How to Make Money Fast

You guys have heard of Wikipedia, right? It’s the online encyclopedia written collaboratively by volunteers, that would be people like you and me.

Not as well-known, there is WikiHow. I wouldn’t say it’s as good as Wikipedia but you can gain some tidbit knowledge by reading some of the topics. Examples are “How to Make Money”, and if that’s not good enough, “How to Make Money FAST“.

“How to Convince People you are Not Rich” (I’m assuming you have to be rich first)

“How to Get Money without Working” (Can you define ‘work’?)

“How to Deal with Winning the Lottery” (What a problem to have..how to deal with it?)

“How to Make Money Strictly with Video Games” (You mean my boys can earn their keep?)

“How to Panhandle” (Another one for my sons..)

“How to Start Living Frugally” (Without money, this is what we do, it’s our way of life)

“How to Make Money from your Hobby” (My hobby is being lazy, make money on that?)

“How to Get Fast Cash” (not stealing, right?)

“How to Stop Being Broke”

“How to Make your Altoids Tins Useful”

“How to Make a Purse out of Plastic Bags”

“How to Freecycle”

“How to Recycle Old Computer Hard Drives”

Boy, it takes me 30 minutes just to read the different “how-to’s” that are available. I think I’ll take a vacation for a few days just to read the interesting articles. Check it out, there are tons of categories.

Do you have money to invest?

If you have a little extra money and you care about our environment, you need to socially responsible invest.

What is “social investing?”

Integrating your personal, social, and environmental concerns with your financial considerations is called socially responsible investing (SRI).

SRI is investing and saving to help in creating a better world. SRI is building healthy communities, promoting economic equity and fostering a clean environment. SRI is investing in corporate businesses that have these societal concerns. SRI is choosing the businesses that will seek what is best for keeping our earth healthy.SRI is the businesses that will not only think to maximize their finances but especially the social good.

Not only do I think this investing movement will be booming, I see no other option we can take. Will we invest in our bank account or will we invest in humanity and its sustainability?

If you would like to socially invest today, there is a wide variety of high-performing funds to choose from. You will also find balanced funds, and a wide variety of equity funds, including those that focus on large companies, mid-sized companies, small companies, and companies in other countries. Before investing, be sure to read the prospectus and understand the risks. If you need help in learning more about SRI and your options, check this site socialinvest.org/directory/

Should I go in Debt?

I found a little article that listed the 3 good reasons to go into debt. It piqued my interest because debt is considered something to avoid. What could be ok to get into debt for?

The listed reasons to get into debt were a student loan, home loan or a business loan. OK, that made sense.

Three years ago I would have totally agreed. Yes, student loans will better your future and to invest into a student loan would be beneficial. Yes, home loans tend to be a sound investment. By the time you pay off the loan and likely sooner, they *probably* would have increased in value. Yes, loan for a promising business sounds wise too.

How about today? Does that hold true?

In the New York Times, there was an article noting “how tuition and fees at public and private universities have risen this year at more than double the rate of inflation, with prices increasing faster at public institutions.” Not only that but “the private loans, those not guaranteed by the federal government, continued to be the fastest-growing form of borrowing in the 2006-7 school year.” Looks like a student loan is just as risky as any other loan so be wise in researching the costs of a student loan. I talked to a person last weekend that owes $90k from a student loan. He was going to law school but is trying to change careers. OUCH! There’s another friend that took out a student loan for court reporting. She still owes the $25K and changed careers as well.

Then there’s the home loan. We know where our real estate market is sitting. These days it’s gotten worse than buying a car and walking off the lot to find out that the car you just bought is worth hundreds of dollars less already. We have some friends in our neighborhood who took out a construction loan for a home they’re building. They’re not quite complete in the building process and the home appraisal came out lower than the construction loan. How will they ever get a mortgage loan and then, how much debt will they be in? You’re suppose to be able to get a home loan, sit on it for a couple years and be able to see some equity. It’s not happening right now.

Loan for a Business? I hear so many people right now getting out of their careers to find a more stable job. There are people looking for work and finding it hard to get back in the work force. People are moving out of their store fronts because they just can’t make ends meet with the rising costs of their overhead.

Right now, TODAY, nothing makes sense to go in debt. You know who are the people that aren’t affected by these times? It’s the people that have been wise with their money, wise with their credit, wise with their savings. It’s the people who are not spending more than they earn. The people who don’t go into debt because they need new furniture for their oversized home. It’s the people that pay off the debt they have and don’t get more credit cards to pay off others. It’s the people who haven’t gotten use to that darn credit card.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t pull a student, home or business loan. Just be smart about it, do your research and make sound decisions about our future money investments. Don’t get further in debt.

