What you should know about your credit score

YOUR CREDIT SCORE, ALTHOUGH IMPORTANT, IS OVERLY COMPLICATED

Your credit score is used in almost anything important. It shows landlords, car dealerships, banks, etc. how reliable you are in your finances (especially when it comes to loans). If you have a poor credit score, you typically need references (people who can vouch for you in your situation like a previous landlord) for you to accomplish anything so don’t mess this up, please.

WHERE IT COMES FROM

3 companies determine your credit score: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. There are lots of things that go into a FICO score (the most typical credit score used), but it’s based on your payment history, the amount of money you owe, the length of your credit history, the types of credit you’ve used, and how often you look for more credit.

WHEN TO CHECK YOUR SCORE

Every year you get a chance to check your credit score ONCE, at least for your exact number from each company, but you can also use things like Credit Karma for your score. Keep in mind that there are two types of inquiries (when you ask to see your credit score): a hard inquiry (which will lower your credit score) is when someone checks your credit score when they’re trying to extend your credit, a soft inquiry is you personally checking or someone pre-checking it for a job and won’t hurt your score at all.

HOW TO GET A SOLID CREDIT SCORE

Alright so first of all, you need to be paying bills on time. Next on the list is to keep your credit card spending low and make sure you’re paying off any debts you have. Next up is to not keep getting new credit cards because of the hard inquiries necessary to do so, but don’t close credit card accounts either (unless it’s a card that has a fee) since it’ll make you seem like you’re using less credit than you’re being given which is a good thing.

Insurance; is it worth the money?

WHY, AND WHAT INSURANCE TO GET

Insurance is a necessary evil in today's society. If you were unfortunately robbed or involved in an accident, could you afford to replace all your lost or damaged items?

Insurance is to protect you if something bad happens. That being said, finding the right insurance may be difficult, so here’s what insurance you’ll need for what, what to look for in your insurance and why you want it.

RENTER’S INSURANCE

Anyone that’s going to rent an apartment or house NEEDS renter’s insurance. This’ll protect all of the stuff in your apartment/home in the event of a robbery or if they’re damaged. On top of this, you’ll probably need other types of insurance for things like natural disasters, but this really only applies if you own your home. Homeowners insurance is practically the same thing, just for a house.

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HEALTH INSURANCE

Health insurance is what saves you when you get your medical bill. Nowadays you can stay on your parent’s health insurance until you’re 26, so it shouldn’t be of concern for most of you quite yet. If that doesn’t quite work out, then colleges often have their own health insurance programs and there is also always government-funded health insurance. Keep in mind that this only goes for people in America, since other countries have different systems it may be different, depending on where you live.

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CAR INSURANCE

There are lots of different types of car insurance which may or may not be needed, based on your situation. First off is liability insurance, which protects other people’s things and health in the event of a car crash you caused. Then there’s personal injury protection (you can figure that one out on your own), collision insurance which protects YOUR car and things in the event of a car crash. Then there’s comprehensive insurance which protects you from “Acts of God” (so if lightning strikes your car or a tree falls on it, you’re covered). Finally, you have uninsured insurance which is an oxymoron that protects you from people who are lacking liability insurance.


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WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN INSURANCE

LOW PREMIUMS

Your premium is kind of like your bill. Always look for an affordable premium alongside a good insurance policy (a good insurance policy for you, everyone needs different things covered remember, that part is up to you) or you’ll go broke.

LOW DEDUCTIBLE

Let’s say you go to the hospital and come out with a $1000 medical bill. Now let’s say you have a deductible of $500, this means that once you pay the first $500, the insurance company will cover the rest.

Keep in mind, low deductibles typically mean higher premiums and the same for the other way around.

COPAY

Your copay is a percentage of your medical bill that you have to pay. Typically it isn’t all that expensive, but everything can add up easily.

BASIC HYGIENE PRACTICES

Brush and floss your teeth

Brush at least once a day, but try for twice a day. Using baking soda on your toothbrush is really good at whitening your teeth, but you should still brush with toothpaste afterwords. Flossing should be done every 24 hours, it doesn’t hurt that bad and it makes your teeth healthier later on in life.

Use deodorant everyday

No matter what, never, ever, under any circumstances leave the house without deodorant. If you smell bad, no one wants to be around you. It’s shameful on you and your entire family tree.

Wash your clothes

All your nasty sweat is collected by your clothes all day and usually begins to smell on day 3 of use, but it depends on the article of clothing you’re talking about here. Shirts can be re-used 3 times max, jeans can be used all week, normal pants/bottoms go for 3 days, underwear (including boxers, compression shorts, etc.) should be used ONLY once and the same goes for socks. Hats go for 2 weeks. Bras go for about 3 days. A week is pushing it.

Shave at least 4 times a week

Shaving every day is a pain for guys, it’s understandable, but going over 3 days without shaving (unless you’re going for a beard) is kind of grimy, don’t do that, shave it.

Clip your nails at least twice a week

Nothing is more revolting than seeing someone with dirty alligator claws. Long nails are too common and there’s no excuse for it, try clipping once every 3 or 4 days, not once every 3 or 4 weeks you heathens.

Clean your ears

When someone sees anyone with hunks of yellow in their ears, the first thing that comes to mind is the scene from “Shrek” when he pulls wax out of his ear and turns it into a candle. Earwax is unacceptable and should be taken care of. Get your ears cleaned frequently by a professional if possible, but if that won’t work due to expenses just try not to push ear wax into your ear or you can hurt yourself while cleaning them.


