No Spending Month

I was watching TV last night and there was a couple of commercials that had to do with people losing their jobs and losing their homes. I had a minor panic attack. I freaked out a little. But, I still have unemployment coming in and my husband still has his job, so I calmed down a little.

Then I started thinking about all the ways I could start making some money. Most of them required that I study. So I am gathering some of my books to start doing that along with the school work I already have going.

One other way I decided to keep me from going crazy is to have a no spending month. Starting tomorrow I will only spend money on things I absolutely have to have. This should give me more time at home to get some things done that I need to get done and to study.

Now if I could only find my old massage therapy school book to study for the National Certification. Off to look for books.

I will post a weekly update on my progress.

Opportunities

I have been trying to figure out what I really want to do. Not having a job is giving me an opportunity to maybe change my career path. After learning that my class was canceled today which gives me some extra time to study for a test, I spent time searching the Internet.

Yes, I am going to school, but I can still change my degree program and I may just do that. I want to do something that directly helps people, not just computer programming.

I plan to do some more research, but I think that I will be changing career fields all together.

Free Food

Quiznos is giving away coupons for a free sub. You do have to give them your email address though.

IHop is giving away free pancakes to help the Children's Miracle Network.

Now you can have a day of free foods!!!

When Giants Fall

I have been listening to talk radio more these days. A radio show that I use to listen to a few years ago. A couple of days ago, the topic was, of course, the economy. The expert who was the guest speaker has a couple of books out. One is "When Giants Fall".

I have not read the book yet, but I have put it on my list. But listening to Michael Panzner and other experts in the field they all say the same thing. The stimulus package is only delaying what is going to happen no matter what we do.

Companies are going to fail along with banks. People are going to lose their jobs and that some kind of war is in our future. Some say it will be an economic war, others say it will be World War III, other say it will be another Civil War. But in the past, the way we found our way out of depression is through war.

I know I am so full of positive news. But the more we know the better prepared we can be. It wouldn't hurt to learn new skill sets that you can use if the economy fails. Learn to sew, grow a garden, do your own home and car repairs. Maybe even woodworking, stain glass, or pottery.

Depression

Depression and frustration is starting to set in. I have noticed in the last couple of days I am having a real problem with depression and staying motivated to do anything.

Looking for a job is getting to be really frustrating. I hate to see how things will be if it really does take 4 to 6 months to find a job. I am either over qualified or under qualified. Of course the stupid test you have to take doesn't make it better.

The test to supposedly determine that you know what you say you know are a bunch of crap. Some of the questions I had no idea what they were talking about. I know what needs to be fixed when I see code, I don't know the technical words for each piece of code. These test make you feel really stupid and are very stressful. So I have to take another test on Monday for another company. I will be studying all day tomorrow. Maybe I can get a better grade.

All of this really makes me feel like employers think that I am stupid and that I lie about my skills. It also makes me realize that I need to revisit and maybe study in more depth the programs that I have on my resume. All of this learning and relearning is making my head hurt.

On a side note, my computer crashed. Even the so called experts have no idea why it does what it is doing. So I will be buying a new computer tonight. My palm also crapped out on me last week. Fortunately it was still under warranty and was replaced free of charge. I received an elliptical for a 15 year award for the company I use to work for. 10 minutes of use the computer died. That was in January 18th. The shipping company finally came and picked up the broken machine on Thursday. Supposedly I should get a new elliptical in two weeks. We will see if that actually happens.

Ok, enough of the pity party. I hope your new year has been better.

Job Fairs

Here are some good tips that I pickup from the unemployment office the other day.

7 tips to help you at job fairs:

1. Dress the part. First impressions always make a difference
2. Be prepared. Birng copies of your seume, pen or pencil, notbook, and a positive attitude
3. Extend a firm handshake and smile. Approach the recruiter with confidence and purpose
4. Quickly state your goal. Identify immediately yoru background and what type of position you are looking for.
5. Don't be afraid to ask. Ask for the recruiter's business card. Ask what the next step is in their hiring process. Ask when they will be making a decision on the position.
6. Be energetic and personable. Your objective is to sell yourself to the coprorate recruiter. Know your skills and abilities and discuss how they can benefit the company.
7. After your conversation. Ask diplomatically when you'll hear from the recruiter.

If you have other tips to add to the list, please post them in a comment.

Job Finding Web Sites

Sorry about no post yesterday. I was trying to get a job so I spent time at the Unemployment office (which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be), went to a job fair, and did some networking. While I was at the unemployment office I picked up a flier that had a bunch of websites to look for jobs, so I thought that I would share them.

