Our Favorite Homemade Ice Cream Recipes and Tricks [Lifehacker]

(Photo: glacial23)

YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary. (Means the deal could just be specific to one store, a region, or the manager's whim)
BOGO - Buy one, get one free
S&H - Shipping and handling charge
FSH - Free shipping and handling
FS - Free shipping
B&M - Brick and Mortar (The physical store, usually used to mean the deal is in-store only)
AC - After Coupon (Price after coupon is applied)
AR - After Rebate (Price after rebate is received)
Price Mistake, Price Error - Posted price is a retailer error and it's likely orders will be canceled, but hey, dare to dream! (YMMV).
MIR - Mail-In Rebate
NIB - New In Box
BNIB - Brand New In Box
NWT - New With Tags
NOS - New Old Stock - stuff that was made a while back but has never been used.
OOS - Out of stock
OEM - "Original Equipment Manufacturer" - unit not originally intended for retail sale, may come without manuals, cables, instructions, or in a retail box.
B-Stock - Factory refurbished and tested

Let us know in the comments if we missed any. (Photo: funny strange or funny ha ha)

To wit, instead of buying one CD with your spare cash, buy several CDs with successive maturity dates. So if you have $5,000, you could put $1,000 into a 1-month, 3-month, a 6-month, a 9-month, and a 12-month. This way you take advantage of the higher interest given to the longer-term CDs, but with the money coming up at known times you offset the liquidity problem. Then as each one comes up, you can either use it or reinvest it in a longer-term CD, putting one ladder rung in front of the other.

With the CD-laddering method, you can earn a little more interest while still having access to your cash. Not something that's so easy to do these days.

Have you tried a CD-ladder? How did it work out for you? Let us know in the comments.

MORE: How to ladder a CD portfolio [Bankrate] (Photo: Mzelle Biscotte)

Calculate Your Financial Comeback [NYT]

Take 'diver's candy' - Take stuff with pseudoephedrine in it for its decongestant properties.
Suck it - sucking on a hard candy encourages swallowing, which opens up the Eustacian tubes
Yawn - yawning opens up Eustacian tubes
Chew - so does chewing
Do the Valsalva maneuver - Inhale, close your nose and mouth, and blow the air against your cheeks. Don't overdo it, do it every few seconds and you can irritate the tubes and make it worse.
Nasal decongestant sprays - Didn't see this recommended anywhere else but I took some Afrin and it helped clear things up.

Bonus tip - if you're prone to problems like this, pop some pseudoephedrine a few hours before your flight to help avoid it in the first place.

RELATED: 1 ear still stuffy after flight. Is this bad? [MetaFilter] (Photo: darkpatator)

Banks earn billions of dollars each year on fees. At first, they snacked on fees. They let business go as usual and accepted whatever fees arose out of errant customer behavior. Eventually, they came to rely on these fees and shaped their own processes and protocols to maximize fees. Remember how banks started cashing checks in order of size, rather than some other, more reasonable, method like the order in which they came in? By cashing the larger checks first, they increased the probability of an overdraft (cha-ching!). An overdraft meant fees! Fortunately, the government has pushed back on that sort of behavior but fees still remain and they still punish customers to the tune of hundreds of billions.

As part of my Foundation series covering the Basics of Banking,, I uncovered a lot of interesting information about banks and the banking industry including how insidious bank fees were. Here's a list of the three most common bank fees and how you can easily avoid them.

Overdraft fees: An overdraft fee is charged when you make a financial commitment (a check or debit card charge) you can't fulfill. When you write a check for more than the amount you have in the bank, you'll get charged an overdraft of insufficient funds fee. Do it more than once and the fees get larger each time. These fees are the easiest to avoid because they're the result of carelessness, you need to keep close tabs on how much is in your account. At the back of your checkbook there should be a "check register," a little pad you can use to record transactions and maintain an accurate checkbook. By keeping an up to date check register, including debit transactions, you can practically prevent these fees from happening.

ATM fees: Whenever you use an ATM that isn't affiliate with your bank, you will get charged ATM fees. First, the ATM owner will charge you a fee. Then, your bank may charge you a fee. Some banks will refund you these fees if you satisfy certain conditions, like a direct deposit or a minimum balance. If you find yourself paying these fees often, I'd switch to a bank that offers to refund these fees.

