Buying your first home or upgrading to more square footage can be exciting, bur furnishing the new space can give you anxiety on an already stretched budget. Furnitures can get crazy expensive, especially when investing in designer or heirloom pieces isn’t always feasible. With SO many shopping options available, it can be easy to be sucked into a spending hole, but you don’t have to! Here are some affordable suggestions for smart, easy ways to save cash and furnish your new home.

Figure out which furnitures you need. If you cannot afford the furnish your rooms one at a time, then start with the furnitures you need first and add to them as you can afford more. Once you have purchased your most important items, you can start looking at the next important items to purchase, such as nightstands, side tables, dressers, or mirrors.

Buy used furnitures. Craigslist, eBay, or Facebook Marketplace can be excellent for finding used goods. There are other options such as Letgo, an app that locals find used items near them, and Chairish has options design freaks will love! Be sure to keep an eye out for yard sales for pieces as well!

Pay attention to the fabric. Natural fibers or fabrics are preferable, but most synthetics mixed in can make it more durable and stain resistant. Buying fabrics mixed in with synthetics can help keep it more affordable but be sure to consider the quality; by checking whether it still has the natural look and feel.

Furnitures with multiple functions. A stool can be used both as seating and as a handy end table. A bar stool can be used as extra kitchen storage or makeshift bookshelf. A daybed can be used as a bed and switched into a couch at the same time. These practical furniture pieces will not only fulfill your needs, but you get two pieces of furniture (or more) in the cost of one!

Consider your lifestyle. If you have kids or pets, you’re choosing a piece for a high traffic area. Smaller furniture pieces that are out of the way are most recommended. As stated before, half synthetic indoor or outdoor fabrics are durable, versatile, and beautiful.

Shop at the right time. If you have enough stuff to hold you for a short time, consider holding off buying new furniture until you can time it with wonderful sales. Holidays offer great saving opportunities, but new furniture design also debut in spring, so February is also recommended as a good time to go furniture shopping.

Ready to Make Serious Upgrades? Modular Renovation Just Might be the Answer

Homeowner’s have so many choices when it comes to rebuilding or renovating a home, especially older homes. However, many older homes are usually torn and replaced with newer homes. Suppose you have a property you love and don’t want to move, and you want to update the house without the trial of an endless renovation. If that’s the case, you should consider buying a modular home!

Can It Improve Property Value

Many homeowners consider renovating because they want to improve the value of their home. In fact, adding bathrooms, bedrooms, patios, and more can add increase of value to a home! It can also provide some sense of accomplishment because renovation can improve the home’s size, floorplan, purpose, or design so that your home space can be comfortable and functional. This is a sure way to increase the value of your home, and renovating will cotribute to your overall return on investment!

Energy Efficiency

Installing energy-efficient upgrades can not only add value to your modular home, but you can also save on utility costs in the long run. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, improvements like energy-efficient windows, doubling the insulation, and so on can curb energy costs. Renovating is the perfect way for homeowners to add functionality and aesthetics to their property while increasing the value. If you choose the right projects to enhance within your home, such as replacing the doors, windows, or siding will reduce maintenance and utility costs drastically.

Custom Lifestyle

Perhaps you need extra space to accomadate your growing family; renovating can increase your home value but it can also help you upgrade your home to your preferred lifestyle. Maybe you would like to remodel the kitchen to get a gourmet kitchen look, or maybe spruce up the bathroom to look elegant! Whatever it may be, altering your home to suit your needs and tastes are aloteasier than moving to a new home!

We still have a few weeks left of warm weather, but those chilly months are just around the corner. I mean, it’s already mid-August! Cooler temperatures are on their way, and pretty soon falling leaves will serve as a reminder that autumn is approaching. A bit of attention now will save costly repairs and aggravation later, so here are some tips to start prepping now!

Cozy Bedding. The holidays are around the corner, now it’s time to take down those comforters, cotton sheets, and knits out of wherever you store them! When those icy nights come, you’ll have your blankets ready to go. There’s nothing worse than twisting and turning in the freezing cold night, wishing you had your warmest blanket.

Clean Out Your Gutter. This isn’t an enjoyable job, but everyone should do this annually. Inspect your roof for damaged shingles, flashing, or vents. You can also inspect the chimney for missing mortar.

Inspect Doors and Windows. Check weather stripping by opening the door and placing a piece of paper in the entryway; then closing the door. The paper should not be able to slide back and forth so easily; but if it does, you may need to recheck the windows and doors casings.

Stock Up on Firewood. Now is the best time to start your firewood pile! When the winter months roll in, you’ll be glad you stocked up. Perhaps you should invest in a firewood rack, and a carrier to transfer the wood from the outside to the inside.

