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Pastor-Genève bvba About Emergency Kit

Monday, Jun 29th, 2009 by admin | Leave a Comment
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Prepare Your Emergency Kit – Seven Ideas to Organizing Your Emergency Supplies

By Consuelo Meux

Article placed here by Pastor-Genève

If a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, flood or other disaster or emergency struck, would you have the basic emergency supplies you need? This might sound familiar. You have a box with batteries but the good batteries are mixed with the old ones. Somewhere you have a collection of flashlights. However, when you try them out, almost none of them work. The list could go on of things that you probably have for emergency supplies but just need to organize in a safe and easy ways.

But, how do you find and organize materials for an emergency kit for all situation? How do you find emergency supplies for disaster situations so that they are organized and easy to reach when you need them? Use these seven points to get your emergency organizing started in the right direction.

1. Find Everyday Items
Do you worry about your budget when you think about gathering supplies? Take a sigh of relief because supplies for disasters or emergencies do not have to be difficult to find, expensive, or hard to use. In fact, emergency supplies are basically many of the items you use on a regular basis. You might find them in a different form and store them differently in order to protect them. But mostly, you will use the same type of things you use all of the time plus a few specialty items good for emergency situations.

2. Create Several Sets of Supplies
What would happen if you couldn’t reach a set of emergency supplies? Consider creating two sets of emergency supplies. At least create a full set and a partial set to store in another location. If you can’t reach one set, you might be able to get to the other. If both are accessible that just gives you extra supplies and you might be able to share with others who are less prepared.

3. Start Gathering What You Already Have
Don’t start pulling your shopping list together just yet. Start your emergency supply organizing with items you already have around the house. For instance, extra suitcases or backpacks, toiletries, and dry goods items such as paper towels, toilet paper, and garbage bags are probably already in your closets or shelves and only need to be organized into a designated place to be a part of your emergency kit. Use the suitcases or backpacks to store the emergency supplies.

4. Use Those Holiday Extras
During the year and especially during holidays, do you pick up extra holiday napkins, paper plates or utensils that get put away into cabinets and closets? Instead of letting these go to waste, pull them out and organize them into the emergency area. Using a pretty napkin or festive tablecloth during an emergency could be just the treat you need to help bring down the stress levels.

5. Gather Extra Clothes
Would you want a clean pair of socks or shirt during an emergency? Everyone in the family should organize a whole set of clothes for the emergency supply area. Make this a good time for everyone in the family to go through and clean out their closet. While doing this task, each person can gather an extra set of clothes to put in an emergency storage area.

6. Look for Household Supplies
Have you considered the need for sanitation and cleanliness during an emergency? Gather cleaning supplies that you already have on hand and organize them in your emergency supply area. Look in the house and garage for extra cleansers, garbage bags, tools to turn off the main switches in the house, sponges, plastic tarps and other items. Some of these items could be in your garden shed, trunk of the car, back of the shelf, under the kitchen sink, or in a corner in the hall closet.

7. Go Shopping
What happens after you go through every place in the home to find supplies and you need more? Well now it might be time to go shopping. The good news is that you still don’t have to spend a fortune. When you find a product you need that is on sale, buy at least two or the amount recommended according to your family situation or needs. Put the extras in the emergency kit. Look for items in thrift stores, yard sales, consignment shops, grocery outlets, through online stores or sites, or mail order catalogs and even the Army-Navy Surplus Store.

Always think of being prepared and you will start to notice supplies in many new places. When you travel, keep an eye open for discount stores or even souvenir shops and bargain stores in new areas. Before you realize it, you will have emergency supplies organized and ready for an emergency or disaster situation.

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Mark Schlarbaum About Art Investment

Saturday, Jun 27th, 2009 by admin | Leave a Comment
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Art Investing for a Financial Future

By Mika Hamilton

Article posted by Janet Schlarbaum

When we think of investing we probably conjure images in our minds of the New York Stock Exchange, suited stock brokers making deals, bonds and treasury bills, and all manner of financial matters. The last thing we probably think about is art. Art investing, however, can be a big money business, and can create incredible financial gains and losses for those who choose to speculate in the art market.

Art investments can be risky, because no one ever knows for sure if an artist’s work is ever going to be appreciated. Even living fine artists who make a living doing their work are producing paintings and other artwork that may not be worth anything more than was paid for the work until well after the artist is dead and gone. When Keith Herring started painting his colorful silhouettes, there was scarcely anyone willing to pay attention to them. Once he died of AIDS and his work became associated with the national AIDS awareness campaign, the value of his work skyrocketed.

