Moving into a new apartment is an exciting experience. Whether it’s your first place after college or an upgrade from a smaller space, getting everything moved in at the new address is always enjoyable.

Of course, it takes more than just the placement of belongings to get your new home up and functioning. There are many things you’ll need to be doing along the way, and many of them have to be done right in the middle of your work to get everything else moved in. Add in the possibility of a deadline to get out of the old place and it’s no surprise that moving is such a stressful experience for some people.

[Photo courtesy of Luis Quintero/pexels.com]

Good organization can keep all this transitional activity from ruining the fun of the move. Get started with these ideas.

Getting Insurance

One of the nice things about renting an apartment is that you aren’t responsible for insuring it. But while it’s true that the property owner is responsible for any damage from weather, theft, or fire, it’s also true that your personal belongings are not covered by their policy. You need to insure those things yourself.

You may feel like coverage for your car and health are enough insurance payments in a month, but it can be well worth the investment to get renters insurance in your apartment. Even your yard-sale furniture would have to be replaced if lost, so make a plan.

Renter’s insurance is beneficial even if the apartment is furnished, because you still have clothes, electronics, kitchen appliances, and valuables like jewelry that will be covered in the event of a fire or natural disaster. And it will start to build insurance expenses into your personal budget, making room for homeowners’ insurance later on.

Make The Switch

There are a lot of things that will have to be changed over when you move. If you still use a landline, it will have to be relocated, and along with it, your broadband services like internet and television. Make sure you receive any utilities deposits that are due back to you, especially since you may have to put down new ones elsewhere.

[Photo courtesy of John Tekeridis/pexels.com]

You’ll also need to make changes in your mail. Your first step here should be to put in a forwarding order with the postal service, but you will still have to do a change of address with everyone you do business with. That includes creditors, the various schools you’ve attended, your employer, everyone.

Check Out Your Place

This may sound a little strange. You already got the grand tour, what’s left to discover? It can actually be quite a bit.

Depending on the type of place you’re renting, you may have access to spaces that can accommodate a basic home inspection. While it’s true that the upkeep of the structure isn’t your problem, there are also financial and safety concerns that can affect you.

A good first step is to check the plumbing for leaks. Before moving in, turn off all the water inside–not just at the faucets but at the valves inside the cabinets and behind the toilets. Write down the reading on your water meter. Check a day or so later and see if it has changed. If it has, there is water leaking out somewhere–water that you may be paying for.

[Photo courtesy of Dmitry Zvolskiy/pexels.com]

Check batteries in smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms. Ask if the locks have been changed, and make sure they latch solidly. See if there are any loose windows, and check the breaker box for tripped circuits or other signs of electrical problems.

Moving into a new place is often a big step toward independent adult living. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of having a pool or a fitness center on site, and those amenities are great. But it’s more important to be financially sound and personally safe, so be sure you take care of all those other considerations as that new key jingles in your pocket.

Home makeovers can be costly, but it is possible to make your home more appealing without splashing out a lot of money. How? Well, all you need to do is to declutter, mix-matched your furniture at home, bring the nature and  reorganized everything. The other day, I did some decluttering at home and throwing  things I don’t need anymore like old shoes, frames, toys and books.  To see more space at home was so fulfilling, but just like any other task, it was quite tiring and as expected I rested after  it.

People play games for all kinds of reasons – from a bit of relaxation away from “reality” to a social experience playing with or against their mates, while others play professionally or to win a bit of cash, depending on the nature of the game and their own ability of course and because it was quite tiring to declutter, I relax and entertained myself by playing money games,  I have learned about them through my officemates and I was lured by their winnings.

It was good at first try, I won a large amount of money in an accidental spin and I was able to buy a laptop. Then it became addicting, but as the day goes by I am losing than winning and with this I look for new alternative games I can play to entertain myself after a tiring day and that’s where I found about educational money games online.

Mortgagecalculator. org has a variety of engaging and educational money games that can help users to be  money smarts and to practice their financial decision-making using real-world scenarios.

Anyway, here are the games I had fun playing that you might love as well:

Farm Factory

Growing up in the province means being surrounded by field and trees, I grow up that my family is raising pigs, chickens and ducks and having a garden at home , so planting and harvesting was one of the thing I enjoyed the most and since I would like to experience running a farm, Farm Factory caught my interest, it is an idle clicker farming game where you add livestock to a farm and upgrade the farm to earn as much as you can in 5 minutes.

