If you mow your lawn regularly, you might be in the habit of going in straight lines up and down, starting and ending at the same spots, all season long, without a second thought. But following the exact same pattern week in and week out may be doing a disservice to your grass.
Grass leans and begins to grow in the direction in which it is cut, meaning it'll grow unevenly rather than upright over time. Mowing in the same pattern over and over can also compact soil and create ruts, none of which is good for the health and longevity of your yard.
The best mowing pattern is one with variety
Your mowing pattern doesn't need to be fancy or perfectly precise, nor do you need to go both horizontally and vertically within a single mowing session. The most important thing is that you change direction each time you mow, so you get variety over the course of the season.
Once you've cut a width or two around the edges of your lawn—including trees, beds, and any tight spots—mow the remainder of your grass in horizontal lines. The next week, angle 45 degrees to cut stripes diagonally. Continue subsequent sessions with vertical lines, then diagonal lines from the opposite corner, then back to horizontal. Even alternating between horizontal and vertical is better than cutting the same path week after week.
If you have a robot mower, you can choose a pattern (depending on the model) that will prompt the machine to vary its direction each time it goes out.
Alternating direction each time "avoids wear patterns, promotes even grass growth, and ensures your lawn remains in optimal condition," according to Scott Porteous, a robotics product manager at Husqvarna.
Finally, keep other basic lawn care in mind in your quest for the healthiest pattern: Don't mow it too often (once a week, maybe twice), and don't cut it too short (less than three inches).
A common practice in the home furnishings market is "white labeling," in which the same item is rebranded and sold under different names by different companies (and at different price points). This means you may be able to find the dining table or bar cabinet you love at a lower cost, but you have to know where to look, and that can take time. Spoken.io can help you find the home furnishings you want at the cheapest price by showing you comparisons across different retailers, including both big box and lesser-known stores.
How to use Spoken to find furniture deals
You can head to Spoken.io simply to browse home items, which you can further sort by price range, design style, item type, and more. You can also navigate to the list of stores that Spoken searches if you found a piece of furniture at a specific retailer and want to see where else that item is sold and for how much. The service pulls from major retailers like Pottery Barn, West Elm, and Target as well as more niche and local stores.
Once you select an item, you'll see a description as well as a list of retailers that stock that item and how much it is listed for, which allows you to select the one with the best deal. You can also create an account and save items to a wishlist.
Credit: Emily Long
Spoken also has a Chrome browser extension, which will alert you when there's a better deal on the item you're currently browsing. If Spoken can find the item, the extension logo will pop up in the toolbar with a badge showing how many stores stock it, and you can click through to see the price comparisons. Note that the extension didn't activate for every item we searched, even those that are listed on Spoken's website.
Cleaning grout is a chore few enjoy, but if you’ve got tile in your home, you know it’s got to be done. Depending on the tools and cleaners you’ve got on hand, there are a few effective methods to try. Here are three of the best ways to clean grout, plus what you need to do it.
How to clean grout
Scrub it with bleach:One of the easiest methods for cleaning grout is to scrub it away with bleach and a regular old sponge. This is especially useful when you’re dealing with mold, but is good for disinfecting no matter what. Mix one part of bleach with 10 parts of water, put that in a spray bottle, and soak the area. After it has sat for about five minutes, you can scrub at it with a sponge or an old toothbrush. What you want is something a little sturdy and abrasive, so anything rougher than a cloth will do. If the smell of bleach makes your stomach turn, try a lightly scented one like this:
Use a melamine sponge: If you’re dealing with regular old scum or dirt and don’t think you need the disinfecting power of bleach, a Magic Eraser (or melamine sponge) will whiten it up nicely without compromising the integrity of the material. Just dampen it slightly and scrub over the grout for some near-instant freshening. If you want some real power behind the scrub, I recommend my favorite, the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Ultra Foamy.
Use hydrogen peroxide and baking soda: Another great method is a simple DIY: Mix two parts baking soda with one part hydrogen peroxide to form a paste, slather it on your grout, give it five minutes to sit, and then get after it with your sponge or old toothbrush.
