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While handling your budget can be stressful, not overseeing your monthly budget can can put you in to further in debt if you are not aware. The benefits that come from managing your budget properly not only saves you money but help relief some of your tension over debt. Always keep in mind that a budget is mainly a plan for your monthly expenditure. Your budget, like any program, demands some degree of management to make it work for you. The way I oversee mybudget, for example, is by focussing on keeping info organised and controlling my expenditure.

My main focus is on coordinating the info in mybudget. I monitor recurring expenses like utilities, motorcar and mortgage payments, insurance, and the like, for example. Consider that without coordinating my budget, I can very easily lose track of my expenditure. By being informed of what expenditures repeat every month, I have an imminent hold on the minimum amount of money I have to set aside each month before I spend on other things I can control a little more such as entertainment, clothing, and vacations.

Controlling the spending in my budget is essential because this is where the most financial advancement is made. A genuine measure of progress is placing money into a savings account or paying down debt. However, if I over spend, the opposite is true because instead of saving money I will use debt to help me cover the monthly expenses in my budget. Distinctly, giving in to the stresses of budgeting can have expensive outcomes for my finances, particularly if I am not able to pay down my debt.

There are two benefits for moderating and coordinating my budget: First, I save money by fending off redundant expenses. Second, my finances are headed at achieving financial goals. Fundamentally, by not buying things I do not need, I am actually freeing up money that I can either use for something else or save. The spare money can also be useful in paying off debt or keeping it for a vacation. In addition to having extra money, it will also allow me to make longer term financial goals like saving and investing for retirement or paying off my mortgage or student loans. With my budget being organised and moderated, not only does my financial situation become more balanced but successfully overseeing my budget reduces the stress that often comes with being in debt.

If you’re reading this article, you are probably looking for a way to have control of your finances. The best way to do this is to produce a monthly budget and sticking to it. Having a solid budget is important for managing money, one that has allowed me to live well even on limited funds. One of the most critical things that I do every month is outlining my monthly budget, and it has allowed me to consistently meet all expenses, grow my savings, and control debt.

I normally organise my budget for the upcoming month on about the 20th of the current month. This gives me a better view of my expenditure in the coming month. It’s not a good idea to prepare a budget after getting paid because, too often, that flush feeling of getting a paycheck results to uneccessary and spontaneous spending before the paycheck ever reaches the bank.

Start your personal budget by outlining all the things that must be paid that month like rent, electricity bills, insurance policies, loan repayments and telephone bills. These are the things I must pay to keep a adequate roof over my head and carry on earning money. I like to pad these essentials to produce “money back” after paying the bills and, if costs increase out of the blue, I’m always covered.

Next, my budget is subjected to a list of discretionary things I need to cover but could live without if absolutely unavoidable. An example are monthly savings deposits, credit card repayments and donations. These things are also essential, but in case of emergency I could put them off for a short time. By giving credit card companies the maximum instead of the minimum, I keep my credit score high and my debt low.

My budget will not include the cost of food, clothing, or entertainment. Ultimately, these items get covered by what’s left in the budget. Some months involve lots of beans and rice, slow-cooker meals, free or cheap entertainment, and only one inexpensive piece of clothing . This strategy of managing my monthly budget has worked out very well over the long term as long as I honor it scrupulously.

It can be very troublesome at times with overseeing my household budget, but not managing it can put me in to financial debt before I realise it. The gains from looking after my budget correctly helps me save money and relieve some tension I have pertaining to my debt.

There are many things that I have in my life that shape me financially, but nothing impacts my finances more than my household budget. There are not many individuals these days who have learned how to budget and this can cause many financial issues, including debt. Many of us think that creating a budget was too complicated, this is the main reason why we get in to trouble. But in essence, creating a budget is not difficult at all; it is as easy as penning down our spending and updating it each month. By practicing this habit, we do not spend more than we have.

