Efficiency by Erik

solution: simplehuman receptacles cost: $70 - 300 When my wife, Kristen, and I moved into our home in 2008, one of the first things we took stock of was the amount of cabinet space in our kitchen. While we actually have a decent amount of over-the-counter cabinet space and drawer space, what we didn't have was enough under-counter cabinet room to store trash and recycling. This meant putting a trash can out in the open and recycling in brown paper bags, on the floor (which, for anyone who knows me well, was completely frustrating). In my quest to prove the theory that a clean home is a happy home (and holy home, I believe), I looked into using some of our wedding gift money to purchase a couple of stainless steel trash and recycling bins which would look nice out in the open. And I found them, through the brand simplehuman . Their tagline, "tools for efficient living" just struck a chord with me right away. Everything simplehuman sells is designed to save space an...

You might notice there is a new link above, titled "Ask Erik". This is your opportunity to submit questions about how to be more efficient in your home. I'll answer your questions at the blog, so ask away!

solution: pet door price: $10 - 100 Meet Milo. Milo is our three-year-old Domestic Shorthair (I usually call him our "cat"). While Milo looks pretty calm in that photo and spends most of his day doing this ... ... the truth with Milo is that he loves to run around. And he loves to be mischievous: Case in point: My wife and I often need to run down to the basement of our home, for laundry and house supplies. Milo, would immediately sprint down the stairs each and every time we went down there. Why? We don't really know (we think he just liked going down there because he usually couldn't, since the door was always closed). The trouble with that for us is that the door leading to our cold basement is located directly across the hallway from our thermostat, which would set off the boiler, even if the rest of the house was warm enough. This means that each cold day Milo ran down into the basement we had to chase him back upstairs or bribe him with a cat...