The holidays are supposed to be about visiting with loved ones -- laughing around the fire, chatting up Grandma, hosting people in your home. So stop the holiday madness. Stop trudging all over town, waiting in lines. Stop running after your own sense of Christmas past. Isn't it time to focus on giving gifts that really mean something? Here are 10 suggestions for how to spend less money and put more of yourself into creative gift giving. Some of the best ideas require a fair amount of time, but they're far more rewarding than creating an attack plan for the mall.Not everything on the list is charmingly homemade, but everything is a step above the generic gift card. Family cookbook: Do you miss Grandma's shepherd's pie or Aunt Aggie's famous French toast? You can bet your siblings do, too. Try compiling all the favorite family recipes into a cookbook. Use your design skills to create an attractive cover and add photos or stories to create a wonderful record of family history that extends beyond the kitchen table. For help, check out books such as "Scrapbooking with Recipes" by Better Homes and Gardens or how-to guides online. Web sites such as Secret Ingredients allow you to create a book online for printing.Video tribute: Who doesn't want to be a star, especially when the rewards are as sweet as a personal video tribute from loved ones? Ask family and friends for funny stories and favorite memories of the honoree. Too often we share these stories only on special occasions, such as weddings, or after the people are gone. This is a great idea for parents and grandparents. Just have the tissues handy -- this one's sure to be a tear-jerker. If you need a camcorder, start here. Then check out the simple video-editing software that came with your computer.Personalized/homemade gifts: Anything homemade -- soaps, stationery, jams -- offers something stores cannot: your love and effort in all its imperfect glory. The best ideas take advantage of family history or photos (see "Turn your memories into precious gifts"). You can embellish your gifts with magazines or newspapers that were published on auspicious dates in your family's history -- a wedding or a birthday, perhaps. (You can search for Time magazine covers or for Life magazines and newspapers online.) Or check out the nearest paint-your-own-ceramics shop. Children (and adults) can add charm and personal messages to gifts such as mugs and picture frames for grandparents. The hostess with the mostest: Anyone who has put on a family reunion knows that the level of detail and schedule juggling can be mind-boggling. By taking on the planning, you're freeing everyone else to relax and look forward to the event. Even a simple picnic at a park can be tons of fun.Cover the family beat: It can be difficult to keep up with the comings and goings of your immediate family, let alone extended family across the globe (chances are, they're not all addicted to Facebook). So don your reporter's cap and create a newsletter that includes the extended family's news. Even if you keep track with a blog online, you can compile the news at the end of the year in a great keepsake for family members. "Creating Family Newsletters" by Elaine Floyd is just one book that can help.Gift of the month: You've probably seen the commercial gift-of-the-month clubs that offer flowers, wines or cigars. By drawing on your own talents, you can create a personal monthly gift service at a fraction of the dollar cost. Maybe it's freshly baked bread, homemade candles, flowers or vegetables from your garden that you bestow on lucky friends or family each month -- even a poem or car washing. Be careful, though. It can be a big time commitment. You might want to make it quarterly or consider doing something that you can make ahead, such as jams or homemade soaps. The worst thing you can do with this kind of gift? Not deliver on your promises.A new survey finds 38% of shoppers say high energy prices will make them cut their holiday spending plans.Prepaid cell phones or calling cards: For elderly relatives living on fixed incomes, prepaid calling cards mean they won't have to forgo a comforting call because money is tight. (And for parents of overseas-bound college kids, they can offer invaluable peace of mind.) Try local groceries or drugstores, or research calling cards online. Every major carrier, as well as others such as Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, TracFone and Liberty Wireless, offers prepaid cell plans.Chip in on a group outing: Get everyone to agree to forgo the gifts and instead put the money toward a shared experience. It can be dinner at a fancy restaurant, a day sledding or a whole weekend away in a rented cabin. Not only does it reduce the focus on material goods, but you also will have time to enjoy each other's company.Spread the joy: In the "it's better to give than to receive" camp, consider sponsoring a needy child or giving to a charity in someone else's name. Have your kids pick one of their toys to donate to charity, or make a family event out of preparing a holiday meal for a local family in need. (See "How to tell a good charity from a bad one" or ePhilanthropyFoundation.org for help choosing a charity.)Your time: Ah, the most valuable gift of all. This can take any form you want, but formalizing your offer makes it worthy of being put under the tree. Consider monthly baby-sitting or dog-care coupons, or help someone with a difficult all-day project, such as getting garden beds ready for spring planting or building shelves for a hobby room. Lend your expertise to things your loved ones especially need help with, whether it's an all-day class on how to use their computer or how to cook some of the family recipes you've compiled for them.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Luxuries for the rest of us
