Identity Theft

A couple of weeks ago I had to get my drivers license renewed. Along with my drivers license I also received a couple of fliers on identity theft. I thought that I would share some interesting tidbits.

How to guard against identity theft:

• Obtain a free credit report and look for any inaccurate information. You can go to www.annualcreditreport.com or call 877-322-8228to receive a free credit report.
• Do not give out your social security number, mother's maiden name, or account numbers to strangers who contact you, especially by phone, internet, or mail. Legitimate financial or government organizations that do business with you already have this information and will not ask for it by calling you.
• Make sure your full credit card number or expiration date does not appear on receipts.
• Don't leave outgoing mail in your mailbox. Take it to a collection box or your local post office.
• Tear or shred charge receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, physician statements, bank checks, and statements, expired charge cards and credit offers you get in the mail.
• Minimize the amount of personal financial information you carry. memorize passwords and PIN numbers instead of carrying them with you.

For credit reports you can call Equifax at 800-525-6285, Experian at 1-888-937-3742, or TransUnion at 1-800-680-7289. I think they charge you $12.00 for credit report and an extra cost for your credit score.

The Fall Wedding Season

It seems that there are now two wedding seasons in a year, Spring and Fall. The fall wedding season is fast approaching and I have some tips for a smoother and less stressful reception.

In the last year a candy bar has become the fad instead of appetizers. A buffet table or tall round tables decorated with the latest chocolates and hard candies for everyone to enjoy while watching a slide show of the Bride and Groom on a 24” TV (or larger).

One tip that everyone seems to forget is having a corner for the younger children. Have a child table with child size chairs in a corner covered in white paper so that the children can draw or color. Encourage the parents to bring the child’s toys and have something set up to keep them entertained. This helps keep the screaming running child from knocking over the beautiful and expensive wedding cake to the floor.

If there are going to be children at the reception, consider having child safe tables with electric tea candles instead of real ones. You really don’t want to evacuate the building and have the sprinklers go off on your beautiful decorations.

You may want to suggest that the parents stop by McDonalds on the way to the reception hall or have special children meal made by the caterer. Another way to keep the child from throwing food, that they refuse to eat, at the snooty Aunt or Grandmother that complains loudly about unruly children and of course the drunk brother-in-law thinking that someone has started a food fight and joins in.

Coordinate with the DJ or Band and the venue to set a time to set up and to stop the music to have enough time to tear down so that you are not charged extra for keeping the manager of the venue longer than scheduled. Get the schedule in writing for your own protection. My husband and I are DJs and have run into a problem where one person said that we could take as long as we wanted to tear down, but when it came to the evening we were yelled because we were there an hour after the manager was suppose to have locked the doors. The manager threatened to charge the couple extra money for her time.

Consider putting a responsible person in charge of walking through the venue after most people have left to gather all the forgotten items. This will give one central person for lost and found calls the next day.

These are just a few tips that I have gathered through my experience as a DJ and working at a number of weddings and parties. Click on the comments to leave your great tips for those getting ready to walk down the aisle.

Survival Kit For Everyday Life

Toothpick - to remind you to pick out the good qualities in others

Rubber Band - to remind you to be flexible, things might not always to the way you want, but it will work out

Pencil - to remind you to list you blessings everyday

Eraser - To Remind you that everyone makes mistakes, and it's OK.

Chewing gum - to remind you to stick with it and you can accomplish anything

Mint - To remind you that you are worth a mint

Candy Kiss - to remind you that everyone needs a kiss or a hug everyday

Tea Bag - to remind you to relax daily and go over that list of blessings.

Useful Websites

My Aunt sent me an email with links to some really good web sites and I thought that I would share. Thanks Paula!

http://www.letmeplay.com

this website is for getting rid of your old sneakers. They recycle them into rubber play surfaces.

Save the rain forest for every cell phone donated this website helps save 75 feet of rain forest http://www.redjellyfish.org/cellphonerecycling.html they will send you a form to fill out and a mailing label.

Donate your old computer to a school http://www.cristina.org or to a family who can not afford a computer http://www.theonitfoundation.org

to donate your old prescription glasses or sunglasses to a developing country drop off at any sears optical, lenscrafters, pearle vision, target optical or go to http://www.givethegiftofsight.com

to get rid of old prescription medicine mail to Flying Doctors. They fly them to Mexico and central America to treat folks in undeveloped countries. http://www.flyingdocs.org

Help support a single mom and her family by donating your old dress clothes. So they have something nice to wear (which they can not afford) to job interviews. First impressions could make the difference in getting a job. Go to http://www.dressforsuccess.org

win 20 years of free gasoline go to http://www.autovantage.com for your chance to win$1750.00 of gas for every year for the next 20 years.

