Archive for the 'Finances' Category
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Last month while I was doing completing the application to be preapproved to purchase a house I proudly told the lender that I only have one credit card that has no balance. He then told me that having 3 credit cards where you pay more than the minimum (all if possible) balance each month is the best way to increase your credit score.
It may be a good idea for me to get another credit card anyways because the card I have is American Express which is not accepted as widely has Visa or Mastercard. After we pay the downpayment on this house we may be forced to carry a little credit card debt until my husband recieves his graduate school stipend.
I learned about a very organized credit card resource website that can help me find the right credit card. Their list balance transfer credit cards would be useful for finding a credit card to transfer my current balance to so I can save money by not having to pay interest. Visit www.creditcardsclub.com to find the right credit card for you and recieve financial advice such as how to repair your credit.
Posted in Finances, Recommended Resources | 3 Comments »
Thursday, June 5th, 2008
A Boston Herald article jokes that “fees for using airplane restrooms may be around the corner”. However airlines raising their fees and cutting flights are no laughing matter. American Airlines is now charging $15 for each passangers first piece of luggage. For a family of 4 with 2 pieces of luggage each would be an extra $120 dollars! Other airlines such as United are planning to follow suit!
Taking the time to search for cheap flights will now be a priority for most people planning a flight.
If the cheaper airlines like Southwest and Delta don’t start charging these outrageous fees I don’t think it will be long until American Airlines goes out of business.
Posted in Current Events, Finances, Saving Money | 1 Comment »
Friday, May 30th, 2008
- The stay at home mom who starts a small business using her talents to contribute to her family’s finances while caring for her children.
- The new immigrant who finds that thier degree or certification they acquired in their native country is not valid in their new country so they start a small business.
- The college student who starts a small business during their ‘off semester’.
- The breadwinner who realizes that their full time job does not pay all of the bills and so they start a small business.
The above scenarios are just a few examples of the many people who start small business every single day. One important aspect of successfully starting a small business is promoting it and making the business uniquely yours. VistaPrint loves to help small businesses with all of their printing needs. With VistaPrint you can customize business cards, stationary, rubber stamps, signs and magnets. In today’s world it may be essential to the success of your small business to have a website. With VistaPrint you can easily create websites (you don’t need any html or programming knowledge!) from $4.99 per month, sign up now for a free one month trial!
Posted in Finances, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Friday, May 9th, 2008
After arriving home from taking my girls to the park this morning I remembered that it was the 9th today so I quickly turned my computer on and logged into my online banking account and I found out that I received my $1,200 Economic Stimulus Payment from the IRS! We got the $300 per family member payment since we are in the low income category, I believe the middle income families will receive $600 per family member.
I am so glad that we are moving around tax refund time and for once we wont be completely broke when we move. Which reminds me I need to get onto my husband to find a summer job in Provo.
Posted in Finances, My Life | 4 Comments »
Monday, April 21st, 2008
A family Budget is essential in determining what you really should be spending your money on. As we enter a recession reducing our spending may be even more important to us.
The first step to starting a family budget is deciding how you want to keep your budget such as a computer spreadsheet (ie excel), budgeting software, or a notebook and pen.
After you have decided on the method you will use. Have one coloumn to list for all your sources of income and what you expect to earn over the period that you want to budget for (week or month) and what you plan to spend on donations, food, housing, utilities, transportation, clothing, insurance, paying off debt etc… and what you will put into savings. Being sure to budget spendings less than what you earn if at all possible.
Beside that column then list your actual income and expenses. Overtime you will gain a better idea of what you are able to spend on each item.
It really is very simple once you get the hang of it.
Posted in Finances | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
My husband and I used to put most of our money into our savings account and then transfer most of that money to our chequing account to pay our bills each month. This was a good way to make a little extra off the interest short term but not a good way to save our money.
This year we are trying a new approach and putting a little money into our savings account each month. Right now we are able to afford to put in 1% of what we earn each month. It is nice to have money grow little by little and it also helps us budget our expenses more efficently when we count the money we put towards our savings as an expense.
We are now actually fulfilling the purpose of savings accounts!
