With the recent news stories being posted about how Wally World has now had their first decline in sales and profits only means one thing. This only hurt their current employees with cutbacks of hours, and freeze of any promotions. The few current employees that I have casually interviewed in the North  Houston, and Spring Texas area lately, have been very forth coming with their pay, and hours. Most said they were on average making $8.75 (rounded off), and their hours weekly were in the 30 to 34 range. That makes a gross paycheck of $297.50 on the high side of the information gathered. This essentially means that a family of four living in a two bedroom apartment, and paying all their basic bills would require at least three people in a household brining in identical pay just to get by in the current economy.

What can be done about this current financial situation for people in such an-unfortunate situation? Regrettably, the answer is nothing, due to the fact most of those people are not educated enough to get a better job, and they have little to no discretionary time for going to school part time to better themselves. Boycotting the discount giant would only further put the burden squarely on the employees that need the most help. Even if they can find another job that pays a few more cents or even a dollar more a hour, it would hardly be worth the hassle of changing jobs. They are trapped in a situation where they are relegated to making a wage that will never allow them to pursue the American dream, and the fear of losing that job keeps them loyal, as they need to keep a roof over their family’s head, and feed them.

walmart jobs

photo credit: MPD01605

Another method is find homeowners that are willing to owner finance, these type of deals are readily available but severely curb your selection of home types. There are several websites that show the offerings of homeowners willing to take a chance you as a first-time homeowner. Be prepared to put down a little larger down payment than usual, and the monthly payments may be bit larger as well.  A couple of other issues to consider when making a purchase like this is that they do not fall under the same rules and regulations a Realtor and lending company has to follow. So if the foundation is cracked, or there are other substructure problems the owner does not have to disclose them to you.

An owner finance deal can also be sold to other lending institutions and the original rules of the financing part can change drastically, and usually not in your favor. Be sure and get an unbiased home inspection before even putting a down payment on this type of home, so you can get your view into any issue the structure may have now or in the future. One way of avoiding being locked into a owner finance situation to only find out a few months down the road that there are serious problems with the home itself is to agree to a rent to own period for the first year.

This type of loan slash rental agreement will profit the owner in a more substantial year, but give the renter the opportunity to really learn everything about the property, and be able to move out without losing a substantial down payment. At this point you can ask the them to either fix the problems before continuing with the purchase or gracefully back-out of the deal.

For more information check out Houston Loans Guide Dot Com.

Loan Houston Texas

photo credit: nikcname

There were varying degrees of damage in our neighborhood during hurricane Ike a few years ago, and we pieced our home back together over a few months. The family room and the guest bedroom received the most damage in our home, and everything had to be replaced as they exterior walls had been breached, so the storm made it’s way inside. One piece that we had been trying to replace for months was our pine TV stand. We had bought it at Star furniture a few years prior, and it was no longer carried by Star or any other home furnishing store in the area Houston area.

Apparently we had bought a stand that was discontinued and was almost impossible to find. My daughter then suggested that I look online for a new one. We had the manufacturer’s name, model, and number from the invoice that the store reprinted for us, so I sat off in search for this solid pine corner TV stand. The search resulted a few possible deals, but during my project, I happened upon a used on Ebay, and the seller was local. I contacted them, and made arrangements to come see it in person the following day.

After making the trip over to Sugar Land off Highway 59 from Spring Texas, and finding the sellers home, I was greeted by a lovely lady who walked to the driveway to greet me. The stand turned out to be in almost perfect condition and I logged into my account while at their house, and bought it via paypal. Mrs. Harrison helped me load piece into the back of my SUV and bid her good day. We saved about three hundred dollars from this little serendipitous shopping spree, and used the money to buy a bigger LCD TV for the stand. Used pine furniture as long as it is in good condition and doesn’t have to have expensive shipping and handling thrown on top the price is a good deal.

One thing a friend of ours told me about buying online, is that always go with the sellers that have an established presence online, and have possibly hundred of positive feedback comments on their profile. If you do buy from a local seller, be careful when going to their home, and if the exterior looks unkempt, then most likely the product will not be in the best condition either. So when that red flag appears, just keep on driving. There are many great furniture resellers online, but you have to get a feel for who you can trust, and maybe buying something small and insignificant from them first will let you know how they conduct their business.

pine tv stand

photo credit: RobotSkirts

While growing up in the late sixties and early seventies I remember that all bathroom suites tended to be pink, this seemed to be the trend, and nowadays these have been replaced with brilliant white, even now pink still appears in so many bathrooms. The pink colours and shades that were available then were extremely boring and lifeless when compared with now where there is a large number of shades, textures and types available.

