#i try to leave 15-20 depending on my budget

[bacchuschucklefuck]

soon it'll be dawn again

transcript under the cut ⏬

page 01

Fig: no way? - you're still up?

Riz: Wh– yes?

Riz: Why'd I not be.

page 02

Fig: I me~~ean - that took.

Fig: whole day.

Riz: Yeah?

Fig: 'm beat.

Riz: you should sleep.

page 03

Fig: nah. my guy's still up

Fig: I wanna hang out.

page 04

Riz: That's really nice.

Fig: Hah! - Nobody ever expects an Archdevil rockstar to be nice.

Riz: … yeah. - 's just budget work tho. (the stuff I'm working on) - I've heard it's boring.

page 05

Fig: yeah, but you do it…

Riz: It keeps things going, right? - Nothing happens if nobody sits down and - does the thing.

Fig: That's right… - though. Yeah.

page 06

Fig: sometimes it's someone else who - doesn't want the same thing to happen.

Riz: … - mm.

page 07

Riz (off screen): …It took me a long time to get that not everyone likes doing what I do. - 's probably because you guys are so nice– - or. - kind.

Riz (off screen): to anyone too, not just. - the people you /love/.

page 08

Riz: that's not how it is elsewhere. - The world's– not. hostile. - but 's not like it's kind.

Riz: So I'm doing as much as I can now… 

page 09

Fig: Hey.

Riz: ?

Fig: Go dig some dirt with me.

page 10

Riz: [blank speech bubble] - oh you meant like - actual dirt. (not incriminating information)

Fig: o yea.

Fig: there's clay in the backyard soil. - sometimes when I'm sun deficient or something I go touch dirt for a bit.

page 11

Fig: here u go

page 12

Riz: uh

Fig: now we make a thing! - 'm pretty good at freehanding a bowl.

Fig: I'll show u

page 13

Fig: just– yep, flatten that out as evenly as u can, then–! - actually ur nails'd be so good at cutting out the strip. [larger than usual space] wait. - wait. wait u can carve patterns with them! we HAVE to try

Riz: uh - What. do I carve?

Fig: anything!!!

page 14

Fig: and– yep just seal the inside uh. seam?

Fig: yep that works - okay time's up! all contestant hands up

Riz: [blank speech bubble] - okay - wh. what's next?

Fig: haha - watch this.

(sound effect text): FWOO—MP

page 15

Riz: WH– DON'T JUST DO THAT???

Fig: Now it's fired!

Riz: THAT WAS NOT SAFE

Fig: (actually it's just dry. if u add water rn it'll dissolve)

Fig: ok catch!

Riz: [blank speech bubble] - careful!!

Fig: dw no need haha

page 16

Riz (thought bubble): oh - it's warm…

Fig: now I want you to throw this.

page 17

Fig: u gotta do it - c'mon

page 18

Riz: wh– - It's like 3AM right now

Fig: oh it's not /fired/ fired it's not gonna make a loud noise

Riz: And then just? leave a pile out here?

Fig: pour water over it & it'll be gone I told u

Riz: but

page 19

Fig (off screen): RIz.

page 20

Fig: I've done all this before.

Fig: Can you trust that at least?

page 21

Riz: no, I– - I do. - I trust you.

page 23

Riz: okay what happens now

(sound effect text): glob

page 24

Fig: we do it again!

page 25

Riz: wh. [larger than usual space] What do you mean. (this clay's too wet also)

Fig: see! you're already learning

Fig: [blank speech bubble] - there are flows that are futile to fight. - The world changes.

Fig: Things change.

page 26

Fig: I've learned my lessons with "forevers". - But - as an artist

Fig: I can give you one thing: - You can always do it again.

page 27

Fig: most of everything depends on the rest of the world, - but this. - making new. - that's yours as long as you want it.

page 28

Fig: So?

page 29

Riz: Yeah. - Yeah! - let's make another one.

[mutualaidforalll]

Commissions Open!!

Hi everyone its Mod Vash!

I've said in a previous post, but I'm trying to earn money to fly out to visit my boyfriend for his birthday. Due to circumstances outside of my control, I have to leave my job, so I'm relying on work from family and neighbors to scrape by, so I'm opening up some commissions for both art made by me and character edits! More information under the cut so this doesn't get too long. (cw some of my art might be mildly eye straining to some people)

Please keep in mind that I am disabled and will work as best as I can to get your commission to you, but I might not be as quick as some others. All the commission money will go to saving up to visit my partner for a milestone birthday and helping pay down some debts!

GOAL: $600 (flights + budget for out there)

Slots open: 5

I have synesthesia, so if you commission me to do art of your name or a song you really enjoy, I will draw what I see with it.

For a simple kaleidoscope (or similar) commission, it would be $5, here are some examples of what I've made for simple names with simple backgrounds. These are probably the fastest and easiest for me to make, as I can get a good amount of colors and shapes from names and sounds down quickly.

The next tier up is still a synesthesia based drawing but it is more complex- a background/more detailed drawing. These will range from $8-15 depending on how complex you want the background and how complex the name/song is- ex, lacrimosa with a cathedral background would be $15 because that would take me a while, but the name Sasha and water would most likely be $8 or so since it would be easier and quicker. I only have one example of this, shown below. (Example would have been $10 due to shading and lighting)

Moving on from synesthesia is character bust shots, probably my weakest skill- but I can guarantee I will try my best. They will start at $15 and go up depending on how complex the character, how long I think it will take me, and how much detail you want included. and I will only do bust shots since I'm not good at bodies yet. Complex backgrounds are an extra $2. Below are some examples of recent bust shots of characters I've made. The first image would be $15 since the background is simple and the colors are flat, but the 2nd would be closer to $20/22 due to the background being multiple layers and having skin and hair texture.

The last thing I offer (for now) is character edits, where you can send me a picture of a character and I'll edit them however you like. These will start at $5 and go up, $1 for each character in the picture and an $1 per picture in a set. Super complex edits (like adding a lot of new hair and texturing it, or changing clothes) would cost extra, but small edits like changing the hair style or adding/removing makeup or piercings or anything would not be an extra charge. (i.e, you want me to edit one picture with one character in it and that would be $5, one picture with 2 characters would be $6, a set with the same single character with 2 pictures would $6, a set with 2 characters and 2 pictures would be $8, so on.) I dont have a ton of examples of this since I haven't done it in a while but I have a few from a while back. Super complex edits (like adding a lot of new hair and texturing it, or changing clothes) would cost extra, but small edits like changing the hair style or adding/removing makeup or piercings or anything would not be an extra charge. These catra edits would have only been $5 since they were simple edits, just changing her hair color and adding some makeup and piercings.

I have a paypal, venmo, and a chime account, if your interested in commissions please dm me through here and we can work something out!

[foraging-my-bliss]

I’ve been finding a lot of joy in finding and using random little budget friendly self care products on my days off from work. I’ve been starting to enjoy my new job as a full fledged phlebotomist more and more , but it does leave me exhausted by the time I get home. I have found that having a nice self care day on my weekend gives me something relaxing to look forward to. I do have a regular self care routine I have started to implement for myself every morning and evening aside from the extra self indulgent type care days. I do wake up three hours before I and to be heading off to work. This can be really tough as I often have to be driving to work before the sun is even up, But it has done wonders for waking me up slowly and completely y the time my work starts. I begin with my morning hygiene and hair : brush teeth, wash face, brush hair and do some light make up. I then take the time to make myself a nice breakfast, usually an avocado and egg toast or an egg sandwich. ‘lol take time to eat while I watch something slow and cozy on YouTube. Once I’n done, I go back to my room to meditate for 10-15 minutes, using the timer app, a really good mediation app. Ill take time to stretch out my neck and shoulders while i sit and meditate then I’ll get up and do a full stretch of my whole body. That’ when it’s time to get into my scrubs , pack my bag and get going. Once I come back from work, I have been trying to get into the habit of immediately getting into my work out clothes before I Eat a small snack, do some chores, and then get into either a Pilates or ballet barre excessive from YouTube. I’ll do either one for 10-20 minutes, depending on my energy levels, then I shower. I am trying to fit in some reading t after my shower but so far it’s been difficult to want to read after my brain feels fried from work. So at this time, I tend to turn on something cozy and mindless to watch on my iPad as i snuggle it to bed. A half hour before my bed Tim take my medications and decide if I’m going to need help falling asleep. I’f I do, I take a valerian root supplement capsule and i’m out in a half hour.

[ledenews]

Santorine: 'Please Explain to Me How That's Fair'

I’ve discovered those in favor of leaving our borders open and welcoming illegal invaders with open arms don’t understand the economic ramifications, which are expensive and will have long-lasting negative effects on our children and seniors. Let’s look at some very real scenarios: An illegal is working, falls, and breaks his wrist. He’s taken the hospital ER and racks up a $15,000 bill for diagnosis, plate, screws and surgery. He has no insurance and provided a fake name and address. It might look like the hospital will have to absorb the charges. They won’t. They will add them to your bill, or your grandparents' bill, which will cause your insurance to be more expensive, or Medicare to trim and ration services. Next … An Illegal family shows up with two school-age children who speak no English, and only knows a dialect spoken in the jungles of Venezuela. Of course, they know enough to call in an advocate who’s going to demand, knowing our laws better than we do, the school provide a translator and specific instruction. … The cost for this is not absorbed by the school. It is taken from an existing budget, likely a program for top performers (because they can fend for themselves), or, say the music department, who will now have to cut instruction and one concert for a number of  years. Those two illegals had a huge negative impact on 25 students, and hobbled the education of our best and brightest, because bleeding hearts want to help the needy while stunting our future. Please explain to me how that’s fair. Two illegals convince a landlord to rent them an apartment and promise there will be only four of them in the small two-bedroom unit. One week later, 15 of their closest relatives move in, using heat and hot water like no tomorrow. Landlord evicts them. On their way out, they trash the apartment, partly because they have absolutely nothing to lose, and partly because they come from a society where they believe they are entitled to punish the rich. … Who pays for that? The next tenant in that apartment, and every other tenant that landlord has – tand it many cases, those other tenants are the people least able to afford it. The numbers and the effect are much more pronounced when you consider this at scale. Let’s say there was a dormitory that would have housed 250 students. The university it was attached to fails, and someone decides that five busloads of illegals should be sent to Wheeling to be housed, and to receive taxpayer assistance. When they are not committing “the crimes of idleness,” or perpetrating the same crimes they were plying in Venezuela, they may decide to seek work. They don’t have a driver’s license or workforce skills, but they know if they offer to work for less, they can find something to generate income. More often than not, they don’t care if they are displacing other workers. You can count on the fact they will be cutting our local workers who many agencies worked hard to get gainful employment and situated with housing. When they get that work, they will send a huge portion of what they make back to where they came from, a net economic drain on the economy. The issue, you see, is self-compounding. If I’m an ethical employer, and try not to hire illegals, I will be forced into it when my direct competitors do, and I’m faced with being non-competitive.  So, like the unethical operators, I’ll dismiss my local help, and bring in the cut-rate illegal invaders. All this happens while they are driving unregistered or uninsured vehicles, having accidents with members of our community, initiating brawling, and just in general a drain on our local community. Their very presence will destroy our tourism business, and handicap everyone who depends on a safe, positive place to do business. Fast forward 20 years, and some politician will decide that since they were not in our Social Security system, but are of retirement age, that Social Security should pay them, and to do so, it means that people who paid into the system should take a little less. Is that what you want? I didn’t think so. Such is the problem of “sanctuary.” Just look at New York, NY, or Chicago. It can happen here if we let it. Read the full article

[donynallecheru]

I have 30 lakh rupees. What kind of business can I start?

Hello Guys!

I am back here to answer the most asked question in and out of Quora. The businesses that one can start with a budget of 30 lakhs.

As far as I know, starting a business is never an easy process. An entrepreneur is not the one whom we see in the spotlight. There will be many dark corners in the entrepreneurial journey. Right from choosing the industry to start a business to investing and monitoring or management, everything adds weight. So, before starting any business, extra research is required to choose the right industry, the right location, adequate funding, and proper streamlining.

