Life Hacks

The fall is here. Time for changing autumn leaves, brisk weather, and holiday decorations adorning the front yard. It also means it’s time to check your residential heating and air equipment. Right … we know that as you settle on your couch with a cup of hot cocoa, this may not be the first thing that comes to mind during this time of year. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less important.

Trust us, we know. As industry experts in servicing and installing residential heating and air equipment, Watts Heating and Cooling receives numerous calls this time of year from panicked customers who realize their HVAC system isn’t performing up to par and winter is quickly approaching. Rather than wait until the last minute to check your residential heating and air equipment, here are some things you can do right now to make sure everything runs smoothly so, come wintertime, you won’t be left in the cold.

Change Your Air Filters

One of the quickest and easiest things you can do to improve the airflow of your unit is to regularly change or clean your air filters. It’s a good idea to change the filters at the start of every season, but you may need to change them more frequently, depending on your lifestyle. Homes with pet dander or cigarette smoke may have air filters that become clogged more easily than others. Inspect your air filters frequently and change them when necessary.

Changing your air filters will improve the efficiency of your heating and cooling equipment. This will not only increase the comfort level of your home, but will also save on energy costs during the long, cold winter months.

Adjust Your Thermostat Settings

Take advantage of the cooler temperatures by adjusting your thermostat settings. This will help you save money on your energy bill during the fall season. If you want to continue saving money during the winter months, consider investing in a programmable thermostat.

When you use a programmable thermostat, you can adjust temperatures when you know you’re going to be away from home. You can program your thermostat to return to a comfortable temperature right before you return. This allows you to adjust your thermostat settings so that you can maintain your comfort levels while also saving money.

According to the US Department of Energy, turning your thermostat down 7 to 10 degrees from its normal setting for 8 hours a day can save you up to 10 percent a year on your heating and cooling costs. This is a simple adjustment to make, and the savings can really add up.

Clean the Unit and Remove Debris

If you have an outdoor unit, you’ll want to make sure you clear any leaves or other debris from around the unit. This can inhibit the unit’s ability to work effectively. If plants are overgrown, clear those out as well. Plants should be kept several feet away from the unit.

You’ll also want to see if any branches are hanging overhead. If so, severe weather could knock these branches loose, causing damage to your system. Make sure to trim any overhanging tree branches so you avoid the risk of having them fall on your unit. After any bad storms, check the exterior of your unit for any damage and, if necessary, call in a technician to assess the situation.

In addition to clearing out the debris from around your outside unit, you should also clean out your indoor vents. Now is a good time to assess the condition of your air ducts as well. If they’re leaky, you may need to have them sealed to prevent heat or cool air from escaping. To determine whether this is necessary, it’s a good idea to have an energy assessment performed on your home. Which leads us to our next step.

Schedule a Service Appointment

Now is a great time to schedule a service appointment with your HVAC technician. You should schedule two appointments annually, one in the fall right before winter begins and another in the spring, ahead of the summer months.

Scheduling your service appointments at these times of year will ensure everything is running smoothly before the extreme weather comes. They’ll also give you ample time to fix your equipment if your technician notices something is awry. Regular maintenance also extends the life span of your equipment, reduces your utility bills, and provides a more comfortable indoor environment.

It’s also wise to have your HVAC technician perform a home energy audit. This will allow them to identify areas of your home where you may be losing energy and make recommendations for how to make your system operate more efficiently.

Air Seal Your Home and Add Extra Insulation

An energy assessment will help you determine what steps you should take to make your residential heating and air equipment operate more efficiently. For instance, heat and air often escape from the home through small cracks or crevices. This means you could have the most modern, efficient HVAC unit, but still feel drafts or uneven temperatures throughout your home. If that’s the case, it may be a good idea to have it air sealed.

Once your home is properly air sealed, you may want to add extra insulation as well. Think of insulation as an extra layer of protection. When your home is well-insulated, it keeps your system from going into overdrive to heat or cool your home properly. This means your heating and cooling equipment will operate more efficiently, saving you money and keeping your house comfortable year-round.

The Home Energy Saver is an excellent tool for recommendations on energy upgrades and their return on investment. For more recommendations, or if you have additional questions, feel free to give us a call. Watts Heating and Cooling specializes in residential heating and air products and services. We’ll keep you feeling warm and cozy throughout the winter months and cool as a cucumber during summertime.

 

The world is changing really fast, and one of the biggest topics that we’ve seen explode in the last few years is the topic of environmentalism.

Now, there are a lot of conspiracy theories and misinformation websites out there when it comes to saving the planet, but the one thing that most people will agree with, no matter what side of the argument your views are, is that we should be doing more collectively and individually to protect the planet.

Why It’s Important For Moms

A little goes a long way, and, for us as moms, it’s our job to ensure that our kids are bought up in a home that is safe and healthy for them. We should be helping to make this an environment that instills the values of being a steward for the planet.