Win a queen size Verdi square pillow top mattress set from Sealy. Go to http://www.1800Mattress.com/ww

Win an interactive doll house has more than 400 activities, songs, words and sounds, plus spacious rooms and secret passageways. Go to http://www.learningcurve.com/ww

I got all of these out of the Womans World magazine. A very informative magazine.

Frustrating Family Members

Get Rich Slowly has an article that made me think of some of my family members who struggle with money. They just can't seem to be able to put money in the bank and leave it there.

Yes, like any kind of addiction, buying things fills the emotional gap that has never been filled by loved ones. For some people it is hard to turn away from that short lived high of buying a new outfit, electronic gadget, or the newly release book and put the money into a savings account or toward a credit card bill.

Why can some people leave a store without anything and others leave the store with $100 worth of items they didn't intend to buy? They are trying to fill that gap of love, self-esteem, self-respect, fill in the blank.

Until these people realize that things do not make them feel loved, they don't give them respect, and things do not help you believe in yourself, they will never have money. You can not force them to feel better about themselves. You can try to encourage them, but they are the ones that have to have an a ha moment or some kind of life changing event to help them change their thinking and lives.

How do I handle money moochers in my family?

Yes, I realize they have a lot of emotional problems, but that doesn't mean I have to enable their addictions and make things worse for them in the long run. I never give them money. If I feel that they actually need help for the children's sake, I buy the groceries and deliver them to their home. I go with them to pay a bill and give the money directly to the company. If they need gas, I will take their car to the gas station and put the gas in the car. I found that I don't get very many people asking me for money, because what they say they want the money for, really is not what they actually spend the money on.

It is hard to watch people struggle in life. But you can't live their life for them. They have to learn from their own mistakes and if they don't then they have to deal with the consequences. For me this means that I have to love people from a distance. I limit my contact with them and I don't bring up finances. I only give advise when asked and it is up to them if they use that advise or not.

How do you deal with financially struggling family members?

Learning to Trade Stock without Spending Money

Wall Street Survivor is a web site that you can pretend to buy and trade stock. This is a great teaching tool. You can see how well you would do without using any of your own money. You can win real cash prizes by trading stocks if you are one of the top 10 traders you can win money. Good Luck!

Should you wait to have a baby until you are financially secure?

Frugal Dad has an article about paying off credit card debt before having a baby. I agree with him, don’t wait! There will never be a perfect time to have a child or two.

Just from my own experience, unless you are unable to pay for your own essential needs, don’t wait. I am currently going through a second round of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments to have a child. It isn’t easy.

Yes having a child will eventually add expenses to your budget. But if you stick with buying items from yard sales and second hand stores, the joy of having a child will outweigh any extra money going out the door.

Here are some things that my husband and I have already decided upon to save a few extra dollars when a child comes into our lives:

· Breast feeding instead of formula
· Cloth diapers
· Buying clothes from yard sales and second hand stores
· We already have some furniture given to us from friends and family

Babies grow too fast to buy everything new and they are too young to be influenced by commercialism so why spend the extra money on new clothes and toys.

I was planning to start an IVF blog, but I have been feeling so crappy from the shots and from a sinus headache that won't go away. I just don’t have the energy to keep up with another blog. This is the reason the articles have been so sporadic the last few weeks. Most of the bad shots should be done with in another week, and I should be able to get back on track.

If you are planning to have children, don’t wait. Do what you need to do to get your finances in order and your home ready while trying to conceive. Then enjoy the process.

No Spending Blog

There was an article yesterday on Get Rich Slowly talking about how a woman and her family of 3 (www.smallnotebook.org) have participated in a spending freeze for the entire month of July. She has kept track of the money she had to spend each week for necessities and the occasional splurge. I actually did a spending freeze in January and I am planning on doing it again in August. Basically what a spending freeze is, is when you only buy the absolute necessities and if you know you are going to spend money on something special, you have to plan for it. For example, tomorrow night, we are going out to eat for Tina's birthday to a moderately expensive restaurant. Since I know we are going to go there ahead of time, I am considering that a legal cheat for the spending freeze. The point of a spending freeze is to not only save money, but also to try to control overspending by challenging yourself to do better. In January when I did my spending freeze, I was competing with a co-worker to see how long we could go without spending anything. Our allowances were gas, necessary grocery staples, bills, and other necessities. I, of course, beat out my competition, but I had a lot of things stocked up, whereas, my competition did not. I spent $624.70 during the freeze, but about$400 of that was for gas. My DH and I were not carpooling at the time.

In my opinion, everybody should try to participate in a spending freeze for at least 21 days. (Statistically, that is how long it takes to create a habit) Not only to save money, but to reflect upon why you are spending money on things that are wants, not necessities. The key to a spending freeze is to keep a journal of your daily or weekly spending and to make a list of "legal cheats". These are things that you know you are going to spend money on before the freeze starts. I know there are going to be unexpected expenses, like in January when I got a flat tire and had to spend $21.95 to get it fixed, but it is a good way to learn to control your spending and impulse buying. Below are my blog entries from when I was on the spending freeze. Let me know if you are planning on trying a spending freeze. I will post a weekly reflection on my spending freeze for August.

