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The Step-by-Step Guide to Selling a House with Kids

14. May 2019 Kristin Louis Stories, Rumors and General Thoughts (0)

After welcoming your newest bundle of joy, it’s quickly becoming apparent that your house isn’t big enough for everyone. However, before you can upsize to a more comfortable home, you need to sell your house. If this is your first time selling with kids in the house, be forewarned: Staging, cleaning, and moving is harder with children than without. Not only do you have to navigate around nap schedules, but you also have to keep kid clutter under control so buyers don’t walk into a messy house. This guide will walk you through everything you need to do to get your house ready to sell — and keep it that way.

Repair

You don’t want an inexpensive fix like a dripping faucet or dead tree to scare interested buyers away. DIY minor repairs to save money or hire them out to save time. If a repair costs more than $500, check with your agent before spending the cash.

Address cosmetic issues as well. Your child’s brightly painted bedroom might not be a “problem” to you, but buyers won’t view it the same way. Repaint to colors with broad appeal, replace carpeting that’s showing its age, and refinish wood flooring to restore its luster.

Declutter

Decluttering makes your home feel spacious and ensures buyers see your home, not your stuff. Start by getting rid of things you don’t plan to move. If you handle this task early, you can sell your items and put the money toward moving expenses. Clothing, books, and music are the most popular items in the secondhand economy — which, according to Gumtree, is a multi-billion-dollar sub-industry around the world — but you can sell anything in good condition.

Pack items you’re keeping but don’t need over the coming weeks. This includes excess furniture, dishes, linens, tools, recreational equipment, and children’s toys. Don’t exclude baby gear, which can clutter up a house. If you have playpens, bassinets, and jumpers in the living area, choose one or two favorites (ideally ones that fold up for storage) and pack the rest.

Deep Clean

Now that your home is clutter-free, cleaning is easy. First, clean carpets, drapes, and upholstery to eliminate odors, then prevent new messes by restricting drinking and eating to the kitchen and keeping pets off furniture. If that’s not an option, use slipcovers and lightweight rugs to protect furniture and flooring and remove them before showings.

You should also clean inside cabinets and under appliances, wash windows, scrub baseboards and crown molding, and clean all the other neglected areas of your home. If you need help, use this handy checklist so you don’t miss anything important.

Stage

Staging makes your home look larger, brighter, and clearly defines the purpose of each room. Start by reducing the amount of furniture in each room, pulling large items away from walls, and rearranging to facilitate traffic flow. You still need to live in your house while it’s on the market, so use staging tricks to keep everyday items accessible yet out of sight. A lidded storage basket is great for stashing diapers and wipes, while a storage ottoman or wooden chest offers a quick place to hide toys when buyers are on the way.

Maintain

After all your hard work, your home looks perfect. But how will you maintain it over the coming weeks? The most important thing is preventing big messes like juice spills on the carpet or your toddler’s artwork on the falls. Set rules and use baby gates to control where little ones go.

You also need cleaning routines so your house is never more than 15 minutes from show-ready. Do dishes, laundry, and tidying up daily, sweep and vacuum several times per week, and schedule time on weekends for bigger chores.

When your realtor does call about a last-minute showing, you’ll have just a few more tasks before you can leave the house. Stow away playpens and bassinets, turn on lights and open the curtains, check for off-putting odors coming from the trash or fridge, and give surfaces a quick wipe before buyers arrive.

There will be moments during the selling process where you wonder if all the hard work is worth it — and it is! When everything is done and you’re settled into a home that’s right for your family, you’ll be grateful you made the decision to move and stuck it out through closing day.

Image Via Pexels

Spring Maintenance For The Home: How To Clean Up After Winter

9. April 2019 Clara Beaufort Lawn Care Tips (0)

Photo via Pixabay by Andreas160578

Spring maintenance around the house is a necessity once winter moves on for good, but many homeowners are at a loss when it comes to figuring out the best way to go about it without spending a ton of money. You may also be wavering back and forth between which projects are DIY and which ones will require a professional’s touch, and it’s important to make that decision from the start in order to prevent safety issues and damage.

Fortunately, there are several easy things you can do to spruce up your home--both inside and outside--when the weather turns nice. From the landscaping to the gutters, there are some simple fixes that won’t break the bank. Take a look around your property to get a feel for what needs to be done; for instance, if winter brought heavy storms, it’s a good idea to check out your roof and siding. Tree and dead limb removal may also be necessary around the yard, and while you can do some of this yourself, bigger jobs will require a professional tree service.