I believe in sharing knowledge and chose to answer here.

I am an enthusiast to learn something that adds value to my time. In this process, I try to engage myself in content that is thought-elevating. This question yet again reminded me of the Raw Talks with VK podcast with Makers of Milkshakes. Gosh! I am kind of addicted to it.

When I answered the last question of choosing the brand name, from the same podcast, I got to know insights on starting a business with a budget of 15 lakhs. While consuming the content I seriously did not understand the impact it will leave. A single podcast for an hour gave me answers to these two insightful questions (realized just now).

Coming back to the answer. I would say seeking a Franchise Opportunity. In the modular economy or industry trend, franchising is a popular and proven business model with a plethora of opportunities. Believe me, the industry isn’t a barrier to this. With your budget of 30 lakhs, you can invest in a franchise of your industry niche.

Let’s drive back to Covid days. Oh no, don’t yell at me. It’s ok to go back to harsh days to take a case study. Here, I would like to ask you a question, what are the major industries that could withstand the intense Covid waves? Yeah, I heard you right guys! Food, clothing, and shelter. And of all, food is the basic fuel for survival every day.

Here you go!

With the increasing demand for unique dining experiences, starting your franchising can be an enticing venture. You can use your budget to secure a suitable location, invest in high-quality equipment and furnishings, and create a captivating ambiance. This business model offers the advantage of starting a business with an established brand, proven systems, and ongoing support from the franchisor.

When considering franchising, it's crucial to thoroughly research and analyze different business models to find the right fit for your investment. One key decision you'll need to make is whether to opt for a franchise or royalty model. Until I watched this podcast, I was (I guess most of you also) unaware of how a franchising model works. So, here I am listing the key information from this podcast -

Franchising is the best Investment Option I can suggest for a budget of 30 Lakhs.

Because,

In the franchise model, you invest one time and receive support from the franchisor for a specified period, typically 10 years. The break-even promise within 12 to 16 months is certainly enticing for aspiring entrepreneurs. However, it's important to understand that the level of support you receive from the franchisor may depend on the success and growth of the overall franchise chain. If the chain experiences setbacks or declines, the support you receive as a franchise owner may be limited. This is why some franchisors may prefer royalty payments instead.

Royalty payments are usually a percentage of your sales that you pay to the franchisor on an ongoing basis. By choosing the royalty model, you can maintain a long-term relationship with the franchisor, ensuring continued support, guidance, and access to the brand's resources. The franchisor's support is typically tied to the success of your business, as they benefit from a percentage of your sales.

In terms of investment, the initial budget of Rs. 15-20 lakhs can vary depending on the location and specific food business category you choose. Some franchisors may require you to source everything from interiors to equipment directly from the company, while others offer flexibility, allowing you to arrange these aspects on your own or through recommended vendors. In certain cases, the company may specify particular brands that you need to procure.

Make sure you thoroughly reviewed the terms and conditions of the franchise agreement before making a decision. Consider factors such as the franchisor's track record, reputation, ongoing support, and the level of control you'll have over your business operations. It's important to identify popular cuisines or niche concepts that have the potential to attract a loyal customer base. Additionally, focusing on exceptional food quality, outstanding customer service, and effective marketing strategies can help set your establishment apart from the competition.

Ultimately, franchising offers a pathway to enter the food sector with a known brand and a proven business model.

Remember, every franchise opportunity is different, so take the time to research and analyze various options, consult with experts, and make an informed decision that aligns with your goals, interests, and budget.

Yes, Folks! That is it.

While you were doing your research, you stumbled upon an insightful podcast on YouTube called "Raw Talks with VK." It's amazing how content in our native Telugu language can be so insightful, right? It's like a breath of fresh air. And I found this podcast so.

Best of luck on your entrepreneurial journey in the food sector!

[linastudyblrsblog]

Burnout, unfortunately, is everywhere. If you haven’t experienced it personally, you probably know someone who has self-diagnosed.

 Defined by the World Health Organization as a syndrome “conceptualized as resulted from chronic workplace stress,” it causes exhaustion, “feelings of negativism or cynicism,” and reduced efficacy. That’s a big umbrella, and the condition has become something of a catch-all for chronic, modern-day stress. 

Here are 11 of our favorites to help you create your own escape plan:

1. Figure out which kind of burnout you have.

The Association for Psychological Science found that burnout comes in three different types, and each one needs a different solution:

1. Overload: The frenetic employee who works toward success until exhaustion, is most closely related to emotional venting. These individuals might try to cope with their stress by complaining about the organizational hierarchy at work, feeling as though it imposes limits on their goals and ambitions. That coping strategy, unsurprisingly, seems to lead to a stress overload and a tendency to throw in the towel.

2. Lack of Development: Most closely associated with an avoidance coping strategy. These under-challenged workers tend to manage stress by distancing themselves from work, a strategy that leads to depersonalization and cynicism — a harbinger for burning out and packing up shop.

3. Neglect: Seems to stem from a coping strategy based on giving up in the face of stress. Even though these individuals want to achieve a certain goal, they lack the motivation to plow through barriers to get to it

2. Cut down and start saying “no.”

Every “yes” you say adds another thing on your plate and takes more energy away from you, and your creativity:

If you take on too many commitments, start saying ‘no’. If you have too many ideas, execute a few and put the rest in a folder labeled ‘backburner’. If you suffer from information overload, start blocking off downtime or focused worktime in your schedule (here are some tools that may help). Answer email at set times. Switch your phone off, or even leave it behind. The world won’t end. I promise.

3.  Give up on getting motivated.

With real burnout mode, you’re too exhausted to stay positive. So don’t:

When you’re mired in negative emotions about work, resist the urge to try to stamp them out. Instead, get a little distance — step away from your desk, focus on your breath for a few seconds — and then just feel the negativity, without trying to banish it. Then take action alongside the emotion. Usually, the negative feelings will soon dissipate. Even if they don’t, you’ll be a step closer to a meaningful achievement.

4.  Treat the disease, not the symptoms. 

For real recovery and prevention to happen, you need to find the real, deeper issue behind why you’re burnt out:

Instead of overreacting to the blip, step back from it, see it as an incident instead of an indictment, and then examine it like Sherlock Holmes looking for clues.

For example, you could ask yourself: What happened before the slip? Did I encounter a specific trigger event such as a last-minute client request? Was there an unusual circumstance such as sickness? When did I first notice the reversion in my behavior? Is some part of this routine unsustainable and if so, how could I adjust it to make it more realistic?

5.  Make downtime a daily ritual.

To help relieve pressure, schedule daily blocks of downtime to refuel your brain and well-being. It can be anything from meditation to a nap, a walk, or simply turning off the wifi for a while:

When it comes to scheduling, we will need to allocate blocks of time for deep thinking. Maybe you will carve out a 1-2 hour block on your calendar every day for taking a walk or grabbing a cup of coffee and just pondering some of those bigger things. I can even imagine a day when homes and apartments have a special switch that shuts down wi-fi and data access during dinner or at night – just to provide a temporary pause from the constant flow of status updates and other communications…

There is no better mental escape from our tech-charged world than the act of meditation. If only for 15 minutes, the ability to steer your mind away from constant stimulation is downright liberating. There are various kinds of meditation. Some forms require you to think about nothing and completely clear your mind. (This is quite hard, at least for me.) Other forms of meditation are about focusing on one specific thing – often your breath, or a mantra that you repeat in your head (or out loud) for 10-15 minutes…

If you can’t adopt meditation, you might also try clearing your mind the old fashioned way – by sleeping. The legendary energy expert and bestselling author Tony Schwartz takes a 20-minute nap every day. Even if it’s a few hours before he presents to a packed audience, he’ll take a short nap.

6.  Stop being a perfectionist; start satisficing.

Trying to maximize every task and squeeze every drop of productivity out of your creative work is a recipe for exhaustion and procrastination. Set yourself boundaries for acceptable work and stick to them:

Consistently sacrificing your health, your well being, your relationships, and your sanity for the sake of living up to impossible standards will lead to some dangerous behaviors and, ironically, a great deal of procrastination. Instead of saying, “I’ll stay up until this is done,” say, “I’ll work until X time and then I’m stopping. I may end up needing to ask for an extension or complete less than perfect work. But that’s OK. I’m worth it.” Making sleep, exercise, and downtime a regular part of your life plays an essential role in a lasting, productive creative career.

7.  Track your progress every day.

Keeping track allows you to see exactly how much is on your plate, not only day-to-day, but consistently over time:

Disappointing feedback can be painful at first – research shows that failure and losses can hurt twice as much as the pleasure of equivalent gains. But if you discover you’re off course, reliable feedback shows you by how much, and you then have the opportunity to take remedial action and to plot a new training regime or writing schedule. The temporary pain of negative feedback is nothing compared with the crushing experience of project failure. Better to discover that you’re behind and need to start writing an hour earlier each day, than to have your book contract rescinded further down the line because you’ve failed to deliver.

8.  Change location often.

Entrepreneurs or freelancers can be especially prone to burnout. Joel Runyon plays “workstation popcorn,” in which he groups tasks by location and then switches, in order to keep work manageable, provide himself frequent breaks, and spend his time efficiently:

You find yourself spending hours at your computer, dutifully “working” but getting very little done. You finish each day with the dreaded feeling that you’re behind, and that you’re only falling farther and farther behind. You’re buried below an ever-growing to-do list. There’s a feeling of dread that tomorrow is coming, and that it’s bringing with it even more work that you probably won’t be able to get ahead on.

List out everything you need to do today. Try to be as specific as you can…Next, break that list into three sections. Step 1: Go to cafe [or desk, a different table in your office, etc.] #1. Step 2: Start working on item group #1…Once you finish all the tasks in group #1, get up and move. Close your tabs, pack your bags, and physically move your butt to your next spot. If you can, walk or bike to your next stop…When you get to the next cafe [or spot], start on the next action item group, and repeat…

When you’ve completed everything on your to-do list for the day, you are done working. Relax, kick back, and live your life. Don’t take work home with you because that won’t help you get more done – it will just wear you out.

9.  Don’t overload what downtime you do get.

Vacations themselves can cause, or worsen burnout, with high-stress situations, expectations, and sleep interruption. Use it to help in recovery from burnout instead: 

Make a flexible itinerary a priority. [A] study from Radboud University found that effective vacations give you the choice and freedom to choose what you want to do. That means two things: Try to avoid structuring your vacation around an unbreakable schedule, and plan on going somewhere that has multiple options to pick from depending on the weather, your level of energy, or your budget.

10. Write yourself fan mail.

Seth Godin uses self-fan mail as a way to keep motivated instead of burning out on a project that seems far from completion:

I define non-clinical anxiety as, “experiencing failure in advance.” If you’re busy enacting a future that hasn’t happened yet, and amplifying the worst possible outcomes, it’s no wonder it’s difficult to ship that work. With disappointment, I note that our culture doesn’t have an easily found word for the opposite. For experiencing success in advance. For visualizing the best possible outcomes before they happen. Will your book get a great testimonial? Write it out. Will your talk move someone in the audience to change and to let you know about it? What did they say? Will this new product gain shelf space at the local market? Take a picture. Writing yourself fan mail in advance, and picturing the change you’ve announced you’re trying, to make is an effective way to push yourself to build something that actually generates that action.

  11. Break projects into bite-sized pieces.

Taking a task on in one entire lump can be exhausting and provide little room for rest in between. Breaking up your projects into set chunks with their own deadlines provides a much healthier, and easier, way of completing a large project:

The default take on deadlines is typically to consider them to be cumbersome and stressful. Yet, from another perspective, a deadline can be viewed as a huge benefit to any project. Without the urgency of a hard deadline pushing a project to completion, it’s easy for you, your team, or your client to lose focus. We’ve all worked on agonizing projects where the timeline just bleeds on and on, merely because the flexibility is there…

It turns out that the manner in which a task is presented to someone – or the way in which you present it to your brain – has a significant impact on how motivated you will be to take action. A study led by researcher Sean McCrea at the University of Konstanz in Germany recently found that people are much more likely to tackle a concrete task than an abstract task… It seems to me like the difference between being handed a map versus following the step-by-step instructions of a GPS device. Not everyone can read a map, but everyone can follow the directions. By breaking your project down into smaller, well-described tasks, the way forward becomes clear and it’s easy to take action.

