10 Best Gift Cards for the College Student on Your List

I am a huge fan of gift cards, and think that they make much better gifts than arbitrary stuff that I don't really need. They do lack the charm and personality of a hand picked gift, but that usually flies out the window when I have in my hands this tiny piece of plastic that I can use to buy what I want, when I want. And this year, if you are looking for a gift for that college student on your list, here are some great ideas for what gift cards will be a hit!

1. Amazon.com: This is undeniably going to be the most popular choice. Amazon offers such a range of options that it can satisfy the needs of most people, not just college students. But for college students in particular the choice of books, CDs, DVDs, games, cell phones and a lot of the items that they will use on a daily basis is incredible. Add to that Amazon’s free shipping policies for purchases over $25, and you have on your hands the making of an ideal gift.



2. Ikea: If your college grad is just starting out or moving out of the dorm into an off-campus housing, then this is certainly the way to go. Ikea has a lot of low priced inexpensive furniture with a modern take that many college students like. One thing to note though is that if there is no physical Ikea location close by then the shipping policies by Ikea are not all that great and may eat away into the gift budget.



3. Best Buy, Circuit City or Fry’s: Many college students love cool electronic gadgets. And there are tons of new toys coming out every year that you may not even be aware of. So giving a gift card to an electronics store and letting them take their pick is surely going to be a great gift, if your college grad loves tech toys.



4. iTunes: If your college grad has an iPod, this is sure to please them to no end. On the other hand, if they don’t have an iPod and you have a big enough budget, then throw in an iPod with the iTunes gift card and you will be their hero for a long time to come!



5. Gift card to favorite restaurants: Most college students are perpetually broke. Eating out is usually a luxury that is much looked forward to. So if you know the favorite restaurant that the gift receiver likes, then buying a gift card to that restaurant is bound to be a sure fire hit.



6. Gift card to a travel site: This may be a gift they may not appreciate right away, especially if they have traveled a lot to meet you. But come spring break time, which is not that far from Christmas, you are bound to receive a huge “Thank You” note :)



7. Mall: The local malls in my area allow me to buy a gift card that is good in all the stores within that mall. If your college grad was a big spender before she/he went to college and got all sobered up due to the high cost of tuition and text books, they are bound to enjoy an evening of splurging at your expense.



8. Gas Cards: With the gas prices starting to climb up again, and the prices of crude oil showing no signs that this will slow down in the near future, this is a great gift. It does not have the wow effect like many of the other gift cards on this list, but if you are a family with a history of practical gift-giving, then this is bound to be better appreciated than a pack of socks or ill-fitting clothes.



9. Local grocery store (Walmart, Target, HEB etc.): While we are on the topic of practical gifts, we may as well cover the gift cards to local grocery store. Personally, I would hate to receive a gift card to a grocery store, since I already have a budget for grocery shopping and can get it done even without the help. Any other gift card in the list so far, let’s me “indulge” but the grocery store gift card is just too practical to be any fun. But like I said, if your family has a history of giving practical gifts, then this is something you might want to consider.



10. The good old Visa Cash Card: Finally, if you just can’t decide, go for the good old Visa debit card. They are as good as cash and can be used anywhere credit cards are accepted. Depending on who you are giving it to, this could be treated as the king of all gifts, or the most impersonal cop-out ever! Your call :)

Do you like receiving gift cards? What are some of the “best” gift cards that you have received?

~~~o0o~~~

Broke College Kid? Take a virtual spring break in Vegas: http://www.partycasino.com/.

~~~o0o~~~

Single Parenting and Finance

(This article is part of a weekly guest column by Claire Moylan*)

When you are a single parent, it becomes even more important to have a good handle on your finances. You may have one or many children that are relying on your ability to generate sufficient income and reduce expenses enough to keep a roof over their heads. While the responsibility of single parenting is enormous, it can become even harder when faced with additional financial burdens. Here are some tips to help you provide for your future and that of your little ones.

Get Help Sooner Than Later – If you are divorcing, make sure that you get enough child support to help you bring up the kids. If you need help and have a low income, you may qualify for some assistance, either through food banks or daycare or financial assistance programs.

Have A Job With Benefits – For a working parent, benefits are essential to providing good healthcare and other additional perks. Some of the benefits that can work well for single parents besides healthcare are flexible spending accounts and company-matched retirement accounts. Using flexible spending accounts a parent can budget daycare and out-of-pocket health care costs in a pre-tax format. Company matching retirement accounts help make the little you do manage to put aside grow a whole lot faster.

Locate Reliable Daycare – Daycare is expensive, but it can cost you your job if it is unreliable. Unlike a dual parent home that has an emergency backup in case your regular daycare is closed, a single parent doesn’t have another adult in the home. You will want to make sure that your daycare is reliable or have some emergency backup daycare providers (family, neighbors, friends) so that you can continue to work.

Take Advantage of Low-Income or Parent Programs – There are low-income programs for school lunches. Some day care provides a discount on multiple children. After school programs sometimes offer single parents a discount too. If you’re not sure, ask. It may surprise you to learn that there are discount programs out there targeted specifically towards helping single parents survive.

Understand Your Tax Situation – If you are single head of household, you will be in a different tax bracket than a married householder. This can also lower your withholdings and make you eligible for a child tax credit at the end of the year. Be sure to check out your tax obligations early so that you have the money in your pocket during the year when you need it.

Be Creative With Your Situation – Maybe you can trade instead of pay for some of your services. Is there another single parent around who can do daycare in exchange for a room in your house? Why not pool your resources? Do you have a hobby you can turn into a side business after hours?

Reduce Your Expenses – Most single parents know all about consignment shops, discount grocery stores, and how to make do with very little. The three main expenses of food, clothing, and shelter all need to be budgeted to make sure that you always have what you need to make do.

Locate Sources of Credit – You will have debt as a single parent. The point is to not get in over your head. You do need to locate sources of credit for those emergency situations. If family can’t help, then using a credit card can be one way to extend your ability to pay. Just keep a tight reign on this as it can easily balloon out of control.

Get Free Emotional and Physical Support – If there is no single parents group in your area, think about starting a network or hopping online. You will need to access to resources and programs out there that can help you overcome some of the financial hurdles that single parents face. It’s also important to have someone to share your troubles with so that you don’t feel alone. This can help you to keep a positive attitude.

Being a single parent is tough and there are multiple ways to cope financially. However, all children grow up and these financial hurdles will eventually pass as they fly the nest to make their own way in life.

About the author: Claire Moylan is a freelance writer specializing in ebooks and custom-tailored articles for niche websites. You can view her portfolio online or check out her constant content page for more information about her writing assignments.

*Image Credit: Photograph by WhatDaveSees [via Flickr]

Frugality and Hardship

I have written quite a bit on this blog about frugality. My general philosophy for these posts has been to find ways to live frugally without compromising the lifestyle significantly. In other words, try to adopt a frugal lifestyle without feeling deprived. But the problem seems to be that I have started to begin believing in this principle of “frugality without hardship” so much so that, I cannot convince myself to give up some things that I am used to, even if I want to! In other words, while I have been relatively successful in making sure I don’t give in to the desire to live a life of excess, I find I am extremely unsuccessful in giving up the little luxuries I am used to!

With the huge medical bills rolling in this month and possibly the next few months, I wanted to trim a little more fat out our fairly lean life style – at least temporarily. But as I look at the different expenses that we have, I find that we cannot bring ourselves to cut down on any of them. We have made sure not to fall for some of the indulgences most of our friends have given in to, but now that we have gotten used to our existing lifestyle, we have a lot of resistance against changing anything. We had a much more leaner lifestyle for a while when we got out of school and started attacking debt – but somehow we just can’t bring ourselves to go back to that.

