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How to Utilize All those Extra Plastic Bags in Your Home

If you do a lot of grocery shopping or come home from shopping trips with plenty of bags, you might be struggling to find a use for them rather than simply throwing them away.

The good news is that there are many ways you can utilize the plastic bags lying around in your home, and when you use them well, you don’t have to keep buying them for different purposes. Here are a few things that you should be doing with your extra plastic bags right now:

Use them for your bathroom

Lining the trash cans in your bathroom and bedroom with plastic bags makes sure all your waste is in one place. Instead of getting special liners, using spare plastic bags from your grocery shopping is much cheaper. If your trash cans are rather small, you’ll also find yourself going through your spare plastic bags rather quickly, which means you will always be getting more out of your grocery shopping every time.

Save them for packing material

Single-use plastic bags can actually be reused in many ways.

Plastic bags are perfect as packing material for cushioning all kinds of fragile items, from everyday kitchenware to decorative vases to electronics and appliances that you might need for your work. One advantage plastic bags have is that aside from placing things inside of them, you can also stuff them inside larger containers to keep things from jostling in place too much.

Sealing paint cans

When you’re done painting for the day, you can make your paint last longer by placing the plastic bag first before the lid. Doing this will prevent any accumulated dry paint from chipping off the lid and falling into the can, which can affect the wet paint.

Keeping your fridge clean

 

The easiest way to keep your refrigerator clean when storing food in plastic containers is by wrapping them with a plastic bag before placing them inside. This works especially well when thawing meat in the fridge, since not only does it keep the fridge free from bacteria, but it also keeps any stains to a minimum.

You can also do the same for milk jugs or cartons, as well as for beverages and containers that tend to sweat. By covering them with plastic bags, you no longer have to clean up any rings formed by the falling droplets.

Ripen fruit faster

Place unripe fruit into a bag and seal it, but be sure to leave a little room for ventilation. Doing this traps the ethylene in the fruit, which will help it ripen much faster than it would uncovered. Adding a banana or a papaya in the bag also helps to speed up the process.

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Reasons Why You Can’t Get Your Home’s Color Scheme Right

Reasons Why You Can’t Get Your Home’s Color Scheme Right

Even if you don’t have a room filled with furniture and decor, having a solid color scheme is ultimately what gives most of the atmosphere in your home. But while there are many that get the job done beautifully, there are also many color schemes that just don’t.

In fact, here are a few reasons why your home’s color scheme may not result in the visual aesthetic you want:

Assuming all neutral colors are the same

Neutral color schemes may be popular, but not being able to recognize the differences in their hues can be a big reason why your interior looks off.

For instance, different hues between beiges, greys, and off-white colors can look almost identical, there are subtle differences between them that may not show in certain types of lighting.

You don’t know how to utilize your undertones

Many color schemes can be derailed by an undertone, and you can be surprised that certain combinations simply don’t work together.

To fix the problem with your color scheme, it’s important to know the basics about how color undertones work. This way, you’ll be able to find out which ones work and which ones don’t.

You don’t know where to start

The best color schemes of your home start by learning the basics of the color wheel. These are a few things you need to know about when looking for a solid color scheme for you to work with:

  • Complementary – Colors that are directly opposite or contrasting of each other on the color wheel are a great way to build on a color scheme. It would also be better if these colors are contrasting in terms of saturation.
  • Monochrome – What makes monochrome appealing is how it only uses one color, but with different variations in terms of lightness and saturation that make it look more professional.
  • Analogous – Using three colors adjacent to each other can result in something that’s both harmonious and relaxing to the eye, with one dominant color and two accent colors.

It turns out that it’s much easier to find all the right surfaces, patterns, and decor if you already have a solid color palette that you can easily work with.

