Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/585966
Join Tehama County Department of Educa- tion's School Readiness program Oct. 22 for the 10th anniversary of Jump- start's Read for the Re- cord, a global movement supporting high-quality early learning. Children and adults around the world will help close the word gap by par- ticipating in the world's largest shared reading ex- perience. This year's cam- paign book, "Not Norman: A Goldfish Story," written by Kelly Bennett and il- lustrated by Noah Jones, is a humorous tale about a child who finds a new friend in an unexpected place. Locally, special play groups will be held at three locations throughout Tehama County starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 11:30 a.m. and Tehama County Schools Superintendent and First 5 Tehama Com- missioner Charles Allen will be attending one of the venues to read aloud the chosen book: Los Mo- linos Elementary School, 7700 Stanford Ave., in the First Steps School Readi- ness building; Maywood Elementary School, 166 Marguerite Ave. in Corn- ing, in room 29 and Jack- son Heights Elementary School, 225 Jackson St., Red Bluff, in Room #21 A free book will be given to all children 0-5 years of age who attend a special playgroup. "School Readiness's par- ticipation in this interna- tional world record effort is estimated to have more than 2 million people read- ing the same book, at the same time," said Michelle Barnard. "This reading ex- travaganza is being orga- nized to bring the commu- nity together while high- lighting the importance of reading with children and its positive impact on a child's development." Attendees of the free event can take part in ac- tivities and learn more about the importance of early literacy and the easy ways families and caregiv- ers can help ready children for kindergarten. "Reading to and with your children is crucial to their development. Young children who read with their families are bet- ter prepared to learn and are more likely to suc- ceed in school," said De- nise Snider, executive di- rector of First 5 Tehama. "First 5 Tehama encour- ages all families to partic- ipate in this event to re- new their commitment to reading with their child. Even if you cannot make it to one of the participat- ing sites, read "Not Nor- man: A Goldfish Story" — or any book on hand — to your child on Oct. 22. Reading to your child ev- ery day for just 20 min- utes has many benefits — from language develop- ment to literacy learning — this is a crucial time for children and will impact the rest of their life." Tehama County Depart- ment of Education's School Readiness program is funded through First 5 Te- hama and encourages all parents and caregivers to read early, often and aloud with children. For more in- formation on early literacy resources, call 384-7833. Tehama County School Readiness is also on Face- Book. SCHOOLREADINESS Children invited to Read for the Record Oct. 22 Creditors, especially banks and credit card is- suers, are unbelievably sen- sitive to whether you pay your bills on time. So is your credit score. One slip- up could cost you dearly if that means you lose your low- or no-interest rate, or a late payment results in a big late fee. Late payments when re- ported to the credit bu- reaus can mean a serious blow to your credit score, which may result in higher insurance premiums now and higher interest rates on your next mortgage. If you're thinking "domino ef- fect," you are exactly right. Bottom line: Do not pay late! An excellent way to make sure you always pay on time — even when you're on vaca- tion, sick or for some other reason suffer from brain freeze when it's time to pay bills — is to automate. By putting as many of your payments on auto-pay as you can, you eliminate that monthly decision: Should I paybillstonightorwaituntil Tuesday?ShouldIputmoney into savings this month or buy those cute shoes? For me, I know that the fewer financial decisions I have to make on a daily ba- sis, the better. That's why I love automatic payments. Thereareseveralwaysto do this, but all result in the same thing: Your finances are set to "autopilot" while you are off enjoying life. You can set up automatic payments two ways: ONLINE BILL PAY. Use your bank's online bill pay option (a free service at most banks and credit unions) to set up your plan so that money is automat- ically transferred by your bank out of your account and sent directly to the payees you designate. Just make sure that with your credit-card accounts, the amount you stipulate to be paid automatically is at least enough to satisfy the minimumpaymentrequire- ment. Banks don't all oper- ate exactly the same way, so go online to check out your bank's auto-pay service. AUTOMATIC AUTHO- RIZED PAYMENTS. Most lenders and other service providers will let you set up online automatic payments authorizing them to reach into your bank account to take an amount you specify — the minimum payment, a set dollar amount or the full balance — every month fromyourcheckingaccount right before the payment is due. Go to your credit-card issuer's and other lenders' websites to learn more. Most utility companies now offer this kind of ser- vice, too. And while we're talking about it, if you set up your student loans to be paid automatically, expect togetareductioninyourin- terest rate as a nice thank you. Check it out. I once flew in a char- tered jet (not exactly like a rock star, but I did feel quitepampered)andnearly freaked out when the pilot stood up, left his pilot seat and came back to chat with his three passengers over snacksandsodas.Theplane did just fine for nearly a full hour. In no time, I relaxed and enjoyed the company and the ride. Relying on autopilot in both flying and finances is a quite an amazing thing. 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 How to set up an automatic payment plan The Community Action Agency seeks volunteers for the coming tax season to assist with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Pro- gram. All training and certifica- tion is provided at no cost to volunteers and there are many positions available, including greeters, tax pre- parers, quality reviewers, translators and site coordi- nators. Tehama County Com- munity Action Agency needs volunteers who like to help others and want to gain IRS Certification; have evening and weekend availability-no tax experi- ence needed; can commit to training either in class or online and available be- tween Nov. 1 and April 30, 2016. Last season the VITA Program was able to help nearly 425 families file their state and federal tax returns for free. This saved these taxpayers a whop- ping $75,000 in tax prep fees that they would have had to pay to other tax pre- parers. In-class trainings are scheduled in December and January. The training will be available online for those that are not able to attend the classes. Tehama County tax pay- ers miss out on $1.5 mil- lion in Earned Income Tax Credits. Community Ac- tion Agency wants to help Tehama County get it back. If you are interested in volunteering with this pro- gram, call Community Ac- tion at 527-6159. VITA PROGRAM Volunteers wanted for the coming tax season COURTESYPHOTO Reading to young children helps their development. LIFESTYLES » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, October 14, 2015 » MORE ATFACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A5