Life Hacks

Becoming a landlord isn’t something that everyone can do. You do need to have some investment capital behind you, or you need to already own a property that you can rent out. If you have one of these two things in place, then becoming a landlord can have many benefits, and as long as the rent you are asking for is going to exceed any mortgage payments you need to make, you can make a good profit and have a great asset for the future.

There are many things to think about before becoming a landlord, but if you think it might be a good option for you, here are some of the benefits that might help you to make your final decision.

Making Money

The biggest benefit of being a landlord is making money. Most people won’t choose to take on this role if they aren’t going to be able to make at least a partial income from it, and this is why it’s crucial to ensure you have your figures right before you begin. The first step with this is to get mortgage advice Richmond whether you already own the property or not. If you’re looking to buy a property to rent out, you can get information about specialist mortgages. If you already own a property, you can look into remortgaging to ensure you have enough capital behind you to start your new business.

Buying a property is a good idea no matter what your reason, and if you can do it you certainly should. This way you will have a great investment for the future, and when you want to retire you can either sell and use the money or continue to rent it out and have a regular income.

Work Life Balance

Something that might not be quite so obvious when thinking of the benefits of being a landlord, but that is actually something that can really make a difference to those who choose to go in this direction, is the work life balance you can achieve with this as your career or side hustle.

The work life balance is crucial for health and happiness and the emotional wellbeing of everyone in your household, including you. If you have a good property you can rent out, or more than one in some cases, you can use this as your main career. For the most part, you won’t actually be doing too much, and you’ll get a nice regular income. Or you could still have another job but work fewer hours or take more time off when you need to, because you know you are receiving an income from the rental.

New Skills

Owning a rental property may sound easy, and a lot of the time you won’t have to do anything at all, especially if you have worked hard to vet your tenants and they are taking care of the property while living in it. However, there will be times when you do need to carry out maintenance work or help your tenants out in some way. You’ll also need to understand how to market your property in the right way to ensure that there are very few times when it is empty and not bringing you an income.

Being a landlord means you will gain all kinds of useful skills including:

• Marketing
• Customer service
• Negotiating
• Bookkeeping
• Maintenance skills (although for the larger jobs it is certainly worth calling in a professional)
• Investment knowledge

It’s incredible just how many skills you can learn when you are a landlord, and the longer you do it, the more you will know.

Do you have an ant infestation? If you’re experiencing an infestation of ants in your home, it’s important to know that there are ways to manage ants and make sure they don’t come in your home as often anymore. If you’re not quite sure what to do about the ants in your home, read this article first to learn more about the problem.

Facts About Ants

There are more than 700 different types of ants in the United States, all with different ways of working and living in different areas. This is one of the reasons that the same method of handling ants may not work with two different types of infestations — it might be a different type of ant.

Ants can also live in colonies of millions of ants. That’s why you can’t just kill whatever ants come into your home; you have to make sure your home is no longer attracting ants. That way, you’ll end up with a better system in place for future infestations.

Most Common Places for Ants to Hide

Where do ants most commonly infest? These three locations are the top ones when it comes to ant concerns.

• Kitchen

The kitchen is definitely a top location for ants to hide. Ants love the fact that the kitchen has a lot of food, which means they’re going to walk around the kitchen and get into all sorts of food if they can. Plus, there are many shelf-stable products you have in your home that may not be airtight, like cereal and pasta, which can lure ants inside.

• Bathroom

Where the kitchen draws in ants because of food, the bathroom draws in ants because of water. Even a small drop of water can be enough for an ant to investigate more of the bathroom. Because bathrooms tend to have so much water, it’s common for small droplets to start forming all around the bathroom, making it hard to keep ants out.

• Basement

The basement is a less-common but still important location to address. Most commonly, ants get into the basement by burrowing around your home, finding a crack in your foundation wall, and coming in through the crack. Because you probably don’t spend a lot of time in your basement, ants can infest the basement for a long time before you notice and stop them.

Methods of Preventing Ants From Coming Inside

How do you prevent ants from coming inside your home? For the most part, it’s about making sure there’s nothing that ants want in your home and reducing the opportunities ants have to come inside. Here are some of the best ways to make sure ants don’t come inside your home:

• Seal Cracks and Holes in Walls and Doors
• Fix Your Leaky Pipes and Faucets
• Seal Food in Airtight Containers
• Wipe Down Kitchen Counters After Using Them
• Use Vinegar Wherever You See Ants Regularly
• Empty Your Trash Regularly
• Stack Firewood at Least 20 Feet Away From the Home
• Repair Cracked Pavement and Foundations

These range in difficulty and intensity, for sure. When you’re preventing ants from coming inside your home, you will probably want to start out with the less-difficult ones and move onto the more-difficult ones. If you see any underlying problems, like issues with your home’s pavement or foundations, you’ll want to talk to an expert before moving forward.

Conclusion

No one wants to deal with ants in their home, but sometimes you do end up with an infestation. This is definitely nothing to worry about; many people struggle with ant infestations every year, often through no fault of their own. However, it is something you should tackle as soon as you can. With this knowledge, you can manage your ant problems much more easily.

When it comes to planning for retirement, it’s in your best interest to start planning sooner than later. The longer that you wait, the harder it is to reach your goals. The more that you start building together a plan with plenty of time to spare, the less likely you are to come across roadblocks that throw your retirement plans for a loop.

After all, you’ve been looking forward to your retirement for your whole life, why not make it as great as possible?

From your health to your finances, take a look at some of the best tips for having the best retirement possible.

Plan for Your Health

As much as we might like to believe that our health will be perfect for the rest of our lives, it’s not realistic to expect. When planning for your retirement, it’s critical to take your health into account when planning for your future.

