moneytalks

The day and age of cutting out coupons from the Sunday paper are a thing of the past. Well not completely but they sure are not the only game in town when it comes to money saving coupons. Many websites with printable coupons have arisen the past few years. To be honest I’ve never used one of these but I’ve heard some good things about them.

Coupon Cabin is one site that I’ve seen printable coupons or coupons for online shopping. Target, Dicks sporting goods, Overstock.com are just a few of the stores you’ll find that some sort of savings are offered. In the cyber age why should we be surprised that the an age old tradition of sitting at the kitchen table with the Sunday paper and a pair of scissors is done away with by clicking and printing.

Every time I turn around I see these online, hole in the wall or unestablished banks offering up lousy bonuses for big commitment. The latest one I’ve seen was a “deal” with E-Loan where they offered up 25 bucks just for opening a savings account. Not bad–at least at first glance. As I’ve said a million times people are short on money these days so banks offers of free money are usually pretty good. Even if it is only $25.

Anyways, second glance takes you a bit deeper. Minimum of $100 must be deposited each month for 90 days. OK, I must tie my money up for 3 months and keep giving them more money. Starts to sound a little bit worst but not horrible quite yet. Then you keep reading and the real kicker comes in, $5,000 minimum opening balance required! Are you kidding me? Three months of 5K being gone to some unknown online bank plus they want me to continue giving them money each month and on top of that they give themselves a little loop hole to possibly get out of the whole thing. A promo code is needed. So if you just so happen to fall for this horrible offer, sign up and just so happen to forget something as little as a promotion code it voids the whole things. I’d rather keep my 5 grand under my mattress.

So now it is coming out that National City bank was in trouble far deeper than they let the general public know. It turns out that NCB was begging as many as three banks to buy them out over the past couple of months. One of them being PNC, another being U.S. Bank, the other one I’m not sure of. US bank were the only ones offering up any bids but the deal was not looked highly upon by the government. On the 11th hour PNC stepped up with an offer that was not matched by US bank. Reports claim that government officials have been checking the books of National City as many times as once a day. The bank was on the verge of being forced into bankruptcy if no buyers came forth. Nearly all of the depositors holding more than the FDIC insured $100,000 pulled their money and businesses were refusing to do business with them. And those who were still doing business with them were only doing the most basic dealings but not without collateral. Just goes to show how little these corporate giants let out to the public when the problems are going on.

Money is a concern of most of us, but a lot of us have charities and issues that we tend to care about. Caring about some issues tends to lead us towards donating money to organizations that work towards our own goals. Personally animal rights is my biggest cause. I’m not big on donating because of the fact that I’ve run my own animal rights groups since the age of 16. (Now I’m 30) In the past I have been the one in need of donations. Anyways, most of us have that yearly check that we like to write. But what are we to do when we hardly have enough money to get ourselves through the week? Is the little bit we have that may be “extra” owed to those who may need it more than us? Does that homeless group need that money more than we need a night out with our friends? You may notice a lot of question marks in this blog, that’s simply because I don’t have the answers. This blog is more of a question than anything.

The fact of the matter is that nobody can tell somebody else what is appropriate to do. We all have to judge what is our limit and what is the right thing to do in our own lives. Do these organizations need us all to do our part? Of course they do. But we do nobody any good if we can’t even take care of ourselves.

We all need to have some fun in life but a lot of us are on a budget so I’ve tried to come up with some cheap or free ways to have some fun.

One of the things I do most of the time when I’m looking for some cheap fun is look outdoors. Most outdoor activities are free. Try making some food and taking it to the park for a little picnic. This is a sure fire way to find something to do without spending money.

Dog parks are another great idea. If you have a dog that is. (it could be creepy to show up at a dog park sans dog) Perhaps it’s because I’m an animal lover but there is nothing more fun than watching a bunch of dogs running around playing.

Try hitting the “dollar” theaters by your house to see a movie instead of going to the pricey theaters. You can find some places that charge as little as a few dollars for movies. You get the same experience of going out to the movies minus the high price.

Try going on a day trip to a near by city. Just the change of scenery could really make a difference. With gas prices dropping as of late you could get a couple hours away and not spend that much money. Lunch or dinner and a walk downtown could be a days activity.

Hopefully these are a few ideas that can give you some cheap entertainment.

I think a lot of us have the hope that Obama being elected will improve the state of the economy. His plans of the $3,000 tax credit to businesses hiring new employees may do some good. But it could also be looked at as a bonus to big companies that may have been planning on bringing in new employees already. “Spreading the wealth” is a term we have all heard in the past few months. Some say it in a good way and some say it in a bad way. Personally I feel that a nation that flourishes is better off than a nation that has a wide gap between the rich and poor. Higher tax for the upper percentile is something that goes along with a better country and a better way of life for us as a whole. I can’t wait for the potential change to start to take place.

This is one of those deals that have a catch but the reward may just be good enough to go for that catch. As of right now National City bank is offering a gift card worth $150 to those who open a checking account. The catch comes here, you must set up a direct deposit worth at least $250 and have it received into the bank account within 60 days you are now eligible. Well, that and use your check card 10X but it is more than likely that you’ll do that anyway. Go to this national city link for more info and to sign up. 

Everyone assumes that having a baby has to be big bills and a diminishing bank account. That simply is not true. Having a child could be a very inexpensive experience. Most people end up feeding formula instead of breast feeding which is a more expensive, not as healthy option. They buy wipes and diapers which could be switched out with reusable alternatives. Cloth diapers may sound like something your grandmother, or mother depending on how old you are, used but a new generation has brought them back. These two more natural, environmental alternatives can be coupled with buying all used clothes and other larger baby products. Most any city has used baby stores that can give you strollers, cribs, clothes, toys and just about any other thing you could think of. 

When is it OK to go on a shopping spree? I know one thing, I’m going on a mini one tomorrow. That’s right, nobody can stop me either. I’ve always been very frugal and smart with money. From time to time I get the urge to spend and not only on little things but bigger ticket items as well. One thing I’ll never do though is put me and my family in a huge debt that would be difficult to get out of. The new credit card being used tomorrow has zero interest for TWO YEARS. Now that’s too good to pass up. My new items will be very nice with the upcoming winter months on it’s way. When you’re cooped up in a house with 2 feet of snow outside you want as many toys in the house as possible to pass the time. To conclude it is not always needed to be a cheap person that never spends money. Sometimes you just have to let loose. 

The bank I currently use, Charter one which is associated with Citizens bank, has come up with a great rewards program. The deal is that every time you pay a bill without using paper you get $0.10 up to $120 per year. This means every time you use your debit card, pay online or have a payment automatically removed form your checking account you get the ten cents. Every month the bank will automatically add the money into the checking account that earned the money. For me, I pay with everything online or with my debit card anyway. So this is basically free money. Granted a maximum of $10 a month is not going to break the bank but as I always say you can’t beat free money.Check out Charterone.com for more information.