Energy Savings Tips

Laundry Appliances

Avoid washing partial loads. Wait until you meet machine capacity.

Pre-soak dirty clothes, probably the night before. Avoid having to run the washing machine twice.

Wash heavy and light weight laundry separately. Heavy laundry requires different setting.

Electric clothes drier uses large amount of energy to dry clothes. Practice using the old-fashioned clothes line. Clothes get a fresh sunshine smell in fine weather.

Iron clothes during off-peak hours (before 9 a.m. and after 9 p.m.). This helps lessen the demand for electricity during peak hours.

Do all the ironing at one time, say once or twice a week.

Dampen clothes moderately. Excessive moistened clothes take longer to iron.

Turn off flat iron shortly before ironing the last piece. It will stay hot just enough to finish the job.

Aircon

If you leave the room for a long time, turn off your air conditioner. It uses less current to bring the temperature down again when you return, than if you left it running.

Turn off unused lights and other appliances that give off heat. Lighting alone accounts for as much as one half of the load of their air conditioning unit. Use low wattage but efficient lamps.

Change incandescent to fluorescent. An incandescent bulb is much better a heater than a light source. Almost 80% of the electricity used to light it up is converted into heat.

Use a small electric fan to spread cooled air around your room. This prevents the cooled air from "layering" and settling to the floor.

Choose an air conditioning unit with high "Energy Efficiency Ratio" (EER). High EER has a more efficient motor than the one with lower EER, and consumes less electricity.

Refrigerators and Freezers

Defrost refs and freezers regularly. More than ¼-inch ice build up of frost puts up an extra load on the compressor motor.

Check refrigerator if it is not losing its cool because of a leaking gasket. Test the gasket by closing the door on a peso bill. If the bill slips out when you pull on it, either the gasket needs a replacement or the door needs adjusting.

Frequent opening and closing of refs contributes to frost or ice build-up and causes compressor motor to work overtime. As much as possible, keep door closed.

Taken from The Philippine Star

Five Resume Writing Tips

A resume introduces you to an employer. It should:

• State the job you want and include your name, address and telephone number. The resume lists your job or school experience, your education, skills and relevant personal information, such as job-related hobbies.

• Be typed or printed on quality paper. And it must be absolutely perfect. It must be no longer than two pages.

• List those qualifications and experiences that are relevant to the job for which you are applying. If you are applying for a first job, include responsibilities at school or in clubs.

• Be specific about your background without getting too detailed. Be positive.

• Be simple and easy to read. Check with your library or guidance counselor for good formats.

- Adapted from Resumes, Application Forms, Cover Letters and Interviews, U.S. Department of Labor.

Taken from Youth 90 magazine

DRIVING EVERYONE CRAZY

Remember these tips on your first day behind the wheel.

By Susan Quinn

Fasten your seat belts, everyone. Today's the day.

It's your first day behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle. Exciting, yes, but not the easiest thing you've ever done.

When I learned to drive it was a pitiful experience at first. My early attempts were a source of laughter to friends and family alike. Even the neighbors got into the act with jokes and anxious looks as I backed out of the driveway.

I'm not sure if it's possible to learn to drive a car without some of these experiences. But to help you get safely on the road to driving success, I have put together a few points that I hope will make your first days of driving at least a little more humorous than painful.

When you practice in an empty parking lot, make sure it is absolutely, completely empty.

When I drove for the first time, I used the parking lot at my high school. It had seemingly miles of open space with nothing for me to hit, smash, maim or mutilate. Ideal conditions.

Learning to drive a car can be exciting, challenging--and humorous!

What a thrill it was to drive for the first time! And I was doing well at it, too, until I decided to try going in reverse. What happened then defies all mathematical odds but is completely in line with Murphy's Law of Driving in Empty Parking Lots: If there is even one small object in an empty parking lot, you will find and hit it, and in the process put several dents in your car.

Our parking lot had small movable signposts for marking off no parking zones. When I shifted into reverse gear, I backed into the only signpost in the entire lot. It fell back. But I went so far over it that the concrete base got stuck under the car. When I stopped and pulled forward again, the sign came with me, crashing down onto the truck where it bounced several times, leaving several nice dents.

That brought my first driving lesson to a quick end.

Avoid driving with an overcautious parent.

Many parents get worried when teaching their teenagers to drive. Folks who under ordinary circumstances react in a fairly normal manner suddenly begin to do strange things.

You have surely seen your parents ride in cars before, sitting relaxed, perhaps talking or listening to the radio. But the first time you are the one operating the car, be prepared for a radical challenge.

A friend of mine described her normally calm father teaching her to drive. Heading down a deserted country road, during an otherwise quiet and uneventful drive, Dad suddenly yelled "WATCH OUT!!!" She slammed on the brakes immediately, nearly sending her father head first through the windshield.

"What's wrong?" she asked in surprise. Her father explained, "There's a little child right there! Didn't you see him? You might have hit him!"

She looked around in confusion. "I'm sorry, Dad, but I just don't see a child here."

Practicing driving with a parent can make both of you nervous wrecks. Remember to keep your cool because your parents are having nightmares like these.

"Well, he's right there on the porch of that farmhouse, plain as day," was the reply.

When she looked closer, she saw that indeed a child was on the porch of a house well back from the road. "Oh, you mean that little boy there, holding his mother's hand?"

She conceded that it was possible she might have hit the child, but only if she had run off the road about 50 feet (15 meters) and driven directly onto the porch.

Her father, who had nearly suffered whiplash, after some consideration saw the extreme unlikelihood of this event and let her drive on.

So beware. Even the most calm parents can become overcautious when their teenagers are driving. But give them time. They'll probably grow out of it.

