Parrot on a PorchA Journey Toward the Little Mansion Dream

I stopped wearing a watch when my son was born for the fear of carelessly hurting or scratching him with it during cradle time.  Besides, I was just confined at home where there are clocks everywhere to see the time.  And because of that, my watch broke down as it was just kept at the farthest end of my drawer for a long time.  Even when the battery is replaced, it won’t just work.  This is the reason why I’m in the lookout for a new watch.  It’s impossible that I’ll have IWC Watches soon because, well, I simply cannot afford it.  I saw how elegant and exquisite the luxurious watches are over at Lussori and they’re really worth drooling over.  By the way, I’m also impressed how vast the collections of luxury timepieces and jewelries are at Lussori.  How I wish I have the thousands of dollars to spend even on just one timepiece. 

Every homes not just offices and businesses, need to have office supplies on hand all the time. Since computers and laptops have also been a household necessity now, there’s a periodic need for stationery like office paper and office supply like pens, data storage discs, packaging supplies. There are also times when we need markers and pens for labeling items, gifts to wrap, documents to staple and compile and so on. We often source all these from local bookstores and super stores but nowadays, these can be easily procured through an office supply store like the Clean Sweep Supply. It is an online retail shop that offers over 32,000 products of well known office supply brands. Wide selection of binders and binding supplies, cash and check handling supplies, filing supplies, office equipment supplies, pens and desk supplies can be readily ordered from this site through their user-friendly shopping interface. For the homes, there are also janitorial and maintenance supplies that are available for ordering even in bulk. Examples are light bulbs, toiletries, cleaning supplies, flashlights, gloves, vacuum cleaners, etc. One can easily search the catalog through the search field or one can also narrow down categories of the products by opting to browse by brand and price. These online stores offer free shipping deals and rebates so shopping online may indeed be a splendid way of procuring office supplies for the home.

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.

Owning a home and raising a family, while very rewarding, can be quite expensive. If you are a typical home owner, you search for all possible discounts to help cut back on household costs. Here are a few top ways you can begin spending less and saving more.

Find Internet Deals
Most people now pay for Internet access in their homes. While this access is very convenient, the cost through some providers can be quite expensive. Therefore, to cut back on Internet access costs, be sure to shop around for broadband deals before selecting a provider. These ways, you are sure to find a good deal and will have more money left over after each month’s bill is paid.

Reduce Energy Consumption
Many home owners don’t realize how much energy their family consumes each month. This energy consumption results in high utility bills and less extra money for you to enjoy. You can easily start cutting back on utility costs by establishing energy consumption household rules. These rules could be anything from shutting off lights when leaving a room to taking shorter showers – whatever you think will help reduce the utility bill.

Use Coupons
As your family grows, you will have to buy more household products each month just to meet everyone’s needs. The cost of these items such as toilet paper and light bulbs, can add up quickly so use coupons whenever possible. Coupons are now easily accessible online so you shouldn’t have difficulties finding them to save on commonly used products. Even just $1 saved per product can begin adding up quickly.

Hopefully these tips will be useful in helping you save more each month on your household costs. The saved money can then be used to pay off other bills or to take that family vacation you have been putting off.

With the advent of the internet, online selling has proven to be one of the greatest ways to start up a business and make huge profits. Many business people have ventured into this type of business because it has so many advantages and perks, specifically, the lesser costs it entails and because of its worldwide reach. There are so many things that one needs to keep in mind when retailing any type of products online. Competition is very fierce nowadays in the online biz community. In order to stay on top among the rest, it is important to keep the selling prices low to attract more customers. To help you do this there are Wholesale products available for purchase from Wholesale Distributors and closeout retailers such as Kwality Closeouts. As the name connotes, the company has a huge selection of quality closeout products at unimaginably low prices either sold or in bulk (cases). Their catalog features thousands of products ranging from unique and collectible items to very mundane things.

As a homemaker, there’s no other category you’d expect me to browse right away than the Home and Garden category. By the way, it’s interesting also to note that Closeout products sold at Kwality Closeouts are not limited to business people. These can also be purchased by anyone, any penny-pinching consumer who is seeking sales and great discounts.

In two days, it’ll be exactly one month since we’ve moved in. After we have the roofing of the laundry area and the terrace grills installed this week, we might start planning the outdoor exteriors next. We have a small yard that we could also transform to a mini-garden where we can put outdoor chairs and potted plants. We have always been planning to canvas for ornamental plants but we just haven’t got a free time to do so. I saw these plastic planters at Pride Products and seeing how they are incredibly low priced (just $1.92 each), I’m thinking of setting them up by myself. Our neighbors have nicely cultivated flowering plants and I might just perhaps ask from them. I can see that she’s good at gardening so I might just also ask for tips from her.