Minimum balance fees: Many "free checking" accounts will have a minimum daily balance requirement. If you fail, even for just one minute, to have a daily balance above this minimum, they'll hit you with an "administrative" or minimum balance fee. To avoid this, just avoid all accounts with this requirement. There are plenty of banks that offer free checking without a minimum balance requirement and you should never subject yourself to that requirement.

If you are charged a fee, try to ask for it to be waived. If you do happen to make a mistake, it never hurts to play nice and ask them to waive the fee. Many banks have policies where they are willing to waive your first transgression (how nice!). If you have multiple overdrafts, you might be able to work it down to one, the first. It never hurts to ask and it can save you a bundle.

As a consumer, I think these bank fees are unfairly punitive and much higher than what the bank pays to handle them. As a taxpayer and unwilling investor in many of the banks in America, I think maybe these bank fees aren't high enough! What's the worst fee you've ever been dinged for?

Jim writes about personal finance at his personal finance blog, Bargaineering.

(Photo: mexifelio)

All you have to do is not wait around for the credit card company to send you a bill and make your payments earlier.

If you're carrying a balance that you're trying to pay down, every day the interest is compounding. The take what you owed yesterday, then calculate interest and add it. The next day, they take that higher number and calculate interest on it and add it on too, growing and growing every day.

So if you can make payments early, you reduce the balance and the interest that gets added on will be less. Red Tape Chronicles gives this example: "Two consumers with a $2,000 balance and a 29 percent interest rate make a $3,000 purchase during the month. One buys on the 5th, the other on the 27th. The first consumer pays $113.62 in interest; the second about half that: $61.18."

No Credit Needed has a spreadsheet you can download so you can play around and see how making different payment schedules will affect the total amount you end up paying.

A lot of people get paid bi-weekly, so instead of making one payment at the end of the month, you could make a payment with each paycheck. Or make a payment every time you find a quarter on the street. Or you get grandma-money in the mail. Every little early bit helps. (Then, once you're totally paid off, avoid charging more than you can pay off in a single month so you don't end up paying interest again.)

How to save money on: Credit card bills [Red Tape Chronicles] (Photo: Joe Lanman)

Outsourced Chores Come Back Home [NYT] (Photo: tiffanywashko)

1. Miss a payment
2. Don't use your card
3. Stockpile your rewards points and tempt the gods to devalue the points more
4. Toss your monthly statement into the trash without reading the fine print on how they've further devalued the program or changed the redemption schedule

Doesn't that feel so much better? None of those heavy rewards points weighing you down. Now, while you're in spirit of things, toss that bread machine out the window. Ah, release. For the rationale behind these, check out The Wallet's post.

How to Lose (Reward) Points [The Wallet]

Verizon
AT&T
Sprint: Government employees call 1-866-805-9889, Corporate employees call 1-866-805-9890
Tmobile<: call 877-453-8824
US Cellular
Ask your Company's HR or partnership rep if you can get an employer discount and get hooked up with your discount codes. Some colleges get you discounts too. Or you can Google some of these numbers and find your discount code that way as well.

(Photo: bryanbope)

BANKS WITH UNLIMITED ATM REFUNDS NATIONWIDE, WITH NO OR MINIMAL RESTRICTIONS:
Acacia Federal Savings Bank No Fee Choice Checking
Unlimited, reimbursements post monthly

Charles Schwab High Yield Investor Checking
Unlimited; reimbursements post monthly

Community Bank of Pleasant Hill Rewards Checking
Unlimited; reimbursements post same day (rewards requirements do NOT need to be met)

Compass Bank
Unlimited, must mail in ATM receipts to get reimbursements

Ebank eFree Checking
Unlimited; reimbursements post same day

Etrade Max Rate Checking
Unlimited, monthly fee waived with $200 monthly direct deposit; reimbursements post same day

Fidelity mySmart Cash Checking
Unlimited; reimbursements post same day

First Republic Bank
Unlimited, requires $2,500 average balance to waive monthly fee

Imperial Capital Bank Personal iChecking
Unlimited; reimbursements post same day

Mechanics Bank Smart and Easy Checking
Unlimited, with Direct Deposit

PNC Bank
Unlimited, requires $2,000 balance to get reimbursement, reimbursements post monthly

Quantum National Bank SuperFree Checking
Unlimited

Salem Five
Unlimited, requires $1,500 balance to waive monthly fee

State Farm Bank Checking
Unlimited with direct deposit; reimbursements post same day

