Tuesday, November 26, 2013

How to Organize Your Refrigerator

Leftovers gobbling up space in your refrigerator? Here are some tips for keeping things organized, efficient, and tasty.

Find more articles on HiltonHeadHappenings.com/blog.


Dreaming of a clean refrigerator, but not sure how to organize? We've got some cool ideas.

Front and center
Give prime fridge space to priority items, says professional organizer Kathi Burns, founder of Add Space to Your Life (http://addspacetoyourlife.com/).

"If you want leftovers to be eaten, keep them front and center on the middle rack, at eye level," says Burns. "That goes for healthy snacks, too. If you have leftovers, don't cram them in the back."

For large food items, slice and store in several containers, says professional organizer Abbey Claire Keusch (http://abbeyclaireorganizing.com/). If your refrigerator has adjustable shelves, you can move them around for specific items. Have a plan for the food you keep.

Not everything needs chilling
Did you know that ketchup, vinegar, jam, and even mayonnaise and butter don't need to be refrigerated? If you're tight on fridge space, these items and more can go in the pantry instead.

And if you have backyard chickens, the eggs you get from them don't need to be refrigerated, although store-bought eggs do (American regulations require eggs to be power-washed before selling, which strips eggshells of their protective coating, so store-bought eggs have to be refrigerated to stay fresh).

The only items that really need to go in the fridge are meats, dairy products, and certain vegetables (unless you're going to eat them right away).

Items that should never go in the refrigerator include:
          Tomatoes (they'll get mushy faster if they're cold).

          Onions (they'll soften, plus all your other food will smell like onions).

          Honey (it'll get too thick).

          Potatoes (cold temperatures turn starches into sugars, giving your taters a sweet flavor when you cook them, and not in a good way).


Go against the flow
Today's refrigerators are designed to be organized a certain way - condiments in the door, vegetables in the crisper, gallon of milk on the center rack. But it doesn't have to be that way, Burns says.

"For busy families, I recommend a 'lunch bin' that you can pull out," she says. "Keep the mayo, mustard, pickles, meat, and cheese in there, so you can just pull it out and make a sandwich. It's easy for kids. You can create a bin for healthy snacks, too, or a breakfast bin with bagels and cream cheese."

Pulling out one bin instead of many individual items is faster, too, so your refrigerator door doesn't stay open as long. For smaller refrigerators that don't have drawers, long, rectangular bins can be used for easy organizing.

"Same goes for the freezer - just use a Tupperware bin for frozen veggies, so you can pull out all the bags of veggies in one fell swoop," Burns says. "It works really well."

Hip to be square
Refrigerators are more efficient when they're fuller, but that doesn't mean you should cram as much stuff in there as possible. Square or rectangular containers are the way to go for leftovers - they're easily stackable and fit into corners neatly.

"Stay away from round containers," says Burns. "That's just wasted space."

Article From HouseLogic.com
By: Courtney Craig
Published: October 30, 2012

Monday, November 25, 2013

Over 10,000!

Over the weekend, the Hilton Head Happenings blog reached a milestone. We have had over 10,000 reads on the area and real estate articles shared on this blog!

Recently, the Hilton Head Happenings app received a fresh update for both iPhone and Android users. The new interface is cleaner has the same look and feel across all pages. The Hilton Head Happenings app has had near 2,800 total downloads. Not only was this the first and is best Hilton Head Island area app, but we continue to work to make it the best Hilton Head area information source for smartphone users!

 The Hilton Head Happenings app includes many, easy to navigate features, including:
* Use GPS to pinpoint your location in relation to island businesses and activities.
* Frequently updated Island Events Calendar to see what's happening during your stay on Hilton Head Island.
* Tides and Surf forecast.
* Over 150 island dining locations.
* Public beach access information.
* Local area Golf Course information - both public and private courses.
* Tennis information.
* Social Media updates from Island businesses.
* Videos about the island, and video tours of area communities.
* Fishing, Charters, and Watersports activities.
* Family Fun and Movie Theater Locations.
* Area Real Estate information.