Don’t use toilet bowl cleaner to clean grout
There is a hack floating around that involves using toilet bowl cleaner on dirty grout—but that’s actually not a great idea. Ceramics and tiles are safe from the harshness of these chemicals, but the sealant on the tiles and the grout itself are susceptible to degradation, so avoid this and stick with the tips above instead.
You can get the iRobot Roomba 980 WiFi Vacuum right now on sale for $174.99 (reg. $249). The Roomba 980 is a wifi-enabled vacuum with a three-stage cleaning system and dual multi-surface rubber brushes. You can use the iRobot Home app, Alexa, or Google Assistant to control the Roomba 980, and it can run wirelessly for up to 120 minutes before it needs to automatically return to its charger. Once the Roomba is fully charged, it'll continue cleaning where it left off. This product is marked as "New Open Box," meaning its box had been opened but it's been verified to be in new condition.
You can get the iRobot Roomba 980 on sale for $174.99 right now (reg. $249), though prices can change at any time.
When you buy a house, chances are you’re going to find at least a few incomprehensible decisions made by your home’s previous occupant. When those decisions involve important infrastructure—what look like stopgap repairs, or projects that seem like temporary fixes that became permanent over time—the urge to just rip them out and do them over the right way is often overwhelming. “What were they thinking?” you might wonder as you swing that sledgehammer.
And then, disaster. You remove an oddly placed planter in your backyard that’s ruining the layout, only to discover it was diverting water from your foundation—and now you have a flood. You find a basement window well covered in ugly, thick plastic, which you tear out to replace with a more attractive mesh—and a few months later a small jungle is growing in that well. Assuming previous owners were dumb or lazy is an easy way to make a lot more problems for your house. The best way to defend against this is second-order thinking, or what’s known as Chesterton’s Fence.
What is "Chesterton’s Fence"?
First-order thinking is simple stuff: You conceptualize an action and an immediate consequence. Consider that weird planter: The first-order thought is, I’ll remove that planter and my yard will look better. Second-order thinking is more abstract, and takes into account where the consequence of that action will lead—sometimes called the “consequences of the consequences.” The second-order thought asks: What else happens if I remove the planter? Will the water drainage shift? Will something be exposed that needs to be covered up? Will I disturb an ancient grave and unleash evil forces on my home?
The concept of Chesterton’s Fence wraps this concept up in a mental exercise. The concept comes from G. K. Chesterton’s book of essays, The Thing: Why I Am a Catholic, published in 1929. In it he describes someone coming across a gate across a road that seems to serve no purpose. One sort of “reformer,” he argues, assumes that if he can’t see the purpose there isn’t any purpose, and removes the gate. A “more intelligent” person won’t do anything until they can understand why it was put there in the first place.
Understand why something was done before you do anything about it
The idea of understanding why something was done before you remove or reverse it is key if you want to avoid home renovation disasters. Homeowners often make quick, DIY repairs that become permanent—because they work, despite not being the correct material or not using the correct techniques. And that original homeowner might be the only person who remembers the why of something.
Consider the dripping valve in an unheated garage. You buy a house and discover that a loose valve in the garage is always dripping a small amount of water. It’s an easy fix, and you feel very capable and handy. And then a few weeks later the pipe freezes and bursts, because the previous homeowner learned to just let it drip all the time. Taking a moment to stipulate that the drip might not have been negligence or ignorance and asking yourself why it was left loose might have led you to at least investigate the reason—and possibly saved you a lot of trouble and money.
Next time you notice some strange decision made by a previous owner in your house, don’t immediately suit up and start ripping the offending bit. Stop and do some second-order thinking, asking yourself why the decision was made in the first place. Only when you understand that can you safely proceed with your own plans. Doing this will save you a lot of time and trouble over the years.
For most of my life, birds haven't interested me much, but sometime in the pandemic, I started adding bird feeders to my garden, and now I am completely charmed by my new visitors. The number one threat to bird feeders are squirrels—animals which, historically, I am quite fond of—but I’ve managed to create an environment where squirrels and birds can coexist on my property.