If you don’t know where to start, here are a few ways you can come up with a solid color scheme:

  • Explore new ideas – Try color schemes that you’ve never tried before or would otherwise never try. You can also try adding accent walls or painting your ceiling.
  • Neutral isn’t always beige – There’s more to neutral color schemes than grey and beige – you can also complement it with metallic paints, or even work with dark browns.
  • Embrace the monochrome – The easiest way to create a relaxing room is to create monochromatic dark colors, with a base color and a lighter and darker shade of that said color.
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How to Decide for Your Home’s Color Scheme

Some homeowners take their time deciding for the color scheme, because let’s admit it, even deciding on one color can be difficult. We even take our time deciding what to wear, so just think how complicated it is to choose paint that can’t be taken off like clothes?

Here are some tips to make the process easier.

Start with the Largest Room or Space

You can start by deciding on the color scheme of the biggest space in the house, such as your living room or dining room. Imagine how you want it to look like by maximizing the furniture style and colors, the natural lighting, placement of windows and view outside the windows, and the type of decorations you want installed.

There is No Wrong Color

You can pick any color you want, after all, it’s your home! If neutral colors bore you, then go for bolder shades; or if you want the space to be relaxing, pick colors that are cool to the eyes and won’t clash with your furniture and decorations. Just think of picking colors as if you’re choosing the color of your clothes. Why pick something you don’t like just because your interior designer recommended it?

Use One or Two Colors when Picking Hues

Once you have decided on one color or a two-color combination in the biggest room or central space, you can use the same color scheme to pick hues for the other rooms. You don’t have to pick the same colors, instead, you can choose shades that will either contrast or match the first color combination. This is the right time to use the color wheel you learned about in your art class.

Consider Lighting and Natural Views

If your house has open spaces or a room that receives natural lighting or has a spectacular view, you can change your color scheme to highlight and enhance the lighting and view. Use a darker colors for the floor, then go lighter vertically, to create an illusion of a bigger space.

Use the 60-30-10 Rule

If you want to be systematic about the color scheme, interior designers usually recommend the 60-30-10 rule for the dominant color, secondary color, and accent color, respectively. The dominant color is found on your walls, while the secondary colors should be on your upholstery. If you don’t like clashing colors, you might want to limit the selection to just three colors throughout the house.

Different Colors for Different Colors

Finally, why limit yourself to one color scheme for both the upstairs and downstairs areas? By focusing on each space, the task becomes much more manageable, plus you can also experiment with different combinations. Don’t forget the connecting spaces such as the stairs, halls, and landings, too.

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3 Important Benefits of Hiring an Electrician

Today, electricity plays a major part in our daily lives and everyday endeavors. So much so that when something goes wrong with an electrical system, a lot of work is hindered and we find ourselves considerably inconvenienced. Also, it can be dangerous to deal with damaged electrical wires and cables by yourself, so seeking electrician services will be the most optimal decision to make.

Professional service

You wouldn’t want to install power point switches by yourself without having much knowledge about it. Now you’re asking, “what is a power point switch anyway?” When you hire a certified electrical worker, you won’t have to worry about trying to understand all the complex electricity stuff.

Working on an electrical system is complicated and requires quite the expertise for ensured safety and optimum results. With that, calling a licensed electrician here in Singapore for wire short-circuit help is the safest option you can go for when you experience power failure at home or in your office.

There are also other electricians assigned to specific tasks in the field. Residential linemen, for example, are the ones who establish and maintain electrical lines from power plants to residential and commercial areas. There is also a cabling technician who installs and repairs wires for cable television and internet. This can be good to know when calling an electrician depending on the type of service you need.

Guaranteed safety

Problems with electricity usually involves the power supply, but there can still be many factors otherwise. So, you should avoid tampering with your circuit breakers and other electrical works without decent knowledge and caution.

When you experience power failure at home, it should be a good idea to call for electric services, mainly if you don’t know the cause. Conversely, there must just be a power outage in the residential area you’re in. Still, do not try to do things yourself and mess with the wires without notice from a licensed electrician.

Doing electrical works yourself is never a good idea, unless you are a licensed electrician by profession. If you need to connect electric wires in the building, contact a certified electrical contractor based in Singapore. Meddling with high-voltage components without proper knowledge and experience not only risks further damage to property but to your safety as well.

