Spend? Save? Invest? Financial advisers give their 2 cents on 18 common (but vexing) money dilemmas.

Use a financial planner or organize and plan your finances yourself?
What to Do: Get help from a pro. Financial planners can help you organize your current finances and conceive a long-term plan to meet your goals (like upgrading your home or securing a target retirement income). Even if you understand personal finance, it’s hard to be objective about your own spending and savings patterns. Ask a friend who has had success with a planner for a referral, or visit the site of the Financial Planning Association (www.fpanet.org).

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When was the last time that someone who you respect for his/her fashion sense told you that you looked great? By keeping seven basic principles in mind, you can look great all of the time.

Step 1: Know your body type
None of us is perfect so know your measurements and shape. Think about arm, leg and torso length and shoulder, hip, waist and thigh shape and width. Evaluate your overall body shape. One trick we like for this is standing in front of a mirror with someone tracing your shape on the mirror with soap. Ok, so you will have to wash the mirror afterwards but it gives you a great sense of your shape. Finally think about the areas you want to hide or accentuate.

Step 2: Be realistic
This works for all body types. Wear clothing that fit properly. Squeezing into a smaller size does not make you smaller. It makes you look like you have gained weight and didn’t buy clothing that are the right size. On the flip side, wearing baggy, bigger clothing in an attempt to hide things does not work either. You just make yourself look sloppy and larger. Don’t buy what you wish you looked good in, but what really does compliment you.

Step 3: Just because they make it in your size…
…does not mean you should buy it and wear it. Fashion is only fashionable if you look attractive in it, not because a celebrity is wearing it or it was in all of fashion magazines. Low-rise pants brought this point home more than any fashion trend in recent history. A few years ago, you just couldn’t be seen in public if you weren’t wearing low-rise pants/jeans. However, 75% (and that is conservative) of the women in this country should not have been wearing them. Now at this point we need to say that our opinion of low-rise pants may not be mainstream with the rest of the fashion industry’s opinions but we know what we see. Also bear in mind that there are different styles of low-rise pants and some of this disastrous fashion situation could have been avoided by changing the style of low-rise worn. Low-rise pants make long torsos look longer. The smallest amount of excess weight or flab in the middle is emphasized. Someone with no obvious waistline looks even straighter and less shapely. Large bums look larger as do wide hips. However, everyone rushed out to buy them and we have been subjected to rolls of fat, thongs sticking out the back and worse ever since. Moral of the story – wear a style that flatters not fattens and you will receive many more compliments.

Step 4: Know your colors
Black is not everyone’s best friend. Colors sold in the stores in a particular season may not be yours. Regardless of which method you use to determine the right colors for you, it must be done. If you aren’t sure, contact an image or wardrobe consultant for some professional help. It is worth the time and money. I had a client who went from people asking her if she was sick all of the time to people asking her if she was having an affair, all because she changed the colors in her wardrobe. Suddenly it seemed like her skin was glowing, her eyes were shining and she was well rested and ready to take the world by storm. People started to take notice. What do you do when your colors are not in the stores? Stock up on base pieces when the season or colors of the year are yours. When the main colors are not yours, you can usually still find accessories to complement your base pieces or check out last year’s clearance and discontinued items.

Step 5: Build a base
You have conquered the major challenges: knowing your body, knowing your colors and not becoming a fashion slave. So now you actually need to build a wardrobe. Your lifestyle will determine where the emphasis lies on the core elements of your wardrobe. However, here are a few suggestions on what you should have. You will need to adjust according to your life, but remember the key to any successful wardrobe is having items that can be mixed and matched with other items. Please note that we are not breaking up the list by summer and winter. Some of your items will be year round and some will be season.

Pants:

• 3 pairs of work pants
• 2 pairs of casual pants
• 1 pair of evening pants

Skirts:

• 2 skirts for work
• 1 skirt for weekend or fun
• 1 skirt for evenings or social events

Jackets/Coats: (Where you live determines the weight)

• 2 Blazers or suit jackets for work
• 1 casual jacket for weekend or fun
• 1 evening jacket or wrap

Shoes:

• 1 pair of tennis shoes (sneakers)
• 2 pairs of black, brown or navy (depending on your base color) casual or walking shoes
• 2 pairs of work shoes in black, brown or navy
• 1 pair of stylish boots for winter or sandals for summer
• 1 pair of evening shoes

Tops:

• One week’s worth of work tops/blouses
• 2 casual weekend tops and 2 tshirt tops
• 1 evening top

Dresses:
Not all shapes lend themselves to wearing dresses. However, if you love dresses, you should have one for work, another for play and a third for evening if you have a lot of social occasions.

