This might look totally crazy, but when you’re choosing which new or used car to buy next; you’d do very well to have a look at the Wiper blades. They can make a significant difference to your non-fuel running costs.

Most of the new cars that have been introduced in Europe during the last few years are coming equipped with the new type of Flatblade Wipers. These look marvellous, and offer inherently much better wiping performance than traditional Wiper blades.

Flatblade Wipers are also said to be far more aerodynamically efficient than classic Wiper blades, and this gives two benefits.

Firstly, Flatblade Wipers have much better contact with the windscreen , particularly at elevated speeds.

Secondly, Flatblade Wipers have a substantially reduced coefficient of drag when compared with classic Wiper blades. However, when you consider what a tiny part of the overall drag of the car the Wiper blades account for; you’ll see that even cutting wiper blade drag by 80% won’t make any noticeable difference to your car’s economy.

Conversely, if you aren’t careful, you could wind up spending up to £160 a year just on replacement Wiper blades!

This crazy situation has happened because the car manufacturers and the manufacturers of the Original Fit Wiper blades have managed to use their introduction as a means of controlling the unsuspecting driver into a very limited number of suppliers for the replacements; namely the franchised dealer and the wiper blade manufacturer’s own local distributors.

This lack of competition has led to some extremely high prices being charged for Flatblade Wipers.

A friend of mine is fortunate enough to drive a very costly Supercar. Nevertheless even he was extremely annoyed to be quoted £80 for A wiper blade when the car was just over 6 months old. He tried to find a different source, but after the car main dealer, he could only find the wiper blade manufacturer’s local distributor, and guess what? The prices were within a few pence of each other.

He was particularly angered by this, because in the past, he’s always fitted Silicone wiper blades to his cars as soon as the original rubber ones wore out. Despite keeping all his cars for at least 3 years; he’s never needed to replace any of his Silicone wiper blades.

What further angered my friend was the salt that the rubber wiper blade manufacturers rubbed into his wounds. On the box of the £80 wiper blade is a warning that he should look forward to replace these Wiper blades within 6 to 12 months.

Unfortunately, manufacturers of Silicone wiper blades have not yet found ways to get round the patents on the connection systems for these original fit Flatblade Wipers, but you can find Silicone Retrofit Flatblade Wipers, which combine the looks & aerodynamic efficiency of Flatblade Wipers with the performance, life and warranty of Silicone wiper blades.

Therefore, when you’re picking your next car, take a look at the wiper blade arms. If they have the well known hook type fittings, you can get either classic or Flat Silicone wiper blades to fit. If they’ve got the fancy new patented connections, remember you may have to change them twice a year, and look into the cost. It may be as much as you spend on servicing!

You teach your children to have good manners, right? So why not expect your dog to have good manners?

It amazes me when I see parents who let their kids run around a store, take stuff from the candy counter, the parent yells at them, then pays for the candy.

Same thing with dogs. Dogs don’t speak English, but doggie guardians keep yelling at their dogs like they’re supposed to understand every word.

Anyway, one needs to spend some quality time and effort into teaching their dogs to be good, pleasant creatures to be around, just like you do for your kids — “please” and “thank you” and all that.

One of my dogs came from a rescue shelter. He had been neglected and possibly abused in his first home.

I found him on the internet when I was looking for some kind of poodle mix (so I could have a dog that didn’t shed!).

When he got to my house, he was a mess! So ill-mannered! And he stunk! He didn’t listen at all, didn’t know any commands and he kept biting me!

But he was mine, and I figured I’d do my best to clean him up, and maybe he would settle down. But the biting I wasn’t about to tolerate. And I wasn’t sure how I was going to deal with that.

My vet said that because he was half Lhasa Apso, he was predisposed to aggression, but that it was based in fear. That was his way of coping when he was afraid.
Once I understood that, it was much easier to work with him on the biting.

One of the things that really helped was getting good “psychological” instruction in how to deal with the biting. I needed to realize he was frightened when he got mouthy. So I would talk softly and be extra sweet and gentle, and soon my new doggie began to understand that I was “safe.” He became such a sweetie over the next few months, I just absolutely fell in love with him.

This wasn’t an overnight fix, but rather a long-term understanding.

It’s this kind of common-sense instruction you’ll get from “SitStayFetch” – dog training to stop your dog’s behavior problems.

“SitStayFetch” is the easiest system to follow for learning how to train your dog and change its behavior. And what’s great is, the author gives a 6-day free course (by email) so you can see how easy it is to train your dog like a real professional.

The free course is great … filled with common-sense information. If you’ve got behavioral problems with your four-footed friend, I’d definitely encourage you to try this: Dog Training!

Property auctions can be a great place to find property bargains. With the economic downturn repossessions are rising in the UK. Banks and building societies and those seeking to avoid repossession often use auctions as the best place to get rid of a property quickly.

Once a property has been bought at an auction all the paperwork and, of course, the payment has to be completed within 30 days. You can see why this is so appealing to sellers who are keen, if not desperate to rid themselves of a property.

Because of this prices are usually considerably lower than they would be on the open market. This allows ordinary house buyers to buy properties that would usually be out of their price range. For property developers the lure of property auctions is the chance to buy a range of suitable properties at knockdown prices.

Property auctions are held through England. You’ll also find Scotland property auctions and Wales property auctions, catering for their particular parts of the country.

Auctions held in London usually have properties from right round the country where as other cities tend to have properties in their area only. Some of these auctions can be very big and may be spread over a couple of days because the number of lots can be so high.

You will also find tiny property auctions held in the countryside which may only happen once a year or even longer, with only one or two properties up for sale. These days it seems, you’re never very far from a property auction where ever you may live.