I Didn't Know That - Burns

Another need to know home remedy.

First-Degree Burn Remedy - Best

The best home ready for a first-degree burn, which is the least dangerous and only burn you should treat without a doctor, is to immediately bathe the affected area with cold - not ice cold - water.  Then cover the burn with loose gauze and take an over-the-counter pain reliever, like aspirin or ibuprofin, according to the Mayo Clinic.

First-Degree Burn Remedy - Worse

Never put ice or butter on a burn.  Ice can further damage already sensitive skin tissue, and the grease found in butter prevents heat from leaving the skin, which can cause more damage, according to the Dermatology Clinic at the University of Arkansas for Medical Science.

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Dos and Don'ts if You've Been in an Accident

With the winter months coming many of us get the ice, snow and rain to deal with when traveling.  Along with these come a greater chance for road accidents.  Hopefully none of us will be involved in one but just in case I thought I would share some words of wisdom from my Nationwide Agent Tim.

Remember these important driver “don’ts.” When you aren’t able to avoid an accident, the next best thing is to make sure you handle the situation the right way. So if you find yourself in the middle of a fender bender or something potentially more serious, here are six practices you should definitely avoid:

Leaving the involved vehicles on the road. With traffic attempting to move around the accident scene, your first priority is to pull your vehicle off to the side of the road at a safe distance from traffic. Then turn on your hazard lights before exiting your car, and approach the other driver in a non-threatening manner. “If one or more vehicles are disabled, don’t try to move them,” says Bill Windsor, associate vice president of consumer safety for Nationwide. “If the hazard lights are operating, turn them on. Use flares too if you have them. Then stay a very safe distance away from the traffic.”

Losing your cool. Even if the other driver was clearly at fault, do not make accusations or otherwise invite confrontation. “Instead, ask if the other person is OK to help defuse any tension,” Windsor says. “Take deep breaths if you feel anger building.”

Not contacting the police immediately. You must contact police, no matter how minor the situation. “Average citizens should not act as judges with regard to the severity of an incident,” Windsor says. “That’s for police to determine. In addition, you need an official police report to document what exactly happened.”

Not contacting Nationwide (your own insurance company). Your insurance agent should always be called after you’ve exchanged the following information with the other driver: name, address, phone number, insurance company name/policy number, license plate number/state, name of the vehicle owner and car year/make/model/color. The Nationwide app makes it easy (see below). Also, record details about the incident, such as the location, the time of the crash and a summary of how it happened. Take pictures of the damage done to your vehicle.

Accepting cash to “keep it quiet.” Some drivers—if they’re at fault and face possible legal and/or insurance issues because of their record—might offer what looks like a sufficient amount of cash to “fix the problem without contacting police or insurance companies.” This is a bad idea. “Even if it doesn’t look like it will cost that much to fix your vehicle,” Windsor says, “you have no way of knowing how expensive it may actually get. There’s also damage that you can’t see. Contacting police and Nationwide is absolutely essential.”

Being unprepared. Never get in a car without a fully-charged cellphone, a first-aid kit and emergency contact information.

Sell By; Use By; Best By - What they really mean

I had a friend/neighbor ask me about a box of cereal that had a sell by date of October 30 and it was not October 31.  She wanted to know if she should pitch it or not.  This is what I found through my research. 

Did you ever throw out a dozen eggs just because the carton said they were a week past the expiration date? Have you tossed a box of uneaten onion soup mix for the same reason? Chucked an outdated can of corn?

Then, like almost 90 percent of Americans, you have thrown away your food unnecessarily—and your money, too. According to a new study from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic, most expiration dates are meaningless and confusing for consumers. Worst of all, they cause us to get rid of food that would be perfectly acceptable to eat—and which would not cause us any harm.

“There is a lot of confusion around expiration dates, and we think they are a significant contributor to the needless wasting of food,” says Dana Gunders, staff scientist in the food and agricultural program of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC.) She estimates that most households throw out between $275 and $400 worth of food every year. And it’s not just a problem in the United States.
“A study in the U.K. found that about 20 percent of food thrown out in households is because of this confusion or misinterpretation of the expiration date,” she says. The report urges the food industry and the government to create a clearer, user-friendlier food-dating system to help consumers. Their recommendations include eliminating expiration dates altogether.