I have read every treatise on squirrel mitigation (and have tried just about everything), but here is what has worked for me.
You shouldn't try to keep away squirrels altogether
The single best mitigation strategy I have for squirrels is to simply give them their own feeder. Squirrels are trainable, like most animals, and if you give them food they like in an easily accessible manner, they’re not going to care much about your bird feeders.
This strategy doesn’t just protect your feeder; it also distracts squirrels from ransacking your garden. Squirrel feeders are also, for the record, delightful. They range from basic horizontaljar feeders to more elaborate squirrel saloon situations. I myself went for an English tea feeder.
Credit: Amanda Blum
Choose the right bird feeder
Once you have something that's enticing to the squirrels, you can move onto a better bird feeder. In my opinion, the best squirrel-proof bird feeders are those that are pressure sensitive, and will simply close the seed portholes when there is too much weight on the feeder. (Birds do not have enough weight, but squirrels do.) The best I’ve tried and keep going back to are produced by Roamwild. They have multiple kinds of squirrel proof feeders and the free-hanging versions work very well.
Window bird feeders, as much as I enjoy them, are just squirrel bait. They’re just too easy for squirrels to get to (either from your roof line or a windowsill) and unfortunately even my Roamwild window feeder ultimately failed the squirrel test. It’s not just that squirrels will grab the food, either. Their weight on the feeder, particularly as they leap to it, will be too much for the suction cups and cause the feeder to fall, eventually breaking it.
Use multiple squirrel mitigation strategies
Even with the right bird feeder, you still need a multi-faceted approach to squirrel management. This begins by choosing the right location, meaning that it's more than 10 feet from overhanging branches, roofs, or any sort of structure a squirrel could leap from, including hanging lights. This includes lower structures like patio chairs or raised beds. The pole for your bird feeder should be far enough away so that it stands a fighting chance. This isn't an option for every home, of course, but it is an important factor.
The bird feeder should also have a baffle over it, which is a clear dome that you hang the feeder from. The squirrels can’t climb over it, so it’s harder for them to access the feeder from the top. While squirrel baffles exist for under your feeder, I haven’t found them effective. What has been effective is a cheap Slinky. Attach one end to the feeder and let the other end fall to the ground, unwound. Squirrels seem to struggle with the mechanism of climbing the coils.
You can try squirrel-proof feed, too
It’s believed that squirrels can’t handle cayenne, while birds don’t care about the spiciness of the seeds, so bird food with added cayenne may help. I have had limited success with this, but as per the multi-faceted method, you should try a little bit of everything.
I think it also comes down to the fact that some people are just determined to see squirrels as the enemy. I’ve found far more success seeing them as part of the ecosystem rather than trying to exclude them from it entirely, which is a losing battle. I suspect that, like birds, once you start feeding them and paying attention to them, you’ll find the charm in them, too.
The moment someone builds a house, nature begins the process of destroying it. This can be a shockingly fast process, as when a natural disaster sweeps through the area and erases the house, or it can be a slow, grinding process of weather and time picking away at the structure bit by bit.
That’s why houses are always clad in siding of some sort. Siding keeps the sun, wind, and rain off the structural aspects of the home, extending its life. But siding isn’t cheap. The average cost of siding a house these days is $12,690, but the high end tops out over $20,000. The good news? It’s a terrific investment. Not only does siding protect your overall investment in the home, it has a very high return on investment (ROI) (typically between 75% and 85%). Plus, the boost to your home’s curb appeal that fresh siding provides can translate into an increase in property value of as much as 10%.
There are a lot of siding options for your house. Here’s a rundown of your choices and how to decide whether they'll work for you.
Vinyl siding
Vinyl siding is basically plastic, but don’t let that fool you. While early versions of vinyl siding were prone to cracking and looked kind of cheap, modern vinyl siding comes in a wide range of styles and colors and is one of the most durable siding materials around.
