How Home Equity Can Help Fuel Your Retirement

  How Home Equity Can Help Fuel Your Retirement If retirement is on the horizon, now’s the time to start thinking about your next chapter. And you probably want to make sure you’re set up to feel comfortable financially to live the life you want in retirement. What you may not realize is you likely have a hidden goldmine of cash you’re not thinking about — and that’s your home.  Data  from the  Federal Housing Finance Agency  (FHFA) shows that home values have gone up nearly 60% over the last 5 years alone (see graph below): And that appreciation gave your net worth a big boost. According to  Freddie Mac , over the same five-year period: “ . . .  Boomer overall wealth increased by $19 trillion, or $486,000 per household, half of which is due to house price appreciation.” So if you’ve been in your house ever longer than that, chances are you have even more equity in your home. If you want to have access to more of the wealth you’ve built up throughout t...

Memorial Day Crafts: Patriotic Upcycled Can Flower Pots

4th-of-July-Party-Table-decor-craft-idea

Make these super simple patriotic upcycled can flower pots that are sure to brighten up any patriotic themed party table. Turn aluminum cans into a pretty and rustic Memorial Day decoration. 



4th-of-July-Party-Decoration-Craft-idea
Paint all of the cans with two coats of white mult-surface paint.
4th-of-July-Flower-upcycled-flower-cans-step-1Then apply vinyl shapes cut out with Silhouette and used them as stencils – stars on one of the cans and stripes on the other two.
4th-of-July-Flower-upcycled-cans-step-2
Then I painted right on top of the cans and the stencils. While the paint was still wet, I revealed my design.
The lines won’t be perfect because of the bumpy surface of the cans, but that is what gives this craft character and a rustic Memorial Day feel.
4th-of-July-upcycled-Flower-cans-step-3
After the paint was dry on all three cans, it was time to turn them into flower pots. I used cylinder shaped soft flower foam that fit perfectly into each can,  
Flower-foam-in-upcycled-can
Fill each can with water, and the flower foam holds the water nicely keeping your flowers hydrated. The foam is soft enough that you can arrange your flowers in each can by poking the stems directly into the foam.

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