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Month: January 2019

  • The Best Moisturizers to Combat Winter Dry Skin

    The Best Moisturizers to Combat Winter Dry Skin

    It’s that time of year when the air is dry and your skin is feeling it. If you get bad Winter dry skin, you’re probably looking for a good moisturizer to fight it. But where do you start?

    It can seem so difficult finding a decent moisturizer that actually keeps your skin from being so dry without feeling greasy or filmy. If you’re looking for a great skin moisturizer, look no further. Today we’re rounding up some of the best moisturizers to combat winter dry skin!

    The Best Moisturizers to Combat Winter Dry Skin

    What to Look For

    What makes for a good moisturizer, though? It can be hard for a lay person to find what kind of moisturizer they need, as the answer is a bit more complex and jargon-filled than you’d expect. What you need is a moisturizer that has a balance of humectant, emollient, and occlusive ingredients. Let’s explain those terms a bit.

    Humectants act like sponges, binding water to the outer skin layer and keeping your skin moist. Ingredients like glycerin are humectants. Emollients are ingredients like natural oils that help smooth your skin out. Finally, occlusive are ingredients like petroleum that help to form a seal around your skin and lock in the moisture, protecting your skin from drying out.

    What to Avoid

    There are also a few ingredients that you’re going to want to really avoid if you can help it. For instance, you should really stay away from exfoliating ingredients like acids or scrubbing beads. These ingredients might sound like a good idea for flaky, dry skin but they will likely result in further drying your skin out. That’s the opposite of what you want!

    Another pair of ingredients to avoid are retinol and retinyl palmitate. These are both known to further dry out skin in people who already have dry skin. If you’re curious about which moisturizers are the best for you, we’ll give you a few examples of brands you could try.

    Aveeno Positively Radiant MaxGlow No-Mess Sleep Face Mask

    A highly-rated face-mask moisturizer, this one comes highly recommended by users. User reviews rave of the soothing, hydrating properties. If you wake up with dry skin on your face in the winter, consider using this face mask. It’s a great way to keep your complexion hydrated, youthful and glowing!

    You can find this product for sale on Amazon for roughly $18.

    St. Ives Cocoa Butter and Vanilla Bean Hand and Body Lotion

    Cocoa butter is well-known for its great softening properties and makes for wonderful skin moisturizing and protection. This particular product is a great example of that! The natural scent is wonderful and soothing, while the ingredients are great for your skin. The natural emollient properties are wonderful and remarked upon by many user reviews.

    This product is available for sale in many retailers, including in-store and online. For instance, you can grab it on Amazon for around $3. That’s a great price for a product that works this well!

    Boots No7 Beautiful Skin Night Cream for Dry/Very Dry

    This face cream is a great option for many who suffer from dry skin. According to user reviews, it’s a wonderful product and well-worth the price. This night cream includes ingredients like shea butter, glycerin, and ceramides, making it a great example of the types of things you want in a moisturizer. This product will replace your skin’s lost moisture and lock it in so the dry weather has a lessened effect on you.

    You can find this one online for around $34 if you go through Amazon. It’s a bit pricey, but according to the review it’s well-worth the price.

    CeraVe Skin Renewing Night Cream

    Niacinamide, one of the main ingredients in this night cream, is a great way to help even out skin color. This is a skin cream that is considered excellent for seasonal winter dry skin. That’s because it packs all the ingredients you need to replenish your skin’s moisture, repair damaged skin cells and lock in the moisture throughout the day. This is a product that helps you not have to use it anymore!

    If you’re looking to pick up some of your own, then you can go through Amazon and get some for $12.

    Other Options

    Other things you can do to help your skin during the winter is to take shorter showers and use less hot water during your shower. Very hot showers have been shown to dry out skin, and could be working to counter the moisturizer you’re using to re-hydrate your skin.

  • Does Your Dog Have Diabetes?

    Does Your Dog Have Diabetes?

    Dogs. There’s a reason we call them man’s best friend, you know. We can learn so many things from a dog’s behavior: their personality, demeanor, resiliency and most importantly; the willingness to provide their family members with unconditional love, loyalty, and companionship down to their very last breath.

    I treat my dog like my best friend, and we do everything together. I once ordered an Uber to pick up my dog and bring him to work because I missed him so much. I even feed him the human food I eat. So finding out he was overweight and could have diabetes… well, it just about broke my heart.

    It turns out that diabetes is becoming frighteningly common in dogs today. One in 300 senior and middle aged dogs are diagnosed with diabetes. And once your dog gets diabetes, he will most likely need insulin for the rest of his life.

    So it’s really important to do everything you can to prevent your dog from becoming diabetic. There are many things that can contribute to the risk of your dog getting diabetes, but the good news is that there are also a lot of things you can do to help prevent it from happening and to minimize the risk.

