Gardening & plants

Cape Town’s water crisis

Cape Town’s water crisis

How the water crisis affects one family

The water crisis in Cape Town, South Africa, is all over the news. Over the last few weeks, “Day Zero” was mentioned more frequently. It’s the day when Cape Town would have to shut off most of its water systems. These are frightening news, especially for someone who like me lives in the desert. If this can happen in Cape Town, it can certainly hit my desert home! We’ve asked our beloved reader Heidi Maggot who lives with her family of 5 what it’s really like to live in Cape Town now.

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44 things to declutter before the end of 2017

What you can declutter easily

This year is almost over and many of my clients and friends are looking forward to 2018. Some are taking a few days off, spending time with the family and relaxing after a few busy weeks at work. Isn’t it amazing how we can be so focused and productive just to meet the weekly, monthly or even annual targets? Wouldn’t it be great to always be that driven?

Getting rid of unnecessary items in your home and office can give you that focus! Creating space, you see what really matters, what’s truly urgent and you can act accordingly, saving you time and energy. So what do we recommend you declutter in the final days of 2017? Here’s our list of 44 items you can easily let go:

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Create your balcony oasis

Enjoy the cooler temperatures on your balcony

I can feel the temperatures going down and it’s brilliant. The weather will finally allow us to sit out on the balcony and breath again. It’s going to be wonderful! If only our balcony wouldn’t equal a mini desert. There’s sand all over, thanks to me not cleaning it often over the summer. What better time to create our own little balcony oasis than this weekend?

Are you ready to update your balcony, too? Here are our tips to start creating your own oasis:

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Taking a looong trip?

Get your home ready before you’ll get on that trip

Who doesn’t want to go on a long trip? The Japanese way of touring Europe within 7 days doesn’t appeal to me. I was brought up with summer holidays lasting between 3 weeks to 3 months. We loved the summers on the beach and I’d be game for a longer holiday again, right now! What about you? Have you thought of taking a sabbatical or a longer trip?

Before you can get on that plan, have your home prepared. Here’s our checklist for you:

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The benefits of having plants

5 top reasons you should have plants!

My friend is finally getting one of my plants tonight. I’m probably as excited as she is. Can you believe it will be her first plant since she moved in about 3 years ago? My home now doesn’t have as many plants as the one back in Germany. When I moved to the US in 2007, I couldn’t take my plants with me and it broke my heart. At our current home, there are a few tall and big ones plus many smaller and medium sized ones. I love the touch they add to the house but even more, plants bring you so many benefits:

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