Frugality without hardship is a luxury of those that want to live frugally out of choice and not out of need.
I remember reading a comment on some one’s blog (sorry I don’t remember whose) that all the talk about living frugally without hardship is a luxury of those that want to live frugally out of choice. For those have to live frugally out of need, whether to do it with or without hardship is not a choice. And that is so true. In some cases, it is just not possible to take the hardship out of the equation. But is the reverse also true – ie, if you are frugal out of choice, you cannot accept any hardships at all?

We have an inherent entitlement attitude that we deserve a decent life.
When you live a frugal life out of need, it is important to try and get out of that situation as soon as possible and a few sacrifices seem acceptable. The situation may be that you are in too much debt or have had a sudden job loss, etc. But somehow, when the frugality is no longer a need, we give in to the inherent entitlement attitude that we deserve a particular lifestyle and having to make sacrifices that compromise that lifestyle seem very difficult.

Short bursts of having to go through hardships can offer stretches of a life without hardships over a long time.
Now, in our particular case, it is not required to make those sacrifices just yet. We could go on having our cable television and eating out 1-2 times a week etc. But, if we don’t want our medical bills to turn into huge debt, we need to give up something some where. And without sacrifices in lifestyle, usually the savings goals fall victims. Instead of compromising our savings goals, it seems logical that short bursts of voluntary hardships now are better and could ensure that we stay hardship free for longer stretches.

If you are willing to go through hardships on choice, you are much better prepared to handle life’s ups and downs.
Moreover, if we can bring ourselves to give up some of our little indulgences voluntarily now, in the future if life throws bigger curve balls at us, we can survive them more easily. We can face whatever life has to offer without feeling like it is imposed on us and we don’t have a choice.

I understand that logically, we should be able to give up some of the little luxuries we are used to. It was not long back that we could not afford these little luxuries and got on by fine without them. Then why is it that I find it so hard to give them up now? Why do even small sacrifices feel like huge deprivations?

*Image credit: Photograph by davebluedevil [via Flickr]

The Ten Commandments of Black Friday Shopping

This year, thanks to all the medical bills that are piling up, I have decided to sit out the Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) sale :( But I impart unto you the knowledge and experience gained from years of surviving the stampede and gaining some sweet deals :) Here we go, the ten commandments of Black Friday shopping.

Commandment 1: Thou shalt be prepared.
There are many, many websites that allow you to do your research ahead of time and find out which deals are really worth it, and which are not. You don’t need to worry about not receiving the fliers any more since adscans to most popular stores are available online. Add to that the deal discussions on forums and blogs, and there really is no excuse for not being prepared. Here is a list of few good sites to get you started.

• Excel spreadsheet of all the deals (via Fatwallet. You’ve got to see it to believe it!!!)
• bfads.net
• fatwallet forums
• blackfriday.gottadeal.com
• blackfriday.info

Commandment 2: Thou shalt make a prioritized list.
Not all deals are created equal. As you look through the different sites, note down the items that you like best (and really need), the store where it is available and price at which it is available. After you are done looking through all the deals (if ever), then organize your notes so that they are prioritized by the stores which have the most number of items that you would really want to buy.

Commandment 3: Thou shalt know the store layout.
There is no point in going to a store and trying to find out where the item might be. So stick to stores that you most often go to, so you are familiar with the layout. I read on one of the websites that many stores have a “store map” which they hand out during Black Friday sales. I personally have never found it, but it is definitely won’t hurt to ask a sales person for one (if you can find a sales person in that crowd, that is).

Commandment 4: Thou shalt know the sale hours.
More and more stores have the midnight madness and all-night marathon sales these days. And almost all have exclusive “early bird” and “door buster” deals. Make sure you know the timings for the items on your list and that you are there as early as possible if you really want to lay your hands on that item.

Commandment 5: Thou shalt know the store policies.
The stores do not have unlimited supplies of items on sale, and the hot items in particular are very limited. It is not uncommon for the stores to have only 15 – 50 items of big ticket products like TV, laptops, game consoles etc on door buster sales. So, if you are not planning to camp out the store all night and elbow your way in when the doors open, don’t bank on such items. Also, many stores have per-person limits on the number of items. For instance, you may find a 2GB USB flash drive for $7.99, but more than likely you will not be able to walk out with a handful of these. Don’t waste your time on lost causes.

Commandment 6: Thou shalt shop in tag teams.
Always, always go to a store in twos or threes. The first person goes directly and stands in the check out line, while the others go scour for the deals on their list. The person in the checkout line acts as the central coordinator. In addition, if you have a big group of friends share your lists with each other and split up into different groups and hit different stores. Remember commandment 5 though – you may be limited by how many items a person can buy. So use this strategy wisely.

Commandment 7: Thou shalt make sure that your cell phones are fully charged.
If you are tag teaming or better still coordinating with friends in different stores, you should be able to communicate efficiently and fast. So it is vital that everyone has cell phones that are charged to the hilt. In addition, treat cell phones with Internet access as premium commodity since they will come in very handy for looking up the reviews, price comparison and staying up to date on the latest deals. Make sure you carry your car charger with you, so you can charge the cell phones back up while going from one store to the other.

Commandment 8: Thou shalt wear comfortable clothes and preferably running shoes.
The Black Friday sale is not about being fashionable – its all about being efficient and agile. You have the rest of the year to fashionably show off your spoils. But for this one day, make sure you dress in sensible comfortable clothes and shoes. Also, you might want to go with the layers approach – even though it is freezing outside, it may be pretty warm inside the stores because of the crowds of people milling about.

Commandment 9: Thou shalt keep some water and snacks in the car.
If you have just a few items on your list and after hitting a store or two, you plan to retire, then you can skip this one. But if you are a hard core veteran and plan to hit many different stores and come home with the best of the deals that can be had, you better make sure you have enough nutrition supply in the car to keep you fed and hydrated between stores.

Commandment 10: Thou shalt not buy junk just because it is on sale.
Finally, pay particular attention to this one. Just because it is on sale does not make it a deal. If you don’t want it, or if it is just poor quality junk that will likely break down after two uses, you are much better off without it. Buying junk will undermine all the hard work, melt away the benefits of all the deal that you scrambled so much to grab. So only buy those items that you really need and are really worth buying.

Well, have fun y’all. I will be rooting for you from the warm comfort of my home :) Happy Thanksgiving and seeya back on Monday.


Other similar articles from around the web:

• Black Friday Stories, Thoughts and Strategies @ Wise Bread.


• How to Shop Like an Expert @ Alpha Consumer column on usnews.com.


• Black Friday Thoughts and Strategies @ Not Made of Money


• 2007 Black Friday Buying Guide for Electronics and Gadgets @ Finance Is Personal.

*Image Credit: Photograph by Johnia! [via Flickr]

Is Your 401K Tempting You To Borrow?

(This article is part of a weekly guest column by Claire Moylan*)

It’s certainly nasty out there in the lending world right now. As banks tighten their credit requirements, some people are wondering how to pay back large credit card debt or fund a down payment for a home. While many Americans haven’t been model savers in the short-term, many have retirement accounts that are a tempting source of money when times get tough. The amount of people borrowing from their 401K plans is increasing. It’s estimated that at least 20% of Fidelity’s clients are borrowing against their 401Ks. However, is this really a good option when money is tight?

Some Things To Consider

The reason people borrow from their 401K plans is because it’s easy to do. You just go to your employer and fill out some paperwork. In about a week, you have a loan to you from your own 401K account. The loan repayment can range from 1 to 5 years, sometimes 10 years, and is usually with a lower interest rate. Whatever interest you do pay when you repay the loan is returned to your account. So, the idea of borrowing from your 401K to reduce your debt burden elsewhere is very tempting. Even though there are limits to how much you can borrow (typically 50% of your vested interest up to $50,000), if you have a large retirement account and you aren’t anywhere near retirement, you may think putting the money towards paying down debt is a good strategy.

