Get the Right Tools for the Job

First things first: are you using the right tools? Having the right equipment, like this Worx hedge trimmer, can transform your hedge-trimming experience. A manual hedge shear is fine for smaller tasks, but for anything more substantial, you’ll want an electric or petrol-powered hedge trimmer. They save time and energy, and let’s be honest—they’re just more fun to use.

For precision work, a smaller set of pruning shears will help with tricky spots. And don’t forget about safety gear! A sturdy pair of gloves and safety goggles are non-negotiable if you want to avoid cuts or stray debris.

Timing Matters

Did you know that the timing of your trimming can make a big difference in the health and look of your hedges? For most plants, late spring or early summer is the ideal time to give them a proper trim. Why? This is when new growth has started to settle, and the risk of frost damage is long gone.

If your hedge grows fast or looks messy in-between trims, touch it up lightly in late summer. But don’t overdo it in autumn—your hedges need time to harden off before winter arrives.

Shape Like a Pro

If you’ve ever wondered why some hedges look amazing while others seem scruffy, it usually comes down to one thing: shape. The trick is to make the base of your hedge slightly wider than the top. This shape allows sunlight to reach all parts of the hedge, preventing those bare or brown patches.

Before you start, visualise the shape you’re going for. Are you after a crisp rectangular look, or something a little softer and rounded? Marking out guidelines with string or stakes can be a game-changer if you’re after a professional finish.

Work Top to Bottom

Here’s a question: how do you trim your hedge? Many people start at the bottom and work their way up, but pros will tell you to do the opposite. By starting at the top, you can avoid debris falling onto areas you’ve already trimmed.

Use long, sweeping motions for even results. Rushing with short, choppy cuts can leave your hedge looking uneven. Think of it as a steady rhythm—once you get the hang of it, you’ll notice the difference right away.

Don’t Neglect Cleanup

Let’s talk cleanup. Nobody loves this part, but skipping it can lead to a messier garden and even harm your hedges. Fallen clippings left behind can block sunlight or lead to mould buildup.

After trimming, gather up the clippings with a rake or blower. Better yet, use the debris to make mulch or add it to your compost pile. Recycling your hedge clippings is not only practical but also eco-friendly.

Quick Fix for Overgrown Hedges

Tackling an overgrown hedge can feel daunting, but you don’t need to do it all in one go. Start by cutting it back to its desired shape gradually. If you hack away too much at once, you risk stressing the plant and ending up with bald spots.

It’s okay if it takes a few sessions to get your hedge looking how you want. Patience really pays off when you’re dealing with an unruly hedge—it gives the plant time to recover and grow evenly.

Keep Your Tools Sharp

Have you ever tried cutting with a dull blade? It’s frustrating, isn’t it? More importantly, it can damage your plants by tearing instead of cutting cleanly. Keep your tools sharp to make the process easier and healthier for your hedges.

You don’t need to sharpen blades after every use, but checking them regularly is a good habit. A quick wipe-down with an oily rag after each session can also help prevent rust and extend their lifespan.

Troubleshooting Common Mistakes

Even seasoned gardeners slip up sometimes. Here are a few common hedge-trimming mistakes to avoid:

• Trimming too early in the season – This can damage new growth and leave your hedge looking patchy.
• Ignoring the natural shape of the hedge – Over-trimming or forcing a shape can harm the plant.
• Cutting too much at once – Always trim in small increments to avoid stress and uneven growth.
• Not cleaning your tools – Dirty tools can spread disease from one plant to another.

By keeping an eye out for these pitfalls, you’ll set yourself up for hedge-trimming success.

The Little Details Make a Big Difference

Ever feel like your hedge is “almost there,” but not quite perfect? That’s where attention to detail comes in. Check for small branches sticking out or uneven edges. A quick pass with your pruning shears can make a massive difference to the overall look.

Don’t forget the base of the hedge—this area often gets overlooked but contributes a lot to the overall neatness. Keeping it clear of weeds and debris will make your garden look even more polished.

What Will You Tackle Next?

Trimming your hedges doesn’t have to be a chore. With the right tools, timing, and techniques, it can actually be a satisfying part of maintaining your garden. Plus, nothing beats the feeling of standing back and admiring a job well done.

So, what’s your next hedge-trimming challenge? Whether it’s tackling an overgrown mess or fine-tuning those finishing touches, these tips will help you achieve a clean and professional result every time.

The post Hedge Trimming Hacks: Pro Tips for Neat and Tidy Results appeared first on InstantELLA.

Some people may choose to live elsewhere temporarily, perhaps at a family member or friend’s house, but if that isn’t an option for you, you might have no choice but to stay put while the work is being done. And, sometimes you may even have little to no access to your bathroom or kitchen for parts of the day, which can be very frustrating. You may even have restricted access outside too because of tools and machinery being used in your remodel.

But, the good part of staying put is that you can be there to oversee every part of the project, which could save a lot of time and money. The big question is, how can you stay sane when your home is being remodelled?

