Category: General Topics

Setting Your Budget for Your Wedding Favors- Part 3

THE HUNT FOR THE PERFECT WEDDING FAVOR—AT THE BEST PRICE

Once you feel you have your budget set, you can start looking for appropriate gifts. There is a dazzling array of websites, on this topic, so you are sure to find several wedding favors you really like. The key thing is to work out your budget and stick to it, so that your research will not be wasted time and effort. If you start to second-guess yourself, you will have to start all over again with your wedding favor budget and research.

Many websites which feature wedding favors will offer a number of search parameters to help you narrow down your search for the right wedding favor. Sort by unit price, by keyword, and possibly also by color.  Print out the ones you really like; often they will have manufacturer’s details and a unique identifier number.

Once you have narrowed it down to 2 or three wedding favors, dig a bit deeper again. What is included in the price at each site you have found the favor at: gift box, free wrapping, and so on. Comparison shop at different sites and even start a spreadsheet noting down these differences so you can compare side by side.

There are other ways to make your wedding favors even more affordable.

Ask the site if they reduced pricing for bulk orders. Or, if they are just a middleman,  not the distributor, see if you can contact the distributor directly to ask about any cost breaks. You might even consider contacting the manufacturer to see if it is possible to place a bulk order with them directly.

Available discounts may not always be advertised on wedding favor websites or in their advertisements. There is no harm in asking for a discount, especially if it is a large order.

And in this day and age, when every penny counts, they might be more than glad to shave a few cents off or give free shipping if the value of the order is high enough.

The world of wedding favors changes rapidly too according to fashion, and seasons. You may be able to get a closeout or discontinued line of wedding favors for a fraction of the price. If you are planning ahead well in advance for, say, a Valentine’s Wedding, you might start looking the year before to see what bargains you can pick up (then you just have to worry aout storage!)

As for customization, on the whole, try to avoid it unless you are getting a really good deal, since it can all add up. If you must go for that something a little bit special, try ribbon printed with your names and dates, which can be used for wrapping any gift, for flowers and bouquets, balloons, whatever.  Go for your wedding colors, and look at the price by the yard or roll, and make sure you check how many yards are on each roll.  Again, comparison shop for everything and stick to your budget.

Now that we have setting your budget for your wedding favors, we can get to the fun part-selecting your wedding favors!
Setting Your Budget for Your Wedding Favors, 3 parts, 1397 words

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Some Reasons Why You Should Consider Investing for Retirement Now

Investing for the future has become increasingly important in recent years, as the future of social security benefits becomes increasingly unknown. It has also become much more of a burden on the individual, as corporate investment schemes have either fallen prey to unscrupulous executives, or have become just another perk to vanish from the workplace in all but the most robust corporations.

It is logical to want to protect your futures given the many examples we can see daily of people who thought they had done everything they could to provide for their retirement, only to find that they had fallen short in some way.

We also need to consider the fact that the average life expectancy is 81 years for men, and 84 years for women.

With people living longer than ever before, this puts a strain on social security. With health care costs soaring as never before, we not only have to consider our living expense, but ongoing health, housing, long-term care, and even death expenses.

Many people might believe that they have set aside enough to be well off, only to be faced with rising inflation and unexpected events like soaring gas costs.

Retirement calculators tell you that when you retire, you’ll only need about a third of what you were earning. But is that realistic?

Many retirees are actually carrying credit card debt to try to make ends meet, and social security is actually taxable.

Investing now is the best answer to the unknown questions of the future.

You may have been saving money in a low interest savings account over the years. Now, you want to see that money grow at a faster pace.

Perhaps you’ve inherited some money or realized some other type of windfall, and you’d like to find a way to make that money grow. Again, investing can be part of the answer.

Investing is also a way of attaining the things that you want, such as a new home, a college education for your children, or luxury items such as a new car, second home, or boat.

Of course, your financial goals will determine what type of investing you do, which is why we recommend in this series of articles that before you invest in anything, you sit down and make a list of your investment goals.

Once you are clear on your investing goals, then you can decide on the kind of investment strategy that will help you meet those goals.

For instance, if you want or need to make a lot of money fast, you would be more interested in higher risk investing, which will give you a larger return in a shorter amount of time.  Greater risks bring greater rewards.

