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To help us (and you!) with summer party planning, we sat down with HGTV star Jasmine Roth to get her best tips for maximizing your outdoor space on a budget. Roth, who has starred on HGTV’s Hidden Potential, Help! I Wrecked My House, and Rock the Block recently refreshed her backyard space and is spilling all her best entertaining secrets to help you do the same. Roth shared seven expert tips to help you make your space entertaining-ready, no matter how much room you have....

But for the most part, people who retire in their 30s or 40s-usually those involved in the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) movement-get there because they’ve super-hustled and managed to become millionaires. Lauren and Brian, on the other hand, were “not rich,” Lauren explains. Because of this, they knew they couldn’t stop working forever." So, as a dream realized but also as a compromise, they decided to take two years off to have an adventure....

It’s a predicament that’s fraught with economic realities as well as emotions—should you prioritize setting aside money for your children’s future or for your own? Or should you try (somehow) to accomplish both? It’s a tightrope act that can be stressful, confusing, and discouraging when pursuing both goals concurrently on a single income. What’s more, according to research from Merrill, this struggle might be even greater for women, who face a significant wealth gap throughout their adult lives compared to men....

South Pasadena, California A. Revive it with some bread. If you’re pressed for time, try the microwave. Place the dried-out brown sugar in a microwave-safe bowl and top with a slice of fresh bread or a damp paper towel. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave it in 15-second intervals until the sugar is moist and easy to scoop. You’ll be well on your way to getting those cookies in the oven....

Homemade Cranberry Sauce How long does homemade cranberry sauce last in the fridge? It depends on how you stored it. When properly stored in the fridge—in a covered glass or plastic container—homemade cranberry sauce will keep in the refrigerator for 10 to 14 days. When properly stored in the freezer—in a covered, airtight container or freezer-safe bag—it will stay fresh-tasting for about one month. And it will still be safe to eat (though less fresh-tasting) for up to a year beyond that....

1. Keep Safety in Mind “If we are attracting birds with food resources, it is important that we protect them when they show up,” says Becca Rodomsky-Bish, project leader of the Great Backyard Bird Count for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Because snow can make windows even more reflective, she suggests making sure your windows have screens, decals, or other forms of protection to break up reflections so birds don’t collide with them....

Is Juice Healthy? Juice might be a healthy addition to your diet if it doesn’t contain a lot of added sugar and preservatives. However, in some cases, you may be better off eating whole fruit that is loaded with fiber, especially if you need to eat a low glycemic diet. “Juices can be part of a healthy diet, but they are not a replacement for whole fruits and veggies, especially because you’re not getting the fiber,” explains Dana Angelo White, RD, author of Healthy, Quick and Easy Juicing....

What to Clean a Mirror With Old habits die hard, and if you grew up being taught to use newspaper or paper towels to clean the mirror, you may still reach for those products today. But not only are these single-use items, making them less environmentally friendly, they can also leave behind lint, dust, paper debris, or ink residue. So, we recommend using a trusty lint-free cloth instead. Lint-free cloths will pull up dirt and grease without leaving a trail of lint behind....

Just like anything else, letting go of things stored on your phone is challenging, even if those things aren’t real in a physical sense. Your phone, like your closet, has finite space, though, and when that space gets full, it’s time to start deleting. Fortunately for all users, the phones themselves have easy tools that can make your clean-my-phone efforts more successful. Your phone can tell you exactly what kind of files are taking up the most space on your phone, whether that’s apps, videos, or music downloads....

As the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) website points out, floods can happen anywhere and even a mere inch of water can cause up to $25,000 in damage. If you’re unsure whether flood insurance makes sense for your living situation, here are some key questions and considerations to help sort out this important decision. “If you live in a coastal region or a flood-prone area, consider opting for flood insurance, a separate policy outside of any renters or homeowners’ coverage....

Before you can begin building a paver patio set in sand, be sure to take your site measurements with you when you’re ready to order the paving. Your dealer will help you convert those measurements to gravel, sand, and paving quantities. Remember to buy extra pavers to cover breakage and mistakes, and to store in case a paver or two needs replacing in the future. Take your site measurements when you’re ready to order the paving....

