For many families, the word “summer” is synonymous with the word “vacation”. It is a great time to plan for a road trip with your whole family. There are different places that you may want to visit as you enjoy the bright, sunny days. These may include different tourist attractions or even a road trip to the beach. As you plan to travel this summer, the activities below will help make the road trip great for your kids.

Image via: Pot Luck Dream

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The Alphabet Game

Tried and true, you can never go wrong with the alphabet game, especially if you have little children aged between 4 and 7 years old.

The gameplay is simple, as long as they already know the sequence of letters in the alphabet, they need to look out for things that start with different letters. For example, “alley, bridge and cat” can represent the first three letters of the alphabet. You may need to print off the alphabet to help the youngest ones to stay on track.

License Plate Game

Different countries have different versions of this game. Here in the States, it involves trying to find license plates from each state. When a player spots a plate that is particularly rare, other players get higher points when they spot another one that matches this rare one.

Those who yell out the wrong state or call out a plate that has already been named have to either punch themselves in the face or even pull out a grain of hair from the head. One interesting thing about this game is that there is already an app for it!

Animal Count

Kids love the animal count game. As the name suggests, they simply need to count the number of animals spotted along the journey. A certain milestone is set that determines the winner. The first to reach this milestone wins. This is a game that can last for a long time and keep the kids engaged as they travel through the bright, shining summer roads.

Image via: Tip Junkie

As your kids enjoy the warm weather, a fun trip is one of the best things that they can remember the holidays with. The fun does not have to begin at the destination; if you engage your kids with the fun activities above; their fun will begin as soon as the journey starts.

For more kids’ ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

It feels good when you know that you’re living green; that you and your family are making every effort to conserve the environment. When it comes to matters of being green, many people assume that it is going to be boring and that your kids will hate it. As much as there is some truth in this assumption, you can do it differently in a fun and exciting way. The tips below will help turn your house not only into a happy home, but also into a green one.

Landscaping

It is widely known that proper landscaping will add into your home’s energy efficiency. Simply said, it will provide shade in summer and insulation during the winter months. The EPA recommends planting trees that lose leaves on the southern and western sides of your house.

To make it more fun, take your whole family out and let each member choose the plants that they would like to plant. Everyone should then take care of what they chose and as they keep growing, it will be fun for them when they realize that their home is eco-friendly because of their individual effort.

Image via: Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture

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Tankless water heater

Do you do a little dance as you wait for the shower to heat up? What you should note is that when doing this, you waste the escaping cold water and also waste the energy used to heat and reheat water in the tank.

As a replacement, look for a tankless water heater for your family. This only heats the water that is needed as it goes through a coil. This does not only save you energy; it also saves your whole family that terrible time in winter when they have to wait, seemingly for ages, for that water to heat up.

Eco Challenge

How about doing an “eco challenge” with your family? Here, you inform your family about different ways in which they can make your home more eco-friendly. Apart from the ones above, other methods that you can teach them include insulation, recycling, planting some food and making homemade apple pies among other ideas. The reward for the challenge should be simple’ any money saved will be given to the one who implemented the idea and they can use it to buy cool stuff.

How about doing an “eco challenge” with your family? Here, you inform your family about different ways in which they can make your home more eco-friendly. Apart from the ones above, other methods that you can teach them include insulation, recycling, planting some food and making homemade apple pies among other ideas. The reward for the challenge should be simple’ any money saved will be given to the one who implemented the idea and they can use it to buy cool stuff.

Image via: Natural Balance Home Builders

These tips will help you to have a great time with your family as you maintain an eco-friendly home. Each family member will have a sense of contribution and it will be easier for them to make green living a lifestyle. Not only will they have an environmentally friendly home, they will also have some cool new rewards and a great relationship with each other.

For more green living ideas for your home, click here.

Are you tired of the soaring electricity bills during summer? Are you looking for a way to save your air conditioning bill? If you answered yes to the above questions, here are some tips that will help you save energy and have a lower your air conditioning bill.

1. Cool down your surroundings

Before you get into the house, make sure your exterior is cool. One of the effective methods of cooling down the yard is through planting trees and large shrubs. These will naturally reduce the air temperatures, provide shade and reduce water evaporation.

Image via: Shelly Harrison

Some of the trees that you can consider include Hybrid Poplar and the Weeping Willow. If you’re looking for fast growing trees, then go for Bald Cypress, Box Elder or the Chinese Tallow Tree among others.

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2. Adjust your thermostat

A programmable thermostat is ideal for a centralized ac system. This kind of thermostat makes it possible for you to set your in-house temperature during specific hours of the day.

You can therefore decide to set it off when there is no one in the house. This can also be done at night since the outside temperatures are generally cooler. If used correctly, the programmable thermostat can help you save a whopping $150 on your energy bill!

Image via: Nest

3. Use blinds and curtains

Studies by the California Energy Commission show that the window lets in 40% of the excess heat in your house.

This is a huge percentage to ignore.

Therefore, simply arranging blinds so that they reflect light outside the window will help reduce these solar energy effects. Additionally, you can opt to shut the curtains that face the south or west during the day.

Image via: Matthew Millman

4. Keep your AC air filter clean

Something as simple as ensuring that your AC filter is clean will help you save lots of energy; whether you use an individual air conditioner or a centralized air conditioning system.

If your filter is dirty and clogged, its efficiency will be lowered and in turn it will use double the energy. Therefore, make sure you check your filter regularly and keep it clean.

Looking through the above points, there is no need for you to spend a lot on your energy bill this summer. These are simple tweaks that may help you to make huge savings. Therefore, go ahead, implement them and use your energy savings for a worthy cause.

For more green living ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Now that summer is here your home’s curb appeal and interior decoration will be a focal point. By making some simple tweaks, you can make your home look bright and inviting to your summer guests. Below are some tips on how you can make your home cozier for the shiny days. Use these tips to find the perfect landscaping plants and spruce up your house summer.

Image via: Tuvalu Home

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Choose the right landscaping plants

Landscaping is one of the first things that you should think of as the days start getting longer and the sun starts to shine bright. This is because after you plant, you will have the whole summer season to enjoy your great choice of landscaping plants. The best choices for this time are plants that have bright colors.

Roses are some of the great plants that will help soak up the summer sun. In fact, hot cocoa rose can be a great centerpiece in your garden. Your visitors will be stunned with the great effect that this rose has when grown against a white backdrop (fence or wall).

The sunray is another plant that will add great value to your garden. This plant shines bright with its large, yellow flowers. Additionally, it is easy to grow and does not need any specialized care.

Other plants that can be added to this list include Little Carlow, butterfly bush, bluebeard shrub and day lilies among others.

Image via: Martha Picciotti

Add inviting color to your interior decoration

Yes, you can’t keep changing your furniture every three months as the season changes. However, you can make some simple changes and add some interior décor which you can store up till the next summer.

For example, you may want to do some nice interior plantscaping with some bright, beautiful pot plants. These can also be complimented with beautiful, fake plants.

Get rid of any dark pieces in your living room and feel free to throw open the doors and windows of your house.

You can also buy some accent dishes that can add the summer feel in your next dinner party.

Finally, consider rearranging your furniture away from the fireplace during summer. You can then shift the focus to French doors or a beautiful window.

Image via: Georgiana Design

Decorating your house during summer may have seemed hard, but with the above tips, you will surprise your guests whenever they want to drop by this summer. For most people, summer is a time to relax and enjoy the bright weather. With these tips, it is not only the environment that will be shining, your home will too.

For more summer home decor ideas on Stagetecture, click here.