• There’s nothing more fun than acting like a kid again – find toboggans or krazy karpets forcheap in the spring, and after heavy snowfalls the following winter grab your friends for a few hours on the hills.Get a cheap kite and spend the day at a park. See if you can get the thing off the ground now that you’re a grown-up!
• Pick up an astronomy book from the library and head out of the city to enjoy stargazing. Bring a midnight picnic and a friend.
• Dust off your bicycle and go for a day trip.
• Visit a local park and roast weenies and marshmallows in the fire pits.
• Do a little exploring in a small town nearby your big city centre. Check out the stores, tourist spots, and local colour.
• Pack a picnic and visit a local lake, or take a drive in the country. Bring a blanket and book and stop for ice cream.
• Get them together — your friends that is. Lots of expensive things are cheap when everyone is pitching in. Take a truckload to the drive-in, or rent a boat at a nearby lake.back to index of “how to get a life on a budget”

Get moving

• Call the guys over for an impromptu street hockey game.
• Pull out your ice skates, pour hot chocolate into a thermos, and go skating at an outdoor rink.
• Dive in! Ask for the student price at your local swimming pool, and don’t forget your water wings!
• Spend an afternoon rollerblading, biking, walking, or hiking.
• When’s the last time you went rollerskating? How about bowling? Round up a few friends and hit the local roller rink or bowling alley.
• Take advantage of trial offers for gyms and fitness facilities, but be wary of the high pressure sales pitch.
• Borrow a hiking guide from the library, grab your water bottle, and get moving up the nearest mountain.
• Want to get into the game? Instead of playing for a formal league, find people interested in pick up games, or join an intramural league. If you’re a star player, the quality of the games might not be the level you’re accustomed to, but it’s just a few bucks a game.
• It’s official — you can make good money officiating your favourite sportin intramural leagues on campus. You’ll get a workout, cash, and usually free use of the facilities.
• Heading to the hills for a day of snowboarding? Carpool, go on student days, borrow the equipment, and pack a lunch.
• Watch someone else get active and get some school pride. Most sports events held by your school are free for students to attend.back to index of “how to get a life on a budget”

Sarah Deveau is a graduate of the University of Calgary. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she spent her teenager years living in Hamilton and Calgary, where she now resides with her husband Keith, and her cat, Parker. During her five years in university, and her husband’s seven years, they incurred a combined debt of just $6,000. Through the use of scholarships, part-time and full-time jobs, Sarah and Keith paid for their education even while getting married, moving out, and buying vehicles. She is the author of Sink or Swim: Get Your Degree Without Drowning in Debt (Dundurn), a ‘how to’ guide to obtaining a post-secondary education without incurring massive student loans. This book guides students through their post-secondary education, encouraging them to live within their means by being creative with their lifestyle. Article reprinted with permission of author.

• Take time to appreciate street artists in Busker Festivals in your part of the world. [For Canadians, catch the busker festival in Halifax, Street Performers Festival in Edmonton, Celebrate Toronto Street Festival, Saskatoon International Fringe Festival, Visit www.festivalseeker.com for a complete listing of festivals across Canada.]
• Laugh a lot for little. Attend a local comedy improv troupe show for just a few bucks.back to index of “how to get a life on a budget”

Sweet shopping

• Spend your Saturday at the flea market — snack on free samples while touring relics from your parent’s era. Pick up toy icons from your childhood like an old My Little Pony or My Buddy doll for nostalgia’s sake and offer that as a Christmas gift to a friend who will appreciate it.
• Attend a country flea market or auction for the experience and fresh produce.
• Think like a tourist — go for a stroll your city’s shopping districts, window shopping only. Visit the historic spots you’ve only driven by.back to index of “how to get a life on a budget”

Go girly

• Instead of girl’s night out, host a sleepover. Pop popcorn, watch a chick flick, and reconnect with your girlfriends.
• Spend an afternoon with the girls giving each other manicures, trying out new hairstyles, and gabbing.
• For a small donation, you can get a free makeover at the Body Shop.back to index of “how to get a life on a budget”

Share your (non-monetary) wealth

• Swap old magazines with friends or family members for a little light reading.
• Chances are, one of your friends is a movie freak. Share your book collection in return for access to your friend’s DVD collection, and you both get to enjoy something new, for free!back to index of “how to get a life on a budget”

