Lilac City Momma

Lynn

Important Tips For People Including Real Estate In Their Will

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There is a lot of untrue information out there about estate planning. From thinking estate planning is only for rich people to thinking it’s only for old people reaching the end of their life, there are plenty of myths that need correcting.

It can also be confusing when deciding what and how to include your assets in your will, especially when it comes to tangible real estate.

Here are a few important tips that will help you understand the why and how of including real estate in your will.

Why You Should Include Real Estate in Your Will

If you have investment properties, it is a lot more obvious why you should include these properties in your will, but what if it’s just your current home? It’s just going to get passed down to the immediate member of your family anyway, so why include it in your will?

  • It will prevent your home from getting stuck in probate
  • You can decide exactly who to leave your home to
  • It can prevent squabbling between family members when you’re gone

Have the Value of Your Property Assessed

Once you’ve decided to include your home in your will, you have to have it assessed. It’s a fairly simple process.

A professional assessor will come out to your property and compare it to similar properties in the area. The value they come up with will be a fair market value of your home.

If you don’t agree with the assessment, you can contest the value. It is important to get this assessment right so that it is listed in your will accurately, especially when it comes to this next tip.

Consider Who You Will Be Leaving the Estate To

Next, you have to think about who you will be leaving the estate to. This is a fairly easy decision if you have a living spouse or a single child, but things can get complicated fast if there are many people you might consider leaving your home to.

You can name multiple beneficiaries, as long as you understand that the property will be divided and potentially even sold after your passing by those people.

Tax Considerations

People make a lot of mistakes when it comes to planning a will. One of the biggest is taxes.

There are strategies you can use to reduce the tax burden on your beneficiaries. You can name a joint owner before your passing, so the property simply passes to them without tax considerations. A death deed is also an option.

To make sure you plan for the taxes that will result from your property passing into someone else’s hands, it’s always a good idea to speak with a professional.

Planning a will is a big job. It’s one that deserves to be taken seriously, especially where your home and other properties are concerned. With these tips, you can have greater peace of mind knowing you included your real estate in your will the right way.

Make Family Vacations Easy

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Every family must have some vacation time. However, maintaining that when you are a mommy of two is very hard to do. A lot of things get in the way, and between handling your kids and all the housework, getting it done fast and cheap is a fundamental thing.

Doing a family vacation without the fuss is a crazy matter though, it means you have to put everything on the line and get yourself ready before you hit the road. How do you do it? Here are some of the tips I follow.

  1. Book your vacation homes early

With services like CasaGo now available, you can book your vacation way in advance. This helps you avoid the last-minute worries. It’s near impossible to plan a comfortable trip for the kids if you save the booking process until the very end. Vacation homes can be available for a weekend, or a whole month. Depending on the kind of trip you’re looking for, they can save you a lot of money, and keep the kids happy.

You could always take a look at the “Recommended Rentals” and get yourself the very best place for your vacations.

  1. Figure out the medication you need

If you are going somewhere tropical for the vacation, you might need anti-allergies, or bug bite ointments for your kids. Medicines are necessary and trust me– your family would forget if you let them. So, research about the place you are going to.

  1. Get yourself some travel insurance

We always want to hope nothing bad will happen, but, there’s always a reason to be safe, so, getting yourself insured before traveling is a “must” in my set of ideas. Get travel insurance before you set off on exploring the world with your family to avoid being hit with any major medical bills overseas.

Better safe than sorry!

  1. Bring all the supplies

Planning can be a life-saver if you are going somewhere remote. It’s one of those ideas like buying sunscreen for your beach vacations and getting scarves for when you go to the snow, that makes all the difference in the world.

Get yourself everything you need for the flight and trip, and you can have a lot of fun without worrying about what might happen.

  1. Have a lot of fun

Just because you are planning does not mean you do not get to have fun! Get your kids in a circle and have them plan out what they want to do while they’re away. Build out charts about what you want to see, and the activities you want to do.

With the above tips, I have managed to hold my head above the water through many of our trips. This means I have got enough experience to say that it helps to plan the entire thing out early in advance. There is nothing more than a family vacation where you don’t have to fuss about every single thing.

