Kathy Zengolewicz

Now, my children all have their own homes and sometimes its hard to get everyone together, at one time, under the same roof. Three of my children have growing families and it is tough for them to set aside time to be with their siblings. All five of my children have always had a close relationship and I didn’t want to see that end. I knew I had to find a solution for this, so I put together a family game night.

I understand that at times money is tight, so we try to keep our get-togethers as inexpensive as possible. We have decided to set one night a month aside to gather, snack and just enjoy each others company. We started this process a couple of months ago and it seems to be working well. Just the fact that they can bring their children to the family game nights helps. They get to go out for the evening and not worry about paying a sitter.

Sometimes keeping your house in tip top shape means keeping it filled with good times and great company. Fill you life with friends and family. Start a tradition of keeping in touch with the ones you love. If you are not a game playing family, that’s okay. You don’t have to play games, you just have to make it a point to see each other regularly and enjoy the company.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

Post from: Keeping the Castle

Kathy Zengolewicz

If you wait until the 23rd or 24th of December, you will have to fight crowds, you will have very little merchandise to choose from and you will wait in long, long lines. Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy, not stress.

Now, shop when you think the stores will be less crowded, like in the early morning or late at night. Some stores are open 24 hours, if that’s the case you can probably shop at 3:00 am. If you shop in the middle of the night, who knows, maybe you can get everything done in one night. Wouldn’t that be great!

Make up a list of specific gifts for everyone and stick to that list. If you know what you are looking for, chances are it will be that much easier to find. Set a maximum price for each gift and stick to that, also. Try not to use a credit card. Those little plastic cards will get you into a financial bind. Try to work within your budget. If you can stick to the budget, you’ll be that much happier on December 26th.

If you are shopping online, make sure to check out this site: http://www.couponcabin.com and http://www.currentcodes.com/ Also, do a google search of “coupon codes” (without the quote marks) and you’ll find promotional codes for lots of terrific sites.

I hope these tips help with your shopping and keep your stress level down. Remember to stop, relax a little and enjoy the season.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

Post from: Keeping the Castle

Since winter is on the way, here are some ways to save on your winter energy bill.

1)  Install a programmable thermostat.  Have your thermostat drop down a few degrees each day while you’re at work.

2)  Change your filters every month.  Dirty filters can increase your bills by 20% each month.

3)  Keep your thermostat at 68F or below.  Wear a sweatshirt if you need to.

4)  Make sure your fireplace damper fits well.  Close it when not in use.  Install a glass fireplace door.

5)  Remove window air conditioner units.  These let a lot of cold air into your home.

6)  Get a tune-up on your furnace to make sure it’s working properly.

7)  Put caulking and weather strips around doors and windows. 

8) Don’t block vents or radiators with furniture or curtains.

9)  Let the sunlight in.  Open the blinds on the sunny side of your house.  The sunlight will help to warm up the rooms.

10)  Seal your heating ducts.  Sealing and insulating ducts can improve the efficiency of your heating by as much as 20 percent.

What ways do you save on your winter energy bill?

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Post from: Keeping the Castle

Just a few weeks ago, we moved into our new house. We’re getting settled in and it’s starting to feel like home.  What’s a home without some animals?  Less messy, I guess.

A few months ago, my cat Paisley disappeared.  We had her for over two years, since she was a kitten.  We were upset and disappointed but eventually, my kids were wanting another cat. 

After recently spending about $170 on Paisley, I wasn’t so willing to pursue the option of another animal.  Animals are very expensive.  All of the shots and spaying or neutering can cost hundreds of dollars.  My husband asked if we could get a cat if he could find one that was spayed and had its shots.  He began his search on Craigslist and it wasn’t long until he found something. 

Meet Smidge and Tinkerbell.  They are four years old and are siblings.  They are spayed and neutered, have all their shots, and are declawed.  They were free which is right within my budget guidelines.  Both cats are rather large, but Smidge is the bigger one with the long hair.

Smidge and Tinkerbell are getting settled into their new home. Both are already beginning to play with the kids and let us pet them.

Do you have any pets in your home?

images (c) Karen Weideman

Post from: Keeping the Castle

1. Try to unscrew your shower head yourself.  Many of them can unscrew with your hands.  If this doesn’t work, you’ll need some plyers.
2. Wrap your plyers in tape (this is to keep them from scratching up your shower head).  Remove showerhead.
3. Use a toothpick to remove large clumps of build up.
4. Submerge the showerhead in vinegar.  You can use a bowl, bucket, etc.  Soak the showerhead all day or overnight.  If you don’t want to remove the showerhead from the wall, then you can try filling a bag (maybe a Ziploc) with vinegar and tying the bag around the showerhead with a rubber band or something strong enough to hold the weight of the vinegar.  The vinegar will dissolve the mineral deposits.
5. Remove showerhead from vinegar submersion and reattach to the shower.

Enjoy your clean showerhead!

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Post from: Keeping the Castle

My husband and I had the home purchase planned out. We started looking at houses in the spring. We made our final decision in the summer months, made our offer, and were under contract. We were going to close on the house some time between July 31 and August 15. That would give us plenty of time to move into the house, get settled, get the kids enrolled in school, and get fairly unpacked before school started.

Unfortunately, sometimes things don’t go as planned. Due to the recent enormous amount of foreclosures there are new rules in place in the home buying process. It is now taking 60-90 days to close on a house. We were told August 15, then August 21, and then August 25. We closed on the house after school started. This put a major wrench into our plans.  We had to cancel our weekend moving volunteers that we had in place.  Although we had several volunteers, it was a major pain to move after school started.  We had to keep with the weekly homework and bedtime routine and I had to be home each day when the kids got off the bus.

