Holiday tips from the Arkansas Realtors Association
This week’s column was written by Emily Morgan, director of public relations for the Arkansas Realtors Association.
Every year, the hustle and bustle of shopping for presents, decorating the house and prepping it for family celebrations — on top of all of those other errands — have people scrambling to finish their many tasks.
How can we make it all a little easier on ourselves? Here are some tips to guide you through a festive and worry-free holiday season.
Decorate your home with lights:
• Using heavy-duty extension cords that are UL-listed for outdoor use and only plugging five strings of lights into them is the way to go.
• Solar lights are more expensive to purchase, but they cost nothing to run. However, no sun during the day means no lights at night.
• LED lights use less energy to run, and they last much longer than incandescent lights.
• If you know you’re going to hang lights every year, save yourself some time, and attach permanent light clips to the house.
• Store your lights in cardboard boxes rather than in plastic bags. The cardboard will soak up any residual moisture.
Avoid disasters:
• Don’t self-clean your oven until after the holidays. Self-cleaning can lead to blown fuses or thermostats — and good luck finding a repair person over the holidays.
• Don’t freeze out your guests. Replace your air filters, and have regular maintenance performed on your HVAC system.
• Don’t try to do everything yourself for that big holiday dinner. Ask each guest to bring a side dish, and if guests volunteer to help with other aspects of the get-together, let them.
Store holiday decorations efficiently:
• Use holiday stockings to hold and wrap special and breakable ornaments.
• Reuse gift boxes and paper to wrap and store ornaments.
• Use wrapping-paper rolls, garden-hose reels or pieces of cardboard to store lights. You can even use wire hangers; just turn up each end of the hanger, and wrap the lights around it so they don’t slip off; then hang them in your storage area.
Remember, as hard as you try, nothing will be perfect. This is a great to time reflect on the past, to be grateful for the present and to share hopes for the future.
Relax and enjoy the holiday with your family and friends, and they’ll enjoy it, too!
House to House is distributed by the Arkansas Realtors Association. For more information about homeownership in Arkansas, visit www.ArkansasRealtors.
com.