5 New Years Resolutions For Home Improvement

As we ride the crest of a recession into 2010, home is a place where Americans are spending much more of their time. Home improvements not only support the value of your home, but they can make life much more pleasant if you opt for money-saving “staycations” or nights eating in. Here are five New Year’s resolutions for home improvement, whether you choose to take on a remodel project, redecorate or just resolve to maintain your home more efficiently.

1. Check for Energy Efficiency

Are the drafty windows causing your heating unit to kick into overdrive? If you have an older house, it is especially important to make sure you are not washing money down the drain with outdated energy fixtures and appliances. Replacing old windows and doors with newer energy-efficient ones is ideal, but you can also seal your old windows with caulk or replace the rubber strips on your doors in the meantime. If you are in the market for a new dishwasher or refrigerator, check to make sure the new model has the “Energy Star” logo for maximum energy efficiency (along with a sweet tax deduction as well).

2. Sell or Donate Stuff You Don’t Use

A new year has never been a better time to practice the “out with the old” mantra. Consider all the things in your garage that you never use. Think about all the space in your closet being wasted on clothes that you will never wear again. Become friendly with your local Goodwill or Salvation Army, and donate anything you do not use. After all, you don’t want your house to end up on a reality TV show called “Hoarders.” By clearing the clutter and purging your home of things that just collect dust, you will enjoy spending time at home with a fresh just-moved-in feeling. Your house guests will appreciate it, too. No one wants to hang out in a space that they can’t move in.

3.  Rearrange, Refinish or Repurpose Old Furniture

If you can’t afford to spend money on new furniture, you may want to consider sprucing it up. You can create a new furniture feel by staining old wood or recovering chairs with new fabric. Perhaps the way you have your furniture arranged now is not optimal. Look at your rooms with a fresh eye. Would there be more room if you put the couch up against the wall? Would your bed be better situated in the center of the bedroom instead of pushed up against the corner? Also, consider other uses for furniture. That clunky dresser that crowds the small guest room may make a great entertainment center in the living room. Put the TV on top, and load the drawers with games and DVDs.

4. Spiff Up the Outside Property

Do not neglect the landscaping around your home. This is the first impression that guests will have of you when they pull up to your house. If your lawn is overgrown with weeds, and you have not picked up the soggy newspapers in your driveway for weeks, what kind of impression does that give other people? Some regular maintenance and a few colorful plants can make all the difference in the world. If you have a lot of overgrown trees but do not want to spend the money to have them removed, give them a good “haircut” by hiring a landscaping company to bring up the canopy. By trimming a few branches off the bottom layers, your house may be clearly visible from the road, making it safer and cleaner-looking.

5. Apply a Fresh Coat of Paint

Paint is the cheapest and easiest face lift you can give a house. If your walls are looking tired, or you’ve just outgrown the color, it’s time to repaint. (If you are in an apartment home make sure that you get the okay from your landlord.) Need inspiration? There is a discount section in most paint stores or paint departments known as the “oops selection.”  Perfectly good, unused shades of paint are returned and sold here at a discounted price because they were the wrong color. But someone else’s wrong color could very well be your perfect shade, especially if you have nothing to match it to.  Go nuts with someone else’s “oops” and create a color scheme around the paint.

You do not need a lot of cash to make improvements to your home. With a little creativity and organization, you can stick to your 2010 resolution of making some home improvements that will enrich your everyday life.

About the Author
April Lentini and her husband are tackling home improvement on a budget. Their most recent accomplishment is re-tiling a bathroom. April writes for Rentals.com.

This article is featured on WomensOnlineMagazine.com

 

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Top 5 Affordable Warm Cities for Retirees

Retirees have good reasons for wanting to move away from cold weather. Shoveling snow and putting salt on the driveway every winter is back breaking work. Not to mention, cold weather in general can wreak havoc on arthritis. If you are interested in spending your golden years under some golden warm sunshine, here are ApartmentGuide.com’s top five affordable cities to retire in.

Photo by firsttidy (Flickr Creative Commons)

# 1 Tucson, Arizona

Tucson, Arizona is a great change of pace for snow birds who want to get away from the cold weather. Tucsonans enjoy 360 sunny days a year.  Surrounded by five mountain ranges, Tucson sits in a desert plain. If you want to explore your creative side, visit the Center for Creative Photography to see the largest collection of Ansel Adams works or take your own photos in this photogenic city. Don’t think that retiring is only filled with eating, drinking and taking long siestas every day. Active retirees enjoy biking, hiking, horseback riding and golf in this dry, sunny city.

