Getting Your Garden Ready For Spring And Summer: It's Not as Difficult as You Think

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Spring is bursting into view, and with the arrival of the vaccine for Covid-19 here, it’s an excellent time to get your garden ready for days of celebrating with family and friends, however, that may look.

So, here are a few helpful ideas to help to get your garden ready in 2021:

7 Tips To Get Your Garden Ready For Spring

You may be wondering where to start, especially if you haven’t focused on garden maintenance over the Winter months. Hopefully, the following tips and tricks will help set you on the right track and give you a garden to with a feel-good factor. 

De-Clutter Your Green Space

It’s time to roll up your sleeves and give your garden a pre-spring clean, you’ll need to scoop up the dead leaves, trim back overhanging hedges, remove any winter debris and prevent bacteria that could kill off new plants in your garden. 

Give Your Lawn Some Love

Spring is a great time to feed your garden and rake your lawn to eliminate all of the debris and dead grass. This will help the garden to breathe, ensuring there is less chance of it becoming waterlogged, should there be a sudden downpour.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The spring is an ideal time to turn your compost over; the material accumulated at the bottom of your compost bin will be an excellent source of nutrients for your new plants, and help keep your garden healthy and beautiful.

Create A Kitchen Garden

If you want to create an organic vegetable and fruit garden, now is the right time to start planting seeds and prepare your containers for propagation. You can clean up your old pots or be inventive and create new containers from a newspaper, yoghurt pots or empty food containers. 

Remove Unwanted Pests

Check all of your well-established shrubs, rose bushes and plants for bugs and pests, especially if you are re-stocking and adding new flowers and plants to your garden. This will prevent any disease or nasty unwanted garden pests from moving in, or taking root to destroy all of your garden work.

Rejuvenate Garden Furniture

If your garden furniture is looking a little sad and tired, you could be a little indulgent and buy something new, or you could spruce up plastic, wicker or wooden garden furniture. You can quickly revive plastic furniture with some TLC, some warm soapy water and a sponge. Wooden furniture may need a little more love, with some wood oil or a repaint. 

Create A Garden Haven

To create the perfect haven in your garden, you could add bird boxes, insect boxes, bee boxes and hang bird food around your garden.

Cover delicate fruit plants with netting to protect them from birds and garden visitors. 

Add a little colour and a lot of sunshine by adding fairy lights or garden lighting, invest in some garden textiles such as throws, blankets, cushions, anything that will make you and your visitors smile or could be a natural talking point. 

Renovating Your Whole Home? The Areas to Focus On

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Renovating your home is fast becoming a more popular choice than moving. I think the hassle of selling a property is beginning to put people off, and they are looking at alternatives. Sometimes making little improvements means you can stay in a house you love or an area you adore much longer. With that in mind, here are some of the essential jobs you could tackle first when it comes to renovating.

The garage

A garage is a real usable space. Some of us use it differently to others. However you decide to make use of this space, be it storage of your car or other items. Maybe even as a workshop. One of the things you may need to think about is the flooring, and using companies like Fusion Coatings could be an option. A good door is always going to be an essential to keeping things in check. Which is why the garage should be high on your renovation list. It could be the place that houses everything you need to complete your property renovations. 

The garden

A garden is a great place to consider renovating. This is because you can get so much use out of your outside space with a bit of tweaking here and there. You may want to add a lovely decked area that would be perfect for eating or relaxing in. You might want to consider maintaining your lawn a little better or adding some color in the flower beds. However you choose to landscape the garden, make sure you consider what you want out of it. To make sure you get as much value as possible. 

The loft space

The loft space is a workable area that could be used better. You could decide to do a loft conversion where you create a new room. This could be a study or a further bedroom if property deeds allow. Not only will this transform your home space, but it could add an immense bit of funds to your property value. 

Tackle the bathroom and kitchen

No home renovations would be complete without remodelling the kitchen and bathroom to your tastes and standards. They can be quite pricey jobs to take on, but the end result can add value as well. So it can be a worthy investment to make. Renovating the kitchen might   mean you start from scratch and completely rip out the old one. It means you may want to design the layout and where things are. It's a great opportunity to make it a space that works for you. The same could be said for the bathroom. You may want to rip it out and start again, or save a few key pieces if they can work well with your plans. All of which could save you a little money overall. 

Consider an extension

Finally, a big decision for renovations to your property could be to consider an extension. This could change your whole home completely. Giving you that extra bedroom you need or the extra living space you crave. They can again be a pricey thing to do, but in the end, could add considerable value to your home. 

