During the colder months of the year your home’s drafty windows may be causing you to spend more money on heating.  Here are some suggestions for winterizing your windows:

See a demo on how to shrink wrap your windows in this YouTube video.

Nothing can compare with the ambiance of a warm crackling fire in a fireplace.  Unfortunately, not every home is equipped with a fireplace – a problem that the makers of Anywhere Fireplace have made it their goal to solve.  This wall-mounted enclosure burns bio-ethanol liquid fuel made from renewable plant resources.  The Anywhere Fireplace is free from smoke, gas, soot and ash. 

If you’ve always dreamed of having a fireplace, this smokeless fireplace is an eco-friendly alternative.  Find out more on the Anywhere Fireplace website.

A company called Yogibo claims to have taken the old familiar bean bag chair into the new millennium. Filled with “near-frictionless” beads and covered in a durable cotton and lycra fabric, Yogibo furniture conforms to the body’s shape and provides new levels of bean bag comfort. The Yogibo product line includes sofas, lounge chairs and several types of pillows in a wide spectrum of colors. Each piece, including the Yogi Max sofa shown above, is incredibly lightweight.

Yogibo bean bags are the perfect piece choice for dorm room furniture, but they’re also right at home in a bedroom or family room (or in any room where comfort is key). Find out more about Yogibo Bean Bags on the official Yogibo website.

Dyson has a well-deserved reputation for rethinking ordinary appliances and creating completely unique product designs.  One of the latest Dyson offerings is the Hot, a bladeless space heater that uses Dyson’s Air Multiplier technology. The Dyson Hot consists of an oblong ring with no exposed heating elements. The heater has precise temperature control and a special safety feature that causes the it to automaticaly shut off if it tips over. According to Dyson, the Hot is designed to heat small- to medium-sized rooms.

The Dyson Hot doesn’t some cheap (it retails for about $400) but you won’t find a more eye-catching fan from any other manufacturer. It comes in two color combinations: silver/white and blue/gray.

Find out more about the Dyson Hot on the official website.

Unless you live in a year-round warm climate, the approach of colder winter weather means it’s time to close your pool for the season.  Before covering your pool, some of the things you’ll need to do include balancing your water chemistry, adding winterizing chemicals to keep the water clear, lowering the water level and servicing the filter and pump. 

Using the correct procedure when cleaning and covering your pool will help ensure that it’s ready for use when you uncover it in spring. 

Find out more about the tools and supplies needed to close your pool and the steps you’ll need to follow in this YouTube video from Lowe’s.

Anyone who loves to read will tell you that books are the ultimate room accessory.  If you’d like bookshelves that really make a statement and draw attention to your book collection, check out these concealed floating bookshelves from Umbra.  The powder-coated steel shelf is actually concealed within the bottom book on the stack. 

This reasonably-priced shelf comes in large and small sizes.  Find out more about it on the Umbra website.

For homeowner’s who are “upside down” in their mortgage, meaning that their home’s value has dipped below the outstanding balance on their mortgage, a short sale may be the solution. Unlike foreclosure, a short sale allows a homeowner to avoid foreclosure and the embarrassment of having their home sold in an auction or public sale.

A short sale is the last resort for homeowners who don’t qualify for other options for debt relief.  Previous efforts to modify the current home loan must have failed and the owner is no longer able to make monthly mortgage payments.  Homeowners who have undergone hardships such as job loss are more likely to be successful in negotiating a short sale with their lender.

For more information about short sales, visit the Bank of America website.

With winter months approaching, it’s time to think about a warm crackling fire in the fireplace or stove. If you don’t have the convenience of a gas-powered fireplace, then you should check out the original Adirondack Firestone FireLighter Kit.

With this handy firestarter kit you’ll no longer have to worry about gathering newspaper and kindling to get your fire going. The kit consists of the ceramic vessel shown above, two bottles of Candle & Lamp Oil and a FireStone attached to a steel rod. Fill the vessel with oil, soak the FireStone in the vessel, roll it in fireplace ashes and then place it beneath your firewood. The FireStone will burn for 15 to 20 minutes, long enough to ignite your fire.

Find out more about this useful fireplace product at the official Adirondack FireStone website.

We’ve written here before about tiny houses so we wanted to share information about a tiny camping trailer with our readers.

The Sealander Amphibious Camping Trailer is a German-designed trailer that double as a water-worthy vessel.  This compact trailer can be towed by almost any vehicle and easily launched into a lake or river.  A small electric motor provides power while afloat. 

The Sealander’s interior features a table that seats four, a kitchenette and a sleeping area.  It will be available starting in 2012 for about $24,000.

Read more about the Sealander on Engadget.  Don’t miss seeing it in action in this YouTube video.

Now that summer is over, you may be thinking about putting your barbecue into storage.  If you usually clean your grill before storing it, you may want to consider leaving the baked-on crust in place until next spring.  The reason?  To keep your grill from rusting.

Go ahead and wipe down your grill before storing your barbecue.  When you take it out again next spring, give it a deep cleaning by applying heat from an open flame for about 10 minutes.  You should then be able to scrub the crust off without too much effort.

This suggestion is courtesy of Lifehacker.