Friday, 6 February 2009

Organizing your finances – getting motivated

 
For many people, the first steps towards getting your finances under control are the hardest. Whether you didn’t spend enough time learning about basic personal finance principles when you were younger, or life happened and you’re now at the bottom of a very large problem, it can be difficult to get motivated to make that change and get your finances under control.
Waiting will only make things spiral out of control faster, so it is vital to find that motivation to take that first step in controlling your finances. Here are some great tips to help you on your journey.
So,  you’ve been spending more than you’ve been earning eh?
First, it is best to create some goals for yourself.
Whether you want to have X amount saved over the next three years, or you would like to have your credit cards paid down in two years, write these goals down. Take a look ahead in your life and see where you would like to be. Then, write down how you plan to get there.
Once you have your goals in place, it’s time to determine what is keeping you from achieving them.
Take a good, hard look at your spending habits, how much you are making and what is keeping you from reaching those goals. Figure out what needs to be done to change this and write down your personal plan.
Now that you have these two things in order, it’s time to figure out what motivates you.
If you are under 30, planning for retirement seems so far in the future that it is easy to put it off. Look at your short term goals to find that motivation to keep you going.
The next step is to begin implementing the changes necessary to meet your goals.
If you want to start spending less money, work up a budget and start sticking to it. If you want to make more money to reduce your reliance on your paycheck, work on either getting a second job, opening a business or finding ways to create more than one stream of income. Become a re-seller of products that can earn you money without sapping your time. Choose products you love to use yourself so your efforts are fuelled by natural enthusiasm.
you reach that first financial goal, the rest will seem like they are much more in reach. That is the main reason that short terms goals are just as important as long term financial goals. When you see the results in a quicker amount of time, you’ll be much more likely to keep forging ahead.
Posted by comotivate at 5:44 AM in Reduce Debt Goal
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Wednesday, 4 February 2009

Smokers can double their chances of quitting - new evidence

I saw this in Medical News Today and thought I'd share...

Researchers from the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies led by Dr Linda Bauld at Bath, along with colleagues from the University of Glasgow, have published research in the February issue of Addiction journal comparing the success and cost-effectiveness of two types of stop smoking support services offered by the NHS. These are community-based group stop smoking support and one-to-one support provided in a pharmacy setting.

The study, funded by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Health Scotland, found that more than a third of smokers using support groups quit smoking after four weeks; almost double the proportion of those using a pharmacy-based support scheme to help them quit.

Dr Linda Bauld said: "Smoking is the leading cause of preventable illness and death in the UK, and the single biggest cause of inequalities in health.

"These findings agree with previous research which shows that smokers who used a support group were more likely to quit. But we know that only a very small proportion of smokers using NHS stop smoking services in the UK use this form of help.

"We need to get the message across that group support, combined with stop smoking medications, works well for many people.

"However, we found that both types of service in Glasgow are reaching and treating smokers from disadvantaged areas in substantial numbers, which is extremely encouraging and will contribute to efforts to reduce inequalities in health."

Pharmacy-based support is available in over 200 pharmacies across Glasgow and at the time of the study treated over 12,000 smokers per year. The service includes one-to-one behavioural support for up to 12 weeks, with each session usually lasting from five to 15 minutes; this support is combined with a direct supply of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), usually in the form of patches.

The second service assessed in the study involved community-based group counselling and lasts for seven weeks, with each session lasting around an hour. A trained advisor is able to give vouchers for NRT for collection at pharmacies and advise on other types of smoking cessation medicine which the client can then get from their GP.

After the course of group counselling sessions has ended, smokers can receive ongoing support and medication from their pharmacy for a further five weeks. At the time of the study, this method was used by 1,700 smokers per year in Glasgow.

Early results from the study's economic analysis suggest that the pharmacy based service is less costly to deliver than group support. Overall though, the economic analysis found that both types of service are cost-effective.

Professor Carol Tannahill, Director of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, said: "Many smokers feel that they have to manage to give up smoking on their own, yet there are now a range of services available to support smokers to quit. This research sets out to examine how effective different services are, and what factors may influence outcomes."

The next stage of the study in Glasgow involves the collection and analysis of one year outcomes from the smokers who participated in this initial study.

Posted by comotivate at 9:40 AM in Beat Addiction Goal
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