[theotherjourney7]

“I was gonna leave The Week In Tory until Friday the 2nd October but at their current rate it'll be very long by then, and I'm worried about you, mate.

It's OK to get drunk on at 5pm on Monday the 28th of September, isn't it? Well, that's my recommendation anyway. Here goes...

1. In June UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said to Black Lives Matter protestors: “I hear you”, and acknowledged the “incontrovertible, undeniable feeling of injustice” that “we simply cannot ignore”

So obviously, 40 Tory MPs refused to take part in unconscious bias training

2. The government shut pubs an hour early, seemingly under the impression coronavirus (an inert, sub-microscopic infectious entity with no brain or nervous system) can tell the time.

The government demanded we all follow the rules

The government exempted House Of Commons bars from the rules

3. Health Minister Helen Whately said “people who get drunk and leave the pub to keep on partying should remember their responsibility for the nation’s health”

Helen Whateley, who is *actually* responsible for the nation’s health, was sober when she said this. Presumably

4. After 6 months of world-leading “throwing apps in the bin but taking the cash anyway”, the government finally proudly released an NHS Testing App

It didn't work with NHS tests

Or on 18% of phones

Or in Scotland or Northern Ireland

And a report said only 10% of the us will use it, cos we don’t trust Dominic Cummings with our data

Nor should we: the Data Commissioner said Cummings' proposed changes to privacy law will see the UK barred from sharing global data, and cost the UK economy "up to £80bn"

5. Meanwhile the promise of 500,000 tests per day won’t be reached because, in news that should shock nobody, the government failed to order enough raw materials

So the government stopped releasing evidence of how many are being tested, cos if you don't look at it, it isn't real

6. The government, which only weeks ago was demanding we go back to work or all get sacked, now demands we all stay at home

7. Them the government said the reason the UK had the worst Covid response AND worst economy in Europe is because we are “freedom-loving”

8. And then government freedom-lovingly banned schools from using any materials that criticised capitalism

Not content with this, they also banned schools discussing “victim narratives”, which is going to make it tough to maintain their national anti-bullying strategy

9. And then a leaked report said the government was planning to freedom-lovingly deploy the military on the streets

10. Meanwhile, the government announced only 24% of businesses have done any preparation for Brexit, and only 30% of cross-channel HGVs have the correct paperwork

11. The government finally admitted what they’d been told repeatedly since 2016, and said Brexit would create 2-day queues of 7000 lorries at Channel ports

7000 lorries (at the average 16.5m each) is 1155km. That’s a queue over 70 miles long. Every day.

To solve this, the government announced a new internal border in Kent, helpfully relocating 70 miles of queues to London, Essex, Surrey and East Sussex instead

A month ago, Tory MP Sir Edward Leigh was demanding we “take back” Calais. Now we’re essentially abandoning Kent.

Because we only had 4 years to plan for this, our lovely new border will start on 1 January and be controlled by software that – and you should probably open a second bottle around now - won’t be ready until at least 4 months later

Oh, and border checks won’t be ready in Northern Ireland either

But we might not have a problem anyway: it was revealed there are just 2000 EU haulage permits for our 40,000 UK hauliers. That’s 5% of what we need, for any Govt Ministers struggling with the maths

12. And we don’t even have enough pallets for the goods we import, cos we currently rely on a supply we share with the EU, and have neither the wood nor the treatment plants, nor the required chemicals to make and treat our own

So now the government has to make a 200m border, a mechanism for policing it, an internal passport system, software, admin, buy 38,000 permits and grow enough trees for 700,000 pallets. In 3 months.

It had 5 months to add up some A-Level results, and that went swimmingly

13. I’m sure supply-and-demand won’t force prices sky high, cos it never does when you have 5% of the food the nation needs and a govt which boasts about breaking the law, but it was also announced tariffs will add £3.1bn to the nation’s food bill in Jan 2021

14. As a mark of confidence, Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man and a leading Brexiteer, buggered off to Monaco

15. And an unnamed minister was quoted: “We are stuck in a bind. If we try to cancel Brexit we destroy ourselves; if we go ahead with it we destroy the country”

16. The London School of Economics reported the long-term cost of Brexit will be 2-3 times the cost of Covid

So Rishi Sunak cancelled the budget, cos once again, if you don’t look at it, it doesn’t exist

17. JPMorgan shifted £200 billion out of the UK and into Germany calling it “a result of Brexit”.

At least 22% of our entire national economy depends on international banks based in the City of London, so when the largest one fucks off, it's a relaxing development

18. Former Prime Minister Theresa May said the government’s bill to break international law is “reckless” and “risks the integrity of the United Kingdom”

19. The Attorney General, who takes an oath to parliament, the Queen and The Bar to observe the law, said she was “very proud” to be breaking the law

The UK is a signatory and legal guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace to the island of Ireland after 3600 violent deaths. The Attorney General, who is sworn to maintain peace, says Brexit will break the GFA, and she is “extremely proud” of that too.

Turns out, the advisory Professor who told her she should go ahead and break the law and endanger peace in Ireland is the partner of Michael Gove’s special advisor. It’s amazing, these coincidences. Almost as if they don’t want to listen to anybody else

20. Speaking of which, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s old friend and unfailingly irrumating backer (google it) Charles Moore, who has spent his life demanding the end of the BBC, and said the BBC causes "human misery worthy of Dickens" (does he mean Mrs Brown's Boys?) is in line to run the BBC

And it was reported ex Daily Mail Editor Paul Dacre, who shouts c*unt so much his meetings are called “the vagina monologues”, and whose paper is banned as a Wiki reference cos it lies so often, is going to be put in charge of Ofcom: ensuring decent and honest broadcasting

Oh yeah, and Boris Johnson tweeted “a free press is vital in holding the government to account”, which is probably why the people holding his govt to account are being replaced with his mates and cheerleaders

21. Tory MP and successful conscience-donor Andrea Jenkins got paid £25k from a thinktank that doesn’t exist

22. And because no list is complete without a disturbing nocturnal visitation from the smirking angel of death, Home Office Secretary Priti Patel was accused of incitement to racial hatred

23. Whilst Patel, Jenkyns and the Attorney General were busy redefining “the party of Law and Order” the rest of the govt took a wild swing at “the party of fiscal responsibility”, when it was revealed the government has wasted £3,895,556,000 since March.

This includes unsafe testing kits; face masks that don’t work; broken tracing systems; useless antibody tests; cancelled ventilator challenge; and inexplicable contracts to sweet manufacturers and dormant companies with no employees, to provide PPE that never arrived!

24. The government, which insisted schools and universities reopened, said it was now vital to lock down students and prevent them from mixing in large groups

And then the government said it was sanctioning class sizes of up to 60 which ... remind me, is that more or fewer than 6?

25. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said “we’re giving up to 11,000 iPads to care homes to enable residents to connect with loved ones”

“Up to” is a bit telling, but even if it’s 11,000, there are 21,700 care homes in the UK. I guess they’ll just have to share. Goodbye forever, nana!

26. And finally, if you feel all alone in despairing at this: you aren’t. Belief in Britain as a “global force for good” has fallen 10% since 2019. I, for one, am shocked to the core....”-Russ

[tundrainafrica]

Masterlist

This will serve as a personal tracker of all of the fics I have ever written, all of the books and series I have consumed etc. I wrote this out to help me organize my thoughts since I have time now to reflect on this closet hobby of mine. I also put it up just in case anyone has ever read my stuff and is curious about how these works are doing in my head space.

Some were written back when I was way younger so apologies for the quality.

ALEX RIDER

Come Home (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Memories don't keep people grounded in their present. They're the reason people think of what ifs and would haves, regrets and daydreams. Alex sees three dimensions of his reality and makes a decision. Set after Never Say Die.

Status: Done (I guess?), not posted on tumblr or AO3 yet

Killing (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Spoilers for Never Say Die. Killing is like learning to ride a bike as Alex is going to figure out very soon. For Spyfest 2017.

Status: Done (Oneshot), not posted on tumblr or AO3 yet

Transparency (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Although the bank robbery made national news, the young boy who saved the lives of all the people in the bank didn't. First hand witness accounts said the boy was a hero, the media said there was no young hero in the bank and one journalist tries to get to the bottom of it all.

Status:WIP (could probably still finish it, it’s almost done anyway), not posted on tumblr or AO3 yet)

Type II Error (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Written for Spyfest Week 3. Set before Ark Angel. The updates on payroll accounts and budgets lined up too well with mysterious deaths and undisclosed missions. An auditor working for MI6 decides for herself whether or not the orders of her bosses Blunt and Jones were worth prying into.

Status: Done (Oneshot), will post on tumblr yet

Unforeseen Circumstances (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

It's April, the time of year when most students start salvaging their grades. Missions had taken their toll on Alex's grades and he needs to start salvaging soon or risk repeating the year. Nature wasn't on his side though and it turned out that his devil's luck had just run out.

Status: WIP (8/15), On hold, not posted on tumblr yet

ATTACK ON TITAN

Levi and Hange’s Relationship in Erwin’s POV (Status: Completed, not posted yet)

A Tale of Two Slaves (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)  

"Soulmates don’t exist. Fate doesn't exist. Everything is a choice. At that moment, Levi could only watch as she made the choice for him."

Levi remembers everything from their past life. Hange doesn't.

Status: WIP (6/?)

A Free Spot (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)  

Slight AU! Levi sacrifices himself in Chapter 132 instead of Hange and Hange deals with the consequences years later. Written for Levihan Angstober Week 4. Prompt: Free Spot 

Status: Done (Oneshot), not posted on FFN yet

Division of Labor (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)  

"The past years, we have noticed a lot of our fresh high school graduates knew nothing about responsibilities the that awaited them outside high school and even college. Many students do not master budgeting, taxes, household planning, loans and we hope to raise a generation who can navigate the adult world without the consequences of bad decisions they are bound to make going in blindly..."

Paradis High school starts a program incorporating adulting into their curriculum and Hange and Levi are paired together.

Status: WIP (1/?)

En Prise (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Hange already had the innate analysis skills and the quick wittedness to excel in the classroom. Chess should have come easy for her. As she processed her fifth loss to the man in front of her, she started to understand that there was more to the game than meets the eye.

College AU! Levi is a little too good at chess and Hange gets roped into studying the game further.

Status: WIP (1/18), will try to create a backlog before I post more.

Heroes or Victims (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Post Chapter 115, Hange reflects on emotions, relationships, war philosophies, and a future while taking care of a severely injured Levi.

Status: Done (Oneshot), not posted on FFN yet

Household Planning (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

"It was Levi's household. The plates were arranged and sorted by color and use, the way Levi liked it. The cabinets and the storage were arranged in a way which would be efficient for cooking, or at least the way Levi would have wanted to cook."

Levi gets sick and Hange is left to navigate household chores.

Status: Done (2/2)

Passion Project (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)    

Levi tries to ignore Hange but it never seems to last. A ficlet detailing the development of Levi and Hange's relationship before canon.

Status: WIP (1/3) Timeline written, Chapter 2 rough draft complete, not posted on FFN yet

Rough Day (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

It should have been apparent to Hange by the weight gain and the sudden lack of red days. Somehow, Levi noticed it first.

Status: Done (Oneshot), not posted on FFN yet, will probably write more fluff similar to this

Sugar Rush

(AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Marley brings the celebration of Halloween to Paradis. Hange and Levi go trick or treating with their child for the first time and start to realize how much the world has changed since the war.

A Halloween piece for the Levihan spookfest one year late.

Status: Done (Oneshot), not posted on FFN yet, will probably write more fluff similar to this

Would You Cry? (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Hange asks an innocent question and Levi finds himself reflecting on his emotions and his relationship with Hange. Written for LeviHan Week, Angstober 2020. Prompt: Silence/Screams

Status: Done (Oneshot)

Vulnerabilities (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Slight AU! Although Levi is humanity's strongest soldier in the battlefield, his rough childhood had left him weaker and more vulnerable to illness. Levi had always taken measures to prevent sickness nit anyone who has ever been close to him caught wind on it anyway. A series of oneshots throughout the story focusing on Levi's chronic weakness and others taking care of him.

