#it's been a month full of Big (some Unplanned) Expenses

[littlehornedoak]

so it's been a week lol

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[howardpotts]

four: buy your pretty heart

Love on the Brain - Masterlist in links

Pairing: MobBoss!Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: You’re just a student, living her normal daily life in New York. One night changes everything, without you even knowing. Steve Rogers slowly introduces you to his world full of money, drugs and violence. But are you able to handle what he has to offer?

Chapter warning: Uhmm none, i think. 

A/N: I haven’t uploaded in a while, but I had some unplanned hiatus. It’s just that a lot has happened privately that made me lose interest in anything. I hope this chapter is any good, since it’s been written in small pieces in the last 3 months. 

Let me know what you think! Comments and reblogs are highly appreciated! 

You thought you were going to spend your entire day daydreaming about the night before, instead you were thinking over and over about what has happened.

Even when Wanda was gushing to you about that girl and how they spent the entire night dancing, kissing, talking - you had a hard time to keep your thoughts away and your focus on her.  She looked tired, just as you. Big bags under her eyes, hair was a little bit more fussy than normal. You tried to cover your tiredness with makeup, which was pretty well done in your opinion. 

You were grateful it was friday, meaning that you could focus on other stuff on the weekend. Take your mind of whatever happened today, trying to suppress it til monday; when Steve is going to take you out on dinner and, well, probably fuck you senseless after. 

“Lets go shopping after school”, Wanda stated. She had a date on sunday and she knew that you were going to meet with Steve on monday. You told her about yesterday night, but you didn’t dare to tell her what happened this morning. You didn’t want to get her in any kind of trouble.

“Wan, you’re a genius”, you admitted, smirking to her. She claps her hands in excitement, her golden bracelets sounding like bells, making her look even more enthusiastic. 

You slumbed out of your class, eyes a little foggy from all the staring to the screen in front of you. The teacher had you noting everything he said on your computer. It couldn’t get any more boring than it already was - and that on a friday afternoon.

“What kind of dress are you looking for?”, you asked Wanda, trying to shake away the boring class. She hooked her arm into yours as you walked through the busy hallways of the school. You both didn’t care to look who was walking around, you just wanted to get out of here and into the city, focussing on way more exciting things.

“I think something laced. Black, maybe? Or would that be a bit too tame?”, she asks you.

“Depends on the dress”, you respond. “A little bit of lace, a shape that makes your figure look like candy and it can serve you well.”

The fresh air gives you new energy when you step outside. It’s pretty cold outside, but for February, it’s actually quite nice. 

A call of your name has you looking around. Some guy approaches you. Brown hair, little bit ruffled. You have never seen him in your life. “Steve sent me. He wanted me to give you this.”

A big grin on Wanda’s face, and you fake one too. It isn’t that you don’t like Steve, but at this moment you were a little bit terrified of what could be in the package. You want to , thank the guy, but he’s already walking down the stairs, acting like he never spoke to you.

“Open it, open it!”, Wanda squeals enthusiastically. 

Your heart could jump out of your chest when your hand moves to open the package. 

There’s a little note on top of it, almost flying out of the box as the wind waves lightly in the box. You grab it quickly and turn it around. 

Wear this and nothing else. 

Wanda giggles, you blush. A little paper still hides what exactly is in the box but Wanda’s patience is wearing thin and she gets rid of it as quickly as you can blink.

There’s a black jacket in it. On the inside a label saying ‘BALMAIN’.. Wait, that’s designer right? That’s a pretty well known brand. Not that you expected Steve to get you some cheap stuff, but designer? Did he really put that much money into you or did he send this to every other girl, asking it back after wearing it once? Ew, no, he didn’t do that. That’s disgusting.

“BALMAIN?”, Wanda gasps. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Where the hell did you find this guy- Don’t answer that.” 

“That’s pretty expensive, right?”, you ask. Her eyes turn big as she watches you.

“Yes, that’s fucking expensive”, she calls, still impressed by the gift in your hands. “And we’re not talking hundreds here, darling. We’re talking thousands. Two, maybe three.”

“Thousand?”

“Thousand!” She throws her hands in the air to give the words even more of a drama effect. 

You don’t know what to say. Or do. It’s kind of overwhelming, to be honest. You’ve met the guy not even 24 hours ago, and he already gave you the responsibility to decide a man's fate and now he gave you a jacket worth thousands. You have to admit that it creeps you out. Alarm bells are going off, warning you to cut him out of your life and find a good man. One that will swoon your parents and will probably be better for you than he’ll ever be. 

But you’re flattered at the same time. Why would someone like him - a man with charm, looks, grace, money and a lot of female attention - invest money in someone like you? You’re not special in any way. You’re as average as can be. You’re a communications student, living in some apartment with two other roommates because you can’t afford to rent one for your own. You have some kind of barista job in the weekends, trying to earn enough to pay for your rent, food and some fun activities. 

“Maybe we should drop this first”, you suggest, looking at the box in your hands. 

As you walk, Wanda starts talking about her night. “She was amazing”, she sighs. “I walked up to her and straight up told her how beautiful she looked. Later on she told me she liked that directness, that no one ever does that to her.”

You’re so happy for Wanda. She’s been crushing on this girl for a few weeks now, but never acted on it. Apparently everyone thought that the girl was pretty intimidating.

“Wait, what was her name again?”, you ask, interrupting her story.

“Maria”, she answers quickly before picking up her story again. “Anyway, we started dancing, but I wasn’t sure if she was into women. So I kept my distance, and so did she, so I got more and more insecure. I looked over at you and saw you chatting with some guy. When I looked back, I saw her checking me out. And I’m not talking about girl-ready-to-bitch kind of checking, but the lesbian kind of checking.”

You chuckle. Her stories were always this over the place - but it was fun to listen to. She always knew how to keep you interested, waiting eagerly on how the story is going to end. 

“So that kind of felt like my que. Wow, I say a lot of ‘kind of’, don’t I? Anyway, I moved a bit closer, gave her my famous flirty eyes.”

You walk over a crosswalk and turn right after, only two streets away from your apartment.

“Did you kiss?”, you ask, not being able to wait anymore. You need to know.

“Oh honey, we didn’t just kiss. We made out, we did the dirty, we went down town, we-” 

“Yeah, okay, I get it”, you laugh. She chuckles and pushes you lightly when you fake roll your eyes. 

“Will you see her again?” Her eyes glow up after you ask that question. She nods furiously as she grabs her phone, showing you a few messages. Excitedly, you squeal lightly. 

“Thank you a thousand times for joining me last night”, she sighed as she hooked her arm in yours once again. A content feeling settles in you as you walk further. A few seconds of silence between the two of you. Cars pass by, people sometimes almost bump in to you as you walk further down the street. 

“And your night had to be pretty exciting as well, right?”, Wanda breaks the silence, wiggling her eyebrows. You nod, a little smirk on your lips. 

“God, it was good”, you sigh. You tell your story shortly but swiftly, letting details pass and not mentioning what happened the morning after. 

“And more than a one night stand?”, she asks you as you stand in front of your apartment door. You give her a quick look before focussing on letting yourself in. 

“I’m not sure”, you say. “I think we just want to booty call each other. And apparently giving me gifts.”

You let yourself in your room and drop the box on your bed. Again you open it, this time taking the jacket out. It turns out to be longer than you thought. He was quite serious about not wearing anything else. The jacket is long enough for you to cover up everything you want to hide from the public. But it also shows enough to seduce him. And he knows that.

“Can you please stay another hour?” Your manager, Sarah, looks at you with her big puppy eyes. “Pretty, pretty please?”

A little smirk is on your face as you roll your eyes. “What would you do without me?”, you say as you put on the brown apron again, after taking it off just a minute ago. 

“I would be homeless and a failure. Thank you a thousand times!”, she cheers as she grabs your shoulder to give it a little squish. You smile and walk back into the little cosy cafe. It was pretty crowded, with a little line of five people waiting outside to get a free table. 

Slowly you check your half of the cafe, the front half. Your colleague, Brent, watches over the other half and Sarah is behind the bar making the best coffee of the city. She owns the cafe and made it a big success, promoting her selfmade cookies and waffles as her original trademark. And it works. Whenever it isn’t busy, you make small talk with the customers and they always tell you that they’ve heard from someone else that they had to try one of her delicious cookies. 

A man puts his hand in the air, making a little gesture to come over. You put on your smile and walk over. “How can I help you?”

“Why don’t you start by giving your number?”, he smirks. “And a cappuccino.”

Your hand balls into a fist, nails digging into your flesh as you watch his smug face. He watches you. Not even your face, but your body. He checks you out. 

“Sorry sir, we’re not allowed to give out personal information to our customers”, Brent hops in from behind you. You turn your back to the customer and mouth a little ‘thank you’ to him. 

You walk towards Sarah and ask her for the cappuccino the guy asked for. As much as you’d like to not serve him his coffee, you still had to be customer-friendly. 

“Why don’t we switch sides ‘til the d-bag over there leaves this place?”, Brent asks when he stands beside you before focussing on Sarah. “Oh and a latte plus a chocolate chip cookie for table fifteen.”

You nod, a little smile appearing on your face. You couldn’t be happier with your colleagues and your boss, they were all so attentive and supportive to each other. There was this atmosphere that made you enjoy the work you were doing. You’ve worked at other places where the ambience was a little bit different. 

The cappuccino appears on the counter, not a second later it’s in Brents hands and he walks towards the guy. It wasn’t the first time someone asked for your number - and you wouldn’t be annoyed if he asked about it nicely. But the arrogance on his face and his eyes on your boobs did not make a good first impression. 

“And the latte, cookie’s coming right up”, Sarah sighs as she put down the latte. You give her a quick smile. She grabs a small white plate and puts a napkin on it first before grabbing the wobbly cookie. 

See, the thing about Sarah’s cookies was that it wasn’t just your ordinary round cookie. It was a bit thicker, but still moist from the inside. It was a little bit warm, the chocolate was on the edge of melting, and the sugar wasn’t as overwhelming as most are. The moment you had your first cookie, you fell in love. You actually had to watch yourself to not overeat, restraining yourself to one cookie a week. 

As you walk to table fifteen, you take a quick look at it already. Just swiftly taking in the customer to decide what kind of small talk you can make. Most of the time you could see it in a splitsecond; some were here just to work, some were here for some social acts, and with some you had to guess.

But this one had you by surprise. He made your breath stuck in your throat. How in the living hell did he end up here? Did he stalk you?

“One latte and a chocolate chip”, you say nervously. With a little shake, you put down the latte. “I didn’t expect to run into you here.”

His blue eyes meet yours, making you hot all over. You’re not sure if it’s because of the nerves, because of the things he made you feel or because of the morning you’ve witnessed at his place. 

“It’s my regular. I didn’t expect you’d work here”, he countered. You give him a little smirk as you also put down the cookie. “Did Paul give you the package?”

“Yes, he did.” You didn’t know what else to say. To say it’s beautiful? That you like it? That you’ll wear it? That’d be cheesy.

“Good. I hope to see you in it tomorrow”, he smirks as he takes a sip from his latte.

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t”, you tease as you turn around, moving your hips a little bit more as you walk to your next customer.

Tags: (OPEN)

@mcueveryday​ @mschellehitt​ @thamuddagirl​ @buckysthot​ @what-if-i-am-weird​ @myspectacularfantasies​ @ornella0910​ @steeeeverogers​ @babygirl-htx​ @estillion14​ @my-super-musical-life​ @tranquil--heart​ @golddaggers​ @swanlakemikey​ @notyourtypicalrose​

[7wanderingpaws]

Simply, yours.

Pairing: Baekhyun x reader

Genre: non-idol AU, hapkido teacher AU

Word count: 2.8K

Short description: You and Baekhyun are young sweethearts coming from the far countryside. You don't have much money when you move to Seoul but what you have is unlimited amount of love for each other. You both want a family. But falling pregnant as a young woman with little money was not what you planned for. Neither of you.

a/n: Completely unplanned, but found myself enjoying the plotting as I got deeper into it. It's been a heck of a while since I last wrote, sorry if it isn't the best, but I can promise a ride if you give me support!! 💟🤗

Prologue

Living a simple life wasn't that type of a simple life you saw on YouTube, produced with pretty looking human beings that had all it takes to lead a well-off life. Pretty looking faces, or sometimes not shown, were exchanged to the simplicity of the overpriced items purchased through companies who lived off well of few purchases of their customers.

In general, a Korean citizen would watch at least one  “simple life” tagged video on social media and then share it on KakaoTalk mostly to their female friends.

Going to coffee shops? Oh, let me show you the tea.

Going to overpriced coffee shops (doesn't matter how fancy or not), still proved how it was going against the entire idea of a simplistic life that these people so proudly exclaimed they were living.

Unfortunately, you could see the harsh difference. No, you could feel it. Coming from a village, a countryside, made you feel how different you can be in a massive city, and not in a pleasant way. Be it the clothing style, the skin colour, the wildness in the eyes, the accent, the shape of your mouth, the shape of your feet… It could be spotted in the slightest of ways possible, and for sure a city person at heart would notice right away.

Thankfully, the small apartment in the middle of Seoul, just close enough to Konkik University would suffice. You and Baekhyun were still very young. While he was pursuing his PhD in sports management, coming from solid hapkido background, you couldn't continue with your studies and just joined full-time working attire in a law company. Being an assistant wasn't something you dreamed of doing, however you never belonged to people that required a lot in order to be happy.

This way you could manage to survive from month to month, Baekhyun teaching hapkido classes for kids as well as university students, preparing to become a hapkido professor, which would enable you to buy more expensive food, or new clothes from time to time.

Receiving a scholarship from Sungkyungwan University was something you always knew he would get, but he himself didn't believe in himself enough to think that, as much as it is hard to believe, judging from his cheeky personality that you knew so well.

You were extremely happy for him, of course. You both grew up on the countryside, both of you coming from humble backgrounds, and knowing him since high school, you always thought he would be the one who makes it far. 

And he did.

No matter what the problem was, he solved it. He was, what the city ladies called, a “real man”. Be it plumbing, broken heel on your shoe, cutting wood… He knew how to mend it all, how to put it together.

He knew how to love you. Be it passionate, gentle, rough, sensitive, soft, quiet, loud… He could give it all, to you. Without him, the air wasn't as breathable, the food as tasty, the smile as contagious, the human touch as warm, and the light as light.

He could do many things. In a simple world. Where you both came from. You were not the perfect woman from the magazines, yet he was next to you. Fitting into you. Giving you his all. For years. He was Baekhyun.

He could make you feel the earth shake, the water crash on the rocks, the clouds swimming on a baby-blue sky, the hot desert sunset, the avalanche.

And, he did.

And that was your love. In a simple world.

.1.

Waking up to a dark room, you felt slight sweat forming around your neck, the air being too hot under the stuffy blankets and a hot body behind you. The fan was turned on, despite the Koreans being scared of it, as it may kill, but screw it. Villagers were fighting for survival, not for comfort and clean conscience.

Carefully untangling from Baekhyun's body, you quietly slipped out of the bed, your nightgown falling around your thighs that were slightly hurting from the upcoming period. As much as you wished to lie in bed and enjoy Baekhyun's presence, you wanted to make fresh breakfast to start off both of your days well.

Baekhyun grumbled in his sleep, blindly searching with his hand for your warmth, but fruitlessly. Eventually, he always ended up moving his body on your side of the bed, finding your gentle smell so calming, it would lull him back to sleep.

Smiling to yourself, you closed the door behind you, appearing in the kitchen that was combined with a very small living room. They were all in one room, basically. Thankfully, you could do some nice changes to the flat in a cheap manner and you didn't mind tightening your belt for a few weeks. You could walk to many places as well, Seoul transportation was pricey anyway.

Starting with the vegetables, you moved swiftly around the little kitchen, preparing the breakfast into cute bowls that you made yourself when you were attending pottery class during your high school years.

It might sound like it had been a long time, but you graduated from high school only a four years ago. You spent your first year at home, working at your parents farm, helping out Baekhyun's parents, and searching for a good enough job until you received the amazing news about Baekhyun's scholarship at Sungkyungkwan and in your second year after finishing high school, you were in Seoul, living in a tiny flat but a flat that was full of love.

Coffee was done just when you felt a sleepy presence behind you that soon made itself known by giving your exposed neck a gentle, loving kiss. “Good morning.”

His raspy voice and hot breath on your skin sent shivers down your spine. You turned quickly, broad smile on, throwing your arms around his neck and gave him a peck on the lips. “My man, morning.”

Baekhyun chuckled, endearing look on his face as he circled his hands around your waist. His forehead pressed to yours. “I am looking forward to the class today.”

You sighed, satisfied. “I am happy to hear that. You love those kids, I don't know how you do it.”

“They are playful, like my jokes, like to mess.”

