In every online discussion I have seen about credit cards, there are always at least a few contributors whose only comments are “Credit cards are evil” or “No credit card is best”, etc. This post is mostly for those people.

For several years, we also believed that credit cards were bad, having been thus informed by our stepfather, a compulsive spender who is constantly in debt. But over the past few years, we have learned that credit cards are actually a good thing and provide many benefits and advantages:

• Building Credit History
  If you plan on buying a car or house in future, chances are that you will need a loan, and if you have no credit history, it can be difficult to get a good interest rate on a loan. Interest rates make a huge difference in the amount you end up paying or saving. Credit cards, if used responsibly, are a good and easy way to build a good credit history, which can ultimately save you thousands of dollars.

• Tracking spending
  Credit card statements provide an good way to track and analyze your spending habits. By charging all your purchases, you will have a printed statement of where every dollar has gone, a useful too for budgeting.

• Safer than carrying cash
  If you carry a lot of cash and lose your wallet, you can usually assume that money gone forever. If you mostly use your credit card and carry very little cash though, all you have to do is call the credit card company as soon as you discover the loss and you won’t be liable for any unauthorized charges to the card.

• Backup for emergencies
  Credit cards can be a backup source of funds for emergencies when you don’t have cash on hand. Though these should be true emergencies and not things like “fashion emergencies”.

And best of all, the reason we use our credit cards whenever and wherever we can:

• Credit cards can earn you money
  Credit cards can “make” you money in 2 ways:
  • There are many cards out there that earn you cash back or rewards. Some earn you as much as 5% cash back on grocery, drugstore and gas purchases. If you get a card with no annual fee (there are many out there), use it responsibly for regular purchases (not cash advances), and pay your balance in full every month, you can earn money without paying a cent to the credit card company. We have an American Express Blue Cash Credit Card that earned us over $300 cash back last year.
  • In addition to the cash back, credit cards also earn you money by allowing you keep your money in the bank longer. Depending on your billing cycle, you can charge your purchases and bills to a credit card and your money can sit in the bank earning interest for up to 6 more weeks. For example, our propane bill was due on January 30, 2008. Our credit card billing cycle ends on the 28th of each month. If we charge our bill to our credit card on the Jan. 30, 2008, it goes on the new billing cycle which ends on February 28, 2008, and the due date for that billing cycle is in mid-March 2008. So the money for that propane bill that was due and paid on Jan. 30, 2008 won’t actually leave our bank account until 6 weeks later. That’s 6 extra weeks of interest on money that would have left your account immediately had you paid by cash or check.

These are just a few basic reasons we use and approve of credit cards. However, if you know that you won’t be able to control your spending, then perhaps it is better to not go this route. If you need advice on applying for credit cards, visit your bank or credit union and someone can usually recommend a good card for you and help you with the application.

Continue reading for tips on choosing the right card and a few tips for safe and responsible credit card use.

Choosing the right card for you

If you have no or very little credit history, a low income, or a blemish on your credit record, it is possible that you won’t be approved when applying for a credit card. If this is the case, don’t keep attempting to apply for different cards as each denied application will hurt your credit rating and lessen your chances of being approved. Instead, go to your bank or credit union where you have an account and ask to speak to someone who can help you with selecting and applying for a credit card.

You may have to start out with a secured account with a deposit held as collateral and a low credit limit. After a while, perhaps a year, if you have responsibly paid your balances on time each month, your bank will probably upgrade you to an unsecured card with higher credit limit. Make sure you read the terms and conditions of your new card when this happens and check for changes in rates and fees, including annual fees. When Bank of America offered my sister an unsecured card a year after she got her secured card, the card came with an annual fee. There are many cards out there that don’t have annual fees, so why settle for one with an annual fee if you can save that $30 or $100 a year?

Today, there are credit cards for all sorts of people with all sorts of interests and lifestyle. If you travel a lot, you’d be interested in cards that offer travel benefits and discounts and rewards for flights, hotel stays and car rentals. For families and households, cards that offer cash back for household purchases such as utilities, gas, grocery and drugstores can save you a lot of money.

Tips for safe and responsible credit card use

• Never spend money you don’t have. Just because you have a $5,000 credit limit doesn’t mean that you have to use it all. In fact, for best credit practices, try not go over 1/3 of your total credit. Therefore, if you have a $5,000 limit, you should try to keep the balance below $1,600.
• Always pay on time and in full, not just the minimum payment due. If your credit card company has automatic scheduled payments, it may be a good idea to use it. Just make sure your bank account has sufficient funds on the due date.
• If you’re concerned about security and unauthorized charges, sign up for online banking and check your online statement every so often for suspicious activity. (We’ve never had any problems. There was only one incident when someone made a suspicious charge on my card and my bank caught it and contacted me to check if I had authorized it, which I didn’t, so they immediately canceled my card and sent me a new one.)
• Don’t leave your wallet, cards or card information lying around.
• Never send credit card information over email, instant messengers, etc.
• When using a credit (or debit) card online, make sure the site is SSL protected. You can tell by the little lock icon in the browser window – usually around the bottom right-hand corner.

Related posts:

• Pay Bills Online and Save
• Credits Cards Really Aren’t So Bad (Re-Post)
• Closing Your Credit Cards Can Hurt Your FICO Score
• Why I Will Not Change My Mindset, Plus the Difference Between Justifying and Being Optimistic About Spending
• Pay Bills Online and Save (Re-Post)

I had always believed that if my accounts all showed up in “Excellent” standing on my credit report, that it would be a positive thing, and therefore kept old and unused accounts open. Now I am glad I haven’t acted hastily.

First of all, I currently have 4 credit cards (shared with my sister):

1. Old Navy Store Card
   Opened 2001, the earliest/oldest account on my credit history, never used
2. Bank of America Platinum Visa
   Opened 2004, unused since June 2006
3. American Express Blue Cash
   Opened 2006, primary card
4. Amazon Visa
   Opened 2008, used on Amazon.com where we do the bulk of our online shopping and wherever Amex isn’t accepted

I had seriously considered closing my Old Navy store card recently and also contemplated the Bank of America Visa, which I had been keeping around for emergencies. But, last night I happened on article at Bankrate.com “Closing credit card dings credit score” by Leslie McFadden, which tells us that there is actually no harm in keeping old and unused credit cards open, and that it could actually harm your future credit history to close them, and am really glad that I saw this article before I had done anything.

Before we start, here is a breakdown of the components of a credit score and how it is calculated.

FICO® Score Breakdown

• Payment History – 35%
  Types of accounts (credit card, mortgage, etc.), accounts paid as agreed, number of past due accounts, etc.
• Amounts Owed – 30%
  Balances of current loans, debt to credit ratio, proportion of installments still owing, etc.
• Length of Credit History – 15%
  Time since accounts opened, last activity, etc.
• New Credit – 10%
  Recent inquiries, new accounts, etc.
• Types of Credit Used – 10%
  Mortgages, Credit, Retail, etc.

Reasons Not To Close Credit Cards (from a scoring perspective):

• Contrary to popular belief, FICO does not penalize you for having “too much” available credit.
• Once you close an account, the credit bureaus will only keep it in your credit history for 10 years. After 10 years all that “good” credit history will be gone.
• A creditor may choose to delete your records prior to 10 years, erasing your “good” credit history even sooner.
• It is better to have 20 years of history for an old account in good standing, than to have fewer and newer open accounts, because length of history accounts for 15% of your credit score.

Reason to Close Credit Cards

While it doesn’t really hurt to keep multiple accounts open, if you have so many cards that you have a hard time controlling your spending or keeping track of payment due dates, then it would be a good idea to close some accounts.

Here are a couple of factors to consider and figure into your decisions when closing credit card accounts.

Debt-to-Credit Ratio

Debt-to-credit ratio is the ratio of how much you owe compared to how much credit limit you have. For example, if you have a credit card with a $5,000 credit limit and your current balance is $1,000, your debt-to-credit ratio is 20%. Lenders look at your debt-to-credit ratio to determine your financial stability and the risks of lending to you.

Recommended debt-to-credit ratios:

• On any given account, it is suggested that you not exceed 50% of your credit limit for that card.
• Total debt-to-credit ratio for all accounts (combined credit limits), debt not to exceed 30% of total limit (this means if you have a total of $10,000 credit limit from all your credit cards, you should have at least $7,000 of available credit – not charged).

Example of how closing an account (changing your debt-to-credit ratio) can hurt your credit

1. You have 2 credit cards
   1. Card A has a credit limit of $7,500
   2. Card B has a credit limit of $2,500
2. You are carrying a balance of $5,000 on Card A, but no balance on Card B
3. Your current debt-to-credit ratio is 50%
4. You close Card B, lowering your total credit limit to $7,500
5. Your debt-to-credit ratio is now 67%, exceeding the recommended ratio

Store Cards vs. Bank Cards

Bank cards have more impact on your credit score, and if you must close some cards and it came down to choosing which one(s) to close, you’d most likely be better off closing the store cards.

BUT - If your store card was your first credit card and the account with the oldest history, which for many people it is, you need to consider the following:

If your first account was a store card opened many years ago, and your only other bank issued cards are newly opened, closing your store card will have some negative impact.

How to Decide Which Credit Cards to Close

When trying to decide which cards you should close, you should consider the following:

• If you are carrying a balance, how much available credit do you need in order to not exceed the recommended total debt-to-credit ratio of 30%?
• If you do not carry a balance, how much is your average monthly balance and how much available credit do you need in order for your average balance to not exceed the recommended 30% each month?

When you have figured out how much available credit (what makes 70%) or credit limit (100%) you need in order not to exceed the recommended 30%, take a look at the limits of each card and figure out which ones would allow you to keep your 100% at the necessary rate.

And if you have store cards:

• Which store cards are newest and therefore of smallest consequence and impact to your credit history.
• If your longest credit history is from a store card, keeping it open might benefit you more than closing it.

Conclusion

I am greatly relieved that I saw that article by Lesile McFadden when I did. Had I not seen it and gone ahead and closed my Old Navy store card, my oldest and very first account, I would have truncated my credit history by at least 3 years because I did not get my Bank of America Visa until 2004. And if I had also closed my Bank of America account, (after the bank purges my records) my credit history would only begin from 2005, when I obtained a mortgage.

Credit cards are a very good and easy way to build or re-build credit history, provided that they are used responsibly. If you have older cards that you don’t use, as long as you are not charged an annual fee for them, I don’t see any harm in keeping them open to maintain that good credit history and also as backup for an emergency (ATM or Debit card failure, travel or medical emergencies, etc.).

