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PAGE 2 THE EXPONENT HOUSING GUIDE, MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 20182

Tips to pay o! student debt earlyTips to pay o! student debt early (517 words, US, UK, CAN)

Recent college graduates may be entering the job market with degrees in tow, but many also are leaving school with siz-able amounts of student loan debt. According to a 2017 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student loan debt rose for the eigh-teenth consecutive year, while Debt.org reports that student debt in the United States totaled $1.4 trillion in 2017. Canadian students are not faring much better than their American counterparts, owing an average of $28,000 a"er four years according to the Canadian Federa-

tion of Students.Student loan debt is a heavy burden that has short- and long-term a!ects on borrowers. Sizable student loan debts may a!ect young professionals ability to support themselves, while the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports that such debt has contributed to a decline in the housing market, as fewer college graduates can a!ord to buy homes while still in their 20s.#e notion of paying o! their student loans be-fore they reach maturity may seem implausible to some borrowers. But there are a handful of ways for adults with siz-able student debts to do just that.

% Make more fre-quent payments. Many homeowners pay their mortgages o! early by making bi-weekly payments. Doing so means they will make 26 half-payments, or 13 full payments, each year as opposed to the 12 full payments made by homeowners who pay on a monthly schedule. #e same approach can be applied to student loans. #at extra annual payment each year can gradually chip away at loan balances, helping borrowers pay loans o! before they reach maturity.% Prioritize paying o! high-interest loans. Many students $nance their educations by tak-ing out multiple loans.

If these loans come with di!erent interest rates, borrowers should pay o! the high-interest loans $rst to reduce the amount they e spend-ing on interest. Bor-rowers will still need to make minimum pay-ments on other loans,

but any extra money they intend to pay each month should go toward paying down the high-interest loan.% Re$nance loans. Many recent college graduates do not have lengthy credit histories, and some might be car-

rying low credit scores. Once such borrowers have shown that they can consistently make payments in full and on time, they can approach their lenders to re$-nance their loans in the hopes of getting a lower interest rate re%ective of

How to hang photos and artwork with easeHow to hang photos and artwork with ease (515 words, US, UK, CAN)

Personal touches turn a house into a home. Hanging pictures, whether they e per-sonal photographs or artwork, can really change the character of a room. Unfortunately, some people may not know the proper ways to display pictures on a wall. Design maven Martha Stewart advises

that the $rst step is to gather all of the pictures that are in consider-ation for hanging. #is will enable a person to see what is available and edit their selec-tion based on the space available, theme or color scheme. Having the artwork there enables a person to move it around like a puzzle until the placement feels just right.Next, plan on hanging artwork at 57 inches on center, according to the renovation experts

at Apartment #erapy. n center means the

middle of the photo-graph or painting will always be at 57 as this measurement represents the average human eye height. #is height is regularly used as a stan-dard in many galleries and museums. When the goal is to hang multiple pictures, treat the entire group-ing as a single unit. #is means creating the layout and $nding the center of the middle piece of the grouping. To make picture group-ing easier, use paper templates with arrows to indicate whether the artwork will be hung horizontally or vertical-ly. #ese templates can then be easily taped to the wall and rearranged until the grouping is ideal.#ere are no hard and fast rules concern-ing frames, meaning

they do not all have to match. But placing framed artwork side by side can give a person a feel for whether the images and the frames work together in the space. Some people like to use frames of similar colors and sizes. Oth-ers want the eclectic mix-and-match appeal. It ultimately up to the homeowner.Measuring is key to hanging a picture cor-rectly on the wall. Take into consideration the type of attachment, whether it D-rings, sawtooth hangers, wire, or other fasteners on the back. Measure from the top of the frame to the hanger. Measure the wall to achieve the 57 on center loca-tion, and then calculate where this falls within the height of the art-work and frame top. Adjust accordingly and mark. #en measure the

THE EXPONENT HOUSING GUIDE, MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 2018 PAGE 3PAGE 2 THE EXPONENT HOUSING GUIDE, MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 20183

