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Archive for the ‘My Finances’ Category

I recently decided that I wanted some shutters or blinds, but had a hard time working out what kind! Lets face it, interior wooden shutters will create the defining touch to flatter any decoration of your home. Wood shutters are a great investment, and should be thought of and treated as fine furniture. Also, they are the only window coverings that are actually appraised into the value of your home. The rich natural appearance and matching quality features they offer make them a perfect choice for your home.

Insulation
Wood shutters and venetian blinds will offer you many insulation values such as energy efficiency, and they maintain interior temperature from exterior temperature extremes as well as help with outside noise. According to experts, it takes nearly 6 inches of brick, 14 inches of concrete, and well over 1,700 inches of aluminum to equal the insulating value offered by only 1 inch of wood.

Environmental
Opposed to aluminum, plastic, and other types of composites, wood is only material for shutters that
is manufactured from a 100% renewal source.

Plan Your Lunches - Daily
By packing your lunches every day, a family of three can save about forty-five dollars a week or around $2,340 a year. This is based on a nutritious lunch that includes sandwich, water, fruit, carrot or celery sticks and yogurt. You will not only find yourself saving money, but feeling healthier and fuller.

Plan Your Home Cooked Meals - Weekly
Home cooked meals are great, and cooking them does not have to be an unpleasant task. One method is taking two hours on a Saturday or Sunday, cooking three main dishes and three vegetables. Then section the food into different microwavable containers to make separate meals. It’s usually enough to last three days. In the evenings instead of cooking or eating out, put a container in the microwave and within seconds you have a home cooked meal. You end up cooking about two or three time per week. You save time, money, and get variety.

If you are a bride, one of the first thing you start thinking about look at are Wedding Dresses! Most brides know that the focus of the day often seems to be on the wedding dress.. it really is a focal point of the day in so many ways.  It’s really important to get it right, however, you don’t want to go overboard by checking out Wedding Dresses that are really out of your price range, especially when you can get Wedding Dresses online that are just as spectacular but much more cost effective.

The best place to visit online is Best Bridal Prices - they stock all of the well known brands, but for much less than you would pay through one of the boutiques.  You will also find that their range is often much bigger than the boutiques are able to offer.. simply because of space issues.  This means that you are more than likely to find the dress of your dreams, (for the price of your dreams!) here, as opposed to the boutiques that have to change you for the overheads associated with leasing their shop space and paying saleswomen ( who are often extroidanarily pushy!)  Buying online means that you get to avoid all of the hassles associated with shopping for bridal wear in a physical shop.

Keep your kids busy indoors on cold or rainy days with the following inexpensive activities:

* Mister Grass Head
Materials Needed: nylon knee stocking, Grass Seeds, Potting Soil, Baby Food Jar, Wiggle Eyes or glass paint/markers
Using hosiery, place some grass seeds in the toe. The hosiery is the head and the excess will be placed in the baby food jar to soak up water. The toe of the hose is the head and the grass will look like hair as it grows. The baby food jar is the body. Add some potting soil in the end of the hosiery on top of the seeds. Make sure the hosiery of seeds and soil is bigger than the opening of the baby food jar. Tie a knot in the hosiery to keep the seeds and soil in. Completely soak the soil/seed ball. Place the hosiery in a baby food jar filled with water making sure the head is above the mouth of the jar. Decorate the jar to look like Mister Grass Head’s clothes and add a face onto the head.

Are you looking for a company who will buy structured settlements from you? These are a number of these companies currently touting their services on the web, however its really important that you check them all out because the fees between the different companies can vary widely.

Settlement Capital Corporation (SCC) is a specialty financing company that provides liquidity to owners and holders of periodic payments resulting from structured settlements, annuities, lottery winnings, government and commercial contracts and other secured future payment obligations. They will give you cash for structured settlements so that you can use the liquidity offered to do any kind of thing - from paying off unxpected medical bills to taking that dream holiday you have always wanted to take.

Receiving a cash for structured settlement doesnt have to be a difficult or complicated process, you can get a quote on how much money you will receive simply by calling SCC or filling in a form online.

What are you waiting for?  Make life easier by getting the cash you want in today!

Frugal family fun is easy to find. Enjoying an outing doesn’t need to cost a lot of money. Below I list several ideas for frugal outing for the family. Pick one, or even all of them, and enjoy.

*Be patient and wait to see new movies on video. Some communities even offer free video rentals at local libraries and will order new movies if library patrons request a certain title.
*Check to see if there are any discount movie theaters in your area. Most of these places show movies just before they’re released to video. A family of four can go out for an evening at the movies and spend less than five dollars for a fun family outing. Keep a list of movies you want to see, and then check the discount theater listings each week. These theaters often keep the movies for just one or two weeks, so stay alert to what’s playing.
*Go to the first show of the day at first-run theaters for the best prices (and shortest lines!).

If you like to play games online instead of at a real casino, you might like to check out the online casino at Partycasino.com.  Touted as the largest casino online, it really does have the lot for online casino aficionados.

The best thinga bout the site is their “Getting Started” section - as a newbie I really don’t know where to start with most of these sites.. Party Casino make it very easy to begin, talking you through the install procedure of  their state of the art software for starters.

They also take you through opening an account, choosing your preferred deposit method, (they have loads of great options to choose from, so simply pick the one that suits you) and even the process of playing with real or play money.  Play money games are a great way to practice before you test your skills for real. Real money play lets you take a shot at some big cash, including the huge jackpots up for grabs on our progressive slots and progressive Caribbean poker game. Until you feel comfortable with using your own cash, play money games are a great place to start.  You can then move on to real bids and go from there.

Have you ever heard of a “borrower’s marketplace”?  If you were looking for a home loan, this would be the best place to start!

GetSmart.com helps you do exactly that - get smart on all different kinds of loans in their world-first Borrower’s MarketPlace.  They provide a one stop shop including refinance mortgages, mortgage loans, home equity loans and Student Loans for a start!

These days home loans are getting harder to get and the market is slumping - this is not time to take chances with your finances and you really need to get the best rate you can get in these uncertain times.  Get Smart really helps you wise up financially.. getting the best deal for you.

Why not check out their home loans and see what deals they can do for you.. you have nothing to lose with their system, and perhaps everything to gain!

A frugal gift is measured first by it’s usefulness. With that in mind, the frugal mind that is, the gift actually serves two practical purposes; it is useful and saves money. Most frugal women will Below I will explore a couple of ideas for thoughtful, practical-and yes, frugal-gifts.

Fill a sturdy laundry basket with one or two boxes each: Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, 20 Mule Team Borax and a few bars of Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar Soap. Mix up one batch of the following recipe and put in a tightly sealed container. You can make a decorative container yourself from a quart mason jar and some decorative fabric banded over the top or any kind of sealed glass container. Tie with pretty ribbon. And include the following recipe. Place with the laundry detergent ingredients.

You don’t need fancy cleaners to keep your floor sparkling clean.  Try a few of the ideas below and see how proud you can be of your floors.

Vinegar. A few drops in the cleaning water will help remove grease. Dull, greasy film on no-wax linoleum can be washed away with 1/2 cup white vinegar mixed into 1/2 gallon water.

For Wood Floors: Vegetable Oil and Vinegar. Mix a 1 to 1 ratio of oil and vinegar into a solution and apply a thin coat. Rub in well.

For Painted Wooden Floors: Washing Soda. Mix 1 teaspoon washing soda into 1 gallon hot water and wash the floor with a mop, sponge, or soft bristled brush. This solution can also be used to remove mildew.