Believe it or not, a Christmas tree won't stay upright on its own. Instead, you need a stable Christmas tree stand that can accommodate the type and size of tree you have. We researched dozens of the best Christmas tree stands to help you find the right one for your needs, whether you have a real tree, an artificial tree, a small tree, or a behemoth. The stands in our guide have a track record of durability, performance, and easy setup. We also outline the size and type of tree each stand is meant for. Check out our guide to the best Christmas tree skirts once you've chosen the right stand for your tree. The best Christmas tree stands in 2022 Best Christmas tree stand overall: Krinner Tree Genie Christmas Tree Stand, available at Amazon, $82.79 The German-engineered Krinner Tree Genie Christmas Tree Stand is easy to set up in a couple of minutes and keeps trees up to 12 f...
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Use House Sitting to Travel on a Budget
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Photo: Josep Suria (Shutterstock)
With Airbnb’s ridiculous fees these days, most travelers are eager for some kind of alternative for their next homestay. The most underrated option, so long as you’re willing to earn your keep, is house sitting. But how do you go about finding someone who needs a house-sitter at your dream destination? Here’s what you need to know about securing a gig as a house sitter so you can get free lodging when you travel.
How does house sitting work?
It’d be fabulous if we all had wealthy friends who trusted us to stay in their fancy lake houses for free. Until then, your best bet is turning to trusted sites that allow you to choose a vacation destination, and then match you with someone who needs a house-sitter during that time. The deal is that for your free lodging, the homeowner gets a free home and pet sitter.
That pet part is not something to gloss over: Most house sits involve pet sitting. If you’re unwilling or unable to care for animals, your choices for finding a house are much slimmer.
The top site for this exchange (aka, the house-sitting equivalent of Airbnb) seems to be Trusted Housesitters. There’s an option to create a free account at first, but to actually start sitting, you need to purchase a plan ranging from $129 to $259 per year. The most popular option costs $169 a year and comes with unlimited house-sits worldwide, a free background check (required), alerts for your ideal sits, insurance, and extra support when you’re there.
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Limitations to house sitting
Compared to simply booking an Airbnb or hotel room, for house sitting, you need a profile that gets you selected for the gig. After you send an application for a listing, the pet parent or homeowner will review your profile and character references. They’ll then schedule a video or phone call interview to talk more about the sit and get to know you better. It’s part travel hack, part side-hustle—which means it might feel like applying for a job.
Even after you are chosen by a homeowner, house sitting is far less reliable than booking a more traditional form of lodging. Your travel plans need to be catered to the dates in a listing, and your vacation must revolve around your home and pet care duties. This might mean changing plans to care for a sick pet, or being prepared for a host to suddenly cancel on you.
Tips to get a house-sitting gig
Create a profile that stands out from the pack and lets your personality shine through with plenty of pictures, personable details, and sitter verifications. It’s sort of like trying to get swipes on a dating app—so easy, right?
Reviews and references are also your best friend. If you’ve ever helped out friends with their home or pets in the past, call them up for a quick quote.
As mentioned above, house sitting is something of a misnomer, considering how many listing are primarily looking for pet sitters as well. Any experience with animals that you can highlight will help you stand out as a potential sitter.
Don’t give up if you don’t get any takers right away. Often it takes that first bite (and a solid testimonial after the fact) for future ones to start rolling in.
Photo : Serkanyalcinkaya ( Shutterstock ) With energy costs continuing to rise, ceiling fans are becoming an increasingly popular way to make homes more energy efficient. As we’ve written about in the past, not only can ceiling fans keep your home cooler in the summer— with or without air conditioning —but they can also help your home stay warm and toasty in colder weather. 02:15 How to Steam an Egg Wednesday 11:19AM But when it comes to choosing a ceiling fan, it’s not solely a matter of finding one to match your decor: You should also consider the room’s square footage in order to ensure that the fan is able to get the job done. Here’s what to know. How to buy the right size ceiling fan for a room First, you need to figure out the square footage of the room where you’re going to hang the ceiling fan. Find the square footage of the room You can use an online square footage calculator , or do the math : Measure the length of the room (in feet) Measure the width of the room (in ...
I recently watched “ the greatest film of all time ,” and the most boring one. In retrospect, the title alone should have been a sufficient warning: Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles . Alas, I’m old enough to be a bit nostalgic about massive telephone address books. And massive it is. Clocking over 200 minutes, Chantal Akerman's 1975 dreary drama follows three days in the monotonous routine of Jeanne, a widow, a mother, and a prostitute. I watched Jeanne’s autopilot existence, until, staring at her back as she washes dishes, I decided to fast-forward a couple of minutes, only to discover she was still at it. And Jeanne is equally thorough when she’s busy baking, cleaning, folding laundry, or shining her son’s shoes. She speaks so scarcely and mechanically, that it’s impossible to detect any emotion or volition beyond her carefully controlled chores . Watching Jeanne Dielman is what the word “painstaking” was invented for. Chantal...
Photo : Pixel-Shot ( Shutterstock ) This game is nearly identical to the “drink every time” game above, but adjusted for shots, so it’s for those trying to party a little harder. The idea is to make a list of shot-worthy occurrences—like “a coach yells at a referee” or “something goes wrong during the halftime show”—and then take a shot whenever they happen. If the promise of regular shots isn’t enough for you, we have another twist for you: The “1, 2, 3" rule. The first time something from your shot list happens, you take one shot. The second time it occurs, take two. The third, three...and then hopefully you don’t push your health and safety past that point. On the other hand, you can always choose to sip instead of taking a full shot. Again, none of these party games have to involve alcohol. But they definitely can if you want them to. Super Bowl LVII is on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. E T /3:30 p.m. P T.
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