Studies show that money issues are the highest cause of marital conflict and cause for divorce. Conflicts over money and money management outweigh conflicts over sex (including affairs) and differences over raising children as the greatest trouble area in a marriage. Partners enter a marriage with an intensely personal history of how they have handled money that has usually been learned from their families of origin. When the two people who are part of a couple have different expectations, thundering fights and lightening clashes can occur.

I have worked with many couples who seem more relaxed talking about the variety of sexual positions they have or have not experimented with than how much money one or both of them earns. Bill and Nadine are typical of a couple who love each other dearly, but whose marriage almost ended because of their different attitudes towards finances.

Bill grew up as the only child of a hard working father and homemaker mother. At an early age, he began working in his father’s butcher shop. His father had a strong work ethic and taught Bill never to take a day off, even if he was ill. Vacations were infrequent and had were considered a reward for a job well done. And, of course, a penny saved was considered a future dollar earned.

Nadine’s parents had about the same amount of money as Bill’s, but Nadine was taught that money was to be used for giving and spending and that “tomorrow would take care of itself.” She was generous to a fault and considered issues such as credit card debt just one of life’s small hurdles to be handled when the time came. Although not a spendthrift, she was relaxed and casual around money matters. She liked to play and although she too could be a hard worker, she had been taught that the way one rejuvenated her self was to take as many vacations as she could.

They fell in love, married and within three months they were in my office screaming “divorce.” Bill felt as if Nadine was totally irresponsible, behaved like a child and that her spending habits would put them in the poor house. Nadine felt as if “her wings were clipped,” and as if Bill was looking over her shoulder every second. She described her feelings as being unable to breathe and as if she was going to emotionally die.

Bill and Nadine originally had been attracted to each other by the very differences that they now found impossible to live with. In fact, they were like opposite pairs of bookends. If you put them together, the two halves made a whole. I am sure some sensible part of each of them understood that alone they were unbalanced and together they could make a good team. That is, if they didn’t kill each other first.

Therapy helped them to understand their different histories and expectations and over time, each one slowly moved slightly towards the center. Their disastrous fights lessened and they could begin to remember why they fell in love in the first place. It took courage for each of them to learn how to listen to the other and to give up pieces of their own dearly cherished beliefs. By the time they left therapy, money was rarely an issue between them.

But, I wonder what would have happened to this marriage if they hadn’t received help? I doubt that it would have lasted and it would have gone the way of so many marriages where each partner finds the other’s attitude and ways of managing money totally incomprehensible.

Money is both a metaphor and a reality. Talking openly and communicating about money becomes another way for you and your spouse to get to know each other. Attitudes towards money range from the penurial to the extravagant. There is no reason to run to the divorce court just because you and your spouse have different ways of managing your finances.

Attitudes and relationships towards finances are unique to you and reveal a good deal about who you are and how you operate. Dollars and cents are the interface or unit of exchange between you and society and learning where you stand along the continuum, from prudent to expansive, can help you learn more about how you negotiate through life. The more you understand about yourself and your spouse when money matters, the better chance you have of working out a successful marriage. Try it.

Life is too hard to do alone,

Dr. D.

Dorree Lynn, PH.D.

In welcome news for haulage companies operating in Wales, oil distributor Oil 4 Wales has launched a new 24-hour truck stop at its Brecon depot.

In welcome news for UK haulage companies with drivers regularly delivering loads to, from and around Wales, oil distributor Oil 4 Wales has launched a new 24-hour truck stop at its Brecon depot, providing a much-needed facility for the local transport industry.

A Family Affair

Oil 4 Wales is a family-run company that has grown exponentially to become the leading provider of petroleum products in the country, turning over around £50m in its first year and £110m in its latest financial results. Managing Director Colin Owens enjoys a long history in the oil industry: he established Owen Fuels in 1991 and built it up to a turnover of £350m a year before selling to Texaco in 1997. The family wanted to establish an authentic Welsh brand, believing that as major oil companies pull out of “downstream supply”, the door is opened to small independents to capitalise on the ability to offer a more community-based service.