Grocery Cashier

It has been my long dream to own a grocery store in town, so I tried playing  Grocery Cashier which  actually design for younger children to practice their math skills in addition and subtraction along with the familiarity with the value of money, by operating a virtual cash register.

In this game, each customer represents another level of the game, at first I didn’t realize that as you play longer the number of items you ring up increases while the time limit for each customer decreases. It was fun, but I had a problem giving change because I always forgot the total amount of items I sold, had a problem too on customers paying through gift certificates, because I wasn’t aware that if the customer pays via gift certificates, you will only enter the amount of the gift certificate and the minus sign and you will not make change to this customers.

Stocks

Investing in stock market always fascinates me, it was been my long plan and dream to learn the trade, but me having no time and spending my money on other important things stopped me from joining and learning,  I tried playing Stocks to give me an idea how trading works and how fast the stock changes.

The game was fun, but you need to be quick witted and move your hand faster because the stock prices were fast moving, and it was hard to capture when the price increases.  The player was given $500 to start with and play across 30 days, with a goal of liquidating their shares and earning as much profit as they can in a month.

Landlords and property owners are sometimes under local or state obligation to provide tenants with locked mailboxes, depending on the particular property. Indoor apartment complexes as well as outdoor complexes with cluster mailboxes almost always require individual locks. However, even if it’s not law in your state or your property doesn’t require, it’s still worth considering buying locking mailboxes for preventative reasons.

ID Theft

ID theft has become one of the most frequently occurring white-collar crimes in recent years. Many people know shopping online is a risk, but not many people consider leaving their mail in their mailbox for even just a few hours is a risk, too – but ID theft is older than the Internet. An ID thief only needs to see a piece of mail addressed to a name at that address and he has all he needs.

If a tenant discovers her identity was stolen because her mail was delivered while she was at work and wasn’t able to collect it until hours later, there’s a possibility she’ll sue the landlord for failure to protect her identity. Better to be proactive — and offer the additional mail protection.

[Photo courtesy Sean Patrick/pexels.com]

Vacation Risk

When tenants go on vacation, not only are their IDs at risk if they let mail accumulate in an unlocked box, but their house is more likely to be broken into if watching thieves use the accumulating mail to figure out no one’s been home for a while. Rather than making your tenants arrange cumbersome mail holds or have someone they know pick up the mail every day, used locked mailboxes. The mail carrier can slide new mail through a slot, but no one can see that older mail is still in the box.

A ransacked home isn’t just a pain for your tenant, remember; as property owner, your name is on the insurance policy and you’ll have to file the claim. If you have a deductible, you’ll be responsible for it.

Mail Theft

Even if a thief doesn’t want to go through the hassle of stealing an identity, mail is still an attractive, low-risk theft target because it contains checks, gift cards and other valuables. Items that are clearly birthday, holiday or anniversary cards prove especially tempting as do small packages, bank statements, paychecks and other official-looking forms of payment. Even a credit card statement may have the full credit card number on it, which is enough for a thief to start charging items to your tenant.

A locked box protects all of your tenant’s mail. Even if a thief is someone with inside information about the tenant — for example, an acquaintance she knows on a social media page who sees it’s her birthday and who expects to find checks, gift cards and cash in her mail around that time — there’s no way for the thief to get into the mail.

[Photo courtesy Ekaterina Belinskaya/pexels.com]

Neighborhood Safety

As the MontClair Safety & Improvement Council in California explains, the more boxes locked in a neighborhood, the more crime is discouraged in the area. Whether you own one property in a neighborhood or several of them, if you need to find a new tenant, highlighting the low crime rate in the neighborhood can help you attract more prospective renters. Discuss the possibility of adding locked mailboxes to other properties in the neighborhood with those property owners with the goal of increasing overall safety.

As a property owner, you have a legal obligation to do what you can to protect your tenant’s belongings. While you’re not liable if the tenant chooses to leave his front door unlocked, as owner of the property, you’re the only one who can make decisions about installing a new mailbox. Choose the locked variety, both to protect your tenant and to protect yourself from liability. Discuss the change with your current tenant or make the change before a new tenant moves in.

Taking care of your home has always been a lot of hard work, but a new way of managing the security on your property is through the use of smart phones. People often want a fast way of making sure that all of the locks in the home are secure at once, rather than having to go around last thing at night and check them. They also want to get rid of that lurking worry, “Did I lock the door before I left?” which causes so much anxiety. With a simple application on a smartphone, home owners can now lock their doors using their phone, and be reassured about security.

The smartphone lock is based upon the same technology that has allowed phone users to monitor central heating, or turn on AC units before they arrive at a location. If you have an internet connection at home, and a small amount of money to invest, then you could put this technology to work on your door, securing it properly. In order to start the process, you will need to purchase a technology device which will fit onto the door lock. There are a variety of devices, and choosing the right one needs to be discussed with a professional locksmith.

[Photo courtesy of Vlada Karpovich/pexels.com]

Once the device has been purchased, it can then be fitted onto the door, and connected to your internet network. This allows you to set up the device, and connect it to your smart phone. This is done by downloading an app supplied by the company. With the app on your phone, you can then start to control the security of your home. Some phone apps are particularly useful for those who are concerned about locking doors, as they have the ability to identify whether doors are locked or unlocked, and it is possible to connect, or disconnect, a security device from the keypad on the lock, saving you time and effort.

There have been some concerns raised about the possibility of hackers getting into the home. This has been dealt with by the companies supplying the apps and other technology. Often the devices now come with a set password, and there are additional security features which ensure that the software program is not bypassed by others. Users who are worried about the possible implications of poor security should consult with the manufacturers of their security systems.

The technology which you will be using to control the locks around your home could also benefit you in other ways. Thermostat and lighting control can ensure that your home is warm and well-lit before you step through the door. Customers using one application, such as security, will be able to add the additional elements onto the same phone, allowing you to control all aspects of your home using your smart phone. This is an important advance for anyone looking to use their phone in a more constructive manner, and will also ensure that your home is fully protected.

With the effect of pandemic, money is still on many of our minds. It can be difficult to balance our budgets during times of economic difficulty, so here are a few tips which could help you look after your money in 2023.

Keep a spending diary

Many of us are guilty of frittering our money away on takeaway coffees and sandwiches on our lunch break, but you would be amazed how much the dollar add up over the month. Before you can make a budget for 2023, it is important that you work out how much you are spending on a daily basis. To do this, buy yourself a little notebook and set aside ten minutes in the evening to tot up what you spent that day and where. This exercise won’t take up much of your time, and if you keep up the habit it will soon become second nature.

Make a budget

Once you know what you are spending in an average month, it is time to analyze your outgoings for areas you can cut back. Whether you are paying your cash advances or  it’s a weekly takeaway or an expensive phone bill, we all have parts of our life where money can be saved. Consider what you need to meet the cost of your essential monthly outgoings like your rent, mortgage payments, food, and bills, and set this amount aside for the month (don’t forget to add a little extra for unforeseen events like appliances breaking and birthday presents!) Then you can organize to transfer the money that you will save into an online savings account, whether it is a dollar or a $100.

[Photo courtesy of Dejan Nouval/pexels.com]

Check your home

Are you guilty of leaving the lights on when you leave a room, or keeping the television on standby? It is surprising how much little things like this can add to your electricity bill. Energy saving tips can be crucial for people looking to save some money, as well as helping the planet out. For example, save up your laundry to make sure you only wash full loads- a full load will use less energy than two half loads- and switch the dial down to cold. And whilst you are in the kitchen, don’t fill your kettle up each time- only heat what you need.

Ditch the ready meals

Not only are ready meals expensive but they are also incredibly bad for your health and your waistline. Home cooked food may sound like a chore, but you don’t have to turn into Jamie Oliver in order to make simple, tasty meals at home. Buy yourself a basic cookbook and start planning your weekly meals in advance. That way, when you go food shopping you will know exactly what you need. Buy plenty of onions, carrots, potatoes and broccoli, along with other things like pasta and cheap cuts of meat, and you will be able to cook up something frugal and delicious. Always try and make an extra portion to, so you can have it for lunch the next day.

People  have less and less free time to relax and do something that would entertain them, with busy family lives as well as coping with everyday tasks at work , and around the home. It was indeed stressful to work five days a week and instead of resting and relaxing on the weekend you have to look after a mischief kid.