Posted in Finances | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 4th, 2008
I just wanted to share my piece of good news. We recieved our 2007 tax refund today! Right when I learned that it was in our chequing account I quickly logged in to pay off my credit card. Now the only debt we have is my husbands student loan which we don’t have to pay interest on for at least 5 more years.
What is one thing you will be doing with your tax refund?
Posted in Finances, My Life | 6 Comments »
Thursday, March 27th, 2008
In less than 2 months we are moving to Provo, Utah where my husband will be going to Graduate School at BYU and since we will be there for at least 5 years we talked about maybe buying a house this winter. Of course I went online to see what kind of house we would be able to afford and I ended up learning about a free homebuyers education class that is offered in Provo, I told my husband about it and we decided that we would start looking into buying a house after we take that class.
For some reason I look up Provo Real Estate everyday and see what is available in my price range. I even look up commercial real estate to see how much people could profit from buying a single student apartment complex.
I guess going into the homebuyers education class with a good knowledge of the Provo Real Estate market may help me to ask the teachers some good questions.
Posted in Finances, My Life | 6 Comments »
Monday, March 17th, 2008
LifeLock which is a company that charges customers $10 a month to make their credit more secure however they do this at the expense of credit bureaus. Experian, one of the three major credit reporting companies is upset that LifeLock is costing them money to place fraud alerts for its members. Dan Goodin, a reporter for ‘The Register’, explains that Experian also generates a significant income from services that compete with LifeLock. The report also questions the effectiveness of LifeLock, however it’s CEO Todd Davis is very confident with LifeLock’s ability to protect himself from identity theft that he even has his actual Social Security Number listed on the lifelock website but at the same time cautions others not to follow suit. I guess if he does become a victim of identity theft at least he has his company’s $1,000,000 service guarantee.
Posted in Current Events, Finances | 1 Comment »
Friday, March 7th, 2008
One of the things I really like about the playgroup I take the kids to is that they often have people from the community talk about issues that the parents are interested in while the kids play. Today two ladies from a credit union talked about saving money and other money issues. A few of the moms and dads there mentioned that they were starting business so the credit union ladies may come back and talk about business funding.
Before I was married I sold baby layettes I made to customers at a consignment store, it went better than I expected maybe I’ll try it again when the kids are older I have a hard time finishing a sewing project with two little kids constantly needing my attention. I admire these parents who are starting these home businesses.
Here some of the most popular home based businesses that stay at home parents start:
- Accounting - After finding out how much accountants make per hour (usually between $80 - $120) I wished I went for an accounting degree. I do have an accounting certificate though.
- Putting together gift baskets - I have a friend who is really gifted at putting together gift baskets, this would be a good business for her.
- Child Care - Good way to make money and give your children a play mate!
- Freelance Writing- Write articles for newspapers or magazines of go ahead and start a blog!
- Crafts - If you have a talent for making something you can easily market it online or withing your community.
Posted in Finances, Make More Money | 1 Comment »
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
While I was a student at LDS Business College a few years ago I attended a seminar that the school sponsonred about identity theft. I was surprised by the extent that some people will go to steal someones identity. I know the person giving the presentation named off a long list of ways to protect your idenity but I can only remember three. 1. Don’t carry your Social Security Card with you. 2. Don’t leave documents with your personal information lying around at work and 3. Have anything that may have your personal information such as bills and even some junk mail shreaded up really well.
It is kind of scary that there are dozens of other ways I can protect my identity that I cannot remember. If you do not want to take risks there is a service called life lock that alerts you every time someone tries to do anything with your credit to make sure that you are the only one applying for that credit. with life lock you are also removed from junk mail lists and pre-approved credit lists. Not only does that help protect your credit it also helps the environments and cuts down on the annoyance associated with junk mail. They also offer support if your wallet is stolen and a $1 million service guarantee.
The cost for this service is $10 a month - not bad for advanced security and peace of mind!
Posted in Finances, Recommended Resources, Reviews | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
Today was one of the few times I have watched Oprah this year. I usually only watch it if I’m not doing anything else and the topic interests me. I am really interested in money issues and I love Suze Orman. I was excited when Oprah announced that her giveaway to all her viewers was a copy of Suze Orman’s latest book. I would rather have an acutal book but a downloadable copy is valuable as well. The offer is over at 5pm tomorrow Feb 14, 2008 on Oprah.com.