In the meantime, how can you safeguard your family’s health while at the same time avoid throwing out perfectly good food? Here are some things to consider:

1. Contamination versus spoilage: There is a difference between the two. Yes, some foods will go bad if they are left uneaten for too long. But the likelihood is very low that an egg that is kept in the refrigerator for five weeks past its expiration date will be contaminated. If the food is well past the date stamped on it, Gunders says, before throwing it away, at least open it, sniff it, and taste it. If all of those things seem right, then go ahead and eat it. Exceptions: meat, poultry, and prepackaged perishable foods like sandwiches and salads. These are health risks.
But know that most foods won’t make you sick because they were on the shelf too long. “When you hear about outbreaks of E.Coli or salmonella, that’s usually because of a pathogen that got on the food early in production. That’s a different situation than milk that goes through a natural process of decay. Your milk will smell or taste bad long before it will make you sick,” Gunders adds.

2. Temperature matters more than dates: After shopping, take your food home promptly and put it away immediately. “The temperature of food is more relevant than its age,” Gunders says. “If you leave something in a hot car for a few hours, it allows the growth of bacteria and then it becomes unsafe to eat.”

Know the definitions of labels:

• “Sell by”: When you see that date stamped on your food, it’s intended to help the store know when to remove it from the shelves, so that the manufacturer can measure how quickly their products leave the shelves. “When the product says ‘sell by,’ I want to say you can almost ignore that. It’s meant for the grocery store,” Gunders says. “It absolutely does not mean that the product is unsafe and nine out of 10 people are throwing product away based on that date.” The Harvard/NRDC report recommends that the date somehow be hidden from consumers because it doesn’t help us to eat fresher food.
• “Use by” and “Best by”: These dates are put on products by their manufacturers but surprisingly, they are not warnings about when the food will go “bad;” rather, they are a suggestion of when the food is at its peak quality. But Gunders says,  “According to our experts, 80 percent of the dates you see on products are guesses” about when the food will taste best. “It’s just a suggestion for the product’s peak quality, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t good after that date. There is no legal guidance involved in coming up with this date,” she says. “If everyone understood that these dates are just guesses, everyone would be taking them with a much larger grain of salt,” she added.

Gunders says you should be vigilant about following the freshness dates on prepackaged, ready-to-eat foods, such as a sandwich or salad with meat on it. If these foods hang around too long, they can become covered with a bacteria called listeria which actually multiplies in the refrigerator.

Keep Your Car Safe From Thieves

My Nationwide agent sent this and I felt it needed to be shared.  I'm classifying this as food related because we all shop for groceries and if you're like me, I simply don't pay attention to my surroundings and many times what I have visibly showing within my car.  This has made me more aware of how easily a car can be stolen and broken into.

“One of the worst feelings in the world is to get back to your car and see your window broken and some of your possessions gone,” says Bill Windsor, associate vice president of consumer safety for Nationwide. The fact is, it’s far too easy to become a victim of a vehicle break-in: Every year, there are about 1.85 million such incidents, with more than $1.2 billion in personal items and accessories stolen from cars.¹ “Fortunately,” says Windsor, “there are a number of things you can do to reduce the chances of a break in.”

Protect your property by taking the following steps to avoid a break-in:

Avoid eye appeal. Criminals scout for opportunities, looking for purses, computer bags, smartphones, iPods, etc. that can be seen from the window of a vehicle. Make sure these valuables are not visible. And take the car keys with you on your way out. These tips may seem obvious, but sometimes when drivers are rushing or distracted, common sense can falter. Two out of every five people don’t hide their valuables in vehicles. One-quarter leaves a wallet or purse inside, and one-half display mail in their car.² (If either of these items were swiped, not only would there be property loss, but also potential identity theft.)

Leave no trace. Even if drivers remember to stash electronic devices, they too often forget about the telltale accessories that tip off intruders, like power plugs, iPod adapters and navigation-system windshield suction-cup mounts. Place these giveaways out of sight, too.

Hide it before you drive. Here’s what law authorities say about thieves: They stake out retail parking lots and look for shoppers who are placing items in trunks. Although it’s advisable to load personal items (such as computer bags or packages) in the trunk as a precautionary measure, it’s best to do so before you leave your home for the store, so you don’t tip your hand.