For more information on the benefits of using credit cards, please refer to a previous post: Credit Cards Really Aren’t So Bad

***

Allow me to remind you at this time that I am not a financial expert and that all information is based on personal experience and research for personal purposes. It is offered here to supplement your own research and not to be taken as professional financial advice. It is recommended that you consult other sources and/or a finance professional before making important financial decisions. ()

Sources referenced in this post and recommended further reading:

• What’s in your FICO® score at myfico.com
• Closing credit card dings credit score by Leslie McFadden
• How many credit cards is too many? by Bankrate.com posted on MSN Money
• What is considered a “good” minimum amount of available credit? on Yahoo Answers

Related posts:

• April 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers
• Credits Cards Really Aren’t So Bad (Re-Post)
• Blog Carnivals
• Pecuniarities (Our Fourpence Worth) 1 Year Anniversary

Bible Money Matters wrote yesterday on how credit card companies act like they’re your friends when they really just want your money. This is true, of course, but frankly it neither surprises nor bothers me. Credit card companies and banks are businesses – just like your health insurance carrier, supermarket and baby sitter.

The Business of Business

No one starts a business for the purpose of making friends. “Making friends” by providing cheerful service and offering “helpful” advice  is merely a means to an end. When a business advertisement says “Your satisfaction is our #1 priority,” the word “satisfaction” is really a metaphor and euphemism for “money.” Otherwise the business’s existence would be pointless.

So when a credit card company offers you “advice” to put all your purchases on your card to maximize your cash back or rewards earnings, they are in fact helping themselves. We all know that. There is nothing you can do about what they say to try to get you to wrack up a large debt. But just because they hope you’ll do it doesn’t mean that you have to.

Everything you have done and continue to do with regard to your credit card has been, and continues to be, 100% up to you.

• Can the credit card company strong-arm you into swiping your card at every store you see or enter?
• Can the credit card company force you to spend beyond your means?
• Can the credit card company make you not pay your balance in full every month?

A Grain of Salt and a Pinch of Brain

Just remember that any “advice” coming from someone whose goal is to make money from you should be taken with a grain of salt. Example —

Car salesman: That car looks great on you.

But neither do you need to be bitter about their attempt to sway you into debt. Laugh it off. Congratulate yourself on your ability to see through their ruse. Then take that grain of salt, add a pinch of noggin and think about how you can benefit from what they do offer.

(Talking points from Money Matters’ post in green with my added 2 cents in normal color.)

1. Use Your Card Wherever You Go
   Only on the things you need — groceries, gas and necessities.
   
2. Make Chase Rewards Plus Your Favorite Place To Shop
   Treat it as you would the mall. Only go there if you need something in particular. If their prices are competitive and you get 10% cash back, you just might save money. But remember to comparison shop.
   
3. Pay Bills Using Your Card
   This is something I actually do whenever I can. Automatic payments charged to the card means I can keep money in my savings longer, then transfer the total amount to checking when it’s time for the credit card payment. We received $75 in Amazon Gift Certificates last month thanks to the 10x points promotion on bills.
4. Add An Authorized User… At No Extra Cost!
   Madoline and I have been sharing credit card accounts for 5 years now because we share all our money. Together, we were able to earn over $500 in cash back on our on our AMEX Blue Cash Credit Card in the last 2 years, something we couldn’t have done with separate accounts because of the $6,500 threshold for the higher cash back percentage. Read more about how we Maximize Cash Back and Interest Earnings by sharing accounts.
5. Feel Secure With Your Upgraded Benefits
   We usually choose our cards for the cash back or other rewards and not for the added benefits. But we actually have saved money by using the rental car insurance from AMEX, and if you think about it, some identity protection, however narrow the policy, is better than none.

Now, I’m not saying everyone should use credit cards. They have their pros and cons. They work for some people but not others. If/when you apply for and use credit cards, be aware of the risks and take responsibility for them and for your actions. If you get ripped off by fine print you didn’t read, you’re not entirely blameless because you could have canceled the card immediately upon receiving and reading the terms. Yes, credit card companies are tricky, but so are many other businesses.

You Control Your Spending, Not the Other Way Around

Psychology aside and whether or not credit cards cause higher spending, it all still boils down to one thing: choice.

• Whether or not you are paying by cash or credit, you are still making an active, conscious choice to spend.
• You are the one in control of how much you spend.
• If you are in control, you can choose not to spend.

If you can’t control your impulse to spend, then you should cut up your credit card and keep your cash in a time-lock vault that releases set amounts of money at set times like those automatic pet feeders that release one compartment of food at a time when pet owners work late or go out of town.

Related posts:

• Introducing Pecuniary Associates & Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #17
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #12
• Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals: Week of Unexpected Delays
• Car Trouble: Watch Out for Those Pesky Wabbits
• March 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals

Credits Cards Really Aren’t So Bad
(Re-Post: Original post date February 14, 2008)

In every online discussion I have seen about credit cards, there are always at least a few contributors whose only comments are “Credit cards are evil” or “No credit card is best”, etc. This post is mostly for those people.

For several years, we also believed that credit cards were bad, having been thus informed by our stepfather, a compulsive spender who is constantly in debt. But over the past few years, we have learned that credit cards are actually a good thing and provide many benefits and advantages:

• Building Credit History
  If you plan on buying a car or house in future, chances are that you will need a loan, and if you have no credit history, it can be difficult to get a good interest rate on a loan. Interest rates make a huge difference in the amount you end up paying or saving. Credit cards, if used responsibly, are a good and easy way to build a good credit history, which can ultimately save you thousands of dollars.

• Tracking spending
  Credit card statements provide an good way to track and analyze your spending habits. By charging all your purchases, you will have a printed statement of where every dollar has gone, a useful too for budgeting.

• Safer than carrying cash
  If you carry a lot of cash and lose your wallet, you can usually assume that money gone forever. If you mostly use your credit card and carry very little cash though, all you have to do is call the credit card company as soon as you discover the loss and you won’t be liable for any unauthorized charges to the card.

• Backup for emergencies
  Credit cards can be a backup source of funds for emergencies when you don’t have cash on hand. Though these should be true emergencies and not things like “fashion emergencies”.

And best of all, the reason we use our credit cards whenever and wherever we can:

• Credit cards can earn you money
  Credit cards can “make” you money in 2 ways:
  • There are many cards out there that earn you cash back or rewards. Some earn you as much as 5% cash back on grocery, drugstore and gas purchases. If you get a card with no annual fee (there are many out there), use it responsibly for regular purchases (not cash advances), and pay your balance in full every month, you can earn money without paying a cent to the credit card company. We have an American Express Blue Cash Credit Card that earned us over $300 cash back last year.
  • In addition to the cash back, credit cards also earn you money by allowing you keep your money in the bank longer. Depending on your billing cycle, you can charge your purchases and bills to a credit card and your money can sit in the bank earning interest for up to 6 more weeks. For example, our propane bill was due on January 30, 2008. Our credit card billing cycle ends on the 28th of each month. If we charge our bill to our credit card on the Jan. 30, 2008, it goes on the new billing cycle which ends on February 28, 2008, and the due date for that billing cycle is in mid-March 2008. So the money for that propane bill that was due and paid on Jan. 30, 2008 won’t actually leave our bank account until 6 weeks later. That’s 6 extra weeks of interest on money that would have left your account immediately had you paid by cash or check.

These are just a few basic reasons we use and approve of credit cards. However, if you know that you won’t be able to control your spending, then perhaps it is better to not go this route. If you need advice on applying for credit cards, visit your bank or credit union and someone can usually recommend a good card for you and help you with the application.

Continue reading for tips on choosing the right card and a few tips for safe and responsible credit card use.

Choosing the right card for you

If you have no or very little credit history, a low income, or a blemish on your credit record, it is possible that you won’t be approved when applying for a credit card. If this is the case, don’t keep attempting to apply for different cards as each denied application will hurt your credit rating and lessen your chances of being approved. Instead, go to your bank or credit union where you have an account and ask to speak to someone who can help you with selecting and applying for a credit card.

You may have to start out with a secured account with a deposit held as collateral and a low credit limit. After a while, perhaps a year, if you have responsibly paid your balances on time each month, your bank will probably upgrade you to an unsecured card with higher credit limit. Make sure you read the terms and conditions of your new card when this happens and check for changes in rates and fees, including annual fees. When Bank of America offered my sister an unsecured card a year after she got her secured card, the card came with an annual fee. There are many cards out there that don’t have annual fees, so why settle for one with an annual fee if you can save that $30 or $100 a year?

Today, there are credit cards for all sorts of people with all sorts of interests and lifestyle. If you travel a lot, you’d be interested in cards that offer travel benefits and discounts and rewards for flights, hotel stays and car rentals. For families and households, cards that offer cash back for household purchases such as utilities, gas, grocery and drugstores can save you a lot of money.

Tips for safe and responsible credit card use

• Never spend money you don’t have. Just because you have a $5,000 credit limit doesn’t mean that you have to use it all. In fact, for best credit practices, try not go over 1/3 of your total credit. Therefore, if you have a $5,000 limit, you should try to keep the balance below $1,600.
• Always pay on time and in full, not just the minimum payment due. If your credit card company has automatic scheduled payments, it may be a good idea to use it. Just make sure your bank account has sufficient funds on the due date.
• If you’re concerned about security and unauthorized charges, sign up for online banking and check your online statement every so often for suspicious activity. (We’ve never had any problems. There was only one incident when someone made a suspicious charge on my card and my bank caught it and contacted me to check if I had authorized it, which I didn’t, so they immediately canceled my card and sent me a new one.)
• Don’t leave your wallet, cards or card information lying around.
• Never send credit card information over email, instant messengers, etc.
• When using a credit (or debit) card online, make sure the site is SSL protected. You can tell by the little lock icon in the browser window – usually around the bottom right-hand corner.

Related reading:
Closing Your Credit Cards Can Hurt Your FICO Score

Related posts:

• Pecuniarities (Our Fourpence Worth) 1 Year Anniversary
• Pay Bills Online and Save
• Closing Your Credit Cards Can Hurt Your FICO Score
• Why I Will Not Change My Mindset, Plus the Difference Between Justifying and Being Optimistic About Spending
• Credits Cards Really Aren’t So Bad

Expansion Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Hard

This is a credit card add-on for the game of Monopoly wherein players have both cash and credit and may opt to “charge” certain expenses in lieu of paying cash in order to keep the cash flow for investing in property and buildings. For being such a careful money saver in real life, I was surprised at how quickly my “credit card debt” snowballed.

I started out by charging all my expenses because the 10% interest seemed so insignificant, and before I knew it, I was overlimit and paying 20% interest and my debt became more and more unmanageable. I came in second in the end with a credit card debt of $3,600. Madoline won with over $5,000 in cash, and Mabel lost with over $10,000 in credit card debt. :O

Objective

To teach children (and some adults) about buying and owing on the credit system.

Overview

This version of the game uses a credit system wherein players may opt to put purchases and expenses on their credit account instead of paying cash – either because they do not have enough cash available or because they wish to keep their cash to invest in property.

