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ARTICLES
Organize Finances With A Monthly Budget Planner
If you feel you are not as responsible with money as you should be it can be even worse when you multiply it up when you have a family. If you want to gain control of your family finances then a monthly budget planner would be a good idea.
Read any advice from personal finance experts, and every one of them would say that the most important thing to do is use a monthly budget planner to track inflows and outflows of cash. Doing this will help you identify areas where there's a bit of room to cut corners and save money. There are a bunch of free monthly budget planners available online, so I pick one, print it out and start to use it as a family.
Fill out the monthly budget planner as best you can, maybe using old receipts if necessary. Come up with average expenses for electricity, gas, water, groceries, cable, cell phone, insurance, and rent if they are billed more regularly than monthly. Check you paycheck stubs to calculate your average monthly income, and compare with your expenses. If showing a deficit identify areas you can cut back.
The beauty of using...
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Steiff Stuffed Animals
Everyone had a favorite stuffed toy as a child and fond nostalgia makes some adults become collectors, especially in the case of Steiff stuffed animals. The original animals can demand high prices at auctions and fairs these days, particularly the bears. The story begins in the German town of Giengen an der Brenz in 1880. A wheelchair bound seamstress called Margarete Steiff started a hobby and made toy animals from her own designs. They were mostly of dogs, cats, pigs and elephants.
The company, as we know it today, began when Margarete's nephew Richard Steiff invented the first bear with jointed limbs in 1902. The bear quickly became popular in the United States and then, across the world, winning the first prize at the World Exhibition in St.Louis in 1904. It became known as a teddy bear, as in honour of President Teddy Roosevelt. The company is known for its high quality Steiff stuffed animals, which are still made in the town of Giengen. Giengen is a mecca for admirers of the products as there is an Adventure Museum as well as the factory. The museum tells the history of the products and a gift shop...
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