Home Articles Posted by Izy Berry (Page 47)
,
3 Hacks That Can Save You Money
If you’re anything like me, then you’re constantly searching for ways to save money and cut down on spending, so that you can have more money for your investments and travelling – of course. Life can be pretty expensive especially if you have a lot of financial commitments, so finding a way to cut costs down whether for small purchases or big purchases, can make a big difference over the course of a year or a lifetime. Here are 3 hacks that can save you money.
1. Fabric Structures
If you’re looking to buy or build your first home, you might be surprised by how expensive everything costs. Yes, you’ve got the price of the property, but on top of that, you also have lawyers fees, property taxes and of course any maintenance you need to do for your property. If you’re hoping to build, you might find that the project goes way over budget (it almost always does!) which can add a lot of financial stress into the mix. Some people think about constructing temporary housing as a way to reduce costs, but the fact is that often a temporary build costs the same as a fabric structure build. This can be a perfect solution for building your first home, a granny flat for a relative to live in, or even for constructing barns. Due to the fact that the properties are mass designed and produced, you won’t be spending a lot of money for the value you will get.
2. Eating Out
It’s become a bit of a trend to spend more of our income on eating and drinking outside the home. Instead of inviting friends and family over and entertaining them, most of us find it easier to head out and spend up large outside. It could be a good idea, if you don’t already do so, to track your food and drinks expenses over the course of a month. You might be surprised by how much you’re spending! While I do think it’s important to treat yourself here and there, and especially for special occasions, many of us fall into the habit of convenience and eat out daily or at least a few times a week. This is really expensive, and can really impact how much you can save over the course of a year. Setting yourself an entertainment budget is a great way to stay on top of your spending.
3. Refine Your Business
If you own a business, then you can save money by refining processes. It can be a great way to save money while improving productivity and in turn profit. Depending on your industry, you might find calibration weights to be a great investment. Accurately weighing products or pharmaceuticals can be the difference between making a good profit, or even making a loss. If you’re interested and want to learn more, please check out the link. It can also be a good investment to bring in an analyst who can help you figure out where you can improve your system processes in your business.
Making small changes can result in big financial changes over the course of the year. If you’re looking to save more money, these tips might help you save money.
,
Tips for Working With Consultants Online
You might be wondering why you would want to work with a consultant online, versus someone locally and there are plenty of reasons why. Firstly, if you need a specialist or someone who resonates a lot with your thought process, then it might just make sense to work with someone who isn’t local but meets your needs perfectly. Finding and hiring a consultant online can be a bit of a challenge, so I’ve made a list of a few tips for working with consultants online:
1. Be Clear With Your Expectations
It’s really important to outline what you need from a consultant – whether you’re looking for car injury lawyers to check out to help you with a claim, or a lifestyle coach like RebeccaMountain.ca, the first step is getting on a discovery call or having a free consultation. Working with someone is an investment, so you’re going to make sure that they are on the same page as you while outlining your expectations and your budget. The best way to do this is to get on a call – whether it’s just audio or a video call – to outline what you need. Listen carefully to what the consultant can offer you and be sure to ask about deliverables and timelines. There’s nothing worse than being disappointed as you’re not receiving what you thought you had paid for. Setting clear expectations from the beginning will ensure that the entire process moves much more easily.
2. Shop Around
It’s important to find someone who believes in your cause, or whose energy resonates with you. There’s no harm in setting up a few calls to find someone who best matches your needs. You can think of it like having a position you’re looking to fill and interviewing potential candidates. Most consultants will offer a free or reduced rate initial call or meeting so that you can see if they’re a good fit for your project, so this is a great way to test the waters without investing a lot of money. Don’t feel bad if you talk with someone who you don’t think is a good fit for your project, at the end of the day, a good consultant will be concerned about whether they can meet your needs as well!
3. Figure Out What You Need
Can you verbalise your needs? Write a few sentences out clearly summarizing exactly what you are searching for, so you can easily explain to your candidates what you are looking for. Sometimes we start searching for help or advice before we’re really clear about what we need, which makes it harder for consultants to properly meet our needs. I suggest sitting down with a pen and paper and really getting everything clear before you start interviewing. It will save you time and money in the long run!
Working with a consultant online can be a very rewarding process so long as you’re clear about what you need from the beginning. Spend a bit of time searching around to find the ideal candidate for your project. Let me know in the comments below if you have any other tips for working with consultants online!