You snorted a laugh, opening your eyes. “Well, I also like to do those things and yet…” you trailed off, playing the victim.

“Yet what?” he exclaimed, shocked.

“Yet you don't come and play.”

Baekhyun honestly laughed out loud at your sour face expression.

“After everything I do for you,” you added, sighing heavily, eyeing all the food in plates, neatly placed, probably qualified for a food decorating competition.

“Wah! Hold on, hold on, young lady,” he said, grabbing you tighter, bringing you closer. “What is this supposed to mean?” he asked quietly, staring into your eyes. “Why is my lady not happy?”

Pursing your lips, you pretended to think hard. “Well, I do have a hard time at work, sitting, running around my boss,” Baekhyun rolled his eyes at the mention of your boss, “running errands, yet none of them are for me. A massage and a little pampering wouldn't be bad.”

Baekhyun knew you were teasing him big time.

He knew you in a different way than what you were showing most of the time. You were an extremely tough woman, heart of steel but gentle, soft and completely crazy only for him. He knew it so well. You would never be able to fool him with "this is too hard for me" kind of attitude; you qualified for a man. Thank God he knew hapkido, how else would he protect himself?!

“Exactly, my dear. Those kids don't want pampering from me, don't want massages from me. They want to genuinely play,” he said, whispering the last sentence.

“Then, I want to play, too. Genuinely.”

He kissed you slowly but oh, so sensually right then and there.

You did have a point. Both of you have been stuck in a weird stereotype, running and coming from work, eating, having a cozy evening if you managed to get home on time. Otherwise your boyfriend would be swamped with books, researches, cramming English last minute since his final research had to be written in English (screw village high schools for not giving proper attention to English language and screw Baekhyun for not giving a shit in undergrad and grad school about English classes and missing chances to bond with international students) and you would try to get better at your work by reading various business books from the library or watch some videos about how to become more self-confident and sell yourself.

Gosh, what a competitive world you lived in. It was the exact opposite to the village life where kimchi make-out sessions were a must in autumn, cherry blossom tree picnics with freshly made kimbap a tradition, wild-lake swimming and love-making under the moonlight… The world where only things like those mattered. To have a loved one by your side and deal with difficulties together.

After a full make-out session, you separated, both of you panting for air, both of you panting for much more than what time was allowing you in that moment. “Like this?” he breathed, his focus on your swollen lips that you were now biting.

You giggled quietly and untangled yourself from him to grab his mug from the counter. “Not quite.” Handing him his coffee, you smiled. “I'm sure when the evening comes, you will know what I meant.”

He chuckled. “You should have just told me right away that you want to have sex.”

Your eyes widened at the use of words, not liking to call it like that.

He laughed even more at your expression, taking the bowl with rice in his free hand and sitting down on the floor to the small table. “Always so innocent, my love.”

Tinted red cheeks puffed up, not meeting his eyes, that was your hidden self only he witnessed. How long have you been together? Was it five years? Six? God, you were only 23 now. Baekhyun 27. You only had him. He was your first, and you always wanted him to be your last.

After fast but playful breakfast, you both rushed to get ready, Baekhyun packing his hapkido uniform, you quickly ironing your skirt on the mattress you slept on.

“I have to rush, I am late,” shouted Baekhyun as he was ready to open the door, dressed in his sports clothes, his backpack thrown over one shoulder. “Will you be alright, darling?”

“Sure, sure,” you said loudly, so he could hear you. “Be careful, please! No rush! And drink your water!”

You heard him laugh quietly before shouting one big “I love you” and closing the door behind him.

Taking quickly your lunch, you also rushed to catch the bus. It was crazily crowded and you always ended up groaning inwardly at the sight of queued up people. You rushed only to rush more. Amazing.

Seoul, you pleaded, you better be worth it.

^^

Arriving at your work place, you managed to sit down at your desk just as the clock stroke 9.00am. Perfect. Next time it could be at least 10 minutes earlier, so you could get some time to relax and start your day slowly.

Your colleague, Sukyeong, was handing you your herbal tea you always had in the first hour of the work time. “Even when you are late you still manage to be on time.”

You chuckled, thanking her as you warmed your hands with the hot cup. “I don't like this type of preciseness.”

“God, just like Jongdae,” she snorted, sitting back down on her chair.

Snickering, you commented: “I thought that's why you married him?”

“I adore him,” she exclaimed, laughing quietly. “A perfectionist. Maybe a bit too much.”

You really liked Sukyeong, and thought it was about time to call her a real friend in the big world that was called Seoul. You both already managed to go out together, you getting some proper time with a girlfriend, Baekhyun getting his alone time at home. And the other time you managed to go out together with Baekhyun and Jongdae at the same time and it was even more surprising to find out Jongdae and Baekhyun became good friends.

You were about to reply when the boss's door opened, surprising you momentarily, causing you to spill the scorching tea straight on your skirt. You kept in your hiss, pressing your lips together as you raised to bow to him.

“Good morning, sir.”

Your boss was a not the tallest man, smaller than Baekhyun, but definitely much older and, well, fatter. Even now, his white shirt could barely hold the buttons together, obviously having another jjajangmyeon night with soju yesterday.

“Miss Y/L/N, could you please come to my office?” he asked, his eyes dropping on the wet spot of the herbal tea, just around the middle of the skirt. It was sticking to your thigh.

You bowed your head, wordlessly following. As he turned his back on you, you quickly shot Sukyeong a questioning look, to which she shrugged, not understanding what could his weird mood be about.

The doors behind you closed, and your boss took his seat behind his messy desk. He motioned with his hand for you to do the same, and you did. The couch was a bit too low, causing your knees to be high up, your skirt hiking up. Nonchalantly, you tried to push the silly skirt down before your boss spoke.

“Kang Bina was fired yesterday,” he started without a foreword.

This was surprising. “Really? How come? She was doing so well.”

Your boss snickered, disgusted. “She got pregnant. Why would I keep her?”

Your throat went dry for a second as you processed his words. Your heartbeat went up. “Excuse me, sir, but how-”

“We do not employ you, young ladies, fresh out of university, just for you to get pregnant and then leave your company short on staff. It is ineffective, we don't need such useless workforce.”

Useless workforce? A pregnant woman? Excuse me?

You were barely two minutes in his office and you felt like a bottle of icy cold water was thrown at you.

Before you could speak, he broke the tensed silence. “That is why I called you in, deary.” Pause. Shudder. Deary. “I am pleased to inform you, that you earned yourself a promotion! Your first. Since you started working here,” he added, obviously proud of himself. Then, he smiled grimly at you. “Actually, it is your very first promotion, since you are so young, so beautiful and so inexperienced.” He made himself comfortable in the big office chair, it squeaking from heavy load. “You will take Bina's spot.”

You were just speechless. Bina had a higher position, being a personal assistant to this piece of a fat human flesh sitting in front of you. He even picked her up every morning and drove her home. A “privilege”, he called it at that time.

“You don't have a boyfriend yet, correct?” he asked, more himself than you. You shook your head no. It went unnoticed. “Well, anyhow, you better not get pregnant in the upcoming...hmm...10 years? Nah, make it 20. Looking at you, your qualities would get only better, so you won't miss out. And I can't have such a beautiful employee leave so early.”

“Sir, about this-”

“It is a privilege,” he emphasized, looking directly at you. “Plus, let's not forget the salary raise.”

You shut your mouth.

Money raise.

More money.

You could help Baekhyun out more.

Your stupid salary that couldn't even cover properly the food for one month would now be just enough. If you calculated properly (you did most of the time), you could afford a small trip to spas, a KTX ride back home to the countryside, some new electronics for the apartment. You could apply for mortgage and make a dream home.

It is true it was already a dream home. With Baekhyun anything was ideal.

But becoming pregnant with his child? Making a family like you always wanted? The idea caught you off guard, not like you haven't fantasized about it for years. It was an idea that sent you into immediate shivers, electric shocks running through your veins, it made you want him much more, it made you want him to make love to you right in that instant. You went crazy just at the pure thought of bearing his child. Your secret dream of being a mother. As simple as that.

No massive house, no position of high importance. Just a home full of children's laughter and your husband's love. Baekhyun's love.

“You don't really have a choice, Y/N, but I still have to ask - do you accept?” Your boss raised his left eyebrow at you, challenging.

No pregnancy. For now.

Your unsaid dream broke, but you believed you could build up on it later; prepare a solid financial base for your children in the far future.

You nodded, making your boss laugh.

_____

a/n: If you could leave a comment, I would be grateful And maybe upload much faster the next part. That is if you think this story and me are worth it! 💟

[teenwolftuesdaytrash]

Imagine omega Derek who sees early, much too early fame and success as a child actor. When he reaches the tender age of 16, Derek faces one of the many pitfalls of those with the same path as him—he becomes pregnant with the child of his older, way, way older alpha girlfriend, renowned actress Kate Argent’s child. 

Teenage pregnancy is still taboo and it very nearly costs Derek his career and reputation. Kate leaves him up in the air, removing herself as much as possible from that drama. She rejects the child as her own and paints a picture of promiscuous, on the loose, wild and careless young omega Derek for the press to discredit any of Derek’s claims that the child is hers. 

Kate having been his first love, his first attempt at romance, Derek is devastated. He’s stressed and heart-broken, ashamed, crushed by the weight of being a disappointment to the world, to his fans, and to his family. 

Peter though, Derek’s uncle and manager, loves his nephew to bits and refuses to see Derek’s future destroyed by a careless alpha and youthful mistakes. He supports Derek’s decision to keep the baby but also pushes him to keep his career going. 

Derek’s first pregnancy becomes all about hiding his bump as much as possible for as long as he can. And then, after giving birth, it’s getting rid of his pregnancy weight, hiding the plumpness of his breasts, getting rid of all obvious evidence that he gave birth. After his beautiful baby girl Paige arrives in the world, Derek gets one day (half a day really, not even a full one) to enjoy having become a parent, to bask in the presence of his baby, to press his nose against her downy hair and enjoy her sweet baby scent. After that, almost every second of his everyday becomes all about work and making the public forget that he actually gave birth. 

Peter’s drive and Derek’s sacrifice, hard work, and heartache at not spending as much time as he wanted with his baby girl pays off. Derek gets his reputation back, he’s more famous and successful than ever. The public loves him again, absolutely adores his beautiful little alpha daughter Paige (Peter jokes her name is because her arrival in the world was a real page turner. Derek just rolls his eyes every time his uncle drops the un-funny joke) 

It all works out. 

Some years later, after a messy custody battle with Kate who took interest in becoming Paige’s mother after she saw that it could help her regain her waning fan-base, a much-deserved step back from the limelight to enjoy being a single parent, reconciliation with his parents and siblings, and a successful return to show business as a more mature actor, Derek gives romance a second try with teenage comedian turned action star Stiles Stilinski. 

They’re wonderful together, they become America’s special brand of unorthodox, sarcastic sweethearts. Stiles is wonderful with Paige, and a bonafide hit with the entire Hale clan. 

When it became obvious that they were going to be a lasting thing, Kate gave a second run at trying to gain custody over Paige, using Stiles’ history with drug addiction as her new ammo against Derek. It’s the first big test to Stiles and Derek’s relationship, and, thankfully, they come out of it stronger than ever. 

Kate is finally put away in prison with the help of her own niece’s (Allison, Stiles’ step brother's girlfriend and good friend) testimony after she tries to set Derek’s trailer on fire. 

Some months later, Derek becomes pregnant with Stiles’ child. Stiles officially claims (the whole bite thing) Derek as his mate, but both stubbornly refuse to hold any sort of ceremony just to spite their family, friends, and the whole of America.  

Nine years since his first scandalous, unplanned, teenage pregnancy, Derek enjoys every moment, every milestone of his second run at carrying a child. 

He proudly parades the roundedness of his bump, documents every inch of its growth. He goes out to the beach in swimwear, he wears tight shirts that emphasizes just how big he’s getting. He spends afternoons at the park with his daughter, lets her pat and embrace and chatter at his belly out in public, uncaring of all the paparazzi taking unwanted photos. 

He attends the red carpet at seven months, enjoys the attention of colleagues and friends who come up to hug him and rub the belly. He doesn’t shy from talking about his morning sickness and cravings and hormones with the media. He even does a magazine cover showing off his very pronounced, very naked baby bump. 

And Stiles. Stiles is just so much worse. Stiles takes pictures every second of every day. Stiles posts and posts and posts on all of their social media account. Baby number 2 actually has an IG account before they’re even born. Stiles connives with Paige to do adorable things, hugging and cuddling and singing to her in utero baby brother so Stiles can capture it on his smartphone and share it on his IG stories. Stiles is actually there with Paige on the day of Derek’s photoshoot for the magazine cover, the stepfather and daughter duo becoming Derek’s own cheer squad, yelling out praises and hyping Derek up while he tries to look serious in front of the camera. Derek loves and hates it at the same time because it keeps making him blush. 

Despite how public Derek’s second pregnancy becomes though, Stilinski-Hale spawn #2’s (Paige is spawn #1, Stiles doesn’t fucking whatever else anyone has to say on the matter) arrival in the world is actually an intimate affair. 

Derek gives birth in an exquisitely expensive private suite in a world-renowned hospital with no one but their most trusted doctor, a couple of nurses, Melissa (Stiles’ omega step mother), Derek’s omega father, and Stiles. 

Derek insists on as much of a natural birth as possible, wanting to feel every second of it since he was knocked out cold, clinically sliced open, and stitched right back up the last time. 

It’s a painful experience but Derek takes in all the love in the room, especially Stiles’ as his alpha holds his hand with every push. And he doesn’t even bother trying to stop the tears as they all celerate when little Emmanuel is delivered safely in his arms. Miss Paige’s worry that she’ll be replaced barely lasts a second because the moment Stiles has made sure his mate and baby boy are safe, his eyes are immediately searching for his eldest. 

Peter snaps a picture of the happy family sleeping cuddled together late that night, and the internet absolutely melts when it’s posted some weeks later. 

Derek and Stiles have a photoshoot for their new family half a year later, and they proudly proclaim that they’re still not married and never plan on ever getting married ever. The End.

[pyrofleurs]

i turn 23 in a month and had a small crisis about being an adult so i wrote about it

fair warning, this is p corny and questionably written but when i finished it i was like, hey, i feel like i did a pretty good job articulating my feelings, it would be cool if i had some sort of blog platform to post this on, and then i was like oh god i guess i do have a blog and this is it. so, here it is. i’d say its kind of in the same vein as that 2018 year in review rambling essay i wrote back in january lol. enjoy??

I am 22 years old. In exactly one month, I turn 23. The number 23 is a bit of a gross one to me, both because it seems uneven and messy, and because it's the first year in which by age alone, I could not pass for a college student to some rando who happens to look at my driver's license and see that I was born in 1996. At 23, it is undisputable that the numbers show that I am a "true adult", which is terrifying, because it implies to the general public that I am no longer deciding what to do with my life. It implies that I know by now.

Even if I don’t quite see myself as a “real adult” yet (and it seems like most people never really do), I still have to make decisions that will impact my life years down the line, all the way till I'm 30 years older and looking back, and then even more. To me, this is what is so terrifying. I look ahead in my mental map and see tens of hundreds of possibilities, all different ways that my life could pan out. But the longer I wait, the longer I put off any number of big decisions, the harder it can be to attain them. Is that actually true? Honestly, I have no idea. There is no shame in starting late, whenever that may be. But right now, I have the opportunity to start building my life at the "ideal time", according to advice blogs and my parents and my college career center, so I should probably take it.

So, I wrote down three ways my life could potentially pan out in the next 10 years, at least in a career-oriented sense (I’ll spare you most of the details), and these are my observations:

The one thing that is constant in all three scenarios is that I am totally uncertain on how I feel about all of them. Rereading my (pretty ridiculous, if I’m being honest) paragraph-long debriefs on each career path, I say "I could", or "I would", or "I might". I could stay in my current role in a corporate job, but it's not my dream industry. I could work towards making my “passion projects” a full-time job, but I would sacrifice steady pay and healthcare benefits. I could get my masters degree in the industry I want, but I'd go into debt in what most likely will be the middle of an economic downturn.

My biggest fear is that I will be so afraid of any of these potential consequences that I will not commit to any of them. I am afraid I will run out of time.

I oscillate between "I'm only 22, I have plenty of time to figure things out", and "I'm 22, these are the years where I will make decisions that will affect the rest of my life, and I need to act accordingly right now". Am I wasting money by moving out? Am I going to wait too long to make a career change and end up stuck in a job I'm sick of? Am I going to pursue my master's degree and switch careers, giving up a steady job in the process, and graduate in the middle of a recession with massive student loan debt?

Do other 22 year olds think about this the way that I do? Will I look back on my 20s as a 30 year old and realize I wasted what could have been the best years of my life worrying? What about when I'm 40, thinking about my 30s? What about after that?

