Psst…Turn that $6500 into $8000
Check out my post on the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors consumer blog today.  As you might have heard on Friday, Pres. Obama extended the $8000 tax credit for first-time buyers and introduced a new tax credit for CURRENT home owners of $6,500.  My blog for Mainstreet o

Replacing smoke & CO detectors? Best Practices
Here’s part 3 about smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.  If you are replacing them, there are some best practices to make sure you have the right coverage throughout your home.  Consumer Reports has a good overview accessible to non-subscribers too.  A couple key points that all the experts agree on:  have at least one smoke and one CO detector on each floor, and have one in each bedroom. They also recommend having both a smoke detector and a photoelectric detector on each l

Change your clocks Part 2 – Is your alarm too old?
It’s the annual day to “fall back” and when you change your clocks it is also time to replace your smoke and CO detector alarms.  Did you know that these alarms have a limited lifespan where they will work effectively?  So while your alarms are down for a battery replace this week, please take one more important step:  figure out the remaining lifespan is for your alarm.  Smoke alarms typically have a lifespan of 8-10 years.  A carbon monoxide detector is about 6-8

Change your clocks – check your smoke alarms!
Another reminder today that every house should be green…and that means being safe and healthy!  Today’s reminder is about smoke alarms.  At some point today you remembered to fall back and changed your clocks.  But did you remember to change the batteries in your smoke alarms?  For 22 years the International Association of Fire Chiefs has been encouraging families to use the “fall back” day as a checkpoint to replace smoke alarm batteries.   As they say on their website, “Having a working smoke alarm doubles a families chan

Waste-free Lunches Make a Difference!
Waste-free Lunch at Hawthorne School in the Elmhurst Press today Kudos to the Environmental Clubs at Emerson and Hawthorne.  Both are making a real effort to give kids in Elmhurst a hands-on opportunity to go green and protect the planet.  See