Home renovations need to be planned with care. Here are some strategies for planning a remodeling project that makes financial sense: Decide your primary objective. If resale is your biggest concern, a minor kitchen update may enhance resale opportunities more than adding a home office. Decide how to finance the renovation. Other than cash, there are three basic options: refinancing, home-equity loans and home-improvement loans. If you have little or no equity in your home, lenders are... [read more]

A woman ran a garden store that had been in the family for three generations. For as long as anyone could remember, the garden store’s business was always great and the owner and staff were happy and cheerful. People often said, “Who wouldn’t be happy with the kind of business they’re doing?” When anyone new came into the garden store, they’d notice that all the staff wore a big badge that read, Business Is Great! Everyone who saw the badge for the... [read more]

If you’re complaining to your friend or significant other about an unsatisfactory product or service, stop complaining to them – and put your complaint in writing.  It’s well worth your time:  At best you’ll get an appropriate response from the supplier or service provider and possibly help them correct a problem; at worst, you’ll have downloaded your negative thoughts to paper or email instead of carrying them around.  Here’s how to complain... [read more]

These days, most people have heard some form of the idea that “what we see can affect how we think.” But over a century ago, this was a new discovery. According to an article on the Observer website, in the early 1900’s gestalt psychologist Karl Duncker created an experiment known as the “Candle Problem.” Duncker led some test subjects to a table pressed up against a wall. The table held three items: a candle, a book of matches, and a box of tacks. He asked the... [read more]