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This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
I recently read a story in the LA Times about Hallmark adding unemployment cards to its sympathy line. The cards are apparently a good way to show compassion, but to me spending $3 to $5 on a card is ridiculous! This got me thinking of five frugal ways to show your support for those going through a rough time.
Not surprisingly, Hallmark is not the only company getting in on the action. You can also buy layoff cards from online companies Zazzle Inc. and Greeting Card Universe.
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This post is brought to you by Concept Personnel – The UK’s No. 1 for Marketing Jobs and Creative Jobs in Newcastle, Edinburgh & Glasgow.
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
If you are itching to make money this summer, it’s time to start sending out applications. Below you’ll find 13 tips to help you put your right foot forward when looking for a summer job.
- Determine what you want to get out of the job – Whether you’ve lost your job and are looking for a source of income or you want to use this job as a stepping stone to get you closer to launching your career, look for a job that will help you reach your goal.
- Know your hunting seasons – During summer, places like theme parks, pools, vacation resorts, retail stores, restaurant and hotels become busy and these are the jobs that are most likely to hire. Look now because come summer the positions will be filled.
- Identify (more…)
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This post is brought to you by Mint.com, an excellent source for a budget planner.
I’m getting fed up with consumers – the little guys like you and me – taking the blame for the economy. We as a nation spent like crazy, lost a ton of money in the housing and stock market, and now are getting blamed for being careful with our money. “Even as the economic recovery plods ahead, many American consumers are refusing to come along,” says an AP story published today. “They’re not spending freely – and they have no plans to.”
The story makes it seem as if “spending freely” were a good thing. Craziness!
The headline of the story in my local paper (it might have been different in yours) is, “Economy’s new threat: frugality.” If so, here is the face of the enemy: Marjorie Feldman of St. Louis, who owns a home that lost 20% of its value and who saw her retirement account shrink by 15%. Marjorie’s confidence in the economy will “never” recover, according to the story.
That’s code for she’s not spending like she used to. Marjorie’s new frugal spending habits, which many Americans have adopted, are important because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of our nation’s economy. If Marjorie and others in her situation would max out their credit cards, we could see the economy recover, the story seems to say.
Or…we could recognize that our economy has an unhealthy dependence on consumer spending that is not sustainable.
Instead of spending beyond our means, we could budget and live within our means. We could save money to retire before we croak. We could save so that social security, Mediccare, and unemployment are not our only safety nets. We could save so our kids can get through college without crippling debt. We could save so that when times get tough we have emergency savings to rely on.
Americans currently save an average of 3.1 percent, down from last year’s peak of 6.4, the story says. I save 10-20% of my income because I feel responsible for my fiscal future. Why do you save?
Reader Debra wins my review copy of Creative Unemployment: How To Transcend Job Loss
I would love to read this book. I have been looking for work since the end of April – it is very emotionally draining.
I hope this book helps you get through this difficult time, Debra. If you missed my review of the book, author Harlan Kidwell Jr. focuses on the emotional journey that follows getting laid off. One thing that comes up often – even when you have a job – is how to talk about money with friends who want to spend more than you do. Socializing can be a minefield when you are cutting back!
To reduce spending, go over your budget again or attend a totally free swap meet.
Prepared to be scared if you crack open America, Welcome to the Poorhouse by Jane White. The headlines and chapter titles gave me a fright:
- 80 percent of Americans can’t afford to retire
- the median 401 (k) balance for workers 60-65 (i.e., near retirement) was a paltry $43,000
- mortgage mess: it ain’t just subprime, it’s half of Americans in overpriced homes
- 35 million Americans are drowning in credit card debt
White makes the case that a “retirement crisis” is set to hit in 2011. “The first wave of Baby Boomers, those born in 1946, is scheduled to retire in 2011 and can’t afford to — at the same time my daughter’s generation, one of the largest in history, is scheduled to graduate from college,” she writes. “Will a big percentage of the 4 million graduates wind up jobless because my generation’s 3.4 million Boomers can’t afford to retire?”
I’m almost too scared to keep reading. But the book also offers solutions:
- require employers to contribute to employee 401 (k) programs no matter what
- save wisely until retirement reform happens
- buy an home in an affordable community, like Portland, Denver, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, or Raleigh (the book has pricing, education, and crime stats on each of these cities)
White advocates major reform via a taxpayer lobbying group that will match the power of big business. “We need a national citizens’ PAC that not only issues “report cards” on Congresspeople,” she writes, “but also encourages honest candidates to run for office and replace them…We need a new American revolution against the business lobby and those in Washington who enable it and do its bidding.” One such PAC is called the Accountability Now group and it is backed by a major union and MoveOn.org, a Democratic political group.