TD Banknorth SimplyFree Checking
Unlimited for accounts in CT, NJ, PA, and NY-Metro area only, starting 5/31/09 unlimited for all accounts with $2,500 balance, reimbursements post monthly

REWARDS CHECKING ACCOUNTS WITH UNLIMITED ATM REFUNDS NATIONWIDE, AFTER MEETING MONTHLY REQUIREMENTS:
Addison Avenue FCU Dividend Rewards Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met; reimbursements post monthly

1st Arkansas Bank and Trust FirstNet Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met; reimbursements post monthly

Bank of Ripley Rewards Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met; reimbursements post monthly

Charter Bank Turbo Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met; reimbursements post monthly

City National Bank Rewards Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met

Community Bank of Raymore Rewards Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met; reimbursements post monthly

Florence Savings Bank Rewards Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met; reimbursements post monthly; requirements are month to month

Heartland Community Bank Interest Plus Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met; reimbursements post monthly

Keystone Bank Rewards Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met

Ouachita Independent Bank Rewards Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met

Southern Community Bank & Trust "ME" Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met

Southern Missouri Bank "PremiumREWARDS" Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met

Venture Bank Direct Wise Checking
Unlimited, when rewards requirements are met

BANKS OFFERING LIMITED/CAPPED ATM REIMBURSEMENTS:
American Bank Online
$6/month with $1,000 balance

Bank Direct
$10/month - maximum 4 transactions, $2.50 per transaction, requires $2500 balance to waive monthly fee

Bank of Internet
$8/month, requires $5,000 average balance to waive monthly fee

Century Bank Direct
5 transactions/month

Digital Federal Credit Union
$5.00-$10.00/month, depending on account type

Everbank
$6/month, must mail in receipts

First Internet Bank
$6/month, requires $500 balance to waive monthly fee

GMAC MoneyMarket Savings Account
$6/month, maximum 4 withdrawals

Merrill Lynch Beyond Banking account
Maximum $200/year, requires $5,000 avg balance to waive monthly fee

MetLife Bank Money Market
$5/month, requires $1,500 balance to waive monthly fee

Modern Woodmen Bank
$15/month, $3 max per transaction

National City Elite Checking
$60/month, 30 maximum transactions/$2 maxmium per transaction, requires $10,000 balance to waive monthly fee

New Resource Bank
Maximum 10 rebates/month, requires direct deposit or $2,500 balance to waive monthly fee

PSECU (Pennsylvania State Employee Credit Union)
Up to $4.00 a month, limited membership

State Farm Bank Checking
$10/month limit if no direct deposit; reimbursements post same day

UFB Direct
$4.50-$6.00 depending on account type, reimbursements post monthly

UFB Direct Business Banking
$4.50-$6.00 depending on account type, reimbursements post monthly

Umbrella Bank
$7.50/month, requires $500 or direct deposit to waive monthly fee

USAA
$15/month, maximum 10 withdrawals

For the most up-to-date version, check out this post on the FatWallet messageboard. See one we missed? Namedrop it in the comments or join up with FatWallet and add it there.

(Photo: dirtyone30)

There are advantages and disadvantages to using online banks. For many, the little bit of extra headache is worth earning more money each year.

Advantage: Many online banks offer much higher interest rates. This is the primary reason why online banks are so appealing. Dollar Savings Direct, a subsidiary of Emigrant Bank in New York, currently offers 4% APY on their savings account ($1,000 minimum) whereas Bank of America's savings account offers a ridiculously low 0.2%.

Advantage: Online banks are FDIC-insured. You can use the FDIC's Bank Find tool to confirm whether a bank is FDIC-insured but they probably are if they are doing business. For example, ING Direct has been FDIC-insured since August 2000. Never do business with a bank that is not FDIC-insured.

Advantage: Better online banking interface. Since your primary interaction with the bank will be online, the interface is typically better than at your regular bank. This may not be the case for some larger banks with larger IT budgets, but it certainly is true for smaller banks. ING Direct, which has been around the longest, has a very user friendly interface and offers useful tools like a one-page ING CD ladder form that lets you do a somewhat complicated task very quickly and easily.

