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Moving ranks close to root canals on the list of items people would rather avoid. Here’s six questions everyone should ask themselves to help make moving less financially stressful.

1. How Much Are You Moving?

Whether you have the contents of a dorm room or a three-bedroom house can make a large impact on the cost of your move. Each box and each piece of furniture will carry its cost in time, sweat, and cash. Pare down as much as you can. Donate and trash anything that you haven’t used in the last a year to free up moving space.

2. How Will You Store Your Stuff?

If you are moving to a smaller place or have a temporary lull until the final location is available, using storage units might be necessary. Again, rent the smallest unit available that will hold your items and be sure to use sturdy stackable containers that are moisture-resistant. Look at the design of the new home and plan ways to store and organize your belongings before moving in.

3. Will You Need Outside Help?

If you have furniture or major appliances, you should request help from friends and family. Use their help to navigate large items with a dolly into the moving van. If friends or family have trucks or trailers, use those before resorting to renting a moving truck. Unless you are moving extremely large amounts, you likely won’t need to hire a moving company.

4. How Much Do You Need for Utilities?

Make sure to reserve some money in the budget for new setup of utilities. Many require a deposit, installation fee, or other initial costs. This includes electric, water, gas, cable, phone and internet, and garbage removal. Also, if you are the owner of the property, you’ll want to change the locks.

5. Where Can You Find Packing Supplies?

Buy your materials in bulk from a warehouse club or shipping outlet rather than the moving company. Or better yet, ask local retailers if they have boxes that they can give you for free. Make sure to clearly mark each box for the room it belongs to. Keep one “open first” box that includes toilet paper, cleaning wipes, trash bags, and whatever you need to sleep the first night. In all the chaos, it will be nice not to have to hunt for those items.

There is help for our veterans who are looking to refinance their mortgage loans. With the help of a VA home loan when using a VA Streamline loan the refinancing process should be very easy.

What Is The VA Streamline Loan

The VA Streamline loan was created in 1944. The purpose of this loan was to give aid to the former military personnel when purchasing their homes and helping maintain their homes. This is a loan that was guaranteed by the Veteran’s Administration. With this type of a loan the veterans would receive an interest rate that was considerably lower than that of a typical financial lender.

Even as a veteran there are those that are being denied for the VA Streamline Loan. They are being denied due to a not so good credit history or because the home that they own has lost it’s original value. Believe it or not even though the banks are denying you there is still help and options available to you.

Guidelines To A VA Streamline Loan

Even though the lenders claim that they know all of the mortgage rules and policies for every type of a loan out there the personal loans for bad credit lenders who are unfortunately denying the VA Streamline loans are doing so because they do not know the policies of the lending for the Veteran’s Administration. They will deny the loan due to them not wanting to take the risk. This is not correct. It is important that as a veteran you know the guidelines and rules as well as the lender.

Guidelines

The first and major thing to remember when applying for one of these loans is that there is no credit score required. Many lenders will demand that they run your credit score. If you are a person with a not so good credit history it might be a great idea to walk away from that lender and find one who will follow the correct policies of the Veteran’s Administration.

Another guideline that should be followed is that there is no appraisal required. This is a very important guideline to remember because in today’s housing market there are many people who have upside down mortgages. This is because the values of their homes have crashed and the amount of their mortgage is more than what their house is worth. As a Veteran you have the option of refinancing your home under the VA Streamline loan without having to worry about how much is owed on your current mortgage loans with no credit check.

The last guideline is that manufactured homes are eligible. If you are a veteran with a current VA mortgage loan you will be eligible for this loan whether you have a manufactured home or a home that the frame has been built.

Conclusion

As a Veteran you have many advantages when it comes to certain things. A home loan and a refinance of your home loan is one of these advantages. You should take advantage of all of the benefits that you receive. After all you have served the country and you deserve what it gives back to you.

Thanks to rising costs in general and the need to save a bit more, Christmas has started to get harder to deal with on a financial basis with each new year. Those with big families tend to find it the hardest, but everyone can benefit from a few simple budgetary tips.

There are so many options and methods to be implemented to ensure that you are not overstretched at Christmas and all shouldn’t be too hard to apply to your festive spending habits.

• Although this is perhaps a tip that is a bit late, it is certainly one that is effective; the tip being to start your Christmas shopping early. This allows you to take your time and survey all the numerous offers and sales that are almost certain to be in effect. Remember to look on the internet as well as the high street for deals.

