Want to save hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars each year?

10 years ago · by Shawna Kreis · 0 comments

Want to save hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars each year?

Who doesn’t want to have more green in their bank account? As the saying goes, “the more the merrier.” We have compiled a list of all the ways you can save buck-o bucks. Check it out:

Stop your shopping madness! It’s okay if you miss that sale, there will be others. No, you really don’t need that third blue sweater that looks just like the others. Yes, it is possible to go window shopping and leave your green in your bank. Depending on your shopping habits, you can save thousands each year.
Learn to make your own lattes at home. With all the recipes out there on Allrecipes.com, I bet bottom dollar that you can learn to make your own homemade lattes. Not only is it cheaper, but have your friends over for your lattes and you may have a following. The average latte costs $4.00 and if you get one every day you work, you can see a savings of $18 a week (per month that is $72!).
Your car is your baby. Okay, maybe that is a bit excessive, but still you need to take care of your car. Oil changes, replace the filters, and rotate your tires will keep your car running without much expense. However, putting off a simple oil change can cause your car to cost thousands of dollars in repairs.
Take care of YOU! Yes, you! It is no secret that daily exercise, eating right, and giving yourself a little love boosts your immunity, lowers stress, and gives your overall health a good grade. On the flip side, not taking care of yourself can cost you hundreds of dollars in deductibles for your doctor’s visits and medications.
Easting fast food. Yes, it too belongs with taking care of YOU. The medical expenses for eating fast food on a regular basis can become astronomical, but aside from the health stand point, you can save hundreds of dollars each month by brown bagging it. The average meal costs around $5 which is $20.00 a week. I’ll let you do the rest of the math for the month.
Quit smoking now! The theme here is take care of yourself! Both long term and short term costs can be huge. Not to mention that the average pack of cigarettes rests about $5.00.

Making these adjustments to your lifestyle will save you hundreds and potentially, thousands of dollars.

Content provided by Transformer Marketing.

10 years ago · by Shawna Kreis · 0 comments

Clean up tips for Fire/Smoke Damage

Damage can come in all forms including fire and smoke damage, and water damage. If you don’t act immediately, you can be faced with additional expenses to fix that damage. We have compiled a list of tips you can enact when facing such damage. Today we are going to focus fire and smoke damage.

Call a professional. Some by-products can cause etching which is irreversible fairly quickly.
Do not touch anything that has been damaged with your bare hands. Your hands carry oil which can cause additional damage.
Open up the house and air out any smoke damage, if the outside temperature is warm.
Do not wash any of the walls that have smoke/fire damage. The wrong cleaning component can cause more damage.
Clean off your Formica, chrome, porcelain or aluminum fixtures to prevent permanent tarnishing.
Call a professional to clean up any upholstered furniture and carpets. Don’t clean them yourself.
Keep away from anything and everything electronic until they have been checked out by and cleared by a professional.
Replace your air filter on your furnace if you use forced air.
If your ceiling is wet, do not use any of the fixtures.
Throw away all food packages that have been opened.
Any clothing that has been tarnished, send to a professional for cleaning.
Clean out the refrigerator and keep the doors open, if the electricity is off.

For more information, please feel to contact our office.

Content provided by Transformer Marketing.

Sources: Servicemaster

10 years ago · by Shawna Kreis · 0 comments

Insurance claim funnies-Eventually Made The Right Decision

(I work as a claims adjuster for a major insurance company and have made a liability decision on a minor parking lot accident in which both parties told the exact same story. Unfortunately my client was majority at fault, but we would only be paying 60% of the other party’s repairs. I call my customer and leave a message regarding the liability decision and my phone number. He calls me back a short time later.)

Customer: “I can’t believe you did this!”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir?”

Customer: “How could you do this without calling me first! You decided I was at fault!”

Me: “Sir, I took a recorded statement from you and from the other party and outlined exactly the kinds of things would factor into the decision.”

Customer: “But you didn’t call me first!”

Me: “I did call you; I took your statement.”

Customer: “But then you made a decision!”

Me: “Sir, it’s my job to make a decision, as you know, and I don’t need your permission or approval to do so.”