Step 6: Think before you buy
Unless you are buying a new base piece, don’t buy an item unless you already have three things in your wardrobe with which you can wear it.

Step 7: Budget
Spend the bulk of your budget on the base pieces. You will thank me later for this advice. Quality base pieces will last and will remain fashionable. Fill in your wardrobe with accessories with the remainder of your wardrobe budget. These items are often the trendier or more seasonable items and have a shorter shelf life in your wardrobe. And for those of you who do not have a wardrobe budget – get one. The easiest way to have an out of control closet or overflowing shoe bin is too just go shopping willy-nilly without a plan.

We cannot possibly cover all of the do’s and don’t of fashion in one article but these seven steps should get you started. It is important to have a plan, make a list of what you have and stick to it. It is even more crucial to know your body, be realistic and wear what was made for you, not what was made for a super-model. Happy shopping!Â

The color of this autumn

Black color is in fashion. Grey and brown color spectrum are also relevant colors for this season. Deep blue and violet colors have also appeared in collections. Designers recommend pure red and scarlet only for evening but dilute brown and red and cherry color tints are leading in trimming and leather accessories. Here dark green is appropriate.

Snow white will become fashionable closer to winter but golden winter is well-disposed to creamy and lactates colors and pearl to grey color spectrum.

National motives

Elements of native ethno style should certainly be in autumn wardrobe of every fashion woman. Trapeze- like and sand-glass silhouettes, skirts with big creases, coats in ethno style are very popular this season. Embroidery and application are also welcomed.

Balloon

So fashionable oval silhouette has still been very popular this autumn – but now a coat-balloon is a pink of fashion. There are different variations of it but a sleeveless jacket is especially popular. And even a severe waistcoat has an oval silhouette now. A skirt and a dress-balloon are still relevant but only made of chiffon and satin. They are great for a black tie event.

Kilting

Feminine and decorative kilting is able to add slight coquettish mood even to a sad day. A kilting skirt is one more fashion must-have of the season. There are different kinds of satin kilting skirts both for everyday wear and for special occasions.

Quilts

Quilted clothes are very relevant today. They make jackets, coats, skirts and even dresses quilted. Especially stylish duets look: a dress-coat and a skirt-jacket. It’s even possible to find a quilted tie that makes you look funny but very original.

A cardigan a la mere

A cozy “grandma” handmade cardigan has substituted all others cardigans and sweaters. There are a great number of sweaters and cardigans: small jackets-bolero, short-cut jackets with coquettish strings instead of buttons and long body-fitting jackets-dresses.

Short-cut pants

This autumn women shouldn’t hide their shapely pairs of legs under pants. Designers have began ignoring shorts by letting fashion ladies wear short-cut pants during cold period. The minimal length is Bermuda shorts and bridges below knees. One more fashion trend – leggings. They can substitute mini-pants for those who have ideal legs but the most fashionable variant is to wear them with skirts and dresses.

Raincoat and Coat

Military trench coat is a demi-season classic. Some designers advise fashion ladies to replenish their wardrobes with thin sateen coats – for romantic walks during cool autumn evenings. And of course every high society woman must have gorgeous silk and lacy coats. Accessories

Choosing fashion clothes for autumn and winter don’t forget about accessories. First of all remember that your bags have to match your clothing very well. Forget about bright summer jewelry-choose something more neutral. Buy comfortable stylish shoes.

One more fashion trend is your watch. Very often people forget to pay enough attention to their watch and this is the reason they look is not perfect. Nowadays designers advise to choose a watch that will be matching the whole your style. But it is not so easy because genuine brand watches cost enormous prices. But there is a great idea for you – buy replica watches. They are of a very good quality, but their price is far more moderate.

You will have an opportunity to have various watches of different colors, styles and designs to match all the clothing you have in your wardrobe. Namely in this case your image will be complete. So don’t hesitate buying a replica watch and make sure of their quality and beauty and accuracy!

About the Author

Anastasia is actively involved in writing Web content mainly about a wide range of prestigious replica watch (watch-replica.net no longer active?) brands and their most popular watch collections.

There is a treasure in every piece of trash. One only has to go and look at the possibilities of every piece and finding great ways of reusing them. One of the things that we often ignore is a button.

Perhaps, because of its size or the fact that we can easily buy them from craft stores and tailor shops, buttons are often ignored and most of the time thrown away with the rest of the unwanted things in the house. Either that or they are kept in old sewing boxes where they remain in forgotten heap for centuries.

This, however, should not be the case as there are lots of uses for buttons. People only have to find the ways. Here are some suggestions on how to make the most of the buttons that you have at home.

