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The costs of auto insurance premiums can eat up a large part of any person or family?s budget. According to a recent study of consumer spending habits, the typical American?s auto insurance premiums use up about three percent of his or her after-tax income. For people who have had their hours cut back at work and/or have been recently laid off, auto insurance can become a major expense since it is required by every state for anyone who operates a motor vehicle. To find the best rates for auto insurance, enter your ZIP code into our FREE comparison tool above!

The expense of having to pay for auto insurance can leave a family or an individual with very little money left over at the end of the month. Being required to have some basic auto insurance, however, means that many people are looking for ways to save on this expense. Try these suggestions to lower your auto insurance bill.

1. Bundle your policies

Start by bundling your auto insurance policies together. In fact, many auto insurance companies offer their biggest discounts to their customers who have insured more than one vehicle with their company. So-called multi-car discounts can knock about 20% off the total cost of the premium. Furthermore, other discounts are offered to customers who have multiple policies with the same company. For example, a family that keeps their homeowner?s and auto insurance policies with the same company will usually save money on both of their policies.

2. Shop around

Shop around for auto insurance. A recent surge in new auto insurance providers has meant that average rates in many areas are at record lows. In fact, several studies have shown that auto insurance rates have a lot of variation between companies within even small geographic region. About once a year, check the rates for your auto insurance policy among several competing companies. Be sure to include companies from your local area and online insurance providers. Web-based insurance providers will often offer better rates because they have lower overhead than traditional, brick-and-mortar auto insurance providers.

3. Be willing to sacrifice a little

Seriously consider increasing your deductible. Just by increasing your auto insurance deductible by $ 500, you can potentially save about $ 15 a month from your auto insurance principle. Of course, increasing your deductible means that you will be liable for a greater portion of the damage if you or a covered family member happens to be in an accident. Since odds are, however, that you won?t file a claim for small damage increasing your auto insurance deductible typically doesn?t have a great impact on your overall budget. Nonetheless, it is recommended that any individual or family who chooses this option to save on their insurance put aside extra money into their emergency fund to cover the deductible in case of an accident.

4. Find?significant discounts

Try to find discounts for actions you already take. Auto insurance policies usually offer discounts for a variety of activities that relate to making your car and driving safer. Currently, there are discounts available a number of activities including wearing a seatbelt, getting your car?s oil changed regularly, and garaging your car at night. These auto insurance discounts vary a lot from company to company. In addition, they have been known to change frequently. Call your insurance company to ask what you can currently qualify for. If you?re shopping around for a new policy, make sure you ask what discounts you can qualify for in order to get a good price to compare with other companies.

5. Change your behavior

If you don?t qualify for a lot of discounts right now, consider changing your behavior to get further discounts. Start by asking your insurance company what their highest or best discounts are, then consider if you are willing to change your behavior in order to qualify. For example, many auto insurance companies offer discounts for students with good grades. Working harder at school may pay off for many teenagers who are on the boarder of qualifying for this discount. Companies also offer discounts to customers who are willing to have their driving habits tracked. For many people, exchanging some of their privacy for significant savings on their auto insurance is a great deal. Each company will have different discounts, and it is very common for companies to offer new discounts every couple of months.

6. Consider making major lifestyle changes

If you need to make significant cuts in your budget, it may be time to consider buying a cheaper car. Auto insurance rates are based on the risk that the insurance company is taking on with each vehicle. Because more expensive cars will cost more to replace and repair they usually cost more to insure. In general, insurance premiums for a ?family? car or minivan is almost always less expensive than the insurance premium for a high end sports car. Furthermore, there are numerous studies that have shown that people who drive sports cars are more likely to be in accidents. This means that auto insurance companies will charge more for the premiums on more expensive cars, even if the driver only has standard or minimum state required coverage. Before purchasing a new car, check with your insurance company to get a quote for how much the insurance policy will be.

7. Make the big move

Finally, think about moving to a lower risk area. Drivers who garage their cars at night in high-density urban areas will typically pay more than twice what drivers in rural areas will pay for their auto insurance. Even short distance moves, or moving to a house or apartment complex with covered parking can reduce an auto insurance premium. If you?re thinking about moving to a new home in the future, be sure to ask your car insurance company for a quote before signing a mortgage or a lease agreement.

Fortunately for consumer, there are many ways to save on auto insurance policies. Look carefully at any insurance company before deciding to give them your business. One simple way to find the right policies for you is by entering your ZIP code into our FREE auto insurance comparison tool below!

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Source: http://www.insurance800.com/affordable-auto-insurance-is-possible-7-tips-to-savings.html

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My name is Georgina Rollings, and I am proud mum to 15 month old twin girls.? I am also a business owner having set up a small accounting firm in March of this year.?

Setting up my company was surprisingly easy.? The difficult part for me was deciding to do it.?

I?ve always liked the idea of working for myself, but I was waiting for an idea to come to me, and one never did.? It took the complete shift in focus caused by the birth of my babies to give me the inspiration I needed.?

By creating my own accounting firm I have been able to use the skills and experience I have spent years acquiring to help other people and their businesses.? I am able to look after our girls myself instead of paying somebody else to do it.? At the same time I have started a new business adventure which is giving me more job satisfaction that I have had for years.

