I saw this job and thought of you. I know it is not what you usually do (editing) but it might be close enough since the benefits sound incredible???

Full time employees are eligible for the following benefits:

* Health/Dental/Vision/Life insurance
* Disability (short and long term) options
* 401(k) Plan with Company match
* Flexible Spending Plan
* Transit/Parking Plan
* Gym membership reimbursement
* Paid vacation time
* Holidays, personal days, sick days
* Stock options

It made me wish I was qualified!

They are looking for a copywriter (as well as some other positions). Check it out: http://www.tutor.com/careers/corporate/copywriter

We brought my hubby's car into the dealer today for a complete check. The car is a 1999 Saturn with 159,000 miles on it. My hubby uses it to commute back and forth to the train station and we also use it to haul the canoe when we take that out.

We were expecting a little bit of an expense since the car is older and it is due for updated parts, but it has turned into a much larger expense than we foresaw. New radiator, hoses, water pump, thermostat, rear brakes, head gasket! To the tune of nearly $4,000.

Yes indeed, when it rains it pours, ladies and gentlemen.

We actually contemplated trading it in and buying a new car, but we can't afford a monthly payment and we'd rather not buy used and get stuck with someone elses's headache.

This is really putting a crimp in our debt repayment strategy, and going to make it ten times harder to save for the HSA as well (although we will still put the $200/month we had planned into the HSA). I figure I will pay the $4,000 out of our $5,000 EF, and slowly rebuild that fund. If I cut back to the minimums on all our debts that will save $20/month. I am paid ahead on the Personal Loan (at the left) until May 2009, so I can stop paying that $130/month and apply it elsewhere. That is $150/month I can put into the EF, then any "extra" I make at the PT job will go to the EF also. Hopefully at least $200/month.

No more fun categories in the ol' budget for the next 3-6 months at the least. *sigh*

I would really appreciate feedback from all of you. I know there are many more financially savvy individuals here than practically anywhere else, so I know I'll get great thoughts and suggestions from you all.

I have been putting all extra money toward the CC you see to the left which is at 0% until February 2009. I was hoping to have the entire balance paid off by the time it returns to a higher rate. At this point I am not sure if that will happen or not. Right now I have about $600 to put toward my goal, but I am holding on to it until I get some advice from you guys.

Now that I am half way to the 0% offer's conclusion and have only paid about 25% of the balance off, I am wondering if I should change my plan. I am thinking maybe I should put all the extra money I was putting toward the 0% card instead toward the debt with the smallest balance (a personal bank loan) - $3300 at 6%, or to the one with the highest interest rate (another CC) - $4600 at 10.51%.

We are trying to pay down our debt now by throwing all extra money toward it, then save for a down payment on a home. I would love to be able to buy a home within the next year while prices are still down, but right now our debt/credit limit ratio on the CCs is still very high at 38.6% (down from 41.2% in January) and our minimum monthly payments are high at about 27.5% of our monthly gross income.

If we pay off the bank loan we would lower our monthly payments to 24.3% of our gross, and if we pay off the 10.51% CC it would be about 25%.

We've never bought a home before or shopped for a mortgage but I think those are things they look at during the mortgage process. Do any of you who know about mortgages and home-buying have any insights for us?

Any and all thoughts are welcome!

Today I filled up at BJ's for $3.76/gallon. It's been 9 days and 280.5 miles since the last time I filled my tank. I have been very conscientious of my driving habits and it has been paying off. I hit a new record for fuel economy with today's fill-up...*drum roll please*...

36.5 miles per gallon !!!

This is driving in mostly rural/suburban areas with a car whose EPA estimates are 27 city, 33 highway and 29 combined (08 Honda Fit Sport Automatic). I am very happy with these numbers and will, of course, strive to improve.

http://www.projecthavehope.org

Please check out this website. It is a non-profit started by a woman from my hometown and it is simply awe inspiring.

She is helping women in Uganda to sell their handmade jewelry with the profits going to
- send their children to school
- send themselves to vocational training
- start new businesses to sustain themselves

Wow. Many of us have great intentions and good thoughts but never actually DO something to help. I am one of these people, and I am truly inspired by this project.

The beaded necklaces & bracelets are beautiful and will make wonderful gifts. We have a Bat Mitzvah to attend in a few weeks and I think this would make a great gift. I think I will buy a few and attach a notecard explaining where they came from.

We received $900 just as expected. We've decided to use ours to actually stimulate the economy in our own little way.

