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Patrick (Pat) Dardis

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How to Make a Dirt Cheap Compost Bin with a Garbage Can.

08-25-08
Patrick (Pat) Dardis
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A compost bin can be a perfect addition to your organic garden and making a bin doesn't have to be expensive. There are many excellent reasons to use a compost bin. Composting is a great way to give back to the environment. Compost is a wonderful addition to the soil of your existing garden and helps to replenish the soil when rotating crops. The most important reason to compost is to reduce your garbage- which will cut down on your greenhouse gas emissions.

If you are a do-it-yourself (DIY) person, you can convert an old garbage bin into a compost bin. The garbage bin must be dark and have locking handles-the sturdier the bin, the better. Using a drill, puncture holes all over the garbage bin and make sure the holes are large and completely cover the sides of the bin. You can also find more creative compost bin plans at www.rrfb.com/pages/compost/Complan.html.

You can also purchase a compost bin and there are several different types available at hardware or home-renovation stores. Most common are large rectangular shaped bins made of black plastic, which are also sold by local municipalities at a discounted price-usually about $25 each.

Place your compost bin on higher ground in your yard. If it's in a low area, water will pool and make your compost too wet. Try to place the bin in an area that is sunny or partly sunny to avoid attracting slugs.

Four ingredients are needed for a good compost:

  1. Browns - are carbon rich and include paper, dried twigs, fall leaves, straw, sawdust, shredded newspaper or wood chips.
  2. Greens - are nitrogen rich and include freshly cut grass, pruned plants, used coffee grounds, tea leaves or vegetables and peelings.
  3. Air.
  4. Water.

Do not add meat, oil or dairy products to you compost as they can attract rodents.

Start using your compost bin by collecting your kitchen waste in a small container. Whenever your kitchen container gets full, take it to your compost bin, and dump it in. Add some "browns" and "greens". Aim for a 1/3 "greens" to 2/3 "browns" ratio in the compost bin. For the browns, you can collect dry leaves in the fall and keep them in a container near your compost bin. You can also use straw, dead plants and sawdust.

Don't worry too much about your mixture percentage. Beneficial critters such as earthworms, grub worms, friendly bacteria and fungi will find their way into the compost bin and the compost will break down over time. If your percentages are off, it will just take a bit longer to break down. Don't worry about the smell either. Yes, at certain times of the cycle, the bin will give off a slight odour, but it is much less than you would expect. If the bin is too smelly, chances are you have too many "greens" or not enough "browns".

Keep your compost moist, but not soaking wet, and turn it occasionally. If your composter is a drum, you just turn the handle. If it's a bin or a pile, use a shovel and turn over the compost manually. Over time, by some miracle of nature, you will have roughly the right ratio of nitrogen to carbon, and you'll have great compost.

Depending on your mixture percentage and the outside temperature, you will have a fresh batch of compost in about 1-3 months. Once your bin is full, don't add anything else until you are ready to start again. You will know that your compost is complete when the contents of the bin are a dark brownish black and will look like an expensive bag of soil sold at garden centres. Now, simply apply the compost to your garden and enjoy the impressive results!

Composting naturally recycles nutrients back into the soil and boosts healthy plant growth. It helps sandy soil retain nutrients and water. Composting reduces our use of chemical fertilizers and keeps our local waterways clean. Composting may also significantly reduce the amount of harmful greenhouse gases that are known to be a contributor to global warming. Do your part on saving mother earth and start your compost bin today.
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9 Easy Ways to Create Curb Appeal

08-24-08
Patrick (Pat) Dardis

"Curb appeal" is a generic real estate term used to describe the attractiveness of a home as seen from the street. Various studies show that professional landscaping can increase the value of your home by up to 15%. Having a well designed and landscaped front yard, that accents your home, is a desirable virtue for everyone.

Unlike backyard landscaping, with the front yard you have to consider home access, parking, safety and invitation. Accenting walkways and driveways with flower beds and borders will, in most cases, instantly create an impressive and inviting appeal for potential buyers.

Creating a welcoming landscape doesn't have to be a difficult or expensive endeavour. If you are starting from scratch, it can take quite a bit of time to get the desired effect, however, the process can be shortened by laying starter sod and using flowers that have already started blooming.

The following steps will help to quickly create curb appeal for your home.

  1. Tidy up. Make sure you don't have old rusty junk lying around the yard, unless it is being used stylistically in a garden.
  2. Trim up. Cut the grass and edge the borders with a weed trimmer. Take care to get rid of all weeds, including ones by the walls and around the mailbox post.
  3. Build a healthy and green lawn. Adding some starter sod can make a big difference very quickly. Sod can be bought at lawn and garden stores and comes in rolls or squares. After you lay it across your yard, water it well and you'll immediately have a lawn, with roots taking hold within two weeks.
  4. Add some colour to your yard. Planting flowers will enhance the curb appeal of your home. Buying colourful plants that have already started blooming will immediately make a difference. They can either be planted in pots or in the ground. Use your imagination and choose flowers that bloom in colours that look good with your home.
  5. Paint. Giving your home (trim and shutters too) a new coat of paint easily breathes new life into its appearance. However, make sure you select a colour palette that matches the architectural style of your home. For example, if you live in a historic home, you'll want to stick to an authentic palette.
  6. Update your front door. Greet guests in style with an eye-catching front door that makes a statement. You can find exterior doors in a variety of materials from traditional wood to sturdy steel. The key is to select a door that suits your home's architectural style. If your current door is in good condition, you can make it stand out by painting it a bold colour or adding windows, sidelights, mouldings and more.
  7. Illuminate paths and walkways with outdoor lighting. Install lighting fixtures that will complement the style of your home as well as help to create dramatic effects. Use fixtures with built-in motion detectors to enhance safety.
  8. Add decorative accents. Top your exterior off with finishing flourishes such as trendy new house numbers that are clearly visible from the street. And while you're at it, why not add a new mailbox? Or frame windows with new shutters?
  9. Dress-up your front porch or entry. Make sure you have an inviting place for potential buyers to sit and admire the landscaping. Even a small space has room for a chair or bench and a round table, or a stool to place a drink on. An outdoor accessory or two is fine, but keep it simple and uncluttered.


