Students: How to Manage Your Finances
One of the downsides of attending tertiary education is the necessary assumption of student debt. Student loans are available both to cover tuition fees as well as living costs, and can total tens of thousands of pounds at the time of graduation.Often the student will be living away from home for the first time, and may find themselves facing the novel task of having to take total control of their finances.It is a good idea at this stage to develop an outline for spending, and with a little help from the right people and resources, students will be able to stick to a well planned budget.A simple budget can be drawn up on an excel spreadsheet month by month where they will list their income and their expenses. This will be broken down into more detail. They will list things like entertainment, books or things they need for projects as well as transport and food. For something like this you have to be well organised and let’s face it, not all students will take the time once a month to draw up a spreadsheet like this. This is where personal finance software will help because it is a lot easier to handle.The benefits of using personal finance softwareYou will find that most of these applications are not expensive and you are able to put them on Windows as well as Mac.
You can run a report to see if you are within limit or if you have overspent and where you need to cut down.
It is very user-friendly which will encourage students to budget in this way.
There are some programs that allow you to create your own categories. Make sure you find out about the features of the software first. Some are more personal than others.
This is an excellent way of getting into the habit of budgeting for the future, which you should be doing when you have a steady job and a family to support.
The software is constantly being updated, making it easier for the student to get a grasp for handling their budget.
Budget trends can be set up as well which is really helpful and you can set this up so you are constantly reminded of what is happening with your budget.Budgeting categories to focus onEveryone has different needs and requirements as a student, but students still have a lot of things in common when it comes as to what they spend their money on.IncomePart-time job
Student loan
Allowance from parentsExpensesTuition
Extra college fees. For example, sports activities or admin
Rent or housing on campus
Personal items and services such as laundry and toiletries
Computer and applications
Books and stationery
Clothing
Entertainment
Transport – this could be petrol for a car which would also include parking costs, but it could also include public transport as well as rides shared with friends.
Insurance
Food – this will come in the form of groceries or halls of residence fees.The key is to take action, generate a framework for spending and discipline oneself to live within a budget. This is, of course, easier said than done, but well worth it in the long run.
Digital Photography Tips and Tricks For Choosing a Great Viewpoint
For many amateur photographers, like myself, it is easy to get caught up in a one-tracked view on the skills that are required for good photography. In this article we take a look at a few digital photography tips and tricks that will help you understand the importance of view points in your photographs.There is a tendency with amateur photographers to focus solely on the technical aspect of photography such as pixels and megapixels, lens sizes and shutter speeds.To really understand and embrace the art of photography it is important to grasp the vital ingredients of great digital photography. To learn the real skills of photography in order to capture an image that you be proud of.One of the key points of good photography is making sure that you choose the Viewpoint of your Shot with great Care.An understanding of how to choose a composition carefully and how that simple choice can enhance your picture will mean the difference between amateur photographs sitting on the computer at home or reaching a competitive standard of photography.This article can serve as a guide for those starting out in digital photography and takes a look at the various tricks and tips associated with understanding the importance of your photographic viewpoint.1. Making the Choice – Choose the subject. This may seem like the easiest part of photography but as you progress you will aim to choose more and more challenging viewpoints. In order to be able to handle those challenges you will need to know and learn the basic tricks and tips associated with using and enhancing your viewpoints.If you see something that intrigues you or strikes you as interesting then you are in your viewpoint zone. You must always remember to really pay attention to the composition of an image when choosing your viewpoint. Both aspects go hand-in-hand when trying to attain that great photo.In order to choose a viewpoint when photographing people it is vital to understand how the position of the sun and shadowing can affect your shot. Something as simple as a subject wearing a peaked cap can affect the quality of your shot. There is no point in taking a great photograph with everything in place if your subjects eyes and expression cannot be seen due to the shadow of a hat.2. Scale – A sense of Scale can often be defined and highlighted by adding in people or animals to the photograph. Budding photographers can highlight the depth of a shot by including foreground subjects such as flowers or trees. This then shows the depth of larger subjects such as mountains and waterfalls in the background. By including an object of a commonly known size in a photograph it tips off the audience to the entire images scale and depth.Once the photographer understands scale and how to manipulate it then the technical aspect of photography can come in to play. Your choice of lenses, at this stage, can help to convey scale by making subjects look taller than they are or making the subject shrink to size. Therefore adding and enhancing to your subjective learnings on Scale.3. Perspective – Understand the perspective of your composition is key, photographs can take on a different dynamic just by changing the angle of view. Taking a shot of a subject from above can entirely change the feel of the shot. It can make the subject more sinister, can make the audience feel more nurturing towards them, all depending on the drama you want to create in your shot. The choice of angle and perspective you choose will also affect how the lighting falls on the subject, again adding or taking away from the drama of the scene you are trying to create.
