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Luminaries are a fantastic and beautiful way to bring your neighborhood and community together during the winter and holiday season. Check out my video to learn how to create a luminary event for your neighborhood! I've included some great resources to save yourself some time or help you get started in your own neighborhood. Check out the below for some great tips, tricks, and templates to get you started. www.lightupwarren.weebly.com
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 Your KitchenThe thought of Home Maintenance is just too overwhelming. It's an all-encompassing, cumbersome, fund-draining word that takes up way too much space in our heads and on our to-do lists that make our hearts flutter with anxiety. I much prefer to break things up into manageable chunks, that help me breathe a little more easily. Instead of looking at the Entire Home, let's look at your Home One Room At A Time. All your room needs is a little TLC. Let's start with the kitchen. The kitchen is where everyone in the home congregates and it takes on the brunt of abuse from a household. Think about the wear and tear of the fridge over time. In our household, I am convinced we probably open and close that thing at least 40 times each day! Don't even get me started on how often we open the cabinets when each member of our family is on the hunt for some special food to satisfy their craving. Kitchen maintenance is of utmost importance to make sure everything stays in tip top shape and running. Be proactive instead of reactive. Who wants a house full of hungry kids when the fridge stops working, the oven won't start, the sink starts leaking and the cabinets are falling off the hinges? No thanks! Here are some quick and easy guidelines to follow for Annual Kitchen Maintenance. I also created a handy dandy checklist with examples to help you in your Annual Kitchen Maintenance journey! 1. Take an inventory and make a list of all of your kitchen items. This includes your foundational and semi-permanent items.
2. Write down the name, brand, serial number, item number, warranty info, and age associated with each kitchen item as applicable.
3. Make any notes about each kitchen item that you need that is considered, "important to note".
4. Indentify any problems with each kitchen item. Then, figure out what the solution to the problem is and the estimated cost of repair if known. 5. Discuss Kitchen Decor
Your Annual Home Maintenance Plan for your Kitchen is complete! Do this check once a year. I recommend doing this in January after the new year. This is when we tend to have energy for a "fresh start" and getting our lives in order. Plus, once complete, you will see what your approximate costs will be for repairs. And with hopefully a nice tax return (can I use nice and tax in the same sentence?!) coming in the spring, you can use some of your return to complete the repairs. Put a date on the calendar and get started!
By Devin Almonte  Buying Day Tips
Hopefully, at this point, you will have your new car at a reasonable and fair price! And you will be so happy that you spent the time to research. It can save you a fortune. It’s a lot of prep work, but you won't regret spending the time doing your homework when you see how much cash you can save. Helpful sites: www.bankrate.com www.edmunds.com www.truecar.com www.kbb.com By Devin Almonte How Has The Better Deal? Chart Analysis BreakdownMSRP:
Dealership #2 looks like the better deal. Dealer Invoice: The Invoice is also better with Dealership #2. Bonus Cash/Rewards/Etc: Dealership #1 is giving $5319.00 in bonus cash/rewards. Dealership #2 is giving $2500 in bonus cash/rewards. Now, that makes it “appear” that Dealership #1 has the better offer, as they are giving you twice as much bonus cash. Subtotal 2 also shows that they have the best offer at $30487.00, showing a savings of $1280.00. Fees: Now you can add in all your fees. Remember, fees should not be added to the price of your car (subtotal 1) or your financing! If the dealer tries to add this to the price of your car, then you will be paying taxes on these fees. You should not be paying taxes on these fees This also means that you would then be paying more interest each month as well. Not something you want to do! Each dealership will vary to some degree when it comes to fees. This especially applies to Doc fees. Dealerships like to hide costs here depending on how the negotiation process goes. As you can see, Dealership #1 has much higher costs attached to their Doc fee and New Plate fee than Dealership #2. In some instances, they are trying to make up for some of the perceived losses from the large cash bonus incentives they are offering. Notice some of the other line items-- Destination fee, Ad fee, and Prep Fee. What are these? Some dealerships will confidently tell you that these are necessary and all part of the process. They should already be included in the listed Dealership Invoice. Taxes: In most states, you are taxed on Subtotal 1. Dealerships would like to tell you otherwise. Chart Recap: In this scenario, Dealership #1 has a higher Dealership Invoice than Dealership #2. But Dealership #1 is offering double the amount in bonus cash incentives when compared to Dealership #2. That makes Dealership #1 look more appealing. “Over a $5000 cash bonus!”, they will say. After that, it makes it look like they are the better deal compared to Dealership #2, coming in $1200.00 under what you would pay with Dealership #2. However, after carefully reviewing the fees, you see that Dealership #1 is trying to possibly make up for lost cash in their fees section. Many people wrongly assume these fees are set and not changeable, nor negotiable. Notice that Dealership #1 is charging you again for the Destination Fee and Ad Fees. You are already charged for this in the Dealership Invoice! There shouldn’t be a charge here. The Prep Fee – this is a junk fee and should be completely removed. They aren’t doing anything to “Prep” your car for you. Question the Registration fee. This is usually accounted for in the Doc Fee. And ask them for a breakdown of the Doc Fee and what is included in that, as they are charging quite a bit for it. New plates – this shouldn’t be much, but they may overcharge you for it. Find out what your state’s motor vehicle fees are so you know exactly what you should be charged for such items. Dealerships know every trick in the book. After all, they do this for a living. They can only hide costs so many places. Often it will be in the invoice, a lower trade-in value, cash incentives, deals with the manufacturer, or in the doc fees. And then, if you choose to add on accessories, look out! They love to overcharge for accessories and installation! Lastly, you can’t get the car for free and the dealerships do need to make a profit. They can’t meet you “at-cost” on everything or else you will no longer have a dealership to do business with because they will be out of business! By Devin Almonte  What You Need To Know |