Author: Liz Walker

I was raised on a dairy farm in southeastern WI. The farming lifestyle instilled in me a hard work ethic and my love of animals. I have been a resident of Juneau County for more than 25 years. My husband and I have 2 kids and a menagerie of pets on our hobby farm. We all wish that the process of buying and selling was seamless but there always bumps along the way. I don't consider myself to be a salesperson but rather a problem solver, I will help you remove those bumps in the road.
Posted in Remodeling

Old Hutch, New Look

Posted on by Liz Walker

I’ve said it before, paint is a miracle worker. I have been spending a lot of time looking in Habitat ReStores, Goodwill and St. Vinny’s for some replacement kitchen cabinets. The short story is we had a small kitchen fire and I have 2 cabinets with fire damage. Our cabinets are 1980’s style honey oak with recessed door features. These were so common in the 80’s but today it’s going to require someone to custom make replacements so I figured I’ll look for used ones that have been donated. I’ve gotten very close but not quite the right sizes yet.

Anyway, I’ve also found some really good bargains. The hutch pictured is one of my recent purchases. This was a handmade piece built out of solid pine. Very well constructed but I’m not a fan of the forest green and it wasn’t going to look great against my barn red dining room walls. I bought the hutch at the Mauston Habitat ReStore along with a gallon of smoky slate paint. I was planning on using the paint only as a primer and then finishing it off in another color but the color really works so well that I just left it.

My total cost for the project was just $85. If you are looking for some inexpensive paint I suggest checking out the Habitat ReStore. Plus most of the furniture they have is in excellent shape. A bit of paint, new hardware or even a slipcover is all it takes to transform them to an updated look.

Posted in Uncategorized

Cicadas – What to do

Posted on by Liz Walker

Have you heard about the 2 different varieties of cicadas that are going to emerge this month? Talk about double trouble! Luckily, the central area of Wisconsin should be safe from them. I’ve looked at the state maps and they show that the bugs should stay near the southern border of the state. While that’s good news for our gardens, I’m still going to take a little precaution just in case a few break off from the pack and move north.

Typically I don’t plant my garden until Memorial Day weekend or a few days later. We often get a late frost in mid-May or heavy Spring rains that would destroy young plants so I wait until the beginning of June. This year that alone would aid in avoiding the cicadas as they should be emerging in the next couple of weeks. The life cycle of the emerging cicadas is just 3-4 weeks so waiting until June to plant should allow us the time to determine if we have some of the bugs in our area or not.

I have some perennials already growing in my garden such as strawberries, blueberries, mint, chives, and asparagus. These are all located in close proximity to each other so it’s easier for me to cover these plants as necessary. A roll of netting, garden tunnel plastic or bed sheets all would be effective cover material to keep the bugs from munching.

Garden netting is something you should consider investing in for other pests too like the potato beetles and squash bugs. I don’t like to use pesticides around the food I eat so putting up a barrier to your plants is the cleanest method of bug protection. Hopefully the experts are right and we won’t see the cicadas, but a little planning ahead can help you avoid utter destruction later.

Posted in Farm Life

Frugal Food Tips

Posted on by Liz Walker

Food is so expensive, right? This is a constant topic among all demographics of people I interact with. I’ve come to realize that I take my “life skills” for granted by thinking everyone shares the same knowledge I do. Now I’m not stating I’m at expert at anything but growing up on a farm did drill home some pretty basic concepts to feed a family. Farmers by nature are frugal of course and they have the land for a large family garden. So over the course of the next 6 months of my gardening I’ll post some ideas to help those of you try to save a little bit on that grocery bill.

MEAT – I’ll start with this one first since it doesn’t fall under the gardening category. This is the biggest expense in the grocery store. In order to save money you have to think differently about how you buy it. I rarely pay full price for any package of meat. I don’t meal plan, write a grocery list and go buy those items. Instead, I shop the sale items I see when I walk through the store. Typically there is a 6-8 week rotation of sales. So if chuck roast is on sale today it might be another 6-8 weeks before it’s on sale again. When it’s on sale I might purchase 2 roasts so at least 1 goes into the freezer to be used in the next few weeks before it goes on sale again.

Buy meat in bulk if you can to save even more. We typically buy a side of beef from the local butcher but stores often have great savings on bulk packages. If hamburger in a 10 lb package is cheaper than a 2 lb package, buy the 10 lbs and then repackage it into 5 smaller portions and put them in the freezer.