Web Designing and Web Designers
Web designing technologies are on a constant roll through the changing times. Experiencing a significant evolution, web design is increasingly becoming a mean of artistic expression while keeping the originality of businesses alive. In an Internet savvy world where online activities of businesses are rated over their real-life advertising practices, countless types of web drafts have been introduced into the market by website designers with the aim to provide a potential drive to the user businesses. Content management systems, e-commerce, databases, multimedia, Flash animations inclusive of games and arresting real time technologies are some of the latest innovations rolled down the sleeves of the professionals.However, as entrepreneurs, people are often biased about website designs and their designers. While some effortlessly agree that only a true professional can be given the real credit of fabricating compelling web designs, others underestimating the importance of designs in a website tend to believe that any lay person can create them. The answer to this classical controversy is that only a domain specialist should be entrusted to do his job with precision. Even though a Jack of all trades is appreciated at all time, how far such a versatile person excels in handling all the trades.Pinpointing the subject of web design, there are certain elements in these designs that none other than the designers know to the core. It is indeed a personal activity to visit a website or decide if it can be revisited. It is in this part that a graphic designer plays their extensive role. It is their challenge to influence the decision of a visitor, giving them reasons to come back for more. Thus, the greater responsibilities are best assigned to an individual who has detailed understanding of the human psychology and behavior.Precisely, a web designer plays the role of a communicator between the entrepreneur and the client. The sole motif of a designer is thus, to penetrate into the mindset of the users and come out with their natural inclinations. Accordingly, they plan a draft that will be able to consume the users into it, engaging all their nervous resources effectively in surfing the site. Thus, professionals are incredibly important in materializing a persuasive design that not only supports the business interests, but also reflects the brand image. Of course, the potentials of the designer are a major determining factor in creating successful pro-business designs that can contribute to their prosperity.
How to Save Money While Helping the Environment
Many people still think that being environmentally friendly costs more, in some cases this can be true, but there are many things the average person can do that will save money and help the environment.Here we offer you 12 Ways that you can Save Money and The Environment.
Change all your household light bulbs to energy saving lamps. Some years ago these were very expensive, but now they are similar in price to the old fashioned, and power hungry incandescent ones. They are readily available in lighting shops, hardware stores and even supermarkets are catching the idea. The good news is they still last a lot longer, many of them work on a dimmer, and they give you a healthier softer light. You can do this all at once, like we did, or you can just replace them as they fail and your budget allows. They use much less power, therefore saving on lighting energy bills.
Turn unused lights off, when away from the room for more than 20 minutes. Almost every home burns unnecessary lights. Lights in the kid’s bedroom when they are in the bathroom. Lights in the Kitchen when the family is outside, or in the living area. Outside lights left burning for hours because someone is coming home late should be replaced with a sensor light that turns on as soon as someone approaches, this is also added security for your home. This will save you hours of unnecessary power usage every year.
Ask your power company about switching your supply to green generated power, many power companies offer this alternative today but do not advertise it. This normally costs no more, it is a consumer choice, but you can have power allocated to you that is generated by alternative energy. The more we support green power generation, the more readily available it will be, and the faster we can help the planet.
If you are a long term thinker and planner, then investigate the cost of a supplementary small household wind, or solar, generator. These can easily be installed on your roof, and whilst there is a larger upfront cost, they can reduce your power bills to a minimum, or even nothing if you do not have air-conditioning, or electric heaters. They can be purchased as low as 6,000 used to supplement your existing power, or for around 15-20,000 used to supply all your needs. These can reduce your power bill from 50-90%, and make an enormous contribution to the environment. You can find out more about wind generators at the American Wind Energy Association website. Depending on the size of your power bill, you could pay for your wind generator and have free electricity for the rest of your life, from as little as five years!
