How old is too old to trick-or-treat? That depends on where you live - USA TODAY

Trick-or-treaters still enjoy Halloween in Roanoke despite gloomy weather - WDBJ

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Halloween is almost over and despite the gloomy weather, trick-or-treaters still hit the pavement to get some candy.

Hundreds of kids dressed up in all different costumes were out with their baskets asking for candy.

Little doctors, cowgirls, monsters, and the night’s favorite was one trick-or-treater dressed up as a pile of leaves.

Neighbors sat on front porches greeting little ones. A couple that recently moved back to the star city and says they love being able to meet their community.

The houses were also decked out for the spooky season.

But there was one house in particular kids come to every year and wait in line for a special treat. Jessica Kaiser has been giving cotton candy and popcorn for a few years.

“It’s just fun to see the kids. They enjoy it so much and they’re constantly coming and they know we’re gonna do it every year. It’s just fun,” said Kaiser.

Kaiser was inspired by her little ones loving the fluffy sweet treat. Some years she’s had over 200 kids come to her house.

It takes a lot of preparation behind the scenes but most importantly the family says it takes a lot of smiles. It’s a tradition she hopes will continue for the kids.

“A safe environment. A good holiday, it’s not all about scary,” added Kaiser. “It’s about fun. Just enjoying the day and each other.

Trick-or-treaters did have to be on the lookout for puddles after Monday’s showers. But outside was still coming together to have a good Halloween.

Copyright 2022 WDBJ. All rights reserved.

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6 Tips for Better Time Management - ReadWrite

Small business owners can sometimes feel there aren’t enough hours in the day to get things done. You may be busy all day, yet at the end of the day, you feel like you haven’t done half the things on your to-do list. This can make daily life miserable for you and those around you.

Fortunately, you can develop time management skills and integrate them into your routine. Good time management skills can help you achieve your goals faster. When you manage your time better, you can take on more opportunities and scale your business.

So what is time management, and why is it important? In this article, we’ll be answering these questions and more. You’ll also find 6 tips for better time management that you can try.

Time management definition

Time management involves planning and controlling the time you spend on specific tasks. This process allows you to give priority to certain tasks. This can lead to you working more efficiently. Effective time management comes easier to some individuals than others. However, everyone can develop time management skills. All it takes is developing some healthy habits and exercising self-discipline.

According to Dodd and Subdheim, people who practice good time management techniques find that they:

• Are more productive
• Have more energy and motivation to accomplish goals
• Have more free time to enjoy hobbies, etc.
• Are more positive towards life and others
• Feel better about themselves.

Managing time effectively offers several benefits to business owners as well. These include:

• Boosting your performance and sales
• Meeting deadlines and always delivering on your promises on time
• Growing your business and meeting your goals
• Lowering stress levels
• Creating a good work-life balance

Why is it important to develop time management skills

As a business owner, you get to be your own boss and choose when and how you work. However, as good as this sounds, it does have certain disadvantages. The fact that you don’t answer to anyone or nobody’s there to review your work can cause you to waste time. You may develop bad habits that damage your productivity and the quality of your work. If you continue this way, these habits can hurt your business and stop growth.

Poor time management as a business owner can result in:

• Rushed submissions
• Missed deadlines
• Excessive multi-tasking
• Stressful work environments
• High employee turnover
• Strained work-life balance
• Bad professional reputation

6 tips for better time management

Good time management skills can be used to create a time management strategy. This will allow you to manage time effectively to help your business flourish. Here are some of the best time management tips to increase productivity.

1. Prioritize

You should start by prioritizing tasks. As a business owner, there’s always going to be work for you to do. This is why it is important to get your priorities straight. Doing so will allow you to set smart goals and stick to them.

Create a task list of what needs to be done by the end of the day, week, or month. List each task in order of importance. This way, if you don’t get everything done on your list, the most urgent tasks are taken care of.

You can use the Covey Time Management Matrix created by Steven Covey. It consists of 4 simple parts. These include:

• Urgent and important tasks
• Not urgent but important tasks
• Urgent but not important tasks
• Not urgent and not important tasks.

Having a good sense of time and working on the urgent and important things first can help you get more done faster. Remember to set realistic expectations and hold yourself accountable.

Tip: Keep your task list someplace where you’d be able to see it at all times. If you’re faced with challenging tasks, do them when your productivity is highest. Break them up into smaller tasks so you don’t get overwhelmed. Completing small tasks can help you finish challenging tasks faster. This can give you enough time to spare when you have tight deadlines.

2. Delegate work

Most small business owners intentionally take on too many responsibilities. In the early stages of your business, it is common to do most of the work by yourself. This happens because you may think that nobody can do the job as well as you can. However, regardless of the reason, you shouldn’t get to the point where you feel overworked. If you want to scale your business, delegating is important, and creating the right business plan is key.

