6 Ways to Have a Beautiful Christmas at Home on a Budget

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If you are wanting a beautiful Christmas at home, it does not have to cost a huge amount. We all dream of having the huge tree covered in beautiful decorations, a beautiful dining space and rooms with all the festive embellishments your heart desires. But the issue we can face with these types of niceties is the cost however, with a little bit of imagination and some forward planning you can have your home feeling just as magical but will cost you significantly less money. From searching around for natural decorations to reimagining the traditional Christmas meal, there are a number of ways you can get your home feeling festive whilst on a tight budget.

Less is More

Your home doesnt have to look like it belongs in the North Pole for it to be festive and Christmassy, so rather than drowning each room in bargain decorations try and take a more strategic approach to your dcor. The idea is to try and invest in a small selection of really beautiful and high-quality decorations that can be displayed more creatively. For instance, why not thinking about wrapping a thin strip of tinsel around your window blinds and teaming it up with some authentic wooden stars that can hang off the window rail.

Transform Twigs into Decorations

A fantastic way to let nature flood into your home can be simply done by getting some twigs from your local park and transform them into Christmas decorations. The way you choose to form the twigs is completely up to you, you can create a long string of them to place along your window sill or you can make them into a little star. This can be really fun to do especially if you have young children that can have some fun with them. To then make this look extra special you can bind the twigs together with a piece of string that has some lights taped to it, which will create some extra sparkle!

Tape up a Tree

If you have a blank wall space, a quick and trendy Christmas decoration can be made by creating a Christmas tree which is made out of colorful washi tape. This will create an element of color and freshness to your dcor, and it will cost you hardly anything at all!

Scale Down

If you are wanting to bring the price down on your Christmas decorations this year, then a simple way to do this is by scaling down on the size of the decorations which are being used. We often spend lots of money on large, real trees which look great for that short period, but once it comes to January they end up in a wood-chipper. So the idea, in this case, is to get a singular spring which can be placed in a small vase and can then be decorated with small acorns or little candy canes.

Reuse Old Decorations

If some of your baubles are starting to look a little tired and worn out, they may no longer be able to be hung on your tree individually. Therefore, you would want to try and find new and innovative ways to use them rather than having to rush out and buy replacements. A great idea can be to either place them all into a large vase which can be placed on your window sill or another option can be to place 3 or 4 of them into pretty little cups and use them as mantel decorations. If you want to try and re-vamp them completely you can choose to spray-paint them in sparkly silver and they can then even be hung back up on your tree.

Re-think the Traditional Christmas Meal

Sometimes the traditional dinner can become too much and it can feel like its the just the same old thing every year. When you are having to purchase a turkey every year with all the trimmings too it can cost a lot of money, so why not veer away from the traditional and cook a dish that you would really want to eat. You can switch it up and save yourself some money by making a casserole, risotto or even an unconventional turkey curry which will keep both your bank manager and stomach satisfied.

6 Tips for Better Air Frying

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Air fryers have transformed the way we view cooking. A machine so simple in its function has revolutionised the act of frying  No longer do people have to consign themselves to unhealthy deep frying in fat or oil.

Air fryers are a more fun, healthier and more economical alternative compared to other electric kitchen appliances. Best of all, you don't have to use copious amounts of oil, which is perfect for your health and your wallet. Here are a few tips that can help you make better and healthier food with your air fryer.

1. Don't forget to mix

Cooking with lots of oil, while unhealthy, also has some beneficial effects on the cooking process. The oil helps the food mix properly while cooking. This doesn't happen when air frying since the circulating air isn't strong enough to move the food's different components.

Make sure to open the air fryer at least a third into the cooking process and mix the food at least once to ensure that everything is mixed properly. Some people rotate and mix the food halfway through the cooking process, but it all depends on the type of dish and the ingredients.

2. Leave some breathing room

One of the most common air frying mistakes is overcrowding the cooking chamber. Deep frying is easier for some people since there is a visual indicator of how much food can be cooked at an instance since the oil will just overflow if there's too much.

Air frying, however, doesn't have that and people can overstuff the chamber and the food won't cook properly. This is one of the main reasons why some people also get disappointing results. If there isn't enough space for the air to move around then the untouched areas of the food will remain raw or half-cooked.

3. Use a kitchen spray bottle

While air fryers don't use as much oil as deep fryers, the cooking process isn't exactly oil-free. Manufacturers just say that to get more sales. In fact, people need to cook with a small amount of oil to improve taste and texture. Cooking without oil also makes it harder for you to get the food since it can get stuck to the metal or plastic surfaces. A spray or two of oil can help lube things up. Use a kitchen spray bottle to control the amount of oil in your food.