Living in Los Angeles exposes one to a lot of luxury-spending opportunities. Most of them are wasted on me.I don't get the appeal of a $500 T-shirt, a $2,000 purse or a $100,000 sports car with a trunk smaller than the overpriced handbag.But the appeal of some perks the rich enjoy is obvious even to skinflints like me. In fact, when I can get a taste of the luxe life at fraction of the price, I go for it -- because what I envy most is the luxury of less hassle. And there are ways to buy that without being Leona Helmsley.Richie Rich perk No. 1: A private jet No security lines. No set schedules. No wasting hours on a tarmac or at a luggage carousel. Just zip to your destination -- and would Madame like her prime rib rare or medium?The appeal is obvious even to fellow cheapskate Warren Buffett, who for years resisted buying a private jet before caving. Now the investing superstar understands the appeal. In his latest letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Buffett declared that "once you've flown (private), returning to commercial flights is like going back to holding hands."Of course, Hollywood's greenest types now frown on private airplane transportation, citing the contribution of increased carbon dioxide emissions to global climate change. So we can solace ourselves that we're doing less damage to the planet stuffed back in coach.But here are ways for fliers to get a taste of luxury:• Be elite. If you fly a lot, concentrate your trips on one airline to qualify for its elite frequent-flier status (typically 25,000 miles flown a year). That will qualify you for shorter security lines at many airports and win you more-frequent upgrades to first class.• Invest in an airport lounge. Again, if you travel frequently, consider investing in your airline's lounge pass. Most are quiet, comfortable places to read, work and get a free snack.• Get a pass. Even if you travel infrequently, consider buying a day pass to an airport lounge if you have a long layover. Day passes typically cost $25 to $50.• Pick the right flights. Choose nonstops and flights that depart early in the day to minimize hassles. Because airports and airlines are so overbooked, any weather or mechanical problem can touch off a cascade of delays that get worse as the day progresses. The later you leave and the more connections you have to make, the more likely you are to get caught in the gears.Richie Rich perk No. 2: A personal assistant Someone to mail your packages, pick up your dry cleaning, wash the dog, fill your prescriptions and listen -- for the 100th time -- to your complaints about your ex.Personal assistants are a de rigueur accessory in La-La land. Their full-time pay ranges from $40,000 to $120,000, said Jack Lippman, the owner of the Elizabeth Rose Agency, a Los Angeles placement agency for domestic help. The more experienced the assistant and the more intense the job, the higher the pay.Wannabes who can't quite shoulder those costs turn to services that provide assistants for as few as four to eight hours a week, usually for about $30 an hour.CNBC reporter Darren Rovell takes a look at what $1 million can buy you.Can't quite swing that? Here are ways to shed some of the hassles of daily living:• Investigate which businesses near you will deliver. In my neighborhood, for example, are several dry cleaners that pick up, deliver or both; independent pharmacies that bring medicine to your door; and a delivery service that picks up food from most area restaurants.• Schedule pickups for packages. This isn't just a perk for businesses. The Postal Service and most delivery companies will come to your home to collect packages if you schedule in advance. It sure beats standing in long lines to ship holiday packages.• Hire an errand service. These businesses have cropped up in many areas and do everything from waiting for the cable guy to stocking up for your New Year's Eve party. Craigslist is one way to find them. • Check out the world of virtual assistants. If your task can be handled on the phone or the Web, a virtual assistant can do it. They can buy movie tickets, wrangle with customer service departments, research airfares and write letters. There are a ton of sites to choose from, including Elance, Workaholics4Hire.com and GetFriday.Timothy Ferriss, the author of the best-selling book "The 4-Hour Workweek," extols the value of virtual assistants and recommends considering one anytime you can pay less for the outsourced task than your time is worth. A quick way to assess the value of your time, he says, is to knock the zeros off your annual pay, then cut the result in half. Thus, if you make $50,000 a year, your time is worth about $25 an hour.
Read more!
