The hidden costs of Homeowner Association (HOA) dues
Being a part of an homeowner’s organization provides many great benefits. While the dues vary for each association, many HOA’s cover and provide for some really great perks that come along with being part of the organization.
While some associations are mandatory if you own a home in a subdivision or a condo in a complex, some operate under choice. In addition to providing benefits to all members, homeowner associations often carry rules and regulations that must be enforced on homeowners.
The financial impact of your cable bill
Study after study has shown the huge amounts of time that we spend watching television. Aside from the negative social implications that many believe TV holds a large responsibility for, there are significant financial impacts that this leisurely habit has on our lives.
The benefits of setting a daily budget
All the little things really do add up. It’s easy for our daily lives to silently nibble away at our money. One soda here and there, eating lunch out everyday, buying a lottery ticket every once in a while, they all quietly add up to a significant amount of spending at the end of a month.
I’m sure that many of us would be amazed when we look over our bank statements to realize how much we actually spend every day. For many of us, it is those little things that prevent us from saving or investing and leave us at the end of every month wondering “Where did I spend all my money?”
Why personal days are a great idea
There are thousands of reasons why employees and co-workers miss work. Whether they are taking a vacation, they’re sick, children, or any of a number of other reasons. To address some of this most companies have built into their business structure specific times that employees are allowed to be absent from work. Typically you will see that businesses allow employees something along the following lines:
- “x” weeks of vacation
- “x” amount of sick days
- and they are closed on a number of national holidays (Christmas, New Year’s, etc.)
However, there are many times when someone needs to be absent from work for various reasons not mentioned above. I believe that allocating a number of “Personal Days” is a great idea for any company.
Dual monitors boost your productivity
Recently me and a couple of the guys I work with all upgraded to using dual monitors. Previously, we had all been using 20″ screens for the work we did. We could just as easily have upgraded our existing monitors to larger models, but the IT guys assured me that what I/we really needed was a dual monitor set up.