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As beautiful and popular as hardwood flooring is, many are choosing bamboo flooring as an alternative. Not only is it beautiful, but it is also an environmentally friendly type of home flooring. Many major manufacturers such as Columbia Flooring, Mohawk Flooring and Armstrong Flooring all carry some type of bamboo product for your floors.

Next to steel, bamboo is one of the strongest flooring products. Even stronger than some wood flooring, its durability makes it the perfect choice for your floor. It’s more comfortable on your feet than stone flooring and stronger than linoleum. The density, feel and weight of bamboo is similar to real hardwood flooring.

You have your choice of using an engineered product or solid bamboo. Engineered bamboo is combined with another type of wood, usually a bamboo surface with a core of plywood. You can then stain the bamboo with a coat of urethane as you would with hardwood floor. Bamboo floors are installed in the same way as hardwood floors, either nailed or glued to the sub floor. You can also get some of the newer versions that lock together like tongue and groove. This eliminates the nailing and gluing and gives a “floating floor” appearance.

It’s important that the sub floor is level before you begin installation. If it isn’t level, you can use asphalt shingles to make it level. The sub floor needs to be clean and completely dry as moisture may damage your new floor.

Besides the beauty and ease of bamboo, many are choosing to use bamboo as a means to help the environment. We’re all being made aware of the depletion of hardwood products. Many of these woods such as walnut and oak trees do not grow fast enough to keep up with the “supply and demand”. As a way to save our natural resources such as wood, many environmentally conscious people are choosing to using alternatives such as bamboo. Bamboo, unlike hardwood, grows faster than any other tree used in the manufacture of wood flooring. It only takes five years for a bamboo plant to mature. Even when they’re harvested, new shoots begin to grow quickly.

Bamboo floor is very easy to maintain, needing only dusting and mopping. A cleaning solution consisting of 4 parts water to 1 part vinegar does an excellent job of cleaning with a damp sponge mop. The floor needs to be dried immediately with a towel so the moisture doesn’t damage the bamboo. Simple spills can be wiped with a damp cloth and dried immediately. To keep the floor looking shiny, you can buff it with a buff sander. Your bamboo floor will look new for many years with proper care.

There are several methods that can be used when people want to systematically pay off their debts. One of the difficulties with debt management is that it can be hard to know which debts to pay off first or how to go about paying down various liabilities. There are several schools of thought to help people through this process, and one method that is gaining in popularity is the debt snowball method.

The debt snowball method requires the borrower to first get their debts organized. This process begins by listing all of the debts you owe on a spreadsheet. Some borrowers choose to leave their mortgage off the list, since it’s usually a much larger liability than other debts and can’t realistically be paid off over a relatively short period of time. The list of debts you create should have payoff amounts, interest rates, and minimum monthly payments. The debt snowball method calls for debts to be organized based on the size of the outstanding balance. For example:

Type of Debt Payoff Amount Interest Rate Minimum Payment

Auto Loan 1 $20,000 5.9% $400 Credit Card $12,000 19.9% $225 Student Loan $8000 6.9% $115 Auto Loan 2 $5000 5.9% $260

In this example, you’ve placed the debt with the largest overall balance at the top of the list. Your total combined minimum payment on all four debts is $1000. If your budget allows for $1500 per month to pay down debt, the snowball method would prescribe making the minimum payments on the three debts with the largest balances, for a total of $740, and paying the remaining $760 toward the smallest loan balance, in this case Auto Loan 2.

Why does this work? The idea behind the snowball method is that you’ll pay off the smallest loans first and be able to cross them off of your list, thus motivating you to stick with the program. The psychological benefits of having only three monthly debt payments instead of four will help you to keep working to get out of debt. After Auto Loan 2 is paid off, your job is to continue paying $1500 a month, this time paying minimums on the first two debts, and putting all the excess toward the student loan, paying it off as quickly as possible and reinforcing the positive feelings of paying off another debt.

Another variation of the debt snowball method is to rank debts not by the size of the payoff amount, but by the interest rate. Proponents of the Interest Rate Snowball method prefer to pay off the loan with the highest interest rate first, helping to make sure that the borrower ends up paying less overall and paying off debts in a shorter period of time.

Both of the above snowball methods will work, but only when accompanied by discipline and a commitment to contribute monthly and stop accumulating new debt. The debt snowball method is a great first step to take before looking for more costly professional debt solutions.

No one can underestimate the power of a treat during the training of your dog. However fond your dog is of you and vice versa, a treat can be the right reward at the right moment.

However, instead of reinforcing a job well done, snacks filled with additives and empty calories can contribute to health and behavioral issues. This can happen in the case of humans as well.

The pure dried meat in Whole Life Pet Treats, unlike most pet snacks of this kind, can be eaten as is or soaked in water to bring out even more flavor and moistness. You can purchase these in beef, liver, cod, or salmon fillets. Wellness Pure Rewards is a healthful dog treat having 95% meat content, and it is free of grain, wheat, and artificial additives.

Etta Says! Freeze-Dried Treats use human grade ingredients freeze dried to preserve freshness, aroma and most of all taste. Taste the winning flavor of Etta Says Liver Treats as voted by CityDog Magazine readers.

Products made from one hundred percent human grade ingredients consists of Uphaus Free-Range Real Meat Treats that contain no artificial sweeteners, extra calories or fats, and Northwest Naturals Liver Treats that are rich in vitamins and minerals.

Dogs who have weight problems, or require many treats, would benefit from Zukes Mini Naturals. Sporting only two calories a piece, and filled with goodness and nutrients, these Mini Naturals in real chicken, salmon, or peanut butter will set you high in the eyes of your pooch.

Another tiny type are Dogswell Minis Functional Dog Treats with a lo fat high protein content and easily digestible ingredients.

Solid Gold Jerky Treats are a taste of dog heaven in a bite of beef, lamb, or turkey, brown rice, oats, tapioca, cinnamon, and rosemary, and are suitable for older dogs and puppies too.

Containing nutrient rich items like blueberries, flaxseed, salmon and carrots, the Wellness Just For Puppy Treats are snacks suitable for your new baby.

Zukes PowerBones have been specially formulated to be a cut above mere jerky/biscuit snacks. With nutrition based on vets advice and scientific research, PowerBones have been developed as a power and nutrient source for active and performance canines.

If you are looking for a healthy, yet yummy treat for your dog, then Zukes PowerBones are the way to go. If your dog has less of a need for energy try Zukes Jerky Naturals.