As well as supplying products to the commercial, domestic and agricultural markets, Oil 4 Wales has plans to establish a chain of retail garages across south, mid and north Wales, and has invested more than £500m into the local community at truck stops in Maesteg and Powys. The company employs a large staff across its depots in Wales and contributes generously to charitable agricultural projects in support of the local farming industry.

The company’s development of the Brecon truck stop is a true passion project, with Director Sally Owens expressing their personal pride at being able to provide such a vital facility for the region. 

The Brecon Truck Stop

With over £70m of investment, the Three Cocks site at Brecon is already proving itself to be an invaluable service for local haulage companies and independent lorry drivers. The fuelling facility provides Adblue, diesel and red diesel via the pumps, with Oil 4 Wales declaring their aim to support and service not only haulage companies, but also vehicles used in the local agricultural industry. The Brecon region is heavily utilised by the transport industry and the availability of 24-hour fuel is a much-anticipated and long overdue service.

In the interests of optimum convenience, the truck stop accepts all versions of fuelcards across the widely used Keyfuels system. For haulage companies or drivers who currently do not use a Keyfuel fuel card, Oil 4 Wales has ensured that obtaining the free card is easy through their dedicated department. (The Oil 4 Wales Fuel Card Department can be contacted on 02920 674917.)

A Positive Development for the Transport Industry

The 24-hour fuelling facility at the redeveloped Brecon truck stop is a very positive development for anyone making a living doing delivery work in the greater Welsh region. The immediate and overwhelming take-up of the facility suggests that investments into the local infrastructure by companies like Oil 4 Wales not only benefit the transport industry, but the entire community. Industry stalwarts are hoping that the Welsh model’s success story will encourage investors to develop similar facilities across the country.

Are you planning to build a wine storage unit at home? The first step is to find a suitable wine storage design expert as per your preferences. By contacting an expert, you can get comprehensive ideas on a range of spectacular designs. Now, you have to choose the right one for your purpose.

For constructing a cellar, there is a need for an impressive wine storage design. Although the aim is to store your favourite drinks safely, a cellar lets you flaunt your collection.

If you want to provide a traditional look to your storage unit, you have to choose one from the list of classic cellar designs. Other than this, you’ll get many options such as spiral cellars.

After all, you have to choose the best type of rack for meeting your particular needs. It is imperative to select a top-notch design for constructing your storage unit. Suppose you’re thinking about storing 100 bottles at a time, building a small cellar can be effective. Building a spiral cellar is going to offer you a compact space for storing all your favourite drinks.

Types of Wine Cellar Designs

Of course, there is an importance of determining the right type of design for flaunting your collection in style. Some of the topmost design options include-

• Classic Cellar

As already discussed, this type of design offers a sophisticated and vintage feel to the owners. Once constructed, it looks amazing and unique. However, it is often asked to build a standard size classic cellar to keep its beauty unaltered. This may not be the ideal approach for a few homeowners with limited amount of space available. In this context, you can choose another design.

• Contemporary Cellar

Today, most individuals prefer constructing contemporary wine cellars at home. The main reason is that contemporary designs look stylish and modern. Also, you can upgrade the design depending on your requirements. Whether you need a small-sized or a large-sized storage unit, you can ask the contractor to build this cellar accordingly.

• Spiral Cellar

Another popular choice of cellar design is the spiral storage unit. It can be built in a compact space at your desired location. This type of cellar is quite suitable for constructing underground storage units. Not to mention, this could be a pleasing way of storing wine bottles in the property. It is often asked to build a glass door/window for enhancing the beauty of this cellar.

• Bespoke Cellar

While choosing the right design for wine room construction, many individuals have specific plans. Are you one of those wine enthusiasts who want to transform their ideas into reality? By selecting a top-rated contractor, you can opt for bespoke cellar design services. Now, share your requirements with experts to let them analyse the feasibility of the project.

