Author Archives: Teresa

List of top neglected home repairs includes radon abatement

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Owning a home is both a blessing and a curse, in so many different ways. Having an asset that is yours and that you can physically live in is important in a lot of ways. However, owning that home can cost a lot of money and require a lot of work to maintain, depending on any number of circumstances including the age and size of the home. The real estate market has rapidly bounced back from the recession in 2008 and fewer people are foreclosing on their homes than ever before. This is terrific for the economy in general. However, the price of maintaining a home has made it so that many people are behind on repairs. Homeowner’s insurance claims from last year reflect the most commonly neglected repairs and fixes, most of which are relatively straightforward if managed pro-actively. Left to their own devices to become a problem, they become even more expensive to manage. Here are some of the biggest mistakes homeowners made last year.

  1. Not doing an energy audit: By not doing an energy audit, particularly in an older home, a homeowner could potentially have much higher utility bills than would otherwise be necessary. Some of the older refrigerator models were built to last back in the day, and they have lasted. But they are completely inefficient and can cost hundreds of extra dollars per year in energy utilities. Replacing this with an energy efficient model helps your wallet and the environment at the same time.
  2. Not having the home tested for radon: Most people think that radon exposure is significantly less common than it actually is, leading them to ignore recommendations for radon testing. Whether or not there is a known radon presence in your area, regularly testing for radon exposure can help pick up on the problem before it becomes a bigger one. Considering radon remediation services are affordable and straightforward, and do not require major changes to the home, it isradon reduction a wonder why more homeowners do not take advantage of this testing. Radon testing kits can be purchased for you to do it in your own home, and radon abatement services are offered everywhere that people live.
  3. Not regularly checking on the roof: Particularly in areas of extreme weather, such as heavy snowfall or frequent hail, having the roof reinforced and regularly inspected can go a long way towards catching a minor problem and fixing it before it becomes a huge one. A roof collapse or major leak is going to cost way more money than an inspection and a small repair, so there really is no reason to avoid getting that done. Even if you only have it inspected once per year, it can help mitigate future damage. Roofing troubles are also right up there with the more expensive claims that people file with homeowner’s insurance companies. Sewer emergencies are the most expensive, and roofing situations are the most frequent. These can both be significantly mitigated with regular inspections, and yet, not enough homeowners are doing them.

Blinds are an easy and affordable way to redecorate

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Figuring out that you want to change up the look of the interior of your house opens up a lot of possibilities. There are so many different angles to take when redecorating, particularly if you own your home. Even better, if you live alone, you have only your own styles to attend to and do not have to worry about whether your significant other likes a particular shade of paint or likes or dislikes the custom blinds you pick out. Here are some of the hottest ways to redecorate your space, compiled from some of the trendiest interior decorators this year.

  • Artwork – All the rage, changing up what you have on your walls from personalized photographs to prints and paintings framed in eclectic but matching mats and frames is extremely popular right now. Keep the personalized photographs for sure, but put them in different places than usual such as the bedroom, office, or even the bathroom. Hanging a reprint of a famous piece of artwork as a showcase piece in your living room is one of the hottest trends this year.
  • Accent walls – Whether you go about creating an accent wall with paint, faux or real stone, or even using artwork to create one, accent walls have the ability to add depth and warmth to any room of your house. They can also have the opposite effect if you arewindow coverings trying to make a cozier space, such as by accenting a fireplace or back splash in the kitchen. Accent walls are great ways to try out a bright color, for example, to see if you really like it actually on the wall. Luckily paint is affordable and easy to change if you decide you do not like it, so playing with different shades of it has become incredibly popular as well.
  • Windows – Do not forget your window treatments, which can range from blinds to shades to shutters, and everything in between. Drapes are less common now than they used to be, but are making a comeback, and classic wooden blinds are becoming increasingly popular. When painted in the right color they provide an elegance that can often be missing from plastic blinds, as well as better light filtering depending on the room you are trying to change. Sometimes a combination of drapes and blinds is necessary to truly black out the light, and other times you will only want blinds or only want shades. It completely depends on the room of the house and how much coverage you do or do not need for any given window.
  • Hardwood floors – These are rapidly replacing carpet, or rather, carpets are being torn up to reveal and refinish the hardwood floors frequently underneath them. Carpet was the rage for a long time for various reasons, but as hardwood floors quickly gain traction again, carpet is on its way out. Harder to clean and maintain, carpet has few advantages over hardwood floors, and hardwood floors have just as many color and finish options as carpeting.

