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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New research seems to show why winter is flu season

Here is some good news!

Researchers in the United States believe they have discovered why flu and other respiratory viruses are more prevalent in winter.

Flu can actually cause death, especially in children and the elderly, and of course, it can mutate into even more deadly strains.

But apparently the researchers from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) say influenza viruses coat themselves in a fatty protein called HEMAGGLUTININ, that hardens and protects them in colder temperatures.

They suggest that this may be the reason why winter is the flu season.

It seems the fatty coating around the virus melts in the respiratory tract, allowing the virus to infect cells. Apparently it is this special fatty insulator which gives them an advantage in the cold temperatures of the winter.

When the influenza viruses are in a warm environment such in summer, they die quickly and are usually less able to infect more than one person.

The head of the research, Joshua Zimmerberg, says it is only in this liquid phase that the flu virus is capable of entering a cell to infect it.

It will be interesting to see how this affects the way we fight the flu now, whether the vaccines really are effective, or if some other way can be found to fight flu.

To read the full article on the flu, go here:
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=35829

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The Seven Deadly Sins That Lead to Debt

The Seven Deadly Sins That Lead to Debt is an interesting article by Sheyna Steiner that was published on  Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at bankrate.com and referenced in the Yahoo Finance section.

The premise is that the 7 Deadly sins lead us into debt, and create a hell for us not just in the afterlife, but in this life. Only my avoiding temptation can we get ourselves out of debt and direct our discretionary cash in the direction of worthwhile financial goals.

So, just to remind you, the 7 deadly sins are:

 
Envy

Pride

Sloth/laziness

Anger/Wrath

Greed

Gluttony

Lust

 
You can kind of catch the drift, can’t you. These motives provoke you into going over budget, running up credit card debt, and staying in that debt.

 My favorite part of the article is a truly giggle-worthy moment in which they point out that Americans spend an estimated  $10 billion to $13 billion on adult entertainment, mainly thanks to the internet, and that money could be better spent on retirement accounts!  They do have a point, but in our immediate gratification based society, I doubt they are going to want to interrupt their cycle of porn consumption or addiction to worry about their retirement!

 
Still, it is very useful article that should help you take a look at your own spending in a whole new way!

 http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/104501/The-Seven-Deadly-Sins-That-Lead-to-Debt 

 235 words

 

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Asset Management and Human Resource Management

What is asset management? It is a business process and a decision making structure that covers various things in order to come up with cost effective investment decisions. For this to work, you need to practice good human resource management by hiring the right people with the right qualifications to get the job done.

This job falls to the human resources department as they are, after all, the ones in charge of hiring. In the past, the people who worked in this department simply gave the employees their paychecks. But that is not the only thing they should do. They are supposed to train and develop the employees so they feel that they are part of something bigger.

Psychology is important in choosing people for this department. You can’t afford opionated, judgmental people. You can’t afford bullies. You can’t afford sexual predators. And the list can be much longer, including alcoholics and drug abusers, etc. At this point someone might ask, “So who’s left?”

The professionals who are supposed to do this should see themselves as two things. First as a strategic partner and second, a agent for change. Strategic partner because without them, a company will not prosper. A changing agent because it is through them that the employees can become better individuals.

With that, you can say that human resource management is the bridge between the administration and the employee. For a company to practice true human asset management, their human resource department has to do the following:

First, they must have an active role in organizational planning. To make this happen, they must be given the power to dictate what is needed in the planning phase including the necessary resources.

The human resource department should be able to recruit employees that are best suited for the organization by being given a free hand as to how this will be achieved. This includes the selection process which involves the testing and the administering component.

Human asset management can only be effective if the human resource department is able to produce change. This is done by seeing what needs to be improved on in an employee and then coming up with programs that will help him or her to make the desired changes. This includes, of course, facilitating and overseeing the training. If this was never done before, it should be evaluated to see if there are any flaws to be avoided in the future.

Letís not forget the basics such as traditional personnel administration including administering wages and benefits, time management, employee cost management as well as employee performance review and appraisals.

Human asset management is serious business because how well the company does depends on the people they hire to fill various positions. If they hire someone and he or she is not qualified, problems will occur. Niether can you afford to reject a qualified person because of some minor personality quirk or Government efforts to blackball them. If the company has a high turnover, money is also wasted because of the time, training and money that were invested in that person.

To keep employees happy and motivated, they also have to come up with programs that will enhance their skills even if they should be tempted by offers from competitors.

Asset management is a combination of different things. These include cash, bonds, stocks, property and people. If you want your business to prosper, you must have an effective human resource management team in place that will take care of it. Otherwise, there will be problems within the organization. People will quit and when your competitors see that, this can be used to their advantage to the point that they may even take over your business.

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