How to Play

• Print out and distribute a copy of the Bank of Monopoly Personal Credit Card Statement (includes rules) to each player. The statement contains 20 tables (representing 20 months/circuits of the game board). If you need more than 20 tables, simply print extra copies of this document.
  Tip: Print 2-Sided to save paper
• Any time during the game, a player may opt to charge expenses such as rent, taxes and miscellaneous fees on his/her “credit card.” in order to save cash for investing in properties and building.
• Property and building purchases may not be charged on a credit card.

How to Use the Personal Credit Card Statement

• A player is allowed 12 credit transactions per month (circuit of the board).
• Each person has a credit limit of $2,000.

1. On the first round of the game, enter $0 under Balance Forward.
2. When making a charge, enter a brief description of the transaction under “Description of Transaction”
3. Enter the amount under “Amount Charged”
4. Total the current balance in the right-hand column under “Balance.”
5. When you pass or land on “Go,” total your balance next to “Total Charges”
6. Pay off your desired debt in cash to bank and enter the figure next to “Amount Paid @ “Go.”
   • You are required to make a minimum payment of 10% of the total charges.
   • If you are not able to make the 10% payment, your interest rate increases to 20% until you are able to make your minimum payment again.
   • You may pay your balance in full and accrue no finance charges, or pay at least the minimum or as much as you are able to or wish to.
7. Subtract the amount paid from the Total Charges and enter the amount next to “Balance Subtotal.”
   If the balance is greater than $0, multiply Balance Subtotal by 10% (n x .1) if you’ve made at least the minimum payment, or 20% (n x .2) if you were not able to make the minimum payment, and enter the figure next to “x 10% Finance Charges.”
8. Multiply Balance Subtotal by 10% (n x .1) and enter the figure next to “x 10% Finance Charges.”
9. Add the 10% Finance Charge to your Balance Subtotal and enter the figure next to “Balance Forward.”
10. This is your remaining debt.
11. Move to the next empty table and enter the “Balance Forward” amount at the top right-hand column
12. next to “Balance Forward.”
13. When entering your first charge of new circuit around the board, add the charge to the forwarded amount and repeat.

Click on the image below to view a sample statement

Transactions Between Players

On a transaction wherein a player is to receive money and the payer decides to charge the expense, the receiver withdraws the payment directly out of the bank.

Bank of Monopoly Credit Card Terms

Credit Limit: $2,000
Regular Interest Rate: 10%
Minimum Payment: 10% of balance
Minimum Finance Charge: $10
Insufficient Payment/Overlimit Interest Rate: 20%
Overlimit Fee: $50 per transaction

Note: In the interest of illustrating the snowball effect of debt, we have decided not to cap the game and charges at $2,000, but rather impose a per transaction overlimit fee of $50 and a higher interest rate.

Visit http://pecuniarities.com/Monopoly for more Money Management and Investment Monopoly Expansions!

The Monopoly game is copyrighted by Parker Brothers, a subsidiary of Hasbro. All expansions are original creations by Our Fourpence Worth and shared for personal use only. Commercial use of these rules, forms and images is prohibited.

Related posts:

• Monopoly Game Expansion #1: Personal Savings Account
• July 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Monopoly Game Expansion #2: Personal Checking Account
• Monopoly Game Expansion #5: Income Tax Edition
• June 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals

Originally posted 2008-06-30 06:00:22.

Pay Bills Online and Save
(Re-Post: Original post date February 15, 2008)

These days, most companies (including banks and utility companies) have websites and online payment options. Those that don’t often accept payments by phone. If you are still using snail mail to pay your bills each month, you could be saving $60 or more, depending your number of bills, each year by switching to payments by internet or phone. Consider the following example

Our monthly household bills look something like this: electric, gas, water & sanitation, 2 mortgages, cell phone, home insurance, auto insurance, 2 credit cards – an average of 10 bills per month. The cost of a first-class postage stamp is $0.41 ($0.42 starting May 12, 2008), and the cost of a personal check for us is about $0.07. (Since the companies usually provide the envelopes, we won’t count the cost of an envelope.) So the cost of mailing one bill is $0.48. At 10 bills a month, that amounts to $4.80 a month, and a total savings of $57.60 each year. A larger household with children and more bills could save even more than this.

If the company doesn’t have a website, it usually has a toll-free number you can call to pay by phone. Some companies allow you to set up automatic monthly charges to your credit card or withdrawals from your bank account, which could save you a lot of time.

Another option is through your bank or credit union’s online banking program which often includes free bill paying service. You can set up one time or recurring payments and your bank will mail a check for you. The recipient can be a company or an individual such as a landlord or babysitter.

In the years that we’ve used online payment options, we have never had problems with security or errors and never have to worry about the check getting delayed, lost or stolen in the mail. And we always pay with a credit card whenever we can. To see how you can save more money by paying with a credit card, please refer to our previous post .

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• Pay Bills Online and Save
• Switching to Paperless Statements to Save Money, Time and the Planet
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• Shipping via USPS? Mail Your Packages Before May 12th

I emailed him back explaining our logic, and while it may be unconventional, for us it is a convention we have practiced with success for many years. Ever since our high school days when our parents would give each of us pocket money for lunch, the bus, pay phones, etc. we have always regarded our money as literally “our money.” When one of us didn’t have any cash and wanted to buy a drink or snack at school, we would just ask the other person for some. And to the shock of many of our friends, we would just give each other the money. We never had a distinction of “my money” and “your money”.

Perhaps this had to do with our always having been somewhat unconventional people, even as kids. While our friends went to the mall, movies or shopping, we preferred to go to the library, karate class, or stay at home and read or play with our pets (we had dogs, cats, 20-30 rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, fish, mice, etc.). So for us, money was never really a means for pleasure but living – taking the bus home from school, buying lunch or an occasional snack or buying pet supplies. Because we didn’t habitually spend money, our parents didn’t put us on allowances and would just give us money when we needed it. (This could explain why we still live on a No-Budget System.)

When we graduated from college and started working, we continued to share a home and a bank account. Perhaps this has to do with our mother passing away when I was 16 and Madoline 14, and having no other close relatives we just naturally stayed together. In the past 6-7 years we have shared a bank account, a family cell phone plan, utilities accounts, a car loan, credit cards, leases on apartments and then a mortgage starting 2005. And we also started 2 business ventures – Franga Designs and Mozartini – and this blog together.

Because we have the same financial goals and past (having witnessed firsthand the imprudence of shopaholism and extreme debt courtesy of our stepfather and biological father), there is no worry that the other person will go on a spending spree. We are so uptight about spending that we always run purchases by the other person and all expenditures are joint decisions.

Another reason we are not worried about the other person messing up our finances is that since we have no other close family, we regard our dogs Ludwig and Wolfgang as our family and we value them to the extent that we will not risk not being able to care for them properly due to lack of money.

Aside from all this, we also recognized other advantages to sharing our bank and credit card accounts:

• Higher Dividends
  Higher savings account balance means higher interest rates and therefore higher interest earnings. At our credit union, the current savings dividend rates are tiered for balances under $999; $1,000-$4,999; $5,000-$9,999; and over $10,000; so it is advantageous to keep our money together to earn higher dividends.
• Higher Cash Back Earnings
  With AMEX, we have to charge $6,500 before getting the 5% and 1.5% cash back rate. We spend quite little so it takes the 2 of us about 6 months just to reach the $6,500, and that is often with the “help” of a very large expenditure like replacing the transmission on our car.
• Higher Credit Scores
  By alternating credit card applications, we have fewer inquiries on our credit reports, meaning higher credit scores. For example, in 2006, we applied for the AMEX card in Madoline’s name because she didn’t have a credit card at that time. In January 2008, we applied for an Amazon Visa in my name because we shop there often for household things and many businesses in our area do not accept AMEX.
• Build 2 Credit Histories At Once
  When either of us gets a new credit card, we add the other on as an additional user and the account also appears on both of our credit histories. This helps to build 2 credit histories at once with every expenditure.
• Saving Money
  We had separate checking accounts for a short time in college, but this sometimes led overdrafts (and in overdraft charges) on one of our accounts, because even though we had enough money between the two of us, splitting our money into 2 accounts and alternately debiting our purchases from 2 checking accounts got confusing. We would sometimes lose track and charge too much on one account. (We did all our grocery shopping together because we lived together and our money was only spent on food, miscellaneous things for school, and our pets.)
• Saving Time
  This goes for credit cards as well as other bills. Having one account between the two of us decreases the number of bills we have to pay each month.

So, yes, it is unconventional, and probably wouldn’t work for most people, but it is also advantageous in many ways. However, we don’t recommend trying this unless it is with someone you can trust 110% and who shares your financial goals, way of life … and, well, life.

Related posts:

• May 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Who’s to Blame for Your Spending? You or You?
• Why Credit Unions Instead of Banks
• Prune Your Spending and Watch the Savings Grow
• Monopoly Game Expansion #1: Personal Savings Account

Our monthly household bills look something like this: electric, gas, water & sanitation, 2 mortgages, cell phone, home insurance, auto insurance, 2 credit cards – an average of 10 bills per month. The cost of a first-class postage stamp is $0.41 ($0.42 starting May 12, 2008), and the cost of a personal check for us is about $0.07. (Since the companies usually provide the envelopes, we won’t count the cost of an envelope.) So the cost of mailing one bill is $0.48. At 10 bills a month, that amounts to $4.80 a month, and a total savings of $57.60 each year. A larger household with children and more bills could save even more than this.

If the company doesn’t have a website, it usually has a toll-free number you can call to pay by phone. Some companies allow you to set up automatic monthly charges to your credit card or withdrawals from your bank account, which could save you a lot of time.

Another option is through your bank or credit union’s online banking program which often includes free bill paying service. You can set up one time or recurring payments and your bank will mail a check for you. The recipient can be a company or an individual such as a landlord or babysitter.

In the years that we’ve used online payment options, we have never had problems with security or errors and never have to worry about the check getting delayed, lost or stolen in the mail. And we always pay with a credit card whenever we can. To see how you can save more money by paying with a credit card, please refer to our previous post Credit Cards Really Aren’t So Bad.

Related posts:

• Pay Bills Online and Save (Re-Post)
• Switching to Paperless Statements to Save Money, Time and the Planet
• Pecuniary Links ~ July 2009 #2
• It Never Hurts to Ask: Getting Late Fees Removed
• Financial Lent: A Frugal Fast to See What You Can Live Without

The practice of gift card giving for Christmas is highly debated, and from what I have seen in a lot of online forums, highly frowned upon as lacking in thought and effort. But I must confess, I am not one of those who frown upon gift cards for Christmas and actually like them. And I strongly believe that in the current economy, gift cards can be more of a blessing to many people than presents.

