Newsletter - Martinez & Associates Insurance Services

Newsletter

Or subscribe to our RSS feed:

How To Make Your Vacation Safe

July 24, 2021

Vacation Tips From Martinez & Associates Insurance Services

As the summer vacation season is in full swing thoughts turn to fun in the sun, getting on an airplane or even camping. Remember your homeowners insurance will cover your personal property while on vacation. If you plan on traveling to a foreign country, call our office for an insurance review.

Don’t post on social media until you return.

Let a trusted neighbor know you will be away and have them keep an eye on your home. It is a good idea to leave your vacation address and telephone number with a neighbor so you can be reached in case of an emergency.

Be aware of any travel and health alerts at your destination

Write out a schedule and give it to a family member for safety purposes.

Make copies of all of your credit cards, important identification information, including your medical insurance cards, and your traveler's checks.

Look for deals. You can find websites all over the internet that can help you score deals on hotels, amusement park tickets, airline travel and so on. Make sure you look for bargains after you set the budget.

Put inside and outside lights on timers.

Advise your alarm company and local police if you will be gone for an extended period.

Stop the paper and garbage service.

Don’t take expensive jewelry with you. Jewelry can get lost or be a target for thieves.

Never put your home address on your luggage tags. Write your phone number instead.

If you are traveling to a foreign country remember to study up on laws and customs. You will have a much better time if you understand the culture.

Make sure all electrical appliances are turned off.

Before you leave for vacation, you may decide to close your curtains to prevent people from peering inside your home to see whether you're there. However, closed curtains also stop those who aim to help the police, your neighbors or friends from seeing inside your house

All of us at Martinez & Associates Insurance Services hope you are able to get away, and if not, have fun anyway!

Beat the Heat!

June 18, 2021

Hot Weather Tips From Martinez & Associates Insurance Services

Summer is here, and the 4th of July is just around the corner. As we move to do more outside activities, it will be important to remember to stay cool. For people who labor outside throughout the summer, heatstroke is the most serious risk and should be handled as a medical emergency. Heatstroke happens when the body's temperature is out of control, causing damage to the brain and other internal organs. Heatstroke can result in permanent impairment or even death if not treated promptly.

Drink plenty of water
Do not consume alcohol in the heat
Appliances generate heat. An oven can easily raise the room temperature by 10 degrees. Save cooking with heat for cooler hours during the day, or cook outdoors on your grill. It is also a good idea to run the dishwasher and clothes dryer at night.
Choose garments made from natural fibers, such as cotton, which is breathable. Wear loose-fitting, light-colored clothing that will allow air to circulate while you are out in the heat.
Eat small meals more often. Avoid foods that are high in protein because they increase metabolic heat. Avoid using salt tablets unless directed to do so by a physician.
Do not leave children or pets in a closed vehicle, even for a few minutes.
A cool shower or bath is a great way to stay cool and much more effective than using an electric fan.
Limit physical activity: Take breaks during the day.

Heatstroke is the most serious heat-related sickness, defined as a body temperature of 103 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Hot, red skin, rapid heartbeat, shallow breathing, disorientation, delirium, and coma are some of the symptoms.

Please keep an eye on your neighbors who are old, housebound, or otherwise hesitant to seek assistance in your neighborhood. On hot days, you can offer to host them in your air-conditioned living room, transport them to a nearby cooling center, or phone family or city agencies to make arrangements for them to stay cool.

All of us at Martinez & Associates Insurance Services hope you stay cool and enjoy your summer! Keep us in mind if you need to insure your summer toys.

Tips To Help You Reduce Stress

May 18, 2021

Stress has always been a part of our lives. In this hectic time, people lead an increasingly stressful life. Experts state that a little stress can be good; it keeps you sharp and ready to move forward and is sometimes vital for achieving optimum performance. However, medical research has determined that prolonged stress is very bad for the body and can block the body’s natural ability to repair, regenerate and protect itself. Over 90% of disease is caused by stress. Stress is both a physical and psychological response. It can lead to chronic disease, obesity, insomnia, deteriorating relationships, depression, and more.

Stress is such a powerful and harmful force that it is vital that you learn effective stress management techniques to live a successful, happy, and healthy life. We must remember that we will always come across inevitable factors that cause pressure and anxiety on us. What we do not know is that it is not really the problems that are difficult to deal with, but our attitude towards them. So basically, the cause of stress is your attitude toward these things. What, then, is an effective way to deal with stressors?

Below are five great tips for handling stress.

1. Identify what makes you stressed and uneasy. Making a list of your stressful experiences is useful. Immediately deal with the issues that you can change, for instance, waking up earlier for work in the morning, not leaving things till the last minute, and delegating tasks in case you are taking responsibility for everything. Forget about the issues that you cannot influence, like being stuck in a traffic jam or not getting into the elevator because there is no room for you.

2. Calm down. Wash your face, breath slowly and deeply, and notice if there is tension in any part of your body and release it. You can also listen to relaxing music, or call a friend. Releasing your inner feelings to a friend is a healthy option.

3. Remember it will pass, and it will be over before you know it. Remind yourself that the stressful event will end sooner or later can make you see the positive sides of things. At the same time, calm down your emotions and think of what is the best thing to do rather than take your energy away from what needs to be done.