Status: Sporadic updates depending on mood, not yet posted on ff and tumblr

Big Hero Six

Deal with the Devil  (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

When mourning becomes too much for him, Hiro finds himself resorting to prayers and deals to bring back the brother he lost. The devil may have had pity on him but he never promised to let Hiro go unscathed.

Status: WIP, on hold, probably could get back to it just need to rewatch the movie, not yet completely posted on AO3 and tumblr

Fatal Flaw  (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Grieving may be a long and painful process but in time most people do recover. For Hiro Hamada though something probably went wrong along the way because from what Aunt Cass could see, he was moving on yet at the same time, he wasn't.

Status: WIP, abandoned, completely forgot what I was planning, not yet posted on tumblr 

Coco

Dares, Pranks and Curses (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Written for the Coco Valentines Fanwork Exchange. The night of Dia de Los Muertos, Miguel ends up staying out late to play a little game with his friends in the cemetery. Hector, Imelda and Miguel reunite through a game of Ouija.

Status: Done (Oneshot), not yet posted on ff and tumblr

Somewhere between Life and Death (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Dia de los Muertos isn't the only day the dead can visit the living. Miguel is reunited with Hector, Imelda and his other relatives from the other side but in one of the worst ways possible and he finds himself caught in a struggle between life and death.

Status: WIP 9/20, on hold, timeline is complete just need to get it written, need to fix tumblr tags

Crossovers

Quest for Origin: Ranger’s Apprentice x Percy Jackson (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

A young boy gets washed up on the shore of Camp Half Blood with no memories whatsoever of his life before. How did he end up there? Is it all just a coincidence? Or is it a message from the Gods? What's with his uncanny skill with the bow?

Status: On Hold (25/35), timeline complete, will probably continue with PJO TV show comes out, not yet posted on ff and tumblr

Kingdom Hearts

Coded Connection  (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Post KH3. If Kairi keeps Sora's memory alive, he'll eventually call out to her right? Then it will be her turn to find him, hold him and never let go.

Status: Done (Oneshot), not yet posted on tumblr and ff

Kuroko no Basuke

Yellow, Red, Green, Blue and Purple  (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Collab with friend back in high school. All Kise wanted to do was complete one more level of Flow Free before practice starts. When you have teammates as lazy, eccentric, hyperactive, sociopathic or invisible as the Generation of Miracles though, sometimes the things that sound the simplest, can be the hardest to do. Crackfic

Status: Done (Oneshot), not yet posted on tumblr

Ranger’s Apprentice

Being a Ranger’s Wife  (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

As Will leaves on a suicide mission, Alyss ponders on her choice to have married him.

Status: Done (Oneshot), not yet posted on tumblr or AO3

Danger Zone (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Rangers are human. Humans make mistakes. The difference though between an ordinary human and a ranger is the consequences they'll eventually face for past mistakes. Will should have known that for rangers, this included being on the run from an angry group of pirates with his silver oakleaf on the line.

Status: Probably Abandoned, first fanfic I have ever written lmao, completely forgot where I was going with this, not yet posted on tumblr or ffn.

Farmer’s Apprentice  (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Will lied to Mr. Chubb about stealing from the kitchen years ago. How did that small decision change the course of the young boy's life? AU Crack fic.

Status: Done (Oneshot), not yet posted on tumblr or AO3

Masters, Apprentices and Sons (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Gilan accepts Morgarath's challenge in the Plains of Uthal and Halt is left to care for his apprentice in the aftermath of the battle. Halt wonders why it took him this long to realize that there was no fine line between an apprentice and a son.

Status: WIP. I have written out all the way until chapter 5 but I completely lost the files. I don’t know if my current frustration will allow me to continue this.

The Fall of a Hero  (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Will had fallen from his place as one of the top rangers in the corps and one of the top figures in Araluen and it's up to his friends to help pull him back up. Recovery Fic.

Status: WIP, timeline not written, could probably still continue this, just need to catch up to the series

Prince of Tennis

A Break from Ingenuity  (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

Timing is everything. Fuji gets his timing wrong, makes one misstep then finds himself facing a career ending injury. Maybe, that's when everyone will realize that he's human too.

Status: WIP. Will probs continue if new POT content comes out.

Yuri on Ice

Surprises  (AO3/Tumblr/FFN)

With all the stress piling up for the Japanese National Championship and more importantly, the World Championship, one can expect an athlete to get injured. To have the coach be the one struck by a career ending injury during practice is another story. That's exactly how Victor surprised the crowd though, maybe for the last time.

Status: WIP (3/?), not yet posted on tumblr

[emmalenalouisaellis]

Tea Time Recipes: Jaffa Cake Cake

It’s a new year and a new season, but we’re still in lockdown which has left me with a little more time on my hands in which to try and test a few new recipes. -Although not necessarily the budget or the confidence in which to stretch to creating a brand new cooking channel with gleaming cooking utensils and a full range. Maybe one day *sigh*

But on the plus side, I’ve been very excited when  scrolling through the various social channel, I see something a little bit different, or a twist on an old favourite and comfort food. In this case a Jaffa Cake Cake.

Mcvittie’s Jaffa Cakes - for the unintiated are one of Britain’s secret pleasures combining the flavours of orange jelly, sponge and rich chocolate to become one of our tea time favourites. There is some drama of course about whether they are a cake or a biscuit but what really matters is the overall flavour. 

So why not capitalise this and make a larger version for everyone to share - rather than squabbling through the packets about who had the last one...

My variation of the recipe is enough for 8-10 people (depending on hunger levels) and can be made for under £5, which is great for those wanting to dip into baking without the price tag. I used a bag of Vanilla flavour sponge mix* from Tesco - for £1, eggs, water, orange jelly (or jello for my international friends) and some dark chocolate. 

*If you prefer to create your own sponge I recomend my recipe here.

Jaffa Cake Cake - Serves 8:

You will need:

2 x 10″ Round Baking Tin - I recomend using non stick tins as it saves on the washing up and allows you more time to enjoy tasting. Or some greased and lined tins.

1 x 8″ Round Baking Tin

1 Mixing Bowl (Large)

1 Mixer (or Wooden Spoon Method if you haven’t got one)

1 Palette Knife

1 Measuring Jug

Wire Cooling Rack

Ingredients:

2 Medium Eggs

100ml (7 tbsp) water

1 Pack of Orange Jelly - Hartley’s is good as it’s usually 50p.

2 Bars of Dark Chocolate

Method:

For the Sponge 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C /Gas Mark 5. 2. Empty the cake mix into a mixing bowl and add the eggs and water. 3. Mix with a handheld whisk for 2 minutes until smooth.

4. Divide the mixture equally into the two tins and bake in the centre of the oven for 15-20 minutes until risen and golden brown.

Jelly

1. Open your jelly pack and cut it into cubes. Cutting into cubes will help your jelly dissolve quicker and it sets quicker too.

2.  Pour the water and mix it up into a liquid and then add the mix into the 8″ tin.

3. Leave the jelly to set in the fridge over night, or within the freezer for 20-30 mins. You know it has set when there is a nice consistent orange texture and the jelly ‘wobbles’ but is firm in the centre. 

Cake Assembly:

1. Remove from the two sponges from the oven and allow the tins to cool for for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. 

2. Remove them carefully from the tins, being sure to preserve the shape and remove the jelly from the fridge/freezer.

3.  With the first sponge place it on a plate so that it is facing the same way up as it was in the tin and add the jelly. You can add this as a whole circle or spread it evenly over the sponge. Be careful to avoid it leaking out of the sides.

4. Cover the jelly sponge with the other sponge to create a lid and lightly score the surface with a knife to create the crossed effect of the original.

5. Break the chocolate into squares into a small bowl or the measuring jug and melt in the microwave or on the stove for 30-40 seconds.

6. Once melted gently pour the mixture onto the lid of the cake and smooth it down with the palette knife to cover the lid of the cake. 

7.  Reapply the hatched pattern with your knife and leave the cake in the fridge to set for 30 mins or so before eatting. 

8. Once the chocolate is set the cake is ready. 

I always think it taste best when it’s fresh but if you’re a smaller party, or aren’t ready to eat 8 slices, it can be left in the fridge for up to 3 days. Serve it it with a nice cup of warm tea and your favourite china set. I like mine milky with two sugars.

So how did you get on? Please let me know in the comments and check through my blog for more vintage and traditional recipes.  

Have a beautiful day.

Emmalena x

[paulckrueger]

Debt consolidation: How does it work and is it right for you?

When you have debts everywhere you turn, it can feel like you’re completely swamped. Your hands are tied every payday as you funnel money into paying off debts, leaving you with no room to save.  

That’s why a lot of people turn to debt consolidation, which is when you use a loan to pay off all of your debt — and it can seem like a godsend.

But wait, how is ANOTHER debt supposed to help?

Of course, you’re right to be suspicious. The thing is, it can help but only if you do it right. Do it wrong and you’ll be kicking yourself from a position worse than you’re in now. So, should I consolidate my debt?

Debt consolidation can work as a way to pay off debt faster. However, if you’re not disciplined and look for help in the wrong places, you’ll end up spending MORE time paying off your debt.

Let’s take a look at what debt consolidation is, how to consolidate debt, the pros and cons, where to find a reputable organization to help you, and ways you can get out of debt fast.

Bonus: Ready to ditch debt, save money, and build real wealth? Download our FREE Ultimate Guide to Personal Finance.

What is debt consolidation?

Debt consolidation combines all of the debt you owe into a single payment with a lower monthly interest rate. This typically works by taking out another loan in order to pay off all of your other debt.

Let’s say you have debt across three credit cards and you owe the following:

Credit card A: $2,000 at 10% APR

Credit card B: $1,000 at 20% APR

Credit card C: $1,000 at 15% APR

Each month, you’re contributing $100 to each card for a total of $300 — however, a portion of each is being eaten by interest:

Credit card A: $16.67

Credit card B: $16.67

Credit card C: $12.50

So in all you’re paying $254.16 towards your debt rather than the full $300.

With debt consolidation, you take out a loan of $4,000 and pay off ALL of the above debt — and you get a lower interest rate for the loan at 10%.

Now each month when you contribute $300 you’ll pay $266.67 towards your debt rather than just $254.16.

In theory, this means you’ll be able to pay off your debt faster.

The interest rate you’re able to get depends on which type of loan you attain:

Secured loan. This is a loan where you put up an asset (e.g., car or home) as collateral. If you default on your loan, your creditor will repossess said asset.

Unsecured loan. This is a loan that just uses credit. As a result though, you might end up with higher interest rates than if you had a secured loan.

If you want to get your debt consolidated, you’ll have to go through one of the two routes above — which we’ll get into later.

Before we do that though, it’s important you know the dangers around consolidating your debt.  

Bonus: Ready to ditch debt, save money, and build real wealth? Download our FREE Ultimate Guide to Personal Finance.

The problem with debt consolidation

But before you click on one of those scammy internet ads marketing “DEBT CONSOLIDATION — BE DEBT FREE IN 3 HOURS,” consider the big drawbacks to debt consolidation:

1. It could take longer to pay down your debt

If there’s anything we’ve learned about human psychology over a decade of studying behavior and personal finances, it’s that things like that are easier said than done.

For example, if the average person ends up saving $300 in interest payments because of debt consolidation, do you think they’ll use that extra money towards their debt OR do you think they’ll end up spending it?

Most likely, the latter.

Human willpower is limited. It’s the same reason why cutting out lattes or skipping lunch to save money doesn’t work.

A person with 300 “extra dollars” might end up just blowing it on something else.

What happens then is it takes longer to pay down debt. This results in even MORE fees they have to pay.

Aside from diminishing willpower, many debt consolidation loan companies offer up longer loan terms than people realize. So while the interest rate is lower, they end up paying more because they didn’t take into account how long they’d have the loan for.

