August 1979

Smart strategies for selling your house

Like most families planning a move, you probably want to sell your present home quickly. You may need the cash as a down payment for your next home. Or maybe you want to expedite the sale so you can focus your energies on the new home rather than hassling with the old one.

Could a community college help you?

Whether you're just out of high school, well past retirement, or somewhere in between, a community college could be the answer to your educational needs. These two-year, publicly funded institutions offer flexible hours, convenient locations, and a wide choice of courses that make it easy to accommodate busy schedules and family demands.

Idea NOTEBOOK

One of the newest and most interesting decorating ideas today is the coordinated-- or "total environment" --bedroom. Until recently, beds with padded headboards, upholstered bases, and correlated pillows, tables, and chairs were strictly custom installations.

How to order material from the magazine

PASSIVE SOLAR HOUSING

The next time you see a house being built "the-way-we've-always-done-it," you'll be watching a multi-thousand-dollar product go obsolete before it's even finished. Why obsolete? Because the house heats and cools its inhabitants the same costly way we've accepted for decades. There's a better system-- one that frees its owners from a legacy of runaway utility bills. It's called passive solar housing, and it consumes a lot less energy than today's dinosaurs-- at a building cost that challenges that of custom homes built the "conventional" way.

PASSIVE SOLAR HOUSING: IN CODY, IT WORKS WYOMING

Although cold weather seems far off right now, none of us can forget last winter's record low temperatures and heavy snow-- or the whopping heat bills. And utility costs this summer haven't been much better, with air conditioning bills soaring sky-high.

Food storage tips

OFFBEAT ADVENTURE VACATIONS

If going along with the crowd isn't your vacation style, or if you'd simply like to try something different, why not make your family's next outing an offbeat adventure? We've lined up a practically irresistible assortment of possibilities-- on the land, at sea, and

Gas buying tips for travelers

NEW ADVENTURES IN NEEDLEPOINT

As you will see on the following pages, needlepoint is a lively art. And when you set out to create something new and different with this versatile stitchery technique, you're bound to have a wonderful time and get great results, just as we did. While we were cultivating some fresh new stitchery ideas, look what cropped up-- a bold victory garden brimming with great designs. This handsome wall hanging, worked with one basic stitch in wool yarn on number 10-count canvas, is just one of the terrific projects in our needlepoint adventure.

A GUIDE TO COLORFUL CRAB APPLES

Ornamental crab apples are great little landscapers. They can soften a harsh corner, screen an unpleasant view, frame a doorway, line a drive, attract birds, or simply serve as individual beauty spots to enhance a lawn or outdoor living area.

ROOM ARRANGEMENTS

Shopping for giveaway pets

Though prices for most things keep going up, you can still get a good pet without spending a bundle. Plenty of dogs and cats are "up for grabs" all the time. You just have to know where to look and how to check out the prospects when you find them.

Good News

Better Homes Shopping editor's choice

Discover the ease and pleasure of shopping- by mail. Order from the convenience of your own home with complete confidence. If not delighted, each company will happily refund your money.

The Man Next Door

Want ad noted in our neighborhood newsletter: "The Hackberry family orchestra is looking outside the family for a non-argumentative flute player. Interested parties may apply to Jim Hackberry, 35 Lincoln Way."