Money Talk Daily

Archive for January, 2010

Buying gifts for loved ones can often be a bit of a drain on the finances. When there are many more people to buy for, like at Christmas for example, this gift-money balance is made even harder. Add to this the fact that many people are short of cash due to the recession, and you can soon have a bit of a nightmare trying to get Christmas presents for everyone without breaking the bank. Don’t fear though, here are 3 great tips for making your xmas a frugal one.

DIY gifts. Many people are put off making their own gifts as they think it will take too much time and look a bit rubbish. However, the more you make gifts, the easier it gets and the better the results. Try to tackle something easy at first, such as making candy or cakes. When you think you have got your head around these, you can tackle something a little more advanced such as personalised ornament making or even clothing

Shop around. Finding that best price for a certain item has never been so easy. The technological revolution has meant that you can compare prices instantly, whereas before you used to have to brave the Christmas high streets for hours to do the same. There are lots of price comparison sites around where you search for individual products and find the sites that offer the best prices on gifts for men and gifts for her.

Sales. You don’t always have to get your gifts before Christmas. These days it is more acceptable to wait until the January sales to buy your presents, and more families are doing this every year. It often makes perfect sense in fact as retailers often have 50%+ sales in the new years months. However, some retails are now offering sale prices on gifts for her and gifts for him even in December.

Shopping and selling on eBay can be one of the most rewarding experiences on the Internet. However you need to be careful of scam artists who will try to take advantage of you through various types of fraud. If you do get scammed on eBay there are ways you can get your money back. However, it is very difficult to ever catch the fraud artist and it is a lot simpler if you can recognize and avoid frauds from the beginning.

One of the scams that are very common today is fake e-mails that appear to originate from eBay or PayPal or even your bank. Keep in mind that anybody can spoof any e-mail address and send an e-mail that appears to be from somebody else. It is even possible to spoof an e-mail coming from the president of the United States. So when you see any e-mail in your inbox that comes from eBay or PayPal and asks you to log in to confirm your password the chances are that this is a scam. E-mails that you receive of this type will have eBay letterheads or PayPal letterheads and will direct you to a link that appears to be eBay or PayPal. However, if you look closely at the bottom of your browser you’ll generally see that the domain these links point to is not actually an eBay or PayPal domain. It just looks like eBay’s web site, but it is actually a scam site asking you to confirm your password.

One of the easiest ways to protect yourself on eBay is to use PayPal for all transactions. PayPal is a wholly-owned subsidiary of eBay, and so transactions that are paid for via PayPal can be easily disputed. Since it is in eBay’s interest to maintain a secure shopping environment they are generally very quick to resolve disputes that originate by PayPal. If you buy an item and are not satisfied with it and feel like the seller did not deliver what he promised, it is far easier to dispute that transaction fee with PayPal because eBay can reverse the funds themselves. If you purchased by money order or credit card or some other payment method, eBay does not have the opportunity to reverse charges without going through a third-party.

Whether you are buying or selling items is a good idea to stick with PayPal. If you are selling items it is a good idea to only except PayPal as a payment option. The last thing you need is to get a bad check, or have your buyer dispute his credit card charge. If you have fulfilled your end of the seller’s bargain, then all you’ll need to do is prove that to PayPal and eBay without involving a third-party. Generally speaking, if a buyer is unhappy with a product that you sold and does not consider the product to be in the condition advertised, then you should demand that the product be returned before you issue a refund.

The author is a roofer and he also offers tips for contact lenses online and buy contact lenses.