I’d like to believe in White’s optimism that positive reform will financially empower many Americans, but I’m not convinced it will happen in the next decade. As a country we have to get a lot poorer before people will be moved to act. What do you think?
Leave a comment on this post by Friday and you could win my review copy! If you can’t wait, buy it from amazon for $16.55 (orig. $22.99).
The recession is over in Europe and things are stabilizing in the U.S., according to the headlines.
Europe forgets recession (Forbes)
Eastern Europe sees hope in Western growth (Wall Street Journal)
Economists say recession may be over (NPR)
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A friend of mine got laid off just as a new report found 467,000 people got pink slips last month. That puts our national unemployment rate at 9.5 percent, a 26-year high. I talked to my friend Leah, an engineer in Los Angeles, about filing for unemployment, coping with unexpected emotions, and visiting Yosemite. Disclosure: I changed her name to protect her privacy.
What was your initial reaction when your boss told you you were getting laid off?
I sat there for a full minute, quiet, with all these things going through my head…I felt shocked and angry and betrayed and then just confused. I think I finally said “I don’t understand.”
What didn’t you understand?
I didn’t understand why because to everyone’s knowledge in the office we were safe. We had plenty of work. But I found out (in my bosses office) that a big project or two had just recently gone on hold indefinitely. Which totally messed up everything. So they had to make some changes.
Have you ever been laid off before?
No.
How are you coping, two weeks after?
Now I feel fine, comfortable. The first three days were tough. I felt sad but I felt relieved.
Why were you relieved?
In a way I had been somewhat frustrated with the way things were going at the office, personnel-wise, project-wise, and I had had some thoughts about doing something different. But no specific thoughts. I wasn’t searching for anything. The relief was now I can think about these other things in more detail.
Did you see it coming?
I remember about two or three weeks before I got laid off that 25 people in a company in San Francisco that was one of our clients got laid off. I remember being surprised, thinking “Wow I really can’t take this all for granted anymore. I don’t think it really sank in because one of those emotions that went through my head, that still does, is that I felt really foolish thinking that my history with the company and the fact that my project was strong was keeping me safe. My project still is going. It has a source of funding. I felt foolish for linking those things. I took it for granted even after telling myself that I shouldn’t.
How prepared financially were you for something like this?
I have some savings that could probably get me through a couple months so I’m not panicking yet.
Financially, have you done anything different since getting laid off?
I’ve been eating out less, drinking less, making choices that I don’t have to spend as much money. Looking back on my expenses, at least 50 percent were eating out.
Are you cutting out a few things entirely or making reductions across the board?
I will probably cut down across the board and not on anyone thing. I’ll put off big purchases that I otherwise would have gone ahead and done. For example I want a new pair of running shoes. But that’s like $100 give or take so when I got laid off, I said I can live without a new pair of running shoes.
Has your attitude about the recession changed since getting laid off?
I’m definitely more interested in unemployment benefits news and economic stimulus package news because now it actually does affect me or could affect me. I never really paid attention to that before, not for lack of interest but for lack of time.
What are you most concerned about?
To be honest I haven’t started to think very far in the future yet because I am really relived to just be able to live in the moment and relax. It’s summer and I know that I have a little bit of a cushion to take a month to just breathe.
What are you least concerned about?
I’m actually not real concerned about not ever being able to get another job because I feel the market will improve, it may just be a matter of time. I have certain knowledge and strengths and excellent referrals. My bosses have said they would be more than happy to help me out with any references. We left on very good friendly terms.
Do you still have health care?
Yes I got a severance package through the end of July and then I have to figure out COBRA.
What is your plan for the next 6 months?
I haven’t thought more than a month and a half out. I’ve got two weeks until a triathlon race and then I’m going to take about 2 weeks to travel through California, visit friends, go through Yosemite, go through Mammoth. I’ll fly back to New York, go see my parents.
Anything else you want to add?
I did file for unemployment. Haven’t heard anything back. It was easy to file online but I haven’t heard anything. It takes a while.
Read past Q&A’s:
Coupon train: clipping with strangers
Do you have an interesting recession experience you want to talk about? Email me to be considered for an upcoming Q&A.
I’m considering going on a spending moratorium for one month, which means not buying anything except groceries and gasoline. The experiment would push me to find creative ways to get around purchasing things. What can I reuse or repurpose? What can I do without? I think forcing myself to not spend anything would increase the perceived value of certain items and decrease the value of others.
But there are three major loopholes that make me wonder if this experiment is worth conducting.
