The following are some reso -lutions to ensure your home has as good a year as you do over the next 12 months.

• Clear away clutter. Spring is the season most people associate with clearing a home of clutter, but the immediate aftermath of the holiday season marks a great time to begin tidying up. During the holiday season, homeowners often arrive home to a mailbox filled with holiday catalogs. In addition, extra rolls of wrapping paper, packaging tape and holiday cards can transform a normally neat and airy home into a cluttered space

Resolutions for your homewith little room to breathe. Instead of waiting for spring to clear out clutter,resolve to spend some time each month getting rid of any unnecessaryitems. Not only will less clutter make a home less stuffy (particularly during winter when the windows are closed), it will also make spring cleaning that much easier.

• Reduce the energy bill. Few peo -ple are in a position to scoff at ways to save money, and reducing energy costs is a great way to do just that. This year, resolve to turn the lights off when you leave a room, lower the temperature on the thermostat during

daytime hours when no one is home and consider alternative methods of saving energy as well.

Most homeown -ers might be sur -prised to learn their set-top cable or sat -ellite boxes, when coupled with a digital video recorder, are quite possibly gob -bling up more energy than their refrigerator. Such was the findings in a 2011 study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council, which found that a high-definition cable or satellite set-top box, when combined with a DVR, used more kilowatt hours per year than a new Energy Star rated 21 cubic-foot refrigerator. While few homeowners are likely willing to giveup their cable service or DVR, you can ask your service provider for Energy Star 4.0-rated devices to help reduce energy consumption.

• Grow a green thumb. A lawn is the first thing passersby notice about a home. No matter how beautiful the home itself is, if the lawn is not well-maintained that is what most people are going to remember. This year, resolve to grow a green thumb. Though spring and summer are con -sidered the seasons for lawn care, winter is not necessarily a bad time to get started. Clear away any fallen branches and rake away the last of the

leaves, which can be used to create a compost pile that can benefit the lawn throughout the year. Depending on the type of grass you have, late winter and early spring can be a great time to fertilize.

• Make your home safer. Improving safety around the house should not have to be a New Year’s resolution, but for busy homeowners it’s easy to overlook safety around the house. This year, resolve to make your home safer and keep it safe and secure. Have the home tested for radon if you haven’t already, and inspect all smoke and carbon mon -oxide detectors, replacing any ones that are no longer operating at full capacity. If there are any safety haz -ards around the house, such as a loose step or handrail on the staircase or a leaky gutter that makes it easy for ice patches to form after winter rain or snowstorms, then address these issues before they cause serious injury.

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Friday, May 25, 2012 CITIZEN’S NEWS 15

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CITIZEN’S NEWS Friday, May 25, 201216

20 easy waysto conserve waterEvery living thing on the planet

requires water to survive. Without water, life as we know it would quickly perish. Despite the importance of water, many do not think ahead to what would happen if water supplies dwindled. To avoid such a fate, it’s best to begin conserving water when - ever possible.

Though estimates vary, most peo -ple use between 80 to 100 gallons of water each day. So many daily neces -sities require water use. By making a few changes here and there, it’s pos -sible to considerably reduce the amount of water we waste each day.

1. When hand-washing dishes, don’t let the tap run. Fill up the sink and wash them that way then rinse after - ward.

2. Wash clothing only when the e n t i r e machine is full.

3. Adjust sprinklers so that only the lawn and s h r u b b e r y are watered -- not the driveway or s i d e w a l k s . Or invest in a drip hose that waters the roots only and saves water.

4. Invest in rain bar -rels that can collect water from downs -pouts on the home.

5. Water in early morning and early evening to avoid evaporation from the hot sun.

6. Spread a layer of mulch in planting beds and around trees to keep roots moist.

7. Check the home indoors and outdoors for any leaks.

8. Shorten showers by a minute or two. This can save up to 150 gallons of water per person, per month.

9. A taller lawn shades roots and

reduces the need to water the grass more frequently.

