Once the kids are back in school and the long summer days began to grow shorter and shorter, homeowners begin thinking about fall. First comes the change in leaves that completely alters the landscape, followed soon after by Halloween. The next month brings Thanksgiving, which often involves visiting relatives. All of this activity usually inspires homeowners to invest in décor specific to the season.

However, redoing your house for one season can be expensive. You can add a few things, then store them the same way you store your Christmas decorations, but new welcome mats, centerpieces, and knickknacks can be expensive. Here are a few ideas that can add an autumnal touch to your home without stretching your budget to its limit.

Use Pumpkins

As fall begins, you’ll see stacks of pumpkins on sale everywhere. They’re available at the grocery store and local farmer’s markets, as well as at pumpkin patches on farms in rural areas. Traditionally, homeowners carved pumpkins for decorations but over time, people have come up with a variety of other creative ways to decorate with them. You can use them for your centerpieces, mantel decorations, or set them up on your front porch.

Go Grocery Shopping

Sometimes great decorations start with a visit to the produce section of your grocery store. Certain items have become synonymous with fall, making them ideal for jazzing up your home for parties and weekend visitors. You can get creative with apples or dried corncobs at minimal cost and create a unique look. You can also use squash, gourds, and red onions to create stunning displays.

Buy Hay Bales

You can stop by a local hardware store or farm supply for a couple of hay bales to spice up your outdoor décor. If you have farms nearby, you may even find hay bales for sale at a fraction of the price of what you’d pay at a hardware store. Check sites like Craigslist to see if someone in your area is offering hay bales for sale. There are a variety of ways you can decorate with hay bales, including stacking them and accenting them with other decorations or giving them a fun Halloween theme.

Decorate with Candy

Halloween has become known as a holiday that revolves around candy. You can go with that theme and use candy corn to spice up your centerpieces and other decorations. If you have kids around the house, they’ll likely have fun helping you with your DIY project, then feel a sense of accomplishment when the decorations are complete. Just make sure you buy extra candy corn to make up for the pieces you’ll consume while working on the project.

Bottom Line

One of the best things about these options is that they’re perishable, which means when the season is over, you’ll have nothing to store. With a little creativity, you can spice up your décor on a budget, impressing your friends and neighbors with your inventiveness. Best of all, you’ll have fun thinking of new ways to use everyday objects in your fall-themed decorating.

Having poor credit isn’t a good thing, but neither is having no credit at all. Getting approved for a mortgage – or any other type of loan, for that matter – is pretty much an impossible feat if the lender has nothing to go on. How will your lender know if you’ll be good for the money if you don’t have a history of responsible repayment? While you may be avoiding debt like the plague, you’re also failing to build up any sort of credit whatsoever.

If you currently have no credit, here are a few ways to build it up from scratch.

Apply For a Secured Credit Card

You may have been paying for everything in cash up to now, but it’s time to get some credit on the books, and you can easily start by applying for a secured credit card. These types of credit cards are backed by a cash deposit that you make upfront, which essentially acts as your credit limit. That means you must have money in your account equivalent to your credit line. If you want to spend $500 on your card, for example, you need $500 in your account to cover that amount.

Like a typical credit card, monthly payments are made, and interest is incurred if you don’t pay your balance off in full and on time. Every purchase you make with the card is deducted from your remaining balance. That initial $500 stays as is, and is used as collateral if you don’t make your payments.

Using a secured credit card will help you build up enough credit to be eligible for a traditional credit card.

Take Out a Loan With a Credible Co-Signer

You likely won’t be approved for a loan on your own without any credit, but you have a good chance of approval if you can get a co-signer on your loan application. The key is to make sure that the co-signer already has excellent credit. Basically, the co-signer agrees to cover the loan amount in the event that you don’t make your payments. That’s the guarantee that a lender would get with a co-signer.

By taking out a small loan in this manner, you’ll have an opportunity to prove your ability to make regular payments in full and on time. Just make sure you’ve got the income and the discipline necessary to comfortably make your loan payments, or you’ll be putting your co-signer in a very precarious position.

