When you think about making home improvements, it’s easy to concentrate more on the things that cost money than those you can probably should be getting rid of. You know, things you may have forgotten you even have, let alone use any more.

So how about it? Do you have enough extra and no-longer-needed stuff you could easily do without while perhaps eliminating a fire hazard or two? Probably, right? Well then, here are 5 such items you can – and should – toss from your home right now.

1.  Old Magazines and Newspapers – It might be time to admit that you’re just not going to get around to reading all those well-written articles and trying all those delicious-looking recipes. For those that you’re not quite ready to part with, take a picture of the article or recipe, and recycle the actual newspaper or magazine.

2. Rusty Tools and Unused Hardware – Allen wrenches, extra screws, and other odds and ends do nothing but clutter your toolbox (or, for some of us, the junk drawer). Toss those extra parts you no longer need and those tired-looking tools you can no longer use; in the process, you’ll be making minor repairs and DIY projects a little easier to complete.

3. Plastic and Paper Grocery Bags – We applaud your noble efforts to reuse old shopping bags, but we’re guessing you currently have way more than you could ever use in a lifetime. Keep just enough for those times when you actually need a bag, recycle the rest, and consider getting reusable bags for your shopping trips.

4. Instruction Manuals – Let’s face it, when a gadget or appliance goes awry, chances are you’ll look for help online as most manufacturer’s now put their manuals on the web. So there’s really no need to hang onto old instructions manuals, especially those for items you no longer own. You can even download manuals for larger appliances or more expensive purchases into a folder in your hard drive where you can access them after a few easy licks.

5. Plastic Food Containers – Look in any kitchen cabinet in America and you’re sure to find a pile of mismatched plastic food containers and random lids. Create some extra space by pairing up tops with bottoms and recycling the rest.

6. Unwanted Toys – Yes, we understand that that ninja sword and shield were once junior’s favorite playmates, but junior’s 12 now and hasn’t gone ninja on you in years.   But this time, don’t simply toss or recycle those unwanted but still-in-good-shape toys; instead, bundle or box them and donate them to your favorite charitable organization.

Even if it does still have a place in your life, it’s especially important to relocate (or get rid of) any combustible materials that are too close for comfort to your furnace or water heater. If it’s worth keeping, just find a different place to keep it.

The holidays are a time to gather with family and friends; a time for food, friendship, merriment, and joy. But all that celebrating can lead to some unexpected seasonal dangers, and yet most can be avoided with proper planning, constant awareness, and by sharing the following holiday season safety tips with family members and guests.

Avoid Dangerous Decorating – There’s nothing more festive than a home decked out for the holidays, inside and out. But standing on an outdoor ladder to hang decorations can be dangerous. For every four feet in ladder height, place it at a distance of one foot away from a supporting wall. And have someone hold the bottom as an added safety precaution.

Avoid a Christmas Tree Fire – If you opt for a live tree, choose one that is fresh and water it daily. Use high-quality, flame-retardant decorations and string lights, and always check the lights for any damage. Place your tree away from heat sources like a fire place or radiator, and make sure your smoke detectors are all in working order.

Mind Food and Beverages – Forgotten food and beverages can be dangerous to children and pets. A curious child might pick up an unattended alcoholic beverage, while your four-legged companion might be tempted to feast on half-eaten plates of food which could contain ingredients that are hazardous to their health. Clear unattended plates and dump unfinished beverages.

Put Away Medications – When expecting guests for the holidays, store all medications out of reach of children and pets. And since many of us travel with needed prescriptions, offer your guests a safe place to put their jackets and purses to prevent little hands from wandering.

Tread Carefully – Be diligent about keeping sidewalks, walkways, and stairs well-lit and accessible. Shovel away snow and put down plenty of salt on icy areas. Consider adding a slip-resistant tread on each stair to provide more traction.

You know what keeps everyone feeling merry and bright around our home for the holidays? Helping each other stay safe and sound. We hope these home safety tips come in handy for you, as well. And Happy Holidays from all of us at Absolute Air.

“Stress” and “holiday season shopping” go hand in hand. For some people, they’re synonymous, as in, there’s no doing one without feeling the other.

But does it really need to be that way? Ah, a question for the ages, if ever there was one. So, to get to the core of all this, let’s first re-visit Einstein’s definition of insanity, i.e., repeating the same mistakes over and over again while hoping for a different outcome. How does that apply to shopping? Easy. If you’re still buying for the same number or people (perhaps even more?), and still shopping in the same stores over roughly the same period of time, etc. how can you reasonably expect that this year will be any less stressful than the year before. The sad truth is, you can’t.

