Travel Tip
Nothing like the Windy City during the windy months of April and May. Time to plan your visit to Chicago. You can catch some great Spring activities and good food.
choose chicago visitor site
city of chicago tourism site
family things to do in chicago
Home Improvement Tip
Outdoor tasks for the Spring: cut the grass, seed the spotty areas of the yard, till the garden, prune the shrubs and trees, edge the sideway, rake up debris. Do you have the right tools?
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Consumer Financing Tip
Food prices are climbing. And analysts expect the cost for grains and products that use grains will continue to climb. So find out how best to keep your food costs down.
view tips on reducing family living costs
Credit Card Tip: Reduce Your Gas Costs
College Planning Tip
Monthly Checklist for April 27
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Discipline to Success:
The Physical Attribute
Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Benjamin Franklin
continuation from BLOG post: part VII.c
Last Couple Weeks:
we went over a 6-step plan to build up your physical character. The plan has you performing some physical change for the past two weeks. It’ now time to assess how you did. We move to Step 7 in our discussion.
Develop - Strengthen Your Physical Attribute
The seventh step returns to make an evaluation of your physical progress for the last 14 days. Answer the following questions:
Did you achieve for 11 or more days your physical development goal (from Appendix Form-E)?
Do you notice a physical change?
Do you feel confident that you can continue developing this goal for the next fourteen days?
If you answered “no” to any one of the three questions, you need to return to Step (1) in this posting and complete the steps indicated. The reason for your return to Step (1) is to develop the physical attribute before moving onto the other character attributes.
The total energy required to make a physical change is less than the other four attributes. If you failed to achieve your physical development goal for at least 11 of more days, chances are that you will fail to make any positive change in any of the other four attributes. At the end of the next 14 days, make another evaluation of your progress by completing Step (7).
If you answered “yes” to all three questions, reward yourself with a token gift (buy yourself a milk shake). You will now continue developing and strengthening the same physical development goal — perhaps with more intensity — for an additional 7 days. At which time we will discuss development of your physical temperance attribute.
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My neighbors were planning to put their 1975 sq. foot home on the market as it has become a bit tight for their family of five. With two teens in the house, space is at a premium and everyone wants and needs their personal living area.
These days, my neighbors are no longer looking to move, choosing to upgrade their current home by adding a family room. Although the project will cost them just over $30,000, they’ll save on moving, closing, and new financing costs, expenditures they would have had to contend with even if they had moved across town.
Tens of thousands of people will be adding on to their homes this Spring and Summer, choosing to stay put rather than putting up with the hassle of a move and having to familiarize themselves all over again with a new house, different neighborhood, perhaps even a completely different school system.
Most of the cost of adding on to a home can be recouped when you sell it. Over a long period of time that new family room can increase the value of your home significantly, paying you a nice dividend when you choose to downsize.
Before you begin your family room project, there are some things for you to consider:
- Is the property level where the room will be placed. If not, you may have to pay significantly extra to regrade the area where the room will built. Something to think about: If located on a slope, you could gain some valuable storage space underneath via the exposed room.
- Will adding a family room mean that changes will have to done to the adjoining part of the house? Some family rooms are designed to be virtually self contained, while others are more of an extension of the current home.
- How large of a room will you need? Will your new room be in proportion to the rest of the house or will it be a significant add-on?
- Will the roofing materials, exterior siding, interior walls, doors and windows match the rest of the house?
- Can solar panels or skylights be added? This can be a good time to create a highly energy efficient room, particularly helpful in light of today’s high energy costs.
The Construction Process
Will you be hiring a general contractor or overseeing construction yourself? Whether you are doing the work yourself, outsourcing it completely or doing a combination of the two, you will need to find people who can:
- Provide demolition services.
- Grade the property, if needed.
- Put up the framing, roofing, and walls.
- Install windows and doors.
- Run electricity, plumbing, and heating/air-conditioning.
- Build shelves, a fireplace, install flooring.
- Paint or wallpaper the room.
Familiarizing yourself with your town’s building code as getting all of the necessary permits is important. Making sure that your contractors are licensed and insured is also critical.
Finally, consider hiring an interior designer who can help you create a room that maximizes its livability and is enjoyable. Use the designer before construction begins to include ideas which should become part of the final blueprint. Have this person return when construction is done to help you lay out furniture, hang pictures, and add those personal touches to maximize the benefit of your new space.
A family room project can be completed within 2-3 months time, from developing the plans to move in. Pick the time of the year when disruption can be minimized and be prepared to enjoy your expanded quarters when the project is done!
Resources
Planning Your Home Expansion Project
All About Spec Planning
Home Equity Lending
Review House Plans