Popular home upgrades in 2014 include home theater systems, hardwood floors

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If you have made the decision to do some redesigning to your home, you have a handful of decisions you will want to make early on in the process. You will have to prioritize needs over wants, and sort out in the beginning which things you can do yourself and which ones you need to hire someone else to do. Knowing what your budget and timeframe is, if you are limited to a certain time period, is also critical to helping make these choices the right ones for you and your family.

Consider, for example, if you have chosen to add hardwood floors to one of the bedrooms, install a home theater system, paint several rooms, and change the artwork in those same rooms. home theater DenverThere are a lot of decisions to make in just that short list alone. You need to sort out a vendor for the home automation system and for the hardwood floors; unless you have chosen to do the hardwood floors yourself. You also need to work on timing. Do you want all of these contractors working at the same time in different parts of the house, or would you prefer to stagger it? Your budget might determine whether you spread the work out over a few months or whether you choose to do your own hardwood floor installation. If you have another timeline you are competing against, such as family in town for the holidays, you will want to take that into consideration as well.

Once you have chosen a vendor for the hardwood floors and picked out Denver home automation company such as Quality Audio Video, then it is time to coordinate the rest of the designing you want to do. If any of the painting is happening in the same room as the hardwood floor installation or the home theater system, you are going to want to do the painting ahead of that installation. You can probably do the painting yourself in a weekend for a relatively low cost, but having to work around a newly installed floor and home automation system after the fact will be a lot more trouble and you are going to need to be significantly more careful. What could be worse than spilling paint on your brand new hardwood floor?

Once you have set a date for the installation of the floors and the Denver home theater system, you are in great shape for getting your newly designed house back! It will take some time for the contractors to get in and out of the house and for you to move around the artwork and furniture you wanted to redesign. Once all of the paint has dried, the new photographs and artwork has been hung, and your family is enjoying their new home theater system, it will all be worth it. These projects can be exhausting and you might want to give up halfway through, but stick it out the best you can because it will be worth the effort in the end.

Finding the right jeweler for your engagement ring

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Once you have decided you want to propose to the person you are dating, you have already made one of the biggest decisions of your life. Do not let the stress of buying a ring or planning the proposal overwhelm you, because technically, the hard part is done. Finding the person you want to spend the rest of your life with is not an easy task, and it is not one that everyone completes. If you are already in a place where you know who that person is, you are already ahead of the game. Consider yourself lucky if you know you are with the person you want to be with forever.

Now, once you have made that decision, it is time to find the right jeweler for you to start thinking about your engagement ring. This will take a little effort and some time on your part, but do not take it too lightly. Ask around discreetly if you have friends you know can keep quiet, and see if they have jewelers they have worked with or recommend. Reach out to them to find out about their experiences and ask them what the best part of working with that jewelry store was. Do not forget to ask about the least impressive part of working with them, just so you can be prepared for the worst as well as the best. This might sound too pessimistic but you will be glad you considered all of the options when you finally make your choice.

After gathering a few recommendations from friends, do your own online search. See if you come up with other highly rated jewelers in your area and find the reviews for the jewelry stores yourjewelers friends or family members recommended too, such as The Diamond Reserve. They should all have websites with their portfolios and a wide array of products from which to choose. Many of them will also have prices listed right on the website too, which will help you further narrow down what you are looking for and what you can afford in your price range. Next, set up appointments with a couple of the jewelers you liked best from their websites. Explain that you are still trying to figure out what kind of ring you want to buy and what you can afford, and discuss potential options for them. If you have a family diamond you want to use, all the better. If not, you can start completely from scratch when designing something.

Ask one of your girlfriend’s friends or family members, who you know will keep quiet, for advice on what she might want if you do not know. It is okay not to know, in this case. Women tend to keep this to themselves or share only with their girlfriends so that they do not freak you out or run the risk of you thinking she is being presumptuous. Someone will know what she wants, and it is just a matter of finding the right friend who can help you find it while also keeping it quiet.

