When we only had the Norway spruce Christmas tree, the end of the festive season involved trailing a half bare Christmas tree through your house dropping needles all the way. It took several hours to hoover up the mess and even still, an unprotected foot could be stabbed, well into the summer months.

With the advent on the modern, non-drop Christmas trees, especially the Nordmann Fir, this has all changed.

You can expect to remove the tree after I month with 95% of the needles attached, and even those that drop are longer and softer and less likely to cause pain later.

The advances have been made in three ways:

1. New tree species introductions such as the Nordmann Fir
2. Better breeding of these species, selecting for the needle retention trait
3. Better knowledge of how to care for the Christmas tree after harvest.

This article is about point 3.

When you think about the care of a cut Christmas tree you must think as if it is a cut flower.

It should be transported from forest to house as fast as physically possible. More than 2 weeks and deterioration will occur.

When the tree arrives at your house, if you are not ready to set it up you must keep it outside and preferably in a bucket of water. It is ok to keep the packaging net on at this stage.

When you are ready to take your Christmas tree in, you should cut of about 1” (25mm) from the bottom. This exposes fresher plant cells that will be more able to draw up the water.

Now comes another major modern advance. A huge range of Christmas tree stands that can contain water have been produced. These stands are a revelation, because all through the festive season your tree will absorb water. The hotter your room, the more water it will use. You should allow for 1-2 litres a day at the start. This will drop as the season progresses.

The best Christmas tree stands are an American product called Cinco. They are virtually un-breakable, are very stable and have a massive water reservoir (depending on size, from 3.75 litres up to a whopping 7.8 litres). The final cool feature, which is surprisingly useful, is that there is a drip catcher round the rim, so avoiding accidental water spills.

You should place you tree in a cool room or cool part of the room. If that is not possible (and is certainly not possible in our house) then you should try and keep the area as cool as possible. Consider turning down, or off any radiators or heaters next to the tree. You can turn your heating down or off through the night. If you have vented heating, then consider blocking any vents right beside your Christmas tree.

You can tell how happy a Nordmann Christmas tree is by looking at it. As the tree stresses out due to having run out of water or the room is too hot, the needles start to curl upwards. Because the underside of the needles has the 2 blue lines on them, the trees overall colour changes from dark green to a, not unpleasant, blue green. The more blue the tree, the less happy it is.

If you follow all this advice your real Christmas tree will be looking nearly as good when the big clear up takes place as it did when you first put it in place. You can expect very few needles to drop and even then they are easily hoovered up.

Mystery shopping has become so popular that you certainly might think there’s nothing more to be said about it. However, many beginner mystery shoppers get trapped either by the marketers’ hype, or by the harsh criticisms against mystery shopping that are both largely undeserved. This article will tell you the reality of mystery shopping and what successful tactics many wise mystery shoppers just won’t share.

Mystery shopping has been acknowledged as an effective market research method. Many companies recruit mystery shoppers to test the qualities of their customer services, or to tailor their staff trainings in order to eliminate weaknesses and improve consumer satisfaction. Competition in the product and service area has become so fierce, that many new quality evaluation practices have emerged for the sake of business survival. Mystery shopping is one of these marketing mechanisms that provides unmatched feedback to merchandisers and service companies, and delivers reliable and up-to-date info on consumers’ likes and dislikes.

What are the benefits of mystery shopping? Mystery shopping allows you to earn additional income that will either fill in the gaps in your budget, or simply fill in your consumer basket with freebies and products you otherwise wouldn’t afford. Mystery shopping is a truly exciting adventure, because you need to “perform” as you would if you were normally a client, and very often you will be required to play a character that is different from your own. Companies hire mystery shoppers to pose as real customers, and role-play different situations that may occur while shopping. Therefore, you might often need to play angry, capricious, indecisive, picky, or obsessive, which adds more thrill and excitement to your shopping tasks.

Even though mystery shopping can be tremendously amusing, you need to remember that it’s a highly responsible job, as the hiring company relies on your objective feedback. Mystery shopping requires no previous experience, but it leans on your honesty, objectivity, and common sense to evaluate the products and services you shop. Moreover, as you become a seasoned mystery shopper with successfully completed shops, you will also build reputation with the marketing companies in your area. This will help you get more professional, highly-paid, and more responsible assignments that will not only get you more cash, but will also single you out as an expert and reliable mystery shopper.

One of the big delusions, and yet one of the most exploited and misrepresented facts about mystery shopping is how much you actually earn. Many will tell you that it’s a complete waste of time; others will convince you that you can become a millionaire overnight. The reality is that you can get a decent additional income, and earn anywhere between $200 and #1,500 a month, depending on your input of time and effort, and your ability to find assignments quickly and efficiently. It takes time to learn all the tricks of successful mystery shopping, but it’s not impossible to turn it into a lucrative hobby or a second job. You can learn how to heal your budget with all the cash, prizes and bonuses that mystery shopping can offer you. Enjoy!

Mystery shopping has become so popular that you certainly might think there’s nothing more to be said about it. However, many beginner mystery shoppers get trapped either by the marketers’ hype, or by the harsh criticisms against mystery shopping that are both largely undeserved. This article will tell you the reality of mystery shopping and what successful tactics many wise mystery shoppers just won’t share.

