There is a reason why the healthcare field is so confidential and secretive with patient information. The main reason is for the built trust between the patient and the healthcare provider; patients are more likely to disclose health concerns when they feel trusted and secure. Another reason for the confidentiality is because certain medical conditions and ailments can have embarrassing stigmas surrounding them even when they shouldn’t. But now it’s the 21st century and our understanding of medical science and sociological norms are more evolved. There are some older ways of thinking about some afflictions that can be just plain wrong. Here are 3 medical conditions men don’t need to be embarrassed about anymore.

Mental Health

Unfortunately, 70% of all suicides in the U.S are carried out by men, which is almost 4 times more than women. If someone is experiencing heart problems, people understand; however, if someone is experiencing problems with their brain (the most complex organ in the body), it’s somehow looked down upon. Luckily, that stigma is starting to change as more and more people acknowledge this epidemic of male depression. Today, there are more resources for men struggling with depression. If you are feeling this way, don’t be afraid to consult your doctor, call a hotline, or bring up your concerns to your close friends and family. I found it helpful for my husband to receive online therapy with my insurance.

E.D

Another medical condition that most men don’t want to discuss is Erectile Dysfunction (E.D).  However, it is a more common ailment than most people think. Erectile Dysfunction affects around 30 million men in the U.S alone. Luckily, there are many services that can quickly and discreetly ship E.D medications through the mail without having to go to the doctor’s office. Also, as technology advances, there are new techniques to help address E.D like shockwave therapy.

 

Foot Odor

Men that wear boots all day will understand how foot odor affects their daily lives. Constant showering and not feeling comfortable with taking off your footwear can negatively impact your social life. However, there is nothing to be ashamed about. The sweat glands of everyone’s bodies are different and function in different capacities. The right kind of socks, avoiding plastic shoes, and finding the right foot odor medication or powder can help reduce this medical annoyance.

 

Did you know only 6% of American homes have solar panels installed? It’s a low number that the US government wants to increase due to the pervasive and dangerous global climate crisis.

To encourage citizens, the US offers a solar tax credit. Many states also give tax credits and rebates meant to stimulate homeowner interest in solar power.

Are you ready to do your civic duty and reduce your carbon footprint by using solar power? Read on to learn more about the Solar Tax Credit and how it will save you money.

The Growing Crisis

The effects of the climate crisis are hard to ignore as wildfires ravage the west coast and soaring heat waves destroy roads in the Pacific Northwest. Unprecedented weather events are fast becoming more common. Experts predict the severity of hurricanes and droughts to increase.

It’s easy to feel helpless, especially as political leadership continues to bicker at the margins of addressing this current calamity. So many, even those recently in the White House, don’t even believe there is a crisis.

No matter what they think or how they choose to legislate, you can do your part to shepherd this planet for future generations by reducing your consumption of fossil fuels.

Solar Energy Tax Credit

The Solar Investment Tax Credit was started in 2005 as part of the Energy Policy Act. This Act (ITC) spurred short-term activity in the renewable energy market by providing solar savings. The ITC’s original expiration date came in 2007, but politicians have extended it multiple times as an easy way to encourage consumers to invest in solar energy.

How Does It Work?

The rules change slightly each time the ITC gets renewed in the US tax code. As of right now, the current ITC and its parameters will disappear in 2024 for residential solar panel installation. Though there is a chance it could get renewed, it’s best not to bank on it.

If you’re on the fence about solar power, now’s the time to install. You can save with solar more now than at any other time.

If you install a solar panel system in your home between now and the end of 2022, you receive a 26% tax credit on the cost of installation. You see a reduction in your tax bill reflective of that percentage on the total cost of installation reported to the IRS.

Get the Solar Tax Credit Before It’s Too Late

The Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) will expire in 2024. Though renewal is always an option, don’t bet on the decisions of political leaders. If you’re thinking about going solar, now is the time to take advantage of the solar tax credit.

Why wait any longer? You see the climate crisis growing in severity, and you want to do something about it. So do it, and install solar panels today.

Do you need environmental news? Make sure to check out the rest of our page.

If your hope for a dream family home has been broken by stained sofas and broken tiles, take heart, there is light at the end of your tunnel. Creating a modern space in your home without making your space too ridged for your kids will need some mental adjustments and practical shifts. In this article, we share a few tips to help you do just that.