Tips to pay o! student debt early

rying low credit scores. Once such borrowers have shown that they can consistently make payments in full and on time, they can approach their lenders to re!-nance their loans in the hopes of getting a lower interest rate re"ective of

they do not all have to match. But placing framed artwork side by side can give a person a feel for whether the images and the frames work together in the space. Some people like to use frames of similar colors and sizes. Oth-ers want the eclectic mix-and-match appeal. It ultimately up to the homeowner.Measuring is key to hanging a picture cor-rectly on the wall. Take into consideration the type of attachment, whether it D-rings, sawtooth hangers, wire, or other fasteners on the back. Measure from the top of the frame to the hanger. Measure the wall to achieve the 57 on center loca-tion, and then calculate where this falls within the height of the art-work and frame top. Adjust accordingly and mark. #en measure the

How to save on college housing costsHow to save on col-lege housing costs (471 words, US, UK, CAN)

College is expensive, and the costs are only rising. Scholarships and grants can help miti-gate the costs of higher education, but even students who receive such aid could !nd themselves scrambling for ways to make college more a$ordable.Housing is one of the more expensive costs for college students and their families. Ac-cording to the College Board, the average cost for room and board during the 2016-2017 school year was $10,440 at four-year public schools and $11,890

at private colleges and universities. And those costs typically cover housing for just the school year, which may last anywhere from six to eight months. How-ever, there are ways for students and their families to reduce those costs.% Examine your dor-mitory options. Many schools assign students to dormitories for their freshman years, giving students little say with regard to where they will live. However, stu-dents might have more input in their housing come their sophomore, junior and senior years. Some dorms might be more attractive and of-fer more amenities than

others, but students and families looking to save money on housing costs should opt to live in the most budget-friendly dorms available to them. In addition, choose to live with a roommate rather than in a single room, as singles tend to cost substantially more than double rooms.% Sign up to be a resi-dent advisor. Resident advisors, or RAs, o%en receive free housing in exchange for living in dormitories when they are upperclassmen or graduate students. RAs help newly enrolled or younger students adjust to campus life while also ensuring nothing untoward happens on the "oors they e tasked

with looking a%er. Stu-dents who may want to apply for RA positions should !rst con!rm if serving as an RA will a$ect their overall !-nancial aid package and how great that impact

might be.% Live with roommates even a%er leaving the dorms. Due to limited space, many colleges insist dorm residents live with roommates. Upperclassmen who

are moving out of the dorms and into uni-versity or o$-campus apartments can save money by continuing to live with roommates. #is can be especially bene!cial to students

Ways to reduce household trashWays to reduce house-hold trash (467 words, US, UK, CAN)

Homeowners may feel like they e always tak-ing out the trash. Active families tend to generate a lot of garbage, and it not uncommon to !nd the kitchen trash pail over"owing each day. A report from SaveO-nEnergy found that garbage production numbers are staggering.#e average American produces 4.4 pounds of trash each day. #at means the aver-

age family of four can generate 17.6 pounds of trash a day. Every year, Americans produce 254 million tons of trash. #e Conference Board of Canada found Ca-nadians produce more garbage per capita than any other country.#anks to modern sani-tation systems, which remove garbage in a timely manner, it di&-cult to get a good handle on just how much trash families generate. But one look at the statistics

and the size of land!lls clearly illustrates that

garbage is a concern. #ankfully, there are ways to cut down on personal waste.% Recycle as much as you can. Post a list of all items that can be recycled where you live. Make sure to separate these items from the regular trash. Seek out facilities that will re-cycle items that are not collected in curbside pickup.% Avoid buying dis-posable products. Reusing items over and over saves money and resources. Many

disposable products are packaged in plastic, which may be produced with toxic substances that can leach into the environment.% Use old rags for cleaning. When scour-ing the house, opt for old rags made from towels and T-shirts that are past their prime. #ese rags can be washed and reused again and again.% Mend broken items if possible. Before toss-ing something into the trash, !gure out if it can be repaired. A simple !x

may breathe a few more years of utility into the product.% Cook only what you can eat. #e UN En-vironmental Program estimates that one-third of the food produced for human consump-

tion across the globe is wasted. Store and use le%overs e&ciently. Stick to portion sizes when cooking, and !nd uses for foods (farms may take food scraps for pigs) before tossing them in the trash.

