Using electricity smartly can help you reduce your utility bills effectively. Not just that, smart use of energy is also a great to keep the planet clean and green. Households are now laden with appliances to make life easier; saving on electricity does not mean not using these appliances at all but using them smartly to save energy. Here are some ways you can use your electronic items and save up to 40 percent on your utility bills. Smart switches Getting smart switches that have motion sensors are a great way to ensure that you don’t leave the lights on when not needed. Smart switches have motion sensors that detect movements and turn the lights on and off automatically. Getting smart switches that need to be turned on manually are a preferred choice of many as it helps avoid the chances of the lights coming on with the slightest of movements during sleep time. Energy efficient appliances Buying appliances and refrigerators that have an energy star rating is yet another way to save money on your utility bills. Appliances with energy star ratings help cut the bills by 20 to 30 percent. If you are planning on getting any new appliances and refrigerators, then make sure you look for models with an energy star rating. And if you have old appliances without an energy star rating, scrap the models instead of reselling to contribute towards keeping the environment cleaner in your way. Regular maintenance of air conditioners Air conditioners can perform well regarding energy efficiency if they are in the best condition. Service your air conditioning units to keep them performing well at all times and reduce your utility bills. You may even make sure that the maintenance affects your air conditioning system well by ensuring that their units are not placed in spots where there may be direct sunlight. Direct sunlight hampers the efficient performance of an air conditioner. Regularly cleaned dryers Your dryers cannot perform efficiently if there is any lint that may be stuck in its ducts. This results in the dryer using more energy and hence, increasing your utility bills. Try to clean the ducts as often as you can to ensure that these are lint free. There are brushes available that help you achieve this easily. Your choice of the kind of dryer will also affect your utility bills. A gas dryer is more energy efficient as compared to an electric one. Smart meters Getting smart meters help you reduce your electricity bills as these meters lets you track the amount of power the household is using. These meters also help in avoiding blackouts and overloaded grids. Smart meters allow its users to shut off the appliances in the home for fixed intervals as per the family’s convenience. Refrigerator maintenance Kitchen appliances and refrigerators contribute to a good chunk of the electricity bill. Maintaining your refrigerator and always keeping it in the best condition helps in avoiding consumption of unnecessary power that may be required to make it run efficiently. One of the ways to maintain your refrigerator to keep your utility bills low is by cleaning the coils once or twice a year. Clean coils help you to improve the refrigerator’s efficiency by as much as 50 percent. Other than that, ensuring that your refrigerator has a well-functioning door seal is also important to increase the energy efficiency of your refrigerator. Use these tips to save hundreds of dollars on your utility bills, and you can also contribute towards keeping the planet safer and cleaner.

While you are setting up your kid's study space in the house, ensure that you make the space comfortable and fun. This will encourage your child to inculcate good homework habits. So, you need to choose an appropriate kids' desk with adequate space and storage capacity. If your child knows that it is just for them, they will enjoy sitting down and studying there. There is a multitude of brands manufacturing kids' desks of a variety of styles. You can also purchase from online furniture and kids' accessories stores. If you are planning to buy one, keep the following tips in mind. Choose the appropriate size You may be tempted to use an adult desk for your kid. However, it is certainly wiser to choose a kid-sized desk for your child so that they can be comfortably seated. Comfort ensures better concentration and productivity. So, you must ensure that the desk is of the right height. There should be sufficient leg space for your child as well. The drawers should be well within reach. Buy a desk with storage It is important that you buy a kids' desk that ensures maximum convenience while studying. It's a good idea to buy a desk that comes with storage spaces like drawers. Besides fostering convenience, it will teach your kid to organize their study materials and accessories properly. There are desks that come with a display space as well. If your budget is a little higher, you can buy one of these so that your kid can display their art, craft, globe, and other decorative items. Buy a comfortable chair Buying only a kids' desk is not enough. The chair has to be just as comfortable. The chair must suit your kid's size and height as well as the height of the desk. Maintaining the correct posture while sitting is important. Your child's feet must touch the floor while they are seated on the chair. You can also purchase a chair with an adjustable height so that your child can use it for a long time. Check out brands like Toys”R”Us and Wayfair for the most comfortable and appealing kids' desks. You can avail of the best deals, discounts, and offers by shopping online. Compare the products and the prices before making the purchase. While choosing one, make sure you have your kid in the decision-making process.