Rethink how you define “perfect”

Firstly, you need to understand that having a good family home is not only defined by how it looks. It’s also about creating space where your children can feel free and safe, where they can play, have fun, learn and explore their creativity in many uncontrollable ways.

Most design experts like those at PureModern cry a little when they realize that a home is not a showpiece. It’s actually a space that is lived-in. So it will help you to acknowledge that levels of clutter and spills are unavoidable in the event of “life happening”. 

But that said, the spaces we live in, deserve some tender love and care, in other words, they need to be visually pleasing and useful at the same time. If for instance, your kids have joyful memories playing in the lounge and painting flowers and dinosaurs on the wall, regardless of the mess they  leave behind, your home will still be serving a significant purpose, even if that purpose is not aesthetic, so it’s okay. 

Differentiate between aspiration and inspiration

Before you get down to business, you need to introspect why you’re looking for an aesthetically pleasing home, do you want to impress your friends or colleagues? Or does clutter drive you crazy? Or do you enjoy looking at magazines for inspiration because you want something similar?

If it’s the last part, just know that picture you see online and on magazine are styled and photographed by professionals most of the time. This process usually takes many hours in preparation to take the final shot, the last shot is then taken into post-production for enhancement purposes. That being said, getting inspiration from magazines is great but trying to copy the standard for your home can be a little unrealistic. 

Define Shared Zones

A vast majority of homes are zoned already. On a bigger scale, this is performed in “obviously” formed rooms. In other words, the bedroom is an adults-only zone, kiddies rooms are zoned out for younger people, and living “spaces” like the bathroom and kitchen are usually zones that are shared. 

Segmenting these various sections as adults, kids, and spaces that are shared will help in that you will define the rules for each room, this will be the first step you take to bring through some order. For example, you will want to think about if toys are allowed in adult-only zones or are they only welcome in shared zones and kids-only zones. 

All families are different, you’re the only one who really knows what will work and what won’t, so you be the judge.

Now You Try

If you’ve found a way to keep a perfect home and children at the same time, please let the whole world know, share the tips with other parents who are in the same battleground of trying to maintain a modern home without compromising the comfortability of their children.  

Designing and decorating the home of your dreams is always fun and exciting, but this can sometimes lead us into getting carried away. Furniture and home décor can be expensive and you don’t want to be kicking yourself 5 years down the line for spending hundreds of dollars on pieces that suddenly seem… yuck. It’s difficult not to fall victim to trends, be it in fashion or home design – but there are ways to feel trendy and up to date without running the risk of owning outdated pieces before you can blink. Here are some style tips for long-lasting style. 

Buy Quality

When you’re talking about long-lasting, you have to consider that in a physical sense too. Saving money is something that’s important to a lot of us, but it’s important to remember that sometimes skimping will only lead to more expenses further down the line – something that could have been avoided by spending a little more on a quality piece of furniture. Opting for better quality staple pieces, like a performance fabric sofaand a sturdy wooden dining set will ensure you’ll have them for years to come.

Buy Simple and Neutral

These staple pieces, like sofas, coffee tables, dining tables and beds, are the major focal points of a room and can easily function as foundation pieces for your designs. Keeping these pieces simple and neutral will allow you to change up the décor and accessories to keep up with trends and seasons (if you so wish) without having to spend loads of money or have regrets about expensive purchases that don’t last. When your biggest and most important pieces are neutral, minimal and classy, you can take your decorating in almost any direction you could imagine.

Go For Wood

Wood is not a building material that has ever gone out of style – and we don’t foresee that happening in the near future either. You can choose between light or dark woods depending on your personal style and preferences, but good quality wooden pieces are likely to last you for years to come, both in terms of their lifespan and their place in your on-trend home. 

Pick a Lasting Style

You might be into farmhouse right now, but is that still going to be something you’re into 20 years from now? Choosing your home design and décor based on a particular aesthetic can be a little dangerous if there’s a chance that your own preferences might change in the future – irrespective of trendiness. Going for styles that are likely to age better pairs well with the concept of buying simple designs and neutral colours. Minimalist, contemporary, traditional and modern are more likely to last the ages, and you can always add elements of other styles (like boho, country, or industrial) in decorative pieces that are more easily changed out.

