Many amateur gardeners prefer to do their planting in the spring of the year, although certain plants are set out in the fall. Yet even if you prefer to plant in the spring, you must not neglect your gardens in the late autumn and winter months, or your plants will be sure to suffer. Here are some useful suggestions.

Suppose that two or three new rose trees and perhaps some rose cuttings have been planted in our garden. Suppose now that a spell of frost comes, and after that, naturally, a thaw. The ground becomes quite soft and loose. The plants - whether roses or anything else, for that matter - that are not firmly established in the soil, become loosened with the soil, and lose the little grip they had obtained upon it.

This is the one thing to fear, for if it happens and is not remedied, without a doubt the plants will die. But, fortunately, it is a state of things quite easy to remedy. It simply means treading or otherwise making the soil firm and close about the plants, as it was before the frost acted upon it. The loose soil danger is then avoided.

Action of Frost

Though the action of the frost on the soil may be a source of danger to newly planted trees and cuttings, we must bear in mind that, apart from this, the frost does a great deal to sweeten the soil and to put it in excellent condition. For this reason any bit of the ground that is not occupied by plants should be dug up so that the frost may penetrate and do the utmost good.

How does a gardener regard a heavy fall of snow over his many plants? As Nature’s wisest and best protection from the bitter winds and frosts. No wind can hurt our plants when they are safely under their snow blanket. But often the winter winds and frosts are keen and biting when there is no snow upon the ground. This is the hardest trial our plants have to bear.

If we are able to gather a few armfuls of fresh straw, we may put it round such plants as the rhododendron, and even round about a rose tree that is unusually fragile and anything else for which we have reason to fear. If some of these rather tender subjects die down completely, and are below ground for the winter, we may cover the earth above them with dry leaves or with ashes. Either of these is very helpful in keeping the frost from reaching them.

Violets in Cold Frames 

We have hitherto dealt with plants that grow in the open. Even in the case of violets or other flowers that grow in cold-frames or hotbeds (beds of earth covered with glass tops) there are some simple rules that should be observed if these flowers are to thrive when the cold weather comes.

Never coddle violets; they are hardy, brave little plants, and they strongly object to being treated as if they were tender and fragile. If they could speak, how often they would plead for air, air, air, more air! You ought to have gathered many pretty blooms from the violets before the cold weather sets in. They will be protected by their frames when sharp autumn winds threaten. You will continue to pick pretty bouquets and have the prospect of gathering a fine bunch on Christmas morning, though the time the plants flower will, to a certain extent, depend upon the variety which is being grown.

Very little water - generally none at allis needed for weeks at a time at this season. Unless the thermometer shows that it is freezing, or there is a sharp wind, raise the lid during the warmest portion of the slay. Even at night, unless very cold, the lid need not be closed entirely, but the opening can be covered with a bit of sacking, and in this way there will be a slight amount of ventilation.

You will think, perhaps, that great importance is being laid on giving plants sufficient air. But there is nothing like it to keep them healthy. Insufficient air generally means that leaves become affected with mildew, and whole plants may “damp off,” as it is called. But in really severe weather, we must run the risk of that for a short time. During sharp frosts the lids go down, and mats or anything we can lay hands on may be used to cover them. Do not forget to remove the coverings when warmer weather sets in.

Potted Plants

Our pot plants that we are sheltering in the house or in a greenhouse will now need less water than at other seasons when they are growing freely. In the winter a great many of them go almost to rest; at any rate, they are not pushing out new growths unless kept at a high temperature. Never let a pot plant stand in a saucer of water.

There are kinds of wood that will not rot away, even though they are kept in water. The city of Venice is built on wooden piles buried in the shallow sea, and these have lasted for many centuries.

We shall guess what it is that makes wood rot when we learn what is done to protect wood that must be exposed to wet, for instance, the wood of which railway ties are made. These are often soaked with a chemical substance called creosote; and the particular property of creosote which makes it so valuable is that it is poisonous to microbes. So the answer to the question, in one word, is: Microbes. Wood will not rot if it is charged with something that kills microbes, or if, as in the case of Venice, it is protected from microbe enemies by being kept in salt water.