    Much like humans, when dogs have diabetes – staying trim is key. If your dog is overweight, losing some pounds can help his cells use insulin better, a hormone that keeps blood sugar levels in check. That makes it easier for his body to turn food into fuel.

    The goal for any pooch with diabetes is to keep blood sugar (or glucose) levels as close to normal as possible. This helps your dog feel good and makes it less likely he’ll get diabetes-related complications, such as vision-clouding cataracts and urinary tract infections.

    Dog Diabetes and a Diagnosis

    Diabetes is diagnosed by using blood and urine tests. The normal blood sugar (blood glucose) for dogs is 60-125 mg/dl; for cats, 70-150 mg/dl. Diabetes is diagnosed when blood sugars are consistently elevated a significant amount. For example, 220 mg/dl in a dog or 400mg/dl in a cat.

    If your pet is anxious when it visits the veterinarian, his or her blood sugar will naturally rise and the elevation may be as high as the sugar levels in a diabetic pet. To prevent this stress-related elevation of blood sugar, find a veterinarian and a clinic that can help calm your pet before they are tested.

    Or even better,  find a veterinarian who makes house calls. Keep in mind that one or two blood tests showing elevated blood sugar doesn’t prove that your pet has diabetes. Blood sugar levels must be consistently elevated, or your pet must have urine tests showing ketones in order to prove they have diabetes.

    Symptoms Of Dog Diabetes

    Pets with diabetes often look unkempt and act lethargic. Because they lose sugar in the urine, and sugar pulls water molecules out with it, this causes them to urinate excessively. It also causes them to drink excessively. These activities, excessive urination (polyuria) and excessive drinking (polydipsia), are termed PUPD. Pets with diabetes end up losing weight and muscle mass. They may also have a lower body temperature than normal pets.

    Additional symptoms of diabetes in dogs can include; excessive drinking and urination, loss of appetite, vomiting, dehydration, depression and lethargy, unkempt haircoat and dandruff, loss of muscles and weakness, weight loss, cataracts, and weakness of the back legs.

    Defeat Your Dog’s Diabetes

    I have a found and tested a great way to help beat your dog’s diabetes. Dogs are opportunistic carnivores, so while they can eat non-meat foods, they have no real nutritional requirement for carbs, and should avoid starches and grains. Even so, a diet of raw chicken necks and livers, plus broccoli every day can be helpful or them. Dogs don’t typically need broccoli or veggies, but in the case of diabetes it drastically helps. Broccoli is packed full of fresh and wholesome goodness, and organic options are easy to come by.

    The chicken will be the larger meal of the day, I use about two pounds daily for my large dog. Skin-on is preferable, as skinless chicken does not have enough fat and would need to be supplemented with something like beef.

    In addition to eliminating the chances of diabetes in your pooch, this diet will also have a lot of other great benefits. Potential benefits of the raw dog food diet include shinier coats, healthier skin, cleaner teeth, higher energy levels and smaller stools.

    The Final Thought

    The life expectancy of a diabetic dog can be the same as a healthy dog’s life with proper care. With proper treatment, diabetic dogs have survival rates very similar to those of non-diabetic dogs of the same age and gender – though their risk is greatest during the first six months of treatment when insulin therapy is introduced and glucose levels are being regulated.

    Diabetic dogs are more likely to die of kidney disease, infections or liver/pancreatic disorders than of diabetes itself. But once their condition stabilizes, diabetic dogs can lead happy, healthy lives.

  • Selecting the Best Seating for Your Home Theater

    Selecting the Best Seating for Your Home Theater

    So you have finally succeeded in the crowning achievement of mankind: your very own home theater.

    I mean, everyone loves watching a great movie on a big screen with a phenomenal speaker system – but few would complain about losing the sticky floors, uncomfortable seats, and kids with smartphones (unless they’re your own kids). Good thing that’s not the world you live in any more, you have your own theater.

    You have set it up the JVC DLA-X590R 4k projector, the Stewart StudioTek 130 screen, and the state of the art balanced sounds of ELAC Debut 5.1 System. You even have the vintage popcorn cart in the corner, matched with the vintage framed movie posters hung with care all around your 800 sq feet of glory.  Building the home theater of your dreams doesn’t necessarily mean just assembling a massive theater system – you need to make sure you don’t forget the most important feature.

    The home theater seating.

    If you’re watching movies in your home theater whilst sitting on folding chairs, you failed. The most important choice you’ll make is finding the best big screen TV for you, but a close second is choosing the ideal home theater seating.

    Home theater seating is important because you want to be able to kick back and be comfortable when you’re enjoying your movies and TV shows, and having the perfect home theater set up can let you do just that.

    First Things First

    Measure your current space before you go shopping, and determine how much room you have to work with. Home theater seating is usually large and bulky so that you can have a spacious feeling when seated. Measure your room and walking area that will be needed around your seating. Allow for at least a 18”-24”minimum aisle in the front and in the back of your seating.

