Tag Archives: house
Making Your New Older House Feel Like Home
With home and mortgage prices still greatly reduced around the country, many people are taking advantage of the market and buying their first homes. For most buyers, a first home is usually a bit older and often in need of some upgrades and repairs. However if you have purchased a beautiful older home and are now concerned that you might need to spend thousands of dollars in upgrades to make your new home comfortable and inviting, do not fret.
There are many ways that you can begin to add upgrades to your new older home without breaking the bank.
Install storm windows & doors: Storm doors and windows can add a great layer of protection from the elements for your home. For many older homes, storm windows can pay for themselves by saving you money on your heating bill. They will also make your home far more comfortable over the winter months by keeping out the drafts.
Seal drafts: One of the cheapest ways that you can help keep your new home toasty warm is by keeping the heated air from drifting out of cracks around windows, doors, and wall plugs. Install new weather stripping around your doors to help prevent cold drafts. Check out the selection of draft fixes at your local home improvement store for your particular needs.
Paint: A fresh coat of paint can brighten up an older home and make it look far more inviting than the 20 year old paint job that you bought the home with. Fresh paint can also help if the previous owners or tenants were smokers. If you are covering up stained or smelly walls, make sure that you talk to the pain expert at your local home improvement store so that you have the proper primer to use under your paint for best results.
Install water saving devices: Depending on how old your home is and how much you can afford, there are a variety of water saving features that you can use in your home to cut down on the amount of water you are using which can save you both on your water bill and your water heating costs. A new energy efficient hot water tank might be a bit pricey, but it can save you lots of money in the long run. Other great green options are water saver shower heads and faucets.
Even though it’s not uncommon to be a bit financially strapped when you first buy a home, there are often a few things that you can do to help make your new house feel more like home. See what improvements you can fit in your budget.
How to Get a Good Family Ski Holiday Not Re-Mortgaging the House?
September comes,it has been 6 months to go to the February half term and almost all family accommodation is sold out in the Alps for this week and you want a family ski holiday without re-mortgage the house. Because there are organisations concentrating on a family package catered ski holiday and you must charge 1000 to 1200 pounds per person not including ski hire, lessons or flights . How to solve the difficult situation?
Don’t go at February half term unless you have no option – this is the busiest week of the ski season, the queues are longest and prices are highest. New Year is also expensive. Christmas and Easter are cheaper.
If you have children who are not at school, go in early January or early March – these is the quietest time for chalets in the Alps, queues are short and prices are the lowest. You will get more time skiing, it is easier to get ski instructors and children booked into a crèche.
Don’t buy a standard all in package – Try finding a smaller chalet operator who has links with others for child care – whilst there are many excellent operators who focus on family holidays and offer an all in package, they are generally very expensive. There are some new smaller organisations who have links with others who specialise in: child care, children’s ski lessons and other activities for children, they will help you put together a complete package usually at much lower cost and by doing this you are cutting out the middle man.
Consider going self catered – but use a Chef Service for some meals, and chose self catered accommodation where there are on site friendly staff to help – whilst self catered is a lot cheaper, you don’t want to be on your own without help, for example if one of your children are sick.
Book ski passes in advance and directly with the lift company – Whilst many operators advertise free ski passes, the reality is you can often get ski passes at the best price by booking in advance directly with the lift operator and they buying your accommodation separately. We all know that nothing is free and that the operators have to buy the ski passes.
Book your skis in advance and arrange for fitting at your Chalet – this will save you at least half a day, giving you more time for skiing, whilst this may cost a little more, when you consider the cost of an additional half a day’s skiing, this actually represents a huge saving. Again, often smaller operators can help with this.
Book child care and children’s ski lessons well in advance – these soon become full, at least the good ones do, don’t expect to be able to book at a month’s notice.
Chose France – there are many ski resorts within an hour’s drive of Geneva airport, long flights are not ideal for children, and also add to costs. With the Euro and 1.2 now, France is becoming affordable.
Chose a resort with a ‘Famillie Plus Montagne’ award – these resorts are selected as being the best in France for Families.
An ideal place is Les Gets – it regularly wins awards for the best family ski resort in the world, some of the benefits of Les Gets are:-
* An hour’s transfer from Geneva airport
* Good crèche facilities
* Nanny facilities are available
* Plenty of ski schools who cater very well for children of all ages
* A wonderful children’s ski area
* Other activities for children, such as pottery painting
* Les Gets is a traditional mountain village.
* Not too high – so not subject to difficult weather conditions, yet having a good snow record.
* Les Gets is not a ‘high fashion’ resort and prices are not exorbitant.