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While a bit of deep breathing can help, you can prep for a stress-free (or at least, stress-a-little-less) holiday season by taking care of these seven tasks around your home now. You’ll feel more prepared to actually enjoy and celebrate the season. Make Some Space The holidays usually mean there will be gifts. Where will the new stuff go if every closet, drawer, and toy box is already overflowing? Now is the perfect time to sort and donate clothes to make space....

1. Make It an Annual Affair Yearly pruning promotes yearly fruit production. Removing large quantities of branches—one-third or more of the overall tree—will cause a tree to produce lots of leafy growth and no fruit. The leafy growth is the tree’s response to stress; the tree is attempting to regain its energy producing structures so it can sustain itself. Avoid the stress response and lack of fruiting altogether by making small pruning cuts each year rather that heavy pruning every few years....

For the most part, Facebook charity fundraisers are a safe and effective way to give to causes you care about. Here’s what happens when you make a donation through the social media platform, and ways to ensure your money gets to the right place. Understand the types of Facebook fundraisers. Money raised through Facebook fundraisers goes to one of two places—birthday fundraisers, which benefit bona fide charities (there are more than 750,000 nonprofits on the platform); or personal causes, from vet care for a sick pet to college tuition—so you might want to be cautious about where your donations end up....

On This Episode What’s the real cost of having a baby? And how can you prepare for it? Host Stefanie O’Connell Rodriguez interviews Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code and Marshall Plan for Moms, about the impact of parenthood on your personal finances, and what we can do to prepare our money and our careers for one of life’s most expensive milestones. Meet Our Caller “Carrie” is a 32-year-old marketing professional based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....

Keep in mind that there are also plenty of easy ways to prevent dull skin in the first place. There are many topical things you can do to keep skin looking bright, such as regularly exfoliating to slough off the dead skin cells that dull your complexion. However, truly radiant skin starts from the inside out, so consider what you’re putting in your body, too. Upping your hydration game and drinking plenty of water will keep skin hydrated and plump....

“I love braising because it’s really about coaxing flavors,” says Linda Hampsten Fox, Chef at The Bindery in Denver, Colo. “Braising is a subtle dance that happens leisurely at low temperatures, so you can still do a million other things at the same time.” (Dropping the best Netflix shows for June 2022 here for any multitasking needs.) Braising both softens meat and builds flavor over hours of slow cooking—so if you’ve ever spent hours cooking meat in broth in a Dutch oven before, you’ve braised....

To manage excess oil on second-day hair, opt for dry shampoo instead—stylists say the powder remnants will mop up excess oil and create more volume. “Just remember to wash it out after using it one to three times in a row, or the buildup can irritate the scalp and dry out fine hairs, causing breakage,” says Tsippora Shainhouse, MD, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist in Beverly Hills, Calif. Instead, look for products that add moisture and volume....

A specialty from the region of my ancestry, Fuzhou, at any other time, they’d be—at worst—innocuous. But on this, the ultimate of feast days, the Reunion Dinner that takes place on the eve of the Lunar New Year: On this night, the Golden Eggs are thieves of joy. These eggs remind me of how my family has celebrated the holiday in China and beyond, including all the dishes and their symbolism for the year ahead....

Fortunately, it’s super easy to set your ceiling fans for maximum effect. Here’s everything you need to know. How to Change Ceiling Fan Direction Depending on how your ceiling fan is set up, you may just toggle a switch on the main body of the ceiling fan to change it from clockwise to counterclockwise (or vice versa). Just be sure to turn it off first! Newer models may let you change the fan’s direction (without pulling out the ladder) via a remote or app....

How to Quickly Chill Cookie Dough If you start whipping up a cookie recipe only to realize you have to chill the dough for a longer amount of time than you have, there’s a trick for speeding up the process: freezing the cookie dough. That’s right, you can freeze it for a bit to shave quite a bit of time off the chilling suggestion in the recipe. Here’s what our Test Kitchen recommends when quickly chilling cookie dough in the freezer:...

