Dual Purpose Plants: Cleansing and Decorating

A good-looking houseplant adds pizzazz to your home. It can also be the next best thing to a live-in housekeeper, says John VanZile, author of Houseplants for A Healthy Home, out in May.

That’s because a number of houseplants contain properties that help rid the air around you of various chemicals and parasites. In fact, VanZile told House Beautiful, installing a few potted plants in your home can help you breathe and even sleep better without ever lifting a vacuum.

Top contenders to choose from include:

Rubber Plan: In addition to a adding dramatic accent to any room, studies show that rubber plants can remove airborne toxins from the air, such as formaldehyde—found in many cleaning supplies. VanZile advises wiping the leaves with a moist paper towel now and then to keep their pores open for optimal air purification.

Boston Fern: These lush ferns are great for removing common airborne pollutants like formaldehyde, xylene and toluene, which are thought to cause headaches, trouble breathing and the growth of cancerous cells. The Boston fern also combats winter dryness by raising indoor humidity.

Areca Palm: A 1989 NASA study declared this stately palm to be one of the most powerful air-purifying plants, particularly for its ability to remove formaldehyde from an indoor environment.

Peace Lily: The beautiful, blooming Peace Lily is a powerhouse for filtering air. NASA studies show it can filter benzene, formaldehyde, tri-chloroethylene (TCE), xylene, toluene and ammonia from indoor air–toxins that can cause headaches, respiratory problems and an increased risk of cancer. The Peace Lily can also remove airborne mold that aggravates allergies and asthma symptoms. VanZile recommends placing a few in your bathroom to reduce mold growth.

Philodendron. These popular and attractive houseplants are easy to grow and clean the air of formaldehyde and xylene, a toxin found in glues and leathers.

5 Ways to Save Energy and Money

Cutting down on energy use is great for the environment. It can also save you big bucks. Alternative energy proponent IGS Energy suggests four green and easy ways to do both:

Minimize ‘phantom loads.’ The term ‘phantom load’ refers to the energy that an appliance or electronic device consumes when it is not actually turned on. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), some 75 percent of the electricity in an average home is used to power electronics while the products are off. A report from the University of California Berkeley says that phantom loads account for about six percent of all residential electricity consumption. You can eliminate phantom loads by unplugging appliances and electronics when you are not using them or by plugging them into a power strip and turning the strip off when they are not in use.

Upgrade your appliances. When shopping for new appliances, look for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star label. These appliances use less energy and water than their conventional counterparts. They may cost more than appliances without the Energy Star designation, but, in most cases, they will more than make up that additional cost through energy savings.

Change your light bulbs. One of the least expensive and most effective changes you can make in your home is replacing your light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL), which cost just a few dollars more and will save about $30 in energy costs over their lifetime. CFL bulbs use 75 percent less energy and last about 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs. Some people are concerned because CFLs contain mercury, but Energy Star says CFLs do not release any mercury when in use, and actually reduce mercury emissions because they lessen the need for electricity from power plants that emit mercury.

Install a programmable thermostat. These thermostats automatically adjust your home’s temperature to your schedule, keeping it comfortable only when you need it to be. If you don’t already adjust your thermostat throughout the day, a programmable thermostat could save you as much as 15 percent on heating and cooling costs.

5 Easy Organizational Tips

Do you feel like you’re constantly battling clutter around the house? You’re not alone, and nothing can feel more frustrating than not being able to locate something when you need it, or wading through piles of items to get there. Below are five, easy organizational tips that can offer major upgrades:

Tension Rod for Pot Lids
If you store your pots and pans in a drawer, install a tension rod along the inside and slip your pot lids behind it. No more rattling pots or hard-to-find tops!

Gallon Bags for Drawers
Organize your underwear or t-shirt drawer by separating your items and storing them in gallon-sized plastic bags. You’ll never lose 10 minutes hunting for that pair of socks again.

CD Holders for Tupperware
Remember those old CD racks? Re-purpose them in your Tupperware cabinet by using them to keep your lids separate, sorted and easy to grab.

Repurposed Wine Rack
Gifted a large wine rack that rarely feels full? Use it in a hallway or closet to store shoes, scarves and other items that need to be tucked away.

Muffin Tin Magic
Have a junk drawer that never stays organized? Slip a muffin tin inside to separate your odds and ends.