If you live in the southern United States, or have visited there, you have seen swamps with bald cypress trees growing in them. Cypress wood is remarkably hard and resists attacks of insects and microbes. The wood of the bald cypress, which grows in the swamps, is used for railway ties, fence posts, telegraph poles, piles for docks and other purposes for which a water-resistant wood is needed. From pine wood, which contains much creosote, we get wood tar that is applied to other woods to protect them.

Cups and saucers, dinner plates and all of the other useful and beautiful articles of chinaware which we use in our homes are so familiar to us that we do not realize the knowledge, art and skill that have gone into their making. The art of making them and the materials of which they are made have had a long, romantic history.

Chinaware, or porcelain, pottery, bricks and tiles, drain pipes and flower pots are all made of clay, shaped and then fired or burned, but they are otherwise quite different from one another, both in substance and in the way they are made. Dishes, in which we are particularly interested, are of three general kinds: vitreous, semi-vitreous and earthenware or pottery.

The word “vitreous,” which means “glassy,” is used to identify true porcelain, of which the finest dishes are made. It is extremely hard, because of the high temperature at which it is fired. It is translucent, which means that if you hold a piece of it up to a strong light, the light will show through the thinner parts. Also, if you tap the edge of a porcelain dish with a pencil it will give forth a clear, ringing sound.

Semi-vitreous dishes are much used by restaurants, and for ordinary daily use at home. They are not so hard as vitreous dishes, light will not show through them, and they make a duller sound when you strike them. Both kinds of dishes come in pretty shapes and designs, but you can always tell which kind a dish is by holding it up to the light and by tapping it to see if it rings clearly. Many manufacturers have the word “vitreous,” or “semi-vitreous” printed on the under side of each dish.

Earthenware is coarser than semi-vitreous ware, and much more brittle. It is quite opaque, that is, it will not let the light through, and if you tap it the sound will be dull and flat. Earthenware comes in several different grades. Many attractive pieces are made of it, including vases, jars, bowls, breakfast, tea and dinner sets.

The making of pottery is one of the oldest arts known to man. It is so ancient that no one knows what people first learned to make vessels of clay. In our great museums we may find well shaped bowls and vases which were buried in the graves of the Egyptians perhaps six thousand years ago, and which have helped us to learn something of the state of civilization in Egypt long before the time of Moses. The ancient Cretans and the Greeks made wonderfully beautiful jars and vases thousands of years ago. The As- Syrians and Persians were noted for skill in this work, and Roman pottery has been found everywhere within the limits of that great empire. The Egyptians knew how to make a beautiful glaze for their pottery thousands of years ago. Some students think that they were the first people to learn the art of glazing, and that it was taught by them to the Babylonians and Assyrians. It is believed that the Greeks knew nothing about glazing.

As we have learned, the civilization of Greece and Rome was almost swamped for a time by the rush of barbarian peoples from the north. These peoples knew little about the making of pottery, and the potter’s work that was done in Europe in medieval times was very crude. The knowledge which had been gained during centuries by the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Assyrians and Persians lingered on in Egypt and Syria. After the Moslem conquests the art was revived, and beautiful pottery was made by some of the Moslem peoples.

When the Moors overran Spain they brought with them skilled workers in various crafts, among whom were potters. Knowledge of the art of these Moorish potters soon spread through Europe. Potters of other nations were quick to learn it and improve upon it, and soon potteries sprang up in other countries. Many beautiful things were made, especially in Italy, but they were made from heavy clay.

Long before this time the Chinese, working by themselves, had learned to make fine pottery. In their search for fine clay they found a kind of clay which, when mixed with other ingredients and fired, became what we now know as porcelain or china. The Chinese named this clay kaolin, from the Kao Ling Hills where it was first discovered. The name “porcelain” came from the Italians, who called the Chinese ware porcellana because its satiny surface was like a porcelana, or cowrie shell. It is amusing to know that this shell got its name from the word porcella, “little pig,” because of its shape.

Just when porcelain was first made is not known. Some people believe that it was being made in China before the Christian era, but the earliest known pieces date from about the tenth and eleventh centuries, A.D.