# 2 Hendersonville, North Carolina

Just 27 minutes down the road from Asheville is Hendersonville, N.C. The charming town of Hendersonville is perfect for retirees who appreciate easy access to all the beautiful sights of the North Carolina Mountains.  The Blue Ridge Parkway, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Pisgah National Forest are just around the corner from your apartment in Hendersonville. Active retirees can take advantage of the great outdoors with their pick of activities. Horseback riding, tennis, golf, water sports, fishing and cycling are just a few of the warm-weather recreational activities available to adventurous retired residents.

#3 Englewood, Florida

Englewood is a great place to retire because it is one of the lesser-known cities in sunny Florida, helping it retain its incredible retirement value. Located on the Southwest coast of Florida, Englewood is about an hour south of St. Petersburg and about an hour and a half north of Fort Myers. Not only is the sunset view from your home on Lemon Bay amazing, but the Town Center neighborhood has many amenities that make it a quality, safe place to live with very low crime rates.  Enjoy your retirement years in a quiet, educated neighborhood with lots of fellow seniors and other age groups.

# 4 Las Cruces, New Mexico

Las Cruces is located in southern New Mexico.  Retirees in Cruces enjoy 350 days of sunshine a year. Temperatures range from the high 90s in the summertime to the upper 50s in the winter. Not only is the weather in Cruces pleasantly warm, but the view is superb. Many artists and photographers are attracted to this town because of the very unique blend of colors in the sky during a sunrise or sunset.  Making Las Cruces your home, you will enjoy the cultural perks that come with living in the same town as New Mexico State University as there are many shows, galleries and exhibits open to the public. Plus, if you like Tex-Mex style food, you will appreciate living in the “Chile Capital of the World” as Las Cruces is known.

#5 St. Simons Island, Georgia

It seems completely appropriate to spend your golden years in Georgia’s renowned Golden Isles.  Just 60 miles from Jacksonville, FL and 70 miles from Savannah, GA, St. Simon’s Island provides convenient day trips to many attractions. While hurricanes are always a possibility, retirees enjoy summerlike weather almost seven months of the year.  With its sandy beaches, lush marshes and moss-draped live oaks, St. Simons Island has blossomed into a resort community with many seasonal residents, as well as a steady base of year-round residents.

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Find the Perfect Roommate for Your College Apartment

 

If you are like most college students, you need a roommate to share your housing expenses. There are many things to consider for your protection and everyone’s best interest. If you have never had a roommate before, or you are looking for a better roommate, here are some ways to help you find and choose the right college roommate to fit your lifestyle.

Photo by: Zach Klein (Flickr Creative Commons)

Finding Qualified College Roommates

You may have some friends that would be willing to room with you. While it sounds great to live with a friend as opposed to living with a stranger, keep in mind that friends do not always make the best roommates.

Comedian Jimmy Fallon once joked about how having a good friend as a roommate is never a good idea.

“It doesn’t work out,” he said. “You will fight each other [because] they have too much dirt on you. They’ll crush you in an argument for no reason. Like, you’ll just say, ‘Hey, man, the dishes have been in the sink for, like, two weeks, and they’re your dishes. Are you gonna clean them or what?’ And they’ll say, ‘Yeah, remember when you had [an embarrassing disease] in the sixth grade?’”

Look at finding the right roommate as an opportunity to make a new friendship. Some of the pressure is off since you do not have to be especially chummy with them. Also, opening your mind (and apartment) to a new person gives you the chance to meet someone cool that you may otherwise never get to know.

Roommate listing services, college bulletins and personals Web sites have huge databases of people looking for roommates or seeking a room for rent. Some people are professionals who want to split expenses, and some are students. All these sites can be helpful in locating and matching you with a potential roommate. Some of these sites have comprehensive services, such as pre-screened applicants who have completed criminal background checks and credit reports. Others are just personal ads that leave the screening up to you.