How Gift Cards Can Be a Blessing This Christmas

Many of us are worried about not having enough money for living expenses in the coming months and possibly years. A gift card to a useful store or a Visa or American Express gift card that can be used to purchase groceries and other necessities could be more helpful than say an Xbox or iPhone.

Multiple Gift Cards Into One Big Gift

Even in times without economic crisis, I don’t believe there is anything wrong with giving or receiving gift cards. Despite the common belief that gift cards are an easy way out and show a lack of thoughtfulness, I think that in a way, they can show thought.

For example, say a family wants or needs a new television (or computer or washing machine if you prefer the more practical) and their friends and relatives know about this. Instead of each person giving a gift, they could all give gift cards that can be pooled together and applied toward the purchase of the big item they really want or need.

This can be for things practical or non-practical. But the end result would be the recipient being better able to afford something more expensive they could otherwise afford on their own.

Why Not Just Give Cash?

While gift cards are almost the same as giving cash, they are a little more subtle and a step closer to the gift category. Giving cash for Christmas may feel a little blunt, and maybe even crude to some people. And while a gift card is just cash in another form, the name and implications are a little more gift-like. With a gift card, the recipient has a choice in regards to what their gift will be – be it food, clothes or a luxury.

Examples of Gift Cards That Can Be Helpful During Economic Crisis

• Visa or American Express Gift Cards

  These can be used to buy necessities such as groceries or household necessities anywhere Visa or Amex are accepted. They can be used in store, online and by phone, but be sure to include the accompanying instructions. I would recommend going with Visa as they are more widely accepted than Amex.

  If you wish to add a personal touch to your gift card, GiftCards.com lets you design your own cards with custom images.

  

• Amazon Gift Certificates or Cards

  Amazon.com has a huge selection of merchandise including dry groceries, personal care items, household supplies, clothing, furniture and home improvement. An Amazon.com Gift Card or Gift Certificate can be used to buy anything through the Amazon website including those from the Marketplace (fulfilled by merchants other than Amazon).
  

• Department Store Gift Cards

  Department Store Gift Cards such as the Target Candy Cane Zebra Gift Card pictured below could be helpful to families with children who need to buy things like school clothes and shoes, as well as things for the house.
  

Thoughtful Gift Cards

If you want to show that you do put thought and effort in the giving of a gift card, purchase one from a store or type of store that sells niche items for your recipient’s personal interests or hobbies. Many stores these days sell gift cards – it’s no longer just the big department stores:

• Toys and Games
• Books
• Music or iTunes
• Electronics
• Clothing
• Home improvement
• Restaurants
• Specialty and niche stores such as our own custom dog clothing and costume business. The recipient can select the item and have it customized to his/her pet.

Of course, if you’re just not comfortable with giving gift cards, there is nothing wrong with a traditional gift. After all, the Christmas tradition is one of luxury, and gifts should be luxuries. Only this year, and every year until the current economic crisis is past, I believe gift cards might be more well received than in previous years.

Related posts:

• Holiday Blog Carnivals
• Free Printable Templates: Christmas Candy Stripe and Plaid Carrier Gift Bags
• Free Printable Templates: Holiday Snowflake Gift Tags, Treat and Mini Carrier Bags
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #12
• Frugal Christmas: Skipping the Tree and Presents This Year

Merriam-Webster defines the word “vacation” as “a respite or a time of respite from something”. Well, if that “something” from which one is taking a respite is “peace and quiet” then I would have to agree with the definer. Otherwise, gathering from my 2 recent “vacations” (one to Disneyland, one [working] vacation to Las Vegas from which I have just returned), vacation seems more like a respite from peace and quite to me.

Anyhow, I thought I would put together a pre-vacation checklist to help all you other poor vacationers prepare for your vacations, because if there is one thing I have learned, vacations are costly – and I am not just talking about transportation, lodging and amusements, but all the little everyday necessities – and the only way to travel frugally is to travel prepared. Also, the better prepared you are, the better the time you will have on your vacation; knowing that everything back home is taken care of and that you are prepared for most common travel mishaps will allow you to enjoy yourself to the utmost.

And yes, I am the extremest of Type A personalities, but admit it, sometimes it is handy to have someone who has the bases covered. You’ll certainly be glad to have one of us along when the unexpected happens because we’ve planned and prepared for it (or at least have given some thought to it beforehand so as not to be caught by surprise). This isn’t a list of what to pack (toothbrush, underwear, etc.) but rather more of a pre-departure to-do list to help prepare for your trip. I’m not saying you need to do everything suggested, but hopefully a few items will prove helpful or relevant to your circumstances.

Prevention is the best medicine

Just because you are on vacation, it doesn’t mean everyone else is. This goes for utility companies, burglars and your own plumbing and wiring. When you come home from vacation, you want to make sure you still have an intact home to come home to, and aren’t met with a mountain of additional expenses. Therefore before you leave, you might want to try some of the following:

(These checkboxes are check-able, so feel free to come back and use it.)

Home and Business

Travel Arrangements

Better to be Safe than Sorry

You never know what can happen on the road, and when it comes to health and safety, it is infinitely better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. Therefore,

Well, this may not have covered all the bases, as everyone has different situations, but hopefully this list proved helpful in some ways. Bon Voyage!

If you’re traveling with your pet, check out my next post, Guide to Safe and Smart Traveling with Pets,

Related posts:

• Welcome MSN Money Central Smart Spending Readers!
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #4
• June 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Guide to Safe and Smart Traveling with Pets
• Resources

Our freebie for this week is a Hawaiian or Aloha floral print treat bag and greeting card template. It is simple to assemble and can be used to hold treats or small gifts.

These templates are provided for your personal, non-commercial use and may not be published elsewhere. If you want to share this with your friends, please link to this page.

For more free printable templates by Madoline Hatter, visit or Freebies category page.

If you enjoy our free printable templates, please consider making a donation to help us produce more.

Hawaiian/Aloha Floral Print Treat Bag/Greeting Card Templates

Click on the thumbnail images to view full size and print. Instructions are printed on the templates.

To assemble treat bags: Cut along outside line and follow gluing instructions.

To make greeting cards: Print on card stock or heavy paper and cut off glue flaps.

To see more original free printable templates,

Related posts:

• Free Printable Gift Accessories by Madoline Hatter
• Free Printable Templates: Miniature Flower, Treat, Gift or Decorative Baskets
• Free Printable Templates: Holiday Snowflake Gift Tags, Treat and Mini Carrier Bags
• Free Printable Templates: Patriotic American Flag Miniature Gift Accessories Set
• Free Printable Templates: Gingham Mini Gift Boxes

Originally posted 2008-09-06 18:45:47.

Welcome to the 1st Edition of the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights!

I am thrilled to have received such a response from the personal finance blogging community for this first edition of the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights. Thank you to each of the 68 participants for your submissions; it has been a pleasure to read and include each of your articles.

A little about the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights

For those of you who are just hearing about this new carnival, the purpose of the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights is to showcase content of lasting value from the personal finance and frugality blogosphere. There is no restriction as to the age of the posts submitted so bloggers are free to submit their best and favorites from any part of their archives.

As the priority is lasting value, you will not find items with an “expiration date.” This means, no temporary promotions for businesses, shopping deals or credit card offers. Even if you were to happen upon this carnival 6 months from now, the content would all still be relevant.

More information: About • Schedule • Hosting • Submissions

Giveaway Winners

For Article Submissions	For Hosting Applications
David from MoneyNing	Momma from Momma’s Blog

Pecuniary Art by Madoline Hatter

In our past year of financial blogging, my sister Madoline Hatter, our resident graphic designer and artist, has produced not a few financially-themed pieces for this blog and our CafePress shop. As we have just concluded 2 giveaways of piggy bank art magnets featuring Madoline’s work to kick-off the launch of this new carnival, I have decided to theme this first edition around more of her pecuniary art.

Shameless plug: All of the images you see below are available on numerous types of products at our shop. They make great gifts for those with an interest in finance or frugality, and most are available with and without captions. Click on an image to see more.

Now, without any further ado, allow me to present the first ever Carnival of Pecuniary Delights: The Madoline Hatter Pecuniary Art Edition.

Editor’s Picks

• FIRE Finance from FIRE Finance presents Early Retirement Case Study – Sandy Aldridge and Dale Lugenbehl.
• Kelly from Almost Frugal presents The ABCs of frugality.
• Frugal Dad from Frugal Dad presents Is Frugality The Anti-Stimulus Plan?.
• Linsey Knerl from Wise Bread presents Beware of pretty things: 4 reasons I’m keeping my old ugly stuff.

Feast On Your Savings

Frugality

• Miss Thrifty from Miss Thrifty presents Make Do And Mend: Vogue for the Credit Crunch Bunch.
• Abigail from I Pick Up Pennies presents Are Americans really learning?.
• Lulugal from How I Save Money presents Frugal Frauds Revealed.
• Mike from Four Pillars presents Changing your mind.

Frugal Home and Garden

• Momma from Momma’s Blog presents 9 No Spend Weekend Ideas.
• David from Personal Finance Blog by MoneyNing presents My Virgin DIY Haircut Experience.
• Kate Kashman from The Paycheck Chronicles presents Seven Reasons Why Clutter is Costing Me Money.
• Heather Levin from The Greenest Dollar presents How To Save Money On Laundry Day.
• Leslie from Spilling Buckets presents It’s that time of year again: Gardening Season.

Frugal Kitchen

• Green Panda from Green Panda Treehouse presents Brownbag Your Lunch and Save Money.
• Jenn from Frugal Upstate presents The Making of a Lunch for Princess-Lunchbox Philosophy and Execution.
• Jim L. from The Switch to Riches presents Saving Even MORE on Groceries.
• Smarty from Growing Money presents How I Cut Down On Food Expenses.

Incontinent spending?

Saving on Spending

• Kimberly Palmer from Alpha Consumer presents My Experiment: Asking for a Better Deal.
• RC from Think Your Way To Wealth presents Negotiating a Deal and Tips on Becoming a Better Negotiator.
• Christina from Northern Cheapskate presents Don’t Let Coupons Clip Into Your Free Time.
• J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy presents 3 Tips to Putting BLING on That Finger of Hers.
• Laura from No More Spending presents Cold Turkey on Magazines and Confessions.

Money Management

• Jim from Bargaineering presents Your Financial Network Map.
• PT Money from Prime Time Money presents Save More Money: Automate and Separate Your Savings.
• JT Locke from The Frugal Housewife presents How Much Is Too Much?.
• Cindy Morus, The Money Mender from Mend Your Money presents How to Have More Fun With Your Tax Refund in 2009.
• Karen from Living Well on Less presents Time for new tires — or why I’m glad we have an emergency fund.
• Kay Bell from Don’t Mess With Taxes presents When renting is the right choice.
• Money Progress from Money Progress presents How to Save Money and Feel Good About It.