Advantage: Some traditional banks also offer higher yield savings accounts. With the popularity of online banks, many traditional banks like Citi have started offering higher yield online accounts. What's nice about these accounts is that you get the best of both worlds. A great strategy is to find a traditional bank with local branches and open up a checking account. Link that checking account to the savings account and keep your funds there. This lets you transfer funds from savings to checking instantaneously, answering one of the biggest complaints about online banks.

Disadvantage: It takes several days to transfer money. Most higher yield online banks don't offer checking accounts so the only access you have to your funds is by ACH transfer. Transferring money between banks using ACH can take several days, the actual time depends on the banks involved. This is probably the largest complaint about online banks and you can mitigate this by working with a traditional bank that offer high yield savings options. I personally don't mind waiting a few days for the higher yield because there are no local banks that offer the higher rate account option.

Disadvantage: That better online banking interface is your main point of interaction. Many of the online-only banks can offer higher yields because they have lower overhead. This means 99% of your interaction with the bank will be through the online interface, if you have a particular vexing problem then you'll have to resort to the phone. You won't be able to go into a branch, though that may or may not be such a bad thing!

Disadvantage: Websites can go down. When Emigrant Direct unveiled a new interface several years ago, the website crashed and people were unable to reach their accounts for several days. A server at HSBC Direct crashed a little while back and customers could not access their funds. In both cases, the bank was fine and your savings were secure, you just couldn't log into your account until the website recovered.

Disadvantage: You may let your guard down against phishers. Online banks rely on email as their primary form of communication. With all that bank related email, you may become complacent and drop your guard against email phishers. While banks do put in security features to help prevent this (like those pictures and secret messages), you still need to maintain vigilance against clever phishers.

Get Started: Some places to look at for high-yield online savings accounts include
Dollar Savings Direct (Dollar Savings Direct review)
E*Trade (E*Trade review)
Emigrant Direct
ING-Direct (ING Direct review)
HSBC Direct (HSBC Direct review)
FNBO Direct (FNBO Direct review)
For up-to-date rate comparisons, look at the charts on Bankrate.

At the end of the day, you take the higher yield as long as you don't take on any additional risk. With FDIC insurance in place, I can't think of a significant reason why you wouldn't go with these higher rates. Do you have a favorite online bank? Or do you have a horror story you want to share?

Jim writes about personal finance at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

(Photo: foundphotoslj)

1. Pay deductible expenses by credit card
Charge a business expense, make a charity donation, or make another deductible expense in December, and it still counts for 2008. This way you don't have to actually pay it until the bill comes in January.

2. Put your holiday bonus in an IRA
For low-to-mid income earners, you may be able to deduct all or some of your IRA contribution from your taxes under the IRS "Saver's Credit." More info here.

3 .Give to charity
Give to the needy, cash or clothes, and follow proper documentation procedures. It feels good, and you can deduct it from your taxes. IRS Publication 526 has the info you need.

4. Incorporate!
If you have a second income, think about incorporating yourself as an "S" corporation and possibly getting big tax benefits. You can get Social Security/Medicare tax advantages. "The tax reduction, say, for a reservist with his own small business can be $3,000 to $8,000 per year, depending o the volume of the business and type of industry," a CPA told USAA mag.

5. Make An Extra Mortgage Payment
Make your January '09 mortgage payment now and deduct its interest this tax year.

'Tis the Season — For Tax Prep: A little work now can pay off next spring. [USAA Magazine]

Identity theft protection companies love touting advertising statistics like "8.4 million adults were victims of identity theft in 2007" and "the mean fraud amount per fraud victim was $5,720 in 2007" (PrivacyRights.org) because they're really scary. There's almost no reason to pay a monthly fee for something you can do yourself, most of the time at no cost. Here's what ID Theft Protection usually involves. Note: Several of these not only make it hard for other people to get new credit under your name, but also for you, so be sure to pick the ones that work best for your financial situation.

CHECK YOUR CREDIT HISTORY
The first step in prevention is to check whether you've unknowingly become a victim. By keeping close tabs on your report, you can identify signs of fraud as early as possible. Look for any lines of credit opened up in your name that you don't remember. If you spot them, dispute the credit item with the credit bureau and let them know it's identity theft. You'll need to do this with all three bureaus. You can get your free credit report from annualcreditreport.com. Because you only get one free one from each bureau per year, I like to check one report from a different bureau every four months. When you pay for identity theft protection, this checking is one of the "benefits" they tout... something you can do yourself, absolutely free.

