Home Improvement 101: Tips on How to Increase Property Value

Purchasing a home is undoubtedly a significant achievement. However, it's also a significant financial investment for your future. While making regular payments to your mortgage will allow you to build home equity over time, certain changes and upgrades can make the property more desirable in the real estate market and lead to greater returns if or when the time comes to sell. With that said, here are some tips on increasing the value of your property.

1. Give your home kerb appeal

There’s a reason why many real estate professionals stress the importance of kerb appeal. After all, first impressions can have a considerable impact on the sale of a home. They say that you should never judge a book by its cover, but many prospective buyers will base their decision on how the house looks. Simple tasks like keeping your yard tidy with tools like a battery leaf blower can help maintain a clean and welcoming appearance without much effort. 

By investing in some affordable landscaping as well as other modest enhancements on your exterior, you’ll be able to elevate its value to both aspiring homeowners and appraisers alike.

2. Update your bathroom and kitchen areas

Few spaces can influence buyers' decision to purchase a home more than the bathrooms and kitchen. Unfortunately, they're also the areas that can quickly become dated, like old appliances, faded finishes, or antiquated decor. For this reason, you must make these areas the first places to upgrade. For example, you can add an air of luxury to your home with the addition of a whirlpool bath in one of your bathrooms. A modern wall oven or microwave can also give you a good talking point to stick as close as possible to your asking price. 

3. Don’t forget about energy-efficiency 

Most home buyers tend to emphasize eco-friendly features, not only to kerb their carbon footprint on the environment, but also to save themselves money in their utilities. So, if you're looking to upgrade any existing equipment in your house, it's usually a good idea to invest in equipment that is more energy-efficient. Doing so will make the property desirable and reel in more buyers than you otherwise would have.

4. Create the illusion of space 

No one can deny that spacious homes are generally more expensive than smaller ones. However, just because it isn’t always possible to increase the square footage of your house, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t make it look bigger than it is. By letting more natural light into your home, adding mirrors in key areas, and taking down a wall or two in specific locations, you can create the illusion of space and make your home look and feel more inviting to potential buyers.

Bottom line

There are many things that homeowners cannot control regarding the value of their properties, from the demographics to government policies. But that's not to say that it's impossible to improve its worth in the market. And with these tips, you'll be able to enhance its value and give yourself better returns than you would have gotten as a result.

Parenting Guide: How to Deal with Notorious Kids Smartly

 

"Your kids require you most of all to love them for who they are, not to spend your whole time trying to correct them."

• Bill Ayers 

For once, you may think of agreeing with this thought, but what if you notice your naughty one playing mischievous plays with you? Well, as a parent to a naughty child, your tolerance level will be tested several times a day. When kids behave impossible, kids scream out their lungs just to get their favorite toy in their kitty. At such times, you may feel the urge to lose your temper and scold your child. 

But wait, such incidents can make things worse and impossible for you to handle further. So, what is the ultimate solution then? Well, it seems like you need to look through some interesting options to deal with your kids' mischievous behavior. 

Let's not wait anymore and explore how to manage a naughty child at home. 

#1- Manage the overwhelming emotions - There are times when your naughty child may feel the urge to express those powerful emotions, including - frustration, fear, and sudden sadness. Rather than feeling tired and irritated about this behavior, prefer to calm down and support your baby. This indicates understanding their weird mood swings, which is common to witness during childhood. 

#2 - Find ways to burn off their energy - Kids have an extensive amount of energy that needs to be burned off wisely. Otherwise, it may lead to many issues for you and your family. When their energy is not utilized properly, they may end up indulging themselves in a notorious activity. Rather than this, keep them occupied in hardcore physical activities like - running, cycling, playing outside, and much more. In no time, your child will start feeling exhausted, which will help him/her fall asleep quickly.

#3 - Find alternatives to everything - You need to be smart enough to deal with their trouble-making plays. For instance - if you are fed up buying new cosmetics and lipsticks that are often ruined by your little one, then go for sturdy child-resistant packaging bags that secure everything stored in it. Other examples can be - covering sharp objects in towels like - knives, blades, gardening equipment, etc., which often become a toy for naughty kids. 

#4 - Cook favorite meals - Making your kids eat nourishing meals is one of the daunting tasks almost every mother goes through. Here, the solution is to blend superfoods and nutrient value containing vegetables or fruits in their favorite meals. For instance - prepare multiple fruits-enriched smoothies for breakfast, mix and blend different vegetables in slurry or soups. This is the best way to ensure the intake of all grains and nutrients required for the child's development. 

The bottom line is that - 

Your child's behavior is the ultimate result of your behavior at home. Therefore, make sure you behave ideally to give your child enough good habits to learn and follow. Having restrictions on the child is a good idea to control wrong behavior but ensure it does not turn out to be negative on his/her behavior. 