Bug bites can be harmless but some of them can be infectious and pass on many diseases through the blood. Getting bitten by an insect can be a weird experience, especially when you're not aware of it and you see a patch of skin becoming red or blue. By identifying insect bites, you can be assured whether they are really harmless or need medication. Let's look at the different types of bug bites: Mosquito Bites Mosquito bites are characterized by circular or round skin bumps with an itchy red or pink hue. Parasite-infected mosquito bites can cause malaria and other diseases that can cause short-term flu or illness. Symptoms of parasitic mosquito bites are nausea, fever, vomiting, headache, and muscle aches. These can last for anywhere between 10 days to 4 weeks and are often treatable. Bed Bug Bites These form rows of red dots or marks on your skin and are usually located near the neck, face, or hands. Bed bug bites can't be felt since they are delicate and are characterized by itching following by raised red skin bumps. Allergic reactions to the skin may occur and may require a visit to the dermatology department. Identifying insect bites like bed bug bites can help you take preventive measures while sleeping. They do not carry any disease. Spider Bites You can learn to identify insect bites such as spider bites by red inflamed skin near the affected area followed by pain. These are not poisonous; however, if you have problems breathing, experience chest pain or have difficulty in swallowing food and liquids, then it's time to get checked. Insect bites from spiders like the black widow and brown recluse require immediate medical care and are characterized by puncture wounds on the skin. These require emergency medical attention. Learning the ways to identify insect bites listed above can help you avoid pain and also know the difference between a harmless bite versus something that requires instant atention. Wearing proper clothing or spraying your clothes with a bit of organic bug repellent may serve as effective countermeasures for future bug bites.

4 Best Cell Phone Family Plans

There are several cell phone plans which are available for families that offer you the most features, longer minutes, etc. for the lowest monthly prices. You need to find out the suitable and most perfect family plan that you can avail. Usually, family cell phone plans provide best value for a single household or family. You can get several minutes to share on a family plan, and other options like calling, chatting, and data, but you need to make sure which one you want to go for.

MintSIM

MintSIM offers minimum of about 3-12 months of service over T-Mobile's network at a single glance by providing good discounts. Mints generally may increase up to $42 per month in case you make payment for 1 year which gives you a 10GB per month data. There are even 3 and 6 months plans available. MintSIM provides both limited discounts as well as standard and high rates.

While, there is even a 12-month pack which offers an unlimited talk, chat, as well as offers 2GB of data which is available at $199, or within $16.58 per month. Even you can get 5GB and 10GB data plans.

Consumer Cellular

Consumer Cellular offers an easy-to-use excellent customer service, which usually executes over the AT&T network. While the cost is low, and the sweet-spot plan seems to be more than 250 minutes, which arrives with 300 text chats, and data of approximately 30MB for about $17.50 per month.

Republic Wireless

Republic Wireless has become more popular for its customer service. The best deal which is offered by this Republic Wireless is mostly $20 plan, which includes unlimited calling, as well as text, and 1GB of data that comes on the Sprint or T-Mobile networks.Suppose you require quality voice with a very good text coverage,you can find a very little or no data.

With just $15 a month, you can find the most affordable way to get unlimited voice and texts, which includes 1 GB of data on Sprint's and T-Mobile's networks.

Ultra-Mobile

Ultra-Mobile is found to be an alternative solution for international callers who usually prefer T-Mobile's network. It'actually a $29 plan which comes with a pack of 1GB of LTE data, as well as 1GB of HSPA+ data, and even it comes with the unlimited calls to 60 different countries. If you are one among the heavy data users who makes international calls, you can go for the excellent 10GB plan for about $45 and a 20GB plan for about $54.