10. Use one glass or bowl all day for food and drink to reduce the num -ber of items that need to be washed.

11. Use a water-efficient show -erhead to reduce water consumption by 75 percent.

12. If you haven’t already done so, switch all toilets to low-flow toilets.

13. Don’t wash the car in the driveway. Visit a commercial car wash that uses recycled water.

14. Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth.

15. Put water-saving aerators on all faucets in the home.

16. Avoid water recreation toys that require a constant flow of water.

17. Use the water conservation cycle on a dishwasher.

18. Bathe young children together. Bathe a small child in the kitchen sink to avoid having to fill up an entire bath tub.

19. Report broken pipes or hydrants quickly.20. Use leftover water from pet

bowls to water plants instead of toss -ing it down the drain.

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CITIZEN’S NEWSFriday, May 25, 2012 17

Pool safety tips for parents

When shopping for a home, par -ents often marvel at properties that feature a pool in the backyard. Once they see a pool, parents envision their kids having fun in the sun with friends and family.

While days spent poolside with the family are fun, they can also be dangerous, especially for children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children ages 1 to 4 have the highest drowning rates, and fatal drowning is the sec -ond-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children ages 1 to 14 years. It’s no wonder then why parents place such a strong emphasis on pool safety. The following are some preventative measures parents can take to reduce their child’s risk of an accident in the pool.• Ensure chil -dren know how to swim. Teaching kids to swim might sound obvious, but many kids jump into pools before having any formal swim -ming training. But a child who has received formal swimming lessons has a significantly smaller risk of injuryor drowning than one who has not received formal les -sons. A 2009 study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Medicine found that participation in for -mal swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 88 percent among children ages 1 to 14 years. Local com -munity centers as well as the YMCA and even the Red Cross likely offer swimming lessons for children, so parents should take advantage of these highly effective programs.

• Pay constant attention when kids are in the pool. Kids should never be left unattended when in a pool. But accidents happen even when par -ents are nearby. However, how quickly adults or others respond to a child in danger can have a significant impact on the outcome of an emer -gency situation. A study in the medi -cal journal Pediatrics determined that the more quickly someone is able to intervene, such as administering CPR, the better the chance of improving the outcome. So parents should respond as quickly as possible when -

ever they suspect something has gone wrong in the pool.

• Don’t rely on air-filled or foam toys. Parents should not rely on air-filled flotation devices such as “water wings” as a safety measure. Such devices can deflate, putting kids at risk, especially if parents are under the assumption that the devices are enough to keep kids safe while they man the grill or mow the lawn. Even if kids wearing flotation devices havehad swimming lessons, the likelihood kids will panic and forget those les -sons if the devices deflate is signifi -cant enough that parents should pay constant attention.

• Do not consume alcohol. Adults should never consume alcohol while children are swimming in the pool. Alcohol can negatively affect judge -ment, balance and coordination, mak -

ing it more difficult to respond to a pool emergency should one occur. In addi -tion, the effects of alcohol are height -ened by exposure to the sun and heat, so consuming alcohol on hot summer days while kids are swim -ming in the pool could be an unnec - essary risk.

• Put all toys away after swim -ming. A pool and its surrounding deck should not have toys lying around, as this

only entices children to go into the pool area when Mom and Dad might not be home or watching them. A study from the Consumer Product Safety Commission found that most young children who drowned in pools were last seen in the home and had been out of sight for less than fiveminutes. Kids can quickly disappear, and it might be too late before par -ents notice their youngster has jumped into the pool unsupervised. Put all toys away once a swimming session ends, so kids don’t feel the urge to go play by the pool unsuper - vised.

A backyard pool is both fun and potentially dangerous. A few safety measures can drastically reduce the risk of drowning or injury, but parents should remain alert and attentive whenever kids are swimming or play -ing around the pool.

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May is MulchMADNESSCITIZEN’S NEWS Friday, May 25, 201218