Are You An Entrestreaker?

Entrecard Manners Count 

You might have noticed that I used Entrecard on this blog. I don’t on my other blogs, well just because I don’t. There’s no scientific evidence, at least as far as I’m concerned that its good or bad for my uses. However, I do have a few little gripes about its use on other sites. (just my opinion mind you)

Why is it necessary to  barrage users with pop ups and music that can not be clicked away? If I run into either of these time wasters, I’m gone, no click.

Are you hiding your Entrecard ad space for a reason? I will read a blog if its interesting, don’t make me hunt the Entrecard ad space, that’s really annoying. Also, why put it at the very bottom of the page? Is that so, I’ll be forced to page down and spend some time? Not gonna happen for me, I’ll click and be gone, chances are I’ll never be back either. (Just something to think about.)

Personally, I try to make Entrecard worth its while. (For example, commenting on posts). Don’t count on me to comment on every post, but if I find it useful or have something worth saying, I will.  “Entrestreaking” (click and run) is just bad manners. (I think)

So, for those of you who place your Entrecard ad widget above the fold, whose pages load quickly, who don’t  play hide and seek with your widget and who find the time to actually read the page your on, a big THANK YOU. The rest of you (you know who you are), think about WHY you put Entrecard on your blog in the first place. Then think about your visitors. Paying attention to your readers will get you far!

Easter Holiday

Our family Easter Holiday begins tomorrow, Friday and continues through Sunday.

I most probably will not find time to post during this time. I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Easter. 

 Gettin Some Ink

Ok, I am going to go ahead and put it out there. I’m working on getting some ink (read: getting published) and I’m going to need your help to do it. I’m working on a book right now about adoption and adult adoptees. I’d like to get in touch with as many adult adoptees as I can for interview purposes. (All personal info will remain confidential and will NOT become part of a published work) If you are an adult adoptee, or for that matter the parent of one, I’d love to hear from you. Please use my contact form and drop me a note. Also, if you know of someone who’s an adult adoptee, send them here please.  Research is the heart of any good read and heavens knows I need as much research on this topic as I can get.  The other side of the coin is that I’d like to talk with Birth Mothers about the subject. You can use the contact form for that information as well.

Don’t forget, Remarkable Bloggers© posts on Monday. I can’t wait to show you this next week’s blog!

Until Monday,

1 Day To Financial Freedom

I opened my first checking account the day I graduated high school. It was always a given that I’d do business at the same bank my father and his father had done business with. Besides in those days they gave you free stuff if you opened an account. My free gift was a coffee pot. (Perfect for the dorm room) Besides, all banks seemed the same in those days. Walk in, deposit your money, write your paper checks on that lovely safety check paper that was, by the way, free. Balance your account on the back of the statement at the end of the month. Easy enough. I did business with that bank until 5 years ago. I despised that bank. They were constantly finding new and interesting ways to charge my account and eat up more of my money. If I hated it so much, why didn’t I do something about it? Well, simply put, I never found the time. Besides, it was Daddy’s bank. If it had been good enough for him and his father for all these years, it couldn’t be all that bad could it?

Eventually, they stepped on my toes, one too many times. They failed to stop payment on an automatic draft that I had and cost me nearly $300. That was the day I got my rear in gear. I left work a few hours early, closed my account and started fresh with the competition. It was one of he best financial decisions I have ever made.

That one thing, took only an hour to accomplish. Imagine what could be done in 8 hours. If you have grand financial plans that you never seem to be able to get around to, consider taking a Finance Day. Take one day off from work; make it a normal working day (when banks and the like are open) and get things done! Don’t be concerned with wasting your vacation time on “nothing”. This little trick will save you many times over, and for years.

Before you get started, remove any barriers to success, mental and physical that might impede your process toward your goal. Gather all your financial information, bank statements, credit card bills, insurance policies and the like into one spot. Eliminate distractions. (Turn off the cell phone, let the answering machine get your calls, send the kids to grandma’s if you need to) Commit yourself to spending the entire day to taking care of your personal finances. Time to get crackin on all those things you’ve been putting off till you get around to it.

Now you’re ready. FOCUS ON THE BIGGIES!

If you, too, picked a bank because they were handing out freebees, it’s probably time to find a bank that works for you as an adult. If you’re happy with your bank, then call them and ask them to eliminate service fees or to give you better interest rates. If you’re unhappy with your bank, find a new one. A local credit union is an excellent choice. You might also consider internet banks, which often feature better interest rates.

• Find a high rate savings account and set it up. Most brick and mortar banks pay only about 1% on their standard FDIC insured savings accounts. Many online banks pay several points more. Check bankrate.com for comparison charts
• Start tracking your expenses. If you don’t know where you’re money’s going, find out!

•  Carry a small notebook and pen to write down EVERY TRANSACTION.

• Use personal finance software to download all of your banking and credit information.

 Quicken is my favorite, they have an online edition and downloadable products, as well as standard products you can purchase at your local retailer. Two great deals I found are below.
Quicken Online Edition – Try it out for free!
Save up to 36% Off Quicken 2008 Downloadable Products or Try an online budgeting tracker like:

Mint is a modern, powerful, easy and secure web-based solution for managing your finances. And it’s free. You register anonymously using any valid email address, and then add the log-in information for the online bank, credit union and credit card accounts you want to consolidate in Mint.

