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REDDING Maker Faire is the greatest show and tell on Earth, a family-friendly showcase of invention, cre- ativity and resourcefulness and a celebration of the Maker Movement. Shasta Maker Faire is a fair for the greater north state. If you like to craft, tinker, invent or build, this is a chance to show off your workinthisshowcaseofcre- ativity. Projects include, but are not limited to robotics, cod- ing, electronics, gaming, spinning, computers, weav- ing, sewing, blacksmithing, crafters, quilting, artists, rockets, student projects, amateur radio, dance per- formers,3Dprinting, music, performers, food and bever- age makers. If you would like to ex- hibit or present, visit the Makers page at www.mak- erfaireshasta.com to com- plete an application. Space forqualifyingmakersisfree of charge. The Shasta County Mini Maker Faire will be Nov. 12 at the Redding Civic Audi- torium. For more informa- tion visit www.makerfaire- shasta.com. MAKER FAIRE CallforentriesforShastaCounty event Late fees, punitive in- terest rates and over-limit fees are piling up on your credit reports. It's enough to make you scream! It's not that your cred- itors are doing anything illegal. You just didn't understand the power you gave them when you opened that credit card. (It was buried in the fine print.) And now it seems like they're staying up late looking for new ways to stick it to you. If you've just about had enough, maybe it's time for you to turn the tables and get back at them. Here's how. Pay your bills early. Nearly 30 percent of a credit card company's profits are derived from fees — annual fees, late fees and over-limit fees. You'd think they would be pretty satisfied with all that interest you send them each month, but no. They want more. The days when issuers al- lowed 10 to 15 days for a late payment to arrive be- fore charging a fee are long gone. Now those fees kick in if you're five min- utes late, and they can range from $20 to $39 per occurrence. Get back at your credit card company by decid- ing right now to never pay another dime in late fees. Make your pay- ments quickly. Send them in the preprinted enve- lopes that come with your statement. Don't enclose a note in the envelope, dec- orate the envelope with stickers, use a paper clip or do anything else that will pull your payment out of the fast track and into manual processing. You can also make pay- ments online. Your credit card ac- count most likely has a credit limit. Stay below the limit. Running up a balance that is anywhere near your limit is deadly to your credit score. The rule of thumb is you should never charge more than 30 percent of your credit limit per month. For example, if your limit is $1,000 you should never have a balance ex- ceeding $300. A zero-dol- lar balance is even better! Get back at your credit card company by creat- ing a wide margin be- tween your balance and your limit. Stop using your credit card. Card companies are playing the odds. They know that the more you use your card, the better the chance you'll go nuts and rack up a ton of debt. Once your balance be- comes greater than what you can pay off in a sin- gle month they've got you. They do all they can to encourage this to happen. Get back at your com- pany by not purchasing new things and adding to your burgeoning load of debt. You'll do yourself a favor, too. Open your eyes. All of your creditors know what's in your credit re- port. Part of your credit card agreement is that they can check up on you whenever they like to see how you are handling your financial affairs. Get back at your creditors by staying ahead of them. Read your credit report regularly. If you don't un- derstand what it says, ask someone to explain it. And if you see something on there that you know to be untrue, then dispute it. But don't stop there. If your creditors are punish- ing you for things on your credit report that are not true, don't sit back and be passive. Get it fixed, and then confront them. Don't back off until they reverse the action. Pay off your credit cards. There's probably nothing more beneficial than bringing your bal- ance to zero. It's like get- ting a tax-free raise be- cause you keep all that money you've been send- ing to your creditors each month. Get back at your cred- itors by refusing to send them one more penny of interest. Wouldyouliketosend a tip to Mary? You can email her at mary@ everydaycheapskate. com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, 12340 Seal Beach Blvd., Ste. B-416, Seal Beach, CA 90740. EVERYDAY CHEAPSKATE Getbackat your creditors As the North State ap- proaches some of the highest temperatures of the year, PG&E offers tips to help customers stay cool while conserv- ing energy. Set your air conditioner thermostat to 78 degrees or higher when you're at home, health permitting, and 85 degrees when you're away. Three to five percent more energy is used for each degree the air condi- tioner is set below 78 de- grees. Use ceiling fans when at home, but remember to turn them off when you leave. Fans move air but they don't cool it, so they waste energy if you leave them on when you are not at home. Whole house fans are a different story. When used in the early morning hours, they can draw cooler air into the