new Samsung family hub refrigerator

      Lately I have realized that appliances have become more than just their original purpose. Appliances that we use on a daily basis are becoming more innovated every second of everyday. One of the new appliances by Samsung that I find most interesting is their new family hub refrigerator. I am on the fence of how I feel about this new appliance, if I think it is great or to over the top. So far I’m mainly leaning towards it being a great new appliance and here's why.

      The new family hub refrigerator is like many of the newest refrigerators out there, with plenty of storage space, customized freezer down below that can be set to any temperature needed, great stainless steel, and of course a water and ice dispenser on the outside. However what making the family hub refrigerator much more innovative is that it has a touch screen on the exterior of the fridge. We all knew this was coming where we would have touch screen on our fridge and now it is finally here. Many other companies have tried similar things with iPod and iPad holder on the outside of the fridge, or of course many refrigerators already had the small touch screen above the water and ice dispenser. What makes this one different is that is it always attached to the fridge and does much more interaction with you and the fridge than an iPad or the water dispenser touch screen ever did. For one the screen display combines most things you have on your kitchen counter, or on the fridge. Such as a notepad, calendar, clock, weather, and the temperature of inside the fridge. There are so many useful things you can use the touch screen for such as order groceries online, play music, and it can help you plan meals. Furthermore the screen interact with what’s inside the fridge because you can use the screen to organize your inventory inside the fridge without even opening the door and keep track of how many days everything in the fridge has tell it expires.

     This refrigerator seems like the best thing you could have in your kitchen but is it too much? Many people could argue that we are becoming too reliant on technology and I think that is a really good point. If one day the power goes out, most people freak out because they can’t use all the appliances they use on a daily basis, but what they don't realize is that at one point, probably in their life they survived way longer than a couple hours without that technology, and internet. People already spend like 10 minutes standing in front of the fridge with the door open looking for something to eat. Now I can picture people spending 15 minutes in front of their fridge messing with the touching screen. Yes I do think this refrigerator could be one awesome appliance to have in a home, but is it truly necessary? I survive just fine with my regular fridge, a regular clock on the window, a paper calendar, and sticky notes for notes and grocery lists. What ever happened to refrigerators covered in kid’s art, family pictures, and the millions of magnets that you may not even remember where you got them from. innovation is great, but everyone can have the same exact refrigerator, but those finger paintings and school pictures are what make it personal.

kitchen hacks

Everyone likes short cuts and cheats in life that can make your life easier so here is a list of hacks I have learned from experience in the kitchen that you may or may not already know.

Save peelings from lemon and oranges to use after you do dishes. Put them down the sink's garbage disposal and it will eliminate the smell from the dirty dishes and food.

To keep your garbage from becoming too smelly use a smaller trash can. The garbage will fill up faster and it may be a pain to take it out more often but it keeps your trash from sitting there too long and becoming too smelly.

What stinks up your garbage the most is food that becomes rotten before garbage day. a tip to keep this from happening is to take your egg shells, any kind of food peeling, any food that isn’t cooked or half eaten and stick in a plastic container you don't care about and can be reused and stick it in the fridge. I use an empty, and cleaned out big square plastic ice cream container. Keep it in the freezer and keep added scraps of food as the week goes on. On garbage day dump it out into the yard waste bin. It keeps your garbage from smelling and helps the environment because the food is able to decompose and be reused in things such as fertilizer.

Is it dry in the house? Don't have a good enough humidifier? Put a coffee or tea pot on the stove full of water with the lid off and heat to add humidity in the house.

Common fact that you may or may not know is that hanging your bananas keep them ripe longer. Banana trees can be found at many stores around you.

Reusing containers is a way to help the environment and save you money. If you ever buy those small butter containers they make great storage for when you have a small amount of food left over and normal Tupperware containers are way too big for the amount of food you want to save.

We tend to think that appliances and kitchen utensils can only be used for what they were designed for, that is called function fixation. To overcome it you have to think of the other possibilities for an object's use. Such as a waffle maker can be used to cook more than just waffles. It can be a fast way to cook, hash browns, bacon, waffle shaped cinnamon rolls. Also a potato masher can be used to chop up avocados and other soft foods, and an apple slicer can slice potatoes and other foods. Don’t go out and buy 3 different types of tools when one can do all 3 jobs. 

This next tip I thought everyone knew until the other day when my friend was having trouble scooping out the ice cream and she was amazed by how i solved the problem. So for anyone who doesn't already know, all you need to do is rinse your spoon under hot water and then it can scoop up the ice cream much easier.

mason jar candle

Candles are a great decoration for your home because they can be both a beautiful decoration, and a useful thing to have around for light and to add a fragrant throughout your home. everyone has those ugly candles that do not look the best out for everyone to see so they hide then in their cupboard for years, I know some people are really bothered when the candles do not match. a way to hid an ugly candle and make your candles match is to make a decorative candle holder. A really easy and fun craft you can do if a mason jar with clear pebbles glued on around it. It is as easy as two steps, glue and light. The effect that the candle makes is also very mesmerizing, the pebbles reflect the candle's light and makes it looks as if the lights are dancing all around the table surface when the candle's lights flickers.

What you will need:

one mason jar

hot glue gun

a lot of colored but slightly see through glass pebbles.

small candle that can fit in a mason jar. It’s easiest if the candle already has its own glass holder.

Step one: use hot glue gun to attach pebbles to mason jar.

tip- using different colored pebbles can add a cool effect and if you use different colored pebbles you can created patterns when gluing them on.

tip- be careful of hot glue but also go quick because the hot glue will dry fast when applied

tip- test out how the pebble looks on the mason jar before you glue is on because once it is on, there is no going back. if you mess us and didn't calculate correctly and end up with a space that you cannot fit a marble in, it is possible to break a marble and make it fit. it may not be the best way to do so but you can barely tell and you can always just turn that side so no one sees it. i did exactly that and unless you look closely is just blends in with the rest.

Step two: place candle inside mason jar and you are done!! It is as easy as two steps!

tip- the brighter the candle is the more of a reflection of light you will get from the pebbles.

tip- the lower the candle is the more of the pebbles it is able to reflect off of.