Which Is the Best Cellar Design for Homes?

For finalising the design for home wine cellar construction, you have to consider your requirements. If you want to store an extra bottle of your favourite drinks after having a party, you can go with spiral cellars. It lets you store a limited count of wine bottles.

Some individuals set up a dining space in the cellar room. In this context, you need a standard size or a large storage unit. So, you can either go with classic cellars or contemporary ones. In other words, the choice of the design for a wine room depends on your particular needs.

Bottom Line

Designing a cellar is always important when you want to display the collection. By hiring the professional services of a reputed contractor, you can find several wine storage designs. If you are confused about picking the right one, get assistance from experts. Starting from the cellar design to cellar components, qualified contractors guide you in selecting the most-suited one.

So, don’t waste your time when you could hire a professional for wine room construction.

the cost estimate of the remodeling project and what aspects to consider while choosing the vanity. In the first place, know that bathroom remodel is a highly tricky and challenging task that is best done by professionals. This is because they have a vast amount of experience in dealing with a variety of situations and also they have the necessary techniques, contacts and implements to do the job to perfection. Therefore the first thing you must do is to hire the right bathroom remodeling professionals and discuss with the all the aspects you will like to see in your bathroom. Once the ground work is ready, then you can proceed in the most systematic and planned way to be able to accomplish the bathroom remodel within the budget planned and within the time frame decided. Here are a few points you must take into account to achieve the perfect bathroom remodel.

Plan the cost
In the first place, know from experts what a bathroom remodel will cost you. Before commencing any project, you need to note down your expectations and decide how much money you will have to invest in fulfilling them in the perfect way. This will need you to work with the size of your bathroom, the fittings and fixtures you will like to see there and what extra additions you can plan within the budget if it permits. With their experience, the Bathroom Remodel Austin professionals can help you out the right way.

Plan the spacing, location and arrangements
Plan the arrangements and the effective use of the available space. Decide what will look best where. However, you cannot try out complete reorganization of the existing arrangements when you go for remodeling since any decision that you land on must take into account the water inlet lines and the drain lines. If there is any drastic change of the arrangements, then you will have to rework on them with an accomplished plumber which is going to cost you so much extra. Therefore you must take into account this fact and see to that there is minimum disturbance to the existing arrangements.

List out the new provisions you will need
What you wish to remove, what you wish to include and what provisions you must see newly must all be finalized after consulting all of your family members. Bathroom is the common place that needs to address the requirements of all of your family members. Therefore you should be able to meet all their needs at once while thinking of the bathroom remodel. Therefore it is a good idea to ask them what changes they would like to see of course explaining them what is possible and what is not depending on the special constraints, plumbing lines and the cost of the project. Wherever you come across some challenges, you can discuss them with the remodeling professionals and find the right way out solving them in due course. Once you move in this systematic approach, you shall succeed in getting the perfect bathroom remodel.

A company should be able to stand up to industry standards with its quality of services, no matter which field it functions in. Immense competition has forced businesses to look for new ways to impress clients and thereby expand their business. Quality is defined by a company’s infrastructure. Businesses add modern equipments to their list to ultimately deliver better results.

Small businesses may not be able to stretch their investment to keep on purchasing new equipment every time their existing ones get outdated. Such businesses can take advantage of small business lease services. Small business lease firms provide the entire inventory for starting, running and developing a business. Firms in the medical equipment leasing field offer leasing of all kinds of medical equipments from first aid box and stethoscope to ventilators, ultrasound and laboratory equipments.

In most cases, the lease period is 1-5 years or longer. With the aid of small business lease firms, small businesses can lease modern, costlier equipments with lesser capital and rentals. By opting for leased furniture and other equipments, small and newly established businesses can divert the capital required to buy the new equipments into other endeavors. Most small business equipment leasing firms offer flexible payment structure and easy methods of payment.