FREEZE YOUR CREDIT
You can freeze your credit report, stopping most identity thieves immediately. With your credit history frozen, no one can access your credit history. If a responsible lender can't access your history, then they won't give the thief any credit. They could have all the information in the world but your credit is locked away. It's a pain to initiate, costs about $10 at each bureau (and you'll have to do each one separately), but is a very effective strategy if you've been having identity problems.

Each state deals with credit freezes differently. In some states there are fees, in others credit freezes are only available to consumers who have filed an ID theft related police report. Other states do not allow credit freezes at all. To find out what the laws are in your state, check out Consumer's Union for an up-to-date round up of credit freeze laws.

STOP THE UNSOLICITED CREDIT CARD MAILINGS
Save a few trees and your identity by signing up at OptOutPrescreen.com, that will stop most of those unsolicited pre-approved applications. Then call up all of your cards and ask to be removed from their marketing lists, which should stop all the rest. OptOutPrescreen.com stops mailings from companies you don't have an existing business relationship with, calling each card will stop mailings from companies you do have an existing business relationship with. By reducing those pre-approved offers, you reduce the risk some someone opens up your mailbox and steals one of them for their own nefarious purposes.

PUT FRAUD ALERTS ON YOUR CREDIT HISTORY
Call up each bureau and request that they put a fraud alert on your account. This lets any potential lender or creditor know that they should do some extra investigating when it comes to their request because fraud has occurred in the past. Lenders don't want to be party to identity theft anymore than you do so they will take the notice seriously. It's not a hard protection like freezing your credit, but it's better than nothing if you don't want to deal with the hassles of freezing and unfreezing your credit.

BUY A CROSS-SHREDDER
A cross-shredder is a paper shredder that cuts vertically and horizontally, turning sensitive mail into confetti. If you think a torn up credit card application wouldn't be accepted by any respectable credit card company, you'd be wrong. Red Tape Chronicles has a story about how Chase approved a torn up credit card application! You can pick up a cross-shredder at any office supply store and they're well worth the investment.

If you read identity theft protection company websites, you'd think they had some secret way of putting a force field around your credit - they don't. As for large dollar guarantees to protect your identity, many only cover failures on their part. If a thief gets through by some other means or doesn't fit their narrow interpretation of "theft," guess who else you have to fight? Yep, the ID theft company itself. With those steps, you can do for free what some identity theft companies will charge you a ridiculous $20 a month for. Save your money for all those "hot deals" at Circuit City.

Jim writes about personal finance at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

(Photo: Getty)

A hard inquiry is when a person or organization requests your credit score and history and they intend to make a lending decision. Applying for a credit card? Hard inquiry. Getting approved for a car loan or mortgage loan? Hard inquiry. On your reports, each of the credit unions categorize these inquiries differently. TransUnion calls them "regular inquiries," Experian calls them "requests viewed by others," and Equifax calls them "Inquiries in the last 12 months." Hard inquiries usually drop your score by a few points for six months, then their effect is removed. This is why it's usually NOT a good idea to apply for credit cards before you get a mortgage loan.

A soft inquiry is everything else. They are often used by a person or organization when they don't intend to make a lending decision, though there are exceptions from one institution to another. Landlords and prospective employers will use them to assess your financial risk. Banks often use soft inquiries to confirm your identity. Credit cards and mortgage lenders use them to decide whether to pre-approve you for a card or a loan. When you check your own credit history, that's a soft inquiry. Soft inquiries have no effect on your score.

Sound simple? It's not. Do you think a applying for a checking account would be a hard or soft inquiry? It's actually a hard inquiry. To help you out the members of the Fatwallet forum have compiled a list of financial institutions that use hard inquiries when requesting your score and history for reasons other than credit card or loan approval.

(Scroll to bottom to see list of those that DON'T do hard pulls)

A

+ American Express Co. pulled Experian for a One Financial account without margin (combination brokerage/savings).
+ Ameriprise Insurance (division of American Express) - for car insurance quote (Equifax)
+ AT&T pulled Transunion for current customer moving from CA to OH initiating "new" landline
+ ATTWS - Equifax

B

+ Bank of America pulled Trans Union for a checking account.
+ Bank of America pulled Trans Union for a CD account opened online.(3/20/2007)
+ Bank of America pulled Experian for a checking account. (8/29/06)
+ Bank Of America - Pulled a hard enquiry after applying *only* for savings account.
+ Bank Of America - Pulled a hard enquiry on Experian for MM savings account 4/2007
+ Bank of Atlanta
+ Bank of New York pulled Experian for a checking account and a savings account.
+ BB&T pulled Equifax for a checking account.
+ Brookline Bank pulled Experian for a checking account.
+ Brown & Co. pulls a hard one for EACH account that you open with TransUnion.