We’re in our home now and loving it.  My garage is filled with boxes, but I’m thankful that I have a garage for the boxes rather than them being all over the house.  My time online has been very sporatic but now I’m catching up and trying to get back on schedule and back to writing.

How are things your way? 

image (c) Karen Weideman

Post from: Keeping the Castle

What a tedious process purchasing a home has been.  Due to all of the recent foreclosures, the banks and the lending rules have become very strict. My husband and I qualified for a loan and met the criteria, but many times it looked like getting the house might not happen. 

Due to all of the changes with the laws, realtors are now letting their clients know that closings are taking 45-90 days.  That’s useful information if you’re in the market to buy.  We began looking in the spring and early summer for a house.  We made an offer the first week of July.  According to our calculations, we would purchase the house and be moved in before school started.  School has already started and we just closed on the house today.  Thankfully, the school let us enroll using our contract for the home.

Anyway, we made it through and we’re super excited!  We can use the bigger space for our growing family.  There are many home projects that we will be tackling over the next few years.  I’ll try to keep you informed of our DIY projects.

Happy Wednesday!

image (c) Karen Weideman

Post from: Keeping the Castle

For the past few months, we have been looking at houses here and just let me say, housing here is so more expensive!  Whew!  A comparable house to what we had before is running about 30% more.  But we figured we’d better buy here now while the market is down slightly and the interest rates are low.  Otherwise, we probably couldn’t afford to buy anything nice.

After browsing around for months and then seriously looking for a while, we have finally made and offer and are under contract!  We are hoping to buy the 1 1/2 story Cape Cod in the picture here.  Now that we have three children, we need more space.  We are so cramped right now in our rental.  We love living on this beautiful piece of property with the cows, donkeys, horses, geese, and llamas, but it’s time to move on to our own place.  The house we’re trying buy has over 2 acres though, so there will still be plenty of roaming room for the kids.

During our home search, we did find a few homes that were a little less expensive, but they needed work, room additions, or other improvements.  We had to weigh our options and factor in the time invested and construction costs and almost each time the price came out to what we’re paying on this house.  We figured we might as well get this one and not have to worry about the construction.

As you can see from the rear view of the house, it does need some steps or a deck.  The house had an inground pool and deck.  The owners filled in the pool and took off the deck.  I know, I’m in shock too!!!!  We did consider the price of a deck when making an offer on a house. 

Hopefully, everything will work out and we’ll be living in this house next month.  Naturally, lenders are becoming even tougher on getting home loans.  We have great credit and a down payment, but there are still lots of hoops to jump through.  I’ll keep you posted and let you know if this works out.  If not, we’ll consider it God’s will and we’ll just keep saving our money for something later on.

Happy Wednesday!

images (c) Karen Weideman

Post from: Keeping the Castle

Today it started when I went into the kid’s room to vacuum and tidy up a bit.  Next to my son’s bed was a basket where he keeps his stuffed animals and such.  I picked it up to vacuum and noticed it was mostly filled with small toys and books.  No doubt they were things that he was playing with while trying to fall asleep.  I put away all of the books and toys and continued to vaccum. 

It wasn’t long before I found another spot of clutter.  This time it was papers that I needed to look through and newspaper clippings of things I wanted to read.  Now the clippings were no longer relevant and in the recyling bin they went. 

Next I found a laundry basket.  Inside were a few washcloths, dishcloths, and underwear.  These were just a few items I was putting away the other night and didn’t finish because I got distracted.

It seems there is a bit of clutter in each room.  Today I am trying to put away these little piles and become a bit more clutter free.  That is also my challenge to you today.  Good luck!

For more Tackle it Tuesday projects, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.  image (c) Karen Weideman

Post from: Keeping the Castle

1)  Wipe up spills and don’t let the dirty dishes sit around.  If you let something sit, you’ll have a sticky or crusty smelly mess.

2)  Take out the trash regularly.  I don’t let mine go more than three days.

3)  Keep the kitchen trash lid closed.

4)  Grind up leftover food in the garbage disposal.

5)  If you don’t have a garbage disposal, then separately bag any food that you’re throwing out.  The small grocery store bags work well for this.  We no longer have a garbage disposal and this tip is helping a lot.

6)  After taking out the trash, spray the inside of the trash can with a vinegar and water solution.  I just did this today because my trash can was smelling a little weird.

7)  Open the windows.  On nice days, open the windows for a little while.  Fresh air makes a house smell clean.

8)  Put vinegar in a bowl and let it sit overnight.  The vinegar will absorb the bad odors.

9)  Put an orange or lemon slice into your garbage disposal and grind it up.  It leaves such a nice citrus scent and it cleans your disposal.

10)  Hide some of the refrigerator-style baking soda boxes behind your couch, entertainment center, or in your closets.  These will help to absorb odors.

11)  Change your vacuum bags.  Every now and then my vacuum cleaner will get a musty smell.  It goes away when I change the bag.

12)  Sprinkle baking soda on your carpet.  Let the baking soda sit for a while and then vacuum.

13)  Put natural spices in a bowl and boil them on the stove.

14)  Light a candle.

15)  Spray some Febreeze.  I get nauseated from smells pretty easily.  When I was teaching, before we went on a field trip, I would spray the vans with Febreeze.  It helped so much!

I listed 15 tips, but I know there are so many more.  What methods do you use to take care of smells?

image by Karen Weideman

Post from: Keeping the Castle