for my dry cleaning receipt. I started out my day on the right foot, came home to a calm home and I felt relaxed. Home clean home is home sweet home.

Happy Fourth of July and Trivia Answer!

We hope everyone has a great Fourth of July!  Here is the answer to our trivia question.

Answer: The Pennsylvania Evening Post

After John Dunlap of Philadelphia printed copies of the declaration for the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, printers throughout the Colonies produced their own versions. The one from the Pennsylvania Evening Post came out on July 6, 1776.

Did you get it right?

Take Away the Stress of Gift Giving

Are you stressed out with the amount of gifts you need to purchase this summer?  Graduations, weddings, showers, and the occasional birthday party can put stress on a well planned out budget. Apartment Therapy  has some great tips on how to take the stress out of gift giving.

It feels great to give gifts, though we could all do without the financial stress that comes with it. But finding great gifts does not have to be a source of anxiety if you take some time to plan and think through your gifting strategies. Here are some smart strategies for saving money on great gifts!

1. Do your research. If you have a particular gift in mind that you want to get someone, make sure you do your research and cross-reference all the stores online to make sure you are getting the best deal. Don't hesitate to use a coupon code or take advantage of sales. Getting a gift on sale does not mean you are cheap, it means you are smart!

2. Think ahead. My sister has this brilliant strategy that I am trying to adopt. She knows who she needs to give gifts to in the coming year and she keeps her eye out for special things to gift each person when she is out and about. She is able to find wonderful and meaningful things in boutique shops and thrift stores alike. These items are tasteful and personal, like a unique ring or a funny book, but don't need to cost her too much. In lieu of money, she is giving her time and mindfulness in finding the gift, which is what gift giving should be about. The recipient of the gift can truly feel the love and care that comes from such a habit.

3. Buy in bulk. When you come across a great gift idea that you know you will probably use again and again, buy some of those items in bulk! For example, if you like the idea of giving personalized his and hers coffee mugs for a housewarming gift like the one here, buy white coffee mugs in bulk so that you can use them when you need to without spending the extra cash each time. They can also be used as gifts for your kids' teachers, filled with homemade biscotti or mini muffins. Ideas like homemade lip gloss or refreshing face mists are also great things to buy in bulk for and would make fun birthday presents. And while I'm suggesting great DIY ideas...

4. Spend time, not money. Don't be shy about making your gifts! There are so many great tutorials out there for making beautiful handmade gifts; take advantage of them and try your hand at a few. As a recipient of DIY gifts, I can attest that these types of gifts are just as appreciated as store bought gifts, if not more, because they are unique, thoughtful and personal.

5. Give in groups. I am finding more and more that if you have a group of mutual friends with the giftee, it is a great idea to get one gift all together. This usually allows for a bigger gift that the person may not have received from individuals, and it can cut down on the cost for the gift givers. For birthdays, my friends and I have started to all chip in for a gift card to a place where we know the birthday girl shops. It alleviates stress, is very cost efficient, and allows the friend to buy herself that blouse or dress that she has been eyeing. This also seems to be a good idea for baby showers and weddings, where there are often big ticket items on the registries. For an easy way to figure out the money, look to an app like Venmo, where you can easily make and share payments.

6. Re-gift. I am firmly on "pro" side of the regifting debate. If you have received an item that you know you will never use but could potentially be a great gift for someone else, pass it along! I don't think re-gifting is appropriate for personal items or gifts where the giver expressed to you their personal intention for you to have the gift, but anything else is fair game.

7. Don't underestimate the value of a card. A thoughtful card goes a long way. Especially in this age of texts and emails, a personal card with a handwritten and heartfelt message is a nice surprise and can be sufficient in sending your birthday love. If you need some help in this department, look to apps like Postagram which allow you to turn your personal photos into post cards that will be delivered by mail.

8. Go virtual. Giving gifts online can be both a time and money saver. There are apps like Gyft, which allows you to manage and send gift cards to your friends. If this doesn't feel personal enough to you, giving the gift of an experience can be a great gift for close friends or for people that are hard to shop for. Giftly is a handy app that can help you with that, and they offer a huge variety of ideas that range from low to high costs. Also look to places like Groupon or Living Social, where you can find some great deals for experiences to gift. Another simple virtual gift that goes a long way is sending an iTunes album. These cost between $8 and $15 and can be great gifts if you know the person will enjoy the album you want to share.

Comfort Food Tips

Do you enjoy comfort food? Here are some great recipes from around the world. Each of these recipes is considered a "comfort food" in their country. You can learn more at The Kitchn.


