Introduction

In these days of financial crisis it is more important than ever to be able to budget your finances. There are some people who find budgeting their money easy and satisfying and there are others who cannot seem to come to grips with financial management for the life of them. The people who have no problem managing their money don’t really understand the people who find it difficult. Where there is real poverty in a household, not managing your money is understandable but when there is a reasonable income and still the individuals find themselves getting deeper and deeper into debt then that is down to just sheer bad management.

In David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Mr Macawber gives a discourse on the concept of budgeting. He states “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound nought and six, result misery.” His message is that is you spend a penny more than you get you will always be poor but if you spend a penny less then you will always feel rich. And he is absolutely right.

My grandmother always used to say ‘cut your coat according to your cloth’. During the war we made all our own clothes but even material was rationed and so shorter skirts became the mode and boys always wore short trousers to save on fabric. Being a clever seamstress she would make skirts out of coats and my brother’s trousers out of skirts and oddments of material. Any scraps of fabric left over were used to make rag rugs. We all had to learn to manage and make do and improvise.

Since those days the standard of living has improved out of all recognition. We have become the throw-away society and people like myself who experienced the shortages of war, find it difficult to get rid of anything because we are stuck with the mentality that ‘it might come in useful one day’. The younger generation however have been raised in a more affluent society and as a result take it for granted that they can just buy things they want and need. We also have the constant advertising to subliminally impose the message that ‘we can’t be happy unless….. or loved or desirable’ so it makes it difficult not to buy things especially when credit is so readily available. There are tempting offers within our grasp every day and it’s difficult to resist when we are led to believe we might never get such an opportunity again.

The result of all this mind-bending is that the personal debt in the US & the UK is the highest it has ever been. One financial analyst explained that when personal debt is high in any country then recession will inevitably follow, and the greater the individual debts the deeper the recession that is to come. This is something I found to my cost when I first set up my website development business. Although I was making good money I took on more than I could really afford and the business got into debt. But by good management and financial budgeting we have gradually pulled things back and are now back on an even keel.If you are someone who has difficulty managing your money and do not know how to keep your finances under control then keep Mr Macawber’s words in mind and read on to learn more

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Change of Mindset

People who find it difficult to manage their money seem to have a certain way of thinking or mindset. Attitudes and values are learned from our parents in early childhood, but that does not explain why one child in a family will have good financial control and another will not. Sometimes it may be an opposite reaction to our upbringing or it could just be a quirk in someone’s nature. If you are loaded then spending money freely is not a problem, but if you are on a limited income or just never seem to have enough, then budgeting your money looks like a good idea.

One of the first things you need to understand is that people who are selling things are in business to make money and they want their businesses to grow. To do this they have to increase sales, so they aim to make things irresistible to customers like you and me. So remember the next time you are tempted by an impulse buy, think about the fact that some big guy out there is taking your hard earned cash and raking in the profits and leaving you broke.

I know you are saying ‘but I want it’. OK let’s back track a minute. Why are you out shopping in the first place? To buy the things you need. Did you make a list? Is the thing you want on your list? Did you forget to put it on your list? Do you have enough spare cash to buy the items not on your list? And so on… So the impulse is strong. If you see a child in the supermarket demanding sweets or some other treat and the parent says no and the child has a tantrum, what are your thoughts? Do you think ‘spoiled brat’ or that the mother should give into the child’s demands. Because really, lack of control when out shopping, is about the same as a three year old child having a tantrum. At that age a child wants instant gratification and some people stay stuck in that phase and never learn to wait or work towards what they want.

So are you a grown up and do you really want to be debt free? Having the equivalent of a three year old tantrum is to have no thought to the consequences of your behaviour. That thought process which goes ‘I know I shouldn’t but I am going to have it anyway’ is usually a substitute for some other need that is going unfulfilled. Or ‘I have worked hard and I deserve a treat’. Then you have to ask yourself what will make you happier in the long term, a treat you can’t afford which will make you feel guilty when in the red or becoming debt free so you can afford those treats without feeling guilty. Maybe being debt free is just a nice idea like some fantasy that is so far in the future that it can never really become a fact. One of the ways to change your thinking is to ask yourself, ‘who is the best person to benefit from my hard earned money? Is it the big companies who are making loads of profit already (Fat cats) paying their executives million pound bonuses, or me?’

