diy posts

Ready or not the spookiest time of year is just around the corner. If you've got school-aged kids you already know how highly anticipated October 31st is. After all, they spend weeks planning out and changing their minds about Halloween costumes. And let's not forget about all the sugary Halloween treats that they hope to get. We spoke to one of Canada's most recognized personalities and the CEO of Yummy Mummy Club, Erica Ehm, about how to have a safe and affordable Halloween.

The do-it-yourself will kit is nothing new, but they're making a bit of a comeback lately. Aided by online technology and group coupon sites, the process of creating a will is cheap, cheap, cheap, and easier than ever before.

If you follow all of the instructions properly, and if you make sure the will being prepared is appropriate for the jurisdiction you live in, these can be helpful and "good enough" for a lot of people. The problem, though, is that estate planning can be far more complex than the simple template forms would ever suggest; laws that affect the validity of wills are not at all intuitive and, of course, people are often not all that great about following instructions to the letter – all of which can lead to pretty disastrous results when the time comes to distribute your property.

Here's just one, lesser example: Let's say your spouse dies without a valid will. Believe it or not, it's quite possible that you could find yourself sharing actual ownership of your home – with your toddler or underage child.

Everybody loves to read about what Ricky Martin, Dr. Phil, Mel Gibson, Hulk Hogan, Hilary Duff and Mark Wahlberg are all selling their houses for. Hint: If you're in the market for a piece of real estate from the rich and famous, ALL are selling their houses at a discount these days. Thank you, real estate bust.

The star-gazing is what makes websites like TMZ and others so popular.

When there's that much money involved, chances are the owners aren't doing their own yard work or plumbing. For the rest of us though, happily (or not so happily, depending on who you ask), there are also DIY shows to watch and emulate if we are so brave and crazy, or contractors to hire.

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I'm told (and I can vaguely remember) that once upon a time, not long ago (maybe 15-20 years or so), there weren't nearly as many options for would-be home renovators that there are today. The big box stores weren't as numerous. When people renovated, oftentimes they picked their options from a much smaller list of materials, usually based on a few pictures, in the comfort of their own living rooms.

"At that time you could renovate a bathroom and 10 years later it would still look brand new. Now you look at something and you know exactly what year it was done. Every year there's a new fashion," says Reiner Hoyer, president his consulting business, The Reno Coach. "That's how the whole industry changed. There were way fewer contractors in the business. It was a small industry compared to the way it is now."

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I love DIY (do-it-yourself) shows. Well some of them, anyway. Some are completely useless but there are a few that are staples in my TV-watching routine.

Here's the problem: There is a serious difference between watching something on TV and actually pulling it off yourself. Here's problem number two: Some of these shows make you believe you can do it yourself (and sometimes you can) - but they rarely acknowledge problem number one.

Unless you're a professional who's been doing the work for years, even the smallest home improvements will always take longer than you think. (I'll tell you about my bathroom sometime. Although it was very satisfying in the end, this "weekend project" dragged on for months.) The demolition that looks so exciting on television is hard work and it's dirty, most people get that, but it's also quite time consuming.

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Your home, your castle. Of course, even the best-built castles fall into disrepair as time goes by. People either fix them, paying a pretty penny for the pleasure, or let them go to ruin. They figure out tourists would be flocking to see ancient ruins even more than they would actual castles; might as well cash in without paying for it.

Now look at your own house. How many of our North American homes are built with bricks, stones, and mortar designed to last centuries? Our houses are built to withstand a couple of generations at best. A house that is a half-century old becomes the pride of your local heritage society and a recipient of various government grants.

The easiest way out would be to let the place turn into an Acropolis, but there's a crucial difference: where are you going to live?