3 Tips For Preparing For Surgery Around Your Eyes

As you age, parts of your body naturally begin to wrinkle and sag. And while this is a part of life, there are things you can do to combat this and prevent it from happening, including getting cosmetic surgery. 

For many people, one form of surgery that they’d like to get is eyelid surgery. So if this is something that you’ve been considering, here are three tips for preparing for surgery around your eyes. 

Fully Understand The Potential Risks

Because your eyes and the area around them can be very sensitive and are a very important sense that you use for interacting with the world around you, the potential risks involved with surgery around your eyes can be a little more traumatic.

According to PlasticSurgery.org, some of the risks that come along with getting eyelid surgery include things like light sensitivity, an outward rolling of your lower eyelid, lid lag, changes in your vision, pain, numbness or other sensations, and the chance for blindness. Because these are real risks that you’ll be facing if you have eyelid surgery, make sure you go over them with your surgeon and that any concerns you have are addressed before you have the surgery. 

Prepare To Undergo Extensive Preparatory Examinations

With all the risks that can be associated with eyelid surgery, and with how sensitive your eyes can be, extensive preparatory examinations will take place before you have eyelid surgery. 

As part of these examinations, the Mayo Clinic shares that you’ll need to have your surgeon perform a physical examination to determine your tear production as well as the measurements of your eye and parts of your eyelids. In addition to this, you should also have a vision exam, especially if you’re going to try to get your insurance to cover a portion of your surgery costs. And, to help you see the results of your surgery, your surgeon will also likely take extensive photos of your eyes and eyelids so you can see the difference once you’ve fully recovered from your eyelid surgery. 

Set Up Help At Home

While you might not think eyelid surgery would be a big deal, you will likely need some help in the hours and days following your surgery. According to Dr. Brian S. Boxer Wachler, a contributor to WebMD.com, you’ll need someone to drive you home from your surgery, at the very least. And because your vision might be hindered as your eyelids are healing, setting up some help at home is always a good idea. 

If you’re contemplating having eyelid surgery to improve your vision and repair drooping eyelids, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you prepare for this medical procedure.

3 Ways To Raise Your Credit Score Before Applying For A Home Loan

If you’re thinking about buying a new home soon, one of the best ways you can prepare yourself for this financially is to improve your credit score as much as possible. 

Up until you need to apply for a loan, many people don’t even think about their credit scores. But if you’ve fallen into this habit, your score might be lower than you’d like. Luckily, there are things you can do to improve your credit score before you attempt to get a home loan.

To show you how this can be done, here are three ways to raise your credit score before applying for a home loan. 

Rectify Any Delinquent Accounts

One big reason why people often have a lower credit score than they might like is because they’ve allowed some of the credit accounts to go into delinquency.

According to Latoya Irby, a contributor to The Balance, a credit account might become delinquent when you’ve been late on making payments, you’ve maxed out that line of credit, or the bill have gone to collections. All of these things can do some damage to your credit score. But by rectifying these things through making on-time payments and paying down the amount of debt you have, you will be able to see your credit score slowly start to rise again. 

Improve Your Debt-To-Income Ratio

As you pay down the debt you have, your debt-to-income ratio will improve. And as this number improves, your overall credit score will improve as well.

However, paying down debt isn’t the only way to improve your debt-to-income ratio. According to Casey Bond, a contributor to the Huffington Post, you can also improve this ratio by getting credit limit increases on the lines of credit that you currently have. If you’re able to get more credit available to use without increasing your debt, you’ll have a better debt ratio, which can help to improve your credit score. 

Stop Applying For More Credit

Whenever you apply for more credit, there’s going to be an inquiry into your credit and then, if you get approved, a hit to your credit since you’ve now taken on more debt. Both of these things can decrease your credit score, which is the opposite of what you want to be doing when you’re about to apply for a home loan.

To avoid this, Natalie Issa, a contributor to Credit.com, recommends that you avoid having any hard inquiries into your credit as you prepare to apply for a home loan. This means that you shouldn’t apply for any other forms of credit right before applying for a home loan. 

If you’re wanting to apply for a home loan soon, consider using the tips mentioned above to improve your credit beforehand and give yourself the best chance of getting a great rate.

3 Ways To Get Yourself To Cook At Home More Often

While most people know that cooking their meals at home is a healthier and cheaper option than eating out all the time, many people find cooking at home to be stressful, monotonous, and unenjoyable. But if you’re trying to save money or maintain a healthy lifestyle, cooking your own food can help you accomplish these goals at a much faster pace.

If you’re someone who wants to cook their own food more but just can’t find the drive to do it, here are three things you can try to get yourself to cook at home more often. 

Make A Plan

One big reason many people fail to be consistent with making meals at home is because they don’t plan effectively.

To help you with this, Shaunacy Ferro, a contributor to MentaFloss.com, advises that you spend time each week or month writing down a menu or meal plan for the following week or month. If you write it down and have a plan, you’ll be much more likely to stick to it. Even if you plan to still eat out once or twice each week, having a plan for the other days will help ensure that you don’t wind up eating out three or four times. 

Additionally, by writing down what your plans are for meals each day, it will make grocery shopping much easier too, as you can craft an effective shopping list based on what you’ll be making for meals the following week or month. 

Choose Easier Meals

If you’re just starting out with cooking at home for yourself or your family, it’s a good idea to start with some simple, easy meals. Even if you have a gourmet kitchen with all the upgrades, if you have a hard time getting yourself to prepare meals, you’ll have a much better chance at succeeding with this is you start off small.

Ideally, Anna Monette Roberts, a contributor to Greatist.com, advises that you start with meals that only require one pan. This will help you keep everything contained to one area and will make it easy for all your food to combine for one great taste. 

Stretch Your Meals With Leftovers

One great way to eat homemade meals without having to cook a new meal each day is to make enough food when you do cook to save for leftovers

According to Alan Henry, a contributor to LifeHacker.com, this can easily be done by creating meals in a slow cooker. Whatever you don’t eat the day you make it will easily be freezable and can be broken back out on days when you don’t want to cook but still want to eat at home. 

If you want to make cooking and eating at home easier for you, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you accomplish this.