We help people buy houses so they can create a home. Here we share more than mortgage finance tips (although we do that too). We aim to help you make your house a home through DIY projects, pet care, hosting tips, yard maintenance, and much more!
Tax Refund for Down Payment Many people are receiving their tax refund or anticipating receiving one. If you find yourself in this fortunate position, have you considered using it for a down payment on a home? The more you can contribute towards your down payment, the less you will have to borrow.
Secret Home Maintenance There are home maintenance tasks out there that are total secrets! Did you know that? We all know that we need to clean out our gutters if we want them to function well and we need to change out our air filters for the same reason- proper function. But what about these secret tasks? Thankfully, the folks at realtor.com didn’t leave us in the dark. Here are some of the home maintenance chores we may have overlooked and why it’s beneficial to add them to the list of tasks!
Simple to Stunning: Refinished Floors
Piggy Bank: Lessons from the Rich Do your kids think that you are totally the coolest? Unless they are under the age of 9, likely you are shaking your head no. Let’s put it this way, when you tell them that they don’t need the pair of $120 designer jeans, do they roll their eyes and assume that you don’t know what it is like to be cool? It’s okay you aren’t alone in this. When I came across “11 Frugal Habits of the Super Rich”, I thought, “hey, now I have some ammo”. If you too need to be able to tell your child that Beyoncé likes to save money or Mark Zuckerberg (the founder of Facebook) wears the same thing all the time then you are in the right place! Below is a list of 11 frugal habits of the super-rich:
Spring has (almost) Sprung Who has heard of Pinterest? Even now, typing that question almost makes me laugh out loud. Perhaps a better question is who hasn’t heard of Pinterest? With Spring right around the corner my Pinterest app is full of flowers, dresses and bunnies. One thing we can always count on is for the “Pinners” (people who use Pinterest) of this world to help determine what trends are on the horizon. The Huffington Post turned to them to see what home décor trends we can expect for the Spring and I thought I’d share.
Tax Deductions When Selling It’s that time of year when CPAs (certified public accountants) trade in week night family dinners for quick take out options… that’s right! Tax Time! Some people love it because they get a nice chunk of change back from Uncle Sam via a refund, whereas others who owe taxes, are less enthused. No matter the category you find yourself in, the goal tends to be the same; keep as much money in your pocket as possible! So, when I came across an article on Realtor.com that touted, “5 Sweet Tax Deductions When Selling Your Home”, I knew I had to share!
Dreams of Backyard Entertaining I have the itch. I dream of the sweet taste of lemonade, the hearty smell of charcoal, and have visions of fireflies dancing in my head! I’m ready for summer but specifically for entertaining in my backyard—having friends over to enjoy good food and build memories—ahh I can’t wait! Who’s with me!? I thought today we could add to the itch by checking out some of the internet’s favorite backyard entertaining ideas.
Simple to Stunning: 100-Year-Old House Many of the rooms and projects I share on our Simple to Stunning are smaller ones that can be done with little demo and often can be taken on by savvy DIY’ers, however, today I thought I would showcase a total overhaul done on a home by one of my home reno bloggers, John and Sherry from Young House Love. They have lots of great ideas and their blog is written in such an entertaining way that you will likely spend at least an hour looking through their many pages of projects!
Piggy Bank: 4 Things to Discuss Stephanie at Six Figures Under shared what I think is the greatest illustration about our thinking behind financial training; “If you were totally new to knitting, but wanted to learn how to make the cute washcloths your friend was always making, would you want her to give you a general overview and not bother you with specifics or would you want her to sit down with you and show you her secrets step-by-step?”. Genius, am I right? For so many of us, we use general terms and overviews without getting into the nitty gritty of finances. But the more knowledge and experience we can give our kids the more successful they are likely to be, this is especially true when it comes to their financial future.
Flooded Basement? Our corporate office, located in Frankfort, KY, has seen one of the wettest February’s on record. According to US Climate Data, the average precipitation is 3.07 inches for February but we have seen almost 10.5 inches of rain this past month, beating out the record of 9.84 inches established in 1884. Many near the Ohio River and other waterways are dealing with major flooding but for residents across the area, many are dealing with water in their basement.