4. Let it mellow

Despite what other people would say, do not air fry food straight out of the fridge or freezer. Let the food mellow down to room temperature without compromising its freshness. Air frying room temperature food help speed up the cooking process and also produce a crisper coating.

5. Experiment

Air fryers aren't just for frying. There is more to this machine that meets the eye. You can cook a wide variety of food such as lasagna, noodles and even homemade pizza. We can attribute the air fryer's flexibility to its design. Air fryers have more in common with a fan oven than a deep fryer.

A quick search online for air frying recipes will reveal thousands of fun and creative ways to cook food with an air fryer. Just make sure to read the manual first to ensure that you're doing things safely and properly.

6. Proper maintenance

Just like any machine, air fryers require the occasional TLC to ensure safe and proper performance. Air fryers aren't very complicated machines and don't ask a lot when it comes to maintenance but that doesn't mean that you should shirk responsibilities.

Some of the easy things you can do include regular cleaning. Clean the air fryer every after cooking to ensure that odours don't become permanent. Stray food bits can also attract pests and other bacteria. Don't forget to wash the removable basket if it has one.

5 Reasons Why Raccoons Are So Dangerous

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If you ever see any signs of raccoons near your property, you'll want to contact a wildlife control service immediately. Raccoons aren't just a nuisancethey can be a real danger to your property and everyone in your home. If you spot a raccoon or think that you might have a raccoon problem, then you should schedule an inspection with a wildlife control service right away.

A reputable wildlife control service will be able to identify if you have a raccoon problem, trap and remove any raccoons present on your property and implement various methods for preventing raccoon problems in the future. To emphasize how serious a raccoon problem can be, the following are five reasons why raccoons are so dangerous:

1. Raccoons Can Carry Diseases and Parasites

It's not uncommon for raccoons to carry a variety of diseases, the most dangerous of which is rabies. Rabies is a viral disease that can be spread through saliva or blood, which means that if a raccoon with rabies bites a person or another animal, like one of your pets, there's a good chance that it could transmit rabies. Rabies is extremely dangerous and can cause fevers, headaches, muscle spasms, mental confusion, and paralysis. Once symptoms begin appearing, rabies can be fatal.

Two of the other common diseases that raccoons are known for carrying include roundworm and leptospirosis. Roundworm eggs tend to be shed in the feces of a raccoon. This means that if there are raccoons with roundworms present on your property, they could be defecating on your soil. If you have pets or young children playing in that soil, they could end up getting roundworms if they are to swallow any of the affected soil.

Leptospirosis is another serious disease that is spread through the urine and feces of a raccoon. It's a bacterial disease that is very rare in humans, but those who do get it can experience liver failure, kidney damage and in severe cases, even death.

2. Raccoons Can Injure Your Pets

Raccoons are very aggressive. If you have pets that you keep outdoors, they could be endangered by the presence of raccoons. This is especially true if your dog or cat attempts to attack the raccoon to chase it off. Raccoons will lash out in self-defense. They have sharp nails and will bite, which means that they could easily injure your dog or cat. Additionally, if there are more than one raccoon, your pet could be in trouble. Besides just injuring your pets, raccoons could infect them with some sort of disease, like rabies, as well.

3. Raccoons Can Injure Your Children

Raccoons typically stay away from humans, but if you have smaller children playing outside, raccoons may become aggressive in a defensive mannerespecially if your children try to play with the raccoon. Raccoons may seem like cute, fuzzy little animals to younger children who don't know better, after all, and the last thing you want is for a raccoon to cause an injury and potentially an infection as well.

4. Raccoons Can Damage Your Garden

If you have a garden and you're growing vegetables or fruits, a raccoon will have no reservations about digging up your garden and eating everything that you've grown. If you think that raccoons have eaten some of your fruits and vegetables, you'll probably want to throw away any unaffected fruits or vegetables as well just in case they were exposed to raccoon saliva. 

5. Raccoons Can Damage Your Home

When you think of raccoons, you probably think of how they go through trash cans searching for food. But they will sometimes find a way into your home in search of shelter. This typically happens if they are looking for a place to nest. The last thing you want is a nest of raccoons growing in your attic, especially because of all of the damage that they can cause to your home. 

Besides just presenting a health risk to everyone within your home, raccoons can chew through wood, wiring, and insulation as they build their nest. They may also damage parts of your roof or windows as a way to get in and out of your house. It's especially dangerous if they chew through wiring since this could lead to an electrical fire. 

Last but not least, if there's a raccoon presence in your home, then they are definitely urinating and defecating within your home. Not only does this present a huge health risk, but it could cause damage to flooring, furniture, insulation and more.