    Determine how many people you want to accommodate: If you have a large space to accommodate a large amount of people, theater seating with aisles will be a good idea. If your room is smaller, this doesn’t mean you can’t have home theater seating.

    An intimate setting of 2-4 chairs arranged around the room would be a viable option for a smaller home theater. Either way, make this decision before choosing your seating so you don’t waste time, money, and your back while trying to move the furniture around!

    Amenities, Spare No Expense

    Decide what amenities you’d like, and know that home theater seating has a variety of amenities to choose from! Some of these include storage areas to hold remote controls and miscellaneous items, and chairs that have areas for beverages are convenient, which help guests relax and enjoy themselves.

    Recliner chairs can take you from a sitting upright position to a reclining position in an instant. Theater seating can be intermixed to form a variety of seating arrangements. Ottomans or foot stools are perfect for placing feet on and for kids that want to share in on the movie watching!

    LED lighting is a great way to improve aesthetics, and the best part is that they are really inexpensive. Plus it helps when you can see your cup holder in the dark. In other words, make sure you spring for the LED lighting.

    My Recommendation

    I recommend the Seatcraft Diamante home theater seating with brown top grain leather; power recline, row of 2…  it’s glorious! The Seatcraft is a traditional collection with motion functions. Generously scaled, the Seatcraft features a set-back roll arm accented with a nail-head trim. The scale is emphasized by divided t-back cushions that rest on the top of the arms and full chaise-style seating with generous padding.

    Offering luxurious comfort and support, the Diamante blends the comfort of motion seating with classic styling. A commanding collection, the Diamante complements any classic or modern interior. The Diamante collection is available with either a power toggle switch or manual latch that lets you operate the reclining function and change angles with ease. Its grand scale and charming design details make the Diamante a perfect choice for your home theater interiors. See the above picture to fall in love.

    The Final Home Theater Seating Thought

    What you need is a chair worthy of its own audience, one that will welcome you to enjoy the most luxurious seating ever, built with the most exceptional leathers.  A loveseat that comes in a prestigious leather upholstery, a high grade, quality leather to complement the construction of your chair.

    If that wasn’t enough, cool gel foam layers are weaved through, yielding one of the most masterfully crafted chairs yet, making it the finest home theater sectional on the world market today. That is what your shopping goal should be!

  • Best Deals on K-Cups for 2019: Get Your Caffeine Fix

    Best Deals on K-Cups for 2019: Get Your Caffeine Fix

    If you’re anything like us, you really want your coffee in the morning. It’s hard to get going without your morning cup of Joe! It’s also much more convenient to use Keurig K-Cups when you make your morning coffee.

    Why brew a whole pot when you could just use the single-serve K-Cup style for your morning cup? The only drawback is the price. How can you find the best deals on K-Cups?

    Where to Find the Best Deals on K-Cups

    Why Are K-Cups a Good Deal?

    Before we get into where the best deals can be found, let’s talk a bit more about K-Cups themselves. They’re a very convenient and handy delivery method for coffee, and they make it really easy to stock up on some of your favorite flavors and blends of coffee.

    Originally there were only a few flavors of coffee available through K-Cups, but as they’ve grown in popularity there are now many, many more. Coffee shop-style, Seattle-style, light, medium and dark roasts and many more are all commonly available. The best part is that K-Cups are so widely available that you can find them in most grocery retailers without any trouble.

    If you want to try out new flavors, you can even try sample variety packs that let you try several different new flavors at once! This all makes Keurig one of the easiest ways to taste many different types of coffee in the most economical way possible. Who doesn’t love saving money while trying new things and getting their morning pick-me-up all at once?

    Shopping Online

    When it comes to saving money, a great place to start is online shopping. There are a few options when it comes to saving online. The first, and most obvious, would be to simply go through Amazon. Amazon Prime members get free shipping on most things they buy, and K-Cups are no exception. If you’re looking to buy in bulk and save, then this is the way to go. You can even set up your Amazon account to reorder your favorite flavor of K-Cup when you get low!

    If you’ve got a smart home hub like Alexa, you can even reorder on the fly with your voice for certain things. K-Cups, for instance, can be reordered as easily as calling out for Alexa to put it in your cart and check out. That’s about as easily and painlessly as you can shop!

    Other options for online savings include Keurig’s own auto-delivery service or subscription sites like Coffee Cargo. Both of these options allow you to periodically reorder your coffee and get fantastic savings. People who utilize these services have reported savings of up to 25% off when they reorder. If you’re going through a lot of coffee, or simply want to save money when you buy in bulk, these options can really help your wallet!

