Your report may contain inaccurate information or might be missing important credit information. Contact the credit reporting agency in writing immediately to fix any errors. Be sure to provide complete and necessary information so that the agency can complete an investigation and repair any inaccuracies. The credit reporting agency is required to investigate and respond to your dispute, usually within a 30-day period. If a correction is made, the creditor must notify all three credit reporting agencies so their files can be changed. Paying your bills on time is the most important factor in figuring up your credit score. Setting automatic deductions from your banking account for house and automobile payments, utilities, and credit cards will help you make timely payments. If auto payments aren't possible, set payment reminders on your calendar or budgeting software. Make sure to coordinate your future income deposit dates with your automatic withdraws before you set up auto payments. For example, if you are paid on the 1st and 15th of each month, set the automatic payments to be disbursed on the 4th, 5th, 6th, 17th, 18th, and 19th of each month. This is usually the most expensive of debt type, the easiest to use without thinking, and the source of aggressive collection efforts.  Keeping zero or low balances on your credit cards will save money and increase your peace of mind. Use cash or your checking account debit card for irregular purchases, keeping your credit cards locked up securely at home. Don't cancel your credit cards. The debts are not canceled, and your credit report will suffer because there's less available credit as you pay off the debt. If you decide that some credit cards must be canceled, choose the ones with the shortest history.

Summary: Review your credit reports for accuracy. Set up automatic payment reminders. Stop using credit cards.


This can be done anonymously and voluntarily. Invite your employees to share what they like and dislike about their jobs and their work environment.  Ask questions like, “Do you feel you have the tools and resources necessary to do your job?” or “Does your work give you a personal feeling of accomplishment?” or “Are you satisfied with your involvement in decisions that affect you personally at work?” or “What might we change to increase employee satisfaction?” Pay attention to the survey results. There might be some things you cannot do anything about right now, such as providing raises or better benefits. However, pay attention to the things that will cost nothing, such as a dress code that includes casual Fridays. Either way, make sure you follow up with your employees’ feedback so they stay updated about any progress. Continue to invite suggestions from employees. A suggestion box can go a long way in keeping your staff feeling like they can provide ideas for a more positive working environment. Even if a salary increase only comes annually, supervisors and managers should provide performance reviews at least every few months. This gives your employees a chance to engage with you about their performance on the job and how they feel about working there.  Praise the staff who are doing well. Hearing they are doing good work will motivate your best employees and keep them happy. Conduct weekly one-on-one meetings with your employees to help encourage open communication so they can discuss what’s going well for them and what they think could use improvement. That way, you’re less likely to get surprised at a regular performance review. If an employee is doing well, try saying something like, “We are very pleased with your overall performance, especially in such and such area.” If you feel an employee needs to improve in a certain area, handle the situation delicately by telling them, “We appreciate all of the hard work you’re doing here at the company, especially regarding your increasing sales. But we believe that the company would benefit if you paid more attention to tracking the invoice.” Your employees will be happy when they are getting accurate information directly from the company. They do not want to hear about news or developments from the media, your competition, or other people.  Hold regular meetings or send out newsletters informing employees about important company changes – whether related to business or internal policies. If your company is planning a merger with another company, hold a meeting in which you inform your employees. You don’t want them to hear about it from sources outside of management. Telling them personally what is going on will also help allay any fears they may have regarding their job stability with the upcoming changes. Say something like, “We wanted to let you know that some company-wide changes are happening in the near future that we are very excited about.” Provide some specific details and allow time for questions. Staff will be happier if they feel like they have input when it comes to making changes or improvements in the way the business is run.  Invite a few employees to work with your benefits department during open enrollment. This will help you provide benefits that everyone appreciates and that truly reflects the interests of the employees. Recruit employees from all levels to serve on committees. Engage your staff when it comes to strategic planning, holiday planning, hiring, and annual reviews.

Summary: Take an employee satisfaction survey. Hold regular reviews. Communicate openly. Include employees any time policy reviews are made.


Regardless of whether or not you believe the rifle to be unloaded, you should go through the unloading process before attempting to measure the barrel.  Note that the measuring process is essentially the same for all rifles, including both bolt-action and semi-automatic rifles. There can be some differences in the unloading process, however. For a bolt-action rifle: Point the gun in a safe direction, supporting the barrel with your dominant hand. Click the bolt upward and back to open it, using your non-dominant hand. Look down into the chamber and into the magazine. If there is any ammo in the gun, carefully slide the bolt into the magazine until it ejects the cartridges.   For a semi-automatic rifle: Point the gun in a safe direction. Locate the magazine release latch at the rear of the magazine cover. Pull the latch back to drop the magazine open. The  cartridges inside the magazine should drop out of the bottom. The length of the barrel spans between the muzzle and the face of the bolt or breech face. Do not measure any portion of the barrel that extends behind the bolt or breech face.  Close the bolt by sliding it forward and down. Close the breech face by pushing the slide back and allowing it to snap back forward. Insert an appropriately sized dowel rod into the muzzle. Slide it into the barrel until it comes to a stop at the face of the bolt or the breech face. The diameter of the dowel should be smaller than the diameter of the gun barrel. Draw a line just above the muzzle, keeping your writing instrument as close to the muzzle as possible for a more accurate reading. Use a pencil, pen, or permanent marker for best results. Slide the dowel out of the barrel. Place the dowel in front of you and set the gun aside. When setting the gun aside, make sure that it is pointing in a safe direction. Using a tape measure or measuring stick, measure the distance between the line and the end of the dowel previously inside the barrel. The length of this section is the length of the gun barrel.

Summary: Verify that the gun is unloaded. Close any bolts or breech faces. Slip a dowel rod into the barrel. Mark the dowel rod at the correct point. Remove the dowel rod. Measure the length.


You can use a ballpoint pen, a toothpick, or a wooden skewer to do this. If you are a child, ask an adult to help you with this step. To find the center, flip the plate over so the back is facing you. Draw a huge X across the back of the clock. Make sure that the points of the X are touching the edges of the clock. The center of the X is the center of the clock. Line up the bottom of the arrows up first, then punch the hole through both arrows at the same time. This will make it more even. You can use a hole puncher to make this easier. If you don't have a hole punch, you can poke the hole using a ballpoint pen. Make sure that the hole in each arrow lines up with the hole in the clock. The pointy end should be coming out of the back of the clock. Separate the prongs first, then flatten them against the plate. You can use a butter knife to pull the prongs apart. If you are a child, ask an adult to help you. Brads can be very sharp. Turn the clock back over so that you can see the numbers again. You can now move the arrows around. Try not to pull or tug too hard, or the paper will rip.
Summary: Poke a hole in the center of the clock. Punch a hole in the bottom of each arrow. Place the arrows on the clock. Stick the brad through the holes. Turn the cock over and flatten the prongs. Use your clock.