Summer Kids Entertainment Tips for Long Trips

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Kids activities – use playful gadgets

In this era of technology, electronics can be a lifesaver during long trips. You can use gadgets like iPads, hand held video games,and, smartphones to keep your kids amused. Download your kid’s favorite movies, apps, and, music before you travel. If you own a portable DVD player, it can also be a good choice to provide hours of entertainment. But, don’t forget to carry the headphones that fits your child’s ears.

Kids toys – consider non-electronics

Use coloring books and board games to keep your child engaged when the video games get boring or the batteries run out. To encourage their love for books, you may also pick a few story books that suits your child’s reading level. Another interesting idea would be to get your hands on a travel book about your destination that is meant especially for the kids.

Kids activity ideas for snacking

Nothing makes a child misbehave more quickly than a rumbling tummy. So, pack a few of your kid’s favorite transportable snacks to keep him busy and entertained. If you are traveling by plane, you may not be allowed to carry your preferred snacks and drinks through the security checkpoint, but you can buy them at the gift shop near the gate. Even if you will have to pay a little extra, it will be worth the cost to keep your child busy on board.

A lucky dip – goodie bag for rewards

Use a small gift bag to reward your kids for being good during the trip. Stock up little toys or treats and wrap them individually. Every hour or so, allow your child to pick one item from the lucky dip for displaying good behavior. Depending on the length of your trip, you can alter the time.

Traveling long distance with kids can be bothering, even with the most disciplined children. A little advance planning and preparation will not only save you a lot of stress but will also make your kids much happier.

For more traveling with kids tips on Stagetecture, click here.

Keeping your home clean and organized is one thing; although there are plenty of new messes to contend with each day, it’s not as though you have to remove every stick of furniture and then put it back each time you walk in the door. Your car, however, is another story, especially when it comes to packing it up for a family vacation. Not only do you have a time crunch to contend with, but you also have to consider just how you’re going to arrange your automobile so that your family and all of their luggage fit in (not to mention extras like snacks and diversions for the road trip ahead). As poet Robert Burns said, “The best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry.” So here are just a few tips to help you ensure that your family is outfitted for vacation with time and space to spare.

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Plan for your packing

You can start by giving yourself plenty of time to plan. For most adults this isn’t too difficult since they have to schedule vacation time well in advance in order to get days off work. Odds are that you’ll have at least several days (if not weeks or even months) to get your affairs in order when it comes to your family vacation. Once you’ve got the dates penciled in on the calendar you may begin the planning process, and there could be more to it than you think. It’s not just about ensuring that the kids have the proper clothing for the climate you’ll find yourself it; you also need to consider several other factors that could put the kibosh on your trip.

Ensure your car is mechanically ready

For example, you should call your car dealership or preferred auto shop several weeks before your vacation to make an appointment for a checkup. If there are any problems with your vehicle you want to make sure you have plenty of time to address them before you hit the road. This is also a good opportunity to reconsider your auto insurance (check in with State Farm, Allstate, autoinsurancenc.org, or whatever provider you use to find out how your coverage works in other regions) and think about getting a roadside assistance plan.

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Ensure your health is in order

You should also take this time pre-trip to check on necessary prescriptions so that you have enough refills on hand to see you through the duration of your vacation; don’t forget about seasonal allergy medications or even Epi-pens if any family members suffer from serious allergic reactions. In addition, it’s a good idea to go to the bank for traveler’s checks, as well as call your credit card companies to let them know you’ll be out of town; otherwise they might block purchases, thinking that you’ve been the victim of identity theft simply because of the unusual activity.

Packing your car

As for the actual packing of the car, you might want to go shopping ahead of time for luggage, and bring the dimensions of your storage space with you. This way you can limit each family member to one bag of belongings for the trip knowing how all of the bags will fit in the cargo area. And you might also take the kids to look for multipurpose clothing that will help them to cut back on the amount of items needed for the trip. From there it’s just a matter of bringing along receptacles for snacks, trash, and diversions like books, games, and electronics. Having bins on hand will cut down on clutter and help your car to stay organized throughout your vacation.

For more family vacation ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

If your are trying to find green cleaning practices for your home, today’s post will give you ideas. One of the primary concerns at home is to keeping it clean and tidy. This is to provide a healthy home for family members. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure.

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Here are effective cleaning tools and tricks for your home:

Create Your Own Green Cleaning Solutions

You can have an effective cleaning solution by mixing up ingredients found in your pantry already. Make sure these basic materials will never run out of stock.

