CONFESSIONS OF A FAT GIRL

The Smart Way To Maintain Property

Getting The Right Perspective

With any property, one of the most important things you want to do is maintain property value. Your property is essentially an investment, and if you don’t get the most out of that investment, it represents a loss. However, if you’re careful to steward your resources, you’ll find that it results in a gain.

One thing you want to do is be continuously renovating. Renovation is necessary for several reasons. Firstly, it maintains the value of your property at a baseline level. Secondly, it increases that value incrementally. With renovation, you can add new rooms, change existing space, and update your home into modernity.

A great renovation choice revolves around green energy options. It is becoming more and more possible to live off-grid these days, and as a residential owner, there are three ways you can go about it. Solar energy, wind energy, and water energy can all be applied to your property. If you’re in the right spot, you can add all three for around $15k.

Solar is likely to be the most manageable. With solar power, you’re able to decrease your monthly costs in terms of utilities while increasing property value between $10k and $20k depending on your state, and also receiving a tax break (again depending on your state). Such a 3.1 kWh system, if you install it and purchase the components yourself, can be had for $5k or under.

The Other Energy Solutions

The same is true with wind and water energy, but these are a lot more difficult to come by. You need running water, and you need as neighborhood ordinance which will allow you to use wind energy; it’s often restricted. Still, in the right setting, you can install all three for around $15k and see twice that number in property value increase, meaning you make money all around, while retaining redundant off-grid energy independence.

Something else you want to consider in terms of property maintenance is solutions to help fix your issues as they arise. This is especially true when it comes to water damage, which can be hard to identify and easy to overlook, costing tens of thousands of dollars before you even realize there’s an issue.

When it comes to water damage, Restoration Elite can prove an essential tool in helping you recoup your property with peace-of-mind; according to the site: “Having to call a water damage expert can be nerve-wracking…Restoration Elite will make the process of servicing your damages easy as possible. Our team is committed to amazing customer service…”

Sometimes problems that damage your property “water” wise come from HVAC solutions. Maybe your AC unit is leaking down a wall and growing mold, or something of the kind. This can be a costly fix that requires an HVAC professional and a water damage expert.

With that in mind, you’re looking for the same kind of operational ethic when it comes to hiring an HVAC Contractor; according to the 
nked site: “Trust and courtesy may not be the first thing that comes to most people’s mind when it comes to HVAC repairs, but with HVAC contractors, we make sure you get the best treatment along with your service.”

Ensuring You Property Retains Value

If you’ve got a property maintenance program in place which renovates and fixes property as necessary, if you upgrade your property as you become able to do so, and if you fix issues when they arrive using trusted professionals who have the means and resources to take care of you, you’ll be much more likely to retain and expand property value cost-effectively over time.

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Disclosure: This blog post is sponsored content. The author was provided with compensation in exchange for content. All opinions are my own.

Five Life-Changing Smart Living Tips

If you’ve reached a point in your life when you recognize the benefits of apartment living, you may need to cut down on your spending in other areas in order to afford an amazing apartment in a great neighborhood.

As an example, if you’re looking for apartments for rent in Alexandria, you may decide to go the luxury route and rent a high-end apartment. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this as long as you can afford it. If you’re going to struggle, you’ll benefit by cutting down on your spending in other areas.

How can you cut back on your spending? Here are some tips.

1. Always Live within Your Means

By living within your means, we ultimately mean you have to control your expenditures. How so? Well, if you make $5000 a month after taxes, make sure your expenses are $5000 a month at a maximum.

In fact, you’ll be much better off spending $3000 a month and saving the other $2000 for your retirement or a rainy day.

2. Plan Purchases Ahead of Time

Instead of spending money willy-nilly whenever something you like comes across your path, you need to start planning your purchases by spending money methodically instead of doing so whenever the mood strikes. By approaching spending this way, you’ll know exactly what you need and you’ll know exactly when to buy it. This will plug any financial leaks that you have even if you don’t realize they are there.

3. Pay Less for Local Service Providers

This tip mostly pertains to apartment owners that have to pay for their own repairs. Instead of hiring the first plumber you find online, do some research and find as many choices as you can in your community.

Why? By hiring local service providers this way, you’ll meet with multiple companies, get multiple quotes, and ultimately you can choose the best company offering the lowest price. Plumbingfix.com is a great site to find top-notch plumbers providing services right in your community, so use this website whenever you need to hire a plumbing company to fix broken pipes, faucets, etc. in your home.

4. Eat a Whole Food Plant-based Diet

You’ll be hard-pressed to find this tip in a typical frugal/smart living article, but we’re adding it because it’s such a valuable way to save money and protect your health. By eating a whole food plant-based diet, you’ll save lots of money because processed, packaged food is very expensive, and when you prepare your meals from scratch you’ll be able to save over the long run.

Some people may not have enough time to prepare many or all of their meals from scratch, and if this is the case, you may not want to eat this way.

Ultimately though, if you do follow this diet and eat fresh or frozen vegetables, rice, potatoes, corn, beans, greens, and more, you will save a bundle at the grocery store and leave plenty of extra money in your wallet at the same time.

5. Downsizing Your Home

Some of us live in homes completely filled with clutter. We have too many items and we’re addicted to spending money on things we rarely use or need. It’s time to put an end to the madness. Declutter your home and get rid of all the excess stuff you no longer use and never buy anything you’ll never use again.

Conclusion

Smart living doesn’t mean being cheap. It means your conscious of your money, you spend it on things you need and you no longer buy things in excess. Follow these guidelines in your financial life will certainly change for the better.

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Disclosure: This blog post is sponsored content. The author was provided with compensation in exchange for content. All opinions are my own.