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Clipping coupons has been a practice of budget conscious families for many years now. As technology and the internet have advanced, the age old coupons have also received their much needed makeover in the form of printable online coupons. These modern age coupons are readily available 24/7 over the internet and can easily be found on grocery and manufacturer’s websites. Additionally, there are several websites solely devoted to collecting coupon information in one easy to search place.

Saving money has become a major priority today as costs of living continue to skyrocket and the jobs market waits for a recovery. Given this condition, online coupons help give smart shoppers a distinct advantage by allowing them to stretch their family grocery budget and save more for emergencies.

Shopping for Less

Online coupons are amazing tools to cut down on your grocery expenses. Other than your credit card, coupons are your perfect shopping companion as they allow you to enjoy special freebies and discounts in an instant. These incentives can range from a price reduction to a buy one take one offer.

As retailers and manufacturers think of newer and more cost efficient ways to win new customers, online grocery coupons are becoming more popular and diverse than ever. From Similac baby coupons to adult diapers, from frozen meats to fast food meals, almost all items sold in groceries today are offering deals for the savvy shopper. The only catch is that you need to search them out and print them.

Discounted Shipping

Other than shopping, online offers can also reward you with discounted or free shipping especially if your purchase their items online. Shopping over the internet has been gaining solid popularity over the past several years, which is why many companies are now offering special incentives that can deduct a significant percentage of your shipping expenses and final price.

Consumer Rewards

Online coupons are often used by many businesses to entice a new consumer to try out their brand in the hopes of becoming a staple in your grocery list. But some programs are geared towards keeping customers and rewarding their continued purchases. These come in special consumer rewards cards for their regular patrons, and can lead to a free gift or deeply discounted goods and services. By regularly following shopping forums in the know or subscribing to a company’s website, you can be rewarded with something like free Gatorade coupons when the company releases a new flavor, for example, which is an additional incentive not given to the average shopper.

Variety

One of the many ways by which coupons can help put more money in your savings account is by allowing you to try out different brands that may prove to be more cost efficient for you. Oftentimes, families rely on their brand of choice for many years without realizing that there is an equally effective option that is sold at half the price.

Being on a budget doesn’t mean that your family has to suffer. Smart shopping and a little internet research can keep food on the table, while still allowing you to save money and prepare for the future.

When I am writing my resume there are 3 things I strive to remember and 5 things I have found I must include.

Let’s look at the 3 things to remember in resume writing:
• I must remember they want a specific job done, and they want to find the best person available at that time to do it.
• They want someone with a pleasing personality that is looking for an opportunity to grow further than the job they have available.
• They want me to be an interested and interesting human.

Here are the 5 things I’ve found I must include in writing my resume:
• What the job opening is, exactly, and my interpretation of it.
• My experience and workplace teamwork skills as it relates to the job opening.
• My education as it relates to the job opening and resume objective statement, especially any classes, seminars, or conferences that I have attended in the last 2 years.
• A glance at my life away from work.
• And the critical element: absolute correctness.

Now let’s switch seats. Let’s look at a resume from the reader’s point of view. My reader has a few or a few dozen resumes to read. I have 15 – 30 seconds to get them interested. How do I do that? I want to be professional, but not boring. I want to be excited about the opportunity and my experience, but constrained. I want them to say, “I want to meet this person.”

Here’s how I accomplish the above goals in my resume writing:

Remembering that they want to find the best available person to fill this position, I want to state clearly my understanding of what they want and correlate my experience with these responsibilities. (Remember that both paid and volunteer experience is experience.)

Example: This job opening is for a sales manager. I have been a sales manager for XYZ Company for over 1 year. The sales increase over the previous year was x%. Year to date, we are tracking at x% over the same period last year. My greatest satisfaction is in developing the sales personnel and congratulating them on their excellent achievements.

I want to let them know I value education and take time to improve my current skills and development new ones.

