Lilac City Momma

Life Hacks

The Benefits Of Physical Gold

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A lot of Americans are feeling a bit uncertain about the future of the dollar and of the global markets in general. When confidence in stocks and paper currencies falls, people tend to turn towards physical assets, especially precious metals, with gold being the perennial favorite. There are lots of ways to invest in gold, but in uncertain times, direct ownership of this asset is best, so pay a visit to Golden Eagle Coins to start off your stockpile.

Why direct ownership is best

Direct ownership means that you’ve bought physical gold – whether it’s jewelry, bars or coins. Of course, there’s ETFs and shares in mining companies, but when the economic climate is looking gloomy, people feel safer holding their own assets than trusting a company that could fold at any minute.

The love of gold never dies

Gold has been our most prized, desired and treasured precious metal. As soon as humans worked out how to extract it from its ore or from its seams, it’s driven our appetites and we haven’t lost our enthusiasm for this metal millennia later. In fact, our love of gold has grown, especially now we know how to use it in science, medicine and industry.

It’s inflation-proof

Whatever you pay for your gold at any one time, you can sell it for its future price when the time comes. Gold doesn’t ever devalue; of course, its market value will take a dip every so often, but it always rises over time because supply never quite reaches demand. If you bought a car for $10,000 in 2012, there’s no way you’d get $10,000 for it now, even though all the new cars cost more due to inflation. With gold, you never have to worry about this sort of devaluation and depreciation.

It never loses its intrinsic value

As an element, gold will always have a high value to humanity because of its appearance, its rarity and its many other applications. It’ll always be in high demand and if there’s ever a financial or other sort of crisis, you can sell it or use it as currency no matter where you are in the world.

The biggest benefit of gold is that you can take physical possession of it – the old adage “If you can’t hold it, you don’t own it,” is very true. If you think about mutual funds, shares, ETFs and so on, all it takes is a big enough hack or a worldwide financial crash and your investments are all gone as they’re just theoretical digits in a program. Gold, on the other hand is portable and tangible. No-one can wipe it clean from a balance sheet as long as you can protect it.

Not many other assets and investments – physical or not – have these advantages; physical gold gives you a solid insurance policy against financial meltdown. Even better, it will carry on performing nicely for you when the going’s good as it only ever increases in value. What’s not to love?

The Best Security Options For Your New Home

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On average, over $1,000 worth of items are stolen when a home is burgled. Chances are, if you’ve just moved into a new home, especially in a new area, you’re not as fully protected as you could be. Installing some simple extra security measures can help to both prevent a break in and get help to your door quickly if one does happen. So here are six of the best security options for your home.

Deadbolts

It sounds too simple, but data shows that 33% of all home burglaries occur through the front door, and an easy way to help prevent this is to install a deadbolt. Latches on front doors can often be a weak spot and are easily overcome by a burglar with a bit of know-how and the right equipment.

Window Locks

Another weak spot in many homes is the windows, particularly if your house is old, and you may have latches that are easy to break or window panes that aren’t difficult to smash. The best way to avoid your house being broken into via the windows is to either replace the windows entirely or to invest in some new and improved latches.

Security System

There are a wide variety of different security systems available on the market today. Depending on how much money you are looking to spend and what your needs are, you could pay a fee to have professionals monitor your security footage and take action if and when any alarms are triggered. Or, for a slightly cheaper option, you could simply buy and install a security system yourself and monitor your home independently.

Fence and Gate

Deter your crazy redneck neighbor with a deceptively simple security measure. Many homeowners overlook the power of a strong, sturdy and off-putting gate and fence. Depending on your budget, there are some seriously high-tech, secure gating options available that would put off even the most daring of potential burglars.

Automated Lighting

Burglars will often try to choose residences that look as if the owners are out or away on vacation. They will look for signs such as all the lights being turned off, an overfilled mailbox, and no normal household noises. This means that when all of the occupants are out of the house, especially for extended periods of time, your home becomes a lot more vulnerable. There are steps you can take, however, to deter any potential burglars, such as installing an automated lighting system that switches on the lights inside your home and can even mimic the sound and lights of a TV being watched.

Advertise Your Security

Having plenty of security options to prevent a burglary and inform you if something does happen is very important, but if you are away and get burgled, you could still potentially lose precious items and sustain damage to your property. This is why it is important to always clearly advertise that you have security measures in place, as this will help to prevent any attempt at burglary from happening in the first place.

Autograph Appraisals Give You an Accurate Understanding of the Value of These Collectibles

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If you look back over the history of man’s time on this planet you will find that he has always had hobbies. Even when humans lived in caves, archaeologists have discovered that there were ways that men and women spent your time that was unrelated to finding food or shelter.

Through the millennia man has developed his taste for collecting things to include just about anything. Today, if you go around the world today you will find collectors of the widest variety of articles. One of the most popular things to collect today are autographs of famous people. This hobby is so popular in fact, that there is a thriving industry for autographed collectables that generates billions of dollars every year. Autograph appraisals are used to determine the value of a particular autograph and there are experts who can both recognize and give a price for a particular autograph.

Appraising an autograph

There are several steps required when appraising the value of a famous person’s autograph. The first and most challenging part of appraising an autograph is verifying the authenticity of the autograph. Often a famous person will sign his or her name differently throughout their career and even over a short period of time so it is not as simple as comparing the autograph against the famous person’s known signature.