It is important for me to keep in mind that my budget is only my program for my monthly expenditure. Just like any plan, my budget does necessitate me to manage it to keep it operating correctly. The first step in creating my budget is organising the information that I need in it. I monitor my expenses like car loan repayments, utilities, car insurance, living expenses, etc. If I do not organise my budget, I can easy find myself in debt. It is very important for me to know how much I require on expenditures every month.

I see two advantages with maintaining with my finances through my budget. Firstly, it eliminates superfluous expenditure. And secondly, I can keep myself from going into unnecessary debt. When I spend my money wisely, I buy only things that are required and I free up money that I can use on something that I want or can save it. With the extra money I am able to save, I have the option of putting it aside and investing.

While overseeing your budget can be stressful, not managing your monthly budget can can put you in to further in debt if you are not aware. The benefits that come from overseeing your budget the right way not only saves you money but help relief some of your tension over debt. Always keep in mind that a budget is principally a plan for your monthly spending. A budget, like any programme, needs some degree of management to make it work for you. The manner I oversee my budget, for example, is by focussing on maintaining info coordinated and controlling my spending.

My first focus is on organizing the information in my budget. For instance, I monitor running expenses like utilities, motorcar and loan repayments, insurance, and the like. I can easily lose track of my expenditure without organising my budget. By being conscious of what expenses repeat every month, I have an approximate hold on the minimum amount of money I have to set aside each month before I spend on other things I can moderate a little more such as entertainment, apparel, and holidays.

Monitoring the expenditure in my budget is critical because this is where the most financial progression is made. A genuine measure of advancement is placing money into a savings account or paying down debt. However, if I over spend, the contrary is true because instead of saving money I will use debt to help me cover the monthly expenditure in my budget. Clearly, giving in to the tensions of budgeting can have costly consequences for my finances, especially if I am not able to pay down my debt.

There are two benefits for watching and organizing my budget: First, I save money by fending off redundant expenditure. Second, my finances are pointed at attaining financial goals. Fundamentally, by not buying things I do not need, I am actually freeing up money that I can either use for something else or save. The spare money can also be useful in paying off debt or saving it for a holiday. In addition to having extra money, it will also allow me to yield longer term financial goals like saving and investing for retirement or paying off my mortgage or student loans. With my budget being organised and moderated, not only does my financial position become more stable but successfully overseeing my budget reduces the stress that often comes with being in debt.

We never imagined the beautiful and confident Chandra Upton, our family friend, would wear lace front wigs. Her terrific hair and fashion added so much to her femininity. But surprise surprise. The one and only remains recognized because of her attitude. Not many in town realize she wears synthetic wigs. It’s not so unusual.

As mere children in the hill country, we always stole the spotlights to every dance. In our twenties her alopecia took its toll and her hair wouldn’t be the same. I hinted about some human hair wigs. Even so she shrugged it off. Undeterred by her hair loss, she somewhat obnoxiously unveiled her bald-headed look.

Appearing at our university’s rugby game, we taunted the players until her loverboy retardedly threw the orb (or whatever you call it) into the bleachers. With quick reflexes she dove for the ball and her cute little hat flew right off, unveiling her bald head. Like nothing happened, she hurled the thing with a tremendous heave into the goal. Attitude, did I mention she’s got it?

But, it eventually got to her. Once we got together for a game of bridge, when she sat me down and told me that she opts to make do with a shorn head out of anger. She loved her old hair so much she can’t even think about beautiful wigs, secretly acknowledging she would wear them. At that disclosure, the punk changed the subject and requested that I can’t mention it again. She really needed help.

I wanted to help so bad. Later on, I talked about going shopping with me for a new lace front wig. Finally the two of us arrived at the perfect solution: lace front wigs for all! So I’m getting one too!

The both of us were stunned by the options. I didn’t realize that synthetic wigs could be so natural for beautiful people and famous actors. These lace front wigs were exactly what she needed. I coordinated an entirely contemporary set of outfits to match my synthetic wig. Out of solidarity, but you knew that already. Not long ago she sent me her thanks for giving her back her hair, and disclosed that it rekindles a fresh spirit that she’d forgotten. It’s touching to witness little miss attitude live a happier existence. And she’s still got the attitude.

