Cultured Stone Versus Natural Stone Fireplaces - oakland portable ventless fireplace

Looking to improve the beauty oakland portable ventless fireplace  and value of your house with a stone fireplace? Think about it: the stone is as strong and as classic as the best investment to come. If you are mulling over the stone for use in your new project, check whether you think it will fit into the style, timing and feel of your home, oakland portable ventless fireplace  it was to be in natural stone or cultured stone.

Natural stone investment is by electric fireplace manufacturers in canada  excellence is pricier, weightier and testier artwork for the stone in relation to culture. Your opportunities for this category tend to be limited, too. Granite, marble and limestone are typical options.

Cultured stone but can be designed to "match" the electric fireplace manufacturers in canada  type of stone surface you later, striking, and usually more durable than real stone fireplace products for projects. Imagine a pleasant bonus or lower costs. The appearance of cultured stone consists of stone aggregates, color and light weight of cement. He said that most sellers or cultured stones offer french fireplace surrounds  a half-a-century guarantee against wear and tear.

Given the natural french fireplace surrounds  stone, let's take a closer look perfectly representative: natural limestone. A rock Sedimentary calcium carbonate made from, the look and quality of limestone is affected by factors such as the quantity of calcium carbonate in the limestone and the amount of fossil contained in the final product oakland portable ventless fireplace  of natural limestone.

Now, for zero clearance fireplaces are affordable for the construction of masonry in comparison to the classic block built fireplaces. With zero for cleaning fireplaces, fireplace iron frame boarded up with plywood. Relatively light weight cultured stone veneers allows to be placed on the wood surface. Stone veneers are held in a safe place metal lathe attached to the surface of the wood, then applying a thin mortar

As we have stated, the costs of the application finnish fireplace plans of thin stone veneers miss is much lower than real stone with regard to weight and shape differences. Real stone requires diligent craftsmanship, as is normal for every natural limestone work. It is so much so that the total value of the account master worker signature to be affixed somewhere on the finished stone work. Another thing about electric fireplace manufacturers in canada  the natural limestone fireplace, in particular, is that the operating costs for each will always be, according to their taste and preferences KV.

An important french fireplace surrounds  reason for obtaining a faux stone for your home is that his presence in finnish fireplace plans  regular shapes and sizes means that you can achieve a series of stone fireplace design. As a matter of fact, part of the process when choosing the design cultured stone fireplace.

However, the reason electric fireplace manufacturers in canada  for thinking about the two stone veneers miss is that it can take on moisture, and still more, when a truncated, when chipped, the surface is a sign that it is brilliant. As a result the demanding in terms of maintenance and care. Take heed, and be careful about the fall of the recurring patterns and redundant in its design, which should look natural.

So, Quo Vadis, faux stone or traditional natural stone? finnish fireplace plans  Much will depend on how much actually you and your master craftsman work together to achieve results. Faux stone veneers look and feel like real stone and the stone fireplace is stunning allows to be built in a fraction of the cost of traditional stone.

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Jump Start Your Savings Today!

Do you feel like you could be saving more or should be saving more? Or do you fall into the category of the average American saving only 2%? If you are like most people you could and should be saving more. You need to jump start your savings today!

In order to jump start your savings, you need to do take two steps:

1. Begin an automatic savings plan to pay yourself first out of every paycheck.

2. Create your own personal (or family) savings program.

Both steps are the only two critical steps you need to act upon to jump start your savings today!

Step 2: Create a Savings Program! A savings program consists of a budget, specific savings goals, and savings strategies composed together to maximize how much you can save. Think of it as a plan. Without a plan, you may wander about, not knowing where you are going, how to get there, or where you even need to go. These are all negative hindrances impeding your progress. By creating a savings plan, you set in writing what you want, what you have now, how far you want to go, where you want to go and what methods are going to take you there. Your specifically tailored savings program is your strategy for maximizing your savings potential so you can reach success through saving.

A savings program consists of several items, or steps to create a true personal savings program. The most critical step, and the only one you need right now to jump start your savings, is to create your own personal (or family) account record book.

