Happy and Ten Ways to Get There

Happy, We All Want to be Happy

What makes us happy?  It’s a simple enough question, but if somebody had the magic formula, they’d be millionaires!  In a fast-moving world, it’s often difficult to sit back and take stock of what actually makes us happy.  The truth is that every so often, that’s exactly what we all need to do.  Just take five minutes out and think about what little tricks you can use to improve your life.  There’s no silver bullet for happiness, everybody is different – one man’s pleasure is certainly another man’s poison.  With that in mind, we’ve trawled the internet to find ten simple life hacks to improve your happiness.  If even just a couple of them work for you and help to make you feel happy then we’ve done our job.  That will probably make us happy too!

Happy Tip 1

We know it sounds strange, but does anybody else get that enormous sense of satisfaction from a tidy house?  Tidying the house from top to bottom takes real effort.  We prefer to start at the top and work our way down to the bottom.  It might be the other way around for you, or you might even live in a bungalow or flat.  The undeniable truth though is, once you’re finished and the feather duster has been put away, it feels good.  Put your feet up, be proud of yourself and relax.

Happy Tip 2

Isn’t it wonderful when somebody buys you a big bunch of flowers? The downside is that if you sit around waiting for it to happen, you could be waiting a mighty long time.  Take some positive action. Nip to the florist, the supermarket or even the garage and buy your own.  At the end of the day, the result is the same.  You now have something beautiful to look at and beautiful to smell. So, breathe them in. If you’re really lucky, as soon as you start buying your own flowers the other half might get the hint.

Happy Tip 3

Go out with your friends.  There’s nothing quite like spending time with like-minded people. It doesn’t have to be a big night out, just catch up over a coffee, chew the fat and put the world to rights.  The old adage says, ‘A problem shared is a problem halved’, so it can be great to get things off your chest.  It can feel just as good to know that you’re helping out with other people’s problems too.  After all, isn’t that what friends are for?

Happy Tip 4

This one might seem controversial, but it’s a biggy!  Put your phone away.  In fact, turn it off for an hour.  In an ever-evolving world of technology, the mobile phone has taken over our lives. Whether that means checking Facebook, looking at emails or playing Candy Crush.  We’ve become slaves to our mobile phones and we are literally missing life as it passes us by.  The overuse of mobile phones is now classed as a dependence syndrome.  It’s akin to an addiction.  A wonderful experiment is to turn off your phone and go and sit on a bench in a park or other public space and just watch the world go by.  You’ll also feel pretty smug when you see how addicted everybody else is to their phones.

Happy Tip 5

As country singer John Miles sang, ‘Music is my first love. And it will be my last’.  Listening to music has plenty of benefits to your state of mind and there is no doubt that it has the ability to make you happy.  So, how about this for an idea.  Pick your all-time favourite track, stick on a pair of headphones and indulge yourself for 5 minutes.  The headphones are important, you need to fully immerse yourself in your own world….and breathe.

Happy Tip 6

In the back of our own minds we all know this one …….. exercise.  OK, so you might not be a massive fan, but we aren’t talking about running a marathon here (unless you really want to).  Exercise is good for all and you don’t need to be an Olympian to take part.  Tailor your exercise to suit your abilities.  If possible try and join other people when they exercise, it’s great motivation.  Your local leisure centre will have a range of classes that you can take part in.  Everything from Zumba to aerobics, swimming to Tai Chi.  Who knows, you might meet some like-minded people whilst you’re at it.  Exercise releases Dopamine, a happy chemical, into your brain.  There’s no escaping it.  Exercise is scientifically proven to make you happy!

Happy Tip 7

This one is so easy.  It takes barely any effort at all.  You certainly won’t need to work up a sweat!  All you need to do is pay somebody a compliment.  Apparently, it amplifies your own self confidence and nourishes your self-esteem – who knew?  The trick here is to be genuine and mean it.  People see through false platitudes.  If you really do like somebody’s shoes, just tell them.  If you think somebody is really pretty/handsome when they smile, let them know.  The simple fact is that sometimes it feels good to make other people feel good.

Happy Tip 8

If you’ve see the film ‘Pay It Forward’, you’ll know all about this one.  The basic plot is that a young boy is given an assignment by his teacher to change the world for the better.  He decides to complete three good deeds for random people for no reward.  All he asks is that they ‘pay it forward’ by also doing three good deeds themselves.  If you’ve not seen the film, watch it.  That in itself will make you happy.  The tip here though is to put it into practise yourself.  Believe it or not, there is now an Annual Pay it Forward Day here in the UK, but there’s no need to wait for a specific date, you can start right now!

Happy Tip 9

This one is a little bit deeper and it is – stop trying to compete with other people. You’re you. If everybody was the same, what a boring world it would be.  So, if next door get a new car, you don’t need to do the same. If the bloke up the road is great at DIY, you don’t need to be too (although it can be handy). The root issue here is that once you truly accept yourself for who you are, the less all these things matter.