Thus we know that, while Leif Ericson was exploring the coast of North America, and while William the Norman was conquering England, Chinese artist-craftsmen were producing fine porcelain. By the time that Chaucer made his journey to Canterbury with the pilgrims, Chinese potters were supplying the Ming emperors with porcelain that is today worth a king’s ransom.

The Chinese taught the art to the Japanese, and for centuries no other people was able to imitate the ware of these two countries. Traders and travelers brought examples of this porcelain to western Asia and northern Africa, and some of it was brought to Europe from Cairo as early as the twelfth century. European potters tried hard to discover what clay it was that gave the Chinese porcelain its hardness and whiteness, and many experiments were made.

Some of what we now call “soft paste” porcelain is said to have been made in Venice in 1470, by an alchemist, Maestro Antonio, and what is known as the Medici porcelain was made at Florence in the last years of the seventeenth century. This was very beautiful ware, but it lacked some of the qualities that the kaolin gave to the Chinese porcelain. It was not until 1709 that kaolin was discovered to be the long-sought clay. The discoverer was a chemist named Böttger, and he is said to have found it in the clay used to whiten his wig. Böttger lived at Dresden, but he moved to Meissen, where he made the famous Dresden china. He tried to keep his discovery secret, but in vain. In a few years porcelain was made in other countries of Europe, and French, Italian and Austrian porcelain also became famous. It received its common name of china because it was first made in that country.

While clay has always been the chief ingredient of porcelain, other materials are used with it. Among these are feldspar, ground quartz, calcium carbonate in the form of chalk, and sometimes calcium phosphate in the form of bone ash. The kaolin, or china clay, does not melt and become transparent, but some of the other things, such as the feldspar, do. If you were to look at a piece of porcelain through a microscope, you would see a glassy substance packed full of opaque sticks of kaolin. When the light rays try to find their way through the glassy part of porcelain, they are reflected back and forth among these sticks, and it is this that gives fine porcelain its soft translucence.

Early in the eighteenth century lovely china began to be made at Sevres, Chantilly and Vincennes in France, and at Stratfordle-Bow, Chelsea and Derby in England and in many other places in these and other countries. Each manufacturer developed his own formula for making the paste. There were three general types of porcelain made, “hard paste,” “soft paste” and “bone paste.” Soft paste porcelain is very lovely, but is slightly porous. Most modern china is made of some variety of hard paste or bone paste. It was the development of bone paste that first brought about quantity production of fine china. The English potters, sometime about the middle of the eighteenth century, found that a fine, hard china could be made at a low cost by adding bone ash to the mixture.

China and earthenware were brought to America in the colonial period and in the early years of the Republic by ship-loads. Most of this ware was English, and so important was the American market that some of the potteries made a specialty of china and fine earthenware with American patriotic and scenic designs. These are now eagerly sought by collectors. A factory for making bone china was started in Philadelphia in 1769 by two men, George Anthony Morris and Gousse Bonnin. Bonnin is believed to have learned his trade at Bow. The business was closed three years later for lack of money to carry it on, though these unfortunate pioneers had tried in many ways to raise the necessary funds. In 1771 they had appealed to the Pennsylvania Assembly for a loan, and later they had set up a lottery, but they could not get enough money to carry on. Another Philadelphia pioneer in the making of china was more successful. William Ellis Tucker, a Quaker, opened a factory in 1825 for the manufacture of hard paste chinaware. This business flourished for more than twenty years. To-day much fine china is made in the United States, besides semi-vitreous ware and clay products of every imaginable kind.

Many things happen to the clay after it has been taken out of the ground, before it is ready to make a dainty cup and saucer, a graceful vase, or any of the numerous other things that are made of china. To take out any sand that may be in the clay after it is quarried, it is mixed with water and strained through a fine sieve into a tank, where it is allowed to settle, and the water is drawn off. The clay is then put into filters, the water is pressed out, and the clay is ready to be shipped to the pottery. It is not yet ready for the potter, however, and the processes through which it has to go depend upon how it is to be used.

To make fine china, the kaolin is mixed with other materials and water is added. After it is thoroughly mixed it is freed of any remaining impurities by straining and by means of electric magnets to remove particles of iron. When it has been mixed to a thick, creamy paste that can be molded into any shape, it may either be used at once, or it may be filtered and pressed again, and folded away in a dark place for later use. Some potters put it through still another mill to press out any air that may be in it.