Wash your face twice a day

This one is less complicated than everyone makes it: take your soap and warm water to make your hands a little sudsy,  start smearing that stuff all over your face, rinse with cold water. From there make adjustments according to your skin, but that’s on you. Remember that there are 4 types of skin: dry, oily, medium, combination; you should take care of your skin based on your skin type.

SIMPLE FACIAL CREAMS EVERYDAY AND SUNSCREEN
Benzoyl peroxide is the base of most acne medications and can be found on its own for much cheaper than a facial care kit. It works amazingly for spot treatment, but you need to be careful because it’ll dry out your face. For that, moisturising every night with a moisturiser that doesn’t clog pores ( I avoid oil based creams) is recommended. One final thing, remember that sunscreen is important, yes it’s a pain, but it’s better than risking skin cancer later in life.

One final thing

Remember that going to the doctor and the dentist at least yearly for a check-up can be very important. You don’t want any issues worsening or arising because you chose to avoid the doctor. Your health is worth the extra hour or so you’ll have to take out of your day.

How to clean and organise your home

A house should be a peaceful, tidy, cleanly place for you to come home to everyday and relax. Here’s how you keep it that way.

Setting your day up

Setting yourself up for a productive day starts with making your bed. Get into the habit of making your bed right after waking up. By doing this, you have already completed the first step in keeping your home tidy and organised.

Vacuuming
Vacuuming every week is probably your best option. Remember to use the little tube on the side to get hard to reach areas like right under cabinets. If you don’t want to spend time vacuuming, get a robot to do it for you. A few more things people tend to forget about when vacuuming are the stairs and the couches. Make sure to lift up the pillows on a couch and give it a good vacuum every once in a while.


Bathrooms

For mirrors, the counter, and toilet (not the inside of the bowl) you can use Windex and a clean cloth rag. For showers, use Comet (the type that has bleach) for the tub part. To unclog a drain: pour boiling water down the drain, pour 1/2 cup of baking soda down the drain (wait 3 minutes), pour half a cup of vinegar and 1/2 a cup of boiling water then cover the drain (wait 15 minutes), rinse with boiling water. For toilet bowls, you use toilet bowl cleaner (pretty self-explanatory) with a toilet bowl brush. Make sure with toilet bowls you get around the rim too. Try to clean your bathroom every two weeks.


Kitchen

Simple Green is a gift from the heavens when it comes to kitchen cleaning. Use it to clean all counters, stovetops, and greasy pots and pans. For any stainless steel, make sure you use stainless steel cleaner otherwise you’ll leave streaks - or worse: scratches. Remember to clean out the inside of the microwave, toaster, oven, sink, and coffee machine every once in a while too. One last thing people often forget is the drain of their dishwasher. This can get clogged very easily and stop your dishwasher from working. Reach down underneath the bottom rack of the dishwasher and there should be a mesh drain you can pull out and empty.


Trash

Fun fact about trash, if you throw something in the trash that smells bad, it still smells. Don’t dump fish, raw meat, rotting/moldy food, etc. in your indoor trashcan, take it outside or everything will smell wherever the trashcan is. Take the trash out whenever necessary, don’t let it pile up. Squishing it down to fit more in can only work for so long.



Dusting

For wood, dust with a little bit of lemon oil once in the while. It’ll make everything smell nice and oils your wood, which is good for it. But only once in a while and only a little bit of oil. It can get streaky if you don’t rub it in well enough and can collect dust if you use too much of it. For everything else, use a microfiber cloth or a duster. Make sure you lift things off of shelves to dust instead of dusting around them. Try to dust once every two weeks.



Gardening

No one’s asking you to be a botanist, but if you’re going to have a plant, make sure you know how much light and water it’s supposed to have. And remember to water it. It really isn’t that hard.

HOW TO BUY A CAR THE RIGHT WAY

When you’re buying a car, it’s pretty easy to waste money. The end goal of whoever is selling the car to you is to make money, so it’s in your best interest to minimise the amount spent.

Find a car

For this, just try to find a few cars that suit you. Remember that you need to have a spending budget and that some cars cost a lot to fix when things go wrong (and they will!), keep that in mind because a cheap car may cost more in the end because of the cost of repairs. Once you have a solid list of cars, go test drive what you think would be best and make a decision out of the bunch. But read the rest of this page before you make a decision.

Find the best price

The one place, out of anywhere you should go, is Kelley Blue Book (KBB). You can see not only the average cost of your ideal car, but they also throw in lots of listings for the same car in your area. 

Get a quote

You can do this over email or in person, just make sure you remember that they’re trying to make money however they can here. They’ll often try to get you to pay a fair bit more than you actually should, so make sure you know how much you’re willing to spend based on the average price of that car (which you find on KBB). If you just can’t haggle with the dealer to get the price you want, just leave. 

Trading in your old car

When trading in an old car, you need to look at two basic numbers: Trade-in price and the dealer retail price. Dealers will try to get your car from you at the cheapest possible price, so make sure you know how much it’s really worth. You of course can’t sell it to them at their retail price, but work towards that neighborhood. CarMax is a great place to go to for appraisals.  

Before signing off on your new cars

Make sure you read whatever they hand you. Dealerships tend to throw in hidden fees that they won’t tell you about and they can get real pricey sometimes. Definitely make sure there’s no shady business going on with your paperwork. Ask their finance manager about the different fees, if any of them sound pointless, get rid of them. Typical fees are like sales tax and documentation fees. They’ll also try to sell you warranties and additional coverage so unless you really need it, say no.