If you own a house, you are almost certainly very proud of it. It is your castle or your nest, the place you return to at night, where you raise you children and where you are at your safest and happiest. At least that should be the goal to which you aspire. But homes can have the ability to cause stress and discomfort - especially financially. Mortgages and insurances, utilities and repairs all add up quickly and can land you at the bottom of a hole before you know it. So how do you avoid that and still suck the marrow out of your property? Here are a few ideas...
Entertain Set your house up to be a place for entertaining. This is really quite simple and can be done easily. A fridge with beers, a television and some cheap outdoor furniture Sydney and other cities have plenty of places that sell this; and you are sorted. In short, if you have a great place to hang out, your friends will come to visit, you will make memories and it will hardly cost you anything.
Focus on the little things One of the biggest temptations when owning a property is to try and fix it up too quickly. If you don't have the money wholesale renovations are not the way to go. Rather just spend on what you can afford and slowly but surely improve your at-home experience. By way of example, you may feel that you need to redo the whole bathroom. This will be very expensive. You could instead buy a new shower head and some taps and maybe a trendy bath-mat or laundry basket. Throw in a plant or two and suddenly your bathroom feels like new and your bank balance is not badly affected.
Stay on top of the garden An unkempt garden can very quickly lead to a house feeling derelict and decaying. Unlike a house a garden needs constant attention. Because the garden is outside it is usually the first thing you see when arriving home or that guests will see when coming to visit. And a nice house in a tatty garden always seems worse than a run-down house in a beautiful garden. It might be psychological, but it has been shown in studies to be the case. Fortunately, gardens are quite easy to maintain - either do it yourself or pay somebody to do it for you, just make sure that you are always on top of things.
Light A house that is light and airy is a house that is comfortable to be in. Make sure that your place is not dark and dank by employing simple techniques like skylights, blinds or, if necessary, increasing the size of a few windows. These should not be changes that are too difficult to implement but they will definitely enhance your living experience and not cripple you financially. A strategically placed mirror or a feature wall, painted in a nice bright colour can also have the desired effect of bringing a feeling of light and space to your realestate.
Entertain Set your house up to be a place for entertaining. This is really quite simple and can be done easily. A fridge with beers, a television and some cheap outdoor furniture Sydney and other cities have plenty of places that sell this; and you are sorted. In short, if you have a great place to hang out, your friends will come to visit, you will make memories and it will hardly cost you anything.
Focus on the little things One of the biggest temptations when owning a property is to try and fix it up too quickly. If you don't have the money wholesale renovations are not the way to go. Rather just spend on what you can afford and slowly but surely improve your at-home experience. By way of example, you may feel that you need to redo the whole bathroom. This will be very expensive. You could instead buy a new shower head and some taps and maybe a trendy bath-mat or laundry basket. Throw in a plant or two and suddenly your bathroom feels like new and your bank balance is not badly affected.
Stay on top of the garden An unkempt garden can very quickly lead to a house feeling derelict and decaying. Unlike a house a garden needs constant attention. Because the garden is outside it is usually the first thing you see when arriving home or that guests will see when coming to visit. And a nice house in a tatty garden always seems worse than a run-down house in a beautiful garden. It might be psychological, but it has been shown in studies to be the case. Fortunately, gardens are quite easy to maintain - either do it yourself or pay somebody to do it for you, just make sure that you are always on top of things.
Light A house that is light and airy is a house that is comfortable to be in. Make sure that your place is not dark and dank by employing simple techniques like skylights, blinds or, if necessary, increasing the size of a few windows. These should not be changes that are too difficult to implement but they will definitely enhance your living experience and not cripple you financially. A strategically placed mirror or a feature wall, painted in a nice bright colour can also have the desired effect of bringing a feeling of light and space to your realestate.
