We are huge fans of Blue Orange Games! We have a large media center in our family room and one whole side is full of games!
During October we fill a large jack o’ lantern bowl on our dining room table full of some of our favorite games and books. We play one every night while we eat dinner! And we still like to listen to the mister read spooky stories in the dark while eating pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! You can never be too old!
Right now, we love Sketch It!, Speedeebee!, and Flash!, they are great for the entire family, even the mister enjoys them!
Blue Orange Games has a new fun game right in time for Green Halloween – Spot It! Halloween. So fun! The Spot It! games are a fun matching game with an astounding concept: there is always one matching symbol between any two cards. To win all 5 mini-games, you have to be the quickest to spot it! Spot It! Halloween adds a twist to the traditional game with jack O’ lanterns, zombies, creepy crawlies, and other Halloween goodies. + Spot It! Halloween $24.99 + Blue Orange Games
With warm weather finally here, it’s time to enjoy all that summer has to offer. But one thing many homeowners don’t want to deal with during the summer is pests. Ants, cockroaches, and termites tend to make their way into homes when the weather is nice. And these pests can be more than just annoying — bugs can do a lot of damage to a home, which is why it’s important to take care of them quickly. But it’s not always ideal to use harsh chemicals in your home to rid of bugs, especially if you’re one of the 44% of U.S. homeowners who have a dog. Chemical pesticides can be harmful to the health of people and animals as well as harmful to the environment. So let’s take a look at a few natural ways to get rid of and prevent bugs that won’t be harmful to you, your family, your pets, or the planet.
Do Some Landscaping
Pest control should actually start outside of your home. If you have trees, bushes, and other plants right up next to your house, this can make it easier for pests to enter your home. With trees and bushes right next to the house, pests can simply crawl up them and make the jump to the house. So take a look at the landscaping around your house and make changes as needed — look for greenery that is close to the house especially near the roof, windows, doors, and cracks in the siding. You should also check the cracks in sidewalks next to your house, which is a common place for pests to hang out. While it’s true that having smoother pavement can extend pavement life by up to 25%, it’s also important for controlling pests. So start with some basic landscaping to make it more difficult for pests to enter your home.
Use Soaps and Oils
If you’re looking for a product to buy, you can consider insecticidal soaps and oils. These products are botanical mixtures and contain no harsh chemicals. You can spray these soaps or oils right on the pests or around your house as a preventative measure. If you’re one of the 20% of homeowners who have termites as their main pest issue, this may not be an ideal solution. Insecticidal soaps and oils may be less effective on hard-shelled pests unless used on the eggs. These soaps and oils will be effective against many pests, while not harming other bugs nearby, like ladybugs.
Grow Some Herbs
Some insects, like ants and spiders, don’t like the smell of certain herbs. So even if you don’t use herbs very often, it may prove to be beneficial to grow some herbs in your house, specifically in the kitchen. Some herbs to consider include mint, rue, tansy, and pennyroyal. Or if you don’t want to actually grow any herbs, you can also consider placing dried bunches of these herbs around your home. Placing herbs near windows, doors, and other cracks pests can sneak in could do the trick. Additionally, you can spray some mint, lavender, or other oils near these trouble spots for further prevention. Either way, having some of these herbs in your home is sure to help deter pests from entering.
Change Out Stored Items
Homeowners tend to change things in their house regularly, especially with interior designers recommending updating home decor at least every 10 years. But there are some items in a home that rarely get changed out — stored items, like towels, toiletries, cleaning supplies, and bags are perfect nesting locations for pests because they don’t get moved around often. The average home in the U.S. has 300,000 items in it. So during the warmer months, it’s crucial to check on your stored items. Make your way around the house and check those cupboards and drawers you rarely go into to move the items and wash or replace them as needed. While this may seem like a nuisance, it can go a long way in preventing pests from settling in your home.
As you can see, you don’t have to resort to harsh and harmful chemicals to keep your home pest-free this summer. These simple tips will help prevent and kill pests in your home while keeping you and your family safe — all while being better for the environment, too.
Saving the environment is a concern that radiates through a number of generations right now, which is why you are seeing more people interested in making their home more eco friendly. If this is something that you have been thinking about doing, but you’re not sure what steps you need to take, it’s a good thing that you have come across this article. Down below, we’re going to be looking at some of the things that you can do to make your home more eco friendly, so keep reading if you want to find out more.
Change Up Insulation
What kind of insulation do you have in your home right now? If you’re not sure, head up to the attic where you will be able to find out what’s up there, or send a professional if you know nothing about this sort of area. In fact, it’s probably better to send a professional to check it out anyway, just in case there is any asbestos up there. They know what safety precautions need to be taken to ensure that they are at the least amount of risk of being impacted by it. If someone in your family has been impacted by the asbestos severely, then you might want to look into contacting mesothelioma attorneys who have strong experience to help you with your case.
Once you have discovered what insulation you have, you can decide whether or not to change it. Depending on what kind of material has been used, you may need to switch to a more eco-friendly option. Take a look online to find out what these alternatives are and then make the choice that suits your home best.
Make Use Of Solar Energy
Another thing that you can do is make use of solar energy. If you live somewhere that is particularly known for having a lot of sunshine, then you are going to see significant improvements on your energy bill, as well as doing your part for the planet. Relying on solar energy is a far more sustainable method than using electric and fossil fuels all the time, so make sure that you seriously consider this. You don’t have to rely solely on this type of energy, of course, but anywhere you can is going to be a significant improvement.
