7 Simple Decor Tips That Make Cleaning Easier

PLUS: Make it easier to use your phone with one hand, making homemade nut butters, and more. PLUS: Make it easier to use your phone with one hand, making homemade nut butters, and more. August 2, 2022 [View Online]( Good morning! We typically design and decorate our homes to look a certain way, and rarely consider how our choices might affect our cleaning routines down the road. In Today’s Good Thing, I’m sharing 7 decor tips that can make your home easier to clean without compromising its visual appeal. Also in today’s newsletter, I'll show you how to make peanut butter, almond butter, and other nut butters at home. They’re inherently more delicious when homemade, and easy to make with the right equipment. Jillee TODAY'S GOOD THING 7 Simple Decor Tips That Make Cleaning Easier [Photos of home decor.]( For a low-maintenance home that's high in function and style, start with your decor. The things we see on TV and movies can fill our heads with unrealistic expectations. One futuristic concept that I’ve been waiting to come to fruition for decades is the self-cleaning house—heck, I’d happily settle for a cleaning robot! But unfortunately for me, cleaning is still a necessary aspect of housekeeping. And while I still look forward to the day when technology can do it for me, I certainly haven't forgotten that there are ways we can make our homes quicker and easier to clean. One that many of us fail to take into account is our home decor and design. With a little forethought while you’re shopping for furniture and decor or deciding where to put it, you can design your home in a way that makes it easier to keep clean. I’ve got 7 simple decor tips that can lighten your cleaning load to share with you at the link below. Check out the list to find out how easy it is to design your way to an easy-to-clean home. [7 Simple Decor Tips That Make Cleaning Easier ➜]( Related • [These 11 Tricks Will Keep Your House Clean Longer]( • [7 MORE Clever Tricks That Will Keep Your House Clean Longer]( ⚡️QUICK TIPS⚡️ • If it seems like food is always sticking to your stainless steel pots and pans, give this simple solution a try. [Read more ➜]( • Not a fan of the fine lines around your lips? These 9 practical tips and remedies can help minimize their appearance. [Read more ➜]( • Once you notice how dingy the pull cords on your window blinds are, you can’t unsee it—but you can fix it! [Read more ➜]( TECH TIP TUESDAY Use Your Phone With One Hand [An image of phone screens displaying the Reachability feature.]( Can’t reach the upper part of your phone’s screen very easily? These features can help. When you’re using your phone with one hand, it can be difficult to reach the upper part of the screen with your thumb. But with iPhone's Reachability feature enabled, you can move the usable part of the screen down lower so it’s easier to reach. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch to check whether the toggle next to Reachability is turned on. If it is, you can activate it by swiping down on the lower half of the screen. To restore the full screen, tap the upper half of the screen. For Android users, an equivalent feature called One-Handed mode was introduced with the Android 12 update. If you’re running Android 12, go to Settings > System > Gestures > One-Handed mode, then tap the toggle next to Use one-handed mode. Once enabled, just swipe down in an app to bring the screen within thumb’s reach. COOKING Make Your Own Nut Butters [A photo of jars of homemade nut butters.]( With a sufficiently high-powered blender, you can enjoy homemade peanut butter anytime. When I first started looking into making my own nut butters, it sounded so simple that I was convinced I was missing something. Many of the websites I visited simply said to blend the nuts into nut butter, but could it really be that easy? And for the most part, it was! There are a couple of keys to success though, and the first is using a high-powered blender like a Vitamix or Blendtec. If you don’t want to add any oil to your nut butter (more on that shortly), you’ll need a blender that can stand up to something as thick as peanut butter. And speaking of oils, another key is using roasted or toasted nuts. The process of toasting brings out nuts' natural oils and helps the mixture blend more readily. (You can use raw nuts instead, but you’ll probably need to add some neutral-flavored oil to the blender to help things along.) I love almonds in every way, shape, and form, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to me that I like homemade almond butter the best of any of the butters I’ve made. Give it a try for yourself—if you’re anything like me, you’ll be wondering why you waited so long to try it! [See the full tutorial ➜]( JILLEE'S PICK ‘These Old Shades’ [An image of the front cover of ]( I knew I'd mentioned Georgette Heyer's romances in this segment at some point, but I just learned that was nearly a year ago—how time flies! But I recently finished another of her novels called [These Old Shades](, a May-December romance set during the reign of Louis XV. It was only after I'd finished it that I learned it was published almost 40 years before Frederica, which is my favorite of Heyer's books (at least so far!) She was only around 23 when she wrote These Old Shades, which explains some of the ways it felt different than her other books. I did enjoy this book and its revenge plot, however. Many of Heyer's hallmarks are present throughout—great characters, a hilarious plot, and a somewhat pretentious hero. The Duke of Avon is a foppish yet masculine man with a sharp wit. He's a compelling mastermind too, weaving his revenge plot while staying several steps ahead of everyone else. The other main character, Leonie, is funnier than most ingenues, and makes the perfect foil for the jaded Duke. The minor characters have plenty of great moments too, including a few that had me laughing out loud. This is one book I would absolutely love to see adapted as a movie! [See These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer on Amazon ➜]( POLL OF THE WEEK Birthday Behavior Q: How do you usually celebrate your birthday? (Click one of the options below to submit your response.) 1. [With a big, festive party]( 2. [With a nice dinner at a restaurant]( 3. [With a small get-together at home]( 4. [I don't celebrate my birthday]( Results from last week's poll: Nearly half of OGT readers consider themselves capable in the kitchen. Over 1,500 of you weighed in on the question “How would you describe your level of skill in the kitchen?” Here's how you responded: • 47.7% said “Capable; I cook all the time and get plenty of compliments” • 37.9% said “Adequate; I can handle the basics and follow most recipes” • 8.4% said “Prodigious; I've been told I should start a restaurant” • 6.3% said “Limited; my cooking is occasionally disastrous” A FEW MORE THINGS... Symbols Of The Month: The traditional birthstone for August is [peridot](, historically believed to offer protection and enlightenment. The birth flowers for August are [poppy](, an herbaceous flowering plant and symbol of peace and sleep, as well as [Gladiolus](, a symbol of integrity and strength—fitting for a flower named after the Latin word for sword. Something For Everyone: If you’re looking for something to celebrate today, you have a couple of options! You can celebrate National Ice Cream Sandwich Day with the ice cream and cookie combo of your choosing, or for something a little less calorific, break out your colored pencils in honor of National Coloring Book Day. 🤔 Wordle: [Solve today's 5-letter word](. What did you think of today's email? [Not good]( | [Just okay]( | [Loved it!]( 🏠[Visit the By Jillee Shop]( 🤗 [Join OGT Free]( Let's connect! [facebook]( [instagram]( [pinterest]( [youtube]( If you have thoughts, comments, questions or a tip or trick you'd like to share, I'd love to hear from you! My inbox is always open, so just hit "reply" and let me know what's on your mind. See you tomorrow! Sending you bright ideas and simple solutions to help you create a home and life you love. My mailing address is: One Good Thing by Jillee 841 S. Main St. Heber City, UT 84032 If you're not happy please reply to this email to tell me why. Update your email preferences or [unsubscribe]( [here](. View our privacy policy [here](.