► About Betterliving | Andys Blog | January 2011

How Thieves Know When You’re Not Home

Here’s a worthy warning from Techlicious, the website that makes Tech Simple (www.techlicious.com.) Founder Suzanne Kantra writes: “My mother-in-law’s nav system has a button that’s labeled “Go Home.” So after a long day out, she can push one button when she’s ready to head back. But what if someone stole her car? He could press that same button to find out exactly where she lives and he’d know she’s not at home. And if she had a garage door opener, all a thief would have to do is follow the directions home to rob her blind.

To reduce the likelihood that she’ll be victimized by her own technology, I made her “Home” address an intersection near her house, not her actual address. And now she makes sure her nav system is well hidden in the car.



Randy Fried | 1/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | 0 comments

More on Clutter

There’s a reason for the new reality shows on hoarding – most of us have too much stuff.  Thinking ahead to your spring cleaning – and who doesn’t want to Think Spring during these coldest months of the year – some more tips to unclutter your home from Donna Smallin, author of 7 Simple Steps, and 700 tips and ideas.

Randy Fried | 1/24/2011 12:00:00 AM | 0 comments

Simple Steps to Green Manufacturing

Craft-Bilt has found many ways to go green-er in recent years. Replacing the lights in our factory significantly reduced our consumption of electricity. Many of the sustainability efforts are specific to manufacturing – be some of the initiatives we have made can be implemented by homeowners, as well.

Randy Fried | 1/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | 0 comments

Good news about home improvement spending!

According to the annual report, The State of the Nation’s Housing 2010, from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, over the coming years remodeling expenditures are expected to increase at an inflation-adjusted 3.5% average annual rate, below the pace during the housing boom, but sharply recovering from the recent downturn.

Randy Fried | 1/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | 0 comments