home and blow the hot air out that's trapped in the attic, increasing energy efficiency. Shut windows to keep in pre-cooled air from over- night and early morning. Draw the shades on the sunny side of your house to prevent sunlight from warming your home. Use a microwave instead of an oven or stove to cook or heat food, or barbecue or grill outdoors. HEAT WAVE Tips on keeping your house cool, efficient By Cate Kortzeborn My mom, 88 stubborn years old, still lives on her own in a big house with a cat that loves to get un- derfoot. Because I work in healthcare, I have an all- too-vivid recognition of the perils that can befall someone in her situation. So, posted on her kitchen bulletin board is a bright pink sheet of paper called a POLST. POLST stands for Phy- sician Order for Life-Sus- taining Treatment. It's a document that makes your treatment wishes known to doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians, and other healthcare provid- ers. Too often, people near the end of their lives get treatment they don't want. These treatments may not help them live longer or better, and sometimes can cause pain. Also, family members sometimes have their own ideas about what types of treatment their loved ones would want. POLST makes sure your family mem- bers and caregivers know exactly what life-saving treatments you do and do not want. Doctors say any seriously-ill person should have a POLST. Filling out a POLST is completely up to you. It's your choice. POLST is different from an advance healthcare di- rective. An advance direc- tive allows you to choose the advocate you want to speak for you if you're in- capacitated, and provides a general guide to what treat- ment you want. POLST is different because POLST is a signed medical order that your healthcare team can act upon, whether your advocate is there or not; POLST indicates your exact wishes about certain medi- cal treatments. Although it's a good idea for all seriously-ill people to have both an advance di- rective and a POLST, any adult, especially if she or he is unmarried, should have one or both. You can find the POLST form online or at your pri- mary care provider's of- fice. Your provider can ex- plain the different options on the form to you. The POLST must be signed by a licensed healthcare pro- vider and by you. Some states require a witnessing signature as well. Once signed, the POLST becomes part of your med- ical record. It stays with you all the time. If you're at home, put it near your bed or on your refriger- ator. If you're in a hospi- tal, nursing home, or as- sisted living facility, it'll be in your chart or file. If you're moved between lo- cations, your POLST goes with you. POLST forms vary by state and focus on three types of interventions. For each, you can chose whether or not to have something done or choose a level of intervention. Resuscitation (person has no pulse and is not breathing): Cardiopulmo- nary resuscitation, or CPR, is done to try to start your breathing and heartbeat af- ter they stop. CPR involves chest compressions and/ or electrical shock to try to start your heart again. It may also involve having someone breathe for you. Resuscitation can benefit healthy young people, but it's not usually helpful for seriously-ill or elderly peo- ple. You can chose to accept or decline resuscitation. Medical intervention (person has pulse and/or is breathing): Interventions can include CPR, intubation (a tube down your throat to open your airway), mechan- ical ventilation (a machine to pump air in and out of your lungs), medication/an- tibiotics, fluids, monitoring, and a host of other things. You can chose a level of in- tervention, from full treat- ment to comfort measures only. Artificially administered fluids and nutrition: This is a way of feeding a person through a tube either in his/her nose or through the skin into his/her stomach. Tube feeding can help peo- ple who can't swallow now, but who are expected to get better. However, people near the end of life may feel more comfortable without a feeding tube and want to eat what they can by mouth. You can choose a level of in- tervention, from long-term nutrition to a defined pe- riod of nutrition to hydra- tion only to no intervention. It's important to fully un- derstand these and other options, so make sure you talk to your doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant before you make any decisions. You can then choose what treatment op- tions you want and don't want. You can also adjust your POLST at any time, as circumstances change. To find the POLST web- site in your state, where you can get more information and download forms, go to www.polst.org. More information on advance directives can be found at: https://medlin- eplus.gov/advancedirec- tives.html. Cate Kortzeborn is Medicare's acting regional administrator for Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific Territories. You can always get answers to your Medicare questions by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). MEDICARE Choosing healthcare for the end of your life CONRIBUTED A 2015Makers Faire in the United Kingdom is pictured. Three to five percent more energy is used for each degree the air conditioner is set below 78 degrees. 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