The first thing to do is look at the way you’re managing your current team. Ask yourself whether you trust them to handle the most important tasks. Try to take on more of an advisory role. Guide your team slowly and increase their responsibilities in areas where they shine. This will save you time and create a more empowering environment for your employees.

If you’ve already done this and your team is still drowning in work, it’s time to hire more people. Find the right people and set them up with a mentor from your current team. However, hiring comes with high upfront costs. These include financing additional salaries and training new employees. However, these expenses will pay for themselves in the long run. You’ll have more time on your hands and a stronger team.

Tip: Check in with your team from time to time. Find out about the progress of tasks and assist them if they genuinely need your help.

3. Identify time wasters

Distractions are all around us, and it can be hard to stay focused. Chatty coworkers and checking your social media constantly can kill productivity. Some distractions are beyond your control, while others can be easily avoided. All you need to do is exercise some self-discipline. Establishing healthy boundaries can help reduce wasted time. Create boundaries with those you live or work with. Block access to certain sites or lock your phone inside a drawer. It all starts with you. You must be willing to take the necessary steps to boost productivity.

Tip: Overcoming distractions will be quite challenging at first. You can start by identifying your biggest distractions. After that, you can focus on eliminating them one at a time.

4. Automate your business

The right automation tools can help to reduce your workload and optimize operations. There are several automation tools available to small businesses and startups. These can help you stay relevant in a competitive market. They automate tasks that take up a lot of time but yield little returns. This way you and your team have more time to complete complex tasks.

Let’s say you spend about 4 hours a week on reports for your weekly team reports. AI-powered analytics software can cut that time in half. They can auto-generate visually engaging reports. These reports can reflect real-time data with just the click of a button. Another example would be if you’re struggling to prioritize leads. Efficient CRM software can evaluate leads and tell you which are more likely to convert.

Tip: Choosing the right automation tools can be a bit hard due to the sheer volume of tools on the market. The first thing to do is to identify what business process will give you the most value by automating. For more on this, read this post on ways to automate your home services business.

5. Use time-tracking tools

Time-tracking tools provide several advantages. It challenges you and your team to complete tasks before their due date. They can also hold employees accountable for their contributions.

These tools can help you measure efficiency. They can evaluate how much time a person spends on specific activities. Time-tracking apps can be integrated into your existing system. If not, you can look for a new software program with built-in time-tracking tools.

Tip: Time-tracking tools can help you create a proper schedule. They will let you know what you can spend more or less time on. This way, you can complete everything on your daily to-do list a lot faster.

6. Take a break

As an entrepreneur, you probably feel like you shouldn’t take a break. If you think like this, you couldn’t be more wrong. The key to improving your productivity is to strike a balance between work and rest. Creativity dies when you’re constantly worried about all you need to do.

Tip: Make sure you and your employees take regular breaks. Spend time away from your desks to take a moment to recharge. Having a cup of coffee, taking a stroll, or reading a book can all help you relax. Set aside time each day to do something that takes you away from all the work you have to do.

Time management conclusion

Be patient with yourself, as time management isn’t a skill that develops overnight. Your time management strategies may also change as your business grows and your workload evolves.

Start small and develop habits that align with your work. Practice these habits religiously until they become second nature. Incorporate them into your routine and take note of how they help you accomplish more in less time. This will allow you to stay motivated and stick to these habits.

If you’re still struggling with managing your time, reach out to the experts at Scorpion. They’ll work with you to provide solutions and free up your time to enjoy your daily life.

Featured Image Credit: Provided by the Author; Thank you!

Joe Martin

VP of Marketing

Joe Martin is currently the VP of marketing at Scorpion, a leading provider of technology and marketing to help small businesses grow. Formerly he was CloudApp’s GM and CMO and a Head of Marketing at Adobe. With over 15 years of experience in the industry and tech that makes it run, he provides strategic guidance on how to build and use the right stack and marketing for businesses to grow. Joe believes marketers need smart training and leadership to scale company growth. Connect with Joe on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter @joeDmarti.

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Neighborhood Expert: Final Halloween tips and candy donations! - FFXnow

Laura Schwartz is a licensed Realtor in VA, D.C. and MD with McEnearney Associates in Vienna. You can follow Laura on Instagram at @LauraSchwartzRealtor or her Facebook page. Laura can be reached at 703-283-6120 or Laura@GuidingYourMove.com.

Happy Halloween!

My kids were up before the sun in anticipation of their inevitable sugar rush tonight so cheers to that. I was reminded last night just how small town Vienna really feels when we took my kids to do the Halloween things our community creates. I want to make sure everyone who wants to see or know about these things, gets the opportunity.