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Starfish Accounting specialises in proving accounting services to small businesses and start up companies.? As a mumpreneur myself, I run a mumpreneur friendly company, offering practical accounting and business advice without the jargon.

It?s been tough starting up a business and running it with twins and very little childcare.? Luckily my parents look after the girls for an afternoon a week which lets me visit clients and have business meetings ? and means that the girls get to be properly spoiled.? I?m also very fortunate to have a supportive husband who is also an excellent cook.? But I don?t get to have very many evenings off, and I usually end up working pretty late which is not good for my beauty sleep!

The pay off for me at the moment, other than my beautiful babies, is that I am my own boss, and I get a huge amount of satisfaction out of knowing I am helping my clients to run their businesses more effectively.? I?ll be able to ramp up the amount of time I spend working during normal working hours as the girls start going to nursery in a year?s time. ?I?m really excited at the response I have had to my business, and the potential it has to grow.

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If you run a small company, or are just starting out, and want an accountant who understands your business and your need to fit in around your children, then try giving me a call.? I offer a free hour long consultation, so you can even get some free advice!

Source: http://pennies4parents.blogspot.com/2011/10/starfish-accounting-georgi-rollings.html

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New York ? When the Teamsters’ James Hoffa says he wants to “take out” the Tea Party, what exactly does he mean? A 2003 labor settlement offers some clues

Washington is suddenly debating whether James Hoffa Jr., leader of the powerful Teamsters union, crossed a line in his Labor Day comments ? comments that preceded a speech by President Obama himself.

“We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face,” Hoffa said in a fiery speech in Detroit on Monday. “The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They’ve got a war, they got a war with us, and there’s only going to be one winner. It’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We’re going to win that war.”

Hoffa continued:

“President Obama this is your army. We are ready to march. And President Obama we want one thing: Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. That’s what we’re going to tell him. He’s going to be ? and when he sees what we’re doing here he will be inspired. But he needs help and you know what?? Everybody here’s got to vote. If we go back and keep the eye on the prize, let’s take these sons of a bitches out and give America back to America where we belong!”

If James Hoffa were to say that he intended to “take me out,” I’d up my insurance coverage.

Did these words rise to the level of incitement, as Tea Party activists complain? Or were they merely democracy in action, as some Democrats insist?

Maybe a little context will help.

The Teamsters have a reputation as one of America’s less delicate unions. Some say that reputation is outdated ? an artifact of a ruder time. Then you come across something like the following: A 2003 National Labor Relations Board settlement between the Teamsters union and a picketed employer.

Here’s the first full page of the text, unedited. Just imagine the events that might have led to such a statement.

“We [the Teamsters local] will not engage in mass picketing or otherwise impede the ingress or egress of COMPANY employees or employees of any other employer to or from any COMPANY service center or any facility of any neutral person doing business with COMPANY or patrol or walk across the entrance of any COMPANY service center or a facility of any neutral person doing business with COMPANY in such a manner as to impede or delay the ingress or egress of any individual.

“We will not batter, assault, spit on, blow whistles loudly near a person’s ear, throw any liquid or solid object at, or attempt to assault any non-striking employee of COMPANY or any member of his or her family or any employee of a neutral employee doing business with COMPANY, or any security guard or supervisor or manager of a neutral empoyee doing business with COMPANY in the presence of employees.”

“We will not threaten to kill or inflict bodily harm, make throat slashing motions, make gun pointing motions, challenge or threaten to fight or assault employees, threaten to sexually assault non-striking employees or their family members, threaten to follow non-striking employees to their homes, use racial epithets or obscene gestures at non-striking employees doing business with COMPANY, or on any security guard, supervisor, or manager of COMPANY or neutral employers doing business with COMPANY in the presence of employees

“We will not videotape or photograph any non-striking employees of COMPANY, or vehicles of COMPANY or its non-striking employees while engaging in coercive activity observed or known by those being videotaped or threaten to release the photographs, names, addresses or photographs of non-striking employees

“We will not prevent any non-striking employee from accessing a COMPANY vehicle or COMPANY vehicles or the personal vehicles of non-striking COMPANY employees.

“WE will not threaten to fine or cause the discharge of non-member employees because they cross a picket line or refuse to go on strike.

“We will not threaten to cause any employee’s discharge if they do not engage in strike or picketing of COMPANY or any neutral person doing business with company.

“We will not attempt to harass or intimidate employees or security guards on COMPANY property by using mirrors to reflect sunlight into the eyes of COMPANY drivers or use mirrors or laser pointers to shine light into the eyes or video cameras of security guards.”

And that’s just page one!

So, if Hoffa were to say that he intended to “take me out,” I’d up my insurance coverage.

This severe recession has imposed extreme pain on millions of working people ? and formerly working people. Desperate times lead to angry talk. Most often, angry talk is just a way for people to vent emotions.

Yet it’s also worth remembering that the United States not only has a long and bloody history of political violence, but also a nearly equally long and even bloodier history of labor strife. In the recent past, labor strife has receded as unions have become more professional. But there’s no guarantee that the future will look like the past, especially as the pain of this recession extends and deepens.