Inspect the Boiler or Furnace. It’s good to make sure things run smoothly when the weather begins to drop! Change the filters on the furnace regularly, throughout the seasons. It can keep energy costs low and keep things less costly.

Regular Home Safety. For extra measure, replace the batteries in your smoke alarms or carbon monoxide monitors. Review your family escape plan and put together an emergency kit so that you are ready for outages during the cold, winter seasons.

Being on Your Own

Today, more young adults are living at home with their parents than any other time in history, according to the Pew Research Center. Since millennials now have a huge consumer influence in various industries, they begin to make up some of the prime consumers of products now that they’re all entering the workforce. However, millennials have notices that rent rates are high. Millennials also share different obstacles in obtaining a home ownership than those who came before them. Many first-time home buyers possess the household income to qualify the home ownership but struggle to save money for a down payment due to lingering debts. There are lower supplies available, affordable houses and a large pool of active buyers is driving up not only the competition, but prices as well. This just isn’t the most practical way of living in their eyes. They are the largest group of home buyers, which mean they consume quite a bit of power in the commercial world; so why not put hard earned into something comforting, and affordable that meets both their wants AND needs in a home?

Small Modular Homes

2,200 sq. ft homes are the size of the average new site-built home. Yet, there is a small but rapidly growing new home buyer demographic that is looking to go smaller. This group is not looking for big homes, they are scouring Google for smaller homes that under 1,000 sq. ft with unique features. Now they are turning to modular homes in increasing numbers.

Benefits of Modular Homes for Millennials

• Affordable: One of the biggest struggles of being a millennial is being a first-time home buyer. They have had less time to save for major purchases, or even build good credit. With modular homes, millennials will often find them more affordable and cost efficient.
• Freedom: Whether it was a landlord, residence hall, or living with parents, millennials have been living under someone else’s roof. Being a homeowner means privacy, comfortability, and freedom. Perhaps it’s time for millennials to break free and make the rules in their own homes, instead of following someone else’s!
• Greener Homes: If you’re a millennial who cares about the environment, modular homes are the right option for you. We can assure that most of our manufactures create less waste, better use of resources, and better use of cost savings when building your modular home; millennial buyers, we are happy to let you know that every home was built by people who care about the planet as much as you do.
• No Competition: When you are looking for a traditional, site-built home, you must compete with other buyers. Why not skip over the stress by choosing a new modular home? Home buyers can just choose a home suited uniquely for them, free of anyone else buying it before they can!
• Custom Design: Depending on the model or manufacturer, millennial home buyers can potentially access variety of customization options. Their new home can fit their personal needs, wants, and style if they’d like!
• Lifetime Investment (It’s A Good Thing!): Mortgage can be anxiety inducing, but it is also be an investment for the future that’s paid every month! Perhaps you don’t have a family yet, you can start planning early by already having a quality home ready for when it’s your time to parent!

Showcase Homes Can Help You

Simply put, Showcase Homes can meet all the items on millennials’ wish lists, while helping them save more money.

What Do They Do?

Most people would think that the purpose of rain gutters it to protect the side of their home, but actually it’s to protect the home’s foundation by channeling the water away from the foundation. If it was otherwise, the water that’s running off the roof will dig a ditch within the sides of the foundation, and as more water soaks through the ground, water could potentially work through the foundation. If you choose not to install rain gutters, excavators will take extra care, so all sides slope away from your home; however, this isn’t as effective as installing rain gutters.

The gutters are also helpful for protecting the exterior of your modular home, especially from back splash stain and rot. They also help shield your landscaping as well as reduce erosion. Gutters can protect windows and doors from water infiltration. Gutters are especially helpful for preventing leaks around thresholds of exterior doors. Without the gutters, the doors on the exterior will be pounded with the pouring rain during heavy storms.

Homes without gutters are much more likely to have a leaky exterior door or a damp (or flooded) basement. Perhaps even both!

Material

Gutters can come in 4 materials.

• Vinyl: Vinyl gutters are lightweight and easiest to install; you can even do it by yourself! They’re also the least expensive. They won’t chip, dent, or corrode; but they can potentially become very brittle in extreme cold.

• Steel: Steel gutters are the sturdiest, which means they can support ladders and falling branches without damage. However, they require the most maintenance and can rust if the water does not drain properly.

• Aluminum: Aluminum gutters are the most popular because they don’t rust. They can dent and bend from too much weight, very powerful winds, or falling debris.

• Copper: Copper gutters are very attractive, durable, never rust, and never needs painting. They have a 75+ year life-time and will oxidize to a pretty green color. However, they are the most expensive, and are a target among thieves.

You should regularly examine whether the gutters are fully attached to your house, as they can pull away from the roof due to the weight of snow, ice, branches, and small animals.