Posted by M.S. on July 1, 2009
Want to have lots of fun this 4th of July and save some money at the same time?
Be sure and check out the guest posts I have been writing for the Charlotte Observer Newspaper in a series called “Hot Summer Savings, 2 Weeks to Save You Money”.
Read about lots of money savings ideas including how to get free money through coupons and discounts, travel the world without breaking the bank, and undertake a fabulous and frugal home makeover.
Read about the terrific items I found on a recent visit to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
Included is this brand new pedestal sink for $ 22! Wow!
It’s time to get going on that bathroom project!
I LOVE this fabulous Black chest of drawers I found for $ 25!
Give a room a whole new look for very little money!
Read much more at the Charlotte Observer.
Posted by M.S. on June 22, 2009
Did you know for most people, their single largest investment is their home?
Would it surprise you to know the 2 areas that home buyers focus on most when searching for real estate are the kitchen and the master suite, which includes the master bedroom and the bathroom?
Don’t you think you have a better chance to sell or rent your home if you have a spa bathroom? Of course you do!
Come along as I show you step by step how I recently achieved that spa feeling for very little money!
Creating the drama of a spa bathroom is simple when you use the same techniques that fancy resort spas and hotels use when furnishing their spaces.
Every elegant spa bathroom must have a beautiful bench beside the tub for holding a luxurious bathrobe or your pjs. That’s a great place to start!
If you are going to have a spa bathroom, you simply must have candles and warm fluffy towels. Add some dramatic candles in rich candlesticks to cast a warm romantic glow. Place the fluffy towels right beside the tub to complete the look.
Green plants give that touch of nature and you are on your way to creating a peaceful oasis! It is the details that really make the difference!
Not only is your fantastic spa bathroom a restful retreat, it will add to the value of your home since everyone loves a gorgeous bathroom!
Take a look at the frugal yet fabulous ways you can furnish your bathroom retreat!
I started with this dramatic 3-tiered rack that came from Ross Stores and was only $19.99. Place on the corner of the tub for extra storage and load it up with all the goodies!
The height of the piece gives additional space, allowing you to add everything you might need!
The plants are from Michael’s at $2.99 a piece and the designer towels were purchased on closeout at one of my favorite stores, TJ Maxx for $3.99 each!
No spa bathroom would be complete without a terrific vanity with a comfortable seat! What a terrific addition to the space!
This upholstered bench looks totally custom but was actually found at TJ Maxx, for only $24.99! You can’t beat that!
This gorgeous wrought iron bench looks just like one I saw at the luxury store, Frontgate! But this one was only $19.99 at a local Ross Store.
You have to love that!
Give your bathroom a professionally decorated look by creating an elegant yet simple window treatment.
Simply drape a neutral length of fabric over elegant decorative brackets, and Voila! You are in business!
It’s great to have a
tiered shelf to hold all the supplies you would find in a spa bathroom.
This one was located at Ross Stores for only $39.99.
The wrought iron with wicker design adds texture to the space, something interior designers know adds to the luxury!
Look at the dramatic effect a little effort can give you on your largest appreciating asset– your home!
As you soak in the tub in your new spa bathroom, think of all the money you will make from your elegant bathroom makeover!
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Check out my guest posts in the Hot Summer Savings series in the Charlotte Observer newspaper.
Posted by M.S. on June 9, 2009
Would you be interested to learn exactly how to make up to $500,000 TAX FREE doing makeovers on real estate?
I thought so!
Did you know that since 1997, up to $250,000 in profit ($500,000 for a married couple) on the sale of a home, is exempt from taxation if you have lived in the home as your principal residence for two out of the last five years?
A friend of mine told me several years ago she and her husband have done this exact thing many times and she showed me step by step exactly how they accomplished this. These ideas have been incorporated into my own homes and I will showcase the process I used over the next several weeks.
Basically, the right house must meet specific criteria. The property must have great potential as a primary residence, be in a terrific location and need a makeover. Increase the market value of the real estate by adding character & value through improvements, landscaping and decorating. In essence, make it look like a model home.
Live in it for 2 years, market the heck out of it, sell it and repeat the process! You can do this too! Especially in the current real estate market where there are fabulous deals!
Today, we demonstrate great ways to add value to your home with inexpensive & easy to do custom window treatments and blinds.
