FHA secure - too little too late?

Interesting news today from Bush in regards to the foreclosures of homes and what not. If you haven’t seen it yet, apparently the FHA is going to launch a program in the next week or so called FHA Secure to help out homeowners that have good credit but can’t afford their mortgage payment. It will allow those people to refinance their mortgages into mortgages insured by the FHA.

I think this might be too little to late because if people that have good credit cannot afford their mortgage payment there is probably a pretty decent chance that their credit is no longer classified as good. Of course, I am certain that their will be a number of people that benefit from this. Unfortunately though I think a lot of people will be locked out of getting this help just because they may have bad credit now.

On the other hand, a lot of the people that are struggling are probably people that bit off more than they can chew. So, will they really learn their lesson if they get help like this? Maybe, maybe not.

ebay shipping made easy

I saw a great post over at Finance is Personal on How to make you eBay shipping more cost effective. And since I have been selling stuff on eBay recently this was of complete interest to me.

To post pointed to RedRoller.com as a great place to get shipping quotes. I tested it out and it looks like an awesome service. And best I can tell it is a free service. I put in zip codes, package size, weight and that it was going to a residence and got quotes for USPS and DHL. Oddly I didn't get anything for UPS or FedEx. I didn't create an account though, so that may be why.

Regardless this looks like a cool site to get some shipping quotes from. Unfortunately though it only appears to offer quotes for shipping within the US and not international.

Campus Tech

One of the great things about being a student is getting the discount on software. The academic software discounts are between 50% to 80% off the suggested retail price.

Campus Tech is a good place to get some of these great deals. Some of best savings are are digital design products like QuarkXPress which sells for $945 new but only $184.85 for students/faculty at Campus Tech. Campus Tech has a low price guarantee which means that you can get expensive software at insanely low prices.

Ah, what a good reason to be a student.

Speaking of America's Cheapest Family...

I punched up Yahoo this morning to find America's Cheapest Family on the front page. I have not watched the clip yet but I suspect it is a clip from their upcoming appearance on 20/20 tomorrow night. All of a sudden they are everywhere. I am so trendy :)

Get paid to move, that would be nice

I am antsy to move out of the state I am living in but I want to find a job somewhere else before I do. Why? Because moving is expensive and knowing that I can start work as soon as I get somewhere else would be nice and less stressful.

I have applied to a few jobs out of state but I haven't heard anything yet. I noticed an article on CNNMoney from Fortune mag about how more and more employers are paying for relocation expenses due to talent shortages. I got all excited when I saw the article headline but was disappointed to see that the article did not give any occupations or states that this is more likely to be the case in. It would be nice to be able to focus my search on an area where I know that there is a definite need for my skills.

I just really want to find a job that (1) I like more and (2) pays more so I can attack debt super hardcore. Ah, dreams :)

What is up with Ohio?

I saw this interesting story on Yahoo Finance, The Wealthiest and Poorest Places in the US and Ohio is all over this story.

While Ohio is not the poorest state (Mississippi is) it has several cities pointed out as poorest. Cleveland is listed as the city with the lowest median income of any city in the nation with more than 250,000 residents - households there earned only $26,535!! AND Cincinnati rounds out the top 10 with households earning only $31,103. And that is not the last mention of Ohio. Check out this:

"The lowest income town of any with more than 65,000 population was Youngstown, Ohio at $21,850, which finished last by a large margin."

Whoa. That is really horrible! Ohio doesn't seem like it would be quite so bad off. And where in the state are people making enough to keep Ohio from claiming the poorest state title from Mississippi?

Thoughts on America's Cheapest Family book

I recently finished reading America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money: Your Guide to Living Better, Spending Less, and Cashing in on Your Dreams by Steve and Annette Economides. (I'm still reading the Tightwad Gazette and had to finish this one first as I was not able to renew this one) If you have not read it you should totally pick it up as it's a good read. I had to wait a few weeks on the waiting list to get it from my library.

They also have a website that I have not had a chance to check out yet. Just from glancing at the page I see that they are gonna be on 20/20 on August 31st, which is Friday.

There were a lot of useful things in the book, but as someone that has a travel weakness I was particularly interested in how the whole family went on a vacation to Washington, D.C. for not a whole lot of money. In fact, this section of the book was where I found of the most unique tips.

They bought a crock pot at a thrift store once they arrived so that they could cook meals in their hotel room, and thus save on food costs. That is an awesome idea! I have used those little mini coffee pots to make soup and oatmeal before but this will be way better.

If you haven't read it yet you may want to give it a try.

more on creating my own windfall

Since eBay will be having this month long thing of no listing fees with the gallery option I think it might be a good time to throw some more things up on eBay. The thing that I hate about this promotion is that it is apparently only for items that you list at $9.99 or less. That means that you get no break on things with a higher listing price. That is kind of a bummer.