• White vinegar: Due to its level of acidity, this cleanser is effective for killing germs, bacteria and molds. To have your own window cleaning solution, combine equal parts of water and vinegar in a spray bottle and add a splash of lemon juice. Wooden cutting boards can be sanitized by undiluted vinegar. To clean the toilet bowl, pour 1 cup of white vinegar and a dash of baking soda and let it sit overnight. Scrub well and flush.
• Baking Soda: To clean surfaces like sinks, tile, and tubs, sprinkle baking soda on a damp cloth, scrub then rinse with clean water. To keep away the odor, sprinkle the bottom of the garbage can, disposal or sink drain. A small bowl of baking soda in the refrigerator eliminates foul odor.
• Salt: In removing rust stains, moistened it with a mixture of salt and lemon juice. A paste of salt and vinegar could clean tarnished brass or copper.
• Lemon: Toss some lemon peel in your garbage disposal to avoid unwanted smells. Lemons also make a great degreaser by adding a bit to your dish soap.

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Choose the right broom

Finding a broom that sweeps up effectively and without redoing the same areas over and over is important. Here are tips to find a broom that suits your floor type.

• Porch or deck. Corn brooms are best for sweeping your porch or deck and other hard surfaces having rough bristles. These bristles are hard enough to sweep away dirt, pebbles and grass.
• Sidewalk, driveway, or patio. Push brooms are commonly used for outdoor. This wide broom is designed to push dirt and dust away from you, thus makes it easy to sweep leaves, pine straw and dirt.
• When you’re inside. Angled broom is efficient for sweeping dirt in tight and hard to reach spaces inside the house. The angled bristles get into corners easily.
• When sweeping hurts your back. An ergonomic broom keeps you from bending over while sweeping. This long broom handle reduces reaching and bending and prevents wrist and hand strains.

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When cleaning hard-to-reach areas like under the cabinets or sleek edges, use innovative cleaning tools like bendable-neck vacuum cleaner and blowers. Whether you invest in a new cleaning tool or you use your old ones, use these tips to ensure you are using a tool that is effective. There is nothing worse than cleaning the same room over and over again, right? Use these helpful tips to clean your home with green solutions and great tools!

For more green living ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

When it comes to spring cleaning, there are some things that we know to look for: dust, trash, items that we know longer need. But there are others that could be accumulating that are far more detrimental than all of those combined. One of these examples is mold.

Mold is something that naturally occurs within the environment. It’s a fuzzy and slimy fungus that comes in a variety of colors from white and black to green and brown. A part of the reason why it’s such a threat to a home is because, over time, it actually breaks down something as simple as leaves and also something as foundational as wood. Therefore, if a mold infestation gets into your house, you can see how it can cause a huge problem.

Image via: House of Turquoise

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How Does Mold Develop Within the Home?

Unless you are looking for it, mold may not be something that would appear to be obvious for you. That’s because wood is oftentimes used as a part of a home’s foundation behind all of the paint and plaster. However, because mold thrives off of moisture, one of the preventative measures that you can take in keeping it from being in your house is to regularly check for roof and plumbing leaks (this would mean checking out kitchens and bathrooms especially). Another thing to keep in mind is that while mold can grow on basically anything, it does like to feed off of cloth and insulation and so it’s also wise to do a once over in your attic and basement once a season. If you don’t see any immediate signs, but you’re still sensing that some mold could be there, there are other ways to detect it.

How Do You Detect Mold in Your House?

One of the greatest risks with having a mold infestation is that it can attach to your skin and even get into your lungs. This is especially challenging for people with allergies or those who are asthmatic. Also, over time, mold can bring toxins into the air that can result in other health concerns and so if you find that you feel groggy or congested in your house and then you’re noticeably better once you leave it, that’s a potential symptom of there being mold in your house. However, when it comes to the actual structure of your house, there are relatively inexpensive mold home testing kits that are available at home improvement stores for around $50. Because mold can grow in an optimal setting within 24-48 hours, it’s definitely not something that you want to wait to do. A mold infestation can be very costly over time and so an initial fifty bucks is money well spent.

Image via: House of Turquoise

How Do You Get Rid of the Mold?

