Saving Money on Firepits

Do you like firepits? I do… I mean I don’t like being outside but if I’m already out there I might as well be
comfortable and sitting at a firepit. One thing about firepits though, they can be a great big time and
money hole. Seriously while you’re working on the firepit you might as well set your money on fire
while you’re at it. So, how can you get that beautiful firepit without it turning into a money pit?

First, if you’re trying to save money you should probably DIY the entire project. This isn’t the type of
project where at the end you’ll look at your bank account and find out you spent more money than
the quote you got to get it built out for you. Getting a firepit built will almost definitely cost more than
doing it yourself. You can even get firepit kits for around 200 dollars. Go ahead and build out a patio
while you're at it, it’s just an outside floor. I believe in you, watch a YouTube video, you can figure
\ it out.

Second tip, make a wood burning pit and not a gas burning pit. You’ll a thousand percent have to
hire several people to make a gas burning pit work safely (please, don’t burn down your
neighborhood). Also, a gas pit will add on to your utility bills… and why would you want that? If you
must have a gas burning pit make it close to your house. This will cut down on the plumbing bill
of running a gas line to your designated location. The further you get from the house, the more it
will cost.

Finally, keep the customizations down to a minimum. Built in seating will cost you and they cost a lot.
If you don’t mind using chairs then you’re solid. Besides, a lot of built-in seating is
uncomfortable. Also, unless you’re an artist and are making all of your own tiles (which is still
expensive) try to keep the unnecessary customizations down to a minimum. Getting super fancy
with a firepit could very quickly cost you upwards of thousands of dollars.

You’ve been sufficiently warned. Go build a firepit. Go outside (if you must). Have fun.

Packing up the Holidays

The holidays are here but all I can think about is having to put all my decorations away
afterwards, hopefully before valentines day this year. So how do we make a generally
fun experience (decorating), not terrible doing it in reverse (packing up), cause honestly,
packing anything sucks. Especially when you're trying to put away your holiday
memories and traditions without accidentally shattering them, while also being mindful
of the fact that you need to find these things next year. So… what can you do?

Looking at it all as one big task will be to overwhelming and your decorations will be
up until next December. If you think about it all as small tasks it’s going to be tedious
and you’re going to procrastinate until something forces you to do it, and I don’t know
you, maybe you don’t have someone who will judge you harshly enough to drive you
to finally do it.  My suggestion is you break it down into a few sweeping tasks. Take
down all ornaments, the ones decorating the tree, the ones in bowls decorating the
table, on wreaths, and in garland. Then move onto gathering all the wreathes and
packing them away, and then the garland, and then the tree. envision yourself removing
all of those items task by task, you’re pretty close to done, aren’t you? That was only
four tasks and your already almost done! You can do it like that or you can do it by
section, fireplace, table tops, wall hangings or you can do it room by room, living room, kitchen, lobby, den.

So, once you get everything away how do you keep them straight and easily findable
for the next holiday season? You can either sort out a clear labeling and storing system
for yourself, or you can get clear bins. I still suggest you store your stuff in a methodical
order, so you know what you’re going to pull out first and what you’re pulling out last.

The best way to keep yourself from accidentally destroying childhood memories is to
be prepared while packing everything away. Have your bins as close as possible to
minimize travelling distance between it’s where it’s been and where it is going. Also
have whatever you’re using for cushion on hand from the tree, to the old news paper,
straight into the bin. Don’t pause, don’t pass go, right into storage. That’s the safest
thing you can do. Don’t forget there's always a chance you drop your bins on the way to
wherever you store them. So, don’t overstuff your bins, pack them lightly and with lots
of cushion.

Finally, don’t forget that it’s okay to wait a little while. It would be super depressing if
you cleared everything up along with the wrappings from the presents. It’s the most
wonderful time of the year! Let it linger a little longer. Just try not to wait until
Valentine’s Day.

Cleaning For Guests: Smells

It’s the holiday season! Holidays coming up means that family is coming to stay.
Yay? I hope that thought invokes good happy emotions for you. Which means it’s
time to CLEAN LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT! However, apparently there are
smells in your home that you are nose blind to. So, what’s to be done about that?
Just clean everything and hope? Well, here’s a few ways to target potential spots
and types of invisible smells you might be dealing with.  

If you have pets there’s a good chance you’ve gone nose blind to various pet smells
. When you’re trying to eliminate pet odor it’s important to wash any soft surfaces that
they been spending time. Vacuum and shampoo carpets (you never know if there’s
leftover pee smell), any upholstered furniture, and pet beds. Give everything a good
through scrub. Unfortunately for your wayward pet if they still smell, everything else
will smell again in no time at all. Which means, in order to keep the pet odor away it’s
officially bath time.

Another source of unnoticed odor… bedding. A lot of us don’t change our bedding as
much as we’re meant to. Beds that aren’t being used get dusty and pick up a musty
smell from disuse, so it’s good to put on fresh bedding in the guestroom. While you’re
at it maybe wash your own bedding so that we can to the real source of unnoticed
smells in bedrooms, the mattress. Some things you can do to neutralize odor is mix
together 1 part vodka and 3 parts water and spray it over the mattress. This mixture is
a disinfectant and if you add a little essential oil to the mix it should leave a pleasant
smell.

