When you become a parent, there is a lot that comes your way in terms of expenses and other upkeep costs that in somehow hinder you from saving up for your baby’s future. There is the doctor’s expenses, food, baby gear, diaper expenses among so many other things that may prevent you from saving up. But on top of all this, it is salient for you to find ways to ensure that you have this fund because it ideally acts as a safety net for your baby for future purposes. So here are some of the extra part times you can do to increase the baby fund.

Online Trading

One of the ways through which you could possibly increase your baby fund is by investing and engaging in online trading. You can do so by investing in shares of a listed company on the ASX or SSX, investing in unlisted managed funds through the mFund and investing in bonds and interest rate securities that allow you to sort of diversify your overall portfolio and lend money to the emitter depending on your liking as displayed by CMC Markets in their website.

Start a Free Amazon Associate Account

Amazon has an affiliate program that enables just about anyone who is interested in registering and earning a commission once someone purchases something from Amazon using the special link that they give you. In most cases, you stand a chance to earn a commission of up to 8% of the cost of the commodity on Amazon, however; it also depends on the category that the commodity is in.

Freelance Writing for Blogs

Bloggers are always in search of new content and sometimes it may get very overwhelming to do by themselves. As such, they are always constantly in search of people who can help write content on their blog and pay them between 25 and 45 dollars per article of 2000 words. The beauty about this part time is that you do not really have to be an expert because you will get guidance on the topic to research on from the blog author.

Start a Blog

Blogs have a potential of earning you quite a bit of money especially if you put in the hard work that it requires at the end of the day. You can get some funds by guest blogging on a site of your choice. If you are at it, you can still write for travel blogs on the various destinations of your choice.

Be a Virtual Assistant

One of the other things that you can be sure to make extra cash from is by being a virtual assistant. This often entails doing tasks such as reading through the email inbox and responding to people, posting articles on the employer’s site as well as scheduling the employer’s travel plans if need be. The beauty of being a virtual assistant is that you can work whenever you like at the comfort of your couch and earn anything from $8 to $20 per hour.

Arbitrage for Amazon FBA

This is a cool way for moms who love spree shopping or those who observe the price of items carefully at stores. You can earn huge bucks from this just by visiting the local stores and hitting the clearance section, buying a shopping cart full of items and then mail it to the Amazon FBA. What Amazon then does is sell the items for you and emails them to you and then pays you your share of the amount.

Get Freelance Editorial Work

If you feel that you are not up to the commitment of blogging but still want to be able to express your creativity, then you can be an editor for media, corporate and nonprofit websites that are looking for freelancers to write, edit and produce their content.

Saving up and getting an extra part time may not be the easiest of things to do but having a clear picture of why you are doing it in the first place helps put things in perspective. As your baby becomes of age, they will have the safety net they need to cover their future expenses.

It is an indisputable fact that water is one of the most essential natural resources we have. Without water, there would literally be no life—not only for us human beings but also for all other living things on this planet, especially animals and plants. But this life-giving resource is not unlimited, and with droughts becoming a more common natural phenomenon throughout the world because of climate change, it has become imperative for us that we learn how to conserve water.

There are many ways on how you can do this. For one, you and your family members can start being more mindful of how you use water in your household. You can turn off taps when they’re not in use, and you can fix leaks as they’re also a source of wasted water. If you have plans of harvesting rainwater for your household, here are some tips that can help you out:

1. The first thing you need to do is to designate a catchment area.

• One of the most common areas that will allow you to collect rainwater right away is your roof, and it is also the most easily adapted, thanks to convenient features like gutters. To get the biggest quantity of collected rainwater, it is best to choose a downspout that’s located directly beneath an especially steep part of the roof. If you’d like to keep your water colllection system discreet, make sure to choose a spot that’s hidden from view.
• You can also look for places where water collects in a natural manner during times of a downpour. Don’t just limit yourself to your gutters; you can use any surface that’s shaped like a slope. One effective way of spotting these areas is to go out after a downpour and inspect the outside of your house for areas where puddles and shallow pools have formed. These spots can serve as good catchment areas.
• When it rains, a good amount of rainwater is lost due to seepage. To prevent this, you can pave the open catchment areas around your home such as pools and streams. This will keep the water from seeping into the ground and also from being tainted by surface contaminants.

