Between saving money for the down payment and all the extra costs incurred in buying and moving, where do you find the budget to furnish your new home?

To save tons of money, writes Angela Colley on MoneyTalksNews.com, take the alternate path to buying at retail furniture stores.

"I realized," writes Colley, "that I'd have to spend $4,473 just to get the basics to furnish my (new) house by buying at retail prices."

She saved a ton of money by shopping garage sales, flea markets and clearance racks.  One big lesson she learned is that "it's not embarrassing to ask friends and family if they have furnishings they no longer need - maybe because they tend to stash the stuff in a garage or spare bedroom." They're usually more than happy to put it to use.

Here are Colley's helpful hints to shopping this way, saving you time and money:

Garage Sales:  Keep a watchful eye out for signs as you are driving near your home and peruse online websites that host garage sale ads, like Yard Sale Search and GarageSales.com.

Flea Markets:  Look for local indoor and outdoor flea markets online.  A couple of websites she suggests are FleaPortal and Collectors.org.

Online Discounters: like Overstock.com can be a great resource.  Colley found her bed frame at a huge discount.

Best Times of Year to Shop for Furniture: Everything has its season and furniture is no exception.  Back to School is a great time to find deals at most major stores because of dorm sales. Wait for just after school starts to catch the clearance sales.

 "January and July are (also) great times to find sales on furniture" states an article on About.com, "because new furniture styles hit the showroom floor twice a year (in February and August) and stores need to make room for all those arrivals."

Always look for Freebies:  Obviously friends and family are a great resource, but there are other sources available too.  Colley says she had heard of Freecycle , but hadn't used it before.  Freecycle is an online network connecting people who want to get rid of stuff with nearby people who might want it.   She signed up and got a desk and matching chair for free.

The moral to this story of Colley's is that she furnished her whole house this way for only $716.97! "It took some legwork - and a lot of early-morning garage-sale hunting -"she says.  "But considering what I was planning on spending, I saved $3,730.76 (or enough money to pay my rent for four months.) Knowing how much I saved, I'll probably never buy from a furniture store again."

Read the full story at Money Talks News.

Posted in Technology And You, Buyer Resources

"Pray for sunshine, be prepared for rain." quotes Bernice Ross in an article on Inman News about planning for emergencies.

In light of the latest tornado damage in the Midwest and the fact that most emergencies happen when you least expect it, it's good to have a plan in place.

"You should always plan ahead for emergencies, big and small, that could (affect) your business and your personal life." Suggest Ross.  "If you don't yet have a plan, don't let another day pass without one."

Ross offers a checklist of things to do before disaster strikes:

Water & Food: Have enough on hand for at least three days for everyone in your family. Including your furry friends.

Emergency Funds:  If you can't access an ATM or you have to leave your area, have at least $500 to $1,00 on hand.   "If the power is out, chances are that your Internet service may be down, as well." says Ross.  "This means that your credit cards and your local ATM will probably not be working.   Even if food and other supplies are available after the disaster, you may have to pay cash."

First Aid Kit, Medications and Day to Day Needs:  Have each member of the house pack a backpack with all the essentials they would need if they had to leave in a hurry.

Lights!  Make sure you know where emergency lighting is and keep batteries fresh in your flashlights.

Make sure you grab all your charges for all your cell phones, computers, etc.  You might want to invest in a solar charger if the power is out.

"It's also smart to have a battery-powered radio or crank radio so you can hear details about disaster response and aid while the emergency is taking place." says Ross. 

Personal Documents.  The Red Cross recommends copying important documents, and putting it all in one place so you can quickly grab them and take them with you.

Ross says the important items to include are: insurance policies, medical ID cards, credit cards, deed/lease to your residence, passports, birth certificates, and pertinent medical information and medications. To be doubly safe, scan these documents and back them up in the cloud!

Survival Gear:  Tornado destruction, earthquakes and other large disaster can release dust and smoke that can cause serious complications.  Think about buying some surgical masks and storing them with extra rain gear, sturdy shoes, duct tape, plastic tarps and household bleach for water purification.