It’s not just hotels where bed bugs now lurk. Summer camps, college dorms, apartment complexes, theaters, and secondhand furnishings are just a few other hideouts. So with all this news, it’s no wonder you want to know how to avoid bed bugs. The best place to start is to learn how to identify bed bugs and where to look for them. How to Identify Bed Bugs IDs, please! Adult bed bugs look similar in size and appearance to an apple seed but are rusty red in color....

Best Banana Varieties to Grow Indoors You’re probably most familiar with the Cavendish variety, which is the type of banana sold in supermarkets across America. Its classic yellow fruit is what we use as a staple snack or smoothie mix-in. However, not all bananas have yellow skin. Blue Java bananas have a turquoise peel while red bananas have a deep burgundy colored peel. In the wild, a banana tree can easily reach anywhere from 20-40 feet high....

What Is a Bird of Paradise Plant? Bird of paradise is a common name that’s attributed to several plants in the Strelitzia genus. Of the 5 recognized species (S. reginae, S. juncea, S. nicolai, S. caudata, and S. alba), the first two are the most “easily grown as houseplants,” says Dan Pogust, co-founder of the Portland Botanical Gardens. All bird of paradise plants are native to tropical and subtropical areas of southeastern Africa....

How to Make 3-Layer Magic Cake The magic happens when the cake batter separates into three distinct layers in the oven. Thanks to a low oven temperature (325 F), the liquid-y batter settles into a thick, fudgy bottom layer and a custard center. The whipped egg whites, folded into the batter just before baking, rise to the top to form a layer of delicate sponge cake. Because the order and preparation of ingredients are crucial to success, be sure to separate your eggs cleanly—that means no yolk bits in your egg whites—and beat the whites in a clean, dry bowl (metal or copper is best)....

My mom would extract the finished waffle off the hot grates and…wait, what? That first waffle would always be so weird-looking, at least through the eyes of a naive second-grader. The color, the uneven texture, the strange shape—they were just wrong. After all that excitement, neither my brother nor I would want that misfit of a waffle (immature, yes, but we were seven). We’d wait for the second one to come out, hoping it would be more toasty, more square, and more evenly browned....

She suggests keeping anything that requires action in your mail spot (like an invitation that requires an RSVP, bills that are due, or coupons with an upcoming expiration date). Paperwork that doesn’t require immediate action can be placed in a separate category—or categories—to be processed at a later date, whether that’s filing, scanning, or shredding. She also suggests considering a portable system, like a decorative tray or a rolling cart you can easily move from your designated mail spot to wherever you pay bills or file paperwork....

Cake is great. You are allowed to eat cake and truly enjoy it. But your body does require variety—a reasonable balance of disparate, nutrient-loaded, energy-packed foods—in order to feel good and function well. If you’re reaching for goodies like cake every single time your stomach growls, you’re missing out on opportunities to feed your body with other valuable goodies, too (like fiber, protein, probiotics, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals). The Secret to Making Balanced Food Choices How can you make it easier to choose something like fresh fruit over cake (again)?...

“The idea of creating a fuller or more even pout using lip liner is something that makeup artists have been doing for decades,” explains makeup artist and grooming expert Todd Harris. It gives the illusion of larger lips because it accentuates the outline of the lip shape, adds Neil Scibelli, a celebrity makeup artist in New York City. First, you’ll want to pick the right color lip liner. If you’re going to be wearing a bold lipstick (think red, berry, magenta) choose a lip liner that matches the lipstick, advises Scibelli....

Aside from giving you pistachio nuts, the trees themselves are also attractive and fit well in the home landscape. With their wide, somewhat shiny leaves and ripening fruit taking on a pink tone, pistachios have a distinctive, almost tropical look to them. Unlike many fruit and nut trees, pistachio trees are either male or female, so you’ll need to plant both for proper pollination. Fortunately, only one male is necessary for upwards of eight female trees....