So here are my final tips for Halloween:

• The kind souls who own 305 Patrick Street SW, Vienna have created a Haunted House in their driveway. Basically they built a hallway you walk through. If you want to be scared, you’ll get it. If you don’t, just tell the kind woman and she’ll leave the lights on so you don’t get scared. Super kid friendly. Open from 6-9 p.m.
• The Ni Family Lights (the famous house for the holiday music light show) also create one for Halloween but don’t advertise it. That runs until 9:30 p.m. tonight. Tune your radio to 90.3 to hear the music.

Now, not to be a downer, but I just recently threw away the remains of my kids candy stash from last year. Thank goodness we didn’t get ants! If you’re looking to get some of the candy out of your house this week, consider one of these options:

• Dr Ghaffari (Ghaffari Orthodontics on Church Street) has a candy buy back program. They’ll pay you $1 for each pound of candy and mail it to the troops.
• Drop off your treats for the troops to a donation center: Valo Park, 7950 Jones Branch Drive from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. until Wednesday, November 2.
• Operation Shoebox: mail your candy donations to this organization and they’ll create care packages for troops overseas. (8360 East Highway 25, Belleview, FL 34420)

Neighborhood Expert: All the Halloween Things

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Check out Trick-or-Treat times for your neighborhood - LINK nky

It’s a rainy, gloomy day, but that won’t stop all the goblins and monsters who have a hankering for some candy tonight.

While Trick-or-Treat times have become relatively uniform, we still wanted to gather the times for Northern Kentucky neighborhoods so you can double check before you head out with the kiddos (and perhaps some wine in your Yeti?) tonight.

Boone County

• Florence: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Union: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Walton: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Campbell County

• Alexandria: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Bellevue: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Cold Spring: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Dayton: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Fort Thomas: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Newport: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Silver Grove: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Wilder: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Kenton County

• Covington: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Crescent Springs: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Crestview Hills: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Edgewood: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Elsmere: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Fort Mitchell: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Fort Wright: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Independence: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Ludlow: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Park Hills: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Taylor Mill: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Villa Hills: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Covington: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Crescent Springs: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Crestview Hills: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Edgewood: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Elsmere: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Fort Mitchell: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Fort Wright: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Independence: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Ludlow: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Park Hills: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Taylor Mill: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Villa Hills: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

WCPO contributed to this story.

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Northern Kentucky’s Trick-or-Treat weather forecasts - LINK nky

It’s officially spooky time and the weather is setting a gloomy tone.

Although it is cloudy and generally wet outside, it looks like the Northern Kentucky area may stay dry during trick-or-treating hours.

According to the National Weather Service, there is a 40% chance of rain in the afternoon with most of the precipitation expected after 1 p.m. Leading into the evening, there is a 30% chance before 10 p.m.

If it does rain, it will likely be a light rain as the precipitation amounts are expected to be less than a 10th of an inch.

The temperature highs for today are expected to reach the mid-60s and lows in the low-50s.

It may be best to incorporate some rain boots and a jacket into your kiddo’s costumes.

Find out what time your community is hosting trick-or-treat here.

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Here's the best time to go trick or treating - WTSP.com

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3 Tips For Dressing When You Have A Rectangular Body Shape - Glam

Although there isn't much that a rectangular body shape can't pull off, there are a few things to note when styling your pieces.

Style editor Bobby Thomas explains to TODAY that those with a rectangular body shape should stay away from square-neck tops, mid-waist jeans, fitted tops, and wide or flared legs. You want to avoid these items because they all result in rectangular shapes instead of creating a new shape or accentuating your body. In the end, these items just give a boxy look on a rectangular body.

Fustany adds that you want to avoid completely shapeless items. This would include shift dresses that typically fall on the body in a straight line. Although they can accentuate the legs, they create no shape on the torso and make the body look boxy. You also want to always keep in mind balance. This means that if you opt for something wide on the top, pair it with something that widens on the bottom too. This creates the visual illusion of your waist being smaller than your shoulders, giving you a more hourglass body shape.

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What Time Does Trick or Treating Start in 2022 on Halloween? - Newsweek

One of the best parts about Halloween for children (and adults) is none other than trick-or-treating.

According to Holiday Symbols and Customs, in as early as the 16th century, it was customary in England for those who were poor to go begging on All Souls' Day. But, trick-or-treating only became popular in the U.S. after the Second World War, when rationing ended, and candy was once again readily available.

Now citizens all across the U.S. (and the globe), dress up in scary costumes and walk around their neighborhoods collecting candy, usually after school. The phrase is a subtle suggestion that if a treat (like candy) is given, then the child will not perform a "trick" on the owner of the house.

