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Mold inside a house can cause serious health problems, including sinus irritation, congestion, headaches and respiratory difficulties. The health effects of mold are more serious in children, pregnant women, senior citizens and people with respiratory problems.

Mold can grow in any moist environment, which makes a home a perfect breeding ground. Mold spores can accumulate on surfaces and travel through the air in a house. Here are some strategies to control the level of moisture in your home and prevent mold from taking hold.

Reduce Moisture Levels in Your House
Walk through your house and look for areas where moisture tends to accumulate. The bathroom is an obvious one, but moisture is also often found in the kitchen, laundry room, basement and around windows.

Remove laundry from the washing machine quickly to avoid the growth of mold. Hang bath towels to dry, and avoid leaving containers in the shower where they can accumulate moisture. Wipe down the shower after each use to minimize the amount of moisture in the bathroom. Vacuum and clean carpet and furniture to remove mold spores. If a surface or piece of furniture is contaminated with mold and cannot be cleaned, discard it.

Keep the humidity inside your home at a moderate level. You can buy a meter to monitor the amount of moisture in the air. You can reduce the level of moisture in your home by using a dehumidifier or fans. Clean and inspect your air conditioner and dehumidifier to make sure they’re not producing moisture. If you notice water accumulating around windows or on walls, open the windows to dry out the room.

Ventilation can reduce or prevent the growth of mold. Turn on a fan or open a window when taking a shower. Appliances that produce moisture, such as the dryer and stove, should be vented to the outside.

If any part of your home experiences water damage, dry it out as soon as possible. Wipe up spills immediately. If there is a roof or plumbing leak or flooding, remove wet carpet and have wet furniture professionally cleaned. Have the roof or plumbing problem repaired quickly to prevent future growth of mold.

Water that accumulates around your house can lead to mold. Make sure the ground is pitched in a way that allows water to flow away from the house. Clean your gutters regularly to keep them free of blockages so water can flow freely to the downspouts.

Protect Your Family
Mold is a serious threat to your familys health. You can protect yourselves by making a concerted effort to control the level of humidity in your home and by removing sources of water as soon as you find them. By being vigilant and proactive, you can prevent the growth of mold.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Music is an integral part of life from an early age. Parents sing and play soothing music for babies to help them fall asleep. Music can help with intellectual development. When children begin preschool, teachers sing songs to help them learn about letters, colors, animals and a host of other topics. Music can help children express their emotions in a positive way. Dancing to a song can help kids develop motor skills. An early love of music leads many children to later take music lessons and join a band, which offers further benefits.

Benefits of Music Lessons
When children are old enough, they can start formal music lessons. Learning to play an instrument can help with development in several ways. Children can learn about the mechanics of how an instrument works and develop hand-eye coordination. Many instruments require children to learn to use both hands independently while maintaining the correct posture. This can help them develop coordination that can help in other tasks.

Studying music can help children learn mathematical concepts, such as fractions and recognizing patterns. This can help them more easily pick up advanced mathematical ideas later.

Learning to play an instrument teaches dedication, patience and perseverance. This is because practicing an instrument requires children to focus intently, often for hours at a time. This can help them when they are facing academic challenges or other hurdles, and help them succeed in any of their future endeavors.

The study of music can help children understand and appreciate other cultures. They can learn about people from around the world and see how similar ideas can be expressed in different ways.

Taking music lessons with other children requires them to listen to each other and give and receive constructive criticism. They also need to work together and do their part to contribute to the overall performance.

When children have gained enough skills, they can join a band. That can offer opportunities to make friends, learn from each other and work together toward the common goal of putting on a successful performance.

Help Your Child Develop a Love of Music
Exposing a child to music early on can create a spark of interest that can lead to a long-term passion. Enrolling a child in music lessons can help with intellectual development, encourage social engagement, and teach skills like teamwork and perseverance that will help throughout life. If your child has expressed an interest in music, consider enrolling them in lessons.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Having bad credit can be worse than having no credit at all. A lousy credit score can lead to a steeper credit hole to climb out of, and can take years to fix.

All is not lost. Borrowers with bad credit scores can still get approved for a new credit card, though they’ll have to jump through a few more financial hoops than other people.