Of course, I do have some things that I can list for $9.99 or less so it will definitely be worth it for those items. Unfortunately thought I have some tickets to a show that I need to sell and was really hoping I would be able to get the free listing fee with them for this promotion but there is no way I will list the starting bid at $9.99. So sadly that means that I will probably lose some money to the listing fee fairy. I don't know how people do it that sell stuff on eBay full time.

no ebay listing fees for a month!

This was in an email I got from eBay today:

I know it is a bit hard to read but the fine print says that to get the free listing fee you have to pay for the gallery option. Which is cheaper than the regular listing fee option. Then you also have to list it for $9.99 or less.

And if your starting bid is more than $9.99? Well, if you do that and choose the gallery option you save 25% on your listing fee. I am not sure if this is worthwhile or not.

Looks like a good time to work on creating that windfall!

I love financial "news"

I noticed the following news headline on Yahoo finance:

Consumer Confidence Down in August

Hrm, ya think?

I am thinking maybe I should venture into being a news writer. I mean, I consider myself to be fairly efficient in stating the obvious, much like the above headline.

Ah, I just love news.

7 money-related things I regret doing

I saw a great post over at Blunt Money on the top 7 money related regrets and wanted to do my own list.

1. Taking out more in student loans than I needed for classes. I spent the extra on traveling. D'oh.
2. Spending my first 2 years of college at an expensive private school instead of at a community college. Most of my classes didn't transfer to the public school I got my degree from.
3. Paying for my master's degree myself instead of finding a job that did tuition reimbursement.
4. Selling my previous paid off car just because I wanted a new car.
5. Not saving my money as a teen.
   
6. Cashing out a 401K after leaving a job when I didn't know any better. D'oh.
7. Signing up for all of the credit cards! Big d'oh and a swift kick in the arse.
   

Thankfully I feel a bit smarter about things now. So, I suppose this list could look a bit worse.

keeping your kids safe is inexpensive , so what are you waiting for?

With it being back to school time again there are a lot of expenses involved - new clothes, school supplies, activity fees and more. Luckily safety is something that is free. If you do not know where to start a search online can yield a number of easy to implement solutions.

Defywire is a company that offers up 100 safety tips for kids on their site. Some knock out tips include having an out of town emergency contact in the event of a crisis, a code word that a kid can text message to you that means 'danger' and making sure your kids school has current contact info for you.

With the exception of the $0.15 for the text message, safety is looking pretty much like a freebie.

Dear economy - please fix your self

Just took a peek at my IRA.

I really shouldn't have. Boy is that depressing.

I update an account balance spreadsheet at the first of each month, so I'm really hoping that something amazing happens between now and the end of the week.

It would be swell if the economy could right itself so that I'd stop losing money in my IRA every time the market takes a dip.

Mail from Chase Bank about lowering credit card APR

A month or two ago I had the 16.99% APR on my Chase credit card jump to 29.99% for no clear reason.

Today I get in the mail something from them on how to lower my rate. Here is what it says:

1. Sign up for auto bill pay by 8/31/07 and get your APR lowered to 28.24%
2. Pay on time, stay within your credit limit, and have no returned checks for 12 months
3. Then watch your APR drop to an even lower 16.24%

That's swell. After more than a year total of a ridiculous rate it will go back to what it was almost.

Hopefully I will have it paid off completely before that year of auto bill pays are up.

The fine print - once you sign up for auto bill pay by 8/31/07 your APR will be reduced to 28.24% no later than 10/31/07. To get the 16.24% all of the conditions in #2 above must be met each month after June 30, 2007. That rate will be effective no later than 8/31/08.

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VH-1/ McDonald's Fabulously Frugal Life

I just saw a commercial on VH-1 that was a McDonald's commercial that said "VH-1 & McDonald's Guide to a Fabulously Frugal Life" and they were using the logo/font of one of their shows.

So, I stopped on it to see what it was. It listed the following frugal tips.

1. Go to a thrift store to update your wardrobe cheaply
2. Collect hotel room toiletries instead of buying new
3. Eat off the dollar menu at McDonald's

Just thought that was a somewhat interesting advertisement. Of course, when they were showing hotel rooms for the #2 one of the places they were at was Santorini, Greece. Not exactly frugal, eh?

Associated Content frustrations

The past three times that the page view bonus has update on Associated Content I have been eligible for payout, which is $15, but I haven't gotten paid.

The first time it happened I chalked it up to a glitch in their system and me not really being above $15.

The second time it happened I thought maybe they just overlooked me and would get me next time around.

This time I'm just mad because my bonus is almost $29, which is one dollar shy of being two Capital One minimum payments!

