3 Tips for Saving Money This Year

Now that we’re settled into the new year, it’s as good a time as any to begin saving a little extra cash these next twelve months. And now that the holiday season is over, you may start thinking about ways to pinch pennies in order to have some extra cash to make up for all you spent on gifts just a month ago.

Because we’re all in the thick of winter, these 3 tips that smart home owners are using to save mostly revolve around the colder months. Kickstart your savings with these helpful things and you’ll be rolling into the year with momentum in no time.

Turn down your heat.
Whether you’re doing a lot of cooking or having family or guests over for the new year, try leaving the oven door ajar after you’re done cooking to let the radiating heat warm your kitchen.

Also, you should try to take advantage of your fireplace (if you have one). Not only does a roaring fire add great atmosphere to the winter atmosphere, it also gives off much-needed warmth to the room it’s in. You should keep in mind that the fire will suck any remaining warm air from the room once it starts to die down, making your standard heating method use more energy in turn.

Use LED lights.
Switching to LED or fluorescent light bulbs will save you 90 percent compared to traditional incandescent lights. Not only do they save you on your power bill—they save you on buying replacement lights, too.

LED in particular can last up to 100,000 hours, or around 11-ish years. Considering the longevity of these bulbs, LED lights should last you a long time, meaning you’re only making trips to the store to replace them once a decade!

Order things online.

Sure, we know you want to spend your holiday cash on new clothes, and shopping after the holidays is a great way to save money on deals, deals, and more deals. But it still takes time and gas (which is money) to go to the store and pick something out. Save yourself the hassle and extra money by having it shipped to you instead.

Now that you’re armed with some ideas to save for the new year, get to budgeting in general so that you can track every single expense and save more money in return. You won’t regret it.

Different Ways to Invest In Real Estate

When it comes to investing money, real estate seems to be one of the most popular industries among majority of people. The reason is that real estate industry has all the potential to provide bigger profits in return of the investments made. There may be some risks involved but the amount of profits is something which tends to remain quite attractive for potential investors.

When we talk about investing in real estate, it’s not one area in which the investments can be made. Real estate is a vast industry which has a number of disciplines. Hence, the business rules for one area may differ entirely as compared to the others. Having that said, it is worth mentioning that there are different ways you can invest in real estate. Some fundamental ones are mentioned as under.

Residential real estate

This category involves investment in the properties such as houses, apartments, vacation houses, and townhouses. Majority of investments in this category involve buy-and-hold properties which the landlords rent out to the tenants. In United States, most of the lease or rental agreements are made on 12-month basis.

Commercial real estate

This type of investments usually involves properties such as office building and skyscrapers. With this investment, you can purchase or build a small building with multiple office sections in a commercial area. This building attracts small business owners and a number of companies. They enter into a lease agreement with you and pay the rent. The lease agreements in this scenario are usually long-term. The benefit of long-term agreements is that you would get the amount of rent as per the lease agreement even if the market rates drop. Thus, it is more stable kind of investment you can make. On the other hand, you wouldn’t be able to raise your rent if rent rates rise in your area as you will need to stick with the old agreement.

Industrial real estate

This kind of investment can help you generate revenue in two ways. You can either invite other people to enter into the lease agreement, which is going to allow those people to operate the area according to their business requirements, or you can use this area to do the business on industrial level by yourself. For instance, you can open a warehouse or storage unit. The revenue generated from this investment is even more stable as compared to commercial real estate. However, you will need to do fair amount of research before investing.

Retail real estate

You can invest money to build or purchase retail stores or shopping malls. In many cases, the landlords and retail store runners agree upon the share of profit to be paid to the landlord.