Add Yourself as an Authorized User on Another Person’s Credit Card

Ask a close friend or family member if they would be willing to allow you to be added as an authorized user on his or her credit card. This will allow you to use that person’s credit card without being legally responsible to pay for the charges, and you’ll be building credit at the same time. The other person really needs to have full trust in you, so make sure you’re up for the task before you ask and agree to put your name down as an authorized user.

Before you take this route, however, you should first make sure that the credit card company sends authorized user activity information to the credit bureaus. If it doesn’t, there’s no point continuing with this option.

Apply For a Credit Builder Loan

This type of loan is specifically designed to help people build credit, as all payment activity is reported to the credit bureaus. They are small loans made by some credit unions and community banks which basically act as a type of forced savings.

The money borrowed is deposited in a savings account by the lender, and can’t be accessed until you fully repay the loan. Once the loan term expires, you get the money, as well as a good credit score.

The Bottom Line

The key here is to make sure the credit you build is a good one. Be sure to make all payments on time and in full, and keep your credit card debt low. Don’t open too many accounts within a short period of time, and get a copy of your credit report once a year to see if there are any mistakes or discrepancies on there that could be bringing you credit score down. There’s no point in trying to build credit if you’re just going to be irresponsible with your efforts. A bad credit score is just as bad as no credit at all.

It’s that time of year again. High school graduates across the country are packing their belongings into boxes and making the drive to the college campus they’ll call home for the next few years. Many of them will spend at least the first year in an on-campus dormitory, sharing a small space with a roommate.

Whether you’re a college student or the parent of one, you’re likely already contemplating how to make that small space a little warmer. Often dorm rooms are equipped with only a couple of beds, a desk, a vanity, and a closet. Often with plain walls and outdated floors and furniture, dorm rooms can easily seem cold and bleak. Here are a few personal touches you can add that will make your dorm room feel more like home.

Area Rugs

Rugs can make a big difference in the look of a room, whether your flooring is tile or carpet. You can find inexpensive dorm room rugs online through sites like Dormco or eBay. You can also shop garage sales, thrift stores, and discount shops to find inexpensive rugs that will look great in a dorm room. Longevity and durability aren’t a primary factor, since many students will change their minds from one year to the next. Some students move into apartments and off-campus housing with friends after logging a year or two in dorms, so the dormitory furnishings bought today only need to last a short period of time.

Posters

Paintings and framed portraits may be ideal for decorating a house, but dorm room wall space is often limited. It can even sometimes be made of material like painted brick. Posters can be a much more affordable way to add character to a room without needing to drill holes in the wall. Posters can express a person’s favorite movies or music acts or provide inspirational reminders to help with those long nights of studying. Some campuses have strict rules about wall damage, however, so make sure all wall art is hung in a way that doesn’t damage the paint.

Get Creative

If you’re feeling artistic, turn your dorm decorating task into a creative endeavor. You can gain inspiration from sites like this one, putting together high-quality decorations using inexpensive items you may already have around the house. Best of all, the room will have a unique look, especially when compared to all of the other rooms in the building that have standard dorm room decorations. As you’re choosing projects, consider functionality. This do-it-yourself laundry bag can be great for toting laundry to the shared laundry room, while these creative storage boxes provide a great way to tuck items away when friends come to visit.

Being away from home for the first time can be unsettling and stressful. But with a few personal touches, a student’s dorm room can quickly begin to feel like home, providing a comfortable place to study, rest, and make great memories with friends. Even if you’re on a budget, you can make your dorm room stand out from the rest with a little creativity and resourcefulness.

Just because you pour something down the drain doesn’t necessarily mean that it will magically disappear through the pipes. Sure, you can expect most liquids and a few tiny solids to make their way through the plumbing with little issue, but there are plenty of other items that can wreak havoc if you try to pour them down the drain.

To avoid the messy job of having to clear the pipes in your home, make sure none of the following items are ever sent down the drain. 