There are a few easy ways we can encourage our kids to ‘be more green’ and to improve our family home’s carbon footprint, but for a lot of moms, the big question is ‘why should I?’.

Here are five reasons you should consider improving your home’s energy efficiency and carbon footprint, and they are five solid reasons too!

Healthier Home

Your home is one of the places you can have the biggest impact on your family’s health and well-being. Making your home more eco-friendly can take many forms, from getting into the habit of recycling regularly to going all out with solar panels, but it’s the cleaning solutions you use that will have the biggest impact on the healthiness of your family.

Why not switch to greener cleaning products. These are usually much gentler on the planet and, without harmful substances like bleach, they are a lot safer and healthier for your family too. So you have plenty to benefit from using greener products.

Save Money

Going down the eco-friendly route for your family home could cost you quite a bit of money if you were to go all out, to begin with, but taking small steps to make your home more energy-efficient can actually save you money in the long run.

The first step you should take is to get your home energy rating system sorted. Get in the experts, like the guys at Air By Design, to come and test your home’s efficiency and give you a rating. Then you know exactly what you’re working with and working towards.

Better For The Environment

It almost goes without saying that having a more eco-friendly home is better for the environment, but what does that mean for you and your family home? The answer is simple if you are looking after your little bubble of the environment, you’re taking the first step to look after the rest of the environment, and this is hugely impactful on kids.

Kids raised in a household that puts being good stewards of the planet front and center are more likely to carry this on elsewhere. They will be the ones picking up litter on the street and throwing it in the trash naturally, and they will affect change in their schools too.

It’s a great chain reaction to start.

Better Home Environment

Taking steps to make your home more eco-friendly will not just help the wider environment, but it will help your own environment, your house, and your home.

Studies have shown that having more plants and greenery around is great for the air, and it also makes people, in general, feel happier and calmer, and that’s just the start of it. When you know that your home isn’t having a negative impact on the environment, it’s like a weight lifted off of you and your family.

Increase the Value

One of the best reasons to begin to improve your home’s eco-credentials is because it could add value to your home.

Simple changes like adding a rainwater collection system, energy-efficient lightbulbs, or plotting out a vegetable garden in the backyard may not add much monetary value, but they will be a welcome sight for new people looking around, adding to the ‘wow’ value.

Bigger changes like adding solar panels to your roof, a recycling system, maybe even thermostatic radiators, and climate controls on your aircon go a long way to adding value to your property.

If you can market your property as carbon neutral, or even low carbon, it’s a big selling point for other families who are looking to get started on their own eco-friendly lifestyle. Therefore, energy improvements offer a great ROI.

 

Unfortunately, when winter hits, mice are known for finding a way into unsuspecting residents’ homes where it’s warm and cozy. There are few things more frustrating than finding yourself with a mice infestation. Not only can they enter your cupboards and start eating your food, but they can also destroy your belongings and incur expensive damage. Apart from that, they carry potentially dangerous bacteria that can hurt your family.

So, how do you get rid of these critters as fast as possible? Take a look at some of the best tips for getting rid of mice once and for all.

Find Out Where They’re Coming From

First thing is first. You’ll need to find out how they’re getting into your home. If there is an entry point, then chances are more than just mice are making their way into your home. Make sure that you find the hole and block it off. Take a look around and see if they’ve built a nest, and if so, you’ll need to call a professional exterminator to get rid of it.

Unfortunately, putting mouse traps all over the place alone won’t do the trick. An exterminator knows how to effectively get rid of the problem.

Use Steel Wool

One of the oldest secrets for getting rid of mice is using steel wool to seal off entry points. Since mice are able to fit through a crack the size of a dime, they can easily sneak into places they need to get.

It’s important to know that anything that you place to block it off will easily be gnawed through. Steel wool, however, cannot be chewed through. Mice will not be able to get through anywhere that has been blocked off its sturdy material. Make sure that in addition is steel wool, you also seal off entries with caulk.

Cut Back Trees

One of the worst things you can do for pest problems is surround your home with trees. Tree branches that lead to your house’s roof or windows are basically an invitation for pests to come make a home there.

Even though you may love the shade that trees provide for your house, you’re not doing yourself any favors in terms of pests. In addition to your trees being cut back, you should also keep firewood far away from the home. Piles of wood are inviting mice and all sorts of insects to come make a nest.

Clean Away Food Debris

One of the biggest reasons why mice enter your home is to eat your food. It’s important that any time you make food in your kitchen, you wipe the remains away thoroughly.

In addition to wiping off counters and surfaces, you should also make sure that all of your food is kept in airtight containers. If there’s no food to get to, mice will lose interest in that area.