4 Luxe Father's Day Gift Ideas for Around the House

Father’s Day is right around the corner, but there’s still time to get the perfect gift. With endless options to choose from, it can be difficult to find something that lets dad know just how much he means to you. For the fathers who already have it all, here are several fun gift ideas that he’ll enjoy using at home.  

Gifts for the Home Gym
Everyone’s working out from home these days, but for some, it can be a struggle. If this sounds like your dad,give him a gift for the home gym that’s worth getting excited about, like a Peloton bike or Mirror, a wall-mounted LCD screen that gives you access to professional trainers and endless exercise classes. 

Garage-Inspired Gifts
For the dad who spends his free time tinkering in the garage, get him something that he can use in his happy place. A beautiful new set of tools is always a great choice, but if he’s all set in that department, you can get him a professional-grade tool chest to store everything. A refrigerator for keeping his favorite beverages nearby is another practical option that’s sure to come in handy. 

Something for the Rec Room
Does he need some new activities to enjoy at home? Then get him a gift for the rec room, like a handcrafted chess board or a billiard table. If he’s the type who likes an ongoing project, then a home brewing kit to make his own beer might be the ideal gift to keep him busy and discover a new hobby.

Backyard Gift Ideas
When we think of backyard gifts for dad, a brand new grill always comes to mind. However, if he already has a state-of-the-art grill for cooking his favorite meals, then maybe he could use an outdoor bar cart for crafting his favorite beverages without having to run back inside the house. 

Smart Home Gadgets That Will Elevate Your Home

Technology seems to mutate with the speed of light, but is your home keeping up with the changes? Smarten it up with a few smart-home electronics that will boost safety, increase comfort and may even save you a few bucks:

Video Doorbell
The VTech Video Doorbell, about $115, lets you screen and even video chat with visitors before you answer the door. And the system takes a snapshot each time the doorbell is pressed, so you’ll always know who came a-knocking while you were away.

Smart Door Lock
The August Smart Lock uses keyless technology to keep your home safe no matter where you are. From your smartphone, you can let guests in, check to make sure you locked up before you left, keep a record of who has entered and exited, and unlock your door from the driveway. Cost? About $220.

Home Automation
You can ease into wireless control of your lighting and appliances with Insteon’s Start Here Kit, about $125, before moving on to automating other household needs, like irrigation control and occupancy sensing.

Water Saver
The WaterPebble Water Saver memorizes the length of your first shower and uses it as a benchmark to measure future shower times. Using a series of ‘traffic lights,’ it reduces your shower time by a fraction each time, helping you save on your water bill without trying. About $12.

Learning Thermostat
For about $250, the Nest programmable thermostat will learn your heating and cooling schedule and program itself. It can even be controlled from your phone and could save you up to 20 percent on energy costs.

Smart Watering
Is your sprinkling system over-watering or under-watering your lawn? Toro’s wireless Xtra Smart Soil Moisture Sensor keeps the moisture level just right. Not only will the health of you lawn improve, but your wallet (and the Earth) will benefit, too. About $115.

How to Get the Best Mortgage Refinance Rates

If you can find a lower mortgage rate than the one you already have, then refinancing a mortgage can make sense. Here are some of the best ways to get a low rate:

Raise Your Credit Score
For a conventional loan, borrowers with a credit score of 740 or more will usually get the best interest rates. Having a minimum credit score of 620 will often lead to a higher rate. Raising your credit score can help. Some methods take longer than others, but improving your score is one of the best moves to make when refinancing a mortgage.

Start by paying your bills on time, which has the biggest impact on a credit score. You can also improve your credit utilization, meaning using less of the credit available to you on your credit cards.

For example, if you have three credit cards with a total credit limit of $10,000, but all of the card balances add up to $5,000, your credit utilization rate is 50 percent. Ideally, it should be under 20 percent to get the best mortgage rate. The credit utilization rate can be dropped by paying down the credit card balance, using less of the credit available or getting a higher credit limit.

Lower Debt
Reducing your debt-to-income ratio, or DTI, by paying down your credit card balance is another big way to improve a credit score. A DTI of 36 percent or lower is preferable. To lower your debt, put off big purchases, such as a new car or appliances, until after you’ve refinanced your mortgage.

Shop Around
Don’t refinance with the first lender you find, or even with your current lender. There are many loan products available, and many lenders that offer them.

