- 10 Ways to Romance Ready Your Home
- $800 electric bill prompts switch to wood stove -- Couple fill yard in quest to lower costs
10 Ways to Romance Ready Your Home
Apr 5, 2009
These days we are busy and trying to save money. If you are married, in a long-term relationship or want to be seriously dating someone, you may not have the resources to go to bed and breakfasts and eat out fancy places to romance your partner. We’ve already discussed cheap romantic gestures that you can do anywhere but today I am proposing that you be proactive and romance ready your home. Once you do, you will feel like you are at a spa or ready for a romantic evening at any time with little effort.
Here are 10 things you can invest in to get you started:
1. ELECTRIC FIREPLACE (big ticket item): If you have always wanted a fireplace but live in a rental in Manhattan, all is not lost. You can purchase an electric fireplace that you just plug into an outlet and you can take it with you when you move; no clean up or logs needed. You can buy a used or inexpensive one on ebay but I found a new fancy one for around $600 as an example. I know that sounds expensive but it is something you’ll have to keep and enjoy in your home. You can place it in your living room for guests or in your bedroom.
2. MUSIC: Romantic music is great to create a mood. You can download itunes or just create a mixed tape of your favorite love songs. Do this work ahead of time so all you have to do is pop the tape in and you can slow dance with your mate to your favorite songs.
3. TAKE-OUT MENUS: Obviously the most romantic thing (for you domestics) is to cook but that means that you will need to shop and cook each time you decide to be romantic. If you have kids and a lot going on, this can be unappealing. So my suggestion is to keep a folder of inexpensive good take-out places that you can call at a moment’s notice and have them deliver it right to your door. This makes it easy and fun for you both. You can still dress it up with a table cloth, china and candles.
4. CANDLES: Speaking of candles, you can head to the dollar store and buy a bunch of those little glass votive holders and tea light candles for under $15. Stock up so you have them whenever you want them. Nothing adds romance like candle light!
5. WINE: Trader Joe’s now has good wine for $3.99 a bottle. You can go get a case one day and just store it for special romantic occasions. It won’t ever go bad and your investment will last you a long time. Invest in two pretty wine glasses from crate and barrel or pottery barn.
6. DISCO BALL: This one may not be for everyone but I think it’s fun. You can install a disco ball in your living room and buy a colored spotlight for $ 30. This creates a fun romantic mood. You can watch the colored lights or slow dance and create your own club atmosphere at home.
7. MASSAGE OIL: You can pick up some good smelling massage oil for under $15 or some body lotion that you love. Then you and your partner can exchange foot rubs or massages from home so you will both be in a relaxed, loving mood.
8. BUBBLE BATH: You can buy Mr. Bubble for under $5 in any drugstore or you can invest in a fancy brand that includes aromatherapy. Even if you don’t have a fancy Jacuzzi, you and your partner can take a bubble bath together and it will be a great, relaxing, romantic escape at any time.
9. BREAKFAST TRAY: Another luxurious easy thing is to serve your mate breakfast in bed. Even if it is just orange juice, a croissant and the paper, the gesture will be appreciated. So get a breakfast tray so you can surprise your mate this way (or they can surprise you easily!).
10. ROMANTIC AROMA: Spas often have incense and they immediately relax you. You can create this kind of ambience at home with little effort. You can stock up on your favorite incense, buy flowers or get an aromatherapy diffuser that will continue to spread the scent you love through your house.
So go on a shopping expedition to make your house romance ready or you can let your fingers do the walking and get most of these things online.
Remember, with a little proactive effort you can have romance at home with little ongoing investment. During this recession you will save on fine dining and mini breaks and will make your house a haven.
Sources from: http://www.examiner.com/x-2473-NY-Love-Examiner~y2009m4d5-10-Ways-to-Romance-Ready-Your-Home
$800 electric bill prompts switch to wood stove -- Couple fill yard in quest to lower costs
1 Apr 2009
Norwich, Conn. - The more than $800 electric bill Russell Duntz and his fiancee, Julia Lovejoy, received in October pushed them to take action and find a more inexpensive way to heat their home.
They paid to install a wood stove that a friend gave them, cut wood from a friend’s property in Voluntown and another friend’s property in Norwich and starting piling it in their front yard.
And piling. And piling still more.
Now, nearly every inch of the tiny front yard of their home on McKinley Avenue, along with the front porch and most of the even smaller grassy space in the back yard, is filled with wood piled higher than the surrounding stone walls.
It’s just one example of the everyday efforts people in Eastern Connecticut are making to cope with the economic meltdown.
There’s at least 10 cords in the front yard, a fairly startling sight for a streetside neighborhood just outside downtown. Another five or six cords are in the backyard.
“People come by and they are amazed because we have so much wood,” Lovejoy said.
Duntz said people ask, “What are you, crazy?”
Their efforts have paid off, even if the wood stove meant they had to move a dining table from the kitchen into an entryway. The electric bill dropped by $600 in March, they said.
Janine Saunders, spokeswoman for Norwich Public Utilities, said while she cannot comment on specific accounts, an $800 electric bill in October is highly unusual. She said customers in such situations can call NPU’s energy efficiency team at (860) 823-4514.
Duntz, a group home director for the state Department of Mental Retardation, admitted the wood piles make for an unusual sight. But he said he keeps his home warmer than most people.
The couple bought a pickup truck for $800 so they can haul wood and prepare for next winter.
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/x549589801/-800-electric-bill-prompts-switch-to-wood-stove