Sunday, November 24, 2013

Tips on How To Prepare Your Home for Holiday Guests

Is your home ready for holiday visits from friends and family? Here's how to prepare for the invasion.

Find more articles on HiltonHeadHappenings.com/blog.


Some are lucky and have a guest suite always ready for holiday guests. But even with a dedicated space, preparing your home for the annual onslaught of friends and family takes time and forethought.
Some preparations for holiday guests take only a few minutes; some take a lot longer. My advice: Start preparing your home for the holidays now.

Prioritize
The day before guests arrive is no time to pull apart junk drawers and clean out linen closets. Declutter guest rooms and public areas - foyer, kitchen, living room, den, and dining room. Remove anything unnecessary from countertops, coffee tables, and ottomans; if it's out of sight, keep it out of mind, for now.
If you run short of time, bag up the clutter and store it in car trunks, basements, and out-of-the-way closets. Sort and arrange after your guests depart.

Safety
Light the way: Even though you can navigate your home blindfolded, your guests can't. Make sure outside lights are working so they don't trip on the way to your door. Put motion-activated night lights in hallways, bathrooms, and bedrooms to ensure safe passage after the sun sets.

Child proofing: Ask parents to bring hardware that keeps their small ones safe, such as baby gates and cabinet locks. Transfer toxic cleaners and medicines from base to wall cabinets. Hide matches and lighters.

Fire prevention: If you didn't freshen smoke detector batteries when you switched the clocks to Daylight Savings Time, change them now. After your guests arrive, run a quick fire drill: Make sure they can locate exits and fire extinguishers, and that they know how to open windows and doors.

Entryway upgrades
Your home's foyer is the first place guests see, so make a good first impression.
          Upgrade exterior entry doors or give old doors a new coat of paint. Polish and tighten door hardware, and oil hinges to prevent squeaks.

          Remove scratches from hardwood floors, stairs, and wood railings. Place a small rug or welcome mat at the entrance to protect floors from mud and snow.

          Clear out shoes, umbrellas, and other clutter.

          Add extra hooks to walls so guests can hang coats and hats.

          Add a storage bench where guests can remove boots and shoes.

Kitchen prep
Your kitchen is command central during the holidays, so make sure it's ready for guests and extra helpers.
          To increase storage, install a pot rack to clear cooking items off countertops and ranges.

          Move your coffee station into a family room so guests don't crowd the kitchen when you're trying to fix meals.

          If you like to visit while you're cooking, place extra stools and chairs around the perimeter of your kitchen so guests can set a spell.

Sleeping arrangements
If you've got a guest room, replace the ceiling fixture with a ceiling fan and light combo, which helps guests customize their room temperature without fiddling with the thermostat for the entire house.
 To carve sleeping space out of public areas, buy a folding screen or rolling bookcase, which will provide privacy for sleepers. Fold or roll it away in the morning.

Bathroom storage
Bring toilet paper, towels, and toiletries out of hiding, and place them on open shelves so guests can find them easily.

If you don't have enough wall space for shelves, place these items in open baskets around the bathroom.
Also, outfit each tub with a bath mat (to avoid falls) and each toilet with a plunger (to avoid embarrassment).

What tips do you have for getting ready for guests this holiday season?

Article From HouseLogic.com
By: Lisa Kaplan Gordon
Published: November 14, 2011

Friday, November 22, 2013

How to Clean Up After Thanksgiving in Half the Time

The Pilgrims were on to something when they planned a Thanksgiving potluck; here are other good ideas that'll simplify your T-Day kitchen cleanup.

Find more articles on HiltonHeadHappenings.com/blog.


Want something to be thankful for? Check out these tips that'll make your Thanksgiving kitchen cleanup (http://www.houselogic.com/home-topics/cleaning/) faster and easier -- and will give you more time to enjoy family and friends.


Plan a potluck: The first Thanksgiving was a potluck; so let your guests share the fun and bring dishes to share. Then make sure they take home their serving bowls and platters, which will cut down on dishes to wash and put away.