Research what national banks, credit unions, community banks and your current lender offers for mortgage refinances before choosing one that’s right for you. Some lenders may have in-house loans that they don’t sell on the open market that are more flexible and have better rates and terms than other lenders.

Be sure to pick a lender that you’re comfortable with and trust, and don’t just focus on the interest rate. The lender you choose will be helping you with one of the biggest financial transactions of your life, and you want to work with someone who has your best interests in mind.

Real Estate Buyers and Sellers 2020 Have Your Agent Protect You With a Covid 19 Clause

What Are "Corona Virus Clauses?"

The corona virus has caused businesses across the United States and around the world to close and has made it difficult or impossible for many financial transactions to be completed. Real estate closings are complex and some of the parties involved may be unable to perform their duties on schedule or at all due to COVID-19. Agents are therefore including corona virus clauses in contracts. 

How Can a Corona Virus Clause Protect Buyers and Sellers?
A force majeure clause is a provision in a contract that excuses one or both parties’ failure to meet their obligations if they were unable to do so because of circumstances beyond their control. It allows the parties to delay a transaction or to cancel it without facing a penalty. Force majeure clauses may apply to acts of God (earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, etc.), war, epidemics, government actions and other circumstances. 

The wording in force majeure clauses varies. It may not apply to COVID-19, or standard language may be open to interpretation. To prevent legal challenges later, real estate agents are adding language specifically addressing the corona virus to purchase contracts.

Different states have drafted their own corona virus clauses to include in real estate contracts. Though the specific language differs, the clauses generally allow the parties to delay the closing or to cancel a purchase contract without a penalty.

How Could COVID-19 Affect a Real Estate Closing?
A buyer who has been laid off or furloughed may not be able to return to work anytime soon, or at all, and therefore, may be unable to get a mortgage. That uncertainty can make both buyers and sellers nervous. Corona virus clauses allow the parties to delay the closing or to cancel the contract if a job loss or reduction in income has left the buyer unable to obtain financing. 

Some parts of the home-buying process, such as an inspection and appraisal, require a worker to physically go to a house. Many inspectors and appraisers are reluctant to do so due to fear of contracting the corona virus, especially if the house is still occupied. 

Government and business offices across the country have closed or cut their hours. That means that title searches, mortgage applications and other critical parts of the process may be delayed.

Although some jurisdictions allow virtual closings, others do not. Due to travel restrictions and social distancing, it may be impossible to get the parties together to close as they typically would in the past. 

Discuss a Corona Virus Clause With Your Real Estate Agent
COVID-19 has created widespread uncertainty and anxiety. If you were planning to close on a house, the process may be held up for weeks or longer. You may be concerned about your job security and income, leaving you unsure about whether you can or should proceed. Talk to your real estate agent about any concerns you have and how a corona virus clause could protect you.

Self-Employed? 3 Ways to Get Ahead of Next Year's Taxes

Tax time is, for many, one of the most stressful times of the year. But if you sit back and relax completely after filing your annuals, this may be part of the problem. In order to reduce stress at tax time, it’s important to prep ahead – especially if you spent the two weeks leading up to your filing date scrounging through receipts, guessing at your driving miles and crossing your fingers for the right deductions. If this accurately depicts you, it may be time to update your finance management. In addition to relieving stress, you will also reduce your audit rate, and open up more free time to spend with clients.

Below are a handful of suggestions to help you prep for next year’s tax season.

Go digital with receipts. Gone are the days of paper receipts – or, at least, they should be gone. If you’re keeping hard copies of your expenses and manually logging them into a spreadsheet, you’re wasting time, and leaving room for error. Like most things nowadays, there’s an app for that. Using QuickBooks Self-Employed, you can connect your bank account or credit card and auto file all your expenses in one place. You can also snap a photo of receipts to match with a correlating expense.

Automate those miles. Every single turn of the wheel that you make for your business is tax-deductible, but you need to properly record it in order for the miles to be eligible. Writing down miles manually only to enter them into a spreadsheet later is a waste of time, and a call for errors. Instead, get an app that will automatically track your trips for you. Many of these apps will auto start when you begin driving. When your drive is over, the app will prompt you to categorize the trip as personal or business, and some will show how much money in deductions you’ll get per trip.

Do your quarterlies. To stay on top of your annual taxes, you should also stay on top of your quarterlies. The easiest way to do this is to keep your income and expenses up-to-date in your accounting software, which will estimate your quarterly taxes for you.

