Cohka’s Place

Put the Brakes on the Junk Mail Express

We’ve all seen how stuffed our mailboxes are each day with junk mail. Advertisements, coupon books, postcards, brochures and the like break the backs of our local postal delivery people each day across the nation. Each year, junk mail costs the environment approximately 80 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water. It also costs about %450 million each year to have it hauled off, incinerated or recycled. On average that means that about 34 pounds of junk mail is produced each year for every man, woman, and child in the United States. And if you factor into this equation that each person will spend approximately eight months out of our lives dealing with junk mail, and you have a huge sum of wasted time, money, and valuable resources. But you shouldn’t feel powerless to stop it. There are steps you can take to tame the junk mail beast.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the largest list broker in the US, sells your name and address to those wanting to target you for their product. Contact them directly with a postcard that contains the date, your name and address, and sign it. Be sure to include all variations of your name, and your maiden name if you’ve recently married. Instruct them to remove your name from their mailing lists. Send the postcard to:

Direct Marketing Association
Mail Preference Service
P.O. Box 643
Carmel, NY 10512
Tel: 1- 212-768-7277
www.dmaconsumers.org

Be careful when you do submit your name and address to anyone, as you can become part of their mailing list which might be sold at a later date, putting you right back at square one. If you’re filling out a form such as a warranty, subscription, raffle, customer info card, credit card application, membership for an organization, be sure to instruct them not to sell, rent or trade your name or address. Remember to do this every time you’re giving your contact information to a sales representative or customer service associate when you purchase something.

And when you receive an unwanted publication in the mail, immediately contact the toll-free number listed on the publication and request to be removed from their mailing list. Businesses and organizations are glad to hear from you if you’re not interested in receiving their materials because it saves them advertising revenue.

Organizing and Planning a Successful Family Vacation

Planning a successful family vacation can be tricky when you’re trying to work around your family member’s busy schedules. Coordinating requested time off from work with school vacations and summertime activities can be a daunting task.

Get your family actively involved in the vacation planning process. Everyone wants a trip to remember, and by obtaining input from each family member as to what they enjoy, what they’d like to do and where they’d like to go, it can be successfully planned.
Your children may surprise you with some of things they suggest to do on vacation.

Once you’ve got your plan mapped out, keep your kids involved by putting them in charge of at least one aspect of the trip. They may be good with landmarks and direction. If that’s the case, have them be your navigator. Maybe they love to take pictures and would love to be the official vacation photographer. You’ll feel less overwhelmed by everything that needs to be covered during the trip, and they’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment in tackling their assigned project.

It’s highly unlikely that your time or monetary budget will allow you to do every single thing that everyone wants to do on the trip. Work together to narrow the list, and place those things that everyone would like to do toward the top.

After the location, time frame, and activities have been settled, it’s time to make the to do list. Figure out what clothes need to be packed, which neighbor or friend is going to check your mail and water your houseplants, and what bills need to be paid prior to your leaving. Put your children in charge of figuring out things like how much dog food you need to bring along for a vacation that will last for ten days, and make them responsible for locating their swim trunks, travel games, favorite books and music CDs.

With a little forethought and some careful planning, you can have the family vacation of a lifetime and live to tell the tale.

Be Safe and Sound When Repairing or Remodeling your Home

Home improvement projects can be dangerous. Many tasks call for sharp tools or power tools that can cause injuries. You can’t successfully repair or tackle home improvement projects your home if you’re not careful. With a little careful organization and forethought, even the most difficult home improvement tasks can be conquered safely and successfully.

Be sure to completely read the instruction manual for your power tools and follow the manufacturer’s safety cautions. Tighten any adjustments and check that the guard is working before you operate a tool. Keep power tools dry, and plug them into grounded electrical outlets. Take care not to cut the power cord. Never store your power tools while they are still connected to the power supply.

Keep fingers well away from a power blade. Clamp small pieces of wood before cutting them, rather than holding them. It’s imperative to wear work gloves when you’re handling rough materials such as wood, glass, or metal, but take them off when using a power tool so you have complete control over it.

