Did you know that moving residences is among the most stressful events in life? Will you be moving in the near future? Never fret! Jill Cooper & Tawra Kellam have a great article that details the most efficient way to pack in terms of time AND money!

Order in which to start packing

Start with things you don’t use every day.

~Memories - Grandma’s dishes, quilts, old books, Bibles, childhood toys and photos

~Garage items - Christmas and Holiday decorations, camping equipment and things in storage

~Things stored in closets that aren’t used often and out of season clothes

~Knick-knacks, pictures, mirrors and wall hangings

~Seasonal dishes, canning equipment, roasting pans, good china, good silverware, large serving platters

~Unnecessary CD’s, DVD’s and video tapes.

~Sewing room and craft items.

~Home office - Pack as much as possible except bills that need to be paid. Leave office boxes open and tape them closed at the last minute before moving just in case you need something out of them.

~Children’s toys and games - Pack most of the toys they don’t play with regularly.

~One week before moving, pack all unnecessary kitchen items, clothes and linens (except what you need for one week).

Tips to pain free packing:

Don’t leave empty spaces. Here are some examples of how you might use all available space:

~I fill my china cabinet with light weight soft things like stuffed animals, balls of yarn, quilts, artificial flowers and greenery.

~If you will be moving your refrigerator or washer or dryer, fill it with pillows, wicker baskets or plastic items from the kitchen.

~Fill clothes hampers with bathroom items. If you have a lamp that needs special protection, wrap it carefully in towels and place it in a clothes hamper.

~Fill up even small items like plastic pitchers with kitchen utensils or kitchen knick-knacks.

~I clean out a large outside trash can and use it to pack my hoses, small pots and gardening tools. If I’m not sure if I should keep something, I allow myself to take it if I can fit it in that one trash can. My son-in-law says it is one step closer to the curb that way.

~Don’t pack glass, porcelain or ceramic containers with loose items in them that could break them. Canning jars filled with marbles or baby…

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For those of you who are avid stock market investors/traders, do you think that the market has reached a top? With the DOW and S&P 500 reaching all time highs and with a recession looming in the US, it seems that a correction is an order.

Below is a chart of the VIX index which indicates the price of options on the S&P500. The way to use this chart is when the chart is heading lower, it shows that fewer investors are purchasing options to protect their portfolio. This in turn indicates that the US Markets will most likely continue higher until this chart bottoms out and starts a new trend upwards. Based on technical indicators, it looks as though the VIX index is very close to a bottom, and should turn upwards in the near future.

Please note that we are not stock advisors and your own due diligence should be performed. The VIX index is only one indicator of investor sentiment. Please feel free to comment.

By Lew Sichelman

Question: My wife and I want to buy a home. She has good credit but mine is just OK. Can you give us some advice?

Answer: Your short, to-the-point question requires a rather long answer. So here goes.

Unless your name will not be on the mortgage, your credit record will count just as much as your wife’s. Therefore, start working on cleaning up yours right away. If you haven’t a clue how to do that, many lenders and government offices at the federal and local level offer lots of free brochures on the steps that need to be taken. See more on shoring up credit ratings before getting a mortgage.

At this point, though, stay away from anyone who wants to charge you money. Unless your finances are a mess, you can do this pretty much on your own. If not, look for help from a nonprofit counseling agency in your area.

Also look for a mortgage professional who has access to one of the many “what if” simulators on the market these days. These dandy little software programs will allow you and the lender to sit at a computer and explore the effect certain actions — adding or removing accounts, for example, or correcting errors — could have on your score before you actually make any moves. With a simulator, would-be borrowers can “play” with any number of possibilities and combinations until they find a solution that works best for them in raising their all-important mortgage scores, which are modeling systems used by lenders to assess risk. Perhaps equally as important, the simulators will allow you to stay away from misguided steps that could send your score tumbling.

While you are working on improving your credit — and your score along with it — sit down with a lender and get prequalified for a loan. This is another key step that will save you a lot of time and heartache. By getting prequalified, you will know exactly how large a loan you and your wife can obtain. This isn’t the same as being preapproved, which is the lender’s commitment to make a loan at a certain amount and rate as long as the house you chose appraises and your finances don’t change by the time the loan is ready to close. But it will prevent you from spinning your wheels by looking at houses you simply can’t afford. If all of this so far is gibberish to you, you and your bride would be well advised to take a class for first-time home buyers and hit the library for books on home buying. There are dozens of tomes on the topic, but one of my all-time favorites is by my long-time friend and colleague Peter Miller. It’s called “The Common Sense Mortgage.” Another good Miller tome is “Buy Your First Home Now.” Both are published by Harper Perennial. Take your time. If your finances are not up to snuff, you’ll need to go slow anyway. Yes, mortgage rates are still pretty low by historical standards — as I type this, only 1 percentage point or so above a 40-year low — but prices might be falling. At the very least, prices probably are going to remain stable for some time until the current “market correction” runs its course. And it doesn’t look like loan rates are going up any time soon. Once you feel comfortable about the home-buying process, find a real estate professional you can trust. Ask for references from friends and relatives who have been through the trials and tribulations that are part and parcel of buying a house, which is rated one notch below death on the stress meter.

If you know pretty much where you want to buy, consider using an agent who specializes in that area or is the area’s top producer. There’s nothing like an agent who knows a neighborhood from top-to-bottom. And there’s a reason someone racks up more business then anyone else — they’re usually good at what they do. Another possibility is to find an agent who represents buyers and no one else. Not an agent who represents buyers part of the time and takes listings and represents sellers the rest of the time. You want an exclusive buyer broker, someone who does nothing but act on behalf of buyers and is fully trained in that aspect of the business.

Above all, though, take the step of finding an agent very carefully. The agent you pick will be your guide through the entire process. Also realize that if you chose the wrong person, you always can say goodbye and go with someone else. This should get you and your wife started on the road to homeownership. If you run into any roadblocks along the way, write back and I’ll try to offer more advice. Good luck!