Valuable vases, and many other things, are still made on the potter’s, or throwing, wheel. This is a contrivance which was probably used in Egypt six thousand years ago and has been very little altered in principle since. The potters of Babylon and Nineveh used wheels very much like it, even before the Bible was written. The throwing-wheel is a disk which revolves horizontally in a pan. The pace at which it moves is fixed by a brake which the potter controls. The wheel is still sometimes worked by the potter’s foot, but most of the wheels used in large potteries are worked by electricity.

As the throwing-wheel spins round on its axle, the potter throws the clay, which sticks to the wheel and goes round with it. Then the art of the potter comes into play. As the wheel spins he presses, and pulls, and molds it with his skillful hands or with tools made for the purpose. He works from the base upward, shaping the walls, making them the right height and thickness, and gradually the clay takes on the desired shape. When it is finished, the vessel is set aside to dry, so that it can be fixed on a lathe, and turned and smoothed. Plates, bowls, cups and other round pieces are made on a wheel that is shaped to mold the face of the article, while a steel tool is held so as to shape the back of the article. This process is often called “jiggering.”

Many articles, such as teapots, handles and oddly shaped pieces, cannot be made on the wheel, but are “cast’ in a plaster of Paris mold. A thin, cream-like mixture of clay called “slip” is poured into the mold and allowed to stand. The water in the slip is absorbed by the plaster of Paris, leaving the clay on the inside of the mold. The longer it stands, the thicker the clay will be. When it has reached the desired thickness, the remaining water is poured off and the cast is allowed to dry. Then it is taken from the mold, trimmed and smoothed. Cup- handles, spouts for teapots and other things of the sort are made in separate molds and stuck on with a little of the slip. There is a third method called “pressing,” in which the clay is placed on a one-piece mold and hammered into shape with a hand batter. All of these methods require skill and experience, and though machinery is used as an aid to the potters, eighty percent of the work in a pottery is hand work.

After the clay has been shaped, the vessels are put in a drying room, and then comes the delicate and difficult process of baking, or firing, the clay to make it into porcelain. For this purpose the china is packed into closed earthenware boxes called saggers, in such a way that they will not touch one another. The saggers are packed into a kiln (pronounced kill), which is a kind of furnace, and heated until the temperature has reached as high as 1,500 degrees Centigrade. The kiln is kept at this temperature for about ten hours, and is then allowed to cool so gradually that it is three or four days from the time they are put in before the saggers are opened and the “biscuit,” as it is now called, is taken out.

The dishes are now ready for glazing. The pieces are dipped in a kind of liquid glass called “glaze slip,” which leaves a thin, even coating all over the biscuit. Then they are put into another kiln and fired at a temperature hot enough to fuse the glaze and the biscuit and give the china a softly shining surface.

Some china is decorated before the glaze is put on, and this we call “underglaze” decoration. There are various ways of applying it to the biscuit. One method is to make the design in one color, by means of copper-plate printing. “Overglaze” decoration is more elaborate, and may be painted by hand or by decalcomania. In this latter process, the design is lithographed on a special paper which is pressed on the china in such a way that the whole design is transferred to it. If gold is used, it is usually applied to the smooth surface of the glaze, just as the colors are. Etched, or encrusted, gold decorations are made by cutting the design in the glaze with acid, and then covering it with gold. When the gold has been burnished the high parts of the design are bright against the duller sheen of the low parts, giving a very rich effect. After the colors and gold have been applied, they are set, or fused with the china by another firing. Quite lovely raised designs are sometimes made by pressing or building them on the clay before it is fired.

A vertical line at any point can generally be determined by suspending a plumb line, which is a weight attached to the end of a string, and allowing it to come to rest. The pull of the earth, or gravity, as we call it, will stop the swinging of the plumb line. If we could see the line of the pull of the earth we should see that it passes through the motionless bob, the string and the support from which the string hangs. As the string is in the same line as the earth’s pull, we say it hangs vertically.

