Author Archives: Andrej Zivor

How to Make Your Post-Move Experience Easier

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Moving can be a major task to tackle. It can often leave you feeling exhausted and relieved when the move has been completed. Once all of the major work is done, you are left disposing of cardboard boxes and wondering what is next.
You have to get settled in to a new home which may not seem like home at first. It can make you feel a bit disconnected and requires an adjustment period to get used to the new place. If you’ve moved to a new city, the disconnected feeling is even greater. There are certain steps you can take to ease the transition into a new location.
  1. First, fill out a change of address form and submit it to the post office if you haven’t already done this. You should do this as soon as possible. You can also do this online at the USPS website. This is very important because you don’t want your mail to continue to go to your old address, especially if its far away. This can cause unnecessary stress that you don’t need during this transition period.
  2. Once you’ve changed your address, you can slow down. Make a plan of how you will use your time. Setting up your new home and exploring your new city won’t be as hectic as moving, so you don’t have to rush. If you plan out how you will set up your home, learn about your neighborhood, meet neighbors, etc., if will seem less overwhelming and more like a fun adventure.

  1. After you make your plan, try to learn about your new home. Check things like windows and doors, alarms, fire extinguishers, your yard if you have one, your mailbox, etc. You will begin to become familiar with your home and you will also be aware of anything that needs attention.
  2. The next thing you want to focus on is certain registrations. If you have children, they will need to be registered in a new school. If you haven’t already done this, or you haven’t selected a new school for your child yet, take some time and learn about the school choices in your area. Some places have more than one choice so you have to figure out which one is best for you and your child(ren). You will also need to register your vehicle if you’ve moved to another state and also transfer your driver’s license. States have varying deadlines on transferring your vehicle registration and license, so check with your new state’s DMV for this information.
  3. Don’t forget to plan some time to help your children and your pets adjust to the new surroundings. Just as you may be feeling disconnected, they will also. Children may be feeling alienated or lonely because they don’t have friends in the new neighborhood and pets can exhibit bad behavior because they are insecure about their surroundings. Help children adjust by letting them express their feelings and getting them involved with things they might enjoy in the community. Help pets adjust by keeping them on a regular schedule and providing them with some extra love and attention.

Following these few tips can make the post-move time easier for you and your family. By taking it step by step, one day at a time, you can feel less stressed about the situation. Before you know it, you and your family will feel right at home again.

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Do It Yourself (DIY) Special Gift Candy Boxes And Chocolate Truffles

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Nothing says loved-filled gifts like DIY (Do It Yourself) candy boxes made for family and friends on those special ocassions. The best thing about them are the fact they are both one of a kind and cost effective. First off, no need to spend $10 on a pre-blank paper mache heart box at arts and crafts stores or online, 12-inch heart shaped boxes are everywhere around Valentine’s Day season for $1 each. After emptying the boxes of their previous content, the boxes are ready for a makeover.
The materials necessary for the box makeovers are everyday items like scissors, colored craft paper of choice, glue stick, a pencil, non-toxic acrylic paint, and a small paint brush.
Second, paint over the heart shaped boxes using the small brush with the acrylic paint color of your choice. Paint the boxes inside and out, including the lids, with as many coats of paint as necessary until the boxes’ color transformation is complete. Once done, trace the heart shaped box onto the craft paper with the pencil and glue the craft paper onto the top lid (and bottom lid if applicable). Meanwhile, the candy boxes are left to dry completely, you can choose to home bake some of those inside candy box treats.

If choosing to make chocolate truffles, the ingredients are the following: 2 ½ cups of crushed cereal (of your choice), one 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk, one 7oz can of marshmallow cream, two 12oz bags of white chocolate baking bits, food coloring gel, and sprinkles for coating. Lay a piece of parchment paper inside a loaf pan. Place one bag of your white chocolate bits (12oz) inside your pan. Place the pan in the microwave for a set of 30 second intervals, each time stirring the pan, until the chocolate is fully melted. Inside a mixing bowl blend the melted chocolate, crushed cereal, condensed milk, and marshmallow cream. After blending, pour the mix back into loaf pan. Allow the mixture to become a little hard by placing it inside the freezer for about 3 hours. Once cooled, use a tablespoon to scoop out the chocolate and roll them into box sized truffle balls. Using a cookie sheet this time, line the chocolate balls onto the parchment paper and put back into the refrigerator for another 3 hours. Meanwhile, take the second bag of white chocolate bits (12oz) and melt the chocolate into the cleaned loaf pan lined with parchment paper as before. Once the white chocolate has melted, use the food coloring gel to turn the melted chocolate into any color of your choosing.