    Shopping Retail

    If you prefer shopping for your coffee in person, there are still plenty of ways to go about saving in store. The first way we recommend would be through warehouse-style retailers like Sam’s Club or Costco. These retailers require you to have a membership card in order to shop with them, but don’t let that scare you. For buying in bulk (and generally saving money) these are fantastic stores to shop in. Bargain hunters can always find great deals on K-Cup coffee, too!

    If you’re looking to really keep the costs down but don’t want to shop for large quantities of coffee at once, there are some other options. You can opt to shop in normal grocery stores and simply wait for when the K-Cups or coffee go on a weekly sale. Additionally, you can keep on the lookout for bargains that are tied to coupons. If you come across a good sale coupon then you can likely save a ton on K-Cups!

    Similarly, shopping at smaller retailers like Walgreens and CVS can be great for bargain-hunting. Not only are these stores smaller and easier to navigate, they often have great sales. As they are primarily pharmacies, they tend to offer great deals on groceries when you look to save. Weekly deals and coupons, much like with traditional grocery stores, are excellent ways to save.

    Finally, don’t overlook convenience stores. These stores will often have great deals on K-Cups as they try to compete with larger retailers. While it can be harder to find universal deals this way, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth checking in to see! We hope this helps you to find (and save) on coffee!

  • Best Ways to Get a Great Deal on a New Roof: Don’t Overpay!

    Best Ways to Get a Great Deal on a New Roof: Don’t Overpay!

    This is the time of year when rough weather patterns and constant precipitation can cause serious damage to the roof of your home. When this happens, it’s best to address it quickly so you don’t have to deal with leaks and high power bills.

    However, you really don’t want to overpay. Here are some of the best ways to find a great deal on a new roof without spending an arm and a leg!

    How to Get a Great Deal on a New Roof

    Get an Inspection

    This should be your first order of business if you think something is wrong with your roof. If you’ve noticed a few missing shingles after a storm, it’s hard to tell if the issue is relatively minor or might be evidence of major problems. You may notice a leak following heavy rainfall, though this is also hardly conclusive. You want to make sure you understand what you need. That’s where an inspection comes in.

    On average, you’ll pay roughly $200 for a roof inspection. This will give you valuable information about the kind of damage you’re dealing with and how much you should be paying to have it fixed. It’s hard to put a price on knowledge, but this price is quite reasonable.

    Check Your Warranty

    Do you have a home warranty? Maybe you got one when you bought the house, or took one out yourself in case such an event arose. If you can’t remember, double check your records. Even if you don’t have a home warranty, it’s possible that the roof itself is under warranty from the manufacturer of the materials.

    If this is the case, you can find out through your inspector. They’ll likely be able to tell you who provided the materials for the roof, and if you call the manufacturer you can ask about the roof’s warranty. If your roof is still under warranty, you could save a lot of money on repairs!

    On a related note, you might also not be on the hook for repairs to your roof. If you live in a townhome community, for instance, it might be the Home Owner’s Association’s job to repair any damaged roofs. If this is the case, you should contact your HOA and have them get a contractor on the job to repair the damage right away. That’s what you pay HOA dues for, after all!

    Consult a Few Contractors

    If you have to foot the bill for the repairs yourself, you’re going to want to keep your options open. Consult a few different contractors and get a couple of quotes before you decide on who you’re going with. You can ask your inspector for a few recommendations and then compare prices once you get back the quotes. It’s also a good idea to ask for recommendations from friends, family or colleagues who may have had roofing work done. It helps to get opinions from people you know and trust.

    Make sure you know how much it would cost to simply repair the damage versus just replacing the whole roof. If the damage to your roof is severe enough, you may well need to replace the entire thing. While this will certainly cost much more, it will increase the overall value of your home and could be preferable if the damage is severe enough.

    Generally, a big factor in whether or not you’ll replace could come down to how old the roof is. If it’s nearing the time it would need to be replaced anyway, maybe now is a good time to get that work done.

    Don’t Procrastinate

    The sooner you pull the trigger on finding out what’s wrong with your roof and getting the repairs scheduled the better. If you leave your house with a damaged roof for an extended period of time, you could end up with a significantly higher bill for the repairs. A damaged roof naturally leads to more damage, as water and wind cause more and more shingles to blow away and more leaks to enter your home.

    The sooner you act, the less you’ll spend on the repairs. If you’re worried about the price, consider various financing options such as taking out a loan or a finance plan through the roofing company. If you act quickly, you can keep your home from incurring further damage. This not only guarantees that your home will be much safer, it also means it won’t lose more value: in fact, it’ll only go up in value with a new roof!