In the end the appraiser must determine with complete certainty that the signature on the collectible is in fact that of the famous person. There are certain ways that an appraiser will seek to confirm the autograph’s validity:

Look for Past Authentications: Does the owner of the autograph have previous verification that the autograph and the memorabilia is authentic? Often autographs and memorabilia is authenticated by an expert and that experts name is included with the memorabilia and the signature. This allows the appraiser to look up the memorabilia and verify its validity.

Find Corroborating Data: An appraiser will often look for additional corroborating information that proves the autograph is authentic. Were there any pictures of the famous using this piece of memorabilia? Are there pictures of the famous person signing this particular piece of memorabilia? Was this particular piece of memorabilia mentioned by the famous person in any independent literature? Additional corroborating data helps an appraiser to authenticate an autograph.

Compare prices of similar memorabilia: Typically there will be other memorabilia that is similar to the memorabilia being priced, and an appraiser can you use the sales price of this similar memorabilia to set the price for any comparable memorabilia.

In the event there is no comparable memorabilia, the appraiser will look at a similar famous people and what their memorabilia selling prices are, in order to determine pricing. In the end, if there are no comparables, it is all guesswork, and one appraiser might determine a different value from another.

3 Tips To Protect And Improve Your Child’s Eyesight

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Your child’s eyes are precious, and you should want to take steps to protect them. Considering how reliant we are on eyesight and the inconvenience that comes with poor vision, this should be a priority for all parents. In this article, we’re going to give you a few tips to protect and improve your child’s eye health and vision.

Limit Time with Screens Inside

Did your parents ever tell you to not sit so close to the TV or else it would hurt your eyes? It turns out there’s a measure of truth to this. A Korean study found that the more time they spend in front of computer screens and handheld devices, the more likely they are to need glasses. The theory is that the eyes start to adapt to the focal point that is most often in front of them.

The solution is to have the kids outside in the sunlight in more normal circumstances for at least an hour a day. This also reduces the risk of children becoming near-sighted because of other “near work” like reading all the time. According to this article that was published on apextribune.com, older siblings have a 10% greater risk of near-sightedness while it is 20% more likely they’ll develop a severe case. This isn’t completely understood, but you should pay special attention to your first born if you want to prevent vision problems from occurring later on.

Teach kids to take breaks, looking up and around instead of just at what is in front of them, whether a smart phone or print book. Stare for at least 20 seconds at something at least 20 feet away.

Eat Your Vegetables

Your child needs a regular intake of water soluble vitamins like vitamin A. Giving your children a healthy diet reduces their odds of developing diabetes as a major cause of poor eyesight issues later in life. And if your children get in the habit of eating fruits and vegetables containing lutein, there is some evidence this reduces the risk of cataracts later in life. Zinc deficiency is associated with poor vision, while eating it reduces the odds a child will develop poor night vision or macular degeneration.

Wear the Right Eye Protection

Eye protection is critical for sports like archery, fencing, hockey and racquetball. You should encourage your child to wear goggles when swimming to reduce the odds of both irritation from chemicals and eye infections from the faecal matter that contaminates many pools.

If they’re playing paintball, full facial shields should be a must. A paintball to the eye has a high chance of causing permanent blindness. And ensure that your child wears protective face shields and guards for sports like football and baseball. A ball to the face could cause eye damage or just take out a few teeth.

A healthy diet goes a long way towards protecting one’s vision. Getting into the habit of wearing protective eyewear could save your child’s vision at any point over their lifetime. And getting away from the computer screen and out into the world is good for their health in all respects.

Brighten Up A Big Garden The Easy Way

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As you all know, gardening is a skill I have slowly acquired, actually, very slowly, but, I am now there, and the garden is really starting to take shape. However, I doubt most people would call me a keen gardener. In fact, I know I am not. The other day I was browsing through a real estate site and realized that there are some properties around here with quite large gardens. When I came across one with a garden that was nearly four times as big as ours I swear a shiver actually ran down my spine.

That garden is certainly going to take some looking after. However, while looking at Shrubs & Hedges from The Tree Center I realized that the way to handle a big garden is to fill it with big plants. In a garden like that, you have the space to plant a couple of huge trees and reduce its width by planting a wide hedge. Something that looks so much nicer than a fence does.

Plus, there is plenty of choice, making it really easy to buy plants that add a big splash of color and create shady spots. An important consideration if you do not want a huge lawn and big flower beds to take care of. A large shade tree can really eat into the space you need to look after because very little will grow under them. This means you can easily gravel or mulch around the base and locate a table and chairs under it, so you have somewhere cool to sit on a blisteringly hot day. If you choose the right variety, you can build a tree house in the branches for the kids. Or, better still a retreat room for the adults to enjoy.

For hedging, Laurel is a great option in a large garden. There are a lot of varieties available including some that tolerate really low temperatures. Hybrid Skip Laurel shrubs can cope with -10. Plus it grows at about two feet per year. This makes it a fast way to create a hedge. However, once it is at height it will need a lot of cutting. But, provided you buy an electric hedge clipper and have a way to dispose of the clippings it should still be manageable.

In a very large garden, planting an orchard could be an option. They look lovely and the blossom smells fantastic. Even one with just 8 or 12 trees in it could keep you in fruit for most of the summer. In fact, if you buy late varieties you can stretch that into the autumn, plus, provide you store them properly; fruits like apples can keep for months. With proper care you can enjoy fruits and vegetables in your garden and use them to cook in the kitchen, thus, saving you money!

If you have the climate, citrus trees are an especially good idea. They are evergreen and produce lovely scented blossom in the spring. Lemons do not have to be picked all in one go, so you can enjoy a year round supply of those. If you would like to learn more about planting and taking care of fruit trees, you can do so here.