Why Should I Make a Budget?

You say you know where your money goes and you don’t need it all written down to keep up with it? I issue you this challenge. Keep track of every penny you spend for one month and I do mean every penny.

You will be shocked at what the itty-bitty expenses add up to. Take the total you spent on just one unnecessary item for the month, multiply it by 12 for months in a year and multiply the result by 5 to represent 5 years.

That is how much you could have saved AND drawn interest on in just five years. That, my friend, is the very reason all of us need a budget.

If we can get control of the small expenses that really don’t matter to the overall scheme of our lives, we can enjoy financial success.




The little things really do count. Cutting what you spend on lunch from five dollars a day to three dollars a day on every work day in a five day work week saves $10 a week… $40 a month… $480 a year… $2400 in five years….plus interest.

See what I mean… it really IS the little things and you still eat lunch everyday AND that was only one place to save money in your daily living without doing without one thing you really need. There are a lot of places to cut expenses if you look for them.

Set some specific long term and short term goals. There are no wrong answers here. If it’s important to you, then it’s important period.

If you want to be able to make a down payment on a house, start a college fund for your kids, buy a sports car, take a vacation to Aruba… anything… then that is your goal and your reason to get a handle on your financial situation now.

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Best of 2007

Its been more than 8 months since I started blogging here at Everything Finance and till now, its been a blast. I'm having a good time and I hope that my readers are getting something useful out of this.

Since I started blogging, some of my posts have been very popular. Here is a recap of my best posts in the year 2007.

Let me start with the post that became very popular on Digg 25 Rules to Grow Rich by
I don't think its my best work but for some reason Diggers enjoyed it.

Here are the others.

Book Reviews
Do you want to be a Quiet Millionaire ?
Investing is boring. Well, It should be!

Investing
Why Passive Investing beats Active Investing
Saving for Kids College Education
Understand how bonds work ?
US Treasury Savings Bonds



Home and Mortgage
Buying a New Construction Home: Do I need a realtor ?
How do Realtors sell their own Homes ?
What to Expect at the Closing Table
Mortgage Escrow: To Do Or Not To Do
Is Bank of America giving wrong advice ?
Features that add "Resale Value" to a Home
Features that "DECREASE" the resale value of your Home

Frugality
Easy ways to cut your energy bill
Shopping at Costco...the frugal way !!
How to save money on lighting in your home!
High Energy Bills ?? Try out these simple ideas !
For the Frugal Mind: Cheapest days to shop

Here is another one became popular. Get paid to Digg and Stumble !

I hope I can keep up what I started here in 2007 and maintain this momentum in 2008 !!
Happy New Year to all !!



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Low Cost Health Insurance: Should I ?

To protect and preserve one's health, low cost health insurance is needed. Due to the increasing costs of doctor's professional fees and hospital charges, there should be low cost health insurance available to everyone. US government statistics show that more than 40 million Americans do not have low cost health insurance. Health care prices are rapidly and continuously going up and many people cannot even afford basic health care insurance.

Low cost health insurance are programs that offers health insurance policies at a much lower price. Students, the unemployed and low-income families are the best candidates for such low cost health insurance. These people can choose from a list of low cost health insurance policies that offer coverage at a minimal price. These low cost health insurances offer low premiums compared to the other health insurance programs out there. In some of these plans, the employer pays part of the premium. It is important that, although not expensive, the plan should fit the individual's needs. The low cost health insurance plan should also offer protection against major illnesses such as cancer and diabetes.


The disadvantage of low cost health insurance is that, because of the lower premium, there are also less benefits. The low cost health insurance typically offers basic coverage such as paying the cost of hospital, surgical, and physician bills. Operating room, diagnostic procedures, anesthesia, and laboratory expenses are usually covered also. However, individuals with low cost health insurance get very few of the great benefits that are offered by other health insurance programs such as surgical expenses including the assistant surgeon's professional fee, ambulance service, blood transfusions, oxygen, prescription medications, and even prosthetic devices.



Student health insurance is a type of low cost health insurance, which offers insurance to full time college students between the ages of 17 to 19. The undergraduate students must be enrolled in at least nine credits to quailfy for this type of insurance. Graduate students may also apply for this type of low cost health insurance program. These students should be enrolled in a college or university that is recognized and accredited by the state. Universities and colleges usually offer this type of student low cost health insurance so if college bound, check the coverage being offered because each university's insurance policy is different. Other low cost health insurance providers can provide student health insurance also.


The most important advantage of this low cost health insurance program is the cost. A low premium is offered. It is also recognized even if the student transfers to another university or college. The standard college student health insurance program is a low cost health insurance policy that costs less but has fewer benefits. Independent individual policies cost more but offer much better coverage.


