Detroit Mower Gang Reclaiming Abandoned City Parks

A community group, the Detroit Mower Gang, is taking their urban renewal campaign to Detroit's parks. The group's Motown Mowdown event last Saturday, May 25, was a 24-hour marathon of freshening up closed and disused city parks. It's the quintessential "grassroots" effort, as the Detroit Free Press aptly called it. But the mowers don't stop at one day of service (weeds and grass don't stop growing!) They meet bi-weekly to maintain parks. If your community needs a spruce up, and you're fortunate enough to have a mower and truck to haul, this would be a relatively simple give-back.Detroit Mower Gang Reclaiming Abandoned City Parks

How to Remove Wallpaper: Easy, Cheap, Green

In 2000, my husband and I bought a 100+ year-old home. In its long, colorful history, interior walls sported a plethora of coverings--paint, spackle, and wallpaper. Remodeling, we found four themes, the earliest dating back to the 20s. We have become adept at removing wallpaper and treating walls. Here are tricks to remove wallpaper and treat walls, from 13 years of DIY home fix-ups.How to Remove Wallpaper: Easy, Cheap, Green

Perk Up Your Work Space (and Mood) Easy and Cheap

The best and worst part of being a WAHM (work at home mom) is being home. As my second son quipped, "You don't work at home. You live at work." Wherever you work, environment impacts your attitude about your job. Here are easy, cheap, DIY ways to perk up your work space and mood! Take it seriously. Work-at-home folks don't succeed often because they discount their contributions. This is your work space, no less than if you left home for a job. It's where you make money. If you're a home business, you're claiming it on your taxes. Treat it like the professional office space it is. Make everyone else do likewise. Remind them it's your office first and anything else last. Ergo, arrange so it works best for you first, others if possible.  Perk Up Your Work Space (and Mood) Easy and Cheap