  • Your iPhone or Android is About to Cost Even More

    Your iPhone or Android is About to Cost Even More

    If you complained when phones were free because you were asked to sign a contract, you probably aren’t happy nowadays! We are now at a place where a new iPhone could cost up to $1449. Just when you think phone prices are as outrageous as it could get, Qualcomm says hold my drink…

    Rising prices aren’t unusual on their own. Faster, better components like processors and cameras cost more to make. Add in the cost of researching and developing new materials into the final product, and then we have the Trump trade war and inflation to affect the cost of new tech. If all of that weren’t enough, chipmaker Qualcomm is increasing their licensing fee for each new 5G chip.

    Qualcomm reported a sharp decline in their quarterly profits, largely due to a reduction in the amount of money they obtain from licensing their patents to other companies. Qualcomm is tweaking their licensing program and will charge handset makers for their 5G intellectual property. Specifically, the company said that they could charge smartphone manufacturers up to $16.25 in royalties for every 5G phone they sell. They also stated they would cap their royalty rates at $500 for the selling price of the phone. This means the manufactures will have to pass on the cost to consumers to help cover this new charge.

    iPhone Cost and Why They’re So Expensive

    Apple has slowly increased the average price of an iPhone since 2007, but with the $999 iPhone X release last year, it made an even bigger leap than usual. A year later, after the shock value of a thousand dollar smartphone had largely worn off, Apple made yet another jump. The iPhone XS Max, which starts at $1,099 and can cost up to $1,449 for the model with the most memory, makes it the most expensive iPhone ever.

    Tim Cook, Apples CEO, does not believe the iPhone is too expensive. He states “The phone has replaced your digital camera. You don’t have a separate one anymore. It’s replaced your video camera. It’s replaced your music player. It’s replaced all of these different devices,” Cook said. “And so arguably the product is really important. And we’ve found that people want to have the most innovative product available and with that, it’s not cheap to do.”

    These steadily rising prices across Apple’s portfolio and the mobile category indicate that costlier devices are here to stay . This is our own fault for buying them in mass droves in the first place. We have no one to blame but ourselves!  I don’t regret my own decision, I’ll probably even do it again this September.

    Don’t Worry, Androids Mid-Level Phones are Still Affordable

    iPhones are expensive, rightfully so, since they are of much higher quality and consistency than some competitors. But, you can only get the iPhone from one manufacturer – Apple. The operating system used in the iPhone, iOS, is a proprietary Apple product. You can’t just get your own copy of iOS and put it on phones and sell it. Tie that in with tight distribution procedures and you have a solid way to control the market. Android does not operate this way, so that makes them cheaper, right? Not really.

    Android phones use an operating system that is open-source. Android is actually just another distro of Linux, although it runs some independently-developed software on top of the Linux kernel in place of the GNU userland tools used in desktop Linux. You can even see what kernel version you’re running in the settings of any Android phone. One would think this would help decrease cost to the consumer, but no.

    While a lot of different factors are creeping prices higher, some revolutionary tech advancements will only add to these still-rising costs. Android will have its own price increase issues in the near future. As Android phone makers struggle against premium priced components like more robust chipsets and unfathomable cameras, they’re also anticipating new designs.  These include 5G and foldable designs that are crucial to helping their brands stand out in a over-saturated and mundane line-up.

    Making newer cutting edge phones in 2019 is getting even more expensive. The 5G phones and foldable designs seen in the upcoming “Galaxy X” will be a whole new ball game, and ball games are never cheap.

    SmartPhones Will Be a Major Expense Over Your Children’s Lifetime

    Kids are getting their first smartphone at the average age of 11 in today’s world. Assuming the average cost of a smartphone stays the same, with the average amount spent per year in the U.S. on cellphones, and the average  upgrade every 32 months, things will only get more expensive.

    Factoring in the typical smartphone costs and usage patterns, your children will end up spending a staggering $75,000 apiece on their phones over the course of their lives. Mind Boggling!

  • Is It Time To Replace That Old Furnace?

    Is It Time To Replace That Old Furnace?

    Winter north of the Mason-Dixon line area can bring unpredictable weather. From cold, rainy fall days to snowstorms, having reliable heat in the colder months is demonstratively obligatory. Now is the time to ensure that your gas furnace can get you through the winter and keep your home warm and toasty.

    Furnaces are one of the most important pieces of equipment in your home. Having a furnace go out unexpectedly is one of the most stressful situations a homeowner can face. You can’t let this happen in the dead of winter.  It’s important to keep track of how efficiently and effectively your natural gas furnace is running. Furnaces give certain telltale signs that they are failing.

    By keeping an eye out for the main signs, you can be prepared for a furnace repair or replacement.  In addition, being prepared will allow you to do research on new high-efficiency natural gas furnaces before the time comes to replace your unit. High-efficient natural gas furnaces operate at up to 98% efficiency, far greater efficiency than older furnaces. Let’s talk about 5 sure fire signs it is time to replace your furnace.