If you’re trying to qualify for an unsecured card because you have bad credit, here are some things you’ll need to provide:

Proof of Income
The Credit Card Act of 2009 requires that borrowers be checked that they have an “ability to pay” to have credit extended to them. That can include proof of your annual income, as well as your partner’s.

The credit card issuer may have minimum income requirements of $10,000 or $12,000 per year. If you earn less than that, or you already have too much debt, you may be denied.

Bank Account
A checking or savings account may be needed to determine your financial stability. If you can’t find a bank that will let you open an account because you have a poor banking history, look for a bank or credit union that offers “second chance” accounts.

These accounts often don’t have overdraft protection, but can have low or no monthly fees and no minimum balance requirements, so you can rebuild your banking history.

NoCredit History Red Flags
Most credit cards run credit checks to look for signs that your financial life is getting worse. Bankruptcy, liens, lawsuits and debt, among other things, could hurt your chance of getting approved.

Before applying for a credit card, clean up your existing accounts by getting caught up on payments and paying your bills on time.

A bankruptcy can be one of the biggest roadblocks, so you may want to try getting a credit card from your local bank or credit union, which might have less strict requirements for their credit cards.

No Bad Blood
Lastly, having a clean history with the credit card company that you’re trying to get a new credit card from can help your application. If you’ve defaulted on payments with a certain company, you may be better off not seeking a credit card from them for a while and focusing on a company that you’ll have a clean slate with.

Bear in mind banks are always looking for business, so finding a credit card somewhere while you try to rebuild your credit shouldn’t be impossible.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Looking to boost your daily productivity? Start by taking a look at your morning habits. Incorporating just a few of these into your get-up-and-go routine may help.

Say no to snooze. Hitting the snooze button is tempting, but starting your day by procrastinating your wake-up will not set you up for productivity! Set your phone or alarm clock across the room so you have to rise to shut it off.

Have a “you” ritual. Whether it’s a walk with your pup, reading a few poems from your favorite poem book or listening to a short podcast, do something for yourself first-thing.

Savor silence. Even if you’re not a meditator, sitting for a few moments of silence in a favorite spot in your house can clear your mind and ready you for the day.

Make a morning list. Savor your cup of coffee as you go over a daily task list of the items you need to tackle. This will help set you straight for the day. If you’re extra ambitious, make a weekly and monthly to-do list as well.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

A common phone call that new credit cardholders get from their bank is an offer for credit card add-on products, such as protection against fraud and identity theft. Payment protection is another service offered regularly, providing a monthly payment to the cardholders account if they lose their job or are sick in the hospital.

Credit monitoring and debt-cancellation products are optional and are paid for through a monthly or annual fee.

Before signing up for these products, consumers should know some facts about them, such as that theyre not required to activate a new credit card. There are also some questions to ask the salesperson to make sure theyre only getting the add-on products they want. Here are some things to consider:

Buying them is optional: Not only are such products not required to be purchased before a credit card is activated, but some salespeople imply that theyre free. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that one bank didnt ask consumers if they wanted the product, but confirmed enrollment by asking for their city of birth.

The bank also made it seem like consumers were receiving a benefit or simply updating their account, or that they were agreeing to receive more information about the product.

Services paid for not always provided: The CFPB has also found that some cardholders didn’t receive the credit monitoring services they paid for because the bank didn’t properly process their authorization or match the cardholders information to their files.

Hard to cancel: Debt cancellation products can be marketed as easy to cancel, but thats not always the case.

The CFPB found that a bank had a sales incentive plan that paid customer service representatives for a “save” when they kept a customer enrolled after attempting to cancel. Consumers were often unable to cancel unless they were willing to demand cancellation multiple times in succession.

Get it in writing: Before buying any credit card add-on products, review the terms, costs and benefits in writing. When asking for written information, make it clear that you don’t want to enroll in anything until you have the written information and decide you want the product.

Also avoid “trial periods” until you read the terms of the trial period in writing. Some trial periods allow the company to begin automatically charging you for the product at the end of the trial period, unless you call or write the company.

I hope you found this real estate information helpful. Please contact me for all your real estate needs today!

Published with permission from RISMedia.