Broke? 5 ways to turn your finances around
A recent study painted a dismal portrait of America's working poor, estimating that some 41 million people cannot afford to make ends meet, despite being employed.These hardworking Americans earn low wages, have few benefits and often can't qualify for government help -- and many of the Women in Red are in a similar quandary.But the Women in Red are discovering a way out.Not poor, but struggling to get by "Bridging the Gaps: A Picture of How Work Supports Work in 10 States" was issued in October by the progressive Center for Economic Policy Research in Washington, D.C., and the Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts, focusing on families in 10 states with incomes far above the official poverty threshold.The median monthly incomes studied in the report ranged from a low of $2,293 in Iowa to $4,515 in Washington, D.C. Despite not being officially "poor," these families are struggling to get by in a variety of ways:• More than one in five workers (22.1%) are in jobs with low pay and no benefits (no health insurance or retirement plan).• The median monthly "hardship gap" between families' expenses and their earnings was about $1,500.• Those who got "work supports," or aid from the government, still faced an $855 median monthly shortfall.The circumstances of poverty Although the report outlines the broad financial circumstances of the working poor, it attributes them to "bad jobs" and a failure of government programs. What the report misses is the other side of being broke, as many in the Women in Red can testify. That's when your economic stress is partly, if not primarily, of your own making. I'm not referring to those who are impoverished due to a snowballing of circumstances beyond their control. There are countless Americans who live on the financial edge through no fault of their own. • Talk back: What tactics work when you're really broke?But many of the Women in Red are finding that, even amid tough economic straits, it is possible to turn things around. Here's how:1. Get to know your money Being good with money doesn't require a Ph.D. in physics. But you do have to get a certain amount of good, basic personal finance knowledge under your belt to recover from past mistakes, ditch bad money habits and make real financial progress.Tricia, 42, became an avid personal finance reader. As a single mom with three kids and an income of about $1,700 a month -- not the poverty line, but close -- she banked on the fact that knowledge was power. A good book makes abstract money ideas doable, she says. "Someone is always telling you, 'Get a budget, get a budget -- all financially successful people have a budget' -- but you tend to shrug it off," she says."It's when you read about it and see how they work, that's when you can begin to do it yourself."While Tricia says she learned a lot of money basics from personal finance expert Suze Orman, the book that really changed her life, "hands down," was "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. 2. Get to know your financial self One of the hardest tasks in taking financial control has nothing to do with money but with getting to know yourself financially.This is one of the primary goals for women who join the ranks of the Women in Red. You can't fix those numbers until you have some idea of where your weak spots lurk, what your financial demons look like, and how and why they manage to trip you up.The idea of working at home certainly sounds appealing: save gas, choose your hours and wear whatever you want. But are these jobs real, and how do you find one? Kimber, 28, took a classic head-in-the-sand approach to her money for a long time, taking on close to $18,000 in debt even before she'd graduated from college. A serious illness and the birth of her son, all in the last couple of years, helped her face the mess. A single mom living on a modest income of about $2,200 a month, Kimber isn't poor, but her past financial habits had made life unmanageable."I had to change my whole attitude toward money. I had to drop that I'll-pay-for-it-later fantasy," she says. "Now I buy everything with cash. I don't even have a credit card. That's how I keep myself in check."
Read more!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
So, Is It Possible To Earn Free Money Online Fast?
The answer is – yes! You can earn free money online fast, even without any web site or affiliate marketing. You'll only need to invest some of YOUR time and a small amount of money.
It doesn't matter if you are a stay-at-home Mom or Dad; a college student or a teacher; someone looking for a business opportunity; saving up for something special; or you just need to pay off some bills. The bottom line is this - you could use an extra source of income, right?
To begin here are some quick Questions & Answers you may have about free Internet cash:
Q: How much money can I make?
A: Several hundred. It depends only on YOU.
Q: How fast?
A: You'll have the money in your bank no later then 3 months. Usually, on average it should take about 2 months.
Q: Can anyone do it?
Yes, but in this article I will explain how to earn free money online only if you are: from the USA, you have a credit card, and you can invest some small money in order to make much, much more.
---------------SIDEBAR---------------
If one thing is for sure, it's that nothing out there is totally free. (And if someone says it is, they're probably selling something.) Whatever business online or offline - in order to make money you must invest some first. And I will tell you shortly where and how to do that. Just keep reading on...
-------------------------------------
Q: Is it safe to use my credit card?
A: Yes, absolutely.
Q: Must I have a web site or a list?
A: Nope. If you are from the USA and if you have a credit card, you can start earning free money online immediately.
OK, enough of playing the questions and answers game. Your only question left by now must be...