A penny is the first part of a million.

Personal Finance

• Megan from Counting My Pennies presents Support Your Non-Profits.
• BSimple from Simplified Financial Lifestyle presents Financial Planning is EASY as Vacation Planning.
• Jason from My Money Minute presents What We Learn From Tragedy.
• Fred from Very Personal Finance presents Personal Finance Is Personal – Very Personal.
• Patrick from Cash Money Life presents Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.
• Dave from Do You Dave Ramsey? presents Do You Dave Ramsey?

Green Living

• Prune Danish from Frugal Luxury presents More Beauty Products You Could Probably Do Without.
• Alunachic from The Frugal Musician presents The Frugal Musician Makes a Cardboard Mailer.

Debt and Credit

• Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life presents Get Rid Of Your Debt With These Debt Defying Strategies.
• Jeremy M. Simon from Taking Charge presents Phone line makes me popular with debt collectors.
• Greg Keene from Managing Money God’s Way presents Can you cosign this loan for me?.
• Trevor Shipp from Financial Nut presents You’ll Always Have a Car Payment.
• CPF from Christian Debt Help presents Negotiate with credit card companies and Win!
• Baker from Man Vs. Debt presents Declaring War: Cancelling Your Credit Cards.
• Marlon from Penny Scraper presents A fast way to improve the credit score of a family member.

Shining Credit vs. Infernal Credit

Taxes and Economic Stimulus

• Madison from My Dollar Plan presents $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.
• FFB from Free From Broke presents Paying Back The Economic Stimulus Payment – Lots of Tax Confusion!
• Miranda from Yielding Wealth presents Tax Time: Identity Thieves on the Prowl.
• Bruce from Taxguy presents A Little Straight Talk.
• Mr. ToughMoneyLove from Tough Money Love presents Consider this Likely Future Tax Benefit of Early Mortgage Payoff.

Economy

• Rocketc from Rocket Finance presents Financial Fairytale.
• Lisa Spinelli from Greener Pastures presents Is the Time Ripe for the Next Generation of Outliers?
• HIB from Happiness Is Better presents The TED Spread and What It Means to You .
• LAL from Living Almost Large presents Do I get paid too much?

Investing

• Zach Scheidt from Zach Stocks presents Double Your Investment Returns (Too Good to be True?).
• Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents presents 7 Things To Know About a Roth IRA For 2009.
• Clare Kierans from Money Energy presents Why You Should First Invest in Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs).
• Mike from Richer by the Day presents Forever Stamps, A Losing Investment.
• MFD from My Findependence Day presents How Important are the CESG Grants to an RESP?.
• Sun from The Sun’s Financial Diary presents Are Vanguard Mutual Funds Getting Expensive? .
• Mr. GoTo from Go To Retirement presents Why I like I-Bonds in My Retirement Portfolio.

Career and Income

• WC from Wisebread presents On Salaries: Knowing What Your Coworkers Make.
• Viviana from The Lean Times presents When the work dries up.
• Peter from Bible Money Matters presents To Succeed Diversify And Create Multiple Streams Of Income.
• The David from Pimp Your Finances presents 20 Questions with J.D. Roth, author of Get Rich Slowly.
• The Smarter Wallet from The Smarter Wallet presents Job Hunting Tips: How To Deal With Losing Your Job.

Practice Maintains Perfect

Miscellany

• Kyle from Suburban Dollar presents Quit Paying for What You Can Get for Free (Open Source software).
• Ishan from Save Few Bucks presents Does it really makes sense to buy a Hybrid Car?.
• Papa Boomer from Consumer Boomer presents Not All Credit Cards Companies are the Same.
  Note: While I usually prefer “positive” stories, I thought this psot could serve as a consumer review of a bank on which I myself have less than stellar opinions through personal experience.

Enchanted Pumpkin Fairy Ship

* * *

This concludes the First Edition of the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights. Next week’s edition will be hosted by Wise Bread, so be sure to get your submissions in by Wednesday April 8th, 6:00 PM PST.

Related posts:

• Pecuniarities is Hosting the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights This Week!
• Finance Blog Carnivals of Late
• Carnival of Pecuniary Delights Giveaways: Cute Piggy Bank Magnet Prizes for Hosting and Submissions
• Pecuniary Links ~ July 2009 #2
• Pecuniary Links ~ August 2009 #1

I know there are a lot of good ID theft prevention tips out there, but these are a good supplement for what information is out there and give good advice on what to do should you find your wallet missing or stolen.

The email didn’t include the original author name, but as he encouraged his recipients to pass it on, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind my sharing it with you here.

A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company:

• Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put ‘PHOTO ID REQUIRED.’
• When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the ‘For’ line.  Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won’t have access to it.
• Put your work phone number on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address.
• Never have your Social Security Number printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary.   But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.
• Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license,  credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.

I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We’ve all heard horror stories about fraud that’s committed on us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.

Unfortunately,  I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieve(s) ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more.

But here’s some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:

• We have all been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately.  But the key is having the toll- free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call.  Keep those where you can find them.
• File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).
• But here’s what is perhaps most important of all – I  never even thought to do this: Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number.  I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves’ purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert.

Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in).  It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your let, if it has been stolen:

• Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
• Experian: (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
• TransUnion: 1-800-680 7289
• Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-027

We pass along jokes on the Internet; we pass along just about everything. If you are willing to pass this information along, it could really help someone that you care about.

Related posts:

• March 1st-7th is National Consumer Protection Week!
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #3
• Consumer Safety Resources from the Government on SPAM, Scams, Fraud, Phishing and Identity Theft
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #6
• Credits Cards Really Aren’t So Bad

Tiny leaks and evaporation put a constant drain on your resources. As discussed in our previous post, From Pennies One Million Dollars Grow, a few cents saved here and there can add up to be a significant amount. Here we offer 101 suggestions for plugging expenditures in various aspects of your life – around the house, in your personal care, transportation, recreation and more. Most of these ideas we currently use or have applied in the past.

101 Drops in the Bucket

Saving on Utilities

• Minimize electricity use during peak hours (weekdays during work hours). Do laundry, use hot water, etc. in the evenings.
• Cook enough for several meals at once.
• Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth.
• Turn off shower when shampooing and soaping.
• Work or read in the same room with family members or roommates to consolidate light usage.
• Take advantage of natural daylight to get your work done. Sleep when it’s dark, get up as soon as it is light (before sunrise).
• Hold off on personal phone calls that can wait until evenings and weekends when rates are lower or free.
• Wash things on the lawn to water the grass at the same time.
• Water the lawn or garden in the early morning or after sundown. Skip watering on windy days.
• Use curtains to keep your house cool in summer and warm in winter.
• Keep thermostat lower in the winter and wear extra layers.
• Don’t separate colors in your laundry; instead, hand wash items that bleed. This way, you can reduce the number of loads. Saves water, electricity and soap.
• Keep thermostat as high as can be tolerated in summer without harming your pets, antiques and musical instruments.
• Drink lots of cold water to keep cool and reduce need for air conditioning.
• Turn off air conditioning in late afternoon, open doors and windows and turn on fans.
• Using ceiling fans in summer and winter (reverse directions to push warm air down).
• For laundry, set a shorter dryer time. It’s better to have to do a touch up instead of using unnecessary gas or electricity. You’d be surprised how little time some clothing need to dry. If taken out still warm, damp things can still air dry quite quickly.
• Cancel cable, purchase a few DVDs a month (which cost less than cable and leave you with an asset) and watch current shows online at Hulu or network channel websites.

Saving on Food and Health

• Eat smaller portions to avoid waste and overindulgence.
• Eat foods of substance that hold you over longer (i.e. proteins).
• Take baking soda instead of over-the-counter antacids (unless you have other health conditions that are affected by sodium intake).
• Put away leftover food immediately to prevent spoilage.
• Do not overfill refrigerator as food goes bad faster due to poor air circulation.
• Do house and yard work for exercise.
• Get an exercise bike for $150-$200 or pedal exerciser for under $20 and some hand weights instead of a gym membership.
• Water down juice to reduce caloric and sugar intake as well as make the juice last longer.
• Make a pot of tea with a teabag instead of just one cup.
• Opt for stainless steel silverware and cookware without plastic parts as they last indefinitely.
• Use a hand whisk instead of electric egg beater to burn calories and save money.
• When baking – cakes, casseroles, etc. – use a cookie sheet instead of aluminum foil to cover the pan or casserole dish.
• Combine a box of Jell-O with a pack of unflavored Knox Gelatin for lower sugar content and cost.
• Buy quart-size yogurt instead of individual serving cups. They often cost $2.00 per container and save a lot.
• (Cont. from #78) When finished with the yogurt, save the container for storing food, cut fruits and leftovers, or use for various projects around the house such as mixing paint.
• Bring treats home. For example:
• (Example 1 for #80) Instead of going out for ice cream, buy a gallon and a pack of cones and enjoy several ice cream cones at the same cost.
• (Example 2 for #80) Instead of ordering delivery pizza, bring home a frozen pizza. The most deluxe frozen pizza such as Freschetta still costs a lot less than delivery plus tip.
• If you cannot decide between a low-carb and low-fat diet, low-fat is usually cheaper.