First, by turning on the lights I am buying electricity. By cooking I am buying gas. I’m not willing to give up electricity and gas for a month. Same thing goes for my rent, cell phone, and a few other built-in expenses. So really what I am proposing is going on a discretionary spending moratorium. I’ve done a good job paring down my discretionary spending with my forward-looking budget system. Is it useful to cut back further?
Second, there are ways to get things without spending, like when Hubby and I go to our weekly dance class. Afterward he takes me out for dinner, which I enjoy immensely. I’m not paying for the meal per se because he is using his own discretionary dollars, but the money comes out of our joint checking account. If I go on a spending moratorium, am I obligated to say no to items purchased on my behalf?
Lastly, the duration of the moratorium – one month – is short enough that I can basically hold my breath on a lot of purchases. Is one month long enough to really feel the effect of a spending moratorium? Or am I just practicing delayed gratification?
Well folks, I’ve practically talked myself out of this experiment. But before I make my final decision I’d really love your input.
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Here’s another option altogether. YOU go on a one-month spending moratorium and submit a blog post about the experience. The fame! The glory! The saved money! Email me if you are interested.
Here’s a cool map and chart that shows which cities have the most job postings per 1,000 people. Washington D.C. tops the list (144), followed by Baltimore, MD (89), and San Jose, CA (76).
Umm, where’s Los Angeles? Oh yes, there we are at No. 45.
The map is part of a story from MainStreet.com about where the jobs are by state. They considered the number of job postings as a percentage of the state population and unemployment to determine state rankings for their job opportunity index.
A reader suggested I look into tax incentives for buying green energy for the home. Seeing how it’s Earth Day, I was happy to do some research. Here are a few resources I found:
- Energy Star has a page listing many green tax credits for 2009, 2010 and some that are good through 2016
- Tree Hugger has a really cool 14-page slide show titled “Stuff Obama will help you buy,” like a Kindle, hybrid car, or wind turbine.
- DSIRE has a searchable database of incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency, listed by state. DSIRE is a joint project between the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
- Energy Star explains how the stimulus bill has affected energy credits: The tax credit has been raised from 10 to 30 percent. The maximum credit has been raised from $500 to $1,500 total for the 2009-2010 with some exceptions like geothermal heat pumps, solar water heaters, and solar panels. The $200 cap on windows has been removed, but the requirements have been increased significantly.
- Energy Star has also answered two pages of questions submitted by readers about energy credits.
- Planet Green points out 10 general tax breaks for going green.
Thanks, Rob!
When deep discounts and buy-one-get-one free offers did not get customers in the door, businesses started offering refunds and “worry-free” guarantees in case of job loss, according to the NY Times.
“Companies offering these extreme guarantees — which typically require documentation to verify a job loss — said they were a direct response to research showing that a growing number of consumers were worried they might lose their jobs,” the story says.
A few examples:
“JetBlue will refund plane tickets. Virgin Mobile USA will waive up to three months of cellphone service charges. Walgreens will allow members of its in-store clinics to stay enrolled free if they lack health insurance.”
A few weeks back TheStreet.com also highlighted companies that will give you a break if you receive a pink slip.
Thanks, Sarah!
Kiplinger.com, one of my favorite sources of personal finance advice, has a great post on teaching kids financial literacy. They recommend three Web sites, one appropriate for elementary-age children, another for middle and high schoolers, and a third for college students.
You’ve probably heard that bank failures are pushing FDIC fees for surviving banks up a LOT. Guess who will end up paying for them? That’s right. You and me.
Dealing with economic stress? Who isn’t. The NYTimes suggests coping techniques, like putting your worries on paper before you sleep.
The folks at MainStreet.com created a handy chart that ranks the happiness of people living in each state based on three factors: the number of foreclosures, unemployment and debt.
Nebraska is top-ranked. California is No. 49. Half of the top 10 states are in the Midwest. I encourage you to check the chart out and read their story about the ranking.
The Washington Post has launched a new blog that is similar to Bargain Babe. It’s called Small Change and it has stories about how the authors save money.
One recent post that caught my eye was about a story in the Wall Street Journal debating whether the current frugal culture will last after the economy recovers.
“The nearly $13 trillion loss of wealth since the recession began and the shaken confidence in the capitalist system is prompting a more powerful move toward frugality than usual,” the story says.
The stickiness of our frugal culture will be tested soon. Americans are getting more optimistic about the economy, according to a story in the NY Times that ties this shift to Obama’s presidency. “The percentage of people who said the economy was getting worse has declined from 54 percent just before Mr. Obama took office to 34 percent today,” the story says. “And 20 percent now think the economy is getting better, compared with 7 percent in mid-January.”
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