TOP ROW
1 How to Make Fried Rice - China
2 Cuban Black Bean Soup - Cuba
3 Korean-Style Steamed Eggs - Korea
4 African Beef & Peanut Stew - The Congo and Ghana
5 Gluten-Free Dessert Recipe: Marking's Bibingka - The Philippines

Authentic Spaghetti alla Carbonara


MIDDLE ROW
6 Vegetarian Pho (Vietnamese Noodle Soup) - Vietnam
7 Shepherd's Pie - Ireland
8 Lamb Korma - India
9 Authentic Spaghetti alla Carbonara - Italy
10 Slow-Cooked Boeuf Bourguignon - France

How to Make Baklava



BOTTOM ROW
11 Enchiladas Verdes - Mexico
12 How To Make Baklava - Greece
13 Sauerkraut, Potato & Cheese Pierogi - Poland
14 Thai Green Coconut Curry with Chicken and Zucchini - Thailand
15 Recipe: Salmon and Black Sesame Onigiri (Japanese Rice Balls) - Japan

Making the Arts Festival Green

The Green Crew at Penn State is turning the famous State College Arts Fest into a zero-waste event.  Every year the borough takes on an additional 75 tons in trash from the event.   They are adding recycling and compost bins in the food areas to cut down on waste this year.  For the group to be more affective in the future, it also involves vendors changing how they serve their food at the festival.  This knowledge they will gain this year will hopefully help reduce waste for years to come.  You can learn more at Statecollege.


No disrespect to the unglamorous job the Trash Crew has done over the years keeping our streets clean during Arts Fest, but I'm happy to report that a more relevant group is taking its place: the Green Crew.

The Green Crew grew out of a group that started meeting back in February with the goal of helping the festival become a zero-waste event. I've been following its progress with great interest.

Like many locals, I count Arts Fest as a highlight of my summer. My first stop typically has nothing to do with music or art. It's the food. But I've always been troubled by the waste. Somewhere there's a landfill straining from a mountain of plastic cups built on the purchases at Arts Fest. In fact, the entire borough takes in an extra 75 tons of trash during the festival.

This was equally troublesome to Brad Fey, a local musician and entrepreneur. But instead of complaining, he acted. He contacted the Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority to see if his goal of a zero-waste festival was even feasible. After a positive response, he approached Carol Baney, director operations for Arts Fest and a friend from Rotary Club. "I thought Brad wanted his band to play [in Arts Fest]," she recalls of the initial conversation. "But he said, 'I'm here to talk about trash.'"

Baney was sold, and took it to the board, which set a goal to refine the initiative in time for the festival's 50th anniversary in 2016.

Fest Zero was born. The group isn't a non-profit, although that's a goal. For now, it's simply a group of volunteers from the community, local government, and university working around a common cause. The biggest changes from last year will be a recycling can at every trash receptacle and compost bins near all the food vendors. "So if you're eating chicken on a stick on a paper plate, you can just toss that right into the compost bin," Fey says. (Assuming that stick is made of wood, he adds.) And members of the Green Crew will be on hand to make sure you know where to dump your items.

The borough will audit its trash during Arts Fest so the group has a starting point to measure its impact. If all goes according to plan, in future years they'll transition to where all the trash cans are just compost cans.

For that to happen, vendors need to change. As a first step in that process, the group is compiling a database of all the materials brought by food vendors. Fey envisions Fest Zero as a partner in guiding the vendors through the potentially costly transition to compostable items. If the group becomes a non-profit and receives grants, it can even offer the vendors these materials at a discount.

While making changes with vendors is still in the future, the group has plenty it can focus on right now. It's meeting with local restaurants, encouraging them to cut back on their waste. Fey happily discovered that Dante's recently launched its own sustainability initiative. In April the restaurant group enrolled in a commercial composting program with the Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority.

Initiatives like these send a powerful message to others who visit our town: If they can do it do, why can't we? "People are looking at us," Baney says. "This is great opportunity to spread the word." A powerful incentive: That 75 tons of extra trash equates to about $5,000 in added costs.

As for those lemonade cups? It's complicated. The plastic cups can't go in the traditional recycling stream because they're miscellaneous plastic. And if the lemons remain in the cup, they mess up the sorting process at the county level. At a minimum, someone from the Green Crew will be nearby trying to capture the lemons for compost. And hopefully some day we'll be drinking that lemonade from a compostable cup that can be tossed — guilt-free — into the compost bin.

So while you're enjoying the Arts Fest food this year, stop by the Fest Zero Education Booth, which will be manned by student and university representatives from The Sustainability Institute. Even better, join the Green Crew by visiting Fest Zero on Facebook. They'll need a lot of volunteers to make this initiative successful.

