Help us celebrate our new website by taking our 1-minute video tour at diamondcertified.info. To show our appreciation, we’ll mail your family a FREE 2018 Diamond Certified Home Service Calendar and donate in your name to your local fire district. But don’t delay—we have a limited supply of calendars and they’re going fast.

Here’s some of what you’ll find inside the 2018 Diamond Certified Home Service Calendar:

• Monthly home, health and auto checklists that feature important tasks you need to take care of throughout the year
• Helpful tips and insider knowledge from Diamond Certified Expert Contributors
• Important days for Bay Area consumers to remember,

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It’s no wonder the custom of adopting annual resolutions coincides with the year’s beginning rather than its middle or end. A new year means a fresh start—a milestone that signals an opportunity for positive change. Like a blank canvas to a painter, the New Year invites us to entertain new possibilities, inspires us to innovate upon the past and fills us with “momentum of purpose.”

While this sense of positive propulsion is often directed toward personal development, it can also be useful for accomplishing tangible goals, which is why the New Year is an ideal time to review and renew your to-do list. Whether you need to catch up on overdue maintenance, have a project you’ve been putting off or simply want to start off on the right foot, Read more

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, close to 25 percent of all employed Americans work from home at least some of the time. This is hardly surprising given increasingly longer commutes and the growth of the gig economy. If you’re part of this trend of telecommuters, you probably already know that working from home has its upsides and downsides. The key to staying on task while surrounded by the distractions of home is to create a home office where you can be your most productive. Let’s go through the steps.

Step 1: Establish Your Work Station

If you’re lucky enough to have a dedicated room for a home office, Read more

Watch this video to compare your Fall home maintenance “to do” list with Chris Bjorklund’s. Read more

If you’re like most men, you have a lot on your plate. In fact, between your family, your job and the minutiae of daily life, you may feel at times like there’s little room for anything else. However, in order to be your best at caring for these crucial responsibilities, you also need to take care of yourself. How? By feeding your inner child—you know, the part of you that has passionate interests, craves self-expression and just needs to hang loose once in a while.

Most men need a little space to reconnect with the things that excite and inspire them. While this space we’re referring to may be figurative, a great way to be proactive about inhabiting it is by creating a literal space, Read more

Why does it seem that every time you sit down, you get interrupted? The phone rings, the kids start fighting, your spouse can’t find the remote…inside our own homes, we can feel like we’re constantly forced to multitask or put someone else’s needs before our own. But what if there was a place where everything was different: a room of your own, made just the way you like it? Imagine a place where you could enjoy a respite from the distractions of daily life or pursue a hobby that brings you joy. And wouldn’t it be perfect if this room was just a few steps from your back door? If this sounds like a tempting proposition, Read more

As I mentioned in last month’s newsletter, I’ve been busy having three bedrooms and a bathroom painted, which forced me to clean out my closets. The project was time-consuming, but I’m happy to say I didn’t spend a lot of money. It made our home more aesthetically pleasing and I’m looking forward to having houseguests again.

That got me thinking about other little things my husband and I could do to spruce things up that wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. Read more