Enjoy the comforts of home sweet home

• How long has it been since you’ve had home-made cookies? Spend a day baking proper cookies, or a pre-packaged cake mix, and invite friends over to share the calories.
• Grab a deck of cards and round up a few friends for card night. Play a few favourites, and have everyone try and teach the group a new game.
• Dust off the Monopoly board – invite friends over to play old board games from your childhood. Have them bring their favourites.
• Cable TV may just be your biggest entertainment expense. Most nights you can find a show or two to watch instead of going to a movie or going out to the bar. If you’re busy a few nights in a row, tape your favourite shows to watch when you have more time. Tape a few weeks of shows and have a personal television marathon.
• Instead of going to a movie theatre, rent the latest flick to watch them from the comfort of your home instead. The seating is more comfortable, the food cheaper and better, and you can pause for a bathroom break.
• Connect with an old friend by writing them a long letter and sending it by regular mail.back to index of “how to get a life on a budget”

Sarah Deveau is a graduate of the University of Calgary. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she spent her teenager years living in Hamilton and Calgary, where she now resides with her husband Keith, and her cat, Parker. During her five years in university, and her husband’s seven years, they incurred a combined debt of just $6,000. Through the use of scholarships, part-time and full-time jobs, Sarah and Keith paid for their education even while getting married, moving out, and buying vehicles. She is the author of Sink or Swim: Get Your Degree Without Drowning in Debt (Dundurn), a ‘how to’ guide to obtaining a post-secondary education without incurring massive student loans. This book guides students through their post-secondary education, encouraging them to live within their means by being creative with their lifestyle. Article reprinted with permission of author.

• Free weekly newspapers offer listings of inexpensive or free events going on in your city.
• Right on campus you’ll find loads of inexpensive entertainment ideas. Pick up your student newspaper for listings of plays, recitals, art shows, sports games, special lectures, or readings.
• Keep your eyes up! Check out poster boards on campus for inexpensive event listings.
• Sign up for the online newsletter of your local video store. You’ll get coupons for free rentals, and can enter fun contests to win cool movie stuff. Other favourite stores may also have an online newsletter advertising specials and deals.back to index of “how to get a life on a budget”

Redeem some fun

• Carry your student identification card everywhere, and always ask if astudent discount is available. You’ll be surprised at how many businesses offer student prices, but don’t advertise it.
• Look for coupons or free offers everywhere — in junk mail flyers, newspapers left out on a desk, and even your phone bill may come with coupons. You can find coupons online at save.ca or coupons.com.
• Many cities have an entertainment coupon book for a reasonable fee which usually goes to a good cause as part of local fundraising efforts. Save money in the long haul and discover places in your town you didn’t even know were around!
• Check your Student Union for any special deals they have collected for you. Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer students can pick up a Student Union Ticket Pak and receive coupons for entertainment, merchandise and restaurants.
• Liquor stores often have free memberships that get your great prices –become a member if you shop there often. Coupons are a lifesaver! You’ll find coupons for most every attraction in your city, as well as deals on restaurants, services, and even grocery stores. Keep ones you may use on the fly in your wallet for quick access.back to index of “how to get a life on a budget”

Sarah Deveau is a graduate of the University of Calgary. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she spent her teenager years living in Hamilton and Calgary, where she now resides with her husband Keith, and her cat, Parker. During her five years in university, and her husband’s seven years, they incurred a combined debt of just $6,000. Through the use of scholarships, part-time and full-time jobs, Sarah and Keith paid for their education even while getting married, moving out, and buying vehicles. She is the author of Sink or Swim: Get Your Degree Without Drowning in Debt (Dundurn), a ‘how to’ guide to obtaining a post-secondary education without incurring massive student loans. This book guides students through their post-secondary education, encouraging them to live within their means by being creative with their lifestyle. Article reprinted with permission of author.

Often students anticipate their first multiple choice exam to be simply a matter of recognising true statements. However, experience with these exams shows students that they are often asked to do more than just recognise textbook material.

Multiple choice questions require fine distinctions between correct and nearly-correct statements. They learn that these distinctions are not only of Recognition, but are distinctions that involve the thinking for Synthesis, Analysis, and Application. These higher-order thinking questions sometimes make the content of the questions unrecognisable.