Be Colour Wise

If you’re a person who changes their mind as often as they change their clothes, buying furniture in bold colours might not be the best move for you. Even if those colours seem to fit well with a neutral palette (like navy blue or emerald green armchairs), you might be better off buying scatter cushions, throws, vases or artworks in those colours instead. There’s nothing wrong with a pop of colour (in fact, it’s pretty important) but limiting that to pieces that are more easily changed or replaced is a smart way of incorporating colour trends and bringing life into your space. Nobody wants to be regretting an expensive pastel yellow sofa 3 years after buying it.

Keep it Natural

Wherever you can, opt for natural materials. Woven, wooden and cane furniture and décor is versatile and can be paired with so many different styles, meaning that it will definitely be able to last you throughout various trends and phases of your life. Natural pieces are also light and textural and can add something beautiful and interesting to an otherwise simple and neutral space. Think wicker baskets, wooden side tables and rattan mirrors – you can almost never go wrong. 

The Takeaway

The most important thing to keep in mind when shopping for your home is to tread lightly when it comes to trends. Much like the clothing industry, fast fashion is fast for a reason – itsseason doesn’t last long. You don’t want to be spending your hard-earned money on a trendy sofa that won’t be cool anymore by the end of 2021, in the same way, you don’t want to be buying embroidered flare pants that your kids will make fun of you for wearing. 

Taking on a restoration project is not something to do on a whim. It is a serious undertaking and will take up much of your time. How much of your time will depend on various factors, including your skills and experience and the extent of the rebuild. No matter the project, there are a few key considerations that are wise to consider.

Pick the Correct Car

What car should you restore? That’s a big question; and one that can be looked at from a variety of positions. If it is your first attempt at fixing up a car, then something not too complicated, preferably not overly valuable, as any mistakes are not too costly. You may have a car in the family that you want to bring back to its former glory or are just looking to find the right project for you.

Assess the Work & Budget it

It would help if you made an initial assessment of how much work is needed with the vehicle and budget accordingly. Keep in mind that this is an estimate, and costs can change from this; the sad reality of life is that these estimates rarely end up lower than the original figure. Accordingly, we should keep a figure in mind for contingencies when we inevitably uncover additional issues.

Original Parts or Not?

Should you use the original manufacturer’s parts or not? There are no right and wrong answers to this question, and how we approach this depends on the project. For some older cars, especially from manufacturers who no longer exist, it may be impossible to source original parts. Even if we can find the original parts, they may be significantly more expensive, but if we are planning to sell the vehicle, those original parts may increase the car’s value. 

Engine

The engine is the biggest single challenge when bringing a car back to life. It is possible the vehicle has not been started in some time, and this will mean at least changing things such as oil and any fuel that may be sitting in the lines that have gone bad. There are so many mechanical issues it is impossible to list them here. But even choices such as using hi-temp engine paint to prevent rust and give it a polished look are essential.

Bodywork

After mechanical work, bodywork is one of the most apparent tasks to take care of with a car restoration project. There are two main ways we can repair bodywork. First, if we have small (or large) spots of rust, we can fix these; this involves scraping or sanding away the rust and applying a coat of primer and then two coats of paint. The other issue can be dents and damage to the shape of the bodywork. Dents can be beaten out with a set of panel beating hammers, although this is a tricky task for the beginner. We can also replace whole panels on the car; these may be bought new, if available, or might require a search of used parts from scrap yards.

Fuel

As well as replacing any old fuel in the system we can have other issues with fuel in old cars. Cars built before the 1980s ran on leaded gasoline; this was phased out due to environmental concerns but has left some older cars being unusable. You can have an old leaded gas engine converted to run on modern unleaded fuel. We can also use additives to allow older cars to run on unleaded, but this is only advised if the car has limited use.

Insurance & Running Costs

Insurance can be expensive for some classic cars; this is partly due to the value of some of these vehicles and the cost of repair, with parts, often being expensive or difficult to source. We should be aware of the details of our policy, such as the difference between comprehensive and third-party insurance.Running costs can be more in general, particularly fuel consumption, as, unlike modern vehicles, the average classic car uses a lot more gas.

Selling

If you decide to sell the car after it is restored, you should consider a few considerations. Only sell the vehicle if you are confident your repairs have gone well and left the vehicle in a safe condition to be on the road. You can put up an advert on social media or various car sites, but if you have a rare or specifically desirable car, it might make sense to advertise on an enthusiast’s site.