January 1, 2008
No spending day! Read "Not Buying It", by Judith Levine, it was interesting.
January 2, 2008
No Spend day. I went to the Dermatologist, but no co-pay today.
January 3, 2008
Had to get gas for both vehicles $71.10 and I had a flat tire on the car $21.95 to get it fixed.
January 4, 2008
No Spend Day. Co-workers and I went to Joe's Crab Shack for lunch, but we had a gift card.
January 5, 2008
No spend day. We are getting low on a few items.
January 6, 2008
I had to go to the grocery store today because we are completely out of milk and cheese. But I didn't spend any money. I went to CVS and I got 4 candy bars, 2 56ct. pantiliners, a gallon of milk, a jumbo pack of Huggies, and Fructis conditioner for free using my ExtraCare bucks and a gift card. Then I went to the grocery store and got cheese and lunchmeat for free using the same giftcard.
January 7, 2008
No spend day.
January 8, 2008
DH and I both had to get gas today, $80.15 total, but returned a few Christmas items to Kohls and got back $42.
January 9, 2008
No Spend day. Ran out of eggs today.
January 10, 2008
I bought some orange juice today because we are all sick. 3 gallons for $6.71, not too bad.
January 11, 2008
No spend today. I stayed home from work to take care of sick ds.
January 12, 2008
I got gas today $32.01 and then we went to Wal-Mart. I bought cough medicine, a prescription, 2 packages of lunchmeat, a package of cheese slices, 3 cans of Pringles, powder sugar donuts, gum, 4 banquet dinners, eggs, peanut butter, and milk for $34.84. This should last for a week.
January 13, 2008
No spend day. But we are running low on pet food and soda. I was not aware of this yesterday when I was at Wal-Mart.
January 14, 2008
No spend day for me, but DH got gas in his truck $52.
January 15, 2008
No spend day
January 16, 2008
I had to get gas in my car today $28.51. Should last until next week.
January 17, 2008
I had to go get some things at the store today, but I stocked up on a lot of things so it will last us a while. I got powdered sugar donuts, orange juice, 2 packages of chicken breasts, (10) 2 liters of Dr. Pepper and (4) 12 packs of Dr. pepper (for DH), dog food (16 lb bag), 2 pkgs of cheese sticks, 2 pkgs of shredded cheese, 3 pkgs of lunchmeat, and cheese slices for $43.87. We didn't NEED anything on this list except dog food, but DH is addicted to caffeine and the other items were on sale for great prices, plus I had coupons for everything. Also, our local grocery store gives you $10 off a $50 purchase on select Thursday's and this happened to be one of them.
I did good today considering my temptations. Today was one of my co-workers last day so they ordered Jimmy Johns subs for lunch. I did not order anything. I had brought a salad and some cheese sticks, so I ate those. Then I had to get milk and diapers. I went to CVS and got the milk for free using my extracare bucks and a gift card. Then I went to Walgreens. Right now they have their Huggies Jumbo packs on sale 2/$16 and you get a free tub of wipes. Well of course I had a coupon for both diapers and the wipes so I only spent $12.50 on those. I also got 4 Glade scented oil candles for free. See my entry in the In stores forum or the couponing forum!!
Yesterday we went to my office to do some furniture assembly. I had to get gas $30, but that was all we purchased. Normally, when we go to the office on the weekend, we stop by McDonalds to get lunch, but we didn't stop yesterday. Also, we have a $10 off coupon for Lowe's that we were going to use, but we decided not too because we are technically still doing the freeze until Tuesday and we were planning on spending much more that $10. Yay for us!
Sunday January 20, 2008
No spend day. I stayed home all day today and cleaned, did laundry and cooked. I made pizza completely from scratch for dinner. I started the dough around 2:00 and let it rise for 2 1/2 hours. Then I just topped it with some ground beef, green peppers, cheese, black olives, and mushrooms. It was awesome.
Monday January 21, 2008
My husband informed me today that he needed $75 for a tool he bought for work. He does not get reimbursed for it and it was not on the approved spending list. Grrr!! Oh well, at least he is going to use it, unlike some of the other tools he has purchased. Other than the tool purchase it was a No spend day.
I had left over pizza for lunch today and for dinner I made salmon (from Aldi's), hush puppies and broccoli. Ds ate mac & cheese.
No Spend Day. I worked from home today so I didn't use as much gas as I usually would. I have a dr appt tomorrow, there goes $20 on the co-pay Oh well, at least I will get it back through my FSA.
Today for lunch I had pizza rolls. I made spaghetti and crescents for dinner. No leftovers though so I am going to have to be creative for lunch tomorrow.