Items You Can't Replace:  Family heirlooms, personal mementos, anything that holds irreplaceable value to you.  Do you know where those are? Have a plan of what items you will take.

Photos & videos should be scanned and stored on back-up memory, or in the cloud to be retrieved at any time.

Know Your Safe Place:  All household members should agree on a safe place to meet up in case of fire.  This way all family is quickly accounted for so that you know everyone is safe.

Start Today.  Prepare yourself and your family for a major emergency using these great tips.

Read the full article at Inman News.

Read more great articles from Bernice Ross.

photo credit: lakewentworth

Posted in Technology And You

YouTube is streaming 4 billion online videos every day.  This accounts for a 25 % percent increase in the past eight months, according to parent company, Google Inc.

Almost 60 hours of video is uploaded every minute, compared to 48 hours of video per minute last May.  Video marketing is a great communication tool for any company.

"Video marketing works better than most other electronic tools because it hits two senses simultaneously (sight and hearing) where most other media only titillate the eyes. There is a reason thousands more humans watch TV rather than read." says Kern Lewis on Forbes.com.

Out of the 4 billion videos, three billion make money for Google, running ads alongside the videos.  Google has revamped its platform to push YouTube beyond the personal computer, with versions that work on smartphones, tablets and TV.'s and they are hoping to get more professional-grade content on the site.

"YouTube recently redesigned its website to more prominently showcase specialized channels organized around different types of content." reported Reuters, "In October, YouTube announced that it had struck 100 original video programming deals with media partners including Madonna and Jay-Z. Thomson Reuters and YouTube recently announced a partnership to create a Reuters TV channel for the website."

Read more at Reuters.com

photo credit: MACSD

Posted in Technology And You, Marketing

Is "Getting more organized" on your New Year's resolution list for 2012?

Have you thought about how many apps and websites you have granted permission to access your personal information in 2011?  To change the access, it can be difficult to know where to go to revoke access and delete the apps.

MyPermissions.org is a new site that makes it simple to clean up your app permissions.

"With direct links to your Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Dropbox, Instagram and Flickr accounts, you really have no excuse for putting off the chore of cleaning up your app permissions," writes Nancy Messieh on The Next Web.

The only thing the My Permissions site doesn't do is ask permission to access your accounts in order to use it.  "The page acts as an online bookmark, and when you log in to your accounts, all you have to do is click the link of any given service and you'll be taken straight to your app permissions page." 

With more and more stories about services being hacked and personal information being released, it's better to be safe than sorry, although most of the time, the levels of access are harmless says Messieh.

You can also sign up for monthly email reminders to check your apps permissions, so you can stay organized all year long.

Read the full story at The Next Web.com

Learn more about MyPermissions.org

Posted in Technology And You

A new site called Nestio lets you organize your rental search all in one place.

"Nestio is a free web and mobile tool to help you organize, collaborate, and stay informed on any listing you find online," states the Nestio website "Forget the long email threads and clumsy spreadsheets, you can now collect this information in one, centralized location."

You can use Nestio to save listings from any site and view them, sort them and even compare them side by side, in terms of size, cost and neighborhood.

Prioritize your listings as you get more information and easily delete the ones you don't want.

Share your listings with roommates, family or friends by email or Facebook.

Nestio also offers a note taking feature and allows you to add your own photos as you go.  You can also keep  track of where you are in the rental process, using their scheduling system for contacting and viewing.   It will even track your listings and notify you of any updates.

Get "The Big Picture".  Nestio lets you plot your listings on an interactive map of the area that includes nearby businesses.  It can even calculate your travel time to and from the office!

Nestio also offers a free app for your phone which allows you to add and view your listings on the go.

Join Nestio for free and save time by organizing your apartment search all in one location!

Go to Nestio.com for more information.

Posted in Technology And You, Real Estate Market Conditions