Weddings are expensive. I learned this myself three years ago when my wife and I were married. We only had about 60 guests, but when you add up the ceremony, reception, music, photographer, video, limos, tuxedoes and dresses, we still ended up spending over $15,000.
If you are planning on getting married in the near future, you should begin thinking about what is most important to you now. Sit down with your significant other and make a list of everything that you would like to have and rank them. Decide what you could live without, what you would really like to have, and what you absolutely must have. This will help you prioritize when it comes to allocating money.
Here are some things to consider if you are planning a wedding on a budget:
Food - Price and quality do not always go together when it comes to food. I’ve been to expensive weddings with horrible food (we once left so dissatisfied that we stopped at Burger King on the way home). And I have been to low budget weddings where the food was delicious. It’s very important to ask around for opinions and if possible go for a tasting before choosing a caterer. Also, buffets are generally less expensive than a sit down dinner.
Location - If you are looking to save money, consider having your ceremony in a park or other outside area, even a friend’s backyard.
Time - Weekend evenings are the busiest time for weddings and you will pay a premium for them. We got married on a Sunday at noon and it cost us half the rate of a Sunday evening wedding. We could never have afforded the evening wedding at such a nice place.
Music - DJs are generally much cheaper than live bands. Or if money is especially tight, consider not having music or just playing your own. A friend of our’s had a sit down dinner for about 20 guests when she got married. There was no dancing but we all had a great time.
Flowers - Prices for flowers can vary wildly from florist to florist. It really pays to shop around. Also, if you use flowers that are in season and available locally you will save money. Out of season flowers have to be shipped from other parts of the world and you will pay considerably extra for them.
Photographs - Pictures are a sentimental memento of your wedding day and I encourage you to have pictures taken. But the cost can be prohibitive. A professional photographer will cost several thousand dollars. Prices will vary depending on the size of your package.
A less expensive option is to buy a bunch of disposable cameras and leave one on each table so your guests can take pictures for you. The downsides are low quality and lack of the ability to control the pictures taken. If you use a professional you can give her a list of the photos that you can’t live without.
Video - Prices and quality vary with videographers as well. My wife watches our video all the time so it was well worth the cost. But if you are planning a wedding on a budget you can probably live without it.
Limos - Skip the Hummer or Rolls Royce models and stick with a standard limo and you’ll save considerably.
Mike Collins is the owner of www.saving-money-and-living-debt-free.com, a friendly guide to saving money, making extra money, and getting out of debt.
Debt consolidation has several advantages. For the most part, many
consumers are unable to eliminate their debts. High finance charges and
late fees keep many people in the hole. Fortunately, there is an easy
solution to becoming debt free within a few years. Debt and bill
consolidation services are intended to help consumers lower their debt. It is the
best method to becoming debt free without obtaining a loan.
Advantages of Bill and Debt Consolidation Services
The major advantage of debt consolidation services is the ability to
legally reduce and eliminate your debts within record time. Credit card
payoff calculators are ideal for estimating approximate payoff dates.
For example, applying $50/month to a $5,000 balance will take you
approximately 19 years to payoff the credit card. Incurring additional
chargers will extend the payoff time.
Debt and bill consolidation services can help you become debt free is
less time. Services will help you manage your finances. Moreover, they
will contact all your creditors and negotiate better rates.
Additionally, if you have excessive late fees, debt and bill consolidation services
attempt to get fees waived.
Once your finance fees are reduced, a large portion of your monthly
payments will go toward reducing your debts. In some instances, the
service can negotiate 0% interest rates for a specific period. Trying to
negotiate a lower rate without the assistance of a debt and bill
consolidation service is tricky.
How Do Debt and Bill Consolidation Services Work?
If using a debt consolidation service, future payments are submitted to
the agency. In turn, the agency will make payments to creditors. While
working with a consolidation service, your credit accounts are frozen.
Therefore, you will be unable to incur additional chargers. You may
cancel the service at anytime. At that point, credit accounts will be
unfrozen.
Choosing the right debt and bill consolidation company requires
research. You must qualify for a service. As you begin your search, compare
and contrast various services. What is the minimum and maximum debt
amount? Is there a monthly service fee? For the most part, qualifying is
easy. Consolidations require no credit checks or collateral. Hence, there
is a program suitable for everyone.
View our recommended companies for
Debt Consolidation Services or view all of our Recommended Debt Consolidation Companies Online.
As Christian’s we are often very independent. We try to do everything and often feel we do everything. Are there times when you are frustrated, tired, irritable, and have no energy? I am not selling you a vitamin supplement, so don’t worry. I have recently realized this past week how little I turn things over to the ultimate Power Source - God. Lord, I cannot do this in my own strength. If the children argue one more time - I will scream. God, help me to know what to say without screaming. Lord, what is your agenda for me today - you know I all ready have one figured out. Do we see the many requests of our children as divine interruptions or just another thing to do on our list?
