Grad Life – Part Three: Eco Style

When searching for the right gift for your graduate, it’s important to keep in mind that this generation of students is very tuned into the needs of the environment. Thankfully, there are eco-friendly products available for nearly every area of the home, so you will have no problem finding what you, or your student, needs.

Environmentally friendly homewares usually fall into one of the following categories: Chemical free (cleaners), organic (linens), energy efficient (appliances), or renewable resources (everything else). Choosing a product from one of these categories shows that you care about your grad’s interests and commitment toward a better world.
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Grad Life – Part Two: Life on Your Own

Finding your style as you enter the real world can be exciting for some while overwhelming for others. This is true of both your clothing style, and of your home decor style.

The time after the academic years is one of major growth, and, naturally, a time of nesting. If you are confused about what type of style you would like to incorporate into your home, start by simply searching for different styles on the internet, specifically zeroing in on image results to get a feel for what is out there and what you like. Some terms to get you started are: “Modern Décor”, “Contemporary”, “Transitional”, “Tuscan”, “Classic”, “Country” and so on.
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Recent Grads: What do They Really Want?

Have you ever noticed that at back to school time, we are all over our kids; buying them anything they could possibly need in hopes that they will have a successful school year, but when graduation time comes, we supply them with no more than a party and a monogrammed pen? What do graduates really need to start down the path toward adulthood? Thinking outside of the box of the usual graduation gifts, it’s obvious that they need support for the next phase of their life.
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Product of the Week - Magnetic Bulletin Boards!

This week’s featured product combines two classic styles of office organizers into one piece, bulletin boards and magnetic message boards! The magnetic bulletin boards by Umbra can be used with magnets and also with push pins, thanks to a hidden soft backing. This is a great organizer for the home, office, dorm room, school and more! I think this organizer is especially helpful for students, giving them two ways to hang their school work and personal notes. They may want to use magnets to hold their homework, so that they don’t have to poke holes in it, and leave the thumb tacks for notes and reminders. The modern silver finished metal design makes a nice design focal point on any wall, great for the home office too!
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Keep the Plastic Bags Corralled

To me, there are fewer things in life more joyful than owning a dog. They provide constant companionship and never ending loyalty. My dog has taught me responsibility, one of which is taking her out when she needs to go. Unfortunately for me, I live in an apartment building with that does not have a backyard for her to go, so I am forced to take my dog out to the nearest public park when she needs to go.
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Make Your Bedroom A Retreat

The bedroom should be a calming space where you can relax and unwind, not just a place for sleeping. The ideal bedroom strikes a balance between decorative touches that make it a space that reflects your personal style and practical key elements that ensure comfortable sleeping. By taking specific details into consideration you can turn our bedroom into a soothing space you can't wait to spend time in.
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A Cute Little All-Purpose Plastic Tote

I really love being able to live in the city; there is just so many activities to do and things to see, and it is all available to you right at your fingertips. One of my very favorite perks of city living is that it is totally practical to walk to many of my everyday chores, things such as grocery shopping. It is so nice to be able to walk out your front door and be at the supermarket in just ten minutes, never having to worry about battling for parking or fighting off rush-hour traffic. Plus, you get a little built-in exercise every day!
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Keep Your Garage Neat With A Floor Mat

Keeping your garage in working order doesn't have to be a chore, it can be just as organized and tidy as any other room in your home.

No garage can go without some much needed storage to keep everything from gardening supplies to sporting equipment organized and quick to find. Though the garage seems to be a difficult space to keep clean, it only takes a few steps to ensure that any mess is manageable.
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Play Up Your Patio With Le Click Interlocking Teak Floor Tiles

Outdoor Flooring: A Quick and Easy DIY Project for Anyone!

With Spring rapidly approaching, it’s time to start planning outdoor DIY projects , and I’ve come across one that is easy to do and easy on the budget. When we think of outdoor decorating, we often forget that what goes under our feet can make a great contribution to our outdoor decor.