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Make Money, Generate Traffic and other Useful Blog Tools

Make Money Blogging

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Generate Traffic for your blog

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How can I Save Money ?

It's challenging in today's world to save money, especially during the holiday season. Spending money on gifts and traveling to visit family can really put a dent in your wallet. Knowing when to set aside money for yourself can seem like a tall order during these festive times. In reality, it is not as hard as it seems. Just follow these easy steps:

1. Set a Goal – Whatever your reason for saving, you should always set a goal. For an "in-case-of-emergency" fund, you should work toward three to six months of reserves. A goal also serves as your savings inspiration. It is easier to save when you have an objective.

2. Pay Yourself First – Each pay period, set aside $20 to $50 to your savings account. An easy way to do this is with Direct Deposit. Ask your employer to deposit a percentage of your pay to a savings account and the rest in your Checking so you gain the extra benefits it entails. You won't miss what you've saved because it is taken directly out of your paycheck before you can spend it.



3. Systematic Savings – Besides using Direct Deposit, you can also set up weekly, biweekly, monthly, twice-monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, and annual automatic transfers to your savings account. Letting the bank make these transfers decreases the temptation to spend and puts your savings on "auto-pilot."

4.Open an interest-bearing savings account. It’s a lot easier to keep track of your savings if you have them separate from your spending money. You can also usually get better interest on savings accounts than on checking accounts (if you get interest on your checking account at all). Consider higher-interest options such as CDs or money-market accounts for longer savings goals. You can also open an online savings account with one of the companies that offer them. Look around for the best savings interest rate and try to find one that adjusts its rate as the federal interest rate changes. You can then set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your high interest savings account. Many employers allow you to deduct savings from your paycheck. The money is directly deposited in your savings account so you never even see it on your paycheck. You can also have investments for retirement taken directly out of your pay, and the taxes may be deferred with this option. If you typically keep a large balance in your checking account, consider moving most of that money into a linked savings account. Keep the money in savings until it is time to pay bills, then transfer enough from savings into checking to cover your bills. Make sure you check with your bank to see what the minimum balance requirements are for your checking account so you don't get hit with additional fees.

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Carnival of Everything Finance: # 9 Edition

Welcome to the December 17, 2007 edition of carnival of everything finance.

We had over 65 really good articles submitted for this edition.
Editor favorites have "*" on them.

Earning Money

Ryan Russell presents It’s All Cash For Christmas! posted at My Money Thinks

David B. Bohl presents Regaining Control of My Life - How I Did It posted at Slow Down Fast Today!

*Shaun Connell presents Five Lifestyle Tips I Wish I Knew When I Started posted at Make Money Online.

James D. Brausch presents Internet Business 101 » There Is Tons Of Money Available posted at jamesbrausch.com.

Ron Ruiz presents Earn Money By Standing In Line posted at The Business Ideas-Making Money Blog.

*GradGirl presents 5 Ways to Impress Your Boss posted at This Writer's Wallet

Andrew Erickson presents A ?Thank You? To Those of You Linking to My Blog posted at WebSite Werx.

Investing

Leon Gettler presents Private equity: who makes money? posted at Sox First

Dereck Coatney presents Why A Guy Who Never Wants To Buy A Bank Is Thinking About Buying A Bank posted at The Best Stock Trading in the World.

Kurt Brouwer presents How Much Should You Invest In Stocks? posted at Fundmastery Blog

*Value Seeker presents Why Most Investors Underperform The Market - Stock Investing Resource posted at Stock Investing

Dereck Coatney presents How To Make A Million Dollars In About 8 Years posted at The Best Stock Trading in the World.

The Dividend Guy presents Some New Additions to The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats posted at The Dividend Guy Blog

Real Estate & Mortgage

Ted Stearns presents 3 Reasons Why I Can?t Cry For Countrywide posted at TradeLine Solutions.com

John Crenshaw presents Full Doc, Stated Doc, and All The Other Mortgage Doc Types posted at Truthful Lending dot Com

*FSBOJane presents The truth about hiring an agent posted at FSBO Jane

Bonnie Krueger presents What Options Do I Have If I Am Behind On My Mortgage Payments? posted at Student Loan Consolidation.

*Alex M presents What Everybody Ought to Know About Buying a House posted at Real estate: where? how much?.

Saving Money

Roshawn Watson presents Four Ways to Stay Encouraged While Paying Debt posted at Watson Inc

Shopping

*Steve Faber presents - Holiday Gift Ideas to Save Money posted at DebtBlog.

karyn presents Holiday Spending posted at Shop Smart Loans

supermom_in_ny presents Free Coupon Codes at CouponCodesPlace.com! posted at Getting Out of Debt.