C

+ Catholic Federal pulled TU for new membership and opening of new checking.
+ Charles Schwab Bank pulled Equifax for opening new checking and investor account (without margin option)
+ Charter One Bank pulled Equifax for a checking account under the name St. Paul Bank Corp.
+ Chase Manhattan Bank pulled Trans Union for a checking account.
+ Cingular Wireless pulled Equifax.
+ Citibank pulled Equifax (for opening 6-month CD)
+ Citibank pulled Trans Unions for a checking and savings account opened at the same time.
+ Citibank pulls hard inquiry for opening e-Savings account
+ Citizens - checking - Equifax
+ Clackamas Community Federal Credit Union - hard inquiry for savings and CD accounts
+ Comcast cable TV and HSI
+ ComED
+ Costco AMEX car insurance ran a Hard Inquiry on me
+ Countrywide (stopped pulling sometime in 2007)

D

+ DCU (Digital Federal Credit Union) pulls a hard inquiry from Equifax when applying for membership.
+ Directv
+ DishNetwork
+ Dollar RENT A CAR (see Thrifty below)

E

+ Ebank - checking - Equifax
+ Everbank - pulled Experian for a Money Market Account, as well as for a checking one.

F

+ Fidelity - LionBank (Not Fidelity Investments)
+ Financial Center Credit Union
+ Fifth Third - Opening Checking Account
+ Flagstar Bank - Checking - Pulls TU

G

+ GMAC Bank - pulled TU for their MM savings account

H

+ HARRIS BANK — CD

I

+ Indiana Members Credit Union
+ ING Direct - When you open Electric Orange checking account, they will hard pull Equifax to determine the overdraft credit line limit for you. No hard pull for opening Orange Savings account.

J

+ Johnson & Johnson by Yale & Associates on Experian- employment

L

+ Local gas & electric utility (We Energies - Wisconsin)
+ Local Honda dealer- check + 5K credit card
+ Local Nissan dealer (Coral Springs Nissan Auto Mall) pulled a HARD one when I browsed their inventory
+ Local Toyota dealership- cash transaction

M

+ Marquette National Bank — checking, savings, CD and safe deposit box
+ Meadows Credit Union pulled Trans Union for a checking account.
+ Mechanics Bank (sf) did hard pull from Equifax for a checking account.
+ Muriel Siebert & Co. pulled Experian for a brokerage account without margin.

N

+ National1St Credit Union - When opening an account/CD etc - Experian had pull
+ NASA Federal Credit Union - when applying for membership - Equifax hard pull

P

+ People's Gas
+ Pentagon Federal Credit Union
+ Presidential Bank pulled Equifax for a checking account under the name Presidential Savings.
+ Principal Bank pulled Equifax for a checking account, also pulls for money market account according to CSR.
+ Provident Central Credit Union, Bay Area, CA - When opening an account - Experean hard pull

Q

+ Qwest

S

+ Salem Five - pulled Equifax for a checking account.
+ Schwab - hard pull on Equifax for a checking account.
+ SCOTTRADE - hard pull on Equifax
+ Sprint - Long Distance for having them as the LD provider on a home phone.
+ State Farm Auto Insurance - for getting an auto insurance quote.
+ Suntrust - pulls an Equifax for opening of a checking account

T

+ T-Mobile for cell phone service on Transunion or Equifax
+ TD Waterhouse/Ameritrade pulled Equifax on an exisiting customer to open IRA
+ Thrifty RENT A CAR did hard pull prior to rental

U

+ UFBDirect.com - 3.30% on High Yield Money Market Savings
+ US Bank ( online / phone only. soft pull when opening in branch)

V

+ Verizon - landline, DSL, or VoIP (on Equifax or TransUnion). Also for new cellphone account.

