Mommy Plannerista

Planning. Passions. Parenthood.

The Best Home Renovations To Boost Your Home’s Value

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When you buy a house, you want it to appreciate, regardless of when you plan to move out. If you’re not shy about doing work or getting your hands dirty, you could add a lot of value. Here are some of the best renovation ideas to boost your home’s worth.

Basement conversion

Do you have a cellar or basement calling out for renovation? If you have vacant space available, make the most of it. Converting disused areas into functional rooms will almost always boost the value of your home. Not only will there be more living space available for you to enjoy. You’ll also be able to target a broader spectrum of buyer when it comes to selling. Large families, for example, may not consider a 4-bedroom home. But they may be happy to add a 5-bedroom home with a playroom or large kitchen to their shortlist.

If you have a basement, there are all kinds of things you can do. Search online for inspiration or check out companies like Million Dollar Makeovers. Popular ideas include spacious kitchen-diners, home offices, bedrooms and playrooms.

Image from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74783045@N00/5621505703
Image from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5621505703

Loft conversion

At the other end of the home, a loft conversion is a fantastic way of creating more space. If you need an extra bedroom, or you’d like to create a home office or studio, this is an excellent idea. Loft rooms are often light and bright, and they can also be more peaceful.

If you’re considering a loft or basement conversion, make sure you do your research. Get some architects and building firms in and share ideas. Ask for some quotes and get some ideas of timeframes.

Image credit https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Home_Sweet_Studio.jpg
Image credit https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Home_Sweet_Studio.jpg

Kitchen and bathroom makeovers

If you’re looking to add value to your home, focus your attention on the kitchen and bathrooms. These are the areas most people are interested in when it comes to buying a home.

If your kitchen is small, extending it will almost certainly add significant value. To do this, there are various options. You could knock walls through and open up the living room or dining room. You could add a conservatory or orangery. Or you may wish to extend into the back garden. If you have a basement, you could also create a brand new kitchen on the lower ground floor. If your kitchen is spacious but dated, look into design trends and get some ideas from magazines and interior websites.

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/96363003@N08/9315562324
Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9315562324

If you only have one bathroom, adding another is likely to increase your sale price dramatically. Could you turn a small bedroom into a family bathroom or create an en-suite in the master bedroom? If you already have enough bathrooms, but the decor is tired, consider a mini makeover. You can achieve a completely different look with a lick of paint and the right accessories.

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Image by https://pixabay.com/en/bathroom-shower-tub-room-interior-881124/

Are you hoping to sell your home for the best price? Or are you eager to protect and grow your investment? If so, it’s well worth considering some home renovations. You’ll often find that spending even a small amount could add significant value. Look out for ideas online, visit some showrooms and get in touch with some interior design and building firms.

My One Word for 2016

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I’ve been doing One Word every year instead of New Year’s resolutions for the past three years. In 2013, my word was Explore. In 2014, I chose Zen and last year I chose Thrive.

I feel that staying true to my One Word for the year in all aspects of my life is a whole lot easier than trying to achieve a long list of goals. This strategy has been working for me so far and so I plan to continue doing the same for 2016.

I started thinking about my One Word for 2016 back in November. Choosing a word is not as easy as you may think. You really have to dig deep and think about the best word that would represent what you wish to accomplish in your life for a particular year.

As I was thinking about my word, I looked back into my experiences in 2015 and what I wanted to change or improve. I really did Thrive last year. For instance, I earned consistently and regularly out of my freelance writing gigs, which was a first in my three years of freelancing. This blog also thrived with new partnerships and opportunities despite the fact that it usually had to take a back seat because of work and family duties. Our family thrived as well despite major changes that happened and challenges that we had to endure.

All that thriving though has left me exhausted, especially work-wise. I found myself frustrated and dissatisfied with how I was living my day-to-day life. My brain and my soul were looking for a reprieve and I found it through planner decorating. Although I use planners religiously (I can’t live without one!),  it was only last year that I got back into “creative planning”.

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Photo from Death to Stock Images

It’s so much fun and it provided my brain and my soul with a welcome break from all the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It gave me so much joy to learn that I can create beautiful planner pages with just washi tape, stickers and what-not. Plus, I was able to discover like-minded spirits who are planner addicts themselves.

I got so into it that I even created a designated Instagram account for my planner addiction. I had no idea that people will actually follow my account and that they will be inspired by what I post. As of this writing, I’m already close to reaching 500 followers, to think I only started this account in July. (My personal/blog IG account only has 700+ followers and I’ve had it for 3 years already!).

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It also gave me an idea for a new business that I want to pursue. More importantly, it made me realize that I was wrong in thinking all these years that I’m not a creative person. I actually am! I just had to stop being afraid of releasing my inner creativity and showing it to the world.

It’s because of all this that I decided I wanted to unleash my creativity some more in all aspects of my life in 2016. Which is how I came up with my One Word …..