24/7 services

Having problems with our electricity can literally come at any time of the day, luckily for us, another bonus of having electrical service is that you can call even at the dead of night. Some companies have a 24 hour electrician ready on call. Finding a commercial electrical contractor is also pretty common because they cater to HDB commercial units and some also work around the clock.

Employing a home electric handyman that offers his services round-the-clock will be a very worthy investment. You might be working on an important project at night, and then something suddenly goes wrong with the electricity. Having a trusty electrician to call at crucial times like these can take some burden off your shoulders.

No matter where you live in Singapore, you won’t have to worry about solving electrical problems by yourself. The benefits you get from employing electrician services can far surpass the drawbacks of doing amateur electrical works on your own.

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3 Ways to Maintain Clean-Smelling Clothes

It isn’t new for anyone to want our clothes to smell like they’ve just been freshly picked from the washer. From formal wear to everyday casuals, we would want to extend their freshness and pleasant smell as long as possible. However, with all the pollution and mere environmental factors which is an inevitable given in our daily lives, we couldn’t help but cut short our clothes’ pleasant aroma.

To extend the fresh scent our clothes have, here are a few tips to help us in our dilemma:

1. Sprinkle essential oils
There are different ways to boost the clean scent of your clothes using essential oils. First, you can directly use it during the final cycle of your rinsing. Add around ten to twenty drops of essential oils before hanging your clothes to dry or tossing them in the dryer. The other way is to add a few drops to a clean washcloth and include it in the dryer.

This procedure will make your clothes just lightly fragrant, leaving the people around you guessing what perfume you wear. Another way to add essential oils is to dilute it in water and directly spray it to clothes that have gone musty with disuse. So it’s up to you to take your pick. Just don’t forget to replenish those essential oils since they’re used for a whole lot of other purposes.

2. Store with old air fresheners
Even when you think those air fresheners are within the brink of retirement, think again. Just as the saying goes, oldies but still goodies. Get those air fresheners that has seemingly exhausted all its scent and tuck it in the back of your cabinet or wardrobe. When left in not so well-ventilated places, those wrappers or worn-out containers can sure do the trick.

Since the area is enclosed, the faint scent of the old air-fresheners will still exude the right amount of scent that’s just right for your clothes. Not too concentrated, not too faint either. So before you chuck them straight to the bin, check if your clothes need a little boosting.

3. Wrap in old dryer sheets
For those using dryers for their laundry, you might want to reconsider before tossing those dryer sheets to the garbage. They’re actually a good enhancer for your closet. Not only is it consistent with the scent you used for your laundry, it’ll keep your clothes smelling fresh much longer. Plus, you’ve maximized your household supplies to its exhaustion. In the long run, this tip might just actually help you make the most out of your money spent for laundry needs.

These tips aren’t guaranteed. It always has to be tried first if it suits you or not. But the keyword here is try. Maybe you’ll finally find the answer to your wardrobe predicament.

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Laundry Saving Tips

In today’s modern era, many equipment were invented for the comfort of all people. An example of this are cellphones. Today, cellular phones are the most popular gadgets which may be about to be declared as one of the basic need of people. In many countries in the world, there’s no doubt that cellphones really give comfort to all users.

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Apart from cellphones, washing machine is one equipment that is invented and is now used by many people in order to ease their burden in washing their clothes. Unfortunately, using this gadget is absolutely expensive however, it can ease the pain that people feel when washing clothes.

If you think that using washing machine can help you save money, actually, it’s not. It will only let you spend more and it increases the chance of damage to your laundry. To save money in laudrying your clothes, here are some tips:

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  • Manually Wash Your Clothes: One of the things that teenagers hate is performing the manual method of washing clothes. Although it’s a little bit weary, it can really save you a lot.
  • Use Detergent Bar: While it is very easy to wash clothes using detergent powders, it is still not a big help most especially when you are saving in reality, you can use 2 sachet of powders in an average number of clothes. But with the use of detergent bars, you will only use 1 cut of bar for the numerous garments.
  • Use Lemon in Stains: Instead of using bleaching chemicals in your clothes, use the juice of the lemon and squeeze it to your clothes and the stain will be gone.

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