By the way, for more dollar store products, take some time in a while to see the various July sale promotions at Pride Products. Various dollar store wholesale items are on special sales: Summer specials, Monthly specials, Back to school specials, and special products from closeouts. Hundreds of household dollar store items such as shower curtains and fresheners are offered with great discounts.

Black Friday is still more than four months away but I can’t help to get excited.  It is because my online friends and I for sure will be engaging in yet again another bout of manic thanksgiving shopping from our favorite US stores.  As early as now, we’re already making and preparing our shopping lists.  For me, I’ll be shopping for home stuffs mostly like bed linens, towels, some more pots and pans, and hopefully, I can find a home theater system that is on a good deal.  Then, I can perhaps squeeze a few apparels for the little one and the husband.  The shipping won’t hopefully be a problem because I’ve got US-based friends and relatives who can shop the items for me then have it shipped here through load board and sea freight for cheaper shipping charges.  That’s how we shopped during last year’s Thanksgiving sale.  That’s also how my parents who are based in the Middle East send stuffs to us.  It takes a while before the goods reach us but we can wait.  The stuffs and the savings we got are worth the wait.  For now, I have to work so I can allot enough shopping money on that event.

Good thing I chanced upon the calendar earlier, it came back to my senses that today’s a Thursday, and not Saturday.  I really feel like it’s weekend already.  The husband’s five day vacation starts now and his presence on a weekday kind of misaligned my body calendar.  Another thing is that I’m feeling so exhausted with the hefty work load I have all week long and that my body’s so yearning for a good (even just a brief) break from work.

Anyway, instead of me yakking about how I’ve been feeling stressed and dragging these past few days, let me just share how our Thursday went.  Since Little Mansion’s water line hasn’t been installed still (thus, we can’t move in yet) and to not put the husband’s leave to waste, we decided to just go to Tutuban primarily to buy curtains and draperies.  I just love how the mall was so crowd-less, a good decision indeed to go on a Thursday.  It made our shopping a lot relaxed, easier and faster.  We were able to buy 1 set of ready-made lovely draperies for the sala and 2 differently colored textiles for the curtains in the bedrooms which will be specially tailored by a sewer family friend.  A trip to Tutuban (or Divisoria) won’t be complete without shopping for some other personal stuffs.  I was able to buy 2 tops; a leather case, purple jelly case and a screen protector for my iTouch; “pambahay” shirts and a Buzz Lightyear walking robot for the little one which we bought for Php200; and 2 kikay headbands for our niece.  I saw a kiddie martial arts outfit that looks so cute for the little one but I restrained myself from buying.  It may look good on him but I don’t see the need nor an occasion to wear it for.  When he gets older, perhaps I can buy him one should he wish to enroll in a self defense class like taekwondo.  We may just bought a few but I feel so tired and my legs are sore now.  Perhaps, I’m not so used to shopping in malls anymore.

Hmm..this is so tempting and I must say, very timely.  We’re set tomorrow to buy the last big ticket items in our To Buy List for the Little Mansion.  That includes the fridge, water dispenser and washing machine.  I think the husband would also like to look for a digital frame for the living room.  He just likes the functionality of this gadget..being a decorator at the same time, an album.  I heard that there are mall wide sales this weekend so here’s hoping we’ll get to snag some generous discounts or cool deals from our favorite appliance store.

And oh, tomorrow, we’ll transfer some more stuffs to the new home. 

Virtual window shopping is a favorite past time especially on days when I do not have much online works, is bored or just in the mood to browse online shopping sites.  Sites of baby and kiddie apparels are among my favorite destinations as that’s how and where I get ideas about the latest trends for my little boy’s fashion.  Sometimes, I get tempted to shop whenever I see streamers, banners and headers with the letters S-A-L-E boldly indicated.  But more often than not, I just content myself browsing and reading the product specifications and hoping that I find similar styles at a cheaper cost in our local shops.

Since boys’ getup are rather simpler and lesser than the girls, sometimes, I find myself browsing online catalog of girls’ wardrobe.  I make mental note which pieces look great together for my “soon-to-be” daughter.  Nah, not pregnant yet but I do hope and pray for a baby girl should we be prepared and ready for Baby Number 2 in the future.  One of the girl brands I’m loving right now is Flowers By Zoe.  I am drawn to the stylish designs and the pieces are simply adorable for a little princess.  Don’t they make you want to go back to your childhood years and model them?