At the Fence

Enlarging your home is a great way to add value, give yourself more space, and make better use of the house. While the expense can be huge, the reality for most people is that it is dwarfed by the costs of actually changing homes. However, if you do plan on remodelling your home - whether it’s adding a room up, down or out - you need be aware of a few different things. Read on to find out more about the expansion issues you can’t ignore. Let’s get started right away! Pic from Pixabay.com Signing Off It’s amazing, but even in this day and age, there are people who decide to build additional rooms in their home, without getting the proper clearance from the local authorities. Even though restrictions can be pretty lax in some states, the simple truth is that there are constraints. For example, although your plotlines indicate your land, the buildable area is subject to setbacks, to ensure the street and garden space have a sense of uniformity. Ultimately, if you do go ahead with buildi

On Monday, February 26th, Swagbucks is putting up over $10,000 that you can win playing fun trivia games! SwagIQ (available for iPhone and. Android) is a live, multiplayer trivia game show you play from your phone! Each weekday, Swag IQ broadcasts a live game. Simply tune-in at the appointed time by launching the SwagIQ app and log-in with your Swagbucks account credentials. If you don't have a Swagbucks account, you can  sign up for one here and then download the app ! In celebration of Swagbucks's 10th Birthday, they're going to broadcast 4 shows throughout the day and give away at least $10,000! It will likely be more since the more people who sign-up via SwagIQ prior to each game, the bigger the grand prize! 1st Game Show: 1:00 PM Eastern Time/10:00 AM Pacific Time. Grand Prize: at least $1500. 2nd Game Show: 4:00 PM Eastern Time/1:00 PM Pacific Time. Grand Prize: at least $2000. 3rd Game Show: 7:00 PM Eastern Time/4:00 PM Pacific Time. Grand Prize: at least $2500

Maintaining your home can get pretty pricey, that is no secret. Because of this, most of us put off repairs and maintenance for as long as we can, so that we can still afford to pay the bills and put food on the table each month. However, some household problems shouldn’t be pushed into the future. If you do, you could end up paying even more money, which, as we’ve already established, is something that you can’t afford to do. Here are some of these jobs that you really can’t afford to put off. From 1. Damaged Roof Your roof is there to keep your home protected from the elements, and if it’s not doing that properly, you have a problem. Even a little leak in your roof can lead to mold or even flooding that can destroy your property and cause electrical problems . Although the leak may be small, fixing a roof is a dangerous job, so don’t be tempted to do it yourself. Always call a professional, to keep yourself safe. They might also identify other roof problems that need immediate atten

Unfortunately, when you move to a new home you will sometimes find different people and different services that you work with will seek to rip you off in some form or another.  You can stop this from happening by simply refusing to let it happen. To see how to stop yourself from being ripped off during a new move, make sure to read on. Image source Get the home you are moving into professionally surveyed Before you move into your new home it is imperative that you have it surveyed. It is important because somewhere along the line there might be an some aspect of the home that is not noticeable or not as it should be, and whether you know about it or not, once you officially take the home on as your own these problems become yours. Thus, the need to pay for these problems to be fixed becomes your problem too. So, to save yourself from inheriting a home that has something wrong with it, make sure to get it professional surveyed before you move into it. What a surveyor should do is che

Want to earn money while answering fun trivia questions? SwagIQ (available for iPhone and. Android) is a live, multiplayer trivia game show you play from your phone! Each weekday, Swag IQ broadcasts a live game. Simply tune-in at the appointed time by launching the SwagIQ app and log-in with your Swagbucks account credentials. If you don't have a Swagbucks account, you can  sign up for one here and then download the app ! Our game show host will then ask a series of multiple-choice trivia questions. You’ll have 10 seconds to answer each one. Get it right; you get SB and move on. Answer them all correctly and you can win a grand prize! If more than one player wins, the winners split the grand prize.  Get it wrong; still play along. Some questions have an SB award attached to them. If you answer those questions correctly, you get those SB, even if you’re out of the running for the big money. And, if you’re in a groove but miss a question, you’ll have the option to rejoin a gam