Temp Agencies

http://www.kforce.com/
http://www.elitestaffinginc.com/
http://www.americanstaffing.net/
http://www.accountemps.com/
www.manpower.com
www.laborready.com
www.adecco.com

Specialty Sites

wsj.com/careers - The Wall Street Journal's job classifieds
www.dice.com - Technology jobs
www.operationit.com - IT careers
www.black-collegian.com - Minority job placement and education advice
www.ecojobs.com - Advertising jobs in the environmental sector
www.jobsinsports.com - Sports related jobs
www.tjobs.com - telecommuting jobs, working from home
www.analyzemycareer.com - aptitude tests, personality tests, occupational interest assessments
www.asvabprogram.com - career exploration programs
www.usps.com/employment - U.S. Postal jobs

National Job finding sites

www.careerbuilder.com - This is where I have had the most activity
www.usajobs.gov
www.monster.com - I have received a lot of calls from having my resume on here
www.htojobs.com
www.jobbankusa.com
www.career-intelligence.com - provides women with information and advice dealing with career planning, job transition and career management
www.jobseeker.net
www.aboutjobs.com
www.snagajob.com - High school and college part time to full time jobs
www.careersingovernment.com
www.employmentguide.com
www.jobcenteral.com

Networking site
http://www.linkedin.com/home

I hope that you can use these sites to find the perfect job. I am using a lot of them.

Traffic Tickets

Listening to the new, it has been reported that police are giving out more tickets these days than usual. Why? Because the cities, counties, and states need money.

Yep, you need to be more careful than usual when driving these days. It seems that the municipalities are pressuring the police to bring in more money, so they are giving out more tickets to help pay the bills.

So, watch your speed, don't run yellow lights, make sure you park in the correct parking spaces, make sure all lights are functioning on the car/truck and your stickers are up-to-date. Otherwise you may be paying a ticket and not just getting a warning these days.

Tacking Your Spending

In order to find out where your money is going you need to track it. Once you find out what you are spending your money on you can look at what you can cut to stay within your budget. Here are some web sites that can help.

Yodlee.com and Mint.com links to your bank, credit cards, and loan companies and tracks every penny you spend. You can set Mint.com to download and categorize every penny you spend every day.

If you are wanting more security, you can manually add your transactions on Budgettracker.com. You can use your cell phone to update your spending using your cell phone. BudgetPulse.com works on the same concept, but is still new and has a few bugs that need to be ironed out. But if you don't mind helping in the process, you can start using it and send in your feedback.

Geezeo.com and Wesabe.com is a basic budget tracking tool and a social networking and community support program. It is similar to Facebook, but helps you keep track of your finances.

You can also use Quickbooks or Quicken which can be used manually or automatically. I use Quickbooks for books for my businesses and Quicken for personal finances.

Of course there is always the old fashion way using a spread sheet, either a book or software program.

With any of these programs you can view reports and they will let you know where you are over budget. It will take some time to set everything up, but once you have it set up it will only take a few minutes to update. There is no reason why you shouldn't know where you money it going and why.

This is the first step in finding out where you stand financially. From here you can set up a budget and start saving money.

A Truly Frugal Valentine's Day!

This year my husband and I decided to celebrate Valentine's day a little different from the past few years. We usually go out to eat, see a movie and exchange store bought gifts. This year, I made dinner at home, we watched a movie on HBO and I purchased gifts for him and my son with coupons (just candy, spent $10). For dinner we had bacon wrapped filet Mignon, mashed potatoes, stir-fry vegetables, and dinner rolls. I figured that this meal for two cost about $9.56. I found the filets on sale at the local grocery store for $2.99 each. If we would have gone to the local steakhouse, that meal would have cost well over $40. How creative were you for Valentine's Day this year?

Happy Valentines Day!

Do you want to save money, de-stress, and be a little romantic? All you need to do is kiss. According to a new study by Windy Hill kissing can help lower your stress levels.

"In an experiment, Hill explained, pairs of heterosexual college students who kissed for 15 minutes while listening to music experienced significant changes in their levels of the chemicals oxytocin, which affects pair bonding, and cortisol, which is associated with stress. Their blood and saliva levels of the chemicals were compared before and after the kiss."

"Both men and women had a decline in cortisol after smooching, an indication their stress levels declined."

To help your Valentine lower stress level and add a little romance, find a low lit room and start kissing.

HAPPY VALENTINES!!!

Dollar Savvy's Tips to Save on Groceries

Dollar Savvy and The Today Show has teamed up to give us all savings tips on groceries. Here are 10 of the tips:

1. Read the store ads. They can help you save money on popular items. You can use the ads to put together menus for the whole week and save money.

2. Navigate the store like a pro. "Shop the perimeter of the store. Food essentials (produce, meats, dairy, and bread) are usually located around the store’s perimeter. The middle aisles have the more costly prepared foods. The more you concentrate your shopping on the edges of the store, the healthier and cheaper your food-buying will be."

Also pay attention to the end of the isles. They normally display items that are on sale. Look at the top and bottom of the shelves. The more expensive items are normally at eye level.