Learning how to clean a shower head and remove mineral deposits isn’t complicated, and if you have enough patience to let the solution soak, it doesn’t require much scrubbing, either. Once you unclog the shower head, you’ll be surprised how much more luxurious your shower feels. Follow the steps below to clean a shower head the right way—and you may be tempted to trade in your relaxing bath for a soothing shower....

Not all roses need deadheading, and some need a little more care than just snipping off the old blooms, so follow the tips below for the variety you’re growing. Other than knowing which type of rose you’re working with, all you need for the job is a good pair of gardening shears. Deadheading Hybrid Tea Roses The general rule for deadheading hybrid teas is to find the top set of five leaflets, then cut the stem below that at the second set of five leaflets....

Well, don’t worry—whether you’re hosting guests for the holidays or just trying to perfect the art of Christmas tree decorating for your own holiday cheer—we have some tips to help guide the way. For advice on decorating a picture-perfect Christmas tree, we talked to Macy’s State Street designer, Kim Garner, who spearheads the Great Tree lighting at the Chicago store. While Garner’s prized tree is a grand 45-feet tall, adorned with more than 1,500 ornaments, and more than 6,600 sparkling lights, her tips can apply just as well to a humble living room tree....

Keeping a lawn in tip-top shape often means applying an organic fertilizer twice a year, aerating periodically to discourage thatch buildup and soil compaction, watering regularly, and properly mowing it. But even if you do everything right, you can still end up with bare, thin, or weedy patches here and there. One of the most important parts of lawn repair is figuring out what has caused the problem. Sometimes an accident, such as a fertilizer spill, creates a bare spot in the lawn....

The thought of sending another email to a professional acquaintance after speaking with them about an open role, may seem rather forward (and make you cringe), but following up will ensure you stay on their radar. In addition to nailing the interview questions and writing your eye-catching cover letter, the follow-up step is a simple service to yourself and a positive signal to the company you’re pursuing. Career expert Lindsey Pollak, author of Recalculating: Navigate Your Career Through the Changing World of Work, believes following up after a job interview can even double as a networking opportunity, if you choose to look at it as an impression rather than a transaction....

That bronzed, dewy complexion is always a good look on anyone and one of the best ways to show off your vacation to your friends. In reality, your quarantine skin may be looking dull and pasty, but your lack of travel doesn’t mean your skin has to show it. You can still impart that post-vacation glow without stepping outside your house—with a little help from our fave skincare and makeup products, of course....

This phenomenon is called “brain fog” and it can be nerve-racking, creating a mental cloud of anxiety that can have you frantically searching Google for answers. The good news is that it’s usually just temporary, and with the right lifestyle changes, you can get your brain back on track. We talked to experts to learn what you can do to get rid of brain fog and improve your mental clarity....

Fruit flies and gnats are both extremely hard to get rid of. But if you use a multiphase plan of attack, you should be able to spare not only your produce and plants, but our sanity as well. Not only that, but you can also prevent them. Here’s everything you need to know if you have a gnat or fruit fly problem. Where Do Fruit Flies Come From? Fruit flies can lay up to 500 eggs at a time near the surface of fermenting (ripening) foods or other organic materials like the soil in your houseplants....

Caring for homegrown pumpkins when they’re in the ground can be a time-intensive process, but as long as you set a routine, there will be big orange gourds in your garden in just a few months. Here, Danny Watson, a garden center associate at The Home Depot, shares his best tips for planting and growing pumpkins from seeds. When to Plant Pumpkins The best time to plant pumpkin seeds is from late May to early July, so you can enjoy them in the fall....

What Are Sprouts? Sprouts are the first growth that is produced from a germinated seed. These tiny plant shoots have high levels of key vitamins and minerals. Plus they add a crisp texture to sandwiches, salads, and stir-fries. Unlike most vegetables that often take weeks or months to grow, sprouts mature in 3 to 5 days and don’t need soil, fertilizer, or sunshine to grow. They do, however, need plenty of your attention if you’re going to grow them safely from your home—make sure you follow the cleaning, rinsing, and draining steps outlined below....