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Is she cleaning or raiding the pantry? hfb / Flickr

I share five must read blog posts about saving money every Friday.

Pantry clean-up – Learn how to organize your pantry and save cash. (Wisebread)

Money problems – Find out how the national debt could hurt your wallet. (MainStreet)

Saving for retirement – Five minute guide to your 401k. (Fabulous & Frugal)

Paying off debt – Five tricks to paying off your holiday debt. (Time Moneyland)

Prepaid credit card – Is the financial guru Suze Orman’s “Approved Card” worth it? (20 and Engaged)

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Wayan Vota / Flickr

I share five must read blog posts about saving money every Friday.

Fitness on a budget – How to create your own free home workout plan and exercise routine. (MoneyCrashers)

Wasting money – Ten things you do to save money that end up costing you more. (Wisebread)

Debt reduction – The Silicon Valley Blogger shares three do it yourself debt reduction programs to beat debt. (The Digerati Life)

Money resolutions – Here are five ways to make your money resolutions stick. (Mainstreet)

Movie ticket price hike – The movie business didn’t fare well last year. Experts are predicting movie theaters will charge more for admission. (Time Moneyland)

Fix broken powder make up – A blogger discovers how to “fix” powder makeup that has broken into pieces. Pretty nifty trick!

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Win one of 10 subscriptions to All You!

Today is your LAST CHANCE to enter two contests that are ending today, Dec. 12, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. EST! Winners will be announced tomorrow.

• Go straight to the post on how to win one of 10 yearlong subscriptions to All You magazine, which are stocked with about $100 coupons each issue!

• Make a bee line for the post to win a $150 debit gift card from DebitSavvy.org

The All You contest has only 160 entries to far!

The $150 Discover prepaid debit card has only 228 entries so far!

That’s quite a scowl!

tuxstorm / Flickr

I share five must read blog posts about saving money every Friday.

Entertainment options – Free and cheap way to entertain your child when they are at home. (Wisebread)

Don’t get harassed – How to deal with debt collection agencies (The Digerati Life)

Halloween decorations – 10 cheap DIY Halloween decorating ideas to get your home looking great! (MoneyCrashers)

Holiday budget – How to create and stick to a holiday budget so you don’t miss anyone on your list this year. (MainStreet)

Car Insurance – Find out how age affects your car insurance rate and what you can do about it. (Free From Broke)

robleto / Flickr

This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.

In the beginning of the year I shared three financial resolutions that I was going to tackle for the new year. Now that we are more than half way through the year, I want to share my progress along with tips that have helped me save money, pay down debt and stop using plastic.

Goal No. 1 – Save more money

I had to cut down my entertainment budget this year from $40 to

$20 per month so I could put away more money and pay off debt. If you follow us on Bargain Babe’s Facebook page, you know I still catch a movie now and then, but I mostly take advantage of free entertainment near me. My eating out budget has drastically dropped now that I’m no longer in school and I’m able to work and cook at home. I was spending about $150 a month on food during my jam-packed senior year. Now that’s down to about $35 a month. I’m saving 25% of my earnings each month by having my bank automatically transfer the money when I deposit my check. I also keep track of my budget on the Mint iPhone app. If I go over my budget, Mint notifies me.

Goal No. 2 – Stop using plastic

I used to charge my morning coffee on my credit card and ended up paying the price — big time! I called the credit card company in the beginning of the year to lower my APR, but eventually walked away after I got the run around and my credit limit was lowered. I didn’t want to close the account because I’m trying to build my credit. I read in one of Suze Orman’s books that closing a credit card does not affect your credit unless it’s the one with the longest history. My retail credit card that recently saved me more than 50% off on back to school shopping is the one with the longest history. So I paid my final credit card balance and gave it the boot! I’ve been using my debit card ever since without a problem. If I don’t have money then I don’t make purchases!

Goal No. 3 – Paying off debt

All my college expenses where paid out of pocket so my main goal this year was to continue paying off the debt without defaulting. Till now, I’ve also managed to reserve 10% of my income to pay off my debt by having it automatically deducted from my paychecks. Meeting my budget has been hard at times, but I’ve found that sitting down every week to plan where I can cut down expenses really helps. I haven’t seen a Mint notification letting me know that I’m over my budget in a while.