Example: Last year I attended at 2 day seminar on sales management, took an ecourse in leadership (weekly for 3 months and exam at end), and a 1 day conference in “How to Maximize Marketing and Advertising through your Sales Staff.” I implemented several ideas which resulted in lowering account turnover and increasing new accounts. I have attended 2 1-day seminars this year and have registered for a 2-day conference in _____.

I want to give them a glimpse of my private life—but not a whole history. The purpose is to show I am well rounded and a team player in the various facets of my life.

Example: I’ve been married to my lovely wife, Candace, for 7 years. We have 2 children; a girl in school and a boy in preschool. We are active in our church activities. We help in community activities as we can. I love baseball and can hardly wait to get my son in T-ball.

The critical element—without which I cannot get an interview even if they want to see me—is that my contact information is correct. My address, my phone numbers, my email address must be correct. The same is true for contact information of previous employers and/or volunteer leaders.

My last thoughts are to keep my resume writing to 1 or 1 and a half pages, use active verbs, and keep language positive. Then practice my response: “Yes, I’d appreciate the opportunity to speak with you in person.”  Next, prepare a list of questions to take with me to the interview.

Serenity, peace, tranquility… beautiful words that stand for beautiful, yet illusive things. We yearn for these and yet never quiet get there. Is there a way? Yes, there is. In fact this way has existed for thousands of years. It is called Zen Meditation.

Zen Meditation technique or Zazen as it is also referred to, is a form of concentration meditation. It’s lineage dates all the way back to Buddha’s enlightenment. Zazen means ”seated meditation”. And yes, the basic meditation seems very simple – you simply sit.

Of course the depth of Zen practice is anything but simple. There has been volumes written on this practice and it must be mentioned that meditation takes much dedication and practice. Zen meditation teaches us to loose the illusion of self, to loose the ego and to simply “be”.

By simply clearing your mind, we open ourselves to the beautiful nature of things. By becoming one with all things we realize that there is so much to life than meets the eye. Life transforms before our eyes and we may find that peace, serenity and tranquility within ourselves.

Here is an outline of the basic Zen session. Pick a quiet, dark room for your session. Be careful not to meditate on a full stomach or when you are warn out. Also, the best time is early in the morning after you wake up or before you go to sleep when your mind is at rest.

For different available sitting positions check Simpler Life Today. Your eyes may be opened or closed. If the eyes are open, make sure to face a neutral space, such as a wall, an empty room or a nature scene.

The goal of this meditation is clearing the mind of thought. However, it is impossible not to have any thoughts at all, so we offer the mind an object of focus. In this case it is the breath itself. Begin by counting your breath from “one to “ten” on each exhale. When you’re done, start over again.

When thoughts arise in your mind, simply acknowledge them and allow them to gently pass. Repeat this process over and over again. You will experience many different sensations, images and memories. Continue to acknowledge them and resuming the count.

Your goal is to learn to focus the mind on a single object. Nothing else exists besides this. You are fully emerged in the breath, with a completely clear mind. You observe, acknowledge and return to the breath. This is the essence of the practice.

There are numerous supplies that exist for Zen meditation practce, from sitting objects to guided meditation sessions, Cd’s and MP3’s. The most important thing however is that you practice. I suggest initially sitting for only 10 to 15 minutes. Gradually increase this time as you progress.

Bring the serenity of your meditation practice into your everyday life. Live with it and nourish it with daily practice. Your dedication will allow you to witness yourself and your life as it really is – beautiful.

That first consultation with the bride and groom is all important. Having a great wedding photography portfolio that’s going to make the bride cry as she imagines her big day is going to give you a great chance of landing the commission.

But if you’re just starting off, it’s difficult to get a decent collection of images to show off your skills. Here’s a look at some solutions that I hope will help.

1. Follow A Photographer

When I first started out, I rang round all my friends and asked who was going to a wedding that year. I then asked those if I could get in touch with the bride and groom to see if I could come along and shoot the entire wedding for them, as well as the main photographer, and if they could also check if it was ok with them too. The couple got the disc of photos for free.