I know often I grow weary and God needs to fill my tank. We fill our tanks with junk food or junk TV for that matter, but do we go to the Ultimate Power Source?
Do you feel some of the things that bother you are really to small to talk with God about or not a big deal? I am convinced that God wants to hear the smallest details of our lives. I have found when I share my frustrations with Him I take a deep breath and calm down. I have more patience with my children, spouse, or work situation.
Please don’t hear me saying I have it all together, I certainly don’t. I am learning daily to stay connected to my Power Source. That could be a prayer on the way to work or a prayer on the way home from picking up my children. I encourage you daily to connect to your Power Source even if it is a quick prayer for strength, wisdom, or whatever your needs are for the day. “I will supply all your needs, according to my riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
© 2004 Kimberly Chastain
Kimberly M. Chastain, MS, LMFT is the Christian Working Mom Coach and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who specializes in helping Christian women make the most of their lives. She is the author of the on-line course, “I Can’t Say No” and Pearls of Encouragement for Christian Working Moms, a free e-book. If you suffer from “I Can’t Say ‘No” Syndrome, visit Kimberly’s site today for the details on an exciting email course that’s sure to set you free! http://www.christianworkingmom.com/online.htm.
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Online guide for training a dog
Guide for training a dog
So you can use a guide for training a dog. At one time or another we all did. There’s no more joy and a certain amount of fun especially when it comes to helping our new best pet friend. That little guy wants desperately wants to please you so we need to find ways to break the communication gap. You can rely on a guide for training a dog as those writers have been there and done that.
So what may we expect? We can speed up our results with much success and even without the ole treat routine. It’s so simple you won’t believe it. Using a resource will prevent you from wasting your time and even more importantly not frustrating your new friend and causing a lot of undo stress. You’ll also avoid contributing to its low self esteem as well. Your doggie has feelings too.
You’ll learn how to properly use your voice with the proper equipment. You won’t need a magic wand to have that perfect well behaved dog. Proper training techniques will work on all sizes and breeds. The even so called difficult breeds respond to techniques you’ll find in these resources.
Training takes place in minutes per day eliminating those pet stains, damaged furniture, un-welcomed jumping on your guests and chasing him out the front dog. You’ll eliminate those annoying traits all together. Whether young or old these training techniques will work for all. So relax while you and your best pet friend build a great relation when using your guide for training a dog.
About the Author
More doggie information at http://www.dog-stuff4u.com
Human trafficking and people smuggling are multi-billion dollar
industries. At least 50% of the 150 million immigrants the world
over are illegal aliens. There are 80 million migrant workers
found in virtually every country. They flee war, urban
terrorism, crippling poverty, corruption, authoritarianism,
nepotism, cronyism, and unemployment. Their main destinations
are the EU and the USA - but many end up in lesser countries in
Asia or Africa.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) published the
following figures in 1997:
Africa had 20 Million migrant workers, North America - 17
million, Central and South America - 12 million, Asia - 7
million, the Middle East - 9 million, and Europe - 30 million.
Immigrants make up 15% of staid Switzerland’s population, 9% of
Germany’s and Austria’s, 7.5% of France’s (though less than 4%
of multi-cultural Blairite Britain). There are more than 15
million people born in Latin America living in the States.
According to the American Census Bureau, foreign workers
comprise 13% of the workforce (up from 9% in 1990). A million
have left Russia for Israel. In this past century, the world has
experienced its most sweeping wave of both voluntary and forced
immigration - and it does not seem to have abated.
According to the United Nations Population Division, the EU
would need to import 1.6 million migrant workers annually to
maintain its current level of working age population. But it
would need almost 9 times as many to preserve a stable workers
to pensioners ratio.
The EU may cope with this shortage by simply increasing labour
force participation (74% in labour-short Netherlands, for
instance). Or it may coerce its unemployed (and women) into
low-paid and 3-d (dirty, dangerous, and difficult) jobs. Or it
may prolong working life by postponing retirement.
These are not politically palatable decisions. Yet, a wave of
xenophobia that hurtled lately across a startled Europe - from
Austria to Denmark - won’t allow the EU to adopt the only other
solution: mass (though controlled and skill-selective) migration.
As a result, Europe has recently tightened its admission (and
asylum) policies even more than it has in the 1970’s. It bolted
and shut its gates to primary (economic) migration. Only family
reunifications are permitted. Well over 80% of all immigrants to
Britain are women joining their husbands, or children joining
their father. Migrant workers are often discriminated against
and abused and many are expelled intermittently.
Still, economic migrants - lured by European riches - keep
pouring in illegally (about half a million every year -to
believe The Centre for Migration Policy Development in Vienna).
Europe is the target of twice as many illegal migrants as the
USA. Many of them (known as “labour tourists”) shuttle across
borders seasonally, or commute between home and work - sometimes
daily. Hence the EU’s apprehension at allowing free movement of
labour from the candidate countries and the “transition periods”
(really moratoria) it wishes to impose on them following their
long postponed accession.
