Way to go Jeffrey!

I am so happy that Jeffrey won. I actually missed last night’s show (which a fan is not supposed to, but these days my mind is out of my head!) and instead went to see the movie-The Departed. It was a good movie, worth seeing. I didn’t realize that I missed the show until one of the character in the movie says “Lets watch what happens” you know the Bravo TV thing! I freaked out that I missed show but the movie was good enough to keep me in the seat.

I am so excited, happy, delighted….and what not on Jeffrey Sebelia’s Win. I am actually waiting on the replay of the episode today afternoon..

Jeffrey Sebelia Rocks

Jeffrey Made it to Olympus Fashion Week!

I am so happy that Jeffrey made it to the Olympus Fashion Week.Though the outcome of Laura's allegations hasn't been shown on Bravo TV, I googled to see if any news was posted .I came across a website that actually showed some of the 4 desginers collection on OFW. I was thrilled to see Jeffrey's collection.To be honest Laura'a collections was very Oscar and very sophisticated(unlike her words) .Thank God, she did not make another set of plunging neck lines. Micheal's collection was dissappointing and so does Uli's

All said and done I am still a big fan of Jeffrey and hope he wins. You can check out that website at: Olympus Fashion Week.

Have Fun and Lets Watch What Happens!

So Kim Jong-Il went Nuclear!

Kim Jong-Il tested nuclear arms, So what? So did Pakistan, India, Peoples Republic China, France ,UK and the Big daddy-USA and many more countries like Iran, Israel and so on who still maintain their “Ambiguity”. Do I really think North Korea is going to use the nuclear weapons-No.? And why is it you may ask? Here goes my reasoning: First of all I think that nuclear weapons act as deterrents .They prevent from being at a risk of pre-emption. You have it I have it, so don’t play dirty politics and bring yourself to the table we can always negotiate. The big daddy of the world invented it and used it against Japan and was very proud when Japan surrendered. There celebrations did not last many years, within 4 years Russia developed the nuclear weapons and the power was polarized between the west and east. America was forced and pulled to the table to negotiate during the cold. War. It had to and who knows better the outcomes of the nuclear energy than the one who invented it. I think there is nothing to worry at this point, everything that we had to be worried about happened already. Who would actually risk loosing their country and the power to rule one when they know what the consequences would be. Insane people like Kim Jong you may say, Bordering the economic and political gaint,China, N.Korea will not dare to use them and even if it did it would be wiped out off the map before it celebrates the destruction of its enemy(Who ever this could be).

Nuclear arms race has been playing an important part since the Second World War. Though the UN has come up with the sanctions not to enrich uranium, Can it actually have an open debate with countries that do want to enrich? The answer is “NO” again- Because it cannot debate with people like Ahmadinajad and Hugo Chavez who use “Logic”. It cannot do anything more than condemning the violation of policies and by the way “Who Cares” even if they condemn. One thing I don’t understand is that, if all the major powers in this world are working towards “World Peace”, why not these countries take the initiative of disarming them and set an example-The answer is “NO” again because the world politics have worsened to such an extent that the major powers cannot risk the consequences of not having them.

Though India gained its independence through nonviolence , it still developed nuclear and hydrogen bombs why? Does it not believe in the Gandhian way? You might say that having a country that possesses nuclear weapons bordering it, the need arises. Don’t you think the same logic applies N.Korea?

I am reminded of Iran’s President recent quote, “Nuclear activities, such as uranium enrichment, are for peaceful purposes”.Reading between the lines, Of course they are for peaceful purposes hindering other nations by having a Second Strike Capability-Promotes world peace (by avoiding war) in a way- isn’t it?

Note: I am not supporting N.Korea or its anarchic ruler. My opinion is that World Politics are better when left unintervened and this supposes to be an “Irrelevant Logic”.

Quick tips to get control of your Credit Score

• Know what your Credit Score is first and constantly keep track of it
• Make a note of how much your income is and how much you owe
• Pay more than your minimum monthly charge
• Never hit the credit limit of any card and everytime you do that your APR is increased by around 5% and most companies do not even inform you about that.
  
• Try not to pay by regular mail. Use online bill pay. You can read the Providian story I have mentioned in my Credit Card experiences below.
• If you want to close any of your accounts try to close the one that you have acquired recently. Do not close the Credit cards that you have held the longest. Doing so will affect your score very badly.
• Never apply or activate any In-Store credit cards (like Express, Sears, Macy’s etc).In-Store credit cards don’t boost your credit score in any way but only add to your outstanding credit limit, if high, that affects your Credit score in a bad way. Upon that they carry an APR of more than 25%.
• If you can’t control your spending habits FREEZE your cards I mean literally put them in a freezer and you can’t use them anymore.
• If you are unable to get hold of your debt get into a debt releif program
• Consolidate your loans for lower.This will help you to get lower APR and make a single payment which would be easy to track
  
• By this time if you have disciplined yourself you can use your credit card as a debit card and keep paying off the purchases. It will boost your Credit score.
• Having a good Credit score has its own advantages. You can get lower interest rates on any high item purchases. Some companies check your score in hiring process
• Some Credit card companies give credit scores for free. For E.g.: Providian updates credit score so if you have an online account you can keep track of it.
• For motivation read the book: “Pay it Down! From Debt to Wealth on $10 a day” by Jean Chatzky.You can buy this book on Amazon for around 75 cents.