New small businesses remember to budget for public relations

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Small business owners are typically in that role because they have a great product or service they want to sell. Depending on the product or service, and the owner themselves, it is entirely possible that a business owner might not know how to handle the basics of actually running a business. Knowing that you want revenues to exceed costs is not enough. It is critical that business owners who do not have all of the right skills equip or staff their businesses with the right people or contractors who can help with various angles of a business that might never have occurred to them.

If you are considering opening a small business or already have but are struggling, here are a few types of help you might want to think about hiring.

  • Accountant – Depending on the size of your business, especially in the beginning, a part-time accountant for a few hours per week might be more than enough to keep the books balanced and for you to have a sense of where you stand on a regular basis. The more business picks up, the more time you will need out of an accountant, but initially a part-time accountant should be more than enough for your business.
  • Receptionist – This is going to depend heavily on whether you are providing a service or product in an office setting where people need to come and meet with you, as well as whether there is someone to answer the phone at any given moment. If your business needs that sort of operation, you are going to want to hire at least a part time receptionist or customer service representative. That type of role can typically be hired easily through a temp firm and will not cost a bunch of money up front, and it cantop PR firms make a huge difference in how quickly your business gets off the ground in its infancy.
  • Public relations – This is definitely not something that any business owner can tackle on their own. Public relations firms are a little like insurance: you purchase it and hope you will never have to use it except for something good. Having a top PR firm hired early on will help them become familiar with your business, predict any problems you might have with the media, and figure out how to mitigate them with their crisis management skills before they even happen. If you are lucky, a PR agency like Dovetail Solutions will earn their money behind the scenes. Calling on them in times of need is a wise decision, but it is an even better decision to hire them before there are any problems, so they can help solve them without too much trouble or attention on the issues.

These are just a few of the staffing suggestions and ideas that business owners might want to consider when starting their own business. It completely depends on the product or service being sold, of course, but the business owner’s skill level matters across a variety of arenas.

Have a plumbing inspection done before buying your new home

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Owning a home is a responsibility that comes along with a lot of other small responsibilities you might not have known about before buying the home. Many of them are small, such as changing light bulbs or replacing the battery in your garage door opener. Others are larger, such as figuring out how and who to hire when you have a roofing or plumbing situation that needs to be taken care of in a timely manner. Many needed repairs to your home could classify as emergency situations, and end up costing a lot of money. Knowing how to find the right vendors in the event of an emergency, or even before it has occurred, can help save you tens of thousands of dollars in the long run, especially when you factor in what your homeowner’s insurance may or may not cover.

Finding a plumber or a roofer, or even a water heater installation vendor, is much like shopping for any other goods or services if you are shopping around when there is no situation that needs immediate attending to. If your plumbing has already backed up into your home, it is too late to shop around: you are just going to need the first plumber you can get to show up. However, if you are still debating buying the home and want to have a plumbing inspection done ahead of time, that is a great time to shop around for a plumber. Companies like A Good Plumber can send someone over at a regularly scheduled time to do the inspection, which allows you to get a sense of their customer service and reliability. Depending on the results of the plumbing inspection, you may or may not want to have additional work done.

If the plumbing inspection shows there are problems, you do not need to fret. It is time to fix them,water heater repair before they become bigger issues. This might allow you to try out another plumber if you were dissatisfied with the first, or if you were thrilled with them, then you can actually have some work done by them. Establishing a relationship with a plumber or plumbing group will give you some leeway if you ever find yourself in an emergency situation. Knowing you are a loyal customer who is in a tight spot will help you negotiate a little bit better, and allows the plumber to cut you a break as needed, knowing that you will be providing rave reviews of their service and coming back to them again if there are other issues.

Plumbing is like any other industry, where they want to keep repeat business and clients happy, but they also respond to emergency situations when called upon. Thinking of them like any other service and shopping around to find the right plumber for you can save you a lot of time and trouble in the long run, particularly if you do it well ahead of an actual emergency. Regular plumbing inspections can help catch problems early on, and avoid the big emergency costs down the road.

Don’t forget to call a locksmith when you move

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You have found a new home you want to purchase, and made an offer on it, which was accepted. It might seem like the hard part is over, and much of the difficult work is probably done. You have already negotiated the price, closing costs, and are ready to move in. Now the fun part begins, such as painting and decorating and picking out new furniture if you want. Packing is never any fun, and neither is actually moving boxes. But moving into a new home is an exciting opportunity for most people, and there are a lot of things to do to get ready for a big move like this.