In order to budget, save and invest your money, you need an accurate account of how much money is coming in and how much is going out. Write down every dollar and cents you spend and earn. Include everything: your checking and savings accounts, cash, credit cards, your regular wage and any other money you may receive, such as income from side jobs. Include every dollar and every cent. Until you have mastered how to save money, every cent recorded in your account book will be significant.

An account book has many benefits. Your account book will be the basis for your budget. An account book allows you to examine how you are spending your money.It gives you an accurate picture of what you are currently spending and saving, and it divulges to you what is required to change to get the savings you desire. You will now realize where your money is going. You will be able to decide what you can eliminate, what can be reduced, and what will save you the most money.

An account book, or a record of income and expenses, will allow you to realize what your efforts have produced. If you have reached a 10%, 20%, or 30% savings, your records and a little arithmetic will give you the proof. You will be able to watch your progress grow as you save more and more and know when you can reach 50% savings and finally have reached it.

Take a few moments now to begin your own income and expense record book. Grab either a clean 3-ring notebook or an account ledger book (available at any office supply store) and begin immediately your own personal income and expense record book.

There are several different ways to set up your income and expense record book (check out Saving Your Way to Success for several illustrated examples), but the simplest would be to use the four column, running total method. This is the easiest to get started with immediately. To use this method, you only need four columns: Date, Transaction Description, Amount and Running Total. You simply start with the money you currently have in your pocket (or billfold, purse, etc.) and then with every instance of an expenditure or income coming in, you write down the current date, describe what you did with the money, and then add or subtract. It is that easy!

After you have a months worth of income and expenses, you may want to compile totals for various spending categories (the next step in creating a working budget). There are no absolute numbers (for example, if you spend more on housing, you will need to cut back on another category), but the following are guidelines for you to get started:

Charitable Gift - 10-15%

Saving (initially)- 5-10%

Housing - 25-35%

Utilities - 5-10%

Food - 5-15%

Transportation - 10-15%

Clothing - 2-7%

Medical/Health - 5-10%

Personal - 5-10%

Recreation - 5-10%

Debts - 5-10%

An account book is your personal progress report. It is your own personal positive helper. As long as you continue to grow your savings, it will show you amazing, positive results, and if at some moment you lapse in your savings, you will be able to figure out what didn’t go according to your budget plan. You will be able to watch your savings grow, grow, and GROW!

STEP 1: Pay Yourself First! When you begin a plan of systematic savings with every paycheck, you increase your savings dramatically. When you save $.50 of every $1 you earn and add the $.50 you saved with every $1 you spent, you literally multiply your savings. Save when you earn your money and when you spend your money. By implementing this strategy, you not only jump starting your savings, you are leaping forward by leaps and bounds.

Begin an automatic savings of 10% (or more) of every paycheck. By developing a plan in which you automatically save a portion every time you receive your paycheck, you take an important step forward in reaching success through saving. By reducing how much you have to spend (because you automatically save a percentage of every paycheck), you force yourself to live on less income. Once you are accustomed to spending less, you will be able to increase your savings from 10% to 15% to 20%. This is a crucial step in the creation of your savings program. You can reduce how much you spend and can begin saving immediately just by saving a portion of your paycheck.

An automatic savings of every paycheck—or, simply put, “paying yourself first out of every paycheck”—is a great method for saving money. Begin right now! Stop reading (for a moment), grab your billfold, purse, or wherever you keep your money, and begin an automatic savings plan by removing 10% of whatever is in it. Even if this amounts to only a few dollars, do it anyway. Now stick your money in an enveloped marked, "savings" and put it somewhere safe. Congratulations! You are now on your way to saving your way to success!

You have now taken two necessary steps that will help jump start your savings today!

To learn more about how you can jump start your savings and budgeting program and wealth accumulation go to http://www.savingyourwaytosuccess.com

Justin P. Ertelt is the author of Saving Your Way to Success, and owner of http://www.savingyourwaytosuccess.com, helping others acheive financial success. Justin can be reached at justin@savingyourwaytosuccess.com.