    Higher than Expected Energy Bills

    Energy bills are higher despite usage staying the same. Furnaces that have become inefficient have to work harder to provide proper heating, resulting in more expensive heating bills. Consider spending the money to replace your furnace and enjoy the benefits of a reduced bill during the life of your new appliance.

    If your furnace is operating with little to no maintenance issues, but you’re noticing a higher utility rate and you’d like to get your bills down, there may be some lower cost solutions for you. Some alternative options may be updating your thermostat to a programmable one, cleaning or updating your duct system, purchasing an electric fireplace or portable heater, or just adding some extra blankets around the house. Or just bite the bullet and replace the furnace, it is only a matter of time.

    Your furnace is more than 15 years old.

    If your furnace is past its 15-year mark and beginning to have maintenance issues, there is a very good chance it will need to be replaced. It may be working, but it is likely not operating at maximum efficiency and your utility bills are probably at all time high as a result.

    Furnaces are like cars; the older they are, the more maintenance they need, usually incurring the most breakdowns in the last two years of their lives. If your furnace is roughly 15 to 20 years or older and you have a repair costing more than 15 percent of a new furnace, you should go ahead and replace it (because it is more likely to break down again soon).

    Generally speaking, a good rule of thumb is, no matter the age of the furnace, if the cost to repair is 50 percent or more of the cost of a new furnace, you should replace it.

    The Rooms Throughout Your Home are Different Temperatures

    Do you feel that some rooms are too cold while others are too hot? Or are you always trying to adjust your thermostat to make your home more comfortable? This is a sign that your furnace lacks the ability to properly distribute the air to keep you comfortable in your home.

    An inefficient and old furnace can result in some rooms being colder or warmer than others. This is likely the result of an old furnace and outdated duct system losing its ability to distribute heat evenly throughout the house.

    The Burner Flame is Yellow Or Making Strange Noises

    A yellow or flickering flame may be a sign that poisonous carbon monoxide could be created by your furnace. The Flame should be blue. Other possible signs of carbon monoxide are:

    • Streaks of soot around furnace.
    • Absence of an upward draft in your chimney.
    • Excess moisture found on windows, walls, or other cold surfaces.
    • Excessive rusting on flue pipes, other pipe connections, or appliance jacks.
    • Small amount of water leaking from the base of the chimney, vent, or flue pipe.
    • Rust on the portion of the vent pipe visible from the outside.

    All of these could signal the yellow flame and all of these will cause you to replace your furnace.

    Now the noise. Whats is that noise? Old furnaces often start to make some strange noises as they get toward the end of their life. Have you heard any banging, popping, rattling, or squealing noises coming from your furnace? Another noise too lookout for is when you hear the furnace blower running excessively. Does your blower turn on and off frequently or does it blow cold air sometimes? If so, this is a sign that your furnace may need to be replaced.

    Is Your House Dry or Dusty?

    Old furnaces often lack the ability to moisturize and clean the air in your home. The air may feel stuffy or stale. Does anyone in your family suffer from allergies to airborne dust, mold, pollen, viruses or dander? Or does anyone suffer from dry nose, dry throat, or dry skin? Other signs may be frequent dust accumulation, static shocks, drooping plants, furniture cracking and musical instruments that do not stay in tune. These signs all suggest that your old furnace is not capable of providing you with the comfort you and your family may want.

    If your heating system does not provide adequate moisture or clean air in your house, it may be a sign to replace your home heating system. Excessive dryness affects the walls, furniture and the plants in your house. Also, this extreme dryness can cause problems for you and your family, especially if anyone has the allergies we mentioned above. So, when you see the walls peeling or your plants drooping, it’s probably time to get a new furnace.

    In Summary

    The real takeaway here should be that the winter is going to be cold, it’s going to be dark and it’ll happen every year, so get a new furnace. The general rule of thumb is that if the cost of maintenance or repair of your furnace is more than 50% of the cost of a new one, just replace it.

  • Top Password Managers for 2019

    Top Password Managers for 2019

    If you’re anything like us, you’ve got a ton of passwords to keep up with. Whether it’s social media, work-related sites or entertainment, you’re going to need to keep up with a large number of logins. When it comes to memorization, we can barely remember our own birthdays, let alone complex logins. And writing it down is right out: we’re just as likely to lose the paper it’s all written down on, or be unable to read our own handwriting. The best option is to use one of these awesome password managers!

    Top Password Managers for 2019

    Why Use a Password Manager?

    Even if you’re not a forgetful type like we are you’re going to find a lot of great uses for a password manager. For one thing, password managers will generate very strong passwords that hackers are unlikely to guess or happen upon. Further, most password managers protect your info behind a powerful wall of encryption software.

    Another strong upside to using a password manager is that it can also help streamline your online experience by storing your payment information. This is hugely helpful for frequent online shoppers, as it keeps you from having to constantly re-enter your credit card number. This frees up not only your time but also your worry. As these services are encrypted, you don’t need to worry about a hacker stealing your card info.