Hiring a Trusted Professional

The easiest way to keep your sanity during a home remodel is by hiring a great professional. Home remodeling projects often involve a wide range of tasks, from structural changes and electrical work to plumbing and finishing touches, all of which require different skill sets. Take basement remodeling as an example: it can involve water management, proper ventilation, electrical wiring, and structural support—areas where a specialized professional makes all the difference. Similarly, bathroom renovations come with their own unique challenges, like plumbing layouts, waterproofing, and tile installation. Hiring experts who are experienced in the specific type of remodel you’re planning ensures the work is done efficiently, safely, and to a high standard, helping you avoid unnecessary stress along the way.

Forget about cleaning for now

If you’ve ever had a remodelling project before, you’ll know that there’s no way of escaping the dust and the dirt. While you should absolutely lay down plastic sheets to protect furniture that isn’t being removed during the project, you should probably forget about cleaning your home (or at least that area) for the time being. It might be difficult, but you’ll end up losing your marbles if you’re trying to clean during the remodel. Instead, you could research some residential cleaning services to come in and clean up once the work is done.

Plan where to store things

As mentioned earlier, your belongings and furniture will probably need to be moved or removed during the project, so now is a good time to plan where you can store things so that you can access them easily if you need them. If you’ve got a garage, consider temporarily moving those items in there so that you don’t have to go far to access them. If that’s not an option, ask friends and family if they’ve got any space they can spare for a short while. And, if that’s not going to work, you could look at storage space while the remodel is underway.

Keep the end in sight

Finally, it can be difficult to stay positive when your home is being overrun and is full of strangers remodelling your home. But, it’s important to keep the end in sight, and to remind yourself of why you’re going through this in the first place. Take the time to imagine the end result and picture yourself enjoying the newly remodelled space in your home. Imagine having family and friends over to reveal the end result – it will all be worth it! Just sit back, relax, and your time will come soon to enjoy your new space.

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For folks like us, workspace becomes critical to our productivity. Both my husband and are very ordered and organized. We cannot work in clutter and need our space to be creative. More importantly our space has to bear our personality whether it be artsy, elegant yet minimalistic like me or hardcore, reflective and precise like him.

Keeping all of this in mind. We decided we needed to re-decorate the office. The clincher was to do it on a low budget, making use of what was already in the house as much as possible.  And that’s where creativity, resourcefulness and confidence comes in. Here are a few ideas we put into reality and which we hope will inspire you when you decide to re-decorate and re-organize your workspace. Remember to get all your electrical grounding checked if doing any proper DIY to prevent house fires and stop electrical faults happening. 

Utility is key!

Get rid of the clutter. Make sure you only have what you absolutely need taking up space in your home office. Utility means functionality to me, and that’s where I think a lot of us make trade-offs, having to sacrifice creativity and art to functionality. But I didn’t and here’s how:

• • Desk: For us, this meant having just one desk instead of 2. The way to get around seating issues is to find a desk that allows for leg space on at least 2 sides if not all the way around. (aha! Now you get it.)
  • Calendars: The world may have gone digital, but I still use the traditional calendar. It’s convenient and taking up wall space is always better than taking up desk space when you already have a small desk to begin with. It’s also artsy. What do I mean? Have you ever tried taking a Video Gamer’s calendar (in our case it was Halo that blended perfectly well with the rest of the office theme) and hanging it to look like a poster? Try it. High chance you’ll love it!

• Coasters: I get through my day with at least 3 caffeine breaks so instead of having dull boring coasters, I picked up a set of 4 Star Wars’ coasters at Target (on clearance) with a black and white Storm Trooper theme to match the black and white casing of my husband’s gaming PC in the office. Needless to say the coaster is theme appropriate, does it’s job and when it’s not, it still makes for an interesting piece of art!

Space & Color

Ours is a small workspace. I discovered however, that if you invest in white furniture and add some mirrors to the mix, it can do wonders. That’s why we chose an unused 3.5 ft X 2 ft vanity mirror to add a sense of space and depth to the room.

If you have to have color, stick to 1 or 2 only and play around with shades of the same color rather than use a third. For us this was red and blue and the theme runs through the posters and wall art in the office.

Be sure to pick up pieces from reputable places such as Weaver Furniture Barn. No matter what ideas you have floating around in your head you don’t want subpar pieces in your office. It should be a cozy space that fosters productivity, so when selecting pieces it is important to bear this in mind.

The biggest value add to the office however, has been this sturdy white storage cube organizer we recently purchased online at Walmart. It is not only useful, acting as a bookshelf, curio display shelf and storage (for all the ugly stuff in the office people don’t want you to see. Lol) but lends modernity to the room. Ours may look like one piece but is actually 2 single cubes (bought separately) and mounted on the lower 3- piece cube. I went a step further and added a white magazine/file holder (which had I lying around the house) to the ensemble which may not even be noticeable because it blends in so well. Here’s another tip: everything is art. Be attentive to odds and ends around the house , which if paired well with other items can turn into a beautiful utility and would definitely save you a trip to the store.