This might be the case, if it weren’t for one thing: You don’t know how secure your job is in this economy. If you are laid off, terminated, or even quit to get a better job before you pay off the loan, the entire balance is due in full – and, within 60 days of your leaving! If you do not pay the loan back within that amount of time, then you are subject to the same penalties and taxes as an early withdrawal. These are quite hefty and can result in a tax bill of up to 20 to 50% of the value of the loan; depending on what tax bracket you are in. So, taking a loan from your 401K is a risk if you leave your present job (for whatever reason) and can result in a large tax bill.

The Alternatives

Other forms of loans that can help you in the event you need to get funds for a major purchase, like a home, or to repay a large amount of debt are: home equity loans, loans from credit unions or banks, or even a personal loan.

• Home equity loans – A home equity loan uses the equity in your home to help you consolidate your debt and pay it off. You can get some good rates on home equity loans and is a way of putting your equity to work for you, even while you still live in the home. Although this type of loan won’t come due if you lose your job, you do have to continue to make the monthly payments on time in order to keep your home. Since this is a risk with any home equity loan, you want to check to make sure that the terms of your agreement can be met and that you can afford the loan.


• Loans from banks and credit unions – If you belong to a credit union, they are very good for helping people lower the rates on their existing loans. Banks will have more market-competitive rates but are also a good source for lending, if you have good credit and some assets.


• Personal loans – Don’t overlook friends and families. You can even go to Prosper.com and get a personal loan from total strangers. If you want a loan to start a business or consolidate high interest debt and are having trouble with a bank, try to find someone who might know you who is willing to take on the risk based on your character. If you are paying 10% to someone else and they are willing to give you the loan at 7%, you are not only making a friend richer, but saving yourself some money too.

There are a number of creative ways to find financing, besides your 401K. Unless you are sure you intend to be at your job for the duration of the loan, or have funds to pay it back quickly, then it’s best not to tap this source.

About the author: Claire Moylan is a freelance writer specializing in ebooks and custom-tailored articles for niche websites. You can view her portfolio online or check out her constant content page for more information about her writing assignments.

How to Maximize the Bang for the Buck When You Buy Organic Food

At the grocery store, I have noticed that organic food in general costs about 25 – 50% more than regular items, and in some cases the mark up is more than 200%. According to the USDA certification guidelines - “Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation.” For some, especially those with young children, it may seem like the benefits of using organic foods justifies the extra cost. But like everything else, it is important to look beyond the label to get the best bang for the buck. Here is some information that can help decide which organic purchases are worth the extra cost and which may not be.

Pesticide Retention
Let’s start out with the “Dirty Dozen”, a list put together by not-for-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG). This list is based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the USDA and the FDA between 2000 and 2004. This list identifies the foods and vegetables that retain the most pesticide content in them. By switching to the organic equivalents of these items you can cut down the pesticide content in your daily food intake dramatically, hence maximizing the bang for the buck of your “organics budget”.

1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Lettuce
9. Grapes (Imported)
10. Pears
11. Spinach
12. Potatoes

On the other hand, if you are buying organic Onions, Avocado, Sweet Corn (Frozen), Pineapples, Mango, Sweet Peas (Frozen), Asparagus, Kiwi, Bananas, Cabbage, Broccoli or Eggplant, you may not be getting much benefit from spending the extra dollars for going organic. The same study as above indicates that these fruits and veggies retain very few pesticides. For full information about the items that you most often buy and to determine if the additional cost for going organic is really worth it, check out this detailed article or their complete data set.

Growth Hormones
Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH or rBST) is a genetically engineered hormone that is injected into cows to increase milk production. Even though FDA approved the use of rBGH as safe for consumption in 1993, further studies have linked rBGH in humans to susceptibility to breast and colon cancer (Note: the results are not conclusive, though). In addition the cows treated with rBGH are more susceptible to diseases and hence likely to be treated with antibiotics, the remnants of which could be found in milk and other dairy products. Hence, spending your organic food budget on organic dairy products may be a wise decision. Here is a listing of artificial hormone-free brands listed by states.

Genetically Engineered Food
It is not quite clear if genetic/bio engineering will make the agricultural produce better or create frankenfoods. The debate rages on. If you would like to avoid the genetically engineered foods however, you might want to watch out for products containing corn, soy, canola and cotton. According to the True Food website, these four crops account for nearly 99% of the genetically engineered crop acreage in North America. As mentioned above, the USDA description of “organic” precludes the use of bioengineered ingredients, and so going organic for items that use corn, soy, canola and cotton seed can get you the best bang for the buck if you want to avoid genetically engineered food. Here is a list of brands that use/avoid genetically engineered ingredients for items ranging from baby foods to cookies to frozen dinners.

Shelf life
An informal study conducted by the authors of this MSNBC article found many organic items had much lower shelf life compared to conventional products. They used lettuce, broccoli, chicken and milk in their tests. They found that there was a significant difference, and in case of lettuce, broccoli and chicken, the organic produce went bad much sooner than the conventional produce. However, in the case of milk, they found that the organic milk had similar shelf life as regular milk. In general, when you plan your menus, make sure you use up the organic food items before you reach for the conventional groceries, to prevent wastage of those items that you have already a paid a premium for!

Understanding the labels
Finally, it is very important to understand what the labels mean when you purchase something organic. According to the USDA National Organic Program the labels can be interpreted as follows

“100% Organic”
Products labeled as “100% organic” must contain 100 percent organically produced ingredients, not counting added water and salt. Label may show the USDA organic seal and/or certifying agent seal(s).

“Organic”
Products labeled as “Organic” must contain at least 95% organic ingredients, not counting added water and salt. Also, they must not contain added sulfites. They may contain up to 5% of non-organically produced agricultural ingredients which are not commercially available in organic form. Label may show the USDA organic seal and/or certifying agent seal(s). The label may also show “X% Organic”.

“Made with organic ingredients”
For products labeled as “made with organic ingredients” the percentage of organic-only ingredients drops down to 70%. Up to 30% of the ingredients may be non-organic. The label may show the certifying agent seal(s), but NOT the USDA organic seal.

Any product with less than 70% organic ingredients may not claim to be organic and may not show the USDA or any other certifying agent seal. They can however, list individual organic ingredients used.

So to sum it up, if you have a limited budget to spend on organic items make sure you understand which items offer the best benefits by going organic. Also, to me it looks like the best bang for the buck will be to buy something with the USDA seal since it guarantees that at least 95% of the ingredients are organic and the product does not contain sulfites, which cause allergies and asthma in some people. And finally, consume organic produce soon since they are likely to have smaller shelf life.

Do you buy organic food? What are the most common items that you prefer to buy organic? What do you do to save money in your organic groceries list?

Gifts to Avoid this Holiday Season

OK, it’s that time of the year again. Sale signs have started to go up as the stores begin to woo customers and their holiday shopping dollars. Whether you are an early shopper or a last-minute person, here is a handy list of what gifts you should avoid this holiday season!

Pets
Puppies and kittens are so cute and cuddly – so they make perfect gifts, right? Wrong! For one, the choice of a pet is a very personal decision. Pets come in all shapes and sizes and it must be up to the pet owner to decide whom to choose for a life-long friend. Second, the cost of owning is pet is ridiculously high and you must consider if the person really wants to spend that much money before giving them a pet. Third, pets require a lot of time and attention – can the person receiving the gift really take care of the pet? Finally, if the person does not like your gift, what do they do with it? It’s not like a toy that you can return back to the store. A lot of pets given as gifts end up in shelters and this holiday season don’t be someone responsible for another abandoned pet.

