Energy shortage has finally become the talking point these days. The present Gas prices has drummed the point to virtually all.
It is time that everyone wrote to media, congressmen, representatives to push companies to allow employees to work from home. Except crucial occupations like medicine, fire, water, construction, manufacturing — the Companies ought to sit down and figure out which positions need physical presence and positions that could be done from home. Software, customer service etc could be done virtually. Actually, there should be law to enforce Companies to eliminate physical presence considerably or face stiff penalty.
Schools and colleges could also take to e-education. May be an occasional get together would be ideal. Physical presence should be cut dramatically, consciously to handle the energy crisis.
Meanwhile, talk to fellow workers and suggest to your employers that working from home will the best solution to save money and conserve gas.
Rising gas price has made my head spin. It was under a dollar a gallon in 2000. Will it ever go back to those days? While I wait for that miracle to happen…. I gave my gas-guzzling van a rest and have taken out the car which needs just 1 refill every week. Van needed 2 refills every week. I do not envy the people in big cities who travel 40 or 50 miles on a day. I am thankful, I live in a small town. Office is just across the river.
Incidentally, we take turns to drop each other so we also save on parking fees which could range from $30 to $60 a month, if both of us had opted for garage passes.Our charges work out to $15 each. It is a little bit inconvenient when 1 of us has an errand. My friend comes with the car. I drop him first and pick him back later or vice versa. Though, we are making 2 trips once or twice a week, it still helps in saving money - coz the car doesnt guzzle as much.
Moral of the story:
Pull out small car if you have multiple vehicles
Consider swapping ur big van for small car if feasible. It makes sense in the long run. The gas prices arent going down.
car pool if possible within same office, so 1 can apply for garage pass and rest can contribute
Source — Fobes.com/Ambanihouse by Alan Farnham & Matt Woolsey
Mukesh Ambani’s 27 storey house in Mumbai’s business district with 6 stories for parking & seperate gym for each member of the house, 65 seat theater & ball room with crystal chandeliers! Ambani house is currently estimated @ $2 billion. Thats nothing for him, afterall, he is the 5th richest man in the world’s billionaires club!
All this for a family of 4???? Wouldnt people get lost trying to find their way to the dining table? It might be loads of fun trying to find family members. Perhaps, equivalent of mapquest or GPS will be handy.
The design of the house is comparable to match box! It wont be much of an issue if he just invested in 1000 acres land and build a palace? Ice room and facilities for the house is ridiculous! What ever motivates the stinking rich? Is show-off valued so much that they go overboard with outrageous designs and horribly lavish facilities. All this in a country where the rich and poor divide is gulfs apart. Why cant he do charity if he doesnt know what to do with money?
Analyze your monthly savings for the past 6 months and determine how much cash you have at the end of the month(step 1). Try to assess the unnecessary shopping splurges you could have avoided(step 2).
If for example you had $200 / month in savings(step 1). Assuming you pegged $50 on wasteful expenditure(step2). Your monthly savings is $250.
Now if set a goal of $300 in savings, set aside that amount upfront in a seperate account. And, never be tempted to touch the money set aside for any trivial purchase. Personal discipline is extremely important. Pretend that the (savings target)money does not exist and try to work your expenditure budget after setting aside.
If you keep doing it month and month, you will have a tidy sum after few years. I know financial advisors would advise investing in stocks , bonds , mutual funds, realestate etc. But, I think in these markets investors only lose more than what they ever make. Best option, park your funds in a savings account - even if doesnt fetch much interest, at least, the principal is not eaten away(by greed, hype and foolish decisions).
It must be scary for home owners to be in this market where every other house is on sale. I fail to understand why every one wants to buy or sell home at the same time. The same logic seems to be what drive the share market too. Are people impelled by what the news channels say or is it comfort from having company? With every other house on sale, the prices of all houses in the neighbourhood will be dragged down. I have seen articles where home owners try to do-up their house, change carpet, add value etc in desperation to sell!
Dont panic. Stay calm. Wait for the market to stabilize. Even if it takes couple of years it might be worth the wait, if you can hold off selling at this point.
Conserving water will not only cut your water bills but also save energy bills and protect the environment. World’s natural water resources are depleting with climatic changes, economic growth, demographic changes, and enhanced consumption it is important to save this nature’s precious gift. While the governments and its constituent units are responsible for increased stewardship of maintaining aging and depleting resources, individuals must co-operate for more efficient use of available resources.