Besides not being fully prepared for these types of thinking questions, students often read the questions carelessly. Therefore, it is to the students’ advantage to learn about the thinking required to answer multiple choice questions and to learn how to read the questions carefully.

Preparing/study for multiple choice exams

• Take a Learning Skills course to learn:
  • how to recognise the various levels of learning that are tested in multiple choice questioning;
  • how to use new strategies for learning, remembering, and thinking.
• Join or form a study group to practise making and answering multiple choice questions of various levels.
• Study old exams. Examine each question to determine:
  • the level or type of thinking required of you (recognition, synthesis, analysis, application);
  • the degree of difference between incorrect and correct alternatives.
• When studying the material consider groups of facts or groups of ideas that are similar in meaning.While learning each group, pay special attention to the differences among the facts and ideas within each group. It may be effective to think of each fact or idea in terms of what each means or includes and what each does not mean or does not include.

  For a concept, consider what is necessary or sufficient to include. How do two similar concepts differ? Why is that difference important?

Writing multiple choice exams

• Do the multiple choice items first if your exam has types of questions other than multiple choice. Just reading the stems and alternatives acts as a warm-up to the material. (The stem is the question and the alternatives are the choices). Also, the ideas embedded in these multiple choice questions will fuel your thinking for doing the other parts of the exam.
• Read the directions carefully. The directions usually indicate that some alternatives may be partly correct or correct statements in themselves, but not when joined to the stem. The directions may say: “choose the most correct answer” or “mark the one best answer.” Sometimes you may be asked to “mark all correct answers.”
• Often you are required to answer up to 70 multiple choice questions in an hour or less. (Some have 200 questions to answer in 3 hours). This means you may have less than a minute, on average, to spend on each question. Some questions, of course, will take you only a few seconds, while others will require more time for thought.Plan to progress through the exam in three ways:
  • Read every question carefully but quickly, answering only those of which you are 100% certain. Put a “?” on those that need more thought.
  • Then, examine/study the questions not yet answered. Answer those you are reasonably sure of without pondering too long on each. Erase the “?”
  • Finally, study read the remaining unanswered questions. If you cannot come to a decision by reasoning or if you run out of time, guess. Erase the “?”. Note that some examinations penalize “guessing” by subtracting points for incorrect answers. Check with your instructor. If there is no penalty, then a guess is better than a blank.
• Use the process of elimination procedure. Eliminate the obviously incorrect alternatives.
• Read all of the stem and every alternative.
  
  • Read the stem with each alternative to take advantage of the correct sound or flow that the correct answer often produces. Also, you can eliminate any alternatives that do not agree grammatically with the stem.
  • Some students find it effective to read the stem and anticipate the correct alternative before actually looking at the alternatives. If you generally do better on essay exams, this strategy may help you a great deal. Our research shows that one is three students scores better with this strategy alone!
• Consider “all of the above” and “none of the above.” Examine the “above” alternatives to see if all of them or none of them apply totally. If even one does not apply totally, do not consider “all of the above” or “none of the above” as the correct answer. Make sure that a statement applies to the question since it can be true, but not be relevant to the question at hand!
• Note negatives. If a negative such as “none”, “not”, “never”, or “neither” occurs in the stem, know that the correct alternative must be a fact or absolute and that the other alternatives could be true statements, but not the correct answer.
• Note superlatives. Words such as “every”, “all”, “none”, “always”, and “only” are superlatives that indicate the correct answer must be an undisputed fact. In the social sciences, absolutes are rare.
• Note qualifying words. “Usually”, “often”, “generally”, “may”, and “seldom” are qualifiers that could indicate a true statement.
• Study Qualifications. Break the stem down into grammatical parts. Pull out the bare subject and verb (if it is in the stem), and then examine all the modifiers (qualifiers) to the subject and verb. This process ensures that you will examine every part of the stem.
• Changing Answers. Research has shown that changing answers on a multiple choice or true-false exam is neither good nor bad: if you have a good reason for changing your answer, change it. The origin of the myth that people always change from “right” to “wrong” is that those (i.e. the wrong ones) are the only ones you will see when you review your exam – you won’t notice the ones you changed from “wrong” to “right.”