Having kids at home is amazing, but it constantly make some interesting challenges and problems, from homeschooling them to leisure time and to even asking them to sleep. The good thing today, technology can help to entertained the kids at home. Yes, now a days, technology became a big part of baby sitting , especially when it is too difficult to look after a kid that generally causing mischief around the house.

Our home was built to have a second floor, but due to financial constraints the construction of the second story was halted, and the stairs going up there, became a huge problem to us. My toddler niece always run to places and the stairs is her favorite space to play, it was quite dangerous because there are still no railings for support and it is a bit high for a toddler to play around.  With the thoughts that accident might happen anytime, my father decided to built  a temporary blocked, so my niece can’t run upstairs especially when she is unsupervised.

With a little bit of creativity I found ways to entertain my niece at home when she is bored. Here are some options, you can also try.

Selecting an Activity

There are many activities available for kids to do at home, but the best way to select an activity is to consider the age of your child and her interest. My niece love indoor activities like arts and crafts, so we bought a sketch pad and color box for her, since she love doodling and coloring too.

When she is bored with her color and sketch pad, she loves to play around, so we played hide and seek, and we played with her toys too. For her to be more entertained I bought simulation toys for her, like the food and kitchen simulation toys.

Watching TV Programs Design for Kids

When my niece is tired playing toys and doing arts and crafts, for a short period of time we let her watch TV  shows design for kids, which is safe and friendly. We don’t want her to imitate bad behavior from watching unhealthy TV programs, so we are kind of strict on what shows she has to watch.

Dancing and Singing

This activity is advantageous for children, because it engages their brain and it allows them to express themselves and teaches children on how to interact with other people. My niece loves to dance and sing, so it comes to the point where I am the one who gets tired singing when she keep requesting to repeat the song again and again.

Some Outdoor Activities

Of course, everyone needs a little bit of sunshine so when the weather is good.  My niece and I walked inside the compound, and I let her play and explore her surrounding with the help of our dog, who also loves to play and walk with her. Just to be safe I don’t let her hold the leash in more than three minutes, no matter how she beg and cried for it.

Safe media streaming

Watching a streaming website which was built to be a fun, family-friendly place for kids and families was very helpful too, because my niece learned a lot of songs from it.  It allow kids to explore their interests on a whim, deeply, easily, and with great entertainment.

Educational Online Games

Kids enjoy games on mobile phones and most parents can attest to that, whenever my niece is tired watching shows in the streaming website she always loves to play online without our knowing, so I searched for websites that doesn’t need an applications to play and I stumbled to plays.org, a website that offers educational games for kids and kids alike online. They have hundreds of free games across every genre, which  you can play directly in your web browser with no app downloads and each game has a set of instructions that are pretty easy to understand.

Other people might think that playing games online for kids is unhealthy, but actually it is not, it was only bad for for kids health when they play too much without doing other things, and without eating.  According to research playing and winning online games releases dopamine which can boost motivation and determination to achieve a goal.

At plays.org kids can play  a colorful and fun musical game, they can learn to play the piano, drums, xylophone, and harp and since my niece loves music and musical instruments she really love this one, as well as few other games like the Neon Invaders , a space shooting game,  the  Pocket Racing Game which is a motorcycle obstacle course game, Foot Chinko Game which is like an online soccer game, my niece loves to kick and play ball so no wonder she love this game too.

It was around 2009 when I left the Philippines to be reunited with my then husband (now ex) under the dependent visa, which means I have no freedom nor privilege to work in Korea. Left without a choice, I search for alternate way to earn money from home and online, I found few choices.  At first, I started joining paid to click sites, just to earn cents and a few dollars for almost  a month of clicking adverts. It was good, but I yearn for more and that’s where I created a blog in blogspot upon finding out you can earn decent money from just writing your own thoughts or from blogging.

Working from home and earning from it. doesn’t work like magic. I have to learn how to do SEO and established good connection from fellow bloggers, read a lot and find more creative ways to boost traffic to my blog. Then a trend came where most of my fellow bloggers starting to purchase their own domain name, with the help of my ex bribing him to buy me a domain as birthday present, was able to purchase my own domain and that’s where more online opportunities pour in, I am able run adverts to my blog and received pitch from direct advertisers who are interested to put adverts, links and articles into my websites, yes with in a year of blogging, I am able to manage three to five blogs, with a different niches or topics.