This year has been a funny one for style, and we have all let it go in place of wearing the same sweatpants and hoodie for days on end. Since we were not seeing anyone or leaving the house much, who could blame us? However, those days are over (sort of) and this might leave you feeling confused as to where to go from here. It might have been a long while since you glanced at your make-up case, even looked in the direction of your heeled boots, or thought about putting on a necklace.

So, with this in mind, this piece will help ease you back into fashion normality and give you five ways in which you can instantly look more stylish. We got you.

The Leather-Look Jacket

Nothing says “cool” as instantly as a leather-look or biker jacket. Somehow, they just make us look effortlessly cool—and yes, it is literally effortless. Just put one on over basically anything for a pop of “badass.” If you truly want to upgrade your look, a crisp, white t-shirt with a leather jacket is the perfect combo. For some sophisticated styles, head over to yuniont.com.

Switch Up Your Shoes

This one sounds odd, but Cosmopolitan said it, so we are not going to argue. The concept is pretty simple; whatever shoes you usually wear, switch it up for the total opposite. If you usually wear heels, opt for flats or boots, and if you usually wear boots… well, you get the idea. The thought behind this is whatever feels wrong is right. The more wrong it feels, the more right it is. Please only apply this recommendation to shoes (although it also works for eating a second tub of ice cream). Do it—its fashion.

Add Some Sunglasses

Sunglasses have far surpassed their original purpose of keeping the sun out of our eyes and protecting our eyes from being burnt (which is a real risk). While these are and will remain the most important features, sunglasses now have a style element to them that has nothing to do with the weather.

From hiding the bags under our eyes, helping celebrities disguise their appearance when out and about, and aiding us in avoiding any kind of light because of the hangover we definitely don’t have, sunglasses have come into their own as an accessory and are now one of the fastest ways to turn any outfit stylish.

Mix Up Your Textures

Unless you are going for the 90s double-denim look, we often have more than one texture in our outfits anyway, but this season is making it somewhat more of a deliberate style, with textures we might not usually think of. Think satin with velour, teddy wool with crisp blouses, and leather jackets with knitwear.

One of the bonuses of this tip is that it is a great way to layer up and keep warm while also looking stylish; instead of being wrapped up head to toe in one giant coat.

Reach a New Outfit High With Platforms

Not only do platforms give our darling shorties that extra height without constant heel pain but they are also “high” up on the list for making a regular outfit turn into a fashion statement. Platforms have enjoyed a burst of popularity over the past two years, and this trend doesn’t seem to be dying down anytime soon, so get ready to see even more platform styles continue to infiltrate the fashion scene.

 

 

Becoming a landlord isn’t something that everyone can do. You do need to have some investment capital behind you, or you need to already own a property that you can rent out. If you have one of these two things in place, then becoming a landlord can have many benefits, and as long as the rent you are asking for is going to exceed any mortgage payments you need to make, you can make a good profit and have a great asset for the future.

There are many things to think about before becoming a landlord, but if you think it might be a good option for you, here are some of the benefits that might help you to make your final decision.

Making Money

The biggest benefit of being a landlord is making money. Most people won’t choose to take on this role if they aren’t going to be able to make at least a partial income from it, and this is why it’s crucial to ensure you have your figures right before you begin. The first step with this is to get mortgage advice Richmond whether you already own the property or not. If you’re looking to buy a property to rent out, you can get information about specialist mortgages. If you already own a property, you can look into remortgaging to ensure you have enough capital behind you to start your new business.

Buying a property is a good idea no matter what your reason, and if you can do it you certainly should. This way you will have a great investment for the future, and when you want to retire you can either sell and use the money or continue to rent it out and have a regular income.

Work Life Balance

Something that might not be quite so obvious when thinking of the benefits of being a landlord, but that is actually something that can really make a difference to those who choose to go in this direction, is the work life balance you can achieve with this as your career or side hustle.

The work life balance is crucial for health and happiness and the emotional wellbeing of everyone in your household, including you. If you have a good property you can rent out, or more than one in some cases, you can use this as your main career. For the most part, you won’t actually be doing too much, and you’ll get a nice regular income. Or you could still have another job but work fewer hours or take more time off when you need to, because you know you are receiving an income from the rental.

New Skills

Owning a rental property may sound easy, and a lot of the time you won’t have to do anything at all, especially if you have worked hard to vet your tenants and they are taking care of the property while living in it. However, there will be times when you do need to carry out maintenance work or help your tenants out in some way. You’ll also need to understand how to market your property in the right way to ensure that there are very few times when it is empty and not bringing you an income.

Being a landlord means you will gain all kinds of useful skills including:

• Marketing
• Customer service
• Negotiating
• Bookkeeping
• Maintenance skills (although for the larger jobs it is certainly worth calling in a professional)
• Investment knowledge

It’s incredible just how many skills you can learn when you are a landlord, and the longer you do it, the more you will know.