2. You could lose your home or car

If you decide to put your car or home down as collateral you stand to lose much more than a few thousand dollars off the life of your loan.

A home equity loan is also known as a second mortgage. Taking a second mortgage out on your home means you risk losing your house if you fail to make payments.

Of course there are some advantages to going this route. For one you can deduct the interest payments from your home equity loan from your taxes. Plus you’ll be able to get a lower interest rate than if you went the unsecured route.

Overall, though, it’s just not worth the risk — especially when there are better ways to go about it.

3. Your credit score will suffer

There are a few things that go into making a great credit score. One of them is your credit history — or how long you’ve had credit for.

It actually accounts for 15% of your overall score.

That might seem small but consider this: If you get rid of a bunch of different lines of credit at once, your credit score is going to take a huge drop. That drop gets bigger with more and more lines of credit you close.

How do you know if debt consolidation is right for you?

Debt consolidation can be a great way to plan your route out of debt. But that doesn’t mean it’s the perfect solution for everyone. 

The benefits of debt consolidation are hard to argue with. You can simplify your debt, save money on interest, only deal with one creditor, and (hopefully) clear your debt faster. But there are pros and cons you need to know about before you make this decision.

It can be the best move for some, but worse for others. 

Signs debt consolidation is right for you

You have high-interest debts

The number one sign that debt consolidation is a good option for you is if you have several high-interest debts. Why pay interest on several debts when you can pay it on just one?

If you know you can secure a lower interest loan, it makes sense to consolidate your debts. 

According to Experian, the average personal loan interest rate is 9.41% — whereas the average interest rate for credit cards is around 16%. So, if you’ve got a ton of credit card debt, it’s worth considering debt consolidation.

You have good credit

If you’re already in debt, getting another loan might be tricky unless you have good credit. Most creditors will want a credit score of around 670 (FICO Score). 

If you have good credit, you’re more likely to get approved, and also get a loan with decent interest rates. Remember, you want a loan with lower interest rates than your current debts, so this part is key. If your credit score isn’t the best, a new loan might not have favorable interest rates. 

You want a fixed repayment schedule

With some debts like credit cards, it’s easy to just make the minimum payments or even miss a payment (please don’t do this). This makes it harder to clear the debt because some of it relies on willpower. 

With a personal loan, you have a fixed payment and loan term that you have to abide by. This makes it much easier to stay on track and clear your debts. It also means there are no fluctuations in your monthly debt payments like with a credit card so it’s easier to budget for. 

Signs debt consolidation is NOT right for you

You have a poor credit score 

Having a poor credit score is one reason why a lot of people want to get out of debt as fast as possible. 

However, debt consolidation relies on you not only being able to take out a new loan but also getting one without crazy high interest rates. 

If the only loans you can take out mean you’ll be paying MORE in interest rates, then it’s not worth it. In this case, the only benefit would be to simplify your loans. 

But what you really need is to save on interest so you can clear the debts faster. 

You’re on the verge of bankruptcy

If things have taken a downward turn and creditors are threatening to sue, then a debt consolidation loan may not even be accessible to you. Bankruptcy is a scary thought, but if this is your reality, you are unlikely to qualify for a debt consolidation loan.

If this is your current situation, you would be better off looking into debt settlement to try and reduce your debt amount first. 

You can’t afford the monthly repayments

Taking on another debt is tricky if you’re already in debt. While you can use this one to clear your other debts, you need to make sure you can cover the monthly repayments. 

As it’ll be a higher debt amount (to cover all your other debts), the monthly repayments will be higher. Make sure that you can fit it comfortably into your budget before taking on new debt. 

After all, missing repayments can set you back even further. 

Bonus: Ready to ditch debt, save money, and build real wealth? Download our FREE Ultimate Guide to Personal Finance.

How to consolidate debt — and get rid of it completely

If you’re STILL interested in consolidating your debt, I want to help you.

Because there are a LOT of scammy consolidation services out there. These “businesses” will promise that they’ll help you get out of debt fast through their loan packages …

… only to screw you with hidden fees, bloated interest rates, and long loan terms.

The trick here then is to separate the good debt consolidation organizations from the bad ones.

Step 1: Find a non-profit debt consolidation firm

Non-profit debt consolidation firms are 501(c)(3) organizations that help provide you with consolidation services, credit counseling, and will even negotiate with your creditors for you.

The best part: They do so with little to no costs to you since they’re funded by third-party sources such as donations and grants.

Unfortunately, even scammers and bad consolidation services have non-profit status. So you’ll have to do your research into finding a reputable one.

Two good signs a non-profit debt consolidation firm is the real deal:

Fees. A reputable non-profit will likely have monthly maintenance fees. Luckily, they’re relatively low cost — and if you’re in really dire straits, some non-profits will waive the fees entirely for you.

Non-profit status. This might seem like a no-brainer but it still needs to be said: Ask them for verification of their non-profit status. Too many scam companies pretend they’re non-profits in order to lure people in. Don’t be one of those people.

Make a list of 5 to 10 non-profit debt consolidation firms. Spend the next week calling each of them and getting a consultation on your situation and what they can do for you.

A good non-profit will spend about an hour on your consultation. Beware of any organization that wants to take your money and put you into a plan right away. They are NOT looking out for your best interests.

Step 2: Eliminate temptation

Luckily, a non-profit debt consolidation firm will take care of a lot of legwork for you. That means they’ll call your creditors, negotiate down your debt and interest rate, and work with them to consolidate all of your debt into one manageable monthly payment.

Unluckily, that’s the easy part. The hard part means actually doing the work of paying down your debt — and that’s up to you.

To do that, you need to first get rid of the temptation of using your credit cards until you’re debt-free. If you ever expect to pay down your debt, you can’t add more to it.

Here’s my favorite tip: Plunge your cards into a bowl of water and shove it all into your freezer.

Seriously. Remember what we said about human willpower? It’s very weak — so weak that a solution like freezing your cards is necessary sometimes to delete temptation.

When you literally freeze your credit, you’ll have to chip away at a massive block of ice in order to get it back — giving you time to think about whether or not you want to go through with whatever purchase you were going to make.

You can also give them away to a loved one to keep until you’re out of debt.

Step 3: Confront your debt

It’s good to finally confront your debt. That’s the first step to getting out of it. 

While it may be tough to climb out of debt, the sooner you make a plan to do so, the better. You’ll be able to repair your credit score, work on boosting your savings, save on interest, and finally get some sleep at night. Debt can weigh heavily on the mind, after all. 

The good thing is, you don’t have to do this all alone. There’s help at hand. You can get in touch with a non-profit debt consolidation firm to help you. Take advantage of their credit counseling services to help steer you through unmanageable debt. Do your research and find a non-profit so you can avoid the scammers out there. 

It’s easy to feel bad for yourself and avoid confronting your debt. It’s harder to actually step up and do something about it.

Since you’re here, that means that you’re willing to put in the work to dig yourself out of your financial hole which is amazing!

Bonus: Want to know how to make as much money as you want and live life on your terms? Download our FREE Ultimate Guide to Making Money

What is the difference between debt consolidation and debt settlement?

Another term you’ll likely come across in your quest to clear your debt is debt settlement. But what is it? 

Both debt settlement and debt consolidation are used to handle personal debt, but they work in very different ways.

Debt settlement is used to reduce the total amount of debt owed. Whereas debt consolidation is about reducing the number of creditors you owe. 

With debt consolidation, you combine multiple debts into one. Debt settlement is when you ask one or more of your creditors to accept less than you owe.

If the creditor agrees, you both reach a settlement agreement in either a lump sum or installments. 

Which one is best for you? 

This depends on your circumstances and what the creditor will agree to. If you want to make your monthly repayments more manageable and reduce the amount of interest you pay, then debt consolidation is the way to go.

If you’re already behind on payments and are struggling to meet them, then debt settlement might be a better option. 

In this case, if you’re already behind on payments you might struggle to get a debt consolidation loan anyway because of the impact on your credit score. So, debt settlement is definitely something to try out to reduce the burden. 

Debt settlement is the next logical step if you’re out of options, have poor credit, and want to avoid declaring bankruptcy if at all possible. 

It may mean taking a hit on your credit score, but you might have to just accept that. Once the debts are clear, you can get to work on repairing that damage. 

How does debt settlement work?

Debt settlement is a tricky one and requires you to whip out your negotiation skills. There’s no guarantee the creditor will agree, but there’s no harm in asking.

The process is pretty simple. You can ask your creditor if they would be willing to negotiate a settlement. Do this over the phone or in writing to keep a record of the conversation.

A creditor can do one of three things:

Accept it

Reject it

Make a counteroffer

With the counteroffer, you will need to consider if the amount they want is affordable in your budget. Make sure you’re agreeing to something that’s realistic and fair. 

Once you agree on a settlement amount, all that’s left is to arrange the payments. This can either be a lump sum or through installment payments, whichever you agree to. 

After you’ve made the payments, the remaining balance that’s been hanging over your head will be a nice round zero. 

If negotiating debt settlement on your own sounds like a nightmare, don’t worry. There is help at hand. You can hire a debt settlement company to negotiate on your behalf. However, this does involve paying them a fee, and again, you have to do your research to avoid hiring a scammer. 

Pros and cons of debt settlement

Pros

You reduce your debt amount

The biggest pro to debt settlement is simply that you reduce your debt amount. A lot of people don’t know that you can ask your creditors for this. So they carry on struggling. 

But if you’re struggling, it can’t hurt to ask. If a creditor agrees, you could cut hundreds of dollars from your debt and all the interest that comes on top of that.

You can clear your debt faster

With a smaller debt amount to pay off, you can pay it off faster. Whether you agree on a payment plan or a lump sum, you’ll be able to say goodbye to your debts much sooner. 

This means your money will be freed up faster to put into savings accounts or whatever else you want to spend your money on. You can also get to work repairing any damage to your credit score once the debt is clearer. The sooner the better. 

It could help you avoid bankruptcy

If bankruptcy is on the horizon, debt settlement should absolutely be a consideration. The last thing you want is a bankruptcy on your record. You can pretty much say goodbye to being able to take out credit for a LONG time if you reach this point.

Cons

Your credit score will take a hit

Naturally, debt settlement does not reflect well on your ability to repay debts. If you have debt settlement in your credit history, it signals to future creditors that you are riskier to lend to. This could result in sky-high interest rates or outright credit rejection in the future.

However, if your credit score is already low and your debts are just making it worse, then you pretty much have nothing to lose. Yes, you’ll take a hit, but you’ll also get out of debt sooner if your creditors agree to debt settlement.

You might struggle to get credit again… especially with those creditors

A lower-than-ideal credit score does affect your ability to take out credit in the future. However, if you’ve been in a tricky situation with credit, it’s probably worth avoiding new loans and finance for a little while anyway. 

The creditors who agree to debt settlement will likely avoid lending to you again because they will be worried about losing money. This could limit your options in the future. But if it’s your only option, you might just have to just bite the bullet.

There is no guarantee creditors will agree

Unfortunately, if you’re relying on creditors to throw you a lifeline here, you might be out of luck. In an ideal scenario, they’ll be forgiving and offer you a way to climb out of debt in a way that benefits everyone. 

But there’s no guarantee they’ll do this. They could outright reject your request or be inflexible with their counteroffer.

There’s little you can do if this is the case. You can try another of your creditors if you have several debts to see if any of them will agree. 

Bonus: Ready to ditch debt, save money, and build real wealth? Download our FREE Ultimate Guide to Personal Finance.

Avoiding debt in the future

After you’ve decided on a method to reduce your debt – don’t stop. Ridding yourself of debt is just one key part of building strong personal finance. The other part of the puzzle is to manage your spending so you don’t end up in the same position as before. 

The last thing you want to do is put all your hard work into clearing the debt, only to succumb to temptation or poor money management which puts you right back where you started. 

That’s why we want to give you something that can help you take your personal finances to the next level:  The Ultimate Guide to Personal Finance. In it, you’ll learn how to:

Master your 401k: Take advantage of the free money offered to you by your company.

Manage Roth IRAs: Start saving for retirement in a worthwhile long-term investment account.

