Buying Used Cars: Tips on Inspecting Before Buying

Acquiring a used car can possibly be cheaper, because a car greatly loses some of its value even within the initial year of ownership. It continues to lose its value in the years that follow. For similar model of used cars, the highest is price paid for a new-car dealer of the same car model, a smaller price to a new-car dealer of a different make, still lower price to a used-car dealer, and the smallest price to a private owner. But be aware that you only get the best deal if the car has good mechanisms and body. Here are tips on  checkin a used car you wish to buy.

Smart Buying
After meticulous inspection when you have found a used car that you wish to buy, ask for the name and contact specifics of the prior owner. This won't be an issue if the used car is for sale by the owner. Contact the car owner to inquire of several details: mileage when the vehicle was traded, frequency of oil change, other car issues encountered. Do not buy it if  the name and contact can't be provided. It possibly came from an auto auction, where rental companies and car dealers ordinarily customarilysend their problem autos, together with some decentdecent ones. Be firm on taking the car from the car lot to your trusted car mechanic for a diagnosis, safety inspection, and engine compression check. If  this is not amenable to them, don't get the deal.

Checking the Mechanicals
When you're intending to buy a used car, dress comfortably because there's work to be done. Thoroughly check a used car before you even think of making an offer.
- Always insist to have a test drive. Go to the car; don't let the car salesperson bring it to you. Check under the car where it was  parked. Check for leak spots under the engine? These may pertain to oil leak, transmission leaks or brake problems.
- Put th full weight of your body on every corner of the car and then release. More that two bounces of the car means it may need new shock absorbers.
- When the car is still cool, touch the inside of the exhaust. If you get an oily, black substance,  this may implya valve or valve-seal issue. Ask the salesperson to start the car then stand back to inspect the exhaust. If smoke is blown, it may necessitate expensive repairs.
- Drive the car in regular conditions: on the side streets and highways, in slow-moving traffic, and at top speeds.
- Step hard on the brakes on speed. If the car pulls to one side, it may need costly brake rebuilding. If it takes a lot longer to halt on the second or third stop, the brakes may require new linings.
- Park the car and allow it idle for at least 10 minutes while the air conditioner is running so the engine doesn't overheat. Test the heater, radio, and wipers. Don't rush.
- While the parking brake is on and the car in drive, attempt to accelerate. The engine must stall or somewhat stall. If the car runs immediatelt, the brake might need repairs. In an automatic transmission car, failure to halt or stumble may indicate transmission problem.

© Tip Writer

Home Finishing on a Budget

Home finishing is the last step in constructing or reconstructing a home.  It also represents a big bulk of the construction expense.  Here are tips to save money when you're at the finishing stage of your home constructing.

DIY Finishing

Although you would not wish to take on the responsibility of being your home's contractor, you can still save on your home building expenses. If you have adequate do-it-yourself know how, you can slash thousands off your total bill by taking in some of the finishing tasks on your new home. What you finish depends upon your skill level the amount of time you can commit. The savings may be considerably worth it: You can save on labor costs if you can do them instead of paying a professional contractor.

Talk to Your Contractor

Nearly all building contractors are willing to negotiate to permit a few or most of the home finishing to be handled the owner. Regardless of the amount of work you choose to finish yourself. It's recommended that you let the contractor and his workers to finish their task before you assume the rest of the task. This is also for your own safety. 

DIY Drywall

You'll be able to save a considerable amount of money if you can perform drywall work. You will require assistance hanging the drywall, but that demands more strength instead of skill. After which, you may then hire a professional to do the more meticulous finishing tasks or opt to do it yourself if your experience is adequate enough.

Tips on Hiring a Contractor

If you have chosen to hire a finishing contractor, follow these tips before you close the deal:

-Hire a contractor who is accredited in your location. Affiliation with professional builder groups is a good sign.

-Check previous projects that the contractor has complete. Is the quality good? Does it meet your standards?

-Be sure the contractor gets all required permits. Basically, a building permit is prerequisite before starting structural work.  Remember that the person who gets the permit is accountable if the work does not abide by prescribed building codes and regulations.

-Make sure your prospective contractor is amenable to your completing the rest or a portion of the work yourself, if that's what you are planning. Some contractors refuse job contracts that involve subcontracting all or a portion of the work to the homeowner.

© Tip Writer

Recycling Carpets, Ashtrays, Doilies, and Soap Chips

Recycle Carpet Remnants

To impart your feet extra insulation from the cold, line your boots or rubbers with carpet scraps. Trace your foot on a piece of paper to create a pattern and use the outline to cut the carpeting to fit. This also works well for kids’ snow boots.