If you are saving for something in the far off future, such as retirement, you would want to make safer investments that grow over a longer period of time.

The overall purpose in investing is to create wealth and security by having your money earn interest, and that interest snowballing to create still more wealth.

It is important to remember that you will not always be able to or wish to earn an income–you will eventually want to retire. It’s also important to consider that there a lots of different ways to pay for a college education, for example, such as scholarships, but little or no financial assistance of that or any other sort when we retire.

Therefore, in terms of goal setting, your retirement, rather than your kids’ college education, should always be at the top of your list.

In these precarious financial times, it is no longer a safe bet to count on the social security system to be there for you and meet all your needs in the future. Even if it were working well, the amount per month is not exactly conducive to a luxurious lifestyle.

As we have seen with Enron, you also cannot necessarily depend on your company’s retirement plan either.

So, again, investing is the key to insuring your own financial future, but you must make smart investments. That means educating yourself with your goals firmly in mind, and carefully setting out a road map which will help you reach your intended destination, without getting lost.

With so much free information now available, and investing easier than ever before thanks to online tools, you might be tempted to just launch in. But just as no one expects you to ride a bike successfully your first try, so too with investing. Study, gain knowledge, look at what you can realistically afford to invest—or lose!

Investing can bring great rewards, but you always need to balance it with possible risks. However, these risks can pay off if you are prepared to put in the work to achieve your financial goals.

764 words

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Pancreatic Cancer: What You Need to Know

Since we all heard the sad news about Patrick Swayze being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, there has been a lot of attention on this disease, virtually a silent killer until the tumor grows so large you start to show symptoms.

Pancreatic cancer affects mainly men, and definitely smokers and people with liver damage from too much alcohol.

This timely press release from Johns Hopkins tells you how to prevent and treat pancreatic cancer.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/3/prweb752394.htm

We wish anyone who suffers from this dreadful disease all best wishes to you and your loved ones.

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Setting Your Budget for Your Wedding Favors- Part 2

YOUR WEDDING FAVOR BUDGET CALCULATIONS

So the first thing to consider when setting a budget for your wedding favors is how many guests you plan on having at your wedding. Please note that this is not to be confused with the number of guests you are inviting to the wedding.

For example, if you have a large extended family with many out of town relatives, and you are planning a large wedding, you will probably feel obligated to invite all of them even if you are quite sure they will not come to the wedding.

If you are fairly sure these guests will not be able to come to your wedding, then make an estimate of the number of guests you are realistically expecting to show up at the wedding. This will also be a crucial piece of information for the caterers, especially closer to the time. Keep track of all your invitations, and the RSVP responses carefully.

Then decide how many favors you would like, and add 10% to 15% more for ‘just in case’ and also for anyone you might want to send one in the mail to even if they are not able to attend the wedding, for example, someone who gets ill at the last minute, who gives you a particularly nice present you want to acknowledge with more than just a thank you card, one each for the wedding party, in addition to any individual gifts you might want to give them, and so on.

THE POSSIBLE HIDDEN COSTS OF WEDDING FAVORS

Once you establish this notional number of how many wedding favors you will need, you can set a budget in a couple of different ways. One way to do it is to determine an amount you can afford and are willing to spend on favors, and then divide this number by the number of guests you are expecting. This will let you know how much you can afford to spend on each favor.

It is important to include tax, shipping, gift wrapping, perhaps even ribbons and candy as decoration or fillers, and all other incidentals in this per favor price.

Another way to set a budget for the favors is to begin searching around for favors and get some estimates on the wedding favors which you find most appealing. There is a huge variety available now, suited to all budgets, but it is also easy to be dazzled and lose perspective. By setting your budget and sticking to it, you will be much less likely to overspend.

The second consideration is what seems appropriate. The gifts can reflect your taste, the theme of the wedding, and should hopefully be nice enough to be used or displayed, not thrown away, the third key consideration in selecting a wedding favor.

Setting Your Budget for Your Wedding Favors- Part 3 will deal with hunting for the right wedding favor at the right price.

Shop now at the #1 Wedding Favors website for all your wedding and shower favor needs.

