Warming the home. What works best for your situation?
After spending what feels like 6 months doing everything in your power to cool you home, now we hit the point of the year when the average Perth based lifeform gets a little bit of respite from 30°C and above… and proceeds to attempt to recreate the conditions they spent the better part of half a year avoiding. Its a fascinating cycle that we are doomed to recreate.
As Jon Snow once reminded us, winter is coming, and with colder weather starting to settle in, now is the time to prepare your home for the winter months. While many people purchased smaller heaters to help fill the void, more efficient long-term solutions were needed. When many of us started working from home, a lot of people needed smaller blow heaters and electric heaters to heat office spaces or rooms they normally wouldn’t use. Giving people a unique perspective when it comes to energy expenditure and efficiency.
Fireplaces are fantastic in theory, however between the costs of maintenance, the cost of solid fuel and the environmental concerns they can become a bit of a hassle, which is why people in greater numbers look at gas or electric. Electric heating has seen a surge in popularity for homes with solar panels. Whether it is a stylish electric fireplace, ducted heating or a reverse cycle air-conditioner, solar power allows people to use electric heating without the usual costs.
Gas fires remain popular given the extensive range available. Gas fires are great because they provide exceptional warmth at the flick of a switch, with the look and feel of a cosy wood fire. Gas heating can be very cost-effective compared to other options, and it’s also great for outdoor entertaining areas and sheds, especially with area heaters or portable mushroom heaters.
No matter the type of heating you have, proper insulation is vital when it comes to keeping your home warm, with the added benefit of also keeping it cooler in summer. Insulation is the most energy-efficient addition you can make to your home and can help you save up to 45 per cent on your current energy bills. Doing simple things like using door draught stoppers, adding rugs to floors, or looking at having double glazed windows in the home that help with cooling in summer as well as the aiding of heating the home.
Todays Good Reads
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Fitness apps are dangerous? Welcome to the future.
Handy information for people looking to build.
What are the Australian standards for waterproofing around the home?
Carbs! Sweet sweet carbs!
The team at Urban List Perth go looking for Perth’s best purveyors of pastry.
Autumn Gardening Tips
Prepare to be fighting those pesky leaves for the next few months, but also take some time to enjoy those glorious colours of Autumn! We just love how it goes from stunningly royal displays of purple in the Summer, to those golden and warm orange tones – always something beautiful to spy around our home here in Perth.
As always, in the beginning of a new season there is plenty to do, so we have compiled a list of what to do in your garden in March.
First off – it’s planting time!
This is a great season to be planting all sorts of things and even to begin planning your spring bulbs!
TIP: Before the end of the month you want to have planted your citrus, avocado and olive trees.
What to plant:
HERBS: plant basil, coriander, garlic, garlic chives, mustard, marjoram, oregano, parsley, thyme and winter tarragon.
TIP: Be careful to keep your herbs well-watered and semi-shaded while there are still some hot days this month – they wilt and burn easily!
FRUITS: Plant tomatoes, melons and strawberries.
VEG: Almost everything! Sow beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, capsicum, carrot, cauliflower, celery, Chinese cabbage, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, mustard, okra, onion, parsnip, potato, pumpkin, radish, rosella, silver beet, squash, sweet corn, sweet potato and zucchini.
FLOWERS: Plant alyssum, lobelia, pansy, stock, sweet pea, snap dragon and viola.
March is ideal for planting trees and shrubs. This month it is getting cooler but the soil is still warm enough to encourage growth in your new greenery – so they have some time to establish their roots before the cold weather sets in!
With that in mind, now is also great for planting new lawn. Summer is the time for outdoor play, and can cause a lot of wear and tear on your grass – often in the form of bare patches in the most used areas, not the best look! By planting now, the new grass seeds will also be able to get their root systems established before the cold, like your trees and shrubs, as well as having months of good growing time before it’s hot again! Make sure you get a qualified lawn expert to help you out if you haven’t done it before, they will be able to make sure it is done right, as well as teach you exactly how to look after it in the following months to ensure it grows lush and green.
Composting.
You know those lovely leaves that will start to cover every inch of your garden? A great way to get rid of them is to add them to your compost where the worms will love them and you don’t have to see them! You can also add some used coffee grounds to the mix for an extra boost.
March is also a great time for a general garden clean-up to prepare it for the colder months ahead.
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Trim any branches on your citrus trees that might be hanging lower than 1m – this helps prevent the spread of brown rot.
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Remove all weeds and any plants in your garden you don’t want to spread – they will all be starting to seed.
That should cover a lot of what you need to know… but want more content of the green thumbed kind? Reach out and let us know through our assorted social media channels.
The local sporting club: More relevant than ever in 2022.
Another casualty in the quagmire that was the peak of the pandemic, the local grassroots sporting club. An indication of the potentially devastating effect of the Covid-19 outbreak on community sport on Australia had been revealed, as of July 2020, a quarter of clubs across the nation were at risk of closure if suitable financial support was not quickly secured. The Australian Sports Foundation, a non-profit sports fundraising organisation and charity, conducted a national survey and estimated the country’s 70,000 grassroots clubs needed $1.2bn to survive the economic fallout of the pandemic.
“This is not just a sporting crisis, but a national crisis,” the ASF’s chief executive, Patrick Walker, said of the prospect of about 16,000 clubs – a quarter of clubs nationally – being unable to recover. An estimated $1.6bn had already been lost by local clubs since the pandemic hit in March 2020 and forced a halt to all sporting activities, both professional and amateur.
Now, as we start to look towards something resembling normality, competitions are resuming after a stop-start 2021 season. Replenishing player stocks, volunteers, umpires/referees, building that community engagement again… they are all challenges lying at the feet of so many of the people at the heart of grassroots sports in Australia. Yet, despite all of this, people are still showing that determination required to drag this situation kicking and screaming into fully fledged recovery.
Think back to playing under 8’s on a brisk morning, Mum and Dad on the side lines cheering for you, you and your friends playing your hearts out against the neighbouring suburb, oranges at half time… back from a simpler time. The next generation needs to be able to have that same experience, so its time to engage with your local club. Watch a game on a Saturday/Sunday. Grab a feed from the canteen, if they have a licence grab a sneaky adult beverage, every bit counts.
We may take it for granted but community sport is a huge part of the lifeblood of what makes a community whole. See what you can do in 2022 to help the recovery in such a beloved part of modern Australian society.
Content with more content
Now if you prefer to consume your information through audio instead of through text (which is understandable) come and check out or podcast which lives here. It is a show we are doing weekly which has a nice blend of education and entertainment aimed at the prospective homebuyer.