Answer these questions truthfully:
1.) Does your spouse or partner complain that you spend too much
money?
2.) Are you surprised each month when your credit card bill arrives
at how much more you charged than you thought you had?
3.) Do you have more shoes and clothes in your closet than you could
ever possibly wear?
4.) Do you own every new gadget before it has time to collect dust
on a retailer’s shelf?
5.) Do you buy things you didn’t know you wanted until you saw them
on display in a store?
If you answered “yes” to any two of the above questions, you are an
impulse spender and indulge yourself in retail therapy.
This is not a good thing. It will prevent you from saving for the
important things like a house, a new car, a vacation or retirement.
You must set some financial goals and resist spending money on items
that really don’t matter in the long run.
Impulse spending will not only put a strain on your finances but
your relationships, as well. To overcome the problem, the first
thing to do is learn to separate your needs from your wants.
Advertisers blitz us hawking their products at us 24/7. The trick is
to give yourself a cooling-off period before you buy anything that
you have not planned for.
When you go shopping, make a list and take only enough cash to pay
for what you have planned to buy. Leave your credit cards at home.
If you see something you think you really need, give yourself two
weeks to decide if it is really something you need or something you
can easily do without. By following this simple solution, you will
mend your financial fences and your relationships.
RECIPES
Figs in Cinnamon Syrup
1 orange
1 cinnamon stick
1 lemon
450g ready to eat dried figs
300ml red wine
700g tub mascarpone cheese or vanilla ice
50g caster sugar cream to serve
Pare the rind from the orange and lemon and place in a medium
saucepan.
Squeeze and add the orange and lemon juice with the wine sugar and
cinnamon stick Bring slowly to the boil on the simmering plate
stirring occasionally.
Add the figs to the pan return to the boil cover and cook in the
simmering oven for 20 minutes until plump and soft.
Remove figs rind and cinnamon with a slotted spoon; transfer to a
serving bowl.
Return the liquid to the boiling plate and bubble until syrupy
(about 5 minutes).
Pour over the figs then cool cover and refrigerate.
If wished warm figs in the syrup for 3 to 4 minutes then serve with
mascarpone or ice cream.
The figs can be kept covered in the fridge for up to one week. Just
stir occasionally. Or place in jar and shake from time to time to
keep the top of the fruit moist. These figs are delicious served
either warm or cold with mascarpone cheese or a good quality vanilla
ice cream.
Serves 6
BEAUTY
Healthy skin is really one of the most important
ingredients for beauty-enhancement. This article on skin care tips
is an effort to bring the 10 best skin care tips to you. The list of
skin care tips has been restricted to 10 because anything more that
that would not only be difficult to remember, but also shadow the
more important skin care tips. So let’s see what these top ten skin
care tips are:
* Knowing your skin type is one of the most
important skin care tip. This is important because not every skin
care product suits everyone. In fact, all the skin care products
specify the type of skin they cater too.
* ‘Drink a lot of water’. This will not keep your
skin moist but will help in overall upkeep of your health (and in
turn your skin). It might seem a bit awkward to some, however, this
is an important skin care tip.
* Cleanse your skin regularly (1-2 times
everyday). A very effective skin care tip that helps in getting rid
of the dirt and other harsh elements from your skin. Cleansing is
especially important when you have been out of your house (and hence
exposed to pollutants, dust etc). This skin care tip also advocates
the use of Luke warm water for cleansing (hot and cold water, both,
cause damage to your skin)
* Be gentle, after all it’s your skin. Don’t
scrub/exfoliate too hard or too often. Similarly, don’t apply too
much or too many skin care products. A must-to-follow skin care tip.
* Keep your skin moist at all times. This is one
of the most important skin care tip. Don’t let your skin get dry.
Dryness causes the outer layer of your skin to break, leading to a
rough and unattractive appearance. Use moisturizers/ emollients.
Moisturizers work best when applied while the skin is still damp.
* Avoid the use of soap on your face. Soap should
only be used from below the neck. A small but important skin care
tip.
* Use sunscreen to protect yourself from sun’s
harmful UV radiations. You can use day-time moisturizers that have
sunscreen built into them. Use them even when it’s cloudy. UV
radiations are known to cause skin cancer, so follow this skin care
tip without fail.
* A bit of exercise and good sleep are essential
too, not just for skin care but for your health as a whole. Lack of
sleep can lead to formation of wrinkles below your eyes and lack of
exercise can cause your skin to slack. Moreover, exercise and sleep
also help in beating stress. So besides being a skin care tip, this
is also a health care tip.
* Treat skin dilemmas with care. This skin care
tip is about not ignoring any skin dilemmas. Consult your
dermatologist before you go on to use a skin care product (lest you
do end up harming your skin even more).
* Beat the stress. The harmful effects of stress
are known to everyone, however, sometimes stating the obvious is
essential too (and hence this skin care tip found its place here).
Yes, stress harms skin too. So, take a break or indulge in a warm
bubble bath or just get good sleep.
GARDENING
A Hobby Greenhouse Will Get You Growing!
For people who would like to do more gardening
but live in a short growing season area, a hobby greenhouse is the
answer. A hobby greenhouse is not large enough to produce vegetables
or flowers on a commercial basis. It will, however, give you a place
for a tomato plant or two and some fresh greens even if you live in
the northern regions. Greenhouse enthusiasts even have their own
association, called the Hobby Greenhouse Association, which
publishes a quarterly magazine. The organization also sponsors
events and helps individuals connect to get help with the aspect of
gardening that they are interested in, whether it's growing cacti or
saving seeds.
If you are in the market for a hobby greenhouse, there are several
types on the market. The smallest type is not large enough to walk
into and must be accessed from the outside. It resembles an
old-fashioned phone booth made all of glass and outfitted with
shelves. This type is designed to fit as many plants as possible in
as small a place as possible. The shelves are made of glass to allow
as much light as possible to reach plants on the lower shelves.
Another inexpensive version of this sort of hobby greenhouse is
shelving covered with a zippered tent of clear plastic. This sort of
arrangement is great for the small-scale hobby gardener wanting a
place to keep her flowers or houseplant starts.
There are a variety of designs of hobby greenhouse that are large
enough to walk into but made entirely of clear glass or plastic.
They are often about the same size as a small storage building. Some
independent builders have started making these to sell locally.
Among national brands, one of the nicest is called the "Solar
Prism." It is called this because of it's unique construction. This
hobby greenhouse is made of a single piece of durable clear plastic
which is designed to work like tiny prisms side by side. They trap
the rays of the sun and shoot them back into the greenhouse at all
angles. For this reason, these little greenhouses are said to glow
when the weather is cloudy.
Better hobby greenhouses are equipped with automatic sensors that
open vents which allow ventilation and keep the interior
temperatures from getting too high. These are a great labor saver,
but can get expensive. Another benefit sometimes found in nicer
greenhouses is a built in irrigation or misting system. Members of
the Hobby Greenhouse Association, or HGA, have invented many
interesting designs of greenhouses.
If gardening is your hobby, greenhouse growing will interest you.
With a greenhouse, you can have the earliest tomatoes and salad
greens all year. You can also start seedlings for the main garden
early in the spring when outdoor temperatures would kill them. A
hobby greenhouse can be a good investment.
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