3. As you go through the sale ads, make a list of items you need and stick to the list. Being organized will help you save money in many different ways. Using a list will help you save on gas and time by only making one trip to the store instead of many because you forgot something. I usually start a grocery list and stick it to the fridge. When Shop-N-Save has their $10.00 off coupon days, I take my list and get what I need.

4. Do the math. Compare the amount of products in a package to others. A less expensive bag may look cheaper, but has less in the package. You may save money by buying the more expensive bag.

5. Study the pattern of sale ads. You may find that the store always have buy one get one free on the first week of the month. But on the third week of the month it is a dollar off. Make sure you buy the item when it is at it's lower price.

6. When a store advertises that they have buy 10 for $10.00 doesn't mean you have to buy 10. If you only need 5, you still get the sale price unless otherwise stated. Pay close attention to the advertisements for this reason.

7. Use coupons wisely. Sometimes the store brand is much cheaper than the name brand even when it is on sale and you have a coupon. Sometimes you can really get a good price when it is on sale and you have a coupon. Again, do the math. If you have a coupon for buy one get one free and the item is on sale, you may save more money by buying an extra paper to get more coupons and really save money. You can also go online using some of the links on the right of this blog and find more coupons.

8. If the store offers rain-checks for items that are on sale, but they have ran out of, ask for a rain-check. Then you can cash in the rain-checks for items you need but are not on sale.

9. Use sales, coupons, and double coupon days to save money.

10. Make sure that the items are ringing up for the right prices. Sometimes registers don't always bring up the sale price. Check the sales receipt. If the item is on sale but rang up with a regular price, take the receipt back to the store for a refund.

Using these tips can save you a lot of money every month. I may have to subscribe to Dollar Savvy for more ways to save money. I am off to buy my groceries for the next couple of weeks.

Tricks to Grow Your Savings Account

It is getting harder and harder to save these days. I have been trying to think of different ways to save some money. Here is what I have come up with:

• Instead of spending the change, put the change in a jar.
  
• When filling out the check book ledger round up to the next dollar amount. For instance if your purchase added to $20.35 write $21.00 in your ledger.
• The day or two before you receive your paycheck, transfer the balance into a high interest savings account.

You would be surprised to see how fast your savings will grow without really realizing it.

A Quiet Valentines Day

It seems that I won't be the only one scaling back on Valentines Day celebration this year. More people who are in similar situations will be celebrating at home with home made cards and a nice family dinner.

In the past, layoffs are synonymous with divorce. It seems the strain on job loss and financial strain puts even more pressure on a marriage. The percentage rises when both people are laid off and looking for a job. For those who are getting back to what is most important is the love between two people and just dealing with life, Valentines day will be more subdued and a lot less money spent.

In the past few years people have started expanding their Valentines day gifts to friends, family, and coworkers. My niece called me yesterday and said that she had bought a bunch of small gifts for people in all three categories. I had no idea that Valentines had grown to such a big deal. But like my niece, if people are still buying gifts for someone other than a significant other, they are buying smaller less expensive gifts.

According to the MSNBC article people are spending 15 percent less this year than in the last 6. One couple is taking their daughter to the park and then to dinner and a movie. I have requested that my husband not buy me any presents this year, just a card and a nice dinner. I bought my husband a card and chocolate using my rebates from Walgreen's, so it was free. We are also going to a restaurant that we have coupons for like Red Lobster or IHop.

Are you scaling down Valentines Day this year? What are some of the things you have decided to do that cost less?

Got Trouble

I usually wake up to the radio. The first thing I heard this morning was an advertisement for Got Trouble. It was so interesting that I had to check it out.

Got Trouble is having a contest. If you can right a song and send in a video, you could win $5000. The web site has a lot of other information about credit card debt, new laws on the housing crisis, and more.

If you need to talk with someone about your troubles, Got Trouble has links and live boards that you can visit and get more information.

So grab a guitar and a video camera and start singing your troubles away to win that $5000.

Pink Slip Parties

This is a little funny, I was going through my normal reading on web sites and came across this article on MSNBC. It seems that New York is starting yet another trend for those of us who are unemployed. They are teaming the jobless and recruiters in pink slip parties.

I know that clubs and coffee shops are taking advantage of these new ways to not only get recruiters and unemployed together, but also get people in the door to buy products. A coffee shop in St. Louis hosts similar programs not only to help it's customers, but to get customers in the door. It is a win win situation.

People are looking for anyway to find those few companies that are hiring. Some are even hanging out at the subway stations trying to get friendly with those who do have jobs to try and get that foot in the door.

Just as a suggestion for those who are wanting to bring in customers, try putting on a job fair or having a networking party.

Just a side note that I thought was funny. Last week a major company sent out a help wanted ad for a job that I have qualifications for. I received 2 emails and 3 phone calls from different recruiters for this job. I will be interested if I get a phone call from this company for an interview. Oh, I only submitted my resume once for the position.