We purchased these faux wood blinds that fit on the inside of each window segment and are very easy to install. The length of the blind is adjustable by removing slats from the bottom that are not needed . This creates the custom look, since they fit exactly.
The US Post Office sent us a packet of coupons when we moved into our new home that included a 10% coupon good at Home Depot, which Lowe’s will also honor. We purchased all of the blinds with this coupon!
Our front door has a fan shaped window above the door and 2 very thin side windows. Custom blinds would have been required for this configuration and there was NO WAY I was going to pay $1,200, which is the quote I received from a blind company.
Instead, I bought 2 queen sized white bed sheets for $ 9 total, perfect because they are large with no seams, and I made simple pockets in each end.
I cut a wooden dowel rod to make tiny custom curtain rods and held them in place with 10¢ cup hooks from the hardware store.
The curved fan window treatment was very simple to make, using the same design with a bedsheet and sewing a rod pocket at each end. I measured the distance between the top edge of the window to the bottom edge and simply pieced together one long rectangle that I made pockets at each end and threaded through a $ 3 plastic drainage tube.
I used tubing because it’s pliable and it will curve. Pretty clever huh? I found this tubing in the garden department of the hardware store.
Voila a custom window treatment!
That would cost $500 to have a designer create that for you!
A door that leads to the patio has a long slender window. This time I used an aluminum blind purchased on sale at Wal-Mart, removed the extra slats at the bottom and it looks totally custom!
Home buyers love to be able to walk right into a property that looks like a Model Home and not do a thing!
They don’t know that you used inexpensive techniques to enhance and stage the property, so the value of your improvements goes right into your selling price!
You are making it easy for buyers to LOVE your property and thanks to a little effort, you are on your way to making great tax free money!
Posted by M.S. on June 8, 2009
There was a great personal finance article in today’s Wall Street Journal called “When I was Your Age“.
The article features prominent people recalling the best—and worst— financial advice they received as new college graduates.
I believe you can learn almost everything you want to know from people that have already done it successfully!
Included in the survey were David Bach, author of the best-selling FinishRich books, Paula Deen, restaurant owner, author and Food Network host, and Robert Kiyosaki, businessman and author of the best-selling “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” books.
David Bach told how he had learned the value of hard work and purchasing a home while in his 20’s. I agree wholeheartedly with what he said regarding how hard work and saving in your 20s and 30s can determine your future! Amen to that!
Ask all the broke 50 and 60 year old people if they regret not saving and investing when they were young, now that they are running out of time to build their wealth!
Paula Deen learned the value of heeding the advice to do what you love–which was cooking! Look at what a fabulous success she has made of that!
Mary L. Schapiro, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said her parents warned her about getting into debt. She listened to them on that point, but regrets not getting into the habit of saving right away. Her advice to grads is to fully understand the implications of debt and what it will take to repay the loan.
Probably my favorite is from Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, president of the Charles Schwab Foundation. She said the best advice she heard was to live frugally and save for a rainy day. She suggests living off 90% of your income and save the other 10%. I would aim for saving more than that!
Look at how compounding interest on your saved money grows over time so you get wealthy.
You will be SO glad you saved, when you are fishing, while your friends are still working!
Posted by M.S. on May 28, 2009
This morning I came across a very interesting article in the online edition of the New York Times called Design on a Shoestring. I am always searching for articles about decorating to maximize both the comfort and value of my home and investment properties, so this one caught my eye.
The article was about a couple that had completely redone a one bedroom apartment near London and featured a wonderful photo gallery of their great ideas. I was floored when I read they had spent over $10,300 — to re-do a 1,200-square-foot apartment! HOW MUCH??
That’s alot to spend on a 1,200 square foot property! I believe you can achieve the same results for much less money–and we have done it!
When we started buying investment properties 32 years ago, we realized very quickly that if we fixed up the interior and decorated it a bit–we could raise the rents and attract a better quality of tenant!
The amazing thing was- after we were finished living in this property–we were able to rent it FURNISHED for 2 years- and we received $200 more PER MONTH in rent than what we would have gotten for it unfurnished!
That’s almost $ 5,000 extra rent! What a great return on our investment!
Take a look at what elbow grease and almost ALL secondhand furniture and accessories created in this furnished townhome! You can use these ideas for a rental property or to stage your home to sell in this tough economy!
