When the year changes, you can use the seasons to motivate you naturally. Spring is a time when you’re naturally more inclined to get things done. Especially after you’ve acclimated to the daylight savings time jump, you’ll have an acute feeling of increased energy.
When it hits, you’ll probably be out of sorts for a few days; but as soon as you’ve got your rhythm back, you’ve got an extra hour of daylight. This makes you feel more energetic. Lean into that energy and get things done. Your budget needs to be cleaned just like your garage, the following tactics can be useful toward that end.
1. Install Solar Panels
Solar panel installation is more straightforward than you realize. You mount the panel, assure positive and negative cords are attached properly, run them into a surge controller, and run that into a battery array. You then connect the battery array to a power inverter.
The hardest parts are attaching the brackets and making sure you get the positive and negative cables properly aligned for safety and networking. A little advice at the hardware store can set you right in either area. Essentially, it’s just a matter of climbing to the roof, attaching the panels, and securely running the cables to the surge controller and battery array.
It can take a weekend or a couple of weeks to install a full solar array on your home. Or, you can just set up one panel and charge night-time illumination to cut your electricity usage back and reduce your utility bill. Solar energy can save you in multiple ways, it’s cost-effective, and if you just do your homework online, it represents a pretty straightforward DIY project that can even generate property value.
2. Either Have A Garage Sale, Or Throw Out The Junk
Junk takes up space, it gets in your way, impacts your time management, and it can leave spaces unmaintained owing to their inaccessibility. This leads to degradation over time. That can erode property value. Messiness is the enemy of maintenance. Cleanliness is a friend of prosperity.
This spring, actually do some spring cleaning. You can get rid of the junk or sell it; but make a habit of doing this year and you’ll maximize your property. Selling unwanted things can get you money, but just cleaning out the trash is budget-friendly, too.
3. Re-Structure Your Energy Source
The electricity you’re acquiring from the grid probably costs anywhere from 6.1 to 12.3 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). At least, that’s the spread you’ll find on websites such as http://texaselectricityplans.com/, which lists locally available energy rates.
Look into the rates where you are to see if there isn’t a less expensive option. Just changing your energy provider can save you hundreds of dollars a year.
4. Start A Garden
Gardens don’t have to be too complicated, but there is a learning curve, and they do take time. However, if you go to the home and garden section of your local Home Depot or Walmart, you can get some great advice on plants that grow locally. Additionally, you can pick up all the things you need to make your horticultural adventure a success.
A simple DIY approach involves starting small with vegetables. If you get a mild harvest, it will likely be more valuable than the resources you spent setting up the garden. So you can profit from the fruits of your labor in a linear fashion.
5. Finish The Basement, The Attic, Or Both
The basement may be more difficult to finish than the attic. Both could be a bit advanced for a simple spring DIY list, but it will depend on the home. Even if you do have a fairly unfinished basement, getting that bathroom done or that sheetrock installed can be the perfect weekend project for spring.
If either room doesn’t need that much help, you can just clean up and redecorate. When you’ve got a finished basement and attic, that’s actually good for property value, so getting the job done really does put money in your pocket.
Maximizing Your Income
Economies don’t stay good forever, the future can’t be predicted, and as a society, we’re far too dependent on infrastructure that can’t ever be perfect. Spring is a great time to increase your independence of the system as it exists, securing you to some extent from these realities.
Such steps can additionally make your resources go further. So at the very least, consider these tips as imagination fodder in spring-cleaning your budget this year.