The job of keeping the social peace does not fall upon only one faction or another. Nor is social peace only a function of what people say. The best guarantor of social peace is prosperity, shared on terms that seem fair to most social actors. That guarantee has not been honored these past four years, and all with a stake in society have reason to feel apprehension about the events that may lie ahead.

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20110907/cm_theweek/218977

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Enlarge Sean Williams

Nora Fiffer and Chance Bone of Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre in the company’s current production of The Last Act of Lilka Kadison.

Sean Williams

Nora Fiffer and Chance Bone of Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre in the company’s current production of The Last Act of Lilka Kadison.

This Sunday, as Broadway celebrates its own and recognizes the best work of the season during the 65th annual Tony Awards, an outsider will be mentioned along with all those names in lights. Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre will be the 2011 recipient of the Tony for best regional theater.

One of the ensemble’s signature plays is called Lookingglass Alice. The adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic story inspired the founding of the company. Its version, written by founding member David Catlin, is a combination of drama, spectacle and breathtaking acrobatics.

A poster in the lobby describes Lookingglass as “theater without a net,” and artistic director Andrew White says that philosophy is both literal and figurative.

Enlarge Sean Williams

Lookingglass’s 22 members, each dressed as their favorite character from one of the company’s plays.

Sean Williams

Lookingglass’s 22 members, each dressed as their favorite character from one of the company’s plays.

“Theater without a net refers to, I think, the ethic that we have that there’s always a level of risk and challenge and daring that we bring to every production. Sometimes that’s actually physical with a level of physical virtuosity and acrobatics and circus stuff that is done without a net, quite literally, which is exciting and thrilling for audiences to watch,” Catlin says. “But also I think it means that means that almost every work we do is a new work, is a world premiere, and we are giving it its first go in front of an audience. So to a degree every work we do, whether it involves physical theatrics and circus stunts or not is theater without a net in that respect.”

Lookingglass was incorporated in 1988 by a group of college friends attending Northwestern University. That group included actor David Schwimmer, who six years later would star on the sitcom Friends. Schwimmer, who remains part of the now 22-member ensemble, says in many ways, Lookingglass worked to create a physical language.

“Part of our training ? our rehearsal process for, I’d say at least the first ten years as a company ? were rigorous workouts before we actually started working on character or text or anything. Every rehearsal started with an hour workout,” Schwimmer says. “Some of the plays really required it.”

The company’s visual sensibility, says Chicago Tribune theater critic Chris Jones, is what makes Lookingglass stand out. Jones is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, which votes and then recommends a regional theater for the Tony Award.

Enlarge Courtesy of Lookingglass Theatre Company

Pre-Lookingglass: The cast of the 1987 production of Alice, the play that led to the formation of the company.

Courtesy of Lookingglass Theatre Company

Pre-Lookingglass: The cast of the 1987 production of Alice, the play that led to the formation of the company.

“I think Lookingglass, visually, has put its emphasis not on massive sets and Broadway budgets, but on, really, the human body and on how the human body exists in space,” Jones says. “Frequently their visual sort of look of these shows has been exceedingly distinctive.”

Just as distinctive, perhaps, is the company’s source material for plays, most of which are adaptations of non-dramatic material. Its latest production, The Last Act of Lilka Kadison, is an adaptation of a public radio series. Just before a final dress rehearsal, as the crew took time to adjust the lighting and sound, director David Kersnar, another Lookingglass co-founder who co-wrote the play along with other members of the company, says when word arrived that it would receive the Tony for regional theater, everyone was surprised and excited.

“As a company, our prime directive is to tell great stories, and so this just was not something that was on our radar,” Kersnar says. “And I think for us it was just a bit of a pat on the back that we’re doing the right thing.”

The Last Act of Lilka Kadison is about the life of a woman who escaped Poland as a teenager on the eve of World War II. It’s a world premiere, one of more than 50 that Lookingglass has produced in its 23 years. Many, like its adaptation of Arabian Nights, have toured across the country. Tony Award-winning playwright and director Mary Zimmerman, who is also a Lookingglass ensemble member, adapted the classic collection of folk tales.

“What the book of One Thousand Nights and One Night really says is that it’s through storytelling that we cultivate empathy,” Zimmerman says. “I think it’s the greatest testament that there is to why we tell stories and just the importance of it in our lives.”

Zimmerman also wrote and directed another of the ensemble’s signature pieces, an adaptation of the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which had its world premiere in Chicago in 1998. The play opened in New York shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“I think a lot of New Yorkers went to that and really found, in that production from Chicago, a sense of healing,” says critic Chris Jones. “And I think that’s a great example of how one of Lookingglass’s most important moments was actually in New York. And that, I think, is perhaps testimony to how this theater became, really, a national institution.”

On Sunday, when Lookingglass takes home the Tony Award for best regional theater, it will be the fifth time a theater from Chicago has won the award. That’s the most of any city in the country. Artistic director Andy White says the trophy will be proudly displayed in the theater’s lobby.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/06/09/137067450/for-lookingglass-classics-physicality-and-a-tony?ft=1&f=1046

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