4Rent – Calgary – February 17, 2023

SPOTLIGHT

FIRESIDE PROPERTY GROUP LTD. – Castleview Park:

Located in a quiet north-east residential area, close to schools, the McKnight LRT station, grocery stores, drugstore, doctors’ offices, restaurants and banks.

ACCOUNT MANAGER

Carolyn Porteous carolyn@mediaclassified.ca

780.984.4902

GROUP SALES MANAGER

Randi Segal randi.segal@mediaclassified.ca

MANAGER CUSTOMER SALES & SERVICE

Marilyn Watling marilyn@mediaclassified.ca

PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER

Leo Racioppo leo@mediaclassified.ca

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

John Racioppo john@mediaclassified.ca

ACCOUNTING INQUIRIES accountingteam@mediaclassified.ca

CIRCULATION INQUIRIES distributionteam@mediaclassified.ca

DIRECTOR OF PRINT MEDIA

Lauren Reid-Sachs

GRAPHIC DESIGNER & ASSISTANT MANAGER

Alicesa Pullan

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Johannah Lorenzo

All submissions from interested parties will be considered. Please submit to the editor at editorial@mediaclassified.ca

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2014 CRRA Media Excellence Award Winner

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Fireside Property Group

If you are looking for an experienced property management company that exceeds your expectations in Calgary, Alberta –look no further than Fireside Property Group. With a focus on providing superior, client-focused management services and a commitment to foster win/ win relationships between property owners and their residents, Fireside Property Group embraces and deploys the best practices and highest business standards in the property management industry.

Fireside Property Group has rentals available that offer the perfect combination of accessibility and convenience, in conjunction with local amenities and services that you depend on. As a leader in the property management industry in Calgary, they create an unparalleled renting experience that places a focus on the needs of their tenants and creates a community that provides an excellent experience. Although headquartered in Calgary, Alberta – Fireside Property Group also has available rentals in Edmonton and Sudbury, Ontario.

The properties available to rent under their management team offer nothing but quality residential accommodations and a rental price point you will love. Well maintained and regularly updated, residents can be confident that will they will be renting with a company that knows and understands what they want and need most out of a rental property.

As a licensed Real Estate Broker, a former president of the Calgary Residential Rental Association, and with over 20 years of experience, Fireside Property Group is lead by the president, Keith McMullen, BA. President McMullen has created a company that identifies the needs of renters

and provides an exception high-quality rental experience.

President McMullen was formerly responsible for managing Prestigious Properties growing portfolio of multifamily assets in Western Canada. Before working at Prestigious Properties, Mr McMullen worked and managed for Gateway Property Management, Canada’s largest property management firm. As well as TransGlobe, Canada’s 3rd largest apartment building owner, and Realstar Management Limited, President McMullen carries an impressive level of understanding and knowledge surrounding the property management industry.

Renting an apartment is not just about a place to live – it is about your lifestyle. When you rent from Fireside Property Group in Calgary, you can feel confident that you have picked a company that keeps your needs in mind. With a focus on responsibility and reliability, their business is not just about providing apartments for rent – it is about the people who live in them and providing them with a premium rental experience unlike any other.

Are you on the hunt for your next perfect rental apartment? Choose a property management company that has built their business with you in mind – pick Fireside Property Group. ■

Keith McMullen, BA, President

what to do with your kitchen scraps

Many of us are trying to live a more sustainable life. Reducing waste and reusing what we have are cornerstones of helping to create a healthier planet. At the same time, it’s important to evaluate how we follow these principles to make sure they are not doing more harm than good.

Kitchen scraps are an important example of this. For many farmers, the best thing to do with food waste or leftovers is to feed it to their pigs. These animals eat outrageous amounts of just about anything, so it’s an economical and seemingly environmentally friendly solution to prevent waste in your kitchen.

But overall, feeding any animal kitchen scraps is not the safest

choice for their health. Not only can it lead to overfeeding and weight issues, but it could also potentially expose your animal to harmful diseases. For pigs, the risk of contracting African swine fever (ASF) is especially great.

