redneck-home-improvement

In order to efficiently stop humidity in your home without using the air conditioner you should first know the reasons why your home has become humid.

Some of the main reasons why your home could be humid are not obvious.

If you have a water leak of any size it could increase your homes humidity level.

If you have a basement you need to ensure that there is a proper drainage system and that it is in working order.

The more moisture that is on the exterior of your home the more humid your home will become.

Another surprising cause of humidity is having indoor plants, especially if you have more than three because plants give off moisture.

You should consider moving some to a different location in the home and use a fan in the room that more than three plants are in.

Some good ways to keep your home moisture free are to make sure that the downspouts from your gutters are not near the foundation of the home.

You can extend these to make this possible.

You can use a vent fan in the bathrooms and the kitchen of your home to suck up humidity as it is produced.

Another tip is to ensure that your dryer is properly ventilating air to the outside of your home.

You should circulate air in your home with fans or other vents to nix humidity.

You should also check all doors and windows and replace any ruined caulk.

These simple steps should help to make your home completely humidity free.

          

• The Growing Temperature For Plant What is the best temperature for growing house plants? Here again, consider each plant's preference, and also the relation of other cultural factors, like humidity. Some plants prefer to grow cooler than average house temperatures, some need more warmth. Optimum figures vary widely. Except for vines specifically noted as......
• Understanding the Vapor Barrier The first thing to understand is that there is a difference between vapor barriers and what air barriers are. When properly defined, a vapor barrier alone is not capable of controlling the movement of air, but rather it is responsible for controlling the movement of moisture. Vapor barriers are not......
• Becoming Debt Free: Identifying the Why I write a lot about our goal of becoming debt free because at the present time it is my family's number one financial priority.  A number of my recent posts have been centered around the mechanics of getting out of debt, such as sharing strategies for repaying debt faster, earning......
• How To Prevent Window Condensation Window condensation is a common problem in many homes in cold climates.  Not only is it just plain a nuisance, but it can also can create a hazard to your family's health if left unchecked.  Simply put, moisture causes mold to grow, and if let go long enough...it can soon......
• 27th Annual PGA Grand Slam of Golf Preview The Port Royal Golf Course can be found on a little island shaped like a fishhook that is known as Bermuda. Bermuda is about to snag the elite foursome in this year's golf as the course on the southwestern end of this island is about to be the home for......

Statisticians in the drugstore industry (if they are out there), must be scratching their heads.

CVS opened its 7,000th store on Sunday.  It was a pretty big deal, with the drugstore company’s president, Larry Merlo, even heading to Little Canada, Minnesota, for Thursday’s grand opening celebration.

So, CVS now has 7,000 stores in 41 states and the District of Columbia, and calls its CVS/pharmacy chain “America’s largest retail pharmacy.”

But take a look at rival Walgreen.

Walgreen, or Walgreens, as the stores are called, has been around more than 60 years longer than CVS.  It has the lead, at least when it comes to stores and states covered.

Walgreen has been paring back its rapid store openings.  Even so, its 7,000th store actually opened the first week in September and it has stores in every U.S state.  Update: Walgreen’s current store count is 7,036.

Let’s take a look at revenue.  CVS has the overall lead, if you include its big pharmacy benefits management business.  If you focus on the stores, Walgreen holds the top spot.  Barely.  According to IBISWorld, Walgreen has 27 percent of industry revenue, while CVS holds 26 percent.

Still, CVS won the party game.  Walgreen’s 7,000th store celebration won’t take place until Oct. 1.

(Reuters photos)

          

• Saving Money At CVS And Walgreens CVS I continued my journey towards spending as little money out of pocket at CVS today. My CVS Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) from my previous CVS trip were expiring today. For the past month I've been looking for CVS deals to use my ECBs, but was unable to find a......
• Making money with an eBay Store, Part 5: Setting up your store (This post is part of a series on Making Money with an eBay Store. The Introduction and table of contents to the series is here.) Part 4 of this series on making money with an eBay store gave some thoughts about how to obtain your product at the right price,......
• Kidizoom Plus - Kids Digital Cameras When talk about kids digital cameras, many parents found it is difficult for them to choose one camera which is suitable for their kid. One thing you can try is you may get an older Kidizoom camera, and give to your kid, most likely he/she will loves it! If the......
• Champions League Analysis and Predictions for March 16th 2010 [/caption] Hooray, it's Tuesday, it's sunny, but most of all IT'S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TIME. Yeah I am that excited, because I just love it that much. After the great games last week I can only imagine what we are gonna have this week. I wonder if Chelsea will be able......
• Jumping Into the CVS and Walgreens Game I don't have a lot of experience with CVS and Walgreens. I know exactly what I can buy at CVS and Walgreens. If I'm coming down with a cold or ate too much at dinner I might swing by the nearest drugstore for some Cold-eeze or Pepto Bismol. If I......