Pros: Vinyl siding is relatively affordable, averaging about $11,100 per installation. It’s also a flexible choice, as you can find vinyl in a wide variety of styles mimicking wood or other materials.
Cons: While vinyl can last decades with proper maintenance, it can also fade within a decade or two, and is generally considered to have a lifespan of about 20 years or so, which is shorter than other materials.
When to choose: When cost is a main consideration.
Metal siding
Metal siding, typically aluminum or steel (although other metals like copper can be used), is a durable siding material with a distinctive look. Costs range from $8,374 to $22,942 depending on the material and size of the house.
Pros: Most metal siding will last between 30-50 years, and it’s very low maintenance. It also offers a distinctive look to your home.
Cons: Metal is durable, but it weathers unpredictably. Dents, scratches, or some sort of patina aren’t uncommon, and while it won’t undermine the function of the siding, it might undermine your style. Metal is also a poor insulator and sound barrier and can conduct sound into the house.
When to choose: When durability and longevity are primary concerns, but you don’t want the look of brick or stone.
Wood siding
Wood siding comes in a lot of different forms, including old-school clapboard (which most vinyl siding seeks to imitate), split logs (for that cabin feel), board and batten (for a farmhouse look), and shakes and shingles (for that New England port town look). There are also manufactured (aka engineered) versions made from a combination of wood fibers and a resin binder. In general, wood siding will run you an average of $19,300, though it can go much higher depending on the specific style and type of wood you choose.
Pros: Classic, traditional look. Environmentally friendly, as its manufacture doesn’t require any toxic materials and it’s a renewable material.
Cons: Requires more maintenance. While wood siding can last decades, it often requires cleaning and sealing every so often, and is vulnerable to rot and insect infestation (like termites, a word that strikes fear into any homeowner’s heart).
When to choose: When you want a cozy old-school look, or you want to worry less about the environmental impact of your house.
Fiber cement siding
Made from Portland cement, silica, and wood fiber, like vinyl fiber cement siding can mimic the look of wood or other textures while offering superior durability.
Pros: This stuff lasts: You should get at least 50 years out of fiber cement siding. It’s also comparable to vinyl in terms of cost, with most installations running about $15,000. It’s also very easy to maintain.
Cons: Like vinyl, it can look a little artificial compared to wood or metal.
When to choose: If you’re looking for the same flexibility as vinyl, but you want a more durable material.
Brick and stone siding
When you think of “siding” you might think of the traditional planks of vinyl siding or wood shingles. But anything that covers your home’s exterior is siding, and that includes brick and stone facades.
Pros: Brick and stone siding offers a classic, traditional look. It’s also very low maintenance, and can last as long as 100 years if properly maintained.
Cons: Expense. Brick siding can run an average of $22,500 to install, while stone siding can go as high as an eye-popping $72,000, depending on the size of your house.
When to choose: When you want your siding to outlive you with minimal maintenance.
Stucco siding
Stucco is an old-school siding choice made by combining cement with sand or lime and applying it to a lathe of some kind (typically metal screening) attached to the exterior of the home.
Pros: It’s very flexible in terms of color, and provides superior energy efficiency because it forms a seal around the home, keeping the outside air outside. It’s also price-friendly, with an average cost of under $10,000.
Cons: Stucco is porous, and won’t do as well in cold or damp climates. It’s also maintenance-intensive, as weather and settling can create cracking that will need repair on a relatively regular basis.
When to choose: When costs or energy efficiency are the main thing.
Other considerations
Of course, part of choosing siding for your home will be your neighborhood. You may not want to have a dramatically different style of house (or you may not be allowed to have a dramatically different house if you have a homeowners association). Keep the look of your home as it pertains to the rest of the community in mind when choosing siding.
Another consideration is the installation process: If you’re looking to DIY your siding to save some money, you might choose vinyl siding (even if you don’t love the look) because it’s definitely something you can do yourself.
Whatever siding you choose will improve your home’s curb appeal, comfort, and longevity, so there’s no really wrong choice here. You just need to balance cost, durability, and aesthetics.
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