Even saving money these days can be a stressful process all in itself, chasing down one Cyber Monday sale here, trying to make the best use of this coupon there, and on and on it goes.

Bottom line, you have to WANT a less stressful holiday shopping experience or you have no chance of succeeding. Attitude and commitment are everything, just as they are in breaking any bad habit, including and perhaps especially smoking.

So from our house to yours, and once your “I want less stress” commitment is squarely in place, follow these helpful hints and you WILL experience less stress:

1. Put a lid on it. We’re talking your budget here, of course. Saving money isn’t just about buying something on sale. Because sometimes all the encourages you to do is buy that person a little something extra to assuage the guilt you feel for spending less on them than usual, which is the whole object of trying to save money! How to climb outside that vicious circle? That leads to point #2 below.

2. Spreadsheet it. Set up a holiday shopping spreadsheet, even if you don’t know the first thing about XCEL or any other computerized organizers. Paper and pen still work just fine. The point is, make a list of everyone you buy for, then additional columns for gift ideas, gifts purchased, and money spent. And constantly add that last column and compare it to your budget ceiling. That gives you the opportunity to adjust on the fly. More importantly, it will allow you to feel like you’ve gained control over the budget vs. allowing it to control you.

3. Shopping online doesn’t make it less personal. If you’re a devout mall goer, you’re not going to suddenly purchase all your gifts online. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do some of your shopping that way. Once you open your mind to it, you’ll find it’s a great way to buy things you don’t need to shop for, like the book your friend has been asking for and the lunch gift certificate you routinely buy for your hairdresser. Sit down, pour a cup of green tea, and do some shopping. And guess what? There will never be a line at the register.

4. Pump yourself up. If you begin a shopping excursion expecting to be aggravated, you no doubt will be. So play little tricks on yourself to stop the aggravation before it stops, like focusing on the smiling faces of loved ones as they open your gifts. It probably wouldn’t hurt to pop on a set of head phones, too, so you can listen to some soothing music while making the rounds, and thus cancelling out the sounds of shopping.

At Absolute Air, we wish you all the calm, good feelings, and quality family time the holidays have to offer.

It’s downright impossible to even contemplate the likes of Halloween or Thanksgiving without the notion or reality of pumpkins coming to mind.

In fact, for a fruit/vegetable (do you know which one it is) that is so much a part of the fabric of mid- to late fall, there’s actually quite a bit about pumpkins that you probably didn’t know.

Well, if it makes you feel any better, neither did we – until, that is, we undertook a little skullduggery on the internet. Here’s what we uncovered to both “amaze and delight” you (pumpkins are fruits, by the way, not vegetables):

• Pumpkins were not always pumpkins. According to our research, the original name for pumpkin was “pepon”, the Greek word for “large melon”. Later on, it morphed into “pompon” by the French only to have the English rename it the “pumpion”. (Is that sort of like a pumpkin and onion rolled into one?) The large orange fruit we know today as “pumpkin” was so dubbed by early American colonists and, all these hundreds of years later, the name has stuck.
• Whose idea was the jack-o’-lantern? For that answer, we travel back in time to Ireland where turnips, potatoes, beets, and such were carved and lit up to ward off evil spirits. Once Irish settlers started landing on the shores of America, they soon realized that it’s just plain easier to carve up a pumpkin. Plus, they reasoned, the bigger size was bound to be more effective in shooing evil spirits away from their premises.

• “Take this pumpkin and, if you don’t feel better, call me in the morning.” Back in the 1700’s, physicians prescribed pumpkin to cure a whole host of ailments and conditions – everything from a snake bite antidote to ridding one’s skin of freckles.

• Where would you start a pumpkin farm? Someplace where the growing conditions are just right, of course! And apparently they’re just right in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California – the four largest pumpkin producing states in the country. Each year, more than 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkin are harvested in the US.
• Step aside, pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie wasn’t always the favorite result of cooking up some of that delicious fruit. And neither were pumpkin breads, muffins, or even pumpkin flavored beer. Instead, and while it was still called pumpkin pie by European born American settlers, they would carve the middle, fill it with milk, honey, and spices, and then bake it. You know what? That’s one largely forgotten tradition that might be worth reviving.

And now you know, courtesy of your friends at Absolute Air where we wish you a happy and healthy fall season filled with tasty pumpkin treats.