Decide on disposable: Leave Mom's good dishes in the breakfront and set your table with disposable - and recyclable - place settings. Party stores sell plastic dishware that look like real china. After eating, collect and toss. If you can't stand to set a table with anything but your best, use disposables for hors d'oeuvres and dessert.

Triple-duty cookware: Cut down on cleanup by selecting cookware that can go from oven to table to freezer. Or, serve food in edible containers, such as bread bowls or hollowed-out winter squash, which you can either consume or compost.

Empty fridge: Start your holiday with a clean slate, which will make the inevitable mess less daunting than piling clutter onto clutter. Before beginning Thanksgiving prep, pick up depressing home clutter and clean out your fridge to make room for ingredients and leftovers.

If possible, designate a shelf for Thanksgiving food, which should be empty when you start your meal, then filled with leftovers when you're finished. In a week, clean out that shelf again. Make soup from leftover meat and veggies, and then freeze. Compost wilted greens. Toss old dairy products.

Prepare roasting pans: You won't have to clean what you don't get dirty. So line your turkey roasting pans with heavy-duty aluminum foil, or cook the bird in a bag. Pour drippings into a pot to make gravy, then throw away the liner.

Line garbage cans: Double- or triple-line garbage cans, which saves time when the cleaning campaign begins. After you toss a trash bag, there's another waiting for action.

Soaking bin: Soak pots and pans as soon as you transfer food to platters. But instead of filling the sink with soaking pots, designate a small trashcan as the soaking spot. Fill it will soapy water and dirty pots, and hide it under a sink or in a mudroom. That way, your sink is free throughout the evening to clean as you go and rinse dishes on the way to the dishwasher.

Stop stains: Don't let stains on carpet or rings on furniture set. While wine stains are still wet, dab with go-to cleaner hydrogen peroxide mixed with a few drops of dish detergent; blot with a clean cloth. Get rid of water stains on wood furniture with a dab of white toothpaste (not gel). Rub in the direction of the grain.

Pump up the music: Up-tempo music will give you a second wind for cleaning. So turn off the soothing dinner tunes and get rocking with our cleaning playlist (http://www.houselogic.com/home-diy/maintenance-repair/spotify-share-playlist-spring-cleaning/).

Article From HouseLogic.com
By: Lisa Kaplan Gordon
Published: November 01, 2012

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

5 Holiday Hosting Disasters and How to Avoid Them

Take a look at the most common things that can go wrong when you have guests and learn how to prevent them.

Find more articles on HiltonHeadHappenings.com/blog.


Imagine you're preparing to host your annual holiday party, and you're past the point of no return. The veggies and meats have been bought. Guests are already braving busy airports and crowded highways to get to your home-and then your oven won't turn on. Your home-cooked meal has quickly turned into a microwave dinner.
That's just one of many hosting nightmares that can end your holiday party before it even begins. Thankfully, some of the most damaging mishaps easily can be avoided. We collected five of the most prevalent issues and give you preventative tips to keep your holiday party on track.

Problem: The oven doesn't heat
For any holiday occasion, the oven is the most important appliance in your house. If it fails to work, the centerpiece of your meal could go from roasted beef, ham, duck, or Tofurky to Peking Duck from the local Chinese takeout joint.

How to avoid:
          There are any number of reasons a stove can break, but one common cause of disaster is easy to prevent. Don't self-clean your oven until AFTER the holidays. You risk blowing a fuse or a thermostat, and tracking down an oven technician around the holidays can be tough.

Problem: The kitchen sink clogs
The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest of the year for plumbers. The prime cause of this clog-a-thon is the mistreatment of drains when cooking holiday feasts. We hope your Thanksgiving went well, and that you avoid clog-a-thons for the rest of the holidays.

How to avoid:
          Fats and cooking oils can solidify in your pipes, so never dispose of them in your kitchen sink.

          If you have a garbage disposal, make sure it's running before anything goes in it, and never feed it any stringy, fibrous, or starchy foods like poultry skins or potato peels.

          To fix, don't rely on chemical drain-clearing products that can harm your pipes. Use a snake instead, available for $15 at your local hardware store. Best to keep one on hand.