Here is the Link: Pay it Down by Jean Chatzky

Here are some Credit card companies that I have had pleasant experiences with:

MBNA- I hold their platinum Plus card. The customer service is really good and if you forget to pay for a month they take off the late fee charge if you are in their good books.

American Express- I hold their Blue for Students. The limit is less but the APR is very low. My card had 14.99% before and when I requested to lower it down they made it 10.99%.I am happy with that

Cards I did not have pleasant experiences with:

Clout: This is the worst of all. High APR’s .My APR was around 26%.I paid it down and closed it.

Providian: I just did not like the company and how it functions. I saw an episode on TV that said many people are filing law suits against Providian as they were not debiting the payments from customers that they received in mail and were waiting until the due date so that they could charge late fee. What a shame.

So be careful when you apply for a credit card. Read the fine print and discipline your spending.

Have a Happy Pay down!

How I got in and got out of the Credit Card Trap.

I believe I am not the first one around here to write about credit card miseries. I have always spent my parent’s money, it was always a nice feeling and hey you don’t have to pay them back- they are too good to ask you to repay. Coming to US changed it all. It taught me responsibility but it’s not a pleasant ride I might add. I came to US at the end of 2003 and got my first credit card with a limit of 1000 dollars in Jan 2004. I was happy to add some plastic into my wallet - little did I know what was in store for me. I was fortunate enough to get an assistantship after the first semester. My assistantship paid me 721.** every month and I had a credit card for 1000.00. I did not realize at that point that what’s going out of my wallet is more than what’s getting in. I was very careful not to spend much and paid off whatever I charged on my credit card.

My score was 740 within a couple of months. I was proud of myself. As I got around the city spotted where my favorite places (Malls) to spend time are I went easy on my wallet spending like crazy on clothing and food as I didn’t have a tomorrow. I always used to tell my self I will make it up by not spending in the next month. The sad part is that day never came until later when I had to tell myself to cut the crap and take charge. When the CC bills started coming in I panicked and hated my self for being so ignorant with money. Oh I forgot to mention that by this time a year has passed and my credit card limit on all the 3 cards was 5000 dollars. I was activating the cards without reading the fine print that carried ridiculous APR’S and you know what I was majoring in Finance-How Ironic?. I managed to repay 2 of the credit cards that had smaller limits. I was so angry with these companies that they were charging high APR’s( Clout was one of them). I closed my accounts with them not knowing how it would affect my scores. As the CC I closed down has been activated the longest it affected my credit score real bad. My score came down to 450. I was graduating, I didn’t have a job in hand and my credit score is all ruined up.

During these years I met my husband and I remember him telling me that one of the reason he wanted to get married to me is because of my good credit score(I believe he was not as serious as this sounds). He had to go through a rough ride like me and still is trying to work on his score ever since. Even though I don’t have a job right now, my husband helps me in paying my monthly charges and I have gained control on my spending and credit score. My score is now 642.

I am happy that I have learnt from my experiences and hope what follows in my next post will help you.

Another Scandal in Project Runway No?

If anybody is thinking why I have ended my sentence with a NO, The show fans would have known by now. Its the way Heidi Klum says. I have read an article saying that Jeffrey cooked up another scandal by having some of his people at Costa Mesa do the sewing and as always the red headed Lady-Laura has some "Serious Ugly" allegations on Jefferey Sebelia. I am a big fan of Jefferey and would be sad struck if he is put off the show. The rumors started when Jeffrey's mom who became a close freind of Luara's mom during the "Designing for every day women challenge", said that Jefferey has a lot of work to do just three weeks earlier to the Bryant park show.

All said and done I am still a fan of Jeffrey.I like his style and even though he is rough on the edges I still would want to see him win.

Have to wait till next wednesday

If it's on your mind it's on my Blog

I have made a list of topics that would define the scope of my blog. From Fashion to food and saving to shopping tips I like to cover it all. Well, if its on your mind it will be on my blog at some point or the other. It has some limitations though. Being born and brought up in a conservative country I have my exceptions where people like Dr.Phil and Sue(You know who I am referring to) would be more helpful.

Here are the list of topics I would venture into in the future blogging days.

Beauty, Budgeting,Carreer, Education, Entertainment,Fashion, Finance,Planning ,Interior designing, Politics and will definetly throw in expereinces of my life now and then. The list will go on ..on and on..so check back sometime you never know what will surface on my blog-perhaps it has been on your mind for quite some time.

Being a woman I have to say I have had a comfortable life but through the years I have learnt that life is not a bed of roses and through what I have seen and what I have expereinced I have realised that life cannot be taken for granted . I want to share my experinces and learn from others and prosper in my life.

Fresher to the world of blogging

Well, after creating some 7 blogs and apparently deleting most of them for I was not sure of focus of my blog, I finally decided to just go ahead and bring it on. Though I am not sure how much visitorship my blog would bring me I definetly want it to become an interactive one. For this purpose I am not just going to focus on one thing but instead add a flavour of everything from politics to personal finance. I hope to Share Learn and Prosper!.