Take A Look At Your Windows
Finally, have you checked your windows lately? If there is anything wrong with the sealant or there is a crack in the window, then you’re going to be letting heat out of your home, meaning you will be using heaters more often. If you can instead make sure that your windows are up to standard, you’re not going to lose as much heat, making your home more eco friendly. Not using things like radiators is always a good option for the environment, so do what you can to make this possible.
We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now have a better understanding of what you can do to make your home more eco friendly. Good luck, and hopefully, you will see the results that you are looking for soon.
After spending so much time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be among the large portion of homeowners who are itching to renovate their space. However, the construction and remodeling industry can be a wasteful one. Many of the traditional materials or techniques you would use when renovating your home can be harmful to the environment.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to make your home renovation environmentally-friendly as well as aesthetically-pleasing. Let’s take a look at the eco-friendly ways in which you can renovate your home this year.
Choose Bamboo For Flooring
If you’re taking on a big project like remodeling a room in your home or finishing your basement, which can cost 80% less than buying a bigger home, consider what type of wood you’re choosing for your flooring. Due to rampant industrialization, deforestation is a serious problem around the world and any project that involves using wood can further exacerbate the issue.
Bamboo, however, is durable, moisture-resistant, and grows back faster than wood. There is an abundance of bamboo in the world that you can harvest without destroying its roots. Not only does this make it an environmentally-friendly option, but growing bamboo also requires fewer pesticides. By choosing bamboo, you’ll get chic flooring that is better for your health as well as the health of forests around the world.
Use Low-VOC or VOC-Free Paint
An easy way to be eco-friendly while doing home renovations is to use low-VOC or VOC-free paint for any painting projects you’re doing. Short for volatile organic compounds, VOCs produce molecules that are harmful to the environment as well as to your health. When VOCs are in the interior paint you use, you’ll be negatively affecting your indoor air quality and potentially causing irritation to your eyes and respiratory tract. As acute upper respiratory infections are already among the top five medical diagnoses seen in urgent care centers, you certainly don’t need to impact that bodily system any further.
Other products, like varnishes and disinfectants, also tend to contain VOCs. By being conscious about whether the products and paints you use contain VOCs, you can improve the air quality in your home.
Choose Recycled Metal For Roofing
Replacing your roof is an important home project that will have a lasting effect on your home. You should replace your roof every 30 to 40 years, so the material you choose now will impact your home for decades to come. The material you choose for your roof can also have a long-lasting impact on the environment. One of the most eco-friendly choices for roofing is recycled metal.
By using recycled metal, you can help reduce waste and the need for producing new materials for your roof. Metal roofs have a long life expectancy, meaning that you won’t have to use resources to replace it or repair it frequently. This type of roof can also help keep your home cool because it has reflective properties that bounce the sun’s rays away from the home. This feature is also eco-friendly, as it can help lower your energy usage.
On top of these strategies, there are many other ways you can renovate your home while helping the environment. Whether it’s using recycled materials for your various projects or buying energy-efficient appliances after remodeling your kitchen, there are options for practically every room in the house. All you need to do is put a little forethought into the project and find the right resources to allow your eco-warrior side to shine.
We all want to reduce our carbon footprint on the environment. We need to be resourceful in order to carefully steward this planet we call our home as science continually shows us that much of what we do on a daily basis has a direct and negative impact on the world.
Thankfully, we can all do seemingly small things consistently over time that will add up to do the most good. In this article, we will discuss four ways that you can easily be more eco-friendly:
Eat Meat Less Often One does not need to become a vegan or live a stringently vegetarian lifestyle to make a difference, but making the choice to eat meat less often can have a significant global impact. It has been calculated that it takes more water to produce a pound of meat than it does to produce an equivalent amount of vegetables or grains. For example, producing a pound of Tofu requires 832 liters of water, while it takes between 6,800 and 9,400 liters to produce the same amount of meat. It also takes about 15 times the amount of fossil fuel to produce meat as it does vegetables or other foods.
All of this additional energy usage contributes to greenhouses gases that cause global warming and other deleterious effects on the planet. If everyone simply cut back on their meat consumption a little, it would have a tremendous impact overall.
Being Responsible with Your Waste It’s understandably difficult for people to make the time to recycle the things that they no longer want or need. It takes a great deal of time and effort to collect and sort your items, as well as hauling them all the way to the recycling facility. It can be equally time consuming to load these items into your car for disposal in a landfill dumping area, not to mention the negative impact dumps can have on environment.
If you don’t have the time, do some research into alternative waste removal solutions. There are many companies out there who would be happy to pick up your recyclable waste, such as this London based rubbish removal company. They may cost a little more, but it would have a very positive impact on the environment.
Plant Some Trees If you want to do something that will last for future generations, the best way is to plant a tree. Not only are they beautiful, but they provide our planet with necessary oxygen and are a habitat for the many creatures that depend on them for food and shelter.
In addition, you can save on your cooling bills by strategically planting trees to block against the wind while also using them to provide shade for your house. By doing so, you will require less planetary resources and fossil fuels to cool your home, making your carbon footprint that much smaller.
Change the Way You Travel Changing your mode of transportation is one of those ways you can make a huge difference, as it is something that you do every day. The effects will be cumulative and will, hopefully, over time, become a habit.
If you drive a car, you can take the bus or subway if there is one in your area. If you do need to drive your car, try to figure out the most direct route you can take. Riding a bicycle is great for your health and for the planet, and when and if you are able, you can try walking to work!
If you want to reduce your impact on the environment, try implementing some of these methods and habits. We all have to do our part, and together, we can help preserve this planet and save our environment for all of our children.
