Parrot on a PorchA Journey Toward the Little Mansion Dream

Shopping furniture and appliances for a newly acquired house is extremely exciting and fun.  I absolutely agree and this comes from a personal experience.  What’s not is when one start to witness that his earnings from the last payday gets drained in an instant, or seeing how huge the damage was to the savings account or when credit card bills start pouring in.  Acquiring a home does not actually start and stop at the contract signing.  It goes a long way from there.  Sprucing up the home with furniture, appliances and other stuff are just actually the peak or climax if there’s a stage that’s being observed.  In our case, that’s when our pockets were heavily used.  Thankfully there are various services and products that can help one go through all this with much financial support.  I’m talking about the wonders of credit cards, a cash advance, payday loans and all other financing facilities.  We all know already how credit cards work and how do they work to one’s advantage.  On the other hand, a cash advance, is a fresh scheme of payday loan wherein an employed person can borrow money with his paycheck as his collateral.  The requirements are less formal and the borrowed amount easy to obtain.

Now shopping for furniture can indeed be exciting especially if it’s a new home dress up.  I’m sharing a few pointers I perused before we bought modern furniture pieces for our Little Mansion.

1.  The Budget.  Unlike clothes that one can easily scout, try it on and buy, it is best if one visit a number of shops, canvass and ask a catalog with their prices.  In short, window shopping first is very beneficial to be able to compare prices and study which among them have the cheapest yet quality offering.

2.  If budget allows, contact a stylist or a designer and ask for opinions from the experts.  They can suggest and guide the proper pieces, the color, the size, the make and all other things to choose.

3.  Think of the future. Never rush when buying an item for the house especially if it’s the big ticket items.  Remember that this will be used for a long time and they’re something that can’t be instantly replaceable just like we can easily do with our clothes.

My heart goes out to the Filipino war veterans who up to the last years of their lives were left unaided and forgotten. Sadly, thousands of them have already died without reaping the promised benefits to them. The history of the World War II goes a long way. We have learned through our History classes and from my grandfather’s first hand recount of their grueling experiences under the Japanese regime. Not everybody were soldiers but their valor was tested as they were called to be the nation’s warrior. How I wish more helpful programs can be extended to them to make their aged living now somehow easier as a token to the sacrifice they made during the war.

In the US, they have this program so-called the va loans wherein qualified military men in service and veterans can acquire a home through a very flexible financing and refinancing schemes. Among the benefits are very low va mortgage rates, relaxed requirements, no down payment options and a lot more. These va home loans can be availed with the assistance and services of companies such as the MyVArefinance. It is an established family-owned business that has been existing for several years now and have helped numerous veterans secure their own dream home. They can get the lowest mortgage rates and they assist very competently in loans as well as refinancing applications. These veterans have served the nation honorably and the least “repayment” they can have is valuable assistance in securing a home they can call their own.

Earlier, I have focused my mind and anticipated how tough our LM (Little Mansion) Project could get.  Financial wise, that is.  But, honestly, I never thought that it’s much worse and every time I do the math of our expenses for the last couple of months, I really want to faint with all the cashout and the credit card charges we currently have.  Suffice to say that acquiring and moving into a new house can really be pocket draining.  We’re just thankful that we’ve been constantly provided with means to earn through my online work to cope up with the expenses.  My kind of work is seasonal but I’m glad that the timing of it’s outpouring is just perfect.  Truly, God provides and He knows when you need it the most.  The likes of deferred 0% transactions in credit cards and payday advance are also life saving facilities.  They’re indeed very helpful in these major life turning points.

There are several types of silver investments, making the precious metal an attractive option for a variety of buyers. These investment options fall into one of three categories: Securities, Commodities and Futures, or Physical Ownership. As with all investments, some have more risk than others do. The category that works best for you will depend on your investment goals, your strategies for making a profit from the investment, and your personal preference.

Silver securities are where you’ll find stocks, funds or options for silver. You can find stock in silver and in mining operations. This category also includes exchange dividends (EFTs) and mutual funds. In this category of investing, you don’t own the silver itself, but you do get a percentage of ownership for the company that makes money in some way from silver.

Under commodities and futures, you can work with a trading organization like the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) or Commodity Trade Advisors (CTA) to initiate a contract to purchase silver in the future for a specific price. This type of silver investment is another one in which you do not own the actual silver. You make money if the price of silver is higher than the contracted price, which in essence means you got a bargain you could sell for a profit.

With physical ownership, you purchase silver in some form. You could buy it as silver bullion, bars, ingots, rounds, coins, jewelry or flatware. Instead of a paper or a certificate, you own the actual precious metal. You can store the silver to sell at a future date, or you can sell it right away. Some people prefer this type of investment because they actually own the good as opposed to a stock or a future where they only own an agreement or a percentage.

Owning a home is something that many people strive for. Not only does a home give you a feeling of wealth, it also provides a sense of ownership. However, most people can’t afford to pay for a home outright so they take out a home mortgage to make owning a home a reality. When you are ready to purchase a home, you will need to pay close attention to the interest rates home mortgages are currently carrying.

The first thing that you should know about interest rates on home mortgage is that they can be fixed or variable. A fixed interest rate means that the interest rate will stay the same through the life of the loan. Therefore, if you lock into a low initial interest rate, you will be set up nicely to pay much less in interest while you hold the loan. On the flip side, a variable interest rate means that your home mortgage interest rate can fluctuate while you hold the loan.