I'm always looking forward to what I want next, always grasping for accomplishments that are slightly out of reach, and I'm not exaggerating when I say this is what keeps me going. Part of me knows that I have goals I will never reach, but I love imagining the possibility anyways. I like to look ahead at what my life could be if, in a few years, I've met the goals that I've set for myself now.

But—why do I feel unable to start living my life right now? Why do I feel like my ideal life will only "truly" get going once I get a raise, once I get an agent, once I get a book deal, once I get a girlfriend? What am I missing out on, right now?

I suppose what I'm trying to say is this—I have always lived my life this way. I have a problem of looking at the big picture too much, but when I look back on my memories that burn the brightest, they're never of the "big things". Two moments from the past few months that stick in the back of my mind include going to a Capitals playoff game in April, and a Khalid concert in July. Both unplanned. One expensive, and one free. Both of these events I decided to go to the week of. I didn't plan them out at all. They were not included in my "big plan".

I didn't need a raise to enjoy either of these moments. The memories wouldn't have been sweeter knowing I had a book deal, or if I was in a steady relationship. I screamed and cheered, jumped up and down, chanted my favorite player's name in a 6-0 win, and went to bed with a sore throat. I sang along to beautiful music, some songs I barely knew and some I knew by heart. I soaked in the hazy technicolor atmosphere and ate popcorn until the kernels got stuck in my teeth and the salt melted into the sides of my cheeks. If I choose to stay at my current job instead of pursing my dream career, will those moments diminish? If I get my master's, will changing careers stop me from doing all the other things I love to do? 

The answer, to these questions, at least, is no. Sometimes, my indecision hurts, as if I can feel my future slipping away as I painstakingly weigh one option over the other. I study budget spreadsheets and watch TED talks and read blog posts, craving direction as if there is one magical answer to it all, as if studying would help me get a passing grade, as if there was anybody actually administering a "test" to me in the first place. 

I think at some point I just need to admit that I can, in fact, overprepare—or at least overthink. It is detrimental. When I studied in school, for AP exams and college finals, I could tell when I had studied enough. It would be 2am, and my eyes were glazing over. I couldn't take in any more of the information even if I tried. After a certain point, I had done all I could do in the moment. What I really needed was rest. 

So, I think that's what I'll do. On one hand, I do need to be prepared. I don’t want to just wander aimlessly through my 20s, assuming that one day I'll just wake up and have some sort of ideal life I’ve always wanted. I actually need to get there, somehow. I can't be passive. But the best I can do is start moving forward, one day at a time, and accept that this is good enough. I can't skip ahead. I won't get some big flashing sign of validation that shows me that what I've chosen is the best possible path, meticulously selected and pursued out of every single outcome that I've ever calculated in my head. But I truly don't think it has to be. In every one of these timelines, I'll have good days and bad days. I'll have moments of victory and regret. But above all that, knowing that I took action and made deliberate decisions for myself will always be a stronger choice than hanging back and wasting time and feeling safe in my inaction. I'm afraid of change because the thought of failure is much more daunting than the thought of things staying the same. I just assume that future me will have it all figured out.

But, obviously, I am future me. And I am present me, and I am the shared and lived experiences of past me. And I've done pretty well so far, so there's no reason to think that all of a sudden I'll ruin my life just because the decisions I may make in the future are unfamiliar, or scary, or not what I thought they would be when I was 15 or 20 or even 22. 

I think I do a pretty good job of taking care of future me. I have a plan—well, maybe too many plans. But I have ambitions, and goals, and I make time for others and also myself. It's a hard balancing act, as literally anyone would say. There's no reason to think that any one of the paths I've detailed out for myself would stop me from loving myself, my friends, my family, or a partner. It won't stop me from experiencing the moments that make me glow on good days or that drag me through the mud on other days, just to make it out okay on the other side. But above all, if I want to find out what actually happens 10 years from now, whether it’s one of the options I wrote out in detail or something I never could have imagined, I have to make one big decision, and that is to get up and go figure it the fuck out myself.

[timelordthirteen]

The Don’t Fall in Love Job 4/?

Mr. Gold/Lacey French, Explicit overall

Summary: Con artist Lacey never planned on staying in Storybrooke, just long enough to let the heat cool off in Boston from her last job. She also never planned on falling in love with the town’s eccentric pawn broker, Mr. Gold, but here she is living a life built on nothing but lies. Well, almost nothing… This is what happens after it all falls apart.

Chapter Summary: On a cold, stormy night, Gold reminisces.

Notes: The Angst War is back, friends! This time with a big ol' update because I didn't want to split the chapter. Here we see Gold and Lacey (Belle's) first time.

Warnings: Pregnancy, Unplanned pregnancy

[AO3]

The old windows of the pawn shop rattled in their panes as another gust of wind slapped rain against the glass.

Gold’s jaw clenched as he swallowed and set his drink down on the table. There was a sharp chill in the air and all day the weather had been gray and dreary. It matched his mood perfectly.

Lifting the low ball glass, he leaned back in the chair and it creaked under his weight, a long groaning sound of wood and metal. The alcohol burned the back of his throat, and he licked his lips, eyeing the bottle on the corner of the work bench, trying to decide if he should pour another or give up and head home. The old, pink Victorian hadn’t felt much like a home since Belle - Lacey - left, and he had avoided being there as much as possible in the last few weeks, even to the point of bringing a change of clothes into work and sleeping on the rickety cot in the back room of his shop. He glanced at said cot and then shifted in his seat, frowning at the stiffness in his lower back. Another night on the thin, lumpy mattress would do him no favors.

The wind shifted, throwing splatters of rain in a swirl of directions. A jagged crack of lightning flashed, followed by another lingering rumble of thunder, growing in volume until the back door of the shop shook in its frame. Behind him, a set of screws rolled along the edge of the table and dropped to the floor. Turning in his chair to pick them up, he recalled another such stormy evening a few months ago.

7 months ago...

The bell over the door rang out, and Gold looked up from his ledger.

Belle French, the new librarian, smiled at him and shook out her hair. Shiny droplets flew from the dark strands in all directions and he frowned. At some point in the last hour, while he’d been going through the rent collections that were due tomorrow, a light rain had started.

“Miss French,” he said, closing the ledger book and stepping around the counter. “What can I do for you?”

She shrugged, still smiling, and pulling down the slide on her pink umbrella. “Just...needed to duck out of the rain for a minute.”

His eyes narrowed, but he let the flimsy excuse pass. “Here to gaze longingly at your tea set again?”

Lacey’s lips twitched as she leaned the umbrella against the wall next to the door and looped her purse strap over her left arm. She stepped further into the shop, her eyes flitting around the room as they always did, and then turned to examine a glass case filled with fine china and figurines. There was a tea set on the top shelf, a creamy white with a blue, abstract style flowering branch on each piece and gilded rims. The simplicity of it pleased her the first moment she saw it and now every time she came into Gold’s show she stopped to look at it. Smiling softly, she reached towards it, her fingers touching the glass door of the case.

“Do you want to make a deal?”

She startled at the sound of Gold’s voice. His low brogue was close behind her, close enough for his warm breath to sweep over the shell of her ear and send a shiver through her. The way he asked such a simple question made her feel as though she’d be signing her soul away to the Devil if she said yes.

She lowered her hand, trying to control her breath. “No thank you. It’s beautiful, but -”

“If you like it enough to check on it every time you come in here, you like it enough to at least consider making an offer.” His lips curved crookedly and he reached around her for the door of the case.

The inside of his wrist brushed her forearm, and his chest was nearly pressed to her back. Lacey shivered.

“One of the cups is chipped,” he continued, opening the door and causing the glass pane to shake as the latch gave way. “I could give you a discount.”

Sighing, she slipped away from him when he lowered his arm, and shook her head. “I really couldn’t. I’ve barely moved into my apartment as it is, and there are so many expenses to setting up a new home. I’m sure someone else will take it off your hands.”

Gold closed the door again and nodded. “I don’t think you have to worry too much about that. It’s been here for years and no one has ever spared it more than a passing glance.”

“Oh?” Her eyes drifted back to the set, feeling a strange pang in her chest. The design was close to one that her mother used to own, save for the rounded pleats on the sides of the cups and the edges of the saucers. Her mother’s had been the same creamy white and gold trim, but with a blue rose.

“You’re the only one who’s ever looked at it that way.”

His voice was oddly soft, and she looked at him, wondering at how his face had relaxed. He seemed to be gazing at her, and unlike his usual hard, scrutinizing stare, she didn’t feel uncomfortable or examined. She felt...seen.

The first time she’d come into Gold’s shop she was overwhelmed by its contents. It was full from top to bottom, front to back. The glass cases on the sides held the usual baubles, watches, and rings, nothing extraordinary or noteworthy. Still, her mind had rapidly appraised each velvet tray for what she could probably get from her usual contacts. She hated that her first thought was always how to make a quick buck, how to play a potential mark, but she’d spent too many years of looking at the world that way.

Every situation was about survival.

Gold’s mouth curved slightly as he continued to look at her, but it wasn’t the sneering smirk she’d seen so often. This was a true smile, one of amusement or happiness, of familiarity. She looked away hastily, turning to trail her fingertips along the spines of some books as she rounded the row of tall cabinets. Her hand stopped on a travel book, for a long moment, before sliding to the next. Seeing the world was something she'd want to do since she was a little girl, and she supposed LA to New York to Boston to Storybrooke counted in some capacity. It was weird to consider, but where she was now felt safe, secluded from everything and everywhere else she'd known. The tiny Maine town and its quirky people were growing on her. Her dream had always been to make the big score and get out, go to Europe or the Caribbean, somewhere old habits wouldn't think to look for her and she could start over. Maybe that could be here, maybe this life was what she needed a for a while, a chance to stop surviving and start living.

Gold shook himself and returned to the counter where his ledger was sitting. Belle was still something of an enigma to him, a newcomer that he hadn’t been able to sort so easily as the others. Dr. Whale was a womanizer from minute one, just by the way he looked Ruby Lucas up and down. Sister Astrid was sweet, but also a pushover who would believe anything said with the barest hint of sincerity. Belle French, however, refused to be put in any sort of box.

Every time he tried to peel back a layer, she defied his assumptions. His few interactions with her had been quite pleasant and even amusing. She appeared as kind as Sister Astrid, but there was a sharpness to her wit that warned him not to underestimate her. The only thing he could say with certainty was that she seemed lost, like she hadn’t found the place in the world where she was meant to be, a piece without a puzzle.

He was intrigued and curious, and in Storybrooke, that in itself was a miracle.

“You know,” she said, eyeing him sideways. “You could just take a picture.”

He stopped and blinked. “What?”

“You were staring, Mr. Gold.” Her eyebrows lifted. “Again.”

He frowned and then shook his head. “My apologies, Miss French. I didn’t intend to stare, I was just...thinking.”

“It’s alright,” she replied, coming to stand on the opposite side of the counter. Her palms rested on the polished edge as she leaned towards him. “I don’t mind.”

Before he could think up a response, a peal of thunder rumbled and rolled outside, heralding the onset of the heavy rain the weather forecast had promised. Belle shivered, and he licked at his bottom lip.

“Chilly?”

She shrugged and stepped back. “No, I just - I should probably go.”

As she turned, fat drops started to fall in earnest, and she rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms, wishing she had brought a sweater.

“I have something that might warm you up.”

Once again he was standing right behind her, close enough that she could feel the warmth of his body and feel the air from his mouth flutter her hair. She pressed her lips together and she turned slowly, letting her arm graze the button on his suit jacket. Maybe this was one way to start living.

She tipped her head up and met his eyes. “What did you have in mind?”

Gold moved into the back room of the shop, and Belle followed, her purse swinging at her side. He crossed to his work table and bent to open a cabinet behind it, pulling out a glass and a bottle of whiskey. He set the glass down and held up the bottle in question, taking her brief nod and rising smile as an affirmative.

He poured two fingers into the glass and held it out for her, barely suppressing the shudder of pleasure that went through him at the very intentional touch of her fingers against his. She hesitated for a long moment, with her hand almost wrapped around his before she took the glass. Bringing it to her lips, she breathed in the scent and then took a tentative sip.

“S’good,” she said, passing the glass back to him. “And I’m not usually a whiskey girl.”

He took a mouthful, swallowing slowly, and let out a low hum. “Then what kind of girl are you?”

Lacey grinned and set her purse on the table before taking the drink from him again, trying not to think about what sharing the same glass meant. They were passing back and forth the taste and touch of their mouths, and she found herself wishing it was less impersonal. He had the kind of lips that looked soft and kissable. It wasn't the first time she'd noticed them, or how nicely his suits fit.

He came around the work table as she pivoted on her heel, coming to stand directly in front of her. The edge of the table pressed into her backside as she tipped her head up. She set the glass aside and looked at him through her lashes, licking her lips to catch a stray drop of whiskey.

Gold stepped closer, his dark eyes wide and shining as he followed the motion of her mouth. “Why are you here, Miss French?”

His voice was low and even, his accent heavier. She shrugged one shoulder and leaned back a little, the position causing her spine to arch enough press her breasts forward. “It was raining,” she replied simply.

Her eyes flicked up and down his body, telegraphing her intentions. The corner of his mouth twitched and curved slightly, but he otherwise kept his expression neutral.

“Not that hard,” he countered, as another burst of thunder rattled the old windows of the shop. It had been a light, but steady drip when she arrived, hardly worth opening her bright pink umbrella. Now it was nearly torrential, whipped about by the wind as lightning cracked across the clouds. “You could have gone anywhere. Granny’s, Marco’s, home. Why my shop?”

Lacey’s breathing increased as the soft thump of his cane reached her ears. He planted it firmly against the wood floor, next to her shoe. His hand and the handle brushed her hip, and her legs pressed together beneath her skirt. She gave her head a quick shake, tossing her hair back from her face as she met his gaze. He looked like a bow pull taut, or a cobra ready to strike. He wanted her, and she shivered in spite of her confidence.

“I should think that was obvious, Mr. Gold.”

In truth, it wasn't. She didn't really have a plan when she came here beyond a little banter with Gold before she picked up carryout from Granny's and went back to the tiny apartment over the library. But the evening was taking a turn for the interesting, and she'd always been good at rolling with the story as it ebbed and flowed.

What was obvious to Gold, was that she had seduction on her mind, though he couldn’t imagine why. He was hardly Storybrooke’s most eligible bachelor, that distinction went to Sheriff Graham, whose rugged good looks turned the head of nearly every woman in town, single or not. Perhaps she wanted to align herself with someone she saw as powerful in the community, someone who had influence with the mayor to further her position or increase the funding for the library. Or maybe she was looking for an arrangement of a different type. A librarian’s salary didn’t go very far, even in a small town, and he was not immune to her charms.

Whatever her reasons, her presence in his shop and this town interested him, and there were very few things that he found interesting.

His expression shifted, his eyes narrowing as he raised his free hand. Her muscles jumped beneath his fingertips as he trailed them down her cheek and along her jaw. Then he drew them down the side of her neck, until his palm was resting over her throat. His thumb settled in the slim gap between muscles, where vital blood vessels resided, but he didn’t press. She swallowed, and he let her feel the tension in his hand, the ease with which he could end her. Her pulse thrummed with life, and it brought to mind all the dark desires he kept hidden.

She was always unsettling him, with her heated gaze and gentle brushes. Now it was her turn to be uncomfortable. “What game are you playing?”

Lacey reached out to run her fingers along his tie, tracing the swirling paisley pattern down the length of the purple silk. His hand fell away from her throat, and she started to smile. He wasn't going to hurt her, at least not unless she wanted him to, but the sensation, the thought, made her head spin. “No games,” came her soft reply.

Her finger tapped the shiny buckle at his waist and she felt him move forward, a slight shudder of his hips that signaled his desire.

This was dangerous.

Gold’s eyes searched hers and she gave a sharp nod. He dipped his head and brushed his nose against hers as his right hand twisted over the handle of his cane and his left braced next to her on the work table. She tipped her face up, grazing his lips with hers. For a long moment, their breaths mingled in the narrow gap between their mouths, until she grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pulled him into a fierce and passionate kiss. He kissed her back, equally fevered, tongue slipping over hers. His hand left the table and moved behind her, sliding down to cup her backside and pull her against him.

Lacey broke the kiss with a moan, tilting her head to the side as his mouth moved to her neck. Distantly she heard the clanking sound of his cane falling to the old wood floor, before his other hand settled at her waist. She raked her fingers through his shaggy hair, as soft as she’d imagined, and dragged his mouth back to hers.

His mind spun as she kissed him, her lips and tongue tasting of the whiskey they’d shared. He pushed her back against the table, rattling the bins of spare parts and sending some component of the clock he was fixing to the floor. She lifted one leg, and he gripped her hips, helping her up onto the table. Her knees spread, catching on her tight pencil skirt, so he pushed at the hem until there was enough space for him to stand between her legs.