Hi-tech items, when you are hi-tech challenged.
If you are hi-tech challenged, you should in general stay away from giving hi-tech gifts. Hard-core gamers have very specific favorites and unless you know enough about gaming yourself, picking a computer game at random just because it is on sale or on the hot-item list is a bad idea. A laptop can be configured in any number of ways, and unless you know whether the person whom you are gifting a laptop wants a lot of memory or processing power or a great graphics card, you may end up with an expensive gift that no one is happy about. If you don’t know a 16MB USB Flash from a 1Gig one, it may be better to stay away from giving flash drives! Same goes for digital cameras, MP3 players etc. And oh, blank VHS tapes are so old news. Gift cards are great alternatives. But if you think they are impersonal, and want to give the real thing, at least, try dropping a few hints and check out the reaction before you blow your money away. Or see if you can recruit a spy and a consultant (usually a sibling or spouse of the person receiving the gift) to help you select the right gift.

Exercise Equipment
I don’t know why anyone would do this. Particularly, avoid giving exercise equipment to women. While nobody likes being told that they need to start working out, women are particularly sensitive to someone hinting to them that they are “fat”. Even the skinniest ones of us will secretly hate you, if you give us exercise equipment as holiday gifts! In addition, the choice of what equipment to buy is again personal. So unless someone specifically asks you for particular equipment as a gift, strike this one off your list!

Gift cards to specialty stores
I know that a cousin of mine I am meeting for the holidays loves coffee. So I can’t go wrong with buying her a starbucks gift card, right? Well, here’s the catch – she goes to school in a small town which is probably one of the few towns now in the US with just one starbucks coffee shop in the whole town. It’s a town with old world charm where people love their local coffee shops which either boast live music, or mini-libraries and or great bakeries with pastries to die for! With a starbucks gift card, I would probably end up cramping her lifestyle! Another risk with gift cards to specialty stores is that the recipient may not have the specialty store in their town at all, or it may be one very long drive to get to the store! If you do choose to go for gift cards, make sure they are to stores that exist in the town of the recipient, or can at least be used online without having to pay hefty shipping charges.

Items that kids love but parents hate.
If you are buying gifts for someone else’s kids, be careful not to alienate the parents in your eagerness to impress the kids. For instance, you might want to skip that cute-but-loud clapping singing money for your colleague’s 2-year old kid, unless your real intention is to annoy the living day lights out of your colleague. And before you buy roller blades or skate boards or other high risk items for your nieces and nephews, you might want to consult with your sister/brother first.

What are some of the worst gift you have ever received? What are some of the worst gifts you have ever given? :)

Poll: Which Donors Choose Project Should I Support?

Donors Choose is a charity organization that puts donors directly in touch with teachers at public schools who are in need of resources. Last month they ran a Bloggers' Challenge and invited bloggers to help raise money. Personal Finance bloggers stepped up to the call with the Financial Literacy Challenge and were able to raise $2,225 which is 111% of the goal of $2,000! The money raised will fund several projects that will help 102 students learn about money management in the real world. I was quite impressed by the response.

And yesterday, I found out that there is a lot more to it. I received a mail from Donors Choose that the blogging community overall managed to raise $420,000 reaching 75,000 students from low-income communities! That’s awesome! Talk about little drops of water making up a mighty ocean! But it doesn’t stop at that. One of the supporters of Donors Choose has sponsored gift certificates to bloggers who participated. So I have received $100.00 that I can use to fund other projects on Donors Choose! Isn’t that neat? As I started looking to find which project to support, I started getting really confused. There are so many worthy causes out there! Since you readers are what made this possible, I decided to put the ball in your court. Here is a short list of 4 projects that I am leaning towards. Your help in picking a project is much appreciated. Each option contains a short description and a link to the project page if you are interested in finding out more details. Please let me know if any one of them stand out for you. Also, if you are passionate about some other cause, or are a teacher in need of funds, please choose the "other" option and send me an email or leave a comment with the name of the project that you would like to be considered. A request from a teacher who is also a reader of this blog will receive the highest priority :) Finally, if I don't receive any responses, I will split the money among these 4 projects.

Here is my list so far (the poll is at the top of the right sidebar) –

1. Financial math classroom activities kits to replace those destroyed by Hurricane Rita. Total cost: $462. Current funding: 11%. (Details)


2. White boards for small special education group of students with disabilities ranging from mildly mental retarded, to high functioning autistic. Total cost: $228. Current funding: 56%. (Details)


3. Guided reading book bundle for immigrant and first generation students from Algeria, Bosnia, China, India, Kenya, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Pakistan and Morocco. Total cost: $379. Current funding: 13%. (Details)


4. Guidance counselor support to provide counseling services that expand the post-secondary options available for students of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Total cost: $188. Current funding: 61%. (Details)


5. Other – please leave a comment below or send me a mail with details of the project you are interested in.

I will leave the poll on at the top of the right sidebar for a week or so. Thank you all for your help. (PS: If any of the options on the list are fully funded by the time the polling ends, then I will pick another project that is similar in spirit.)

Update (11/23/2007): Donors Choose would not allow me to split the gift certificate among multiple projects. Since the first project on the list received the highest number of votes I have applied the entire $100 to that project. Thanks everyone for voting!

Repairs And Maintenance That Save You Money In The Long Run

(This article is part of a weekly guest column by Claire Moylan*)

When you own something, in a lot of ways it owns you: your time, your money, and your commitment to keeping it up. This is true whether what you own is a home, a car, or a computer. Whenever you decide to make a purchase, you have to realize that there are maintenance costs that come with almost every purchase. Maintenance can help lengthen the life of your purchase and thus end up saving you money. Repairs can help you avoid costly accidents and liability issues from leaving something broken. Finally, there comes a time when you have to realize that your purchase has exceeded it’s lifespan and then you must know when to let it go and buy a replacement to save money on repairs. Here are some quick tips to repair or maintain a variety of purchases.

Wardrobe

• Learn To Sew - Don’t throw a piece of clothing out if it is missing a button. Instead, learn some quick sew tips to lengthen the wear of your expensive goods.
• Buy Wash and Wear – The less you have use dry cleaning services, the more you save on maintaining your clothing.
• Invest In Classics – Of course, you do want some classics to dress up a wash and wear wardrobe. Leather jackets may cost a bit extra, but they also wear forever with good care.
• Locate A Shoe Repair Shop – Get your soles redone or a total shoe restoration. It’s usually far cheaper than buying new shoes.

Car

• Change The Oil – Changing the oil can keep your car running smoothly and prevent costly repairs.
• Change Your Air Filter – This can even improve your gas mileage.
• Inflate Your Tires – This is another great tip for getting good mileage out of your car and reducing wear and tear.
• Follow Your Manufacturer’s Maintenance Schedule – Each car comes with it’s own set of repairs that should be done at 20,000 to 60,000 miles. If you keep up to schedule, you can significantly extend the life of your car and avoid major repairs down the road.

House

• Cut Shrubs and Trees Away From House – If you keep the landscaping trimmed away from the house, there is less change it will damage the roof, the gutters, or attract squirrels and other pests.
• Clean The Gutters – You want to keep the gutters free of debris so when it rains or snows, moisture is taken away from your house and not allowed to cause damage around the foundation or on the roof.
• Caulking Doors And Windows – This is something that should be checked with the change of seasons to see if it needs to be re-caulked. It saves money on your utilities.
• Maintain Major Systems – You want to make sure your air conditioner is in proper shape as well as your furnace before the season starts. Maintaining these systems keeps them working and avoids costly repairs down the road.
• Install Working Smoke Detectors – This type of maintenance deals with preventing major liabilities in the future. Of course, most homes are required to have working smoke detectors.
• Remove Dead Limbs And Wood From Lawn – This is to keep termites from finding them and setting up shop.
• Repair Any Moisture Leaks Immediately – Whether the roof leaks or your toilet is dripping, moisture can cause excessive home damage and can be a huge expense if not repaired immediately.