• Using online vouchers or eMoney will help restrict your expenditure, as well as ensure your payments are safe and anonymous. Online vouchers from somewhere such as Ukash only allow you to put a certain amount of money on them and so you can’t spend any more than you have on the voucher.

• Setting a maximum budget for all the people on your shopping list allows you to see the most you will spend on Christmas presents and so you can budget for that set amount, because as long as you don’t go over it, you can set your other budgets in relation to your shopping list.

• Another good tip is to buy early if you’re buying online. Some online stores hike up the delivery prices in the run up to Christmas to take advantage of those late to Christmas shopping and have no choice but to pay the heightened prices.

• Ensure that you are realistic about what you can afford and that you have considered all the other expenditure that is coming out that month that might include heating, gas and water, as well as the likes of travelling costs over the festive period.

Implementing these tips will help you save bundle of money each Christmas and may even inspire you to more helpful tricks to help curve expenditure at one of the most expensive parts of the year.

As with most major expenses, cars will not only have you shelling out on the immediate cost, but will also force you to spend more and more during the time you’re in ownership and so being able to limit expenditure is imperative.

Remember that a car takes a lot of maintenance, as well as the constant need for fuel and the odd top up of oil; but it is the requirements of services and yearly check-ups that can cost into the hundreds and really put a strain on your finances.

There are ways for each stage of car ownership where you can find ways to be able to save money, even when buying the car in the first place, as well as bringing down fuel costs, road tax (if in the UK)and maintenance costs.

• Never ever pay the window price, every car has a target price and you should aim to get a slight percentage off of the price the showroom is suggesting. Look online for the guide price of the car(s).

• Look around to see what you should be getting for your car if part-exchanging. Check ads for cars similar to yours and what they are being valued at, as well as remembering back to what you spent on it when you bought it and whether you have added value over the years with new parts.

• If you’re in the market for a new car, but aren’t worried about the likes of garnishing it with endless optional extras that can rack the price up by a few hundred if not thousand, then ask the dealer whether they have anything new on the forecourt that is a more basic model. This also allows you to get the car earlier, instead of having to wait for it to be built at the factory.

• Try to get a deal that has a few extra benefits thrown in such as free servicing for five years or a years’ worth of free insurance, interest free APR deals are also well worth keeping an eye out for.

• For those after a new fleet car, first of all get looking for a frugal motor that is perhaps diesel-powered as opposed to petrol and then look to get a fuel card to hand from somewhere such as FCSICard.com in order to save on your VAT.

• If you’re a young driver and are considering your options in terms of insurance, try to get your parents or someone with a great deal of driving experience as a named driver which should help bring your premium down.

This is an article from FCSI Card fuel card supplier for fleet drivers in Portugal and around Europe.

Saving money on day-to-day expenditure is one thing, but reigning in your habits to save even more is another one of life’s challenges and involves taking account of your spending behaviour on things that you just don’t need.

Everybody has habits in life and there are always ways that you can use them less to save more money. Such spending habits include eating out, drinking (alcohol) and smoking.

There are so many people that refuse to cook in the home and so pay more for the likes of takeaways and meals in restaurants which can put a really stretch on their finances. Eating out should be a nice treat and not something that should be a common occurrence, unless you’re absolutely made of money.

It is so much cheaper to do a modest shop at the supermarket and begin cooking food at home to cut down the costs. Reserve one weekend of every month to treat you and your family to a night out and these nights out will feel special and can be something to look forward to, as opposed to ruining the effect with several each week.

Smoking is a habit that costs individuals not only their health, but also a ton of money. Those who are on about 40-60 cigarettes a day will be spending into the hundreds each week and so cutting down or dropping the habit completely will enable you to save bundles of cash.

An alternative if you’re struggling to quit completely is to switch from the conventional cigarette to electronic cigarettes. E cigarettes are made so that you don’t inhale of the chemicals of a standard cigarette and also help you save money, as they are reusable and so the need to keep buying cigarettes is removed.

If you buy Electronic Cigarettes from Freshcig.co.uk you’d be able to both rein in your spending, as well as increase your health along the way.

Drinking can also be an expensive and unhealthy habit to participate in. Alcohol is a massive expense to some, as they feel the need to always have some in one form or another in their fridge or wine rack.

Like eating out, having a good drink with friends or just as a reward after work should not be seen as a regular thing and should again be regarded as a treat.

If you are able to combine all of these, then you will be able to save a great deal of money and in some cases, enjoy a much healthier lifestyle.