[tags]budgeting, saving money, budgeting resources, personal finance, family finances, how to save[/tags]

It's Not How Much You Make

Most people have very little control over how much they make, yet that is the first place people look when they run into financial problems. Instead of focusing on how much you make, you should focus on how much you spend. This means focusing on the things you can control instead of focusing on the things you cannot control.

There are many ways you can control your expenses. Debt consolidation is one way to control how much you spend. If you are deep in debt, especially credit card debt, a large percentage of your income is going to go toward paying off interest and does nothing toward getting you out of debt. Since credit cards and most other consumer credit come with very high interest rates, you can save a tremendous amount of money if you can lower the amount you spend on interest.

Debt consolidation takes all of your loans that are at a high interest rate and combines them into one large loan at a lower interest rate. This can often lower your monthly expenses by hundreds or thousands of dollars. This extra savings can go toward paying off the principle of your loans to help you get out of debt more rapidly. It can also be used to save toward an emergency fund, to help keep you out of financial problems in the future.

The key thing to watch out for when doing debt consolidation is your spending. Just because you have more money each month does not mean you should spend more. Typically this is what gets people into financial problems in the first place. If spending is not controlled, debt consolidation can actually make you worse off than before.

Debt consolidation is one of the key ways to lower your monthly expenses. When used with care, it can be an important step in getting out of debt.

The Debt Consolidation site offers insights into managing and reducing your debt. You can find more articles like this one at: http://debt-consolidation.strategy-blogs.com/

[tags]debt, debt consolidation, finances, personal finances[/tags]

Inspirational - Money Is In The Mind

Some of us make huge money. Some make a real big amount. It is as if they have a magic formula. Look at the list of the richest people. Most of the names are repeated year after year. At the same time there are some who are born with great intelligence and manage to only earn their living. They never manage to make big money. Why? What is the secret that makes some people attract money?

What is money attraction?

Is there something like money attraction? We find some people with great charisma. They attract people towards them. Is there something similar with money? Do some people have magnetic pull over money? Yes. It is there. The people who attract money believe that - they deserve to earn big money. They also believe that there is enough money in the world. They are of the opinion that everybody should become rich. They know how to save money and spend it judiciously. They know that they have the intelligence to make huge money. They know how to make business plans that work and they have faith in their plans. You cannot easily change their mind.

On the other hand, a much larger population believes that big money is for others. These people some how come to a conclusion that big money is not in their fate. These people do not believe that they have the intelligence that is superior and they may lose money if they invest in some venture. Somehow this large majority believes in all the factors that drive money away.

Money is in thinking. Money is in confidence. Money is in self-belief and money is in the mind. Believe it and you will earn it.

The author, C.D. Mohatta writes fun quizzes and fun tests at http://www.funquizcards.com/ on topics like love, personality, dating, relationships, friendship, movies, tv, music, business, etc. The second site, the author writes for, is http://www.ecarduniverse.com/ which has free ecards on holidays, birthday, love, friendship, family, expressions, celebrations and all events and occasions. One more site associated with the author is http://www.yourfungames.com/ - it has free flash games which anyone can play online.

[tags]inspiration,money,finance,success,monetary matters[/tags]

Inexpensive Dating Ideas

Dating and saving money. For many, the two concepts don't equate. There's an automatic reaction for most when suggesting the two together that the person paying is trying to be "cheap" and the resulting date will naturally have the same feel. Contrary to popular belief, however, dating doesn't have to be expensive to be fun, entertaining and memorable. It doesn't even have to take a whole lot of extra preparation time. What it does take is a little imagination and breaking from the typical date routine. You have to be willing to think beyond dinner and a movie and be willing to try something new for a change. Here are 15 inexpensive dating ideas: 10 for anyone plus 5 for the adventurous.