2. You will also need to find ways to channel the runoff.

• Your home’s gutters are already an excellent means to channel excess runoff, and all you’ll have to do is to set out a few containers beneath them to catch what they collect. For most homes that are of an average size, gutters with dimensions of 5 × 3 inches will be appropriate. If you have a larger home, 6 × 4 gutters will do.
• If you’ve opted for a catchment area other than your roof, you will need to set up a conveyance system that reroute the water you’ve collected to where it will actually be stored. You can make this happen through the use of pipes or PVC tubes. Remember to set up your conveyance system with enough slope in order to allow the rainwater to flow.
• It is best if you set up your storage and conveyance system close to where you intend to use it. For instance, if you plan to use the water you’ve collected to water your garden, it is ideal to keep your conveyance and storage system to the side of your home that’s nearest your yard or garden. It will be more convenient that way.

3. The next step is to set up a collection system.

• Make sure you set up containers that can collect rainwater at a high capacity. While plastic barrels are the most common type, there are specially designed containers that have built-in features like spigots and filtration screens. Rain Water Tanks have a wide variety of quality rainwater collection containers that your household can benefit from.
• One way of ensuring better water pressure and encourage flow is to elevate the barrels. The extra height will allow easier and better flow from the spigot. Also, raising your containers can make it easier on you to position a watering can or bucket underneath it.

4. Finally, install a filtering system to ensure that the water you’ve collected is healthy for use and is free from any pollutants.

• Make sure you keep your containers covered at all times so as to keep out mosquitos and reduce exposure to pollutants and bacteria. Also, make it a habit to drain and clean your containers every once in a while for sanitary purposes.

Harvesting rainwater can do much more for your household than what you’ve expected. Aside from giving you and your family a backup water supply in times of drought, it can also greatly reduce your monthly water consumption and bills. Think about how much your household can save each month when you apply this concept in your household.

Most of us who vape love it, and are obsessed with it. Specifically, we are obsessed with finding the best e-juice possible. This is true whether it we are looking for your traditional tobacco e-juice or some other variety.

Of course, these days, the market is huge and there are a whole bunch of people producing juices of various different qualities, with different standards, most of them making dubious claims as to how good their juices really are. So how are we to sort this mess out? There must be some kind of objective criteria we can apply to the process of selecting our e-juice, right? Fear not, there definitely are, and we are going to walk you through them.

Ingredient Lists

By law, you should be able to easily have access to the ingredient list of an e-liquid. In most jurisdictions, in fact, the ingredient list is required to be clearly listed on the product label itself.

So what are we looking for? Honestly, it’s not that much different than any other product of this nature, or for that matter, any packaged food or drink. Shorter ingredient lists are generally better. And you want to specifically look out for certain ingredients that are often in e-liquids and aren’t super good for your health. We are talking about things like ethelene glycol (which is used as antifreeze and is actually toxic), and its cousines diethelene glycol and propylene glycol, which are all very similar in their nature. None of these substances are really fit for human consumption, but for various reasons sometimes they are snuck into e-juices.

Also to be avoided are acetone and its various related acetyl-like substances such as acetoin, acroleine, diacetyl, etc. Many of you will get it off the bat; acetone is commonly used as nail polish remover. That’s not something you want to be deeply breathing in like that!

The best is if the manufacturer has a proper lab report handy backing up the fact that their products contain only the best ingredients and are free from these sorts of chemicals.

General Quality Issues

We talked about what should not be in your e-juice, now let’s talk about what goes in there.

Assuming it’s a tobacco-based juice, the quality of the tobacco is super important, meaning how it is grown, harvested and cured. And if it’s not, or in some cases of flavored tobacco e-juices, it will probably contain some sort of an essential oil. These should be of the highest grade possible, and should be considered potable. These are of course the most expensive ingredients, but these are your lungs we are talking about here!

