2024

According to DAFT.ie, housing prices in Ireland increased by an average of 3.1% nationally during the third quarter of 2024. The typical listed price across the country during this period was €344,848, marking a 6.2% rise compared to the same time last year and a 37% increase since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. While price increases were widespread, Dublin saw the highest percentage gain, with...

Follow these simple tips to prevent an embarrassingly smelly trash can. Grace Cary / Getty Images As a cleaning editor, I've learned that I can scrub my home all day long, but there’s one thing that can ruin the work I did to make my space feel spotless—a stinky garbage. A foul-smelling garbage can spread its odor into every crevice of a room, totally erasing all of my prior cleaning...

Find out how to grow collard greens, a classic Southern vegetable that thrives in cool weather. Denny Schrock Collard greens are a staple in the South, but these hardy, leafy plants are easy and fun to grow in any edible garden. Collard greens or collards (Brassica oleracea var. viridis) grow relatively quickly, usually within a couple of months of planting seeds. Plant these big leafy greens...

When it's too late to cut back hydrangeas depends on the type you have. Here’s how to prune at the best time. Dean Schoeppner Figuring out when to cut back hydrangeas can be confusing, especially because if you prune at the wrong time, you could ruin next year's flower display. So when is it too late to cut back hydrangeas after they flower? The answer comes down to knowing the type of hydrangea...

Find out which things should stay out of the recycling bin by learning how to identify an item's recyclability based on its identification number. Getty Images / Os Tartarouchos No matter how hard we try to implement plastic swaps in our home, it's impossible to eliminate plastic products completely. For the plastic items we can't avoid completely, we try to recycle as many as possible. A common...

Keep your lawn mower blades sharp for optimal lawn care. Getty Images / ollinka Your lawn mower is an essential tool for maintaining the yard, but when the blades start to dull, it won't work as well. When this happens, homeowners need to either sharpen the blades themselves or take them to a local home improvement store that offers blade sharpening services. A lawn mower with dull blades may not...

Housing demand is very seasonal, so the fact that our pending contract data is firming up lately just shows that lower mortgage rates have stabilized and firmed up demand recently.It will likely take mortgage rates to go under 6% and stay there for an extended period to get real sustained demand growth from record-low sales levels.. However, considering the affordability challenges with the housing market,...

If you know when you can expect the first frost of winter, you can prepare your plants accordingly—and even minimize the damage the chill can do.In your garden, you may have all kinds of gorgeous annuals, tropical plants, veggies, and herbs that you'd like to enjoy for as long as possible before the first frost date. Once air temperatures drop to 36°F or below, the leaves of these plants will wither and...

Carve a pumpkin that radiates your cosmic personality. Adam Albright Amidst the array of seasonal traditions, there is nothing as quintessentially Halloween as pumpkin carving. This year, rather than turning to your usual classic jack-o'-lanterns, combine your Halloween decor with the stars by carving a pumpkin that radiates your cosmic personality.To help us channel our celestial charm and guide...

This alternative to chlorine bleach has plenty of uses around the home, especially in the laundry room. Getty Images / Михаил Руденко You're likely familiar with cleaning with bleach, but you might not know there is actually a gentler, less pungent form of bleach. Oxygen bleach is a laundry and household cleaning product made famous in the early 2000s by OxiClean pitchman Billy Mays,...