March 25, 2009 – 12:17 am
Believe it or not, there is a way to come out ahead in the credit card game instead of it being one-sided. If you are able to be financial saavy and resist temptation, then there are actually many benefits and was to save money!
The first rule of thumb is to always treat your credit card bill like a utility bill or rent/mortage payment…pay it in full, on time all the time. If you are there emotionally and financially with your budget then the world is yours…and your credit rating can do nothing but go up.
Decide what you really want the credit card for…they all have different perks and offers to consider. On the road a lot? Then check out gas credit cards or cards that offer airline miles or hotel rewards. If you have a family to feed, there are some offering grocery and dining discounts.
Also, don’t just snatch your first offer or settle with the cards you have, go out and take the time to compare credit cards so that you aren’t screwing yourself over with hidden fees. When’s the last time you looked at your APR, late fees or annual fees on your statement? You are probably overpaying and missing out.
once you start using your credit cards wisely, you’ll see the impact when you start to receive good offers, not junk ones. I’m talking the premium cards with cash back bonuses and other lucrative rewards that come a long with your good credit rating that will reflect your responsible credit habits. Just don’t fall back into old spending habits or stop paying balances in full every month or it can become a credit nightmare…we’ve all been there and that’s what these companies are just waiting for…to jack up your rates and cash in on late and over the limit payments. Don’t do it, stay in charge and they will be putty in your hands 
March 24, 2009 – 11:39 pm
Times are tough and amidst the layoffs and the economy crushing our budgets in other ways, many people are taking their skills to the internet to make money blogging. If you’ve got the itch to write, with a little surfing you never know what opportunities you may find!
1. Problogger Job Boards - Problogger has been a top resource for years for learning how to blog, so it didn’t take long for the job boards to become pretty active.
2. Freelance Writing Jobs - You can find a mix of blogging jobs as well as freelance writer needs.
3. b5Media - This blogging network has some great opportunities…once your in.
4. Craigslist - Utilize the search tool, weed through the spammy crap and you can find some gems in there.
5. Performancing - Right now I just saw some awesome listings for music, fashion, gardening, DIY and even a “green” blog from Cosmo needing bloggers!
I found a handy calculator here to help plan your debt reduction!
Crunch some numbers and find out how long it will take you to become debt free. If you have a specific deadline for when you’d like to have your debt paid off, just enter it and the calculator will tell you what monthly payments you’ll need to make to achieve your goal.
December 17, 2008 – 11:04 pm
I stumbled onto a website that has a pretty cool looking free program called “Rescue Time“. If you’re like me, you start thinking about the New Year around now and your goals and finances and taxes which gets me hyped up about reorganizing and focusing.
Check out the screenshot.
My favorite feature is that once you set up some goals, you can receive daily summaries of how you’re doing on those goals (via RSS) or receive real-time alerts when you exceed a goal target. SWEET!