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An example from my own experience of changing a mind-set occurred when a friend was visiting us. She confided in me that she had some money given to her and wanted to invest it securely for her son’s further education so that nobody else could get at it. On discussing the options available, she confessed to an anxiety around money and fear of doing the wrong thing. This caused her to abdicate from making any decision at all. I said I enjoyed the online banking system and being in charge of moving my money around and how easy I found it. I offered to show her how to go about it and find the best choice for the investment of the capital. At that point she obviously did a mind shift because after she had thought about it for a minute she decided she could handle the online banking system. Together we researched the best way to safely invest her money to make the most of what she had and then she opened an account and set the whole thing up. Since then she has got over her phobia and when I checked with her at the time banks were failing, she said the investment she had made was still safe.Sometime you may need to resist the urge to buy unnecessary items but if you still have difficulty restricting your shopping habit, take a friend or relative with you on outings. Someone you can trust to steer you away from temptation.

In the example above we made the online banking fun and treated it like a game and in that way my friend could think in a different way about the issue. So give yourself permission to think of being in control of your money as being fun as well as a practical way to remove the stress you experience around funds. Some of the hang ups people have about money may come for example, from an impression gained in childhood that being careful with money indicates to the world that a person is mean and conversely being reckless equates with generosity and open handedness. This is faulty thinking so changing your ideas can lead to a stress free existence where you have more energy to enjoy life and the potential to make even more money.Carry only a minimum amount of small change on you so that you are not tempted to fritter away £20 on some impulse purchase you don’t need. Those pounds add up fast and before you know it a hundred pounds in your pocket is gone.

The Road to Liquidity

The most difficult part of improving your financial position is to admit there is a problem and then be able to face the veracity of your situation. When someone is on a spending spree they are out of control and out of touch with reality. They are in a fantasy ignoring the cost and the consequences of overspending (ie. How is it going to get repaid?)
The basics for personal finance and business finance are fundamentally the same. Money going out needs to be less than money coming in and anything left over is profit with which you pay yourself or spend as you want. If the finances in your personal life are out of control then the same will be true of your business situation unless you have someone who takes charge of the money management for you. I run my own website design company and if you are like me the temptation is strong to buy all the latest gadgets. But if you can think yourself into a new mind set you will find it much easier to change the habits of a lifetime. Be sure that all expenses are accounted for when you take stock of your situation.
In the case of a company, records have to be kept for the tax man and this is usually done on a computer programme for that purpose.

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The principles of money management apply equally well to business as to the personal. If you are on a regular income and you are finding is still hard to manage your money then there are some basic strategies you can employ to help yourself.

The first thing you need to do is keep an accurate report of all the money going out and what you spend your money on. At this stage do not try to change what you normally do. Get yourself a cash note book and write down all the things you can think of that you buy. This includes household bills and food, mobile phone, TV. Put a figure in the corresponding column. If you have actual amounts put them in, if not make a guess and correct the figures later when you have them. Every time you take money out of your pocket/wallet/credit card/bank, write down how much it is and what you use it for. Leave space for the things you won’t remember or may even not consider them expenses. Beer, cinema, clothes even the coins you toss to street entertainers. Categorise it as fun money or entertainment funds.

Do this over four weeks, by then you will have a comprehensive list of your monthly expenses. Where there are annual amounts divide by twelve and add to the list. These will be things like TV licence, car tax and MOT and insurance both for house and car. Make a total at the bottom of the page and on the opposite page write down all of your income. When I did this I discovered our monthly outgoings had crept up so that suddenly the income did not cover it any more. If you enjoy using your computer put all the figures on a spread sheet so that they can be added easily and changed whenever costs go up.