Spend the money you have — guilt-free: By leveraging the systems in this e-book, you’ll learn exactly how you’ll be able to save money to spend without the guilt.

Enter your info below and get on your way to living a Rich Life today.

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Debt consolidation: How does it work and is it right for you? is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Surety Bond Brokers? Business https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/debt-consolidation/

[hoochy-coo]

What are some style inspo or pics you feel us regular folks can recreate without breaking bank? I'm trying to up my style game recently, I'm still a teen and I'm not employed so I technically depend on the money of the family, any cute fits you know about?

Hey! I completely get how difficult it can be to up your style while you’re on a limited budget. Before I can get into the pics, I want to give you some tips to help you shop stylishly but also affordably:

- Thrift stores. Yes they can be expensive but hear me out! The process of sifting through the thrift stores actually forces you to think about what you need and don’t need. It also forces you to slow down - if those VTG Levi’s jeans fit you to perfection and you know you’re going to get tons of wear out of them then it’s reasonable to pay $30-40 for them and ditch the weird $15 party top that you’ll only get to wear twice. I barley ever leave a thrift store with more than one item these days and that way I actually think about how I’m going to implement the item into my closet rather than how it’s going to look cute by itself.

- If you’re after a specific item and you can’t afford it then keep an eye out for them on Depop/EBay/Mecari, etc. Tons of people just want to get rid of stuff so they’ll sell an item that’s been only worn once or twice for like half the price.

- Get your staples in order! Trust me on this one. I got my shit together last year and put all my staples (white or black top, tees, tank, singlets) into a drawer. Now I worry way less about what goes with what or what to layer under more colourful pieces. You don’t have to spend too much money of these staples either - now a day white tees come in a pack of 2-3 for like $20. I know they seem like boring pieces and they’re not fun to buy, but it will pay off in the long run.

Now to the pics (most of the looks you see on influencers are actually super easy to recreate. Sure their items are probably way more expensive but most of us already have one or two component of that outfit in our closet):

(We all got a pair of these type of jeans, we’ve all got sneakers, we’ve all got a white tee somewhere. Then you can dress that up with a statement purse. Easy!)

(Again, we’ve all got these type of jeans. White tank top? Everyone has one. A cropped, relaxed cardigan is so in-trend right now so even if you don’t own one, you can get one for cheap from basically any brand atm)

(Again, jeans and white tee combo but if you’re feeling more fun and colourful then just throw one of these vest over it. If not then a blazer and that’s a classy but chic look as well.)

(Re-use that cropped cardi from pic 2. Don’t have docs? Thrift or it just wear you fave pair of boots. I know we all have a pair of plaid pants and a blank tank/bandeau top in our closet.)

(Remember that white/black tee shirt? Now re-use that and put it with a skirt and a cropped jacket. Alternatively, you can go a little masculine and pair it with that jacket or a longer, draping jacket as well and a pair of pants.)

(A sheer blouse - now even if you don’t own one, I promise you that your mother, aunt, older sister, etc. will own one. Tuck it into those plaid pants in pic 4 and get an immediate je nais se quios or dress it up with a midi skirt.)

[purplesurveys]

1141

survey by lets-make-surveys

1 - Do you have a favourite day of the week? What is it about that day that you like so much? I feel like I just answered this recently, but let’s go with Friday again. Always nice to fade out after work and to finally close all my work tabs and chats, and not feel obligated to reply to anyone for a couple of days.

2 - Would you describe yourself as a sociable person or not? I’m not the most sociable person, like I don’t always have the energy to be at the maximum level of perky, but I am to an extent. I no longer find it difficult to approach people and strike up a conversation.

3 - Who was the last person you spoke to out-loud? What did you speak to them about? My mom. My former director, Ysa, sent me a scented candle earlier tonight - as a parting gift since she got promoted and got reassigned to my employer’s sister company - and I just asked my mom to light the candle up because I’m scared of matches and fire.

4 - Do you prefer tea or coffee? Coffee; I never drink tea.

5 - What's your ideal weather? When was the last time you had that kind of weather where you live? Any kind of weather where the temperature is anywhere below 25ºC (which is already considered quite chilly here) is fine with me.

6 - Who was the last person (apart from family) that you spent time with? What did you get up to? Does virtual count? I had a Jeopardy night on Zoom with my orgmates a couple of weeks ago. I might miss out on a couple of people, but I was with Peter, Elis, Andi, Carmel, Robin, Laurice, and Mik. Apart from that, my uncle treated me, my kuya, and my cousin Luke to lunch the morning after said Zoom call.

7 - If you have pets, when was the last time one of them got on your nerves? Oh my god, just this afternoon. I was in a Zoom call with a client and besides our PR agency, there was another marketing agency in the call who was also pitching their presentation deck. The entire call was pure bliss on my end, no one was making noise at home – the second it came to my speaking parts, Cooper started howling and barking like crazy because idk, maybe he saw an animal outside or something?? In any case it suddenly got very loud and I got caught off-guard, and I ended up stuttering several times as I was trying to focus.

8 - Do you have to wear a uniform at work or school? If not, what do you tend to wear? The only time I had to wear a legit uniform was in private school, which I attended from preschool to high school. We do have business casual dress code at work, but that in itself is pretty flexible so I don’t really count it as a ‘uniform.’

9 - Would you rather live in a house with a swimming pool or an indoor cinema? Indoor cinema. I watch a lot of things that I’d love to be able to view with a much bigger screen - plus it’s a lot easier to maintain than a pool, lol.

10 - When was the last time you were at the beach? August 2019 :(

11 - Do you own a credit card? If so, do you currently owe any money on it? Could you afford to pay it off tomorrow if necessary? No. My parents also advise against getting my own credit card since I could pick up some bad spending habits from it, according to them. That sounds scary enough so I’m ok with my debit card.

12 - What do you tend to wear to sleep in? Does this vary depending on the time of year? Usually something light, short, and airy since I live in a tropical country that never gets to enjoy temperatures lower than like 23ºC.

13 - What do you tend to have for breakfast, if you eat it? Fried rice, hotdogs, and bacon strips are filling enough for me.

14 - If someone offered to cook you a three-course-meal of your choosing, no budget - what would you have? Oysters, filet mignon, and macarons.

15 - How many hours of sleep do you typically get each night? Is that enough to function or would you rather have more? Anywhere between 7–9 during weekdays, and like 3–4 during weekends because revenge bedtime procrastination is real. Yeah, I’d say it’s enough on both ends.

16 - Does your house have a loft/basement? Are they functional or do you just use them for storage? We have neither.

17 - When was the last time you did a load of laundry? Do you need to do some in the near future? I don’t do the laundry at home.

18 - Are you addicted to anything legal? What about illegal? I guess vaping? I’m a lot more reliant on it now versus the past few months, and I get a little restless whenever I have to charge it for an hour or so. 

19 - Do you suffer from road rage? What kind of thing tends to set you off or wind you up while driving? A little bit, but I obviously haven’t had to express it in a while because of my much-lessened time on the road due to Covid. Standstill traffic is the biggest factor, but standstill traffic + stupid drivers who are impatient and end up not following the road lanes is the quickest way to irritate me and set me off.

20 - What kind of animal did you last see in the wild? Is that a common sight where you live? I have no idea, and that’s precisely because I live in the suburbs in a city which would not make them a common sight.

21 - How is your hair styled at the moment? Low side ponytail.

22 - Do you post a lot on social media? If so, what kind of thing do you tend to post on there? Not as much as I used to. I’ll probably post 5–7 tweets (versus the 50+ I’d post when I was younger) and share like 1–3 Facebook posts a day. I could talk about pretty much everything on Twitter since that’s my main dump - be it rants, my feelings, what I ate, the latest dumb thing Cooper did, etc. On Facebook I mostly share memes, at least family-friendly ones that wouldn’t alert my relatives lol.

23 - What are you watching/listening to at the moment? Nothing for either. I can hear some birds chirping outside since it’s finally getting brighter again, but that’s it.

24 - If you have multiple pets, do they all get along with each other or are there sometimes fights/scuffles? Cooper has actually finally settled down a bit so I’m starting to feel more comfortable letting him out with Kimi in the same room/floor. He understands that Kimi doesn’t like being disturbed so even though he’s in the mood to run around and be energetic and play catch or whatever, he always takes the time to tip-toe around Kimi. They’re not best buds by any means, but it’s enough to leave them be and not worry about a fight breaking out anymore. Sweet boys.

25 - What are some habits you have in common with your parents? My dad excessively blinks when he’s feeling tense or in an argument; I ended up picking that up from him. With my mom, it’s mostly phrases or expressions that she likes to use.

26 - Where's your favourite place to swim - the ocean, a pool, river, lake etc? Beaches.

27 - When you're saving your place in a book, do you use a bookmark or fold your pages down? Or something else? I either remember the page number or do a tiny dog-ear. Bookmarks aren’t the right match for me lol, I’ll most likely end up losing them.

28 - What's your favourite kind of cereal? Sweeter ones.

29 - Is any part of your body hurting at the moment? Is there a specific incident that caused the pain? Yeah, my neck had actually been seriously stiff during my last shift and I couldn’t move my head unless I moved my entire body along with it. It’s died down now but I can definitely still feel the strain. My left shoulder in particular feels very strained at the moment and I’m feeling a considerable level of discomfort from it as I take this.

30 - What was the last thing to make you laugh out loud? 2 Days 1 Night, the usual. The Korean style of video editing is phenomenal and can literally make anything funny.

[ledenews]

Santorine: 'Please Explain to Me How That's Fair'

I’ve discovered those in favor of leaving our borders open and welcoming illegal invaders with open arms don’t understand the economic ramifications, which are expensive and will have long-lasting negative effects on our children and seniors. Let’s look at some very real scenarios: An illegal is working, falls, and breaks his wrist. He’s taken the hospital ER and racks up a $15,000 bill for diagnosis, plate, screws and surgery. He has no insurance and provided a fake name and address. It might look like the hospital will have to absorb the charges. They won’t. They will add them to your bill, or your grandparents' bill, which will cause your insurance to be more expensive, or Medicare to trim and ration services. Next … An Illegal family shows up with two school-age children who speak no English, and only knows a dialect spoken in the jungles of Venezuela. Of course, they know enough to call in an advocate who’s going to demand, knowing our laws better than we do, the school provide a translator and specific instruction. … The cost for this is not absorbed by the school. It is taken from an existing budget, likely a program for top performers (because they can fend for themselves), or, say the music department, who will now have to cut instruction and one concert for a number of  years. Those two illegals had a huge negative impact on 25 students, and hobbled the education of our best and brightest, because bleeding hearts want to help the needy while stunting our future. Please explain to me how that’s fair. Two illegals convince a landlord to rent them an apartment and promise there will be only four of them in the small two-bedroom unit. One week later, 15 of their closest relatives move in, using heat and hot water like no tomorrow. Landlord evicts them. On their way out, they trash the apartment, partly because they have absolutely nothing to lose, and partly because they come from a society where they believe they are entitled to punish the rich. … Who pays for that? The next tenant in that apartment, and every other tenant that landlord has – tand it many cases, those other tenants are the people least able to afford it. The numbers and the effect are much more pronounced when you consider this at scale. Let’s say there was a dormitory that would have housed 250 students. The university it was attached to fails, and someone decides that five busloads of illegals should be sent to Wheeling to be housed, and to receive taxpayer assistance. When they are not committing “the crimes of idleness,” or perpetrating the same crimes they were plying in Venezuela, they may decide to seek work. They don’t have a driver’s license or workforce skills, but they know if they offer to work for less, they can find something to generate income. More often than not, they don’t care if they are displacing other workers. You can count on the fact they will be cutting our local workers who many agencies worked hard to get gainful employment and situated with housing. When they get that work, they will send a huge portion of what they make back to where they came from, a net economic drain on the economy. The issue, you see, is self-compounding. If I’m an ethical employer, and try not to hire illegals, I will be forced into it when my direct competitors do, and I’m faced with being non-competitive.  So, like the unethical operators, I’ll dismiss my local help, and bring in the cut-rate illegal invaders. All this happens while they are driving unregistered or uninsured vehicles, having accidents with members of our community, initiating brawling, and just in general a drain on our local community. Their very presence will destroy our tourism business, and handicap everyone who depends on a safe, positive place to do business. Fast forward 20 years, and some politician will decide that since they were not in our Social Security system, but are of retirement age, that Social Security should pay them, and to do so, it means that people who paid into the system should take a little less. Is that what you want? I didn’t think so. Such is the problem of “sanctuary.” Just look at New York, NY, or Chicago. It can happen here if we let it. Read the full article

