This Valentine's Day, why not show your home some love? Your home should be your happy place. The place where you feel most relaxed and at peace. It’s not always easy to make maintaining and improving your living space a priority though. Life gets busy and before you know it, rather than a source of peace, your home’s become a source of stress - everywhere you look all you can see is something that needs be fixed, cleaned, or organized. That's why this Valentine's Day, we invite you to show your home some love with the following tips and tricks. Take care of your home, and it'll take care of you.

This Valentine's Day, Show Your Home Some Love

Light Up Your Home The Right Way

Lighting can truly either make or break a space in your home. No matter how much effort you've put into picking out…

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The cold of winter is coming to Halifax sooner than later. With rising oil costs and general inflation, using (and paying for) more energy in your home than you actually need is something we'd all like to avoid.

Before cranking up your thermostat, and in turn your heating bill, here's five other things you can do to keep your home cozy and warm, all while keeping your energy bill low.

Family in warm home during winter

Fix Drafty Windows and Doors

Cold air can sneak through windows and doors in any home, cooling your home overall and leaving you reaching for the thermostat. So next windy, cold day check around your home for drafts by looking out for a soft breeze around your windows and doors. Stop these drafts in their place by re-caulking and weather stripping where…

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Have you ever hosted Thanksgiving dinner? With lots of people, lots of dishes and lots of decor involved, it takes a whole lot of preparation to pull off the perfect, cozy-feeling and belly-filling Thanksgiving Dinner.

If it's your first time hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner, or you're just looking for tips to spruce up your usual routine, read on for our best tips for hosting the Thanksgiving Dinner of your dreams.

Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner

Plan the Menu

Thanksgiving Dinner is no small feat and a lot of cooking for one person. Guests will likely expect turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, dessert...the list goes on! Plan with your guests who's cooking what and who's bringing what. If homemade is not your route of choice this year, there's lots of great…

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With the arrival of the Fall season comes the likely arrival of Fall hurricanes. The first of this season, Hurricane Fiona, is making its way to Halifax, predicted to hit Atlantic Canada this weekend as a "potent post-tropical storm". The Canadian Hurricane Centre warns us of potential heavy rains, damaging winds and flooding.

As longtime Haligonians, we're well acquainted with the damage a Fall storm can do in Halifax - does Hurricane Juan or Hurricane Dorian ring a bell? When your home is well prepared though, watching the leaves twirl and the sky open up with rain can be quite enjoyable and strangely relaxing. Prepare your home for Fall storms right with the following tips so you can sit back and relax while mother nature does it's thing.

Street of Homes in Fall

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Halifax's back to school season is upon us once again!  If you're a parent with kids in school, or a student yourself (or both!), then you're all too familiar with how crazy busy things are about to get. When trying to make time for homework, family, kids, household chores, extra curriculars and at least a little bit of me-time, sleep often gets pushed to the bottom of our priority lists. It's kind of a catch-22 though, getting not just some sleep but good sleep is key to being able to do all these things! So how do you integrate a good night's sleep in your busy routine this school year? Read on for our favourite hacks for a good nights sleep!

Alarm Clock with sleeping person in background

Start Your Night Routine Early

Do you ever procrastinate your night routine? When the day is done and…

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It's not unusual for Halifax to be hit with a winter storm or two (or five) during the first few months of the year. As seasoned Nova Scotians, we’re no strangers to the damage winter storms can cause. Do everything you can to lessen the damage and keep you, your family, and your property safe with the following tips!

Subivision Snow

1. Stay In The Know

The first step in preparing yourself for winter storms is staying in the know of what’s going on in your region. You can’t prepare for something you don't know is coming!

Monitor Environment Canada and keep up with local media for weather warnings and updates in the winter months and especially when a storm's predicted to hit.

Throughout a storm, monitor power outages across Nova Scotia and check in with…

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Fall is in full swing! The mornings are crisper, the leaves are turning, and pumpkins are popping up on doorsteps all around the city. Fall in Nova Scotia also marks the arrival of an often turbulent weather season, making it the perfect time to prepare our homes for impending Fall storms. We’ve gathered our best tips for defending your property against the elements of the season.

Clear The Way

In the event of some turbulent weather, you’ll want to make sure that drains are clear of obstacles.

Water damage can be a killer during the Fall months. Avoid water accumulation on your property by ensuring that your downspouts extend three to six feet, storm drains are clear of leaves and debris, and that the ground around your downspouts is angled to…

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Ah, back to school, some say it's the most wonderful time of the year! A time to reset and get back to routine after the summer. It’s a fresh new school year so why not give our homes a little refresh? Below are 5 ways to organize your home to have the best school year yet.

1. Backpack Drop Zone

The last thing on your child’s mind once getting home after school is organizing the contents of their backpack. It doesn’t take long for papers, leftover snacks, extra clothing and who knows what else to accumulate though.

Create a system to make backpack emptying part of the daily routine to avoid a build up weeks down the line.

Set out bins for your child to sort out everything in their backpack and where each item should be. Label each bin with the…

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We're Canadians Eh? 

As Canadians, we know what winters can be like. Now that winter is upon us it's a good idea to be prepared for Nova Scotia's unpredictable weather. Most of these tips can be used for any storm, whether it is winter or any other season. 

Were you here for White Juan? I remember it very well and, I also remember not being prepared for it. I will certainly never forget the amount of snow we received during that storm! We haven't had a storm quite like that in a while but we need to stay vigilant especially during these unprecedented times we are living in. It's time to take stock of what you have to be prepared for in a storm. Do you have everything you need?

We've created a helpful guide to preparing your home and family…

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Love it or hate it, Daylight Saving is coming to an end and the clocks are set to change again!

Though thought by many to have been created for farmers, this is a myth and most farmers are against the time change. First suggested by Benjamin Franklin in a bid to conserve daylight, Daylight Saving Time was officially adopted by Germany during WWI. Energy consumption is the main reason for the time change but it has recently been argued that this “solution” is no longer necessary and Daylight Saving is often contested.

There is no credible evidence to show that the time change positively or negatively impacts energy consumption in the modern world. The time change has, however, been linked to many negative side effects, such as increased incidents…

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