Compare the totals. Do you spent more or less than you receive? Is your life going towards happy or miserable? It is at this point you really need to make a shift in your thought process. Think carefully and decide how your life is going to be. Not a fantasy, but a reality check. Decide you are going to be the one in charge of your finances not some other person who is trying to take it off you. Remember the saying ‘A fool and his money are easily parted’ so don’t be a fool. Think smart, be smart.
If you have more than one source of income notice even when small amounts come in and think ‘at least it’s coming in not going out’.

It is probably unrealistic to say cut up your credit card because this is usually the most convenient way to pay for petrol and grocery bills. But make sure you have only one credit card, and find one that gives points for purchases. These mount up and you can claim vouchers to spend in your favourite stores. Also find a credit card that will take the full amount by direct debit from your bank account every month to clear the balance so that you don’t miss payments, accrue interest charges and generate a large fine. Realise that you actually have to pay for credit and it can be expensive.

Learn to be tight fisted when it comes to parting with your money. Look around for the best deals and always ask for a discount for cash. I went on a negotiating course some years ago and the following week I put into practise what I had learnt. I saved £200 on purchases just by asking! Make a list when you go shopping and only buy what is on that list. OK, some things you may have forgotten to put down but make sure you avoid the impulse purchases. Keep a list in the kitchen and only put things on it when you have run out. Use up products in the icebox to reduce waste and keep spending to a minimum.Become a prudent shopper and consumer. Try and use up coupons and saving a few pence per purchase can really add up. Searching through clearance sections or 3 for 2 items in supermarkets is another way to save money. Treat it like a game and you may be pleasantly surprised to see how much you can reduce your bill on your usual grocery haul.

Conclusion

Alvin Hall is a well known TV personality that hosts a programme about managing your money. To me there is nothing earth shattering in the advice he gives, but what the programme does do is make sure people actually take action. What he offers is a common sense approach to dealing with debt and how to recover your liquidity saying “Don’t spend what you haven’t got”. He talks about being ‘in charge’ of your finances. When you think about people who manage their money, well that is exactly what they do. Once you conquer your shopping demons and you have your finances under control you will feel proud of yourself and have a great sense of accomplishment. Budgeting is a matter of common sense, so don’t be overwhelmed, grab that pen and paper and get on track to a debt free existence and get your life back.

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If you are shopping for outdoor patio rugs, you should know that they come in a variety of different shapes and colors. Also, they can be constructed of many different materials. The fabric of the outdoor patio rug can be the bottom line in your decision. Most times, your rug price will be based on what type of materials they are made of. You may want to go the safe route and choose a very popular and plain design for your outdoor patio.

One style of patio rug that is popular today is the bamboo patio rug. If you are going for a more natural looking patio theme than the bamboo patio rug is an excellent choice. In addition to that, the rug is extremely durable. This type of rug will surpass your expectations because it is also weather resistant which is a bonus feature. Another choice of patio rug is the polypropylene patio rug. This polypropylene outdoor patio rug will protect your patio from stains and is weather resistant. The term weather resistant means that this design of patio rug will not be affected that much in the elements.

If you are looking for one of the more popular styles in patio rugs then you will probably want to take a look at handmade patio rugs. This patio rug type will most of the time be more expensive than others. You should know that you will still be getting a bargain if you choose this style of rug because they are long lasting as well as comfortable.

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Haggis is the traditional Scottish meal but not the most popular in fact many Scots turn their nose at idea of eating it.

Robert Burns our national poet wrote a poem to the haggis referring to it as “the Chieftain o’ the Pudding race”. Many say that if it wasn’t for that Address to the Haggis poem few people outside of Scotland and Scottish culture would even have heard of the dish. Today over 210 years after the death of Robert Burns that poem is still said throughout the world especially on 25th January when we hold our Burns Night celebrations.

You will be able to find the full version of “Address to the Haggis” on our ScottishJerk.com website. There is also a sample format for those wanting to hold a Burns Night Dinner. The menu template includes the Selkirk Grace our famous Scottish Grace.

On less formal occasions such as almost every night of the week all year round most Scots COULD buy what is referred to as a haggis supper. This is simply deep fried haggis with chips (outside of Scotland “chips” may be called French fries) and sold mainly as a take-away meal along with Haggis burgers. So what is that makes our Scottish Haggis special?

