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How to Recycle Old Kitchen Appliances and Fun Ways to Use Them in Decoration

Do you have a lot of old kitchen appliances that you want to get rid of? What about defective kitchen appliances that you want to throw away? Before you fill up those trash bins, do consider recycling your old kitchen appliances and even use them as decorations in your home. Want to know more? Below are some examples, ideas and fun ways for you to consider.

1. If you own an old plastic water container, you may want to convert it into an instant and unique aquarium! Clean the container very well and then fill it up with water fit for your pet gold fish and then buy plastic seaweeds and perhaps a plastic aquaman figurine from the pet store. A plastic water container aquarium can truly be a great conversation piece for your future home gatherings. Plus, just imagine the smile on your child’s face when he sees his pet fish inside the water dispenser! Naturally, you need to tell your child that he should not get drinking water from that container anymore. Better yet, seal the dispenser with translucent tape.

2. The pitcher-like part of your old blender can make a good table centerpiece or a vase. What you need to do is clean it very well, let it dry and then whip out your collection of poster paints. You can spruce up your old blender by painting it with abstract colors and designs. If you think stripes can complement the area where you intend to place your old blender, then come up with nice, clean stripes. Use your imagination! You can also ask your child to help you out by asking him to paint the handle.

3. Turn your old slow cooker into an instant “treat box.” Fill it up with sweets or any other treats such as candies, lollipops and mints. Wrap the slow cooker with brand new d?cor paper or Japanese paper and perhaps place a fancy sticker which you printed out from your own computer that says “treat box.” You can then place your new “treat box” in your living room. Your house guests will truly be surprised to see something as unique as this.

4. You can convert your defective rice cooker into a mini home for growing plants. Put soil in the aluminum container and then transfer a budding plant. You can then tend for the plant and let it grow. This is just good for the plant’s first few weeks, though. You need to transfer it again to a bigger pot especially when the roots start to grow.

5. If you own an old microwave oven and if your child has a diorama that he made for a school project, you can store that diorama inside the oven. It will be a fun way to preserve your child’s work and at the same time let others see it. Who knows – your child might even bring it to school on the next show-and-tell!

As you can see, what’s really important about recycling old kitchen appliances and then turning them into fancy decors is the fact that you can exercise your creativity and imagination to their fullest. Don’t hesitate to show your artistic side – it is only then that people see how unique your ideas can be.

How Can I Accept Credit Cards At My Mobile Business?

If you operate a mobile business and worry about taking credit card payments the old fashioned way, rest assured that a mobile merchant account can provide you with up-to-date technology that will give you the lowest retail rate and instant card feedback while in the field. You won’t have to worry that you might not learn that a customer’s credit card is rejected when you return to the office. Nor will you have to leave a statement and hope the customer remembers to send in a payment. Now you can apply for a mobile merchant account that will provide you with up-to-date wireless equipment that can provide confidence and security while you are processing payments on the road.

When you are ready to apply for a mobile merchant account, you will be happy to know that many companies can give you an answer the same day. As long as your company has a decent credit history and is able to pay monthly fees for account services, you should have no problem in getting approved for a merchant account. If you conduct business while on the road, for example, by delivering floral arrangements, making service calls, or providing transportation, you can collect credit card payments at the point of sale rather than waiting to send a bill or hoping the customer will have the correct amount of cash or pay with a check that won’t bounce. If you plan to attend a trade show, a conference, a convention, or a seminar where you will be selling products, you can take along a wireless credit card processor to make sure you get paid the same day. Wireless units come with or without printers. They will let you get the lower retail swiped rate, along with immediate authorization and sales confirmation, instead of paying the keyed-in rate if you call the credit card number into the office for processing.

Your mobile merchant account will help you save money and time. You can handle the credit card processing yourself instead of hiring accounting staff to send out bills and call for collections when checks bounce from the back. You can even get additional mobile equipment to support your business transactions while in transit, like a pager or an e-check processor. Most units are small and easy to transport in a vehicle of just about any size. They fit neatly on a table for indoor business purposes, too. No special training is required for operating them. Just read the instructions or talk to the account associate to learn how you can start accepting credit card payments quickly and easily.

The rates for utilizing a merchant account are not prohibitive. Plan to discuss the fees with your lender to be sure you understand the pricing for each type of service. Your credit card processor may be billed at so much per transaction, or you might be able to request a monthly percentage rate. Find out why so many business owners are using credit card processing equipment that can be obtained with the help of a mobile merchant account.

Know The Ins And Outs Of Prepaid Legal

A profitable opportunity is available when an individual pursues the prospect of generating a home business around the sale of prepaid legal services.   The opportunities may be profitable but many individuals have raised some very legitimate concerns in regards to selling prepaid legal services.   It is important to address the concerns that have been identified, although once addressed an individual will see the potential available with prepaid legal services.   Some of these concerns that will be addressed in this article reference the concern about the prepaid legal scam and about the opportunities available to make money with this service.

The legitimacy regarding prepaid legal services should be the first topic to be addressed.   Simply defined prepaid legal services represent a collection of experienced attorneys who are offering their services to any member of the prepaid legal services.   These attorneys are waiving their usual very high rates in exchange for a small monthly membership to the program.   