4 Tricks that Can Save you Money Painlessly

People find it hard to save money.

Some people even insist that it is no longer possible for a person to save money because most of them are already living paycheck to paycheck. With all the high-prices of commodities, especially GAS these days, saving money is no longer workable.

My point is that people can indeed save.

How?

Here is a list of old-style ways that will allow you to save money:
1. Save some of your salary

How much? Whatever you can.
These days most of us spend whatever amount we have on our paycheck, and even more. If you are able to limit that amount, your expenses will unexplainably get smaller. Start out with 1%. Let’s say you make $1000 every 2 weeks. Put aside $10 that pay period. You do that for a whole year, you have $260 at the end of the year. $260 that you didn’t have last year. As soon as you adjust to that measly 1%, maybe you can increase the percentage. Maybe you get a bonus. Instead of making plans to spend it, make plans to SAVE it. (No way, WAY!) Put these savings into an account that you cannot touch, in an account that is hard to make withdrawals. There is nothing wrong with having money in the bank and nowhere to go.

2. Pay everything in cash

Credit cards have always been a way of life for most of us. The problem is that we become so comfortable with it that we tend to charge everything, even groceries! We trick ourselves into saying that when we get the credit card bill, we’ll pay it off. It doesn’t happen! Something always comes up. I only know one person that has the discipline to pay his credit cards in full each end of the month. It’s MY DAD, the greatest saver I’ll ever know. If only I would have heeded every money lesson my dad tried to teach me. The problem is I live in a different generation, a generation that needs THINGS now. I need instant gratification. Arghh…..I have to change that way of thinking real fast!
Believe me, when you pay in cash, you SEE that money goes through your hands. When you use that plastic card, it doesn’t hit as hard. You almost don’t feel like you’re spending. Cold hard cash is a rare commodity these days. It’s really sad. $20 doesn’t go far as it use to.

3. Check your company’s retirement plan

Your employer may offer a 401(k) or the 403(b) plan. Here, your company will deduct a percentage of your salary from each paycheck and invest the amount in your choice of accounts—mainly mutual funds. You let them know what percentage to take out. The great thing too is that the money they take out of your paycheck will not be taxed, you’ll only get taxed if you withdraw from your account. But don’t do that! Some companies will even match your contributions. I worked at a company for 13 years, deducted 5% and when I left, I had over $60K. Huh? YES, I didn’t even feel it! That’s the beauty of it!

4. Set goals

Create money goals that you really want and commit to it. If there’s a certain amount involved, be specific with the amount and the time frame. For instance, “I will save $2,000 for that vacation in May, that’s 6 months away.” or “I will save $1,000 in 5 months so I can put it into a CD”.

5. Throw all your loose change in a jar

You won’t believe how much you can save just by putting all your change somewhere. When I was young, I use to put all my pennies, and my parent’s in a Sparklett’s jug. 20 years later, I had over $300 in it. No lie! You know what I’m going to do with it? I’m sending it down the line and have my kids add to it. That’ll put some saving practices into place without even trying.
I had this one coworker, that would literally throw his pennies in the trash. He thought they were worthless! I should have shown him my Sparklett’s jug, told him there was $300. Do you know there are people advocating to retire that penny? Sure, that’s a good idea. (ha! whatever losers…) We’re a nation that is billions in debt, why would we care about the penny? (Can you say losers?) Can you imagine if we pooled all these pennies together, how much we could collect? It’s insane. People don’t value much of anything anymore. Does that bother you like it bothers me?

The bottom line is that saving your pennies and the little money that you have WILL put you in an advantageous spot for your future. Don’t you want that?

Getting out of Credit Card Debt

Can I get out of credit card debt?

Yes, you can get out of credit card debt.

It’s so easy to get into credit card debt and it’s difficult to get out of credit card debt.

BUT, it isn’t impossible.

To get out of credit card debt you need determination (your mindset – that “I can” attitude) and planning (that turns to action and commitment).

Try to think of personal reasons for getting out of debt and try to see the benefits of being debt free. (No more phone calls from creditors, no more past due notices, no more late charges, no more outrageous interest, no more HOPELESSNESS)

All these reasons will empower yourself to succeed in becoming debt free. Be determined about it and don’t compromise!