4. Know yourself. Ask yourself: What triggers your anxiety? If, for example it is your job, then maybe it's time for you to reconsider whether it would be best to find a less stressful job. You can also make your job more tolerable by allowing yourself to get that needed vacation or leave.

5. Learn to use your relaxation response. Just as we all have within us the stress response, we also have an opposite response, which is the relaxation response. A person should elicit that on a regular basis. The relaxation response involves two steps. Repetition the repetition can be a word, a sound, an expression, or a repetitive movement. The second step is to ignore other thoughts that come to your mind while you’re doing the repetition, and come back to the repetition. The technique should be used once or twice a day for about 15 minutes. Sit quietly and choose a suitable repetition, like a prayer, the sound Om, or the word love, or calm.

Consequently, you’re less likely to be upset by a stressor and thus less likely to have its harmful effect occur. Eventually, it is your choice. You could either continue to react in the same stressful way, or you could choose to improve your life by changing your attitude and becoming relaxed. There's no other way around it.

And of course, we hope that your interaction with Martinez & Associates Insurance Services is as stress free as possible!

Simple Yet Effective Gardening Tips

April 15, 2021

If you're lucky enough to have a lawn with a good topsoil base, much of the hard work of keeping a lawn beautiful is already done for you. But many of us do not have this luxury, and besides, even with a good topsoil base, you still have to work hard to keep a beautiful lawn and garden.

1. The best time to mow a lawn is when it is cool and dry. Wait for the morning dew to dry off, and before the afternoon, heat takes hold. Alternatively, late afternoon or early evening following a watering in the morning is also a good time.

2. A hedge is a much better boundary divider than a fence. It will provide better privacy and keep pets and children in or out. It will attract birds to its shelter and provide a great backdrop for plants and flowers.

3. Bring the beauty of your garden to you; plant hyacinths near walkways and doors. Their magnificent perfume will swamp the spring air and make your garden really come alive.

4. Add your garden to non-garden items, such as lampposts and mailboxes. Surround these items with flowers planted to take advantage of the earliest to the latest flowerings. You could have white snowdrops, purple and gold crocus, blue hyacinths, and various colored tulips. You could also surround the posts with rocks to provide added interest.

5. Simple but effective weed control can be achieved on your lawn by often mowing during spring. This will prevent dandelions from spreading by eliminating the yellow blossoms and preventing seed formation. Mow high during late spring and early summer. This will allow grass blades to shade the ground and will help prevent crabgrass from sprouting.
Your lawn and garden should be a source of pride and beauty.

You don't need to spend lots of money on expensive fertilizers and herbicides or fancy lawn furniture and ornaments. A little commonsense and thought can go a long way to making your lawn and garden a much better place.

As always, all of us at Martinez & Associates Insurance Services appreciate your business, and If you would like us to do a 'spring cleaning' of your accounts please don't hesitate to email or call us.

Tips to Enjoy Your Spring Workout

March 10, 2021

There are three key elements that are important to make any exercise program successful. These elements are safety, effectiveness, and enjoyment.

Safety: The “No pain, no gain” theory is a myth. Avoid any exercise that causes pain or undue discomfort. If pain occurs in the neck or chest area, stop exercising and, if necessary, seek medical attention. General muscle soreness is another matter, especially for the beginner. You can expect some soreness, but it need not be excessive.
A personal trainer will design an exercise program for you and your current fitness level. As your fitness level increases, your program will be adjusted to keep up with you. Too much too soon will only undermine your efforts.

Using proper form, technique and avoiding high-impact will keep your exercise program safe. A strain in your lower back, shins, calves, ankles, and knees are predictable results of improper form. Repetitive, jarring movements should be avoided for general fitness. If you feel a strain, please let your trainer know. We don’t always know if you don’t tell us.
Don’t bounce or force stretching movements. Quick, pulsing movements while stretching can result in muscle strain and tears. Static movements that gradually extend muscles through the full range of motion until you feel resistance is the stretching to use for general fitness. Stretching will also decrease the likelihood of injury and soreness.
Effectiveness: Effective exercise does require effort, but those who say it must hurt are wrong. The level of exercise is determined by your fitness level and goals. The fuel source for the body during low to moderate aerobic exercise is fat. If burning excess body fat is your current fitness goal, stick to the recommended exercises and intensity levels to receive maximum results. As your fitness level increases, so will the formula for your program. Intensity, weight, repetitions, and rest periods will all be adjusted as you progress.
Proper warm-up before exercising and cool down afterward is essential to avoid injury and achieve peak performance.

Enjoyment: It has been said that nobody will exercise just because it is good for them. We need additional motives or goals that mean something to us, and that will come as a result of regular exercise.
It is important to identify your goal, so your exercising effort focuses on your goal(s) to keep you motivated. The more motivating your exercise becomes, the more enjoyable it will be. More enjoyment produces more consistent and more incredible results!
So how do you make exercise fun? First of all, stop thinking of it as exercise and start thinking of it as play. You remember play: those activities you enjoyed as a child. Turn exercise into play! Usually, play involves interaction with friends and variety.

All of us at Martinez & Associates Insurance Services appreciate your continued business, and wish you a healthy and happy March!