Although the move is not for another 6 months or more down the road, she has already started doing her homework to find out the best and most cost efficient way to move all the big items from her current place. She stumbled upon a site called moveme.com and was very impressed with the services offered by the moving company.

After learning the full suite of services offered by the company, she made an enquiry to get some removal quotes just to gauge what her damages would be and to her surprise, she found that it was not too unreasonable.

Moving services generally do not come cheap, but she is willing to pay a little premium for good service as well as one where she can get plenty of other services settled all at once instead of having to hire so many different parties to come together to help her moving day.

However, she did mention to me that for those who wish to hire a reputable moving company such as moveme.com but want to work around a smaller budget, one can always look at alternative ways to do so to get a cheaper service. An option to consider is to get a man and van service and have everything else done personally. This way, you are still getting some best movers to do the job and I’m sure you can trust yourself with the other moving tasks!

Anyway, moving business is an exciting one for those who are creating new memories in a new family home. Make moving day fun for everyone instead of stressful and I’m sure one way to do it is to hire professional help. Sometimes it’s really worth the money paid to have things properly taken care of for you, don’t you think?

Post from: Health or Money?

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Money is a very sensitive issue to many people. It is also a difficult subject to talk about in many relationships, unless you both have plenty of cash stashed up and don’t seem to be able to spend it all! But how many of us are really in that category? So how do you and your spouse talk about money without having to strangle each other or at the very least go through an argument?

Here are some smart ways to help you broach the topic tactfully.

1. Understand that you have the right to disagree with each other, and you need not have to sort things out at that very moment during the discussion of a money matter. If you both have major differences in opinions about a certain expenditure or saving habit, etc, and can’t get through to come to an agreement how to align to each other’s ways, then just set off with some time to think it through. But think it through you should, and make sure you set a time to come back to each other with solutions to a workable compromise. Not everything needs to be sorted out immediately.

2. You also should understand and recognise that each of you have your own interests or passion for something in life. Some of these may require you to spend money periodically or regularly to indulge in these activities, be it traveling, playing sports or even shopping. Give each other some space and don’t come down too hard on the expenses on these items provided they are not overboard.

3. Some people do not believe in borrowing money from friends and family. Should you come to such a need, you should talk it out between the two of you and see if you both are agreeable and comfortable with such arrangements. You should both also be agreeable on who you are comfortable borrowing from.

4. On the other hand, if friends or family members approach any one of you to lend money, you should also talk this out between the two of you. Should either one disagree, then you need to decide how best to approach the situation in a calm and logical manner. For the party who disagrees, constructive reasoning helps instead of just saying no. At least make the other party understand the concerns at hand. Don’t let a third party’s money issues come between you. Whilst it’s easier said than done to not feel upset even though your partner goes ahead to lend the money despite your disagreement, just take it in stride and do not adopt the “I told you so” attitude should things not go right. Remember you need to be supportive of each other and your “I told you so” does not help the situation. In fact, it worsens things! So keep in check.

5. If you need to make a big ticket purchase, do discuss with your partner. Tell your spouse how you plan to fund it and that you won’t put yourself in financial jeopardy with that purchase. Sometimes, it is a matter of security that we need to be rid of the threats of going broke because of overspends!

6. Be clear from the start about digging into your joint savings for big purchases. You need to agree what the funds can be used for, and what not. And each of you need to follow that rule and not use it up at your whim and fancy. You may want to use that saved up fund only for emergencies or to set up business or to pay for your children’s education. If you have already established the purpose of that fund, make sure you stick to it otherwise you’ll likely cause a lot of disputes!

Post from: Health or Money?

It was found in several studies that suicide rates tend to rise in times of high unemployment. Sadly, there are also many cases of family murder-suicides. Most of these cases have been linked to people being depressed and desperate during tough times. You can read some interesting articles by reading this one that provides several links to related issues.

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This is the very reason why families should stick together to work things out instead of blaming each other or simply finding faults with one another just because you aren’t in a great mood.

It takes conscious efforts to mind what you are doing and saying. While you may not realise your harsh or over critical statements, they can be taken very badly by those whom you are hitting out at. You may not mean all the negative things you toss out at them, but when someone keeps all these grudges of your harsh words and has no outlet to release his or her feelings, it does easily lead them down the road to more depression and desperation. And once someone has reached the limits, they may even lose their minds and do the unthinkable act of taking lives, whether of someone else’s or their very own.

So don’t drive each other nuts when you’re down and out. Instead, provide support and talk things through. It is okay to share your fears and feelings of pressure, and work constructively together to ride out the storm. Don’t add salt to each other’s injuries!

Post from: Health or Money?

The story below talks about making the best of life and appreciating what we have and are. There are others who are in more terrible shape than us, and yet we do not realise how lucky we are compared to them. Live life and stay happy.

After a conversation with one of my friends, he told me despite taking 2 jobs, he brings back barely above 1K per month, he is happy as he is.

I wonder how he can be as happy as he is considering he has to skimp his life with the low pay to support a pair of old parents, in-laws, a wife, 2 daughters and the many bills of a household.

He explained that it was through one incident that he saw in India that happened a few years ago when he was really feeling low and touring India after a major setback.

He said that right in front of his very eyes he saw an Indian mother chop off her child’s right hand with a chopper. The helplessness in the mother’s eyes, the scream of pain from the innocent 4-year-old child haunted him until today.

You may ask why did the mother do so; had the child been naughty, had the child’s hand been infected??

No, it was done for two simple words – TO BEG! The desperate mother deliberately caused the child to be handicapped so that the child could go out to the streets to beg.

Taken aback by the scene, he dropped a piece of bread he was eating half-way. And almost instantly, a flock of 5 or 6 children swamped towards this small piece of bread which was covered with sand, robbing bits from one another.

The natural reaction of hunger. Stricken by the happenings, he instructed his guide to drive him to the nearest bakery. He arrived at two bakeries and bought every single loaf of bread he found in the bakeries. The owner was dumbfounded but willingly sold everything. He spent less than $100 to obtain about 400 loaves of bread (this is less than $0.25 per loaf) and spent another $100 to get daily necessities.

Off he went in the truck full of bread into the streets. As he distributed the bread and necessities to the children (mostly handicapped) and a few adults, he received cheers and bows from these unfortunate.

For the first time in his life he wondered how people can give up their dignity for a loaf of bread which cost less than $0.25.

He began to tell himself how fortunate he is. How fortunate he is to be able to have a complete body, have a job, have a family, have the chance to complain what food is nice and what isn’t nice, have the chance to be clothed, have the many things that these people in front of him are deprived of.

Now I begin to think and feel it, too! Was my life really that bad? Perhaps no, I should not feel bad at all. What about you? Maybe the next time you think you are, think about the child who lost one hand to beg on the streets.

“Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, it is the realization of how much you already have.”

When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don’t see the one which has been opened for us.

It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can’t go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

Post from: Health or Money?

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A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired.During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives.

Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups – porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:

“Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

The cup that you’re drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.

What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups. And then you began eyeing each other’s cups. Now consider this:

Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the qualityof life you have.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups.

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your hot chocolate!

Did you relate any of the above mentioned examples to your way of living? Are you rethinking now whether it was worthwhile to buy that expensive and nice cup just to hold a beautiful cup of coffee each day?

Post from: Health or Money?