Special offers are often provided for new firms. At the end of the lease period, the hospitals or clinics also get the provision of buying the equipment. You can also enjoy tax advantages with medical equipment leasing. Other advantages include improving your cash flow and managing your balance sheet better with small business lease.

However, proper research should be carried out before choosing any equipment leasing company. Always look for reputed firms who have a clear history in equipment leasing. You should also ensure that you receive competitive prices and the firm provides quick service in case of equipment malfunction. Always opt for leasing companies that provide specialized transportation of equipment and free insurance coverage.

We would like you to concentrate on your Business Processes
automation requirements in trying to understand which small business accounting
package will fit the best for your enterprise

1.      
Database Platform.  There are several reliable and relatively
inexpensive SQL oriented DB platforms on the ERP market: MySQL (good option if
you are making custom programming in PHP platform), Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Select (also consider Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for Small Business Server 2008)
– also you can get scaled down version from Oracle, which is outside of the
scope for this paper.  SQL compliance is
in our opinion critical, and it is not recommended to choose proprietary DB, typically
coming together with such accounting applications as MYOB, Peach Tree, Quick
Books

2.      
Words of respect to Linux and other free
Operating Systems.  We recommend you to
review such Linux platforms as Suse, for example, where you can get software
free of charge, and where you pay per customer support case only as you
go.  We would like to keep reservations
at this time to recommend ERP selection on Linux, however we encourage you to
make your own ERP market discovery

3.      
SAP Business One.  This ERP and MRP application for Small
Business comes from SAP and we trust this ERP brand.  SB1 is available on Microsoft SQL Server 2005
and with version SAP Business One 2007A it is now pretty reliable and localized
for United States: 1099, Sales Tax, Barcode, Warehouse management, Credit Cards
Processing, eCommerce module, CRM.  SAP
Business One SDK allows you to customize user interface as well as Database
transactions: EDI, Integrations with legacy systems: Microsoft CRM, Lotus Notes
Domino, Oracle

4.      
Great Plains Dynamics GP.  This solution is coming directly from
Microsoft Dynamics subdivision.  If you
are one-person-operations, we would like you to review Microsoft Small Business
Accounting – both SAP BO and Dynamics GP would be probably too expensive for
you.  Current Dynamics GP, belonging and
supported by Microsoft Business Solutions had long small business accounting
trace: Great Plains Accounting for DOS: 9.2 and 9.5 were the most popular
versions, Great Plains Small Business Financials 7.5, 8.0 and 9.0 were
dedicated to small business scaled down versions of Microsoft Great
Plains.  Current trend in SBF is upgrade
and migration to Dynamics GP Business Ready

5.      
MRP.  Both
SAP Business One and Great Plains Dynamics GP offer discrete Manufacturing and
MRP modules.  SAP Business One is closer
to small business in our opinion, where you can do intuitive Production Module
self discovery.  Great Plains, however
has Bill of Materials module, which could cover small business manufacturing and
assembly

6.      
Great Plains eConnect versus SAP Business One
SDK programming.  Both SDK packages are targeted
to custom ecommerce applications and software developers.  We would like to treat them with the same
respect and recommend for deployment

7.      
Corporate ERP reporting.  In both cases we recommend you to consider
Crystal Reports.  In the case when you
are tight with the budget, try to consider Microsoft SQL Server Reporting
Services or SSRS, as this extension is coming free with Microsoft SQL Server
2005 or 2000 Standard or Enterprise

8.      
Legacy accounting data conversion and migration.  If you company deployed such proprietary
accounting packages as PeachTree, MYOB, QuickBooks, we recommend you to
consider printing modules reports and saving them in Text tab or comma
delimited files, Excel also is good option

9.      
ERP for International Business.  Even Small Business could be involved in
international operations, such as purchasing your merchandise from China,
India, Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, Russia. 
If this is your scenario, please try to make the research of Microsoft
Business Solutions ERP products support internationally.  At this time Dynamics GP is supported in
English Speaking countries, and SAP Business One is localized for major
nations: Latin America, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Brazil, Israel to
name a few