Never use any kind of power tool without proper protective eyewear. Unplug a power saw before changing the blade or doing any other kind of maintenance or cleaning to it.
Learn how to properly support a board when you cut it with a power tool so it doesn’t kick back towards you during use.

Always completely shut off power or water when working with the electrical wiring or the plumbing. One of the first questions you should ask as a new homeowner is where your shutoffs are located.

When working on a ladder, don’t lean out to either side. Keep your body weight between the sides of the ladder. It may take longer to get off the ladder and move it to reach farther, but it is well worth your time. Falls are one of the most common causes of injuries in the home.
If you’re not used to the physical element of doing construction, remodeling, or renovation work, you might easily injure yourself or strain your muscles. You may not even notice the aches and pains until you wake up the next day. Don’t take chances and overexert yourself when lifting heavy objects, or when repeatedly lifting lighter loads. Get a helper to do some of the work, and take plenty of breaks. Listen to your body’s signals and realize when enough is enough. Learn to bend and lift with the knees and not your back.
You’re going to find a great satisfaction and pride knowing that you’re able to safely and successfully accomplish repair, remodeling and renovation projects around your house as long as you’re smart, safe, and keep yourself organized, focused and on task.

Organize your Finances and Save Your Money

You carefully plan how to spend your money. But you may have never organized a plan on how to best save your hard-earned money. Shopping the sales, cut corners, conserve energy, and clip coupons are all positive steps in the right direction, but with some careful planning and organized thought, you can make your dollar stretch even further.

First of all, pay yourself first. Bill yourself if you have to as a way to keep track. You can even have a portion of your check directly deposited into your savings account so you’ll never even miss it. Put part of it into savings for shorter term goals and some into a retirement plan. Compare interest rates at different financial institutions to get the most bang for your saved buck.

Pay close attention to where your money is going. Develop a spreadsheet or other method so you can visibly track where your money is going each month. You probably easily remember the bigger bills like the mortgage or the car payment, but it’s easy to lose track of the incidental spending you do. You’d probably be surprised how much you spend each month on movies, eating out, video rentals and a little spending money for the kids. This will help you find ways of saving a few dollars here and there, which can quickly add up to a significant savings each month.

Set a realistic budget and stick to it. Once you’ve paid close attention to where your money is going, it will be easy to find where to cut corners and adjust your budget accordingly. With some commitment and a few lifestyle adjustments, it’s really quite simple to live within the parameters of a well-planned budget.

Look for fun, inexpensive ways to entertain your family. You can usually borrow videos from your local library at little or no cost, and outdoor activities not only promote family togetherness but the fresh air and exercise are good for all involved.

Chart your Child’s Accomplishments with a Chore Chart

It can be very frustrating to ask your child over and over again to complete their chores without them ever getting done. Sometimes it’s the result of a child not knowing how to organize and prioritize their time. Help your child develop these important skills by implementing a chore chart.

Chores might include taking out the garbage, doing the dishes, cleaning their room, yard work or putting laundry in the laundry room. After your child completes each chore, they can put a check mark on the chore chart. At the end of each week, it’s very inspiring for both parent and child to look at the chore chart and easily see that each designated job was completed. Just like our to do lists, your child will find great satisfaction in being able to check off each chore as it’s completed and take pride knowing they accomplished a set task or list of tasks. Once the child is more adept at completing each task and learns to recognize which ones should be completed first, additional ones can be added to the list.
Once you’ve sat down with your child and discussed and designed a chore chart, it’s time to discuss the rewards for accomplishing each task listed. Perhaps at your home you decide you will give a set sum for each task accomplished. If you should decide to grant your child some sort of monetary allowance, make sure it’s age appropriate and granted on a regular basis. A good rule of thumb is 50 cents per year of age. However, be firm about the allowance being an all or nothing reward. No allowance is given if the items on the list are only partially completed or if they haven’t been completed in a quality fashion. Teach your child early to strive to do it right the first time, and learn to save time in the process.
By helping your child to develop a sense of organization early on, you’ll equip them with an important skill that will help them succeed later in life.