Best Buy Holiday

Everyone loves beach holidays! The little ones can dig in the sand and splash in the lapping waves. The older ones can swim, get a tan, or just relax. The inquisitive types can explore for sea life, tide pools, and drift wood. The warm breezes and natural beauty are invigorating and restorative. Any trip, however, can cause discomfort if you do not plan well. Here are things you can do to make your beach holidays easier, safer, and more meaningful.

In many parts of the world, people head for their beach holidays in the family car. When planning a trip, it’s always a good idea to give the car a good cleaning out first. This will give you more room for your luggage. Stock you glovebox, too, with a few first aid and comfort items, such as sunblock, acetominiphen for headaches, a roll of antacids, a few cough drops, and a few bandaids. Don’t forget a couple of scrunchies or pony-tailers for long hair. Get the tires checked and replace any that are likely to go flat. Get an oil change if it’s getting close. Road trips are not much fun when they include breakdowns. And whatever you do, make sure you have a map and a place to keep it handy.

Travelling with kids is always a challenge. They may be particularly excited and impatient when they know they are going on beach holidays. Make sure they have cool water bottles and healthy snacks to munch. Try a simple car game to make the time pass. Many kids like looking for letters of the alphabet on signs. If several people get involved it can be quite fun.

With beach holidays particularly, there is always a need to provide for skin safety. Be particularly careful about being in the sun for long stretches of time between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Use a sunblock with a high SPF rating and replace it after getting wet or drying off with your towel. The towel you choose can make a difference too. Thick towels get heavy and tend to trap a lot of sand. You may find you like thin towels at the beach. Wear sunglasses to protect your eyes and some sort of foot protection to keep your feet from being burned on the hot sand.

With a little preparation your beach holidays can be enjoyable and problem-free. When you arrive home you will be relaxed, refreshed, and ready for work. Take a minute to unpack and get your laundry going. It won’t belong until the kids will be shouting, “When can we go on beach holidays again?”

Avoid Weight Gain During The Holidays – 5 Easy Tips

If you’re worried about gaining weight over the holidays you’re not alone.

The average North American gains 7 to 12 pounds over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Follow these simple holiday diet tips and tricks and you’ll avoid the holiday weight gain that afflicts so many other people:

#1 Drink Water – and Lots of It.

Boring I know – but the reason this tip stays around year after year is because it works. Adequate water intake keeps your metabolism humming along at a maximum rate and staves off hunger cravings as well.

In fact many people mistake thirst for hunger and end up eating to quench their thirst. This results in more calories than you body needs and – you guessed it – excess pounds.

Models and celebrities all know about the powerful slimming effects of drinking water which is why you often see them holding a bottle of water in their hands as they dash through airports or stand around at fashion shows.

#2 Increase Your Exercise A Little Bit Every Day

Everyone deserves to indulge in holiday treats. Part of the fun of the holiday season is the amazing treats that are only around at Christmas and/or Thanksgiving.

Accept the fact that you’re going to indulge a bit – and then enjoy it! But make sure you make up for it elsewhere by increasing your exercise.

You don’t have to double your exercise time or sweat till you fall off your treadmill. Just increase your exercise time a bit every day, maybe ten minutes here, fifteen minutes there. It all adds up.

You’ll burn off those holiday treats and easily avoid extra weight gain. I have several girlfriends who have been doing this trick for years and they never gain a pound over the holidays (in fact they often lose a few!).

#3 Cut Back Where You Can At Other Meals

Did you know that the average number of calories consumed by one person during a typical Thanksgiving dinner is 7,100! That’s about 2 pounds strictly in terms of calories alone.

But not to worry. All you have to do is make small calorie cutbacks at other meals the week before and you’ll easily make up for the extra calories.

For example, instead a huge slice of pecan pie (which normally will run you about 500 calories) for desert, why not try some blueberries mixed with low fat yogurt? Instead of the bag of potato chips you usually indulge in for the big game, why not munch on air-popped, low fat popcorn?

You can save as much as 500 calories and you’re still having a salty, satisfying snack.

Bottom line: cut back where you can in little ways. You won’t miss the little sacrifices and you can then enjoy your holiday meals – guilt free!

#4 Eat What You Like – But Only A Few Bites

If you absolutely cannot imagine giving up any of your favorite treats this holiday season, give yourself permission to have a bite of everything – but only a bite!