Following-up after your exam has been returned

• Study your marked and returned exam in order to learn from your successes and mistakes, and to improve your performance on the next exam. This will pay dividends on future exams.
• Examine each question you did get correct. Remember how you knew that the information was important when you studied. How did you study?
• Examine each question you did not get correct in order to understand the find distinction between the correct alternative and the incorrect alternatives. Ask yourself why the correct answer is correct and why the other alternatives are incorrect.
• Determine the level of thought your instructor expects of you by reading through all of the questions. Are you expected to recognise, analyse, synthesise and/or apply the material that has been presented to you? Study accordingly for the next exam.

This article was originally produced by The University of Victoria‘sCounselling Services, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Reprinted with permission.

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t talk to God.  Maybe this had something to do with the fact that believing in God and going to church were just a natural thing in my family’s daily life.

I like my life as it is now.  The thing is that I definitely did not like my life as an adolescent.  I didn’t like me.  That kind of spoiled things, because wherever I went in life, no matter how perfect and pleasant the outward circumstances, there would be this “ugly self” tagging along for the ride.

And it wasn’t that my life was so bad: I had a stable home life, some good friends, a few interests and hobbies, and good marks at school . . . everything looked perfectly normal on the outside.  But on the inside I was looking for liberation from that “ugly self.”

Once for swimming lessons, I had to swim lengths of the pool with my jeans on in order to build up stamina.  I thought I was going to drown.  The weight of those wet jeans pulling me down was almost intolerable.  Carrying around my nasty inner self was kind of like that.

There was a side of my personality that not many people saw – a self-defensive posture that was cynical, sullen, and caustic. It was a side of myself that I did not like very much and that frankly disturbed me.  I kept it under wraps for the most part, but once in a while that really dark part of Catherine would slip out of the leash and make an embarrassing appearance in public.

Then God intervened.  The Lord looked down and he was not impressed by my religious veneer.  If I were to be honest about it, neither was I.

By the time I was 16, I still had the basic question even though I had grown up in a church of: “How do you do this Christian thing? Show me because I can’t do it myself.”  I had tried to do all the right things.  It felt hollow and unsatisfying.  It just wasn’t real.  I was playing a role. Underneath all of the external layers of pretty wrapping paper, there was still this “ugly self.”  I tried to change, but I found that I couldn’t.  Not really.  Not at the deepest level where the real you lives.

I knew that God loved me with my head.  I had always known that.  But I wanted to experience God’s love.  I wanted to be me, but a different me – not the ugly or sardonic me.  I got to a place when I was 16 where I started to be more honest and to express these thoughts and desires to God.

God answered my prayers.  I met Jesus.  It wasn’t exactly the Jesus that I had known from Sunday school days.  That Jesus was more like a two dimensional flannelgraph Jesus that I had become acquainted with during my childhood. This Jesus moved into my life.  He took up residence and I really started to know him.

Some things changed in an instant.  The Bible talks about our citizenship being transferred instantaneously from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.  For me there was a soul transaction through a prayer of confessing my rebellion against God and acceptance of the new life he was offering me.

Some things have changed over a lifetime.  There has been a gradual unfolding of the “new self.” There is real, ongoing, progressive change that I know does not come from my own impotent efforts at reformation.  It comes from God.

This does not mean that I don’t have momentary relapses into the “old self” and into the old way of “being me.”  What it does mean is that overall there is a new direction for my life, a new destination and a new companion along the way.

Knowing Jesus has enabled me to live a life which is much more authentic, where the inside matches the outside and where I don’t have to be afraid to reveal my weaknesses and faults.  As a result, I am a much more whole person and certainly a much more contented individual.

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I am basically an anti-social introverted recluse tied by marriage to one of the world’s greatest extroverts. My chosen vocation has also obligated me to engage in people-intensive activities for most of my career.  Some days I would just rather not show up.  Is there a button that you can push to “unsubscribe” yourself from life?

I consider myself to be a homebody even though I have spent some of the most important and enjoyable bits of my life in rather remote reaches of the earth such as Guyana, Honduras, France, Belgium, Togo, Cuba, and the Philippines.  Note to self: I must learn not to over pack!