Don't use other motorists as an example of how to drive.

A couple of weeks into my driving lessons, my mother thought it was time I learned how to put gasoline in the car, and in the process I could have the experience of driving through the gas station car wash.

Knowing my driving abilities better than my mother did, I was a bit apprehensive. But, with a great show of bravery, I went ahead and filled the car, spilling only a small amount on my shoes. That was the easy part.

I then drove toward the car wash, where several cars were waiting. My mother was confident. "This is going to be really easy," she said. "Just watch the people in front of you carefully, and do exactly what they do."

So I watched carefully, noting exactly how the driver in front of me positioned his car. Then the unbelievable happened. I watched as he completely missed the conveyor belt, his wheels going over the metal bars that were supposed to guide them directly into the car wash. The car ended up in a flower bed.

As if this wasn't enough, he had to back up and try again, this time heading in the opposite direction and going over a concrete island back toward the gas pumps. Finally the station attendant came out to help.

I looked at my mother. "Just do what the people in front of you do? Right." It was several weeks before I ventured near a car wash again.

Keep this in mind next time you try to use the example of other drivers. There are some strange people out there.

Don't practice in a truck with an open tailgate while your brother is sitting in the back.

Most of you will never be in this exact situation, but I'll relate the story so you'll know to avoid it.

A friend told me about his sister's driving practice sessions. They lived in a neighborhood where there was a communal garbage dump everyone had to take his or her trash to. My friend's sister used these "garbage runs" as a time to practice her newly acquired driving skills. As her brother sat in the back of the truck near the open tailgate, making sure the garbage stayed inside, she would drive through the neighborhood, heedless of bumps and potholes.

One day as she sped over a particularly large bump, her brother lost his grip and flew out the back of the truck, landing in the middle of the road.

When his sister arrived at the dump site, she called to him to unload the trash. She went around to the back only to find that the garbage was there and her brother was not.

"I knew it! It's just like him to skip out at the last minute and leave me to unload the trash by myself." She emptied the trash bags, annoyed at her brother and plotting revenge.

Halfway home she realized her mistake when she saw him limping beside the road. When she stopped, he carefully got in the front seat and securely fastened his seat belt, glaring angrily the whole time.

So unless you feel like injuring your little brother (which I realize may be a tempting idea at times), avoid this mistake.

Seriously, though, driving is a lot of fun, but a real responsibility too. Enjoy yourself, but don't get carried away. If you are able to avoid the things I have mentioned here, maybe your first driving experiences will turn out a little better than mine. I sure hope so.

If not, at least you'll have plenty of funny stories to tell your kids. (Just remember to go easy on them when it's your turn to teach!)

Taken from Youth 90 magazine

HOW TO MAKE YOUR BOSS VERY, VERY HAPPY!

By Jane Jones

Good workers not only keep their jobs, they receive raises. Here are some tips to help you be a valuable employee.

Jessica and Sherri just got their first jobs. They both work at shops in the mall near their homes.

One of them did quite well at her job. The other, well, flopped. I'm sure you'll be able to figure out which one is which.

Jessica came in late today, but she couldn't help it. (That's what she said yesterday, too.)

Sherri got stuck doing routine inventory again. She did it as quickly as she could and then went home exhausted.

Jessica got a new responsibility and called from work to tell her best friend about it. Of course, she also had to find out how the school football game had gone and what Jeff had said to Stephanie after Math class.

Sherri got sick and called to tell her boss she couldn't come in for her regular shift. She offered to work extra hours on the weekend to make up the time.

Jessica studied for her history exam while working with the day's receipts. Somewhere at corporate headquarters are her notes on World War II.

Sherri watched and listened a lot her first few weeks to pick up a feel for how the store operated. She found out quickly who worked hardest, what techniques worked best with the customers and how she was supposed to look and act while at work.

Jessica reluctantly worked a different shift to replace a girl who called in sick. She told the other employees that "Rene's probably faking it. I bet she just went to the beach." Rene heard about Jessica's comment and now the manager can't schedule them together or they'll fight.

Sherri politely helped everyone who came into the store.

Jessica ignored people she thought wouldn't be spending much money.

It doesn't take long to figure out which girl got fired and which stayed hired.

These scenarios are hypothetical, but according to employers, similar things happen every day. Many people don't know how to work. A few simple principles make the good workers stand out from the bad. Here's a brief list of some working world dos and don'ts:

Do:

• Remember you represent the company you work for. A customer may form an impression solely based on how you treat him or her. Sherri tried to learn as much as possible about hew work place so she could represent it well. Jessica cared more about herself than the customers.

• Make your first impression a good one: dress appropriately for your work place, keep your uniform (if you wear one) clean, keep yourself looking neat (especially notice hair and nails) and smile!

• Try to do more than is expected of you.

• Be honest.

• Watch and listen a lot.

• Call your boss if you can't make it to work.

Don't:

• Lie up to cover mistakes.

Mistakes you try to hide have a nasty way of creeping out just when you don't want them to. Admitting a mistake right away could save your employer money and you your job.

• Make a lot of personal telephone calls, talk to friends or do homework.

• Complain a lot or run another worker down.

• Bring your problems to work. Try to leave them at home so you can treat customers and fellow workers politely and give them your whole attention.

• Waste time. You're being paid to work, not goof off.

• Be afraid to ask your boss how you're doing. Ask how you can improve or take on more responsibilities.

• Be late.

• Be afraid to ask if you don't know how to do something. There's nothing wrong with saying you don't know something and offering to find out.

Your boss probably doesn't think work is the best place to catch up on "the latest."

Taken from Youth 90 magazine