,
3 Careers That Allow You to Travel More
Finding a career that helps you travel more is at the top of many of our lists. If you’re just about to leave High School or thinking about changing careers, then these suggestions will hopefully help you find something that allows you to make a living while seeing more of this beautiful world. Here are my top 3 suggestions of careers if you want to travel more:
1. Medicine
There’s a demand for doctors and nurses in almost every country around the world. Not only can you find a job overseas and use that location as a base to travel from, but you can also use your skills overseas by volunteering in countries that quite simply do not have the medical infrastructure to take care of their most vulnerable population. Studying medicine can be a long path, but it’s very rewarding and ensures that you can make a tangible difference in people’s lives. If you’re interested in medicine, just know that there are so many different types of specialization that you can focus on. If you’re thinking of studying medicine, why not check out the great range of spine models available here: https://www.candent.ca/anatomical-models/spine-and-vertebral-models/spine-models.html
2. Architecture
You might not associate architecture with travel, but the truth is there are so many construction companies around the world that are looking for architects and project managers with a special flair to their work. If you can stand out in your industry as having a point of difference, or a particular style, then you can find yourself in demand for international projects. Due to the interconnected nature of the world today, you can easily apply for architecture work remotely, submitting plans without having ever left the comfort of your own home. If your design is chosen, then you could find yourself travelling to manage the project! Check out these interesting tension measuring instrument for your next construction project: https://www.johnsonscale.com/product/dillon-ap-dynamometer/
3. Teaching
This is one of the most common ways to travel more while making a good living. There are three main ways you can teach and travel more often. The first one is teaching in your home country as teachers tend to get very generous holidays, allowing you to have plenty of time to travel the world. Think about how many places you could visit within the summer holidays alone! Then you also have Christmas and Easter breaks to book fun adventures. The second option is teaching English (or another language) online and in a remote capacity. This would allow you to set up base wherever you like, so long as you can still continue to teach your students. The third way you can travel more while teaching, is by taking up a teaching position in a foreign country. If you’re from the United States, imagine how much travel you could do in Asia if you took up a teaching position in Japan or South Korea – you could take long weekend trips to Thailand or China, allowing you to see so much more of this region than you could usually!
No matter what option you choose, you should be able to combine your love of travelling with a career that allows you to travel more while still having a fulfilling career!
,
4 Tips for Moving Back After Living or Travelling Overseas
For most of us, the adventure has to come to an end at some point. No matter if you’ve been away for a few weeks, or a few years, it can be quite the adjustment moving home. I’ve moved home a few times – once after being an au pair in the Czech Republic, the second time after being an au pair in Madrid and both times I felt reserve culture shock and found it hard to get reestablished in my home city. So here are some tips for moving back after living or travelling overseas.
1. Rent from the Beginning
It is such a good idea to rent when you move back home – both in terms of property and appliances. If you’re free spirited and enjoy living overseas or long term travel, chances are you might get itchy feet once you’re home. As such, I think it’s wise not to tie yourself down too much before you’re really sure that you want to be at home long term. I would suggest looking for a rental contract for 6 months, to give yourself a decent amount of time to test out being home before you commit to buying property or furniture. Rental City have a great range of products that you can rent for your home, instead of purchasing everything outright.
2. Invest in Quality
When you do get around to buying furniture, I always suggest buying the best products you can afford. Yes, it can be tempting to get cheap furniture, but I feel like couches tend to wear out so much faster if they’re a cheaper option – in the end you’ll likely end up spending more. SunPan.com have some lovely products at affordable pricing, so that can be a good place for you to start looking!
3. Don’t Forget Your Trip
There’s nothing worse than feeling like your trip or time overseas never happened. As such, I think it’s a great idea to have relics and photos from your time overseas. I try to buy one thing in every place I go, so I have something that I can take home with me and show off around my home. Getting some canvases printed with photos you took is also a wonderful way to have your time overseas on display in your home.
4. Join Some Groups
If you feel a little sad since returning home, why not join some groups with people who share your love of travel or the region you were in. If you were learning a language, why not continue that in your home town? It can be a great way to meet new people, but also helpful for keeping the language fresh in your mind. You can also look into Couchsurfing, which is hosting overseas guests in your home town. If you’re unable to host, you can still use the platform for meeting up with people and showing them around where you’re from. It can be a great way to keep that travel vibe alive without actually travelling.
Coming home can be quite an adjustment, but with these simple tips, you can make it as smooth as possible. Please let me know in the comments below if you have any suggestions for moving home after living overseas.
,
3 Things to Think About as you Age
It’s something that happens to everyone, but most of us cruise through life not really thinking about how different things will be as we age. You can still have a great quality of life even in your Golden Years, but it definitely takes a bit of forward planning. Here are my top 3 suggestions to think about as you age – or even well before you start feeling old!