1. Grease

One of the most deceiving items that clog your pipes is grease. After frying up a pan of bacon or other fatty meats, all the fat at the bottom of the pan will be in liquid form, but not for long. Once it starts to cool off, it turns into solid.

Imagine pouring that hot liquid grease down the drain. At some point, it’ll start to turn to sludge as it cools, which can block the drain. The best thing you can do to dispose of this type of grease is to pour it into a separate bowl and allow it to cool, then throw it in the trash.

2. Baby Wipes

The only thing that should be flushed down a toilet is toilet paper that has been designed specifically to break apart easily when wet. Baby wipes are much thicker and are not made to break down the way toilet paper does. If the toilet gets clogged as a result, a plunger likely won’t do much. Instead, you’ll probably have to call in a plumber to clean the mess. Even if these wipes manage to actually pass the drainage system in your home, they’ll continue to do damage to the municipal sewage system.

3. Starchy Food

Any food scraps should be wiped off of plates and sent straight into the garbage can. However, it’s typical for small food particles to make it into the sink. Certain types of foods can be more damaging to pipes than others, including starchy foods such as potatoes, corn, pasta, rice, and onions skins. These fibrous foods can expand when they’re in the pipes and clog them right up. Even if you have a garbage disposal installed, these types of foods can damage the motor. While handy, garbage disposals are truly only meant for crumbs, not larger food peels or other scraps.

4. Coffee Grinds

The fine grinds of coffee may deceive homeowners into thinking that they’ll pose no problem when washed down the drain. However, coffee grounds can easily stick to any items that have already made their way into the pipes, creating a blockage. In fact, coffee grounds are one of the biggest culprits in clogged drains.

5. Dental Floss

It’s probably no surprise that the accumulation of hair can clog pipes. The same sort of principle applies with dental floss, which is similar in size and shape. Floss may be very thin, but that doesn’t mean it will necessarily slide easily through the pipes. Instead, it can easily clump into balls of knots, creating a blockage that will warrant a call to the plumber.

6. Cat Litter

Don’t be fooled by the tiny pebbles of cat litter products. Cat litter should never be flushed down the toilet or poured down sink drains. Traditional cat litter is made of clay, sand, and silica, which are made to absorb moisture. This, in turn, results in clumps that will easily clog your plumbing.

7. Medications

Tiny pills may be able to easily make it through the pipes with little issue, but they can cause trouble for our natural waterways. While it may have once been recommended to flush medications down the toilet in order to safely dispose of them and keep them out of the hands of others, it is now suggested that unconsumed medications be brought to a pharmacist for proper disposal.

8. Conventional Cleaning Solutions

Like medications, cleaning products that are found on grocery store shelves should not be poured down the drain because they can harm the water’s ecosystem. Instead, try using natural or home-made solutions that still work to clean but do not contain any agents that would cause harm to the environment.

The Bottom Line

The pipes in your home were not designed as trash cans. Many items can cause major blockage in your plumbing system that will result in the need to manually extract them, which is not a pretty job. To prevent any blockages to the pipes or harm to our natural waterways, make sure none of the above items ever make their way to your home’s plumbing system.

Ready to buy your first home? Join the millions of others out there who are navigating the waters of real estate for the first time.

It’s exciting, yet it’s completely intimidating at the same time, and for good reason. Your home is most likely the most expensive purchase you will ever make, so it’s not something you want to jump into without making sure you’re emotionally and financially ready.

Are you truly prepared for homeownership? Here are a few signs that’ll tell you that you’re primed to become a homeowner.

1. You’ve Got Your Overall Debt Load Under Control

It’s important to be realistic about your state of affairs when it comes to your money. If you have mounting debt from credit cards, auto loans, student loans, and other personal debt, you should probably straighten these out before you add more debt to the pile. Including another payment will just send you spiraling deeper into debt.

On the other hand, if your debt is under control, you’re probably able to comfortably handle monthly mortgage payments. You can easily find this out by calculating your debt-to-income ratio, which represents the percentage of your monthly income that is dedicated to paying off your debts. If a huge chunk of your income is dedicated to paying debt, you might find it difficult to meet additional monthly mortgage payments. Not only that, lenders might not approve you for a mortgage either. 