Beyond this, one should consider the batch size. Of course, here, smaller is always better.

These few factors will invariably determine the quality of your next vaping experience; this is why we think it’s so important for proper attention to be provided to them.

We’ve seen lots of shake-ups in the global worlds of business and industry over the past few years. Among others, the sudden crash of crude oil prices has really left the international business world reeling. People feel, and rightly so, that there is no certainty anymore, no security. Maybe there never really was and we are just waking up to that realization.

One positive aspect to all of this mayhem has been that many of us have done some soul-searching and are now more open than ever to possible new opportunities. As a matter of fact, all of this disruption is in many ways a blessing in disguise, because it destroys the image of some business as “safe” investments, and promotes a much more open-minded mentality among investors as to taking a chance on the new and less proven. If not even oil is a sure thing, and nothing is a sure thing anymore, one may as well invest in something that has real potential to transform the world in a positive way.

We’re going to take a look at 4 different industries that we consider to be up and coming, and have great potential for an investor to get in relatively early and capitalize on their relative newness:

Online Casinos:

Investing in an Online Casino is first on our list for a big reason: This is actually a great investment, with huge potential returns for relatively little risk. Online casinos consistently come in among the highest growth industries worldwide, and the trend is likely to not only continue, but very possibly even accelerate some more.

The trend is so strong for many reasons. First off, gambling is something people do worldwide, and they do it even in places where it is highly illegal. The demand is never going to go away. But brick-and-mortar casinos have their drawbacks. Let’s face it: nobody wants an actual brick-and-mortar casino in their backyard! Also, brick-and-mortar casinos are often beholden to legal regulations on local, regional and national levels, sometimes even conflicting regulations. Online casinos don’t have either of the above problems.

The only caveat here is that this is a very competitive industry, so you have to do your homework before taking the plunge.

E-learning:

E-learning sites such as Skillshare, Udemy, etc. comprise what is still a fledgling industry, and one with massive potential.

The panorama is actually very simple. Decades ago, colleges and universities were the sole gatekeepers of higher learning. For better or for worse, they controlled who had the credentials and therefore qualified for the positions in the vast majority of all industries. Folks who had legit degrees made up a minority of the total population, and the degree was seen, once again for better or worse, as a legit barrier to entry.

In today’s world, this has somewhat deteriorated. A much higher percentage of the population has at least a bachelor’s degree, but the value of that degree has lessened considerably, both because of simple supply and demand, but also because the quality of the education behind that degree has visibly gone way down in terms of quality.

Many post-secondary educations are de facto extensions of adolescence, at a hefty price tag, providing very little value for the investment. Does this sound like too harsh of a judgement? Consider that the Harvard debate team recently surprisingly lost a debate to a prison debate team. Granted, these were some smart people on the winning team, but keep in mind that, decades ago, Harvard’s debate team would go years on end without a defeat! Remember that one of Harvard’s stated goals is to collect the best minds on Earth.

This type of deterioration is obviously not a good thing, but it does represent a catalyst for a whole new industry, the e-learning industry.As the trend of dumbing-down and self-devaluing of the education system continues, it is inevitable that more and more people will take to e-learning as a cheaper and possibly much better quality alternative. This has enormous potential for the human race in general, and specifically as a business venture.

If the current trend continues, e-learning will steadily rise in prominence as a new and better alternative that will start to even threaten other more formal institutions of learning. At the very least, we will start to see e-learning certificates appearing more and more on CVs as time goes on, and that makes this very much a massive growth industry.

E-commerce:

E-commerce is sort of the “old faithful” of this list, but we feel it needs to be included all the same, because, although it’s been around in some from or other for more than two decades, it has yet to really hit its stride.

Normally this wouldn’t be such a good thing to say about a business opportunity, but for one simple and undeniable fact: this is absolutely and undoubtedly the future, and everybody knows it will take over the world; it’s just a question of when.