The second thing that you need to get out of credit card debt is planning. If you don’t feel equipped to do the planning, ask a competent friend or seek a low-cost budgeting assistant that can help you turn your debt around. I have a friend that gives her paycheck and bills to her sister. Her sister allots my friend a weekly budget and my friend doesn’t have to think twice about her bills. Some people just get overwhelmed with all the debt and don’t do anything. DON’T DO THAT! Deal with it. You can dig your hole out of that mess!

If you are already so behind and you have creditors breathing down your neck, contact a credit counselor. That is their job and they may know some options you don’t know about. If you are making the minimum payments and feel disciplined, you can create your own payment plan for your debt, here are the first steps:

• Make a list of the credit cards that you currently possess. Note the debt, minimum payment and the APR for each of them.
• Call the higher interest credit cards and see if they’ll negotiate a lower interest rate for you. Maybe you can transfer the higher interest cards to a lower one.
• Another option is to consolidate your credit cards with an overall lower interest credit card or loan.

Determine if the total amount of your minimum payments can be paid after your other expenses(rent or mortgage, car, insurance, utilities, gas, food, etc.). If not, make adjustments, create the dreaded budget, buckle down and tackle that debt. I’ve found an easy debt evaluation calculator and a debt consolidation calculator. This might make it a bit easier to figure out which route you need to take. Good luck and keep pressing forward!

Oh yeah, and the last bit of advice: SHRED those darn plastic credit cards. Don’t use them anymore. If you don’t have the cash to buy what you want then you can’t afford it!

Los Angeles Bans the Plastic Bag

HOORAY!

Can they really do that?

YES, San Francisco did it last year and it was in effect last November.

Consumers’ options are to buy those reuseable canvas bags or pay for a paper or biodegradeable bag at 25cents a bag. Yikes! 3% of the bag fee cost will go back to the retailer, 3% will go to the state, and the rest will go back to the city to fund an education campaign. I think that’s a mighty good idea. If people can’t chose to do what’s right for our earth, then we’ll make them do it. How much do you want to bet that people will be using those canvas bags?

This banning of the plastic bags in LA will hope to reduce litter and avoid using their 2 billion bags a year. That’s just for a city…2 billion!!! Here’s the story on the plastic bags.

These bags often end up in rivers, oceans, or landfills, where they can take up to 1,000 years to decompose. Did you know there is so much plastic in the ocean that it kills 100,000 sea mammals each year? Get rid of the plastic…..and I mean the plastic credit cards while we’re at it.

While on vacation, don’t leave your good habits at home!

With summer vacations in full bloom, there is no reason to leave your recycling attitudes at home; you can do your part even when you’re far from the comforts of home.

When you’re staying in a hotel, let the management of the hotel know that you will be reusing your towels and there is no need to have the bed linens changed daily. Reusing your towels for a few days will greatly impact the time and money that goes into running the laundry every day.

If you’re out camping, try to avoid using paperware & plasticware that is thrown away after each use. If you’re using paper/plastic cups, bring a Sharpie to mark your name on it. Try to keep your cup for as long as you can.

Turn off all lights when you are leaving the hotel room. Turn off TVs or radios that may be plugged in and running. Just because electricity costs don’t come out of your pocket directly for these things, doesn’t mean you waste energy. Conserve energy anywhere you’re at.

On the same line, remember to turn down the heat/AC that will be running when you’re not in the room. Close the drapes when you’re out of the room, most hotels have heavy drapes that will keep a cool room cool longer, if they’re closed.

Remember that you can have all the recycling values and good habits you practice at home even when you’re on the road. Keep recycling! Keep conserving! And have fun!

Save a buck and a half

I received our business cell phone bill. We have 7 different people on our account. I don’t normally scrutinize the bill but this month I noticed a little change in the overall amount due. I looked over the bill and saw that there were a couple of phones that went over their monthly minutes, a couple with international calls. No big deal. There were also charges for “411″ calls. This bothered me a bit. We don’t know a phone number so we conveniently called 4-1-1. Each time we dialed these 3 numbers, it costs us $1.49. I know that may not sound that much but it adds up.

When you think about it, I’m deciding whether I should pay $4.99 for 250 text/image messages or $10 for unlimited. That $5 difference makes a difference, especially if you’re paying that for 7 phones. That would be $35 each month in addition to the individual calling plans. I started to re-think my calling plan and how I use my phone. Should I be calling my friends just to say hello when the real reason I’m calling is that I’m bored and want company on my hour long commute to work? Should I be using my cell phone when I’m at home, and I have a long distance calling plan on my landline? Do I really need unlimited texting when I have a calling plan? It’s funny because the kids are texting each other ALL DAY LONG. Can they not call each other and get to the point with a 2 minute phone call? I guess it’s truly just from boredom that they are texting. Can they not go out and meet their friends? I can understand texting when a call is not possible but how many true texts do these account for?

