About HomeGlowHacks

HomeGlowHacks is a small, independent publication about the four things that make a house feel like home: decor, cleaning, gardening, and good food. Every article you’ll read here is written by one of our four expert contributors — real people testing real ideas in their own homes.

We’re based in the United States and publish exclusively in English. Our team lives in the homes we write about, tests the hacks we recommend, and grows the plants we talk about. If a tip appears on HomeGlowHacks, somebody on our team has actually tried it.

Meet the HomeGlowHacks Team

Each of our four contributors writes about one topic, and writes about it from lived experience. Click any profile to see that author’s published articles.

Jessica Hayes

Home Decor Writer · Home Decor

Based in Charleston, South Carolina

Jessica Hayes fell in love with home decor the first time she painted a rental apartment’s beige walls a moody charcoal — and actually got her deposit back. That was 2014, and she’s been experimenting ever since.

Based in Charleston, South Carolina, Jessica has styled more than a dozen of her own homes and rentals over the past decade, from a 480-square-foot studio in Brooklyn to her current 1920s bungalow with original heart-pine floors. She’s especially passionate about budget-friendly makeovers, north-facing rooms (her living room is one), and the kind of small styling tweaks that make a space feel finished without a full renovation.

Her guides focus on what actually works in real homes: mixing patterns without it looking chaotic, making dark rooms feel brighter, and layering vintage finds with modern pieces. If a tip ends up on HomeGlowHacks, she’s tested it in her own house first.

Follow Jessica on Pinterest for daily home decor inspiration and room makeover ideas.

Emily Carter

Cleaning Writer · Cleaning Hacks

Based in Portland, Oregon

Emily Carter’s cleaning obsession started out of necessity. In 2019, she took over cleaning turnovers for a portfolio of short-term rentals in Portland, Oregon — sometimes 30 homes a month. Two years into it, she knew which products actually worked, which were marketing hype, and exactly how long it takes to get hard-water stains off a glass shower door (spoiler: less than you think, if you know the trick).

These days, Emily writes about cleaning from her own 1940s craftsman house, where she’s put her favorite routines to the test in a home with two kids, a shedding golden retriever, and the kind of PNW mildew that shows up the second you stop paying attention.

She’s especially into natural cleaners — white vinegar, baking soda, castile soap — not because they’re trendy, but because they work and don’t leave her kids sneezing. You’ll also find a healthy respect for Dawn dish soap, steam cleaners, and the 15-minute Sunday reset on her pages.

Follow Emily on Pinterest for quick cleaning hacks, natural cleaning recipes, and laundry tips.

Laura Bennett

Gardening Writer · Gardening

Based in Asheville, North Carolina (USDA Zone 7a)

Laura Bennett killed her first tomato plant in 2017. By 2019 she had a small raised-bed garden keeping her family in vegetables from May through October. Today, her Asheville, North Carolina backyard (USDA Zone 7a) is home to 14 raised beds, a small cut-flower patch full of dahlias and zinnias, three fruit trees, and a compost system that finally works.

Laura writes for gardeners who want real answers to real questions — when to start tomatoes in Zone 7, why your dahlia tubers rotted over winter, whether you actually need to rotate crops in a small raised bed. She’s learned most of it the slow way, by making the mistake herself, and her guides are built on what worked in her own garden, not generic gardening-book advice.

She’s especially into cut flowers (dahlias are her favorite), container gardening for small spaces, and no-dig methods. If a technique survives a North Carolina summer and a wet spring in her own beds, it makes it onto HomeGlowHacks.

Follow Laura on Pinterest for seasonal planting guides, beginner gardening tips, and cut-flower inspiration.

Sarah Mitchell

Recipe Writer · Easy Recipes

Based in Austin, Texas

Sarah Mitchell started cooking seriously when her oldest was born in 2015 and she realized no one else was going to figure out dinner. A decade and three kids later, she’s developed hundreds of recipes in her Austin, Texas kitchen — all tested on a critical audience of a picky eight-year-old, a skeptical eleven-year-old, and a teenager who claims not to like vegetables but will eat a whole tray of roasted broccoli if no one mentions it.

Her recipes are built around a simple filter: can a tired parent make this on a Tuesday? That means short ingredient lists, everyday pantry staples, and clear instructions that don’t assume you went to culinary school. She’s especially into sheet-pan dinners, Instant Pot shortcuts, 30-minute meals, and the kind of BBQ recipes that work equally well on a backyard grill in Texas or an apartment stovetop.

Every recipe on HomeGlowHacks has been cooked in Sarah’s own kitchen — usually more than once — and the notes that come with them are the things she wishes recipe writers had told her the first time around.

Follow Sarah on Pinterest for easy weeknight dinners, BBQ ideas, and family-friendly recipes.

How We Write

Tested first. Our writers try the method, recipe, or product in their own homes before writing about it. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t get published.
Plainly written. No padding, no filler, no pretending a 10-minute job takes an afternoon. If a task is simple, we say so.
Updated when things change. Seasons shift, products get discontinued, techniques improve. We go back and update older articles when they need it.
Honest about affiliate links. When we link to a product we like, we may earn a small commission at no cost to you. We only recommend products our writers actually use. See our Affiliate Disclosure for details.

Contact Us

Questions, corrections, partnership inquiries, or just want to say hi? We read every message. Visit our Contact page or email us at contact@homeglowhacks.com.