Electronics/Appliances/Computers

This is one category where it sometimes pays to trash something you own, rather than repair it. Check out the prices of new equipment before you make significant expenditures to fix a problem with your electronic equipment. Other than that, here are some things that can lengthen the life of your electronics and computers:

• Get Virus Protection – No one should own a pc without buying virus protection anymore. It’s simply too risky.
• Do Regular Spyware Checks – You can download spyware detectors for free and run them regularly to keep this type of hack off your pc.
• Use A Surge Suppressor – This very inexpensive device has multiple outlets for all kinds of sensitive electronic equipment, including pcs. Use them to avoid a surge in electricity damaging your fine electronics.
• Replace Small Parts – Did your food processor container warp? Order a replacement for less than the cost of a new food processor. Just keep the information on all your appliances in one place.
• Check and Replace Batteries – It may seem a small thing, but people sometimes forget that a device uses batteries.
• Check The Cords – Sometimes cords can go bad but the equipment itself still works. Don’t forget to check any power cords or other types of cord that may have failed. Always throw out bad cords as they can pose a fire hazard.


About the author: Claire Moylan is a freelance writer specializing in ebooks and custom-tailored articles for niche websites. You can view her portfolio online or check out her constant content page for more information about her writing assignments.

Image Credit: http://www.u-look.com.au

What to Look Out for Before Transferring Balance to a Credit Card

A balance transfer offer from a credit card is a great way to either save some money or to make some money. For example if you have $1000 in debt with 18.99% APR interest rate, and you estimate that it will take you a year to pay off that debt, then over the course of the year you will pay $105.82 in interest (using this calculator). By transferring that balance to a credit card with a low rate (more details about this in a bit) say 3.99%, over the course of the same one year, you will end up paying only $21.74 in interest. In which case you save $84 in terms of interest paid. If your debt amount is higher, the savings can be higher as well.

If you are debt free and want to leverage the credit card offers, then you could accept a credit card offer with 0% APR and transfer the money to a high-yield online savings account and make some money. Last year, I made around $2,000 from credit card arbitrage, so this can be quite lucrative if you follow the rules of the game. Anyway, irrespective of whether you plan to pay off your debt or make money using credit card arbitrage, here are some things to look out for before jumping on that balance transfer offer.

What is the interest rate?
Obviously the first thing to look for is the interest rate. If your intention is to do credit card arbitrage, then you want a card that offers 0% APR. There is no argument about that. If on the other hand, you are looking to do a balance transfer to reduce the interest you are paying on your debt, then you must go for an offer that provides the lowest possible interest rate, even though it may not be zero. If you do not have any offers in the mail yet, you might be able to call one of the credit card companies for the cards you already own and request for an “introductory” low rate for transferring balances. Make sure that the credit card you are transferring balances to does not already have a balance since the payment you make each month will always apply to the balance with the lowest interest rate.

What is the balance transfer fee?
Most credit card companies today charge a balance transfer fee. In some cases they may waive the fee for the first balance transfer, which is great. More often than not though the fees are around 3% of the amount transferred with a maximum cap of ~$50 to $75. You need to watch out for these fees carefully since they can completely obliterate any benefits you were expecting from making the balance transfer. For example, if you plan on doing a credit card arbitrage, paying 3% in fees while earning 5% in interest may just not be worth it! If you are planning to pay off debt, if your original debt was at 18.99% APR, but the new offer is for 16.99% with a balance transfer fee of 3%, you may actually end up paying more! So, pay close attention to the balance transfer fees.

How long is the introductory rate valid?
Most introductory rates are valid from 3 months to 18 months. If it is 3 months, it is probably not worth it to pay the fees and transfer balance. The 18 month balance transfers are a very rare breed. 9 to 12 months is more of the norm. So if you have an offer in mail for a 3 – 6 month introductory period, I would suggest passing it up and continue to pay your balances on all your cards. Sooner or later, you will start to receive juicier offers with longer introductory period.

What is the interest rate after the introductory period runs out?
If you are looking for a credit card arbitrage, then this should not matter since you will either pay off the balance or roll over the amount when the introductory period ends. But if you are looking to use a balance transfer to pay off debt you need to pay particular attention to it. Again, let us use the same example as earlier – a debt of $1000 with 18.99% APR, but assume that it will take you 2 years to pay off that debt. Now with all numbers rounded up, you will end up paying around $209.69 in interest over the course of the two years (again, using this calculator). Now, suppose you transfer the balance to a card with 9.99% APR for 9 months and 26.99% APR after that. Also, let us assume that the balance transfer fee is 3%. In that case, over the course of 2 years you end up paying around $215 which is more than what you would pay without the balance transfer!

What is the minimum payment?
Ideally, it is better for your credit score if you can always pay a little more than the minimum payment. So, irrespective of whether it is a credit card arbitrage or whether you are paying off debt, you need to be able to make a little more than the minimum payment. In the worst case, even if you can't make additional payments, you should always make at least the minimum payment before the due date in order to ensure than you introductory rate stays valid. Different credit card companies charge have different percentages for calculating the minimum payment usually in the range of 2 – 4%. So if you are transferring the balance from a company that computed the minimum payment as 2% of the balance to a company that computes the minimum payment as 4% of the balance, your monthly required payment doubles. If you have a very tight budget, make sure you have taken this into consideration.

Is there any requirement to qualify for the introductory rate?
There have been some credit card companies that offer an exceptional low APR with low balance transfer fees for a long term etc, but they come with a trap. You are usually required to make at least one purchase (sometimes three) using that card each month. The catch here is that, purchases are charged a higher interest rate than the balance transfer, and any time you make a payment, it will apply first to the amount at lowest interest rate (in this case the balance transfer offer). The trap here is that, if you forget and make a large purchase, you will end up paying a huge amount of interest on that purchase. Or, if you forget to make any purchases, your introductory APR is no longer valid and your interest jumps up quite dramatically. I personally stay away from such trap cards, but know of several people who have played the arbitrage game with such cards for years. So, it is up to you to decide if this is a biggie or not.

What are the default policies?
There are two things you need to be aware of here – the default rate, and the universal default policy. Default rate is the rate that applies if you do not meet the conditions for the introductory offer (eg. missed making the minimum payment before the due date). Universal default policy means that the credit card company can jack up the rates, even if you missed a payment on some other credit card, by an entirely different company! If you are doing a credit card arbitrage, then hopefully you have the money tucked away in a safe online account with relatively easy access. In that case, the default rate does not matter so much, but you may still want to avoid a card with the universal default clause, if your credit card arbitrage involves more than one card. If you are paying back debt, then you should pick a card with the lowest default rate that does not have the universal default clause.

If used properly, balance transfers are a great way to save or make some money. But the credit card companies have devised a ton of traps to make sure they can stay in business. If you plan to use the balance transfers to get out of debt faster or to make some money via arbitrage, make sure you know all the terms and be prepared for gotchas. Watching out for the items on the list above should be your first step. But do not stop at that. Keep reading on this topic and be prepared for whatever the credit card companies throw at you next!

Spending Habits That Defy Logic

As I have alluded to it briefly before, we are in for some steep medical bills with limited insurance coverage. We are still working out exactly what and how much insurance will cover, but when the dust settles, I think our out-of-pocket expenses over the next couple of months will be in the range of $7,000 - $12,000 :( We don’t know if that will be the end of it, or if the bills will continue through next year. We have seen this coming for a while now, and still our emergency savings sit at the same $5,000 - $6,000 that it has been at for the past year or so. I don’t know if we have been living with our head buried in the sand hoping that somehow, magically, we can dodge the bullet, or it is just a matter of old habits dying hard.