Ha-ha. I guess I got sidetracked a bit. What I wanted to share with you was the toll free number to get your unknown phone numbers, for the ones you pay $1.49 each. There are probably tons of different phone numbers out there but the one I use is 1-800-FREE411. While searching for that website, I found another 1-800-411SAVE.Google even has one 1-800-GOOG411. The only drawback is that you sometimes have to listen to some advertisement. Who cares?? Be patient and save a buck and a half! While you’re at it, re-think your calling & texting plan.

Ways To Make Money Online

More and more people are looking for ways to supplement their income because of high gas prices, the current mortgage crisis, and snowballing debt.  If you have a computer with Internet access, you can find many different ways to make money online.  Here’s a few great ways to make money online so you can earn some extra cash:

• Affiliate Marketing – Becoming an affiliate marketer involves promoting a merchant’s products for a percentage of the sale or for providing them with a customer lead.  Depending on the merchant and product, the commission you earn can be a flat rate or anywhere from 10% to 75% of the product price.  It’s a great way to start earning money online because you have no inventory, no shipping, and no payment processor headaches.  It’s also very versatile because all you need to do is find an interesting niche that has good products with a profitable affiliate program.  The Super Affiliate Handbook is a really good place to start learning about getting started in this type of business.

• Sell Stuff on eBay – Selling stuff on eBay has been a very profitable venture for many, many people.  Because eBay is so popular they generate their own traffic which eliminates the need for a big advertising budget.  You can sell stuff like things you no longer want, things you make, or things you buy wholesale.  If you want to become any eBay marketing entrepreneur, you can also opt to set up an eBay business without selling a thing. Build a Niche Store provides you the ability to create websites that sell the eBay auction products of your choice in any given niche!

• Do Freelance Work – Becoming a freelancer online is easier than ever. Basically, freelancers are people who have a computer, can follow instructions, and have marketable skills like data entry, computer programming, graphic design, web design, etc. Websites like Free lance.com offer free information on how to get started and they have a marketplace full of jobs.  If you like to write, you might also consider writing content for cash.  Websites like Associate Content.com will pay you for your written work and they even pay for stuff like original songs and video submissions!

• Home Business Programs – Many of the home business programs out there are Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) based programs. While some people make good money with these programs, there are just as many that don’t. MLM usually involves a lot of recruiting and very often requires you to purchase the product that you’re selling on a monthly basis to qualify for the commissions that you earn.  A great “hybrid” home busines program I’ve found is My Power Mall. It combines all the good things about MLM and affililate marketing, provides great training, gives 6% of the company profits to charity, and it’s free to join!

The opportunites to make money online are growing everyday. Just know that there’s no such thing as “getting rich quick” so when you come across those types of schemes don’t bother wasting your time.  What ever way to make money online that you choose, be sure to do some research before getting started so that you know what you’re doing and can reach your maximum income potential.

Free Entertainment

Are you trying to find activities for your family to do over the summer without spending much money?

We’ve been going to the library. Our library has a summer reading program where the kids can read and earn prizes. They’ve received certificates to a free meal at Sizzler, Mimi’s Cafe and Hometown Buffet. This program also offers contests for the kids.

Tuesday we went to the library to see an entertainer called Rusty Happenings. He’s a graduate from a performing arts school in New Zealand. As the kids came in, the performer was dressed up in a pirate outfit juggling some big cones while heckling the crowd in a fun way. The kids laughed and came out talking on and on about him. (While the kids were being entertained, I was in the library’s magazine section. They had all the current issues of every mag you could think of!)

I thought it was going to be some low budget entertainment but it really wasn’t. In fact, I would consider hiring him to entertain at a party. And it sure beats being at home in the heat. Free, fun entertainment, who could deny that?

Today there is a Tae Kwon do demonstration. My kids are interested in going. We’ll be there, and we’ll skip another day at home in the heat. (Maybe they’ll have a new issue of People, I love reading about the people that I think I know but don’t.)

I’ve been checking out books from our library too. Our library is great, they have a lot of the current books that are on the shelves at Borders, Barnes and Noble and Target.

(My secret: When I’m at the bookstores, I have a pen and paper writing down the titles & authors so I can check to see if they’re at the library)

Not only am I saving money not buying those books that I yearn for, I’m giving my kids some entertainment that doesn’t hit my pocketbook! (WIN-WIN!)