Free credit score?

Reader Ruth needs help finding a free place to get her credit score. She writes:

i have found places where you can get your credit report for free. do you know of anywhere to, safely, get your credit score? seems like the ones i have checked charge for it.

Ruth, you allude to getting your free credit report through the legit site AnnualCreditReport.com, which is a great place to start. The contents of this free annual report is what makes up your score, so making sure it is accurate is essential to improving your score. But I can understand your desire to know your credit score number.

CreditKarma, which I wrote about in August 2009, provides a score free, but it is not the FICO credit score which you are seeking. The only other offers I’ve seen are “free” when you buy something else. Anybody got an answer?

MyFico.com

Curious about what goes into your credit score? It’s been more than a year since I wrote about this, so it’s time to revisit this ever useful information.

There are five parts to your credit score. Payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit (10%), and

types of credit (10%). FICO, a financial analysis firm, uses these categories to rate consumers’ credit risk with a three-digit score. Within each category, there are up to seven factors.

For example, in the payment history category, credit rating agencies consider how many accounts you are up to date on, whether you have a bankruptcy or lien, and how long an overdue bill has been past due, among other factors.

In the length of credit history category, they consider how long it’s been since you opened an account, how long each specific account has been open, and how recently you’ve used each account. Read all the factors that are considered for each part of your credit score.

This is important stuff to know, but unfortunately the three credit rating agencies, TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax, don’t share specifics. How many points do I lose if I have a bill past due seven months instead of two? How many points do I gain if I am paid up on three accounts instead of one? We don’t know because they won’t tell us.

More information would help consumers improve their score, but getting a copy of your free credit history report (sans FICO score) through the FTC, is a good start. Look for open accounts that can be closed, errors, and mistakes. Fixes can take months, so get started early if you plan to apply for a mortgage or car loan.

dieselbug2007 / Flickr

I share five must read blog posts about saving money every Friday.

The Supreme Court put the breaks on a job discrimination lawsuit against Walmart. Find out how this decision will impact private employers and YOU. (CNN)

Want to even out your electricity bills throughout the year? Consider these 10 budget billing disadvantages before changing your payment plan with your electrical company. (Compare Electricity Rates)

Borders plans to sell itself by July 1. Have any Borders gift cards? Use them before it’s too late. (The Detroit News)

Why are you in debt? Learn to control these four problem behaviors to stop spending money. (The Digerati Life)

Is Extreme Couponing hurting shoppers’ self esteem? Those who use coupons can’t realistically keep up with the savings. (Suddenly Frugal)

Got money on the brain?

Credit: neon_neon/Flickr

Financial psychologist – that’s what Brad Klontz is. I chatted with him recently about why kids should fail financially, how our money problems stem from unconscious beliefs, and the money disorder test that can save us.

What is a financial psychologist? I’m trained as a clinical psychologist and in the last 10 years I’ve developed an expertise in personal finance. I created a treatment program for money disorders.

What is the most common money disorder? This will come as no surprise, but it’s overspending. We have a negative savings rate, credit card debt, and we’re modeling all these behaviors for our children.

So we’re teaching our kids bad habits? Yes. They watch what we do and model it. When kids see parents head down to the store, swipe plastic, and bring home a TV, what do they learn? One thing that I encourage parents to do is to break down the skills of money management. Even if you can afford to buy that TV, put a jar in the living room, put money in it. Talk to your kids about saving for it. 80% of college students have credit cards now. On average they have about $3,000 in revolving debt. Half of college students have four or more credit cards. (My emphasis.) We require kids to take a drivers ed class before they get behind the wheel, but there is no class to get a credit card.

What are three money lessons kids need that they are not learning in school?

We have to teach them self control. We have to talk about money with our kids. We need to model savings. The best way to involve kids in modeling is to use allowance purposely. Most parents give their kids allowance and then complain that it’s gone right away. Kids are impulsive. They want to feel now. Have structure around allowance. You can start this with a four year old. Have them save a dollar, have them spend a dollar, have them give a dollar away.