Recycle Ashtrays

As fewer people smoke these days, what do you do with all your ashtrays? Use a few as spoonrests in the kitchen. Keep one on the kitchen windowsill to hold rings when you're washing dishes. Put one in the bathroom as a soap dish. Others come in handy under plants and in floral arrangements.

Recycle Fancy Doilies

If you have those old-fashioned lace doilies once popular for protecting the backs and arms of good chairs, you could take them out of storage and use them as lovely placemats and table runners. You can use them alone, or with a plastic, solid-colored mat or cloth underneath to protect your table.

Recycle Soap Chips

Here is a way to use every shred of soap—the bits we save and never know what to do with. Take a square of nylon netting, put a handful of soap slivers in the center, fold the netting up so there are a few layers of net around the slivers, tuck in the ends like a package and sew all around the edges using heavy thread. It is great for scrubbing collar stains or cleaning hands after gardening or painting.

© 2011 Athena Goodlight

Decorating Home Interiors With Your Personal Flair

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Having unique, elegant but no-nonsense interior decor demands some research.  Interior design ideas from home and garden books are great sources. But make sure to combine your own unique style in your interior decor.

Create a stylish impression by leaving some reading items such as Architectural Digest and travel magazines lounging on the center table. Books about musicians or history are also good to have around.

Naturally, if you are love traveling, your house will be decked with mementos brought home from the foreign places you have visited. If you picture your home being filmed for a TV program or a featured on a magazine, you would fancy showing a hint of your personal statement, and exhibit glimpses of your elegant taste. Your home may reveal your interests,hobbies, wide range of culture (books are a lot more than ornaments) and fashion sense.

Most importantly, your decor should display an eye for color. Aim to make your home as exceptional as your personality, functional and stylish enough for a magazine, yet as cozy as a much loved pair of slippers.

Show that you have excellent taste, good feng shui, and pleasant house-warming soirees. Select  a motif or a theme and apply it throughout the house; this does not have to be rigid, but should reveal your personality. Allow the personality of the house to also have an expression in the decor. Mix old with present, antiques with junk, but over all keep it innovative.

Ideally decorate before you move in, if not, at least decide on the specifics before you encounter the moving-day stress.  Figure out what will be the feature of the room, and work around it. Mirrors  make a room look bigger, dark colors on the ceiling make the room look smaller.

Decorate with picture frames and determine where the TV, the  lazy boy and the bed go, and set up the rest around these.

Add  antique clock if you can afford it; the tick-tock resembles a heart beat, and, once you get used to it, it will stop annoying you and it will make your home feel restful. If not, bring in a piano, or an instrument, but be considerate to your neighbors.

Moving home is the time to be rigid and also have a sentimental spring clean. Eliminate old clutter. But never forget that you are not a robot, nor should you reside in a aseptic environment. A squishy chair you can curl up on is indispensable. Your home  should be inviting, but not too inviting:  people who won't leave can be draining on a host or hostess. The balance you are going for is: 10 per cent mood; 10 per cent personality; 20 per cent comfort and 50 per cent flair.
Make your place clean, yet comfortable; you can admire display homes, but you must not live in such a place.  The key is having a home that is livable.



© Athena Goodlight

Inexpensive Ways to Decorate Small Rooms

Decorating small rooms call for a lot of creative and practical thinking. It can be really challenging to create delightful corners and crannies that are totally unexpected when you chance upon them.

The Kitchen

When you have a modest space in your kitchen or dining area, turn it into a pretty spot by using just some accessories. For example, frame two or three herb prints or a poster as wall decor. Then place a shelf below the framed prints to carry small pots of blossoms or fresh herbs.  This could turn into a tiny indoor garden for snipping off a pinch of basil, parsley, or oregano when you need it.

A Pretty Laundry Room

Convert your laundry area into a terrific garden room. Start by using a piece of textile you love and use it to make a customized valance for the laundry room window. Stencil flowers designs that seemingly grows up the wall beneath the window. A stenciled ivy vine pattern would also look nice to decorate outside of the window frame. Position real topiary trees on any side of the window. This cheerful makes one feel good about doing laundry more often.

Artsy Powder Rooms

Powder rooms can be turn into art galleries. Use a framed art piece to cover an ample portion of the wall. A framed funny postcard can also add a touch of cheerfulness. Place small interesting items on your shelf that might delight guests who use this room. You may use a simple window treatment: The valance can be fabricated just by setting up lace-edged linen napkins set on the diagonal tension rod. No sewing required. The bottom drapery can be cafe style, covering only the lower half of the window.

© Athena Goodlight

How to Make Your Own Curtain

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Curtains make nice window treatments to a rather bare room. You can draw a curtain, drape fabric to make a curtain, buy a ready-made curtain and then, if you have exhausted all the ready-made choices, you can just make your own curtain.