Happy Tip 10

Let’s leave this article on a high!  Our final tip to help you feel happy is … dance!  It’s a trick as old as time.  Was there ever even a period when people didn’t dance to make themselves feel good?  And of course, just like with exercise, you can dance in a style that suits you.  From line dancing to break dancing, a waltz to a jive or tap to modern, there’s something for everybody. Our final tip to really enjoy your dancing?  Dance like nobody is watching!

Thanks for reading and if you are ever on the look out for a personal loan, please visit our main page.

What is an APR and What Does It Mean? Find Out Here

What is an APR and What Does It Mean?

It’s a common question – just what is an APR?  It stands for Annual Percentage Rate. It’s a feature that you will always see quoted whenever you are looking to borrow money.  It doesn’t matter if you’re borrowing via a personal loan or credit card, businesses will always quote an APR.  You’ll even find one at the bottom of this web page.  Lenders have to display one to make it easier for customers to compare products.  Basically, the only time an APR isn’t available is when you visit the Bank of Mum and Dad or borrow from a friend.

High or Low APR?

It’s not like a cricket score!  In general terms, the lower the APR, the better.  You may have less interest to pay over the period of your loan, so it could cost you less to repay overall. A major contributing factor for low rates is the link to those with good credit ratings.  If you only have a ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ credit rating, you are unlikely to have access to the lowest rates. You may end up paying more.  The higher charge from lenders is because you could be seen as a bigger risk.

Representative APR

Representative APR is the term that you will commonly see next to advertisements for loans and credit cards. But what does it mean?  This is the rate offered to at least 51% of people accepted for the loan product that is being advertised. In simple terms, if 100 people were accepted to borrow money – at least 51 people must be borrowing at this rate or below. Therefore 49 out of the 100 people accepted would be borrowing at a different, higher rate.

Give Me a Simple Example

To keep it really simple, we’ll take a look at what it would cost if you borrow £100 for 1 year at different APR’s:

A £100 loan at an APR of 20% for 1 year would have a total cost of £120 or £10 per month for 12 months.

A £100 loan at an APR of 50% for 1 year would have a total cost of £150 or £12.50 per month for 12 months.

As you can see, over the same loan term, the lower the APR, the less money that you need to pay back in total. Building a strong credit history is a heavy influence over being offered a lower rate. Impact on a Credit history can come from many places – everything from late payments to County Court Judgments (CCJ’s). Money saving guru Martin Lewis recommends that you should keep a close eye on your credit history to make sure that all the information held on there is correct.  It could be the first step you take towards making credit history improvements.  You can check quickly and easily by signing up to one of the free credit checking services. There are many to choose from with Clearscore and Noddle being just two examples.

If your credit score is less than perfect you could check out our advice on bad credit loans.

What is a Bad Credit Loan? – All You Need to Know

The Bad Credit Loan – All You Need to Know

A Bad Credit Loan is a type of loan designed for people with a poor or bad credit history.

There are many reasons that people can find themselves with bad credit and looking for a bad credit loan.  Everything from missing payments on previous or current credit agreements, through to having a County Court Judgement against their names.

People that are new to lending may also find themselves with a low credit score. This is because lenders don’t have access to any lending history to make a decision on.

A bad credit rating means that lenders will consider you a greater risk when it comes to you borrowing money.  Some lenders won’t lend to people with bad credit or poor credit. Other lenders will charge a higher return to reflect the increased risk.

The Pros and Cons of A Bad Credit Loan

Just because you have a low or poor credit rating doesn’t mean you cannot borrow money.  This can be good news for many reasons – including consolidating debts to make monthly payments more manageable, or perhaps to buy a vehicle to get you to and from work.

Taking out a Bad Credit Loan means that you can actually start to repair your credit rating.  As long as you always make your payments in full and on time, you are demonstrating that you can manage your finances responsibly.  Over time, good financial management could lead to an improvement in your credit score.

On the negative side, a Bad Credit Loan will probably cost you considerably more money than a loan to a person with a good credit rating.  A person with poor previous credit applying for a bad credit loan represents a larger risk to the lender and therefore the interest rate offered could be much higher.

Good to Know

So, your credit rating is not as great as you would like.  Here are a few things to think about before applying for a bad credit loan.

Interest Rates: The interest rates will vary. This is dependent on a number of factors; How much do you want to borrow? Over what period?  How poor is your credit score?  Is your borrowing ‘secured’ or ‘unsecured’?

Secured or Unsecured: The interest rate can sometimes be less with a secured loan.  However, your home is at risk if you do not keep up repayments on any loan secured against it. With a loan from Progressive Money, there is no automatic link to your property.

How Long to Take a Loan Over:  You should always remember that the longer it takes you to pay back a loan, the more interest you will pay. However, you should also make sure that the repayments are affordable.

Credit Scores: Whilst paying off a Bad Credit Loan in full and on time is a credit positive, the opposite is also true. If you do not keep up with loan repayments, it will have a serious negative effect on your credit score. If your loan is secured, your home could be at risk.

What are the Alternatives to a Bad Credit Loan ?

A Bad Credit Loan may not be the right financial product for you, so make sure that you do your research before applying. For free and impartial advice, you could visit moneyadviceservice.org.uk.

For further Progressive Money news and information, click here.