By staying financially organized year-round, taxes should be a breeze next year.

Breaking Down the Pool Building Process

Having a pool can be one of the most enjoyable things about being a homeowner. It offers exercise for the family, a great place for entertaining and added value to your property.

But be prepared to open your wallet, as the average cost of building an in-ground pool is around $40,000. Before you get ready to hire a contractor and build, consider these tips from industry experts to help ensure you get exactly what you want and save a few bucks in the process:

Think about timing. The desire to build a pool may hit you when the weather is hot, but you’ll save big if you start construction at the end of the season when builders are looking for work. You’ll get a better price, and maybe a better-built pool, because the builder is much less busy.

Get several bids. Get referrals from friends and neighbors, and at least three bids from competing companies—even if they are referrals—before deciding who’s going to build your pool.

Think long-term. Experience shows that concrete or gunite pools are about the same in cost as fiberglass pools. But about a decade after installation, the concrete or gunite may need to be re-shot, and salt chlorinators may hasten that need as they are more abrasive than regular chlorine. If you do choose concrete, spending a little more upfront for a Pebble Tech surface may be more cost-efficient in the long run.

Stay with a simple design. The more curves, steps, shelves and other design add-ons you choose, the higher the cost will be—and that’s before you add the cost of glamorous options such as a spa, a waterfall or an infinity edge. The same is true for exotic tiles and finishes, as well as upscale decking materials. The more you add, the higher your final bill will be.

Wait on the heater. Some experts advise not putting in a pool heater until a year after construction. Your first season as a pool owner will let you know what your pool’s average temperature will be, and whether or not you need a heater at all.

Kitchen Trends That Are Going Out of Fashion

Most of us spend a lot of time in the kitchen, preparing meals and cleaning up. In many cases, we spend so much time in our familiar kitchen space that we don’t pay much attention to what it looks like.

But the trends, they are a-changin’. Today’s kitchens are sleek and practical. Design experts list seven kitchen looks that are quickly going out of style:

Short backsplashes. Backsplashes that reach up to six to eight inches above the countertop are sorely outdated. If you’re up for a remodel, take the backsplash all the way up to the upper cabinets to make your kitchen feel bigger and cleaner. 

Distressed wood cabinets. Once the darling of country-style kitchens, the clunky distressed wood of yesteryear is giving way to natural wood or white finishes.

Over the stove microwaves. When microwaves came into fashion, homeowners put them over the stove to save counter space. But today’s families want necessities accessible for the entire family. Some are redesigning cabinets to move the microwave into an under-counter nook where smaller family members can reach it. 

Top-of-cabinet décor. Gone are the days of filling the space between the tops of your cabinets and the ceiling with dusty accessories like artificial flowers or greenery. Removing them from above the cabinets gives the room a more open feel.

Hanging pots and pans. Once, every kitchen shown in a magazine had a big, beautiful, hanging rack filled with copper or stainless-steel pots and pans. Kitchen designers today are making room for them in drawers or cabinet, trading in that outdated country look for cleaner, minimalist lines. 

Anything but stainless steel. Over the years, kitchen appliances have gone from white to copper to avocado green and back again. But the desired look today is the cool, sleek look of stainless steel.

Kitchen desks. At one point in time, every upscale kitchen featured desk space—a little nook where you could scan the mail, pay bills, etc. But those mess-collectors are now yesterday’s news. Moving desk chores to another room can give your kitchen extra space and alternative storage options.

Getting Creative With Your Wall Space

Do you have a blank wall with no idea what to put on it? Rethink the boring family photo with these interesting ideas.

Get wordy. Whether you’re a logophile or are just looking to amp up the playful vibe of your space, adding large text to your wall can be innovative and inspirational. You can purchase a variety of word hangings online, or create your own with stencils for a literal conversation starter right on your own wall.

Create a mirror collage. We all know a mirror on the wall can open up a room and throw lots of luscious light. But by using many smaller mirrors to create a pattern or design, you can add the benefit of a unique, boho vibe. Choose mirrors in various shapes or with different frames.

Hang a rug. Remember the old tapestries of your dorm room? Hanging a nice, well-made floor rug on the wall is the adult version of this decorating phenomenon. Whether you want a bold color pop or a bright design, pick a blank wall and go wild.

Vertical plants. Snag some aesthetically pleasing wall planters or sconces and create a botanical masterpiece by popping in your favorite succulents or hanging plants.