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As the holiday season is a tough time to keep your finances in check, there are a few things you can do to keep your cool during the holiday season, stay out of debt and actually keep some of your money for yourself. Wouldn't that be nice?

Shopping
Before you even hit the stores, start with the total dollar amount you want to spend and then work backwards. To make sure you keep within your budget, make a list of who to buy for, what to buy and check it twice! If you can, stay away from the stores and shop online there are much fewer temptations. Try and look for online sites that offer free shipping or reduced shipping (On www.oldnavy.com shipping is only $5). Dont forget, it is the thought that counts. Your family and friends dont expect the most expensive cashmere sweater. However, they do want to know that you thought about them.

Your Credit Cards
While credit cards sure make shopping easier, they can also get you into a lot of trouble during the holidays. If you carry a credit card balance, focus on only using cash for your holiday shopping. Put those credit cards away until further notice. At the same time, continue paying off your debt so you dont get behind in your debt repayment plan. If you do use your credit card, then bring your checkbook shopping and deduct it from your cash balance. Then write a check to the credit card company as soon as you get home. In addition, balance your checkbook weekly during the holiday season. It will keep you focused on your finances during this hectic time.

Out of the Box Gift Ideas
You can always buy another sweater for your Mom and a pair of socks for your brother but here are a few gift ideas that are easy on your wallet and will still score you big points at holiday time. How about a mutual fund? Open a mutual fund account for anyone on your list. It might be a great way to introduce your children (or other children), and maybe yourself, to investing. Do you have extra frequent flier miles? Then buy a flight for a family member or close friend. While it might not seem like you spent any money, it makes a greatly appreciated gift. You can also buy other items with miles: i.e. magazine subscriptions, hotel rooms. How about a magazine? A subscription to a magazine is a great idea for a gift. They aren't that expensive ($12-25 per year) and it is the gift that keeps giving all year long.

When January rolls around, you wont remember all the gifts you bought but you will be relieved you were able to stick to your financial plan. One last thing, dont forget to buy a gift for yourself. You can open an automatic savings plan, put an extra $100 in your IRA account or buy a mutual fund. You will thank yourself after the holidays.

Galia Gichon, Founder of Down-to-Earth Finance, demystifies personal finance particularly to women through unbiased financial education. With over 14 years experience in financial services and an MBA in Finance, she does not manage money or sell investment products. You can subscribe to her weekly e-mail newsletter at DownToEarthFinance-On@zines.webvalence.com for smart tips to save more money and independent advice about mutual funds and retirement. She can be reached at 212.734.0433 and http://www.downtoearthfinance.com

Written by Galia Gichon
DOWN-TO-EARTH FINANCE

(Copyright Down-to-Earth Finance LLC 2006)

The Tour De France is not only the most famous cycle race in the world, but one of the best known and most gruelling races of any kind. This year marked the 93rd race, running for 23 days across 20 different stages making a total race distance of 3,657 kilometres across France before finally finishing in Paris at the Champs-Elysees on Sunday 23rd July.

Starting in Strasbourg the race managed to cross most of France, with 9 flat, 4 medium mountain, 5 mountain and 2 individual time trial stages, before reaching its climactic conclusion in Paris: the Tour De France is a truly punishing event.

This year British sports fans who took a flight to France in order to see the race were met with one of the most exciting events for many years including plenty of controversy, an unforgettable race, and a free three hour long 10,000 seat concert in Landes.

Even before the race started there was excitement and controversy with a series of pre-tour doping scandals which lead to the withdrawal of the two favourites, Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso of the T-Mobile and CSC teams. The retirement of Armstrong meant another leading player was out of the running. While many worried that this would lead to a lack lustre event, the reality was one of the most enthralling, unpredictable and closely fought Tours in recent memory.

The eventual winner, Floyd Landis, produced an amazing performance especially in light of being in pain the entire time and needing to undergo hip replacement surgery due to advanced osteoarthritis. Despite walking with a limp and being unable to cross his right leg over his left, causing him to have to get on his bike by putting his right leg over first, Landis managed to keep his condition secret from fellow riders until a week into the start of the Tour. Whether he will be able to cycle professionally again in the future will be determined by the results of this operation.

The announcement that following his win, was that Landis has now tested positive for elevated levels of the male sex hormone testosterone, has lead to his suspension pending the results of his B sample analysis.

