Saving money on energy costs and utility
bills is a high priority for homeowners.
Furnaces can suck up electricity and gas, especially if they’re heating more space than needed. In an attempt to lower energy bills, it’s often tempting to close air vents that you aren’t using. But does it really work, or is this energy-saving trick just a myth? Can you save money by closing heating vents?
The January blahs may have nothing to do with the three pounds you gained in December or the Christmas thank-you notes that remain unwritten. They may signify you’re not getting enough sun, and the solution may be as easy as turning on a light.
Light therapy is as simple as it sounds: sitting near a bright light often enough and long enough for the brain to think that it’s getting orders from the sun, which is in short supply in winter months.
Also called phototherapy, light therapy is surging in popularity, thanks to a spate of studies that show it to be effective in improving mood, reducing fatigue and improving focus. The practice has also benefited from a decline in prices that have made light therapy lamps affordable for more people.
A MedCottage, offers seniors a way of maintaining independence and protecting their health while staying close to loved ones – in some cases, just a few steps away.
Caring for an elderly relative can be challenging on many levels. Once someone can’t live on her or his own anymore, traditional options include moving the relative to the home of another family member, or into a nursing home. But a Virginia company called N2Care has a third way. Its signature product is called a MedCottage.
a MedCottage, offers seniors a way of maintaining independence and protecting their health while staying close to loved ones – in some cases, just a few steps away.
Labyrinths are popping up in backyards.
Labyrinths-circular paths for walking meditation that have been widely adapted by churches, hospitals and retreat centers-are now popping up in upscale American backyards. “There are 3,740 labyrinths in the U.S.-it’s really blossoming,” said Lauren Artress, author of “Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice.” Some are simple, such as the 30-foot spiral of desert stones that Andrew Weil, the physician, author and founder of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, built at his home in Tucson. Other, more lavish walkways evoke the 13th-century labyrinth of Chartres Cathedral in France.
Unlike a maze, which is designed to confuse with multiple paths and dead ends, a classical labyrinth has just one winding path to the center and one path out. “As a relaxation technique, a technique for promoting mindfulness, it’s very useful,” Dr. Weil said. “You go around and around and back and forth, but eventually you reach a central point…Seeing the goal there, but not getting to it directly-there’s something metaphoric about that.”
Getting that Zen-like peace can require commitment. Elaborate labyrinths, with lush landscaping, intricate stonework and irrigation, can easily start at around $40,000.
“It’s very much a part of my life now. If the mood strikes, or I’m having a rough day, it’s the best place to go-with grief you never know,” said Ms. Corckran.
Everyone is different and looks for peace where ever they can find it. The gospel of Jesus Christ offers the most rewarding peace and it is free. Prayer can be enjoyed anywhere and at any time.
If you like the idea of experiencing the Labyrinth effect but don’t have the space or money, you could always go to Ikea!
Sybil Patrick’s vacant brownstone in Harlem was fraudulently sold to unsuspecting buyers by swindlers who had forged the deed. Photo: Pearl Gabel for The Wall Street Journal
NEW YORK-The clues were there for months, but property investor Sybil Patrick didn’t put them together. The locks to a vacant Harlem brownstone she owns were changed. Belongings weren’t in the same place she left them.
Then one day last spring, Ms. Patrick, a 79-year-old former nurse, showed up to tend the front yard. The superintendent next door asked why she was visiting a house she had already sold.
“I told you I was never, ever going to sell,” she recalled saying.
But it turned out the superintendent was correct: The house had been sold, without her knowledge, about a year earlier for roughly $750,000.
Deed fraud, helped by proliferation of online records, is reaching ‘epidemic’ levels in Manhattan and becoming more common elsewhere in the U.S.
Spring is the start of the hot real estate season for a few obvious reasons, nice weather and the desire to move during the summer when kids are out of school at the top of the list. But embarking on a home search during the holidays can be advantageous to buyers.
Thinking about taking the plunge? Here are a few reasons you should be looking for a new home now. Read more
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” -Kahlil Gibran
We all have countless holiday memories. Most of them center around our faith in Jesus Christ and his birth, family, and traditions.
Very few childhood memories actually include the gifts we received. So what type of gifts can we give to our children that they will never forget? What gifts will truly impact their lives and change them forever?
To that end, here is a list of gifts your children will never forget. Read more
Most of us know we own too much stuff. We feel the weight and burden of our clutter. We tire of cleaning and managing and organizing. Our toy rooms are messy, our drawers don’t close, and our closets are filled from top to bottom. The evidence of clutter is all around us.
Today, increasing data is being collected about our homes, our shopping habits, and our spending. The research is confirming our observation: we own too much stuff. And it is robbing us of life. All the emotional, visual and mental clutter in our homes steal time and energy and keeps us from doing what is really important and rewarding…being anxiously engaged in good causes!
Here are 21 surprising statistics about our clutter that help us understand how big of a problem our accumulation has actually become. Read more
Relocating your family can be exciting, but also stressful for you and your kids.Deciding to move to a new house is a big upheaval for the entire family. But while adults tend to focus on the practical problems, a child will focus on all the losses that the move causes. This can be the loss of their friends or of a safe and familiar environment. One of the many beauties of the LDS Church is you will have a built-in new ward family that will welcome you with open arms any where you go in the world. But there will still be the stress of moving and relocating for everyone.
The degree of stress in moving is often underestimated by all concerned. Research shows that moving is one of the greatest stresses we face in our lives. In its capacity to cause psychological distress it comes only after losing a close relative in terms of severity, and ahead of illness, loss of employment and divorce.
Of course planned and managed well, distress is not necessarily the outcome. Use these pointers to ease your family’s transition so your kids more quickly feel at home. Read more
Economists and real-estate agents are finding out that younger and middle-income buyers getting squeezed out.
Sales of existing homes fell in October after a September surge, as rising home prices and a lack of inventory challenged potential buyers. Meanwhile, more children are living with their parents than during the 2007-09 recession, an indicator that young adults aren’t striking out on their own despite substantial improvement in the economy.
The pace of existing-home sales fell 3.4% in October from September to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 5.36 million, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Read more