Showing posts with label These. Show all posts
Showing posts with label These. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Keep Your Lawn Green Without Wasting Money with These Watering Tips

Keep Your Lawn Green Without Wasting Money with These Watering Tips

You don't have to waste a lot of money or water in your quest for that perfect green patch of grass that'll make your neighbors envious. The Simple Dollar offers several maintenance tips that not only keep costs low but also help you mow less often.

Among them: Don't water the lawn. It sounds counter-intuitive, but as Trent writes, the lawn will only die without water when there's a drought-like situation (and in that case, you're better off saving your water). This is part of a two-prong strategy. The second part is to only cut your grass before it's going to rain, so the taller grass can provide shade and protection for the ground, conserving water.

I generally don’t cut the grass unless the forecast has a chance of rain that’s higher than 60% within the next 48 hours. This simple rule kept our grass green for a very long time during the drought summer of 2012. Although it did eventually turn yellow in places, it stayed green far longer than many lawns on our block (excepting the ones with a sprinkler system).

Finally, if you're required to water your lawn due to your homeowner's agreement, use an empty tuna can to measure how much to water the lawn. With your tuna can on the ground and your sprinkler on, you'll know when it's time to move the sprinkler to another area when the can is overflowing.

Check out the post below for many other frugal lawn care tips.

Nine Ways to Save Money on Caring for Your Lawn | The Simple Dollar

Photo by Sam DeLong.


View the original article here

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Monday, November 18, 2013

Add Depth to Your Desktop with These Isometric Wallpapers

Wallpapers generally come flat. While we don't expect (or want) anyone to pop on a pair of 3D glasses to change that, you can add some attractive depth to your desktop with isometric renderings.

Add Depth to Your Desktop with These Isometric Wallpapers

Download this wallpaper | mister-meh on deviantART 2000x1306

Add Depth to Your Desktop with These Isometric Wallpapers

Download this wallpaper | NASC 1920x1357

Add Depth to Your Desktop with These Isometric Wallpapers

Download this wallpaper | PC Gamer 1920x1080

Add Depth to Your Desktop with These Isometric Wallpapers

Download this wallpaper | Passy's World of Mathematics 2560x1440

Add Depth to Your Desktop with These Isometric Wallpapers

Download this wallpaper | ATSkill on deviantART 1920x1200

Add Depth to Your Desktop with These Isometric Wallpapers

Download this wallpaper | Rick Acosta 1600x995

Add Depth to Your Desktop with These Isometric Wallpapers

Download this wallpaper | BreAuna on deviantART 2600x2472

For more great wallpapers, check out our previous Wallpaper Wednesdays. Got any great wallpapers you'd like to share? Email me a link with "Wallpaper Wednesday" in the subject line. Submitting your own work is highly encouraged!


View the original article here

Friday, June 14, 2013

Break the Cycle of of Busyness with These Three Questions

Humans are habitual creatures. We fall into habits and routines to help us get through the day, but after awhile, some of those habits might become unnecessary, and can cause us to constantly feel busy or overwhelmed. Every few months, it's worth stepping back and taking inventory to break out of the cycle of busyness.

Jessica Latham at Tiny Buddha worked hard all day, every day for years, and eventually suffered a neck injury due to stress and lack of rest. During her recovery, she asked herself three questions to find a healthier routine:

First, ask: What am I doing in the day that does not serve me? Do I need to spend three hours every weekend cleaning the house or can my family divide, conquer, and clean in only one hour?

Do I need to spend two hours each day updating my social media status or can I update my profile once a week? What am I willing to sacrifice for internal sanity and calm?

Second, ask: Why do I do all that I do? You might be shocked to see that you cling to a number of superfluous tasks for money, pride, power, or recognition.

Third, ask: What would happen if I stopped doing this? Clearly, if you abruptly quit your job you might face immense challenges. Maybe start by identifying something small to erase from your over-packed day.

Be as specific as writing down each hour in your day to see where you spend most of your time and what you can remove from your day. You might surprise yourself when you see how much television you watch or how much time you spend driving around to do errands.

Once you've asked yourself these questions, Jessica offers up five suggestions to help you act on them, and break away from being unnecessarily busy. For example, you could look at your life from someone else's perspective, and try to identify what you're doing throughout the day that doesn't make sense anymore. Be sure to check out the source link for more suggestions.

5 Tiny Steps to Move Away from Unnecessary Busyness | Tiny Buddha

Photo by Steve Cuckrov (Shutterstock).


View the original article here

Monday, June 10, 2013

Find a Good Personal Trainer with These Five Questions

A personal trainer is a great way to get a custom workout you'll enjoy, but you need to find someone you actually like working with. Health blog Greatist suggests that you ask yourself a few important questions to ensure you'll develop a healthy relationship with them.

A personal trainer is going to work very closely with you. They'll push you toward goals, create a health plan with you, and you'll spend a lot of time with them. Subsequently, you need to treat finding the trainer with the same sort of care you use when you're developing any other kind of personal relationship. Greatist suggests you ask yourself a few key questions:

Does your trainer make each session about you, or is s/he busy talking about her/himself?Do you and your trainer collaboratively work on your goal setting, or does the trainer tell you what your goals should be?Do you feel validated, heard, listened to, and understood?Does your trainer show up in a timely way?Do you feel comfortable with the gender of your trainer and the professional boundaries that are set? Trainers touch, work closely, and get to see you in what are, quite frankly, awkward poses and movements. For some, having a trainer of the opposite sex may lead to discomfort. The certifying agencies, such as ACE, establish appropriate professional boundaries and safeguards.
When you're paying someone to help you develop a solid workout, you're likely already on edge a bit trying to find someone who can meet your needs. The above questions should help make that process a bit easier.

Why and How to Trust Your Personal Trainer | Greatist

Photo by USACE Europe District.


View the original article here

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Ask Yourself These Two Questions to Prioritize Your Tasks

Trying to determine which tasks need to be done and in what order can get complex. Productivity blog GTD Times recommends simplifying the process down to two simple questions.

As the author puts it:

There are two key questions I have found to be enormously helpful with priorities. Ask yourself:

What’s the value in getting this done?What’s the risk if I don’t?

Try asking yourself those questions next time you’re staring at your list and deciding how to best invest your time and attention.

These two questions can eliminate many tasks that don't really need to be on your to-do list (if there's no value in getting it done, why do it?), and almost immediately prioritize the order in which they should be done (the bigger the risk, the more important it is).

Two key priority questions | GTD Times

Photo by Stephen Rees.


View the original article here