If You Must Clean out Your House in The Winter, Read This

 

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Decluttering in winter sounds like the craziest idea anyone could have. However, it actually is the best time of the year after fall. For some reason, there’s a huge hype about spring cleaning. You don’t have to clean out your house in spring because it’s a traditional time to do so. Moreover, junk removal services like Jiffy Junk are often completely booked in spring. If you did your decluttering in spring, you’ll likely end up on a waiting list. Take advantage of the cold season and be already all set and done when spring comes around.

Perfect Time To Organize Seasonal Items

Now that summer is over all of your garden furniture is probably back in the garage or the basement. But those aren’t the only items in your home you’re only using on a seasonal basis. Take your wardrobe, for example. Not only do we usually not wear 80 % of the clothes we have. Almost half of our clothes are seasonal items. No one wears a thick jumper in summer. As you’re organizing your home bit by bit, it’s the perfect opportunity to arrange seasonal items. Anything you find of no further use for you might be just the right gift for someone else. You could sell or donate unwanted items. It’s the season of giving after all and you could make a couple of poorer people happy. 

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Create a Stress-Free Zone

Especially during the winter season, people are more likely to be stressed out. On the one hand, there’s all the planning for the holidays. On the other hand, the darker season of the year can bring about low moods. As a matter of fact, clutter can contribute to depression and other stress-related mood swings.

The more you have, the likelier you may experience symptoms of stress. It even affects your sleep to have lots of clutter accumulated. Researchers found that if you lots of clutter piles, your brain can’t switch off during the night. Piles of clutter give you a sensation of an unfinished To-Do-List.

You can actively keep stress at bay as soon you take care of all the clutter in your home. Do a thorough junk removal to make you feel more relaxed in winter.

Everyone Can Help

Given the fact that life happens mainly indoors in winter, the whole family can help with the decluttering process. Surely, your children will run outside into the garden and play in the snow, but they are unlikely to spend the entire day outside. Neither is there a lot of BBQs or pool parties happening. 

Everyone automatically has more time. The more you are to tackle junk removal from your entire home, the sooner you’re done. It’s best if every family member tackles his own area. You won’t end up with someone crying because you did away with your child’s sentimental value. Turn the process into a contest. Whoever is done first with his area gets to decide what’s for dinner or ice cream. 

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How to Best Clean Out Your House in The Winter

Now all of that being said, you’ll only need a plan to start with junk removal. You don’t build a house without a blueprint. Each project requires organization.

1. Set yourself a goal

If you started junk removal of your home but had no time frame, you may never finish it. Therefore start with setting yourself a goal until when you’d prefer to be done with it. As a rule of thumb, it’s always best to plan as long ahead as possible. The more you have to go through, the more time you will require. It might not be a good idea to decide to clean out your home a week before Christmas. Considering all the holiday preparations you’d end up adding more stress to your plate. 

2. Do one room after another

You can’t do junk removal in all rooms at once. Tackle one room after another and split those rooms up into four parts. It provides you with manageable chunks and won’t overwhelm you. Take care of smaller rooms or those where you know you don’t have much to go through first. Leave larger rooms with lots of stuff for a day when you’ve got more time. Don’t do those in a week you know you’ll be very busy. 

3. Take out the garbage first

The easiest approach to junk removal from each room is to take out the obvious garbage first. Take a bin bag and stuff it with any garbage you find on the spot. Sweet wrappers, empty bags of chips, old papers, and notes can go without being looked at. Once the superficial garbage is out of the way, you’ve got more space to organize each area. If this is a much bigger job than you anticipated, you can look towards a company that offers skip bin hire sydney, or skip bin hire near you, so you have some assistance with excess waste! 

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4. Take three boxes

Next, you best take three boxes when you tackle each area of a room. One box is for things to keep, one for selling or donating, and the latter for junk to toss. Don’t forget to also sort seasonal items in this method. You may want to keep winter clothes and seasonal decorations. But chances are, you’ve already not used some of those items last year. If you haven’t used it last year you’re unlikely to use it again. Only keep clothes and decorations you truly love. Throw anything else out. Also, throw out anything you’ve got doubles of. No one needs several baking tins with the same mold. Don’t forget to also check rags and furniture.

And Finally, Arrange The Junk Removal

At best you’d arrange a garage sale with items you could sell, but winter is probably not the best season for garage sales. You could try to sell unwanted items online though. Since the winter weather can make 

it’s hard to bring donations to a charity, you might want to rely on a junk removal service. You’ll need to schedule a collection for your unwanted items anyway. Most junk removal services have partnered with charities. They will bring any items from a collection that are still in good shape directly to a charity. Two birds, one stone, and the most convenient way to perform a junk removal. 

Delicious Salad Greens You Can Cut and Grow Again and Again

 Cut and Grow Again and Again

Lettuce and other types of salad greens are not only super nutritious, but they are also easy to grow and can be cut, and eaten, with regrowth occurring, several times in one season. These salad greens are the magic beanstalk of the garden, growing again and again, to supply your family with delicious nutrition throughout the growing season.