Gold broke the kiss as his hands roamed up her body, and she leaned back, bracing her hands behind her. He popped the next button on her blouse as his thumb rubbed back and forth over her inner thigh. Her skin felt hot and her cheeks were flushed, her lips red and swelled from kissing.

“What do you want?” he asked, his voice low and strained. When she didn’t answer, he opened another button, exposing the front of her bra. “Belle?”

Lacey blinked. The name was still strange to her, still requiring a bit of effort to react to, but she rather liked the way it sounded coming from his husky Scottish brogue. The dark look in his eyes was almost frightening. Despite her instincts, the voice in the back of her mind screaming at her to run and never look back, there was little she could do other than surrender. And though she would never openly admit it, a part of her wanted just that. She wanted to let go and give herself over to pleasure, to forget her cover story and circumstances, however briefly.

She rocked her hips against his and smiled at the way his palm tensed against her leg. “What do you want to do to me, Mr. Gold?”

She sat up and reached for his belt, but he shook his head and took hold of her wrists, pulling them away from his trousers. His erection was evident, but it wasn’t time for that yet. She fought him for a moment, pushing back before giving in and letting him pull her hands behind her back. She crossed them willinging, allowing him to shift his grip and hold them in one hand as he leaned in to bite at her neck. She felt a shock of adrenaline shoot through her body, heightening her arousal as his hold on her wrists tightened.

“Alexander,” he said simply. If they were going go this far, he wanted her to have his first name.

Lacey licked her lips. “Alexander...”

His mouth traveled up to her ear, and he whispered, “I want to taste you all over. Then I want to watch you come.” A light, desperate noise slipped out of her lips, and he pulled back, flashing his teeth at her as he unbuttoned her blouse the rest of the way. “And if you’re very good and keep your hands here, and keep making those delightful little sounds...I’ll fuck you.”

Her mouth fell open, panting with need as his words wiggled into her brain and sent a rush of pleasure through her. Perhaps she was making a deal with the Devil after all, but the pulsing between her legs and the way her intimate muscles twitched begged her to find out. Her nails dug into her palms as she struggled to keep them in place, and he finally let go.

Gold’s mouth returned to her neck and he kissed his way down to her chest. Her bra was black and lacy, with a convenient front hook closure. “Well, well,” he said, meeting her eyes as he took the clasp in his fingers and snapped it open.

He parted the lace, baring her breasts. His cock throbbed at the sight of her fair skin, tipped with rosy pink nipples. Her chest rose and fell steadily as he cupped one in each hand, feeling the tender softness before giving them a light squeeze. His thumbs rubbed back and forth, eliciting a small groan as she pressed herself into his touch, her nipples growing harder for him. Then he bent and swirled his tongue over one taut bud, taking it into his mouth and sucking gently, until he pulled a long, drawn out groan from her lips. Her breathing was harsh and heavy, and her arms trembled when he set his teeth to the sensitive peak. He knew her composure was about to break as he moved to the other breast and repeated his sweet torment.

“Alex - ah!” Lacey gasped, giving up holding her hands at the small of her back and finally letting them rest on the work table. Her back arched, offering more of herself to his sinful mouth. He seemed in no rush to move on to anything else, but she knew what would urge him on. “Please!”

There it was. The magic word he’d been waiting to hear. He straightened and smirked down at her. “What was that, Miss French?”

“Please,” she said again, reaching for him.

“Ah-ah.” He caught her hand and gave her a warning look. “Hands behind your back, Belle.”

Lacey pressed her palms to the table behind her, her throat moving as she swallowed. She hated being told what to do, but something about Gold was intoxicating. His words made her brain fuzzy, made her want to obey, and if they hadn’t shared the same glass of whiskey she might have wondered if he’d drugged her.

She watched him as he pulled down the exposed zipper on the side of her skirt, lifting her legs one at a time, so he could work the light wool fabric out from under her. She shivered as he turned to lay it over a metal stool, the cool air of the back room raising goosebumps on her skin. There was a burning warmth between her thighs and desperately wished he’d just get on with it, but Gold was a man who worked at his own pace.

He stood between her legs again, pressing them open, his hands dancing over her thighs. His mouth was too far from hers and she tried to lean in to kiss him, but he leaned back, smirking at her frustrated growl. He pulled her to the edge of the table and then knelt down. The muscles of her inner thighs flexed as he held her legs apart. He kissed the inside of her thigh, touched his hot tongue to her skin, and then sucked lightly. Her nails scraped over the tabletop, and she let out a pitiful moan that only spurred him to tease her more, going up one leg from knee to the crease of her hip, and then down the other side, bypassing the place where she wanted him most.

He stopped and glanced up at her. She was biting her lip hard, and her breasts were rising and falling fast. He let his eyes trail down her body to the damp spot on her panties, and inhaled her scent as he leaned in towards her mound. She begged him again and shifted forward. Finally, he brought his mouth to her satin covered sex, and nipped her playfully through her knickers. Her reaction was a sharp cry and a kick of her right leg that sent one of her shoes to the floor.

Gold sat back on his heels, ignoring the protest of his aching knee and ankle. The pain in his bad leg took the edge off his own sexual need, which was about the only benefit it had for the moment. He slipped off her other shoe, and set them both off to the side. She was so aroused she was practically writhing on his table, and he smiled as he kissed her, only just brushing against the waistband of her underwear.

“Fuck!” She had managed to restrain herself through most of his torture, but the word was dripping with desperation.

He chuckled, self-satisfied, as he slipped the panties down her legs and dropped them to the floor. Her pussy was glistening with arousal, and he paused to slip off his suit jacket, the only concession to undressing he’d made since this started, despite the fact that she was nude from the waist down and nearly so from the waist up. He liked seeing her this way, open and defenseless and ready for him.

Lacey made another little sound, and he met her eyes, holding her gaze as he leaned in and ran his tongue over her. Her palm squeaked against the varnished wood table, pleasure shooting through her from her belly to her toes when he licked at her again. Her head rolled back to look up at the ceiling, eyelids fluttering as she panted heavily. The motions of his mouth were soft and light, the same teasing pace he’d use on her breasts and thighs, and then he stopped.

Her head snapped down, her glazed eyes opening to meet his as he rose unsteadily to full height. He had to brace on the edge of the table since his cane had fallen to the floor, but there was still the same graceful elegance to his movement, the same commanding presence when he looked down at her with his dark eyes.

"Delicious." His mouth shone with her juices, and he hesitated for a moment before he leaned in to kiss her. She caught the tangy sweetness of herself and moaned, ignoring the ache in her arms, both from holding herself up and trying to keep her hands behind her. He took her lower lip between his teeth and tugged, sending a shudder through her body. She could feel his hard cock against her inner thigh, straining the front of his trousers.

Gold pulled back, but didn’t give her time to think as he sank two fingers into her. She cried out at the intrusion, hips shunting forward. He reveled in the way her slick cunt tensed around him, the flexing of her neck as she tipped her head up, begging him with lewd sounds and bright blue eyes. Her head fell forward, her face tucked against his neck. He added a third finger and pushed into her until he could go no further. He curled them and started a steady motion, in and out, until her hands balled into fists and crossed themselves at her back. Even now she was trying to do as he asked and keep her hands away, keep from grabbing at him like he knew she wanted.

His thumb pressed to her clit, and she gasped, lifting her head as her eyes fixed to his. The pressure inside of her was unlike anything she’d ever felt, and the sharp zings of pleasure from the motion of his thumb was almost too much. She was overwhelmed and desperate, clawing at her forearms behind her back. If she moved her hands he might stop, and she wasn't sure what she would do if he did.

She was so wet. Every thrust of his fingers caused a sloppy, squelching sound between her legs and a breathy cry to fall from her lips. He took delight in all of it as he rubbed at her clit, over and over, around and around, until she was bucking her hips wildly.

“Alex,” she groaned in his ear. “Please. I need -”

Her words were cut off by another low moan as he slowed his movements. Her desperation strengthened his arousal, and the pain in his leg faded with it. He grinned at her frustration and leaned in to kiss her flushed cheek.

She tried to lift herself off the table, pushing back on her hands and moaning as he stroked her deep and steady. Waves of fiery pleasure burned through her, each hotter and stronger than the last. After what felt like forever, he sped up, pulling his fingers out all the way before pushing them back in.. She was wonderfully stretched, but she wanted more, wanted his cock instead of his fingers and the press of his lean body against hers.

He felt her contracting around him, her pussy grasping at his fingers, her body begging him for the release it so desperately craved. “Are you close, sweetheart?”

Lacey keened, her head dropped to rest against his shoulder. “Fuck - yes. Yes, yes yes...”

His arousal was pressing painfully against his zipper. Her breaths were hot and rapid against his neck as he held his fingers inside her, flexing the tips to rub against the rough little spot he’d found as his thumb passed back and forth over the swelled nub of her clit. No doubt she’d be clinging to him if he let her, her arms tight around his neck, squeezing their bodies together. Part of him was disappointed that she’d held out this long without touching him properly, but then her cunt started to pulse around his fingers.

“Oh, Al - ah -” she tried to say his name but it caught on her throat as she trembled, lifting herself up as he kept up the pressure inside her. Lights flashed behind her eyelids as she screwed them shut and leaned back.

Gold didn’t stop moving until she did, wringing every drop of pleasure from her that he could. When he pulled his hand from her, she moaned at the empty feeling it left behind. Her eyes were hooded, looking up him as her breaths came fast and erratic. A few strands of hair stuck to her face and her complexion was a deep peachy pink. He rested his forehead against hers, gripping her waist tightly until she had stopped trembling, stroking her cheek with his thumb. He kissed her tenderly, stealing the little breath she had left.

“Beautiful,” he whispered.

“Hmmm,” was all she offered him, with a wry smirk as she brought her hands in front of her again.

Her wrists ached from holding them back, but when she reached for his trousers, she found only hot, velvety flesh. Somehow, while she was busy trying to form coherent thoughts after her orgasm, he’d released himself. She looked down and watched as his cock bobbed between them.

“I don’t have any protection,” he confessed.

She licked her lips. “I do.”

After a quick fumble in her purse, she held up a red foil package, and he grinned as she tore it open. He let her roll the condom down his shaft, grunting as she gave him a hard squeeze at the base. Then he stroked the full length against her, sliding it through her tender folds, slickening it up before he pushed inside her. She was so hot and wet, a groan tumbled from him before he could control it and she smirked up at him.

It was a lovely, unrestrained sound, the kind she imagined he rarely let himself make, and that made her feel powerful. He pulled her closer to the edge of the table, until he could slip just a little further in. A tiny squeaking gasp parted her lips as she felt his cock press as deep as possible.

Gold’s mouth sought hers as he started to move, slow at first and then faster, as his resolve slipped. The thrusting of his hips never ceased even as he swallowed each of her panting breaths. His mind had become a flurry of everything all at once; the way she tasted, the way she sounded, the way she fluttered around his cock. He couldn’t remember feeling this consumed by the act of sex, certainly not with his ex-wife. Everything about Belle drew him in and made him want to drown in her depths.

Lacey leaned into him, grabbing at his shoulders and pulling herself against him. Her nipples rubbed against the fabric of his shirt and tie, sending little shocks of pleasure through her.

“Fuck, you feel so good.”

She moaned, tensing around him as he pushed up into her. “You too,” she managed.

“Belle - close -” He broke off as another hard groan rumbled in his throat.

“Yeah,” she gasped.

Words were beginning to fail her. Her brain was short circuiting as a fire bloomed in her core. She looked up at him, forced her eyes open to see the naked hunger on his face. The strength of it made her heart stutter, and when she opened her mouth all that came out was a desperate, pitiful whine. The increase in his pace told her that he delighted in hearing the weakness in her voice, but when his head dropped and his face buried in her neck, she knew he was just as wrecked.

His hand fumbled between them, sticky fingers finding her clit again and pulling a sharp cry from her. He bit and sucked on her skin as his balls tensed.

“I’m - I’m -” Lacey tried to say as her breath caught and her body contracted. Sensation ripped through her and she clung to him desperately, quaking and squeezing around his length.

Her quivering brought him over the edge, yanking him headlong into his own climax. He groaned into her skin, his cock pulsing and spilling into her.

“Well, ” she said when she was sure her voice would work again. “That definitely warmed me up.”

Gold laughed as he pulled away, zipping his trousers back up. His eyes, sparkled with something and met hers as she slipped off the table and began to fix her bra and blouse. It was an oddly relaxed and delightful sound, and she let out a shaky giggle, raking her hand through her unruly hair.

He bent down and picked her panties up. For a long moment, he considered tucking them in his trouser pocket and keeping them as a souvenir, but then he held them out to her.

“Thank you,” she said playfully, biting her lower lip as she took them from his hand.

Then she slipped her skirt back on and wiggled back into her heels. Her legs wobbled, and Gold reached out to steady her with a grin that he knew was entirely too self-satisfied. He felt weak himself, something which he never allowed in his life, but when she looked at him like she was now, her eyes bright and mirthful, her clothes rumpled from his hands and their exertions, he couldn’t help it. It was a look of pure desire and want, with a tender edge that made him want to kiss her hand and take her to dinner.

It was glorious and ludicrous all at once.

Gold sucked in a breath through his nose and let it out slowly.

The memory of their first night together was still too vivid and real, and he shifted in his chair, scowling at his traitorous cock. He poured another glass of whiskey and swallowed it down, fighting back a cough from the sting at the back of his throat. Tears welled up in his eyes and he squeezed the glass, his thumb squeaking over the outside.

Belle - Lacey - he tersely reminded himself again, was gone. This morous reminiscing would get him nowhere.

His nostrils flared as he ground his teeth, clenching his jaw until it twinged painfully in his temples. He blinked and his vision blurred. Heat rose up the back of his neck and he stood abruptly, his arm coming back as his fingers tightened around the glass. His body tensed as he stared at the curtained doorway, the spot where she’d stood that night as she wished him a good evening. He wanted to wonder where she was, what she was doing, if she was spending even half as much time thinking of him as he was her. If he did that, he’d be at the bottom of the bottle in no time and regretting it in the morning.

After a long moment, he lowered his hand and dropped the glass onto the table. Then he took up his cane and stalked out of the shop, stepping out, uncaring, into the cold rain.

[slaymyglo]

20 Self Care Tips

20 self-care tips

Welcome back glo gang for everyone that is new here hi my name is Mickhailia and I am a blogger and for everyone that’s been rocking with me heyyyyy I love you so much and thank you for supporting me as much as I support you. Today Im going to be talking about selfcare and just basically things that we can do at home or even out of the home to take care of ourselves mentally, physically and emotionally. Self-care is so important to me because I feel like once you feel good inside your body and once your body is healthy and cared for and then there are no limits to the things that you can do, the things that you can imagine and the things that you can accomplish once you feel good inside your body because energy is from the inside out and if you have that energy then the skies the limit.

No I won’t be putting in here and telling you guys to go to the spa and take a $90 facial or a $50 body massage. Self care can be the smallest things, giving your self a pedicure or doing a deep conditioning treatment or trying a new facemask.

So here’s a list of 30 things that you can do that doesn’t require you spending a lot of money and still make you feel good about yourself.

A diy spa day

Grab some Epson salt and I scented candle fill your bathtub with warm water and a few drops of lavender oil and have a spa day

 2. Make yourself a playlist

When I make myself playlists actually feel a sense of accomplishment because when I go back and listen to the music that I put in the playlist it’s very reflective of what I was going through at that time and so is shows growth since then and now. Making yourself a playlist can be happy, sad, productive or reflective it is able to give off whatever energy that you want from that music.

3. Brew yourself a cup of tea

I love teas and tried so many of them and I wish that one day I will be able to try them all. Teas have so many purposes there are teas for relaxation, teas that help your mind, teas that help your skin and just your overall good health to show you how much of a tea drinker I am I have a subscription with myTeabox it’s basically a monthly box that get sent to my house with a selection of teas and you get to try them see the health benefits and it’s just a really nice thing to expect in the mail every month. They have black teas, white teas, green teas chai teas or long tees and a lot more it cost approximately C$28 plus $10 and some change for shipping and the other one that I recently tried is amoda tea it’s $18 a month free shipping.

4. Do a deep conditioning treatment on your hair

Not only will this benefit your hair but it will feel good in yourself that you were doing something that will help you and that alone subconsciously makes you happy just get a steam cap an avacado and some honey mix it together and there you go.

 5. Read a good book

Honestly I must say personally I’m not a fan of reading but when I do read and I find that perfect book it’s so satisfying and I feel so empowered to have read that book and if you aren’t a big reader and you are still interested in literature then listen to audiobooks trust me it makes a difference. Basically all it is is an audio version of the book that you wish to read so plug in your headphones and listen to someone else read the book to you.

