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Household

5 Annual Home Maintenance Tips To Save You Money

When you buy your first residence and become a proud homeowner, you no doubt have a lot of ideas whirling through your head about how you can fix the place up. But beyond the repairs needed to make your home livable and the upgrades that will ensure the height of functionality while allowing you to put your personal stamp on the space, you’ll find that there are myriad home maintenance tasks that you’ll have to perform annually or semi-annually in order to keep your home in ship shape. And some go well beyond the demands of simple spring cleaning. Although you can always hire service providers to take care of these tasks for you (and some of them may require professional attention), there are also many home maintenance activities you can learn to do on your own in order to save some money. Here are a few you’ll definitely want to put on your list.

Watch where water is going. You might think that inspecting the roof and cleaning the gutters is all you need to do in order to make sure that water doesn’t damage your home. And while this is a good start, the truth of the matter is that you also need to pay attention to water levels around your home if you want to make sure it won’t seep in. In some cases, the downspouts on your gutters could be improperly aligned, causing water to pool rather than flow away from your foundations. Or your property could be improperly graded, bringing water towards the house instead of away from it (you might be surprised how often this occurs). Drains could get blocked during heavy rain. But by keeping an eye on the conditions around the outside of your home you can quickly spot problems and address them in order to avoid water damage. If an unfortunate event, such as flooding in your basement, occurs, you could reach out to the experts at somewhere like Protegrity Restoration to help you get things back in order once again.

August 31, 2013

Household

5 Tips For Giving Your Bedroom A Budget Friendly Makeover

Being that most of us spend an average of 6-8 hours each night in our bedrooms, we can totally get why sometimes you might find yourself looking around and thinking, “I really want to give this room a makeover.” Then you look at your bank account and realize that although the desire is strong, the resources are pretty limited.

That doesn’t mean you have to totally go without “upgrading” the space, though. In fact, there are a few things that you can do to makeover your bedroom that are highly effective and also very budget friendly. Check these five recommendations out below:

Paint the walls. You can find a gallon of paint for well-under $20 and being that one gallon can give you about 350 square feet of coverage, in most cases, you only need one (two tops). So if your walls have been white ever since you can remember, why not go with a soft green, a light blue or even a shade of lavender? All of these colors are beautiful to look at, plus they can help to calm you as you drift off to sleep.

Get another comforter. Something that will immediately change the appearance of your bedroom is purchasing some new bedding. Although the cost of comforters can get to be pretty steep, you can find some at stores like Target and Kmart that are well-designed and also pretty durable for under $50.

Hang up some art. Have you noticed that your walls look a little bare? Understandably, you probably can’t afford a Picasso but that doesn’t mean that you can’t add some of your own kind of art. Whether it’s a print of your favorite drawing or painting, some pictures of your family members or friends that you had blown up to poster size and framed or even some stencil art that incorporates your favorite quote, this is another smart and cheap way to change the appearance of your room.

July 30, 2013

Household

Ways To Protect Your Home From A Fire

Home is where the heart is and you sure don’t want your home to go up in flames because you didn’t take the proper precautions to protect your home from a fire. Although it will cost you some time and money to make your home safe, it is well worth it. Think about all the expenses you would face if your house burned down, not to mention the potential dangers to yourself and your loved ones. Why not choose option one and make your home safe? Here are some ways you can do just that:

Install an Alarm System

A great way to protect your home in case of fire is to invest in a wireless fire alarm system. You can check out a variety of wireless alarm systems by checking out http://www.sdfirealarms.co.uk/fire-protection/radio-wireless-fire-alarms.html.

Buy Fire Extinguishers

You can buy small sized fire extinguishers that you can put in a few key places in your home including your kitchen, garage, and maybe in an upstairs room if you have two storeys. They are not very expensive and can be purchased at any major hardware store. Most of them also come with a mounting device to allow you to attach the fire extinguisher to a counter, etc. Make sure that everyone in your home knows where each one is located and be sure to show everyone how they work as well.

July 14, 2013

Household

5 Low Cost And High Impact Bathroom Updates

Bathrooms are spaces in your home that need to be not only attractively designed but also efficient and practical. Often we would like to make changes and style upgrades in our bathrooms, but our budgets cannot handle large, expensive upgrade projects. Here are 5 ways to save money while achieving the high-impact look you are looking for in your bathroom space.

A fresh coat of paint is the easiest way to jazz up your bathroom space. The beauty of bathrooms is that they are often small spaces so they are great areas in which you can try new ideas and experiment. Choose a refreshing color that suits the decor you desire in your bathroom. Also, consider painting cabinets or towel closets to give them a fresh, new face instead of having to replace them completely.

Changing out the fixtures and hardware in your bathroom can also bring a modern, stylish look to your bathroom. Consider stainless steel knobs for cabinets and any drawers. These can be easily installed with a screwdriver and are inexpensive to purchase at a hardware or home improvement store. Also, look into purchasing a sleek new sink faucet or an upgraded showerhead. Some showerheads come in different styles such as a rain showerhead, or pulsating options. In addition, changing out the doorknob to the bathroom on both sides can add a great first impression.

July 10, 2013

Household

5 Tips For Saving Money On Home Maintenance Costs

Being a homeowner is something that you can be proud of. It means that you are a property owner, plus it means that you have financial stability. However, what it also means is that when it comes to the home maintenance needs that you have, you are the one who is solely responsible for them.

That’s why we wanted to provide you with some tips on how you can save money on your home maintenance costs. That way, should you need to add some new insulation or paint the exterior of your house, you won’t find yourself stressed about the costs in the process.

Hire a home inspector and energy auditor. OK, it might seem a bit odd that we would start off this article by recommending that you pay to have some people come and look at your home, but there’s a good reason why. Home inspectors and energy auditors are professionally trained to be able to check a house to see what kind of issues it might have; ones that, if they’re caught in enough time, could end up saving you quite a bit of money.

Go with a handy man rather than a contracting company. There are a lot of commercial companies that could come and maintain your air and heating unit or fix some shingles on your roof, but they tend to be pretty pricy. If you stop and think about it, there’s a pretty good chance that you personally know a handy man who works for himself. If you don’t, ask a few family members or friends. Handy men usually charge a lot less money and oftentimes offer discounts if they know you personally. That being said, there are some services that you will need to pay specialists for in order to ensure that the job is done properly, especially those where the safety of your home and family is concerned.

June 29, 2013

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