The least expensive and most effective method we found to accomplish that effect was with paint! You can create a warm and inviting mood with a soft neutral (not white) paint color.
Here we painted the living room a soft tan color.
In one bedroom, we used a greyish shade of green, which is also a soft neutral, to give us a fabulous warm romantic feel.
The fabulous custom made upholstered window treatment hanging over the bed was purchased at a Salvation Army store for $10! It matched perfectly!
In another bedroom, we used the same soft tan color that looks marvelous with the elegant duvet cover we bought at TJ Maxx. All the furniture, lamps, headboard, pictures etc in this room were purchased secondhand for practically NO money!
After our tenant of 2 years moved out, we decided to take everything out of the property and rent it unfurnished.
Because we have been so very blessed, we decided that rather than have a big sale and make some money–we gave away every single thing to a charity that donates to people that cannot even afford to buy their items at a Goodwill type store!
They sent a large empty truck and we filled it to the brim!
How cool is that–to be able to share the wealth? I still wonder who is sitting on those chairs now and sleeping in those beds!
Posted by M.S. on May 2, 2009
Were you aware that your credit score is very important to your financial health? Did you know that the better your credit score is, the lower the interest rate when you borrow money?
A credit score is simply a number that represents the risk of lending to someone and is primarily based on credit report information, gathered from credit bureaus.
These days, it is common for mobile phone companies, insurance companies, car dealers, landlords, and even employers to run a credit check to see your credit score. If you pay your bills on time, and pay back money that you have borrowed, lenders see that you are a better risk, so they will give you a lower rate to borrow money. Employers know that people who don’t pay their bills are generally less reliable workers too.
As the the current economic situation has worsened, the Federal Reserve has made decisions that have lowered mortgage rates- especially for people with excellent credit scores, like us. The days of anything goes in mortgage lending are over, and now banks only want to deal with people they know will pay back their loans. As a matter of fact– mortgage lenders WANT to do business with people with great credit! So, protect your credit rating!
We decided to investigate refinancing a rental property and were stunned to learn we could refinance the loan at an amazingly low rate of 4.99%! The best part is the payment will stay fixed at that low rate for 30 years, although we plan to pay it off faster than that, while hopefully the rents will increase over time, along with the value of the property. Same property, same basic loan amount, different payment.
Lowering the rate saved us almost $ 100 a month on the mortgage payment, which we will apply directly to the principal each month.
In essence–that is free money!
Take a look at How Refinancing Would Give You Free Money
Posted by M.S. on April 26, 2009
In 1977, after having just gotten married after graduating from college, we were DEAD BROKE– and we didn’t intend to stay that way for long!
We both have degrees in Business and learned that through hard word, perseverance and frugal living it is possible to save and invest to build wealth, especially when you start young.
Our quest to get rich began when we had a fateful conversation with a friend of ours named Pat. In the course of visiting with Pat, he casually mentioned that he needed to drive over to his 4 investment properties and pick up the monthly rents! Pat was the same age as us, 23, and he already owned 4 duplexes! We were stunned! How could this be??
Over the years, I learned something that that has served me well! When I see someone accomplishing something I would like to do too, I ASK them directly– How Did You Do That?? So I asked Pat to explain how he accomplished this amazing feat!
Pat said– It was easy! He told us he saved like crazy by setting a very strict budget based on the money he made at his job at an insurance agency and, because he wanted to accomplish his goals quickly, he supplemented his income by working at his family’s sweet corn business- so he could save more.
Pat’s family had financed all 5 children’s college educations through the selling of sweet corn at a farm stand on the side of the road in the summertime! They all worked very hard and made lots of money that was split between each child!
Pat decided to defer his spending and build his wealth NOW by saving a large percentage of what he earned and use that money as a down payment on investment properties. When he purchased a property, Pat would move into each duplex, so it was considered owner occupied and he only needed to put 10% down. He then would repeat the process!
He’d save the money, move into the property, live there while he continued to save for the next property and buy another property and move into it! Then, Pat rented the entire property he had just vacated. He did that 4 times!
We said WE CAN DO THAT TOO! And we did it!
While aggressively saving money from our jobs, we also took on piecemeal assembly work for my company that we did at home on the weekends so we could save even more! We didn’t sell sweet corn, but we utilized the same concept. Take on extra work and save all that extra income!
At the end of our first year, we bought our first piece of real estate!