Turn Off all appliances every night whilst you are sleeping, or away from your home. The average ‘LED standby light’ used on an appliance costs about 10% of your electricity bill every year. Those tiny little lights pervade our lives, they are everywhere, almost every appliance or electrical device has one – if we can minimise them when we are not using the appliances or the home/office, we save big time and so does the environment. Imagine if everyone did this, we could close 1 in 10 eco-unfriendly power stations! A standby light on a television can use as much power in a day, as watching the TV for four hours. So here there are big savings for you and the environment.
Turn off your computers and associated devices like hard drives, monitors, printers, routers, print servers. They all use standby by power. Some experts estimate you can save as much as 90 used per year by just turning off the PC and monitor.
Make it a rule in your house, if no one is watching the TV ensure it is turned off fully. Same goes for any appliance or device not being used. This will save you an estimated 16-24% of power for that device every year.
When you replace appliances like refrigerators, microwaves, washing machines, dryers, even small appliances – check the energy rating on the box or device. There are many energy efficient, green friendly appliances produced now and these are the ones to buy. You will save money over the lifetime of the appliance, even if it costs a bit more to start, but often they are the same price. Look for the energy star label, or similar in your country, and you will save more money.
At festivity times, minimize light pollution and energy usage by just having lights on your tree. Replace all your energy hungry lights with colourful decorations instead, there are even glow in the dark festival decorations which are really exciting but do not consume any power. I know the Christmas lights are a tradition, but it is a tradition that will become culturally unacceptable as our plant spins into chaos because we emit too much pollution every day. This will also give you more money to spend on the actual family festivities, help the environment, and you and your neighbours will have more restful sleep. If you cannot give up your Christmas lights, then at least put them on a timer!
If you use air-conditioning it is better’ for your health, and the health of the planet to set it at around 22/70°. This is a comfortable, cool temperature for humans. It is not good for our bodies to leave 18/64° of airco and go into 38/100 degrees outside, it weakens our immunity. It also stresses the air conditioners and the lifetime is drastically reduced, and it is incredibly power hungry as the compressor is almost continually working. Ensure your house is insulated inside the roof, and add whirlybirds to your roof – these two simple, low cost steps will dramatically decrease the inside temperature of your home in summer. An added advantage is they also prevent heat escaping in the winter. I have seen a difference of 10 degrees less in summer inside a house where these steps were taken!
Winter heating is essential for human comfort, but again consider the temperature. It should be maintained at a comfortable 21-22/68-70°, this is a natural temperature for a human body to operate with maximum performance. Some people, and shops, have their central heating so high that it stifles the human brain functions – they slow down in a high temperature. It is OK in winter to wear a light sweater inside! Heating is a huge cost in most homes, and the older your home is the worse it will be. Many old European homes consume 3-5,000 litres or 600-1000 gallons of fuel every season. This is very expensive. For just a few hundred dollars putting insulation inside your roof, ensuring all your doors and windows are well sealed can reduce this consumption by up to 50%. Remember heat rises, so your roof is the obvious escape vent for your expensive heating, and you may still be cold at floor level. Install a ceiling fan and using the reverse cycle, will transfer the existing generated heat back down to the floor again and freshen the air. This has an added bonus, that it cools very effectively in summer.
Where you have access to natural gas, it is worth converting electrical appliances to the gas system. Many companies offer large rebates, even free appliances, to encourage this. Gas is cleaner, and far more efficient source of energy than electricity. You will cook faster, pre heating not required. You will heat any area much faster. Hot water only needs to heat as required, which means endless hot water (no more cold showers after the teenagers) but it only heats when you are using it. We do not recommend stored water systems with pilot lights. Gas is generally much cheaper than electricity, but you need to check this for your community.There are many more things you can do, but this is already a huge start in giving you more money in your pocket and being a positive contributor to a clean, safe planet for your family.