As if, three to five blogs were not enough I purchase more domain especially when there was a sale, the more blog I had the more chances of earning from them.  The comes a time that several websites like Intellifluence arises, I joined a handful of them where I earned a decent money, more blogs means more responsibility and when the trend came where blogs has a unique and personalized templates and theme, I jumped into the bandwagon with a degree in IT and wanting my blog to become more presentable I learned how to tweak my themes and templates and that’s where I attracted other bloggers.

I started receiving request from fellow bloggers to create and tweak their blog templates and theme for  money and as no kid to look after, and with a freedom and independence to work from home I started collecting lists of blogs from fellow bloggers, and finding work or writing gig for them. I met a few link builders online and provide link services to them, yes I worked as a link broker, and when the new trend of owning a self-hosted wordpress came I move to cpanel hosting and left blogspot for the better.

One of the best thing I enjoyed working from home is you can work anytime you want and you can do more chores at home, but of course working from home requires self-discipline and motivation to manage your time responsibly which sometimes I failed to do so.

 

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Anyway, as the year went by lots of changes happened in blogging, Mr. G’s constantly changing algorithm created an impact among bloggers, direct advertisers became less  and lots of blogger I knew from the blogging community applied for a day job and blogging became a past time only to them.

 

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When I went home to Philippines, blogging became a burden to me because of a bad internet connection, I have to go to town just to be connected. Fast forward, lots of changes happened in the Philippines, new innovation and technology were innovated and today having a great connection, I am able to continue to write again and found new opportunities to earn online and learn new trends in blogging, I found out that today doing reviews and receiving products is trendy than it was back then.

How about you? What have you learned from todays blogging trend?

High costs of electricity have already forced many people to rethink their approach to energy consumption. Refrigerators and dishwashers are among the biggest users of electricity in any house. A wide range of green household appliances are able to help you save money on energy consumption and boost your eco-friendliness.

Energy Star rated household appliances will save you about $500 annually. Such household equipment use less energy and water. Even though Energy Star appliances are a bit more expensive, you will appreciate their value on the long run. After all, being earth-friendly doesn’t require a lot of effort. You need to adjust your habits a little to make a significant difference. There is no need to grow all your food or get a giant solar pane. There are other ways to be eco-friendly at home.

[Photo courtesy of Skitterphoto/pexels.com]

Green it up!

If your fridge is more than ten years old, it is time to replace it with a greener alternative. Energy Star refrigerators use 15% less electricity due to better insulation and energy efficiency.

You can get a dishwasher and use it only when it is fully loaded. Otherwise, you won’t save any water or electricity. If you think that washing the dishes by hand will save some water, you may be mistaken. The new generation of dishwashers uses significantly less water now. Before you decide to make a hasty new purchase, you need to do your research and choose the most energy efficient appliance.

When the time comes to buy a new fridge or a washing machine, don’t forget to recycle your old appliances. Most of the household appliances contain chemical materials hazardous for the nature. That is why you need to find a company that utilizes old equipment.

[Photo courtesy of Milly Eaton/pexels.com]

Eco-friendly kitchens

Modern technology uses sustainable materials to create better kitchen appliances. There was no Energy Efficiency ranking fifty years ago because people didn’t care much about the environment. Now you can purchase a solar oven for your kitchen and enjoy eco-friendly food every day. A transparent lid of a solar oven allows sun rays to warm it up from the inside. Some solar ovens even collect and store solar energy to increase the cooking temperature. Sun-powered cooking is not as fast as gas cooking, yet the food from a solar stove has more flavor.

Energy efficiency will become a key element of the most appliances sooner than you think. Technological upgrades have already affected the modern cooking industry. Your new eco-friendly appliances should be sturdy and reliable. Nonetheless, you shouldn’t forget about your green habits. Green appliances mean green lifestyle and cooking preferences. If you start buying local veggies and fruit from the nearest farmer’s market, you will support the local entrepreneurs and spend less money on transportation costs, thus reducing the energy emissions in the atmosphere. Energy Star appliances help you save the planet and reduce the cost of your next electricity bill. If you don’t know how to revolutionize your kitchen and turn it into something green and ultra-efficient, check out what specialists from Environmental Data Resources have to offer.

While you love your family and would do anything for them, you know that your home life isn’t always going to be perfect. It takes hard work and dedication to create a happy and healthy environment for you all to live.