It’s difficult to give advice regarding art investments, but there are a few guidelines that the potential art investor can look at to help determine whether a particular artist’s work is worth purchasing.

How Known is the Artist?

Artists that are already well known tend to remain well known once they’re gone and their work becomes that much more valuable. When considering an art purchase, taking the artist’s fame into account can be a good idea. Of course, artwork by someone who is already famous for something else (the lithographs of John Lennon come to mind) will always be of some value.

Controversy Sells

If an artist raises eyebrows, it is likely that her work will rise in value. The work of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe is a prime example. Whether his photos were truly offensive or not makes no difference when considering that the attention brought to him by a senate investigation cause the value of his photographs to double practically overnight.

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Janet Schlarbaum Ideas

Saturday, Jun 27th, 2009 by admin | Leave a Comment
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Getting Started Investing is Often the Hardest Part

By Mika Hamilton

There are several reasons people give for not investing their money in things like stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. One reason is that they feel that they don’t have enough money to make a serious investment, but a more common reason that many people have absolutely no idea how to go about getting started investing. In fact, if more people understood the basics of investing and had a cohesive plan for getting started investing, more people would do it.

Let’s assume that the first reason does not apply to you and you do, in fact, have some amount of money that you’d like to invest. How do you get started investing? You could contact a stock or investment broker and discuss the options that would be best for you. Whether you’ll want to do this will depend quite a bit on the amount of money that you have to invest. If it’s a small amount, you may be better off seeking some smaller, safer investment than you would be by jumping directly into the stock market. Some people get started investing by choosing simple accounts with their bank. CD’s and IRAs make good investments, for example, for medium and long term goals. IRA accounts are intended for retirement, while CDs are time deposits that must remain in place for a set amount of time (often anywhere from as little as a week to as long as ten years) while they earn interest.

If you do go to the stock market, or “graduate to it” after getting started investing in safer accounts, you should resist the urge to buy and sell stocks wildly. One mistake that many first time investors make is they become nervous about the stability of their investment and they watch their stock rise and fall every day. If it drops too much they become afraid that the bottom will fall out and they sell at a lower price than they originally paid. This is a bad idea and works against the reasons they got started investing in the first place. Instead the new investor should “let it ride’ and sell only if there is a sudden spike in the price that won’t likely repeat. Otherwise, stocks should be a long term investment, especially when someone first gets started investing.

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Janet Schlarbaum Property Investment

Saturday, Jun 27th, 2009 by admin | Leave a Comment
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Property Investment Just Got Exciting

By Nicholas Marr

There is an area in Brazil that has lower crime & lower property prices than where your are probably sitting right now!

Demand from the increasing retirement population and from those who have benefited from their own property markets are now pushing overseas property prices up. Brazilian property prices are still very low and offer the overseas property buyer quality real estate in stunning locations. Fortaleza the capital of Brazil’s Northeastern state of Ceara is one such place. Popular with Brazilian and South American holiday tourists it is now being recognised by foreign property investors as an area that is taking the overseas property market by storm.

Brazil Property -Fortaleza

The Place

What to do in a place like this- You can swim, surf, dive, sail, golf, play ball, ride, explore, bargain hunt, sight see, explore, or drive a dune buggy for 100 miles in any direction, take a jeep up a steep mountain trail. You can explore environmental preserves, or just swing in a hammock and do nothing at all.

Beaches, beaches, beaches, Hundreds of miles of untouched pristine beaches. Ocean surface temperatures are 82 F all year round with 65 feet of visibility underwater.

Tourism: a 270% increase in tourism over the last eight years this is expected to increase to nearly double the current number of foreign visitors to the area by 2008

Climate: Guaranteed good weather at least 90 percent of the time with more than 335 days per year of glorious sunshine.An endless summer

Low Crime: Forteleza, Brazil’s fifth largest city, ranks 23rd in crime. Brazil is considered low risk in respect of war, terrorism SARs. You are probably more at risk where you are right now.