[cryhounds]

Bro leak your skin care routine and products

oh boy uhhhh ok so. i was gonna say my skincare routine is p minimal which is a fucking lie but it is pretty fast + easy. everything i use is under $20 and most of it is fragrance free as well. i have dry & acne prone skin but tbh this should work for most ppl. also ill say this i havent gotten my hands on a good sunscreen yet but PLEASE wear sunscreen im just v picky cause it breaks me out.

for cleanser i use the herbivore pink clay bar soap which is $12 and lasts me anywhere from 3-4 months (comparable to most drugstore cleansers!!!). they have 2 other facial bar soaps depending on ur skin type and i think theyre all kinda awesome and its nice that theyre almost completely waste free. i wouldnt recommend literally any other herbivore product but i like pink clay cleansers and this one is v good

i also use an acid toner/chemical exfoliant, ive used the silk naturals lactic acid toner which is i thiiink $12 and lasts me about 4months as well which is good if youre new to chemical exfoliation or if youre sensitive but lately ive been using the pixi glow tonic ($15 for a comparable size) which has glycolic acid instead and i honestly like it more (bc its stronger) but it also has fragrance which is :// not ideal

for moisturizer i use the ordinary's nmf + ha moisturizer which is like $7 for 100ml. this is a really great thick moisturizer, if youre oily you might find it too thick or greasy feeling but also moisturizer is good for you. i dont like using this in the winter tho bc northwoods winters are dry as hell and the hyaluronic acid in the moisturizer actually will dehydrate you if the climate is too dry but i havent found anything under my budget that doesnt have HA :( in the summer i also use the ordinary's marine hyaluronics serum which i dont remember the price of but its under $10 and will last me about a year. AND the ordinary also has a 100% argan oil for $7 that i use on my hair and face which is a crazy good price for a very very good hair/face oil and id highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good hair/face oil. i do go through about 1 bottle every 2-3 months tho esp in the winter.

a few notes: you will want to use exfoliating products or toners FIRST, preferably right after you cleanse, because they wont do anything over moisturizers. also, only use chemical exfoliants every 2-4 days depending on how sensitive your skin is, and remember that your skin will be more sun sensitive when you use one. id use serums next, then moisturizer, then an oil if you want to use one, then spf. also when you wear spf you will want to cleanse your skin at the end of the day, because it's designed to sit on top of your skin rather than soak in, so if you just leave it there it will break you out. stay away from products that use essential oils as active ingredients, and remember that as fragrances theyre no safer than their synthetic friends. try to stay away from physical exfoliants, there is a way to do it properly but it's finicky, and dont ever use salt or sugar scrubs on your face.

and remember you dont HAVE to do anything to your face, a good spf, cleanser, and moisturizer really will cover all your bases.

[eldritchsurveys]

1095.

1 - If you have caffeine late in the day, does it cause you to struggle with your sleep? >> If I have a high enough amount of caffeine early in the day, it can mess with my sleep. I think high stimulant use in the past might have oversensitised my system, but also I take the Pill and apparently one little-known side effect is that it keeps caffeine in your system longer. So, basically, I just avoid anything that has more caffeine than a cup of black tea.

2 - When you struggle to sleep, what do you do instead? >> Read, usually. A lot of my reading gets done when I get awakened in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep.

3 - Who was the last person you spoke to for the first time? How did you come to speak to this person? >> I have no idea.

4 - If you have a pet, have they ever embarrassed you in public or in front of friends or family members? What happened? >> ---

5 - Do you leave the house every single day? >> I’ve left the house every weekday this week (still not sure whether I’ll go out today, but I’ll at least get the mail and maybe take the long way). I’m trying to form a walking habit for the 3285784th time.

6 - Would you rather spend the day at the beach, or a day in the snow in the mountains? >> I can’t really choose like that. It’d depend on a lot more factors.

7 - Do you prefer tops that are plain, or ones with patterns/logos/slogans? >> Almost all my shirts have some kind of design on them.

8 - Are there any TV shows from your childhood that you still watch today? >> I don’t think so. I didn’t really get to watch much back then anyway.

9 - How many texts would you say you send on an average day? >> Zero, most of the time.

10 - Do you enjoy buying gifts for other people, or do you never know what to buy them? >> I can’t say I understand the stress behind this. I mean, I can put two-and-two together (people get anxious about the recipients’ responses and stress themselves out that way; people feel like they need to predict exactly what the recipients want; etc), but I can’t imagine getting that caught up in it. Then again, I wasn’t really raised around that sort of thing (I experienced exactly one commercial-style Christmas as a minor, and birthday gifts were sporadic at best), so maybe that’s why. I got to come into my own feelings about gift-giving, on my own time. So, yeah. I love buying gifts for other people, because I associate it strictly with having fun and showing appreciation. If someone doesn’t appreciate the gift I chose, that’s nothing to do with me. My part in the interaction is done, they can do with the gift whatever they like.

11 - Girls - if you get periods, do you suffer from period pain or any other horrible symptoms? >> I’m not a girl, but I do get a period when I’m not on the Pill, and half the reason I’m on the Pill is because of the debilitating pain and resultant fear and stress that was just ruining my life. The other half is the fact that having a period at all is a source of intense despair and dysphoria for me.

12 - The last time you were in a car, where you were travelling to? Were you the driver or a passenger? >> Schuler Books. I was a passenger, of course.

13 - Who were you with the last time you went out for a meal? >> The last dine-in experience we had was when Sparrow’s niece was visiting from Utah and we went to a restaurant with patio seating with said niece, Sparrow’s sister and brother-and-law and baby nephew, and her parents. (Yes, that’s people from four different households and two different states, all at one table. Loved it.) It was definitely one of those “if I was in Sparrow’s position I wouldn’t have went at all” kind of deals, which describes a lot of the situations involving Sparrow’s family.  -- Actually, I just realised that wasn’t the last time, but I don’t feel like deleting all that after having typed it. The last-last time was actually to IHOP on Sparrow’s birthday. The seating was distanced and we wore masks while being waited on. We also didn’t linger for long.

14 - What book do you wish they’d make into a film or TV series? >> ---

15 - The age old question - do you prefer coke or pepsi? >> I don’t drink either.

16 - What’s the last thing you watched on TV? Is this a programme you watch regularly? >> The last TV show I watched was called How To With John Wilson, on HBOMax. I only just discovered it but I’m definitely going to be following it as long as it exists. It’s adorable and I love it.

17 - Do you have a favourite documentary subject (eg. nature, celebrities, history, crime)? >> I’m not sure. I think I like a variety of documentary subjects.

18 - Do you prefer sweet or savoury snacks? What snack would you say is your overall favourite? >> Savoury. I like some sweet things, but usually in combination with other flavours (so, like... a sweet and salty snack mix, for example). I don’t have an overall favourite snack.

19 - Does having to wear a mask stop you from doing anything, just because you dislike them or find them uncomfortable? >> Nah, I’ve gotten used to them. I still find certain aspects of them to be uncomfortable and I don’t like wearing them for long stretches of time, but that’s not really a problem for something like grocery shopping (which is really all we do these days).

20 - Do you prefer zip-up or overheard hoodies? >> Zip-up, easier to put on and take off. I do like overhead hoodies, but my erratic body temperature situation makes it annoying to wear them.

21 - If you have a yard or garden, how much time do you spend out there? >> I wish :(

22 - When was the last time someone bought you flowers? What was the occasion? >> I mentioned the Thanksgiving flowers story on one of the surveys I took last night and don’t feel like rehashing it.

23 - How often do you get takeaway? What’s your favourite thing to order? >> Not very often; there’s not much of a budget for it.

24 - Do you own a lot of clothing items in your favourite colour? What is your favourite colour, anyway? >> I don’t own any gold or yellow clothing items (although I do own gold jewelry).

25 - When was the last time you stayed overnight away from home? Was this with friends, family or in a hotel somewhere? What was the occasion? >> January. I was in a motel. I went to Houston for Elle’s wedding.

26 - Would you ever be interested in seeing a live magic show? >> It’s not something I’d choose to pay to see.

27 - What’s your favourite period to learn about in history? What got you interested in this particular era? >> I don’t have a favourite era.

28 - Do you still use or carry cash, or do you pay for everything via card? >> I have been paying almost exclusively with card (barring places like the farmer’s market, where some stalls don’t have card readers for whatever reason) for years now.

29 - Are there any TV shows that remind you of your grandparents for some reason? >> ---

30 - Have you ever had to wear a tie for school or work? If not, do you know how to tie a tie without looking it up? >> No. I do know how to tie a tie, but because it’s information I so rarely use, sometimes I forget a step or the exact order of steps and have to double-check with a guide.

[blackfox-thorn]

consideration on witchcraft supplies and ethics (expecially for newbies and broke witches).

caveat emptor: brace yourself, this is a LONG post, but please if you could find your time to read it, me and planet Earth will appreciate. x

we have all been there; we start our journey into witchcraft and all of a sudden we find ourselves with that compelling need to buy 15 billion candles, herbs, crystals and the more you name them, the more there are.

I usually find so many posts that state that you must go with what you have, and you shouldn't mortgage your home or sell a kidney to buy witchcraft supplies.

and by all means, I stand by this.

however, I always had my concerns when I see such advice.

it is that advisable to buy crystals on wish.com and use plastics container to pursuing cheapness?

I know this may upset some, but here's my view:

I usually can talk with 10 different witchcraft practitioners and have 15 different way to practice witchcraft as a result (the beauty of confronting ❤).

however, 98% of the time, there is one common ground where we all stand: a deep respect for the environment, nature, mother earth or whatever we are going to call it.

is hard to believe that such a variegated world can (basically always) come down to this simple, yet so important topic, in finding a common ground.

now more than ever, as witchcraft practitioner, our role in preserving the environment should be key to us, because you know, let's state the obvious: if the environment collapse so does we.

and it seems that the human race is doing its best to make it collapse.

but what does this has to do with witchcraft supplies?

well, let's go state the obvious again, shall we? every single object and material we use in our craft come from somewhere (you may call me 'captain obvious') and "somewhere" means from the planet earth in a more or less direct way.

when this is quite a straightforward observation when it comes to herbs for example, it may not come straight to our mind when we go on more "complex" items, such as candles, paper, strings, containers, crystals, etc. etc.

the truth is that every single object we use in our life (thus in our witchcraft practice) come from a more or less processed version of a material that is being harvested from the Earth.

it is exciting and frustrating at the same time to confront ourselves with the endless amount of tools we can take advantage of in our practices and, especially for early doors practitioner, it can be overwhelming to think to how much they "need" to buy.

the truth is another story.

starting from a very basic principle, which is "you are the tool" (aka the magick is firstly within you), the first thing we need to remember and eventually assimilate as deeply believe, is that we don't need any tools.

you can see tools like a bicycle; if you have to go from A to B, and you have a bicycle, you'll go there faster.

however, you can still go there by feet.

but, if you start to train, and you build up your muscles and resistance, you will eventually be able to run from A to B and by all means, you'll be exactly on the same speed of those who use a bicycle, and guess what? if you were to use a bicycle after you train that hard, you will be able to smash any other competitor.

but let's not forget one extremely important thing: either way, it is you, and you only, that finished the run.

it's not the bicycle alone that brought you to B, but your muscles that pedalled it.

the bicycle alone, without any input on your side, will stay there.

so here, tools simplify our practice, but ultimately, if we are not able to direct and use the energies we want to work with, not even the fanciest, most ancient, most expensive tool ever created will do the job for you.

but we still haven't talked about the "ethics" connected with our choices and the inevitable impact on the environment.

before I delve into it, let me tell you that I KNOW.

