Uncategorized

Children are often oblivious to the many dangers around them. Accidents in the home are a leading cause of injury and death among children. Here are a few ways to childproof your home and keep your little one safe.

Potential Hazards
Look at your home from a babys or toddlers perspective. Ask yourself: What would catch my eye if I were low to the ground? Look for those things that your child would reach for, pull down, play with or put in their mouth.

When babies are learning to walk, they grab furniture and bookcases for support. Many injuries and deaths occur each year when young children pull on furniture or televisions and the objects fall on top of them. Secure heavy objects to the walls to prevent this. Keep dressers and filing cabinets closed when you’re not using them. Cover sharp corners on furniture to prevent injuries if your child falls.

Use childproof gates to keep your baby or toddler out of hazardous areas, such as specific rooms or stairs. Choose gates that are difficult to climb and do not have V-shaped openings, which can trap children.

Open windows from the top or keep them closed. A screen is not strong enough to prevent a child from falling out of a window. Do not place furniture near windows because that can make it easy for a child to climb onto a windowsill. Children can be strangled by cords on blinds. Use window coverings without cords.

Outlets are a common source of injuries. Children are tempted to play with them and stick objects in the openings, which can lead to electrocution. Use outlet covers with safety latches to protect your child.

Store any medications, vitamins, cleaning supplies or other chemicals in cabinets with childproof locks to keep them out of reach. Properly dispose of any expired medication. Store the phone number for your local poison control center in your cell phone.

A child can drown in just a few inches of water. Never leave a child unattended in a bath, even if he or she is sitting in a chair. Install a latch on the toilets lid to keep it closed. If you use a bucket of water for cleaning, never leave it unattended and dump it as soon as you finish. Always supervise a child using a pool or kiddie pool.

Install smoke detectors throughout your house and check the batteries regularly. When your child is old enough, explain the dangers of fire and how to prevent accidents and injuries. Never allow a child to touch the stove. Put away any appliances that use heat, such as a hair dryer and curling iron, when they’re not being used.

Look Around Your Home
Your child will want to explore your house as soon as they’re able to crawl. Dangers are everywhere, and they will increase as your child becomes more mobile. Take the time to childproof each room in your home to prevent accidents.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

A debit card is a smart way to shop if you want to avoid using a credit card that will charge you interest if you dont pay the balance in full each month. But because a debit card is directly tied to your bank account, you can lose a lot of protections.

Debit Card Hassles
While a debit card can be seen as safer than carrying cash, it can be a costly mistake if a thief steals it or your personal information to empty your bank account.

If your credit card is lost or stolen, or the information on it is stolen, you cant lose more than $50 in unauthorized transactions, according to federal law. The same is true for an ATM or debit card if you report it within two business days, according to the Federal Trade Commission. You wont be responsible for any unauthorized withdrawals if you report the card missing before someone uses it without your permission”thats the good news. But it can get much worse with a debit or ATM card, the FTC says, if unauthorized use happens before you report it.

If you report a debit card loss within 60 days after your statement is mailed to you, you could lose up to $500 in unauthorized transfers. If you dont report it within 60 days, you risk unlimited loss. You could lose all of the money in that account and the unused portion of your maximum line of credit for overdrafts. The thieves could overdraft your account if you wait more than two months to report it.

Once you report the loss or theft of your debit card to the issuer, youre not responsible for additional unauthorized use.

Credit Card Protections
If your credit card or number is stolen, federal law offers a simple protection: Youre only liable for up to $50 in unauthorized transactions. That comes with one important caveat”you must report it to your credit card issuer.

Some issuers wont charge you the $50 and are vigilant, alerting customers when they see potential credit card fraud.

The $50 limit after quickly reporting the loss of a credit or debit card is great if you do it within two days. But wait any longer than that and a debit card could be much costlier than a credit card if thieves get their hands on it.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Small bathrooms with limited storage space make it tough to stow all the stuff you use daily and still keep the space looking tidy. Check these smart solutions discovered by Good Housekeeping Magazine:

Expand cabinet space. If your under-sink cabinet is stuffed to the gills, invest in an over-the-door storage basket that can hold your hair dryer, curling iron, and more.

Use the corners. Suction cups keep a tower of small storage spaces”as many as you’d like”firmly tucked into a corner of the shower.

Narrow organizers fit anywhere. Three-tiered organizers less than 5 inches deep fit into any space, even between the wall and a sink with no vanity. Slim storage carts can hold your toilet paper and lots of other stuff.

Outlet shelf. This ingenious little “power perch” creates a shelf over your electrical outlet to keep shavers, electric toothbrushes, and more, stowed away from limited counter space.