The Beginner’s Guide To Cooking Meat

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With a few exceptions, meat is a food item that you are free to cook as you wish. Love it juicy, tender, and warm? Cook your steak rare and enjoy it lightly cooked. Prefer to have your meat take on a chewier texture? Fry it until it is well done and seasoned to perfection. At Electricsmokercenter.com, you can learn all about infusing flavor into your meats and cooking it to the perfect texture. As long as your meat is cooked to a safe internal temperature, you can cook it almost any way that you want. Here is a guide that will show you how to cook up various meat in different ways.

The Secret to Tender Pork

Pork can be heated up over a grill, in an oven, or even spit roasted over an open pit. Unfortunately, pork can come with parasites, so it is really important that it gets to just the right temperature inside so that it is safe to eat. The good news is that you can serve up your family a rare pork loin or even barbeque some tender pork ribs without any kind of concern. Cooking any kind of meat requires food preparation safety knowledge, as well as a little know-how when it comes to technique. To be safe, just use a meat thermometer so you can constantly test the internal temperature of your pork products.

Cooking Up a Slab of Beef

Beef can be well done, and in some instances, it isn’t even cooked at all. For example, steak tartare is a mixture of finely chopped beef and spices that is either lightly cooked or served raw. No matter how you and your family are going to enjoy your meal made with beef, you have to either season or marinate your meat first. Seasonings and marinades add flavor, which is what helps to make meat taste savory. If you do decide to eat your beef on the rare side, just be certain that you have taken adequate steps to prepare your meat in a sanitary manner. Eating raw and undercooked meats can potentially put you at risk of food poisoning, salmonella, and E. coli.

Choosing Chicken

The best way to cook chicken is to heat it until it is no longer pink or soft. Overcooked chicken can be tough while undercooked chicken is a danger to humans, and particularly children. Smoking meat over a low fire is a great way to prepare it as it is unlikely to get overcooked and it will also develop a great flavor as it smokes. Always clean all utensils that come into contact with raw chicken both before and after you prepare it.

For the most part, you can’t eat or serve undercooked fish to your family, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go out and enjoy a little sushi. It is always safest to serve meat that is fully cooked, but very few people become sick while enjoying a rare steak or an extra tender slab of pork. Just keep your food preparation areas clean and prep your meat on a separate chopping board to keep everything kosher.

Planning Your Family Motorhome Holiday: A Quick Guide

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Planning a family motorhome holiday is easy, however living with your family in a small enclosure as opposed to the spacious rooms you are used to at home could be a challenge. The freedom of the roads, escaping the city crowds to find a quiet campsite and more are our shared dreams, but if not well planned fraught journeys, awful encampments, overtired kids, and grumpy grown-ups are what we get in contrary. Doing your homework and planning may not help beat all these challenges, but at least you will be prepared to face them to make your holiday run smoothly.

There are many distractions to argue, but you will realize that the experience we get from such holidays outings is supreme. The small living quarters, for instance, shouldn’t be a challenge it should bring you together as a family where you will need to slow down, react less and act together as a team helping each other. Remember that motorhome camping is a dream of many so your objectives should not be limited to just having an enjoyable holiday but also include having a great experience uniquely.

Planning to go on a family Motorhome Holiday

  1. Booking a motorhome beforehand

Whether your options are buying or hiring the camper, you should consider the different layouts available and how they will work with your family. Consider factors such as the size of your family the age of your children and the space available you are sure after a long day of running about in the fresh air you will want some peace later in the day.

  1. Plan your Route

When planning for your motorhome holiday you will realize there are many sites and place to visit it can be a challenge trying to resist them but you need to cut out some and make priorities, and this requires adept route planning. Think about different destinations but also think of places to break the long stretches if you have not gone out on a motorhome it is advisable to choose a location that is close to home. Trying to fix everything into a single day will only make you tired and overwork the kids, plan some stopovers to let the children run free and as you soak into some scenery and sightseeing.