Just as these greens are providing you and your family with sumptuous salads all season long, the proper steps should be taken to protect them, so that they can work their magic in peace. A deer fence is durable, reliable, and effective at keeping out woodland creatures like rabbits, raccoons, deer, skunks, and other hungry critters. With deer fencing placed around the perimeter of your garden, you won’t have to worry about walking outside only to find mangled crops, and all of your hard work gone down the drain.

Preparing Soil for Your Salad Green Garden

If you choose to use containers, be certain that the pots and potting mix are food safe. You will notice that many of the potting soils are not safe to grow food, so take the time to research and read the labels.

If you are planting in the ground, add mature compost to the garden soil at least twice a year, or more depending on the soil type, acidity, and drainage. Remember, it’s vital that the soil preserve moisture, and doesn’t become too moist or too dry; or else the delicious salad greens will not grow properly!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

If you give your garden the attention it needs, and keep a careful eye on the quality and moisture content of the soil your seeds are growing in, as well as having your garden properly protected; you should see a bounty of delicious results. Depending on the time of year, seeds will take 3-4 weeks if you are planting in warmer months, and a few weeks longer if the atmosphere is still cool. 

Check the seedlings at least once a day and be sure that the soil is damp and not bone dry. Sprinkle water over the seeds and seedlings, when necessary, never flood recently sown seeds.

Best Seeds to Grow 

You can choose to purchase a packet of different types of seeds like Plant Leaf Blend Lettuce Seeds or Mesclun Mix. This salad garden of seeds will yield a bountiful harvest of all types of leafy lettuces to choose from, however, it may be a bit tricky to know which one is which.

Grouping types of seeds together will allow you to keep track of and identify the various greens you have planted, as each will be easily distinguishable from the other.

• Kohl Rabi

• Mache

• Daikon

• Golden Yellow Chinese Cabbage

• Cress

• Endive

• Giant Red Mustard

• Arugula

• Spigarello

• Spinach

• Mibuna

• Oriental Mustard

• Chervil

• Beets

• Tatsoi

• Loose leaf lettuce

• Upland Cress

Harvesting Your Greens

• As long as the plant is not bolting, producing flowers and seeds, it is ready to be harvested. If flowers are budding, you’ll end up with bitter tasting salad leaves.

• The leaves should be 3-4  inches tall before your first harvest.

• Don’t cut your greens too far ahead of time, as they will wilt. Cut them immediately before eating to bring out the absolute best flavor. 

• Don’t cut any more than you’ll need for what you want  to consume right now. Leave the rest for tomorrow’s lunch.

• Be sure to use clean scissors, kitchen scissors are preferable as they are already used for consumables and are consistently cleaned.

• Cut and eat only the tops of the leaves, you’ll want to leave at least an inch between the soil and the cut. 

• Maximize the experience by smelling and tasting the leaves as you cut them. You’ll familiarize yourself with each of them and establish favorites.

Keep Sowing Seeds

Every 2-3 weeks, you can sow more seeds to supplement the garden. Feel free to plant new seeds alongside older plants. As you exhaust one planting, you’ll have more to look forward to in various stages of development. Remember, depending on the warmth and humidity of the air, it will likely take a few weeks for new greens to appear. Be patient, that’s why you are working through your first planting!

Keeping the Soil Healthy

You’ll notice that once you’ve harvested several plantings, the greens will start to get tough and/or start to bolt. This is the time to pull them from your garden and place them in a compost pile. 

Nurture the garden soil by adding compost to it several times a year, and rotate your crops to keep them and the soil they are growing in, healthy. 

Enjoy your delicious salads all season long!

Mom Life on the Run

When I was pregnant with my first child, I envisioned having a real life doll baby. I had this fun little notion about how perfect everything would be. You couldn't have burst my bubble if you tried. Some lessons, like babies being messy, are lessons that you have to live and learn. 

With my second baby, I was back at it with the ideas again. I had notions of matching outfits and coordinated activities and perfectly decorated bedrooms. HA! I sure am a funny lady. This post has been sponsored by Oxiclean. All opinions and experiences are my own.

Motherhood has had lots of interesting moments. From the sweet ones that make you tear up a little, to the ridiculous ones (hello, who wrote on the side of the house with permanent markers?!) to the ones that are just downright messy, like ice cream on a hot day. One thing I know for sure is that mess happens when you are a mom and there is only one thing you can do, jump in and clean it up. That's why I like to keep a OxiClean on the Go Stain Remover Pen on my person. These come in so handy for life with kids! If we are out to dinner, no dribble destroys the day. We can go anywhere and face anything with a oxiclean stain remover pen!

While these are small, they have so much power within. I have used them for so many stains. From ice cream to ketchup. I even used them to take dirty foot prints out of new shoes. Like I said, as a mom, I know messes will happen. And now I can roll with whatever happens while saving time and money.  You can pick up a 3 pack from retailers like Meijer, Walmart or Amazon starting at $7.