Spring Transformation: Quick Tips for Your Home, Food, Clothes, and More

Springtime generally signals a transformation for most of us. The afghans, chair blankets and winter comforters get packed away. Flannel sheets are replaced with cool linen, and sweaters are folded and stored in drawers or on closet shelves. Winter comfort foods such as chili and chowder fall from the menu and get replaced with garden green salads and light pasta dishes. This is also the time of year when we take note of our winter complexion, and any weight gain that might have went unnoticed under those bulky sweaters. Here's some easy tips to help you save money and make your springtime transaction more fun and less stressful.

I'm sure you've seen the storage bags on TV that you can hook a vacuum cleaner hose to and compress an entire set of bedding down to around 2 inches thick. What they don't show you on TV is how hard it is to get all those items into the bag to begin with! In most cases, you're lucky if you can stuff a Standard size bed comforter into the largest bag without the help of another person. A much more cost effective method of compression storage is to buy Ziploc brand Big Bags. They come in several sizes and I've caught them on sale for as little as $1.00 per bag, Once you have them filled, you can zip shut all but one corner - stick in your Vacuum hose, and compress quite a bit of the air from the bag.

As you transform the house from dark colors and cozy warmness to light and breezy spring and summer décor, you may notice scuffs on walls and nail holes that need repaired and spot painted. For you Do It Yourselfers, you can save a lot of time and money by saving canister style chip cans! The large ones are the perfect length to store a wet touch up paint brush and keep it moist and ready to go for weeks. The small ones also work great for storing a small amount of wall putty for those quick nail hole repairs. In your touch up can, simply pour in about half a cup of your wall paint, drop in your touch up brush - and snap on the lid. To keep your small can of wall putty moist for weeks, wet and squeeze dry a paper towel and place on top of the putty - then snap on the lid. For even more convenience, you can buy an inexpensive sanding sponge, cut to fit, and glue to the side of your can.

Those crisp spring and summer salads are such a treat! However, trying to store the fresh greens can be a real problem. One of the worse culprits to the demise of your crisp garden greens is moisture. Typically the first thing we do is wash our greens before we place them into the crisper of the refrigerator, however this decreases the longevity of the greens dramatically. Instead of washing now, wash before use - and only wash the amount you intend to use. Remove your greens from any plastic they may have came stored in - such as bags or containers. Line your crisper drawer with paper towel, lay in the greens, then cover with paper towel. Good air flow and decreased moisture can double, or even triple, the storage time of your greens.

Hidden under layers of clothes and bulky sweaters, we can sometimes hide a few extra pounds. Wouldn't it be nice if shedding those extra pounds was as easy as shedding the extra clothes? Unfortunately there is no magic weight loss trick, and be leery of anyone who tells you there is! However, you can make the transition to those revealing spring and summer clothes a little less traumatic as you work on shedding those pounds with the right styles. Contrary to popular belief - bigger clothing does not make you look smaller. Equally incorrect is the fallacy that wearing a smaller size will make your physique appear smaller than it is. Wearing a size smaller than you should shows off every extra bit of fat you have. Wearing the correct clothing size may not take off or hide those extra pounds, but it certainly won't add any. Some of the best advice to looking thinner echoes the words we often heard in our childhood: stand up straight. With your shoulders back, your head held high, and your back straight, you will not only appear self-confidant, but also thinner. You create a much slimmer look with a few easy to follow guidelines.

Wear medium to high heels to elongate your physique and add length rather than pounds.

If the legs and thighs need a slimmer look, then wear narrow cut Capri pants instead of shorts.

Avoid unsightly bunching up, especially at the waist! Your tops need to flow freely over your pants - not "hang up" on your tummy or bottom.

Go for shaped outfits rather than clingy or baggy. Clingy outfits tend to "hang up" at areas where you might not want the extra attention. Whereas baggy clothing tends to simply make you look bigger all over.