At Home With Valerie

(BPT) - You've probably smelled it: Clothes from yesterday's workout, your kids' ball games, the contents of your spouse's gym bag. Few things are tougher to tackle than the stink from these kinds of clothes. Why is that? According to the Cleveland Clinic, when bacteria that naturally occurs on your skin comes in contact with sweat, that mix can cause unpleasant odors. And that odor-causing bacteria grows in damp, warm conditions - so the longer the clothes sit at the bottom of a hamper or inside a duffel bag, the worse the smell gets. Here are some expert tips to get even your family's stinkiest loads smelling fresh. 1. Wash the stinkiest clothes as soon as you can. The longer that odor-causing bacteria sits in the clothing, the more time it will have to grow - and smell even worse. 2. Give them some air. Especially if you can't wash workout clothes or athletic gear right away, air the items out in your laundry room instead of leaving stinky items in a damp, wa...

(BPT) - While home maintenance may seem pricey, being proactive about home upkeep can save more money by preventing expensive repair or replacement costs in the future - not to mention safeguarding against damage to your home. The hard part is knowing how often and what type of maintenance to do, and where to start. According to State Farm, fall is the perfect time to take care of many jobs, whether by yourself or by hiring professionals. Here are some top maintenance tasks to help protect the largest investment you have - your home. 1. Check your smoke detectors  According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 96% of homes are now installed with smoke detectors. However, nearly 20% of them have non-working smoke alarms. The NIST estimates that if every home had working smoke alarms, deaths from U.S. residential fires could drop 36%. Why aren't these smoke detectors working? Primarily missing or dead batteries. Smoke detector batteries need to be replaced at...