Time is money - Kicking the lateness habit for good!

A good new year resolution for 2009 would be to kick that lateness habit for good, so here are some tips on ways you can brush up on your time-keeping....

Prepare all your things the night before and get organised - To avoid being late everywhere, it helps to be more organised. Look for your keys, Oyster card, purse, wallet or other items the night before. It can be annoying looking for essential items when you are on your way out of the door. This is a part of being disorganised, so try to organise your things the night before to avoid hold-ups and set backs. Pack your things the night before so that you don't have to start digging around for things at the last minute when you are rushing to get out.

The night before, get your clothes ready so that once you have stepped out of the bath, you just put them on, comb your hair and apply make-up quickly and then I run out of the door.

Also, if you are taking sandwiches or food to work, preparing these the night before will ensure that you do not have to rush around in the morning.

Set your alarm clock - In the summertime, it is easier to get out of bed without an alarm clock than in the winter time, so, set your alarm.

If you do not have an alarm clock, use your mobile phone, a lot of phones have a function to set a number of different alarms consecutively.Additionally, you can keep the alarm far away from you so that you have to get up to switch it off. This means you will have to take the duvet off and get out of bed and the noise is so loud it cannot be ignored.

Go to bed early - If you suffer from insomnia, try to avoid drinking caffeinated drinks at night, so that you can get a good night's sleep. If you cannot get to bed, a hot shower and hot non-caffeine drink can help to get you off to sleep.

Also, going to bed early allows you to hear the alarm clock in the morning or even get up without needing it.

Buy your ticket the day before if you can - To avoid the mad rush at the beginning of the week and the Monday morning queues and the possibility of being late to work, buy your ticket the day before. This will give you extra time to get out early and will stop you from having to wake up extra early on a Monday morning in order to buy your ticket.


Related External Links

Be a time efficient writer: 10 Hints for writers to improve their time management

HP Printer Ink Supply Expired!

In late 2007 and some time in 2008, I bought a number of Hewlett Packard original ink cartridges online as I had a large project to write and needed a number of Ink cartridges for my HP All-in-one printer. I must first say that I have been extremely happy with Hewlett Packard printers since my dad bought me one of their black and white Laserjet IIIp printers about 15 years ago.

Anyway, I now have one of their all-in-one printers, an Officejet 7130, which is really nice because it prints, copies, scans and faxes documents and only uses two ink cartridges, one black and one colour and they last forever with exceptional print quality.

Now, about a month ago, I switched on this printer and wanted to print something very urgently only to find that the printer had the orange exclamation mark flashing (this happens when there is something wrong with the printer). On quick investigation I found that the printer was reading "colour ink out" or something to that effect, so off I went to look for a new colour cartridge thinking this would solve the problem. I checked the expiry date of the new cartridge and to my dismay it was out of date, but I thought to myself, why not try it out and see if it works. I installed the new colour ink cartridge and waited for the printer to register it....the next thing I know the printer was giving the message "supply expired". At this point I could feel my head getting hot as I was a little bit angry and getting frustrated as I was not able to print a thing.

After trying to trick the printer by going into the menu and resetting the date to a time before the ink expired a number of times (I reset to 2008 and then 2007), I realised that this printer could not be fooled. I also tried a number of times to print and photocopy without any success and having sent some of my brand new inks off for recycling several weeks before this episode, as I could not get the printer to accept the various full but expired ink cartridges, I decided to do an online search to solve this nagging problem once and for all, as I am now down to six boxes of brand new and genuine HP ink cartridges, which unfortunately have all expired since 2008. I paid on average £15 per box, so I was in no way prepared to send off these full ink cartridges until I had fully tried to solve the problem and investigated a little...

So, after doing a search with the terms "hp colour printer ink supply expired", I got a number of results and trawled through a few, I found this site and followed the instructions on it as the printer looks very similar to mine, an HP 7130 All-in-one printer.

Now, to break down the instructions on the site quickly, you need to look for the battery located inside the printer, which is the flat silvery looking tablet type, the one I pulled out of my printer is a Panasonic CR2032 3V battery, it looks like a small coin. The battery is located at the front of the HP 7130 printer, on the left hand side on the inside of the printer when you open the front cover.