Before measuring, decide on the drop and what type of rail you would like to have, since this will affect the width gathered, the length and so on. Then evaluate the coverage. Usually for pulleys- and rod-operated curtains you should add an extra 8—10cm on every side for the operation, and say a generous 15-20cm beyond the frame for all the hooks, rail, etc. Next, measure the correct height and width. Measure the frame but don't forget the extras you will need to total your calculations.

Purchase or borrow a sewing machine, collect swatches and decide on a pattern of style to be attempted. There are lots of great sources of inspiration. If you're new to this, go for something simple, and remember there's a lot to be said on the benefits of bohemianly draped swathes of raw cut cloth. Make sure your curtain fabric is weighty enough for the style intended.

When you bring the fabric home, and wash it following the provided washing instructions, load it into the machine to soften it up. Then meticulously, following your pattern, start to cut as directed.

Pin, tack, hem and then you are ready to machine together. Don't forget to line the curtains. This makes them look far more generous, if not the object of the method will be defeated, as light from the outside will still pour in. Thread through or attach hooks, then attach to curtain rod above the window and let them hang.

Read also: 

Stylish and Practical Window Treatments

Bamboo Blinds for Window Treatments

How to Deal with Manmade Fabrics in Today’s Homes

© Athena Goodlight

Reduce Energy Bills on Home Heating Systems

The home heating system requires periodic tune-ups to keep it effi­ciently working. Similar is true with boilers, furnaces, and heat pumps. Having your heater maintained by a professional heater technician annually or every two years save you a lot of money on your energy bill. All the same, it does not mean you could disregard routine maintenance. Here are some suggested DIY heater maintenance tips for you to follow:


Read more: Reduce Energy Bills on Home Heating Systems              

The Practicality of Recreational Vehicles and Motor Homes

Recreational vehicles or RVs are the more popular camping cars. These cars are equal to traveling homes or motor homes. Several camping cars and trailer towing vans are combined under the same label - RVs. The recreational vehicles can be utilized for many purposes, such as getting across longer distances, camping or sometimes just as a permanent home.

The biggest and most deluxe recreational vehicles are the Class A Motor homes. The smaller variants are put under class B campervans. Class C recreational vehicles are the more modest sized Motor homes. Other than these, the camping cars are also assembled by combining the van with a trailer. Altogether these recreational vehicles are configured to provide space for storage and accommodation place.

A recreational vehicle consists of a bed, a small kitchen area, table, a TV and storage space,  Larger recreational vehicles from Class A comprise of a shower, bathroom,  toilets, living room and master bedrooms. These deluxe high end camping cars also have refrigerator, satellite TV, internet facility, awnings, slide out compartments and storage space for a car, motorbike or bicycle. The Class A camping cars are genuinely luxurious vehicles. These are generally built on a truck or commercial bus chassis for a larger space.

The recreational vehicles could be parked in a camping space or in the special RV parks. It is really easy to carry the RV to a national park, where staying on can be made comfortable with the vehicle. There's no demand to book a room at a hotel while traveling in a camping car. One can cook food in the kitchen, hence no need to locate a restaurant on the way. The RVs also demonstrate to be a good shelter for the travelers.

Like any vehicle, it is wise to have your RV insured with a reputable company such as Good Sam RV Insurance that offers comprehensive insurance plans specifically designed for recreational vehicles.

© 2011 Athena Goodlight

Office Reception Chairs for Business Lounge or Home Office

The quality of your reception chairs in the office will reflect that old saying "you only get one chance make a good impression".  Inside your office, you will want to be sure that guests and clients are as comfortable as they can be when they wait for an appointment.  Reception chairs are popular outside of the office also, as schools and even churches use them. 

Office reception chairs are really good assets to have around, as they'll provide a friendly aura and leave a long lasting effect on your guests.  By utilizing these reception area chairs in your office, guests should feel cozy and right at home in your abode.  You could also place your chairs around a desk or coffee table in the waiting room with a heap of magazines for your guests to read.

While shopping for reception chairs, among the most important decisions will be finding chairs that will make individuals of all height and weight comfortable. 

What you will want to do, is supply office chairs that offer adjustable choices for the height, depth of the backrest, and even the arm rests.  The ordinary reception chair is very durable and can last up to 15 years - with every guest along the way being comfy and each and every time they sit in the chair.

Nearly all reception chairs have a strong and stable frame that will give your back the utmost amount of ergonomic benefits.  You can even get your chairs with other options as well, including leather, vinyl, or fabric.  You can also choose the colors and padding for the seats. 

If you have an office that has a waiting room, you should not hesitate to add reception chairs.  These chairs will offer the "home away home" feeling, and give your office the look and feel your clients will love to come back to.

© 2011 Athena Goodlight