6. Make yourself a smoothie/fruit bowl.  if you have an extra 10 minutes to spare in the morning before you head off to work or to school or wherever your day may lead you make yourself a smoothie or a fruit bowl doesn’t have to be anything fancy you can just get some strawberries a few grapes a few cherries and some slices of apples put in a bowl in there you go or you can use all those ingredients and just throw it into your blender and there you go have a smoothie.

7. Drink 1 L of water

I honestly was one of those people that are like “are you serious drink water to be healthy?” but listening to those instructions and drinking water has significantly helped me to be more healthier not only in like my physical health but to make me feel good mentally and to have a clear mind so please drink your water guys.

8. Take five minutes to reflect at the end of every day

It’s so important to reflect on your day and how it went, what you could’ve done to make your day better, things that were a success and to give yourself credit for those successes because then and only then well we learn how to appreciate things in life and how to forgive ourselves for the things that don’t go well from that we will grow and become better individuals.

9.Create a journal entry at the end of the week

The 10-year-old me would be so proud because that’s all she invested her time in to write things in her diary and to live this television fantasy of having a Book of crushes and a book of untold secrets the girls she doesn’t like and the girls that are her BFFs. Having a journal isn’t childish or Petty.  Journals can help you to cope with whatever situation you’re going through, it can be a reminder of the things that you’ve done and accomplished successfully, it can be a resting place for the things that you wish to not say to anybody it can also be a friend believe it or not. You can be comfortable with knowing that you’re letting your thoughts out in the open but not to a conscious mind

. 10. Go for a morning walk

This doesn’t have to be an every day routine because I know some people schedules are crazy busy but maybe on a Saturday morning when there’s not much to do before you eat breakfast and get about your day just take 15 minutes to go for a walk, taking that fresh air let out all the bad toxins everything that happened in the previous week just let it out you’re by yourself and bills trust with and yourself also it is a great physical activity to help having a healther life,take a bottle water with you just in case you get a little bit tired or you just need to have some water.

11. Grow a plant

This can be very therapeutic for some people seeing something around you is what’s uplifting to people it also teaches responsibility and how to care because if you don’t water the plant then you know what happens.

12. Create routines

Some people like to live their lives unplanned and spontaneous Lee which is fine and that’s OK if that’s how you progress and how you see yourself moving forward by doing things out of the blue and spontaneously because I for one do that sometimes but having a routine for certain things that you do a skin care routine morning routine the homework routine whatever it may be as long as you find something that works for you and that will continue to work for you then stick to it and make it your personal routine. It could be a three-step guideline of the things that help you to study or it could be a list of things that you do in order in the morning before you get ready for work or school or could even be a route that you take to the grocery store whatever it is write it down and make it your routine it will help you to feel organized it will help you when your mind feels cluttered and you feel confused make yourself a routine.

13. Take pictures

I for one loves scrolling down my Tumblr page full of sunsets and very cosy pictures and if this is something that’s therapeutic for you then maybe you should start taking the photographs if you go out to the park at say 6 PM and you see the sun going down and it looks beautiful to you, take a picture of it you can look back at it and say wow this was a beautiful sunset or you can post it and split someone else say that it’s a beautiful sunset. Whatever it is that inspires you or whatever give you vision then take a picture of it.

 14. Sing a song

I’ve always been a musical person I’ve always loved to sing always loved the express whatever I was feeling through Music and it has always helped me. If you’re sad if you’re happy if you’re excited if you’re angry whatever type of emotion you’re feeling inside there will always always be a song that can help you express that to turn away from those feelings or to help build on those feelings. I have a Spotify and SoundCloud account and they are the most used apps on my phone and that’s no joke because I’m constantly playing music constantly trying to find new music and expanding my music taste.

 15. Do a DIY project

If you need something to keep you busy or if you are genuinely a person who likes doing a whole projects or you just need something to do for fun go on Pinterest find a great project to do. It doesn’t have to be anything strenuous on the list this is what you want you can find projects that don’t require you to leave your house and products that you can use materials from around your house so that you don’t have to go to buy anything but if you do then that’s OK and make sure it’s not expensive and just craft away.

16. Create goals

When I say create goals I don’t mean to plan the next five years of your life lol. Just simple plans of how your going to get through your day

17. Redecorate your room

I really me feel like a whole new girl when my room looks new and I will move things around and my dresser isn’t in the same place it was the night before and my bed is to the window like that brings me a lot of self satisfaction and it just looks nice like you make me feel like I did something good just read decorate your room it doesn’t need to be anything huge like what I do but I could just literally mean that you hang the new art piece somewhere else like you know like you put your dresser to the opposite wall than it was before just to have something ne

 18. Take a nap

Omggg girl! Let me tell you about those after school power naps doors are heavenly. At some point I feel like those little power naps after school is better than a good nights rest and if you have a little bit of spare time and you can take one of these power nap after school knobs after work naps trust me you will be refreshed

 19. Unplug from social media for a couple hours

I know this might sound a little bit tough to those who can’t go a day or a couple hours without social media and I completely understand that because I believe that I’m the same as well but it’s possible.

I really do think I can admit that I’m addicted to my phone and it’s not a good thing but it is what it is but I feel like these days I’ve been able to give myself a couple hours to be away from it and really just use those couple hours that I’m not on my phone to reflect his social media it has its pros and it’s cons yes you get to see Wyatt the shade room is posting at 3 PM and yes you get to see what is happening in the news and what lip kit Callie Jenner’s about to launch bought it becomes addicting and it takes away time from doing real things in the real world. The negative sides the social media is that we become so sucked into this world of virtuality that we forget that we live on earth and that we live in a real society.

 20. Write down and memorize inspirational quotes for when u are feeling down.

When someone is upset it becomes very difficult for them to think of all the wonderful things that they did and the things that they accomplished but it’s so easy for them to think of all the bad things that are happening around them. Which is why inspirational quotes kind address keep you in the right frame of mind and remind you that things happen in life goes on

[spacebookettes]

Cendiary Inn: a real goose tale

Aunty Cripplesworth was thought by many to be the second coming, and not on the side of her up there. Aunty Cripplesworth ran the pub with a platinum fist. Due to the large rings and bangles of the precious substance on her fighting hand. Many a drunk almost met their end at the end of Aunty Cripplesworth’s fighting hand. Aunty Cripplesworth loved cocktails and as you can imagine running a pub she’d had plenty of practise with them. In fact Aunty Cripplesworth was really the only person who drank cocktails in Cendiary bay. Only her and aunty Codswallop, the local uber drunk and manager of the solar powered fish distributer: many a full haddock had been wrongfully delivered to a bemused green grocer, museum manager, town haller and more, around the country because of drunk Codswallop.

Aunty Cripplesworth had a dog, Vanquish was her name... Aunty Cripplesworth also liked Aston Martins; though she’d only ever driven one once: when one posh person stopped off at the pub to ask directions. and when Aunty Cripplesworth saw the Aston Martin key fob he was holding, she insisted on personally showing him to his destination. “I’ll drive.”

The massive flock of geese was out foraging in the fields that overlook Cendiary bay. A couple new to the area are walking next to the fields totally in awe of that many geese. Their little dog isn’t so in awe and as all little dogs seem to be, angry at the mass of angry white feathers. Yes that’s right the geese don’t Get the dog at all. The dog lives a long happy life. The couple wander into a small patch of forest in one corner of the fields overlooking Cendiary bay. Mossy covered, peculiarly round rocks are scattered everywhere in the darkened under canopy. It’s damp here and cool. They hear a rasping goose call deep in the undergrowth. Earlier that day in the pub the couple had said they were off for a walk and Aunty Cripplesworth had warned them about the escaped goose said to roam the countryside around Cendiary bay. “They say it was Granny Bluntscar’s favourite bird, one she had personally trained to be a vicious little thug.” When the couple left the pub, the whole place up roared with laughter at the tale. The couple heard this and carried on their walk in peace. Peace until they heard the goose call deep in the forest funk. The little dog was off, sprinting into the moss and darkness in the direction of the imagined worse goose in existence. The couple called the little dogs name all they heard back was an angry goose bellow. Aunty Cripplesworth had paid the local kids to go up to the forest and scare the couple with a biodegradable plasticised goose whistle. The little girls enjoyed their afternoon of scares at the expense of the couple. When the concerned looking pair had come back into town saying how they’d lost their dog, only to find it sat in the pub next to Vanquish, gnawing on a giant dog treat. The locals all laughed and bought the couple a couple of stiffening drinks.

Later that night as Aunty Cripplesworth secured the pub and walked toward her little solar powered cottage: Vanquish left on guard, she was alone in the dark. Only a 5 minute walk between her and a Slippery Nipple palette cleanser. A shadow moved behind her, this shadow seemed to glow a low luminous white, tall and wide. A giant low luminous white feather was in the pathway before Aunty Cripplesworth. She stopped to look at it; massive half a meter long she had never seen such a thing. She bent down to pick it up... engine grease oozed onto her hands from underneath the feather. Aunty Cripplesworth grabbed an older woman’s tissue from her pocket and tried to wipe the ooze off of her hands, she couldn’t get it all off and stood huffing at the challenge. An uncharacteristically timed dove hooted somewhere in the distance. This made Aunty Cripplesworth look around, her eyes focused on the tall white shape that was following her. Her eyes were accustomed to the dark, but she couldn’t make out what the shape was. And then it evaporated backwards into the gloom of the night. Aunty Cripplesworth had only been scared once before in her adult life, and this second time was so unfamiliar to her she sprinted in the opposite direction full pelt towards the solar powered police station near the centre of a rebuilt Cendiary bay.

The whole town heard about it the next day... something had scared Aunty Cripplesworth. Incredible! Aunty Cripplesworth didn’t become the town laughing stock... no one dare laugh, incase Aunty Cripplesworth heard about it. But perhaps the occasional chuckle about it in their sleeps.

Aunty Cripplesworth looked down at her still grubby stained fingers and demanded a forensic test of the residue. The local police took the swabs and when an unusual for those parts forensic evidence kit was sent to the big solar powered city... and a surprised forensic scientist emailed the results to the police station in Cendiary bay (with a giggle, they hadn’t heard of an Aunty Cripplesworth.) That came back as engine oil and Aunty Cripplesworth slammed the door of the police station so hard it jammed and the local police had to be rescued by the Cendiary bay fire service. Aunty Cripplesworth had been so convinced the test result would come back as Mystical Unknown Substance. Aunty Cripplesworth got that Slippery Nipple and fourteen after it. The Cendiary Inn didn’t open for two days. And when the locals saw Aunty Cripplesworth unlocking the pub they all piled in to have a gander.

Life soon turned back to normal in the Cediary Inn, though Vanquish no longer guarded the pub after hours.

One month exactly after Aunty Cripplesworth's experience, she was securing the pub after hours. Vanquish suddenly ran off into the darkness. Aunty Cripplesworth heard an uncharacteristically timed dove hoot and quickly unsecured the pub and went back inside... this was the third time she'd been scared her whole adult life and now she was also angry. A platinum (plated) baseball bat was retrieved from behind the bar and one conflicted Aunty dashed off into the night in the direction of Vanquish. Nothing, no sound on a night with seemingly no atmosphere. Not even a slight breeze. Aunty felt insecure. Aunty Cripplesworth came back to the pub un Vanquished. Sat on the bar top was another giant white feather... no ooze though. Aunty had had enough. The forensic test had worked into her subconscious and dampened the supernatural imaginings in her brain. Aunty was fumming she smashed the bar top. She smashed a chair up. She was going to find something else to smash when Vanquish came back into the pub with a slobbery fussing for Aunty Cripplesworth. She mellowed with the relief; looked around at the mess and shrugged nonchalantly. Though Aunty Cripplesworth didn’t own the Cendiary Inn, she just ran it for someone else... it was more of a self appointed managerial position. The owners had slunk off to an unplanned early retirement.

The end

By Peter Stringer

Grandma’s bag

Grandma had Devils Food Crystalised Cherries in her bag, inside a small biodegradable plasticised baglette. The kids knew she’d at some point open the bag and give them all one each; spaced out throughout the day, they’d hear the handbag latch click and come running the little devils. Mom grinned at the sight. Have you a bag mum, mom called out. In the pantry was a large biodegradable plasticised bag filled with screwed up biodegradable plasticised bags. The transition away from traditional plastic bags was well under way. “they’re all the new biodegradable ones, what have you been doing with the plastic ones?” (wait for it) “oh i throw those old useless ones away" said grandma. Mom looked from the panty , through the kitchen and into the lounge... does she do it on purpose mother in law, mom wondered to herself.

The end

By Peter Stringer

Lady Mechanic

The lady of F1 racing they called her...

Lady Mechanic loved going fast. Driving fast. Motorcycling fast. Hand gliding fast. Go karting fast. It had been not so much roller blading these older days.

No she didn’t drive F1 cars don’t worry lads, I’ll leave you that. No, she helped design them. Owner of Mc Rarri F1 team and Slikmouth F1 race track. She liked to tinker with the racing technology of the future. Of course once the driverless cars started competing and literally lightning reflexes made F1 even ‘more' exciting; there was less need for human racers. The advertisement deals became more electronic focused. In fact F1 teams also design for other industries, the prestige has quite a premium in the eyes of the more technological people's of the future. Lady Mechanic made the fastest F1 cars. Lady Mechanic was a celebrity. Lady Mechanic was sort after.

By Peter Stringer

Bee Light

Bee was an B student, but she got a Z for a dad. Her younger siblings thought Bee was A*. It was fathers day. Bee should be getting the presents. Her extra time with her siblings meant she didn’t have time to study for A's. Here’s to all the busy Bee Lights!

By Peter Stringer

Peak London

 A cocoon of many towers, 3 of which near the clusters centre, inner facing; with fluorescence and brightness, an infinity of light boxes... Cascading in both vertical directions and a peak between of distant London. ‘Amazing’ a lawyers brain went off.

The lawyer travelling through the freshness and brilliance of west London. White buildings. TREES. Tasteful phosphorescense. The lawyer who couldn’t stop thinking about the meeting. Well the stop at some underlings office on the wrong side of the tower. That view. The others had offices with a different brightness and long views. But the lawyer felt the real business was the supposed lesser view of a science fiction dreamscape at the beginning of the 21st century.

The lawyer had heard of the young billionaire’s idea. A gargantuan city sprawling upwards and a planet left to nature. The lawyer had had a glimpse of it. An environmental lawyer who though, had a fondness for skyscrapers. How to do it??

 

By Peter Stringer

[perfectirishgifts]

Crisis Management: How To Shield Women From Taking The Hardest Hit

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/crisis-management-how-to-shield-women-from-taking-the-hardest-hit/

Crisis Management: How To Shield Women From Taking The Hardest Hit

Dr. Annamaria Lusardi

The consequences of the pandemic are smack in front of us. COVID-19 case numbers are soaring even as economic repercussions pull harder and harder on Americans. The headlines provide a daily stark reminder of the wide-ranging implications, from growing food-bank lines to derailed educational dreams to abandoned careers.

 One big group has been hit especially hard by this crisis. I am talking about women. New research sheds some light on why women are bearing the financial brunt of this pandemic, why they will pay a high price in any crisis that comes next, and what we can d o about it.

Here are some of the findings. Women were already financially fragile before the pandemic hit. In January 2020, when the unemployment rate was at an all-time low, the stock market was roaring and the 2007-2008 recession was a distant memory, about 1 in 3 women would have been unable to handle a small financial shock, let alone a big one. They would have been daunted by an unexpected medical bill, an unplanned car repair, a refrigerator that needed replacing. This financial fragility was accompanied by another vulnerability: Most women do not have the knowledge and skills required to make financial decisions in times of crisis.

Since 2017 and in collaboration with the TIAA Institute, we have been collecting data that helps us understand personal finance and the financial knowledge among households in the United States. Our objective is to follow what happens to Americans’ wallets, especially in the face of high—and increasing—costs of education, housing and health care.

Because personal finances are, well, personal, and people are very different, each year we have oversampled a group within our study population. There are many advantages to collecting data at a regular frequency. It allows us to compare findings across time and assess whether things are getting better or worse. Much like an annual physical exam with a doctor, a yearly check-up of Americans’ personal finances can also detect symptoms of problems before they flare up. Most importantly, by annually collecting data, we end up with useful information in advance of potentially important events. This makes it possible to look at the data before and after the event. In the case of the pandemic—since it is still with us—we can examine the data before COVID-19 hit and gauge how and why the pandemic may ravage not only our physical but also our financial health.

Our survey asked about personal finance knowledge related to areas where people routinely make decisions. This includes saving, investing, borrowing, and managing risk, as well as the sources of information people consult for guidance. Our findings are sobering. Women correctly answered only about half of the personal finance questions. That is not a passing grade.