Customer: “I know! But I can’t believe you did that!”

Me: “Sir, are you contesting liability? You both told the exact same story and given the facts and damage to both vehicles, you’re both telling the truth. No matter how we look at it, you were backing out and didn’t pay attention to what was behind you.”

Customer: “I know! I agree that’s what happened!”

Me: “Then why are you upset? How can we resolve this?”

Customer: “You made this decision!”

Me: “Sir, I had to make a decision. Again, are you questioning the liability decision? Do you have other information to add?”

Customer: “No!”

Me: “Sir, then please tell me what you want me to say because I simply don’t understand how to resolve this for you.”

Customer: *pauses* “Well, you know what? I’m just mad about the whole thing. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Me: “Okay…”

Customer: “I’m really sorry. I work in customer service and I hate when people call and yell at me, and that’s what I’m doing to you. You made the right decision, I accept it, and I’m sorry for yelling at you. I just… needed to yell at someone.”

Me: *trying not to laugh* “Well… thank you, then. I can definitely understand that!”

Customer: “Thank you for being so patient with me. I’m really sorry, again, to have yelled at you and hope the rest of your day goes better.”

Me: “Thank you.” *we go on to resolve claim payment and I explain repair procedures, etc.*

Manager: “I heard you talking and picked up to listen in. I didn’t know what he was angry about either!” *laughing* “I’ll put a few notes in file about how you handled the call.”

(A few minutes later, a team leader comes up to my desk.)

Team Leader: “Hey, I just wanted to let you know I just took a call from a guy who said he just yelled at you for no reason. He wanted to make sure your supervisor knows he thinks you’re excellent at your job, you’ve provided great customer service and he’s happy with the outcome of his claim. I’m passing this on to your team leader and manager.”

(I STILL laugh about that call, and think it’s one of the reasons I was promoted shortly afterward. Thank you, sir!)

Content provided by http://notalwaysright.com/tag/insurance

10 years ago · by Shawna Kreis · 0 comments

Who chooses happiness?

Happiness is not elusive. In fact, it’s pretty easy to attain. Follow the steps below to happiness.

Take time to just breathe. In this crazy world, we are trying cram 1,000 things into our lives. The one thing we really need to do is take 15-20 minutes out of your day and just sit and meditate and breathe.
Sitting down all day. It’s no secret that sitting down all the time isn’t healthy. It restricts blood flow, doesn’t burn any or very little calories, and increases your chance of cardiovascular disease.
Be a social butterfly. People with strong social connections tend to be much happier. That’s what life is all about, so get connected.
Join a spiritual community. Religion has played a huge role in a person’s happiness by offering a place to share their struggles and joys. Not holding onto life’s stressors and giving them over to a higher power releases stress and anxiety.
Feed your creativity. Take time out and paint a picture, write a story, enjoy an art museum, whatever feeds your creative soul.
Get outside! Not getting fresh air can make a person grumpy. Just ask any of the kids today that never leave their X-Box. They are cramped, unhappy and need to get out and play.
Love your job or quit. When you have a job that you love, you’ll be happier. Considering you have to spend 8 hours of your day at your vocation.
The more the merrier! Italians love to eat together and they know that eating together makes people happy.
Believe in yourself! You deserve happiness, yes, it’s for you. Believe that you are entitled to be happy. Because you are entitled to have joy in your life.

So go on and choose to be happy!

Content provided by Transformer Marketing.

10 years ago · by Shawna Kreis · 0 comments

How to fulfill sexual harassment obligations and reduce liability risk

Most employers know that they can be held legally liable for sexual harassment occurring in their workplace. However, many may not know that there’s a way to considerably reduce their exposure to liability. The courts have actually laid out a road map of sorts when it comes to reducing employer risk for sexual harassment liability. In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court made it quite clear that laws related to sexual harassment weren’t made in an effort to enable employer vs. employee lawsuits, but rather as a motivation for employers to take reasonable and responsible action in preventing sexual harassment. Employers that have demonstrated this reasonable and responsible action are less likely to be held legally liable for damages. Here are the practices and policies every employer should abide to fulfill their obligation in preventing workplace sexual harassment, thereby reducing their liability risk:

A comprehensively written policy against sexual harassment should be in place to demonstrate the concern, stance, and dedication to the prevention of sexual harassment on the part of the employer. This policy should clearly define sexual harassment and give examples of what constitutes sexual harassment. After the policy is read, the employee should know that either gender may be victim; either gender may perpetrator; and that sexual harassment is dictated by victim perception, not whether or not the perpetrator intended the behavior as harassing.
Legal terminology and otherwise obtuse language should be avoided when composing a sexual harassment policy. It should be written in a manner that an average employee would comprehend. In most cases, if the wording is such that a high school senior would have difficulty comprehending it, then it’s too complex. Employers should also be mindful of non-English speaking employees and publish translations accordingly.
Make sure that the sexual harassment policy identifies which employees or department should be contacted to initiate the complaint process; outlines the complaint and investigation process from start to finish, including any appeal process; and identifies what the penalties are for sexual harassment. Retaliation should also be addressed. It should be clear that retaliation against a complainant will not be tolerated and that retaliation is a form of harassment too.
More often than not, an employer isn’t held liable because of the actual harassment, but rather because they failed to have or apprise their employees of the complaint procedure or failed to respond when the complaint procedure was utilized. So, never write a complaint off or disregard it. Each and every complaint should be viewed as a serious matter and investigated with a process that’s consistent and that’s reasonable for all involved.
Although many employers feel that their policy is adequate, the best policy in the world is useless if an employee can claim that they’ve never laid eyes on it. Therefore, orientation of new employees should include a signature that the new employee has received, read, and understood the sexual harassment policy.
Of course, there must be ongoing exposure to the policy for employees to realize that their employer is actually serious about sexual harassment and the enforcement of consequences. Sources of exposure may include periodic sexual harassment summaries through brochures or educational pamphlets, newsletter articles, in-service training, and employee meetings.
It’s also crucial that any employee in a supervisory position be trained not only to enforce the sexual harassment policy, but as someone that could be a harasser themselves. Often, especially in medium to larger businesses, the employer will not be the one to first receive a complaint. Yet, employers are strictly liable if supervisors engage in subordinate harassment or fail to enforce the harassment policy. Keep in mind that many people engage in behaviors that are overlooked by individuals they come across in their personal life and thereby feel that the same behaviors will be overlooked at work too.

The most often used excuse when an employee is accused of sexual harassment is that they weren’t the only employee that has acted in such a way. Sadly, although the above statement in no way excuses the behavior, it’s often true. And, it’s this type of environment that tolerates or overlooks sexual harassment that substantially increases the liability risk of the employer. Simply having a policy will not hold weight in court. It must be comprehensive and there must be employee exposure and employer enforcement. These steps require a time and resource commitment for the policy to be applied in a manner that will reduce sexual harassment liability risks for employers and reduce the frequency of sexual harassment incidences for employees.

Contact our office for more information.

Content provided by Transformer Marketing.

10 years ago · by Shawna Kreis · 0 comments

Tips to make your beach trip safe and enjoyable

Beaches are an inexpensive way to get away (well if you stay local) and have some R&R. You can bring your entire family (yes, even a family reunion), break out the barbecue and let the kids go wild in the water.

Here are a few tips to make your trip to the beach more enjoyable.

Protect the skin. Grab the sunscreen, that cute little umbrella, and relax knowing that you and your family are protected by the sun’s harsh rays.
Pack the camera. Film and click away your fun filled beach day.
Tidal pools anyone? These are fun ways to get up close and personal with some really cool creatures from the sea.
The world is your sandbox. Well, at least for the day. Bring your shovel and pail and have some sandcastle fun with the kids.
Go fly a kite. Literally.
Bring the volleyball or badminton set and play a couple of games.
Collect the seashells. These are great souvenirs and don’t cost anything. When you clean them you can add them to your fish tank or even make shell jewelry.

This summer have a blast at the beach!

Content provided by Transformer Marketing.