I switched off the printer and then I pulled out the plug at the back of the printer. The battery was a little difficult to remove but I tried for nearly 3 minutes and then eventually the battery popped out and then I tossed it aside, reconnected the printer cable at the back of the printer, switched it back on and the the new date read 00 Jan 00 00:00, well that suited me just fine. I now pressed the photocopy button and out came the document. This printer had not printed anything for a month so I was so happy as I was going to send all the 6 boxes of ink, including the one in the printer which was 89% full, off to the recycling people if it had not worked.

I have read some other suggestions given on ways to get around the supply expired problem, but taking out the battery most definitely works and you will be printing again in no time and saving yourself some money. Of course I will replace the battery once I have run out of my genuine but expired ink cartridges, which is not going to be for a little while.

Now, I have read a few things about printer ink cartridges having a shelf life etc, but to be quite honest, the print quality looks exactly the same from my printer and the ink is still fresh and wet when you peel off the sticky label designed to keep the inks moist and fresh. Also, as long as the ink cartridges are kept in their box and the inner cellophane wrapper or packaging has not been opened, the ink should stay fresh and moist.


Related External Links

HP Printer Cartridge Expires - The Lawful Path

How to bypass a cartridge expiration date - fixyourownprinter.com

Supply Expired - HP Printer Ink Expiration Scam

Beware Bogus Printer Ink

HP Environment: Product Recycling for used ink cartridges, hardware and other materials

Attending Court for a Repossession Hearing

The information below is useful if you find that you have been summoned to a County Court for a repossession hearing.....

Seek legal advice immediately - At the earliest possible stage of a repossession, seek legal advice from your local Citizen's Advice Bureau or local legal advice centre. In most cases, the advice is free and you will not have to pay anything.

You do not need a legal representative at the hearing - There is no need to take a legal representative with you, unless you cannot speak for yourself. A legal representative such as a lawyer will most definitely charge you money, and in my opinion you do not need to take one with you. Do not get conned into paying money for legal services when you can receive this information free of charge. Also, call up the court and find out if there is a citizen's advice bureau operating within it. A duty Solicitor is usually on hand at the County Court to give advice, which is non-chargeable. Again, find out by ringing the court.

Prepare your defence - When attending the County Court, make sure you have filled in the court papers or completed the online forms with your full defence, stating factually the reasons why you have failed to keep up your mortgage repayments.

Dress smartly/Dress to impress - If ever you need to attend court, dress smartly as this will always give a good impression and tends to work in your favour as you appear to be a responsible person if you are dressed well and look sharp. This is not to say that people who wear jeans or whatever are not responsible, but in society, image is everything and you are judged on your image and how you look, so make sure you look good.

Do not be intimidated - Some legal representatives acting for the bank or building society may try to use bully tactics or heckle or mock you while you are trying to address the judge with your facts. Do not be intimidated! Say your piece and stand your ground as there is a lot at stake, including your finances and your reputation.

Be polite - At the point of the hearing, you will feel angry and probably full of mixed emotions, but keep your cool and be polite to everyone you meet, especially the judge.

Use your negotiation skills - This is the point where you will negotiate with your creditors, usually your Bank or Building society and try to come to a mutual agreement or settlement in terms of repaying the loan given to you on the house. Try to negotiate some payment terms or review your options such as extending your mortgage term (useful if you have a repayment mortgage), repaying the arrears over a period of time instead of paying the whole lot straight away, so that you can come to an agreement and avoid losing your home.

Book an appointment with a mortgage adviser to see how you can negotiate your way forward. This should be free and without charge.


Related External Links

Citizen's Advice

New guidance for Judges hearing repossession cases

How to avoid defaulting on Mortgage Payments

Avoiding home repossession

Worried about your Mortgage

Are you worried about your mortgage? - PDF Document

What happens if my home is repossessed?

Debt following Mortgage Possession

Top 10 Financial Products to avoid

Crackdown on debt advertising

FT.com UK - Rise in home repossessions sparks row - Feb 20 2009

Solicitors Regulation Authority - Protecting Consumers of Legal Services

Financial Services Authority

Banks cool on mortgage support scheme

Mortgage support scheme underway

Just six lenders join mortgage support scheme

Debt firms warned over cold calls

MPs attack mortage arrears fees

Overcome the threat of repossession

Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme

Getting help to make your mortgage interest payments


Homeowners Mortgage Support

Mortgage Rescue Scheme

Step by step guide to avoiding repossession

Happy New Year 2009!

Happy New Year 2009!

I propose a toast to peace, good health, happiness and prosperity to all the readers of my blog this year.


TheFinancesBlog Editor.