Usually, I hate to say it, but I didn’t always have Great Expectations for my dating life. Get this, this week I devoured what seemed like a pound of bacon. To ease the pain that comes from being alone, no less. I pretend to be ashamed about it. Am I crazy? Actually, that’s the moment when I seriously considered meeting new singles in Denver or Dallas.

No problem. I’ll meet new singles at Great Expectations Denver. That isn’t a bad idea. Here’s a story. We were at little Brent’s Easter egg hunt in Denver two weeks ago, Richard had to know if I have settled down with the love of my life. They always bring this up, every year. Anyway, I looked up at them and yelled, “No.”

Even The Old Tooter (aka: grandpa) doesn’t know when to quit driving home about my companionship situation. I quipped to each of them: “Seriously, you would bring that up.”

You know what? They all laughed at me. Quite promptly, I called Dave so I could clear my head. But I couldn’t get it out of my head! I didn’t learn a thing. Nina, who was a fellow Ram in high school (go Rams!) offered his opinion that I sign up for Great Expectations. I said, “Yeah, maybe I should.” See, everything always works out. I love Great Expectations Denver.

Early on, meeting new singles through dating services was new to me. I’d never done anything like this before, that I noticed I wore mismatched socks by accident. That mess didn’t stop us from enjoying ourselves. The evening was a great way to start at Great Expectations. The one cool thing that really struck me were the attractive, single women.

It’s been a pleasure to party at these glorious singles events in Dallas, I rubbed elbows with a collection of dynamite friends who certainly have similar ideas which made for a magnificent singles event. I really shouldn’t allow everyone give their two cents about me being single at my age. Awesomely enough, dating in Dallas with Great Expectations is a good time and just what I’ve been looking for.

Matt

Believe in People

Is there any necessary connection between our actions and the happiness of others? Disregarding for a moment the murkiness of the definitions of “actions” in philosophical literature - two types of answers were hitherto provided.

Sentient Beings (referred to, in this essay, as “Humans” or “persons”) seem either to limit each other - or to enhance each other’s actions. Mutual limitation is, for instance, evident in game theory. It deals with decision outcomes when all the rational “players” are fully aware of both the outcomes of their actions and of what they prefer these outcomes to be. They are also fully informed about the other players: they know that they are rational, too, for instance. This, of course, is a very farfetched idealization. A state of unbounded information is nowhere and never to be found. Still, in most cases, the players settle down to one of the Nash equilibria solutions. Their actions are constrained by the existence of the others.

The “Hidden Hand” of Adam Smith (which, among other things, benignly and optimally regulates the market and the price mechanisms) - is also a “mutually limiting” model. Numerous single participants strive to maximize their (economic and financial) outcomes - and end up merely optimizing them. The reason lies in the existence of others within the “market”. Again, they are constrained by other people’s motivations, priorities ands, above all, actions.

All the consequentialist theories of ethics deal with mutual enhancement. This is especially true of the Utilitarian variety. Acts (whether judged individually or in conformity to a set of rules) are moral, if their outcome increases utility (also known as happiness or pleasure). They are morally obligatory if they maximize utility and no alternative course of action can do so. Other versions talk about an “increase” in utility rather than its maximization. Still, the principle is simple: for an act to be judged “moral, ethical, virtuous, or good” - it must influence others in a way which will “enhance” and increase their happiness.

The flaws in all the above answers are evident and have been explored at length in the literature. The assumptions are dubious (fully informed participants, rationality in decision making and in prioritizing the outcomes, etc.). All the answers are instrumental and quantitative: they strive to offer a moral measuring rod. An “increase” entails the measurement of two states: before and after the act. Moreover, it demands full knowledge of the world and a type of knowledge so intimate, so private - that it is not even sure that the players themselves have conscious access to it. Who goes around equipped with an exhaustive list of his priorities and another list of all the possible outcomes of all the acts that he may commit?