According to the American Census Bureau’s March 2002 “Current
Population Survey”, 20% of all US residents are of “foreign
stock” (one quarter of them Mexican). They earn less than
native-born Americans and are less likely to have health
insurance. They are (on average) less educated (only 67% of
immigrants age 25 and older completed high school compared to
87% of native-born Americans). Their median income, at $36,000
is 10% lower and only 49% of them own a home (compared to 67% of
households headed by native-born Americans). The averages mask
huge disparities between Asians and Hispanics, though. Still,
these ostensibly dismal figures constitute a vast improvement
over comparable data in the country of origin.
But these are the distant echoes of past patterns of migration.
Traditional immigration is becoming gradually less attractive.
Immigrants who came to Canada between 1985-1998 earn only 66% of
the wages of their predecessors. Labour force participation of
immigrants fell to 68% (1996) from 86% (1981).
While most immigrants until the 1980’s were poor, uneducated,
and unskilled - the current lot is middle-class, reasonably
affluent, well educated, and highly skilled. This phenomenon -
the exodus of elites from all the developing and less developed
countries - is called “brain drain”, or “brain hemorrhage” by
its detractors (and “brain exchange” or “brain mobility” by its
proponents). These metaphors conjure up images of the inevitable
outcomes of some mysterious processes, the market’s invisible
hand plucking the choicest and teleporting them to more abundant
grounds.
Yet, this is far from being true. The developed countries, once
a source of such emigration themselves (more than 100,000
European scientists left for the USA in the wake of the Second
World War) - actively seek to become its destination by
selectively attracting only the skilled and educated citizens of
developing countries. They offer them higher salaries, a legal
status (however contingent), and tempting attendant perks. The
countries of origin cannot compete, able to offer only $50 a
month salaries, crumbling universities, shortages of books and
lab equipment, and an intellectual wasteland.
The European Commission had this to say last month:
“The Commission proposes, therefore, that the Union recognize
the realities of the situation of today: that on the one hand
migratory pressures will continue and that on the other hand in
a context of economic growth and a declining and aging
population, Europe needs immigrants. In this context our
objective is not the quantitative increase in migratory flows
but better management in qualitative terms so as to realize more
fully the potential of immigrants’ admitted.”
And the EU’s Social and Employment Commission added, as it
forecast a deficit of 1.7 million workers in Information and
Communications Technologies throughout the Union:
“A declining EU workforce due to demographic changes suggests
that immigration of third country nationals would also help
satisfy some of the skill needs [in the EU]. Reforms of tax
benefit systems may be necessary to help people make up their
minds to move to a location where they can get a job…while
ensuring that the social objectives of welfare systems are not
undermined.”
In Hong Kong, the “Admission of Talents Scheme” (1999) and “The
Admission of Mainland Professionals Scheme” (May 2001) allow
mainlanders to enter it for 12 month periods, if they:
“Possess outstanding qualifications, expertise or skills which
are needed but not readily available in Hong Kong. They must
have good academic qualifications, normally a doctorate degree
in the relevant field.”
According the January 2002 issue of “Migration News”, even now,
with unemployment running at almost 6%, the US H1-B visa program
allows 195,000 foreigners with academic degrees to enter the US
for up to 6 years and “upgrade” to immigrant status while in
residence. Many H1-B visas were cancelled due to the latest
economic slowdown - but the US provides other kinds of visas (E
type) to people who invest in its territory by, for instance,
opening a consultancy.
The UK has just implemented the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme
which allows “highly mobile people with the special talents that
are required in a modern economy” to enter the UK for a period
of one year (with indefinite renewal). Even xenophobic Japan
allowed in 222,000 qualified foreigners last year (double the
figure in 1994).
Germany has absorbed 10,000 computer programmers (mainly from
India and Eastern Europe) since July 2000. Ireland was planning
to import twenty times as many over 7 years - before the dotcoms
bombed. According to “The Economist”, more than 10,000 teachers
have left Ecuador since 1998. More than half of all Ghanaian
medical doctors have emigrated (120 in 1998 alone). More than
60% of all Ethiopian students abroad never return. There are
64,000 university educated Nigerians in the USA alone. More than
43% of all Africans living in North America have acquired at
least a bachelor’s degree.
Barry Chiswick and Timothy Hatton demonstrated (”International
Migration and the Integration of Labour Markets”, published by
the NBER in its “Globalisation in Historical Perspective”) that,
as the economies of poor countries improve, emigration increases
because people become sufficiently wealthy to finance the trip.
Poorer countries invest an average of $50,000 of their painfully
scarce resources in every university graduate - only to witness
most of them emigrate to richer places. The haves-not thus end
up subsidizing the haves by exporting their human capital, the
prospective members of their dwindling elites, and the taxes
they would have paid had they stayed put. The formation of a
middle class is often irreversibly hindered by an all-pervasive
brain drain.
(continued)