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Having kids later in life has been one of the best things that ever happened to me.  Funny.  I was never a “kid” type person until I had my own two munchkins.  I cannot honestly say that I “adore children” after becoming a parent, but I think that it is fair to say that I “adore my children”.  When my husband and I were going through pre-marital counseling, a wise pastor said to us about having children, “They bring the love with them.”  I have found that this is true. Had I understood this principle earlier on in life, it might have relieved a lot of worry and false guilt.

Raising kids has been harder than I ever imagined, but , at the same time, it has been more rewarding than I could ever have dreamed.  Fortunately, I am married to one of the world’s greatest husbands. I don’t know how I would do it without being married him. (Some days, especially when there is a lot of screaming and whining going on, he forgets that this is his official designation. Then I forget to remind him.  It can get really ugly after that.)

In high school I had two teachers who cared enough to give us an assignment to research more about a field we might be interested in.

If it weren’t for those assignments, I probably wouldn’t have thought too seriously about what I wanted to do in university until I got there. For the sake of getting the assignments done, I had to pick something, anything. So I started thinking about things I liked to do, subjects I enjoyed and things I naturally found an interest in.

My first reaction to registering for classes for my first year of university was to take half of my classes in the arts, and the other half in the sciences, JUST in case I would want to leave the door open for something science.

Now that I look back at the path of courses and student jobs I’ve had, if I was just honest with myself and took a close look at the things I naturally enjoyed doing I would have found my major more securely sooner.

The things I’ve done in my classes and jobs are the things I did to amuse myself as a child! I used to write stories, books, make up “clubs” for my friends so that I could have an excuse to make up and design membership cards, make posters… Now I write, design, and do other similar stuff!

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If you want to do well in the arts, especially communications, learn to use your brain! Suddenly having to employ critical thinking skills was a new thing to me in university. Though I had good grades in high school I felt very ill equipped for university in that I didn’t really know how to think critically. I quickly discovered that regurgitation and memorization don’t cut it anymore in university.

Good team work skills help to survive your group projects. Being perceptive and observant is helpful in developing those critical thinking skills, but also in reading other people and how to communicate with them.

If good grades are important to you, learn how to read what the prof wants in a paper/project, or what s/he thinks is important in the course (good chance that will be in the exam or will be what they’re looking for in that paper!).

Develop an eye for the bigger picture. I had a great prof in my freshman Sociology course who told us the difference between a B paper and an A paper is that the A grade paper draws the bigger picture, and explains the “why?” and the “so what?” of the topic you’re writing about. Otherwise, who cares? It wouldn’t even be worth studying!

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The extreme and immediate freedom in university was probably the hardest adjustment for me.

Learning how to study with no structure or anyone breathing down your neck checking up on you was a lesson in self discipline I’m still learning now. Having an unstructured schedule can screw up your time management and eating habits too!

The university environment taught me the value of questioning, but not merely for the sake of questioning. It’s so important to ask questions, find answers to solidify or modify your views.

It’s only when I questioned who I was and what I believed that I became solid in my identity and beliefs.

There will always be some people who are content just to ignore the bigger questions of life, but I think we all are craving for perspective and purpose. There’s lots out there, sometimes it gives some a headache to think about those things, I guess it’s less stressful if you don’t think about it, but the pointlessness that comes from not questioning I think would be pretty hopeless.

University is about learning about life, you don’t remember what’s in the books most of the time anyway — it’s the people, perspectives, the life lessons, the figuring out of who you are… these are the things you take out of university.

I didn’t do that well with the pressure to party. After a year of doing the “typically cool” thing for university students, I was tired, worn out from it… I was physically and emotionally worn, but greater than that, my spirit was tired.

The most typical place to study (aside from one’s dorm room) is the library. The library seems like the obvious and perfect solution of “where to study.” What if someone told you that studying in a library is almost as bad as studying in your own room, assuming you are easily distracted in your room?

Just as you have come to the conclusion that studying in the library is a solution, so have almost all of your friends. Distractions are plenty, even in the library; friends always run into friends, and this invites long conversations that lead to a pure waste of studying time.

The library should be used as a place for research. If you have studying that requires you to have a constant access to books and journals then by all means, studying in the library is a good choice. However, even in the library there are places you need to avoid and places that could be most conducive to effective studying.

Search the library for the most vacant areas. Look for the floors or areas that people do not visit often). Find areas that are in the corner or are hidden so that no one will be able to see you easily. When in the library you literally need to hide yourself from others to avoid any form of social distraction.