But there is another, basic flaw: these answers are descriptive, observational, phenomenological in the restrictive sense of these words. The motives, the drives, the urges, the whole psychological landscape behind the act are deemed irrelevant. The only thing relevant is the increase in utility/happiness. If the latter is achieved - the former might as well not have existed. A computer, which increases happiness is morally equivalent to a person who achieves a quantitatively similar effect. Even worse: two persons acting out of different motives (one malicious and one benevolent) will be judged to be morally equivalent if their acts were to increase happiness similarly.

But, in life, an increase in utility or happiness or pleasure is CONDITIONED upon, is the RESULT of the motives behind the acts that led to it. Put differently: the utility functions of two acts depend decisively on the motivation, drive, or urge behind them. The process, which leads to the act is an inseparable part of the act and of its outcomes, including the outcomes in terms of the subsequent increase in utility or happiness. We can safely distinguish the “utility contaminated” act from the “utility pure (or ideal)” act.

If a person does something which is supposed to increase the overall utility - but does so in order to increase his own utility more than the expected average utility increase - the resulting increase will be lower. The maximum utility increase is achieved overall when the actor forgoes all increase in his personal utility. It seems that there is a constant of utility increase and a conservation law pertaining to it. So that a disproportionate increase in one’s personal utility translates into a decrease in the overall average utility. It is not a zero sum game because of the infiniteness of the potential increase - but the rules of distribution of the utility added after the act, seem to dictate an averaging of the increase in order to maximize the result.

The same pitfalls await these observations as did the previous ones. The players must be in the possession of full information at least regarding the motivation of the other players. “Why is he doing this?” and “why did he do what he did?” are not questions confined to the criminal courts. We all want to understand the “why’s” of actions long before we engage in utilitarian calculations of increased utility. This also seems to be the source of many an emotional reaction concerning human actions. We are envious because we think that the utility increase was unevenly divided (when adjusted for efforts invested and for the prevailing cultural mores). We suspect outcomes that are “too good to be true”. Actually, this very sentence proves my point: that even if something produces an increase in overall happiness it will be considered morally dubious if the motivation behind it remains unclear or seems to be irrational or culturally deviant.

Two types of information are, therefore, always needed: one (discussed above) concerns the motives of the main protagonists, the act-ors. The second type relates to the world. Full knowledge about the world is also a necessity: the causal chains (actions lead to outcomes), what increases the overall utility or happiness and for whom, etc. To assume that all the participants in an interaction possess this tremendous amount of information is an idealization (used also in modern theories of economy), should be regarded as such and not be confused with reality in which people approximate, estimate, extrapolate and evaluate based on a much more limited knowledge.

Two examples come to mind:

Aristotle described the “Great Soul”. It is a virtuous agent (actor, player) that judges himself to be possessed of a great soul (in a self-referential evaluative disposition). He has the right measure of his worth and he courts the appreciation of his peers (but not of his inferiors) which he believes that he deserves by virtue of being virtuous. He has a dignity of demeanour, which is also very self-conscious. He is, in short, magnanimous (for instance, he forgives his enemies their offences). He seems to be the classical case of a happiness-increasing agent - but he is not. And the reason that he fails in qualifying as such is that his motives are suspect. Does he refrain from assaulting his enemies because of charity and generosity of spirit - or because it is likely to dent his pomposity? It is sufficient that a POSSIBLE different motive exist - to ruin the utilitarian outcome.

Adam Smith, on the other hand, adopted the spectator theory of his teacher Francis Hutcheson. The morally good is a euphemism. It is really the name provided to the pleasure, which a spectator derives from seeing a virtue in action. Smith added that the reason for this emotion is the similarity between the virtue observed in the agent and the virtue possessed by the observer. It is of a moral nature because of the object involved: the agent tries to consciously conform to standards of behaviour which will not harm the innocent, while, simultaneously benefiting himself, his family and his friends. This, in turn, will benefit society as a whole. Such a person is likely to be grateful to his benefactors and sustain the chain of virtue by reciprocating. The chain of good will, thus, endlessly multiply.