Take out the chocolate balls and dip them inside the new melted chocolate one by one, until each is fully coated. Place each chocolate truffle onto the cookie sheet, and there you can choose to add sprinkles to the chocolate balls. Afterwards, you can let them cool of by placing them back into the refrigerator. The treats are now fully complete, so you can finish the candy gift boxes by placing the chocolate truffles into the DIY gift boxes. You can use crepe paper for the chocolate truffle holders.

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Finding Dependable Packaging

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You can only guarantee dependable shipping by choosing packaging that’s fully appropriate. Contamination and destruction are a couple examples of shipping risks. People, because of that, need to prioritize packaging that has the ability to battle it out with these issues. People need to consider various things before they ship items. They need to consider what they can do to see to it that their packages can make it through tough circumstances. Chemical and physical components alike can interfere with packaging that’s going from one location to the next. People should contemplate item size. They should contemplate the materials they employ for packaging purposes. Strength is also a key matter. These components all help influence peoples’ packaging choices.

It’s important to figure out how to choose packaging that’s terrific for your individual requirements. Packaging has to offer first-class defense against destruction. Many things can trigger product damage. Chemical, biochemical, mechanical, physical and biological matters can lead to harm. People have to manage that concern by choosing packages that can hold their own against these things. It’s crucial to go for packaging that’s not hard to employ. It’s crucial to go for packaging that’s a cinch to manage in general, too. Packaging, last but not least, shouldn’t ever cost people a pretty penny.

It can be helpful to assess several shipping scenarios. Are you planning on shipping out any electrical elements? You should do so with the assistance of a bag that’s antistatic. These bags defend items from the hazards of electrostatic charges. These charges can bring on substantial harm. If you’re looking to ship items that aren’t electrical, you can depend on a poly or foil bag. These kinds of bags have attractive styles. They, at the same time, are able to safeguard elements from aggressive situations.

Are you trying to ship out items that are on the sizable side? Sizable items that are weaker understandably need additional defense. Cardboard boxes can in many cases be fitting for them. Cardboard is a material that’s particularly powerful. It’s stiff, too. Cardboard can provide products with A+ defense.

People who are shipping out CDs and DVDs should think about packaging choices. They can choose between many diverse packaging choices in this day and age. It’s imperative to make rock-solid protection an aim. People need to concentrate on packages that can defend these types of items from issues such as scratching. Outside damage should also be a prominent consideration.

Businesses naturally care about organization and smooth operations at all times. That’s never a valid excuse for them, though. If you routinely ship products out for a business, you need to be meticulous and thorough no matter what. Don’t take a slapdash approach to your shipping needs. Doing so can end up hurting you in the long run. It can end up hurting your attentive staff members as well. Don’t ever take that risk. Cardboard box shipping can be useful to businesses that want relaxation and comfort. Boxes that consist of cardboard can keep all kinds of headaches out of your thoughts. CDs that show up to recipients with significant destruction can pose a massive issue. Electrical items that are defective in any way can bring on severe issues as well. It’s essential for people to take pride in all of their shipping methods and supplies.

8 Things You Need to Know About Holiday Shipping

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If you want to make sure that your holiday shipping goes well this year, you may want to start planning your gift giving early. Specifically, if your shopping experiences will end up in sending packages to family and friends via various shipping companies. Because the hustle and bustle of shopping do take time, you need to know what the best strategy is to take. This is especially true if you are looking to save time and money, while also making sure each package makes it to their destination on time or before. Having said that, here are 8 common questions that people need responses to in advance.

1. When Should I Send My Gifts to Friends and Family?

While there is no fast and established rule for shipping packages by a certain time, there are some parameters that you need to think about for the holidays. Because the number of packages shipped during these times increases by 11 million and more, the chances of them reaching the destination on time get less and less. So, you must factor in this extra time and the season to plan your arrivals on time.