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Janet Schlarbaum Start Investing

Saturday, Jun 27th, 2009 by admin | Leave a Comment
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Before You Start Investing

By Quoc Nguyen

There maybe several reasons why you to want to invest your money. You may want to retire early, want to build your own business in the future, or to pay for your kid’s education. Should everyone start investing outside their retirement accounts right away? The answer to this question is that it depends on your financial situation. First, you must have a basic understanding in financial management. What would happen if you lose your job, accumulate large medical expenses, or losing money on your investments? Do you still have money to pay your bills? Do you have to sell your investments that you have worked so hard for, with a loss? No one knows what the future will bring. Therefore, you must have a safety net to fall back on in an unexpected event. This article contains 5 concepts that you should follow before you start investing outside of your retirement accounts.

1. Increase your savings rate:

Cutting down on your expenses is the easiest way to increase your savings rate. You can also increase your savings rate by working overtime or switching to a higher paid job, but these are usually harder to do. If you want to accomplish your financial goals, you must start saving your money. You can do this by evaluating where you spend most of your money, and adjust your lifestyle to increase your savings rate. You will be surprised how small changes can increase your savings rate tremendously. For example, you can make your own coffee in the morning, shop while the clothes are on sale, and cut down on eating out, can save you lots of money.

2. Emergency cash reserve:

Have an emergency cash reserve of at least 3 to 6 months of living expenses. This step maybe the hardest step to accomplish. But in the event that you lose your job, you will be thankful that you have this money. The best place to put your emergency cash reserve is in a money market fund. If you have relatives that are generous, you could use them as your emergency cash reserve. But make sure that you ask them first.

3. Paying off your consumer debts:

Pay off your consumer debts, such as car loans and credit card loans can help you financially. Let’s say that your credit card charges you a 10% annual interest rate. Paying down that loan is like investing your money in stocks with a 10% annual return without tax consequences and risk free. Another reason you may want to pay off your consumer debts is that the interests are not tax detectible.

4. Paying down your mortgage:

If you want to pay down your mortgage earlier than required, compare your mortgage interest rate to an investment that you intend to invest in to make your decision. However, all investments have risks and you could end up losing money if you chose to invest. I personally think that paying down the mortgage early is too boring. In addition, the interests that you pay are tax deductible. Another reason that you may not want to pay down your mortgage early may be that you want to contribute more to your retirement accounts.

5. Contribute to your retirement accounts:

Take advantage of the tax benefits of your retirement accounts. If you are in a 30% tax bracket, for every $1000 that you contribute to your retirement account, you instantly saved $300. In addition, any profits inside your retirement accounts (dividends, interest) grow without taxation until you withdraw your money after age 59½. If your company matches a certain percent of your pay, you should contribute at least enough to receive the maximum company match. After all, it is free money. This is similar to making 100% return on your investment immediately. Can you do that with stocks? Not likely!

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Oscar Lama Warning Signs of a Changing Economy

Wednesday, Jun 17th, 2009 by admin | Leave a Comment
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Warning Signs of a Changing Economy

By Mylinda A. Montroy

Article posted by Carlos Lama

With terms like “credit crunch” and “economic turmoil” being used in the everyday vocabulary of most Americans, it’s no wonder both the consumer and the business owner are in panic mode. Consumers are afraid to spend for lack of job security, while business owners have no cash flow coming in due to the lack of spending. It is a vicious cycle. There is no doubt about it; these are tough times we are living in.

There is an upside though. We are being forced to change. Change is hard; however, sometimes the force to change is the best thing for you and your business. It all boils down to your drive. Do you want to live or do you want to die?

As a small business owner myself, I choose to live! In order for my business to not fall into the overwhelming statistic of failure which leads to adding to the unemployment percentage, I have decided to change my entire business strategy. I look at it this way; it’s not about how much money I can make this year… it’s about survival!

I have done my due diligence and found that the new small business stimulus plan Obama announced is where all entrepreneurs and small business owners need to look for guidance. What the plan proposes is to make credit more accessible to the small business owner, if your company is creditworthy that is. What that means to you is if your company is not compliant you will not have access to these stimulus funds. That’s it, point blank. Meaning, the President has issued a warning to all small businesses. Get your businesses creditworthy! Every single lender out there has specific guidelines they follow to be sure the loans they are granting are not just in good faith; but that they are cheap loans to qualified applicants who are able to repay.

Now, more than ever, you have got to separate your business credit from your personal credit. The co-mingling of funds MUST be a thing of the past.