We were on our way!
Posted by M.S. on April 25, 2009
During the early years of my money journey, I discovered a virtual gold mine. That gold mine was garage sales–which I now absolutely LOVE!
I had the extreme good fortune of having a very creative and fun mother-in-law, who happened to LOVE going to garage sales with her friends for cheap entertainment and to get GREAT bargains.
The impression I had of garage sales at the time was not favorable–alright, I admit it–I had a very negative image of them. I thought the stuff was all JUNK no one wanted. Boy was I wrong! (Although there is almost always some junk in each garage sale.)
My negativity evaporated when my mother in law pulled out the cool items she had purchased on her latest rounds of “rummaging” trips. I was floored at what she could buy for a nickel, 25 or 50 cents! She had items from Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma that looked BARELY used and she had paid 25 cents for them! She snagged high-end clothing items for herself and grandchildren that were 50 or 75 cents! She had a wide variety of stuff she had gotten for practically NO money–and I was intrigued! I had to find out what this was all about!
I started to tag along on her treasure hunts and was delighted to learn I could get all the furniture and accessories I needed to decorate and upgrade our duplexes at garage sales! I got an even better deal because I drove up in my older, unassuming “ugly” car- so it looked like I needed a super cheap deal, driving this old car (see earlier post).
Remember—we were trying to aggressively save—so every PENNY mattered! The less we spent—the more we saved and the more we could invest!
Tables, lamps, dishes, clothing—you name it–they are all available at garage and estate sales for practically NO money! I was HOOKED!
Over the years, these treasures increased the comfort and value of our personal home, as well as the rental real estate. Soon, my overflowing home loaded with frugal treasures caught the eye of the Discovery Channel and they featured a tour of our home on their top ranked Decorating Show. They even flew me to Hollywood, where I demonstrated my frugal decorating techniques in their studio!
In 1998, I discovered eBay as the perfect place to sell the overflow of my accumulated treasures, and I have operated a successful eBay business ever since as a stay at home Mom, making money, generating over 4,000 Positive Feedbacks and shipping goodies all over the world.
I continue to sell on eBay and am now one of the top ranked Education Specialists in the U.S., trained by eBay, as I teach other people how to sell on eBay! eBay is a terrific business for me and it is for YOU too!
Garage sales were a super deal back then–and they STILL are a fabulous source for great stuff for almost NO money! And you are being kind to the environment by recycling!
Spring is here! Get going to the garage sales!
I’ll see you there!
Posted by M.S. on April 24, 2009
When we were married in 1977, after graduating from college, our entire savings was $500.
We promptly spent that $ 500 on a used and functional (but very ugly) pea-green colored Plymouth Duster car. You know the type—similar to the one on the Dukes of Hazards. The “ugly” car worked fine and got me where I wanted to go. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t new, but it worked.
My husband was a salesman, so his company gave him a car. So—at that point we had 2 great cars at a total cash outlay of $ 500. Not bad. But, now we were BROKE.
Both my husband and I had majored in Business is college because it gave us a marketable skill (we could get a job) and it would help us understand the workings of personal finance and building wealth. We learned that rich people do things differently than people that were always struggling to pay the bills.
The # 1 thing that has influenced ALL our buying decisions is this: Whenever possible, spend your money on items that will go UP in value—not on things that go DOWN in value. Thus–the $ 500 “ugly” car. It would have been throwing money in the garbage can to buy a brand new expensive car! We wanted to BE rich– not just LOOK Rich!
Our goal was to purchase real estate as soon as possible to build equity and have a place of our own. That required some serious saving for a down payment. We figured we needed to save more than 10% on a $ 70,000 purchase price for all the costs . That meant we would need to save approximately $ 12,000 by the end of ONE YEAR–that’s $ 1,000 a MONTH.
Considering we were each only earning about $ 14,000 a year in 1977—that was almost 50% of our pay we wanted to save!
AND WE DID IT!
Not only did we do it ONCE—we repeated that procedure 3 times in a 5-year period!
The primary motivator behind our intense saving effort was we did NOT want to rent an apartment more than one year—since the rent money was making the landlord rich—not us.
We bought duplexes rather than single-family homes because we could own, rent and control a larger value property. We would rent half the building, until we moved out, then we’d rent it all, so the tenants were paying the mortgage off! What a deal! Frugal to Rich!