Honestly, it’s not like e-commerce is not a growth field either. It has been supporting some pretty significant growth numbers as of lately; we just feel that it has so much further to go, which is exactly what makes it still a great opportunity, and there is still a lot of “ground floor” left in it.

Dropshipping:

This one has been saved for last, but it’s definitely not least on the list. Dropshipping is very potentially powerful, and among all of these industries, this type of company, while having a high degree of risk behind it, has the most potential to exponentially multiply your profits quickly on this list.

Dropshipping companies are simply companies that partner with online retail giants, and buy products and resell them using these same partner companies’ platforms. Properly set up, a dropshipping business has almost no overhead, and simply consists of acquisition of products, and them marketing said products. The partner company receives the product, stores it, processes the transaction, and then sends the sold products out to the buyer for a nominal fee.

Care must be taken to ensure that the products the company deals with have good enough margins and will sell quickly enough, and that the people involved with the marketing know what they are doing. If you can be sure of those two points, you have yourself a winner.

There are plenty of good cocktails out there—martinis, daiquiris, margaritas. But few are as versatile as the Moscow Mule. This cocktail can be enjoyed any time, any place. It’s refreshing and cool, perfect for summer, and, during the frigid cold of winter, the ginger spice will keep you cozy—the vodka doesn’t hurt, either.

The standard Moscow Mule—ginger beer, vodka, and lime juice—is excellent, to be sure. But there are also plenty of variations worth a try. With summer just around the corner, we couldn’t help but wonder what other fruits could be incorporated. Here, we’ve compiled some of the best and fruitiest Moscow Mule recipes.

1.Summer Mule (Courtesy of SheKnows)
Hosting a summer get-together, bridal shower, or birthday party? This is guaranteed to be a hit. The fresh berries are just the right amount of sweet, enhancing and not overpowering the existing flavors. The berries also give it a beautiful rosy pink color.

Ingredients:
½ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
Fresh berries (4-6 per drink)
2 ounces vodka
3 ounces ginger beer
Soda water
Ice

Directions:
Muddle the berries with the lime juice. We suggest blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, or blueberries. The berries should break down quickly as you muddle them and create a syrup-like texture. Add the ginger beer and vodka. Pour over ice and top it off with sparkling water.

2.Spicy Mule (Courtesy of SheKnows)

If you love spicy foods, you’ll love this variation which incorporates jalapeno peppers. We know, jalapenos aren’t really fruit…but it’s too good to leave out. You can add as many as you like, though we’d suggest starting with 3-4 slices per drink and adding more to taste.

Ingredients:
Jalapeno pepper

1 ounce fresh lime juice

4 ounces ginger beer

½ ounce orange liqueur

2 ounces vodka

Ice

Directions:
Cut the jalapeno into thin slices. Muddle a few slices with the lime juice and orange liqueur. Stir in the vodka and ginger beer. Serve over ice.

3.The Mule Refresher (Courtesy of Drinkware Essentials)

This is another variation that incorporates fresh berries, making it optimal for summertime.

Ingredients:
12 blueberries
8 thinly sliced pieces of cucumber

6 mint leaves, plus a whole sprig for garnish

2 handfuls crushed ice, divided

2 oz. vodka

1 oz. fresh lime juice
½ cup ginger beer

Directions:
Put the berries, cucumber slices, and mint in the bottom of a cocktail shaker and muddle until the mixture is a thick, juicy pulp. Add one handful of ice, the vodka, and the lime. Shake well for at least 30 seconds. Put a handful of ice into the mug (or glass). Strain the cocktail into the mug. Pour the ginger beer on top of the cocktail mixture. Add remaining ice. Garnish with mint sprig.

4. Passion Fruit Moscow Mule (Courtesy of Pineapple and Coconut)

This tropical take on the Moscow Mule will transport your mind and tastebuds to a sunny island paradise. The recipe makes 2 servings, though there’s nothing wrong with having it all to yourself.