Here are just a few things you can do around your house when spring is in full bloom:

Find The Right Help
One of the first things you’ll want to think about when you’re ready to spruce up your home is whether or not you can do the job yourself. Many spring maintenance projects are DIY weekend tasks, but some will require special tools and knowledge, and calling in a pro means setting a budget. When you have an idea of what needs to be done, look online for the best services near you, and get a price quote so you’ll know what to expect.

Start With The Right Tools
The right tools can make a huge difference when you’re working on a project yourself, and you may need different items to accomplish different tasks. A good screwdriver set, a hammer and a mallet, and a cordless drill will go a long way toward helping you take care of your spring maintenance chores. If you aren’t a tool person and don’t know where to begin, look online for tool reviews and check out the best ones for the tasks on your list.

Prep Your Lawn
Sometimes, spring maintenance isn’t only about fixing things that became overgrown or broken in winter; when it comes to your lawn, there are several things you can do now to prep it for warmer weather so you’ll have beautiful pops of color and lush green grass. Weeding, mowing, removing dead branches and leaves, sprucing up flower beds with fresh mulch, and planting new bulbs and seeds is a great way to get your lawn into shape. To make the job easier, have the entire family get in on the act over a weekend, and give everyone a job to complete.

Check the Roof Winter
can be extremely harsh and unforgiving where your roof is concerned, so when the weather starts to turn warm and sunny, check out the uppermost space of your home for broken, cracked, or missing shingles or tiles, and make sure the gutters are in good working order and don’t have any debris or leaves in them. Roof repairs can be costly, so it’s best to leave the big jobs to a pro; otherwise, you may end up causing more damage and busting your budget.

Spring maintenance around the house can take some time, so make a plan before you get started that will lay out a timeline for all the jobs you need to get done. Create a budget so you aren’t overwhelmed at the last minute, and remember to get help from a professional for any job that requires electricity or plumbing.

What You Can Do Locally to Help Combat Climate Change

25. October 2018 Administrator Your Yard and The Earth (0)

Climate change is real, and it’s happening at an alarming rate. Man has hastened the amount of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases present in our atmosphere through industrial processes and agricultural proliferation. The global temperature is increasing, polar ice is melting, and the sea levels are on the rise. The effects of climate change are far-reaching and have the potential to impact weather, food production, animal habitat, and much more. Here’s what you can do, locally, to help combat it.

Start At Home

You can’t look outward until you look inward. In other words, figure out how to implement some green changes at home first. Your first step is to invest in energy-efficient appliances (dishwasher, washer/dryer, and fridge) and lighting options. Next, practice water conservation. Take fewer baths and more showers. Save cooking water to help water plants. Install a rain barrel to collect rainwater for your lawn. Remember: If you’re not actively using water, turn it off (this includes while brushing your teeth!).

Change the way you commute

One of the things you probably do every day that contributes the most to climate change is driving your car. While telling you to give up your automobile is not realistic, and recommending that you get a hybrid or electric car may be cost-prohibitive, it’s reasonable to suggest you use your car less. Switching up your commute is a viable solution. Walk more. Ride a bike sometimes. Use public transportation as much as you can. Carpool. All of this helps.

Eat local and sustainable

You can do your part at the local market to reduce the effects of big agriculture on climate change. When shopping for your family’s groceries, try to buy local, organic, and sustainable. Yes, it may cost a little more. But your wallet is a great tool in combating climate change. If you can, buy your dairy and produce at local farmers markets. The less distance your food has to travel before it reaches your plate, the better for the environment. You can even try to grow your own food (or at least some of it).

Recycle, yes, but first reduce and reuse

Remember the three Rs: Reduce, reuse, and recycle. There’s a reason they come in that order. Recycling is good, but it takes energy to recycle stuff. Your ultimate goal should be to mostly eliminate non-recyclable trash and severely limit what you put in your recycling bin. Think reduce and reuse first.

“It turns out that transporting and processing materials for recycling is carbon intensive. Recycling still uses less energy than making new products from scratch, but reducing and reusing are even cleaner,” notes Forbes.