ASF has not been found in Canada yet, but it’s been present in countries across Africa, Asia and Europe. A virus that cannot be contracted by humans, it’s highly contagious and deadly for pigs. It can survive for months in fresh, frozen, cooked or processed pork products. If contaminated food is fed to a pig it could start an outbreak, even from trace amounts of the virus.

Safer uses for food scraps include:

• Composting (as long as it’s stored

far from your pigs) – there’s always a need for nutrient dense soil

• Making broth by simmering leftover bones and veggie scraps on the stove

• Freezing them, if your garbage collection is rare or inconvenient or until you have enough to cook with

• Getting creative – extra meat scraps from butchering can make sausages, chili or meatloaf to use up less desirable bits of meat

To avoid harm to your pets or livestock, always practice good biosecurity and follow regulations in your area. Find more information about measures to prevent African swine fever at inspection.gc.ca/asfbiosecurity. ■ — News Canada

Many people find managing their money to be stressful. But it doesn’t have to be. Here are some tips to help with your financial wellbeing.

track your spending

Budgets are like dental floss. Boring, and sometimes a little painful. They’re also easy to do and worth the effort.

Start with your take-home pay and subtract what you spend on basics like housing, food and other obligations. If there’s no money left, you need to cut back on expenses. Any surplus should go into savings or investments.

be cautious with credit

Credit cards are convenient, and a useful way to build a credit rating. If you pay your full balance each month, you won’t have to pay interest in addition to the amount you’ve borrowed. But the

interest rate on credit card debt is high, so make sure you don’t spend more than you can pay off when the bill is due. If you do come up a bit short, use a lowerinterest line of credit to pay off the balance.

expect the unexpected

Jobs can be lost, sometimes with little or no warning. A serious illness or injury can also put you out of work. For most of us, any one of these scenarios could mean real financial difficulty. It’s important to manage these risks with the right insurance coverage. If you can build one, an emergency fund is also valuable.

look ahead to your retirement

We live in a country that combines the freedom to create a financial life for ourselves and our loved ones, with programs that can provide assistance. Understanding how these programs

work helps ensure you’re covering what you need to with your personal savings, insurance and investments.

The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is an example. It’s designed to provide you with a portion of your retirement income, in addition to what you can save elsewhere. If you are at least 60 and have made one or more valid contributions, you qualify for CPP benefits. CPP Investments manages the Fund in the best interests of the CPP contributors and beneficiaries. With more than $529 billion (as of September 30, 2022), the Fund is sustainable for the next 75 years.

There is real value in maintaining a long-term perspective. The more you’re able to think about money priorities over your entire adult life – as well as your immediate income and expenses at any given time – the more successful you’ll be in building real financial wellness for many years to come. ■

— News Canada

The more you’re able to think about money priorities over your entire adult life – as well as your immediate income and expenses at any given time – the more successful you’ll be in building real financial wellness

what are bivalent vaccines? what you need to know

You might have heard of bivalent vaccines, but are you still not quite sure what they are? Here’s a quick primer about them and their role in protection against COVID-19.

what is a bivalent vaccine?

• Bivalent means a vaccine is made to target two strains, or variants, of a virus.

• The virus that causes COVID-19 has evolved over time and some of these changes have created new variants of concern, such as Omicron.

• Manufacturers have updated their

vaccines to provide better protection against these variants.

• Original COVID-19 vaccines and bivalent vaccines are both very effective in protecting against severe illness and outcomes from COVID-19.

why get a booster?

• Protection from COVID-19 vaccines can decrease over time. Additional doses give you better protection from getting seriously sick or developing complications.

• Even if you’ve been infected already, staying up to date with your vaccines - including booster doses - is recommended for longer-lasting, more effective protection.