We've nearly conquered cleaning up our streets. But our Arts Fest footprint transcends what we can see — and what's too easy to ignore.

Have You Ever Thought About a Yard Sale?

You are out of school for the summer time to have some fun.  This means that it is time for an old past time.  Yard sales will be popping up throughout your town, and we have found some great purchases that can save you money in the future.  Grab your friends and head to the yard sale to save your household money this summer.  Apartment Therapy has some great ideas for your summer vacation.

1. Rugs. Rugs are notoriously difficult to sell secondhand, which is why you will see plenty of them around at yard sale time. Head out for a few Saturdays, you are bound to find a new rug for the kids' room for under $30. I found one recently, a 5x7 foot 100% wool rug for $5! It had been passed over by others because one small corner was a little frayed - a problem easily solved by tucking it under a crib.

2. Furniture: Do you need to furnish your apartment? Yard Sales are the perfect opportunity to find a cheap piece of furniture for your new home. 

3. Old Music: Have you always wanted an old record player or old music from your childhood you forgot about?  This is the perfect place to find that old music for a decent price.

4. Entertainment:  Yard Sales can be a great source of entertainment and a fun afternoon with friends.  You never know what treasures you are going to find!

Your Guide To A Better Night's Sleep

Is your bedroom keeping you awake at night? There are five reasons that may be the cause of your lack of sleep in your own home. This blog has a list of those reasons. It also includes a list of possible solutions that could help you in your quest for a better night's sleep. You can learn more at apartment therapy.

PROBLEM #1: ALLERGIES


Is your stuffy nose keeping you from getting shut eye? Seasonal allergies are one thing, but dust mites are with us all year round. Your bed is Disneyland for those little critters, who thrive on all the dead skin cells your body provides.


Fixes: Vacuum your room with a HEPA filter and clean your bedding as often as you can— including your pillows, which you can throw in the dryer for 15 minutes to kill off any existing bugs. Instead of scented detergent, use a few drops of eucalyptus oil in your laundry. Put hypoallergenic protective covers on your mattress and pillows. And lastly, strip your mattress before you go out of town to give it time to air out. (I won’t rile up pet owners by suggesting you ban furry loved ones from the bedroom, but it’s worth thinking about.) Read more onbedroom allergies here.






PROBLEM #2: LIGHT


Your room is too bright at night. Whether it’s coming from the outside, a nightlight, the television screen, or your blinking alarm clock, any light keeps your body fooled into thinking it’s not sleeping time.


Fixes: Buy really dark curtains, or add liner, to block out street lamps. Also turn off electronic devices and remove anything else that emits brightness. (If you’re worried about getting up in time, try covering your alarm clock instead.) Lastly, swap out higher watt lightbulbs in your bedside lamp for dimmer ones; these will aid the transition as you’re winding down from the day by reading in bed at night.








PROBLEM #3: TEMPERATURE


Some nights you're too hot, and other times, it's too cold. Sleep is induced when you are at rest and your core body temperature lowers. If your heat is on too high (or too cold for that matter), your internal thermostat fluctuates which leads to restless sleep.


Fixes: Everyone is comfortable at different temps, so experiment to find the right one for you. There's no right answer but cooler is generally better - start in the 65 degree range. There are always fans and blankets to help you regulate, but know that bedding material makes a difference too; memory foam pillows and mattresses, for example, are hotter than more traditional ones. If you are still having trouble staying asleep, look into bedding and pads that keep you cooler at night.








PROBLEM #4: NOISE


There’s the 5 am garbage truck variety that’s impossible to ignore. But when it'stoo quiet, the slightest disruption can reach epic proportions and you find yourself focused on that weird hum or dripping faucet. Either way, you need a way to soundproof your sleep.


Fixes: If it’s too loud, wear earplugs as a first resort. Or, try a white noise machine or app —or even a basic fan— to drown out any noises that violate your REM cycle. If it’s really bad, get as far away from the offending noise as possible. Either move your bed to another wall to dampen neighbor noises, or, if you have the option, try swapping your current bedroom with another room entirely. Read more on bedroom noise here.








PROBLEM #5: MATTRESS


Having a healthy, comfortable, supportive mattress is critical to a good night's sleep.


Fixes: Flip your mattress with the seasons, alternating between end-over-end and side-over-side rotation. If it's time for a new one, check out Danny Seo’sgreat tips on mattress shopping. A couple of years ago, Maxwell also experimented with different mattress brands for twelve months and wrote about it in his Year in Bed series.