Tips to Downsize Your Lifestyle
Start with your closet. Everyone has too many clothes.
Make a commitment to refuse to get more stuff. It will take a while to reduce your belongings and it’s going to take a few months of refusing to get new things before you change your habits.
Most people around you will not be doing this and may react negatively or defensively. Whatever you do Stick to It!
From “Overstuffed” workshop – Nicole Lynskey:
Assess the impact your clutter has on you. Think of the size of your home, how much you spend on new stuff, the energy put into acquiring, maintaining and storing your stuff and the time you spending searching for things.
Get in touch with what you really long for in life. Do you really want to work part time? Would changing your purchase habits or moving into a smaller space make these things possible for you?
Start with small areas. The more you declutter the more momentum you will get and the more you will notice things you don’t really need.
Pruning Basics
When to Prune? Knowing the right time is crucial, pruning at the wrong time may not damage plants but it can sacrifice that year’s flowers or fruit.
Late spring/Early Summer
Prune spring-flowering shrubs and trees which flower before July 1 immediately after the flowers fade.
Midsummer
Several deciduous trees produce a heavy sap flow in early spring. Pruning braches in this season won’t kill the tree, but the sap flow can bleed on to outdoor furnishings, patios, cars and walkways. Avoid a sticky situation by pruning these trees in midsummer.
Fall/Early Winter
Spring and Summer blooming hawthorns and viburnums are typically grown for their fruits, which attract wildlife. Don’t prune these plants after flowering. Allow fruits to mature and then prune plants after wildlife consume fruits.
Winter/Early Spring
Prune summer blooming trees and shrubs in winter or early spring, before new growth emerges.
Tips for Pruning
Keep cutting surfaces clean and sharp. Keep metal parts of pruning tools oiled regularly to prevent rust. Use pruning tools for pruning only, other materials can dull or damage the blades.
No matter what kind of plant you’re pruning, you will use three basic techniques.
Pinching is typically done by hand, using thumb and forefinger. It’s a good method to increase bushiness and curtail and control plant size.
Thinning involves removing branches back to the trunk, a main branch or the soil line. With thinning cuts, don’t remove the branch collar (the wrinkled area near the trunk or main branch). This area contains the cells needed to heal the cutting wound. Slicing in the branch collar creates an opening for infection and disease to enter.
Heading back shortens branches to a healthy bud or lateral branch. Place cuts roughly ¼ inch above the bud or branch.
This article is excerpted from Lowe’s Creative Ideas magazine.
Home Buyers Changing:
With married couples comprising less than 50% of all US households, home buyers are changing. A growing number of non-family households, according to a report from John Burns Real Estate Consulting are on the increase. Non-family households where no one is related to the house holder have increased nearly five times in the last 50 years from 7.9 to 39.2 million.
A lot of non-family households are looking at SMALL HOMES: preferring a home under 2500 sf with three or fewer bedrooms. LOCATION: the proximity to work and entertainment over home size and they are less interested in media rooms and pools.
Gov Brown signs AB 771 Preventing Gouging for Condo/Townhome Buyers
Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 771, on September 1, 2011. This bill prevents home buyers in a common interest development, such as a condominium or townhome, from being charged excess document fees.
Current law requires this information come from the Homeowner’s Association “HOA” and prohibits it from charging fees in excess of what is “reasonable,” not to exceed the actual cost of processing and producing these documents. HOA generally have provided the document for approximately $75 to $250. In the past HOAs have been delegating document preparation to third party vendors or contractors who, under a 2007 court decision, are exempt from this fee limitation. This delegation of responsibility by HOAs sometimes resulted in home purchasers being forced to pay additional fees, as much as $1000, for other documents which were “bundled” with the required documents.
AB 771 addresses this by specifying that only fees for the required documents may be charged when such documents are provided, effectively prohibiting any “bundling” of fees for other documents with these fees. The bill also creates a new form detailing which documents are required, and requires the provider to disclose the fees that will be charged for the documents before they are provided. The seller of the home must complete this form and transmit it to the prospective purchaser along with the required documents. This will eliminate any uncertainty for the prospective purchase as to exactly which documents are being provided and the precise fees being charged in those documents.
5 Tips for Fall Lawn, Tree and Shrub Care to Prep for Spring
With fall around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about preparing your lawn for the winter months. According to TruGreen, here are five tips for homeowners to prepare their lawns for spring’s growth.
ASSESS
Inspect your lawn, trees and shrubs. Identify problem areas in need of pruning, replacement or treatment. Note area where grass has thinned out or is in need of nutrients which appears as light green. Also look for pest and weed infestation and overgrown shrubs and trees
AERATE & PRUNE
Help your lawn breathe through fall core aeration to strengthen roots and prepare for spring. Conduct corrective pruning of trees and shrubs to enhance plant appearance and thin rather than top-shear overgrown shrubs and flowering trees to preserve their shape.
REPLACE
Fall is the ideal time for successful seeding of bare lawn areas and over seeding of healthy grass to improve lawn thickness and density. Replace dead or floundering plants in fall for a healthier landscape and improved curb appeal in spring.
MOW & MULCH
Mow your lawn into the fall and avoid removing more than one-third of the leaf blades with each cut. Return grass clippings and back to the sol for added lawn nutrients and use tree leaf compost to nourish plants.
FEED
Feeding your lawn gives grass roots, trees and shrubs the energy needed to prepare for a healthy spring revival. Keep fertilizer on target to prevent run-off and seep fertilizer granules that may reach pavement back onto your lawn.