Carbon monoxide remediationCarbon monoxide is a

colorless, odorless gas that can be deadly. Because car-bon monoxide is found in the fumes produced when fuel is burned, it is present in and around homes. As a result, homeowners should be aware of carbon monox-ide and make every e$ort to detect its presence.CO forms most read-ily when there is insuf-!cient oxygen to complete combustion and produce carbon dioxide. Hot water closets, furnaces in crawl-spaces, heating appliances in attics, and other con-tained areas are common areas where CO can form. #e U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention says that thousands of people visit emergency rooms and are hospitalized because of CO poisoning every year. While CO is a risk for just about anyone, infants, the elderly, those with breathing problems or chronic heart disease, and people with anemia are most likely to get sick from CO. CO has earned the moniker “the silent killer” because it cannot be identi-!ed without the presence of a carbon monoxide detec-tor. If a person believes he

or she is smelling carbon monoxide, that person is probably mistaking the odor for other combustion byproducts that the human nose can sense. CO is a byproduct of ve-hicle exhaust, boat engines, stoves, lanterns, grills, furnaces, and !replaces. CO is produced anytime something is burning. #at is why it is essential that products designed to be used outdoors are used exclusively outside, and that indoor appliances are prop-erly vented to the outdoors. CO can build up indoors and poison people and pets who breathe it in. Some people may not recognize that CO is problematic in a home until multiple residents start complaining of similar symptoms. Common CO poisoning symptoms in-clude nausea and vomiting, dizziness, chest pain, con-fusion, headache, and other "u-like symptoms, advises the consumer advocacy group Carbon Monoxide Kills. #ose with repeated exposure to high levels of CO may eventually develop cerebral edema, which is a swelling of the brain. CO can compress brain cells and destroy them, lead-

ing to neurological issues and death. CO poisoning is actually the result of the head and heart not receiv-ing su&cient oxygen. CO detectors can save lives and should be in-stalled in all homes and apartments. #e National Fire Protection Association says CO detectors “shall be centrally located outside of

each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms.” Individuals should follow the manufac-turer instructions regarding where on the wall or ceiling the CO detectors should be mounted. As an added safety precaution, CO de-tectors should be placed on every "oor of the home. Gas sensors in CO alarms

have limited life spans, so they should be replaced generally every !ve to six years, because calibrating and testing for CO is more di&cult than simply replac-

ing the alarms.Installing or replacing carbon monoxide detectors is an easy improvement that can help save lives.

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Recognize the signs of hypothermiaRecognize the signs of hypothermia (502 words, US, UK, CAN)

!e arrival of cold weather provides opportuni-ties to romp in the snow, ski the slopes or enjoy an a"ernoon ice skating on a frozen pond. But spend-ing time outdoors in the cold or even in an indoor space that is not adequately warmed can result in a serious health condition known as hypothermia.Hypothermia is de#ned as a potentially dangerous decrease in body temperature that is usually caused by prolonged exposure to cold conditions. Out-doors enthusiasts risk for hypothermia increases as winter progresses and temperatures drop even further. However, hypothermia can occur other times of the year if the body is chilled. For example, hypothermia can occur when boats capsize and boaters are suddenly tossed into a body of water, or when hikers get caught in the rain during evening hikes. WebMD says normal body temperature is 98.6 F (37 C), and hypothermia begins when body temperature falls below 95 F (35 C).When the body reaches lower temperatures, this can a$ect the heart, nervous system and certain organs, advises !e Mayo Clinic. If le" untreated, hypothermia may lead to cardiac and respiratory arrest.Early symptoms of hypothermia include shivering, fast breathing, cold and pale skin, tiredness, con-fusion, and slurred speech. As body temperatures drop, shivering may stop and a person may faint.Hypothermia frequently develops when people are exposed to the cold without warm and dry cloth-ing for protection. Hypothermia also may develop

