One of the biggest energy hogs in your home is running air conditioning all day long. There are some easy tips you can use to help keep your house cool during the summer months. The easiest? Use white blinds on your sunniest windows. The white color is reflective and helps reduce solar heat gain inside your home. It’s so effective, it can reduce heat by as much as 45%. This one purchase and action can pay for itself in a very short period of time.

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Read this carefully: Only use this tip if you have LEFTOVER tomato soup, pasta sauce or ketchup! If your garbage disposal smells funny, don’t pour chemicals like chlorine bleach down the drain. You can neutralize the odors by using tomato-based food products that naturally deodorize. If you think about it, a dog sprayed by a skunk is “de-skunked” by being doused in tomato sauce; imagine what that can do for your garbage disposal. Just let the tomato mixture sit for an hour in the drain, then rinse it down with cold water.

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It’s a good idea to have emergency kits ready in case you ever have to immediately evacuate your home due to a natural disaster, but don’t forget to create one for your pet! In this kit, have things like bottled water, a week’s supply of pet food, collapsible food and water bowls, a blanket, leash/collar and a pet first-aid kit, plus kitty litter and a pan if you have a cat. Also, find out if pets are allowed at the hotels at which you may need to stay; a call today can help the situation be less frantic if you have to evacuate.

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