Swing towel holder. No need for stacking towels. Swiveling racks can hold four or more towels and swing flush to the wall to save space.

Hang a tub caddy. This handy silicone pocket goes over the edge of the tub, holding all your bath essentials in one slim space.

Over-the-door towel holder. Hang one (or two) of these over the bathroom door to stow extra towels out of the way.

Standing toilet tissue caddy. With a shelf on top to hold reading material”or your cellphone if you want to keep it handy”these hold more than toilet tissue rolls.

Keep cosmetics out of sight. Install small plastic cubbies on the inside of your medicine cabinet door to hold lipsticks, nail polishes, and more, at the ready but out of sight.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Everybody needs sleep, but many of us dont get enough. This can make it hard to get through the day and can have long-term effects on health. The risks are particularly serious for children, who need to get enough rest to grow and succeed in school and other activities.

Potential Problems

Inadequate sleep can affect kids in many ways. A child who is tired may have trouble getting ready for school on time and concentrating in class, which can lead to academic struggles. Kids often experience behavioral problems when they dont get enough rest. They may have outbursts, throw tantrums, be hyperactive or behave aggressively. Children may be more likely to develop mental health or substance abuse problems.

Why Kids Dont Get Enough Rest

Despite all these risks, many children dont get enough sleep, and there are a variety of reasons for that. Some kids want to pursue interests in sports, music and other activities, and their parents want to be supportive but allow them to do more than they can realistically handle. Sometimes kids have a lot of homework, or they put off doing it because they would rather watch TV or play video games.

Technology often causes kids to not get enough sleep. Many children have TVs in their bedrooms and smart phones that they use to talk, text and participate in social media. The problem? All those distractions can make it hard for children to fall asleep, or can cause them to wake up in the middle of the night. The light from a screen has also been proven to make it harder for people to fall asleep.

How to Make Sure Your Child Gets Enough Sleep

The best way to make sure your child gets enough rest is to have some frank conversations and set rules. Talk to your child about the amount of sleep they need and how a lack of sleep affects things like your childs mood and school performance. If your child is involved in so many extracurricular activities that there simply isnt enough time in the day for them to get enough sleep, you may need to make the difficult decision of having them cut back.

Establish a firm bedtime and enforce it. While your child may whine and complain, stand your ground. Dont allow your child to have electronics in their bedroom during sleeping hours; there is too much potential for distraction. If your child uses the alarm on a phone to wake up, an alarm clock is a better solution.

Recognize the Importance of Sleep

Getting enough sleep is essential for your childs health. While seemingly not a big deal, not getting enough sleep can have serious side effects on your childs health and development. Talk to your child, set rules and make sleep a priority.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Programmable thermostats let you set the temperature in your home and have the thermostat change it based on the time of day. What makes them ‘smart’ is that they can learn from your behaviors, let you control the climate remotely, show you energy consumption in real-time and even adjust themselves based on conditions like humidity.

You can tell them to shut off after you leave for work and spring back into action in time to ensure the house temperature is comfortable by the time you get home. Many models can be managed from your phone or a website.

If youre thinking of upgrading to a money-saving smart thermostat, here are four models highly recommended by independent reviewers at BestReviews, WiseBread and LifeHacker:

The Nest Learning Thermostat
This model tops most lists and is backed by over 17,000 five-star reviews on Amazon. The Nest is easy to use and install, and works with Amazon Alexa, the Nest App and other smart devices. It features energy-saving options, a remote control, auto scheduling, and more. This Energy Star thermostat uses Farsight for an easy-to-read display you can see from across the room, and can alert you if something is wrong in the home while you’re away. It costs about $225.

Honewell Smart Wi-Fi Color Touch
The Honewell also works with Amazon Alexa, features flexible scheduling, smart response technology, on-screen comfort information, an indoor humidity sensor, auto alerts and energy-saving options. It includes an app so you can control your thermostat from anywhere. Control features include a customizable color touch-screen, simple setup and Wi-Fi remote access. Another Amazon customer favorite, it costs about $189.

Eccobee 3 Light Smart
This one is easy to install, with an easy-to-use touch screen display, and also takes local weather into account and can be scheduled to desired comfort settings. It works with Alexa, as well as with optional room sensors and the mobile app. At about $169, it offers hands-free control and hundreds of integration possibilities.

Emerson Sensi-Smart
The Emerson is also compatible with Alexa. This model is easy to install and you can remotely control temperature and timeline with a free mobile app. It uses a GPS feature for location-based temperature control and flexible scheduling to help reduce utility bills. It runs around $135.

Published with permission from RISMedia.