Chicken packaging these days is bizarre! It’s difficult to find a store that will sell you a whole bird. You can get a package of legs, wings, or breasts but none of them combined in one package. I have a family that is split on the white meat/dark meat preference so I need both. You can buy 3 breasts, 4 leg quarters or a dozen wings but not just the parts of one bird. It just doesn’t make sense! The answer is to buy a package of each, combine and divide into two bags with both cuts of meat. One of those bags goes into the freezer.

The concept is to slowly build up a reserve of meat in your freezer so you have multiples of the same things and all items were bought on sale. This might take 6 months to a year depending on how much space and budget you have. The end result is I make dinner from what I bought on sale.

This works for pantry goods as well!

Posted in Buyers, Homeowners, Sellers

MORTGAGE POINTS TO REDUCE YOUR MONTHLY PAYMENT

Posted on by Liz Walker

Sellers, if you are waiting to make a move because your current mortgage is locked in at a very low interest rate and the current rates scare you, here’s an option to help. Lenders offer you a way to “buy” a lower interest rate. This is called mortgage or discount points. In the simplest description, you pay interest upfront to lower the interest rate on your loan.

This option works best for sellers who have built up equity in their home. Those would be people who have owned their home for at least the last 5 years or longer. Home prices have increased greatly since 2019 so even if you haven’t paid much off on your home the market has helped to increase your equity. Another ideal seller to take advantage of this is one looking to downsize from a more expensive home to a smaller one. Using the net profit from the sale of your home, you can purchase points to lower your interest rate.

1 point = 1% of the mortgage amount which lowers your interest rate by .25%

This amount is prepaid interest, so it is tax deductible.

If you are interested in this, first contact me to give you an idea of the current value of your home. Then reach out to your lender for details on the mortgage aspect to see if it could work for you.

Posted in Farm Life, Homeowners

Don’t Rack the Leaves!

Posted on by Liz Walker

I took this photo Nov 21st to show my chickens hard at work digging through the leaves for bugs to eat. The ground isn’t frozen yet but we do have a hard frost every morning. It’s a natural assumption that the cold night temps would have killed off the bugs by now but this picture tells another story. The bugs have tucked themselves into the leaves to hibernate for the winter.

The leaves serve as food and insulation for the bugs which eventually becomes compost for the soil. This natural process is the best source of fertilizer for your lawn. Using chemical fertilizers and pesticides may give you the appearance of a great lawn but in reality it’s killing off the bugs’ ecosystem. This in part is why we have a declining bee population.

It’s cheaper and easier to just let the leaves lie over winter. If you have an abundance rake them into your landscaped beds or garden or mulch them with your lawn mower to spread them around. This is a great natural mulch that will add nutrients to the soil, hold in moisture and attract healthy bugs like worms. Healthy soil equals a healthy lawn.

Posted in Buyers, Sellers

DO YOU KNOW YOUR CREDIT SCORE?

Posted on by Liz Walker

This is a pretty simple question but it’s come to my attention that most people aren’t aware that you can look up your own credit score for free. The federal government recommends using this website: https://www.annualcreditreport.com. The big three credit reporting companies, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, are available from this site.

Lenders may use any one of these companies to obtain credit history on you so it’s important to check that the accuracy of your information with all three companies. While the reports and credit scores should be fairly consistent among these companies, it is possible that one has error while the other two do not. I recommend checking your credit at least once a year.

I personally have been using Credit Karma, https://www.creditkarma.com/, to monitor my credit for fraudulent use. A few years ago my debit card was one of thousands that had been hacked at a store and that store recommended using this service and it’s FREE! Plus the site also offers free credit monitoring which is more important. It automatically keeps on an eye on your credit and sends you notifications if something changes. Plus it offers suggestions on how to improve your score.

Posted in Farm Life

The Miracle of Duct Tape!

Posted on by Liz Walker

Some days the struggles are very annoying! While cleaning out my chicken coop in preparation for my baby chicks, my pitchfork separated from the handle. I know many of you have better options than the one I chose, but seriously duct tape was the quickest! It actually works well enough for hauling out the crap. After two weeks in this box, they are ready for more space and it’s finally hot enough outside for them to upgrade.

Posted in Buyers

First Time Home Buyers

Posted on by Liz Walker

If you are thinking about buying a home but are overwhelmed with where to start, here are the instructions. I’ve created this informational guide to help you through the whole process. Got questions? Ask me, if I don’t know the answer I can certainly find the right person to help you. I can also lenders that I can refer you to.

2023 Buyers PacketDownload