Archives for April 2019

Power outages can strike at any time. If the power goes out while you’re at work, you run the risk of losing your data, not being able to operate your essential equipment, and losing out on a ton of business. And if the power goes out while you’re at home, you run the risk of not having access to your heater or air conditioner, issues with your food and water, and vulnerabilities with your security as your alarm system and lights won’t be working. But regardless of how short or long you’re without power, there are things you can and should do in order to be as prepared as possible for this situation. To show you how, here are three tips for preparing your home and family for a power outage.

Keep Certain Supplies On Hand

In the event of any emergency, including a power outage, it’s good to have certain supplies always on hand. According to Ready.gov, these supplies should include things like flashlights, extra batteries, an extra cell phone battery, cash, nonperishable food, water, and medical supplies. With all of these things on hand and ready to go at a moment’s notice, you’ll be able to survive for days without electricity without putting your lives at risk.

Know How To Keep Using Your Toilet

When your power goes out, not only will your electricity stop working, but your plumbing will likely also be affected. This means that you don’t be able to turn on your water or flush your toilet in a traditional way. Because of this, it’s good to have a lot of water stored so you can continue to drink and keep up with your hygiene, since knowing that you can’t use the toilet will likely cause someone in your home to have to go. To help in this situation, the editors of Family Handyman and Reader’s Digest share that even if you’re not able to flush your toilet, by pouring a few gallons of water into the bowl or refilling the toilet tank, you can continue to use your toilet during a power outage.

Find Ways To Keep Your Minds Occupied

Once all of your needs are taken care of during the power outage, like you’re safe and have food and water to sustain you, the next thing you’ll want to do is find a way to keep yourself and your family entertained. Nothing can make hours without power go slower than just sitting there and waiting for the power to get turned back on. So to help keep everyone’s spirits up and distracted from the situation you find yourselves in, Dana McMahan, a contributor to NBC News, suggests breaking out the board games, reading books, or playing together to help pass the time.

To help your home and family stay safe and healthy, consider using the tips mentioned above to prepare for your next power outage.

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Who doesn’t want a better life? There’s almost always something that you can think of in the day-to-day activities that you want to improve. But it may feel like there’s just no time to create this space for enhancing these areas of your existence. That’s when it’s time to start looking at habits as a way to start moving in the right direction. It’s astonishing once you watch how much of your day is spent doing routine things. Because of this, one of the most efficient ways to improve your life is by hacking these habits.

Though it is efficient, hacking your habits isn’t necessarily easy. You have to go about it with the specific type of focus if you want to achieve success with the least amount of frustration and the most amount of success. And you can start hacking your habits in several different areas of your life. For example, you can begin adjusting your patterns in your professional activities. Or, if you’re trying to feel better about your general health, you can start improving your nutrition and exercise habits. Finally, one of the ways to get into adjusting your habits is by finding a good to-do list that you can check items off of in a way that makes you feel accomplished.

The Professional Realm

Are you 100% satisfied with your job and your working environment? The answer to that is probably in the negative. Professionally, there are always things that you can do to get better pay or have better hours or feel more satisfied with the job you are doing. And if you want to start improving these aspects immediately, you need to start adjusting your bad habits. One of the best ways to do this is by figuring out how to better communicate with your boss, your coworkers, and anyone who works for you. Not everyone translates words and ideas the same, so you should put it on your shoulders to find a habit somewhere inside you that requires you to communicate clearly every time you talk.

The Personal Health Realm

Then there is the matter of personal health. A quick way to start feeling better about a lot of the aspects of your physical life is by beginning with your nutrition habits. Day by day, improve your eating habits until you are on a diet that includes everything that you need to be nutritionally sound as well as allowing you to eat things that you enjoy. In addition to food habits, you should also pick up good exercise habits that you can maintain in the long run. It doesn’t mean you have to go overboard with working out. It just suggests that you have to do some exercise regularly to keep your blood flowing and your heart healthy.