Ask a Scot and they will tell you a Haggis is a small animal with its two left legs shorter than the right legs. Females have the short leg on the right so you tell them apart easier! Darwin explained this under the survival of the fittest theory by pointing out that this difference in leg length allowed them to run in circles around steep Scottish highland hills. Some travel agents will still try to sell tourists tickets for haggis hunting tours and then take them to the local butchers shop.

But joking apart this food is traditionally made up of mainly the cheapest parts of a sheep so it was always particularly popular amongst the poorer people of the land.By tradition the ingredients are mixed from several different meats including the heart, liver and lungs (the latter is often called lights) together with some mutton, onion, suet fat and arrange of spices and herbs to local taste and custom. After mixing it will be placed inside a sheep’s stomach as a lining before being boiled and served usually with neeps (turnip) and boiled potato.

To suit modern day tastes the sheep’s stomach is usually replaced with an artificial casing and vegetarian friendly ingredients will often replace the meat and offal.

Note it will be almost impossible to get the true traditional haggis in some countries for example the USA it is not possible to sell lung for human consumption. If you want to know more about this traditional Scottish dish please come to our Scottish culture website ScottishJerk.com

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I’ve been thinking about where I could go with a lot of vacation attractions, but will be sensitive to my tight budget. You might put a Southern California vacation on your list. SoCal offers beaches, amusement parks, Hollywood and many other attractions.

Hawaii would be another option. It’s hard to beat the beautiful warm ocean water, but it does not offer as much overall variety as Southern California. Here is an article that discusses the differences between Hawaiian vacations and Southern California vacations. Keep in mind that there are way fewer underwater rocks to worry about in the California surf, and the humidity and sun intensity are a little easier to handle in the summer. The water temperature is higher in the Aloha state, but in the middle of summer, the cooler water can be more refreshing.

Hawaii does have an advantage with such beautiful natural countryside and vegetation, enhanced by the local Polynesian culture. However, the California coastline, mountains and desert are quite beautiful as well, and the place is a melting pot of cultural diversity.

Southern California offers much more than great beaches. You could spend a week checking out the seven top-notch theme parks between San Diego and Los Angeles County. For lovers of roller coasters, Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain are definitely places to visit if possible. Both offer many coasters and other fun rides. Disneyland has a few attractions that would be considered thrill rides, but not nearly as many as those other two parks.

Hawaii does not offer roller coasters, but does offer surfing on the North Shore of Oahu in the wintertime. It may be that California offers more ways to trim the budget, but sometimes there are great Hawaii vacation packages to be found on the internet or in the newspaper Travel section.

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The place in your house where water damage is most likely to occur, is definitely the bathroom, with the kitchen as a good second. Bearing in mind that the internet is totally international, the word “bathroom” needs a clear explanation. What all around the world is called wc or toilet, is called bathroom in the US of A. In Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia a bathroom is nothing else than presisely what it says: the room where one has ones bath. It’s good to bear that in mind, not only when reading this blog post, but also when travelling to the US from elsewhere, or to elsewhere from the US! Many hilarious misunderstandings have already resulted from this tiny difference in idioms, and quite a lot more will occur in future!

Preventing the ruinous effects of water damage is much better and cheaper than repairing it, and it takes very little effort that might save you a lot of expenses. You need to start with a simple check for hidden leaks: turn off all the faucets (English) or taps (American) in your house, and all household appliances that work with water like coffee machines, dishwashers, washing machines and such. Nothing in your house should, for the time being use any water at all. Check your water meter and write down what it says. Leave things alone for about an hour, and then take a look at the water meter again. A different reading almost certainly indicates the presence of a water leak, unless of course you’ve forgotten to turn off really everything.

Give your bathroom AKA (wc|toilet} a good inspection then. Soft, slightly damp or outright wet floor spots near the edge of the bathtub, the shower stall or the toilet bowl, often accompanied by some discoloration, are sure signs of water damage that requires your immediate attention. Fortunately that’s very easy: re-caulking the area where the walls meet the floor or the appliance, usually helps solve the problem. If, like in most homes, you have tiles in your bathroom, cracks in grout or areas where it is missing can also cause a lot of damage.

