Angela Stewart's Profile

Display Name: Angela Stewart
Member Since: 11/1/12

Latest Comments...

There are a lot of myths about "owning" versus "renting" accommodation. In one you pay a landlord and in the other option you are paying rent too only its called "mortgage interest". Banks love hyper property markets - they have millions of customers who think they are home owners when in fact they are administrators for the banks that really "own" the property. Think about it: how many people do you know who are still paying off a mortgage after years and years of "owning" their dwelling. I am 63 and know lots of people my age who still have mortgage debt. We paid our mortgage off 17 years ago - it makes a huge difference to what we can do now - but it requires real discipline but is worth it if you can do it - if you don't trust yourself to have the determination to pay off your mortgage its probably much, much better to rent because as many others have said, insurance and maintenance are big commitments.


YOLO: The Renter's Edition
2/5/13 4:26 PM

Be a grown up - clean up after yourself,feed yourself, produce something - is it the modern parenting style that has created all these people who don't have time to do the basics? What nonsense - if you watch TV, facebook or sit slopping down some starbucks garbage you have time to make your bed!

Get a duvet and fitted sheets - throw them back when you get up and do ablutions ( hopefully you're not such a slob that you don't wash either - open the window,( in germany even when its freezing they do it for 5 minutes) as do I but I live in New Zealand.

Of course healthy and together people cook their own food as well as cleaning up after themselves, people who read this blog are presumably aesthetically minded: the quickest way to make a bedroom look good is to have the largest object in it look good so: get some pretty linen and just shake the duvet/comforter then smooth and square pillows, its not expensive or onerous. Anyone wonder why we in the developed west are so fat? look at our habits!

Now about all those cats you talk about: I've had cats and a small dog all my life but they never sleep on the covers especially of the sofa if they are the dog - always on a rug that can be washed easily and no animal odour suffuses the place.


Make Your Bed! For Productivity, Profit and Peace
12/13/12 2:47 PM

I noticed the difference but couldn't tell what had happened until I read the text.

Cowhide: those of you who came on so strong like some latter-day Mayflower puritan should get yourself some learning then move on to discernment - additionally a course on good manners would be of great value to you. Its simply disgraceful the way you have carped and squeaked whilst effectively being a "guest" in this home, which has been opened to you in good faith that you will behave and speak decorously.


Small Tricks, Big Difference for an Evolving Home
12/12/12 7:23 PM

Its called "rudeness". I too have largely stopped hosting major social events - it seems wrong to have to chase down guests who are so little enthused they can't be bothered responding in time: it makes one feel belittled somehow.

I attribute it to the fact that with 24/7 entertainment and ready-made food available everywhere, there is no concept anymore of the effort or love that goes into hosting a party.

The day someone arrived one and a half hours late for a luncheon that I hosted (that person having implored me to hold another one) was the day they stopped being invited by me to anything significant. We are letting our human social life fall into disarray and " social media" and fast food outfits don't really supply an adequate replacement - the world seems less warm somehow.


Party Planning Vent: What's So Hard About RSVPing?
11/8/12 1:48 PM

when you love the things who cares about the dust? I don't. Our place is full too - after 30 years and no divorce and a beauty-craving eye that never sleeps of course one's place gets full and it can be very tricky to edit and organise. For those of you who can't look at so much and feel you could see better if there were just a quarter of the objects, you forget the house is a home for its owners; I speak from experience, its never too much if you live there and are familiar with and in love with the objects that form the "soul" of your space. Each object or painting reminds the true collector of a lovely or special time in their lives.


JoAnn & Dan's Creatively Collected Home House Tour
11/3/12 12:33 AM