I know because I've been there. I've been in the craft for the last 11 years of my life and - no surprise - I've been so broke.

yes, now I can make better choices and afford higher quality, but that's only because I've worked fo f*cking hard for them, and usually adulthood comes with its perks (aka: a better job).

I've been an extremely underpaid waitress and a not·much·better·paid barista.

I had to live for months with a weekly food shop budget of £20/£25 for two people, and have the constant worry that I might not have been able to pay rent for that month.

so I hear you, I hear you when you're broke and you just don't have the money for it, I hear and I know how it feels. x

however, even when I was terribly broke, I never compromised on my witchcraft.

but yes, I did compromise in my everyday life on everything else, because you know: rent & bills > everything else.

when it comes down to witchcraft supplies, I always ask myself a few questions:

· do I really need that?

· does it have to be new?

· can I buy it ethically?

· what material is it made of? it is sustainable?

· can I make it / harvest it / grow it / find it / etc. myself?

· do I know where it comes from?

do I really need that?:

this should be literally the first question popping in your mind.

I will not go over the boringly long point I just made about tools, so I'll bring you a new one.

while there is no such BS as universal crystals/herbs that can substitute any others (although yes, certain herbs/crystal posses a broader spectrum of properties and you can indenfy them as 'master crystal/herb'), is true that many different herbs and crystals domain over similar aspects.

also, when it comes to witchcraft, the neighbour's grass is NOT greener (translation: look for local herbs rather than 'across·the·boarders' one).

let us take as example this bunch of herbs: thyme, basil, artemisia and elder.

those are all herbs that preside over the art of purification, yet each one has a very specific way of express itself upon it.

for example, thyme offers a specific aid against physical pain and thus is more adapt to purifications concerning the body.

basil is deeply connected with prosperity and love, and it's usually kept within the household to ensure its protection.

artemisia is the excellence when it comes to purification of objects and ambients and its infusion is usually the one of choice when it comes to purifying magickal objects.

elder is a particularly sacred plant, and thus is mainly used in the crafting of talismans for personal protection and purification (yes, usually the two goes hand in hands).

what I'm trying to convey in this example is that a deep knowledge of the ingredients/tools/supplies you're looking for is not only beneficial in choosing the most appropriate match (thus enhancing your magickal performance), but it can also help you understand better what do you exactly need (IF you need it) and whether you may be better of looking for something else.

does it have to be new?:

before giving out a kidney for something shiny new, have you considered whether you can find it second·hand?

remember my blathering 15h ago in this post? each and every single thing that passes upon our hands come in a way or another from resources that have been extracted from mother Earth. yes, even a dagger or a jar was once a piece of our planet.

essentially, you need to question yourself where what you are going to do is more a 'waste of money' or an 'investment well placed' (think of it as a house. if you live and work in London, is it really the best choice for you to buy a house in Edinburgh that may be the coolest house you ever stumble across but is clearly going to be unhelpful for your situation?)

and you may get a piece that might have not been taken with all due environment respect.

that super cheap object you found on wish.com has the same environmental impact of a similar one sold by an ethical company that may be 3 times as much? no. just simply no.

only that, you might not always be in a position to buy from that super ethical company for that price.

but, still, do you really have no other choice but to buy it new?

is it really more important for you to have a shiny new thing than pursue the key role you have in defending the environment? (for me, there is no other answer than "no").

likely, we live in a society where is not too difficult to find alternatives for pretty much everything we need.

charity shops and thrift shops are your new best friends.

everything is sold cheap in there, and let me tell you, you may find goods in there that are as much breathtaking as the most expensive fanciness.

plus, you have a wonderful bonus when you buy second·hand: you can practise your skills in the purification art (after all, second hands also means you have no idea to which energies that object is been exposed to).

but you don't even need to leave your home to buy second·hands, in fact from eBay to Etsy, you have a plethora of tools to go second·hands and save the environment.

can I buy it ethically?:

let's get this straight: ethical is NOT equal to expensive.

in fact (and I can tell you from experience as I'm slowly switching to zero·waste and plastic·free and generally sustainable lifestyle), in the long run, it becomes cheaper and cheaper.

yes, I get it, beeswax candles usually cost from 3 to 5 times more to a regular candle, but between plastic and beeswax, there is an ocean of alternatives.

first, let's address a point: do you really need 7 candles for that spell?

maybe, if you deeply study your spell, and selectively chose your ingredients, your £5 budget for those cheap 7 candles, can be redirected to a single, ethically produces beeswax candle - as a result, you will have not only saved a tiny bit the environment but you will also have a much better quality ingredient for your spell.

second, ethical doesn't mean fancy.

buy your eggs from the local farm, usually is cheap AND ethical.

take a long walk in your countryside and harvest a reasonable and respectful amount of herbs and other natural material is cheap AND ethical.

make your own tools from natural materials and or local supplies can be cheap (depending what you making and with what - it's obvious that if you planning on making a 3 meters silk cloak in just not gonna be cheap) AND ethical.

you're getting the idea.

what material is it made of? it is sustainable?:

you want to make a jar spell, you don't have any jars, you end up using a plastic container.

do you see what's missing there?

you don't need a new shiny, fancy, expensive glass jar.

as a matter of fact, you may not always need a glass jar at all.

oftentimes, I find myself planning a jar spell which will end up buried in the ground.

you don't need to be a scientist to know glass ain't gonna recycle for the next thousands year. so do you really wanna put that thing in the ground?

wouldn't it be better, for example, reuse the core of a toilet roll, which is perfectly biodegradable?

of course, there are certain spells in which you'll have to retrieve your jar at some point, well, in that case, go ahead and use a glass one, but the bottom line is "think before you do".

as I mention earlier, I am in my slowly·but·surely journey on zero·waste and plastic·free. this means I'm a jar horny.

every time I see a jar, an inevitable orgasm pervade my body. a shameful truth.

and I also need lots of jars to fill all my goods (I use a wide variety of herbs, seeds, flours, and other grains, just to mention a few needs for jars).

do you know how much I've paid for all my jars (MY jars.. MY precious..)? £0.00

ok, this is not entirely true. but let me explain.

once, I had to buy some tomato passata for a dish I wanted to make.

I used the passata, washed and kept the jar. now, that very same jar is the home for my quinoa.

and OH MY, jars come in such a weird a wide variety!

just have a scroll down the asile, point the fanciest looking jar and see what it holds: mango chutney? that stuff will not set foot in my home nor even after I die. pickles? my goddess they are distasteful at THE least, but hey! my partner has them in his every day work lunch and he's running low, I will need them, I can take them. nocera olives? DID YOU SAY I NEED TO BUY 7000 OF THEM?

liquor and alcohol bottles, usually come in the prettiest shape.

choose a nice personal use bottle of liquor or wine, and you'll get yourself a perfectly fancy jar for you spell, virtually for free.

BONUS: yeah, you know it. you contribute to save the environment.

The bottom line is: THINK. do you know what material are you using for which purpose? if you don't know, is best follow the wise adage "better safe than sorry" and simply skip it!

can I make it / harvest it / grow it / find it / etc. myself?:

do I need to explain?

you want a wand your first thought is..

1· let me check some expensive holy·moly on esty, on which I'll then cry over because I knew before I started looking I can't afford it! :D

2· let me see which kinds of trees I have around my home, and what can I do to safely harvest some wood for my wand.

the right answer is.. 2! (what a surprise..)

can you even imagine the added values (without even considering how much more powerful) this object will be if done with your own hands?

but wait, I can already hear it.. "but I don't know how to carve a wand!".

(prepare yourself for some bitter irony) I'll share with you a secret, you live in the XXI century and there's a fantastic tool out there you can use to help you.. it's called the internet!

you can find instruction on how to make a bomb worthy of a terrorist, I'm sure you can find instruction on how to make a wand to!

(you can't afford an internet connection? then how are you reading this post? - end line for the bitter irony).

you can make better choices for your and the environment simply by investing time in what your doing (a very hard and difficult to come·by skill in the "all and now" society we live in..).

do I know where it comes from?:

least but not last.

OH MY, how tempting are those quartz point sold at £0.03 on wish.com

yeah.

have you stopped to think where they come from?

crystals, more than anything else, is the clearest example that EVERYTHING comes from mommy Earth.

and it should come with no surprise that, unfortunately, not all crystals are harvested ethically.

so yes, when you pay for a crystal, you are also paying for the people who worked in the mines from which come from, for the machinery/electricity and so on that were needed to work on the mine and generally all the things that a business must cover.

and it should come with no surprise vol.2 that a company that harvest crystals in an ethical way, respecting the environment and paying a fair wage to their employees will be more pricey than a crystal that comes from a company that does not care about such thing.

you need to realise that crystals ARE luxury items and thus, they won't come for cheap.

so for that spell where you needed 7 different types of crystals, it may be worthed to:

· once again, carefully and in·depth study each ingredient to evaluate what do you actually need and thus restricting the choice to fewer ingredients with better quality.

· make wise investments. search for good companies. you'll find usually companies that adopt good ethics are pretty proud of it! and they will state loud and clear where they source their products and which other ethicalities they follow in offering your such products.

· compare the market. yes, of course, there will be companies that will be cheaper than other. your best shot is to research the market for the thing you need to establish which is the fair price you should look at.

· go to the source. you can do this two way, either by literally go to the source and do a nice trip to the location where you can find that crystal, or go to a wholesale where you'll find way cheaper items without compromising your quality.

don't gift money to those who overprices and check carefully before paying someone who underprices!

· WELL DONE YOU ❤️·

you did it! you almost reached the end of this kilometric post.

I'm really proud of you.

go get yourself a nice apple and a glass of water. ❤

if you feel tired just by reading all this, well.. you're getting it right!

because it is tiring and time·consuming take the responsibility for your purchasing (and in general your actions).

it is hard, it is challenging, my goddess if sometimes is boring, and more, in general, is just a lot of time and effort!

so yeah, actually go through all this for your next glamour spell will make the planning of it last probably 10 times longer.

but hey!

you are walking the path of the wise, you are a practitioner of witchcraft, you are handling a BIG power, and with a big power, come some BIG responsibilities.

you know though, what you're are going to gain?

1· patience:

yep. the more time you'll have to invest in something, the less you'll be tempted to the "all and now" of modern society. after all, who does to wast a month of her/his life to make more ethical choices to then just give up everything?

2· knowledge:

you may be a slow learner, but even there, it will be impossible for you to not retain at least some of the information you so carefully had to investigate! and hey, who knows, you may also have fun!

3· critical evaluation:

when you spend so much time in searching and evaluating, you will eventually build up the tool kit that will allow you to make the same choices, with the same depth in less and less time.

be able to to make constructive criticism upon something, is a skill that not only enhances your craft but is also priceless in real life.

4· result:

probably the most important thing of all, and ultimately my first reason why I never compromise on my witchcraft supplies.

in real life there's nothing more true than "we are what we eat", and I believe that in witchcraft a similar statement hold; "we produce the energies we invest in".

what I do, it need to be a perfectly smooth line from my intention to my end result.

how can I achieve so, when the tools/resources/materials/etc. that I use are not in line with what I do?

how can a man constructed*, polluting, paraffine candle convey the same energies as a naturally produced beeswax candle? what energies and added values has to offer the paraffine candle compared to the beeswax one?

*(I don't mean that making something by hand is worng, if that would be the case, I'm the first sinner. what I mean is something that wasn't harvest and create from nature (like a cotton or linen dress), but something artificially produced in a laboratory, mix and matching chemicals.

and NO. buy all means I'm not a nonsense, I do "revire" science and scientifical progress, but yet I'd rather living in a more natural and less artificial world).

how much better will respond in my hands the wand I made myself, compared to the fancy one I had me shipped form a stranger, maybe from the other side of the world?

this humongous post, it is, as the title says, just a consideration at the end of the day. a consideration I hope will spark some reflection in your next action. let me know what you think ❤.

so, my dear newbies and broke witches out there, I hear you, I really do.

but I also urge you..

THINK.

this is it, you've reached it, the end.

I'm so proud of you, go to watch some cute kittens pictures. ❤

~ mem the fox