Check out toy prices falling north of the border.

Walmart Canada said it is dropping the price of some popular toys to $10 (Canadian dollars that is) — a price cut of up to 67 percent in some cases – and new toys will be reduced to $10 every week between now and Christmas.

For instance, it said Transformers Universe, which is regularly priced at $29.92, is being cut to $10, as is Mega Bloks’ Builder Racer that usually sells for $24.96.

The move echoes price cuts announced by Walmart U.S. on Oct. 1 last year, when it slashed prices on popular toys — like Barbie dolls and Tonka trunks — to $10 each.

“We are starting our Christmas toy price cuts earlier than ever, across more toys than ever before,” said Jim Thompson, Walmart Canada’s senior-vice president of merchandise and operations.

He cited research that was conducted for the retailer showing many Canadians plan to buy items on sale to help them stay on budget this holiday shopping season, and many will spread the expense of their holiday shopping over a longer period of time to avoid large post-Christmas bills.

It can now only be a matter of time before Walmart U.S. rolls out its holiday toy plans.

Also in the basket:

Unilever pays 1.3 bln euros for Sara Lee brands

Walmart.com bullish on growth of Marketplace

Finish Line discontinued Man Alive leads to Q2 loss

Beauty retailers hope for flat holiday sales (WWD, subscription required)

(Photo: Reuters)

          

• Think Ahead – Buy Next Year’s Gifts After Christmas This Year I know that after the holidays many of you are just plain shopped-out. You may be thinking thoughts like, “I never want to see the inside of a store again!” Before you swear off shopping forever (or at least for a month or two) I want you to consider one......
• Walmart Rolls Back Toy Prices Hoping To Get Jump On Christmas Sales Walmart has announced that it is cutting the prices to many of its most popular toys and board games and is promising "more to come".  This after the recent announcement that it has canceled its layaway program, much to the dismay of many loyal shoppers.  According to Walmart, "Consumers will......
• Holiday Shopping Techniques To Avoid Breaking the Bank It is looking like the upcoming holiday season will be gloomy for many families, given the current state of the economy and continued bad news on many financial fronts. While this may not be a time to go all out with gifts, there are holiday shopping techniques that you can......
• Post-Holiday Blues The day after Christmas can be such a let down. I felt this especially as a kid. I would wait in anticipation for what seemed like an eternity for Christmas Day. I could hardly sleep the night before in my excitement. Yet, once Christmas Day had come and gone, the......
• Economically Shopping For Christmas Toys The following guest post was contributed by Christine Howell who frequently writes about Online Degree Programs and college related topics for Online College Guru, an online college directory and comparison website. With the holidays quickly approaching, parents are starting to feel the pressure rise. The kids still expect to see......

J.C. Penney discounts are going mobile as the department store takes aim at younger, tech-savvy shoppers.

Just in time for the crucial holiday shopping season, the company is testing a discount program from Cellfire that will allow Penney’s Houston-area shoppers to use their cell phones to download coupons that can be presented at checkout for savings.

The move comes as Penney gears up for the holiday shopping season — a crucial sales period for department stores and other retailers.

“It’s another way we’re innovating to enhance the customer’s shopping experience,” Mike Boylson, the company’s chief marketing officer said in a statement.

J.C. Penney’s test currently is limited to the Houston metro area. A promotion on Cellfire’s website reads: “Take $10 off a single purchase of $25 or more in store, jcp.com & catalog when you use your JCPenney card.”

Cellfire’s website also shows coupons for other area stores stores such as Sears and Kroger.

Shoppers who have downloaded Cellfire will have access to the same discounts that Penney sends via snail mail, and new offers will be available nearly every week. 

