Home Tips of the Month from Bonny Lamb

Now that we are very much aware of health and sanitation, use the tip of a key, a pen or something other than your finger to press elevator buttons.  And when signing charge slips for purchases in stores, always use your own pen.

Wondering about the best SPF sunscreen to use on your face? A dermatologist’s advice on google is to use the sunscreen you like the most so that you will apply it before you go out. (Neutragena Ultra-Sheer clogs pores.) A terrific sunscreen for the face is Coola’s Classic Face Sunscreen, SPF 50. It’s expensive but is so lightweight that it lasts and lasts.

Water has an extraordinarily calming effect on most humans. Science tells us just looking at water relaxes us on a biological level. Seeing or hearing water triggers a response in our brains inducing a flood of neurochemicals that increase blood flow to our heart and brain.

P.S. Aquariums are good feng shui—and entertainment for adults and children.

Keep these mid-size paper clips in a kitchen drawer for handy access. These clips are terrific to use to secure any kind of opened bags of frozen vegetables, fruit, chicken tenders, etc., in the freezer – nothing spills out – or to keep open packages airtight on your shelves. They cost only about $2 for 12 of them at Staples.

Another reminder about English ivy, an invasive species that strangles and kills trees, like this one in West Cambridge. It’s our local kudzu, all too evident in Cambridge, Belmont and Somerville, taking over gardens and climbing trees. At the beginning of the climb, the roots can be pulled from the trees; once securely attached to the tree or wedged within the interstices of the trunk, the thick stem at the bottom of the tree needs to be sawed to destroy the vines.