Saving on Household

• Use old clothing to make rags, pillows, blankets and pet beds.
• Use a home dry cleaning kit instead of a professional dry cleaner.
• Use less laundry detergent unless your clothes are very dirty to extend the life of your clothing.
• Turn clothing inside-out when washing to preserve the appearance.
• Use rubbing alcohol to sanitize doorknobs, exercise equipment, refrigerator handles, etc.
• Hold the insecticide. When you see an ant or other little bug, wipe it away with a soapy sponge and discourage further visits by cleaning thoroughly and caulking any cracks and entry points.
• Use rubbing alcohol to kill insects such as ants, spiders, gnats, silverfish.
• Use vinegar to kill tougher and larger insects. Vinegar in a spray bottle is also the best and cleanest fly swatter.
• Use vinegar in place of more expensive cleaners.
• When the oven is on, set dishes or other items to dry on top of or near the oven (keep safety in mind).
• Repaint or varnish furniture you already own for a new look or to give it second life.
• If throwing or cutting up old clothes, salvage buttons, zippers, drawstrings, bows and re-usable trims for mending other clothing.
• Rinse dishes before soaping to save dish detergent.
• When doing dishes, put the dirtiest at the bottom so that soap and water can run over them while you’re washing other easier dishes first.
• If you dry your hands or face on a paper towel, set it aside for cleaning floors and other things.
• Use cold water to clean on hot days to prevent getting overheated and save electricity or gas.
• Follow the The Life Stages of a Dish Sponge not only for sponges, but towels, clothing and anything else that applies.
• Use plastic shopping bags instead of buying trash bags. The small size will also encourage you to take the garbage out more often.
• Use small holiday buckets that can be purchased half-price (around 25¢-50¢) after a holiday for trash cans/waste baskets or cleaning buckets. These small buckets can be set on the counter near the kitchen sink to keep dogs out of the trash.
• Water down dish and hand soap. You often pump out more than you need.
• Learn to perform minor repairs around your home such as lighting a pilot light, replacing a thermocouple, etc. (We once saved $70 by changing the thermocouple on our water heater ourselves instead of calling a repairman.)
• Redye color-worn clothing to give a second life. Fabric dyes can be purchased in the laundry section.
• To save your septic system, instead of pouring cooking oils down the drain, pour them into empty glass or plastic bottles, close tightly and throw away.
• To extend the life of your septic system and reduce frequency of pumping, throw toilet paper in a trash can lined with shopping bags (and take it out everyday).
• Instead of replacing your pillow, launder in hot water and dry on thoroughly on high heat (to kill dust mites). You can even cut one seam open, fluff the material by hand, and sew it shut. No one will notice if your stitching is untidy. Consider a pillow cover if you suffer from allergies.
• Use pillow and mattress covers to prolong the life of your bedding and facilitate easier cleaning especially if you have pets or children.
• Use a push reel lawn mower. It is cheaper to buy, efficient to store, requires no fuel, has fewer parts to maintain and repair, and provides for refreshing and fun exercise.
• Use a wind-up clock instead of a battery or electric clock.

Saving on Personal Care

• Opt for a low maintenance and shorter hair style to save on shampoo and hair products.
• Make bar soap last longer by unwrapping and letting it dry for about a week before using it. (You could set it in your closet during this time to make things smell fresh.)
• In personal grooming, wherever practical, pluck instead of wax as a one-time purchase of a good pair of tweezers lasts for years.
• While using a facial scrub, exfoliate your hands (and maybe even your elbows) before rinsing off.
• Accept free samples of products that you use and would purchase – soap, deodorant, shampoo, lotions, etc. – so long as it doesn’t require you to pay money or register for some sort of membership. A sample is usually enough for several uses and can put off need to purchase them.
• Dry your hair naturally to save electricity, heat damage to hair, and sweating. In cooler weather, wear a small towel, scarf, or flannel cap until hair is almost completely dry.
• Curl your hair without electricity. Cut rectangular strips from an old t-shirt, roll up sections of damp hair and tie in a knot. This method has been used for many centuries and gives a very charming style of curl. Mousse can be applied before curling if desired.
• Keep good quality ribbons from gift wrap and packaging (such as for candy, food, and cosmetics) and use these as hair ties for securing the ends of braids, tying a bow over a plain rubber band, or stitching hair styles on your head (with a blunt needle).

Saving on Hobbies, Recreation and Entertainment

• If there are 2 or more of you, wait for the DVD release of a film instead of going to the theater, especially if you like to watch a film more than once. The purchase of 1 DVD is less than the cost of 2 movie tickets.
• Buy DVDs instead of renting. You may see fewer films in a year, but will have assets to reuse or resell.
• If you have a piano, consider learning to tune it yourself, which can save about $160 a year. The one-time purchase of a good tuning kit and manual is about $110. Tools could be had for less, but good tools will better prevent damage. Refer to: Tuning Your Own Piano: A Skill With Many Unexpected Benefits
• Use the library to borrow books, audiobooks and music and rent movies for $1-$2 a week. See The Library Card: Your Other “Rewards Credit Card” for more ways your library can save you money.
• Buy a small potted Christmas tree instead of a large “dead” one. When Christmas is over, plant it in your yard to increase your property value or keep it for next year.
• If you need paper for crafts and projects, request paper at the grocery store checkout. We used to use paper bags for testing clothing sewing patterns. Horse feed bags are great for patterns, too.
• Use reading as a frugal leisure activity that will improve your writing, grammar, and vocabulary which is advantages in all walks of life. The Frugal Literate’s Guide to Affordable Reading.
• Stop paying for classes, lessons, and activities if you or your children do not attend, practice, or enjoy them enough. A break might revive motivation or provide a chance to discover new interests and talents.

Saving on Shopping

• Shop online whenever possible and take advantage of free and low shipping costs to save gas and time.
• When shopping, always check unit prices. Don’t be deceived by packaging size.
• Don’t buy junk food if you’ll regret it eating it.
• Use cash back rewards credit cards wherever and whenever you can.
• Try to limit purchases to things of lasting value such as books, classic literature, reference books, classical music, conservative fashions and acoustic instruments instead of electric.
• Purchase furniture made of real wood and not laminate or particle board. If items contain particle board, at least make sure the framing is constructed of solid wood. Particle boards will bow, causing shelves to collapse, and swell and become permanently damaged when wet.
• Choose latex and rubber toys for your dogs. They outlast plush toys by several years and are more sanitary.

Saving on Miscellaneous

• Use online postage printing and carrier pickup for mailing packages.
• Turn of wrist watches when not wearing them to save the battery.
• Pick up all loose change.
• Use open source software.
• Resist pressure from peers and solicitors to donate to causes you do not feel strongly for or cannot afford.
• Close your bank account and open a credit union account with higher dividends, no minimum balance, unlimited free teller visits and checks, and fee-free accounts. Why Credit Unions Instead of Banks
• Choose credit cards with no annual fees. You could be spending or earning interest on that money.

Saving on Transportation

• Walk wherever and whenever you can.
• Consolidate errands.
• Plan your route to avoid left turns when driving.
• When driving, take your foot off the gas when anticipating a stop ahead.
• Park in the first vacant space you find.
• Plan downhill routes to and from your destinations.

Hurrah! We made it!

Related posts:

• Our Fourpence Worth has moved. Please update your feed readers.
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #9
• Pecuniarities (Our Fourpence Worth) 1 Year Anniversary
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #11
• Put Your Brain Where Your Money Is: Think to Save

f this is your first time here, please have a look around and consider subscribing to our RSS feed. Be sure to also check out

Madoline and I have a fondness for history and all things old, so the theme for today’s carnival is “Old Money.” While credit cards, online banking and checks are great modern commodities, they just don’t have the charm of good, old fashioned money – in other words, cash. We hope you enjoy this tour through United States Treasury history and the art to be found in currencies of the past.

1934 $100,000 USD Bill (Woodrow Wilson)

Editor’s Picks

• PT presents 9 Tips For Going To One Income.
• Twenties Money Magazine presents My College Sold Me Out.
• Toni presents Happy with What We Don’t Have.
• The Investor presents How a boring broker will make you richer.
• Karen presents Spending money can save your money.

1918 $10,000 USD Bill (Salmon P. Chase)

Frugality & Saving Money

• FIRE Getters presents Top 5 Freebie Websites!
• Amy Hobbs presents How to turn three slices of turkey into brunch.
• Ryan Suenaga presents Can a GPS Pay for Itself?
• Wilfrid presents Air Leak Detection – Leak Testing – Leak Stopping.
• Grey presents Making the CFL Switch.

1918 $5,000 USD Bill (James Madison)

Shopping

• Pamela Grundy presents Best Buy Coupons, Promotions and Savings.
• mbhunter presents If you love Amazon, you’ll really love Amazon Prime.
• Amy L. presents Getting a Good Deal on Your Car Insurance.
• Tom Tessin presents The Secrets to Cheap Airline Tickets.
• Aryn presents New Strategies for Using Double Coupons.
• APFB presents Four Items to Buy Used.
• Madison presents Free Money From the U.S. Mint.

1928 $1,000 USD Bill (Grover Cleveland)

Money Management

• Ariel Ozick presents 3 Dumb Ways to Waste Your Money.
• Todd presents Budgeting Games (Finance Games #6).
• Curt presents Avoiding the Most Common Financial Mistakes.
• GBlogger presents My Personal Finance One Step, Two Step.
• Nickel presents A Peek Inside Our FNBO Direct Online Savings Account.

1928 $500 USD Bill (William McKinley)

Debt & Credit

• Silicon Valley Blogger presents Best Cash Back Credit Cards: Your Rewards For Spending.
• Mr Credit Card presents What to Do When Your Credit Card Debt Has Been Charged Off?
• Andy presents Too expensive to file for bankruptcy.
• CreditAddict presents No Fee 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers.
• DMH presents 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers.

1880 $100 USD Bill (Abraham Lincoln)

Economy

• Tejvan presents Why Boom and Busts are common in Housing Markets.
• Livingalmostlarge presents Perfection Guaranteed.
• RC presents Do Government Bailouts and Payouts Mean Higher Taxes in the Future?

1891 $50 USD Bill (Edward Everett)

Career

• Heather Johnson presents Guest Post: When Should You Quit Your Job?
• VH presents A$king and re¢eiving.
• Dorian Wales presents No Salvation from Productivity Improvements: The Failed 35 Hour Work Week Experiment and Work-Life Balance Examined.
• Kevin Surbaugh presents Making 401(k)’s Part of Your Job Hunt.

1905 $20 USD Bill (George Washington)

Investing

• Dividends4Life presents The MMA Rate Mystery Solved.
• Writers Coin presents Adding to the Mock Portfolio.
• Kevin presents Rebalanced My Roth 401k.
• Dividend Growth Investor presents Year-to-Date changes in Dividend Aristocrats’ annual payments to shareholders.
• The Financial Blogger presents Shifting Your Investments According To Your Tax Rate.
• RothIRA presents Roth IRA for Teenagers.
• Sandy Naidu presents Behavioral Finance – Investor Psychology – Behavioral Finance Stock Market Investment.
• FMF presents Using Your Health Savings Account as a “Super Roth” Investment Vehicle.
• Zach Scheidt presents MasterCard Incorporated (MA) – Growth Slowing.

1901 $10 USD Bill (Meriwether Lewis & William Clark)

Book Reviews

• Clare Kierans presents Money is What You Trade Your Life Energy For.
• Jim presents 547 Ways to be Fuel Smart by Roger Albright.

1886 $5 USD Bill (Ulysses S. Grant)

Other

• Steward presents A Frugal Shopping Tip That Leaves Everyone Smiling.
• J. Money presents 3 Things you should always keep in your wallet/purse/clip.
• Raymond presents How To Generate Valid Credit Card Numbers.
• Jamie presents Custom Wallet Giveaway from TheTrendySpot.com.
• Mr. Banker presents ABA Routing Codes to Link Online Accounts Together.

1862 First official $1 Bill of the United States (Salmon P. Chase)

This concludes the 26th Edition of the Money Hacks Carnival. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Money Hacks Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: money hacks carnival, blog carnival.