• If it has been six months since your last dose or since being infected with COVID-19, it is time to get another booster dose. This is especially important if you are at high risk for severe illness from COVID-19. Bivalent mRNA vaccines are available to everyone 12 years of age and older. Children 5 to 11 years old can still get a booster dose of an original mRNA vaccine, which continues to provide protection against severe illness and complications.

Talk to your local public health authority to learn more about which vaccines are recommended and available for you. You can find more information at canada.ca/covid-vaccine. ■

aim for a safe, secure move

BY CHUCK RESNICK MOVING EXPERT

When you move your home or office, there’s no question you want your belongings to arrive at their final destination safely, with nothing broken or misplaced.

There are, however, other forms of safety and security worth important consideration, whether you take the do-it-yourself (DIY) approach or you hire a professional mover.

For example, when items are transferred between a building and a truck or vehicle, how will you prevent items from going missing, when all of your volunteer movers are inside the house or apartment?

At Two Men and a Truck – Canada, we dispatch movers in teams of three so one person is with the truck at all times, supervising the job and keeping an eye on your belongings. If you opt to do a DIY move, be careful when using friends and family. It is essential that you prevent them from getting so caught up with moving items between spaces, that they leave vehicles unattended. This is particularly important when moving out of and into an apartment building or condominium, when elevator trips may mean those carrying the items are gone from the moving vehicle for extended periods of time.

Another safety aspect is ensuring no one gets hurt during your move.

Professional movers are trained to lift correctly and have strapping and other aides that help to move bulky items. We also understand fragility and treat delicate items with the care they deserve. Untrained people who help you with moving may inadvertently cause damage, because they lack the know-how of moving certain items. Movers have special packing materials, labels as well as loading and unloading techniques in place, to protect these cherished pieces.

If you are planning a business move, it is wise to hire a professional mover and sit down with the move consultant to develop a plan. With the right plan in place, you’ll prevent unnecessary confusion at the end. Consider shredding unneeded documents before the move, to save time and money. Moving electronic storage equipment and servers can be tricky. Does your mover have a strategy in place with information security as a goal? One approach may be to move critical servers in separate trucks so all of the information would not be damaged, in the unlikely event of a traffic accident.

Speaking of sensitive or expensive cargo, whether moving home or office, it’s always a good idea to have specific items appraised and personally insured, to protect them. Be sure to create an inventory of these items, take photos of them and provide a copy to the mover.

Another area that many neglect is the ability of the drivers. People who choose a DIY move usually rent a truck or trailer, but are they really skilled enough to drive the vehicle safely? Driving with a heavy load in a vehicle you are not used to is risky. A professional moving company provides trained drivers who are used to driving safely from point A to B, with your belongings in tow. If you need to store items for a period of time, ask your mover if they have a storage facility that is climate controlled and insured against floods, fire, theft and the like.

A mover who offers full insurance with professional and bonded employees relieves you of the worry and stress of these kinds of safety and security issues. You can DIY but, in the end, is it worth it? ■

Chuck Resnick is vice-president, marketing and operations at Two Men and A Truck – Canada®.

home office ideas to boost your creativity

After so much time at home, it’s no surprise if you’re in need of a creative boost. One of the great things about working from home is that you’re much freer to personalize your workspace. This means you can decorate to boost your mood and motivation.

Here are some updates for your virtual home office to help get the juices flowing:

fresh visuals

Swap joyful artwork on your desk or walls regularly to keep your environment fresh. Better yet, install a gallery shelf above to house easily changeable prints, family photos and knickknacks that inspire.

pretty plants

Bring the outside in with any plant you like. Choose air purifying ones

like snake plants for the full benefits, but even a fake plant is better than nothing since green is said to be a colour that promotes productivity.

point of view

Change your perspective and activate your imagination by adding another seating area to your workspace if you can. A comfy chair is a great alternative for when you feel chained to your desk. You can even try stacking

books for a makeshift standing desk to achieve new heights for a new outlook.

the right gear

Sometimes it’s old tech that’s getting in your way. Whether it’s adding a second monitor like you had at the office or upgrading your old camera to the latest from Sony for enhanced

video calls, livestreams or media projects, new tools can expand your possibilities. Even little things like a mini tripod, a grip for hands-free camera control or studio lighting can also improve your output.