Spending Wisely

Christine presents Being Frugal in France: Buying Cheap Theatre, Opera and Dance Tickets posted at Me, My Kid and Life: An American Single Mom Living in France

David presents How to Eliminate Credit Card Debt posted at Worldwide Success.

*Mark Runta presents Is Bigger Better? posted at Smart Investing & Money Management

*paidtwice presents Taming My Cash Spending Trigger posted at I've Paid For This Twice Already...

James presents Getting Out of Debt Begins with Self Change posted at Payday Loan Cheapskate.

Ted Reimers presents Where to Buy, Sell and Trade Textbooks posted at CampusGrotto.

Stocks

Valulicious presents Is Ben Graham Turning in His Grave?: Growth as the New Value posted at Valulicious

Numerian presents The Fed to the Rescue Yet Again, But at What Cost? posted at The Agonist

Dirk Masuch Oesterreich presents Behind Victoria Resource Corp’s (VIT.V) recent core hole NW-5 at the Cove-McCoy project posted at Nevada Gold Investor

Everything Else Finance

Peter S C presents 10 Dumb Banking Mistakes I See Everyday That Cost You Money posted at I will change your life . com.

*shawna presents One Girl's Quest...: Getting serious about debt reduction posted at One Girl's Quest....

*plonkee presents motivation - and where to find it - a guest post posted at plonkee money, saying, "A guest post on motivation by paidtwice."

Tezza presents The Smartest And Dumbest Decisions I’ve Made With Money posted at 4 Eva Young

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Ode To Prosperity posted at Mad Kane's Humor Blog.

Sagar presents How to Save the Dollar: Thoughts From 10 Experts posted at Currency Trading.net.

chica with issues presents The Consequences of Debt posted at One Snarky Chica with Issues.

*Tezza presents How To Dig Your Financial Grave Faster posted at 4 Eva Young

Joshua C. Karlin presents Why You Need to Ask posted at Marketing & Fundraising Ideas.

Carol Bentley presents Money to spend in the education sector posted at Carol Bentley.

James presents Notorious Practices of Payday Loan Companies posted at ZooLaw.

Rahmi presents What to do when you're in foreclosure posted at I love writing blogs....

Edith presents Texas Real Estate Markets: 2008 Economic Outlook posted at Stewart Hsu.

Stephen Joseph presents Eternally In Debt, Eternally Free posted at Steve H. Joseph's Creative Self-Expression Blog

Jose DeJesus MD presents Portfolio diversification and picking the right asset mix posted at Physician Entrepreneur.

Kingsley Tagbo presents Take Meaningful Action Towards Finding A Career posted at HOW TO LEARN COMPUTER PROGRAMMING FAST OR GET A JOB EASILY.


That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Carnival of Everything Finance using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:
carnival of everything finance, blog carnival.

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Easy ways to cut your energy bill

A bill recently introduced in California would ban the sale of energy-hogging incandescent light bulbs by 2012. Aside from changing your light bulbs, there are some other things you can do around the house to save you energy and money.

1: Take an energy audit

Your home isn't very energy efficient if you have less than six inches of insulation in your attic, if your furnace is 10 years or older, or you have lots of windows on the North side and you live in a cold climate, according to the Alliance to Save Energy.

But, there are some specific calculations you can make to determine just how energy efficient your home is. Take a free energy audit online at the Department of Energy's Web site. This tool can tell you where your home is leaking energy and what you can do about it.



2: Cut the drafts

The average house loses up to 20 percent of its heat or air-conditioning leakage from air ducts alone, according to Energy Star. Make sure you repair your leaky ducts and seal drafty doors, windows and baseboards.

An easy way to figure out where the leaks may be, is to light a candle or some incense near your windows and doors and see where the flame flickers. Reducing drafts in a home could save you up to 30 percent on your utility bill annually.

3: Replace your appliances

Replacing your appliances with Energy Star appliances is another way to benefit your wallet.

First, Energy Star products are intended to exceed energy efficiency levels of other products by 20 to 75 percent. It is estimated that the average household could save $400 a year just by using Energy Star Products.

You'll also want to get in touch with your utility company to see what tax incentives and rebates are offered for replacing water-guzzling or power-hogging appliances with eco-friendly ones. To find out more about Energy Star products, go to energystar.gov.

4: Get unplugged

You might not know it, but all those little gadgets you keep plugged in are taking a toll on your electricity bill. You know, those things like your Ipod charger, your cell phone and Blackberry charger.

Even keeping the coffee pot plugged in is wasting energy and costing you money. In fact, all these devices make up about 5 percent of your bill! Here's a tip: turn off that computer and unplug these vampire appliances, and you'll be taming the wild energy hog.

5: Think flat screen

To cut your energy bill, you may also want to consider replacing that bulky computer monitor you have in the home office. A flat panel computer screen uses a third of the electricity of regular computer monitors. The difference is that same as if you leave a 50-watt bulb on all year.