Stay visible. Although you don’t want the vehicle’s interior to attract attention, you need to increase the profile of your actual ride. If you don’t have a garage, park the car in a well-lit part of the street that has lots of traffic. Likewise, if you’re shopping, park in a highly visible location.

Turn it off. One-third of motorists admit they’ve kept an unoccupied automobile running, either to heat it up during the cold months or while running a quick errand. That’s not only inviting a break-in, it’s a perfect setup for outright car theft. More than 720,000 vehicles were stolen in 2011, according to the most recently made available annual data from the FBI data.³ Turn off your car and lock your doors and windows each and every time you exit your car.

Choose your next car with safety in mind. “Before buying a car, visit the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety and check the list of favorite cars that thieves like to steal,” says Windsor. Want another deterrent? “Many cars today have factory-installed auto-theft devices; look for these when buying a car,” adds Windsor. “These devices will discourage break-ins and can earn you a lower insurance premium.”

Kid Safety

Hotel Key Cards - Safety Tips

Did you know this?  I sure didn't. Now we both know.


 

Grab a refrigerator magnet on your way out the door, we all have tons of them!

 
Always take a small magnet on your  vacation, they come in handy at the end of it.
This is pretty good info. Never even thought about key cards containing anything other than an access code for the room! 

HOTEL KEY CARDS

 

Ever wonder what is on your magnetic key card? 
Answer:
a.  Customer's name
b.  Customer's partial home address
c.  Hotel room number
d.  Check-in date and out dates
e. Customer's credit card number and expiration date! 
When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information is there for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner.  An employee can take a hand full of cards home and using a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense. 
Simply put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee  reissues the card to the next hotel guest.  At that time, the new guest's information is electronically 'overwritten' on the card and the previous guest's information is erased in the overwriting process. 

But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a  drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT! 

The bottom line is: Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them.  NEVER leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and NEVER turn them into the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card (it's illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving a lot of  valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader. 

For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket. Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip! 

If you have a small magnet, pass it across the magnetic strip several times. Then try it in the door, it will not work. It erases everything on the card. 

Information courtesy of:  Metropolitan Police Service.

Winter Tip

Sent to me by a friend and believe me I plan on giving this a try this year.  I know we don’t get much snow/ice here in NC but when we do it’s a pain in the rump to remove from my car windows.  And when it’s ice, I end up letting the car run with the heater on full force in hopes that it will clear the windows faster.  With the price of gas, this could turn out to be a real money saver.  I also intend to try this hoping it will also keep the frost off my car windows.

“I had several old, faded, plastic tablecloths that I had not thrown out (because I figured there must be a use for them). You just put it across your windshield, covering wiper blades so they don't freeze. Open one front door and put it inside the car; and then stretch it and do the same on the other side.  This has saved soooo much time trying to get the snow and ice off the windshields you wouldn't believe and the best part is it is FREE. I just shake off snow, fold the tablecloth and leave it in the car - replacing it on the windshield when I get home.”

If any of you have tried this in the past, please leave a comment to let us know how it worked for you.  Thanks - Martha

 

A Good Idea

A friend sent this to me and it's such a great idea that I decided to share.  Even if you've read this before, it's a good reminder.

Put your car keys beside your bed at night.

Tell your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your parents, your Dr's office, the check-out girl at the market, everyone you run across. Put your car keys beside your bed at night.

If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies.

This tip came from a neighborhood watch coordinator. Next time you come home for the night and you start to put your keys away, think of this: It's a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It works if you park in your driveway or garage.

If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break into your house, odds are the burglar/rapist won't stick around. After a few seconds, all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough the criminal won't want that. And remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there. This is something that should really be shared with everyone. Maybe it could save a life or a sexual abuse crime.

P.S. I am sending this to everyone I know because I think it is fantastic. Would also be useful for any emergency, such as a heart attack, where you can't reach a phone. My Mom has suggested to my Dad that he carry his car keys with him in case he falls outside and she doesn't hear him. He can activate the car alarm and then she'll know there's a problem.


(This is something I wish I had done when I fell and broke my foot.  I live in a condo and was about 2 units down from my own but I couldn't walk there due to the break.  I yelled for someone to help me but no one heard me.  I ended up dragging myself to my own unit to get help.  It would have been nice if I had taken my keys.)

Please pass this on even IF you've read it before. It's a reminder.