Let’s hope these essential home renovations have inspired you to look at your home in a new light. 

5 Reasons to Renovate Your Bathroom Yourself

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There are some moments in life where you take a look around your space and decide that it's time for an upgrade. One room in the house that deserves a little TLC is the bathroom, and it's often the room that is looked after the least. Given that we use the bathroom all the time, you'd think it would be the first place to renovate, but because it's the smallest room and it's tucked away in the house, it's the last. However, every bathroom has its day, and if you're seeking the chance to spice up the bathroom, now is the time.

You may not have the budget right now to contact someone professional to do the bathroom for you, but that's just fine - you can buy construction products online and get the job done yourself. The only thing that you shouldn't touch is the plumbing unless you know exactly how to fix it! Doing your bathroom yourself is going to do so much for your wallet as much as it will for your creative skills. So, let's check out five great reasons you should renovate your bathroom yourself.

Saving Money. 

When you choose to renovate your bathroom yourself you don't have to spend money on a professional to design and do your bathroom for you. Taking the time to plan your own bathroom, source and choose your own materials and not spend money on anyone doing it for you is going to save you a ton of cash! DIY doesnt have to be expensive, not when you can spend time researching where to buy the best materials for yourself!

Adding Value.

DIY bathroom renovations will add some value to the space - even if all you're doing is swapping out the tiles or the flooring. It doesn't take much to upgrade a bathroom as any changes are pretty transformative, but this is an upgrade that will add value to the home. It's an ideal choice for the house, and you won't even spend too much time on the job. Bathroom renovations can add immense value to the space and you take the time to add home value as a result, too.

Fixing Issues. 

Knowing you are the one in charge of the fixes in your bathroom is pretty empowering, but even more so is the fact that you can  get the leaky faucet fixed and finally replace those broken cabinet doors.

Adding Storage. 

Your vision for your bathroom space may not be a huge one but that doesn't mean that you can't get the space set up and ready with new storage. You can turn your tiny room into a bright, bold space filled with storage space and adding function. It's going to add more space for what you need - more storage units.

A Little Change.

Sometimes, change is great. When that change is as a result of your ideas, your designs and your hard work, you can give your whole space a total makeover!

Cocktail Hour - Cocktails Delivered to your Door

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Weekends are quickly becoming same old, same old now aren't they? There's nothing to do, nowhere to go so I'm finding myself turning to food and drinks for pleasure because it's the only thing that can't be taken away from us (well, I guess they could but please don't!). Our Saturdays general revolve around deciding what takeaway sort of food we're going to have and to be honest I'm quite enjoying trying some of the places in the local area that wouldn't normally offer collection/delivery service. That's the thing with the pandemic, as horrible as it has been (and still is!) and it has presented challenges to businesses like no other, it's been amazing to see businesses adapting and new businesses popping up to meet the new demands of customers. 

Cocktail Hour are one such business who set up to offer premium quality cocktails delivered straight to your door. They offer a monthly cocktail subscription which is currently £49.95 at the time of posting. This includes 2 cocktails, snacks, a food and drink guide as well as a Spotify playlist for you to access which is perfect if you're looking to create a bit of a night out in your own house. 

They also offer one off cocktail delivery boxes like the one I received which are £19.95 and include 2 ready to pour cocktails and either a sweet or a savoury snack to go with them (because who doesn't love nibbles with cocktails?)

Don't get me wrong, experience-wise it's not cocktails at the Alchemist but as far as cocktails at home go, Cocktail Hour have you covered at a reasonable price. In my box there was an espresso martini, which happens to be one of my favourites anyway and it was delicious! I added some ice to the class before pouring and it was perfect; of the same standard as what you'd get on a night out. The Joe and Seph's blue cheese and celery popcorn was a weird one; it will be a love it or hate it kind of snack. When I first started eating them I was really unsure because the texture is odd and being blue cheese, the smell isn't fantastic but they became one of those snacks that I just kept going back for more of!

With Valentine's just around the corner, a Cocktail Hour box would be the perfect gift idea, especially as you could both enjoy it together. Either one of their sweet or savoury tasting packs or you could go for their Ti Amo Valentines Delivery box. Alternatively, if your partner has a favourite cocktail you could opt for one of the specific cocktail delivery boxes (they have White Russian, Negroni, Old Fashioned and Espresso Martini) all served with a selection of snacks. 