1. Tick Off Your Travel Bucketlist
You can travel at any age, no doubt, but there are some things that you’ll quite simply prefer to do while you’re younger. I suggest looking through your travel bucket list and realistically seeing what you can handle doing when you’re a bit older, and things that are probably best done now while you’re a spring chicken. Things such as skydiving, bungy jumping, backpacking etc are probably better suited to someone who is more mobile and fit. As you get older, you might notice the type of travel you do changes – option for more tour buses and tours to help with the logistics of getting around.
2. Senior Care
Have you considered what kind of environment you want to live in when you’re older? The truth is retirement can be quite expensive and it’s something you absolutely have to plan for now. Making little changes now can make a big difference in terms of your financial security in future, allowing you to be more comfortable as you age and also affording you more options. You’ll need to think about what kind of care you would like, whether you think that you would prefer to move right into a retirement village, or perhaps you would prefer senior care in your home daily or weekly. Both of these options are a good way to have an assisted lifestyle, but they obviously have considerably different costs so it can be worthwhile considering what your preference is now. SpectrumHealthcare.com have a few options available so you can browse their website for a good idea of what options might be available to you in your area.
The process of retiring is multi-faceted. There are many things you need to consider, but most of them come back to money. How will you find the money you need? Where will you find it? One option is to apply for a reverse mortgage on your home. When you do, the lender will access an online reverse-mortgages calculator tool. Plugging facts about your residence into the reverse mortgage calculator is the only way to know how much it is worth. It is also the only way to know how much of that value is available through a reverse mortgage. Those two figures will always be different due to federal laws. Once you know what you can borrow, you can go ahead and borrow it. You can also be secure in the knowledge that you are allowed to keep owning and living in your home for years without the need to return what you borrowed right away.
3. Your Teeth
While it’s important to take care of all of your body, your teeth are something that needs regular check-ups and often requires a decent amount of work to keep them in tip-top shape as you age. Sometimes it can be a good idea to look at investing in veneers if the quality of your teeth is declining and you’re eligible for them. Veneers can be used for both cosmetic reasons, to improve the overall look of your smile, but also can be used when a tooth is comprised and runs a decent risk of becoming infected. The truth is a white, bright smile is something that gives us a lot of confidence and doesn’t need to be reserved for only those of us who are youthful. Investing in your teeth is a great way to invest in your health, but also your confidence. A healthy, beautiful smile can even make you look younger! Check out DiscoverDentalHouston.com for some great options and price points.
Have you started thinking about how you’ll manage things as you age? Spending a little time now will save you a lot of stress in future.
,
4 Tips for Showing Your Parents You Care Even When You’re Far Away
One of the harder things about travelling is missing out on special times back home. Whether that’s missing mother’s day with your mom, or spending Christmas alone, halfway around the world. There are little things you can do while you’re away to show your loved ones you care, and here are some suggestions of how you can do that!
1. Skype
I love Skype, it’s such a wonderful invention and makes being away from home a little easier. If you Skype from computer to computer you don’t pay a cent, making it an affordable way to see your loved ones, no matter how far away you are. The only real issue you’ll face is trying to make the time zones line up if you’re really far away. If your parents are not very tech savvy, I suggest setting Skype up before you go so you can give them a little tour of the platform and how everything works. If your parents or grandparents are a bit too old for traditional Skype to Skype calls, you can even load your Skype account with credit and call them on their normal phone.
2. Don’t Forget About Their Needs
The truth is, as people age many of them find themselves in a slightly sticky financial situation. Ageing can be quite expensive, especially relying on government pensions to live off. If you’re wanting to get your parents or grandparents a thoughtful gift for a missed birthday or Christmas, then something that can be really helpful is a hearing test from The Hearing Room. Often people will try to avoid dealing with hearing issues if they think they can get by, especially if finances are tight. If you notice a loved one is struggling with their hearing, this is the perfect gift for them.
3. Extra Help
If you usually visit your parents regularly to help and are apprehensive about what will happen while you’re overseas, why not consider gifting them some in-home care? It can be something as small as a fortnightly cleaning service to help them keep on top of the housework, or something more personalized like home care by SeniorsForSeniors.ca, allowing them in-home support, care and assistant while you’re on the other side of the world.
Home care is useful if your parents don’t need 24/7 help, but need assistance with certain tasks like cooking and taking medication. Home care services are flexible in the time of day they can visit your parents, so if your parents can make themselves breakfast but struggle to make dinner, a carer can come to make them a hot meal every evening. Services using the best home care software will be able to schedule a time that works for both themselves and your parents, giving you the peace of mind that your parents have the help they need when they need it.