If the library is not the best place to study, the natural question to ask then is “Where can I study then?” The best place to study is a place that the average student will not think of.

Did you know that almost all universities and colleges leave their academic buildings (where classes are held) open until very late or even open all night sometimes?

These buildings are basically deserted at night and are left open for the pure reason of allowing students a quiet place to study. These are the best types of places to study. All the elements in these building will work in your favor.
For the most part, you will have no distractions, it will be quiet, you will have ample desk space, bright lighting, and most of all a peace of mind which will help with your concentration.

All that being said, although this article may warn you from studying in certain places you must remember that everyone is different and different things work for different people. If you find that studying in your dorm room, studying in the library, etc… works for you, then by all means, stick to it.

Take this as a trigger to consider and take notice of what works for you. This article is simply laying down the basics of what you should watch out for.

For more great tips on “where” to study and “how” to study, please visit www.BetterGPA.com/student.htm and enroll in our FREE “How to Ace your Next Exam!” course. Learn to study better now! Used with permission.

When faced with the never-ending task of laundry, there are four basic types of people, according to the Queen of Clean(R), Linda Cobb. Cobb, a best-selling author and radio and television personality, is one of America’s foremost authorities on housekeeping and laundry care.

“I’ve developed a motto for the four laundry personalities I’ve identified,” says Cobb.

The first, and most common, motto is “So much laundry, so little time.” Typically, these people have no time to spare and have perfected the art of multi-tasking. While appearance may be important to this person, doing laundry is just a means to an end.”
Cobb’s tips for the time-crunched can help streamline the laundry process. She recommends:

• Emptying the dryer’s lint-clogged vent regularly so clothes will dry faster.
• Changing the setting on the washer to suit the load size, especially for small loads.
• Using detergent tabs rather than powder or liquid — just drop them in and go!

The motto for the second group is, “Don’t do laundry today that you can put off until tomorrow.” This type believes that nothing is so pressing that it has to be done immediately — especially laundry! These folks know every excuse in the book to put off laundry — or getting someone else to do it for them.
Laundry procrastinators can make the chore easier using these tips:

• Pre-sort dirty clothes into color-coded baskets or bins as soon as you take them off.
• If you leave a load of clean clothes in the dryer and they become a wrinkled mess, simply toss a damp towel in with the load and re-run the dryer for a few minutes.
• Stock up on laundry products so you have what you need on hand, resulting in fewer trips to the store.
• Don’t overstuff the washer or dryer, since it will cause clothes to come out wrinkled and not as clean.

The third group believes “If you want laundry done right, you have to do it yourself.” These people’s lives are orderly and methodical, and so is their approach to laundry. They tend to make laundry part of their daily routine and approach it with a full arsenal of laundry products that give them a good value for their money, such as Purex laundry detergent, which is about half the cost of the leading brand.
Even these well-organized people can benefit from some of Cobb’s tips:

• Zip up the laundry routine by doing exactly that: zip zippers, button buttons and hook hooks. That way, you’ll avoid catching, pulling and tearing fabric during the wash cycle.
• Before storing seasonal clothes, be sure to launder them first to avoid letting undetected stains set or attracting moths or other insects.
• Always check garments for colorfastness when using stain removers, even if the garments have already been laundered.

The fourth school of thought believes that “a little dirt never hurt anyone.” The last thing that bothers these people is a pile of dirty laundry. And since they don’t worry much about appearance, they don’t think twice about wearing the same clothes two days in a row.

Cobb’s tips for this laundry type include:

• Instead of folding or hanging clean clothes, toss t-shirts, gym clothes or other active wear onto an over-the-door shoe rack.
• If you happen to leave a piece of tissue in a pocket and it makes a mess in the washer or dryer, put a piece of nylon netting in the dryer with the clothes to catch the fuzz.
• Use a fragrant detergent to keep clothes smelling fresh longer.
• Use a super-concentrated stain remover, such as Zout, and let it sit on fabric for five to 10 minutes for best stain removal.

Cobb has tested hundreds of laundry products and recommends only the best of each category on her Web site, www.queenofclean.com. Two products she recommends to make anyone’s laundry routine easier are Purex detergent and Zout stain remover. You can also visit these sites for helpful housekeeping tips. Content courtesy of ARA Content.