What’s the biggest complaint you get from parents? My teenager ran up a $1,500 cell phone bill! Get them on a prepaid card. There is a certain number of minutes and then it’s gone. The first month inevitably the minutes are gone in a week. You say, “Wow, you really burned through your minutes. You get 1,000 more minutes next month. Maybe there are ways you can stretch them out.” You can’t bail them out because you’re teaching them that if they are in trouble someone else will swoop in. You have to let them feel some of that pain. Help them fail.

Why would a parent want their child to fail? Because that is a really strong learning experience. Let them fail when the stakes are small. When it’s not repossession of a car or something big like that. Help them see the consequences of not delaying gratification.

You’ve won awards for your work money and wealth issues. Can you make me rich? Oh yeah, sure. Absolutely. Just start saving when you’re five. It’s interesting because if we all had a financial education when we were 18, there’s no excuse for all of us not to have a million dollars when we retire. It’s actually very simple. Save for the future. Don’t spend more than you make.

So are we all just really stupid? I think that we have not been educated. I remember economics form high school, but there was no applied economics, balancing checkbooks and managing money. The other thing is when we are engaged in destructive financial behaviors, which is always the result of money scripts.

What is a money script? A money script is a belief about money, typically unconscious, that drives all our financial behaviors.

Sounds powerful. They have a powerful negative impact. They are typically taught from our parents and they can go through generations. For example, my grandfather watched his family lose all their money in the Great Depression. Watching this he learns you can’t trust financial institutions. My grandfather died at 92 never having put a penny in the bank. He kept all his money in a box in the attic.

And he passed it down. My mother had an intense fear around money and not having enough. She wouldn’t invest in the stock market.

What are the other money scripts? Another is money avoidance: the belief that centers around anti-rich statements. Rich people are greedy. People get rich by taking advantage of others. Money corrupts people. I do not deserve to have a lot of money if others have less than me. You’ve associated having money with being bad so you subconsciously repel money. Or if money comes into your life you spend it or sabotage it in some way. You might be comfortable at a certain socioeconomic level. So you get rid of the money somehow.

The second pattern is money worship, what my family had. Things would get better if I had more money. Money is power. Money will solve all my problems. You either become a hoarder where you save religiously, or you spend money as soon as you get it. I’m never going to have money anyway, so get what you can when you can get it.

The third one is money status. Your self worth equals your net worth. People are only as successful as the money they earn. If you are good, your financial needs are taken care of. If you really believe that money is going to give you all these things, you take unreasonable risks in your business ventures or become a workaholic. You’re likely to overspend because it has to be new. You want everyone to see you in that car because it raises your status.

So if we could just uncover our personal money script? There are some questions you can ask yourself. I created a money disorder test. The assessment code to take it is mindovermoney.

Post-interview: I took Dr. Klontz’s 4-minute test and was told I had two issues:

• Your response style suggests that you are at-risk of developing a problem with workaholism.

• Your response style suggests that you exhibit one or more symptoms of financial infidelity.

I can certainly relate to the money avoidance script. I save intensely, but then am distrustful of financial institutions so I may be losing money by not properly investing it. What did your test say? Do you think it’s true?

wrestlingentropy/flickr

My son has officially become an adult. I know because he gets credit card applications almost every day. I’m amazed at what banks are offering a teen who does not have a job or any way to pay off the debt he might incur. Juxtapose this against the tremendous scrutiny that my credit report underwent recently when I applied to get a mortgage and you can see that something is amiss. Why is my penniless son being lured into debt while the banking industry is making great credit-scored working adults pay huge fees to get a fully collateralized mortgage? Sorry, I don’t have the answer to this question, but if anyone else does, be sure to enter a comment so that I find out the answer.

What I DO have the answer to, is how to save a lot of money by being on time with your bills and keeping on top of paperwork.

As I stated, my son has been getting frequent credit card offers. I don’t shred them. I read the fine print with my kids as a way of educating them to the perils of over-extending your credit. THEN, I shred them.

Instead of going into the fine print of your credit card contract, I will state firmly that if you are a person who wants to keep out of debt, sit down with a dictionary, a magnifying glass, and something to calm your nerves as you make your way through the maze of fees and penalties that can befall you if you miss a credit card payment. Although the contract does not state that the bank will send someone to break your knees with a tire iron, they will produce a similar result by raising your interest rate to a sky high amount AND possibly informing your other credit card companies that they should do the same as well.