We, as small business owners, are the heart and soul of the US economy! We must come to the realization that there is no-band aid to apply here; a shallow recovery for a deep recession is not going to help matters at all. Understanding the market is imperative right now. While Wall Street seems to be leveling off, the unemployment rates keep rising; and this is a prime result of so many small businesses closing their doors.

The snowball effect of what is happening in the US can definitely be turned around if, and only if, small businesses are able to survive this economic plunge.

Do not be a statistic! Get your business creditworthy!

The easiest and most effective way to do this is to do your due diligence, seek out the professionals in the credit building industry. After all, if you knew how to get your company credit worthy, wouldn’t you have already done it? Not to mention, the step-by-step process is quite structured. If you were to skip a step or even follow the steps out of order, your business would be red-flagged by vendors and lenders alike; you will never access the capital needed to not only grow your business, but you may not even be able to stay afloat the next few months.

It took me more than 5 years, well over $50k and a very undesirable personal credit score to learn I was 100% attached to my company. My personal credit score was dwindling; not because I had failed to pay my bills, but because I was personally guaranteeing every business credit line I had applied for! Who knew that giving my social security number to an office supply store gave them free reign to run my credit report as many times as they deemed necessary? You would venture to think that my attorneys and accountants would… but they never gave me a heads up (”it wasn’t their job”). So as my credit score plummeted, the word “deny” became more and more prevalent, which led to a tremendous amount of frustration. When I finally learned about business credit, I must admit, I felt quite foolish. But however foolish I felt, it definitely didn’t stop me from taking action immediately.

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Economy Discussions By Oscar Lama

Wednesday, Jun 17th, 2009 by admin | Leave a Comment
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The Economy is in a Rut and So What?

By Tristan Lee

If you turn on the TV, most of what you’ll see is bad news going on in our economy. The reason our economy is in so much debt right now is because of many factors – the cost of the war, people not being able to pay off their house loans, people not being able to buy new houses, people saving every penny for the future, not enough people buying things to keep the economy going, etc.

The effect that the economy is having on people’s lives is basically social paranoia. People are scared to spend money and social media is causing more worry in people than ever.

It is as if we do not have enough stress in our lives, we do not need more sources to inform us that the stock market is going down, unemployment rate is going up, people are losing their jobs every day, houses are being foreclosed every day, companies are going out of business, and the future outlook of our financial lives is going in a downward spiral.

Yet, it seems like people are still obsessed over what is going on in the economy and read about it in the newspaper or watch it on their favorite news channel. I think the best way to get out of this economic depression is to say the economy is in a rut and so what? Even if the economy is doing badly, you really have no control over what happens to our nation or world’s economy. The government does.

And instead of blaming past politicians who have mishandled our nation’s economy, we need to accept that the economy is in a rut right now, and do something about it. To do something about it, we need to realize that just because the economy is down, people still buy things.

Just walk outside and your home and observe your surroundings. Are there still people shopping at malls? Is there still a long line of cars in your nearest fast food drive through? Do you still see people buying overpriced coffee at Starbucks?

If the economy was in a complete meltdown, people would completely stop buying these unnecessary things. The three things we really need in our lives are food, clothes, and shelter. If we can have that, then we can survive despite the drastic downfall of the economy. However, many people still buy things that are unrelated to basic needs for entertainment and leisure purposes. It’s not that people have completely stopped buying things; they are just more careful or selective nowadays to the things that they buy.

So if you can think of what type of things people would be more inclined to buy during these times, the better.

Would people be more inclined to buy a new computer monitor or have it repaired? Are people interesting in learning about new areas to dine out or learning about ways to cook at home and save money? What things do people need that would help them save time?

If you think about it, most people are either being passive and reactive, rather than being aggressive and proactive during these times. Be creative and think of ways where you can start making money passively or on the side.

This can be anything from selling your own informational product, doing some advertising on a high traffic website, selling things on eBay, or buying and reselling websites. During these types, people will want to sell things for cheap.

You never know what kind of value it can have a couple months a year down the line when economy starts to clear up so don’t let each day to pass by through worry; utilize this time to invest in the future.

When you do come up with some ideas, the second thing is to provide value. Nowadays, people will be more selective to the things they buy since money is tighter.

As any of the top principles in business, you’ll need to learn how to exchange something that is worth more value than its price. That’s where you’ll be able to differentiate yourself from everybody else, since everybody else is selling things where the value does not exceed the customer’s expectations, and during these times, customers will look harder and want to be safe that the thing they are getting in return for their money is of good quality and value.