4. A Postcard
There’s nothing quite like receiving real mail in the post that isn’t a bill demanding payment. For a parent or grandparent, there’s something particularly special about getting a postcard in the mail. It shows them that their child or grandchild was thinking of them, even in the midst of their great adventure. For many older generations, it just wasn’t viable or possible to travel as we can now, so it’s also a special way to bring them along on your adventure with you. Postcards are available everywhere around the world and make a wonderful fridge decoration.
It can be hard deciding to travel when you have ageing parents or grandparents and you don’t want to miss out on spending time with them and helping them. With these four simple tips you can ensure your family members know how much you care, while still getting to live your own adventures.
,
3 Ways You Can Improve Your Home Quickly
Whether you’re wanting to improve your home for your own comfort, or in order to be able to sell at a higher price point, there are a few small changes that you can make that have a huge difference in terms of your property’s value and comfort value. Here are 3 simple ways you can improve your home quickly.
1. Clean Up Your Lagoon
If you’re lucky enough to have a large pond or lagoon on your property, then you know how easy it is to let the maintenance and care of your lagoon to slip to the bottom of your properties. Maybe you only spend time near your pond during the summer months, meaning that it’s almost completely neglected during the colder months. You may have bought your property with the lagoon in an average condition. Whatever the reason your lake isn’t quite where you want it to be, there is an easy fix! You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to have this taken care of, with https://scicorp.net/wastewater/lagoon-odors/ you can easily get rid of the odour and ensure that your pond is as beautiful as can be!
2. Check for Leaks
There’s nothing worse than wasted resources and water is one of our most precious resources. You should check around your home for leaks to ensure that you’re not driving your water bill for unnecessary reasons. During the summer, many cities around the world have water usage restrictions, making it even more important that you are checking for leaks around your home. If you’re interested, there are plenty of tools available that can work well for leak detection and you can click here to find numerous resources that you can use around your home.
3. Consider Your Street Appeal
Your home’s street appeal is a pretty big determining factor in your home’s overall value. If you’re trying to sell, this could be one of the easiest ways to increase your value. You have to think about how prospective buyers think: when they pull up to you’re home, they’re going to start imaging how it would be to live there and to come home to this home every day. If your home looks tired, ratty or unkept from the curb, then that’s probably going to decrease how excited someone is to buy your property. Depending on the condition of your home’s exterior, investing in a coat of paint might be all you need to freshen up your home and make it look more modern from the first viewing.
Beyond the exterior of your home, you should also consider how the plants, yard and fence look. If any of those are in less than optimum condition, then I suggest you could spend a little time and maintenance to ensure they’re up to the standard of the rest of your home.
A home can be a wonderful investment that can last generations and be home to so many precious memories. Whether you’re planning to sell your property in the near future, or merely want to update it to better suit your family’s needs, investing a little will go a long way.
,
3 Unconventional Types of Education That Might be Right For Your Family
Education is one of the most important investments you will ever make, whether it’s for you or for your children. Doing proper research before choosing a provider, can make all the difference in terms of the quality of education you will receive, as well as the opportunities it will open the door to. If you’re looking for a different type of education for yourself or your loved ones, read on to learn more about some of the interesting types of learning that are available around the world!
1. Homeschooling
You might have heard of homeschooling before, already been involved in homeschooling or wanted to know more about it but feeling a bit overwhelmed as to where to start. With the invention of the Internet, has come the ability to study college degrees and other formal education courses online from the comfort of your own home. Traditional homeschooling is more directed at teaching your own children, rather than sending them to a conventional school. There are many reasons why parents might consider homeschooling their own children: they might think they can give their children more personalized attention, it may be due to location and not being in a good area with schooling, it may be also because they’re traveling and unable to attend normal school. Check out BrightMindsOnlineSchool.ca for more information on homeschooling if you want to learn more.
2. Travelling
Is there a better way to learn about the world we live in, than to travel it? I don’t think so! When I have children, I plan to travel with them as much as possible, in order to show them how other people around the world live, to take them to the best museums and musical performances and to show them some of the world’s most historic sites. Obviously, I understand I’m blessed to be able to travel so much and to be able to share that experience with my future children. If you can travel with children, I definitely suggest doing so. It’s such a special way to spend time with your children and to also create special memories. There’s also no better way to learn about a country than to be actually there, enjoying all the sights, sounds and smells that a new place has to offer.
