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A major US corporation recently launched a new line of products it hopes will create a $650 million retail business appliances and storage devices designed to appeal to the 65 million garage owners in the U.S! According to a 1994 study by the U.S. Department of Energy (and we wont even explore what launched that study!), 25% of people with two-car garages didnt park any cars in them and 32% parked only one. When it came to three-car garages, only 13% parked three cars. . So, if we dont park cars in our garages, what do we use them for?

Based on nearly twenty-five years of assisting our clients in organizing homes and offices in North America, I can attest to the fact that a large percentage of garage owners consider their garage a convenient on-site storage facility, or major irritation, often an embarrassment. Not because of the age or condition of the car parked there, but because of the clutter frequently moved from one garage to another.

One of the major principles of our company is Clutter is Postponed Decisions -- and what better place to store postponed decisions than a garage? So how do you get rid of the clutter? Consider these five tips:

1) Design your vision. Create in your mind a picture of how the garage would look if you got rid of the clutter. If thats impossible for you, think of how you would feel if you could actually park your car in the garage? Perhaps you could allow houseguests to get directly into your car in the garage without driving it to the front door in order to avoid their seeing the ness. Or, maybe you could find the barbeque utensils you need in a few seconds instead of having to buy new ones!

2) Eliminate your excuses. Disorganization can range from circumstantial to chronic. It doesnt really matter what caused the mess they may very well be legitimate. The question is how much longer are you willing to put up with the situation? If you cant do it yourself, resolve to get help. After hiring us to help him clean up his garage, a client said, I cant believe I drove into my garage every day for three years chastising myself that I hadnt done anything with all that clutter. For a few hundred dollars, it was done and I didnt even have to do it. I wonder what took me so long?

3) Commit your time. Decide when you will get started on solving the problem. A client recently hired us to clean her garage. When it was over she commented, That was a lot different that I thought it would be. How? I asked. For one thing, she replied, I thought it would take four weekends. We were done in six hours. The first and simplest step is to identify a specific place to put the items you find that you no longer need or want. (Donating unused but useable items to a local charity, selling them on e-Bay, or having a garage sale, if youre into such things, will not only make you feel better, it can even earn or save you money.

4) Select your tools. Choose the right tools for what you want to store. Two of the most effective solutions in a garage are shelving and hooks. They dont have to be costly to be functional, but if you dream of having a garage that is aesthetically pleasing, there are a variety of attractive and function options. In order to determine what size of storage units you need, use the most basic or organizing principles: Group like items together. Then determine if you really need or want that many empty boxes, garden tools you never use, or appliances you never really liked anyway. Check out organizing, discount, hardware, and home and garden stores and catalogs of an amazing variety of equipment.

5) Maintain your success. That old adage A place for everything and everything in its place sounds admirable, but for most of us, its just impossible. In the rush of everyday living, things just get messy and that includes garages. But if there IS a place for everything, cleaning it up presents no major challenges, and getting other members of the family to help is easier too!

Picture your garage as a place you can love and even park your car. Imagine that!

Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger's Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

posted by qzqcuz  # 5:18 PM 0 comments

There are many credit card processing companies to choose from, how do you know which one you should go with? Will they benefit your company? Are they affordable? Are they reliable? The internet can be a great tool for finding the right credit card processing company. Do your homework, determine which one has the features you need and are looking for in a company.

First, though reliability and trust is most important, you may likely be concerned about the start up costs. Some companies do not charge anything for startup, while others can charge as much as $250 start up fees. You want to make sure you choose a company that is both affordable for you and worth the costs.

Then of course, in keeping with costs, you need to look at other fees that may be required. Most credit card processing services charge several types of monthly fees. For example, a gateway fee, this could cost you as little as $10.00 per month and all the way up to $50.00 or more per month, depending on which company you choose.

You might have a statement fee as well charged to you each month. For most companies, this will cost you between $9.00 and $10.00 each month. Then you have to consider the monthly minimums, this will vary from one company to the next, but for the most part, this minimum runs between $20 and $30 monthly.

The fees do not stop there either. You will also have to deal with transaction fees. Per transaction fees average between twenty-four cents to thirty-five cents per transaction. Then on top of that, the company will likely take a percentage of each transaction as well, which could be anywhere from 2.14% to 2.40% on average. Lastly, some credit card processing companies charge a fee for address verification. If they charge the price is typically five or ten cents per address.

In other words, you need to find a company that is both affordable, trustworthy, and honest, fitting your budget at all the same time.

Then you have the chore or finding a credit card processing company that provides you with all the features you need for your company. This is just as important as costs because you definitely do not want to pay a lot for credit card processing if the company cannot meet your needs.

Some features to look for, that you may or may not need, includes:

Payment Gateway

• Virtual Terminal
• Merchant Account
• How many days the payments clear
• e-Check services
• Point of Sale Swiper
• Recurring Billing
• Shopping Cart

You will then want to look at how the credit card processing company protects your business. Some features you will definitely want from any company includes:

• Fraud Protection
• CVV2 Acceptance
• Real Time Processing
• Address Verification
• SSL

Then you need to consider what credit cards you wish to accept and if the credit card processing company supports those credit cards. The most commonly accepted credit cards are:

• Discover
• Visa
• American Express
• MasterCard

Lastly, while features, fraud protection, and the credit cards that you can accept are extremely important, you want to make sure that you choose a credit card processing company that provides you with the help and support you need, when you need it. Here are some tips that will help you choose:

1. Make sure that you can easily find their fax number
2. Make sure that reaching them by E-Mail is possible and readily available.
3. Check out their support hours, the best companies offer support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
4. Does the company provide you with a toll-free telephone number? This is a positive for any company.
5. If Live Online Chat is important you, look for this feature as well.

Overall, you want to make sure the credit card processing company you choose not only fits your budget, but it fits your needs and requirements as well.

This article has been provided by Creditor Web. Creditor Web has the articles and other credit card processing resources to help you choose the right provider.

posted by qzqcuz  # 5:15 PM 0 comments