The worst thing you can do is freak out due to worry and paranoia. The Great Depression was the largest economic depression America has ever faced, with the total collapse of global trade, stock market, and heavy industries, affecting exporters and importers, stock brokers, coal miners, and farmers, but there were still some people who pulled out despite this two to three year depression.

To the few successful people who came out of the Depression financially secure, did they let their gloomy surroundings affect them? No, despite all the negatively of the economy back then, which was much worse than it is now, they were still optimistic about the future.

Day by day, they found a way to survive, save money, and make a little bit of money. By 1933, the Great Depression turned around and started to see recovery. These people had survived the greatest economic downturn in our history.

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Reputation Management

Tuesday, Jun 16th, 2009 by admin | Leave a Comment
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Online Reputation Management, or ORM in short, is about managing your reputation on the Internet. Protecting your online reputation or brand is getting more important everyday as more and more people base their buying decision on what they read on the Internet.
Online Reputation Management (ORM) involves both marketing and public relations along with search engine marketing. Visibility and high search engine indexing with good publicity which displaces negative publicity is the goal. This results in a increase in positive web presence, helping you own top spots in search engine rankings. Online Reputation Management enables you to protect and manage your reputation and brand becoming actively involved in the outcome of search engine results. Reputation Monitoring research and analysis may also be considered Online Reputation Management.

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RJ & Makay Experience

Sunday, Jun 14th, 2009 by admin | Leave a Comment
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Use an Expert Commercial Concrete Waterproofing Contractor

By Jim Parkin
Edited and published by RJ & Makay

Did you know that water is the most damaging force to your concrete structure? In fact, there are billions of dollars spent per year on fixing concrete which is cracked due to water damage!!

If you’re looking for a Concrete Waterproofing Contractor in Maryland, Virginia, or DC, you’ve come to the right place. Knowing that water is the most damaging force to your concrete structure is half the battle. The other half of the battle is us, Concrete Restoration Services, an expert in all types of commercial and industrial waterproofing services.

The last thing you want for a concrete structure is moisture intrusion. Water that seeps through concrete will slowly but inevitably make it weak. Weak concrete is prone to damage, in the form of cracking, breaking, and leaking. Aside from the obvious safety risks of cracked and broken concrete, leaky concrete can be an expensive, embarrassing, and annoying hassle.

Can you imagine a customer or client noticing a water leak in one of your concrete structures?

An experienced Concrete Waterproofing Contractor in DC, Maryland, or Virginia has different methods of waterproofing your concrete. There are several do-it-yourself methods to waterproof your concrete (whether it be for residential waterproofing or commercial) – but these methods are not only difficult and time consuming, they are also not NEARLY as effective.

It may seem that a DIY job is holding up and looking good, but in the coming months you may find it leaky again, perhaps even with mold growing inside your structure.

Concrete Waterproofing services from an experienced waterproofing service provider, include:

* Above-grade waterproofing
* Below-grade waterproofing
* Exterior and interior waterproofing systems
* Water repellent and damp-proofing systems
* Chemical containment systems
* Aesthetic coatings

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RJ & Makay Help

Sunday, Jun 14th, 2009 by admin | Leave a Comment
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How to Come Up With a Finished Basement Idea

By Casey Torren
Posted by RJ & Makay

A finished basement idea does not have to be hard to come up with on your own. Which is a huge sigh of relief since a basement idea will help you out tremendously during the remodeling or renovating of your basement.

There are simply some things to consider while you are in the process of developing your finished basement idea.

Type of Basement

There are really so many types of basement to choose from and it really helps if you somewhat of an idea as to what type of basement you want or need. The most popular type of basement is the basement wet bar. It can serve many purposes. You can use the bar to entertain guests during fun, intimate parties or to hold sporting events.

One of the most practical uses of a basement is to transform it into a home office. This is most practical for small business owners and it can also double as a study area for your kids. They will be able to focus properly.

Size of Basement

The size of the basement is also a big factor in decided what kind of basement design you can have. If you have limited space in your basement, you cannot force yourself to have an extra bedroom downstairs if you don’t enough space to build a comfortable bedroom. Small spaces need not go to waste; there are still a lot of basement ideas you could incorporate in your basement.

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