For a member of the prepaid legal services they now have access to experienced lawyers who are willing to assist you in your legal matters included in your monthly membership fee.   When the idea of prepaid legal services was first developed it met with great success which inspired criminals to corrupt the opportunities by creating a prepaid legal scam.   This prepaid legal scam made the same promises of a legitimate service at the same monthly rate but offered no real legal assistance.   These few incidents placed a negative opinion about prepaid legal services in the minds of many, helping to block the opportunities available with prepaid legal.   Time has passed and the prepaid legal scam has been forgotten, allowing legitimate businesses to once again offer these services.

The second concern regarding the money making opportunities available should be no concern at all.   The marketability of the prepaid legal plan is high since the product can appeal to any individual that you sell to.   Almost every person invests in prepaid health insurance even though they are not currently sick.   They do this so that when they do get sick or have an accident they have insurance to protect them from the incredibly high costs of the medical field.   Individuals should chose prepaid legal services for the same reasons of financial protection.   Individuals do not invest in a prepaid legal membership because they are in legal trouble now; they do it so that they will be protected in the future when legal concerns develop suddenly.   These memberships will help the individuals save themselves from the high costs that are related to legal services.

Individuals buy the prepaid legal services to protect themselves in the future although there are services that they can take advantage of without requiring an emergency.   If you are looking to buy a car or invest in a home property then contact an attorney to review your contracts and help you understand the legal jargon.   

On many occasions, individuals blindly sign the contracts that they cannot escape from simply because they made the decision to sign even though they did not completely understand the legal implications.   Let the lawyers with prepaid legal services be that support so that you are not trapped in a contract that is not beneficial to you.

I’m an insolvency practitioner and I’m here to help you

There is help available for business owners in dealing with a business crisis from people who are familiar with this type of situation and who possess the specific experience and skills needed. But there are differing types of help available so it is worth understanding who’s who in the world of CROs, IPs, IMs and other professionals you may encounter, some of whom work within your business and some of whom work simply as advisers.

A Chief Restructuring Officer or CRO, is a turnaround professional that management hire on a temporary basis to provide support and assistance.

A CRO’s job is firstly to help the business analyse its position, providing an experienced eye to look over how deep the crisis is, assess the options and make an informed judgement as to whether the business is salvageable.

CROs then move on to help to drive through the actions needed to deal with the situation, acting as a crisis manager to handle issues with the urgency, independence and sometimes ruthlessness required. CROs therefore need to be people who can cope with the challenges and difficulties that this implies in a professional way.

The CRO also brings to the business a body of specialist knowledge of relevant commercial and insolvency issues such as redundancy processes and wrongful trading, so helping to manage these risks.

A CRO brings their experience of dealing with not only a business in crisis, bit also their experience in keeping financial stakeholders such as banks on board supporting the turnaround. A CRO has the ability to talk to the bank and insolvency advisers their own language, so giving the business the best chance that it will receive funders’ support through its difficulties.

The help provided by a CRO is generally therefore extremely ‘hands on’ in nature. The contrast here is with the professional advisers such as the insolvency practitioner or the lawyer who, however close the relationship, do remain outside the business. The CRO sits on your side of the table at meetings and actively works on behalf of your business, often becoming part of your business by taking on the role and responsibilities of becoming a director to take charge and drive through change for the time needed to make the plan happen.

A CRO should ideally be formally accredited through the Institute for Turnaround as a turnaround professional, and may also be a member of the Turnaround Management Association. They often work alone but increasingly are operating as teams, often in conjunction with or organised through the firms who are also involved in supplying in specialists on a temporary basis known as interim managers to deal with particular functional aspects of the business (such as a temporary finance or production director) as may be required to turn the business’ performance around.

But CROs are not the only people that a business will need. As a turnaround affects all areas of the business, so the business tends to need assistance from a broad range of specialists.

If the business is in a severe crisis often formal insolvency advice will be needed at the outset by the directors from either lawyers or an insolvency practitioner (or ‘IP’) as to whether they are safe to continue trading the business. An IP will be able to advise on use of any of the business rescue procedures under the Insolvency Act such as a Company Voluntary Arrangement; will be able to help the directors in assessing the business’s position. They will also often have a strong working relationship with the bank and so may be able to to help gain bank support for a turnaround, as well as introducing or working with a turnaround professional.

Often there is a need to raise new or replacement finance to provide funds to deal with the initial crisis or to support the subsequent recovery and regrowth of the business. These funds will come from specialist asset financiers either directly or more usually through a broker who knows the market and is used to placing such business.

Legal advice is almost always required and the business will need a recovery specialist as a lead advisor who can call upon expertise within his or her firm across a wide range of areas such as insolvency and debt collection in the early stages; through key issues for restructuring a business such as employment and redundancy, as well as contractual disputes such as problem contracts; right through to corporate finance specialists if there is a need to raise new equity or arrange a sale of the business.

Interim Managers are often used as a flexible resource to meet the changing needs of a business during the different phases of a turnaround. A typical case might require significant assistance from an interim financial controller on tightening up management of its cash to survive an initial crisis. Then the business might need an operations specialist to address manufacturing issues, before then bringing in a marketing expert to provide a boost to regrowing sales, while the whole strategy is overseen by the CRO.