Combining pink and grey together are an excellent choice for just about any room as these are complimenting colors and could well be suited to just about any room. If for example you wanted to step away from the womanly colour scheme, you can basically choose darker shades of grey and pink to be able to bring together a truly remarkable result to any room.

Choose pink if you want to accomplish a look which gives you a feeling of relaxation, warmth and contentment. Picture your room with pale pink walls, when choosing curtains choose some which includes a complimentary colour integrated inside them, this would produce a great looking focal point to almost any room.

Paler shades of pink can provide a much softer more gentle romantic touch to your bedroom.
If perhaps you‚ Before trying to achieve a far more manly look and feel you could try mixing pink together with a great deal more dominating colours such as wine red, darkish green or even medium plum. If you like the idea of having full length curtains this will give your room the appearance of having high ceilings and create an illusion of more space.

These days pink is being used by men and women alike and not seen as a woman only color and is used throughout many design themes in a home.

The reason you should could consider the 150cc size models is that anything less may get you in some safety issues like not being able to drive at posted speed limits. For example a 49cc scooter while they enjoy the benefit of not having to have a drivers license, or minimum liability insurance coverage in the state of Texas. They can only travel on average at a speed of thirty to thirty five miles an hour. That is a perfect speed if you do you do not have to leave the confines of your subdivision, but getting into areas where you will need to keep up with cars traveling forty to fifty miles per hour, you will cause traffic to slow, and drivers behind you wanting to constantly pass. This could spell disaster if the car trying get passed you takes a chance with oncoming traffic and has to swerve back in your lane forcing you off the road.

150cc Scooter

You will get great gas mileage as an engine this size only uses drops compared to a full-size motorcycle or sub-compact car. Depending on your personal weight, and the cargo you are carrying anything above fifty miles per gallon is going to a good target area for your fuel economy results. A four-stroke engine will run off regular unleaded pump gas, and these little scoots normally hold about a gallon or just a couple of tenths more. Adding a windscreen or an aftermarket fairing is going to increase your riding comfort but at the same time reduce your mileage.

Storage on late model scooters is usually enough to hold two to four grocery bags underneath the seat where up to two full-size helmets can be stored. Optionally, a cargo case can be mounted on the back right behind the seat that can store even more shopping items, or your daily items that you will need to take to work with you. Personal storage for items such as cell phones, maps, and even your Starbucks latte can easily be accommodated by most models, as they have compartments and holders built-in to the area right below the instrument panel.

Try and stay with know brand scooters like Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, and Vespa, as it may be tempting to go with cheaper Chinese versions that have popped up on the market place in the last few years. You may save several hundred or even over a thousand dollars on the latter mentioned scooters, but service, and replacements parts are difficult to come by as they do not have the traditional dealership service resources, and parts that the more nationally known manufactures can have in place already.

The used scooter market is not as full of choices as you may think, as the price of fuel have made these little two wheel wonders very popular in the last couple of years. Buying a new model will probably be more of a sound purchase, since you really cannot tell how abusive the previous owner was on the drivetrain.

After exhausting, every avenue of resolution with your father, and the relationship is still strained, and then it is time to back off. If you feel that you have done everything possible to have a loving and healthy connection with him, and it has failed time and time again, then you may not be the problem. Confer with a counselor or your church’s clergy who can guide you on this matter to find peace in whatever situation you have landed in with your father. They may say the same thing, and the only solution at this point is to pray for your dad and ask God to take over, because you have done everything you know.

This may not be the answer you are looking for, but ask yourself how healthy it is for you to keep setting yourself up for heartbreak during every interaction with the same person, and nothing changes. Some call this insanity, by expecting different results while performing the same actions repeatedly. We all want that perfect bond with our parents that we see on television, or observe in our daily life, and it always seems to slip through our grasp at every opportunity.

The solution may not be in what you want, but what you give to others. Giving away what you want in life is a sure fire way to get it back. A woman named Clarice Harris from Diboll, Texas once said “You have send letters, to get letters”, and there is our answer in a short simple statement. That love, and compassion, plus the security of belonging to someone are a very powerful part of who we are and drive us in various directions in life. So instead of being bitter, and cynical because the way you have been treated in the past, let’s put our best foot forward, and treat our neighbors with the same love and compassion that we need and desire for our own lives.

Father's Day

This will start a healing within you that will tear down countless mental walls that have been thrown up during your life on this rock. You may not even know how to treat people as well as you would like to be treated. Here is a hint that will carry you into to that next phase of life that you want, treat everyone as if you would treat a newborn baby when you meet him or her. Not literally, but when you meet someone’s newborn for the first time, you know that child has only one thing to offer you and that is a smile. You are kind and caring toward the baby and say things to illicit that grin or payoff.