    What Makes for a Good Password Manager?

    Ideally, you want a password manager that is easy to use, gives you lots of security options, and uses multi-factor login. Also, generally, the best password managers are going to include encryptions that work locally as well. This means that if a hacker gets into your device without providing multi-factor login, they’re going to end up with jumbled, encrypted and unusable gibberish instead of your personal information. Likewise, the best password managers will have their central databases encrypted in this same way.

    Blur

    One of the most all-inclusive and affordable password management options comes in the form of the Blur product. This product is also a suite of protection software for users, insulating them against the worst of hackers and malicious online thieves. They offer a robust suite of online protections for passwords, credit card numbers and more.

    One of their more appealing features is the way that Blur can store your information locally, via an encryption, over the cloud or both. It can autofill passwords for you, avoiding keystroke detection, and it can also generate strong passwords with one click. Further, the service is capable of generating throwaway, single-use credit card numbers and phone numbers, keeping your real numbers safe from prying eyes.

    This password manager will run you around $40 per year for the full version, though a free version also exists.

    Sticky Password

    The odd name belies this excellent password manager’s great strengths. Sticky Password also, interestingly, donates a portion of its license fees to the Save the Manatee foundation. So, if you’re a fan of manatees, this is the password manager for you!

    As for features that you might find useful, Sticky Password is full of them. While the app doesn’t provide any virtual wallet features, it more than makes up for that with its strong form-filling capabilities. If you’ve ever loathed filling out forms online, you’ll love how intuitive and quick this app’s auto-fill is. You’ll rarely find yourself entering your personal info: Sticky Password has you covered.

    These guys offer a low license fee of around $30 per year. That’s not too bad!

    Keeper

    Another great option, Keeper works on iOS, Mac, Android and Windows. It has Duo integration, allowing for one-tap authentication, as well as the single sign-on enterprise feature. It also supports biometric logins from phones, such as fingerprint scanners and facial recognition software. These encryption methods are very difficult to hack into, making them ideal for people who want to keep their passwords as safe as possible.

    Interestingly, Keeper allows for a legacy contact to inherit your passwords. In case you’re worried about what will happen to your data after you’re gone, Keeper has you covered. This feature would see your data being passed to a trusted legacy contact, ensuring your information isn’t forever sealed behind a passcode that can’t be determined without you around.

    Additionally, Keeper can import saved passwords from built-in browser-based password managers. These includes the ones found in Chrome, Firefox and Opera, meaning your existing password storage gets to stick with you! This manager will run you around $26 per year.

  • How a Plant-Based Diet can Save Your Life

    How a Plant-Based Diet can Save Your Life

    Keto, paleo, Atkins, Starch Solution: they all have one thing in common. They’re all geared to help you lose weight, feel better and live healthier. Here’s the problem: none of them work in the long-term. That’s right, nutritionists agree that these diets can be helpful in the short term, but they’re just not feasible as long-term dietary lifestyles. However, one enduring dietary lifestyle has stayed around for centuries and remains one of the best things you can do for your body: the plant-based diet.

    What is a Plant-Based Diet?

    Plant-Based Diets are Simple

    The best thing about plant-based diets is just how simple they are. In essence, the only thing different about a plant-based diet is that you’re focusing your diet primarily on things like fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans and mushrooms. Okay, we know mushrooms are fungi, not plants, but they still make the cut. However, while many people think this diet might sound prohibitively limiting, that’s far from the truth!

    There are hundred upon hundreds of plant-based meals you can prepare. From stir-fried vegetables to rice and beans, tacos with black beans to healthy, plant-based pizzas. You can prepare delicious pasta dishes, hearty salads, and much, much more. The only limit to a plant-based diet is your imagination and creativity.

    Why Plant-Based?

    Switching to a plant-based diet can be a great way to watch out for your health, and there are numerous reasons for this. If you focus on plant-based foods instead of processed foods, you’ll cut a number of harmful things from your diet. Processed sugars, trans fats and fatty oils are all very high in processed foods. If you opt instead for fresh vegetables and fruit, you avoid these potentially harmful items!

    Similarly, by choosing to eat plant-based you will eat many more healthy vitamins and minerals. Many people don’t get nearly enough of the vitamins they need and rely instead on multivitamins, or simply go without. However, with a plant-based diet this isn’t the case. Your iron, B vitamins, vitamins A and C, and many more are all more than covered with a balanced plant-based diet.

    For Your Wallet

    As anyone who has been to a grocery store recently will tell you, meat is expensive. Likewise, junk food and processed foods are also rather pricey. On the other hand, produce tends to remain quite affordable. Rice, beans, vegetables and fruits all tend to stay rather low on the scale of grocery food prices. As such, opting to eat more plant-based food items can be much, much easier on your wallet. While you might find yourself missing some foods, your wallet will certainly thank you.