Checking Items Off of Your To-Do Lists

One of the ways to hack your habits is to find a to-do list that suits your personality type and your behaviors. You might try for one that uses a pen and paper. Or there are plenty of digital to-do lists that you can download and try out. Once people find one that works, they tend to stick with all of the new habits that they want much better than if they were trying to keep their practices in mind internally.

Of all the conflicts that you have to handle in life, the ones specifically relating to your family can be the worst. You can pick your friends, but you can’t choose your family. You’re stuck with them. And that often means you’re stuck with the conflicts with your family members in between your family members for long, painful periods. If you want to resolve these conflicts, avoidance is usually not going to be your best method. Instead, there are several things that you can do to work through the conflicts one by one.

Look at four tips that will help you move through some of the worst and most constant conflicts that family members run into. First of all, you can try going to a therapy session. There’s nothing wrong with having a professional open up lines of communication between family members. Secondly, if there is a legal matter involved, contacting a law office is usually a good idea. Third, it’s possible to get a mediator to explore possibilities of resolving a conflict. And lastly, even though you don’t need to avoid conflict entirely, taking some time apart to think about what is creating the issue can be great for coming back together and resolving it afterward.

Go To a Therapy Session

If you have noticed a family conflict festering, one of the first things you should think about is going to a family therapy session. If you can get family members together, pay the fee of talking to a professional in an open environment, and bring all of the conflicts to the surface, this can be the fastest and most effective way to get to a resolution that everyone is satisfied with. Having an outside party walk family members through the issue can be useful in getting history out of the way.

Contact a Law Office

When there’s a conflict between family members that involves a legal dispute, that’s when it’s time to call a family law attorney. It might not be enough to try and have a personal discussion between yourself and a family member if there is some ticket item like a bankruptcy, child support, inheritance, or other matter like that involved. If there are contracts or legal disputes, there needs to be a lawyer present to resolve the issue.

Get a Mediator

Somewhere between a therapist and a lawyer, there is the idea of using a mediator to move through family arguments. Mediators are often less expensive and more casual than your other options, but they can be just as good in finding the correct solution to an issue. You can even use a friend as a mediator if you don’t want to pay a professional, but you need someone to have a logical verbal method for discussing things with you.

Take Some Time Apart

Sometimes conflict stems from too much together time. In this case, maybe the best thing that you can do to feel less tense about a situation is to take some time apart from your family members. It may mean spouses taking a few days away from each other. Or it could mean family members taking vacations for a few weeks in different locations.

Driving to work every day can be a monotonous experience. Over time, it can start to get so old sitting in your car for so long that your mind starts to go numb. You may have been in such a hurry to get your commute over with that you’ve received a traffic ticket or two in your time.

However, there are ways to make the most out of your commute without having to go nuts. The key to making a boring experience a tolerable one is to try to mix things up. Here are some of the best tips for making that happen.

Listen To Music

Putting on your favorite artist and singing at the top of your lungs can be incredibly therapeutic. Try listening to some new artists, or different radio programs. You might want to consider asking friends to make you a playlist of music that you should check out.

Your commute is the perfect time to check out new artists and appreciate the new work of the artists that you already love. When you have some time to kill, why not?

Try A Podcast

If you’re burned out listening to music in the mornings, why not try listening to a podcast? There are thousands of podcasts out there for just about any area of interest.

You could listen to anything from murder mysteries like Serial, to interviews with world-famous authors. Chances are a podcast exists for whatever you can think of, so take a look in your library and check it out.

Audiobooks

Chances are you’ve read books in your life, but have you ever listened to a book? It’s relaxing to put your hands on the wheel and let your mind wander. As a narrator guides you through a different world, you’ll be at work before you know it.

Some people wind up loving audiobooks so much that they eventually make the switch entirely from regular books. Since you can use your hands at the same time, it makes double tasking a breeze.

Take Public Transportation

Opting to take public transportation instead of your car may be something you enjoy. You don’t have to worry about traffic, or running out of gas. You just sit down and watch the world go by until you arrive.

