Homes often reflect the personalities of their residents. Making upgrades to your home to complement your personality will make your home all the more enjoyable and more closely tied to you and your family.
A Swimming Pool
If you are a fitness buff or at least somewhat health-conscious, a swimming pool can be the best addition to your home. Swimming is one of the best exercises for weight loss, and just being in the water can burn as many calories as taking a walk. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) notes that swimming reduces the incidence of chronic illnesses and can reduce the occurrence of diabetes and heart disease. Swimmers also have a 50 percent less chance of dying (from all causes) compared to inactive individuals.
Swimming laps or just frolicking in water also helps to boost one’s mood. Hardly anyone is unhappy in a pool, especially children. Kids love being in the water, and a backyard pool will easily make them a little more popular at school. Decent lap pools can cost around $35,000, more if you want them longer than 50 feet. However, if you don’t have the space or budget, you can opt for an endless pool that costs around $25,000. The investment might seem steep, but a pool will make your family healthier and significantly cut their healthcare costs in the future.
An Outdoor Kitchen
Most people thrive on social gatherings and making connections. An outdoor kitchen can easily make your home a hub of social activity, allowing you to host extravagant parties without messing up your home. Start with wooden or stone decking to keep your guests off the grass. Ovens with multiple stovetops are great options, and you’ll need additional kitchen counters to make food preparation easier.
You can also opt for a more flexible design. Lakeside Manufacturing manufactures compartmentalized and mobile kitchen counters, allowing you to modify the space and feel of your backyard. Add a few lights and some speakers, and you should be ready to throw extravagant parties or intimate gatherings.
A Modern Greenhouse
Growing your own food can be a fulfilling endeavor. If you want to try your hand at raising your own crops, a greenhouse is a better option than a regular garden. Greenhouses protect your crops from pests and the elements, minimizing the need for tending and the usual maintenance. You can also be assured that your crops are free from chemicals (unless you put them there). Start with vegetables. They are easy to grow, and you get to harvest them in two to three months. Once you get a feel for growing simple vegetables, you can move on to cash crops like spices, tea, mushrooms, or ginseng. If your state allows it, you can even get a permit to grow alternative medicine that you can sell to a dispensary.
Solar Panels
2020 showed the world how fragile finances could get. One way to save money is by installing a solar power system in your home. If your monthly electric bills are at $100 to $150, a 10-kW system can cover your electrical consumption during the day and produce enough excess energy to cover your night time consumption. Solar prices have gone down significantly. A 10-kW system only costs around $10,000. Even if you take out a 10-year loan to pay for your panels, your monthly premiums should be covered by the savings on your electric bills.
Producing your own electricity also keeps you insulated from price hikes that are guaranteed to come in the future. With the US shifting to green energy, power companies will be forced to switch to new technology, and most of their costs will be shouldered by consumers. Solar power systems last for 35-45 years, and most companies guarantee the first 25. Your panels will last until your retirement and give you one less bill to take care of.
A Home Theater
If you don’t like crowds or prefer the quiet of your own home, a home theater should give you the experience of going out to the movies without the noisy crowd. Most movies are available through HBO, Netflix, Disney Plus, and other streaming services, so you shouldn’t be missing out on big movies. Hook up your system to a console, and you can give your kids an awesome gaming experience. You can easily build a home theater for less than $2,000 in your basement or spare room.
An upgrade to your home will equal an upgrade to your quality of life. Money spent on your home to make it more livable and enjoyable is money well-spent indeed.