3. Coaching
You might have heard of people getting a coach for a range of different areas of their lives. You can get a fitness coach, that is essentially a personal trainer that is dedicated to getting you into the best shape possible. If you want to learn more about nutrition and how to properly eat for your fitness goals, then you can get a nutritional coach. You can find a coach for almost every area of your life, including a business coach. One type of coaching I’ve heard about and am very interested in is leadership coaching. You can learn how to improve the effectiveness of your team management through more effective decision making and improved collaboration and you can even have support to learn more about efficient fundraising.
Education is the best way you can invest in yourself and your loved ones. Consider these three types of unconventional education that can improve your job prospects and career.
,
Gifts for Someone Who Has Everything
Do you struggle to think of the perfect gift? Me too! I sometimes spend longer thinking about what gift to buy someone than celebrating their birthday or special occassion. I think it can be a great idea to think outside the box when getting someone a gift, that way it’s less likely they already have it and even less chance that someone else will buy it for them too. If you want some different kind of gift ideas for the person who has everything, please read on!
An Experience:
Getting an experience as a gift is something that someone can do, which in my opinion makes it so much more memorable. Depending on the friend, you can get them a variety of experiences to best fit their interests. If you’re wanting to buy a more expensive experience, it could be a good idea to see if other friends or family members want to go in on the gift so you can afford it without breaking the bank. Some suggestions include bucket list activities such as sky diving, a special overseas trip, bungy jumping, a zoo experience and so forth. It can also be a good idea to look around and see if there are any upcoming shows or performances that you think your friend would love, and buy two tickets – one for each of you. Think about what your friend or loved one would like most and then try to get them that experience rather than a gift they’ll use and throw away eventually.
Water Pipes:
If it’s legal where you live and your friend or family member is over 21 years old, then it can be a nice idea to get them https://www.smokersvice.com/shop/water-pipes.html. Smoking by a water pipe is a lot healthier than smoking other ways. The water acts as a filtration system to remove impurities, making everything smoother and healthier than other alternatives. This can be a great gift, but it depends on the person you’re shopping for!
Air Cooled Chiller:
If you’re trying to think of the perfect gift for a growing family or an expanding food business, why not consider an air cooled chiller? HydroSolar.ca offer a great range of food chilling and storage solutions which can be a great way to handle the growing demands of an expanding family or a business that’s blooming. These are a great investment piece, so that’s another gift that might be worth asking if other friends and family members want to go in on, so that you don’t have the financial burden alone. While it’s nice to get an individual gift for someone, sometimes I think it’s better to go in on a bigger gift to get something your recipient really wants and needs!
Spending a little more time thinking about a gift that will provide your friend or family with an experience they will remember forever, or a gift that they really need or will treasure is the best way to show how much you care. Use these tips to get a different kind of gift I’m sure they will love.
,
Easy Hacks for Improving Your Health
Modern life is no joke – we have so many things to juggle every day that it’s easy to put our own health on the backburner, which can lead to feeling burned out, unnecessary stress and a negative impact on our health. When our health declines, everything else in our lives is negatively affected, so I suggest taking some time each day or week to ensure you’re prioritizing your own health. Here are some easy hacks that can help you improve your health on a regular basis:
1. Grow Your Own Food
Hold up – I’m not suggesting you move to a farm and live off the land, but even if you live in a central apartment with a balcony, you can look to start growing some of your own food. The benefits of growing your own food at home are considerable: you can avoid the use of pesticides and chemicals which are known to impact our health. You can have fresh produce available to you for almost no cost. It can also be a good way to learn more about food and healthy eating. If you’re interested in growing your own food, start small. There are products like the https://www.octopot.com that allow you to have a small, hybrid hydroponics set up in your own home for a low cost.
2. Take Time to Relax
There are many different ways you can relax, but you’re going to want to find things that work well for you. If you have a high-pressure lifestyle, you might be surprised to know that your hormonal levels can become continuously elevated due to this stress, which can dramatically impact your health. There are a number of great meditation applications available which can help you learn how to calm down and relax, which has been shown to have a number of health benefits. Depending on where you live, you might be interested in trying a Healthcare Dispensary for a herbal approach to relaxing. Whichever way you choose to relax, make sure to make it a regular part of your schedule.
3. Have a Regular Sleep Schedule
A lack of sleep quickly adds up and can negatively impact your concentration, energy levels and even impact your weight. We have so many more distractions in our phones now, many of us lay in bed each night scrolling through social media instead of getting the number of hours sleep we really need. Implementing a regular sleep schedule is a great way to improve your sleep hygiene. Setting sleep and wake times that work for you and ensure you are well rested are a great way to ensure you’re doing all you can to be as energized as possible.
Your health is something you need to invest in each day and with these small suggestions you can make a dramatic change.