Screening Potential Roommates

You will have to meet a few people in person once you find a match in the classifieds. Look at their general appearance and you’ll probably have an idea how they’ll keep an apartment. Also, if you can get a glimpse of their car, that is usually a good indication of how they live as well. Can you see the floor board, or do they have fast food wrappers and junk piled up on the floor and seats?

Have a list of questions handy. You don’t want to make it look like a formal interview, but there are some basics you need to know about the person that you will share your space with. Here are a few of them:

1. Are they smokers?
2. Do they party and stay up late listening to loud music every weekend? (More importantly, do they plan on hosting parties in your shared apartment?)
3. Do they have a boyfriend or girlfriend that will be visiting often? (And if so, does he or she have any good-looking friends, perhaps?)
4. Are they morning birds or night owls?
5. Do they have any annoying food preferences that would cramp your style? (If your roommate is a strict vegan and you hunt and cook your own meat every night, that may be a problem.)
6. Does the potential roommate have any social or moral beliefs that do not jive with your own?

During the meeting, it is important to be honest about your own personality and let the potential roommate know about any weird habits you may have yourself. You don’t need to get too personal, but fill them in to how you live and what they can expect from you as a roommate.

Once you get past the preliminary interview, you should consider it absolutely necessary to do background checks on potential roommates. Have the applicant fill out the required forms, and ask your apartment manager to do a criminal background check on your roommate-to-be before they sign the lease. For most residential apartment complexes, this is a necessary procedure to begin with. Your apartment complex will also probably want to run a credit report on the individual to make sure that they have a clean credit history. Any car repossessions, defaulted loans or broken leases will be a huge red flag.

If you rent a house and do not have access to a leasing office that provides these background services, it is in your best interest to pay for a service yourself. There are multiple sites that offer criminal background checks, and the potential roommate should be able to provide you with a credit report.

Protect Yourself in Writing

If your name is currently on the apartment lease, make sure that your roommate puts his or her signature on the lease as well. First, your landlord should know you are sharing an apartment with another person who is equally responsible for the property. You may want to include other details in a contract such as what bills will be split, when the rent check is due and agreements on social rules, pets, sharing food and the like. To get a better idea of the kinds of things you may want to include in a contract, visit lawdepot.com to get a free roommate contract template.

With a little investigative work and some forethought into choosing the most qualified roommate for your needs, you can enjoy living in harmony with anyone.  However it’s important to be realistic. Keep in mind that no matter how cool you or your roommate is, it will never be perfect all the time. There are occasional problems that arise anytime you live with another person, but as long as each of you are respectful to each other and have an open communication, you should be able to work it out.

 

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Apartment Fireplace Safety

You were lured by an apartment with a cozy fireplace. But before you crank up your gas, wood or electric fireplace this season, you should be aware of some safety precautions that could save your home, and even your life, from a fire disaster.

Photo by: paulandaline (Flickr Creative Commons)

Stock up on the hot chocolate and brandy.  It’s that time of year to gather around the fireplace with some good friends. But first, especially if this is your first time renting an apartment with a fireplace, there are some important safety things you should be aware of.

Keep Fireplaces Clean and Clutter-Free

If you have a wood chimney, you should have it inspected and cleaned annually by a certified specialist. They will check for creosote buildup and make sure that the air supply is not restricted. If you have a gas fireplace, it should be checked for gas leaks and carbon monoxide. Also, make sure that the area around the fireplace is clean and free of debris. Many apartment and house fires start around the holidays when people decorate their fireplace with garland, Christmas stockings and other flammable materials.  You should always use a metal mesh screen with fireplaces and leave the glass doors open while burning a fire.

Use the correct fuel

For wood fireplaces, never use flammable liquids to start a fire. Use only seasoned hardwoods or specially treated burning logs that are available in stores. Place logs near the back of the fireplace on a grate to allow proper ventilation. Do not throw paper, cardboard or other materials in your fire. Never leave a fire unattended and extinguish the fire before going to bed or leaving the house.

Protect your home

If you live in an apartment, you should make sure that your smoke alarms work. Replace the batteries when needed or call maintenance to test your smoke alarms if needed. Store your firewood as far away from the fireplace as possible.

With a little precaution, you can safely enjoy the warmth of the fireside in your cozy apartment during the cold months. Just use a little common sense and follow the guidelines for lighting, maintaining and extinguishing your apartment fireplace.

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