Learn what you can start doing today to help ensure everyone’s on the same page and you’re getting along with each other best you can. Your life will become easier and less chaotic and stressful when you’re wise about following through with actions that will help build a stable and thriving household. It’s worth your time and energy, and you’ll thank yourself down the road when you’re all living in harmony.

Clean Regularly

Create a happy and healthy home when you stick to a regular cleaning schedule and choose not to slack in this area. Dirt and grime have the potential to increase the number of germs in your home and make people sick. Come up with a cleaning schedule you can follow to help you stay on track and make sure you’re hitting all areas of the house on a consistent basis. Ask your family members to help you out if it becomes too much for you to handle by yourself.

[Photo courtesy of ErikaWittlieb/pixabay.com]

Spend Quality Time as A Family

You’ll be able to grow a deeper and closer bond with one another when you’re proactive about organizing activities and events you can participate in as a family. Spend quality time together such as going to the park after dinner or purchasing NBA tickets and getting out of the house for a fun family outing. Mix it up and keep it fresh by always thinking of new ways for how you can all get together and enjoy yourselves and each other’s company.

Get Your Finances in Order

Financial troubles can quickly leave you feeling frustrated and cause unwanted arguments between you and your spouse. It’s a wise idea to work hard to get your finances in order and discuss a plan of attack for how you want to save and spend your money going forward. Get organized and come to an agreement about your future goals, so you’re both on the same page. Your home life will be a lot happier and healthier when you and your spouse have this matter under control.

[Photo courtesy of sathyatripodi/pixabay.com]

Learn how to Communicate Effectively

Yelling and screaming at one another isn’t an effective way to communicate and will likely cause a lot of friction in your household. Learn to talk to your loved ones using a compassionate tone and try to get your point across without raising your voices. Hold family meetings and encourage everyone to practice being good listeners if you want to create a happy and healthy home life. Try to understand where each other is coming from and ask questions to clarify anything you’re feeling confused about.

Conclusion

Improve your home life using these tips so you can create a happier and healthier atmosphere to live. Remain patient because these types of changes will take time to implement and adjust to. Get the entire family onboard, so you’re not the only one putting forth an extra effort at home.

Sometimes, the prices of cable can be a little too absurd, especially when one is grappling with a number of financial hurdles. In the end, they have no option but to fall back on local channels to give them their piece of entertainment and luxury.

This doesn’t mean that the quality of their reception should be any less thrilling. In fact, here are some subtle tips that one can use to ensure that despite watching local tv, they can still get superior quality content in their homes!

Check out the whole array of antennas

When it comes to selecting the right antenna for great quality picture being received, there are many factors that come into play. For example, there are both directional, as well as unidirectional antennas.

Furthermore, it’s wise to factor in things like the terrain, distance from the broadcast towers, as well as the surroundings that one is located.

Surprisingly, it appears that price also comes into play. How? Well, because of the stiff competition between different antenna manufacturing companies. Antennas of a cheaper price appear to have better quality, perhaps to appeal to the masses?

In fact, thanks to the presence of a return policy, one can even try out different antennas and figure out the one that suits them best.

That being said, if one is looking to purchase their desired antennae, have a look at the most Outdoor Tv Antenna Reviews available.

Get the best height possible for the antenna

The height of one’s antenna is one of the most vital factors in getting the best reception.

 This is one of the reasons why antennas mounted outside on the roof tend to perform much better than those located indoors.

That being said, ensure to get the most vertical distance for the antenna in order to achieve the best results.

Alternatively, if one happens to have an internal antenna, it would be wise to mount it next to a window, or in a room located on a higher floor than the tv.

Point the antenna towards the desired location

Most antennas are normally directional. However, they are also unidirectional antennas, meaning that they need to be pointed in the direction of the broadcast tower.

If that’s the case, ensure that the antenna is in the right position. For starters, one can check out the FCC’s DTV antenna app to determine the location of the broadcast tower that is being targeted.

After this is done, point the antenna towards the desired location for best results.

Eliminate the presence of interference

Most people are unaware that there could be material between the broadcast towers and the indoor TV antenna that might be degrading the reception.

As a rule of thumb, place the antenna next to a window. If one happens to be living in an apartment building, then it would be wise to place the antenna away from obstructions such as neighboring apartment buildings, the garage, as well as other inconspicuous obstructions like cars.