During our days in college when we were out on our own for the first time, we got into the habit of charging everything to a credit card. It led us to a lot of financial trouble that took a lot of time to clean up. We have learnt and incorporated a few important lessons ever since such as living within our means, saving up for retirement, investing some money and aggressively paying off the mortgage. But one thing that has not changed is our spending habits. For some reason we still rely heavily on the use of credit/loan to pay any big ticket items or bills. Somehow, even though we have been fairly diligent in saving money, we always use up all the savings to aggressively pay off some older debt (mostly mortgage, and in recent months, auto loan) or invest it. We have never really been the ones to save up for a big purchase/bill even when we see it coming. Our attitude has always been to use low-interest loans for any major purchases/bills and then try to pay it off aggressively later.

If you look around the personal finance blog world, you will probably notice that most people fall in one of the two categories – those that always save up for purchases ahead of time or those that almost always leverage available credit. People in the first category are careful about their spending habits, have at least three months of living expenses stashed away in emergency savings and are in general prepared for what life throws at them (or at least working towards that goal). People in the second category usually try to gain the most possible leverage out of available credit by obtaining low interest debt and investing it in endeavors that offer better returns. If you ask the question “Should you pre-pay your mortgage?” people in the first category will likely answer “Yes, it’s a huge debt, so get rid of it as soon as possible” and people in the second category will likely answer “No way, stretch it as much as possible since the interest is low and has so many tax benefits”.

Our spending habits seem to defy logic and not fall in either category (or falls in both categories, depending on how you see it). I dabble heavily in credit card arbitrage where I take money from 0% credit card balance transfer offers and park it in an online savings account to earn interest. For our car purchase, we chose to take out a loan instead of using our savings, since the interest rate on the loan is 5.25%, far lower than what our investments are doing. And like I mentioned above, we use credit for all major purchases/bills availing any cash back bonus on credit cards as well as any 0% offers. So that should put us in the second category. However, while we rely quite heavily on credit, we are still quite debt averse. We make additional payments to our auto loan and mortgage on a regular basis, even though investing that extra money would probably yield better earnings. Having debt really bothers us and we go out of our way to get rid of any existing debt. In that sense, we belong in the first category of personal finance bloggers who shun debt at all costs.

So far, this dichotomy has worked in a positive way. We are not worried to take out a loan, so we are not too conservative with keeping a huge stash of money in an emergency account. At the same time, we are quite debt averse, and in the event that we do take out a loan we go all out at it and try to get rid of it as soon as possible. We get some of the benefits of float where we get to keep savings in higher interest investments, instead of saving it in a low interest savings account in anticipation of the big bills. Once we do pay the big bills using credit, we hate that debt and so get all stingy and creative until we have paid off that loan.

However, ever since we got debt-free (other than mortgage) a few years back, this is the first time that we have two huge loans on our hands – the auto loan and the medical loan. There is no way our paychecks will allow us to pay off both as aggressively as we would like. At this point we are trying to figure out if it is time to scale back the mortgage pre-payment or float the new loan on 0% APR balance transfers for a long time. With the first option, we end up stretching out our mortgage-free time horizon which is an inherent part of our long term goals, but it is a less risky option. With the second option, I only lose the ~$2,000 free money I was making from credit card arbitrage which is not a big deal, but it is far riskier since one of the cardinal rules of the credit card arbitrage game is to have the money easily accessible. Also, with the second option I am worried that having a lot of debt will bug us to death! This is where our spending habits that defy logic come to haunt us – neither decision seems satisfactory :(

What category do you belong to - prefer to save up for major purchases or float it on low interest credit cards? What are your personal experiences about the ups and downs of your choice?

Announcing the Winners of October Book Giveaway...

Ooops. I was so caught up with work over the past few weeks that I almost forgot to announce the winners of the October book giveaway! And I was really looking forward to this too. Geez. Anyway, it’s better late than never, right? For the giveaway of the book "Your Money and Your Brain: How the new science of Neuroeconomics can help make you rich", after removing the duplicate entries, we had 19 people contesting for 3 books. Here is a look at all those who participated.

1. Anastasia	2. Diane	3. Michael
4. plonkee	5. Ashley	6. Ryan
7. Stephanie	8. paidtwice	9. the seeker
10. Michele	11. Luke	12. Beth
13. Anja	14. Anonymous	15. David
16. Jenne	17. Nivek	18. Anitz
19. The Bag Lady

I ran the numbers through the random number generator atrandom.org and the winners are –



Congratulations David, Luke and Anastasia! I will send you an email to get your shipping addresses and have the books shipped out to you this week.

Thanks everyone for participating, and hopefully we will have another giveaway soon!

The Best of Finance Blogosphere: “Mandatory PF courses in Ohio” Edition

According to this news article personal finance courses will be mandatory in Ohio high schools starting 2010, according to a new bill. Well, about time someone took a step in this direction. I hope this will spread to other states as well, and by the time my (yet-unborn) children attend high school they will learn all about responsible money management :)

Now on to some great articles I came across last week.

• The Baglady picked up on my musings last week whether parents should try to influence their children’s college applications, in a poignant post about how Asian parents influence their children’s success. In addition to the great article, there is also an interesting discussion going on in the comments. This was definitely the best article I read (and participated in) this week!


• Another article that I liked a lot is 8 steps to a six figure salary @ Brip Blap. This is some great advice, very practical and very honest.


• SVB @ The Digerati Life has a great post about being frugal while you watch your hygiene. I loved the article, but the picture she chose to include scared me to death! I am seriously reconsidering ever having any kids :)


• David @ My Two Dollars asks Are You Maximizing Your Credit Card Rewards Program? Well, I get 5% cash back on the money spent at the gas pump, but other than that it is all just 1% cash back every where. Not as good as getting 5% at the grociery stores as well, but I never did lay my hands on a card that would give good cash back rewards as well as a great balance transfer offer for my arbitrage game.


• Cathy @ Chief Family Officer write about her choice to go the DIY route instead of joining Weight Watchers. I have a bunch of friends at work who are doing Weight Watchers and I never understood why they would want to pay someone to do something they so easily can do by themselves for free. As a matter of fact, I offered to keep track of one of my friends points for half the price – she just laughed at me. Again, I wonder why :)


• If you ever plan to move to Canada, you must read this article at Loonies and Sense which compares the savings plans in US vs. Canada.


• Patrick @ Cash Money Life has an interesting article listing the 25 ways in which he saves money. It’s a classic list with some additional things that you don’t normally think of such as “drive smoothly” and “take care of things”. A good reminder.


• If you are into dividend stocks for generating passive income, you should check out this article by Sun @ The Sun’s Financial Diary about dividend paying foreign stocks.


• Glblguy @ Gather Little By Little has an honest confession in his post titled old habits die hard. But I am glad to read that he has opened a Mint account to fix the lapse. I think what I took from this post was that, Yes old habits do die hard, but new habits can help stop them from causing any serious damage!

That's all for now. Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Guide to Hiring Women!

I received an email from a friend with this “Guide to Hiring Women” supposedly published in the July 1943 issue of Transportation Magazine. Apparently, it was written for male supervisors of women in the work force during World War II. I couldn’t quite believe it and decided to dig a little further. Looks like it is not just spam or a hoax after all! Snopes.com claims to have verified the legitimacy of the article and has images of the original print version on their site! All I have to say is, Thank God, I wasn’t looking for a job in the 40’s!

Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees

There's no longer any question whether transit companies should hire women for jobs formerly held by men. The draft and manpower shortage has settled that point. The important things now are to select the most efficient women available and how to use them to the best advantage. Here are eleven helpful tips on the subject from Western Properties:

1. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they're less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn't be doing it, they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.


2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy. It's always well to impress upon older women the importance of friendliness and courtesy.


3. General experience indicates that "husky" girls - those who are just a little on the heavy side - are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.


4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination - one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.


5. Stress at the outset the importance of time the fact that a minute or two lost here and there makes serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.


6. Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that they'll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they lack initiative in finding work themselves.


7. Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.


8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.


9. Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they can't shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman - it breaks her spirit and cuts off her efficiency.


10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl's husband or father may swear vociferously, she'll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.


11. Get enough size variety in operator's uniforms so that each girl can have a proper fit. This point can't be stressed too much in keeping women happy.

What the @$^% ?!!??!!!

How To Keep That Caring Spirit When You Are Broke – Part II

(This article is part of a weekly guest column by Claire Moylan*)

Yesterday, in part one of this article, we discussed the Caring versus the Thing economy. We also talked about the principle of paying yourself first, even when it comes to volunteerism. Here are some practical tips to learn how to do just that.

How To Pay Yourself With Volunteerism

One of the nice things about this service placement that I am doing is that Naropa University helped me to define a profitable volunteering experience for myself. They did it by having the format that helped to establish clear goals and the environment for achieving those goals. The non-profit group also had to follow guidelines that talked about their role in the volunteering and what they were expected to do too. Even if you don’t have a formal process to get started in a volunteer position, it can help you to define what you want to get out of this experience by following the same format. Write out five goals, your expectations of the people you are choosing to volunteer with, and how you intend to use this experience to further your goals in life.

So, keep in mind the following things when selecting a volunteer activity:

• Know Your Field Of Interest - If you are learning to be a veterinarian, don’t volunteer at the local library. Try to get into a veterinary hospital. This is experience that can go on your resume and give you several references too.


• Define Your Objectives – Like a good resume has a career objective at the top, so you should have some clear ideas of your objectives for this volunteer placement. Make sure you speak about them before you decide to commit your time. Tell them what your areas of interest are and try to get experience there.


• Limit Your Time – Yes, you do want some experience, but remember that your paying ventures come first. They are what pay the bills. If you commit to five hours a week, don’t increase it out of guilt.


• Network – Volunteer placements can be wonderful for networking. If you volunteer for specific conferences, you are sometimes allowed to go in for free too. This way you not only get paid to volunteer, but you have more opportunity to network with professionals in the field of your interest. How much is it worth to you to meet a famous person that you wouldn’t have met otherwise?


• Eat For Free – While many people won’t pay you in dollars, agencies do like to sometimes offer volunteers free coffee, donuts, and the like. Eat up, and pay yourself some more. You already paid for gas to get there.


• Do Your Best – Treat your volunteer work as a professional job. You never know when this experience might land you the job of your dreams. Keeping a professional attitude ensures that when they call for your reference, your name is associated with professionalism.


• Do Learn What Feeds Your Soul – It isn’t all about the dollar bill and many people find they are happier doing things that have fewer financial payoffs. This is very valuable information and should be part of your volunteer experience. Learning what creates an expansive heart in you will ultimately provide health benefits, longevity, and a pleasure in life that a dollar bill will never be able to buy.


• Don’t Be Afraid To Learn New Things – Okay, so they might ask you to do something outside your objectives. Make a careful decision on whether it will help you, them, or both of you. Then decide after you have a long conference between your head and your heart. Say no, if you really can’t afford the extra time. If you want to learn something new, saying yes might be a way to get new skills.


• Know When To Cut Your Losses – Some volunteer jobs may seem ideal until you get in and they offer no experience, no networking, and no training. Leave. Answering the phone all day isn’t enough to pay you back for your time and gas. Unless you are extremely committed to this agency, you have to also think about how valuable your own time is and why they don’t answer their own phones when they are paid to do so.

Hopefully, at the end of the day, you will have learned new skills, gotten a new perspective on life, had a great volunteer experience, and still feel good for having helped someone out.

About the author: Claire Moylan is a freelance writer specializing in ebooks and custom-tailored articles for niche websites. You can view her portfolio online or check out her constant content page for more information about her writing assignments.

How To Keep That Caring Spirit When You Are Broke – Part I

(This article is part of a weekly guest column by Claire Moylan*)

Americans are typically big-hearted givers, but today’s chronically stingy economy can make a time miser out of anybody. It seems that if we want to make money, we don’t have the time to do the things that speak to our hearts. Fred Block, a teacher of economic sociology at UC Davis, talks about the two disparaging economies in his article entitled "The ‘Thing’ Economy and the ‘Care’ Economy." He makes a viable case that the strategies that support the economies into separate spheres are no longer working, and they are now competing against each other, and yet the two economies are important for a balanced society.

The Thing Economy Versus The Care Economy

The “Thing Economy” is all about productivity and the world of business. It is about producing goods and services that help society to run. Obviously, this is where companies and factories make most of their money. However, there is a whole another economy that is either completely unpaid or non-profit. This is the “Care Economy” and Block suggests it is all about when people care for each other or their natural environment. Block suggests that the two economies actually are competing for time and the care economy is getting the short shrift. While he offers no monetary comparisons or time being spent doing work within either of these economies, the idea may have some basis.

I am having that same battle with a service placement I am doing currently. Service is the opportunity to give back to our community the same way it gives to us. So, basically it is volunteering. I love the work, it is being offered for a non-profit that really can use the help, but there is no money in it. However, the volunteer placement is required by a Master’s program that requires 120 hours of community service in my field. So, I have to ask myself: Is it really worth it to me to give 120 hours worth of work for free to anyone when you are trying to get your own bills paid?

Determining The Costs Of Volunteering

Unfortunately, the way that we have been programmed to see our time is by the billable hour. So, if you take your hourly wage and multiply it by the number of hours you intend to volunteer (don’t forget travel time, meals, and gas expenses), you begin to really wonder what the point of volunteering is anymore. It certainly doesn’t help to pay the bills in the present and actually costs me to volunteer free time. It’s not really free time because I’m paying for it and that is the core of the conflict within the Thing versus the Caring economies. How can I care when I don’t even have the basic things I need to allow me to provide my services for free?

I’m sure I’m not the only one with this dilemma and that’s why most of us would prefer to give a few dollars here and there than to actually have to spend time helping someone else. It costs far more to actually have to go somewhere and help someone else. Then we begin to feel volunteering or caretaker burn-out and resentment can set in. Is this really a product of too much giving, or is it due more to the comparison that automatically happens when we give? We start to think about how much it is really costing us in a dollar sense. Is there a way to do this volunteering business such that we take care of ourselves also while attempting to help another? Wouldn’t that be the ideal?

Learn How To Pay Yourself First

You’ve heard it before in financing: pay yourself first. If you want to save, you have to pay yourself first, otherwise the emergencies and day-to-day hassles of life suck you dry. Could it be though that this financial principle is really more of a philosophical principle that could help us learn how to properly implement a caring society? Is the point of a caring society to deplete the resources of those who care or is it to learn to give wisely to those in need? I think we should use this principle in many areas of our lives, even in volunteering.

So, don’t fall into the trap that volunteering is all about giving, otherwise, you’ll never give enough back to yourself. You have to be able to receive too, otherwise, what you are agreeing to is just another form of slavery. It may make you feel good to volunteer, but if you have financial obligations that aren’t being met because of your volunteer activities, find some way for that volunteerism to benefit you financially in the future. Volunteering can still work in a thing economy, if we learn to pay ourselves first. That is a basic exercise in all good accounting systems. If you don’t pay yourself first, you will be left without later on when you need it.

Tomorrow, I will talk about the step-by-step instructions on how to learn to pay yourself first when you choose to volunteer.

About the author: Claire Moylan is a freelance writer specializing in ebooks and custom-tailored articles for niche websites. You can view her portfolio online or check out her constant content page for more information about her writing assignments.