The Dash

I read of a reverend who stood to speak at the funeral of his friend. He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth, and now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own; the cars, the house, the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard, are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left.

If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real, and always try to understand the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger, and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect, and more often wear a smile, remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.

So, when you eulogy is being read with your life's actions to rehash....
would you be pleased with the things they say about how yo spent your dash?

Unemployment

I had to make my first unemployment telephone call to continue my benefits this week. I could not believe how annoying the questions were. They repeat stuff so many times it is unbelievable. According to the article on MSNBC, I may have to make the phone call for another 5 months.

The article states that on average, it takes about 5 months to find a part-time or full-time job these days. That may be extended in the next couple of month since more companies are announcing every day that they are laying off thousands of employees. Standing in line at the bank earlier this week I heard more people saying that a spouse or family member had been laid off or the company that they work for is filing for bankruptcy.

Unemployment is now up to 7.6 percent and expected to reach even high and faster within the next few months. Which means it will be harder to find a job and take much longer.

In the last 4 weeks I have submitted at least 100 resumes and had only 2 preliminary interviews. Things don't seem to be very promising.

It seems that the layoffs are not just in certain industries. Even some of the industries that in the past, like Government workers, have been recession proof are being hit with layoffs. No one is safe these days.

The experts say that it may not be until sometime next year before the economy turns around enough to reverse unemployment. Of course other experts say that it may take up to five years to really turn things around. I hate to say this, but I may have to look for a waitress job again, if I can get one. I am not downgrading waitressing, I know that it is a very hard job with very little pay and a lot of hours. Something that I never wanted to go back to doing. I have a very high respect for people who work in restaurants and retail.

Well for all of you who are in the same job hunting mode that I am in, good luck to us all.

Free Denny's Grand Slam Frenzy Yesterday!

Yesterday Denny's Restaurants were giving away free traditional Grand Slam breakfast from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. I, of course, had to take advantage of this offer. So, yesterday at about 10 a.m. 4 co-workers and I went to the Denny's in Belleville, IL hoping that since it was an off time for meals that we would not have to wait very long. We were almost correct. We had to drive around the parking lot a few times before we found a parking spot and then we had to wait in line 15 minutes for a table. Once we got seated and ordered, we got our food relatively quick. With drinks our total for 5 people was $1.83, but we left a $10 tip for our waitress because she looked like she was about to collapse from exhaustion. I think it was totally worth the wait to get the "free breakfast" and I kept the receipt for a momento. The only bad thing was that the Grand Slam has about 700+ calories so I considered it my breakfast and lunch and I didn't eat supper until about 6:30.

Thriftiest Family on Oprah Again

Just in case you missed the first showing, Oprah is in re-runs. Tomorrow the Thriftiest Family in America will be shown again along with the Coupon Mom, Stephanie Nelson.

If you want to just go over the highlights of the show you can read all about it at Oprah.com.

Interesting Travel Tips

Sorry I have skipped a couple of days. The video card on my computer went out. To bad I haven't learned enough in my class to fix it myself. Although I did save some money knowing that it was the video card that was going out. The Geek Squad charges $75.00 to do a diagnostics on your computer. It just cost me money for the video card and a new power supply to run the video card.

Now to the real article. This traveler's article on MSNBC has some really interesting tips that I have never thought of that will keep you healthy and money in your wallet.

1. Take packets of oatmeal with you for breakfast if the hotel doesn't offer free breakfast. It will save money and is still healthy for you. Packets of soup also helps for lunch or dinner.
2. If the hotel offers free breakfast, grab an apple or banana for a snack or lunch.
3. Energy bars, packets of nuts, and dried fruit also travel well and keep you healthy and full.
4. Order pizza from a pizza place not from the hotel. It will cost a lot less.
5. If traveling in a car, take a thermos for coffee or hot beverage. You can fill it up at the gas station for a lot less money than buying it in cups. This has been an old truckers tip for a very long time.
6. Pay close attention to credit card offers or membership card holders. This can save you a ton of money.
7. Before taking off on a trip, go online in search of coupons that can be used for hotels, car rentals, and restaurants.
8. If you need to use a computer at the hotel, find one that has free Internet service in the rooms.
9. Look for souvenirs in grocery stores instead of souvenir shop. The same item in the grocery story only cost a third of the souvenir shop.
10. Calculate the charges for passes on public transportation. Sometimes a weekly pass will cost you much less than a day pass even if you are only using it for a couple of days.
11. Yapta.com monitors airline fairs even after you purchase the ticket and can help you get refunds when the price of the ticket goes down.
12. If you are a sound sleeper you can ask for rooms that are next to noisy areas like the boiler room or elevator machine rooms. Hotels discount them heavily.

Happy traveling!!!