Quick fix your home

These quick fix-ups favoured by contractors will leave any visitors -- from prospective buyers to holiday guests -- with a strong impression of your home:

Knock, knock. Give the front door a polished look by applying two coats of stain finish paint. Flat paint is too dull and gloss too shiny.

Enrich the sole. Insert extra rubber padding under well-travelled carpeted areas, so you get that luxurious squish sensation when you walk there.

Beautify the bath-room. Polish or replace sink fixtures and install an inexpensive shower head that has many different adjustments. TO clean grout, a tooth-brush with bleach(40%) and water (60%) often does the trick.

Kitchen aids. Replace cabinet knobs and pulls (which you can buy without spending too much), says a re-modeller. Buff dull laminate counter-tops, using a nonabrasive scrubbing pad and nonabrasive, non-acidic cleaner. If counter-top damage is significant, have the bad section removed and replaced. Or cover it with a copper board.

Touch up. Instead of repainting the entire house, touch up grimy wall areas with paint of the same shade.
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Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite

In hotels, dormitories and even private homes, bed bugs are literally crawling out of the woodwork. Experts think the resurgence is due both to a lack of routine spraying for the pests and an uptick in international travel in recent years. The varmints, who feed at night and look for hiding places during the day, sometimes end up in travellers' suitcases and clothing.

Follow your nose. The bugs emit a sickly sweet odour. If a hotel room has one, leave and tell management why. Itchy pink bumps like mosquito bites could mean trouble: Look for reddish brown bugs about 5mm long, and rust-coloured stains on sheets.

Keep them at bay. The bugs travel from the floor to the bed to feast. Smear petroleum jelly around the feet of the bed to stop them.

To learn more about bed bug treatment, visit BedBugsGuide.com » Continue reading

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Recession-Proof Perks

Raises are rare in a recession, but supervisors are more willing to keep to performers happy with benefits that might otherwise be tough to negotiate, says Lin Grensing-Pophal, author of Motivating Today's Employees. Perks worth asking for, and tactics to get them:

A snazzier title
"When raises aren't an option, I often give title increases," says S. Gary Snodgrass, a senior vice-president at an energy corporation. Recently, one employee pointed out that a better title would give him more clout with clients. "I gladly agreed," says Snodgrass. "If someone says "Me, me, me," I'll say 'No, no, no." But explain what's in it for the company, and I'm all ears."

Working from home
"We're especially willing to keep good people happy with flexible schedules during tough times," says Rosalind Cox, a senior manager at For Motor Co. "But don't just walk in and ask to telecommute." One woman typed up a memo explaining what tasks she'd do at home. "This showed me she took the privilege seriously and would not waste time."

A cushy office
An associate asked Hamilton Holloway, public relations manager at a financial institution, to hire a feng shui expert to reorganize her department's cubicles. "It showed she cared about her environment and her peers," he says. "Plus it was fun. Any low-cost idea to boost morale these days will get a supervisior's attnetion." » Continue reading

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Cyber shopping? Don't foget CouponChief.com

The holiday season is just a few months away! First Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and before you know it, you will be stuffing stockings! Don't you worry, CouponChief.com is here for help.

CouponChief offers over 2300 coupons and discounts. Whether you are shopping online or making a trip to your local grocery store, visit this site first. You will find printable coupons, coupon codes and links to the hottest deals on the web.

Some of my favorites on CouponChief are

• BestBuy.com coupons - You can save a hell lot of money on shopping for gadgets and appliances.
  
• Smugmug coupons - Not only is it a photo sharing site, you can also order personalized gift items using your photos from the site.

The best part is that you can check out comments and read about others' experiences with the coupon or product before you spend the time and effort redeeming it through the extensive online forums provided by CouponChief which currently has over 3000 topics.

There is also another indirect way to save money shopping online - you save on gas. You can also avoid the hassle of going to a crowded mall during the peak shopping season.