  1. Make sure you have everything you need for packing. Do not forget plenty of moving boxes, packing tape, and packing peanuts. Make sure heavy items are packed in smaller boxes, such as books, and save bigger boxes for lighter items like pillows. Enlist friends and family to help if you can, and make sure you have lots of things like newspaper, towels, and other soft items in which you can wrap fragile items.
  2. Docar locksmith not forget to call someone like Mobile Locksmith Pros to make sure your new home is ready for your arrival, and safe for you and your family. It is one of the things that people typically forget about, but getting a locksmith to change the locks before you actually move in is one of the easiest ways to protect your family in your new home. Anyone the last owner’s might have given a key to will be unable to access the home anymore. A regular or emergency locksmith can take care of something like this for you pretty quickly and at an affordable price. It might not be intuitive, but getting a locksmith to change the locks when you move into a new house is a must.
  3. Think about decorating before you move in. It is so much easier to paint, change artwork, and adjust window coverings before you have moved all of your furniture in. Painting after moving furniture in becomes a huge hassle and inconvenience for everyone who might occupy a given space. The same goes for other more labor intensive renovations, such as changing hardwood flooring, removing or installing carpet, or even changing kitchen cabinets. If you know you want to do these things, doing them before you actually move in can save you a lot of hassle and inconvenience.
  4. Get all of your paperwork in order to reflect your new address. Submit a forwarding request and change of address form with the post office, which can easily be done online. Then make sure you actually log in to or call each of the places you have major accounts and have each of them reflect your new address. This can typically be done online with most accounts, such as banks, student loan servicers, and even insurance providers. Keep an eye out for things such as car insurance rates, which can change when you move locations, and print out new ID cards for respective insurance accounts.

Essential oils can serve as a natural medication in some cases

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There has been a lot of news coverage recently about parents who have chosen not to vaccinate their children. This has become a rather unfortunate turn of events, as illnesses such as measles and whooping cough are now breaking out in different pockets across the country where not enough children are vaccinated against them. Vaccinations do not require one hundred percent of the population to be vaccinated, because of a property called herd immunity. Herd immunity means that if enough people are vaccinated against an infection, it will not be able to grab a hold of enough people to sustain itself. These pockets of parents are all geographically close to one another, which presents a big problem when so many of them are choosing to go unvaccinated. There are a variety of reasons they choose to go about it this way, but one of the biggest reasons is they believe in natural medicine more so than modern or western medicine, which includes vaccines.

There essential oilsare very things I will agree with this group of people about, but one of the things that they are big proponents of is use of essential oils in health and healing. The natural properties of essential oils lend themselves to healing, hydrating, and anti-inflammation, and they can be used in all sorts of different ways depending on your needs. Make no mistake, however, essential oils are not vaccines and cannot protect by themselves against virulent infections. But the use of essential oils can help you build up your immune system against many of the day to day bacteria and germs that can infect us. This can be done in a few different ways. An oil diffuser from Plant Therapy allows essential oils and their properties to permeat the air and be inhaled, instead of applied directly to the body. This allows a person to breathe in those healing properties, and left overnight, can help counteract the drying properties of any heating or cooling system. They also act as excellent cleaning agents, and can help reduce the use of chemicals and sulfates around the home and on the body. Adding them to body wash, body lotion, stove cleaner, or any other daily household product can help reduce the use of harsh chemicals overall.

It is important to understand the difference between natural properties and medications and modern medicine. Vaccinations will protect you against measles, mumps, or rubella, while essential oils cannot do that same thing. But they do serve an important purpose and can help your overall health by boosting your immune system, acting as an anti-inflammatory agent, and helping you stay in better health so that you only have to rely on an antibiotic or stronger medication in more serious circumstances. Using essential oils to help with day to day health can reduce the risk of antibacterial resistance and decrease the likelihood that you will need to take too much medication. Do not let this sense of security keep you from seeking serious medical attention if needed, however.

Renters can call their landlords for help. Homeowners need a locksmith.

