Category: Home Management

Holiday Activity Guide

by Erin Nadel, Sarah Davis and Kyle Perkins

December 12, 2025

This holiday season, you and your family are going to be spending a lot of time together. Instead of letting your children stay glued to a screen, let me introduce you to 4-H Activity guides. 4-H Activity Guides are guides through the Clover ... READ MORE

Category: 4-H & Youth, Camp, Clubs & Volunteers, Curriculum, Home Management, Relationships & Family, UF/IFAS Extension, UF/IFAS Research, UF/IFAS Teaching, Work & Life
Tags: 4H, 4h_artsandcraft, Pgm_4H, Sustainability, UF/IFAS Extension

Avoid Thanksgiving FOG!

by Valeria Yon
November 25, 2025

The same delicious fats, oils, and grease that make Thanksgiving dishes so rich and flavorful also pose a hidden threat to your home's plumbing and the community's sewer lines. When washed down the drain, these seemingly harmless substances—found ... READ MORE

Category: Home Management, UF/IFAS Extension, Water
Tags: Fats, Fog, Fogs, Grease, Oils, Sewer

Don’t be Afraid of the Dark! – Benefits of Dark Skies

by Evelyn Spencer, Zahir Ringgold Cordes and Jackie Lebouitz

October 28, 2025

Have you ever gone outside at night and wished you could see more stars? In the United States, 99% of the public cannot experience a natural night sky because of light pollution (Dark Sky, 2016). Light pollution is caused by inefficient ... READ MORE

Category: Home Management, Money Matters, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife, Work & Life
Tags: Pgm_Sustain, UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County

Don’t Be Crummy: Prevent Pest Infestations (Get a FREE Crumb Cleaner!)

by Jackie Lebouitz
September 19, 2025

Ants afoot in your kitchen? Perhaps a cockroach or two crawling across your garage? Or...egad, a rat rifling around your pantry? Well, while these experiences may happen to the best of us on occasion, they are certainly less than welcome. The ... READ MORE

Category: Home Landscapes, Home Management, Invasive Species, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
Tags: Clean, Home, House, Integrated Pest Management, IPM, Pests, Pgm_Chemicals

Training for Impact: 2025’s Energy Upgrade Program Evolves

by Casey McCabe
August 28, 2025

A Short History of the Energy Upgrade Program The Energy Upgrade program was established in 2012 to educate homeowners in Sarasota County on energy and water efficiency. In 2016, based on community research, the program expanded to include ... READ MORE

Category: Community Volunteers, Home Management, Money Matters, Professional Development
Tags: Assistance, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Learn, Pgm_Sustain, Professional Development, Sustainability, Training

Save Money By Organizing Your Pantry

by Maria Portelos-Rometo
April 29, 2025

Want to save money on your grocery bill? Well, saving money on your grocery bill actually starts with your pantry and refrigerator. Knowing what foods and ingredients are already in your pantry and knowing what is about to expire means that ... READ MORE

Category: Food Safety, Health & Nutrition, Home Management, Money Matters, Work & Life
Tags: Food, Nutrition, Pantry, Pgm_FCS, Storage

Mold Management in the Home

by Jackie Lebouitz and Devin Beede

October 30, 2024

Mold Detection Molds are a type of fungi that are nearly invisible to the naked eye...until that is, they begin to "fruit." While this "fruit" is about as far from an apple as you can get, it does serve the same purpose in helping the fungus ... READ MORE

Category: Disaster Preparation, Home Management, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Work & Life
Tags: Black Mold, Concern, Danger, Flooding, Growth, Health, Indoor Air Quality, Intrusion, Leaks, Mold, Pgm_Chemicals, Pgm_Sustain, Storm, Water

The Spooky Bug Brigade: Whip Scorpions

by Jackie Lebouitz
October 17, 2024

As our community continues to recover from recent storms, find helpful resources and information at tiny.cc/ufsaraext_disasterprep, tiny.cc/saraco_disasterprep, and scgov.net/government/emergency-services/storm. This blog is part of ... READ MORE