Work At Home Business Options

Archive for the ‘The Home’ Category

I would like to wish all of my blog readers a Happy Holiday and/or Merry Christmas and I hope you all enjoy this special time of year with your family and your friends. ‘Tis the season that we all remember what is important in our lives and to always live our lives filled with love, joy and happiness.

I hope you all have a great holiday and thank you for reading the Work at Home Business Options Blog. See ya in the year 2012!

Human beings look at the world and see a complex network of interconnected individuals, each with their own autonomy and free will. This perception is a far cry from what credit card companies see. Instead, they view individuals as big bundles of data from which they can profit.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported both MasterCard and VISA are working on plans targeting online ads to consumers based on previous credit card purchases. The idea is you pick up a bag of dog food from the store and charge it to your credit card. When you get home and go online, you start seeing ads for corresponding products and services, like dog toys and dog grooming.

Despite the massive amount of personal data we transmit every day, there are still ways to protect yourself from targeted online ads. Try a few of these tips to avoid the watchful eye of Big Brother.

1. Don’t Over-share
Countless websites and stores ask us to provide phone numbers, email addresses and ZIP codes to help them build a marketing profile. Don’t bother sharing your details unless they’re essential to your purchase. If the guilt of creating fake information keeps you tossing and turning at night, GuerrillaMail.com provides temporary email addresses that last for just 60 minutes.

2. Cut Down on Cookies
“Cookie” is an important keyword here. These small files are stored on your computer every time you visit a website. They’re the reason you don’t have to log in to Facebook 10 times a day and why you see ads for a pair of shoes viewed yesterday when you’re checking your email today. Luckily, the Network Advertising Initiative can help you opt-out of advertising cookies. With just a few simple steps, you’re able to block major marketers from access to your browsing habits.

3. Privatize Your Purchases
Don’t forget about the main culprits in this personal information panic. All told, VISA and MasterCard process nearly 70 billion transactions each year. All the while, they’re collecting and analyzing this massive amount of data. Avoid having your information inspected by opting-out of their analytics programs. MasterCard makes it especially easy; all you have to do is follow this link and opt out of programs in which you don’t want to participate. VISA makes it more complicated, but look here for details.

4. Beef Up Your Browser
In response to growing discontent over privacy issues, popular Web browsers like Internet Explorer and Firefox are making it easier to protect personal information. Their latest versions include a private browsing option you can enable to keep your online habits confidential. The browser then won’t store such information as cookies, passwords and files you download.

5. Leave No Paper Trail
Paperless statements are good for the environment and also good for your security. Not only does online banking eliminate the amount of personal information you dump in the trash, it also lets you track each purchase instantly. It’s a smart security strategy to check your online bank accounts often. This way, you can ensure suspicious items don’t slip through the cracks.

6. Get Off the Grid
Credit has practically become our official currency. If you’re tired of stressing about credit card security, go old-fashioned. While cash doesn’t work online, it doesn’t require you share any personal details, either. Gift cards are another good way to avoid using credit. Buying gift cards at less than face value from sites like GiftCardGranny provides instant savings, plus you can use them both in-store and online. Even better, gift cards aren’t attached to any of your personal info.

7. Avoid Auto-Fill
Keeping your credit card number, billing address and shipping address on file at Amazon is handy, but it also makes you more vulnerable. Something simple like forgetting to log out at the library can place your personal details in the wrong hands. Though it’s tedious and takes extra time, enter your information anew with each order.

8. Ensure You’re Secure
It’s surprisingly easy to confirm an online merchant has secure checkout. Always look for “https” in the Web address, instead of just “http.” That extra “s” shows your connection is encrypted and unauthorized users will have to go to greater measures to get your information. You can learn more about site-specific security by clicking the appropriate box near the address bar in your browser.

###

Andrea Woroch is a nationally recognized consumer and money-saving expert, having been featured among such top news outlets as Good Morning America, NBC’s Today, MSNBC, New York Times, Kiplinger Personal Finance, CNNMoney and many more. She is available for in-studio, satellite or skype interviews and to write guest posts or articles.

100 Days Left In The Year
Get Mentally Tough and Make Those Resolutions A Reality
By Steve Siebold

Remember those New Year’s resolutions you made on January 1? Today marks 100 days left in the year. If you forgot about your resolutions back in February, you can still finish the year off strong.

Whether it’s losing weight, quitting smoking, getting organized or climbing out of debt, everyone CAN reach their goals. People need to focus on their thoughts, beliefs, philosophies and attitudes – otherwise they are setting themselves up to fail before they even begin.

Here are a few tips for making the most of the last 100 days of 2011 and making good on those New Year’s resolutions:

· Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is. Many times the only thing that separates winners from losers is the thought process. Winners have a “whatever it takes” attitude. They’ve made the decision to pay any price and bear any burden in the name of victory.
· Expect to feel pain or suffer. Most people feel the pain or run into an obstacle and seek escape. Have a plan to push forward when this happens. If you’re not ready to suffer during adversity, you’re not going to be successful.
· Developing a world-class self-talk may be the most powerful mental toughness tool.
· Take risks. Don’t always have a “play it safe” or “stay below the radar” mentality. Without risk, there can be no progress.
· Avoid delusion and operate from objective reality.
· Feed your visions and starve your fears.
· Don’t focus on how to do it, but rather, why should I do it? Why do I want this goal to become a reality? The intensity of emotion with which this question is answered will determine whether the dream comes alive or dies.
· Embrace nonlinear thinking. Don’t give into the negative thoughts that the goal is impossible. Ask yourself how can it be done?
· Get really clear about what you want to change. Define what it is and then get totally committed to doing it.
· Compartmentalize your emotions and focus completely on the goal.
· Stop caring about what other people think about your dreams. Psychologists call it “approval addiction”, and once you overcome it to any significant degree, you are free of the psychological chains that bind most people from ever experiencing world-class success.

