SHOW NOTES:

Happy Halloween weekend! Once spooky season is officially behind us, it’s time to turn things over and get ready for the real holiday hustle. We are sharing easy ways to prep your kitchen and dining areas for all the extra cooking, baking, entertaining, and guests you’ll have. Plus, we’re tackling exterior maintenance tips before the deep freeze sets in. Stay tuned to hear all this and more!

- Holiday Kitchen Prep: We offer easy tips to prep your kitchen for the holidays, emphasizing deep cleaning the oven well in advance of a major
feast and clearing out expired items from the fridge and freezer to make space for groceries and leftovers.

- Refresh Your Dining Room: We provide quick and affordable ways to
refresh your dining room, focusing on simple centerpieces and cozy lighting upgrades.

- Making Space for Guests: If you’re hosting holiday guests but don’t have a spare room, find out how to create a warm overnight space using visual separation, high-quality air mattresses, and thoughtful bedside basics.

- Winterizing Pipes: To prevent costly water damage from burst pipes, we discuss important winterizing tips for your outdoor space.

Q & A:

- Mike from Little Rock, AR, is listing his house for sale after three years of piecemeal remodeling and wants to know the best way to advertise the improvements. He should create an inventory list of all that was done, including dates for things like energy-saving updates, as this detail is very appealing to buyers.

- Marty in Cape May, NJ, has a tankless water heater and is frustrated that it takes almost five minutes for hot water to reach her kitchen sink. We explain that the issue is the physical distance the water must travel through the pipes, not the type of water heater.

- Mark in Ohio is attempting a budget kitchen remodel and is considering IKEA cabinets, but is concerned about their durability. We confirm that our experience with IKEA kitchen cabinets suggests they are good quality, very well priced, and are notably easy to install.

- Mike in Florida recently moved and had an AC technician recommend installing a UV light. We suggest that the technician was likely trying to upsell and give Mike some other useful tips besides relying on an expensive UV light.

- Larry in Connecticut needs to replace two aging water heaters in his attic and asked whether a recirculating pump or a tankless heater is the better solution. We caution against adding a recirculating pump to the old units and note that while a tankless heater is small and efficient, Larry should consider whether one small unit could meet all his hot water needs.

ASK A QUESTION:

Need help with your own home improvement or décor question? We’d love to help! Call the show 24/7 at 888-MONEY-PIT (888-666-3974) or post your question here: https://www.moneypit.com/ask.

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