2. What do you recommend as the best Methods of Packing?

Fortunately, there are many great tips available. Many of which will help to prevent breakage and other damages in shipment. For instance, never use a box that is too large for the item since it will naturally shift and sometimes even break during transit. Before shipping furniture items, disassemble the parts as much as you can prior to placing them inside the box.

3. Should I wrap my gifts first?

One basic rule of thumb is not to let the gift wrapping fever get in the way of the actual shipping. For instance, if you are shipping a bike or any type of furniture, exclude the bows. However, if there are smaller packages like candy boxes, you have a better chance of getting away with it.

4. Common Items that Cannot Be Shipped

Since shipping food has become a staple in many areas of the country, people may expect food items to be shipped by any carrier. For TSI, this is not the case, so these items must be shipped by another food friendly carrier. Other items that cannot be shipped are those smaller parcels.

5. What is TSI’s response to the winter weather?

When the roads around the country are clear enough to drive, TSI will be driving too.

6. What Occurs If Shipments are Delayed?

TSi is known for charging lower rates so the dates provided are estimates only. However, if one has a shipping issue that they need to discuss, they can feel free to contact TSI’s representatives.

7. Economy or White Gloves – When is White Glove Service Appropriate

With 2 levels of service provided to TSI customers, people can choose the one that suits their needs. Normally, the economy is considered to be the best choice. However, if you premium service that you do not prefer to be concerned about, white glove service is always the way to go.

8. Should my Shipments Be Insured?

Presently, all packages that are sent through transit have a basic amount of insurance on each. However, for peace of mine on antiques, fragile and delicate items, you may want the additional protection of shipping insurance.

17 Things to do with Your Empty Cardboard Boxes

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Most people just throw their boxes away once their initial usefulness expires. Below I will show you 17 things to do with a cardboard box other than throwing it out.

Re-Gifting
You can save those cardboard boxes until a time comes when you need to give someone else a present. You can use an old cardboard box to create and sturdy thank you card.

Dinner Circles
You can use an old cardboard tube, such as the ones found in aluminum foil or paper towels to create a custom napkin ring. Simple paint them up or wrap fabric around the cardboard tube and you have a beautiful one of a kind napkin ring.

Make a Plant Pot
With just a cardboard box and a trash bag with a few holes in it, you will be able to make the perfect plant pot, but although the trash bag will keep the inside of the box from getting wet, it is best to keep these cardboard plant pots inside to avoid them getting wet.

Children’s Toys
You can make some great activities for your child with a cardboard box. Sit down with your child and have an arts and crafts day and create something unique!

Storage Containers
With just a few sheets of fabric and some glue you can create some simple, yet luxurious totes. People won’t believe that you made them yourself.

Cat’s Best Friend
We all know felines love playing with boxes, but did you know you can shape and glue cardboard to make an excellent scratching post for your whiskered-friend?

A Maze
If you’ve just moved chances are you have a lot of empty boxes and probably some empty space in your house. Take the boxes all to one room and create a maze for your child to play with – at least until its time to furnish that new room.

Coasters
Get yourself some decorative duct tape or a jar of waterproof finish and you can make some drink coasters whose design is only limited by your imagination.

Tags
You can use cardboard cut outs as gift tags, price tags, or simply as labels to keep your things organized.

Weed Killer
Take a peace of cardboard and place it on a weed riddled area of your lawn. By spraying water on the cardboard, the weeds below will drown with no access to the sun to dry them up, now just lay over some fresh top soil and plant your grass.

Paint Palette 
A simple cut out of a cardboard box makes an excellent paint palette for the artists out there.

Book Organization
You can use rectangular cardboard containers to store your magazines or books in on your bookshelf.

Party Decor
A lot of people use paper to create streamers and banners for their parties, but if you use cardboard it make give your party a much more professional look.

Canvases
Coat your cardboard with primer and white paint. The cardboard wont have the same properties as real canvas but any artist worth his weight could still make it work.

Bird Feeder
By using the cardboard in a paper towel row, you can make a bird feeder for the local birds.

Gift Bags
Teachers can use cardboard to make unique gift bags for their students on special occasions. Perfect for parents too!

Picture Mats
Cut the cardboard in a square and wrap it in thin fabric and you have a custom made picture mat. They will make an excellent addition to your frames.