Although these products and ideas aren't new, their usefulness in turning occasionally-used outdoor spaces into everyday living areas makes them especially popular for 2021. Here are some ways to fast-track your backyard for summer vibes and serious relaxation.

Outdoor living areas for year round use

Products that extend the outdoor living season are going to be on everyone's list! Amenities like fire pits, fire places, drop down screens, heat lamps, misting systems, retractable shade fixtures and fans are key products for extending the outdoor living season. In addition, outdoor rugs, throw blankets, and lighting can help provide added comfort into the night or in cooler temperatures. 

Composting and self-sustaining gardens 

It is a "superfood" for your garden, self-sustains your plants and reduces landfill waste. Plus, it's free! You could also set up a drip irrigation system and collect rainwater to save water.

Outdoor lighting

Whether it's hurricane lanterns that border your pool, uplighting that spotlights your favorite blooms at night, or a statement fixture, upgrading your outdoor lighting will open new doors for living and entertaining.Consider paper lanterns for large, colorful accents or string lights for a more festive look. If you’re looking to illuminate walkways or footpaths, let rope lights guide the way. 

More edible variety

Plant beets, broccoli, cabbage, kale, and other hardy veggies as soon as the soil is workable. Once you're sure the last frost is over, your options widen, with lettuce, radishes, carrots, and spring beans. By May, it's time to turn over those veggie boxes with our favorites: melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash for some of the best outdoor suppers you've ever made.

Privacy and Protection

As outdoor activity increases, so does the need for privacy, shade, and shelter from the elements. Whether it's a secluded space to practice yoga without distraction or a place to use your laptop without harsh glare, a mix of landscaping and hardscaping, and even furniture, can provide protection. And there are abundant ways to add privacy to outdoor spaces. You can potentially add outdoor drapery panels to any overhead structure. If not, you can use an outdoor screen. If there's a border that lends itself to planting, you can create a plant wall. Even an umbrella that tilts can give you some privacy.

Outdoor Tech

Activities like streaming movies and working from home have many people adding boosters to amplify Wi-Fi signals outdoors. Since most technology can be seamlessly integrated into outdoor living spaces, it's not dramatically changing the look or layout of outdoor living—unless you're one of the growing number of people creating entirely new spaces, like outdoor theaters. Incorporating music and televisions remain some of the top outdoor tech requests. And there are aesthetic updates, too. LED color-changing technology is a fun way to change the mood of the space.

Let’s make the assumption you are taking out a 300,000 fixed rate mortgage 4% interest rate over a 30 year loan period. With a mortgage payment, you have two components to it, you have the principle and you have the interest. The bank calculates how much you must pay every month over a 30 year period so at the end of it you owe zero. The monthly payment does not change, even if you’re going to pay more each month to lower the principle, your payment is going to stay the same. What is going to change is the amount you pay every month that goes to principal and the amount that goes to interest. 

Using our calculation, 4% of 300,000 is 12,000 annually, dividing that by 12 (for months in the year) is 1,000 interest in the first month. That is the most that you are ever going to owe. Your payment in this scenario is $1,432, so 432 is going to go toward your principal to reduce the amount that you owe. Then they do the same calculation all the way through, for month two, you just paid down 432. They’ll take this new outstanding balance that you owe (299, 568) and multiply that by 4%, divided by 12 and $998 is your interest due month 2. The amount above that is going to reduce the principle. The amount you pay each month is going to stay the same, but the amount you owe to the principal is going to go up a little each time and the amount to owe to the interest is going to go down a little each time. 

So if you decide you don't want to owe the bank this much interest over the years and you want to pay less interest. All you need to do is owe them less money. Instead of a 30 year mortgage you decide to go with a 15 year mortgage, you would cut the amount of interest you would pay substantially. However, your monthly payment would be much higher than with the 30 year. 

Let’s say you put an extra 3,000 yearly towards the 30 year mortgage, you would save around $60k in interest. Plus you would be done with the mortgage in 22 years. Or say, you think you could pay an extra 400 every month, you would save around $80k in interest and be done in about 20 years. 

If you’re interesting in paying off your mortgage faster and you’re focused on doing it, here are 4 tips to help you get there:

1. Pay more money towards it - Just make random extra principal payments towards it. If you’ve got extra money laying around, go into the bank and throw some money at it. Make sure to say it's a principal payment.   

2. Do Bi-weekly Payments - Instead of paying 12 monthly payments, you’re paying 24 bi-weekly payments, which is the equivalence of 13 full payments. 

3. Make payments as if it was a 15 year mortgage - This way it’s fine if you take out a 30 year mortgage, this gives you the flexibility, so if you don’t have the money one month you can still make the original payment. But if you do have the money, pay it and it will go that much faster.

4. Refinance to a lower interest rate - Interest rates are quite low right now, so refinancing might make sense to you. Just make sure you can save enough on the interest rates to make it worthwhile. 

Unfortunately there isn’t an easy way or easy fix to getting rid of your mortgage instantly. The best thing to do is keep putting money into the principal mortgage.