The overflow of toilet bowls is an well-known cause of water damage, even if it does not happen that often. Putting too much toilet paper or other objects down the toilet bowl can cause it to back up with a vengeance. Even the kind of deodorant that hangs inside the toilet bowl can cause blockages in the plumbing, and if that deodorant happens to be chlorine-based and the pipes are of the ancient metal kind, it can even cause the pipes to oxydize and produce an additional leak. You must definitely be aware that your toilet bowl is not intended to be a household waste receptacle, and never try to flush anything down that simply should have been thrown out into the rubbish bin.

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The fat loss industry is full of fads which promise to dramatically melt all your pounds away! There are fad diets which would help you lose weight within a few months, diet pills you simply need to take each day in order to get slimmer, etc. In fact, there is no dearth of “magic weight loss products”, though you will not often hear about a product which magically boosts your metabolic rate!

I’m not sure why everyone’s not focusing on finding ways of improving their metabolic rate, since it is the only key to weight loss success. In this article you will discover how our metabolic rate influences our body weight and how you could use this tool to lose of fat permanently!

Do you want rapid weight loss? How quickly you would be able to lose weight depends primarily on your metabolic rate. If you have a high metabolism, fast weight loss will be possible for you. Alternatively, with a slow metabolic rate you aren’t likely to be successful in losing weight. Now we’ll consider how to boost your metabolic rate.

While humans are blessed with natural metabolism which keeps us fit and healthy, it is sometimes insufficient to help you with fast weight loss. If you are to burn fat fast, you need to improve your metabolic rate to abnormal levels! There are diet pills which claim to enhance your metabolism in no time; however they may have several harmful side effects, not to mention that the metabolism boost you gain using them is short-lived. Diet pills are, therefore, not an effective solution for long term fitness & weight loss.

In my opinion the most effective way of upping your metabolism naturally is by increasing your lean muscle mass. The bigger muscles you have, the higher your metabolic rate would be and the quicker you should lose fat. Fortunately muscle building doesn’t cost an arm and a leg; you can do it with the help of burn fat exercises!

Undertaking intense regularly will help you achieve fast weight loss. These intense workouts may seem to be tough at first look, but unlike cardios, you only need to do them for 15-20 minutes each day. In taking as little as 20 minutes a day, you would be able to burn weight quickly whilst building strong lean muscles at the same time. These muscles would help you burn fat even when you are not exercising! So what are the best intense workouts to achieve this?

Inevitably, weight lifting is worth considering when thinking of intense exercises. People incorrectly believe that they need to do a number of low intensity repetitions using light weights in order to derive the optimum result from weight lifting. In fact, the higher and shorter your reps are, and the heavier your weights, the faster you would burn fat and lose weight. It’s recommended that you do no more than ten to fifteen reps, but you should ensure that the weights you use are weightier than five or six pounds!

As you will be doing strenuous workouts, it is important that you replenish your body by increasing your water intake. If your body remains hydrated , you will find exercising much less difficult, since water would help your body recover quickly from the strain of these workouts! It’s also important to consider fat burning diets as well as proper hydration.

In addition, water is itself a good metabolism increaser as well as an excellent detoxifier that cleanses all toxins from the body. The minimum recommended water intake for a normal adult is about eight to ten glasses daily.

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You have probably heard or Tissa Godavitarne and his Affiliatize Program and may be wondering if this is a legitimate program to start a business with. I know that I had the same thoughts about his program as well.

I have been in and out of different online businesses for the last three years and have grown weary of most of them. When I stumbled across this one through a recommendation of a friend I thought it sounded too good to be true. So I started slowly and found out it is as good as the promises say it is.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money and time to make this program work; in fact, Tissa Godavitarne will set you up for free and give you a month of advertising without cost just to see the potential in making money. The only thing you would have to provide is a domain name and a hosting account. Of course with Tissa’s Afffiliatize Program you have been given three ways you can choose. Either to put your web page on your own existing hosting account or pay for a hosting account that he provides you with and the third choose is the GDI plan.