Even here, we see that the question of motive and psychology is of utmost importance. WHY is the agent doing what he is doing? Does he really conform to society’s standards INTERNALLY? Is he GRATEFUL to his benefactors? Does he WISH to benefit his friends? These are all questions answerable only in the realm of the mind. Really, they are not answerable at all.

About The Author

Sam Vaknin is the author of “Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited” and the editor of mental health categories in The Open Directory, Suite101, and searcheurope.com.

His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com

Frequently asked questions regarding narcissism: http://samvak.tripod.com/faq1.html

Narcissistic Personality Disorder on Suite101: http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/npd

When we look at happiness we need to start from within and look for goodness in others. Being happy is a state of mind and is influenced by our attitude and our attitude to others.

To be achieve true happiness and be really happy simply requires a change of outlook adopting positive thoughts and rejecting negative thoughts.

What is happiness?

The world is difficult, the life is full of problems, people are angry, irritative and negative… What to do with all these thoughts?

Almost everyone thinks about the things like this that at least once in his or her life.

Most people leave the situation as it is and only few people really find the ways to improve their lives and achieve happiness.

How do they manage to do it? Or it was just chance?

Let’s try to understand the reason and origin of their success and find ways we can be really happy.

First and foremost we should start with our mind.

Consciousness determines the being - and these are not just words. All your inner feelings and emotions directly correspond to what is happening to you and your life.

A simple example:

Every morning you go to the bathroom to take a shower or just to wash yourself. What are your first thoughts when you see yourself at the mirror? “Early getting up! I want to sleep! Going to work again! My face reflects the tiredness. I’m sick and tired of everything. When will the week-end come? Etc.”

The result:

Irritation, tiredness and dissatisfaction are the outcome of these thoughts.

All the events of the day will reflect this negative state of mind.

The way to work will be intolerable: unending traffic jams, crowds in metro and buses, angry people around.

Your job will be boring, your boss - a tyrant, your colleagues tedious, your every day dying talents…….. At home everything is the same: children, kitchen, television… Who wants to live in all these? How could we be really happy if the life is like that?

Happiness think positive

But there exist another way which is simple and straightforward and can help you face the day in a happy frame of mind and have positive thoughts
It is believed that as all negative thoughts attract negative ones so all positive thoughts attract more positives.

More over, there exists an understanding of a fact that positive field attracts another positive field. And this is exactly what we are talking about.

If you are positive inside, if you are happy to accept the world as it is in its beauty, if you really like your life all the changes will come immediately.

First you should realize that the God you worship created you not for suffering and pain, but for happiness, creation and partnership, for you to love and to be loved.

Happiness some simple rules

To be specific let’s turn to the main rules which will help you to be changed.

Every morning looking to the mirror say yourself “Dear Pete (Nick, Marry), I love you. Today you look brilliant. Today is your day; you will be successes in everything you do for the name of Love and Good.” Then smile to the mirror and look at yourself for some time to fix this feeling of smiling both inside (how you feel when smiling) and outside (how you look when smiling). Probably, this exercise will work not from the first time, but it will necessary work.

After that explain to yourself that all people you meet today will be polite, all events which could happen will be good surprises for you.

Of course, you shouldn’t forget that everything starts from yourself, a person you don’t like will hardly be polite to you, nevertheless, if you sincerely think he is good in his own way and forgive him for his being unlike the person you wanted him to be, the situation will change.

Happiness see the good in others

Be open to people, believe in your being surrounded only by interesting and kind people, be ready to get pleasure from your contacts to them, and the world will start changing for you: you will inevitably realize that a dream “How to be happy” will become a reality for you.

Happiness final words

Yes, being happy and general happiness in your life comes form your direct view of the world, it really is that simple.

If you want to be happy you will be, if you don’t you wont. So, the next time you are felling tired and angry stop and reflect and see the good in the world and use these positive thoughts to create happiness for you and those around you.

We will look at the concept of how to achieve happiness in greater detail in further articles in this series

For more on happiness and more on alternative thoughts on health religion postitive attitude and well being, please visit our website for articles features, downloads and magazines.

http://www.net-planet.org/newage.html