There are advocates for both types of interest rates so your situation will determine which type is the best for you. If you like knowing that your interest rate will remain the same then a fixed rate might be the best for you. However, if you are comfortable with your interest rate fluctuating and possibly going lower than your initial rate at some point during the life of the loan, then you might want to choose a variable rate.

Interest rates are basically unavoidable when taking out a home mortgage but you can keep your rate low by comparing rates from different lenders before locking into a loan. You can also minimize the amount of interest you pay by making additional payments each year to shorten the length of your mortgage.

May and November are the months when I pay my life insurance premium dues. I’ve just paid the first installment for my 8th year dues and I’m just surprised, and of course, happy to know that in no time, I’ll be fully paid up. Just 4 more years to go then I can finally reap the first benefits I was promised. I will be given an option to renew or upgrade to a whole life or take advantage and take back the paid up premiums in the form of endowed benefit.

I now realize the importance of availing an insurance the younger you are. In my case, I got mine the moment I started working. Because of that, I pay smaller annual insurance premium amount or in simpler terms, lower insurance rate. Further, I get to finish paying all my premiums earlier also. It also helps that I’m not diabetic, a smoker and a drinker because these factors also contribute to having smaller premium dues. So just a piece of advise, start requesting an online quote now if you still haven’t and start securing your and your loved ones future. The advantagetermlife.com is a good choice.

April is slowly winding up. It’s already the 21st of the month and before we know it, it’ll be May soon. This thought actually tingles me. Somebody close to my and my son’s heart will celebrate his birthday and aside from that, it’s also the tentative month we’re anticipating LM’s full completion and hopefully, the big move. I do not have the latest updates yet regarding the ongoing state or progress because we weren’t able to check on it last weekend. Hopefully, this weekend, we’ll get to see as well as have a new word from the developer on the next steps.

We’re set to check out our favorite furniture shop nearby. That’s where we bought the bed frame, closets and a few furniture we’re currently using. We have already canvassed last year the ideal sofa and dining table sets that we would like to have but we’ll also check for they might got new models or better designs that would suit the house. We’ll also go through the ongoing rates and check if there’s a need for the husband to apply for a cash advance should additional funding will be needed. If ever we’ll find one that we like, we’ll just probably reserve it or if not, we’ll just hope that it won’t get sold so soon. We can’t buy yet since we don’t have an ample storage space for furniture at the moment.

You need it to do almost anything with financing. Want to buy a car? The dealer will run a credit check. Same goes for a house. This magic number can determine which options are open to you, and a low score can close doors.

Credit scoring in America is based on five measures, which are used to determine your overall score. These parts are:

Inquiries (hard): Expect intense examinations of your credit history by lenders. These inquiries account for 10 percent of your credit score. Remember that you can get a free credit score report for yourself without damaging your score.

Types of Credit Accounts: Another 10 percent depends on what credit cards you hold and the credit history of each of the cards.

Credit History Length: This credit scoring measure takes into account how long you’ve had your credit account. This determines 15 percent of your score. The longer the history, if it’s in good standing, the higher the score for this measure.

Debt to Credit Limit Ratio: This aspect of credit scoring looks at how much of your credit limit you spend. It’s recommended that you spend under 30 percent of your total credit limit, and 10 percent is preferable. This shows lenders that you’re a savvy spender. This ratio makes up a whooping 30 percent of your credit score. Your free credit score check will show you what purchases you’ve made and how well you did in paying them off.

Payment History: This is the big one. Lenders will look at what credit you have used, and how fast and reliably you paid it off. Any payments that are overdue (usually 30 days late) will drop your score.

So keep these factors about credit scoring in mind the next time you break out the plastic. You can check your credit score (and full credit report) on many sites, including http://www.creditreport.com.

One of the perks of owning a credit card is that you get to earn points or in some cases, special rebates for every purchase. I just received my Diners Club Card Rewards Catalog for this year and I’m so confused which to get among the bountiful items I can exchange my earned points with. I rarely use my Diners Club Card, in fact, I just pay Php150 every month to represent my UNICEF donation. I use my non-Diners card for all other purchases. But despite the meager usage, Diners is generous with points and their items are reasonably tagged with points as well. So this gives me a chance to convert mine with GCs from a lot of major establishments, home stuffs or toys for the little one. I also love my Diners card because the help desk phone attendants are polite and easy to talk with for reversal requests for as long as you have a good credit standing and not needing of any credit repair services.

I have asked the husband earlier tonight to go over the catalog as I need his inputs. But, here he is, he’s been wandering in the La la Land for about a couple of hours already.

The husband and I have a serious discussion again last night about the standing of our finances and savings. We have assessed our purchasing behavior over the last couple of weeks and we’re pleased to know that our expenses for the little one’s birthday last week didn’t get overboard. We even have some savings left enough to be pooled to our appliance-shopping budget before the end of the month. Perfect! We also brushed up the idea to buy gold coins as a new investment project. He said that the timing could be perfect because the euro is doing well against US dollar and this means that gold futures are on the rise, too. In fact, the January 11th gold value at $1,151.40 just dictates that any time, a new gold high can be reached again.