Home Decoration

For people who love crafts and make-your-own projects, buttons are wonderful accessories that you can add to your creations. You can sew them in curtains for example to achieve a professional eclectic look.

Another creative use for buttons is to combine them with other beads to make great lampshades for the bedroom, placemats for the dining area and pillowcases for the living room. Children will also love to see buttons sewn on their bed sheets and pillows especially colorful ones and those that come in various shapes.

Making memories

Buttons are very popular with album and scrapbook enthusiasts. Metalic buttons and those with shapes are often used in albums as they provide sharp and fun contrasts to the colorful and bright photographs.

In fact, buttons are so popular that there are craft stores that sell especially made buttons for albums and scrapbooks. But why buy when you probably have a lot stored in your attic?

Besides, some buttons hold memories. A button can actually remind you of a special trip that you took. The button may be part of the parka that you wore when you rode the rollercoaster in Disneyland or took that boat trip near the Niagara Falls.

One idea is to use a portion of an old blouse or jacket and not just the buttons. They will serve as great reminders of a special occasion.

Bags and accessories

Buttons can also be used to spruce up ordinary cloth bags. This is especially useful in hiding stains that cannot be removed anymore. Filling an entire bag with buttons will also create a really unique and colorful effect that young children will definitely enjoy.

Buttons can even be used to put lock in pockets of bags that do not have locks. This will prevent their things from falling off whenever they would break into a run.

Old pairs of children shoes can also have another lease in life by putting cute buttons as designs. The same goes with hair ribbons and clips that are old or broken.

School stuff

Buttons are also wonderful designs that you can add to your child’s schoolbooks and notebooks. This will make their things more personalized. You can even put buttons on their pencil boxes and boxes.

Buttons are also great ways to decorate bulletin boards. Because of their shape, they can serve as hooks in bulletin boards, which your child can use to hook their IDs up.

About the Author

James Monahan is the owner and Senior Editor of ButtonSearch.com and writes expert articles about buttons.Â

Being frugal is a never ending goal. It is something you constantly work on. You can always go a step further, save just a little more.

So if there is no end, where do you start?

There are five things that every person should know in order to live a frugal life.

1. Not every frugal idea is frugal for everyone.

There is a balance between frugality and time that is unique for each person. Some people have time to grind their own wheat into flour and make their own pasta from scratch. Some people only have the time to do simple things, like set the thermostat lower and use less laundry soap/shampoo/hand soap by thinning it with a little water. Some people find the time and it pays for them. Some people find that the time costs them. There are different changes to be made by everyone.

For example, as frugal as I am, I’ve never been able to shop with coupons. I just forget that I have them or don’t have time to use them. So when I shop, I buy a lesser quantity and shop sales.

2. You have to know how you spend your money.

It would be hard to reduce your spending if you don’t know what you are spending and where. You need to take the time to track your spending. Look at where, when and why you are buying certain items. You may be shocked at what you find. I know that the first time my husband and I did a budget, we were floored by how much money we were taking out of the ATM and just blowing here and there. But once we saw it, we were able to change it.

3. You can’t keep up with others, unless you want to join them in debt.

Life isn’t about your boat comparing to Bob’s boat. Or having the newest car. Or the latest gismo. Or appearing picture perfect. Or having everything you want.

Life should be about what is important to you. Not what is important to the neighbors. Look at your own goals and dreams when planning your finances. Don’t spend or buy anything unless you understand the consequences.

For example, if you are buying a boat because all your friends have boats, that may not be a great idea. If you only take it out once a year, that one trip is costing you thousands. If you take it out every weekend, the trips are costing you a lot less each time.

4. Start saving your savings.

So many people save nothing by saving. How does that work? They use coupons, they shop on sale, they don’t buy something that catches their eye. And then they turn around and spend the money on something else trivial. They aren’t really saving, they are postponing the spending.

When you save money, you need to go ahead and put the money in a jar until you have enough to put it in the bank. If you save $20 on a shirt you didn’t buy, put that $20 in your jar. If you save $1.59 on groceries, put that money in the jar. Many grocery stores receipts will even tell you how much you save. That makes it easier for you.

5. Set your goals and stick with them.

You have to have a reason to be frugal. Whether you want to get out of debt or go on a cruise, you have to have a goal. Don’t just leave it vague. Write down the specific steps you are going to take. Look at your goal every day. Keep it at the forefront of your money-thinking. When you consider whether or not you will buy something, look at how it affects your goal.

About the Author

Martin Lukac represents http://www.RateEmpire.com and
http://www.1AmericanFinancial.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate and mortgage rates. We specialize in daily updates, mortgage news, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies!