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Month: August 2023

Back to school DIY: Personalize your child’s gear with this popular crafter’s glue

Back to school DIY: Personalize your child’s gear with this popular crafter’s glue

The back-to-school shopping list may be fully checked off, but a student isn’t ready to go to school without every last item bearing their name so it doesn’t get mixed up with their classmates’ stuff.

A cottage industry of custom stamps, labels, and more has sprung up, particularly on social media, catering to parents looking to easily personalize their children’s belongings. But for parents with multiple children, or those simply looking to save money, all you need is Mod Podge.

The glue is beloved by crafters for its ability to seal and dry clear, with either a matte or gloss finish, on a variety of surfaces. And it’s dishwasher safe.

A jar of crafting glue, a paint brush, and colored letter stickers.
Parents can save money on all things back-to-school by using what’s already on hand. (Darleene Powells/MediaNews Group)

A previously purchased bottle of Mod Podge recently came in handy as I shopped online for stickers I could use to personalize the blank surface of the new gray water bottles I bought for my children going back to school. Not only did the bottles need to be labeled to set them apart from their classmates’ water bottles, no one needs incessant arguing over whose water bottle remains when one inevitably gets lost. read more

Funds for home improvement grant program ‘quickly being obligated,’ state says

Funds for home improvement grant program ‘quickly being obligated,’ state says

Thousands of Floridians applied for a state grant program that pays up to $10,000 for home-hardening improvements in the month after it received another $100 million and expanded across the state.

For Floridians with older homes, the program is a good deal: It offers $2 for every $1 spent on strengthening potential weak points that can be breached in large storms, such as roofs, windows, garage doors and exterior doors.

But it looks like all of the available funding will be earmarked to applicants before most of the newest participants will have an opportunity to be approved.

In the first month after becoming available throughout Florida, the My Safe Florida Home program accepted 16,506 new applications for inspections, according to newly released data. That brings the overall number of applicants to 79,404, including 62,898 who applied during the previous seven months when the program was restricted to homeowners in the “high velocity wind zone” in southern Florida and along the coasts. read more