    This goes for when you go out to eat, as well. You’ll often find that ordering vegan or vegetarian menu items can often result in you spending less overall on your meal. It also means you’ll get outside of your comfort zone and try new foods you might have not considered previously.

    For the Animals

    The less meat you eat the less animals have to be killed to feed you. This might sound like a very harsh way to put it, but it’s true. The animals that are killed to create meat products live short, miserable lives in harsh conditions with inadequate nutrition. Even people who are okay with the idea of killing living creatures with emotions and personalities for the sole purpose of eating them tend to take issue with the factory farming industry’s abhorrent practices.

    For the Planet

    Even if you’re not concerned about animals on an individual basis, the effect of factory farming on the planet is undeniable. Nearly one-fifth of all greenhouse gasses on earth are produced by the beef industry alone, an that’s not all they do. Feeding such large animals requires a huge supply of grains, which in turn requires millions of gallons of water. For each pound of beef, farms must go through dozens, if not hundreds, of gallons of water to provide food for the cow that yielded it.

    The Bottom Line

    If you want to help yourself, your wallet, the animals and the very planet you live on, it’s worth pursuing a plant-based diet. Few people expect you to stop eating meat altogether right away, though if you do your body will thank you.

    However, even among many people who prefer plant-based diets, they may still have some fish or chicken with their meals occasionally. However, as long as you begin making plants the focus of your meals, you’ll begin to see a change in your health and well-being.

  • Get Prepared for Tax Season with These Easy Steps

    Get Prepared for Tax Season with These Easy Steps

    It can be a little daunting to start thinking about taxes but remember that it’s important to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later. You’ve got until April to get your taxes in, but that doesn’t mean you should wait until then to start filing. The sooner you start thinking about tax season the sooner you can respond should unforeseen conditions arise. After all, you don’t want to get a nasty surprise and not have time to respond to it!

    Easy Steps to Get Ready for Tax Season

    Choose a Method of Filing

    First, you’re going to want to choose a method of filing. Are you going to file your taxes yourself or are you going to use a tax preparer? Generally, we advise that you file your taxes yourself unless they are particularly complex. If you have a very complex tax return that you need to fill out, consider going with an inexpensive tax preparer.

    When choosing a tax preparer, make sure they have a PTIN, or Preparer Tax Identification Number. If they do, it means they’re qualified to fill out a federal tax return. Before choosing this person, ask about any fees that they may charge to prepare taxes. The more complex your return, the higher the fee you can expect to pay. However, stay away from anyone who wants a percentage of your return: stick to flat fees only.

    If you choose to use a tax preparer, make sure you set up an appointment with them as soon as possible to begin discussing your tax returns. This goes double if you expect a tax refund. The sooner you get the ball rolling on getting your return in, the sooner you can get your money!

    Gather Your Files

    Get ready to start gathering your personal files. By the end of January your employers should have provided you with various documents relating to your tax returns. Typically these documents are W-2’s, which employers provide to employees and indicate your income from your job. Self-employed individuals get a different form, however, and there are many other types of documents you may receive.

    However, whatever your forms of income may be, you should have all of the documents related to your taxes in hand by the end of January. Make sure you carefully file these somewhere you won’t lose track of them! It’s very important to have these on hand while filing your taxes.

    Other files you may need to gather could be receipts from various purchases or charitable contributions you made this year. If you think you’ll get a bigger deduction by itemizing, then you should opt to gather your relevant receipts. However, the standard deduction can often be larger than an itemized deduction, so keep that in mind when you set about filing your taxes.

    Get Personal Info Together

    Make sure you have information like your social security number and the numbers of all dependents you’re claiming this year. If you own any vacation homes or rental properties, make sure you have the documents relating to them together and ready to go in time for tax time. Addresses and deeds will be helpful to have on hand! Additionally, the amount you paid, the amount you’ve made on them if they are rental properties and the dates you purchased them will all be needed.

    Get a Copy of Last Year’s Return

    You’re going to want a copy of your prior year’s return on hand. If you need information you may have forgotten, you’re going to need the previous year’s return. While the information held within might not be the most critical, it’s still good to have things like charitable donations from last year and payors of interest and dividends on hand to refresh your memory.

    Decide What to do With a Refund

    If you expect to get a tax refund, be thinking about what you’re going to do with it once you get it. Many people prefer to simply have the funds deposited straight into their checking accounts, and while this is straightforward, it might not be the best plan. Consider saving the money, instead, or applying it to next year’s tax bill!

    For instance, you could have the funds allocated to your retirement account or invest it in stocks after it’s deposited into your checking. Whichever route you choose, just keep in mind that the sum you get may be better served being saved than being used to get a new tattoo or game console! Just don’t spend it all in one place.