Keep in mind that simplicity is the key to creating curb appeal. A few flower beds that border and define walkways, curbs and lawn areas, and a few flower pots next to the home is often enough.

Remember: Breaking projects up into small, manageable chunks-as your time and budget allow-is the best way to go, because even just a few design tweaks can make a big impact to your home's curb appeal.

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7 Tips to Help You Pay Your Mortgage Faster

08-24-08
Patrick (Pat) Dardis
7 Tips to Help You Pay Your Mortgage Faster and Save You Thousands of Dollars.
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There's a major sense of accomplishment and peace of mind of owning your home outright. Paying off your mortgage sooner can make sound financial sense by saving you thousands of dollars in interest costs. Learning how to save on your mortgage can slice years off your loan. Finding out if you can save on your mortgage payments won't cost you anything, and you will discover whether you have the best loan available for your individual circumstances.

1- Shop around for the best mortgage possible with your credit score. When a mortgage company has a small overhead cost to stay in business it typically means that they will not charge you unreasonable ongoing service fees. Make sure you know the fees charged by your mortgage company before you sign on a loan.

2- Select weekly or bi-weekly mortgage payments. A bi-weekly mortgage payment means you're making 26 half-payments instead of 12 monthly payments. But keep in mind that unless your initial mortgage is set up as bi-weekly, some lenders charge an upfront fee of $300-$400 to make bi-weekly payments, and even though you're making a payment every two weeks, the lender only applies it once a month.

If you make bi-weekly payments of $415 instead of monthly payments of $830, you could save almost $27,000 in interest over the entire amortization period of your mortgage, and you could own your home about 4-1/2 years sooner.

3- Prepay a little extra every month, or any time during the term of your mortgage. Increasing your payment by even a few dollars each month will pay down your principal amount faster. It is a good idea to pay 10-15% more each month. This amount shouldn't put too much extra burden on you, and it will help to pay off your mortgage much faster. For example, if you increased your mortgage payments by just $170 from $830 to $1,000, you could save almost $48,000 in interest over the entire amortization period of your mortgage, and you could own your home about 8 years sooner.

4. Make an annual lump sum payment. Use your tax refund, work bonus or any extra money you can save and apply it directly to your principal amount. Check your mortgage documents to find out how often you can prepay and in what amount. Many loans don't prohibit you from doing this, however the lender may have parameters on how many extra payments you can make. Ask this question when shopping for a mortgage loan.

5. Pay as much as you can at renewal time. Most mortgages become open at renewal. This means you can pay as much as you want on your mortgage. If you chose a 5-year, fixed-rate term, and made a $10,000 lump-sum payment every time your mortgage came up for renewal, you would save about $37,481 in interest over the entire amortization period of your mortgage.

6. Red flag your extra payments. Always check your mortgage statement to make sure that any extra payments you made are being counted against the principal and that your bank has accurately documented your payments. Make the extra principal payments on a separate cheque and make a note on the memo line stating that the payment should be applied to principal reduction only. At tax time, tally up those payments and make sure they've been applied correctly.

7. Stay informed. Once you have a mortgage, aside from making the payments, it's easy to forget about it altogether. By keeping up-to-date on interest rates and new products could save you money. You may want to shop for another product that better suits your needs. For example, to qualify for a mortgage, you may have started out with a lower-rate adjustable rate mortgage, but you want to switch to a more long-term affordable fixed-rate mortgage later.


When You Should Hold Off on Paying Your Mortgage Faster?

While paying down a mortgage quickly may be a wise decision for many homeowners, it's not for everyone. For example, you may want to switch to investing in mutual funds when yields return 10-12% annually. For most people though, this is not a mathematical issue but one of security, as they just want that mortgage paid off. For people who are very debt-averse, the peace of mind of paying off the house more quickly is worth the price.

Secondly, if you are planning on moving soon, you may want to hold off investing money into your existing home as you may need the money for a down-payment, closing costs or buying new furniture for your new home.

As you can see, with a little research, you could save on your mortgage. The truth is: the banks won't tell you how to save money on your mortgage as they want to make the interest on the money that they have loaned to you. If they were to help you save money, they would lose money and their profits would stagnate. Make sure that if you implement changes to save on your mortgage it is the right decision for you.
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Sun rise on Oil Sands Construction Site

07-01-08
Patrick (Pat) Dardis

A new day begins in the North

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