Here are 5 things you should know.
1. It is totally fine to want a quiet, simple life of stability. You do not have to strive to change the world; you are not selfish for that. In fact, putting yourself first is noble in itself.
It’s okay if you want to just read a book on the weekends or play video games or go on hikes. it’s okay to just live. I know that sometimes we think about all of the grand ways we can change the world and we get down on ourselves when we feel like we don’t live up to our own standards, but it is absolutely okay to let yourself breathe and realize that you don’t HAVE to change the world – it’s okay to focus on yourself.
2. It is highly unethical for someone to appraise an item for you and then make an offer to buy it. They are likely attempting to swindle you out of a lot of money. If that happens, be sure to go get an appraisal from someone else.
Whether it’s Jewelry, Art, Property, or whatever it may be, it is unethical for someone to give you an appraisal and then immediately offer to buy it from you. That’s a giant red flag that you should go to someone else for an appraisal, perhaps even getting multiple appraisals from different unrelated sources.
They could be giving you a knowingly very low appraisal so they can sell it themselves and make a lot of money off of you. For example, You bring in your Grandpa’s old Gold Watch to get appraised, the appraiser appraises the item for $1,200, knowing it’s worth closer to $10,000. You feel pretty good about having $1,200 in your pocket, but you just got swindled out of $8,800. You poor sap. What would your Grandpa think of you? He’d probably say “You damn fool! That was a Rolex! You just got flimflammed!”…or something along those lines.
For really expensive items, it’s a good idea to get multiple appraisals anyways, but if any appraiser turns around and makes an offer, you should run in the opposite direction. It’s also easier than ever to research items you own that may be of value, thanks to the Internet. By doing 20 mins to an hour of research online, you could find out everything you need to know about any potentially valuable item you may have and get a rough estimate of its worth. You may also not find any info on the item you are looking for, but it’s worth try.
Shout out to Antiques Roadshow who often educates viewers on this unethical practice of appraising something and then making an offer on it.
3. If you break through ice look for a dark spot.
Might save your life to know that the ice above you covering the water appears white from underneath, and the hole you broke through looks dark. So, look for a dark spot when swimming up.
Once you found it, turn your back to the ledge, put your elbows over the ledge and make swimming movements with your legs, as if you were swimming on your back. Like this, you should be able to slide over the edge on top of the ice. Keep lying on your back, pushing yourself away from the place you broke through, then turn on your belly and crawl or roll to safety, without using knees or elbows.
https://www.badesikkerhed.dk/en/adults/ice-safety/
4. Maintaining food storage is a major help in keeping yourself above water in hard times.
Even if you are simply unemployed temporarily, having food storage will extend the life of your emergency fund because you can just draw from your pantry. This leaves the money you do have to help cover other expenses like for rent and vehicles for a longer period of time, which will give you more of a fighting chance if you end up experiencing long-term unemployment. You should think of your pantry as your own personal food bank, or as a physical type of savings account.
You don’t have to go get a huge pantry all at once, which can be prohibitively expensive. Start slow, and focus on shelf-stable staple food items. Make sure you are buying things you know you will eat, and make sure you rotate your stock by tracking expiration dates.
5. You can use laser pointers with cats, but you should NOT use them with dogs.
Dogs are much more tactile animals when compared to cats and they need something physical to play with, in order to properly understand it.
Using a laser pointer might seem like fun because it can exercise them without any work, but it is actually causing them anxiety and potential issues with fixation and adverse reactions to light and shadows.
Sources if you’re interested in reading more: #1 #2 #3
Here’s a website covering the pros/cons and how-to of using a laser pointer with cats.
If you have a dog that you feel like has been affected negatively by a laser pointer and want to help them, search “dog light fixation” online or on YouTube to learn how to help them get over it! Here’s a video to get you started: https://youtu.be/3XOLftiqKbM