One more prominent sent that you might not have noticed is likely emanating from
your fridge. You may have tossed out the remains of last week’s takeout but
sometimes the smell remains and mixes with the remnants and smells from other
leftovers from lazy days gone by. It’s time to take everything out. Throw away
whatever may have gone bad or is about to and thoroughly wash the inside of the
fridge AND the freezer. Unplug and scrub down the inside using hot water and baking
soda (baking soda is also good at neutralizing scents).

I know it’s a hassle to try to get rid of smells that you’re not even aware of but trust
me, it makes a big difference and you’ll notice once they’re gone. Especially the
fridge, you don’t want to know how lingering smells have been affecting the way
your food tastes (don’t think about it, it’s gross). It’ll be a thankless effort but it’s
better than the alternative, which would be to let the smells linger and having your
guests scrunch up their noses behind your back.

Holiday Guest Checklist

Christmas is coming up. Christmas coming up means that family
is coming to stay. One way to cut off any potential fighting and
complaining that seems to blossom naturally in the proximity of family
is to keep everyone to comfortable to complain.  

First go over and above your usual standards of cleanliness. What
is normal for you or even your guests in their own houses stands out
in somebody else’s.  When your in-laws walk into your home let them
smell the lemon pledge and cleaning solution. Don’t give anybody
an opening to complain because once that gate opens there’s no
closing it again.

Easiest comfort things you can do for guests is to keep extra blankets
and pillows available. There’s nothing better than having an excess of
warm, soft, and cozy. There’s also no better way to keep people happy
than to provide a good night’s sleep or ample napping opportunities.

Extra disposable toiletries. You know somebody forgot something and
having to struggle to find a replacement or alternative is always a hassle.
Having some sample sized or travel sized toiletries, disposable razors,
toothbrushes on hand will make you the best host.

Make sure the people you are so graciously letting into you home have a
place to put their things. I don’t’ mean a room or place to sleep in. People
feel a hundred percent more at home when they’re not living out of a
suitcase, or at least have the option not to. Make sure they have a drawer
or an empty space in the closet for them to put their stuff.

Make it easy for people to do things for themselves. Keep the coffee stuff in
a basket by the coffee. Show people where the glasses and silverware are
immediately. Believe it or not people don’t like feeling like a guest for long
periods of time. Nobody likes having to ask people for stuff all the time.

Finally, make the Wi-Fi password readily available. Put it on a plaque
somewhere that loudly announces its presence. Trust me, it preemptively
puts everyone in a better mood with internet access. Plus if you do it in a
creative Pinteresty kind of way then it’ll add an extra level of lingering delight.   

Home Buying Fees You Might Not Know About

The buying process is complicated, super complicated. There are all sorts of variables and things to look out for. One of those things are fees. We all know that buying a house is expensive but what do you actually have to pay for besides the house itself?

Application Fee

Ah, applications. You need to pay this to even start the process. This is a fee the lender charges you… because they can honestly. You can ask for a breakdown of the application fee and might get a little more information but mostly it's an unavoidable nonsense fee that you should expect.

The Home Inspector

I hear what you’re thinking and no, you can’t skip it. Inspectors are what stand between you and utter ruin. They are your champion in the house buying process. Structural issues, mold, roofing, anything that could go wrong, they’re the experts that keep you from being buried under a pile of problems. That can all come to at an easy payment of 300 to 500 dollars. Yes, you still have to pay them if you decide not to buy the house.   

Appraisal Report Fee

This appraisal report fee is also charged by your lender… figures. This one actually goes towards something though. This one pays for the lender to appraise the cost of the house in question so that the buyer, a.k.a you aren’t paying more than the house you’re trying to buy is worth. This costs between 200 and 425 dollars. At least this fee does something useful.

Title Service Fees

Title Service fees covers several different services. Appraisal covers a lot of the necessary government paperwork. Searching public records for the houses title, notary for the person bearing witness to the signing of documents, government filing, etc. This will cost you between 150 and 400 dollars all together.

Lenders Organization Costs

Knock, knock. Who’s there? Your lender with another fee for you. Nope, not very funny unfortunately it’s not a joke. This is an upfront fee for processing the application (yes, the obligatory application fee doesn’t cover this), underwriting (researching your loan), and funding the loan. I really don’t get it either but either way it’s gonna cost you somewhere between .5% and 1.5% of your total loan.

Survey Report

Literally this is just a report that shows you the boundaries of the property, features and dimensions. It costs between 150$ and 400$.

Tax Payment Fee

Here we’ll end with a light one that won’t hurt your soul as much. Tax payment fee basically insures that tax payments on the property are up to date and that the payments you make are appropriately credited to the right home. This costs you about 50$.

So… I’m sure your super discouraged after seeing all of these fees and the numbers that go along with them. Here’s the thing, print out all of your documents, go over them, ask an obnoxious amount of questions you might be able to haggle down the prices of some of them. BE SURE YOU’RE GETTING THE BEST PRICE POSSIBLE! There are far too many fees to have necessary amounts of money taken from you for any of them.