Lilac City Momma

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Helpful Tips to Improve Your Mental Health

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Many people who feel sad or depressed frequently keep their problems to themselves. They are ashamed that people will find out what they are going through. Also, they do not want to be judged. However, keeping your emotions bottled up will not help you solve your problems. It is best to talk to someone you trust like a family member or a close friend. Mental health should be important, so here are some tips worth sharing to overcome depression and anxiety.

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Engage in an active lifestyle

Studies say that regular exercise will help improve your mental health. Exercise can help your brain release happy hormones known as endorphins. You may enrol in your local gym and start a regular exercise regimen with your trainer. Another option is to engage in outdoor hobbies like camping, mountain climbing, and biking, which will keep you moving. People who regularly exercise are known to have better moods as compared to those who live a sedentary lifestyle.

Eat healthy foods

Watch what you eat. Foods like pizza, fries, burgers and soda should be avoided as much as possible. Fill your diet with fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Healthy food choices will make you feel lighter rather than sluggish.

Spend more time with the people you love

Give yourself time to enjoy and relax. Organize a small get-together by having dinner with the family during Sundays. You can set a date with your best friend to have coffee and watch a movie together. Doing this will help you forget your problems in the meantime.

Get quality sleep every day

People who are going through a lot of problems frequently experience insomnia. Despite what you are going through, make it a point to take good care of yourself. Sleep eight hours a day so you will have enough energy to face your problems the next day.

Have a positive mindset

Being optimistic can affect your mental health in many ways. It fights off all the negative thoughts that are lurking at the back of your head. This kind of emotion can cause so much stress to the point that you could suffer from depression and anxiety. If you are going through this situation, it is best to shift your mindset and be thankful for what you have.

Clean your space regularly

If you are diagnosed with an obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD, you are prone to experience anxiety whenever you see clutter. Investing in a fitted wardrobe inside your bedroom can help you organize your stuff appropriately. Doing this will help you handle your health condition. Besides, studies say that having a clean and organized bedroom can promote relaxation and help you manage stress.

Lastly, make an effort to seek advice from a professional. Depression and anxiety are both mental health issues that need attention. A licensed psychiatrist can make a proper diagnosis and create a treatment plan. You could be advised to undergo therapy and counselling for a couple of months until you start feeling better about yourself.

 

 

Family Counselling in Central Coast

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When it comes to finding a good family counselling service, you want to make sure that you can trust your counselors to help ease your troubled minds, and finding the right ones will mean that you are able to heal whatever is ailing you mentally and even be closer to your family or loved one. Most of the best family counselors may even offer things like relationship and marriage counseling as well. In this guide we’re going talk about how you can find the best family counselling in all of the Central Coast area.

Don’t Look in the Phone Book

Believe it or not, while most businesses will have business listings in the phone book, it’s important to know that some of the best physicians may be online, but they’re not listed in advertisements in the phone books and newspapers. The more advertising in the public eye (other than the internet, which is often cost effective) that you can find about a clinic, means that they’re “selling” themselves, and they’re often more expensive and have a bad reputation that they’re trying to protect. Instead look for ones that are referred online.

Ask Someone Close to You

You may want to ask someone in your local area about a counseling service if you’re in the Central Coast area. You may be surprised at how many people in your local area may have needed help at one point and time, and visited a good office.

Getting Help is the Most Important Goal

If you’re needing to actually get help, you’ll know it. And while you may be in denial of your problems at times, you may know they’re already there if you’re looking for a good counselling service. If this is you, you’ll want to know that they should be able to possibly help you if you give the office of your choosing a call. Talk to them, and see how they treat you. If they just treat you like a patient instead of a person, then you’ll want to move on. Most of the best counselling services will offer some sort of phone consultation, and then ultimately schedule an appointment to help better serve you than what they could over the phone.

Ask them About Insurance & More

Believe it or not, the best mental health services actually will help provide things like Medicare rebates, and even offer after hours appointments for things like one on one and house sessions. You’ll want to make sure that your counselor is well equipped to be able to accept y our insurance, and if they don’t, that they can provide services for a reasonable payment plan and price as well.

At the same time, you want to make sure that you are going to a professional clinic with a therapist that can offer mental health services that actually has the education to back up their practices.

Conclusion

When you’re looking for the top counselling Central Coast, Newcastle, Hunter, or even the Lake Macquarie area in New South Wales, you’ll want to go talk to Adam at AJR Counselling, Coaching & Consulting. They offer professional counselling services for families, children, and even individual life coaching and counselling, and have helped hundreds of people in the area with their various programs.

 

Should You Accept Cash From Tenants?

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Although every day is different in the life of a landlord, some situations occur more often. One question that some landlords will inevitably face is whether or not they should accept cash from tenants as payment or deposit on their rental property. Online software can help you with free tenant screening to ensure that a tenant applying to rent your apartment has a good credit history; however, just because someone has good credit doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll be able to reliably pay their rent in cash. Here are some things to keep in mind when considering cash versus check or credit card. 

The benefits and weaknesses of cash

While it’s less common, some people in the world don’t have bank accounts. If they do have a checking account, they’d be able to either write you a check or you could set up auto deposits with their banking account’s routing info. Still, just because someone doesn’t have money in a bank account doesn’t mean that they can’t pay their rent each week. For example, having your rent paid in cash means that you get immediate access to your monthly rent. You don’t need to be concerned about whether or not a check will bounce or a credit card charge will be reversed, either, which can also provide peace of mind. 

