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Personal Health Record: What Are They & How Do I Make One?

June 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment

For anyone that has a chronically ill family member or someone that has experienced an accident that has brought upon many medical issues, you know that the amount of paperwork can quickly become overwhelming. Even the average individual will want to keep track of their records and personal information for insurance purposes  reimbursements, health tracking, and for taxes. With much of the Personal Health Record industry moving digital it can be difficult to know what you need, how you should store the information, and for how long. Here are some basic guidelines and tips to follow.

WHAT TO ADD TO YOUR PERSONAL HEALTH RECORD FILE:

  • Personal information (phone, address, birthdate)
  • Insurance cards, discount prescription cards
  • Immunization records
  • Dental records
  • Important test results, especially abnormal ones
  • A list of medical conditions and coordinating health regimens or medications
  • A list of medications and foods you are allergic to
  • Prescription history
  • A list of doctors, specialists, and health providers that you have seen in the past (including contact info)
  • Insurance bills and statements

WHERE TO STORE:

  • Online services such as WebMD’s Personal Health Record system can assist you in storing your information digitally, so that you have greater ease in providing healthcare professionals with access to past history, can access the info throughout your lifetime, and to maximize your health benefits. For more information about storing your personal health information online, visit the Medicare.gov page.
  •  If you feel more comfortable keeping the information in hard copy, create a folder designated for your Personal Health Records and another for Medical Insurance. Keep all of the items, except for the last, from the list above in the first folder. The Medical Insurance folder should keep the bills and statements from your insurance company. You can also add in correspondence from claim negotiations or other related documents. When seeing a new doctor, bring the first file with you, so that they can copy the information. PFS Clinical provides customizable solutions to the treatment of a disease and management of the whole process.

HOW LONG TO STORE:

  • Experts advise that medical records should be kept for 5 years after the end of the treatment. For insurance bills and statements you can toss records after a year, or immediately if you have access to the digital statement online. Remember to always shred your personal health records for security reasons.

We wish you good health and organization!

TWOW

 

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Laundry Room Organization

June 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment

If you’re lucky enough to have a dedicated laundry room, you know that it can easily become disorganized. Whether it’s items from other areas of the house living there permanently or it’s half-finished laundry stacking up, the small room can quickly seem out-of-control. We’ve put together some of our favorite ideas for designing and maintaining a flawlessly organized laundry room. It’s important to have professionals for laundry appliance repair, Aqualogic  have a team of qualified technicians and laundry specialists to ensure your industrial/commercial washing machine repair is completed quickly and efficiently, bringing your equipment back online as soon as possible.

What Belongs There: Although some people use their laundry room for storage of other items, if you are looking to create an organized space, it’s best kept to it’s original function. The following is a list of items every laundry room should have.

  • Washer & Dryer
  • Iron & Ironing Board
  • Detergent (1 bottle)
  • Stain Remover (1 bottle)
  • Fabric Softener (If desired)
  • Dryer Sheets (1 package)
  • 1-3 hampers (Separated by color)
  • 1 Clean clothes african hamper

How to Organize the Space: Depending on how large your laundry room is, there may be an opportunity for you to have a dedicated folding table. If so, utilize the space below the table to store your 3 hampers. Use the area above the washer and dryer to add shelves for holding all clothing cleaning products. Keep all other areas minimally decorated and with as little storage as possible. This room should be used as much as possible for laundry and laundry alone.

The Laundry Room Re-Set: If you find that the room often become disorganized, commit to a laundry room reset once per week. At this time, you’ll fold and put away all clean clothes, wash any dirty ones still there, and re-organize the cleaning products and physical items in the space. If you are committed to this process, you’ll find the space stays clean and organized longer.