And if you're thinking about replacing that big screen TV, think about investing in an LCD - it uses half the energy of a plasma TV.

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High Energy Bills ?? Try out these simple ideas !
For the Frugal Mind: Cheapest days to shop


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Financial Planner: Do I need one ?

The best time for young people to consider hiring a financial professional "is when you land your first real job," says Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America. "At that point, you have a variety of financial issues to consider, such as your 401(k) plan and your benefits," and a financial plan will set you on an appropriate course, she says.



For savers with modest assets, Ms. Roper says, a fee-only planner is generally the best match. These planners only sell their time, at a cost of between $100 and roughly $250 an hour, depending on where they're based geographically. Because they don't pitch products tied to a particular company, "it minimizes the potential conflicts," she says.

To find local planners, consumers should ask friends, family and colleagues if they can recommend someone they trust. Several Web sites, including the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (napfa.org), the Financial Planning Association (fpanet.org) and the Garrett Planning Network (garrettplanningnetwork.com), which emphasizes planners who charge by the hour, offer locater services to help find planners in your area. Planners with a CFP designation, for certified financial planner, have passed a comprehensive exam that typically requires multiple years of study.

Some savers want not just planning, but money-management services, as well. That adds extra charges, either through commissions or an annual fee based on a percentage of the assets under management, usually up to 1% or 1.5%. If you're a buy-and-hold type of investor, paying commissions for money-management services can make the most sense, because these can work out to be less than continually paying an annual management fee when your portfolio doesn't change.

Source: finance.yahoo.com
You can find the complete article here

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How do Realtors sell their own Homes ?

Believe it or not, sometimes, Realtors have to sell their homes too! So how do they do it ? They obviously know what a buyer is looking for in a home. So how do they attract the right type of buyer and get the most out of selling their their home ? Here are a few tips I found at Art Of Saving that I found very enlightening.



The Exterior

Real estate agents understand how important 'Curb Appeal' is. It is the home buyers first impression of the home. Shouldn't it be a good one? When beautifying the exterior of the home, the focus on the landscaping, driveway, entranceway and front door.



* All clutter is removed from the front yard.
* Cracks in the driveway and walkway are fixed.
* The front lawn and shrubs are manicured. Gardens are mulched.
* The exterior of the home is painted if needed.
* The front door is painted or replaced if needed.
* Chipped or fraying paint on door and window frames is removed, and fresh paint is added.
* Gutters and downspouts are cleared and in good working order.

The Interior

* Pet odors are eliminated!
* Soft jazz or classical music is playing on the stereo when buyers come through.
* Furniture is removed and either put in the basement or into storage. This makes the home appear much larger. You never want to make it difficult to walk through all the rooms in the house, so clear the pathways!
* Electrical and plumbing are in working order.
* Broken appliances are fixed.
* The garage door works perfectly.
* A fresh scent is always used to appeal to buyer's senses.
Vanilla is one of the most frequently used scents in builder's model homes. You can buy vanilla air fresheners that fit directly on your air filter (available at home depot).
* Curtains are always opened, windows shades always up and lights always on (including lamps, hallway lights, etc) when the home is being shown (even during the day). The combination of sunlight and artificial light helps make the home appear larger and open.
* All clutter is removed.
* All clothes are placed in the drawers or neatly in closets.
* Carpets are clean and in good condition. Otherwise, get rid of them.
* The windows are thoroughly cleaned. Buyers like to look outside the windows. The windows and screen doors easily open and close and are in good shape.
* The kitchen is thoroughly cleaned. The cabinets, counters and appliances are thoroughly spotless. All clutter is removed. Dishes and glasses are neatly stacked in the cupboards. There are never any dirty dishes in the sink or on the counter.
* The closets are reorganized so they appear larger. Some clothes are removed if necessary.
* Walls are clean and there are no smudge marks. If the paint is dingy, the walls must be painted. Light colors are used to make the house appear larger.

Never do more work than necessary.

Often sellers think that the more they fix-up, the higher the price they will get. When you go beyond the necessary fix-ups, you get to the point where you are wasting your money. Do all the necessary fix-ups prior to selling, but never do what is unnecessary.

Source: http://www.artofsaving.com/PagCom/Savism_Article.asp?ArtID=173

Related Links
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Features that add "Resale Value" to a Home


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Carnival of Everything Finance #8 - Investment Education Edition

The December 3rd, 2007 edition of Carnival of Everything Finance, Investment Education Edition is being hosted by Blain at stocktradingtogo.com . Since his blog discusses investing tips, tricks, picks, and education from market professionals you will be exposed to 10 great ways to learn investing in the stock market.

8th Carnival of Everything Finance

Enjoy.


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