Natural Scenery: The beauty of nature is all around us and it doesn't cost a dime. Whether it's a trip to the beach, a walk in the forest or a search into a cave, it can be done together for practically nothing. Take the time to find the natural scenic spots in your area and utilize them for your dates.

Sports: If you and your date are both athletic, sport activities together can be a great way to spend your time. Play a set of tennis, jog in the park, toss a Frisbee about, play catch with a baseball or football or shoot some baskets. Whichever you choose, you can spend quality time at minimal cost and get some exercise in, too.

Picnic: Picnics are great for dates because they can be taken along wherever you plan to go for the day and they cost a fraction of going out for a meal. They also can be made as casual or as romantic as you want. Take a casual picnic meal, add some cheese & wine along with a red rose and the picnic instantly takes on a romantic feel.

Historic Places & Buildings: It seems the only time people go looking at the historic landmarks near where they live is when visitors come from out of town. Many of these historic or culturally significant spots have no or small entrance fees and make a great place to go on a date. You also get to learn more about the area you live.

Meal/Evening At Home: Cook up a meal at home and spend the evening watching movies or some other activity such as a board game. The meal most likely will be better than at a restaurant and the evening will cost a fraction of what going out to dinner and a movie would cost. Cook the meal together to spend even more time together, or do it yourself as a special surprise.

Memory Album: Take your camera or purchase an inexpensive disposable camera and make a day of taking photos together. Make a theme for the day if you want or just take any crazy photo that comes to mind. Once finished, get the photos 1 hour processed and create a memory album together for the day that will live on forever.

Museums: If you have museums in your area, they can be an excellent place to enjoy an inexpensive date. Admission prices are usually reasonable and often they have discounts for those attending a number of events over the year.

Learn A New Skill: Gather some information on a skill you always wanted to learn and spend a day practicing it together. It could be a day of learning card tricks, learning how to juggle or learning to make bird calls. Any skill you have always wanted to try can make a fun and interesting date.

College Events: If you live near a college or university, utilize their resources for your dates. Guest lectures, music recitals, art exhibitions and plays are common and are often free of charge. The quality can be excellent and the variety enormous.

Hobby Together: you can set a regularly scheduled date if the two of you have a hobby you both enjoy. You can look in the local community newsletter to see if there are classes being offered in something that interests both of you. These classes are usually quite inexpensive and the two of you can enjoy a few hours each week together learning something new.

For those who are looking for an inexpensive date with some adventure involved, here are five more options that are sure to make the evening memorable:

Local Thrift Shop Date: Plan a date someplace where there are a lot of people. Before going, head down to the local thrift shop together. Once there, specify a small amount of money to purchase clothing or accessories for the other and both head off in different directions. The goal is to find items the other has to wear for the rest of the day/evening within the price specified. The entertainment is seeing the reaction from all the people who see your new outfit as you wander the crowded area.

Follow Them Date: As the two of you meet, you look around and pick somebody out on the street. The date is to follow that person where ever he or she goes. Once that person has stopped or you can no longer follow them, pick another person to follow. Your bound to have loads of laughs as you attempt to stay with your designated guide.

Scavenger Hunt Date: When your date arrives, have him or her make a list of what he or she considers to be 20 unusual items. Once the list is made, the date will be to try and find as many of those items as possible.

Truth Or Dare Date: Pick some spots in your area to visit, but play truth or dare along the way. It doesn't really matter where you go since the entertainment is doing the various dares that the other gives in addition to telling all the truths.

Bag Of Dates: Put each of the dates I just mentioned, plus any others that you come up with, onto a separate sheet of paper and place them in a bag. When your date comes to the door, have him or her reach inside and choose a piece of paper. Whichever one is chosen is your date for the day/evening.

Copyright (c) 2004, by Jeffrey Strain

This article may be freely distributed so long as the copyright, author's information and an active link (where possible) are included.

A complimentary copy of any newsletter or a link to the site where the article is posted would be greatly appreciated.