Ingredients:
4 oz. vodka (Pineapple flavor or plain)
6 Tbsp. passion fruit pulp—about 4-6 passion fruits’ worth, depending on the size
2 tsp. Barsmith Mix Lime Syrup (or fresh lime juice)
8 Ounces ginger beer
Ice
Mint for garnish

Directions:
Divide the passion fruit pulp amongst the glasses and pour 1 teaspoon of lime syrup (or lime juice) into each glass. Muddle gently. Add in 2 ounces of vodka per glass and top with the ginger beer. Gently stir. Add a sprig of mint for garnish. Serve immediately.

5.Strawberry Moscow Mule (Courtesy of Beautiful Booze)

Berries, like Moscow Mules, are one of the best summertime treats. Here’s another berry-filled variation that’s perfect for a warm afternoon. This one also makes 2 cocktails.

Ingredients:

3 oz. vodka

5 Strawberries
½ lime, juiced
½ bottle ginger beer (about 4 oz.)
½ to 1 cup crushed ice
1 strawberry for garnish

Directions:

Add ice, lime juice, muddled strawberries, and vodka to two serving glasses. Stir mixture. Top with ginger beer.

Once you’ve given these a try, let us know what you think by posting in the comments. Have another fruity favorite of your own? We’d love to hear it!

HVAC units seem to break down on the coldest and hottest days of the year. Prolonged hot or cold weather patterns can certainly cause an HVAC unit to work overtime to keep your home climate controlled. However, an HVAC unit often offers warning signs to let you know that you should consider calling a professional to service your system. Discover a few signs that indicate you need to call an HVAC professional right away.

Your Unit Isn’t Running Properly

If you or a family member is sick, you go or take the person to visit the doctor. If your car is making a strange sound, you visit the mechanic. Likewise, if your HVAC unit is demonstrating signs that it’s starting to malfunction, you need to call an HVAC professional. If your unit isn’t heating or cooling your home as it should and you don’t have obvious blockages to heat registers or air filters, you should call a professional. Contact a technician if you notice unusual sounds coming from your HVAC unit as well.

Finally — and most importantly — if you have a gas unit, you should already have installed carbon monoxide detectors. If a carbon monoxide detector alerts you to the presence of this deadly gas, contact a professional immediately.

Your DIY Actions Haven’t Resolved the Problem

Several issues related to HVAC units are simple to resolve. You can change the unit’s filter, check the thermostat, and confirm that the unit’s circuit breaker has not tripped. Such repairs are simple, inexpensive, and take only a few minutes.

You may also move draperies, furniture, and other items around your home to keep them from obstructing the air flowing through your registers. Make sure your registers are fully open to allow maximum airflow. If simple do-it-yourself HVAC system repairs such as these ones do not solve your problem, then you need to call an HVAC technician.

You Renovated Your Home

Home and garden television programs offer plenty of inspiration for renovating your home. You may find yourself planning to upsize your home to suit an expanding family or to customize your living space to meet your tastes.

When selecting floor plans, paint samples, and design touches to complete your renovation project, make sure to place “call your HVAC professional” on your must-do list. Your HVAC professional can alert you to new features to maximize your HVAC unit’s efficiency while climate controlling your new living space. HVAC professionals can also make sure that your home is as efficient as possible, including assessing your current insulation and ductwork.

Your Home Is Exceptionally Dusty

Cleaning your home may seem like a never-ending process, and your HVAC unit may make your cleaning efforts moot. Over time, dust and dirt build up on your HVAC unit’s elements; that dust and dirt then gets distributed throughout your home, landing on surfaces you just dusted. Schedule a maintenance visit with your HVAC professional to have your HVAC system thoroughly cleaned once a year. Not only will a thorough cleaning keep your whole home cleaner, but a clean HVAC system also runs more smoothly and efficiently, thus prolonging its overall life.

Don’t wait until your HVAC unit completely breaks down to call an HVAC professional. From preventative maintenance to annual cleanings, you can make sure your system keeps you comfortable year-round.