At some places the plumb line does not hang quite vertically. Where this is so we know that it is caused by the action of some other force, such as the attraction of a great mass like a mountain, or by the gravitational pull of the moon, or by the centrifugal force of the earth’s rotation. Dr. Xcvii Maskelvne, a British astronomer, found that when he suspended two plumb lines near a mountain, one on the north and the other on the south, the angle between their directions was greater than the angle between two vertical plumb lines should be. On measuring he found that each plumb line was pulled slightly toward the mountain.

We can understand this; but in India a very strange thing happens. When a plumb line is suspended in the southern regions, it hangs quite vertically; but when taken north, it is pulled, not toward the Himalaya Mountains, but away from the massive mountains, toward the southern plain.

This behavior of the plumb line, so different from what we should expect, is due to the fact that the weight of the great table- land of southern India. and the material lying beneath it, is greater than the weight of the Himalaya Mountains and the material below them. The heavy plain attracts the bob of the plumb line away from the lighter mountains, massive though they appear to the eye. The unseen attraction is greater than the visible attraction.

The most important things for you to observe from the outset is the kinds of birds which frequent the yards where you are planning to locate your houses. Many people have failed to house their favorite birds because they did not know that the entrance openings vary with the size of the bird.

Use the following sizes for entrance openings which have been found highly satisfactory by several people who have studied the habits and haunts of birds. The diameters of the openings are as follows (in each case the measurement given represents the minimum diameter):

• For blue birds, tree-swallows and hairy and downy woodpeckers - 2 inches.
• For chickadees and Carolina wrens - 1 1/8 inches.
• For house wrens - 7/8 inch.
• For house-finches, crested fly-catchers and red-headed woodpeckers - 2 inches.
• For tufted titmouses, white-breasted nut- hatches and downy woodpeckers - 1 1/4 inches.

In the case of other species, experience alone will enable you to determine which is the diameter appropriate for each species.

Robins, barn-swallows and phoebes need one or more sides open.

Wood is found to be the most satisfactory material from which to make a bird-house. To avoid having it warp out of shape choose stock which is 3/8 inch, or even 1/2 inch in thickness. Then, too, you should construct your bird-house so that water will not run inside when it rains.

If possible, first decide upon the kind of bird for which you wish to make a house. The few suggestions which are given for birdhouse designs may help you to determine the type of construction you will use. It is best to allow for cleaning through the side, the top or the bottom. Keep in mind that the size of your bird-house will depend upon whether you are making it for one family or for several families. In the latter case, partitions, and sometimes an additional floor, will be needed to separate them.

After you have decided these matters it is more satisfactory to make a working sketch on which you should place the exact dimensions of each piece of wood to be used. Next, select your wood, which should be over 1/4 inch in thickness, for the reason mentioned, and shape each part to the desired size. Before making the entrance hole as shown, note, from the suggestions already given, the exact size of the opening which has been found most satisfactory for your favorite bird. For example, the opening for a house wren should be inch in diameter. This opening should be placed quite near the roof so that the bird may have ample room to make its nest. To give proper ventilation you will need to make even smaller holes above the entrance and near the roof. Do not forget these ventilation holes. If they are not provided your feathered guests may not desire to remain in their othei-wise perfectly comfortable quarters.

Regardless of whether you use brads, nails or screws, it is more satisfactory to set or countersink these deep enough that the heads may be covered with putty. Now you are ready to preserve your bird-house and improve its appearance with paint. Having decided about where you will locate it, you will be able to decide if green, brown or another color will harmonize best with the surroundings. When the paint is dry, securely fasten the bird-house to a tree or building, being careful not to have the entrance face the prevailing winds. The house should be placed out of the cat’s reach.

The designs that we show in the above illustration are very simple. Any bright boy may make these bird-houses out of odds and ends of wood, using a few simple tools like those which we describe in our article on carpentry. Boys who have had experience in carpentry may be able to work out more elaborate designs of their own.

Tire manufacturers use three methods of testing their products. They are: first, by the use of their own fleets of cars which they call “test fleets”; second, by means of information supplied by taxicab companies and other companies making daily use of large numbers of automobiles; and third, by specially devised machines.

A manufacturer’s test fleet is very advantageous because it may be sent to different parts of the country to test out the actual wearing qualities of tires under varying conditions, and to determine the sizes and types of tires that are best adapted to different localities.