My sisters and I recently took a rather extended road trip from western Illinois to Tampa, Florida where we boarded a cruise ship for a 5 day Caribbean adventure. On our way, we were able to stop and get a taste of downtown Nashville, Tennessee with a visit to the Omni Nashville . We pulled in around 4:00 in the afternoon, and were greeted by an employee who offered to help with luggage, parking, et cetera. From the moment you step foot (or drive) onto Omni Nashville property, you will feel pampered. I wasn't even allowed the chance to open the front doors, as a bellhop hurried over to hold the door for me going in and out. Checking in was an easy process, with Paul making sure that I knew all the necessary details including parking, the need for a key to access certain floors via the elevator, and offered assistance if I had any questions later on. Our guest room was quite a delight. A plush king-sized bed, a corner couch, desk for any business you might need

People have been giving each other gifts for a very long time. In the early days of society, expressing your appreciation for someone was a much simpler job, with very few options out there for people to choose from. In most cases, gifts of the past would either be food or money. With few options available, people started to build rules for their presents, with each item having its own reason to be given. Nowadays, things have changed, and you have a lot more choice in this area. In reality, though, a lot of people still care about tradition when it comes to the gifts they receive, and will be unhappy if they don’t get what they want. ( Image Source ) Birthday Milestones The first area to consider will be the most common event which occurs in people’s lives. Birthdays are very important, and most people will be very excited for certain milestones which are significant in life. Below, you can find some examples of these times, along with the gifts which people often give with them

Picture Credit You may be beginning to notice that increasing numbers of animals are encroaching on your land and becoming more comfortable in close proximity to your home. While this may be amusing at first, as everyone crowds round to see the newest furry visitor to your garden, you’re likely to start noticing that having wildlife on your land can be a little troublesome. Not only do wild animals make a mess (perhaps leaving faeces, digging holes, or damaging different areas of your property), but they could also prove intimidating if you have smaller children or pets. It’s important to understand the reason that they are becoming increasingly brazen in their behaviour and habits. Humans are constantly encroaching on these creatures’ natural habitats. We are destroying their homes in order to use the land to create our own. What’s more? Even if they animals stray further afield to keep at bay from human-inhabited areas, they’re struggling to find sufficient food to survive. The

Image Credit Whether you are worried about your children’s safety, your own, or you just find you are concerned for the home itself, it is important that you want to try and keep your home as safe along with the people in it. Keeping their home safe and secure is something that everyone wants, but relatively few people really do what is necessary to make it happen. The truth is that there are a number of forgotten elements which you should consider if you want to make your home as safe as possible, and it is a good idea to make sure that you have crossed these off your list if you are starting to worry about your home security. In this article, we are going to look through just a few ideas, so that you can be in a better position to keep your home - and your family, and yourself - as safe as possible. Security Systems Although you might not consider it essential, it is nonetheless important that you treat your home to the best security system you can afford. It can actually be quite s

Hey neighbors!! We recently had the opportunity to visit the St. Louis Zoo .  Yes, it is winter, but we managed to hit one of those weekends where there was no snow, and you could actually go outside without a jacket.  It was actually pretty nice out, and apparently some other St. Louis residents thought so too!  I was amazed to find out that the zoo is free.  Yes, I said FREE!  There are some options you have to pay for, but to wander the zoo and see the animals is totally free.  A few things there is a fee for is their train, which will take you to different areas of the park.  Yes, we took advantage of this to get from one side of the park to the other.  Nice little ride, that gives you a chance to just sit back and enjoy the view.  A few shows and tours also require a fee. I honestly enjoyed the Saint Louis Zoo, more than many other zoos we have visited.  The paths are laid out with enough room, to allow several people going in opposite directions.  There are plenty of signs so