Lighting, like mirrors can add beauty and space to a room. A workspace definitely needs this. But ceiling lights can be harsh sometimes, kill the aesthetics of the room and be very unnerving for people trying to work. A soft light on the other hand can be relaxing, help your focus and give you that much needed break to meet deadlines. We added medium voltage contemporary, light-weight lamps to the room. I also put together a decorative light bowl, using a spare glass bowl, LED lights and some old potpourri fill ups I no longer need. If you don’t have potpourri, you can use candles, decorative stones or shells. Run with your imagination here

Reflect your personality

This is undoubtedly the most important part of decorating your home office. It’s your office and must reflect your personality. As a child, like most boys, my husband collected many action figures from Star Trek, Spawn, Pokemon, GI Joe, etc. So it was no surprise that when I came across a ton of them in the basement and began to organize his collection, he suggested we use a few to mount in the office. If action figures was his thing, the light bowls were mine and what goes better with light than greenery, so I added a few (fake) indoor table plants. It makes the room more aesthetics. And who doesn’t have stickers and cutouts, too interesting to get rid of, but also too small to do anything meaningful with? I just took a few interesting high quality curated stickers a client had given my husband to sample, mounted them on white paper (kind of like a collage) and framed them in a small desk frame. My husband loves it and says it motivates him to ‘do more’ and ‘keep it simple’ at work because that’s exactly what the stickers say.

My husband and I are proud of our new home office and the short time we took to get it done. It’s our space and one of the prettiest rooms in the house, decorated on a low-cost budget. Breathing new life into old space isn’t difficult to do and if we can do it, so could you!

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But here’s the thing about New Year’s Resolutions. Sometimes, they are nothing more than thin air…. forgettable and easily blown away. So here’s where all of us could use a little help to make our New Year’s Resolutions a reality.

You Really Need This

A Psychologist’s Secrets To Making New Year’s Resolutions Stick

Making resolutions are good. They recognize and acknowledge that not everyone and not every situation is perfect. Resolutions, if made correctly are motivators of encouragement. Despite this however, according to a Brain Research Institute survey, only 41% Americans usually make New Year’s Resolutions and of this, only 9.2% felt they were successful in achieving their resolution. So, when I made my 2017 New Year’s Resolution List, I made sure that the most necessary ones topped my list. For example, Lose that 2016 winter weight (I don’t need to tell you that nearly all of us are guilty of over-eating during the holidays) and  Learn Left-Side driving (because we Asians drive on the right normally and being unable to drive handicaps me in a country where public transport is very rare). Make sure your resolution is something that benefits you. If you are not convinced that you need resolutions, you will not be convinced that you need to stick with them.

Make Choices Fun

7 Secrets Of People Who Keep Their New Year’s Resolutions

Resolutions vary in terms of type and duration. It may also sometimes vary in terms of demographics – gender specific or age specific resolutions. Because of these variations, it’s very difficult to narrow down some of the best resolutions to have. The easiest way to choose is to reflect on what you have accomplished; select a few meaningful goals that will make an impact; be prepared to ‘stop doing’ a few things you normally would that don’t benefit you and by ceasing to do them , will ensure you have time to do the things that do benefit you. My personal tip to choosing resolutions is to add at least one Fun Resolution. For me, who was never into ‘gaming’ I included ‘Be a sport: try out a few video games in 2017’. This would ensure I spend more family time with my husband and kids who are hardcore gamers, allow myself some much needed relaxation time and  possibly learn a thing or 2 about video games while I’m at it.

Initiate Driver mode!

When making out your list, be sure you schedule it i.e if it is an ongoing resolution like effective exercise, set aside a specific time each day for it. If it is a one-time achievement like building your own gaming computer (this was my husband’s 2016 resolution, a project he successfully achieved), schedule time for that as well. Scheduling your resolution makes it easier for you to stick to it.  Be committed to your cause, simply because, no one is going to do it for you. That said, it is also important for you to know that there may be a few initial setbacks and challenges, making it seem more difficult for you to  execute your resolution(s). In her article, How Long It Takes to Form a New Habit  Maria Popova, explains:

“It’s like trying to run up a hill that starts out steep and gradually levels off. At the start you’re making great progress upwards, but the closer you get to the peak, the smaller the gains in altitude with each step.” Lastly reward your efforts. Every time you make any headway with your overall resolution, treat yourself to a prize. This will motivate and energize you to take on the next steps towards completion.

New Years Resolution Statistics

Track Progress: Have an accountability partner.

2 things here. Firstly, it’s important that your resolution, like all SMART goals, must be measurable because this is what will identify gaps in execution and possibly predict whether you will succeed or fail at accomplishing your resolution at the end of the year. Secondly, while your resolution is yours and you will need to execute it on your own, it’s wise to have an accountable partner to keep you on track. Depending on your resolution, it’s schedule time and place of execution, this can be a spouse, a work colleague, a family member or a friend. Having an accountable partner will not only provide motivation and companionship but intensify your efforts to accomplish what you started out to do.

So there you have it, The Essential Guide To Making Your New Year Resolutions & Sticking With Them! I hope you find these tips helpful. 2017 has just begun and it’s not too late to make a few Resolutions for yourself if you haven’t already.

The post New Year, New Beginnings: The Essential Guide To Making Your New Year Resolutions! appeared first on InstantELLA.