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Health & Fitness

Budget Mondays 9/15/2013

Monday – 9/15/2013

It’s Monday – a painful day for most people, yours truly included. Sometimes it is made even more painful as we remember just how much money we ended up spending over the weekend.

Budget

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It’s one word that can make people cringe, angry and sad all at the same time, a rare occurrence indeed. There are plenty of reasons for this – people are told at work that their budgets are being cut, their ideas cannot be funded because they are not in the budget, and in our personal life, our budgets don’t usually quite match up to our desires.

Fall is upon us, and with the fall season comes hectic schedules, after school activities, new seasons of our favorite shows, and more sports. What also comes with the fall, however, are those pesky home improvement projects that you meant to do in the spring, didn’t quite get to over the summer, and want to get done before the holidays are upon us. Home improvement projects, even DIY projects, can be expensive so let’s take a look a few tips that can help you get the projects done in a budget friendly matter.

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When painting you can line your roller pan with a plastic bag or some other kind of plastic liner. This sounds like a simple tip, but when you are done using the paint and the roller tray you simply dispose of the plastic bag and can reuse the roller tray again and again. Another great tip is to use a smaller, sealable, container so that you aren’t lugging the whole gallon can around with you as you paint.

Note: As I spent this weekend painting the house I can vouch for these tips.

Maybe you are doing some final landscaping for the year, or are even planning next year’s yard project already (good for you!). Mulch, fertilizer, and paving stones can be expensive, and even more so if you are stuck buying them at their “peak” season when everyone else is trying to get their hands on these same items. Take advantage of the discounts most large retailers can offer, especially in “off-season” times like the fall and stock up.

The kitchen is often the center of family life, and even more so in the fall and holiday season as cooking and baking take a more prominent role. Everyone wants a beautiful kitchen, but it can be expensive to remodel an entire kitchen. Cabinets by themselves can cost between $10-20 thousand, so how can make your kitchen you better on a budget? Refinishing cabinets with either paint or stain, or adding a fresh layer of wood veneer can breathe new life into tired cabinet, and do so on a budget friendly basis.

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