CREATE

In 2016, I wish to:

  • Create more meaningful blog posts on Roller Coaster Ride that will inform and inspire others
  • Create a more relevant Roller Coaster Ride that will hopefully allow me to earn more through blogging
  • Create a freelance writing career that is more aligned with my writing goals
  • Create more functional yet beautiful planner pages that I can use to organize my life and inspire others to organize their own
  • Create more journal pages to chronicle the memorable aspects of my year
  • Create a new business that I am truly passionate about
  • Create a deeper and stronger relationship with my hubby, kids and friends
  • Create more adventures and wonderful memories with my family
  • Create a better ME
  • Create a stronger and more meaningful relationship with God

I am so excited for this new year. It’s still so full of possibilities. I can’t wait to explore them all and start creating!

What’s your One Word for the year?

On Focusing on My Passion

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About a year and a half ago, I decided to let go of all my virtual assistance and social media clients because I wanted to focus on my passion – writing. I can proudly say that it was the best decision I’ve ever made in my work-at-home career.

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Since that day, I’ve been fortunate enough to have been presented with numerous opportunities to do what I love to do and get paid for it. But I have to be honest and say that there were also a couple of times when I wasn’t earning as much as I wanted to.

I guess, at several times in one’s career, we can’t help but be presented with opportunities that will cause us to be sidetracked from what we really want to do. Sometimes, we just lose focus.

There was one instance last year when I was given an opportunity to handle a couple of social media accounts for a client. I was hesitant to take it because I had sworn off social media management by then but in the end I took the job because of the extra income.

I ended up really unhappy with the situation. Thankfully, the job didn’t last long because the client was having money issues. I took that as a sign that I should refocus on my writing career instead. And so I did and it has been great for the past year.

Recently though, because of certain financial stresses, I began to think once again that I need to earn more. I’ve been earning decently with my writing jobs and I’m super grateful for it. But because we’re expecting to take an out-of-town trip in a few months and also planning for additional expenses, I wanted to start earning more.

So, I decided to look for more writing jobs. Sadly, those that I found offered super low rates and have very demanding schedules and guidelines. That is when I was offered a chance to interview for a community management job for a large local food brand.

It would entail working for 6 consecutive hours each day, including weekends. It was supposed to be a very demanding job and I was already stressing about how to rearrange my life to accommodate it should I get the job. But I decided to try out for it knowing that it will pay big bucks.

Off I went to BGC on a Sunday for an interview with the client. Since I wanted to look very professional, I bought a black dress from Uniqlo and wore it with my classic black Aerosole pumps. This was a big deal because I normally just wear sandals or something low-heeled such as my super comfortable ballet flats from Zalora. It was really ironic because one of the things I love about being a WAHM is never having to buy corporate attire ever again. But here I was wearing professional clothes just for the interview. On a Sunday too, a day I normally reserve just for family.

Long story short, I didn’t get the job. And instead of feeling down, I actually felt relieved. I knew that it wasn’t the perfect fit for me. I knew that I would have to schedule everything else around that job and that is something I don’t really want to do. The reason why I became a WAHM is because I wanted to focus on my family and have everything else revolve around that.

That incident reminded me to focus on my family and my writing instead. Social media is really not what I want to do at this point in my life. I realize now that that incident needed to happen because I was feeling like I was already losing my writing mojo lately. Now, I know that it’s just because I’m a bit bored with what I usually write about and need a creative outlet. And I’m super thrilled that I finally found one. I’ll share it with you guys soon!

For now, let me leave you with this quote in case you find yourself in a similar situation.

Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress.

Working hard for something we love is called PASSION.

– Anonymous

Find Me Soon on Raket.ph!

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Until now it really amazes me how much my blogging here has contributed to my freelance writing career. I never imagined that blogging would get me to where I am now as a writer.

If you will remember, last February I did a featured post on this website called, Raket.ph. Basically, it’s an online directory of freelance professionals or “raketeers” in the country. Companies use this directory to search for independent contractors whom they can hire for certain tasks. You can read the complete feature here.

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Since then, I’ve received several offers from companies to apply for their job openings and from these I can honestly say that Raketeers really do get legit job offers through the site. The site continues to grow and it’s exciting to see how it will improve from what it is now.

Anyway, I thought that after doing the feature on Raket.ph that it would be the last I’d hear from them. As it turns out, I was wrong.

A few weeks ago, I got a surprise email from Raket.ph’s CEO and I initially thought his email would be about another blog partnership. However, it was for a “raket” instead. Because he thought I did a great job with the blog post I did for them, he decided to hire me to join their team as a writer. Yet another job offer I didn’t even apply for.

I was so pleasantly surprised! It was totally unexpected. Not only will this give me another source of income, it’s also going to be a way for me to help out other independent contractors like myself. I’ve always tried to help out other freelance professionals through the stories of my experiences that I get to share here on my blog. Being a writer for Raket.ph will be another avenue for me to continue doing that in a larger scale.