A statement by The Phonak team read that they where, notified on Wednesday by the UCI of an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France". They also stated that, "The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result.

Phonak have already announced that if the second sample confirms the positive test, Landis will be sacked. Race authorities have since tried to contact Floyd directly as well as through his agent and the team, however there has so far been no response and the rider has subsequently disappeared.

Andrew Regan is an online journalist who enjoys socialising at his local Edinburgh rugby club.

Causality. You may have heard this word or heard someone utter this word before but have you ever asked yourself what does causality mean? How does it affect you? And most importantly, how does it affect your success?

Causality is derived from the words cause and effect. It basically means that for every action you take, there will be a reaction or consequence to that action. But will the reaction or consequence that occur be truly what you hope and want to achieve? Or will the reaction turn out being something you completely loathe and did not wish to obtain in the first place? For example, when you consume a sumptuous buffet of numerous exotic and mouth watering dishes and got gastric pains in your stomach, did you intend for that to happen in the first place or did you initially just want to fill up your empty stomach?

In fact, success is very much like the law of cause & effect. Success does not happen by chance. It is very dependent on the concise decisions and focus you make and the effective actions you take (cause). Only then will it be possible to see the positive results and outcomes that you intended to achieve (effect). This can be demonstrated by a simple analogy of a student who decides and focuses on scoring outstanding grades for his examination and studies hard and smart. Subsequently, he achieves remarkable grades and eventually tops his class.

Internet marketing is another very relevant example of how causality is very much correlated to success. A simplified example - an internet marketer may probably have the vision and focus of wanting to be wealthy. He then takes steps to attract traffic to his website, entice his customers with a striking sales letter, introduce unique products and provide substantial content. This will consequently generate massive sales and profits for his website and himself.

The testing and tracking of variables such as unique visitors, conversion rates, subscriptions, direct sales and affiliate sales, etc, obviously manifest the relevancy of the law of cause and effect especially in internet marketing - or in any area of life whatsoever.

So the next time you hear or think about causality, do yourself a big favour by asking yourself the following:

1) What decisions and choices do I want to make?

2) What specific, effective actions should I take?

3) How will these decisions, choices and actions affect my success?

4) Had my results and past successes been accidents? Or were they direct results of my taking specific actions?

There is definitely no doubt that you can achieve better degrees of success if you always bear in mind the law of cause and effect.

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Dentistry has become a hot topic, as writers across the media spectrum are reaching into our mouths for story ideas. Apparently, the making of a beautiful smile makes good copy.

And dont we all identify in some way with those people making big changeson shows like The Swan and Extreme Makeovereven those getting new smiles? says Dr. Bernard Lynch, at the Washington Center for Dentistry, in Washington, DC.

No wonder we need to boost our dental vocabulary, especially if were thinking about delving into some smile improvement ourselves. So, heres a quick review:

The Crown. Sometimes a front tooth is out of line, too short, too wide, too narrow or hopelessly too gray, too yellow or too brown.

One solution is to pare down the unfavorable tooth and then cover it with a crown or cap, says Dr. Marc Doctors, also of the Washington Center for Dentistry. The new porcelain tooth fits perfectly over the minimized tooth, providing a sparkling, whiter, straighter version of its former self.

The Veneer. Sometimes a tooth has fewer objectionable features, and the alignment, color and shape can be improved with a more delicate replacement option. Consider the veneer: a thin, fingernail-size shell of glistening porcelain that fits over the existing tooth that has been slightly re-contoured.

Veneers and crowns made with new, advanced, porcelain materials provide the opalescence, brightness and natural shape that improve a smilenaturallywhile lasting for many, many years.

This option provides a wonderful way to revitalize a smile and get an image that looks younger, healthier, says Dr. Daniel Deutsch, of the Washington Center for Dentistry.

The Implant. No longer are patients denied a beautiful, natural smile because of missing teeth. Once fated to have removable appliancesor even denturesthese patients now have a happier alternative. Synthetic roots of new teeth literally are implanted into the gum and bone.

The new implanted root is made of metal, and in time, the gum and bone grow around it. And the portion of the implant that protrudes above the gum line gets a crown that looks just like a natural tooth. Its a miracle to those getting a second chance at teeth that feeland looklike normal teeth.

Patients need to know that their teeth can stay young for life, says Dr. Lynch. Nowadays, dentistry really does have all the answers.

Please click here for more information on cosmetic dentistry procedures in Washington, DC.