If you’re still working from home, you may be feeling down about your current space. While working from home can be fun, it is important to make sure your space keeps you motivated. The best way to do that is to change up your style! Here are some of the easiest ways to boost the mood of your space:

Compartmentalize

If you’re working at home, it is easy to get distracted by your typical home responsibilities since they are now right in front of your face. To stay focused on work, try designating different areas for certain activities. By assigning specific areas for fitness, work and leisure, you will have an easier time letting your brain and body know what you should be focusing on.

Try Some Color

Adding an accent wall, or even painting a whole room, is one of the easiest ways to immediately boost the mood of a room. Consider adding a feature wall with a pop of color or lighting up the space where you work during the day. If you’re not ready to commit to painting your walls you can use accessories like throw pillows, curtains, or artwork to bring color into your space.

Declutter!

Spending more time at home can make a space that didn’t seem cramped before feel overwhelming. There’s no better way to bring harmony to your space than decluttering. While having a clean, decluttered space is aesthetically pleasing, it can also reduce your stress and help you stay focused on work instead of worrying about all the clutter in your field of vision during the day.

Try a Digital Detox

Staying informed is important, and many jobs require technology, but cutting down on screen time can greatly impact how you feel in your space. To reduce screen dependence, set up manageable boundaries based on time or place. Designate phone-free times or remove tech devices from your bedroom for a daily reset.

Lighten Up

If your home is now your office, you can now control the light conditions of your workday. Natural light is one of the best ways to literally and figuratively lighten up a space. Try positioning your desk near a window and keep drapes and shades open during the daytime. You can also add reflective surfaces to enhance the light in dark rooms.

Chances are you don’t worry too much about radon until it is time to buy a home. Radon is a cancer-causing radioactive gas that comes from the natural decay of uranium, which can be found in nearly all soil types. It can travel through the soil, into the air and into your home through cracks, gaps or the water supply. Radon isn’t picky about the homes it enters, found in all types from new builds to 100-year-old homes. Radon causes approximately 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year, second only to smoking. You can’t see, smell or taste radon. It can take years of exposure before health problems become apparent. The EPA estimates that as many as 8 million U.S. homes contain elevated levels of radon.

So, how do you know if your home has radon? Having testing done is the only way to check your home’s radon levels. Some states already regulate providers of radon measurement and mitigation services by requiring registration, certification or licensing. If your state does not regulate testers, you can buy a radon test kit online or from a home improvement store. When buying or selling, the EPA recommends radon testing before finalizing any real estate transaction. Reported as pCi/l, or pico curies per liter, radon levels of 4pCi/l or higher is unacceptable. If your first test comes back higher than 4pCi,I, you should retest. If a second test also comes back with an unacceptable reading, you will need to take steps to reduce your home’s radon levels.

The most common radon mitigation systems rely on fans. Placed in an attic or outside the building, the fans are used to draw air out from under a crawl space, basement, or concrete slab. The fans reroute gases coming from the soil beneath your house to the outside the structure, far enough they can’t re-enter through the windows. Once your mitigation work is complete, you should have your home retested to ensure the radon is gone.

If you’ve seen a change in your credit score recently, you may be wondering why. There are a number of factors that contribute to a dropping credit score and it is important to know what may be causing that! When buying a home, it is important to maintain your credit and not make any major purchases that could impact your score. Here are the top 5 reasons for a drop in credit:

YOU MADE A LATE PAYMENT

Accounting for about 30% of your total rating, your payment history has a big impact on your credit score. If you make a loan or credit card payment more than a month after the due date, it could cause your credit score to drop. A payment 60-90+ days late will have an even greater impact on your score.

YOU MADE A LARGE PURCHASE

Your credit utilization ratio can largely impact your credit score. Your ratio is how much of your credit you use in relation to your total available credit. The goal is to have a lower ratio so if you’ve been using more of your available credit lately, you may see a drop in your score. If for any reason your credit limit is lowered, it can impact your credit utilization ratio and impact your score.

AN ACCOUNT GOES TO COLLECTION

Timely payments on all accounts is an important part of your credit journey. Late payments on credit cards, loans, to medical facilities, student loans and utilities can be sent to a collection agency, which could in turn show up in your credit report.

YOU OPENED A NEW LINE OF CREDIT

When you apply for new credit, you are giving lenders the permission to access a copy of your credit report, which is known as a hard inquiry on your credit. If your credit report indicates that you’ve applied for multiple new credit lines in a short period of time, your credit score may be impacted.

YOU CLOSED A CREDIT LINE

Closing a card means losing available credit, which could increase your credit utilization ratio. As a result, your credit score may drop. If closing a card helps you stop spending, it may be a good idea. Otherwise, it is usually wise to keep lines of credit open. The length of time you’ve had accounts open shows that you have a solid payment history, so that could be another reason to keep that card you’ve had awhile open if you are using it wisely!

Winter is coming which means an increased risk of ice on your property. While bad weather can be inevitable, decreasing fall risk at your home can help. Here are a few ways to just do that:

INDOOR TIPS

The first step to preventing your own falls start indoors. Preparing your entryways can help! Try placing skid-resistant door mats near entrances to dry your footwear. Make sure you check the bottoms of your feet each time you enter the home, and clean off the accumulated ice, snow or water. Keeping your floors as dry as possible is another great way to prepare your home.

OUTDOOR TIPS

To start, you will need adequate supplies of salt and sand. Clear your walkways and treat outdoor surfaces to prevent falls. Wooden porches, decks or steps can become especially slick in winter. Be sure to shovel and treat pathways with salt or sand immediately after storms. Prevent dangerous ice buildup by clearing sidewalks before snow is compacted by footsteps or melts and refreezes. Salt lowers the freezing point of water and can be spread on sidewalks or driveways to keep them from getting icy, or to help melt away ice that has already formed. Sand doesn’t melt ice but is applied to icy walkways to provide traction. If you don’t have sand on hand, other abrasive materials such as kitty litter, saw dust and wood ashes can be used to create traction on icy walkways. You will want to adjust downspouts to drive water away from pathways - it doesn’t take long for pooling water to become icy patches.