Holiday Clean Up Tips-- Avoid Garage Sales, Donate Used Items, Get Tax Credit

I'm not lazy, but I don't like working needlessly. Spring cleaning, purging and weeding closets is torture enough. But to lug it all to the basement in anticipation of having a garage sale is overwhelming. Here's my solution: Donate garage sale fodder and take the tax credit. Having a garage sale is exhausting, time-consuming and labor intensive. And that's if you have a garage. I do not. I have a yard which I must somehow convert into an open air market, if I'm to hold a garage sale and sell my used goods. It's not cost-effective or energy efficient. For holiday clean up or spring cleaning donations, read more

Surprise costs, hidden problems remodeling our 100-year-old home

My husband and I bought our Grand Haven, Michigan, home in 2000. We hoped to save money buying a 100-year-old fixer-upper for just $52,000. Newer homes that needed less work were selling for about two to three times what we paid for ours. We've had to make do with a lot of inconveniences that would cost us far more than we saved in purchase price to properly fix. Even fixing our home on a shoestring has cost us nearly as much as we saved -- around $49,000. Here are some of our costlier old-home-buying surprises.  read more