I got four weddings out of this and over 1000 shots to play with. What’s more, I did my best not to get in the way and a couple of the photographers gave me loads of advice, not to mention everything I learnt just from watching them at work.

I remember watching a little bit confused as one photographer charged off down a path out of sight, with the bride and groom nowhere to be seen. He wanted to get a nice shot of the couple walking down the reception steps on to the lawns of this country house. Guessing what’s coming next is half the battle.

2. Assist

You can formerly assist, either paid or free of charge. Pick a photographer you admire and know a little bit about so you can pick up some great insights from them. You ideally want to be able to work as a second camera of course so you can build up your portfolio as you go.

3. Work For Free

In this case, not as an assistant, but for a bride and groom at their wedding, and with you working as the main and probably only photographer. You might want to charge a little, but for the first one or two weddings, take the pressure off yourself by doing it gratis and go for it. This way, you will have a full wedding to show prospective clients, something that many people will ask to see as well as your favorite shots.

4. Test Test Test

Go to a church, reception venue, outside at night and in low light, take shots of friends and family, and test out as many situations you might face at a wedding as you possibly can. I cannot recommend this enough. It feels a bit odd at first, but you need to get over that hurdle to become a good photographer.

5. Make It Look Great

When you finally get round to putting together your portfolio, you are likely going want to work with a combination of media, including sample albums, printed work and something that works great for me, a slideshow set to great (not tacky) music. Make it all look stunning, absolutely perfectly presented. Before you know it, you’ll be providing tissues too for the emotional bride who would love to have you are her photographer.

Good luck, and if you need any more info, please be sure to check out my site http://photographygems.com/. Happy shooting…

Did you know that filing for bankruptcy can stop your home from being foreclosed upon?  If you are considering filing for bankruptcy you should speak to a Seattle bankruptcy attorney to learn about what options may be available to you.  Seattle bankruptcy lawyers will probably tell you about some of the options listed in this article.  The course of action that you should take will be based on your individual situation.

Loan Modification

Once you are behind on your house payments, your lender may take steps to enforce the terms of your loan by attempt to sell the house at a trustee’s sale to recoup some or all of its money from the proceeds of the auction price.

If you are behind on your payments most lenders will try and get you caught up and probably won’t try to foreclose until the loan is at least 90 days in arrears.  If you are behind on your loan payment, you should call your lender and see if they will allow you to have a modification of your loan terms.  It sounds easier said than done though as lenders are notoriously slow in approving loan modifications and it may take over a year to get something approved.

Short Sale or Deed in Lieu

Another option for home owners trying to avoid bankruptcy is attempting a short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure.  A short sale is selling the house for less than what is owed on the loan, and the lender must approve the sale at the lower price. Lenders accept these deals because they often may come out ahead rather than having the borrower continue to be delinquent on the payments.  It should be noted that in Washington state, debtors will not be liable for any deficiencies on their first mortgage

A deed in lieu of foreclosure occurs when the borrower voluntarily turns the property over to the lender. This may be another option available to borrowers facing tough times and trying to avoid foreclosure.

The Automatic Stay: Delaying Foreclosure

When you file for bankruptcy, an automatic stay protects you home from being foreclosed unless the lender petitions the court for relief from the automatic stay in order to foreclose.

How Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Can Help

A chapter 13 bankruptcy can help a borrower make up the payments that they are behind.  These arrears must be made up in full over a 5 year period so the debtor must have income in order to file for chapter 13 bankruptcy.

If you successfully complete your Chapter 13 payment plan, your unsecured debts that have not been paid will be forgiven and your house payment will revert to normal and you keep your house.

How Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Can Help

Filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy will allow you to buy some time to figure out your financial situation and delay any sort of foreclosure.  It should be noted that once you receive a discharge of your unsecured debts, lenders may once again start foreclosure proceedings as they are no longer covered by the bankruptcy automatic stay.    Delaying the process may also allow you to live rent free in your home while your bankruptcy is in progress.