Savvy Saving Bytes

In passed summers I have lost countless battles with budworms as they happily gorged themselves silly on my geraniums and petunias.  As tiny, newborn worms, they stealthily bored into tender, young flower buds and ate their way out, speedily decimating every bud in flowerpots. Fatter and feistier, they then feasted on every blossom in sight. And [...]

Marching along eastside avenues and blooming up and down side streets, spring tulips have blossomed in their radiant, annual show. When I first moved to New York years ago, I don’t remember particularly noticing the flowers. But every year since then, more and more tulips have popped on more and more streets in ever widening [...]

Yes, I know, my apartment ceiling in this 100-year-old brownstone exploded one night and crashed to the floor in a thunderous cloud of gray plaster dust. And yes, it was scary. And yes, it was a pain setting up camp in a nearby hotel for nine days while the joint was repaired. BUT the fact remains [...]

With winter closing in, it will soon be time to start dreaming about warm summer days and driving off into idyllic landscapes, maybe in your very own Recreational Vehicle. If you’re an American dreamer, you will probably expect certain civilized amenities in those RVs to coexist with your forays into the rustic life This CNBC [...]

It was discombobulating. With all the destruction and massive flooding in lower Manhattan and outlying areas, the worst thing Hurricane Sandy did to my uptown neck of the woods was close the libraries. I was all set to return my DVD movies for a fresh supply when Sandy blew into town and knocked out power [...]

Many Americans have equated the size of their homes with their status. But after the recent twin implosions of the housing and financial markets, homebuyers began looking at large, showy homes in a different light and thinking in a more minimalist direction. Enter the tiny house movement, which has steadily been gaining steam all around [...]