How to Help Your Child Adjust to a New School

Changing schools is a major adjustment for kids. When a child and their classmates graduate and move to a new school together, everyone is in the same boat. When a family moves to a new area and a child must adjust to a new school and group of peers, the transition can be more challenging.

Help Your Child Prepare
Visit the school in advance so your child can find their classroom, the bathrooms and the cafeteria. If there’s an orientation before the beginning of the school year, be sure to attend. If your child is transferring after the academic year has started, ask the school to assign a “buddy” to show them around.

Make sure your child knows how to get to the bus stop or how to walk to school. Walk the route together and be sure they know the names of streets and landmarks to help them navigate. And don’t forget to get a list of supplies your child will need from the teacher—they’ll feel more at ease on the first day with all the necessary materials.

For a few weeks before the beginning of a new academic year, have your child go to bed and get up as if they’re already going to school. This will make the transition less stressful and overwhelming.

Talk to Your Child
Stay positive. If your child and his or her peers are moving to a new school together, talk about the opportunity to see old friends and enjoy new experiences together. If you’re moving to a new area and your child doesn’t know anyone, frame it as a chance to make a new group of friends.

Discuss your child’s concerns. You might think that your child is most nervous about academics, while they may be more focused on making friends, joining the band or earning a spot on a varsity athletic team. Ask your child what’s on their mind and address any specific worries. Remind them of other occasions when they were in an unfamiliar situation and ways they effectively dealt with the changes.

How to Help in the First Days
Eliminate stress as much as possible on the first morning of school. Pack a lunch or give your child lunch money the night before. Have your child pick out clothes to wear and make sure they’re appropriate for the school and the weather.

Encourage your child to explore school activities. Whether they enjoy sports, art, music, theater or other extracurricular or academic activities, the school likely has a group where they can meet like-minded peers.

A Big Adjustment
Switching schools will be stressful for your child, but you can make the transition easier. Be positive, talk about what to expect and discuss any concerns or fears. With some time and support, your child will soon feel at home in their new school.

How to Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

Energy costs are one of the highest monthly expenses for homeowners, aside from a mortgage. Energy used to power your HVAC system, appliances, furnace and TVs can add up to whopping bills every month. Some of these costs are unavoidable, but there are specific ways that you can make your home more energy efficient to lower your utility bills. These changes will require some upfront investments, but you will reap the savings over the years.

Get an Energy Audit
First, start with an energy audit. You can hire a contractor or a representative from your local utility company to come to your home and assess ways that you’re losing or wasting energy. An energy audit can identify problems with the heating and cooling system, insufficient insulation, drafts around windows and doors, and inefficient appliances.

Control the Temperature
An HVAC system can become worn out over time. It may operate less efficiently, causing your home to be excessively warm or cold. Change your furnace’s air filter regularly and have it inspected to see if it’s wasting fuel or not burning as hot as it should. If your furnace is nearing the end of its lifespan, replace it with a more energy-efficient model.

A programmable thermostat can help you regulate the temperature in your home. You can program it to lower the temperature when you’re out and when people are sleeping and to keep your home warmer when you’re home on fall and winter days.

Not having enough insulation can cause your home to be cold in the winter and can allow air-conditioned air to leak out in the summer. Check the insulation in the walls and attic and add more if necessary.

If you have old windows, you could be allowing warm air to leak out in the winter and cold air to get inside. Replace old windows with new, energy-efficient ones. Look for double- or triple-paned windows with argon gas between the panes. This acts as an insulator to prevent drafts and control the temperature in the house.

Upgrade Appliances
Large appliances, such as refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers, use a lot of energy. If your appliances are old, they could be causing you to have unreasonably high utility bills. You can replace them with appliances that carry the Energy Star label. That means they’re designed to be energy efficient and cost less to operate.

Save Money Every Month
Houses use a lot of energy, and there is no way to avoid utility bills altogether. You can save money by making some changes and upgrades to your home. Some of them will require a significant financial investment, but they will save you money in the long run. Even if you can only make one or two of these changes, you can still make your home more energy efficient and lower your utility bills.

Building Credit Without Credit Cards

A credit card is one of the main ways to build credit. By using a credit card wisely and not running up huge bills and paying them off in full on time, consumers can improve their credit score. A good credit score can make getting a home, car and other loans easier, and at better interest rates.

Some people who have poor credit may have difficulty improving their credit score fast enough, and others may not even want a credit card.

A credit card isn’t the only way to build credit. Here are some other ways:

Get a small loan

Apply for a small loan from your bank or credit union. If you’ve had an account in good standing for a few years, you should be able to get a small loan.

Some banks may only offer secured loans, meaning you’ll have to come up with some collateral such as a car to qualify for the loan. However you get a bank loan, pay it back on time and your credit score should improve.

