Your job, relationships, and countless other factors can inhibit your sense of well-being, but one way to prevent feeling like an over-stressed emotional wreck is to set personal boundaries for yourself. These boundaries should impact all aspects of your life – emotional, psychological, physical, mental, and spiritual. If you want to live happier with a higher quality of life, consider the following tips.

Personal Limits

Do you know what triggers your anxiety? Being able to identify the cause of your stress is the most important skill to master when setting healthy boundaries. Knowing specifically what makes you uncomfortable or resentful is also the first step to finding a tolerable limit. If you’re unable to immediately pin down aspects of your life that cause unnecessary pain, stress, or resentment, take out a sheet of paper and write about your worst experience that day. By writing down the experience you can reflect on what ignited the conflict, or why it began in the first place. Following this process a little bit each day, like keeping a journal, will help you determine over time where you need to set limits. For most people, it’s pretty easy to identify the biggest problems in their life - sometimes it’s a boss, a working environment, or even something as simple as traffic.

Before you start taking your old bookshelves and dressers to the nearest donation center, try this simple repair tutorial to make your old furniture look brand new. With a bit of planning and some elbow grease, you can give your furniture a makeover that lasts.

Repurposing

The first thing to do is consider the many ways your old furniture can be repurposed. Perhaps that scratched coffee table just won’t do any more in the living room. If you refinish it, it can work as an excellent plant stand in the sunroom. Likewise, that old backdoor could be used as a top for a table. Old broken dishes can be repurposed as decor and art by using broken pieces as a mosaic for a bench, table, or tissue box. 

With 123 years of history, the French Open has a lot of stories and memories behind it. Here’s a look at some of the most memorable moments that have come about with the French Open.

1891

This was the very first French Open and it was only open to men. They had to be members of the French club. However, the first winner, H. Briggs, was a tennis player from Britain that happened to be living in Paris at the time. 

1897

Only a few years later, women were allowed to compete in the French Open. Adine Masson was the first winner.

Federal regulators have had enough with payday loans, the short-term, high-interest credit that can crush borrowers. Regulators are targeting big banks like Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank that offer payday loans, according to The New York Times.

Against Predatory Lending

Democrats in the Senate recently sent a letter to federal bank regulators expressing concern over payday lending practices. “These bank payday loans are widely recognized as predatory products designed to trap low-income consumers in a cycle of debt,” wrote U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal. “Bank payday loans increase the ranks of the unbanked by making checking accounts unsafe for vulnerable consumers, a result clearly inconsistent with a safe and sound banking system. And payday lending poses serious reputational risks to any financial institution.”

Due to the risk of the borrower or lack of credit history, payday loans carry exorbitant interest rates; in some cases above 300 percent. Typically, borrowers using payday loans are low income and take out anywhere between 16-30 payday loans per year. An estimated 12 million borrowers who use payday loans are lured in by the prospect that they can take out a loan for a low amount – a couple hundred dollars, for instance – that they must repay in a short time period.

A recent study was conducted by the Government Accountability Office on ATM surcharges and fees and how they affect consumers. The results may not surprise you.

Rising Fees

Fees for financial institutions in the U.S. have been on the rise since 2007, while fees in other countries have remained consistent. The average fee was $1.75 in 2007; today it is $2.10. However, extremes ranged from $0.45 all the way to $5.00.

The majority of the fee increases were seen in 2009, with prices leveling off since then. The bigger institutions charged higher fees. Banks charged more than credit unions. Likewise, financial institutions charged higher fees in cities and suburban neighborhoods than in small towns and rural communities.

When looking at the country as a whole, the study concluded that the south had the highest average fee at $2.20. The west was at $2.15, and the east and Midwest were at $2.10.