Mint connects to over 3,500 US financial institutions. Your account information is updated each night. Mint automatically categorizes all your purchases, showing you how much you spend on gas, groceries, parking, rent, restaurants, DVD rentals and more, with amazing precision. An advanced alerting system highlights any unusual activity, low balances, unwanted fees and charges, and upcoming bills so you’re in constant contact with your money – effortlessly

Mint goes way beyond just reporting. Using a patent-pending search algorithm, Mint constantly searches through thousands of offers from hundreds of providers to find the best deals on everything from bank accounts to credit cards; cable, phone and Internet plans, and more. Mint’s suggestions are “unique to you” as they are based on your individual spending patterns. For example, if you have $20,000 in a bank account that’s earning no interest, Mint might recommend a high interest rate savings account from ING or HSBC. Acting on that suggestion would give you an extra $900 in interest income over a year.

I’ve used mint. The only problem I had with it was when it imported checking information it’s recognition of payees is not as good as it could be. Overall I’d give it an 8. Easy to use and secure.

• Get a better rate on your credit cards. If you have credit card debt, getting it under control should be a priority. That’s a whole lot easier to do if your rates aren’t in the exosphere.
  • If you’re FICO score is good (above 700) do some research on credit card rates, then get on the phone with your company and do some negotiating. (More on this tactic later next week.
  • Unfortunately, the more you need a good rate, the less likely you are to get it. If your credit is bad or you’re already behind on your payments, or you’ve maxed out your limit, your credit card company is more worried that you’ll default on your account than that you’ll leave. Make an appointment for credit counseling with a legitimate debt counselor.
• Give your retirement plan a tune up.
  • If you’ve changed jobs in the last few years, roll over those old 401K’s
  • Balance your current 401K. Lots of people select their funds in a willy nilly fashion, not to be embarrassed here, it happens, but you need to balance that fund’s components. Do some research, and talk to your fund administrator about how to get it balanced
•  Get around to your Insurance policies.
  •  Check the deductibles and coverage’s on your homeowners, health and auto insurance. One of the easiest ways to save money is to raise these deductibles. Of course if you no savings, you want to skip this section right now. You’ll be the one to cover the expense of the deductible. In most states, it’s acceptable to carry only liability on your car if it’s past a certain age. This trick will save you a boat load. Check your states requirements then talk to your insurance company.
• Set your goals. Establish a $1k emergency fund. Pay off credit card debt. Save for major expenses. Write your goals down. Use a journal style notebook, or your friendly word-processing software. Just DO IT.
•  Organize yourself. Set up a money file. This can be as simple as a shoebox or as entailed as a complete filing system. You can even keep it in an encrypted file on your hard drive. It simply needs to be an easy-to-access location in which you keep all of your important financial information, including account numbers, service providers, phone numbers, etc. Anyway you do it; all of the information from your money holiday will be in this one central location.

Now what can YOU accomplish in 8 hours? Tell us here, give us your suggestions for getting on track.

Hissy Fit

Another lesson in Southernese

def: A sudden outburst of temper, often used to describe female anger . Originally regional from American South. Thought to originate from contraction of “hysterical fit.”

A heightened emotional state that results in an animated fit of peak.

Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissy fit and a conniption fit, and that you don’t have them, you pitch them.

We southern women are famous for what we call “hissy” fits. And yesterday, I pitched a grand one! It all started when I went to my BOA account online to pay bills. I found my account -.15 , not the healthy balance I had the night before, when I sent a check to my step daughter.

Let me explain to you how this all came to be. Last weekend, my hubby handed over his paycheck to me after endorsing it properly, I endorsed it as well with my bank account number and signature and promptly deposited it in the local BOA ATM. That handled, I was off to the grocery, dry cleaners, service station, you know the drill. Saturdays are made for errands.

Monday was a federal holiday, so the check I had deposited over the weekend was still marked pending, minus the few hundred dollars that they make available immediately. No problem, life is still good. Made the payment on the condo, purchased some adult refreshment. Tuesday was a regular day, my pay check (regular one) auto deposited at midnight & my freelance work deposits all posted as well. Still waiting on the ATM deposit to clear fully, until Wednesday. No problem. All is well.

Thursday morning rolls around, I sign on to my account to transfer funds to our savings account. I notice my available balance is -.15. After scrolling down the account screen seems the deposit I made on Saturday has been reversed. I’m in total disbelief that hubby’s payroll check wouldn’t have been good. By now I’m calculating what future overdraft charges are on the way and I’m feeling a migraine coming on.

I send a bank mail to customer service inquiring about the reversal. I’ve got loads of work to take care of for clients so I don’t check my email for several hours. When I get back to it, I have a pert, polite message from customer service. They’ve reversed the transaction, not because the check bounced mind you, but because my husband’s name is not on the household account to which I deposited the check. And, they continue to tell me that they have the option to accept or not accept it. Never mind that I have deposited these checks for years. What???

Read more

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