Granted, the reforms of the Credit Card Act of 2009 have caused the credit card companies to make their type faces bigger, their words more comprehensible and their fees less hidden. However, the truth of the matter is that if you fail to pay a bill on time, you will pay more than necessary. Sometimes you will pay LOTS more.

People usually pay their bills late for only two reasons:

1. They don’t have the money.
2. They forgot or didn’t know the bill was due.

No. 1 can often be avoided by only using your credit card to purchase things that you already have saved money for. When the bill comes, you have the cash. Of course, there are other reasons that people don’t have money to pay their bills, such as losing their jobs or an unexpected emergency. An emergency fund is one way to safeguard against this.

No. 2 is easily remedied. Set aside time once a week to work on your finances. I don’t want to sound too simplistic here, but if you make at least 30 minutes each week to balance your checkbook, pay your bills, go over your budget, and plan out your financial actions for the week, you will avoid most penalties and fees associated with lateness or being overdrawn. I’ve been doing this for decades and I attest that it works.

The best and worst states to live in for online shopping. California, it’s not looking good. (Wallet Pop)

Get your weekend started with Bargain Briana’s extensive list of Friday Freebies. (Look for it on her homepage about 10 a.m. EST/7 a.m. PST).

Could you live on $330 a week? A lot of people do. Here is how one woman named Cindy does. (MSN Money)

Credit card debt increasing – The entire decrease in credit card debt was due to write-offs, not to consumers actually paying down their debt, a recent CardHub.com study reveals. How depressing.

Facebook challenges Groupon – Social media giant Facebook just introduced a new daily deals page that will directly compete with Groupon. (Bloomberg)

I’m not a payday lender. But I play one on TV. If you only read one post today, make it this one loaning money to a hard up friend from Surviving and Thriving.

Grocery coupon aggregator - Lozo.com, one of my favorite money-saving sites, has launched a new tool that lets you search and find coupons from Coupons.com, Redplum, and SmartSource from one page! They’re calling it a coupon bundler and you can click and print whichever coupons you want from all three sites without having to go to each individual site. Pretty nifty!

4 ways to sneak in vegetables - Mrs. Accountability shares four dishes where she routinely sneaks in vegetables that are about to expire. These also apply if you are trying to get your family to eat more greens!

Grocery checklists – The grocery planning and shopping site Ziplist just added grocery checklists, so you can create your own list of items you regularly buy or use one of their themed ones (like a Steeler’s Super Bowl Party or a Packer’s Super Bowl Party).

10 signs you are spending too much - Are you spending too much? Find out how many of the 10 signs of overspending are true for you. (The Digerati Life)

The winner is announced below. Honorable mentions go to Marcia, who shows it is never too late to learn about managing your money. She writes “I’d love to get a copy of this book, if only to show my 22 year old daughter that I too can be money-smart [emphasis mine]. She has almost completed Financial Peace University offered by Dave Ramsey. He offered it at a cut rate price to members of the military on Veteran’s Day. She is in flight school at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma. She only uses her debit card and is a maniac about sticking to her budget. Puts me to shame! Love your column in the NJ Star Ledger.

Reader Marilyn has the best of intentions for this book. I hope you can find it in your local library! “This book sounds like it would be a fun way to learn a valuable lesson. I’ve been unemployed for 20 months so I have the inclination and the time to read. If I win I promise to pass this book on to a unemployed person.”

Ultimately I declared Kathy the winner because she sounds like a pre-Frugalista Natalie who stands to gain a lot as the winner! She writes:

Oh My, When I read that line including the words “spending slut” I had to read on.. That is me. I make a list go to the store and then loose control. I cannot just get whats on the list. I am a sucker for every little end aisle special and so on. I really need to start doing the cash envelope way. Even though I only use a debit/credit card… it still has allowed me too much freedom. My goal for 2011 is to get my financial ways under more control, and I would love to read on about how she lives and maintains her finances! Thanks for considering me for the review copy!

If you didn’t win, I can’t urge you enough to buy this book on Amazon for $8.62 or check it out at your local library. The Frugalista Files is a fun way to learn about getting out of debt. Buying a copy supports BargainBabe.com!