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There are so many pros and cons to renting as opposed to buying a home. Everyone’s situation is unique and there are so many different things to consider when trying to make the decision about renting or owning. Renting should always be the default, just because owning24 hour locksmith a home is such a serious commitment. But there are some serious benefits to owning a home too, so when you are in the right place financially and professionally to buy a home, you should consider it. Here are some of the advantage and disadvantages to both.

Renting

  • Pros: As a tenant, if you lock yourself out of your place, you can call your landlord to help. They may not be able to respond right away, but they will eventually be able to let you in. If you live in an apartment building, there is almost always someone who can let you back in immediately. You also have the flexibility of being able to move with short term notice. Renter’s insurance is significantly cheaper than homeowner’s insurance, and you can move around and try out different neighborhoods every year if you want.
  • Cons: You are not building any equity, but rather, you are effectively paying someone else’s mortgage. Rent covers a roof over your head but it is also essentially pouring money down the drain. In most cases, a mortgage is not going to be much more than a monthly rent payment would be anyway.

Owning

  • Pros: You are building equity by paying down your home, and keeping it in good condition helps ensure the value of the home stays high. You do not have control over the market but you do have control over the condition of your home and keeping it updated will help you in the long run. You can decorate any which way you please, if you break a window, scratch a floor, or a doorknob falls off, no one is going to deduct it from any security deposit. You get to make all of the decisions about your home.
  • Cons: When you lock yourself out of the house, you have to call a locksmith. There are a variety of 24 hour locksmiths available, but unless you have some sort of other back up plan, you are stuck until they get there. Mobile Locksmith Pros are quick, reliable, and affordable, and hopefully you are in an area they cover. Otherwise, locking yourself out of your house means paying the price in time spent waiting as well as the bill for the services. Much like plumbing, roofing, and other serious maintenance issues, you will foot the bill completely for a locksmith. You also have to carry homeowner’s insurance which can be expensive, though once the mortgage is paid off you no longer have to have it (still recommended though). Owning a home also makes it harder to move on a whim, and while selling a house can sometimes be done quickly, there are no guarantees that it will happen fast enough for you to make a move you might want to.

Your local fabric store has gifts for almost any occasion

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There are so many occasions for gift-giving, from holidays to birthdays to parties for special occasions such as weddings. Because there are so many opportunities to give gifts, it can at times seem difficult to be creative all while being affordable and still finding something that the person on the receiving end will receive happily. It might seem impossible to buy year after year for your grandparents who have everything, or for your nieces and nephews in their twenties who are living in small apartments and trying to establish themselves after finishing college. Even weddings with their gift registries can sometimes be difficult. There might not be anything left on it that you can afford, or you might not connect with any of the items and want to give them something that will remind them of you.

What most people forget is that their local fabric or quilting store is full of supplies and do it yourself gift ideas that are perfect for any occasion. Here are some of the many possibilities.

1. A quilt: This is obvious, particularly if you are visiting a quilt shop like Snappy’s Quilts, butquilting supplies there are so many different ways to make a quilt and to personalize it to fit the recipient. You might think not everyone wants a quilt, but everyone actually will enjoy a quilt that has sentimental value and means something to them because you picked out memorable moments to commemorate with the quilt. Quilt shops and fabric stores are much more than their names imply.

2. A scrapbook: This is an item that you might have to get some supplies from elsewhere, but this is still a great place to start to build a scrapbook. Depending on the person and the memories you can personalize it to fit a certain time period or design it to reflect certain themes.

3. An afghan: These blankets are less about themes and are not obviously personalized the way quilts can be, but they are beautiful alternatives for anyone you think might be on the fence about a quilt. These beautiful blankets can be made in any size and color, and are warm and cozy. Both of my grandmothers each made me one as a child and I have held on to them all of these years.

4. Customized t-shirts: These are fun gift ideas or surprises for groups of kids such as a swim team or middle school soccer team. Your local fabric store has all of the materials to make t-shirts with a design, team colors, or other decorations for kids to run around in. Less on the gift side but more on the fun activity side, this is also a fun project to actually do with the children. They can spend an afternoon ironing on pictures and using puff paint to decorate them. Then at the end of the day they have made their own shirt to run around in, and not a single other person has one like it.

Visit your local fabric store today for more great gift giving ideas!