So, I emailed them and got no response. After poking around the message board I see that I'm not the only one in this boat. I decided that if come Saturday morning if I have not gotten an email back or gotten the payment that I will begin sending them an email a day until I hear/get something.

My offers have also gotten disappointingly low. So low in fact that it's better for me to do a 100-word paid review most times.

More jobs in the west

In the business section of my local paper today was an article on how the unemployment in a few states out West is rather low. So low that they cannot even get people to work at McDonald's for $10 per hour. Considering how the jobs pay where I live I find that rather amazing.

I am not familiar with the cost of living in these states that were mentioned (Wyoming, Montana, Utah) but I cannot believe that it would be too bad.

Unfortunately the article did not say where most of the job openings were. McDonald's was the only place I recall being mentioned by name.

I'm starting to think maybe I should start looking for a better paying job out West!

making my own windfall update

Some of my eBay auctions have ended already and, while it's not the amount I was hoping for, this batch of auctions brought in about $250. And that is nothing to be upset about. Especially since it was all things that were just in closets!

I'd like to be able to make another $250 before the month is up. That would be a nice bit of extra cash to throw at some debt.

If anyone else was trying to create their own windfall I hope you had some good luck too!

Wow - $4 million for a nagging website?

I am vaguely familiar with the FlyLady website. When I say vaguely I mean that I have heard of it and until today did not really know all that much about it.

I saw a story on AOL's front page today 'FlyLady Nags Her Way to Millions' and I was like what?!?

I read the story. Her site is such a simple idea, yet she's making millions off of it! That is insanity! I really wish I could come up with a simple idea that makes some mad cash like that. Who knew that people would pay to get nagged?

I must say though - $4 million is rather impressive for something that seems so simple.

sometimes I really hate selling on eBay

In some instances I have found that it is better to sell some clothing items on eBay as opposed to Craigslist. But I hate doing that because of the insane amount of questions and requests you get from people.

Measuring inseams, measuring sleeve length, measuring shoe height and so on.

It's most frustrating when the items are still in stores and they can go in store and find out for themselves.

creating your own windfall is hard work

I got a bunch of stuff listed on eBay but I still have loads more things I want to list. I may put some stuff up on Craigslist too since there is no listing fee like with eBay.

It seems like every time I try sell something on Craigslist the people show up and want to pay by personal check. Then they get mad when I won't take it even though I had told them cash only. A few months ago I sold a treadmill for $400 and the person wanted to write me a check. Um, no.

Hopefully by the end of next week I'll have everything up and selling on ebay!

making my own windfall

I keep saying that we need a windfall to wipe out some debt. If you knew me you'd get tired of hearing me talk about it.

I decided to create my own windfall.

See, ebay is having a listing special today only where any auction that you list has a free listing fee as long as you choose the gallery option, regardless of minimum bid amount. The cost for the gallery is option is $0.35 and the lowest regular cost for a listing fee is $0.40 if it's at least a buck.

So, when I get home I'm gonna go through the apartment and look for things that I can sell and make my own windfall. Hopefully. Provided that people want to buy my stuff.

Wish me luck. And go create your own windfall too!

Blingo is giving away an iMac today!

I noticed that Blingo is giving away an iMac today, so if you haven't signed up you can click on the image below. In case you don't know, Blingo is a search engine that uses Google where you can win prizes just for searching. If I'm not mistaken I think Tricia at Blogging Away Debt won something off Blingo a while back.

Comparison shopping for new tires

I've been putting it off, but I need new tires on my car and I can't put it off any longer. So, I have been looking around trying to get a feel for prices. Every place that I have looked has had prices starting at around $80 and going up from there. I looked for the tire brand/style that is on the car now and it's $90 at Goodyear and another tire chain and $114 at yet another tire chain. I looked online at Sam's Club - that same Goodyear tire is $63. The only problem is that it is a special order item and takes 5 - 10 business days to arrive.

I'm thinking a few more days won't hurt and it will save me around $100, so I ordered the tires at my local Sam's Club. And as a bonus I can cash out some points on MyPoints for a Sam's gift card to take care of $25.00 of the cost of the tires.

The unfortunate part is that I can't get the other service items that I need done at the same time like I wanted since I'll be getting the tires at Sam's.

So, if you're looking for tires, make sure you check out your local Sam's club. And since they don't take credit cards (except for Discover and their own) you get to make sure you don't rack up any more debt.

Back-to-school is not that serious

I keep seeing ads for laptops and whatnot for "back-to-school" and it really blows my mind. Whatever happened to back to school shopping consisting of the following list:

• no. 2 pencils
• loose leaf paper or notebooks
• new backpack (if needed)
  
• extra erasers
• pencil case (if needed)
• lunch bag (if needed)
• 2 pair of jeans, a pair of shoes and a few shirts
• protractor, ruler or any other items on a list from school
  

Okay, so this is what my school shopping list used to look like when I was younger. See how simple and so not costly that list is. The crazy part is that I usually didn't really need the clothes but my mom really liked for me to "look nice" on those first few days. Apparently the impression I made by the way I dressed was important to her. Seems kinda silly now.