I read somewhere that Jessica Simpson never denies herself any of her favorite foods – but she only allows herself one or two bites. And let’s face it the first couple of bites are the best tasting anyways!

#5 Don’t Eat After 7:00 pm

Experts tell us that the earlier in the day food is eaten, the more likely it is to be burned off. However when you eat late at night, this food is more likely to be stored as fat.

Celebrities like Oprah use this knowledge to their advantage and refuse to eat after a certain time like 7:00 p.m.

So if you know you absolutely must have a sweet indulgence during the day, try to have it before noon. Then towards the end of the day, snack on healthy, lower carb foods like salads, vegetable broth, fruits or lean protein.

This keeps your metabolism elevated but won’t pack on the pounds. I’ve personally used this trick before every holiday Christmas party for 5 years running and it certainly helps for getting into those slinky Christmas party dresses!

So those are 5 diet tips to avoid holiday weight gain this year. Follow them and you’re guaranteed to save yourself the stress of unwanted weight gain. Heck, you’ll probably even lose a few pounds, all in time for New Year’s Eve!

Once youve been paying off a credit card for a while you might be offered a payment holiday.’ Youll get a letter stating that since the company knows its difficult for some families around Christmas theyre offering you a month off from paying as a special present.’

Why Would They Do That?

Offers of payment holidays typically have a very high acceptance rate. People think its great that they can take a month off from the stress of paying back debt. What they dont usually realize is that these holidays arent a present at all. Theyre a great money-spinner for the credit card company. For the company its a win-win situation. They get to make big profits just by making their poorer customers happy.

How Can Letting Me Off Paying Earn Them Money?

That’s the trick. If you read the small print youll find that the payment holiday isnt interest free! Youre still being charged interest. And, since youre not paying anything back that month the interest will be there next month for you to pay interest on – called compound interest.

This is interest paid on interest. That might feel a little hard to grasp, so heres an example. Lets say you were paying back $1000 of debt at 1.5% per month, about 19.5% per year. Your minimum payment each month is 2% or 26.82% per year.

If you pay the minimum for all 12 months of the year, then you will pay back $233.51 and owe $941.62 at the end of the year. Your debt has been reduced by $58.38 and youve lost $175.13 in interest.

With the payment holiday though, you pay 2% per month for only 11 months. So, you pay 24.3% back on the debt over the year. Thats $217.80, and youd owe $960.55 at the end of the year. Overall, youve paid $37.86 for your payment holiday from a payment of about $20. In other words, your month off cost you almost two months of payments!

Dont worry if you dont understand all the math. Its been deliberately designed by mathematicians and marketers to be as confusing as possible, to stop you working out what a bad deal youre getting. Just remember, dont fall for it. The more you owe the more that holiday will cost you.

If It Sounds Too Good to Be True

Anytime they offer you anything, its because theyre going to make a profit on it. If you cant see where their profit is coming from, be suspicious.

Being alone is a challenge for many people. This challenge may loom especially large during the holidays if you are single or newly divorced and without family around you. Holidays are a time to share love, and many people end up feeling depressed when they do not have people around with whom to share love. If you are in this situation, what can you do to make the holidays joyous rather than depressing?

The key phrase here is SHARE LOVE. Too often people think in terms of getting love rather than giving and sharing their love. They dont realize that it is the act of giving their love that is so very fulfilling.

Gail had grown up very lonely in an emotionally distant family, with parents who did not freely give their love and relatives who were also cold and distant. She had married an emotionally distant man, and after 7 years of more loneliness, had decided to leave him. This was her first holiday season alone.

Gail decided that she was not going to be alone and lonely again this holiday season. She did some research on service agencies that needed volunteers and discovered a womens shelter in her area for women and their children who were hiding from physically abusive husbands. The shelter was badly in need of funds for food, which Gail didnt have. What she did have was the time to help gather food. Each day, after her job as a secretary, Gail went around to the markets in her area until she found some willing to donate Thanksgiving dinners for the mothers and their children. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, she spent her time at the shelter cooking, decorating, serving, and having Thanksgiving dinner with these brave women who had left their abusive husbands to save themselves and their children. It was the best Thanksgiving she ever had! By choosing to share her love with people who needed her, she felt filled with love.

Gail had such a fulfilling experience that she found a small part-time job in addition to her regular job so that she could afford to buy presents for the children at the shelter for Christmas. She had such fun buying presents for the children and watching their joyous little faces as they opened them on Christmas day! Gail felt anything but alone and lonely.