One of the easiest ways to update the look of your patio, porch or deck is to add some kind of floor feature, whether it is an outdoor area rug, or floor tiles like the Le Click Interlocking Teak Floor Tiles!
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Storage In Style

Organizing itself is definitely in style, but what about the tools you use to organize - are they pulling their weight in terms of aesthetics? Nowadays, you can find almost any type of organizer that has been updated to look as good as it works. You don’t have to keep everything in unsightly plastic boxes if you don’t want to. Believe me, plastic box storage has its place, but that place is in a closet or in the garage. Not in plain view of everyone that walks through your house! There is little room for excuse anymore. Stylish organizers are available for every room of the home!
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Natural Window Coverings Bring the Outdoors In

My favorite types of window treatments are nature-inspired. That’s because you may need privacy, but you might not want to shut yourself off from the natural outdoor views. A natural window covering is perfect for this situation, a sort of middleman between you and your garden. The Kona Roman Bamboo Shades are a great choice for this purpose. Roman shades are perfect for adding a natural touch and sufficient light blockage and privacy to any room. The Kona shades are made of bamboo which is both eco-friendly and high quality for longevity.
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Home Security Basics (for Dummies)

Watching the classic holiday film Home Alone last week reminded me that it’s that time of year again to take stock of our home security measures. But some people, myself included, don’t really even know where to start when it comes home security and safety.

Here is a list of ideas to get you started. Of course you’re not going to get it all done in one weekend, it might be something you pick away at during the course of the year.
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Greet Your Guests With Cheer!

The sun is not just the star at the center of our solar system. When you think about it, its importance is really beyond our comprehension. Many early civilizations (and even people in our current one) such as the Aztecs and Incas worshiped the sun. Generally today, the sun represents happiness and hope. To some, it is not even worth getting out of bed if it isn’t a sunny day. And when you think about what the sun manages to accomplish in its day, it’s pretty incredible.

Why on earth am I romanticizing about the sun on a blog dedicated to home and personal organizing, you ask?
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Keepin Clean With The Forma Soap Dispenser

When it comes to cold and flu season cleaning your hands and your home is key. Stop infection from spreading by making sure you always have antibiotic soap on hand. Anything that can get touched by germ covered hands like door handles or electronics also needs to be disinfected. There are lots of cleaning products especially designed to keep your home healthy.

The most basic step is to keep a soap dispenser on hand at the kitchen sink as well as in the bathroom. The forma 2 steel and plastic soap dispenser has a large capacity and rust proof base ideal for using throughout the home.
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Create Your Oasis

The Agadir Single Bench by Zuo Modern is the ultimate in multi purpose furniture! If you’ve been looking to update your outdoor decor to something more modern, this stool has you covered. With UV treated synthetic fibers and an aluminum frame, this stool is designed to stand up to outdoor conditions, but also works well inside at the bar or against the kitchen counter.

The other thing I like about this patio stool is the synthetic woven design. It makes me think of the kind of furniture you would see at a tropical resort, which is a style that I can certainly get behind in my own home!
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TSA Friendly Bottles for Hassle Free Travel!

This 15 piece toiletry travel containers set takes the guesswork out of travel with toiletries! I have been stopped more than once at security for having either too much or the wrong size bottles.

If you are like me, you will do anything to avoid checking bags, so you will need to follow the TSA regulations for carrying liquids on a plane. I can never remember what exactly those rules are, but I’ve found a great travel bottle set that does the math for me.
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Protect Your Sink And Dishes - Kitchen Sink Mats

Nothing is worse than the feeling that comes with breaking a brand-new plate or glass in your sink. This feeling of disappointment and despair is especially compounded when your sink is scratched or damaged as well! One solution to this issue that I often see is adding a kitchen sink mat to the sink.
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Kitchen Dish Drainers: Dish Washer's Best Friend

There's a cleaning product that every kitchen needs. You might overlook them, but kitchen dish drainers are the workhorses of the kitchen. Kitchen dish drainers help you keep your dishes chip-free as they dry.

While it's great to be able to pass off a wet dish to a dishwashing partner, when you wash dishes by yourself it's not a viable option. That's why a kitchen dish drainer can be so helpful. And even if you have a built-in dishwasher, a countertop drainer is a great solution when you don't want to run the dishwasher for a small batch of dirty dishes.
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Make Sense Of All Those CD's With A Clear Acrylic 30-CD Rack

I would consider myself to be a novice music fan. When I do want to purchase music, I usually just buy digital music. However, every once in a while I feel the urge to buy an actual hard copy, especially when I really love the artist. I have accumulated about a hundred CD's in my years, but I always have a hard time figuring out where to store them. They always end up in a box at the bottom of my closet, where they go criminally neglected! Because I don’t have a very large collection of compact discs, I didn’t want to over pay for a rack that was too big. I was in need of a solution.
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Sink Mats for a Clean Kitchen!

Everybody is looking to make the kitchen a clean, safe place these days. Outbreaks of salmonella and other food-related illnesses have us all updating our food safety methods. One of the simplest yet often overlooked tools for a sanitary kitchen space are sink mats.

