While spring cleaning may have its roots in old traditions like the Iranian Norouz or the Jewish Passover, where a thorough cleansing takes place in preparation for the new year or a religious celebration, it hits the annual housekeeping checklist right around March. The weather is balmy enough to open the windows but not so warm that insects will invade. This is the opportune month for families to dust and scrub overlooked areas — rugs, drapes, blinds, baseboards, and more.

Here are some suggestions to successfully manage this year’s spring cleaning. For those who approach it with textbook ideals, Martha Stewart’s checklist provides detail and strategy to shape up the nook and crannies. If you’re less like Martha, then think simple. Organized Home blog suggests five ways to tackle the job — wash the windows, open them up for fresh air circulation, use outdoor flowers for indoor arrangements, clean out the refrigerator and freezer, and store winter clothes. Covering these major categories make for a good tuneup.

The Seattle Times suggests that households inventory cleaning supplies before buying more. Using everyday household items and homemade solutions will minimize toxins, have little or no environmental impact, and save lots of money.

• For cleaning windows and other glass surfaces, coffee filters are a great alternative to newspaper or paper towels.
• A disinfecting solution can be made by mixing one cup of alcohol, one cup of water, and one tablespoon of white vinegar.
• To create an all-purpose, add one-quarter cup of white vinegar to a gallon of water.

If spring cleaning still doesn’t appeal, focus on the goal. Paring down, clearing out, and purifying the air requires some physical labor, but doing so will renew the inner spirit and get your household ready for the warmer weather. Once late spring hits, families will want to be outdoors, not indoors cleaning. Take advantage of the rain so you don’t have to miss out on the sun.

April showers bring May flowers. Garden lovers everywhere are dreaming, planning, and preparing for spring bloom. But not everyone has a green thumb.

Southern Living’s photo gallery of over 80 garden ideas may be the visual inspiration that reluctant gardeners need. Container gardening lends itself to simple projects that provide seasonal color without arduous maintenance. Any container will do. Here are a few traditional and non-traditional options:

• Ceramic pots come in all shapes and sizes. Raised bed planters are ideal for cultivating herbs and vegetables. Check out Simply Planters to research available styles and sizes.
• A planter that does double duty as a fish tank might be perfect for the office or child’s room.
• The Roly-Poly-Pot communicates its need for H20. When water levels get low, the pot literally tips.

There’s an added bonus with container gardening’s simple beauty. Households need not spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on purchasing the right chambers. In his book, The Revolutionary Yardscape, recycling guru Matthew Levesque shares ideas on repurposing salvaged materials into landscape delights. Levesque urges home gardeners to think outside the box but within good taste. “A toilet planted with flowers in the front yard is only going to turn [repurposing] into a clumsy joke,” he tells the San Francisco Gazette. “Wit is fine, but you have to think it through enough to make the final product beautiful.”

The Obama Administration has its eye on Cleveland, where foreclosed and vacant homes are being razed to the ground. While bulldozing sounds like a radical idea, the premise behind it is to clear away the least-saleable homes in areas with a surplus of foreclosed inventory, thereby stabilizing property values. Some argue that there’s a market for rehabilitated land. In Cleveland, the soon-to-be vacant lots are managed by a land bank (a government-controlled agency that buys foreclosures). The properties are donated to churches, neighbors, and other organizations. If neighboring home values go up as a result, homeowners can refinance more easily and affordably.

In July 2011, Bank of America announced plans to bulldoze 100 foreclosed properties in the Cleveland area, according to Time (“Bulldoze: The New Way to Foreclose”). By the close of summer, the financial institution had already given away 100 homes in Detroit and 150 in Chicago with plans to demolish in possibly nine other cities by the end of the year. Fannie Mae, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan Chase have also participated. For banks, bulldozing has its benefits. Once they donate properties, banks no longer bear the tax burden or upkeep costs and may even receive a write-off. In some cases, demolishing properties is more cost-effective than repairing and getting them up to code. Local governments are often in favor because they receive free land to develop or use for public space.