Once you know that you have mold in your house, it’s now time to get to work. First, you’ll want to have a plumber or home inspector come and inspect the house to make sure there are no unseen water leaks. If there are and s/he senses that it has gotten into the insulation of your house, you will probably need a contractor to remove the mold and replace any of the foundational damage that has been done. If you’re told that it’s a manageable job that you can do on your own, before you start cleaning up, make sure to put on some gloves, goggles and a filter mask (you don’t want to have to get a temporary health insurance quote to treat a mold allergy!). Then, with some non-ammonia detergent and warm water, use a damp wipe to clean the mold off of the tiles or drywall that it is growing on. You can also use bleach, but make sure that you use one or the other; both could prove to be toxic. If you see mold on the baseboards that carpet is connected to, use a dry vacuum to air the carpet out. Do make sure to keep in mind that while these tips can help to remove mold, it doesn’t guarantee that it will prevent it from coming back. Some tips to keep mold at bay are to keep your home at around 77-78 degrees to keep the humidity out of the air, keep the windows and doors close when the air conditioning is running, and to have your air conditioning serviced regularly for any potential leaks.

For more DIY ideas on Stagetecture, & Stagetecture’s YouTube Channel, click here.

Lack of closet space is a common obstacle. Whether you’re renting an apartment, or your home’s storage space leaves much to be desired, it can be a daunting task to find the right spot for all of your belongings. Luckily, there is hope, and it can even be done on a budget.

Get Organized

The obvious, but often skipped, step in getting organized and finding storage solutions is to make sure you actually need the things you’re keeping in your home. So spend some time analyzing your items, and once you’re settled on what stays and what goes, consider which storage systems would work for you.

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One smart idea to keep in mind is giving pieces of furniture more than one job. Of course you prop your feet up on your ottoman, but what if the ottoman also held toys, blankets, and remotes? Baskets could be lined up underneath an entryway bench to hold mittens, scarves, dog leashes, and other items needed near the door. Placing a stylish trunk or hope chest at the end of the bed creates the illusion of a foot board while giving you storage for extra linens and a place to sit in the bedroom.

Choose a coffee table with a shelf underneath to hold magazines, entertainment items, or even closed baskets that hold miscellaneous items like office supplies or files from sorting your mail. Use a large dresser in your dining room as your buffet to hold table linens, serving ware, and small appliances. Put your television in an armoire and you’ll have lots of extra room for craft supplies, board games, stationary, and other things that would normally be stored in a closet.

Use Hidden Spaces

Also, think of looking “up” to find more storage space. Often the top 2 feet of a closet are completely ignored. Put a shelf way up high for things you don’t use often, like holiday decorations, and use up every inch of available space. Another brilliant idea is to hang a shelf, with brackets that match your style, above the door inside your bathrooms. That’s more unused space that could be filled with extra toiletries or towels.

Don’t Forget the Garage

The garage is another place you can find storage near the ceiling. There are many ideas on the internet for do-it-yourself storage systems made of wood, pvc pipe, and other materials that hang from the ceiling.

Don’t forget about hidden spaces, like under the beds. You can slide plastic bins underneath to hold out of season clothing, or consider building wooden boxes on casters that will roll in and out.

In other hidden spaces, like inside kitchen and bathroom cabinets, be sure to use mini-shelves or lazy susans within each cabinet to maximize the space. For example, don’t waste a 15 inch tall cabinet shelf by filling it up with only 4 inch tall spice jars.

No need to panic if your closet space is minimal. Make your furniture pieces more functional and use up every bit of space you can find!

Melanie Belasco Levy co-owns Houston Apartment Insiders, a free apartment locator service that works with almost all apartment complexes in town. Whether you are looking for an apartment in the Medical Center, Downtown, the Galleria, or anywhere else- HAI can help.

For more storage ideas on Stagetecture, click here

Why is it that every single year, we take the last few days right before Mother’s Day and then start thinking of what to give her? Whether you are trying to get something memorable or you are trying to impress, it is time to get serious about a gift!

The great things about Mom’s, they aren’t too picky. In fact, as long as you call them, spend time with them, and have a thoughtful gift from the heart, Mom will probably LOVE it!

Here are last minute ideas that always bring a smile!

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas:

Fresh Flowers:

Image courtesy of Jeanne Winters

Pampering Gift Baskets:

Brunch just for her

Image courtesy ofTasty Eats at Home

Family Picnic

For more Mothers’ Day ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Me and the family just got back from our family road trip to visit the in-laws. While the Walt Disney trip is about 6-7 hours away by car, everytime we take the trip it seems like 10-15 hours with 2 teenagers and a 5 year old daughter! This year, me and my husband got smart, we left out at 5:00 in the morning, and by time the kids were really waking up, we were half way there! The other trick was keeping them entertained. The DVD player in the truck helped, as well as plenty of activities for the younger one.