Where And How Do I Get The Free Cash?
The short answer is - using online rewards programs.
Don't know what a rewards program is? A rewards program pays cash for all your actions: completing offers, shopping, reading emails, referring your friends, and more. You can visit http://www.cash4offers.com and see what a typical rewards program looks like and how it works.
Now I guess there should be two categories of readers. The internet "newbies", who will say they don't understand how it all works; and the internet gurus who will say that all reward programs are scams.
Wait! I will prove to you that they work in a moment; and that you can make not only extra cash but receive some great stuff too.
To get started making money with incentive companies, one needs to create an account with a rewards program like Cash4Offers. You will need an email address to sign up...
Worried about your privacy and spam? Please don't! They will never send you spam, you can cancel anytime, and the email address is only used to track all of your actions when you complete offers, shop, etc. That's how they know who to pay the free money.
Hey, in most cases you will get a sign-up bonus just for signing up!
And now, I'll explain to you...
How to Earn Free Money Online Completing Offers?
Here is the Cash4Offers offers section link: http://www.cash4offers.com/offers.php?c=ALL&email=&uid=
If you click on the above link you can see that there are many various offers available, ranging from credit card applications to internet service provider deals. And, they all will pay a certain amount of cash to your Cash4Offers account if you accept them... But, just to warn you, most of the offers will require that you use your credit card. That's why I told you about the money you'll need to invest in the beginning. Not to worry though, you can definitely make more than you spend, and most of the offers are great trial deals where you can receive not only free cash but top merchandise too.
There were total of 111 offers available when I wrote this article on 22/11/2004.
---------------SIDEBAR---------------
Make sure to log-in to your account and access the offers from the member's area when completing the offers so that your cash is credited to your account.
-------------------------------------
If you wonder where the free money comes from, here is the answer - incentive companies are affiliated with top online merchants (advertisers), and the merchants pay a commission for advertising their products and services. Rewards companies pass the majority of the commission they make on to YOU, the customer, when you accept their offers!
And here is my promise to you...
A Proof You Can Earn Free Money Online
Please open or download the following excel file to your computer: http://www.cash4offers.com/offers_rewards.xls
As you can see I have selected only the offers that interested me from the first 3 pages of all available offers at Cash4Offers. And look what my earnings potential is -- I can make $65.40 after completing only 13 offers (approximately $5.00 for each offer), and receive a bunch of great merchandise too! Remember there were 111 offers available. Imagine how much I could earn if I completed all of the offers?!
It doesn't matter if you have already signed up with a rewards program or not, I advise you to explore all available offers and use the above excel file as a template in order to evaluate your earnings potential. Just click on each offer that interests you and make notes of all offer details - how much you earn, how much you have to invest, your profit, the merchandise you receive, and your total profit. Use the template every time you decide to complete offers online.
It really helps to decide which offers are the best choice for you and what you will receive by completing each of them. Of course, although there are well over one hundred offers available, you should complete only the ones that really interest you. You are not going to apply for all available credit card offers, or get a free trial of all ISPs, are you? My guess is that you should be able to make about $200 - $500 by completing all of the offers that interest you.
---------------SIDEBAR---------------
How long does it take to receive cash for completing the offers? Well, some offers pay instantly! And some may take up to 30 days (e.g. some credit card applications) before you receive your cash to your reward program's account.
-------------------------------------
If you don't receive the cash from the offer within 30 days of accepting it, you should contact the rewards program and send them all of the details related to the offer:
The date of offer completion
The confirmation email
Your contact info: name, email address, phone number etc.
Usually the rewards company will do the investigation for you and if you really completed the offer (offers) they will credit your account with the offer cash amount within about 3 weeks.
Got your cash in your account? Great! What's next? Now, the last step...
Request Payment & Verify Your Account
Why do reward programs ask you to verify your account by phone or mail? The answer is simply this - they are trying to protect their advertisers and themselves from fraud.
So, request your payment either by check or another method if available, and expect a phone call several days before your payment is processed. You should receive your payment in about a week or two!
Well, it was easy making free cash on the internet, wasn't it? But your earning potential doesn't stop there, you could make even more by receiving cash-back for shopping or referring your friends. But that's another story for the next article.
P.S. FYI, you can choose to receive great free stuff like computers, TVs, gift cards and much more instead of free cash, again, by completing offers. Visit http://www.1st-in-rewards.com for more information about all available online rewards that you can take advantage of.