In the long-term, do homeowners benefit? If bulldozing helps clear inventory faster and home values go up as a result, the answer is yes. But not everyone is a fan. In the Atlantic, columnist Danny Indiviglio writes that banks may use the measure as “an easy out to minimize their loss with little concern about what’s best for the U.S. economy.” Rather than demolish properties, the focus should be on converting them into rentals. While the dilapidated, vacant eyesores that hold nominal value might be bulldozed, there are many other properties that simply need rehab. To raze or not to raze? In some hard-hit areas of the nation, that remains a lingering question.

http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,1129073220001_2090492,00.html

Buying or selling a home may be the biggest financial transaction an individual will make in his or her lifetime. Even though it’s business, the challenge often has to do with managing the emotions. While sellers want top dollar, buyers want top value, meaning they will almost always negotiate price. If you’re a homeowner who wants and needs to sell, there are some recurring issues that can become obstacles. Here’s how to mitigate them.

Overpricing the property — To a seller, the home is invaluable. It’s not really possible to put a price tag on the domicile that has offered many intangible benefits. But quantify you must. Researching the price points of other homes in the area and recent sales history is key. A serious seller will want to consult with a savvy real estate professional who can conduct a comparative market analysis, market the property, and help negotiate.

Saying no to an early bid just because it’s early — A seller may feel that such an offer, submitted within the first two weeks, signals that the property was under-priced from the get-go. Avoid this scenario by pricing the home at what the market will support. Of course, you may have other considerations — a small window to sell due to relocation or finances — so adjust accordingly. If the offer is fair, “waiting for a better offer is counterproductive and can result in a property languishing,” says Nick Jabbour, a New York City real estate agent and vice president of Nest Seekers International.

Posting photos that push rather than pull — Potential buyers almost always review photos online before setting up an appointment. If you’re not a professional photographer, hire one. This is one place where skimping can cause buyers to shut the door before they take a real visit. SmartMoney suggests that shoppers want to see many facets of the house. Pictures of the kitchen, bathrooms, and outdoor spaces should be included.

Taking offense at low bids — Remember that what’s highly personal to you is business to others. Rather than reacting out of offense, analyze the bids using hard and fast data. If they are truly below market value, you can sit tight knowing that the right buyer is in the wings.

In any market, the process of selling a home can feel like an emotional roller coaster. Keep the end goal in mind — being free to live how and where you want in the next phase of life — and the ride will end well.

The television show “Dancing with the Stars” has been known to catapult some to fame. When J.R. Martinez, a U.S. veteran, took the 2011 title, he decided to use his celebrity reach to spread the word about a unique nonprofit organization. Operation Finally Home donates custom-built houses to severely injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. And these homes are far from ordinary, featuring special adaptations like wheel-chair accessible kitchens. OFH has contributed a total of 17 mortgage-free homes since 2005 and hopes to double that number this year.

http://online.wsj.com/video/free-homes-made-to-order-for-wounded-vets/A4B31852-ACA6-45AA-96F7-5AF65271CF85.html

For some families, homeownership is part and parcel of the American dream. Is this true for you? Tyrone Beason’s article in the Seattle Times, “Scrimping and Saving for a piece of the American dream,” tells the story of Lance and Jen Miller. They live in a two-bedroom apartment, commute to work via public transportation, and bike their four-year-old son to his school. The Millers don’t own a car, and don’t spend money on lavish vacations. While the apartment in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle is far from posh, “it’s home.” Beason writes that the Millers are using this period in their lives as a “launchpad for something bigger and better — a middle-class life in the city they love.”

There are multiple motivators for purchasing a home. Investors buy properties as part of their financial portfolio. Others just prefer owning over renting. And families with children seek to establish themselves in neighborhoods with good school districts. One reason does not trump another.

The American dream — if you choose to define it, in part, as owning versus renting the home where you live — now comes at a greater cost for many middle-class families in the current economy. While the Millers demonstrate the daily act of sacrificing conveniences for the end goal of saving enough to purchase their future home, their situation is not all that unique. Over the past several years, a slew of online resources teaching thrifty practices has emerged. Slate recommends several websites like Wisebread and Frugal Village, for example, on ideas for “scrimping through the recession,” and the information is intended for the larger audience.

Many Americans are reinventing themselves in order to achieve their goals. Saving, scrimping, pinching pennies…these are no longer bygone habits of the Great Depression — they’re becoming proven best practices (among others) toward buying a place of your own.