(Photo\Reuters)

          

• Oyster Point -- Marina, Fuel Dock, Boat Ramp, and Inn Oyster Point is a 600 berth marina, fuel dock, boat launch, inn, and bait shop in South San Francisco on the west side of the bay. The bait shop and general store has a wide varity of food, drinks, frozen bait and live bait in season. It is $10 to......
• Top 3 Things to Learn About Personal Finance Regardless of your age, position in life, or your financial goals, there are a few things that we all need to learn about personal finance. Once you have the basics down, everything else can just flow naturally. These tips are the strong foundation upon which you can build your financial......
• Frugal Food Ideas For 1/31/2007 One of the things that has been on my mind lately is saving money on food costs, specifically getting our grocery bill lower.  Here are some other bloggers who have reducing food expenses on their mind too: 8 Ways To Save At The Grocery Store and Stay On Budget by......
• Kids Clothing – Top Hints for Finding Savings Keeping my kids in clothing can sometimes seem like a full-time job. They grow so fast that some days I swear they grow out of their clothes as quickly as I buy them. Then, when you consider the clothes that they actually wear out, you can see why I feel......
• West Virginia@South Florida Game Preview West Virginia----The Mountaineers have averaged 15.0 points in their last three games against the Bulls, going 1-2. West Virginia won 13-7 at home last season despite being outgained 326-280. West Virginia's conference-best running game has keyed the Mountaineers' current four-game winning streak, as Devine is averaging 148.0 yards per game......

It’s that time of the year again.

Specialty toy retailer Toys “R” Us issued its take on what this holiday season’s hot toys will be, as it prepares to attract toy shoppers one year after what was the worst holiday sales season in nearly 40 years.

This year, retailers and toy makers alike have focused keenly on prices, understanding that consumers may not be prepared to shell out hundreds of dollars for toys since caution rules their spending.

The Toys “R” Us list this year includes a mind-control game by Mattel called Mindflex, Disney’s netbook Netpaland Hasbro’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Constructicon Devastator action figures.

But who knows what parents will choose this year as prices remain on top of their minds.

Here’s Toys “R” Us’ “Fabulous 15″ in the group of 36 hot toys:

Bakugan Battle Brawlers New Vestroia Maxus Helios 7 in 1 from Spin Master
ChixOs Pink Design-A-Luxury Loft from Spin Master
Color Me a Song from Crayola Beginnings
Disney Netpal
Disney•Pixar Toy Story Interactive Buddies Talking Action Figures (Buzz and Woody) from Thinkway
Disney Princess: Just One Kiss Princess Tiana Doll from Mattel
Fast Lane JLX Over Drive Radio Control All Terrain Vehicle from Toys”R”Us
Laugh & Learn Learning Farm from Fisher-Price
Little Mommy Baby Ah-Choo from Fisher-Price
Mindflex from Mattel
NERF N-Strike Raider Rapid Fire CS-35 from Hasbro
Star Wars Fan’s Choice Anniversary Edition Home One Mon Calamari Star Cruiser from LEGO
Transformers;revenge of the Fallen Constructicon Devastator from Hasbro
Wii Sports Resort from Nintendo
Zhu Zhu Pets Hamster from Cepia

(Photo/Reuters)

          

• Understanding Investment Returns for Retirement Planning One of the problems that many investors have (and that I used to have) is how to interpret and practically apply investment return data published by the mutual fund companies. I frequently read statements made by uninformed investors about historical annual rates of return that cause them to be over-confident......
• What is the Average Tax Refund? I discovered this slick looking infographic on early filers from TurboTax just this past weekend and was surprised by a few of the statistics they discovered. I was surprised that the average tax refund was $2,869 (seems high doesn’t it?) and that nearly a quarter of them make under $25,000.......
• Macau Casino Revenues Are Exploding Gambling revenues in Macau casinos surged 56.1% in October from a year earlier, cross the $1 billion mark for the first time on a monthly basis, according to reports. Casinos in the former Portuguese territory, which reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1999, took in 9.22 billion patacas ($1.15 billion) in......
• Ebay Auction: 1 Year of Ads on our Car + Website. This is Huge! Today I'm launching an ebay auction for sponsorship of the 50 Bloggers in 50 States Roadtrip. I am going to be travelling a huge distance for this project. I figure might as well sell ads on the van, right? You can view the auction here: Roadtrip - 50 Blogs in 50 States......
• best free 100 ipod touch apps - weekly ratings #9 [/caption] Top 100 Free iPhone Apps 1 :: iGraveDigger Price: $0.00 Released: 2009-12-21 in the Games category Details: :: Download this app in Alpine Crawler +17 2 :: Alpine Crawler Price: $0.00 Released: 2009-10-19 in the Games category Details: :: Download this app in LIE DETECTOR... FREE! +1 3 ::......