One and Co

One and Co

Archives for August 2024

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3 Things To Consider When Choosing To Repaint Your House

If you’ve noticed that the exterior of your home doesn’t look as crisp and clean as it once did, it might be time to think about repairing the exterior of your home and sprucing up the facade a bit. However, undertaking this task can be a lot, so it’s important that you know what you’re getting yourself into before you get started, even if you’re hiring someone else to do the painting for you.

To help you with this, here are three things to consider when choosing to repaint your house.

Time Of Year And Weather

Because the painting of the exterior of your home is something that’s done outside, the time of year and the weather at the time of painting is going to have a big impact on this project.

Any type of water can wreak havoc on your plans for painting your home. Even just having your sprinklers turn on in the middle of the job can be a mess to clean up. So if you’re planning to repaint your home, try to choose a few days where there’s no rain forecasted. Additionally, if you can plan to paint during a time of year where it isn’t too cold and there isn’t going to be too much humidity, the painting process should go much more smoothly for you.

Home And Neighborhood Style

Once you know when you should be painting, you then need to figure out how you want the finished product of your home to look after you’ve completed the paint job.

While some people might be able to choose whatever color or aesthetic they want, if you have an HOA or neighborhood association, you may only have a few colors that you can choose from for the painting of your house. But regardless of this, unless you’re choosing the restyle your entire exterior, you should try to choose paint colors that will look great with the existing decor that you have in and around your home.

The Safety Consideration

When you’re attempting to paint your home yourself, there are going to be a lot of safety precautions that you’ll want to take. Especially if your home is tall or has a steep pitch to the roof, you’ll need to make sure that you have put certain safety measures in place so that you and anyone else working on the painting will be safe.

To do this, you’ll want to use safe ladders and have someone below you to spot you, you may want to use ropes to ensure that you can’t fall off the roof when up there to paint, and you’ll want to make sure you have enough supplies so that you don’t need to go up and down too much and put yourself in unnecessary danger.

If you’re tasked with repainting your house, consider using the tips to help you do this the right way.

 

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3 Connections Between Clutter and Stress

Housekeeping might seem like just another chore, but it actually plays a huge role in our mental health. A cluttered space can crank up stress levels and mess with our well-being.

How? Here are 3 connections between clutter and stress.

Mental Overload

Clutter bombards our senses, making it hard for our brains to keep up. Basically, being surrounded by clutter makes it tough to focus. Our attention is pulled in all directions and so there’s mental exhaustion that makes even simple tasks feel overwhelming. This scattered focus means it’s harder to think clearly and make decisions.

Imagine trying to work at a desk piled high with papers, books, and random stuff. Every glance at the mess distracts you from what you’re doing. Over time, this constant distraction wears you down so that everything seems more stressful than it should be.

Reduced Productivity

Clutter messes with our organization, making it hard to find what we need and get things done efficiently. Think wasted time, missed deadlines, and a constant feeling of playing catch-up, which ramps up stress. The more clutter, the longer it takes to find things, adding unnecessary steps to our day.

Basically, the inefficiency causes frustration and stress, so that there’s a cycle where the clutter makes it harder to work, and the difficulty to do things makes it harder to deal with the clutter.

Think about a kitchen with cluttered countertops. Cooking is a lot harder because you have to dig through piles of utensils and gadgets. The constant shuffling around wastes time and makes meal prep more chaotic and less enjoyable and so instead of focusing on cooking, you’re battling the mess, which just makes you more stressed.

Negative Emotional Impact

Clutter often reminds us of unfinished tasks or unmet goals, triggering feelings of guilt, anxiety, and failure. And chances are such emotional weight keeps you stressed out and maybe even feeds a negative self-image. Clutter can make us feel like we’re not in control of our environment which often means feelings of helplessness and inadequacy.

Imagine a closet full of clothes that don’t fit or things you haven’t used in literal years. Every time you open it, you think about the money you’ve blown or even unmet fitness goals, triggering regret and self-criticism. These negative feelings really do add to daily stress and your overall mood so that instead of feeling accomplished and organized, you’re constantly reminded of your perceived shortcomings.

Understanding the connections between clutter and stress is a great place to start if you want some motivation to keep clutter in check. Housekeeping really is more than just a chore—it could be a key step for better mental health. So, if you want to feel less stressed, starting with a little decluttering could be a great move.

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3 Tips For Putting Less Stress On Your A/C Unit

During the hot summer months, especially on the days where you’re nearing the record-breaking temperatures that many places are experiencing, there can be a lot of stress put on your air conditioning unit. And while you want to use your a/c to help keep your home at a comfortable temperature, if you put too much stress on this system, you can burn it out and not have air conditioning to use until you get your a/c repaired or serviced.

To help keep this from happening to you, here are three tips for putting less stress on your a/c unit.

Use Other Cooling Options First

Before you automatically turn your air conditioning on, or crank it up so that you’re getting more cool air, you may want to consider using other cooling options first. This way, you can keep your home cooler without having to use your air conditioner at all and save the system for when you really need it.

Some of the other cooling options that you can use aside from your air conditioner can include things like turning on fans, keeping your blinds closed to let less sunlight in to heat up the space, and avoiding turning on appliances that create heat themselves. By doing these things, you can have less heat in your home and keep things cooler before you turn on your air conditioner.

Keep Everything Clean

When you do turn on your air conditioner, you’ll want to make sure that it’s in good working condition so that it can function as efficiently as possible, and a big part of this is making sure that the system is clean and free of debris.

On a regular basis, you should be replacing the filter of your air conditioner so that there’s free air movement that’s filtering out any dirt and dust while still allowing air to go into the system. Additionally, you’ll also want to clean the coils of your unit so that it has free air movement around this area as well.

Only Adjust The Temperature By A Few Degrees

While it can be helpful to not turn your air conditioner on until you really need it to keep from putting too much stress on the system, having to work your air conditioner too hard by having a big difference between the current temperature of your home and the temperature you’ve set your thermostat can put a lot of stress on it. So when you are using your air conditioner, it’s wise to only adjust the temperature by a few degrees so that it doesn’t have to spend so much time running.

If you want to put less stress on your a/c unit, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you learn how this can be accomplished.