A stock image of several children in Halloween costumes holding candy buckets outdoors. iStock/Getty Images Plus

What Time Do You Start Trick-Or-Treating On Halloween?

So, when is the best time to carry out the candy-grabbing ritual? The general consensus appears to be from around 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (local time).

According to an October 2019 survey of more than 2,000 people, conducted by Bid on Equipment, 40 percent of whom said they have children who trick-or-treat revealed the ideal trick-or-treating hours are between 6 to 9 p.m., The Seattle Times reported.

In an October 2015 poll of 921 people who celebrate Halloween, conducted by FiveThirtyEight, the highest portion of respondents (over 35 percent) also said it's best to start around 6 pm. Around the same portion said it's best to stop trick-or-treating at about 9 p.m..

The availability of candy on offer will vary depending on where you live. But kids will be glad to know that most adults in the U.S. (63 percent) are likely to give out some candy when children trick-or-treat at their house, according to an October 2021 YouGov poll of 1,000 Americans. Around one in five adults (21 percent), unfortunately "will pretend not to be home," the survey found.

Is Trick-Or-Treating Safe?

Parents should check local guidelines for any Halloween safety advice that's specific to their area.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises the following tips before you go trick-or-treating with your kids.

• Don't eat any candy before it has been inspected at home.
• Have a snack before heading out to curb the urge to nibble on a treat before it has been inspected.
• Those with allergies should be sure to check the label for any allergens listed. Kids should be told not to accept or consume anything that isn't commercially wrapped.
• Those with very young children should remove any choking hazards, such as gum, peanuts, hard candies, or small toys, from the Halloween bags.
• Check commercially wrapped treats for any signs of tampering, such as an unusual appearance or discoloration, tiny pinholes, or tears in wrappers. Any items that look suspicious should be discarded.

See the FDA website for more information.

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Keeping tips from workers could be illegal under new law - BBC

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By Shelley Phelps

BBC Wales Westminster correspondent

Employers not paying workers their tips in their entirety, without deductions, may soon become illegal.

A bill sponsored by the Conservative MP for Ynys Môn, Virginia Crosbie, would also introduce an obligation to allocate tips fairly among workers.

The UK government is backing the move and said it would benefit more than two million workers.

The trade union Unite said it would reserve judgement until "potential loopholes" in the bill were closed.

Kristian Cuffin, 30, who owns the Cuffed In Coffee cafe in Holyhead, in Ms Crosbie's constituency, said he could not imagine not already giving his staff the entirety of their tips.

• How does the world tip? In some places, it’s offensive!
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"That's what they're intended for," he said.

All tips at Mr Cuffin's cafe are split evenly among staff each week, with electronic tips logged in a report at the end of each day.

"For us, I can imagine it's a lot easier because we all work fairly even hours. If somebody is working 40 hours and someone's only working five, then to distribute it evenly might not work.

"I suppose it depends on your business. But for us, it's quite a simple process," he added.

Ms Crosbie took over responsibility for the bill when Dean Russell, the backbench MP who introduced it, became a minister.

She acknowledged that most employers were already "doing the right thing," but said the bill would help "create a level playing field".

Under the law, employees would also be given the right to view their employer's tipping record.

"It means that when somebody is in a restaurant or they're in a beauty bar or a taxi, and they pay a tip on their credit card, that this tip will go to the person that actually served them or helped them," she said.

Currently, businesses who receive tips by card have the choice of whether to keep it or pass it on to workers. Cash tips, on the other hand, are legally the property of staff.

In 2021 the UK government said 80% of all tipping now happened by card and suggested this had made it easier for businesses to keep the funds.

Many of the jobs in the MP's constituency are in hospitality and tourism and she has been holding listening events with business owners and workers to help draw up a tipping code of conduct.

Rhys Taylor-Roberts, 20, who is one of six employees at Cuffed by Coffee, said he "100%" thinks the bill would be good news.

"It increases your wage, it gives you more motivation to have better customer service, it's appreciation that's being shown for your craft," he said.

"A few pounds does make a difference, it pays for the little things so that you can save for the big things. Whether it's dinner or you're going to get a new haircut. It's like a top-up, a little help," he added.

Unite has previously said it was "not confident" the measures would address poor practices.

Its hospitality spokesman Dave Turnbull said it has now secured a commitment that "potential loopholes" would be closed.

He added that the union would reserve its judgement until these changes "see the light of day".

The UK government first announced plans to ensure all tips go to workers in 2018, but these were never passed into law.

A UK government official said: "The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill, backed by the government, will ensure that all tips go to staff by making it unlawful to hold back service charges from employees."

"More than two million UK workers will benefit, helping ease pressures caused by increases in the cost of living."

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