I don’t know about you, but if I see anything touch the bottom of the sink, it’s an automatic trip to the dishwasher or the garbage.
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Deep Drawer Organizer - Perfect For Every Room

If you're like me, and staying organized doesn't come very naturally, then you'll understand what I just experienced upon looking for something in the infamous "junk drawer" of my kitchen. The junk drawer used to be a wonderful place for me. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable solution for any small item that didn't have a place otherwise. And because it's a drawer, I've been able to keep its unruly state out of sight and out of mind. Until it exploded in my face and nearly drove me crazy!
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Baby Steps to De-Cluttering Your Office

It happens to everybody: one day you look around your office and you wonder, "How did this get so disorganized?"

An untidy office and a messy desk can make you feel overwhelmed. It can even make you feel insecure about yourself because you'll wonder how you can get back on top of the clutter.

First of all, don't beat yourself up, and start taking small steps to get organized. Don't feel compelled to clean it all in one go, after all - your desk didn't get messy in one hour, so it will take time to get it de-cluttered and organized. Make a plan to get back on track, and start thinking about what office organization supplies you'll need.
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Save Precious Space with a Folding Dish Rack

I have quite the predicament on my hands; I live in a small studio apartment that does not provide very much counter space in the kitchen. Compounding this annoyance is the fact that my apartment also does not have a dishwasher, so I am forced to hand-wash each and every single one of my dishes. I will be the first to admit that I can be a little lazy when it comes to household chores. So just washing all of my dishes is enough work, you forget about hand-drying each dish after I am done with washing!
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Wood Bed Lifters Could Be The Perfect Gift

My little sister is going away to college after the holidays, and I was contemplating the perfect gift for her going-away party. She is going away to a huge state college, one that is notorious for its particularly miniscule dorm rooms. My sister is majoring in fashion marketing, so she has tons of clothes, just mountains of them. She has racks and drawers and shelves and cubbies, all full of her favorite clothes. She wanted to take as much of her clothes as possible with her, so I tried to find a handy storage solution.
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Holiday Planning Overlooked

When it’s time for holiday planning, we tend to think only about preparation. Planning menus, sending parting invitations, shopping for gifts, and digging out the decorations. I find myself so overworked getting ready for holiday gatherings, I forget about the aftermath. Particularly when it comes to my extra dishes. I’ve never had a proper way of storing them, so they tend to just get thrown in a box that gets stacked with other boxes in the garage.

Bad planning like this leads inevitably to the catastrophe I encountered last week.
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Paper Piles Driving you Nuts?

Don’t let those piles get you down! One of the most frequent requests we get are tips on mail organization. Rest assured, there are some simple steps you can take to reduce those piles of mail that seem to pop up everywhere around the house.

Mail organizers come in all styles these days, with every home decor theme taken into consideration. From door entry mail organizers to magnetic models that stick to the fridge, there is truly something for everyone.

Here are some different types of mail organizers to consider:
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Plastic Bag Dryer - The Recycler's Kitchen Friend

Every time I go to my mom’s house, there is one thing that drives me crazy. No, not her infinite questioning, nor her ability to notice every minute thing that’s changed about me physically… she reuses plastic food bags. Which is not a bad thing, in fact it’s awesome! I too want to do all I can do be eco-conscious, but I haven’t evolved this far yet. In time I will. And it’s not the act of reusing plastic bags that bothers me; it’s what happens every time I go to the sink in her kitchen to wash my hands or rinse an apple.
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Review: Scroll Letter Holder with Hooks

In the even partnership I have with my wife, I am the lucky one who gets to be in charge of checking the mail and sorting it out. Our mailbox only has one key, and I was the one that got to hold it. That means I get to see the new magazines first, steal all the good coupons for myself and read all the thank-you cards, wedding invitations and postcards we get from our family and friends first.

Unfortunately that also means I am in charge of sorting the mail, which is something I am not very good at.
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If You Only Buy One Thing to Make Life Easier…

Make it a wire cart! Folding wire carts are not just for little old ladies. They make life easier for everyone, myself included. Most, like this jumbo folding shopping cart, are very sturdy - carefully crafted of metal and designed to last for many years. I promise you will never run out of use for a folding shopping cart in your life.

Here are some tips on what to do with a rolling cart and where to keep it:
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Product Review: Non-Slip Stair Treads

I absolutely love the hardwood floors in the entryway to my home. The floor gives the area great charm and really adds an air of sophistication to my apartment. The hardwood floors are easy to maintain and keep clean, but there was one slight issue. And that issue was my dog. When she is coming home from a walk, she is always in a mad scurry to get back, and sprints through the front door without abandon. The only problem with her exuberance is that hardwood floors and doggy claws are not a good mix at all. I started to notice a few severe scratch marks on the otherwise pristine wood floors.
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