Since our survey has many questions to measure personal finance knowledge, we also can drill down on the topics that people know the best and the least. What is worrisome is that women know very little in areas that are critically important in times of crisis: risk and risk management. Women can answer only 34 percent of the questions related to risk and risk management.

Because we oversampled women, we can look in more detail at that data. Women are not homogenous when it comes to their understanding of personal finance. Even though financial literacy is low overall among women, lack of knowledge is particularly severe among some groups. For example, African American and Hispanic women correctly answered only 38 percent of the personal finance questions versus 54 percent of questions among their white peers. Even more, knowledge among those minority groups is particularly low in areas that matter most right now: risk, insuring and investing.

We should be worried about these findings. We should also get serious about the way to address them. Financial literacy matters!

The data we collected looked not only at knowledge but also at women’s personal finances. The objective of people is not to save more or borrow less, it is to be financially secure, to not have to worry about their situation. For that reason, the indicators we used went beyond balance sheets in order to assess financial well-being. Well before the COVID-19 crisis, women’s financial security was thin.   

As many as 30 percent of women would be in trouble if an unexpected expense arose. Even if given a month, they said they were not confident they could come up with $2,000. This percentage shoots up to 45 percent among African Americans and Hispanic women. Many women said they were unable to save regularly for their retirement—or even to plan for it. And 34 percent stated that debt constrained their choices. (Half of the African American and Hispanic women sample said debt affected their choices.) In other words, many women were in dire financial straits even when the economy was doing well.

Those who know more do better. All the troubling financial behaviors of women are connected to financial knowledge—or the lack of it. In particular, financial literacy serves as a shield against shocks; those who are more financially literate are less financially fragile. That means they are better prepared when entering and navigating a crisis.

This year we added a new question to our survey: We asked respondents how many hours per week they spend thinking about and dealing with issues and problems related to personal finances. We also asked how many of these hours occur at work. The findings are staggering. Women with low financial literacy spend as many as 16 hours—two full work days—worrying about and dealing with personal finance issues. Out of these 16 hours, 8 hours occur at work.

These data point to one solution, especially for employers. Back-of-the-envelope calculations—the hours a woman spends worrying multiplied by her wages—provide a simple estimate of the cost of financial illiteracy. If that number exceeds the price tag for financial education programs in the workplace, it is time for employers to join the financial education bandwagon.   

Although, workplace financial education programs can save money, not just any seminar or workshop or online exercise is effective. Data tells us that one-size-fits-all programs do not succeed with a population like women, which is marked by diverse challenges and disparate financial circumstances. Among other things, for programs to be successful for women, they will need to address concepts such as risk and risk management and pay attention to the specific needs of minority groups.

The COVID-19 pandemic gives us an opportunity to reimagine our future. We cannot return to the “normal” we knew before the crisis because that normal was not good enough. As we look forward, it is clear that one of our priorities must be to invest in women to ensure they are more financially resilient and secure.

More from Retirement in Perfectirishgifts

[financiallymint]

Traveling on a student budget

Set a limit 

This basically means answering the question: how much am I comfortable spending on this trip? How much do I want to spend, ideally? And then, how much do I think I will spend, realistically? Work out those two numbers and try to find some middle ground.

That budget number is gold, do not forget it. You now have a $$ amount that is a limit, that you have to try very hard to not overpass. Take your debit/credit cards just in case but only use the extra money if very necessary. Discipline yourself to stick to your budget.

With this golden number in mind, you can now follow the next few steps at ease:

Planning

A successful trip has a good combo of effective planning and some fun spontaneous things along the way (missing your plane and taking a detour through Rome yass). But still, it’s always better to overplan than underplan, so you want to make sure you kinda know what you’re doing.

Start with figuring out WHERE you want to go and for how long (keeping the golden budget in mind). Don’t know? Check out Google Flights: you can see at a glance what goes where and what price. Compare return tickets and how much time you have available.

Pretty snazzy if you ask me.

Evaluating Transport costs

It’s not just the cost of getting there: the cost of traveling once there. Subways, buses, trains, etc. You don’t want the nasty surprise of having to pay an unplanned £14 ticket from Stansted Airport to get to the actual city of London. Be prepared.

In most of Europe there’s this amazing thing called Blablacar, a carpooling app that will connect you with drivers going to the same destination as you. Great way to save money AND meet cool people. I also use the website GoEuro to compare train, buses and flights from one place to another.

Accommodation

Ouhhh this is a big one. Where tf will I sleep? Will it be hostel? Airbnb? Dare I say… HOTEL?

Well, my biggest secret to spending only £135 on my trip to the East and West coast of Ireland was this amazing, beautiful app: Couchsurfing. So basically: free accommodation. This app is God’s gift to travelers, and it’s not only in Europe (I used it in some parts of Asia and I’ve heard people use it all over the world). The idea behind it is simple: someone has an extra couch, and you can sleep on it for free.

Why would someone offer their couch for free? Honestly, it’s a great way to travel without going anywhere. You meet people from all around the world with amazing stories and amazing experiences to tell. In exchange, the Couchsurfer gets a free bed and maybe even a bit of food. Pretty awesome right?

What if I get attacked? Unlikely, but always keep your wits about you. Check their profile, read their reviews, make sure you’re comfortable with staying at them beforehand (going with a friend helps).

99% of my Couchsurfing experiences have been top notch amazing. I’m still in contact with a few of them and have hosted one person myself (all about giving back to the community yeah). It might not be a long term solution, but it can be done for a night or two.

But of course, Couchsurfing is not for everyone. You also have hostels (Hostelworld), Airbnb and maybe some people you know in the area. Just make sure you roughly know where you’ll be staying for the length of your trip (last minute booking can get stressful).

Food

This one is tricky, and food budgeting while traveling is not a skill I have mastered yet (the pre-made wraps were FOUL). What I recommend? Setting a daily limit/budget on the amount you’re comfortable spending on food everyday while traveling (this will be incorporated in your golden budget already). Take some snacks from home too: chocolate, crackers, cheese, energy bars and fruit are pretty cool.

Touristing

If you’re doing a trip and planning on visiting the city, you’ll also be planning on doing some visiting, cultural or not (cough cough Amsterdam). You don’t have to plan to the very detail, but it helps to do a quick Google search of what touristy stuff you can do in the city and roughly what the price range is. Are there parks? Museums? Hikes? Weird monuments? Food to try? (the research will also get you excited for the trip). If you’ll be Couchsurfing, ask your Couchsurfer some tips on where to go, what to do, etc. Locals will know their city best!

Checking out local bloggers is also a great idea: Lonely Planet, NomadicMatt, etc.

Other options

We are truly lucky in this day and age to be able to travel so much. And actually, we are even luckier to be able to take it a step further: packing your bags and going for good. Aka long term travel. This means staying in that country/city for several months, getting to know the culture, the language, the food and making local friends. This option is not always available to everyone, but when it is, I recommend to grab it quick.

You can:

Study abroad: Erasmus and other programs will help you do a semester or year abroad. Or you can plan it yourself (me doing a random semester at uni in China). Check out what other bloggers have been doing: Amelie blogged about her experience studying abroad in the UK. This is a truly amazing way to travel as a student. You get to experience the local life, you get to study your subject and you really get to travel and explore the culture. Definitely a must. And many times it won’t cost you that much more.

Take a gap year: I was slightly shocked when I heard gap years weren’t really a thing in the US. I honestly think every single college student should take a gap year before starting university. The experience is unforgettable and prepares you for life better than college itself. Oh, and it’s not expensive if you do it right. If you do your research well, you can totally make your gap year achievable through volunteering or working abroad:

Volunteer abroad: I don’t have any personal experience with this, but from what I’ve researched this is awesome. Many times the companies will offer free housing and maybe even free food in exchange for some volunteering time. Opportunities range from community work to raising awareness for environment. GoAbroad and VolunteerHQ have some cool programs.

Work abroad: This could be an internship, another program of some sort, or simply finding a job once you get to the country. Universities can also help you plan this out. Check out STA travel and Go Abroad for more info. I did au pairing (looking after kids and living with the family) for a few months and that was a great experience in a foreign country. You can also get your TEFL and teach English in Asia. So many opportunities.

Online university: This is the route that I am about to embark on. The full on, traveler-student mode. Traveling while studying online. This is really for those who want to try some hardcore traveling and are ok with missing out on the traditional college experience. Maybe just one semester, but it’s a great way to not completely halt your studies and have some more flexibility.

[personal-loan-advisor]

Advance Salary loan - When can it come In Use?

Haven't we always been advised to keep your money for just about any emergency scenario? For an issue of fact that you were told to do so ever as you received Pocket money. Ever since we start earning we start to realise the value of hard-earned money and savings made to get a rainy day!

In case you had intended for your expenditures, you'd have saved 20 percent of one's regular income to meet emergency circumstances. But imagine if the money that you saved is not enough to pay this immediate need? How do you approach this particular situation? An unsecured loan? But the majority of the lending institutions give unsecured loans for a minimum of 1-2 months. Thus, credit cards? Or borrowing from your friend?

Following is a remedy to these questions -- Advance Salary Loan! It's an unsecured personal loan that is made available for a shorter tenure which is often availed in addition to repaid fast!

As the name suggests, Advance Salary Loan is a loan offered to you contrary to salary. With the advent of internet creditors, any salaried employee may get Advance Salary Loan online, at customer-friendly terms and for a brief period of time.

Circumstances where a Salary Advance can save the day - 

Medical Expenses:

Medical insurances could be part of your portfolio but perhaps it doesn't supply a full cover.

Certain illnesses, procedures and treatments may require that you pitch in additional funds. The insurance offered by some employers doesn't cover your parents, and usually, due to old age, they are the people who might desire treatment. In addition, there's a chance that the medical expense may go beyond kids' insurance cover amount. It can place a strain on your financials. An Advance Salary Loan can cover those expenses for the time being and wave you. The power of deciding on a salary advance is that it is readily accessible and will be repaid in a quick while.

Making a big-ticket purchase:

You have now been eyeing a brand new gadget for some time. A sudden sale pops up and also the gadget is available at a significant reduction. Better than swiping high rate credit cards, even a salary advance is actually a fantastic choice. You can perform a quick check for the eligibility amount by filing a basic form for Advance Salary Loan, and catch that offer. The payback is in easy monthly instalments. Salary Advance Loans are also very good to grab the most useful of the selling season.

Utility Payments:

A few months may be financially more draining. You might find an over-utilized credit-card that demands a heavy outstanding bill payment or a power bill which is higher than normal, you might have paid off the Tuition fees for the kiddies! These are unplanned expenses and have to be met. Earning funds through Advance Salary Loan can be a fantastic idea as it's a short term loan, and enables you to manage payments that are timely.

While we picked up a couple of expenses' examples predicated on shared observations, so your reason could be unique and hence, select the quantity and tenure accordingly. While availing some personal loan which you must make certain you borrow just how much you can refund

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[mastcomm]

A $4 Million NICU Bill: The Price of Prematurity

Eric Brown and his wife, Stacey, were stunned to learn that Stacey was pregnant again and even more surprised that not one — not two — but three more babies were on the way.

“They were naturally conceived, so this was a complete and total surprise,” said Mr. Brown, 37, a high school special education teacher. He and his wife, who live in College Station, Texas, about 90 miles northwest of Houston, already had two children.

The second trimester did not go smoothly: Ms. Brown developed infections that led to an unplanned cesarean section at the Woman’s Hospital of Texas in Houston. The triplets were delivered at 28 weeks and 5 days in September 2017 and stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit for months.

[Advice on how to handle your baby’s stay in the NICU.]

The Browns had good insurance through Ms. Brown’s job as a pre-K teacher at a public school, but their hospital bills were staggering: Their triplets’ care had cost more than $4 million, leaving them with thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs.

To make matters worse, Ms. Brown had no paid maternity leave and used up all of her sick days by the time the triplets were 2 months old. She eventually left her job to care for them, in part because her take-home pay would have been wiped out by child care costs.

“Yes, your life is always turned upside down when you have a child,” Mr. Brown said. “But with us, it was with the snap of a finger and a minute and a half we essentially doubled the size of our family and cut our income in half.”

The number of preterm births, or babies delivered earlier than 37 weeks, rose for the fourth year in a row in 2018, according to a November report from the National Center for Health Statistics.

And as the number of preterm births rises, so does the number of babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. Even full-term babies of normal birth weight are increasingly likely to be admitted to the NICU, according to a 2015 study of babies born between 2007 and 2012.

“I’ve been to a lot of NICUs and we’re partners with a lot of them. It’s rare to hear that a NICU is not at close to 100 percent capacity,” said Stacey D. Stewart, the president and chief executive of March of Dimes.

The March of Dimes estimates that the average societal cost of each preterm birth, which includes medical care, early intervention services and lost productivity, is $65,000. But there is very little research on the costs shouldered by families.

For many families, Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income, or S.S.I. (a program administered by the Social Security Administration that pays benefits to disabled adults and children), help cover the medical bills.

“It would literally crush families if it were not for the support of Medicaid and S.S.I.,” Ms. Stewart said.

For families with private insurance, the good news is that plans compliant with the Affordable Care Act prohibit a cap on lifetime and annual benefits.

But coverage in the private insurance market has shrunk so badly over the last several decades that “nothing can guarantee that these families are protected,” said Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University.

Costs that those covered must pay, including deductibles, coinsurance and out-of-pocket maximums, have risen in recent years. And for families who do not qualify for Medicaid — the rules of eligibility differ depending on where you live — the out-of-pocket costs of NICU care, as well as maternity care and any necessary at-home rehabilitative services, can become a huge burden in the midst of what is already a stressful and exhausting ordeal.

Regardless of what type of insurance a family has, the nonmedical costs add up, too. Parents who live far from the hospital need to pay for transportation, meals and child care costs for older siblings. In the meantime, they are often bringing in less income because they are either unable to return to work or are working fewer hours in order to care for their newborn in the hospital.

The Browns’ babies each weighed more than 3 pounds when they were delivered, so they didn’t qualify to receive S.S.I., which would have automatically allowed them to receive Medicaid in their state.

Although Ms. Brown’s insurance, Blue Cross Blue Shield Texas, paid the bulk of the medical bills for herself and her babies, the Browns were still responsible for thousands of dollars — they quickly reached their out-of-pocket maximum, which is currently $13,000 for in-network providers in their plan. In addition, they are still paying off a bill from one of their neonatologists.

Their transportation charges also increased. During the two months the babies were in the NICU, Mr. Brown drove about 6,000 miles to and from the hospital in Houston.

Their community offered to help in ways big and small. Ms. Brown, who wasn’t allowed to drive after her C-section, stayed with a retired couple in Houston who drove her to the hospital every day that Mr. Brown was not in town. Friends and family held fund-raisers and sold T-shirts to raise money. Sometimes Mr. Brown would come home to find gas cards sitting on the porch. A friend of a friend helped them negotiate Ms. Brown’s nearly $44,000 air ambulance bill (she was flown to Houston from College Station) down to zero.

After Ms. Brown resigned from her job at the end of 2017, the Browns’ reduced income made the children eligible for Medicaid, which helped cover the coinsurance bills, among other costs.

But their new Medicaid coverage could be backdated only three months, so it did not cover September, the month the triplets were born, presenting “another double whammy,” Mr. Brown said.

Even so, with some careful budgeting, and help from the fund-raisers, the Browns expect to have all their bills paid off by the end of this year. The triplets, all girls, are healthy and “absolutely wonderful,” Mr. Brown said.

For some families, the nonmedical costs of prematurity are the biggest hurdle.

“It was a lot. It was a big toll on me,” said Kathy Canarte, 28, of Waukegan, Ill., whose daughter, Dahlia, was in the neonatal intensive care unit for three and a half months last year after being born at 28 weeks.

“I’m a person that likes to plan ahead,” she said. “So when I found out I was pregnant, I started planning financially — so the fact that she came so early was like, ‘Oh. Oh, no.’ Everything that I had planned was kind of like bumped away.”

[Read more about the ongoing trauma of prematurity.]

Her finances began to deteriorate at the beginning of her pregnancy, she said. She was so nauseated she had to quit her job as a waitress.

Ms. Canarte and her boyfriend were living with his parents at the time in Highwood, Ill., and eventually managed to save up enough to move to a home with enough space for their growing family — but not without sacrifices. After their daughter was born, gas money to visit the NICU in Evanston, Ill., was expensive. While her boyfriend was at work, Ms. Canarte took the train, then walked for 20 minutes, to visit their daughter.

“We couldn’t afford for both of us to be there all the time,” she said.

As soon as she was cleared to go back to work, she found a part-time job as a cashier at a grocery store.

Ms. Canarte applied for S.S.I. funding last July, which helps cover household expenses, but she didn’t receive any money until January.

“We had to kind of scrape by until then,” she said.

