As a guest and as a host, I'm two totally different people. When I'm hosting, I want my guests to feel at home. I show them where the glasses are, give them full control of the remote and invite them to switch on the ceiling fan if they're warm. But when I'm a guest, I adhere to a totally different set of rules.
Maintaining a budget is one of those things everyone knows they have to do, but not everyone actually understands how to do it (or rather, how to do it in a way that benefits their specific, individual needs). If you need help figuring out your own finances, these bloggers have simple-but-totally-smart budgeting systems that are sure to inspire you, no matter what your financial goals are:
Name: Ana Nelson
Location: Tacoma, Washington
Size: 925 square feet
Years lived in: Owned, 1 year
Ana grew up working for her family's event company, and has always loved vintage items, so when she set out to buy her first house, she knew she would be happiest living in a home from another era. At just 25, Ana purchased a small 1920s bungalow, and has spent the past year converting the home from a dark, run-down space into the bright, cheery cottage that it is today.
If you're a fan of the Harry Potter series, you may have spent some time thinking about the characters' lives after the books end. But have you spent any time thinking about their homes? Here's a speculative look at the sort of home decor that might be favored by some our favorite fictional characters.
You might have already known this intuitively, but science has confirmed that you do your most creative thinking when your mind is allowed to wander a little. When it comes to creativity, the most flexible and facile mind is an "unloaded" mind—unloaded, meaning: you're not trying to think about other things. Which helps to explain why a lot of people have their most brilliant thoughts in the shower.
Whether it's 20 minutes of exercise a day leading to a healthy body or picking up the living room every day giving you a perpetually clutter-free space, good daily habits add up to big rewards. Money, of course, is no exception. A few tweaks to our behavior can lead to hundreds of dollars in savings each year. And when these behaviors become habits, the savings are automatic.
You may remember Nisha and Tim Stevens' house in South East London. Having spent most of their budget buying the house, Nisha and Tim had to be creative when it came to decorating. Luckily the couple is pretty handy and they saved a lot of money by renovating most of their old kitchen themselves.