When I was in 8th grade I got an "expensive" backpack - an Eastpack. I got it because it had a lifetime warranty and my mom didn't wanna be buying me any more backpacks. I'm 29 and I still use that backpack. I even went through a period in school when I wanted a new backpack real bad and tried to break that one - it didn't work.

Notice the lack of "technology'" items. Yes, technology wasn't a big deal when I was younger, but it was by the time I was in high school. But the shopping list pretty much never changed. And honestly, the list above is all kids really need.

When I have kids, they are so gonna hate me for not giving them a laptop for kindergarten.

Who knew?

As part of my trying to kill the debt and not spend as much money I've practically stopped going out to restaurants. One of my fave things to get at a restaurant is a grilled chicken sandwich with swiss, bacon and honey mustard. And I used to think that Outback made the best ones (for around $9).

Now I make the best ones! And for a whole lot less!

I got enough chicken over the weekend for 5 sandwiches for a cost of a little under $5.00! Talk about cost savings! Yowza.

All this time, I've been spending around $9 (probably more with tip) for something that I could make at home both cheaper and tastier.

I'm sure I'm not the first to discover something like this, but it's pretty exciting anyways.

Dining out - how long can you go?

One of the things I noticed when I began tracking the household spending a few months ago was the crazy amount of money we were spending going out to restaurants each week. The worst part about it is that I know we can make better tasting food - so I guess we were just lazy!

So, over the past few months I've been working on eating at home more and going out less. The spending tracking spreadsheets have helped me to see the decline and it's awesome.

I was just looking at my tracking sheet for August and got really excited. It's the 10th and the only money we've spent at restaurants was $2.70 for two coffees at a drive-thru. And ... I have no desire to go out anywhere this weekend! Hooray! It's really exciting. And the thing is - the grocery spending is only up about $2.50 a week on average.

And if we can keep this up for the remainder of the month that will be just too awesome. I think maybe I'll cash in some MyPoints rewards points for a restaurant gift card so that when we get antsy for going out it will be free.

sometimes, I really hate having a car

This month offers a great opportunity for me to pay off a chunk of debt since there is an extra paycheck this month. I am also working super hard to make a nice bit of alternative income to pay off even more of the debt.

Unfortunately my car has decided that it wants to suck some of that extra money over its way instead. In all fairness, I have known for a few months that I would need to get new tires sometime soon. That sometime soon is looking like it needs to be in the next 30 days unfortunately. And I've noticed that when I hit the brakes there is that nice grinding of metal squeal that is not too pleasant on the ears. And I've also noticed that I'm not stopping as soon as I'd like to when I have to slam on my brakes in rush hour traffic. And I need an alignment.

I'm considering trying to find a local shop and seeing if they will give me bit of a discount if I get all of that work done by them. I don't know if that will work, but it might be worth a shot. Of course, sometimes tire prices are a lot more at local shops. And sometimes they don't have the parts that they need for you in stock and you have to wait.

Ah cars. I should really be thinking about moving to a place where I won't need one the next time I move.

ouch

Since I've been reading how the market is taking a beating I logged into my IRA account yesterday to see the damage.

Ouch.

Yup, that's a beating all right. Sure wish I had some extra cash though since it's a great time to buy.

I didn't log into my ShareBuilder account. There's not much in it, but still. I suspect it looks pretty bad as well. I'm thinking I'll wait till the end of the month, which is when I usually check balances and hope that things have recovered a bit by then.

Debt roundup #6

Last month I wanted to make $2400 in alternative income so that I could attack a credit card with a nasty APR....that didn't happen. I blame it on Harry Potter taking up a lot of time.

I did make almost $1100 in alternative income. I started out the month strong but lost steam as time wore on. I have renewed my dedication to meeting the $2400 mark this month and think it will be a goal I can reach as there will be no distractions (harry potter) this month.

This month also offers up an extra paycheck, which is awesome. I'm hoping for next month's debt totals to show a big drop after I get to pay off a chunk!

Here's where the debt stands as of 7/31/07:

• car loan = $13,016.03
• credit cards = $30,383.49
• school loans = $153,969.50

And if you're wondering, no, the degrees were not worth all of that debt. :)

As for my job hunt, I just found out that local employer has closed an office in Illinois and will be moving about 50 positions in Finance/Accounting to the offices here. If you're in central Ohio and want info, drop me a comment. I do not know pay rate or exact positions as my contact just found out yesterday about the openings - but I can tell you where to send your resume!