Hopefully we're not going to be stuck at home for too much longer but in the meantime but I highly recommend something like a cocktail delivery box to spice up your Friday/Saturday evenings!

How To Make Adulting & Living Alone Easier

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Whether it’s your first time living alone or you’ve decided that you’re sick and tired of struggling to cope with all of the stress that comes with adult life and having your own place, you might be wondering what steps you can take to make things a little easier for yourself. Is there a way that you can have your own place but still enjoy living and not end up feeling exceedingly stressed out by all of the tasks that come with living alone? 

The good news is that there are plenty of steps that you can take to make adult life and having your own home easier, it’s just a case of getting a little creative, that’s all. There are plenty of ways that you can make adulting simpler and more enjoyable, it’s just a case of finding little hacks to make adult life that little bit easier. 

Wondering what these hacks are? Below is a guide to some simple hacks for making adult  life and living alone easier and more enjoyable, not to mention less stressful. 

Be smart about where you live

If you want to make living alone as simple and easy for yourself as possible, your best bet is to get creative about where you are living. Don’t simply rent a flat, instead look at your options for renting a serviced apartment instead; these serviced apartments are a great option because you don’t need to worry about cleaning or maintenance, as this is all dealt with for you. In essence, you have a maid - someone to help keep your apartment in check and reduce the stress that you’re under. 

Utilise the right services 

Another useful hack is to make sure that you are utilising all of the right services to make adult life as simple and easy as possible. You can pretty much find a service to deal with everything that you need doing, from having your laundry collected, washed and delivered home again to having someone manage your household cleaning for you, there’s a service to deal with your every need. 

Have things delivered 

When it comes to making adult life easier to manage, you can also look at having essentials delivered. Say, for instance, you’re someone who finds preparing and cooking meals stressful and time-consuming, and ends up constantly ordering takeaways, perhaps instead you could opt to utilise a food delivery service that either deliver fully prepared meals or ready prepared ingredients with recipe cards, such as Hello Fresh and Gousto, for instance. You can have almost anything delivered, it’s just a case of thinking about what is most crucial for making your life simpler, easier and less stressful. Every location has different options available, so take the time to look into what’s available where you live. 

Adult life isn’t always easy, especially when you have a hectic schedule and busy life, but the truth is that there are plenty of ways to make things easier for yourself. You just need to be willing to get creative and think outside of the box. 

Should You Sell Your Home Or Put It Up For Rent?

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This is something that I've often wondered about as I'm currently looking at moving to a bigger home after 3 years of living in my first house. If you're reading this, you're possibly also in the process of moving home. You fancy a change - or perhaps a change has been forced upon you - and you're leaving your old home behind. Now, you're faced with a tricky conundrum - do you sell your old home or keep it? Why would you keep it? Well, you can put it up for rent and make some extra money on the side. After hearing that side of things, another question pops into your mind - why wouldn't you put your house up for rent?!

It's a hard decision because so many factors come into play. To help you decide which path to take, here are a few key considerations:

Can you afford to buy a new house without selling the old one?

What's your current financial situation like? If you're in a position where you can take a mortgage out on a second home - and have no financial issues - then it can be well worth it. You'll use the rent from the other house to pay off that mortgage, and then it will help you pay off the new one. Sooner than you believe possible, you'll be the owner of two homes without a mortgage to your name! But, this is only possible if you're able to buy a new home without needing to sell the previous one. In some cases, you might have to sell your old property to have the funds to move into a new one. 

What are rental prices like in your area?

Secondly, is it even worth renting your house out? If the rental prices in your area are really poor, it might not be worth the hassle. As you can see on the Track Capital website, certain areas of the country have seen a dramatic increase in rental prices. If it's like this in your area, it's almost silly not to take advantage of it. Imagine you're able to rake in over £1,000 a month from your home?! By contrast, if the rent is too low, managing the extra property can become too expensive. You go through the effort of managing your old home, but don't reap the rewards through the rent. 

Can you sell it for a substantial profit?

Lastly, consider how much of a profit you'd get if you sold your home right now. In some cases, you may have bought a fixer-upper that's soared in value since you had it. Selling it now will land you a huge profit that gives you access to lots of money right away. You can then use that money to possibly buy more than one house, letting you put one up for rent anyway! If your house hasn't increased in value by a substantial amount, it might be better to hold onto it and play the long-haul game with a rental. 

See, it's a very hard decision to make as you could be taking a risk. Ultimately, the best approach is to weigh up your situation, look at your finances, and possibly consult an expert.