 

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The Challenges of Downsizing Homes: How to decide what to keep, sell, or donate

June 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment

There often comes a point in ones life where they decide downsizing is a good option. Maybe you are looking to reduce cost of living or maybe you just don’t have use for all of the extra rooms anymore. Either way, the process can sometimes be difficult, as reviewing and deliberating on what to keep and what to get rid of can be emotional. These are belongings you’ve likely had more many years and letting go of them forever is not easy. We’ve helped clients with this process in the past and have found a few general guidelines to be helpful:

1) Give Yourself Time: The process of downsizing, if possible, should be done over the course of several months. Once you decide a move is possible, begin to slowly start reviewing your belongings room by room. Do a little each day or a couple of rooms each weekend until you have made it through the lot. If it helps, use small post-it notes to designate keep, sell, donate or trash.

2) Work with a Friend or Professional: Having a friend or a professional organizer assist in the process can be great. They are able to offer neutral viewpoints on whether to keep certain items, ask questions that will help guide you to make decisions, and organize the process in an efficient manner (if working with a professional).

3) Sell vs. Donate: This is a common question. While selling all of the belongings can result in extra money, it can also be a great deal of work. When deciding if the investment in time is worth it consider the following questions. If your answers to these questions are mostly yes, it may make sense for you to organize an estate sale, a garage sale, or sell the items via Craigslist. If not, donation is likely your best option.

  1. Are the items valuable?
  2. Are the items estate sale quality?
  3. Are the items in good to excellent condition?
  4. Are the items useful today? (i.e. selling a VCR probably isn’t worth the effort, but a recently purchased iPhone might be)
  5. Are the items unique or potentially collectables?

4) Think Rationally, Not Emotionally: When reviewing items in your home, attempt to think about each item in a rational way. In addition to remembering the emotional connection you have with the item, also evaluate it’s frequency of use. While it may be something you liked years ago, if it hasn’t been touched since then, it probably isn’t going to be missed if you let it go.

Good luck in your downsizing!

TWOW

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3 Common Excuses for Clutter & How to Stop Making Them

June 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Many of the individuals we work with struggle with maintaining a clutter-free home. They truly want to have an organized home and life, but when it comes to the execution we often hear the same excuses again and again. While we understand that things do come up and that no one is organized all of the time, there are ways to minimize the excuses and get on a consistent organizing plan.

1) “It’s Not Me, It’s My Partner”: Occasionally this excuse is true, but often times both people are contributing to the problem in some way. With this issue, we recommend several strategies. First, work together to devise an organizing and cleaning plan. Or entrust it to real professionals. Carpet cleaning Loveland provides carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning and grout & tile cleaning services. Both partners must contribute to the design and it should include responsibilities for each person. If need be, create a physical chart with check marks for completion of tasks each week. If someone isn’t pulling their weight, schedule a meeting to discuss what obstacles are getting in the way and how you can work together to achieve the goal. The second part of this plan is to reinforce when effort has been made. If you see your partner picking up the house, thank and compliment them. Expressed appreciation encourages continued effort more than anything else. Find more useful tips at http://hanover-cleaning.com/.

2) “I don’t have the time”: Many people are very busy with work and life, but typically the average person has extra free time that they just aren’t utilizing to the fullest. For example, while watching tv at night you can also be folding laundry or putting items back where they belong. The other part of this issue, is the ability to clean as you go. If you are cooking dinner for the family, try to wash a few pots along the way. At the end of dinner, all you’ll have left are a few plates and silverware, making the clean up process quick and easy, you can also use other cleaning gadgets like an Eureka NES210 stick vacuum.

3) “I don’t have enough space to be organized”: This is one we see a lot! The underlying issue is that for people like this, no amount of space will ever be enough. They accumulate to their max capacity and if they had a bigger home, they would do it there too. To rectify these situations we recommend a few tips. First, doing a major purge two times per year will help keep the possessions to an acceptable and livable level. The one in one out strategy is also great for individuals like this. For every new item that comes into the home, one must leave. This will assist you in maintaining the smaller amount of items after your first purge.

Clutter happens to everyone, but recognizing when you’re making unnecessary excuses for it can help keep the problem from happening in the first place.