The manufacturers of tires often make contracts with taxicab companies to keep a careful record of the performance of the tires used, and in this way important information is secured as to the particular sizes and types of tires which are successful. Information secured by this method, tests out tires for heavy traffic.

The third way of testing the tires, by special testing machines, gives specific information that can not be secured by the first two methods. There are many problems relating to speed, liability to blowouts and tensile strength of the fabric and the like, which must be solved in this way.

Testing tires has become more important than ever since the Japanese conquests in the Malayan Peninsula and the East Indies cut off our supplies of rubber from the Far East. Various kinds of synthetic rubber and combinations of synthetic and natural rubber have been tried. We must test them to see exactly how they will serve.

This is a question which can be answered in a way, yet can not be really answered at all. We know that there is a certain well- marked part of the surface of the brain which is the real seat of the sense of taste. From, or to, this place there run at least four, perhaps more, sets of nerves, the ends of which are in the “taste bulbs” of the tongue and part of the throat. One set of these nerves, when it is excited, arouses in the brain the feeling which we call a sweet taste, and the thing which specially excites this particular set of nerves is sugar.

But no one has the least idea why sugar should not taste salt, or why salt should not taste sweet or bitter; nor is there any imaginable way of describing a sweet, a salt, or, bitter or acid taste to anyone who does not know these tastes. We can not even know that other people taste sugar or anything else just as we do.

Sugar is really a name for a closely related group of chemical substances all of which are sweet-tasting, though some are less so than others - for instance, milk sugar. But saccharin, which some people use instead of sugar, is utterly different from sugar chemically, yet it is sweeter than any sugar.

Clorox is best known for making your whites, white again. Yep, they make bleach which also happens to be one of the world’s most cost effective sanitizers.

If you want a one-stop source of laundry tips and advice for removing stains, using bleach and laundry basics the drlaundry blog can set you up. The site is sponsored by Clorox and there are a lot of Clorox products involved in the solutions they talk about on the site. But it is a good site with lots of great tips and probably a few tidbits of info you didn’t know.

Harold Baker

Harold Baker is the Senior Scientist for Clorox’s Laundry Care Product Development. He’s been fighting stains and developing laundry products for 30 years. I guess it’s safe to say he knows what he’s talking about. He sees every stain as a challenge to be met and conquered, so it’s no doubt he’s come to be known as Doctor Laundry.

Bleach

If you skip on over to Clorox’s website you’ll find a great little solutions guide that will help you tackle all sorts of things that Dr Laundry doesn’t cover. It especially gives you a great insight into the many uses of bleach.

Bleach is cheap, simple and effective. That’s why it’s used by so many people and organizations for so many different things. Here’s a short list of some sanitizing jobs that bleach (aka Chlorine) is used for:

• General purpose surface sanitizing. Germs bad. Bleach kill. Bye bye.
• Purifying drinking water. Especially in third world nations or in industrial applications. But if you’re having a serious issue with your drinking water in a crisis situation, 6 to 8 drops of unscented bleach per gallon will disinfect it and kill all the bacteria. Add your drops, wait 30 minutes and you should be good to go. You can leave the bottle open for a half hour afterwards or tumble the water between two containers a dozen times to get rid of any residual chlorine taste.
• Killing mold. Mold can cause serious respiratory problems and can be a huge problem after flooding or in damp climates. Bleach kills mold as well as bacteria.

Snow, lights, tree decorations, ribbons and bows. All very pretty. After-Christmas bills. Not so pretty.

Every season, many people tend to get in a little over their heads thanks to the magic of the credit card combined with the magic of holiday cheer. Hey, it’s a time for giving. But you don’t want to keep giving interest payments to your credit card company for the next six months afterwards.