  1. Get insurance

Safety and safety of those you care for and love should be your priority, so no matter your holiday destination ensure that the whole exercise is insured before kicking off the engine. With an insurance cover, you are sure to cover some nasty instances such as accidents and some other nasty bills. It is always good to read user agreements if you hired the motorhome to see if the renting company offer one.

  1. Stock up on food

In your plan makes sure your meals are catered for, picking up local treats to en route could be a good idea, but if your holiday is headed into some rural destination it is essential to meal plan a little. Make one of your first stops at a grocery store; you can pick non-perishable foods like tins of beans, pasta, sauce and things such coffee tea or cocoa, sugar, butter, BBQ and cooking means. Remember kids get hungry faster so do pack high energy snacks like flapjacks and nuts for the kids.

  1. Clothing and essentials

Nothing is devastating like bad weather when you are out for a holiday, so you will need to ensure that your plan packs every necessary clothing and equipment before going out. Pack everything from waterproof jackets, shoes, jumpers, sleeping kits and sleeping aid for the kids. Carry with you essential tools like a road map, gas, electric hook up cable, guidebooks and more.

  1. Leisure and workout equipment

If your holiday is going to involve some outdoor leisure activities then plan to carry with your some workout machines it could be a folding bike for hiking, athletic running shoes, skip fits, a travel yoga mat, resistance mats and much more. Remember not forget the kids in this. There are different activities and equipment to choose from depending on your destination.

Your leisure could be involving yourself in some sporting activity; it could be kayaking, trout fishing playing varied games like golf, soccer and many more. All you will need to do is to pack the right equipment to enable you to engage in the activities, it is a family activity so at least or the activities should engage every family member in one way or the other. Remember if your children are interested in music this will be the precise time to help them learning playing musical instruments such as Ukulele and many more.

Last but not least when planning everything starts from packing make sure your pack every essential equipment before going out, getting stuck out of nowhere in the woods or even on the roads in some rural area or deep in a forest is the last thing you will want take all precaution and plan ahead of them.

Getting Your Children To Love Reading

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Getting your child to read with a lot of distractions from the TV and smartphones can be quite daunting. The best way to go about is to start them young, when they are babies, and build on from that. Reading aloud to them while they are newborns significantly improves their language skills and starts them well to becoming avid readers as they grow.

It is important to have a conducive environment at home that supports reading. Sometimes it is not even that your children hate reading, the reason may be that there are so many distractions and the atmosphere is too chaotic for them to even concentrate on a book.

The tips below can help you raise a child who loves reading.

Have a variety of literature materials

Even adults find some books boring and fail to finish reading them, picking up a new one and regretting the time they spent poring over the boring book. Maybe your child just doesn’t like the book you gave them, but they still love reading nonetheless.

To develop your children’s love for reading, avail to them a variety of reading materials to choose from. Books, newspapers, magazines, storybooks and online media and blogs like Light House News Daily. This will keep them reading one story after the other and keep them from getting bored.

Relevant books

Sometimes your children aren’t reading because the material they have is too advanced for their understanding. As a general rule, if your child cannot pronounce or fathom the meaning of more than five words of a book they are currently reading then that books is too advanced for their age or understanding. In other words, the book may not be relevant to your child at that particular time in their development.

Let them have a choice

Your children may have different tastes and interests from yours. Do not force down books you like or think they should read on them. Let them have a say on the books that appeal to them. Take notice of the kind of books and stories that interest them and support them by buying them similar ones. This not only makes them fall in love with books but also fosters their ability to make independent decisions and boosts their confidence.

If you can’t afford a home library, visit your town library and let them choose books for themselves.

Storytelling techniques

While reading aloud to them, incorporate both verbal and non-verbal techniques in your narration to help them visualize how the story unfolds in their imagination. Adopt facial expressions, hand, and body movement and change the tone of your voice during your storytelling to keep them attentive and genuinely interested in the story.

Create a conducive environment for reading

Have a special reading time during which you switch off the TV and put away the mobile phones. This will prevent your children from getting distracted. Better still, you can join and have a family reading session where everyone has a book of their own.