Great prices, personalization, fast shipping:
MyWeddingFavors.com


Top-quality wedding favors and bridal shower favors

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Rethinking Use of Cough Medications for Common Colds

It’s March already, but some of us are still struggling with cold weather. Others of us have coughs and colds all year round.

Some of us even have chronic bronchitis. 
In the recent artcile Rethinking Use of Cough Medications for Common Colds: New Cough Care Guidelines Reported by Johns Hopkins Health Alerts,  I was amazed to read that most of the supposed cures for a cough due to a cold were actually NOT effective at all. Wow, just think how much money we spend on over the counter cough medicine and cough drops every year. 

The supposed active ingredients really only help in certain cases, like if you have chronic bronchitis. Interestingly, Advil (naproxen)  is supposed to help  also. So, read all about it here, and save your money on all those cough and cold remedies!

Here is the press release.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/3/prweb741914.htm

There is also a free special report on COPD you might want to pick up from the site if you do suffer from chronic bronchitis (a component of COPD).  the Johns Hopkins Guide to New Treatments for COPD.

http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/ppc/lung_disorders/copdr_reg_landing.html 

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Setting Your Budget for Your Wedding Favors- Part 1

Setting your budget for your wedding favors is a very important part of planning a wedding. Many couples make the mistake of underestimating the cost of the wedding favors, and not allotting a part of the budget specifically for this purpose.

As we said in our introductory article, you first need to decide if you are going to give wedding favors to your guests, and you need to decide it early on in the wedding planning process.

Not budgeting for your wedding favors can be a real headache down the line, especially if you wait until the last minute to shop for favors. And particularly if you are going to need wedding favors for a large number of guests at the wedding reception.

This article will deal with the importance of setting a budget for your wedding favors, and will provide some hints and tips for making wedding favors more affordable without seeming cheap.

WEDDING FAVORS AND YOUR BUDGET

So let’s do the math, shall we? By now you have already started pricing what things are going to cost for your dream wedding.

The cost of renting a catering hall and paying for food for your wedding reception are going to be amongst the most expensive items to consider when planning a wedding.

Back in the day, a lot of people assumed they would ‘make it up in gifts’. Weddings have changed a lot since then, as has gift giving.

In addition to the catering hall, your clothes and those of your wedding part, gratuities and other incidental expenses, flowers and transportation can also contribute to the high price of weddings.

However, these are not the only factors to consider. The cost of wedding favors should also be carefully itemized in your budget once you have made up your mind whether you want to give wedding favors at your reception.

You should realize that whatever wedding favor you choose, it is going to be a cost per guest item. This means you will have to pay a unit price per wedding favor, then multiplying this price by the number of guests at the wedding.

This means even if you select a favor which costs $2, you will still wind up paying $1000 for wedding favors if you are planning a wedding with 500 guests. You can see how this price can quickly add up and wreak havoc on a couple’s wedding budget.

Setting Your Budget for Your Wedding Favors- Part 2 will help you with your budget calculations.

Shop now at the #1 Wedding Favors website for all your wedding and shower favor needs.

Great prices, personalization, fast shipping:
MyWeddingFavors.com


Top-quality wedding favors and bridal shower favors

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Stabilize Your Current Financial Situation First Before You Invest Part 3

Stabilize Your Current Financial Situation First Before You Invest Part 3

Now that you have looked at the consumer credit burden that you’ve been carrying, you have  a plan for paying down that debt, and being able to then use the money saved as an investment.

TAKE STOCK OF THE PRESENT, INVEST IN THE FUTURE

It doesn’t make sense to start investing funds if your bank balance is always running on empty, or you are struggling to pay your monthly bills.

Your investment dollars will be better spent to rectify the adverse financial issues that affect you each day, like credit card debt, for a better tomorrow.

Get yourself into good financial shape with a sound budget, and no debt or low debt, and THEN you will be able to enhance your financial situation with sound investments.

As we said in our article on investing basics, know where you are at present, and where you want to be in the future with your investing goals, so you can start mapping how you are going to get there.

While you are in the process of clearing up your present financial situation, start educating yourself about the various types of investments currently available, and their respective rates of return.

This way, once you are in a financially sound situation, you’ll be armed with the knowledge that you need to make equally sound investments in your future.

3 parts, 1065 words

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