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Today my Guest Blogger, Julie Rukavina gives you more great ideas for keeping your kids busy on a family road trip. This Spring and Summer, I can guarantee more family road trips are on the way, and many of these tips can help you and me!

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If you are taking your kids on a long road trip, you are going to need to come up with stuff for them to do, otherwise you are facing several hours trapped in a small space with cranky kids who won’t stop asking “are we there yet?” You’ve got to be creative when coming up with activities for the kids because although singing “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” is always fun, it’s bound to drive you crazy after the first thirty stanzas or so. With that torturous fate in mind, here are several suggestions for games that will keep your children happy during car trips.

You can purchase travel versions of popular board games for your kids to play during the car trip. There are travel editions available for classic games such as Scrabble, chess, checkers, Backgammon, Boggle, Guess Who, Clue and Battleship. You can also give your kids a pack of cards so they can play games like War, Spit, Cheat and Go Fish.

A scavenger hunt designed specifically for a car trip is also a great idea. You can put together a list of things ahead of time, hand out the lists to your children and hopefully they will spend at least a good half an hour glued to the window looking for the items on their list. You can include things like license plates from particular states, cows, bodies of water, wildlife, cops, customized license plates, people talking on cell phones, bikes, signs and expensive cars on the list. If you don’t want to put together a scavenger hunt, you can find a list online or purchase a scavenger hunt kit.

Your kids may also enjoy doing crossword puzzles, Sudoku, word searches, mad libs or other word games. Younger children may be more interested in a coloring book. If your kids are not prone to getting car sick, they can play “Spaghetti and Meatballs,” a game where you read out loud from a book. To play the game you must substitute the word “spaghetti” for any word that begins with an “s” and the word “meatball” for any word that begins with an “m.” If you mess up, the next person gets to take a turn.

Bringing along Legos could possibly turn into a mess, but at least it will keep your kids occupied for a while. The Legos can be stored in ziplock bags or shoeboxes. Before your car trip, take your kids to the Lego store and have them pick out a new box of Legos or two. Make them wait until the family car trip to open the boxes, and they’ll spend a good amount of time reading the instructions and trying to build the model on the front of the box. You can also hold a contest to see who can build the best object related to your trip.

Julie Rukavina is from the cheap rental car website CarRentalExpress.com.

For more family vacation ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

On this first day of September, it has me start thinking of the fall months and keeping organized. Now that the kids are back in school, and everyone has their own schedule, wouldn’t it be great to have a VISUAL way of staying organized?  Not necessarily a giant schedule saying where everyone should be at what time… or.. maybe that is what I need!

It could be a calendar, or just an area to jot down homework assignments that the kids are studying in school.. or how about a running grocery list?  I saw this advertisement for Idea Paint in a magazine today. Similar to the idea of chalkboard paint, but uses dry erase type markers to write on any surface!  I love the ideas they give on their site, and it can be used for home, office, or schools.

Whether your family needs helpful reminders in the morning or you can’t forget ballet practice tomorrow, Idea Paint is a wonderful solution for today’s modern family.

To learn more about Idea Paint watch the You Tube Video on how it works.

For more home organization ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Exactly one year ago today, I started the Stagetecture blog as a place for me to talk about my passions: home staging, organizing, decor, family solutions, and everything that surrounds your home. 245 posts later, a brand new look, and new adventures under my belt, I’m happy to say this has been a life changing venture.  The people I’ve met, the world that I’ve now grown closer to, I appreciate all of my old and new readers.  You all inspire me every day!

Happy Birthday Stagetecture Blog!

-Ronique

With school starting this month, I found it only fitting to re-run my first blog post, about using organization to save you time… still my motto.  I will periodically run Stagetecture Archives to show where the blog evolutioned from one year prior. Enjoy!

Organization Can Save You Time

(Entry #1, August 15, 2009)

It’s 7:00am, and you need to be out of the house in 30 minutes to make it to work on time. Your kids are asking where their clean clothes are for school. Your spouse is asking where are the car keys, it’s your turn to take the minivan. You’re in the kitchen trying to make a hot breakfast, but the pantry has Tylenol, crayons, and pepper in the same place, and they all just fell into the oatmeal.

Solution: Organization!

Every aspect of your life could use some form of it. Whether it’s at home, office, gym, or your social calendar!

Kids:

Help them, help themselves. After laundry comes out of the dryer, have children put clothes away as soon as possible. For larger families, have separate areas for dirty and clean clothes. (Separate laundry baskets, labeled bins, or clean each child’s clothes separately to avoid confusion.)