About The Author

Jeffrey Strain has published hundreds of money saving articles and the creator of the Daily Money Saving Challenge Program. He is the co-owner of http://www.savingadvice.com -- a website dedicated to saving you money.

savingadvice@gmail.com

[tags]dates,dating,relationships,budget,personal finance,friends,love,romance[/tags]

Improving Your Financial Position

If you want money you need to learn how to control it. You need to improve your financial education and build your discipline. I am going to reveal to you how you can do both. Let me ask you a very simple question. Do you want money? Of course you do!

Everybody wants money. You might think my next questions are even sillier, but I'll ask them anyway. Would you like to have money all the time? Do you really want money?

You see what I am asking you, by adding the word "really," is do you actually want the money itself or do you want the freedom it can buy you? Ahh. Now you see what I am getting at. What you really want is the freedom that the money represents. What you really want is freedom.

Access to money allows lots of freedom.

What would be the point of being a millionaire or even a billionaire if you were serving a prison sentence for the rest of your life? Your loss of freedom would render your prime use for that money next to useless.

So, how do we get money? There are many ways. We can work for it, receive commissions, receive royalties and we can accrue it from things like interest and investments. We can even steal it, much as I dislike even mentioning such an option.

In reality there are only two basic ways of accumulating money:

1 - we can work for it ourselves by exchanging time and effort,

2 - our existing money can be put to work to replicate itself.

For most people, it is not how much they earn, it is how much they are able to keep. That is the single most important difference between becoming wealthy and staying poor. Spending more than we earn is the recipe to certain financial disaster. Yet most people do just that.

The answer to becoming wealthy is financial education and discipline.

There are many ways to educate yourself better in the ways of handling money. However, by far, the easiest is to gather the knowledge through the wisdom contained in appropriate books. In my opinion, there is no better general resource than George Classon's timeless classic, "The Richest Man in Babylon". I highly recommend it.

I know from experience that those who desperately need the knowledge this excellent book contains will never read it - even if it were placed in front of them every day for a month. That is why they are poor. They think poor and do nothing to change it. What is in their wallet or purse is a direct result of what is in their head, or, more correctly, what is not in their head.

The poorest people are the people who spend the greatest amount of money on trash. They would never think to buy knowledge or invest in their greatest asset - their brain!

There is another very powerful thing that you can do to prepare yourself to handle money wisely. If you want to have money, I suggest a good place to start is with your own discipline. This is another area where poor people fall well short.

If you want to elevate your self esteem and improve your discipline both at the same time, try the following. It will ensure that you have money all the time:

Go to your bank. Withdraw the biggest single denominational note you can (say $100). Put the note in your wallet or purse then, and here comes the most important part, DO NOT SPEND IT!

Nothing will give you greater self esteem and nothing will build financial discipline stronger than doing this.

I have been walking around with three $100 notes in my wallet now for over a month. I refuse to spend them. I go into shops, I look at things I want, I think, "Gee, I'd really like that!" then I turn around and walk out. How much money do you think I have saved by not giving in to impulse buying?

My $300 gives me a great lift. It gives me tremendous self esteem to know that I can afford to buy lots of things if I want. I am in control of that money. It is not controlling me. I am exercising my discipline not to spend it.

I have other money in my wallet. It's just that the $300 is what I call my "quarantine money." The other money is my budget money.

If you want money you need to learn how to control it. You need to improve your financial education and build your discipline. I have just revealed to you how you can do both. Now that you know, will you do anything about it? Hmm.

[If you like this article and would like to use it on your own website or ezine you may do so ONLY if the article is not changed in any way and the final paragraph: "About the author", with all links intact, is included.]

About the author: Gary Simpson is the author of eight books covering a diverse range of subjects such as self esteem, affirmations, self defense, finance and much more. His articles appear all over the web. Gary's email address is budo@iinet.net.au. Click here to go to his Motivation & Self Esteem for Success website where you can receive his "Zenspirational Thoughts" plus an immediate FREE copy of his highly acclaimed, life-changing e-book "The Power of Choice."

[tags]money,finance, financial responsibility,cash,capital,discipline,motivation,self help,advice on money[/tags]