Write Your Local Politicians

You can do all the biking, recycling, and water conservation you can manage, and it won’t be enough to tackle the enormity of our global climate change problem. That’s where local officials come into play. All politics is local they say, but what they really mean is that politics begin at the local level and spread from there. So make sure to write your local government officials about your concerns about climate change.

The vast majority of scientists agree that we are at a tipping point when it comes to climate, and the actions of you, your neighbors, and everyday citizens all around the globe will determine which way we tip.

Photo by Kaur Martin on Unsplash

10 Questions to Ask Yourself When Picking Garden Flowers

22. October 2018 Kelli Gardener Lawn Care Tips, Your Yard and The Earth (0)

Planting flowers in your garden lets you spend time in your yard, while also making it the perfect place to relax. Flowers bring color and beauty while adding texture and height variation throughout the garden. One key to arranging your flower garden is to pick the flower varieties that best suit your gardening needs.

1) What Areas in Your Yard Get the Best Sunshine?

Understanding the sunshine levels or your various garden plots will help you pick the right plants to thrive in your yard. Evaluate your light spots based on whether it receives full light, partial light, or shade. Full light is commonly described as the light that directly hits a spot. Partial light refers to a spot that is bright but doesn't receive direct light, and a shady spot will receive almost no direct or bright light.

2) Is Your Climate Particularly Dry or Humid?

While there are many flower varieties that can be gardened in almost any climate, it can sometimes be difficult to cultivate tropical or temperate flowers in dry climates without a lot of watering and irrigation. Aim for flowers that are drought tolerant, and you may want to expand your idea of flowering plants to include succulents and cacti. Those in more humid climates can use more tropical flowers in their gardens.

3) How Much Time Do You Have to Care for Your Flowers?

Some flowers are considered more high maintenance than others. Many of the most iconic flowers require the highest maintenance, including lilies, roses, dahlias, and tulips. If you don't have the time to nurture these beauties, you might opt for lower maintenance flower varieties such as cone flowers, daylilies, and cosmos.

4) Do You Have Children or Pets Around the Yard?

As a matter of safety, if you often have children or pets around the yard, it's recommended to look into your favorite plant varieties in case they're potentially toxic to eat. If you're worried about toxic flowers in your yard, you'll want to avoid planting hydrangea, azalea, wisteria, as well as a whole list of others. To keep your yard safe, opt for edible garden flowers such as marigolds, alliums, nasturtiums, pansies, honeysuckles, and daylilies.

5) What Plants Are Native to Your Area?

There are many benefits to planting local varieties, as they can create environments for local ecosystems and wildlife. These are also plants that are already adapted to the environmental conditions of your yard and climate, making them quick growing and hardy. This means that they are lower maintenance than other varieties.

6) Do You Have Size Requirements for Your Flowers’ Growth?

Different flowers grow in different shapes and sizes. Some make ground cover, staying low to the earth, while others grow in vines, bushes, or stalks. The size of the flowers that you need will depend on the space where you want to plant the flowers. Be sure to choose a variety that will grow healthily in your chosen garden plots.

7) Should You Plant Annuals or Perennials?

Most gardeners will recommend that perennial flowers form the basis of your gardening. These are flowers that will grow back in the same place year after year. Perennials are preferred because they do not require you to plant your full flower garden every year. Then you can fill in the blank spaces with the annual flowers that you want and even switch it up each year.

8) Do You Have a Color or Theme Preference?

Colors and flower themes can give you garden a different feel for when it comes time to relax and enjoy the outdoors. Cool colors, such as blues, purples, and greens, will give your garden a calming atmosphere. Warmer colors, such as reds and yellows, will add energy to your yard. Similarly, it can add a lot of fun to your garden to use thematic flower choices.

9) Should You Buy Blooms or Buds?

When you go to purchase your transplant flowers, you will see some flowers have more buds on them than flowers. It's often better to purchase the plants with more buds. This is because plants with buds will continue to bloom longer in the season.

10) Should You Plan a Blooming Plant for Every Season?

Many gardeners want their yard to bloom all year round. It's very rare to have a flower variety that doesn't go dormant at some point. However, in your planning stage, you can pick a variety of perennials that will bloom throughout the year, from early spring to late fall, to give your yard flowering plants all year round.

Ultimately, picking flowers is a combination of knowing your personal preference, local climate, sun conditions, and the amount of time available to you for gardening.