Not to worry. There are a few rules you can take advantage of that will help out immensely. These are the 5 rules for managing your after-Christmas bills:

1. Put some thought into the gifts you buy. Time equals money. It’s easy to buy stuff that’s hot, cool, trendy and so on. It’s also usually more expensive. It’s supposed to be the thought that counts. A little thought will help you find the perfect gift and save you a few dollars at the same time. Besides, all the latest IT stuff on the shelves is usually follow-the-crowd and impersonal anyway.
2. Make a budget. If you’re strapped for cash, then make up a list of people you have to buy gifts for and assign a budget for each person. If you go over budget on one gift, try to trim the budget on another gift. Expand your budget to include whatever decoratons, holiday festivities, and however many tons of chocolate you also plan on buying. Then expand your budget some more and make sure your Christmas budget fits into your personal budget. Save all your receipts.
3. Get involved with your budget. The biggest mistake is to not look at how much you’re spending. There are people who earn thirty dollars a day that manage to save for the future, and there are those who earn thirty dollars a minute who can’t save a dime. The numbers might be really scary. Face the fear and keep track of all your earnings and your expenses. People always struggle because they don’t want to think about the numbers. Poor people that win the lottery become poor again because they don’t want to think about at the numbers. Be aware. Look at your budget. Plan ahead. Make sacrifices. Creating wealth is a mindset, and so is wasting it.
4. Lower your interest payments. Department store credit cards charge the highest interest rates. Next are regular credit cards like Visa, Mastercard and Amex. The break-your-legs rates that payday loans charge are nothing but pure evil. There are other options, and some great ones. You can sign up for a new credit card. Many banks have offers that allow you to transfer the balances of other credit cards to their card and charge you no interest for a certain amount of time. Look at these offers very carefully. Figure out if you can pay off the entire balance before interest charges start and look at what the rate will be once the interest charges do start. Another option is to get a line of credit from your bank and use it to pay off your credit cards. Often, you can get an LOC that only charges interest at prime plus 1 or 2%. If your bank won’t give it to you, talk to some other banks - they just might want your business.
5. Get great advice. If you’re not a financial guru, then find one. Talk to your wealthy friends or family members and tell them you need help figuring out the best way to attack your bills and win. Read some financial books. Surf the internet to find great advice from respected money gurus. If you get a variety of opinions from different sources, you can use them to form your own perfect plan af attack.

It happens every year. There are always a handful of families who lose everything due to a fire caused by Christmas lights. Here are some tips for buying and stringing up your lights with safety in mind.

Big light displays are nice, but all those Christmas lights add to the strain on the energy infrastructure so be thoughtful and conservative with your energy use.

• Use outdoor lights outdoors and indoor lights indoors.
• Buy a reputable brand and make sure the package is marked with UL or CSA certification. This means the lights have been manufactured according to proper electrical specifications that have been checked by an independent organization.
• Throw the lights away if the cord is frayed, has cracks in the insulation, or is badly kinked.
• Replace burnt out and broken bulbs as soon as possible. Burnt bulbs put more load on the remaining bulbs and can cause them to overheat.
• Keep your lights away from any flamable materials like curtains.
• Be careful not to puncture the insulation with nails, screws, pins or sharp edges or corners.
• All the bulbs should be sticking straight out away from the wiring. Don’t let them rest on the wiring where they could burn through it.
• Artificial trees should be made from fire resistant materials.
• Real trees need to be watered everyday or they can get very dry and become a serious fire hazard. It’s good to keep the temperature around a real tree lower because heat saps moisture away from the tree. Don’t set your tree up next to heating vents or other heat sources. If there are a lot of needles falling from the tree then it’s gotten too dry and has become a fire hazard. This happens especially when it’s been cut too soon and set up for too long.
• If you are running light strings or extension cords out a window or doorway then make sure it can’t be closed to damage the cord.
• Always plug your lights into a powerbar with it’s own breaker. Never plug more than three strings of lights into each other, into the same wall socket, or different wall sockets that are on the same breaker, especially in older houses where the wiring could be old. Check the light wires once in a while and make sure thay aren’t warm at all. If they are, the circuit is overloaded.
• Turn the lights off when unattended, especially if you have pets or small children. Turn them off before you go to bed - you won’t see them anyway.
• Small miniature bulbs are safer than the old fashioned large bulbs. They use the least electricity, and generate the least heat. They’ll save you a couple bucks on the electrical bill too.
• Check all your smoke detectors and buy that home fire extinguisher you’ve been thinking about.
• Have a family fire drill. Write down the plan and practice it.
• Don’t put candles on your tree, or near your tree, or anywhere near anything remotely flamable.

And most important, have a safe and wonderful holiday!