Generally speaking, a debt-to-income ratio of 36% or less is usually considered doable. Anything over this percentage means you’ll probably be biting off more than you can chew. The lower the number, the more likely you’ll be comfortable making your monthly mortgage payments in full and on time each month.

2. Your Credit is Decent

Not only does your debt-to-income ratio affect your ability to secure a mortgage, so does your credit score. Do you even know what yours is? If not, it’s time to find out. Luckily, you can quickly discover what your credit score is by requesting a report from any one of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. It’s free to get this report once a year, so there’s no cost to you.

Lenders will look at your credit score to help determine how likely you’ll be able to meet your payments, versus default on them. The higher your score, the better. If your credit score is at least 620, you stand a much better chance at getting approved for a conventional mortgage. You may be able to secure an FHA-backed home loan with a score of at least 580. However, your ability to be approved for a home loan will depend on other factors well, including the following.

3. You’ve Saved Up For a Sizeable Down Payment

Not only will a decent-sized down payment help your lender look favorably on you, it will also impress the seller. A bigger down payment means you will owe less on the principal amount of your mortgage. It will also help increase the odds of getting approved for a home loan, and score a better rate.

Depending on the type of mortgage you are applying for, you might be able to get approved for a mortgage with a down payment of 5% of the purchase price of the home. However, if there are some questionable factors in your financial history, such as dings on your credit report, you could be asked to come up with more.

There are actually some home loan programs that allow as little as 3.5% or even zero percent down payment, but specific guidelines will need to be met in order to qualify. Just keep in mind that anything less than 20% on a conventional mortgage will mean you’ll be paying extra for Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI), which basically protects the lender should you default on your loan. The more money you’re able to put towards your down payment, the less you’ll owe on your mortgage.

4. You’re Planning on Sticking Around

If your intentions are to settle down for a few years, then you’re probably emotionally ready to make the commitment. It’s important to keep in mind that the selling prices can be an expensive and lengthy one.

Selling your home in less than two years after buying it can potentially wipe out any real estate profits. You’ll also be slapped with tax implications from selling too quickly. The IRS allows as much as $500,000 in profits from the sale of a property to be exempted from capital gains on tax returns that are filed jointly, or $250,000 for single-person filings. But you’ll need to show proof that the home was your primary residence for at least two of the last five years in order to make sure that money is exempt.

If you’re not sure if you want to stick around for long, you may want to rent first. If, on the other hand, you have intentions of sticking around for the long haul, that’s a good sign that you’re ready for homeownership.

5. You Want to Start Building Equity

Think of your home as investment. In actuality, it is. You’re not only buying a home to live in, you’re also building wealth over time. Every payment you make towards paying down your principal every month and appreciation in value over time both contribute to growing your home equity. In fact, one of the biggest benefits of homeownership is the equity that you can build as time goes on.

Having a lot of built-up equity in your home can give you a lot of options. It’s somewhat like a forced savings account that just gets bigger over time. You can eventually use the equity to fund some of life’s major expenses, such as a college education, major home renovations, or even a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. Borrowing against the equity in your home affords you with a financial safety net. If you’ve got your eye on building equity, then homeownership is likely for you.

6. You Have a Reserve Fund Stashed Away

When it comes to owning a home, it’s not just your mortgage payments that you need to worry about. Along with homeownership comes all sorts of other expenses, many of which can pop up unexpectedly. It’s important to ensure that you’ve got a reserve fund on the side, preferably at least 6 months’ worth to cover the cost of your mortgage, utilities, insurance payments, credit cards, and other debt obligations. If you’ve got this money built up, you’re in a much better position to buy a home.

The Bottom Line

It’s much better to take the time to determine if you’re ready to buy a house before you seal the deal. Even though it might be frustrating to hold off on the big purchase as you answer these questions, you’ll be in a much better position to buy knowing that you’re fully ready to take the plunge.