If you have had some great bargains with CouponChief, do HashOut! » Continue reading

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America's Best Spooks & Spirits

Wandering through the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, is a journey through an obsessive mind. The maze of some 160 rooms was built by the widow and heir of the Winchester rifle fortune. Saraw Winchester felt haunted by spirits of those killed with her husband's weapons. Warned by a medium that she would die if she stopped building, she kept labourers working day and night for 38 years, constructing windows with 13 panes, chimneys (which she considered doors for ghosts) that didn't rise through the roof, stairs to nowhere and a secret séance room. Sarah died peacefully in her sleep at age 82. If you're in California, you can visit for the day for $28.95, kids & seniors, $25.95.

There are hundreds of other "haunted houses" all over the US where you can pull the covers up over your head:

Like 200-year-old Myrtles Plantation in St Francisville, Louisiana state. Built on a Red Indian graveyard, it's one of America's spookiest houses -- said to be inhabited by no less than seven apparitions. If a grim caretaker tries to turn you away at the gate, you might consider leaving. He was murdered in 1927. Brave souls can book rooms for between $115-$230.

Since the brutal murder of her father and stepmother on August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden has been immortalized in song and story. At their house, now the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast in Fall River, Massachusetts, you can eat the same meal of bananas, cakes and coffee that the Bordens did on the morning they were murdered. The rate of $200 includes a private tour of the house. Then visit the Fall River Historical Society to view evidence of the crime, including photos of the murder scene and the skulls.

Legend has it that a runaway Spanish don and his lover, an Italian opera singer, once lived on the site of Belhurst Castle. Rumours of secret tunnels and hidden rooms are more fantasy than fact, says the Geneva Historical Society. But mystical music lovers can listen for songs at the Gothic-style mansion built in 1889 in Geneva, New York state. Some guests claim to have seen a woman in white on the hotel lawn, and others hear lullabies sung.

If you want to sing along there, or at a poltergeist's palace near you, start by reading Haunted Hotels by Robin Mead or Dinner & Spirits by Robert and Anne Wlodarski. Many hotels, inns and bed-and-breakfasts now have their own websites. Check out: hauntedhouses.com; hotels.about.com/cs/hauntedhotels or allstays.com/Special/haunted.htm. » Continue reading

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Got a negative credit rating? Here's rescue

In the west, it's a popular trend to live a life on credit. With the advent of Credit Cards it has become still worse. People loose control over their spendings as they are tempted to swipe their card as soon as they find an opportunity. Eventually landing them into debt which they cannot recover from resulting in a negative credit rating.

A negative credit rating is often considered undesirable to lenders and other extenders of credit for the purposes of loaning money or capital. Thus, it would become very difficult for a person with a negative credit rating to get back up financially.

But guess what? They've an option to get back on their feet financially once again! And not just one but many. If you're one of those with a negative credit rating, you can check out BadCreditOffers.com for comparing dozens of services from major providers to repair your "bad credit" and find the best service that fits your needs. You can even find offers for Credit Cards, Home Loans, Auto Loans and Personal Loans.

Not just that! BadCreditOffers.com even has offers to let you check your Credit Score and get a Credit Report. » Continue reading

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Mobile Phone Trivia

• While radio-type phones have been in use since the 1940s, Motorola invented the first modern mobile phone for handheld use in 1973.
  
• In Japan, cell phones can also be used as credit and/or debit cards. You can also use them to check in at airports. You can even take a swim with a waterproof phone.
  
• The first recorded text message was sent from Neil Papworth to Richard Jarvis on December 3, 1992; it said, "Merry Christmas".
  
• The 'special' tone available to users of Nokia phones when receiving text messages is actually Morse code for 'SMS'.
  
• In Malaysia, a man may divorce his wife through a text message as long as the text is clear.
  
• Sixteen-year-old student Ang Chaung Yang of Singapore currently holds the world record for texting "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human" in 41.52 seconds.
  
• In 2006, the New Zealand Qualification Authority decided that students could use text messaging abbreviations as long as the answer was clear and it showed that the student understood the subject.
  
• A wireless collar device for pets that is being tested in Japan will allow people to talk to their pets while they are at home lounging around or tearing up your favorite pillow.

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