Morning Rituals

If you are like most of us, that have hectic mornings, make rituals for you and your family. Can’t find the keys? Assign an area that you and your spouse go to when you come home, and when you leave out. The same with purses, wallets, gym bags, kid’s backpacks.  Assign areas that before the family retires at night, they know in the morning, it will be the place as the “go-to” spot, before heading out the door.

Kitchen organization

The Kitchen is the most used room of any house, repeatedly through the day, and the one place that organization gets overlooked. Keep medicine for the family in a cabinet away from extreme temperature changes (not the bathroom!) Choose a cabinet

that young children can’t reach, but convenient for adults.   Place crayons, pens, markers and other art supplies in a utility room, upper shelf of a cabinet or pantry. This way, the walls won’t accidentally have writing on them, without you knowing Timmy was in the markers!

Add a spice organizer, simple or elaborate, to your kitchen. If you can find the pepper in 3 seconds instead of 3 minutes, think of the time you’ll save in the entire morning.

For more home organization ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

When selling your home in this difficult home market, a slow period is expected.  Between the enormous amount of inventory of homes to choose from, buyers have their pick of thousands.  Although, when is it time to re-evaluate why your home is still on the market?  If other homes in your neighborhood are selling, and yours is not, it is time to look at your current situation.

I found this article on MSN Money that talks about why your home may not be selling. These tips are very helpful, and should be taken into heavy consideration when deciding to keep your house on the market or not.

1.) House is overpriced:

Overpricing is the most common reason homes don’t sell. When you ask an unrealistic price, it sets in motion a process that often works against you. Here’s why:

Most real estate agents, and hence most qualified buyers, will see your new listing within 30 days. If it is overpriced by as little as 5%, it will be duly noted and interest in your property will wane, especially if you show no intention of coming off your asking price. You likely already priced out buyers who might have qualified for financing at a more reasonable price. Even if you manage to find a buyer at your inflated asking price, the property may not appraise at that figure and the financing will fall apart.

2.) House doesn’t ‘show’ well:

Your home is competing against shiny new houses in those pristine subdivisions out in the suburbs with their attractive prices, incentives and community amenities.

Face it: Even the best old house needs a little makeover if it hopes to attract a qualified buyer.

The good news is most of the work will be cosmetic and relatively inexpensive: a new coat of paint, a few attractive window boxes, a thorough cleaning of floors and carpets. Voila! The place may look good enough to reconsider.

3.) House is in bad location:

Nothing has a greater effect on your home’s value than its location. Your humble abode might be worth a king’s ransom were it located in Palm Beach, Aspen or San Francisco. It might even jump thousands in value just two streets over in the next (and far superior) school district.

“If you’re in one of the higher-ranked schools around here, you’re going to add $50,000 to $100,000 to the price of the same house,” says Lenn Harley, a broker with Homefinders.com Inc. in Maryland and Virginia.

The point is, location rules in real estate.

4.) Poor listing agent:

Their bad advice can cost you plenty in time, money and the sheer hassle of keeping the place show-ready 24/7.

The agent from hell will allow you to overprice your home (“Here’s what I can get for you if you list with me!”), not market it properly, fail to screen for qualified buyers, be unresponsive to interest from other agents (if they sell their own listing, they don’t have to split the commission) and keep you totally in the dark throughout the process.

What’s more, if your agent is abrasive, arrogant or otherwise difficult to work with, other agents may not want the hassle of showing any of their listings to prospective buyers.

5.) Ineffective marketing:

Gone are the days when an agent could simply place your listing with the local multiple listing service, hold a halfhearted open house and wait for another agent to bring forth a buyer.

Today’s top performers launch a multilevel marketing plan that includes listing tours for area agents, newspaper and even TV ads, weekend open houses, listing fliers and placements in local real estate publications.

Computers and the Internet also have changed the face of real estate. According to the National Association of Realtors, today more than one-third of all home buyers use the Internet for house hunting. The best real estate agents are computer-savvy. They have your listing in color on their laptops to show clients and communicate frequently via e-mail, a particular boon when working with out-of-town buyers.

Suffice it to say that if your real estate agent isn’t listing your home online through the company Web site as well as with the local MLS, you may not be getting the exposure necessary to find a buyer.

“There are those who just put the listing in the multiple and pray it will sell and those that put a lot of effort into marketing their listings,” says Fisher. “Unfortunately, with this weird system of compensation we have, they all get paid the same, whether they know nothing or have many years of experience.”

For more home buying & selling tips on Stagetecture, click here.