Indoor use:
Use tap water in place of bottled water for drinking water needs at home. Tap water is subject to more rigorous testing for purity standards. To ensure that tap water is clean, pure and safe and better tasting ozonation is used by many water boards before water reaches your home. One can not be sure of bottled water, though the manufacturers claim that bottled water under go more stringent standards. The outdoor use of bottled water can not be disputed though for ease of convenience.
Dripping taps
Leaky taps cause water to go waste. A single drop continuously falling can fill a bucket of about 10 gallons in a single day. In a month 300 gallons go down the drain. Calculate the cost of the water bill towards this wastage. Immediately fix the leaky taps to prevent wastage of this precious commodity.
Leaky toilets
After flushing the toilets, wait a while to see if water leaks through the bowl by the sound of it. A continuously drain of water in a single toilet bowl can cause as much as 50% raise in your water bills.
Avail Rebates
State water boards offer rebates for use of high efficiency clothes washers and high efficiency toilet systems. Check to see if your county water board offer one such.
Try to pick your real estate agent with in your Community. If possible try to befriend a realtor. Once on good terms with the realtor, you could invite your new friend home(puh-lease not as an agent!) . Then you could sound the agent to bring prospective client around if the client’s requirement matches your home. This approach will work when the agent is sought by buyer and agent is assured that he/she will certainly be seller’s agent. This situation is probably the most ideal for getting your house sold without getting it listed.
If you are planning to list your property, it is of utmost importance in choosing the right real estate agent. If you practice a particular belief or are part of a particular social, cultural or ethnic background, just look around within your community for a realtor. The chances are that this person will be help you better because you share the same values and understand each other better. What I observed when I was looking for a home in 2005 is, I gave a call to all Real estate Property Listing companies like Century 21, OldColony, ERA, Family First Realty – I did not even receive a single response for my query to be shown homes. <br/>
I finally used a real estate agent from my community. We are from the same part of the world and are generally aware of the thoughts, values etc. My friends who were on the look out have tried different agents, but, they too feel that most of the agents do not understand their requirements and try to show homes which are terrible. They had abandoned many agents and finally settled for an agent within their community. <br/>
The real estate agent works for a commission, but, we should not be the loser in the process (it matters more when you have a home to be sold). If your were listing your home in the market and the agent does not diligently show the home to prospectives or diligently try to sell, your home could be in the market for ever. I believe agents do have a say in steering the buyers to your home and helping them in arriving at a decision on which home to make an offer. For this to happen, one needs to have very good rapport with the realtor. The incentive for the realtor agent to work for you will be when they can make the maximum money or commission without having to split with other other real estate agencies and / or when they have to split with other agents. Imagine just getting a small slice of a tasty pie, when they need all of it?! Come back to read more on how to get your real estate agent to work for you. <br/>
We purchased our home in 2005. It was a very big house with a terrific yard! Though a good home, It was a impulsive buy. Soon after moving in, we noticed several more neighbourhood houses with ‘For Sale’ sign boards outside. We were curious to see how long it took for each of the houses to get sold. A quick search on Century 21, OldColony websites for those houses startled us. Many of the houses had excellent interiors. It looked much better than our home. Many of the houses were listed, then taken off the market, again listed and so on. We panicked and thought our house if put on sale would either result in terrible loss or would remain unsold for easily a year or more!
With in 9 months of moving into our home, we bumped into our realtor in a Party. We asked her how the market was and why so many houses were on sale on our street(along with rest of USA)? and how long it took for houses to be sold in my neighbourhood. That is when we learnt that many houses were taken off the market. At this point we casually mentioned her to keep us in mind if anyone ever needed a big house with a terrific yard. We thought no more about this episode.
Roughly a year later, the realtor called us up out of the blue to tell that a out-of-state client wanted a big house. She felt our home would be a perfect match for her client’s expectations. We were in intense dilemma. We seriously were not in a position to sell. Further our house had to be cleaned before we could let anybody in to see! She coaxed us telling it would be a wise to sell the house without putting in the market(listing fees was negligible) and that we are just showing the house, client may or may not like it blah, blah.. So we pulled up our socks and did our very best to tidy up the house. Unlike friends and relatives, potential buyers could open up ward robes, shelves etc to picture where things will fit in. We did such a wonderful job cleaning up. It came as no surprise when the prospective buyer made an offer on the house. After a bit of haggling it was sold. Though we did not make much of a profit on the house, we sold it without putting the house on the market.