Accepting cash as a form of payment for rent does have some drawbacks. For example, nobody is likely to send a lot of money through the mail, and it’s more tedious to find time to meet a tenant in person and then deposit their rent in the bank. Checks can be deposited electronically, which makes it much easier to handle rent payments if you’re a busy landlord. While property managers who have only one or two rentals may be willing to make these concessions to rent their apartment, larger operations will likely need to avoid cash-only tenants if they’re pressed for time. 

Online payment is on the rise

While writing a check to pay rent is still the norm for many tenants and landlords, more and more landlords are accepting payment online, too. With platforms like PayPal and Venmo gaining more users every day, it makes sense that landlords would want an option that’s convenient and quick as they try to appeal to tenants. This doesn’t help individuals who want to pay in cash, of course; however, if they don’t have a checkbook but do have a bank account, online payment can be a great solution. 

Money orders are an option, too

If a tenant only has access to cash, they can find a more secure way to get their money by using a money order. Anyone can go to the bank and exchange their dollars for a money order, which is similar in function to a check. This enables your tenant to mail the rent payment each month without having to schedule a day and time to meet with you in person each month. For both the convenience that they offer and the fact that they enable you to appeal to and work with a variety of tenants, it’s worth considering accepting money orders if you’re interested in helping tenants who only have cash. 

Ultimately, you decide how you run your business. Some landlords want to accept cash payments for rent and others want to choose a less time-consuming option. Pick the one that fits your style and keep the above points in mind, and you won’t go wrong in your property management journey.

How To Improve Your Family Life

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Having a family is rewarding but is also a lot of work on a daily basis. The upside is that there are ways to improve your situation so you can be even happier overall.

What’s most important is that you take care of yourself and find ways to manage your stress levels. This way, you can be the best parent possible for your little ones and attentive to your spouse. You want to avoid small mishaps getting in your way of living a more fulfilling life and existence. Stay focused on the fact that you love your family and be willing to change your approach a bit so you can all get on the same page and enjoy each other’s company.

Make Wise Financial Decisions

You can improve your family life by committing to making wise financial decisions. You’ll be a lot more content overall when you follow a strict budget and know how much money you have going out and coming in each month. Keep in mind you always have options such as Personal loans should you find yourself in a bind and need money fast. Unfortunately, some events are out of your control, and there will be times when you might need a little extra cash on hand.

Spend Quality Time Together

It’s likely you’re busy and have a lot to juggle between your work schedule and taking care of your family. However, it’s a good idea not to let yourself get too wrapped up in your responsibilities and to carve out some time for your loved ones. Get in the habit of getting together consistently to participate in fun activities so you can relax, laugh, and have fun as a group. This is your chance to create long-lasting memories that you can look back on and cherish forever. Give everyone a chance to contribute ideas so that you and your family members all feel a part of and involved in the discussion.

Practice Open & Honest Communication

In addition, you can improve your family life by making sure you’re all good about practicing open and honest communication regularly. For example, it may help to host family meetings frequently so you can all get on the same page. This is a good opportunity to discuss chores and any other pressing matters that may be relevant at the time. Try your best to address any issues that do arise head-on so that small disagreements don’t become larger arguments that end up getting out of control. When you’re all consistent about communicating openly and clearly you’ll find there’s less friction and tension in your household.

Conclusion

Taking care of yourself and your family is challenging at times, but at the end of the day, you do it because you love them. The upside is that you can always be making improvements to how you all operate and function. This way, you can each experience brighter days ahead and build stronger bonds as a family unit.

 

How to Create a Child-Friendly Home

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If you have young children, then you know only too well what trouble they can get into. Toddlers like to explore, and this can mean exhausted parents who are constantly trying to prevent them from hurting themselves. Thankfully, there are measures we can take to make our homes safe for little adventurers, as well as easy ways to keep it clean, and this guide shows you how.

Cupboard Locks – this is important as we often keep many hazardous items in kitchen and bathroom cupboards. While products such as bleach and cleaners present an immediate hazard, even cosmetic products can make a child ill if ingested. Keep locks on low-level cupboards to stop children accessing them and keep dangerous chemicals in high cupboards if possible.

Slip Hazards – Bathroom flooring can become slippery when wet, and this can be dangerous for young children. There may also be sharp corners from baths, cupboards, and sinks. If you are thinking about changing your bathroom, see beautifulbathroom.net for designs with smooth, rounded edges that are better for children. Consider putting bathroom rugs down to prevent slipping.

Wipeable Paints – Children can be messy, and many of us have found some expressive artwork that has found its way to a wall. Or, you might find some grubby areas where children grip onto the wall in some areas. Rather than having to redecorate invest in some child-friendly paint that can easily be wiped.

Storage – kids often have plenty of toys. There is also likely to be paints and crayons, paper and other fun stuff to make and do. Keep your home neat and tidy by having closed storage options, such as drawers and cupboards. That way everything can be put away and the doors closed to keep your home looking tidy.

Garden – a fun garden is where children can play safely, and parents don’t have to worry about them getting hurt. When you have young children, avoid having ponds. If you like fish, save the ponds for when the children are old enough to not slip in unintentionally. Keep all gardening tools and chemicals safely out of reach in a shed.

A flat area of lawn is a nice space where children can play and run around, while raised beds make it easy to keep on top of weeding and you can grow interesting flowers, fruits, and vegetables with your children’s help.

A child-friendly home isn’t just about it being a safe, clean environment, it is about creating a space where the whole family can relax and enjoy spending time. Getting rid of major hazards will help you relax as a parent and allow your children the freedom to explore their home. There will be hazards present in the home no matter how safe you make it, but when there are some minor hazards to contend with it helps children learn how to stay safe themselves. Make your home a child-friendly space by following these ideas, and you can raise your kids in a fun, relaxed environment.