Problem: The heat goes out
As the party's host, you're supposed to hang guests' coats-not apologize to them for having to keep them on. A lack of heat can stop a holiday party dead in its tracks.

How to avoid:
          The key to avoiding freezing your party to a standstill is regular maintenance of your HVAC. Every 90 days, a new one-inch pleated furnace filter should be installed. If you haven't done it in a while, now's a good time to replace it.

          Also inspect insulation on refrigerant lines that are leading into your house. Replace them if they're missing or damaged.

Problem: The toilet stops up
Toilets have a way of clogging up at the worst times, such as during parties and when you have overnight guests. This is especially true if you have a low-flow toilet from the early 1990s.

How to avoid:
          Don't flush anything other than sewage and toilet paper down the toilet. And there's nothing wrong with putting up a polite note to remind your guests to do the same.

Problem: The fridge doesn't cool
Without a properly functioning refrigerator, your meat could get contaminated, your dairy-based treats could go sour, and you may not be able to save your yummy leftovers. To avoid discovering a warm fridge after it's too late, take these simple precautions.

How to avoid:
          Get a thermometer for your refrigerator to make sure each shelf stays below 40 degrees and you can be aware of any temperature changes.

          Also make sure the condenser coils located on the back of the unit or beneath it are free to breathe. Coils blocked from circulating air by cereal boxes atop the fridge, or dirtied by dust or pet hair can prevent a fridge from keeping cool.

Article From HouseLogic.com

Published: November 29, 2010

Monday, November 18, 2013

9 Ways to Avoid Gobbling Up Energy on Thanksgiving

Wasting energy on Thanksgiving? Don't be a turkey.

Find more articles on HiltonHeadHappenings.com/blog


A few days before Thanksgiving

1. Install a dimmer switch for the dining room chandelier. Every time you dim a bulb's brightness by 10%, you'll double the bulb's lifespan. Most CFLs don't work with dimmers, but you can create mood lighting with incandescents and LEDs. The dimmer switch will cost you about $10.

2. Plan side dishes that can cook simultaneously with the turkey. If you cook dishes at the same temperature at the same time, you'll reduce the amount of time the oven has to be running - it's easier for the cook and saves energy, too.

When you start cooking

3. Lower your house thermostat a few degrees. The oven will keep the house warm. You also can turn on your ceiling fan so it sucks air up, distributing heat throughout the room.

4. Use ceramic or glass pans - you can turn down the oven's temp by up to 25 degrees and get the same results. That's because these materials retain heat so well, they'll continue cooking food even after being removed from the oven.

5. Use your oven's convection feature. When heated air is circulated around the food, it reduces the required temperature and cooking time. You'll cut your energy use by about 20%.

6. Cook in the microwave whenever possible. Ditto slow cookers. Microwaves get the job done quickly, and although slow cookers take much longer, they still use less energy than the oven. Resist the urge to peek inside your slow cooker: Each time you remove the lid, it releases heat and can add about 25 minutes of cooking time to your dish.


7. Use lids on pots to retain heat. The food you're cooking on the stovetop will heat up faster when you use lids.

When it's cleanup time

8. Scrape plates instead of rinsing with hot water. Unless food is really caked on there, your dishwasher should get the dishes clean without a pre-rinse. Compost your non-meat food waste. Check out these other Thanksgiving clean-up tips (http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/maintenance-repair/easy-thanksgiving/).

9. Use your dishwasher. It saves energy and water, so only hand-wash things that aren't dishwasher-safe. Wait until you've got a full load before starting the dishwasher. Be sure to stop the appliance before the heated dry cycle; just open the door and let your dishes air-dry.

Article From HouseLogic.com
By: Courtney Craig
Published: November 12, 2012

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Why aren't you here?

It's a sunny Saturday in November on Hilton Head Island. The temperature is 72°. If you aren't here, why not?

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Open House

Open House today (Sunday, 11/10/13) in Windmill Harbour, on Hilton Head Island. Check out this great view from 135 Harbour Passage! You can see from one end of the island, all the way to Sea Pines.