Related posts:

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• Hosting Festival of Frugality and Money Hacks Carnival Next Week
• July 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• March 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals

When we moved to our current hometown, located 40 miles from the closest Bank of America branch, we started researching local banking options of which there are three: 2 banks and 1 credit union. I visited all three websites and compared the account options and noticed that while the 2 banks charged monthly fees for checking accounts, the credit union didn’t. This led to a little research of banks vs. credit unions, and this is basically what I learned:

• Credit unions are not-for-profit organizations (and banks are for-profit organizations)
• Credit unions are “owned” by all of its members (anyone who holds an account and deposits money there)
• All credit union earnings after taxes and expenses are returned to the community by way of low-interest loans, higher dividends, and low-fee or free services
• Funds deposited in credit union accounts are insured by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), a federal government agency

After learning the above, the logical choice was to go with the credit union instead of one of the banks. After all, why pay monthly fees for a checking account when you can open a free savings and checking account at the credit union and earn more interest? The only requirement was a $25 non-withdrawable deposit as long as the savings account is open, and that $25 is eligible to earn dividends.

Our original plan had been to deposit our checks in a local bank and then transfer the funds electronically to our Bank of America accounts. We opened our credit union savings account with $25 in the beginning of June 2006. On June 30th, we received our first quarterly dividend and found that we had earned $0.84 on about $1,000 in that first month. That was almost 10% of what our Bank of America savings account had earned us in one year with a much higher average balance that we immediately changed our plan, closed our Bank of America accounts, and moved everything to our credit union savings account.

We now put everything in our saving account and transfer what we need to our checking account to pay our bills a few times a month, leaving the funds in the savings account for as many days as possible. (Read our article for tips on optimizing your earnings.)

We have been with our credit union for almost 2 years now and have never regretted it. Here is a comparison of our experiences with our credit union vs. our prior experience with Bank of America:

• Customer Service is always friendly and truly helpful. The tellers don’t mind spending time answering or making an effort to find answers to all your questions. Whenever I email our credit union with questions, they respond promptly with a personalized and relevant message. With Bank of America I often received form letters that didn’t address my questions at all.
• Because it’s not-for-profit, our credit union never tries to sell us anything. When we were with Bank of America, their telemarketers were constantly calling to try to get us to sign up for services we didn’t need. They once called and spoke to my sister about services for one of my accounts, and even though she told them that it was not her account and she was not authorized to make any decisions, they went ahead and signed me up for a service anyway. They charged me for that service for 2 months in a row before I was able to get them to cancel the unauthorized service, but I never did receive a full refund of those charges despite several requests.
• We can visit the teller as many times a month as we need to. At Bank of America, we were only allowed 2 teller visits a month and additional visits would incur charges. I know you can make deposits at ATMs, but we just weren’t comfortable sticking large checks into a machine out-of-doors. In any case why should you have to pay to go deposit money in the bank when you’re already paying for your account and they’re making money just by taking your money?
• In our first year with our credit union, our savings account earned over 6 times the amount of interest than we had with Bank of America.

I don’t know if all credit unions are as good as ours, but I’m sure that for the most part they must be better than banks, because the #1 priority for banks is to make money, while the aim of a credit union is to help support the community.

Related posts:

• Homemade Coin Bank for Saving Wayward Coins
• Pay Bills Online and Save
• Pay Bills Online and Save (Re-Post)
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #12
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #9

A credit card, when used wisely and responsibly, brings you a number of benefits and can save you money. And so does a library card. The public library is one of your most useful resources for saving money. With a library card, which you can obtain for free, you have almost limitless access to a variety of services and materials such as:

• Books – Fiction
  Especially good for people who read a lot but usually only read books once.
• Books – Non-Fiction
  Books on careers and jobs, writing resumes and cover letters, learning computer software and programming, accounting and taxes, starting your own business, etc.
• Foreign Language Books
  Fiction and non-fiction in foreign languages prevalent in your community. Many California libraries carry books in Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Arabic and Vietnamese.
• Audio Books
  Classic, children’s and contemporary literature on CD or Audio, including new releases and popular titles.
• Music
  Classical, contemporary, film soundtracks, international music, etc. CDs that you can check out just like a book.
• Movies
  Most libraries have movies (DVD and VHS) that you can rent for $1 or $2 and let you keep for a week.
• Magazines
  There’s usually a good selection of general and special interest publications to choose from including titles like: People, Time, Newsweek, National Geographic, Better Homes & Gardens, The Family Handyman, and even young adult magazines such as Seventeen. Instead of paying for a subscription, you can read current magazines at the library and some libraries will let you check out back issues to take home to read.
• Newspapers
  Current editions including local and national newspapers such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, etc. can be read in the library.
• Computers
  Free computer access for word processing or internet use. Instead of paying for computer use at Internet Cafes, you are usually allowed 1 hour of free use per day and more if there are not other users waiting.
• Online services
  You can access online databases of periodicals and articles and educational websites from within the library or your home computer. Many libraries offer online access to e-books, audio books, and music that you can download and read or listen to on your computer.

Continue reading for information on other useful services provided by your library and tips for responsible library use.

Other services provided or sponsored by your public library:

• Reserving Materials
  If your library location doesn’t have something you need, you can request the same item from another location. When it arrives at your local library, they will contact you by phone or email to let you know it is ready for you to pick up. This service is almost always free and you are only charged a small fee ($.50 or $1.00) if you fail to pick it up within a reasonable amount of time.
• Renewing Materials
  Most loan periods are 3 or 4 weeks, depending on the library. Unless there are other users waiting on the same items, you can often renew your materials for up to 2 more times. Libraries make it very easy for you to renew items these days with online or automated phone renewals.
• Special Events
  Some public libraries host guest lectures and performances by professionals in various fields such as writing, music, history, etc.
• Used Book Sales
  If you like to collect books, library used book sales are one of the best sources for expanding your personal library or collection. You can often find new, like new, or vintage and antique books for very good prices. Most hardcovers sell for $1.00, trade paperbacks for $0.50, and paperbacks for $0.25.

A few tips for borrowing materials from the library:

• If you tend to forget due dates, set up a reminder on your computer email program, Google Calendar or cell phone to to either renew or return your borrowed materials a few days before the due date. Some libraries have email notification systems that can send you email reminders too.
• The online account access is a very convenient feature. If you can’t make it to the library by the due date, just log on, check all the items due and hit the renew button. It’s a good idea to do this a few days before the due date in case some of the items are not renewable.
• Don’t let anyone else use your card.
• If you’re concerned about the cleanliness of the materials, use a paper towel and some rubbing alcohol to wipe the surfaces before using them.
• If you’re applying for a library card, bring ID and proof of address such as a utility bill addressed to you if your current address doesn’t match the one on your ID.

Some people don’t like to use the library because you sometimes have to wait a while to read new releases. But in the big scheme of things, is it really so bad to wait a few weeks or months to read that new novel? A little patience can save you a lot of money.

To see how much money your library can save you, go to your local library’s website and look for a page called the “Library Value Calculator”. Enter in the number of books you read per month and any other services you could be using there and see how much you can save.

After all, if you think about it, you have actually already paid for these services by paying your taxes, so you might as well use them.

Related posts:

• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #20
• Free e-Book, Audiobook, Video & Music Download and Online Resources From Your Local Library
• Who’s to Blame for Your Spending? You or You?
• Credits Cards Really Aren’t So Bad
• Resources

As coincidence, or fate, or luck—depending on which one you believe in—would have it, I had decided to designate this week as Identity Protection and Fraud Prevention Week here at Pecuniarities when I thought to publish my 2 previous posts on IRS Phishing E-mail Scams and How to Protect Your Identity If You Lose Your Wallet.

For the past week, I have been compiling a collection of links to government provided resources on consumer safety and fraud prevention, which I have planning to publish on the 28th. Then just a few minutes ago, I happened a site announcing the week of March 1-7 as National Consumer Protection Week 2009, which is just perfect timing!

What is National Consumer Protection Week?

Whether consumers are trying to stretch their paychecks, improve their credit history, or tell the difference between a real deal and a potentially fraudulent product or service, information is one tool that can always help them get the most for their money.

The NCPW website has the nuts and bolts consumers need to make informed decisions in today’s marketplace. Partner organizations have tips on a wide range of topics, from getting a free credit report to spotting a telemarketing scam, from dealing with debt to deterring and detecting identity theft, from avoiding home and auto repair scams to reporting credit repair scams.

Visit the National Consumer Protection Week website for more information and to order your free copy of the Consumer Action Handbook a government resource provided free of charge to individuals.

As for my own Pecuniarities Identity Protection and Fraud Prevention Week, check back soon for my compilation of government resources on fighting fraud.

“Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.” – Albert Einstein

P.S. NCPW web buttons and banners you can put on your own blog/website or in your email signatures

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• Blog Carnivals

Welcome to the 188th Carnival of Personal Finance! Our theme for this week’s edition is Jane Austen, as I am a admirer of both her novels and the films based on her novels, which are graced throughout with witty commentary on society — and in particular, money and marriage.

If this is your first time here, please take a look around and consider subscribing to our feed to have new money saving tips delivered to your feed reader of choice or your email inbox. We are also currently holding our first ever giveaway for a free 6-month print subscription to the Wall Street Journal. Please be sure to stop by the contest page and see how you can enter to win.

Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor – which is one very strong argument in favour of matrimony.

Jane Austen, Letter to Fanny Knight, 13 March 1817 Photo: Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen, Becoming Jane (2007), Miramax

~ Editor’s Picks ~

• Coffee For One presents Paying the Bills
• FruGal presents Joining the gym? Read this first
• Sound Money Matters presents That Makes Me Stabby: Do We Have an Obligation to Spend?
• Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck presents Lessons from Flight 1549
• Free From Broke presents Just Enough Is Not Good Enough
• Pimp Your Finances presents 10 Financial Commandments for Your 20s
• Money Ning presents 50 Ways to Budget Travel and Save Money on Vacations

If the loss of what is most valued is so easily to be made up by something else, your resolution, your self-command, are, perhaps, a little less to be wondered at.

Marianne Dashwood, Sense and Sensibility Photo: Kate Winslet & Emma Thompson, Sense & Sensibility, Sony Pictures

~ New Year’s Resolutions ~

• The Passive Dad presents My Latte Factor In 2008. Automatic Millionaire Goals for 2009
• Destroy Debt presents Did You Give Up On Your New Year’s Resolution Already?
• My Money and My Life presents New year, new goals
• Think Your Way To Wealth presents Tips for Making Your Personal Finance Resolutions Stick- Turn Your Resolutions into Habits

Imprudence or thoughtlessness in money matters would be unpardonable in me.