when people get wet or are caught unaware of changes in weather. Wind removes body heat e$ec-tively, and direct contact with cold surfaces also can bring on hypothermia more quickly.Infants and the elderly may be at a higher risk of hypothermia because their bodies aren attuned to regulating temperature. Older adults may su$er hypothermia, for example, a"er spending several hours in a house with no heat during a power out-age. !e Mayo Clinic adds that certain medical conditions a$ect the body ability to regulate body temperature, and certain medications may elevate risk as well.To prevent hypothermia, health experts advise remembering the acronym COLD: Cover, Overex-ertion, Layers, Dry.% Cover: Wear protective coverings, including mit-tens and hats, to prevent body heat from escaping through the extremities.

Hypothermia occurs when body temperature drops below the norm. It is a serious health risk.

How humidity can make homes more comfortable

Simple ways to be more charitable

How humidity can make homes more com-fotable (439 words, US, UK, CAN)

Central heating and cooling systems have revolutionized the way homeowners make their homes comfortable. But many people #nd that heating and cooling systems have a tendency to make areas in their homes more dry than they would be if the windows were open. Without adequate indoor humidity, static electricity proliferates, and living environments may not be as pleas-ant as they could be.

According to Lennox, makers of heating and cooling components, dry air can compromise peoples respiratory systems. When mem-branes in the nose and throat dry out, they can-not capture dirt, viruses and bacteria, potentially resulting in illness. Dry air can cause itchy, %aky skin as well as irritation in the nose, leading to nosebleeds.Dry air in a home also can a$ect the struc-ture of a home. Dry air will pull moisture from wherever it can be sourced, including wood structures in a home. !is may cause

walls and door jambs to shi" and %oors to creak. Even wood furniture can bend and crack if indoor conditions are especially dry.Homeowners can rem-edy dry air in various ways. Some methods are relatively simple, while others may require sub-stantial #nancial invest-ments and even some renovation.

DIY remediesDo-it-yourself remedies are simply ways to put moisture in the air. One of the easiest steps is to put bowls #lled with water in front of or on heating registers or

radiant heating units in the house. !e water will evaporate slowly into the home. Another and similar tactic is to boil a large tea kettle or pot of water to distrib-ute moisture throughout a space.When showering, leave the door to the bath-room open to distribute steam throughout the house. For those who use the tub, allow the water to cool o$ and evaporate before pulling the drain.

Humidi#ersHumidi#ers come as whole-house central units or portable de-

Being charitable is reward-ing, not only to those on the receiving end of others’ good deeds but also for those doing the giving. Research conducted by the National Institutes of Health found participants who chose to donate a por-tion of money they were provided activated pleasure centers in the brain. Doing something positive can be upli"ing, and being chari-table helps others in need. Quite o"en people who engage in charitable works

#nd inspiration through their e$orts. !at’s because working with a nonpro#t group can create opportu-nities to meet new people, socialize and be surrounded with like-minded individu-als. It also may help adults serve as role models to youngsters. Children who see their parents or other adults being charitable may be more likely to be philan-thropic when they grow up. Every little bit counts when being charitable. Philanthropy doesn’t mean

donating thousands of dol-lars or lots of hours volun-teering. !e following are some relatively easy ways to incorporate charity into one’s life.

coin jar near where you put your keys or wallet when entering the house. Empty loose change into the jar and watch it #ll up. Use the collected funds to donate to a charitable group.

-cery store checkout clerk asks if you want to round

up your purchase to the nearest dollar for charity, opt in.

-teer your time as a scout troop leader, coach a sports team or o$er free tutoring for students. You’ll be mak-ing an immediate di$erence in the lives of young people.