So you guys who are aspiring to be writers too, use your blog well to showcase what you can do. You never know who you will encounter as a result. You never know who’s reading what you write. They might turn out to be a future client as well.

So far, I’ve already written a couple of articles for Raket.ph and they’re due to come out real soon. I’ll be sharing them on my Facebook page, Twitter and Google+, so do follow me if you don’t want to miss the announcement. I, of course, invite you to create your own Raket.ph account and check their blog regularly for my articles. Thanks guys!

 

The Day We Saw Pope Francis (and my favorite quotes from his visit)

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I would be the first to admit that I’m not a devout Catholic in the truest sense of the word. However, I do have a deep, strong, personal relationship with God and my faith in Him has never faltered all throughout the ups and downs of my life.

Needless to say, I was very excited to see Pope Francis when I first heard he was coming to visit the Philippines. However, we weren’t able to plan on how to see him because of our schedule.

We spent the first couple of days of his visit at home, watching him on the live coverage on TV. I was deeply moved by him and his speeches and found myself crying several times while listening to him.

I made sure to watch the coverage of his Meeting with the Families at the Mall of Asia Arena. I wished I could be there but sadly, I couldn’t leave the house. So, I just watched everything on TV. Let me share with you my favorite snippets from his speech during the event that day.

Here’s my most favorite one. I am all for dreaming. This one definitely resonates.

 

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As someone who has had one failed marriage, I can definitely say this is true. I plan on posting this message now in our house so that it can serve as a reminder to me and hubby.

 

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Resting is definitely something I don’t get to do a lot of. But I know we, as a family, need to recommit to “resting together” especially in prayer.

 

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After watching Pope Francis that day on TV, hubby and I decided we can’t possibly let this chance pass by without attempting to see him while he was here. So that Friday night, I booked us a stay at Midas Hotel and Casino for the coming Sunday, after studying his route for Monday morning, which was his last morning in Manila.

As much as we wanted to attend his Sunday mass at the Quirino Grandstand, we knew it wouldn’t be practical to bring our three kids there, including a rambunctious and restless 3-year-old. So, the next best option was to wait for him on the street, Roxas Boulevard to be exact, which is where he will pass by on his way to Villamor Air Base to take his flight home.

We checked in to the hotel on Sunday afternoon and watched his encounter with the youth in UST and his mass at the Quirino Grandstand on TV. Here are my favorite quotes from the Pope during the youth encounter.

I love how he made a special mention about women. I think there’s a need for people to be reminded of this every so often because women’s roles in society tend to be downplayed a lot.

 

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This is a good reminder to all of us the importance of putting our thoughts and feelings into action. A lot of us think of doing good deeds. But if we don’t really feel it in our hearts and don’t do anything about it, then thinking is a waste.

 

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I especially like this quote about love. This definitely holds true for me. We can even think of love in romantic relationships this way. It sounds like something my hubby said to me before.

 

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I woke up at 4 am on Monday morning and couldn’t go back to bed because of the excitement. I woke up hubby and the kids by 5 am so that we can have time to have our breakfast first before heading to the street. Midas is located on Roxas Boulevard so all we had to do to see the Pope was to cross the street. We actually got a table with a view of the street so that we can see if people are flocking the barricades already. We actually saw policemen and people there already when we woke up.

We were expecting Pope Francis to pass by around 9:15 a.m. so we went to the street an hour before that. There were a lot of people milling about already but there was still lots of space available. I was actually very surprised by how nice the people were. They were especially helpful in assisting us to go over the islands to get to the other side of the road where the barricades were. The nuns in front of us even offered Ziggy some water to drink when they overheard him saying he was thirsty. They were actually live streaming the live coverage so that we would all know when the Pope is already on his way. If only everybody is this nice every day.

Let me just say, I really admire the policemen there who were manning the barricades. They came all the way from Calabarzon and they were already stationed by the barricades by 5am. I think what they have done to maintain peace and order during the entire Papal visit is admirable.

Anyway, we took a couple of photos of ourselves while waiting. I think this is the first time we did something like this as a family.

 

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Finally, we heard from the live streaming that the Pope was on his way. Some of the police handed out white flags to wave but we didn’t get any. Everybody started standing up and prepared their gadgets to take photos. The energy was really something else. Thinking about it now still gives me goosebumps.

Then finally we saw his motorcade coming. I really tried my best to capture nice photos with only the use of my new iPad mini since our digicam is busted. Pope Francis passed by for only two seconds in front of us. It was so quick!!! But at least I was able to get some decent photos. Here they are.

 

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This was the closest shot I got but someone’s hand is partially blocking the view. Of course, a lot of us were waving to the Pope so it’s all good.

 

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The two seconds that we got to see him was so short yet so worth it. But I do hope he comes back again so that I can hopefully have a closer encounter with him.

His coming to the country means a lot to me, so much that I can’t even put it into words. Just thinking about it now makes me cry. It’s overwhelming to say the least. So, allow me to just revel in this feeling.

‘Til the next time, Pope Francis. Thank you for coming.

 

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