We are using about half to buy a canoe so that we can go fishing and camping this summer as a family. The other half will be used to purchase clothing for myself and my husband as neither of us have bought any new clothing in at least 3 years, and unfortunately we have both "expanded" in that time. I am hoping to have $50-$100 left over, but anything left over will go toward the goal CC.

Received $20 from MySurvey and $5 from Pinecone Research this week so I am putting an extra $25 toward the 0% CC.

New Balance on Goal CC: $7,770.72

Also, bad news: I paid $3.39/gal for gasoline at BJ's (cheapest place around)- up from $2.99 a month ago!

Good news: I got 36.1 miles to the gallon on my last tank of gas.

http://www.njcfe.org/Resources/youth_tab.pdf

It is a 15 page PDF with lots of very basic info geared toward young adults - how to figure interest, things to think about before buying or leasing a car, how the rule of 72 works, and lots more including short quizzes and extra learning experiences. I would think it would make a great starting point for young people in high school or homeschoolers - especially after discussing the scariness of "Maxed Out"!

I found this site from a link in an AOL story about high school seniors and the little they actually know about personal finance. The articles says, "High school seniors, on average, answered correctly only 48.3 percent of questions about personal finance and economics, according to a nationwide survey released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve." Yuck.

Happy day here - a new record for fuel economy in my 2008 Honda Fit automatic.

I have not increased the air pressure in my tires yet, so they are still at the manufacturer's spec (should be 32psi, but I have not checked). There was no highway driving involved, but I do drive rurally on my commute so I can go 5-10 miles without stopping in one section which helps my fuel consumption. Again, I have really taken my slower driving seriously on this tank of gas, so I would say 90% was me driving 5-10mph under the posted speed limit trying to keep my RPMs as close to 1500 as possible, but allowing up to 2k RPM. My husband did drive a few short trips on this tank that were anything but hypermiling (says it drives him crazy to go even 5mph under the limit) so I may be able to do even better in the future which is extremely exciting.

If I can keep this up and gasoline prices do not continue to rise so fast, I am hoping to be able to sweep about $10 from my gas category to the 0% CC at the end of the month.

In other news, I tried to pre-pay my one CC, and they ended up sending me a check for the credit amount. I wish my CCs would send me money every month instead of the other way around! *LOL* I've got a grace period so I guess I'll let it sit and earn interest until the end of the month and then send it back to them.

Now that my EF is at my initial goal of $5,000 I am starting to feel lethargic with my plans. I know that the next step is to pay off debt but it is looking so bleak at the moment.

My boss took me aside this week and explained that the health insurance premiums are more than she originally thought, so they are going to be basically 25% of my pay. Basically it is going to take up all the "extra" that I was going to put toward the CC you see on the left. I feel as though we will never get anywhere. Every time I feel like we are *finally* getting up some momentum stuff like this slams into us.

I have $1,200 set aside from the tax refunds that were over and above the $5k EF. It is sitting in an ING account until I can decide what to do with it. I just don't know.

I talked directly to the insurance company today, and they explained that they do not allow monthly payments without auto debit because it is too easy for the coverage to lapse. I do understand that logic, but still think it would have been fine for me personally. I decided to pay quarterly so that I will not have to sign the auto-withdrawal form. It is more than I had budgeted this month, but I should be able to make it up in March's budget. Thanks to YNAB I know where all my money is all of the time.

I am very annoyed right now. I applied for Disability Insurance with 2 companies through an online servie called "Quote Retriever". I have not been impressed with the service at all, but have muddled through in the hopes that once a policy is in force I will be able to deal directly with the company I choose instead of them.

So, I chose the policy I wanted of the two I applied to, and they requested 2 additional documents and a check for the first month's premium. No problem. I signed and faxed the forms right away (practically had to sign over my first born, but whatever), and the lady at Quote Retriever wanted me to fill out and fax her an "Automatic Bank Withdrawal Form" with my bank account and routing number that gives the insurance company permission to auto debit my checking account each month. Well, I have worked in banking and I know that once you sign one of these forms you might as well forget having any control whatsoever over your money because the company can take as much as they want whenever they want...cause you signed that it was okay. I explained that I did not allow this and that I would set up an auto payment through my online bank myself. I did just that through my ING Electric Orange account. The check was mailed last week and received yesterday.

Today I get an email from the QR lady again telling me that the company will not put my policy in force unless I either sign the Auto Withdrawal form and allow them to take money from my account each month or pay them in full for the year. Does anyone know if this is legal? I mean, if I skip out on a payment they can just drop my coverage like any other insurance. I don't get this at all...and I am fightin' mad!