Buy from companies that are involved with cause-related products. Many products are tied to chari-table e$orts, with a portion of money going directly to nonpro#ts.

party with a philanthropic theme. Guests can arrive and make a donation or bring a gi" that will go to a charitable cause.

-pate in charity fundraisers that incorporate some of your favorite hobbies. For those who knit or cra", donate or sell your cre-ations for the good of those in need.Being charitable is easier than one might think, and even the smallest e$orts can produce big results.

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How millennials spend their moneyHow millennials spend their money (446 words, US, UK, CAN)

Millennials include people born between 1980 and 2000. Millen-nials have become an in!uential demograph-ic, changing the way business is conducted. While in!uencing tech-nology, social norms and mores, millennials also are a"ecting the economy. Forbes says that many millennials have a shaky relation-ship with money, due in some part to the fact that they lived through one of the worst reces-sions the United States has experienced in de-

cades. Couple that with staggering student loan debt and it easy to see why millennials may be facing an uphill battle when it comes to their #nances.Millennials are fall-ing particularly short in regard to saving money. According to a 2017 GOBankingRates survey, 57 percent of Americans have around $1,000 in savings. Sixty-seven percent of young millennials, between ages 18 and 24 have less than $1,000, says the survey. Canadians are saving even less, even though in the early 1980s Canadians of most ages used to save

twice as much as Amer-icans, or 20 percent of their disposable income, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Many millennials spend more than they earn and live above their means according to a report by American Ex-press Business Insight. $is, along with school debt, has compromised millennials ability to purchase a home or even get married.Just how are millennials spending their money? Here a look at the common patterns.% Experiences: Fund-ing experiences is a high priority for Gen Y. $is includes concerts, sport-

ing events, live perfor-mances, and other so-cial events more so than possessions or career status, o"ers Forbes.% Retail goods and dining: TD Bank found that millennials make more retail purchases and dine out more than other generations, but generally spend less money overall. % Healthcare: Millenni-als spend about $1,000 more on healthcare expenses than the gen-erations that preceded them, states #nancial resource Mother Jones. Housing and education costs also have risen, contributing to a small-er pool of savings.

% Same-day delivery: A Shop.org survey indicat-

How to keep pets safe in winter weatherHow to keep pets safe in winter weather (413 words, US, UK, CAN)

$e arrival of cooler temperatures sparks various changes. Chilly air and precipitation can be dangerous, especially to pets that are unac-customed to extreme changes in temperature.Pet owners may be well aware of the hazards of warm weather, includ-ing the threat of leaving pets in hot cars. But cold weather also has its share of risks. Heed

these tips to keep pets safe and secure.% Schedule a well visit. $e American

Association suggests scheduling a visit with a veterinarian to check for any medical issues. Cold weather can ag-gravate symptoms of certain conditions, such as arthritis. A thorough examination can shed light on potential prob-lems.% Keep homes humidi-#ed. Going in and out of the house and mov-

ing from cold air to dry indoor heat can a"ect pets skin. Itch-ing and !aking may result, causing pets to scratch at such areas. Maintain humidity in the home for comfort. $e ASPCA also says to reduce bathing to help preserve essential oils on the skin.% Protect paws out-doors. Pet paws are sen-sitive to sand, ice, snow, and chemical ice melts. Massage petroleum jelly or another protec-tant onto paw pads, or

consider the use of pet booties.% Keep pets indoors more o%en. Pets should not remain outdoors for long stretches of time in frigid temperatures, even if they are ac-customed to roaming during other seasons, advises $e Humane Society of the United States. % Provide options for sleeping. Come the win-ter, cats and dogs may need new sleep spaces to avoid dra%s and stay warm. Give them other

spots they can call their own.% Consider a sweater or vest. Some pets are more tolerant to the cold than others. How-ever, some dogs and

cats may bene#t from a sweater, vest or coat de-signed for pets to o"er a little more insulation.% Update identi#cation and contact informa-tion. Snow and ice can

A warm coat, a cozy spot to sleep and limited time spent outdoors can keep pets safe during winter.

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