*Image Credit: Community Service Program @ Milton Academy

5 Reasons to Like Your Lazy, Annoying Colleagues

The past few weeks have been the most frustrating weeks I have had since I started working a little over a year ago. I have been on this new project for about three months now and during the past few weeks I have had to work closely with this guy, who must be the laziest and the most annoying person in our office. No make that the whole entire world! He is quite senior and experienced, but instead of using his knowledge and skills to get the work done quickly and efficiently, he spends most of his time trying to come up with excuses to dump the work onto someone else’s lap. He loves arguing for the sake of arguing and does not care for other peoples’ personal space or time. We have all had to put in some long hours chasing bugs, since he never seems to test his code before checking it in for integration! And he spares no effort in trying to show everyone else down given half the chance. It is so, so, so, frustrating.

I am worried that if I let him keep getting to me, I will pull all my hair out in frustration a little bit at a time, until I go bald! And in the interest of keeping my hair, I decided to make this list of why it is actually good to have him around. It’s still a work in progress and you are welcome to suggest additions :)

He makes me look good
I almost always manage to complete and test my code before him. And it has come up during a few status meetings that I am well ahead of him. Also, he never seems to test his code, and more often than not, when something fails, it gets tracked it to a bug in his code. Overall, having him around makes me look good :)

He provides me some job security
Considering that he is senior than me, I would assume that he gets paid more than me. And the managers seem to know that everyone else in the group is getting a lot more done than he is. So, if push comes to shove and they have to let go of someone, I think it will be easier for the manager to justify letting him go instead of the rest of us, providing the rest of us a relative degree of job security.

He keeps me on my toes
There have been so many times that we have been able to expose bugs in his code that he is waiting for a chance to get back to us. We know he will latch on to any small mistake he can find in what we have done. So I make doubly sure that my code is thoroughly tested before I check it in. Also, I would never want my other colleagues to think of me with the level of disgust we all have for him. That prevents the lazy part of me from taking over the motivated one :)

I am learning a lot of people management skills
I don’t want to crib and whine and raise a stink about working with him when I speak with my manager or other colleagues. At the same time, I don’t want him to go take credit for all my hard work, which I know he will, if I let him. I don’t want to be the person who blows up and makes a scene. At the same time, I don’t want to be a push over and keep on taking his nonsense. It is a delicate balance, quite hard to maintain and I am learning a lot about people management skills!

Finally, he has helped me gain a whole new appreciation for my other co-workers
Under normal circumstances, I would probably take some of the other people I work with for granted. After all they are doing their job and I am doing mine, right? Now I have a new found appreciation for anyone who does their job well. In a large company like the one I work for, it is possible for anyone to survive, possibly for years, without getting anything done. And there seem to be quite a few people around who seem to do exactly that. So now, when I see someone that gets their work done without trying to offload it on me, I really appreciate it!

Phew, it was quite therapeutic writing up that list! There is a silver lining to this dark cloud after all! Those of you who have worked for longer - any suggestions from your past experiences on how to cope?

*Image credit: www.tailored.com.au

Kicking off a Stress-Free Holiday Shopping Season

It looks like every year the holiday shopping season starts out just a little bit earlier than the previous year. I was quite surprised when I went to my grocery store the day after Halloween and in the spot where the pumpkin patch was, there stood Christmas trees! For Pete’s sake, it was Nov 1st and Christmas was still almost two months away – but that didn’t seem to daunt the store owner from trying to woo the shoppers by putting up a few fake trees and a huge banner next to it proclaiming “Get your fresh cut Christmas tree here!” So, it looks like the 2007 holiday shopping season is officially here. And you have only two choices - either get stressed out by it, or really enjoy it. What’s it gonna be?

If you chose to really enjoy it, way to go! If you can’t beat 'em, join 'em, right? Here are a few pointers to get rid of any lingering stress to make it a season of fun, joy, cheer, giving and receiving, without quite breaking the bank.

If you have a Christmas fund, take stock of it now. If not, start one ASAP.
If you learnt from your mistakes from last year, and the years before, and already have a Christmas fund, kudos to you! Whether it is a jar stashed under your bed or an online account, take stock of how much you have saved. If you have not started your Christmas fund yet, it’s still not too late. Start one NOW. There are any number of ways to save for your Christmas fund – raid your coin stash and cash it in at Coin Star, have a garage sale to get rid of all those gifts from previous years that are collecting dust in the basement, replace your lunch outings with brown bag sandwiches, cut your grocery budget by 10%, use (more) coupons, etc. Every dollar that you can stash away now, will reduce the stress and the resentment later. Think of it as paying forward for all the gifts *you* will receive :)

Make a budget of how much you are willing to spend.
Be honest and practical with your estimation. Remember that you will likely exceed that estimate, so be sure to leave some wiggle room. Do not make the estimate based on “what will people think of me” but rather “what can I/we afford”. Don’t worry about looking cheap – there are some great tips below for finding great gifts and still stay within your budget. With some advance planning (which I am sure you have got started on already as you read this post) and some hard work (don’t worry, you don’t have to leave your couch), you can make this Mission Impossible possible with as much finesse as Tom Cruise (Eww… I don’t know why I used that example, I don’t even like him anymore, but since I can’t think of anything else, the example stays. Moving on…)

Make a list of the expenses
Obviously high on that list will be gifts. In addition, there may be expenses associated with parties that you plan to throw. Or travel expenses to meet your family/friends or just getaway. Maybe you plan to attend someone’s party and need a nice outfit. Or you may be able to pull off a great attire by mixing and matching something in your wardrobe, but need a new coat to add the getup a new flare. Maybe you need a baby sitter (or a pet sitter). Think of all the things that could lead to inflated expenditure and add it to the list.

Break down your list and fill in the details
When it comes to gifts, make a list of all the people you need to give gifts to. Next to each name, jot down a few possible gift options and dollar amounts. If traveling, try and finalize the dates so you can book your airfare/hotel early and save some money. If throwing a party, sketch out some of the details like the number of people, place settings, stockable groceries etc.

***Start hunting for bargains***
This is THE most important step! At this point you probably have a good idea of what you want. Maybe there are still a few things that are hazy, but don’t worry about it. Every body’s list has that one person that is the difficult to shop for and every travel plan has a few details that just can’t be ironed out. Put them on the back burner for now, and focus on checking off as many of the other items as you can. Put technology on your side! Here is a great primer for using RSS feeds to track and save on items you are looking for. Bookmark this list of popular deal sites and check out the sites in the list to populate your RSS reader. And bookmark this list of price comparison sites to make doubly sure that you are getting the best possible deals! If you are buying books, make sure you check Addall.com to investigate the prices. Use this list of travel sites to find the best deals on travel. Add fare alerts on several different sites like orbitz, expedia, Travelocity, airfare watchdog, southwest airlines etc. so the deals come to you! And finally, when you find great deals, don’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

Stay away from temptation to indulge yourself
With all this shopping and deal hunting, it is very likely that you will find at least a few items that you would like to buy for yourself. Don’t give in to the temptation! Instead drop hints for people around you that you found a great deal on something that you would really like to have as a Christmas gift. If the request is reasonable, they will be glad you just made it easy for them to buy your gift :) Oh, yeah, when you buy gifts ahead of time, leave room for some swapping so you can accommodate a few last-minute hints that come your way :)

Use your credit card!
I know a lot of you will scoff at this, but a credit card is a great way to keep track of exactly how much you are spending! Additionally, if you are going to be doing most of your shopping online anyway, you may not have a choice in the matter. Just make sure that the credit card has some reward points or cash back for the money you spend and you pay off the balance in full as soon as the statement arrives with money from your Christmas fund. (If your Christmas fund is not fully funded yet, make sure you have a strict deadline for paying back your credit cards in full within a month or two at most! And as soon as the cards are paid off, start saving for your next year's Christmas fund so you can skip this step next year!)

With such a well-planned agenda, you will be way ahead of everybody else with your holiday shopping. When Christmas finally arrives, you can enjoy decking the tree and putting out gifts knowing full well that you got the best possible presents for the people you love while not getting yourself into debt in the process.