Another great money making potential is in having an account with GDI [Global Domains International] which after the free trial is ten dollars a month that won’t break the bank. For the ten dollars a month you receive free hosting and a free domain name. Take a look at what your potential could be with this plan like if you introduce a couple of new recruits then your hosting and domain name are free. Of course, there is a lot more you can achieve with GDI as Tissa has but that is not the scope of this short post.

No matter how you look at it Tissa Godavitarne and GDI is a win win situation for you and your future business.

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How to make candles is a fun and easy craft that can be done as a family.It is a fantastic idea for gift baskets and presents, because each candle is a unique creation fashioned with care. Supplies for candle making can be found in grocery or craft stores, so getting started is a simple process.

Types of Candles

There are different types of candles that can be created. One type is a solid candle that is formed in a mold.It can be a large block candle in dissimilar shapes, such as a tube or rectangle, or it can be short, even down to a votive candle. A variation of these solid candles is to add a scent, which can be anything from vanilla or mint, to cinnamon. Basically any spice can be added in candle making to provide that unique scent for any occasion.

Another option in how to make candles is to create a crayon candle by mixing old crayons in with the paraffin to give it a colorful appearance. This is a great choice for families who have old, broken crayons lying around with which they don’t have any use. Bees wax candles are also a great choice for families to make since they do not require any melting of the wax in the making of them. Bees wax candles only require a tight wrapping of the wax around the wick for this type of candle making.

A more ancient type of how to make candles is dipping the candles. This type of candle is made two at a time, since the wick is draped to form two equal lengths that are dipped into the wax.This kind of candle making takes more of a process to do, since the candle has to be dipped, allowed to cool for one minute, and then dipped again, repeating the process until the candle is as thick as desired.This sort of candle can also be scented, just as the solid candles are.

Supplies:

There are several basic ingredients that have to be included in the candle maker’s candle making supplies. The main ingredients are wax (of course,) wicks, a way to melt the wax, like a double boiler, and candle molds or containers. It is vitally important to have a double boiler or a wax melter because the paraffin wax can catch on fire at the high temperatures needed to melt it.Other vital items are a candle making thermometer to keep track of the heat and make sure there isn’t a fire, fragrances for scented candles, dyes for colored candles and putty for the molds.

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Record numbers of wedding couple are using wedding directory as their source to find local bridal shops and venues for their wedding banquet. With over 1,000 visitors each day, Singapore Wedding Directory is becoming one of the fastest growing local wedding directories online. It is easy for visitors to plan and find everything they need for their wedding. Brides can find their local bridal shops with a click of their mouse.

Planning a wedding can be a daunting task for most people. However, with some careful planning and consideration in advance, planning a wedding can be a fun and exciting event. The first task should be to sit down with your loved one and discuss all that is important for the big day.

Flowers

Flowers are an important aspect of the wedding and you should plan to visit various florists to enquire about what colours and styles of bouquets they can provide to match the wedding outfits. Florists can also provide church flowers and reception flowers all in same the colour scheme of the wedding.

Photographer

If you know someone who has recently been married it can be useful to get them to give you a recommendation. It is a good idea to contact local photographers and to look online to view examples of their work and prices. It is also recommended that you agree specific shots that you want before the ceremony.

Wedding Invitations

Wedding invitations are extremely important in order for your guests to be informed of all the important details for the big day. It is a good idea to write down a guest list to get an idea of how many invites you will need. It is a good idea to get personalised invites with the date and times already printed to save you writing out hundreds of invitations which can be time consuming. There are lots of wedding invitation vendors online that can customise your invites to fit with the style and colour scheme of the wedding.

Outfits

The most important outfit is likely to be the Wedding Dress. You should try on as many styles as you like in order to get a feel of the style you want. The wedding dress can be a major expense so it is another item that is worth considering hiring if budget is a factor. However some major department stores are now offering dresses at more competitive prices.

Singapore Wedding Directory

Singapore Wedding Directory has what you are looking for, search from wedding gowns, wedding reception, wedding photographers to wedding florists. If you are interested in submitting your wedding related services please visit sgweddingweb.com.

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