In addition to requiring less of your energy and attention, public transportation also costs much less than filling your tank! You may even end up arriving earlier than you would have in your car.

If you’re someone who loves conversation, it can be a nice place to have a chat with a stranger on your way to work. Who knows who you could meet! Every day is an adventure on public transit.

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As a parent, your top priority is your children’s health and safety. For many parents, this means ensuring that their children are taken care of physically, mentally, and emotionally. However, although your child’s well being might be very important to you, children often make choices that make it hard for their parents to ensure that they’re as healthy as they can be, including eating foods that aren’t good for them or not getting enough to drink during the day. So to help you in making positive changes in the lives of your children, here are three tips for keeping your kids properly hydrated each day.

Offer Water First

When it comes to hydration, water is the best option to give your children. While many children may not like water because it lacks a taste and color, Reuters and Fox News share that water does so much more for your children than just keeping them hydrated. Water can help to keep your children cool, aids in their digestion, helps with their brain function, and can be beneficial in maintaining a healthy weight. And since most people in developed nations have access to clean drinking water, it shouldn’t be hard to make water the first choice that you offer your kids throughout the day. While it’s ok to drink other liquids occasionally, you should try to make the bulk of your child’s drinks water-based at the very least.

Try To Create A Schedule

During busy days, it’s easy to simply forget to drink anything until you feel thirsty. But at that point, your body is already starting to slip into dehydration. To keep this from happening to your kids, Dr. Amita Shroff, a contributor to WebMD, recommends that you create a schedule that you follow throughout the day to remind your kids to drink water. If it’s hot outside or your child is working hard physically, try to increase the number of times you schedule to remind your child to take a drink break, as these situations can get your child dehydrated more quickly.

Don’t Make Their Drinks Too Cold

While many adults love cold drinks with ice floating in them, cold drinks are often a deterrent for children if you’re wanting them to up their liquid intake. According to Debra Wittrup, a contributor to Parents.com, it’s harder for kids to drink the necessary amounts of liquid if it’s too cold for them. So especially for your little ones, try to give them drinks of water at room temperature or just below whenever you can.

If you’re worried about how much water your child is drinking during the day, consider using the tips mentioned above to help increase his or her intake to a healthy amount.

If you’re about to start a small business of your own, you know how important it is to prioritize your limited finances. New startups have a lot of upfront costs, including securing a business space, paying for your products or services, hiring employees, marketing your business, and more. But in order for your business to run, you have to have the equipment necessary for you to function properly. While renting this equipment is an option, this path will often prove to be more expensive in the long run and not suit your needs as well as you’d like. So to help you decide on how to acquire the business equipment you need, here are three situations when it makes sense to buy rather than rent.

When The Numbers Favor Buying

As was mentioned above, buying can often make more financial sense than renting your business equipment. Even though there’s usually a larger upfront cost when buying a piece of equipment rather than renting it, the savings over time could be substantial. According to CalcXML.com, you should consider using a renting and buying calculator to see what the actual costs for each option will be for you. And if buying the item is a better investment, you may want to go with that option even though it might stretch you a little bit financially at the moment.

When Ownership Is Important To You

For some businesses, it’s going to important that you own the piece of equipment you’re using rather than just renting it. Especially if you’ll be using it every day and need to be certain of its quality standard, owning the equipment yourself can simplify things greatly. According to Intuit QuickBooks, owning business equipment as opposed to just renting it also makes it easier to do things like make alterations or do maintenance, create more simplified contracts when acquiring the piece, and have complete control over what you buy and the state it’s in when you receive it.

When What You Need Won’t Quickly Become Outdated

In some industries, technology and advancements happen quickly, making things become outdated even when they’re not really that old. If this is the case for the field you’re working in, renting might be a better option for you. But, according to Nolo.com, if the equipment you’ll be using and buying will have a long life and be able to be used effectively for years and years, investing in buying a new piece could be a much better choice for your new company.

If you need to get some new equipment for your startup, consider using the information presented above to help you decide if you should buy these items rather than renting or leasing them.