Gary was in a similar situation to Gail. He was single, had been an only child to parents who were no longer alive, and had no close relatives. His janitorial business did not give him much opportunity to make friends. Gary had spent many lonely holidays feeling isolated and depressed, and decided a few years ago to do something about it.

Gary loved animals. As a child, his dog had been his main connection with love. After some research, Gary discovered that there was a wonderful animal shelter within a half-hour of his home a shelter that loved and cared for animals and didnt euthanize them. Gary started to volunteer one day a week on the weekends cleaning, feeding, playing with puppies and kittens, helping to interview people who wanted to adopt a pet, and getting to know the other volunteers. He found that he really connected with the people who volunteered there. Many of them were loving people who were deeply devoted to caring for animals. As his friendships developed, he found he had a new sense of family centered around the shelter. Thanksgiving and Christmas were now sometimes spent with the other volunteers who did not have families, and sometimes with the families of some of the volunteers. Garys life had become full and fulfilling. The last I heard, he was dating a woman who also volunteered at the animal shelter.

No matter what your life situation is, you can always share your love with others. Instead of feeling alone and lonely this holiday season, open your heart to giving. There are many people and animals out there who would welcome your love.

5 Things To Protect Your Credit Score This Holiday Season

1. Avoid Department Store Offers for Instant Credit and Don’t Open Up New Lines of Credit

“Would you like to save 10% today on your purchase today?”. We have all been asked that question when paying for our purchases. Every store under the sun would like to offer you their own credit card. This is not good for your score. The damage to your score you’ll incur by opening up a new line of credit is just not worth the few dollars you might save. Department score credit is poor quality credit and the credit scoring system frowns on it. Just don’t apply for the card. You may want or need to apply for a new car loan, a new home loan, a re-finance a home loan. By applying for store credit to save a couple of dollars, you could be hurting your chance of getting an important loan at a good rate until the middle of next year.

2. Avoid Overspending

Spending affects credit. 30% of your credit score is made up of how you manage your debt, and when your credit card balances exceed 30% of their available limit, the credit scoring system red flags you and your score goes down instantly. The logic behind this is that if you suddenly max out your credit cards, it looks to the system as though you are in financial trouble. Only charge if you can pay the balance in full before the next statement date. Plus, overspending and overcharging will also cause you to carry larger balances longer. It is best to keep your balances low at all times.

3. Pay Your Bills On Time

Payment history is 35% of your credit score. One 30-day late can cost you 50 points or more. December is traditionally the busiest time of the year. Active calendars filled with work and social commitments for family and friends and the frenzy of the season can preoccupy you and cause you to be late in paying your bills. Make staying on top of your bills a priority. Put all of your bills in a file and make sure you pay them on time. In doing so, you will save points on your credit score and ridiculous late charges as much as $39 or more. Additionally, when you are late in paying your bills, you nullify any preferential finance rate and your account will default to a dramatically higher interest rate. A ding to your credit score, a high late fee, and a huge increase in interest rates are all big incentives to make sure you are on time with your bills. I recently got a call from a customer who had been late, but not 30 days late and the rate jumped on his card to over 30% annually!

4. Take the Time to Plan and Prepare Your Gift Giving

We all do it. We walk into a store ready to buy a specific item and end up getting lured into a spending vortex. Panic spending because the store does not have the item you went in to buy; deciding that if you buy this item for this person, then you have to buy this item for another person; succumbing to the temptation of the latest must-have gadget. You can prevent this well-woven retailer trap by doing your research online. By preparing before you even darken the automatic doorstep of the alluring retail establishment, you can determine where you can purchase specific items and for what price. In doing so, you can avoid the retail traps and retain control of your spending (and your sanity). Online shopping sites have grown tremendously in popularity. Traffic to those sites is up more than 30% from just last year. There is a wealth of information on the web. In fact, www.pricegrabber.com lists all of the hottest holiday items and tells you who sells them and for how much. Remember, if you pay your credit card bill prior to the statement date, it will help your scores. www.froogle.com is another great site to find the item for less.

5. Manage Your Credit Wisely

Keep track of your credit card balances and keep them as low as possible. Studies show that as consumers increase their credit card balances, they become increasingly apathetic about their balances and even about adding new debt. By tracking balances, you will maintain a sense of control over your credit score and your finances. Write out a chart of who you owe, how much you owe, and what the minimum payment is. It will help you to get a handle on your bills, and help start planning how to pay them off.