While a budget may seem restrictive and burdensome, in reality, it gives you control of your life and allows you to make proactive choices about your money. Bringing down your debt and living within your means enables you to feel good about your life again.
Overwhelmed about where to begin? Here’s a five-step plan from Lending Club to put you on the path to taking control of your finances. Even if you already have a budget in place, it’s a good idea to re-evaluate using these guidelines.
Getting your home into prime showing shape is essential to helping it sell in the shortest amount of time for the best possible price. But while a professional home stager can work wonders, it just might not be in your budget. Don’t despair - here are some great ways to inexpensively stage your home all on your own:
Get rid of the excess. The first thing every home stager will do is get rid of the clutter. And that is something anyone can do on your own without spending a dime. Get some boxes an...
We’ve all seen news reports about fly-by-night contractors who took thousands of dollars for home improvement projects and disappeared without completing the work. And you might have friends or neighbors who thought they had hired a competent contractor, but the company ended up doing a shoddy job or going way over budget.
These types of horror stories understandably make some homeowners nervous when it comes time to hire someone to remodel their bathrooms or build an addition. Rest assured tha...
Local governments and school districts raise a large portion of the money that goes toward paying for education, emergency services, transportation and other public goods through property taxes. The amount that individual homeowners pay is determined by the assessed property value and the mill rate. Each of these is calculated through a complex process.
How Property Values Are AssessedAn assessor will determine the value of your home, which can change over time due to depreciation, improvements...
Hallways are often underutilized spaces in the home. Since most of us simply use hallways as pathways to other rooms, we fail to treat them as rooms themselves. While it wouldn’t make sense to set up a couch and TV in a hallway, you have the potential to optimize this valuable space.
Mirrors
If you’re aiming to make your space feel bigger and more open, a large mirror is a wonderful asset to your hallway. Not to mention, when you’re getting ready to leave your home, you typically have to pas...
When guests pull up to your house, you want them to think, “wow!”. Adding pep to your porch will get them to say just that! A little curb appeal can have a positive impact on the overall impression of your home.
Pick a theme
First thing, you should choose a theme for your porch. Current trends include farmhouse and minimalistic. This theme could match the interior of your house to give it a nice cohesive flow from outside to inside. Choosing a theme will narrow your focus for furniture...
Sometimes it seems there’s always something around the house that needs fixing – and the longer you put off doing the fixing, the more the glitches seem to multiply.
Real Simple Magazine suggests quick fixes to help keep your living space looking tip-top without tearing chunks out of your weekend:Squeaky wood floor. The fix isn’t permanent, but for temporary relief from that annoying squeak, sprinkle a little talcum powder over the noisy area, then sweep it into the cracks between floorboards a...