When you come upon adults, make it all about them, and what there life is about, do not worry about how they will react to you, and what you will reap from the encounter. Just give with no expectation of receiving anything in return. Giving freely from the heart always benefits both parties involved, and your reward will come back to you in amounts that you cannot even fathom. Plus, you are paying forward this gift that you have been given so freely.

It is nothing to actually see a lady about town spends four hundred dollars on her eye wear to keep her eyes protected and looking chic at the same time. The Galleria is a great place for a couple of gal pals to go shopping for clothes and other fashion accessories, and they will about two dozen retailers to shop for their sunglasses needs as well. If you do not want to venture down into Houston traffic, then The Woodlands Mall caters to “Fashion Diva”, as well as a few hundred boutiques, and fashion retailers in the many strip-center type shopping centers.

Ladies Sunglasses

photo credit: mikebaird

Good news for the women that have to stay on a tighter budget, in that you can usually find a similar clone or knockoff pair of the latest model of must have sunglasses. Usually you can find a pair for twenty to forty dollars versus the several hundred dollar originals. You may want to shop online first to narrow down the selections you would like to purchase, then venture out to the brick and mortar retailers to pick up the glasses you need for you new outfit the same day.

Take a fourteen-ounce can of Carnation or your favorite brand of sweetened condensed milk, and an equal amount of regular milk, then ad two to three teaspoons of your favorite flavored syrup, or extract like vanilla, or almond to the mix. You may want to put everything in your blender and run it on high for a minute to make sure it mixes properly. And “Bam”, as our good friend Emeril says, you have your perfect home flavored coffee creamer.

Coffee Creamer

If you are not a frugal shopper than this experiment may cost you more than what Carnation and the other food makers are charging for your favorite creamer. The up side to making the creamer yourself is that you can dial in how much flavor you want, and can experiment with combination of different syrups, and extracts to come up with an original creamer that assaults your taste buds the way you prefer. Surely the manufacturers of these delectable creamers do no use the exact ingredients we have laid out here for you, as they would not profit enough to make it worth their while.

Inexpensive, nearly indestructible, and can be used a safety floating device in an emergency, swimming pool noodles make a day at the pool complete in many way. The array of colors they are available in is astounding, and at the low cost below ten dollars, you can afford several for pool parties, and other impromptu swimming pool get togethers. Long gone are the days of having day blow up a car tire inner tube for floating fun, and getting the pool and yourself all black from the tube.

Swimming Noodles

photo credit: Travis Hornung

When shopping for pool noodles look for the bulk packs, as this will reduce the price to about one-third or even half the price when they are sold separately. Some companies even go further and make floating lounge chairs, bobbers, and super squirt-ers from the closed cell foam bars. The one thing you will not run out of with these simple floating devices is “fun”, as you and your family will only be limited with by your imagination when coming up with ideas for these floating water logs.

Other activities that people can do with the “noodle”, are javelin throwing contests, noodle baseball, and relay races to name a few. Get a wiffle baseball and use the noodle as bat to round the bases in the shallow end of the pool. Use them also as overgrown relay sticks to race in teams back and forth the length of the swimming pool. Even out of the water, you can use them to play field hockey with the same ball you used for your baseball game.

Mom can repurpose older and noodles that are ready to be tired in her arts and craft projects, as they can be cut down to size for making Christmas, or decorative wreaths to hang on your front door, or above the fireplace in the living room.

Cheap Area Rugs

Cheap area rugs are not made to last forever and with normal wear and tear should last a year or two before needing replacement. Of course, you can bump it up a notch and buy authentic wool area rugs, but they will be priced considerably higher than the synthetic versions you have been pursuing. But back to reality, and the hunt f
or the perfect rug for less than twenty bucks. Doing a quick search online will reveal a multitude of patters, shapes, and lengths that will help you narrow down your search for that mini Persian floor cover, or a reproduction of an antique Chinese rug.

After paring down your selections, print out the results and take them with you when shopping the local flooring discounters. Show your clerk the printed photos, and they will be able to show you the rugs in the category. Keep in mind when you see the prices at a local retailer that includes the price shipped to them. Your online purchase will incur shipping charges, and possibly handling fees that will equal the local final price.

The great thing about inexpensive throw rugs is that you can change them out more frequently and still save hundreds of dollars compared to the authentic hand made items. If you would like to own a part of those old world rugs, then attending estate sales, and checking online auctions may fetch a great area carpet piece for pennies on the dollar.