The Colette Louise Tisdahl Foundation, a nonprofit based in Chicago, helps families with children in the NICU pay nonmedical bills. Ms. Canarte received help from the organization for Lyft rides to and from the hospital and to pay the first electric bill in their new apartment.

Michelle Valiukenas started the organization in 2018 after her daughter, Colette, was born extremely prematurely and died after nine days in the neonatal intensive care unit.

The foundation “came about as a way for us to work through our grief and to keep her name and her memory alive,” she said.

In 2019 her organization helped more than 200 families in 32 states. Grants typically are about $500 to $700, Ms. Valiukenas said.

As families struggle with the costs associated with NICU care, the cost of giving birth has also risen. For women with employer-based health insurance, the average amount spent out of pocket for maternity care increased to $4,569 in 2015 from $3,069 in 2008, according to a study published in January in the journal Health Affairs. During the same time period, the standardized cost of maternity care remained stable, the study found, which means patients were paying a higher proportion of costs on average.

“Most of my patients don’t have $4,500 just waiting around,” said Dr. Michelle H. Moniz, an ob-gyn at Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital at the University of Michigan and the lead author of the study.

The rise in out-of-pocket costs was largely driven by an increase in deductible payments, the study said.

Alison Tiedke, the president of the National Association of Perinatal Social Workers, recommended that families contact the medical assistance ombudsman in their state or county to see what kind of financial help might be available. Many hospitals also have a financial support plan to help families manage bills like the out-of-pocket deductible, she said.

Several other organizations similar to the Colette Louise Tisdahl Foundation can help families cover costs associated with prematurity, including NICU Helping Hands and Graham’s Foundation.

Finally, even if you have private insurance, don’t rule out the possibility of programs like Medicaid.

Even if a child’s parents are not eligible for Medicaid, the child might qualify for either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health coverage to children whose families earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid.

In addition, because Medicaid eligibility is typically based on the poverty level and poverty level income varies based on family size, the addition of one or more children can change a family’s eligibility, said Dania Palanker, an assistant research professor at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute.

Ms. Canarte relied on Medicaid to pay their medical bills, and her daughter, now 9 months old, is thriving at home with regular visits from physical therapists. But Ms. Canarte won’t soon forget the stress of the neonatal intensive care unit.

“It haunts you for a while, definitely,” she said.

From negotiating family leave to wrangling your budget after baby, visit NYT Parenting for guidance on dealing with work and money as a parent.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/a-4-million-nicu-bill-the-price-of-prematurity/

[charlesmetor-blog]

Everything about timeshare

Considering the average hotel unit cost per day for a consumer is likely to grow at 4% annually between 2006 and 2015, timeshares may look like good bargains. But with escalating costs of travel, food and local sightseeing, and Indians planning to increase their travel spend by 17% in 2015 for a holiday, is buying a membership to a vacation rental with a lot of fine print to read into, a good deal after all?

If only saying #ChaloNiklo for a weekend trip with friends or an annual family vacation was as easy as it looks in the cab company advert! The holiday season with the Dusshera, Diwali and Christmas season is almost here and is dotted with long weekends that coincide with school vacations. Although the whole idea of booking tickets, making online reservations at hotels etc along with the exorbitant costs looks daunting, the Indian traveler seems to be surging ahead. A research done by UK-based global travel search engine Skyscanner in 2015 revealed that Indian travelers are at the top of rankings of the world’s most experimental travelers. Indians have searched for over 230 different countries around the world till June 2015 and are making plans to visit countries like Ireland, Sweden, Greece, Japan etc. cancel timeshare within 5 days http://www.timesharerelease.com/how-to-cancel-timeshare-after-rescission-period

However, the intrepid Indian travelers are acutely aware of the rising costs of travel, stay, food, sightseeing etc. and decide to do something to be able to take at least three holidays a year, but still not feel the pinch at the end of the year. A Trip Advisor ‘TripBarometer’ study of March 2015 says Indians are increasing their travel spend by 17% this year. In their quest to find a way to pursue their passion, some gravitate towards timeshare vacations, both that offer Indian and international destinations.

What exactly is a timeshare?

In the Indian context, a timeshare is a property – typically a hotel or a luxury resort – in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each sharer/ member is allotted a period of time (about one week, almost the same time every year in a fixed package and one week of their choice in floater package) in which they may use the property. A membership costs about Rs 1 lakh upwards and the annual maintenance costs about Rs 10,000 upwards depending on which package you are with the timeshare company. One can also sell the share to others if they are not keen on holding it. The member, however, holds no claim to ownership of the property. Sterling Holiday Resorts, Club Mahindra, Country Club etc are among the wellknown ones in India.

According to Ramesh Ramanathan, chairman of All India Resort Development Association (AIRDA), the timeshare market has been growing at 20% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the last several years. Increasing transparency and improving consumer satisfaction are among the industry’s priorities, he said in an interview to a national newspaper. timeshare release http://www.timesharerelease.com/

Many travel lovers assume that a membership like this will make their travel plans easier as they already have a list of destinations to choose from and the main cost – the accommodation – has already been paid for. Great thought indeed! Except that in reality, the rooms are not always available at the dates they want. If they want to go for an impromptu holiday, they may or may not get to stay there as it is full. However, there are also travelistas who swear by such packaged holidays that one can take at the same time of the year.

Research revelations

Interestingly, e-Travel Marketing India’s research shows that good holiday deals are an important motivation for customers to go online. About 36% consumers make unplanned trips if offered a discount. According to a 2013 report by Ramakrishna Kongalla, Assistant Professor at Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management, Gwalior, only 0.069% of the travel markets are members of timeshare companies. However, the demand for timeshare products in India is likely to grow at 16% annually from 2006 to 2015 by supply growth of 12% annually over the same period. The average unit cost per day for a consumer is likely to grow at 4% annually between 2006 and 2015 compared to 5-8% for a pure hotel product, he states.

Currently India boasts of about 40 timeshare companies, 80 resorts, 20 lakh memberships. According to AIRDA’s report, the reason why timeshares are yet to catch up is because of steep annual maintenance charges. how to get rid of my westgate timeshare http://www.timesharerelease.com/how-to-get-out-of-a-westgate-timeshare-mortgage

Word of caution

The Timeshare Consumer Association UK, a body that claims to give ‘friendly independent advice from timeshare experts’ mentions it in big font: “Timeshare is not a financial investment”. Definitely an eye-opener who perceive it as an investment, and not as an indulgence! Let’s do the math!

Hotel rates in five-star properties range between Rs 10,000 and Rs 12,000 a day, or Rs 70,000 to Rs 85,000 a week. If a timeshare member pays Rs 2.5 to Rs 3 lakh for a membership and avails of 30 holidays of seven days each for 30 years, the cost falls to Rs 10,000 a week’s holiday in a year, which is a fraction of what you pay otherwise. But how many members manage to take a holiday every year? What are the other costs and catches here?

A call to Club Mahindra revealed that the current packages begin at Rs 3.37 lakh for a family of four and the minimum down payment is Rs 50,550 and a few monthly installments depending on number of years you have opted for to pay the remaining amount. Your membership begins after you meet the minimum payment as specified. The annual maintenance charges are around Rs 13,000 upwards based on the package you have opted for. There is a nominal gift charge of Rs 1,100 if you pass it to a non-family member. The sales manager clarified that the company does not refund the money if you are not happy with it though it can be transferred to a family member without much hassle. And no, one can never look at it as a ‘share’ to make profit from, he added. Although the website says there is cancellation charge of Rs 1,700 if you don’t use your confirmed week, the sales personnel said there is no such ‘fine’.

Still not very sure of it

Kalyani Krishna, a homemaker in Chennai and married to a professor in IIT Chennai, talks of her experience with a timeshare vacation. “We bought Zest Mahindra Holiday Package in 2008, valid for a period of 10 years. We paid Rs 80,000 hoping to take a holiday every year and the agent promised us that the company is on the road to expansion and would be soon coming up with resorts in North and Eastern India. In the first couple of years, we travelled to Kodaikanal and Ooty and loved the experience. The rooms are beautiful, on par with five star hotels. The service is friendly.

Although you enjoy one week stay in the resort without paying anything towards room rent, eating food at the facility and also hiring travel services might cost a bomb. With the company failing to open up new resorts, we are stuck with only five destinations to travel. However, they are prompt in collecting ‘maintenance charges’ every year.

In our package, we are entitled to avail the facility only in certain months of the year. The travel timetable we opted for suits my professor husband as it coincides with his vacation. We couldn’t go around much in the last three years due to personal commitments, but we can always carry forward our holiday to the next year. On the brighter side, you can actually transfer your holidays to friends and family. It is a great gifting idea for a newly married couple or to your parents looking for a getaway. If you want to pay less for one week of ‘on par��� five star hotel accommodation every year and relax, these packages work. The trick to save more money is to try out local cuisine and local cabs.”

Suits me fine

Smriti Lamech, a journalist, and her travel- loving family comprising her husband and two children below 12 believes timeshare rentals definitely protect you against inflation. “The properties are by and large well maintained and well staffed. Food and transport are not part of the package and that is made clear when you buy the package. It seems unreasonable to expect more – but then that is the desi consumer for you – unmitigated greed. Food at any resort is expensive because that is what they make their money on. And resorts by definition are outside city limits – how else do you relax in the midst of a forest or on a secluded beach? Obviously one needs to plan in advance like you do for timeshare vacations across the globe. That said, there are often cancellations and we’ve got lucky.” sample letter to cancel timeshare contract http://www.timesharerelease.com/cancel-timeshare-contract-sample-letter-that-works

Ahead of its time

“Timeshare concept is a novel way to enjoy a holiday, especially at a time when Indians are changing their approach towards leisure tourism. However, the biggest challenge is that one has to plan this seven-day holiday almost a year in advance which is simply not possible in the Indian context. Also our vacations are guided by our children’s academic schedules and hence there is overbooking at the destinations. People end up going to places which they hardly know of or because they have paid for the timeshare option and hence don’t want their options to lapse. I think international options are also limited and hence people prefer packaged tours which are well timed, very well packaged and provide greater value for money,” says Ramaswamy, senior manager at a financial services company.

Better deals elsewhere

Suresh Sadagopan, a travel lover and a Certified Finance Planner and Registered Investment Adviser of Ladder7 Financial Advisories, Mumbai, has been holding a membership with a timeshare company since 2007. While he confesses he enjoyed memorable holidays with his wife and child for the initial four or five years, but now he finds that there are better vacation deals one can get online. “The travel market is competitive. Several airline companies are now putting together air travel+ hotel packages (with five stars) at great prices. Even food and local sightseeing is a part of some of these packages and that’s when you feel the pinch of having a timeshare as you are forced to stay there as you’ve already shelled out your fee for the year.” He recently holidayed with a Yatra package and felt the deals were good compared to his timeshare that he still holds.

“Lack of choice is also another factor that puts me off many times. I want to go to Munnar this monsoon but I am left with going to Junagadh only. I find that while my timeshare’s rooms are really well designed with great views and amenities, the resorts don’t give much choice in food. I mean the food is also good, but it is too elaborate and rich. I am not sure I want to eat a buffet at every meal during all the seven days of my stay. I would have liked to eat a simple khichdi and done with. The place I stayed did not provide such simple options.

[topicprinter]

Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with Mack McConnell of Taster’s Club, a brand that sells craft spirits enthusiast membership.Some stats:Product: Craft spirits enthusiast membership.Revenue/mo: $270,000Started: October 2012Location: Brooklyn, NYFounders: 1Employees: 3Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?Hey! I’m Mack McConnell, founder of Taster’s Club, a subscription service for people who are curious to learn about and taste amazing craft spirits. Each month we send our members the most interesting spirits we can get our hands on and teach them all about it.We originally started with just whiskey, but we’ve since expanded into 12 different tracks: whiskey, bourbon, scotch, tequila, rum, gin, vodka, wine or “stock the bar” (includes all the above). Regardless of what track a member chooses, what makes us special is not only that we source the best stuff from under-represented, amazing craft distillers across the world, but that we teach our members all about these spirits to give them the 360° experience of what they’re drinking.I started Taster’s Club back in 2012, alone, from my room in San Francisco. I’ll never forget the feeling of getting that first subscriber, realizing that this idea might have legs. We’ve been lucky to have grown to share what we do with more and more people.The business has come so far but we still run a very lean team comprised of independent contractors (equivalent of 3 full-timers) and we’re doing about $270K/month in revenue. We’re just excited to keep doing what we love, sharing what we love with anyone who will give it a try.imageWhat's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?Back in 2012, I was living in San Francisco, working at a big tech company and got the bug to launch a business that aligns with my passions. At the same time, I was getting fascinated with craft spirits from across the world and also became obsessed with reading and learning about them.As I kept on buying/trying new stuff, it became obvious that the process of discovering spirits is old and boring; most people go to the store and probably pick out whatever it is they had last (or, even worse, something they saw a commercial for!). I wanted to create a way for people to get spirits that was more exciting, convenient and encourages discovery. I was getting stoked about this stuff and I wanted to bring people along with me.Taster’s Club got its first subscriber in its first month; I was thrilled. I knew what I was trying to do might have legs but had to do it as a side-hustle. I moved to Paris, was working as a developer at a startup and was able to quit and work on it full-time around Taster’s Club’s first birthday.This was mostly possible at the time because I was a bit of a swiss army knife, able to do most things on my own (web/app development, operations, design, operations, sales, marketing, negotiating with suppliers, etc..), except warehousing/shipping.Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.Because alcohol is so heavily regulated, we had no choice but to work with third party, licensed warehouse/shippers to work within certain states, which conveniently answered some key questions upfront (dropship or hold inventory?).We began with select shippers only in select states. We were able to find them simply by figuring out who the leading e-commerce sites were working with.Finding a reliable means of serving customers in all 50 states has been a challenge from the start. Shipping alcohol directly to consumers requires a special kind of business license, and in many cases requires you to have a unique license for each state you’d like to serve. The “strictness” of regulations also varies widely from state-to-state, which means that trying to fulfill orders at scale would be a tedious, manual process if we took everything on ourselves. This made the decision between self-fulfillment and drop-shipping very simple.It was going to be prohibitively complicated and expensive to fulfill orders ourselves within the boundaries of the law, so we decided to work with third party vendors who were already licensed, insured, and willing to order, hold, and ship products on our behalf.To find these partners, we researched the current e-commerce sites that were delivering alcohol to their customers and reverse-engineered which states they were shipping to and how they were fulfilling orders.( Note: These sites were basically online catalogs where customers could buy one-off bottles, not a subscription model like we had in mind.)We started with one or two fulfillment partners and just a handful of “states served” and then expanded out as our revenue and customer base grew. As our transaction volume increased, so did our likelihood of landing new partnerships and getting more beneficial pricing terms.We had some of the early challenges were around consistency of customer experience and planning. We were essentially responsible for the customer experience, but it was being administered by various, distributed retailers. For example, sometimes the bottle we needed would be available at retailer A, but we needed it at retailer B, etc.. Or we would run out of our custom boxes (which were expensive when we were small!) at one retailer but didn’t plan properly at the other because of unplanned demand. We just didn’t have the resources to handle the complexity (was just me back then!), so our solution was just to put all customers on one monthly schedule, so everyone would get shipments on the same day every month, even if that means waiting 3 weeks to get your first shipment. It serendipitously worked out: customers didn’t mind, I were able to plan inventory more intelligently and focus on growing the business.Bottles broken in transit, late arrivals, missed delivery attempts (signature required for shipment!), etc. are part of the struggle. Every “fire” requires extra effort to put out because we have to be the middleman between the customer and the retailer operating behind the scenes.The bottles we were sending members early on were easy to choose because – being a huge spirits fan – I just took people through a list of my personal favorites. Making the educational material that accompanied each bottle was cinch because most of it was stuff I (being a spirits geek) already knew. Remember, I was really just making a service that I would have wanted to find a year prior.Describe the process of launching the business.imageOur first website was based off a Wordpress template built for restaurant menus I was able to sort of edit to look close enough to what I imagined, making plenty of design sacrifices to launch fast and on the cheap.A happy accident was that because we had to work with distributed retailers, we were able to make it so we didn’t need to buy product upfront, just according to orders that came in. So, the business literally required no capital to start, aside from the cost of the URL and Wordpress template. The business has continued that way, funded from its own profit.An important lesson I learned is that launching fast and lean was important because it allowed us to be the first to market (now there’s over 50 alcohol-related subscription services), let us define the category and gave important early lessons.Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?What really worked for us is to stick to our mission: getting people excited about craft spirits. Just like any business, we made a million small decisions along the way, and to our credit, I think we did a good job at staying focused on the impact we were trying to bring to our members.With respect to growth , we’ve found some success with paid advertising, social media, content marketing, and email.Our general recommendation is to segment your audience and speak directly to their specific needs/interests. You might be surprised to learn that vodka aficionados are very different from whiskey connoisseurs in both language and behavior. Tailoring our message to specific audiences has dramatically increased engagement.Some of the segments we have created include: club type (Ex: whiskey, vodka, rum, etc.), active members, past members, self-purchasers, gift givers, gift recipients, non-members, new members (first 45 days), and recently cancelled members (last 7 days).We also have the ability to create new segments on the fly using information stored in our member database. For example, if there is a snowstorm forecasted to pummel the Northeast, we can pull all active members in the affected states and let them know that their shipment will likely be delayed due to inclement weather.Customer segmentation is a huge advantage for us because it allows us to personalize our email marketing to address the specific context and needs of an individual member. Where most ecommerce stores would just push out an “email blast” to their entire list around Christmas, we’re able to say something like this instead:“Hey John* ,*Christmas is right around the corner...can you believe it?!Last year you bought Jane Smith* a* 6-month subscription* to our* Whiskey of the Month* club. It looks like the subscription ran out in June, but we thought she might have loved it so much that she would enjoy getting it again this year.*If you’re still looking for the perfect gift, we’ve got an active promotion going on that will save you $15 off your first bottle when you start or renew a gift subscription.Interested? Click here to cross Jane* off your Christmas list.”*Each of those bolded phrases is an area that can be automatically tailored to the recipient based on the information we have in our customer database. That means we write a single email template and our marketing software does all of the personalization for us.Now, which campaign do you think gets more opens, click, and conversions? The generic “shotgun blast” email template that delivers the same message to everybody or the highly targeted, timely, contextual pitches that we’re using?HINT: It’s not the first one.Another recent win for us was layering in an abandoned cart sequence. It took half a day to set up, gets a 43% open rate and almost a 5% conversion rate. Free money!By far, our best growth tactic is providing an outstanding customer experience, from the order process to receiving their first bottle to the unlikely event of needing to contact support. Word of mouth referrals are extremely powerful and we earn them every day by going above and beyond for our members.The bulk of our traffic comes from organic search, which is the result of years of just “showing up,” building relationships, and publishing great content that people in our target audience actually want to read and share. Thanks to our content strategy and our PR efforts, we hold the top rank(s) for several high traffic keywords that have a specific purchase intent, which means that we get a fair amount of qualified site visitors that actually have a strong likelihood of converting to members.We also get a substantial amount of traffic from high profile referral sources like Esquire Magazine, The Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, and Whiskey Advocate. This is often a spotlight feature of our product offering or inclusion in a “Best Gifts for _____” piece. The latter is an especially nice opportunity, because most publications will update these from year-to-year and carry over the best ideas, so we end up seeing a regular bump in traffic around the same time each year.Paid advertising (search and social media) rounds out our biggest traffic sources, but it’s a much smaller piece of the pie. We don’t typically invest a lot in advertising outside of holiday seasons and special events, because we haven’t needed the extra boost.To make sure that our traffic continues to increase year over year, we’re doubling down on the things that are working (Ex: blogging, on-page optimization, and PR) while also exploring new channels like influencer marketing, sponsorships, and affiliate programs.With respect to retention , our focus on the customer experience helps with that as well. Our members renew their subscriptions at a high rate because we prioritize reliable service and helpful support every step of the way.We have also tried to turn new members into repeat purchasers by launching a members-only bottle shop where they can buy additional bottles of their favorite past selections. These one-off sales are a growing part of our total revenue and help us liquidate any excess inventory.Finally, we try to layer in stories and real-world experiences wherever possible. We publish spotlights of featured distilleries and do a deep dive into their history and processes. Here are a few examples we published for Cotswolds Distillery, Cleveland Whiskey, and Laws Whiskey House.When customers get to know the people behind the product, whether that’s Taster’s Club itself or the producers of the spirits we select, there is a natural connection that starts to form and makes them less likely to churn.How are you doing today and what does the future look like?We’re profitable and 100% of our sales are done through our online store.We serve thousands of members each month in every state except Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Utah.We start processing orders on the 1st of the month and have an internal goal of getting everyone a “bottle in hand” by the 15th of the month.We have a team comprised of marketing, member happiness, operations, and editorial staff. James Sowers is running the company these days and is doing an amazing job.We recently launched a new wine club just in time for Mother’s Day 2019 (LINK) and have a list of other clubs/regions we’d like to grow into over the long term.Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?We really benefited from a couple of intersecting trends when we were getting started: subscription services and craft spirits. We were really in the right place at the right time.Regarding partnerships, one of the best decisions we’ve made is to partner with the craft distillers we love most. We’ve been able to make countless collaborations with distilleries, so Taster’s Club members often get bottles that are only available through our club. It’s been a great source of acquisition for people to know that we are the only places some of these collaboration releases are available.A lesson I learned was not building a robust team fast enough. We eventually got there, but it took me a few years when we frankly could have done it sooner. In the meantime, I was driving myself crazy doing everything from web development to customer service to sales to operations. I frankly had a lot of burnout around year 4 I had to recover from. It was such a game changer for the business when we hired Andrew, our amazing Director of Operations.What platform/tools do you use for your business?Website: Custom, Ruby on RailsMember Shop: Shopify, Back In StockBlog: WordpressPayments/Subscription Management: StripeOrder/Inventory Management: MailParserEmail Marketing: Customer.ioReferral Campaign: iReferSocial Media: RecurpostPayment Recovery:** **ProfitWell RetainCustomer Support: HelpScoutCustomer Happiness: AskNicelyProcess Automation: ZapierWhat have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?My mom is my biggest single inspiration in entrepreneurship. I’ve watched her do some amazing stuff, most recently found and run her non-profit Let It Be Us to increase adoption in the foster care population in Illinois.She taught me to do things that are important and to stay focused on them. Aside from her I try to surround myself with people that inspire me and can act as a sounding board, entrepreneurs and people with other diverse experiences.Other than people, my favorite book for entrepreneurs is The Four Steps to the Epiphany, which helps demystify the process of finding product market fit.Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?Do the thing you can’t stop thinking about.Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.Have separation between you and your project. If it fails, it doesn’t mean you failed. This is the mindset that makes it easy to try again.Even under tight constraints (day job, family etc…) don’t underestimate the impact of focused, continuous work, even done a little at a time, every night for a year.Where can we go to learn more?TastersClub.comFacebook.com/tastersclubtwitter.com/tastersclubhttps://www.instagram.com/tastersclub/If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!Liked this text interview? Check out the full interview with photos, tools, books, and other data.For more interviews, check out r/starter_story - I post new stories there daily.Interested in sharing your own story? Send me a PM

[mrstevenbushus]

15 Things You Are Likely to Forget Ahead of Building

There’s a lot to think about when you embark on a self build or major renovation project. It’s only natural that you won’t think of everything that could happen along the way.

Every scheme is unique, so without the gift of second sight, you simply can’t know exactly what will crop up. But you can learn from the mistakes others have made!

To help make your home building journey as smooth as possible, I’ve jotted down some of the things people regularly forget to sort out.

The usual caveat applies in that this isn’t an exhaustive list – but hopefully one or two of them might spark an ‘I never thought of that’ moment and save you some time and effort as you get your project underway in 2019.

Clear all the planning conditions

When your consent arrives from the local planning office, there will almost certainly be restrictions attached to it.

All of these planning conditions will need to be addressed, but special attention should always be given to those that have been flagged up as needing to be discharged before any development commences.

These ones will usually be to do with approving your choice of external materials (such as the exact bricks or windows you’ll be using).

Allow for hibernating bats

If you have been asked to carry out an ecological survey, it’s important to get the timing right – especially when it comes to these critters.

Bats hibernate from October to April, and during this period there’s no way to watch them flying in and out of their roosts to verify numbers and species. Get it wrong and you’ll add six months to the planning stage of your project.

Read more: Bat Surveys & How to Deal with Bats on Site

Check whether there’s anything in the ground

Soil surveys and searches will usually identify the big stuff, but be aware that there can be miscellaneous pipes and cables under the surface that don’t appear on any plans.

It’s because of issues like this that self builders should always set aside a decent contingency budget – typically at least 10% on top of the total construction cost.

Let building control know you’re starting on site

You have a legal duty to alert building control 48 hours before you commence any notifiable work. It could be you, your contractor or your project manager who does this – but it needs to be done, so make sure somebody takes responsibility, otherwise you may have to redo work.

Provide the right equipment

Don’t assume that all your trades will arrive on site with everything they need.

You should check in with contractors regarding what they will be bringing along themselves and what they will expect you to provide.

Cement mixers, spot boards for mortar and rough terrain fork lift trucks are examples of just a few of the things you might be expected to source.

Be prepared for adverse weather

The ideal is to build in spring and summer, when the skies are clear and unlikely to threaten progress.

But in the real world, you might find yourself getting underway in autumn and possibly over winter. Frost and cement don’t go well together, so prepare for cold snaps by providing rolls of hessian to protect fresh mortar from unexpected frost.

And check in advance where you can get your hands on a submersible pump in case you need one to deal with heavy rain after excavating your foundation trenches.

Protect your stuff

A building site, particularly in the early stages, will have lots of valuable tools and materials around – and this can prove irresistible to any ne’er do wells who spot it.

Hire a security cabin to keep the expensive stuff in overnight. An old shipping container can be a cost-effective option if you want to avoid hire charges.

Tell your neighbours what you’re planning to do

You’re taking on a project that will make you part of the community – and it will affect those around you (see my column on Building Works  & Neighbour Relationships, an example of what I mean).

So explain to your neighbours what you’re planning, when work will be taking place, how long you expect it to go on for and – importantly – who they can contact if there’s a problem at any time, whether day or night.

Work out where the essential services will come from

One of the big unplanned costs can be connection to the essential utilities. Never assume that you can tap into electricity, water and mains drainage just because next door has them.

You need to speak to service suppliers early on (ideally before you offer on a plot) to determine how you can access utilities, how long the process will take and how much connections are likely to cost.

Make your site safe

Building sites can be dangerous places, so it’s important to safeguard yourself and others. Protective clothing is very cheap and is the last line of defence in preventing injury or worse.

You can buy a hard hat, steel toe-capped wellies, goggles, ear defenders and a hi-vis vest for just £32 all-in from Screwfix.

So buy a set for the sake of your own safety, and insist that others (operatives and visitors) wear the right protective clothing on site, too.

Order enough materials

You might think that you’ll save money by ordering just enough bricks or tiles to meet the exact m2 requirements of your project – but you’d be wrong.

This is a false economy. There will always be cuts to make and breakages on site, and purchasing another pallet load at this point will cost you a bomb in terms of the transport charges.

Always over-order on bricks and tiles by at least 10% (or 15% for reclaimed items).

Submit CIL Form 6 before work gets started

This is an important one. If your self build project qualifies for an exemption from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) development tax, there are four steps to take.

At the planning stages, you first have to assume liability and then submit Part 1 of Form 7 to claim your exemption.

The next step is the one that many people forget: before you start work on site, you must notify your local authority by submitting Form 6 (Notification of the Commencement of Work).

If you don’t, the full CIL charge will become due. When you’ve finished the scheme, you must submit Part 2 of Form 7 within six months of completion.

Future proof your project

If you’re self building, you have a great opportunity to create a home that can be as tailored to your lifestyle now as it is in 10 years’ time.

A good example is the roof space. If there’s potential to expand into this at some future date, then think about where the stairs could go to make this happen.

You will need 2m of headroom above the pitch line of the stairs (1.9m is acceptable in some instances but will feel a bit cramped).

Read more: Complete Guide to Loft Conversion Projects

Put in enough power sockets

It’s pretty cheap to put in a double power socket during first fix work, but it’s expensive and disruptive to retrofit one after completion. Think hard about where they should go and if in doubt, put one in.

Read more: Planning a Lighting Scheme & Cost Guide

Get power outside

Think about what electrical fixtures and fittings you’re going to have outside, and lay armoured cables to feed them.

Garages, sheds, electric gates, ponds, patios and garden lighting are common examples. Again, it’s relatively inexpensive to put these in at the early stages but a real pain if you subsequently need to dig up newly laid drives and pathways to install power.

The post 15 Things You Are Likely to Forget Ahead of Building appeared first on Build It.

Article reference 15 Things You Are Likely to Forget Ahead of Building

[aaltjebarisca]

Want Your Future You to Be Happy? Avoid These Costly Millennial Money Mistakes

You’re young, fresh out of college and working your first real job. You might think you have plenty of time to worry about saving for retirement, building a strong credit score and creating an emergency fund of cash.

But here’s the truth: Financial mistakes in your younger years could haunt you in your 30s, 40s and 50s. That’s why it’s so important to avoid some of the bigger errors millennials tend to make.

Here’s a look at some of the new generation’s more common money blunders and why they’re so potentially harmful.

Not Building an Emergency Fund

Frank Shields, founder and director of financial planning at Houston-based Future Map Financial, said the top mistake of millennials is not building an emergency fund.

An emergency fund, as its name suggests, is an account reserved to cover the costs of unexpected expenses – anything from a last-minute car repair to an unplanned medical procedure. Most financial experts recommend you have enough cash in your emergency fund to cover three to six months of daily living costs.

“Nothing might be scarier than losing your source of income,” Shields said. “That is why it is a mistake to not have emergency cash on hand.”

If your monthly expenses total $4,000, you’ll need anywhere from $12,000 to $24,000 in your emergency fund. That may seem like a lot, but you can always start small. Even if you only put $200 a month away, you’ll have $2,400 after a year.

Racking Up Too Much Credit Card Debt

Sharon Marchisello, author of the book Live Well, Grow Wealth and a resident of the Atlanta suburb of Peachtree City, Georgia, said millennials who use credit cards properly can steadily build a strong credit score. The key, though, is that word: properly.

It’s OK to make regular purchases with your card as long as you pay off its balance in full each month. In fact, doing this is one of the best ways to gradually increase your three-digit credit score.

Too many millennials, though, run up credit card debt without ever paying off their balances. They then have to pay far too much credit as they continue to make only the minimum monthly required payment. Instead of using their cards as a credit-boosting tool, they treat them as magic wands to make purchases they can’t really afford, Marchisello said.

“Once you start carrying a balance,” he added, “every new purchase accrues interest, so you’re paying a surcharge on everything you buy.”

Overspending on a Home

Robert Johnson, professor of finance at the Heider College of Business in Omaha, Nebraska, said millennials who choose to rent instead of buying a home might be making the wise financial choice.

That’s because owning a home shouldn’t be viewed as a financial investment, he said.

“I think millennials are falling prey to the myth that buying a home is a prudent investment and that they should do anything they can to buy a home,” Johnson said. “What first-time home buyers should know is that residential real estate historically has not been a very good investment. It is really a bad idea for people to overinvest in real estate.”

This doesn’t mean owning a home is a bad thing; it does come with intangible benefits. But Johnson said you should absolutely not purchase a home that’s either over your budget or right at its top. That will result in a monthly mortgage payment so large it will constantly strain your household budget.

“By overinvesting in real estate, many millennials crowd out other investment opportunities, like stocks and bonds,” Johnson noted.

The Frequent Splurges

That first salary can seem pretty impressive to millennials. This might explain why so many of them start splurging as soon as they land their first steady job. Instead of building their savings, they purchase expensive furniture or costly flat-screen TVs, or blow their income on an expensive car or a long vacation.

Patrick Zulueta, head of public relations and communication for financial app Cashalo, said he sees this firsthand with his company’s younger employees. Their friends are constantly inviting them on weekend vacations. There are always trips to the bar or the new restaurant in town.

All that splurging can shrink millennials’ bank accounts, he said.

“This will eventually haunt them after they figure out that it’s better to start saving or investing while they’re young,” Zulueta said. “Sure, going to parties is fun, but it should be kept to a minimum. Better to start putting away money for their future.”

Zulueta recommended that millennials cut that first salary into portions. They should save 30% of their salary every month. The remaining 70%? That can go to bills, daily needs and entertainment.

Not Saving Early Enough for Retirement

Kameron Helmuth, vice president and wealth management advisor with Fort Wayne, Indiana-based State Bank, said it’s easy for millennials to view retirement as a long way away. But those who don’t start saving for it at a young age are making a big mistake.

For example, many millennials don’t enroll in their employers’ 401(k) plans, costing them several valuable years of retirement savings.

Helmuth gave this example: Say you take a position with a company and are earning $40,000 a year. And say this company offers you a 401(k) with a 3% match for the first 3% of earnings you contribute. If you put off enrolling in this plan for just five years, you’d end up losing more than $250,000 in your retirement account by age 65.

“My best advice for savings as a millennial is to start by setting a savings goal and sticking to it, no matter how small,” Helmuth said. “The exercise of setting a goal and accomplishing it does wonders for our confidence and morale.”

The post Want Your Future You to Be Happy? Avoid These Costly Millennial Money Mistakes appeared first on ZING Blog by Quicken Loans.

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