Find tips on choosing the best camera gear and accessories at henrys.com ■

One of the great things about working from home is that you can decorate to boost your mood and motivation

After a long, challenging year, experts are predicting a hard-hitting winter. If you’re worried about how to keep your family safe and healthy during a good-old-fashioned Canadian winter – as well as another wave of a pandemic - check out these essential survival tips:

make your home a haven

Survival is just as much about your mental health as your physical, and one way to keep your mood bright is by adopting a Scandinavian approach to the season. Call it hygge or Lagom (dubbed 2020’s version of hygge), it means making the most of extra time indoors by creating a cozy home you want to hang out in. Deck your place out with fuzzy blankets, fluffy pillows, illuminating candles and mementoes that remind you of happier times. Warm, relaxing touches will transform your living space into the perfect place to curl up with a book,

watch a good movie or video chat with a friend.

escape with a drive

The pandemic has helped us better appreciate simple pleasures, like taking a drive to check out some beautiful scenery or exploring a new park or trail. With increased travel restrictions, the car has truly become an even more essential tool for family fun. With the proper preparation and equipment, you can even enjoy a road trip during the winter. According to Lexus Academy driving expert, Michael Bernier, drivers should be sure to switch to winter tires once temperatures drop below 7°C and always keep a winter safety kit (flashlight, batteries, warm clothes, winter boots, blanket, and a small shovel) in their vehicle. “Remember to clear all of the snow off your vehicle – including your roof and hood – before heading out to ensure maximum visibility,” Bernier adds. “And always practice safe winter driving by reducing your speed on icy or

snowy roads, allowing extra space between vehicles, and giving yourself extra time to safely get to your destination.”

continue spending time outside

The outdoors have been a lifeline for most of us throughout this past summer and fall, providing us with opportunities to exercise and socialize while maintaining our distance from those outside our social circle. In the winter, spending time in nature can boost your mood, and physical activity can also improve your immune system. To keep enjoying the outdoors safely, be sure to dress in layers, paying special attention to keeping your hands, feet and ears warm. Whether you’re walking around the block or tackling a tough hike, invest in boots with good tread to help prevent slips and falls. Always check the weather forecast before you head out, and drink plenty of liquids to avoid dehydration, which can happen no matter what the temperature. ■

tips to keep your family safe and healthy this winter

be savvy with your dollars in a post-pandemic world

The pandemic has caused everyone to play closer attention to their finances, taking stock of where every dollar goes. Make your money work for you in the new normal by following these tips and tricks for savvier spending from Vanessa Bowen, money coach and accountant.

make and maintain a budget

A recent survey found that four in five Canadians are planning or taking

steps to better manage their finances. Creating a household budget is one of the best ways to do this. Although it may seem like a chore, by dedicating just a half hour a week to reviewing where your money goes, you can ensure you are the one controlling your money, and not the other way around.

spend smarter

As people look more closely at their financial situations, they’re also becoming more skeptical of unnecessary fees and are looking for ways to minimize or eliminate them. With the recent increase in banking fees from most major banks in 2021, this can be a good place to start.

Review your monthly fees and service charges. If you’re getting

charged for a place to keep your money, look for no-monthly-fee banking options, like the PC Money Account. This account rewards you for everyday purchases and bill payments, which means you’ll be making money instead of losing it monthly.

create an emergency fund

The last year has taught us that anything can happen. To ensure you’re more financially secure for the unexpected with your job, home or something else, be sure to have an emergency fund. Ideally, try to set aside about six to 12 months’ worth of your salary to rely on should you need it. ■

By dedicating just a half hour a week to reviewing where your money goes, you can ensure you are the one controlling your money, and not the other way around