100 days is plenty of time to accomplish any goal you have. It’s time to get mentally tough and make a plan for long term success. While amateurs often live in the past, champions look toward the future. Focus on the present while creating your ultimate vision for, and landscape of the future. Future orientation allows you to dream of grand visions and unlimited possibilities. It will also keep you motivated and moving forward because it keeps the proverbial carrot out in front. It all begins with taking full responsibility for your life and your future.

Steve Siebold is one of the world’s most noted experts in the field of mental toughness training and is author of the international best-selling book 177 Mental Toughness Secrets of The World Class. His Fortune 500 clients include Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, Procter & Gamble, and Toyota. He began studying mental toughness training as a world-class junior tennis player in the 1970’s. He’s ranked in the top one-percent of income earners in the world in the professional speaking business. Visit http://www.speakerstevesiebold.com

If you are looking to save some money you can start by using homemade cleaning products to clean your home with. Not only are these inexpensive to make but most are eco-friendly too! I use a lot of baking soda and white vinegar around my home to kill germs and to keep my home clean. Here are a few other ideas to help you get your house cleaned up and do so on the cheap.

Vinegar – Vinegar can be used to remove mold, grease, and mildew. Vinegar will kill bacteria and germs. Just dilute down your white vinegar with tap water so that it doesn’t irritate your skin while using it.

Baking Soda – Baking soda can be used as a scouring agent and deodorizer. You can even brush your teeth with it. I like to make a baking soda paste by just adding a tad of tap water to it and then use it for scrubbing. It will also do a great job at deodorizing your garbage disposal. If your carpets have a stinky smell sprinkle plain baking soda onto your carpets and let it sit for an hour and then vacuum it up.

Bleach – I purchased an empty spray bottle and I put in 1/4 cup of bleach and then filled it with tap water. It now can be use to clean counter tops, toilets, tubs and sinks.

Salt – Your basic table salt makes for a good abrasive scouring powder so sprinkle some onto your stainless steel kitchen sink and use a sponge to scrub it down. A salt scrub also works well for removing baked on food from your cookware and bakeware too!

Lemon Juice – Lemon juice mixed with water makes a great all-purpose cleaner. I keep a spray bottle filled with lemon juice/water and spray down my kitchen countertops with it every day. It also is great for cleaning the microwave, stove-top and refrigerator.

As you can see…you don’t have to pay a fortune at the store for chemical household cleaners when you can spend pennies and make your own at home! Do you have any frugal cleaning tips to share with me today? If so, please leave me a comment.

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and most of us celebrate Valentine’s Day in some way or another. When it comes to Valentine’s Day I enjoy doing something special with my spouse but we always plan a few special things to do with our family. Afterall…This day is all about love!

What kind of “family” things do you like to do with your family to celebrate? Here is some of the things we like to do.

1. We make handmade cards for one another & then mail them to each other. It is always fun to see them & who doesn’t love getting a card in the mail.

2. If you have older children let them help you bake up some Valentine’s Day goodies such as heart shaped cakes, decorated cupcakes or some Valentine’s Day shaped sugar cookies decorated in red & white sprinkles.

3. Throw a Valentine’s Day mini party! Play some games, watch some movies, pop some popcorn & call out for a pizza.

4. Put up some Valentine’s Day decorations & let the kids help!

5. Make or Buy extra little Valentine’s Day cards and have the kids fill them out. Drop them off at senior centers, hospitals or send them to our troops. It’s also nice to remember others during this very special day.

What kind of “family” Valentine’s Day activities do you enjoy doing with your family?

Shelly

In this day and age, we all lead very busy lives. As a mother and a wife, my typical day starts with breakfast, getting the kids ready for school, then it’s off to work only to return home 8 hours later completely exhausted. Who has time to clean?

When the weekend finally rolls around, I have just enough time and energy to do just my basic cleaning. After the weekend is all said and done, most of what I wanted to accomplish, didn’t get done. As I sit and ponder this maddening cycle of cleaning and re-cleaning my home, I realized that there has got to be a better way of getting everything done!

I decided to come up with a new game plan and this time, it involves everyone in my family pitching in and helping, after all, I am not the only one who lives here! I sat down and drafted up a list of all household chores that needed to be done on a weekly basis and decided who would best be suited to accomplishing that task. Once my list was made, I conducted a family meeting and informed everyone of the new changes. I did meet some resistance, but eventually, they all came around.

After the family meeting was done, I headed off to our local discount store to purchase some new supplies. In addition to those supplies, I picked up some plastic bins, one for each member of the family. Once I arrived home, I labeled each bin with one family member’s name and filled their bin with the supplies they would need to accomplish their assigned tasks. In addition, I wrote up a checklist of all household chores that the particular family member was responsible for and taped that to the outside of the bin. Now…there was no confusion on who was responsible for doing what!

As the weeks progressed along, we found that we all were more apt to get our tasks done. Each person had their own assigned tasks along with their own bin of supplies. We didn’t have to waste time fighting over who was doing what, nor did we waste time rooting around for our supplies. Our weekly household chores were getting done on time and there was a lot less stress going on within our home. In our household, getting more organized and having every member of the family pitch in was the answer to our ‘cleaning’ dilemma.

This article was written by Shelly Hill, copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved.