3 things to never do in a grocery store

1. Don’t choose items from the Middle Kingdom

Items placed at eye level catch your attention first. Retailers are wise to this and typically place the most expensive items front and centre on the middle shelves.

For better prices, shift your focus: check out the top and bottom shelves. Similarly, the middle aisles are usually the ones filled with convenience foods and packaged goods. Stick to the perimeter of the store for your fruits, vegetables, meat, fish and fresh bread. Venture into specific middle aisles only on an as-needed basis. The common tactic of strolling up and down every aisle just to see if there’s anything you need is a recipe for overspending.

2. Don’t give in to the kid factor

When confronted with a toddler meltdown, you might be willing to buy anything just to stop the madness. Kids of all ages (spouses, too, occasionally) can be a challenge in grocery stores.

They distract you from your list and the prices of the items you are choosing. They get impatient, leading you to start throwing items in your cart just to get the job done. And sometimes they throw their own highly processed, over-priced favourites into the cart as well.

If you can, try to shop without the kids until they are at an age at which you can make the trip an educational and interactive experience, teaching them about food choices and price comparisons.

3. Don’t shop when you’re hungry

It’s incredible how a craving for Doritos can sneak up on you. You leave the office or finish up at the gym and you stop at the supermarket to look for ideas for dinner. By the time you get to the checkout, you’ve got all the ingredients to make a heap of baked nachos, a frozen pizza and duck à l’orange with crème brûlée for dessert. Plus two new kinds of breakfast cereal and a box of fat-free chocolate coconut bars. Hungry much?

When you’re starving, everything looks good and just the suggestion of a certain dish can stimulate an instant craving. If you find yourself stuck having to go to the supermarket on an empty stomach, grab a (lower-priced) energy bar to munch on while you shop — you can pay for it with your other groceries.

10 Best Ways to Avoid Burnout at Work

1. Regular workouts:
I usually start my day with a run or lifting weights. It doesn’t have to be a long workout and the mode doesn’t matter, but I find doing something active each morning clears my mind and provides a fresh dose of endorphins that puts me in the right physical state for the rest of the day.

2. Evening walk:
This has been a critical element, since I noticed when I got home most days I couldn’t turn off and out of habit would head for my computer. I didn’t have closure to my day, so I simply extended it. To help with this, I started going for walks each evening before heading home after work. Not long, just enough to digest the day and clear my mind. And it works.

3. Reading fiction:
I had not been a fan of fiction and when I read books they were usually business related. But now I seeks a break, with fantasy, science fiction, and other books that transport myself away.

4. One-day respite:
Recently I felt I could be slipping close to burnout again, so I now takes one day a week off from work and its electronic tether, e-mail. It’s tough, and I hold off on running errands during the week and save it for that day. I almost force myself to be off work that day so I don’t have the potential to screw it up. The break is usually a Saturday or Sunday; I tend to rotate.

5. Intellectual hobbies:
a friend of mine recently bought an espresso machine, in part because she likes coffee but also because it was something she could engross herself in as a hobby – stimulate her mind, outside of work, but more intellectually than escapist fiction. She has been learning to roast beans on a little roaster on her deck and seeking to prepare the perfect latte. It also fits her schedule – she dabbles in the hobby as he prepares her brew which I think will help her to change her focus on work.

6. Small wins:
Since so much of burnout is mental, I try to acknowledge the small wins I am having every day. I break big challenges into small tasks that I can complete and feel good about.

7. Healthy diet:
When you’re pushing hard at work you need to eat well, agree? I try my best to avoid junk food and a steady regimen of pizzas.

8. Limiting decisions:
I was talking to one of my colleagues the other day. He mentioned that he was impressed by U.S. President Barack Obama’s revelation that he wears only blue and grey suits so there’s one less decision to be made each day. He believes decision fatigue can drain you, so he similarly tries to avoid decisions by building habits, such as the apple before his workout and the nutrition bar afterwards – no need to come up with a new choice every day.

9. Date night:
My wife is busy, but we try our best to take one night a week for each other.
 10. Yearly unplugs:
Here, I urges you to take time, at least once a year, where you are away from work for more than a single day. If I go for more that a year without an unplug I feel myself close to burnout.

In short, from personal experience, I don’t want to go there again. Cheers!

How smoking at home reduces property values

A recent survey of Ontario real estate agents in Ontario found that smoking in a home could lower the value of your property by up to 30 per cent. The survey was sponsored by Pfizer Canada and besides the obvious damage by staining walls and carpets, it can leave a smell that is very hard to eliminate.

It makes sense that a home with a smoky smell or strong odour will be harder to sell as it will deter most buyers. 

Landlords are permitted to include no smoking clauses in their leases. But they can only evict a tenant who smokes if they can prove the smoking has damaged the unit or is bothering the other tenants

The Non-Smoker’s Rights Association published their own study demonstrating that the average costs for a landlord to clean an apartment is two to three times greater when it was occupied by a heavy smoker. They also quote statistics from Canadian Fire Marshals demonstrating that cigarettes, lighters and matches remain one of the top causes of residential fires.

Similar statistics are found with resale cars where the prior owner was a heavy smoker and it is difficult to remove the smell from the upholstery.

Buyers, be suspicious if you notice the fans going or electric air fresheners whenever visiting a home for the first time.

Sellers, don’t try to cover up or hide odour issues that you know about. Get rid of any foul odour before putting your home for sale, to maximize your return.

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How to Get Your Boss to Say Yes

You have this really wonderful idea but:
A.) It's a little bit out of the ordinary, so the traditional way you go about getting approvals is not going to work.
B.) Your boss has previously shown signs of being "risk adverse."

How do you get the go-ahead?

The first answer is don't ask — at least not at first.

Are we advocating the old adage that it is always easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission? Sort of. What we're saying is that your first series of actions should not create a situation where you have anything to apologize for — even if you're not acting with the boss's permission.

The way to make that happen?

1. Your initial steps should have you acting like an entrepreneur. You want to act quickly with the means at hand. (That's right — before you ask for approval.) What's right around you that you can employ?

You have to be the judge of the size of those steps. Executing it must carry no negative consequences for anyone, especially you and your boss. Then, keep taking those tiny steps for as long as you can.

As you are taking your small steps, under the radar screen, get other respected people's help and fingerprints all over it. That will do a few things for you, all of them good. You will: gain additional perspectives ("Hey, did you ever think about this?"); have access to additional resources ("Sure, we have a lot of X that we aren't using); and be introduced to other like-minded people that, quite frankly, might give you a bit of protection should you be discovered at this early stage. Again, only you know how far you can go with this. The politics of every organization are different, and you don't want to do anything that could be taken to mean you are trying an end-run around your boss.

2. At some point (again, you have to be the judge) you'll want to let your boss know what you're doing. Even then, avoid asking for approval if you can. The conversation might go something like this:

"Hey, boss. I have this idea that fits in with what the company is trying to accomplish and could make some money. I haven't a clue if it is going to work, so I'm just spending a little time during off-hours or during downtime on it. I just wanted to give you a heads-up."

This conversation:

• Keeps your boss from being surprised. (That's always a good thing.)
• Buys you time to see if the idea is actually doable. If it's not, you don't have anything to ask your boss for later.
• Gives you information. You might learn the idea is doable, but you don't want to do it. And that is a good thing to know, before you offer up the idea for formal approval. (You can suggest people who would be perfect to spearhead the initiative.)

The smart boss will appreciate your enthusiasm and initiative and maybe even try to help, or offer a suggestion or two. At the very least, she won't stop you at this point.

The dumb boss will say something like "if you have any time to spare, work on what I already assigned you to do." If this happens more than once, you probably want to transfer to another boss or job. Research has shown that a prime determinant of workplace satisfaction and performance is a supportive boss who respects you and your ideas.

Okay, you've taken some more steps. The idea is a good one and you want to be involved in it going forward and it's going to require your boss to not only sign off, but also provide some resources. What do you do?

3. Make your best prediction of what the acceptable loss is for other key players, especially your boss. You already know the first couple of steps to take. You position the idea in the context of her hot buttons, whatever they may be.

"Hey boss, you know how you are always talking about how our department has to be more innovative. Well, the thing I have been working on seems to fit with that perfectly."

From there, you want to make sure you keep your requests (at least at first) within her realm of acceptable loss. How much is she likely to be willing to risk and write off if the idea fails? How can you do everything humanly possible to keep the number at risk below that?

Implicit in this is that the next step is going to be relatively small. That's a good thing. When you are facing the unknown — and starting something new certainly qualifies — you always want to begin by taking small steps. In fact, when you have been acting on your own, and even when you are acting with the approval of your boss, you are preceding just as successful serial entrepreneurs do:

• They take a small step toward their goal.
• They pause to see what they learned from taking that step. ("Yes, it looks like it is worth continuing for now.")
• They build off of what they learned.
• The process repeats until they (and you) achieve their goal — the project is a success — or they realize it cannot be done, or they find something more appealing.

Who knows? Telling your boss that she's acting like one of the most successful entrepreneurs in history might get things to go in your favor.