Mystery shopping has been acknowledged as an effective market research method. Many companies recruit mystery shoppers to test the qualities of their customer services, or to tailor their staff trainings in order to eliminate weaknesses and improve consumer satisfaction. Competition in the product and service area has become so fierce, that many new quality evaluation practices have emerged for the sake of business survival. Mystery shopping is one of these marketing mechanisms that provides unmatched feedback to merchandisers and service companies, and delivers reliable and up-to-date info on consumers’ likes and dislikes.

What are the benefits of mystery shopping? Mystery shopping allows you to earn additional income that will either fill in the gaps in your budget, or simply fill in your consumer basket with freebies and products you otherwise wouldn’t afford. Mystery shopping is a truly exciting adventure, because you need to “perform” as you would if you were normally a client, and very often you will be required to play a character that is different from your own. Companies hire mystery shoppers to pose as real customers, and role-play different situations that may occur while shopping. Therefore, you might often need to play angry, capricious, indecisive, picky, or obsessive, which adds more thrill and excitement to your shopping tasks.

Even though mystery shopping can be tremendously amusing, you need to remember that it’s a highly responsible job, as the hiring company relies on your objective feedback. Mystery shopping requires no previous experience, but it leans on your honesty, objectivity, and common sense to evaluate the products and services you shop. Moreover, as you become a seasoned mystery shopper with successfully completed shops, you will also build reputation with the marketing companies in your area. This will help you get more professional, highly-paid, and more responsible assignments that will not only get you more cash, but will also single you out as an expert and reliable mystery shopper.

One of the big delusions, and yet one of the most exploited and misrepresented facts about mystery shopping is how much you actually earn. Many will tell you that it’s a complete waste of time; others will convince you that you can become a millionaire overnight. The reality is that you can get a decent additional income, and earn anywhere between $200 and #1,500 a month, depending on your input of time and effort, and your ability to find assignments quickly and efficiently. It takes time to learn all the tricks of successful mystery shopping, but it’s not impossible to turn it into a lucrative hobby or a second job. You can learn how to heal your budget with all the cash, prizes and bonuses that mystery shopping can offer you. Enjoy!

We’ve all been there, trying to find the perfect Gift for every occasion for our families, friends, associates and that special someone.

Whether it’s a birthday, seasonal holidays, graduations, mother’s day, secretaries day, grand parents day, father’s day, promotions on the jobs, anniversaries, housewarmings, showers, weddings, business incentives and many more. There are so many personal gift-giving situations.

Whatever the occasion, whatever the reason, whomever the recipient, the “perfect gift” is the “gift of choice”.

But getting and giving the right gift can be very difficult if not frustrating. Then you end up giving up and just buying something, anything, just to be done with it (be honest…you’ve been there).

Sure you can go to the internet and pretty much find whatever you’re looking for. With the advances in technology this is almost a “No Brainer”. You can go online anytime, anywhere. Or you can buy a Gift Card at any department store.

But, what about that “perfect” gift, you know, the one that’s thoughtful, insightful, just right and fits the person to the “T”. The last thing you want to do is purchase a gift that no one really desires or wants. That would definitely be a waste.

Think about it, how many times have you received presents and when you opened the box you hated it. So what do you do? You wrap it up take it back to the store it came from and exchange it for something you really like or just get a store credit. And if none of the above works then you just re-wrap it and give to someone else as a gift. Better yet, maybe even give it back to the person who gave it to you (shame on you).

So what can you do to make gift giving easier? There are a lot of choices, but the one that works for me and I think this is the best choice, is a “Gift Catalog”. A gift catalog can be purchased based on a particular theme, i.e. wedding, teenager, sports, graduation, congratulations, and business, to name a few.

For the price of a large loaded pizza and a 2 liter bottle of soda you can buy a gift catalog. Each gift catalog contains anywhere from 30 or more items. All the person you gave the gift catalog to has to do is select the item they want from the catalog, order it online and have it delivered directly to their front door. It doesn’t get any easier than that.

As you go about considering what to include in your home entertainment center this year, you may be contemplating the purchase of a flat plasma screen TV. There are in fact a number of benefits that are associate with buying a flat plasma screen TV.

One of The biggest benefits associated with a flat plasma screen TV is the brilliant picture that such a television provides. In this day and age, the flat plasma screen TV provides one of the best pictures available on any video product in the world today.

By adding a flat plasma screen TV to your home entertainment center you really will be ensuring hours and hours of viewing pleasure for you and your family. Your flat plasma screen TV really will be the focal point of your overall entertainment scheme.

You may have shied away from purchasing a flat plasma screen TV because you assumed that the cost of such a product would be very high. Generally speaking, a flat plasma screen TV is not a particularly cheap product. But, as happens with new technology, the cost associated with a typical flat plasma screen TV is dropping all of the time %u2026 and dropping at a pretty fast rate. Therefore, you may actually find that you can buy a flat plasma screen TV that is priced well within your personal budget.

You should also keep in mind that the typical flat plasma screen TV is a well built and manufactured product. While the flat plasma screen TV does represent new technology, these products do seem to be reliable. People who purchase these products do tend to have good success with them, and tend to post few complaints.

There are also some solid warranties associated with the typical flat plasma screen TV. Manufacturers are tending to provide some pretty generous and wide ranging warranties for the typical flat plasma screen TV that is now on the market today.

Overall, a person who elects to make the purchase of a flat plasma screen TV really will be making a good investment. Most people find a flat plasma screen TV to be an absolutely perfect addition to a home entertainment center.