You have got a pet cat that you love more than anything. But when it comes to cleaning its litter, you probably freak out every single time. You can be rescued from this tiring and irritating job simply by using a self- cleaning litter box. This will save you from the tedious job while giving your cat a healthy environment. Following are some benefits that you will get to enjoy if you use a self-cleaning litter box: If you are using a traditional litter box then you must be putting a lot of effort and time into it. The time you waste to clean the poop may be spent by doing some other interesting job. The self-cleaning litter box, as its name suggests, cleans itself without your interference. This saves your time, now you will get more time to play with your pet as well. The self-cleaning litter boxes have patented litter shifting technology. This helps to separate the clean litter from the clumped and soiled litter. This leaves a clean litter bed for your cat after every use. You need not worry about scooping manually ever again. You just have to pick up the scoop one last time for throwing it away into the dustbin. The cleaning of the litter box is also very easy. After separating the litter, it is stored into a hidden waste chamber under the globe. When the chamber is full it indicates to clean it. All you have to do is take out the drawer and keep a new disposable bag there. It is simply like cleaning your kitchen garbage. If you have many cats and if you are troubled with multiple litter boxes then you are simply wasting your time and money. Throw them away and buy a self-cleaning litter box. It has a large opening and litter bed area which is suitable for some large breeds also. The litter box chamber, where the waste is stored, is a covered place preventing the odor from spreading across the house. The prompt cleaning process prevents the bad smell from escaping after a few moments and they use a carbon filter in the waste drawer specially to prevent the nasty smell of the poop. Your cat may behave disobediently if stuck with a soiled litter box. The self-cleaning litter box cleans itself promptly after every use. This makes your cat as well as you happy. These self-cleaning litter boxes, though not very cost effective, come with guaranteed service. This means you do not need to change your litter box over and over again.

Want to buy a new fridge? Is that old microwave beginning to give trouble? Well, wait for the right time and you could get huge discounts on anything from kitchen appliances, refrigerators, dishwashers, cooking appliances, electronic items, mobile phones. Here are some important dates around the year that are a good time to buy appliances on sale.

Memorial Day

Decoration Day or Memorial Day is an occasion to pay tribute to those who died while serving in the armed forces. The holiday is observed every year on the last Monday of May. Top brands have been known to offer heavy discounts around Memorial Day to war veterans and current armed forces personnel in particular. Gift cards and prepaid debit cards have pulled the price of appliances on sale to unbelievable levels at this time of the year.

Fourth of July

There is a major wave of sales from all quarters around Fourth of July. Local stores, major supermarkets, apparel brands, electronics stores, home improvement or furniture offer exciting offers and be certain that everyone is vying for attention by announcing competitive offers. Flat-off offers, sale, gift cards, and combo-deals are offered on appliances. Savings can go up to hundreds of dollars if you are making a big purchase. For these reasons, it is an excellent idea to buy sale appliances around this time of the year. Some Fourth of July offers also beat Black Friday offers. Plan your purchases in advance and narrow down on the appliances you want to buy during the sale because these sale appliances tend to go off the shelf or store at lightning speed.

Labor Day

Labor Day weekend is associated with the end of summer. This is the time to indulge in clearance sales. While summer clothing and patio furniture is usually priced down, many stores have also begun to offer large discounts and sale on electronics and kitchen appliances. One can land heavy discounts, combo offers, free shipping, gift cards for future use of appliances on sale on Labor Day.

Veterans Day

Some stores offer exclusive offers for armed forces personnel. This is also an excellent opportunity buy. However, keep in mind that prices of appliances on sale generally take a steeper dip after a few weeks, for the annual shopping frenzy that is Black Friday.

Black Friday

If there could be a phenomenal discount giant, it would be named Black Friday. Prices of appliances on sale tend to be at their lowest on this day. There is a mad rush by sale hunters and for the right reasons. Anything that you can think of is likely to be sold at a marked down price this day. For example, in 2017, Best Buy offered the high-end LG 60" 4K Smart TV for just around $600, a whopping $400 off the list price. Google's home voice-enabled speaker was available for around $80 at many retailers. That's just about $50 off. However, if you are planning to buy from a store, factor in large crowds and serpentine queues at the cash counter. Snap online sales for limited periods are also worth watching out for on Black Friday.

Helpful tips to save big

These are some of the great mega sales events of the year. Having said that, here are some tips and strategies to get the best appliances for the best deal during the sale period. First, compare the prices. The price of the same products will vary from store to store, website to website during all the major holidays. Careful comparison and quick decision-making will help you buy something on your wish list before someone else grabs the chance. Second, if you are aiming to save big, check the cost of appliances and begin saving for it well in advance. There might be high-end refrigerators, television sets of music systems for flat half the rate or less, but what if you don’t have enough money on hand to take advantage of those savings. Smart shopping strategies will help you make the most of on-going offers on appliances.