Jane Bennet, Pride and Prejudice Photo: Rosamund Pike as Jane, Pride & Prejudice (2005), Working Title

~ Frugality ~

• Passive Family Income presents Live Frugal – But in moderation
• Living The Frugal Life presents What Would You Do If You Lost Your Job Today?
• The Paycheck Chronicles presents Space Heaters or Turn Up the Thermostat?
• Getting Rich in Grad School presents 5 reasons why the best financial advice is always free
• The Smarter Wallet presents Buying A Computer? Check Our Computer Shopping Tips First

People always live for ever when there is an annuity to be paid them…. An annuity is a very serious business; it comes over and over every year, and there is no getting rid of it.

Fanny Dashwood (in regards to Mrs Dashwood), Sense and Sensibility Photo: Janet McTeer as Mrs. Dashwood, Sense & Sensibility (2008), BBC Warner

~ Budgeting ~

• Monogamoney presents What’s in my pantry
• Yielding Wealth presents Do You Need a Gatekeeper for Your Personal Finances?
• InsureBlog presents Wallet Biopsy
• About Financial Software Blog presents 8 Tips for Choosing Budgeting Software

And we mean to treat you all, but you must lend us the money, for we have just spent ours at the shop out there.

Lydia Bennet, Pride and Prejudice Photo: Brenda Blethyn, Jena Malone & Carey Mulligan, Pride & Prejudice (2005), Working Title

~ Consumerism & Spending ~

• Not Made of Money presents How Has the Current Economy Changed Your Wants and Needs?
• Budgets are Sexy presents My tipping rule: Everyone gets 20%! Nice and easy…
• Second Child, Last Born presents What Type of Saver/Spender Am I?
• Making My Own Payday presents The Not So Perfect Gift (Card)

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

Pride and Prejudice Photo: Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice (1996), BBC/A&E

~ Money Management ~

• FIRE Finance presents Advantages of Online Banking
• Dawn’s Evolution presents 6 lessons in personal finance from my mother
• Prime Time Money presents How to Care {Not Worry} About Your Finances
• The Strump – Financial Blog presents How Detailed Should Your Financial Plan Be
• The Sun’s Financial Diary presents Where Did Our Money Go?
• Your Money Relationship presents Do You Still Balance Your Checkbook? I Sure Don’t!

A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable, old maid! the proper sport of boys and girls; but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensbile and pleasant as anybody else….for a very narrow income has a tendency to contract the mind, and sour the temper.

Emma, Emma Photo: Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma, Emma (1996), Miramax

~ Debt ~

• Managing Money God’s Way presents Debt? What debt?
• Shrinkage is Good presents 5 Steps to Combat Holiday Debts and Ward Off Future Relapses
• Personal Finance Ology presents Understanding Good Debt Vs. Bad Debt
• American Consumer News presents Playing the Credit Card Balance Transfer Game
• Done To Zen presents Credit Cards Suck
• Secrets For Money presents How To Shop For A Legitimate Non Profit Credit Counseling Service

A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of. It certainly may secure all the myrtle and turkey part of it.

Mary Crawford, Mansfield Park Photo: Alessandro Nivola & Embeth Davidtz, Mansfield Park (1999), Miramax

~ Career ~

• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity presents Success Finds Hard Work, Talent & Passion
• Greener Pastures presents The Power of Positive Psychology
• Happiness Is Better presents 6 Reasons Why I Joined Toastmasters
• PennyJobs.com presents 6 Options for Students To Consider with Respect to the Economy

Business, you know, may bring money, but friendship hardly ever does.

John Knightley, Emma Photo: Jeremy Northem as George Knightley, Emma (1996), Miramax

~ Saving & Investing ~

• My Wealth Builder presents Get Higher Interest for Saving – Up to 6%
• Generation X Finance presents How to Roll Over Your 401(k) When You Leave or Lose Your Job
• Four Pillars presents Can You Invest Your House Down Payment In The Stock Market?
• Lazy Man and Money presents Greed or No Greed
• Cash Money Life presents Increased 401k Contribution Limits in 2009
• Dividends4Life presents Dividend Stocks Role In The Future Recovery
• Military Finance Network presents 2009 Thrift Savings Plan Contribution Limits
• The Personal Financier presents Is the Stock Market a Big Ponzi (Madoff) Scheme?
• Stock Trading To Go presents Beginner’s Guide to Currency ETFs

But there are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them.

Mansfield Park Photo: Bennet family, Pride & Prejudice (2005), Working Title

~ Economy ~

• The Digerati Life presents Studying Business Cycles: Economic Graphs of The Current Economic Cycle
• Amateur Asset Allocator presents Unemployment At Highest Level In 15 years: Or Is It Even Worse?
• The Happy Rock presents [Video]The Government’s Money Hole – Recession, Taxes, and Bailout Commentary
• Personal Finance Analyst presents Can You Really Opt Out of a Recession?
• BankAround presents List of Banks that Took TARP Money

Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial affairs, between the mercenary and the prudent motive? Where does discretion end, and avarice begin?

Eizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice Photo: Jennifer Ehle as Lizzy, Pride and Prejudice (1996), BBC/A&E

~ Taxes ~

• The Financial Blogger presents How To Withdraw Money From Your Holding Without Paying Taxes – The Split Dollar Strategy
• Personal Finance Reviews presents 2009 Income Tax Brackets
• My Journey to Millions presents Did you Forget your RMD this Year? All may not be lost

After all that romancers may say, there is no doing without money.

Isabella Thorpe, Northanger Abbey Photo: Carey Mulligan as Isabella, Northanger Abbey (2007), WGBH Boston

~ Real Estate & Mortgages ~

• Mighty Bargain Hunter presents Running through payback time on a mortgage refinance
• Stumble Forward presents Mortgage Refinance Tips That Could Save You Thousands
• The Credit Toolbox presents Why Would You Choose A Variable Mortgage Rate?
• Funny About Money presents Can’t Sell the House? Try Swapping
• Debt Free Destiny presents How to Get Ready for Your First Home
• Growing Money presents Rental Property Update December 2008

Money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to give it.

Marianne Dashwood, Sense and Sensibility Photo: Kate Winslet as Marianne, Sense & Sensibility (1995), Sony Pictures

~ Reviews ~

• My Dollar Plan presents Have You Checked out Lending Club?
• The Dough Roller presents How to Buy and Sell Loans on Lending Club’s New Trading Platform
• Christian Debt Help presents Sharebuilder promotion and review

And to marry for money I think the wickedest thing in existence.

Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey Photo: Felicty Jones as Catherine, Northanger Abbey (2007), WGBH Boston

~ Other ~

• Money Beagle presents Wasting Money on Poorly Timed Traffic Lights
• LivingAlmostLarge presents A difference between rich and poor
• Centsability to Wealth presents Insurance- The Fortress the Protects Your Financial Army
• Steadfast Finances presents When the Expense of Plastic Surgery is Justifiable
• Free Money Finance presents Four More Uses for Gold Dollar Coins

He is rich, to be sure, and you may have more fine clothes and fine carriages than Jane. But will they make you happy?

Mr. Bennet to Lizzy, Pride and Prejudice Photo: Keira Knightley as Lizzy, Pride & Prejudice (2005), Working Title

* * *

This wraps up the Jane Austen Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and quotes as much as I did putting them together. Again, be sure to enter our giveaway for a free 6-month print subscription to the Wall Street Journal which ends this Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 11:59PM EST! Thanks for stopping by!

A Parting Shot

Photo: Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma, Emma (1996), Miramax

Related posts:

• Friday Fun: Calvin and Hobbes Lemonade Stand Economics Lesson & WSJ Giveaway Reminder
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #15
• Hosting the 3rd Edition of the Finance Fiesta Blog Carnival
• Recent Blog Carnivals (February 2009)
• Finance Blog Carnivals of Late

It has been a busy week for us here at Our Fourpence Worth. We partipated in another PF Bloggers Network Group Writing Project, the topic of which was our Personal Experiences with Loans. We wrote about the first time we purchased a car on our own and got in a little trouble by being clueless as to how the credit, loan and auto sales industries work. It was a once in a lifetime mistake that you can be sure we won’t ever be making again – Learning From Our Mistakes: Our First (Auto) Loan.

Check out the PF Bloggers Group Writing Projects page for more, and if you are a personal finance or frugal living blogger, you are invited to join in our Extended Group Writing Project. We also hosted the 16th Edition of the Finance Fiesta, the theme of which was “Devote Your Life to Money!” a cynical poem by David Kessel about the virtues of money.

A quick note before we begin with today’s roundup, we have been doing roundups once a month for the past few months, but plan to begin doing them twice a month. The reason we don’t do weekly roundups as many other bloggers do is simply because of our personal, work and blogging schedule. As you’ve probably noticed, we only manage to publish about 3 original posts a week so weekly roundups would not be a good balance of original and linking posts. OK, now on with the roundup.

PF Bloggers Network Members

• Wide Open Wallet shares her reasons for eating out. $400 a month is quite a lot, but if you enjoy it and can afford it, bon appetit!
• No Debt Plan talks about his “Thing”: Keeping a Bunch of Old Magazines. We have a similar “thing”. My Wall Street Journal pile, for instance, will soon be a WSJ mountain.
• Living Almost Large asks: is spending wrong? As with eating out, it really is all about what you can afford.
  
• Master Your Card gives a guide on How to Balance your Checkbook. In this electronic age, it probably is the norm to not know how to do this. Might I also suggest our Monopoly Game Expansion #2: Personal Checking Account for a fun way to practice this important skill.
• Girls Just Wanna Have Funds offers some car buying advice (something I was planning to do as well to follow up our experience with our car loan): Put On Your Lace Gloves: Get The Car You Want At A Price You Can Afford.

Elsewhere in the Personal Finance Blogosphere

• The Simple Dollar gives us Why Many “Alternative Income” Ideas Aren’t Worth Your Time – And What You Might Do With It Instead.
• I enjoyed Money Ning’s What Motivates You to Make Money? It is important to know and not lose sight of your true motives.
• Living Well on Less explains the beneifts of Life without a microwave. We did this for a while when our 12+ year old microwave died. It was a little inconvenient sometimes, but not at all impossible.
• Saving Advice gives us Ten Money-Saving Reasons to Get Out of Bed Early.
• Taxguy instructs on Items to Bring to Your Individual Tax Preparation Appointment.

Carnival Participation

Lately I’ve been really disorganized and have consistently forgotten to submit to blog carnivals, but I did manage to remember one. We’d like to thank The Personal Financier for including my post on Switching to Paperless Statements in the Carnival of Personal Finance #170 – Famous Last Sentences Edition. This edition features many [entertaining] statements, hopefully fictitious, that have not always resulted in a good end for the money manager or investor who said it. One of my favorites is #20: “It just can’t get any lower than this…”

Head on over for more personal finance reading recommendations.

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Related posts:

• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #12
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #2
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #3
• Early to Bed and Early to Rise Makes a Man [or Woman] Healthy, Wealthy and Wise