I know what you're thinking.  Really, Karen?  Girl Scouts?  What does this have to do with Real Estate? But something you are probably considering in your home search is what the area has to offer to you, your family and your guests.  You may be looking for a school with high ratings (Batesville has great schools, by the way), restaurants (we've got those too!) or a good gym (I've never been but I hear good things), but are you thinking about community involvement?  About ways for your kids to meet new friends outside of school?  About ways for YOU to meet new friends outside of work? Wow, I just threw a lot of questions at you!  So here's the thing - in my humble opinion, there are two important things to make an out of town move, even just to the next town over, go smoothly.  One is a good Realtor and the other is having an activity or organization that provides some consistency in the transition. In some moves, you stay at the same job ...

Yesterday we enjoyed a 63 degree, sunshiny day.  Tomorrow, the high  is supposed to be 34 degrees with a wintery mix.  Mother Nature may have multiple personalities, but I love it here, and I wouldn't leave Indiana for all the consistent weather in the world! So how do I keep our home a comfortable temperature without breaking the bank during these crazy Indiana winters?  I've got several tips and tricks to be more energy efficient.  Because going green should save you green! Install a programmable thermostat.    There's just about no way you'll keep up with the changing temperatures on your own, but a programmable thermostat will help keep your home comfortable no matter what is going on outside.  Bonus, you can set it to let the temperature drop when you're asleep or not home to save you even more. Clean or replace your furnace filter regularly.   Different filters have different lifespans so know your filter, but ...

In our home, we make a genuine effort to be green.  This doesn't mean spending a ton of money installing solar panels or driving an electric car.  It doesn't  mean being all crunchy and growing all our own food.  It doesn't even mean replacing all the light bulbs in our new home with LEDs.  For us it's all about the little things.   We recycle.  We compost.  We do everything we can to reduce the amount of waste we produce.   We turn off lights, TVs, etc when we're not in the room and keep our home cool in the winter and warm in the summer.  There are so many easy little things that add up to make a big difference. One really easy one is eliminating a lot of single-use plastics.  Instead of buying aerosol cans of cooking sprays, hubby found these awesome refillable Evo bottles (not sponsored), one for olive oil and one for vegetable oil.  Instead of buying pricey chemical cleaners in one-time-use plastic ...