Monitor student loan payments

You should be working hard to pay all of your loans on time. Repaying student loans on time will help build your credit as much as any other loan. On the opposite side, missing a student loan payment can hurt your credit score.

Ask utility providers for help

Electricity, gas, cable TV, internet and other utility providers report delinquencies to the credit bureaus. Some, however, also report positive payment history, such as on-time payments, to the credit bureaus.

Call your utility providers to see if they report positive payment history, which can improve your credit score. If they don’t, ask if they can give you a letter of reference in support of a credit application.

Report rent payments

Just like utility companies, not all landlords report on-time payments to credit bureaus. Ask your landlord if positive rent history is reported. If not, ask if it can use a third-party website such as Rental Kharma to verify your rent payments each month.

Another way is to sign up with a rent payment service that uses Experian’s RentBureau. Your rent is paid through the service and independent verification that you’ve paid your rent on time isn’t needed.

Become an authorized user

A friend or family member who has excellent credit can add you to their credit card as an authorized user. It allows you to use their credit card and share their credit limit.

As long as the main card holder pays the bill on time every month and keeps the balance low in relation to their credit limit, your credit score may benefit. Check first that the card issuer reports authorized users to the credit bureaus.

You won’t be responsible for paying the bill, so being an authorized user won’t help your credit profile a lot, but it will help some if it’s reported.

Feel free to contact me for other helpful information.

How-to Prep Your Home for Earthquakes

Earthquakes are rarely predictable. However, if you live in a state like California or Hawaii where quaking and shaking is common, there are several things you can do to your house to prepare for such emergencies. Consider the following tips from Brian Vardiman, owner of Best Service.

Secure the water heater – Unsecured water heaters often fall over, rupturing water and gas lines causing fires and flooding. Secure your water heater with two straps that wrap around the top and bottom of the water tank. Ensure the straps are made of heavy-metal gauge strapping. Many water heaters are currently secured with plumbers' tape; the thin metal in this strap is too brittle to be effective. If the homeowner is not sure if the water heater is secured with the proper straps and technique, call a professional to inspect it before the protection is needed.

Add flexible piping – The rigid pipes used to transfer natural gas, air and water into the home are susceptible to damage during an earthquake. Flexible piping is made from materials that will absorb the vibrations created during an earthquake before they can crack or break.

Install vibration isolators – The majority of the damage an HVAC unit sustains during an earthquake comes as a result of the shifting that occurs with seismic activity. Providing a buffer that can absorb the vibrations before they cause the unit to shift is a great way to prevent damage during an earthquake. An expert can retrofit a home's HVAC system with vibration isolators. These spring-type devices can be installed on the bottom of the unit to absorb movement before it affects the HVAC system's positioning.

Source: Best Service, www.callbest.net   

5 Reasons Your Home is Overflowing

Clearing out clutter is key to staging a home for sale, and it’s the best way to make a room look more organized and spacious. Bottles, cans and other items that pile up can make a cabinet or shelf look crowded. Getting rid of some of these items can be a small step toward a more appealing home. Here are some items you can cut down on:

1. Cleaning Supplies
The cabinet under the sink is a gathering space for polishes, waxes, cleaners and tools that are collecting dust. Get rid of anything you don’t use, and be sure to dispose of chemical-based cleaners safely. You know that dusting tool you bought because an infomercial made it seem like a miracle cleaning product? If it’s in the back of your cabinet, forgotten and neglected, toss it. After you’ve thrown out the excess items, clean out the cabinet itself and organize the remaining contents.

2. Grooming Products
How many lotions and gels does one household need? All bathrooms seem to have dozens of bottles that haven’t been opened in years. Go through everything and throw out what you don’t use on a regular basis. Also, throw out old makeup and bottles that are nearly empty. Clean the items you are keeping and place them neatly in your medicine cabinet.

3. Medicines
This is actually important for reasons other than staging a home. Unneeded prescriptions can be dangerous, and out of date medications often lose their effectiveness. Disposing of medications safely is of vital importance. Many towns have “take-back” programs that collect unused medicines. If that’s not an option, the FDA recommends mixing medicines with dirt, kitty litter or coffee grounds and placing the mixture in a sealed plastic bag before throwing it in the garbage. Also, scratch out personal information on bottle labels.

4. Mugs
All those coffee and tea mugs you’ve collected over the years can make your kitchen cabinets seem messy. Get rid of the mugs you don’t need—have a yard sale or donate them to a thrift store or local senior center.

5. Magazines
Let’s face it, you’re never going to read those 10-year-old copies of National Geographic or Sports Illustrated. A few magazines that are well displayed on a coffee table can be a nice touch, but if you have back issues of your favorite periodicals piled up, it’s time to get rid of them. The news in them is old anyway.