Advantages of BUYING a home vs. renting

There are 4 things to consider before deciding to rent a home:

1. More Stable Housing Costs

- Rent payments can be unpredictable and typically rise each year, but most mortgages remain unchanged for the entire loan period.

2. Debt Consolidation

- If you need to, you can refinance a mortgage loan to refinance other debts.

3. Equity

- Instead of payments disappearing into someone else’s pocket, homeowners are building equity in their own home. This is often one of a person's biggest investment assets.

4. It’s Your Home!

- You have the freedom to decorate and landscape as you wish. You can have pets! And there is no one popping up from time to time who has the power to evict you.

Don’t Throw Your Money Away!

 

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BBQ Season Has Arrived!

Spice up the traditional store bought BBQ sauce with your own homemade BBQ sauce that tastes great on chicken, ribs, steak, wings and more!  

Follow this simple recipe to impress your guests:

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: Makes about 2 1/2 cups

 Ingredients:

• 2 cups ketchup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• fresh ground pepper to taste
  

Preparation:

Blend onion and water into a puree. Heat a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Add olive oil. When oil is warm, pour in onion puree. Simmer until slightly browned. Add remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly and simmer for about 20 minutes.

 

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Go Organic, Grow Organic

Tired of running to the grocery store for that one missing ingredient for the perfect meal? Create your own vegetable garden and the furthest trip you will have to make is to your own backyard. Here are some tips to follow to create your very own vegetable garden:

Pick out your spot
- Remember vegetables need sunshine and water, especially in the morning.
- Perhaps close to your water source would be ideal.

Frame it
- Decide on the garden size suitable for individual vegetable growth and frame it with your choice of wood
- Consider fencing or netting- No one likes animals eating their food!

Nurture it
- Pick a soil type suitable for the vegetables you are planting.
- Remember, Soil provides life to your vegetables and is a very important step for your garden
- You can also consider adding your own compost to your soil.

Have fun
- Choose the vegetables you wish to grow.
- Don’t forget to consider the climate, size of your garden and the time you will have to care for the garden daily.

Some maintenance
- Water your garden for the first two days in the afternoon and then every second day for a week.
- Once your plants are showing some life water as needed.

TIP: Organic vegetable garden means NO PESTICIDES so consider planting a herb which acts as a natural bug repellant.

HAPPY GARDENING!

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Summer Fun- Backyard Scrabble

Want to finish your game of scrabble but don’t want to miss out on the hot summer weather? Bring the game outside! 

Create a backyard scrabble board by simply following these 6 easy steps: 

1. Create a wood frame 5 ft by 5 ft.

2. Pour concrete and scored it into 3¾-inch squares separated by ¼-inch joints.

3.  After the concrete has set, you can colour the squares using a water-base concrete stain.

4. Paint letters and numbers onto the tiles.

5. Seal them with a lacquer spray.

6. Create playing pieces with found material around the house- 3¼ inches.

 

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Ways to heat your swimming pool without burning a hole in your pocket!

Heating a pool can be very costly and a great deal of energy is required. By using some of these simple changes to your pool maintenance routine you can save energy and money and still swim in warm water!

 1. Use a pool solar cover.

2. Only use the heater when the pool is being used

- It is often said that it is much more efficient and cost effective to keep your swimming pool heater running continuously. This is not true. The amount of heat your pool is losing is proportional to how warm it is throughout the week.  

3. Use a heat source that does not burn fossil fuels.

4. Use free heat from the sun.

 

 

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Pave Your Driveway with Style

A beautiful driveway can do so much for the outside appearance of a home. If your thinking about paving your driveway here are a few techniques that will leave you’re property looking stunning!

1. Interlock Paving 

2. Stamp Concrete

 3. Asphalt

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The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side

 Have you ever looked at your neighbor’s lawn and thought, “the grass is always greener on the other side?” Well here are just five quick tips for a better lawn:

1. Never mow your lawn when it is wet.
- Grass clippings clump together more easily when wet, smothering the grass beneath it.

2. Never cut grass more then 1/3 of your lawns height at any one time.
- Cutting more than this stresses the grass.

3. Keep lawn mower blades sharp.
- A dull blade will tare the grass rather then cut it, leaving brown tips at the ends of the grass.

4. Do not mow in the same direction every time you cut your grass.
- This causes the grass to grow unevenly.

5. Do not bag your clippings
- Grass clippings return nutrients to the soil and reduce the need for artificial fertilizers.

 

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