You should consider whether you want to live in an assisted living facility, or whether you’d prefer to have an in-home caretaker. In some cases, you may be able to plan with family members to take care of you in your old age.

Make sure that you have the right kind of insurance coverage to take care of any sort of health issues that may come along as a senior citizen. The most valuable thing you have is your health.

Take Care of Your Body Now

The better that you take care of your health now, the more that you’ll be able to make the most out of your retirement years. Your retirement won’t be much fun if you spend it in the hospital, ill or injured.

Make sure that you’re focusing on getting enough physical exercise as well as eating a sensible diet. The more that you take care of your body now, the less you’ll have to worry about in your senior years.

Create a Strict Budget

Once you’re retired, you’ll no longer be able to rely on a steady income. Therefore, it’s important that you know how to budget to spend only what you need with what you have. Overspending will lead to all sorts of problems.

The only way to fully enjoy your retirement is by being financially responsible. If you’re not sure where to get started in budgeting for your retirement, then you should consider talking with a financial advisor. They’ll be able to give you the best tips on how to stay on track financially.

By following these tips and planning ahead as much as possible, you should have a fabulous retirement that you’ll be able to enjoy for years to come. Why have it any other way?

Life is a never ending game, some people say, but the sad fact is that the game does eventually end. And when we shuffle off of this mortal plain, we’d want to do it in style, or do it peacefully. Whatever suits your choices, of course.

How will anyone know your choices though? How can you make sure you’re given the religious service you really want or the most humane burial that would see you in a forest surrounded by nature?

The best way to make sure you get the send-off you deserve and want is to plan your funeral ahead of time while you’re still alive and kicking — and while you’re still able to make decisions.

Planning Your Funerals

There are many things to consider when planning a funeral. Just like planning any other life event (pun fully intended), a wedding, a bar mitzvah, christening, anniversary party, or any other large celebration, planning a funeral can seem overwhelming.

Luckily, there are many companies, such as Exit Here, who will help to ensure your wishes are fulfilled and make sure you recovered financially. But what exactly will you need to plan? Let’s dive into 3 things you may have missed about planning a funeral.

Your Service Choice

Religion is a funny thing. In some cultures, religion can be absolutely central with identities built around faith, but in other cultures, religion is a very private matter.

If you would like a particularly religious service, it’s important to make your feelings known beforehand to ensure that you will be able to have the service in a location that is special to you (such as your local church), and that you will have a send-off officiated by someone you connect with spiritually (such as your vicar).

Your Music Choice

When Sir Elton John penned the Candle In The Wind, thinking about music for funerals wasn’t likely a particularly big part of his plan.

Now in the modern era, there are many options to choose from. From a religious perspective, this includes the classic songs like Jerusalem and How Great Thou Art, or more popular music choices such as Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (Marvin Gaye), and the classic football song, You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Getting your music choice right can really help your family feel close to you and stop that awkward moment where Johnny Cash is played, but you hated Johnny Cash!

Do You Want a Wake?

It’s not always necessary to have a wake, of course. Some people may decide they wish to have a very private funeral with just close friends and family, while others will want a huge do with a wake afterwards.

If you’re looking to have a wake, you’ll need to organize a venue and probably lay out some food for the guests.

Wakes can be a lovely time for long lost family and friends to reconnect. Even in the most difficult times, it can be nice to be surrounded by loved ones.

Out of all the pests that homeowners are forced to confront, termites are certainly the most destructive and expensive to treat. Regardless of whether or you have ever dealt with pests before, it’s worth knowing how to get rid of termites as you can never fully prepare for an infestation. Termites can destroy both the interior and exterior of your home, and if you fail to spot the early warning signs, the damage can become extensive.

This guide will give you some helpful techniques on how to keep termites away from your home and get rid of them quickly and effectively:

Vinegar

Vinegar is a valuable solution to store in your cupboards. While it is useful for cleaning your bathroom and kitchen fittings, it has also been proven to destroy termites almost instantly, providing they come into direct contact with the substance.

Mix vinegar and lemon juice and pour into a spray bottle, to make it easier to distribute into the disturbed areas. Then, spray the solution into any gaps or cracks where termites may be present or even on any wooden surfaces or furniture that they may be likely to infest. It would be best to do so regularly to kill any termites still lurking which may not have been targeted the first time around.

Pest control service

Ideally, it would be advisable to hire a pest control service to take care of a more severe termite infestation. If your house has become overridden with termites, you’ll start to notice significant damage – particularly around wooden surfaces. It can be challenging to tackle the situation without a professional if it has reached this extent. Local Pest Control Houston company Gulf Coast Exterminators are highly effective in dealing with the most severe termite cases, by using advanced technology and years of experience in the field which should give you the peace of mind that the pest issue will be dealt with efficiently.

Sunlight

Sunlight can instantly kill termites. Therefore, if you have a piece of furniture or a wooden object that is infested, you can simply leave it for several hours outdoors during the hotter months of the year, and the termites should start to die off. If there are specific sections of the home that have become termite-infested, you can simply place UV lamps over them which should hopefully achieve the same result.

Orange oil

Oranges contain a type of oil named ‘d-limonene’ which is an active ingredient that kills termites quickly. It is typically used within home cleaning products and as a food flavoring but can also be bought by the bottle as a form of pest control. Do be aware that this treatment is only effective in exterminating dry wood termites, rather than subterranean termites.

Prune trees and bushes

As a preventative measure, it would be sensible to prune trees and bushes around the perimeter of your home and on the exterior of your property. This ensures that there are no moist areas which may otherwise attract termites to gather and will also allow you to spot any damage with immediate effect, rather than months later when the problem has escalated.