My friends and family often joke and describe me as the coupon clipping queen. We subscribe to delivery of the Sunday newspaper only, just so I can get my coupons. You will know where to find me every Sunday afternoon: in the living room, hunched over the coffee table, holding scissors in one hand and the coupon advertisements in the other. After I’m done clipping my coupons, I place them in a shoebox I have designated to hold them. I admit that it can be difficult, but I do try to keep my coupons organized in that shoebox. Coupon Codes

My sister was literally breathless with excitement when she called me one weekend. She had located a website online that she thought was perfect; it was called Save Grocery Coupons. She was convinced that the website offered me handy tools I needed to become more organized, and she also thought it would give me more coupons than ever before. After she made me commit to visiting the website, my sister finally let me off the phone. Grocery Coupons

I did as I promised, and I went online and visited the Save Grocery Coupons website. I thought it was absolutely amazing. I knew my sister was right; I had completely missed out on this great online coupons resource. Just as she had described, the website offered several unique tools, along with a ton of discount coupons, grocery coupons, food coupons, and name brand coupons. I felt that I could now become an even better bargain hunter than before, and I became incredibly excited.

On the Save Grocery Coupons site, you can find a useful grocery coupons guide with details about all the particular deals available right now. By reading through the guide, I was able to quickly find the coupons that interested me the most. However, the site’s best tool was their coupon organizer. I wouldn’t have to drive around with my coupon shoebox in my front seat any longer. Now I could appear halfway presentable because I had a way to keep my coupons organized. I knew that I could take advantage of  more discounts than before because my coupons were organized, instead of trying to juggle a handful of coupon clippings.

The Save Grocery Coupons site has specialty coupon codes, and as a result, their discount coupons can be used at a number of different retailers – not just your local grocery store. I saw that the site offered coupons for my favorite restaurant, my local pharmacy, and the nearby auto repair shop. My Sunday newspaper didn’t compare to the website! My eyes were gleaming by the time I was done reading through the Save Grocery Coupons website. I was excited about all the new opportunities that were available for me to save money. Coupons

We are regularly treated to economic news. Recently we were told that unemployment is now at 10.2%. Keep a few things in mind when you hear those sorts of statistics.

First, all governments and administrations prefer that the economic numbers published reflect positively on their actions and policies. So they desire that the statistics look good – or not as bad as they could be – or that they are improving.

Second, this can be accomplished through a number of means. One is to just lie. Let’s assume that’s not what’s going on. Another way to get better numbers is to adjust the way the statistics are calculated. It’s hard to imagine that is not what’s going on. Am I suggesting that the unemployment numbers are probably worse than what the official government statistics are reporting? Yes.

Keep in mind that just defining whether someone is unemployed or not is problematic. Quick quiz – which of these people should be considered as unemployed?

- Sally graduated from college six years ago and has worked in accounting at a bank with increasing responsibilities ever since. The bank fails and she loses her job. Should she be considered as unemployed?

- Six months later Sally is still looking for a job and moves back in with her parents because she’s broke. Should she be considered as unemployed?

- One year later Sally gives up on a career in accounting and takes a job as a server at a restaurant. Should she be considered as unemployed?

- Bob, an engineer, has been out of work for six months and has been unsuccessfully looking for a job in engineering. He has been staying home with the young kids as his wife pursues her career in financial management so they can get rid of daycare expenses. Should he be considered as unemployed?

- Bob gives up looking for a job and decides to stay home with the kids for good. They cut their family expenses. Should he be considered as unemployed?

Okay, perhaps that was a bit long, but it does illustrate the problem. Defining who is and who is not unemployed is not a straightforward proposition. And even if it were, you have the challenge of drawing a representative sample since you cannot call everyone up and see who’s employed and who is not.

Therein lies one opportunity for “massaging” the statistics. Some economists such as John Williams for “Shadow Government Statistics” have made career out of scrutinizing government economic reporting and methodology and are convinced that such numbers are calculated in a very different way now than they were in 1980, for example. Mr. Williams has the unemployment number around 20%. Could he be right? Perhaps.

What’s my point?

1 – Be very careful attaching a great deal of significance to economic reporting, especially month to month numbers.

2 – We all have responsibilities – to our families and to ourselves. Whatever numbers come down the chute – accurate or not – we need to executive those responsibilities. From a financial standpoint that means planning, budgeting, and perhaps looking for additional income sources as a resource against an economy in trouble. And that’s what we’re here for!

Best wishes in 2010.

Craig