TWOW

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Childproofing Checklist

June 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Babyproofing your home before your child starts crawling and especially once they are on the move is important for the safety of the child. Here is a comprehensive checklist of what needs to happen in each room of the house:

KITCHEN:

  • Add appliance latches to oven, fridge, dishwasher and all other lower appliances
  • Add child-proof door latches to all cupboards and drawers below counter level
  • Install a stove guard and knob handle covers
  • Move knives into locked drawer instead of the counter top
  • Remove table cloths from tables if there are heavy items on top that could be pulled off and hurt the child
  • Install a safety cover on the garbage disposal

AROUND THE HOME:

  • Add electrical plug covers throughout the home
  • Hide all cords or user cord storage boxes. Ensure that if a cord was pulled, nothing heavy could fall on the child
  • Add baby gates at the top and bottom of stairs and to dangerous rooms (garage)
  • Add locks to all doors and windows
  • Install corner and edge bumpers, if desired
  • Secure all large furniture to the walls
  • Secure all guns and other dangerous weapons in a locked safe
  • Remove all toxic plants from the home
  • Secure up high or remove window coverings with hanging cords. You can buy venetian blinds online that are cordless. Install window guards

BATHROOM:

  • Add a child-proof latch to the medicine cabinet (even if it is located higher up)
  • Check the water temperature to make sure it is not above 120 degrees Fahrenheit or have a plumber install an anti-scald device
  • Add non-slip mats or stickers to the bathtub floor
  • Never leave flat-irons or curling irons on when unattended and ensure the cord is not dangling below the counter

LIVING ROOM:

  • Block the fireplace with a cover or gate

CHILD’S ROOM:

  • Purchase a crib approved by baby safety associations and do not use bumpers
  • Install a fire latter outside the child’s window once they are old enough to use it safely
  • Remove any sharp toys or anything that could wrap around a child’s neck

OUTSIDE:

  • Add a fence or safety cover to the pool
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Organizing Bills & Payments

June 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Dealing with financial management, including monthly bill payments can be difficult for many people. The may find themselves sending in payments late for no other reason than the fact they forgot. If you are looking to get organized and set up a plan for efficiently dealing with finances and bills, check out our simple steps.

1) Automate: Although this option does not work for everyone, automating payments via your bank’s online bill pay system can save you time and money. You’ll never have to worry about whether or not you sent in the payment on time or if you’ll incur a late fee. This plan works especially well for monthly recurring bills, such as gym memberships, cable service, or cell phone bills, but you can set up almost all accounts to be paid this way. Automation is also a great tool for increasing your savings. Automated savings deposits (especially to another bank account that you don’t see or touch) can ensure you contribute each month.

2) Go Paperless: Requesting paperless bills will help to keep you and your home organized. This allows you to maintain all of the records you need, without having to store a physical copy. In terms of payments, many people like the system of keeping the email reminder in their inbox until it has been paid. Once you’ve scheduled the payment, archive the email and you’re good until the next month. Check if VA home loans may be arranged in the same mode.

3) Physical Organization: If you are going to manage bills the old fashioned way, set yourself up for organizational success by creating a system. Store all unpaid bills together in one folder and only relocate them after they have been paid. The folder should only contain one month’s worth of bills. Once something been paid, mark it as paid and file the paper bill in an organized cabinet. You can also shred it, as you’ll always be able to access the information online, should you need it.

4) Schedule Bill Pay Time: Scheduling 2-4 days per month for bill pay can help you keep on track. Mark the recurring days and times on the calendar and allot enough time to get everything paid that’s due before your next bill pay appointment.

5) Management & Tracking Systems: For more tech savvy people, a financial management system such as LearnVest or Mint.com can help you monitor income, expenses, bills, savings, and investments. It can also remind you when things are due, alert you to excessive interest charges and give recommendations for improving your financial situation. The ability to access your entire portfolio of finances in one place or on-the-go is also a nice feature.

TWOW

 

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