W

+ Wachovia-Trans union (or Equifax in some cases) for opening a checking account
+ Wanigas CU - Pulls to become Member, Pulls for Checking - Experian
+ Wells Fargo (When ever you make any changes like adding additional account holder, change address on your account etc, their Credit department is making a hard enquiry on Experean, I fought with them to get it Re-Classified as a soft pull, be very careful with Wells Fargo). Add this also, i change my account from regular to all advantage account (have free bill pay, checks etc) and a hard pull.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
Banks that DO NOT pull hard credit inquiries

Amalgamated Bank
Countrywide Bank FSB
FNBO Direct
PNC Bank (for opening a free checking account), soft pull in Equifax
Valley National Bank of NJ
Washington Mutual
U.S. Bank (in-branch visits only)

Review that list, compiled from empirical data, to help you make your credit decisions. Note: This list is pulled from a Fatwallet group-edited post. Check the original post for the most up-to-date information.

Jim writes the blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

(Photo: Getty)

1. Employer emails filled with typos
2. Emails from job posting site claiming there's a problem with your account
3. They ask for your social security number and bank account number before you've even had a single interview
4. Say you can get rich without leaving your house
5. They want you to give them money upfront
6. Salary and benefits are too-good-to-be-true
7. They want you to wire money via Western Union or Moneygram
8. You found the job on Monster.com, or Craigslist.

Look for Seven Red Flags when Searching for Jobs Online [BBB] (Photo: Getty)

* The Wall Street Journal lists gifts with a real return on investment. These ideas promise to save or make money for the recipient. Not a bad idea at all.

* Kiplinger suggests giving financial well-being. How exactly is this done? According to them, it's achieved through gifts like a paper shredder, home safe, and (of course) a subscription to their magazine. How romantic. Of course, there is some sense to these for those of you who are more practically minded.

* Bankrate offers some recession-proof holiday gifts including both 12 suggestions as well as low cost alternatives for each of these dozen.

Then again, you may be tried of the commercialization (and expense) of the holidays and are looking for alternatives. If so, you may agree with Free Money Finance's call to celebrate simply, not over-spending and leaving a huge debt for yourself in January. They offer four ways to do this: cut back your gift list, limit how much you spend, decide to be charitable, and determine which activities bring you real joy.

Whatever your plans for this holiday season, we wish you a joyful time, full of happiness and good cheer. Oh, and great deals at your favorite store too...

— FREE MONEY FINANCE (Photo: strobist)

The NRDC report suggests that video game console manufacturers update the consoles with a power saving mode that would kick in after a period of inactivity — but the quickest fix is for gamers to turn their consoles off (or use the console's power saving features) when they're not actively playing them. The NRDC says that consoles use about the same amount of power just sitting there as they do when you're actually playing them.

How much could you save? At the high end, the NRDC says that PS3 owners who shut off their consoles could save as much as $145 a year. Wii users won't save as much, because the Wii uses less power over all. The XBOX 360 is somewhere in between.

The good news is that the XBOX 360 and PS3 do have power saving features, but they're disabled by default. Why not turn them on and save some cash?

Lowering the Cost of Play [NRDC]

TIP: get a cheap key dupe made at the hardware store and drill a hole through it (or get your fave local handyman to do it). Then place said key behind your license-plate with screw through hole. This will keep it secure and it's rare that you'll be stranded without something that can be used (dime, piece o'metal by road, helpful person's screwdriver) to remove the screw and access the key. This $2 fix has saved my bacon many times. Those magnetic boxes are OK but they can dislodge when you hit a pothole.

Brilliant.However, as other commenters noted, if you live in an area known for license plate thefts or your key has a theft-deterrent device in it, you'll want to explore other options.

(Photo: Getty)

• homemade truffles
• homemade hand warmer
• gingerbread house
• gift of time or skill
• personalized calendars
• gourmet salt assortment
• love coupons

He also lists additional sites that offer "thousands of other great Christmas crafts." Among all of these ideas, there's bound to be something to appeal to almost everyone, giving us the option of giving less expensive yet oftentimes more heartfelt holiday gifts.

But these ideas come with a warning as well — that in order to complete many of them, you need to get started soon. So, what are you waiting for?

A Do-It-Yourself Christmas: 34 Great Gifts You Can Make Yourself [Get Rich Slowly]

— FREE MONEY FINANCE (Photo: saramarie)

Makemetheking

• Plug the Money Leaks! You know what they are. The fees you get when you forget to pay your bills. The overdraft fees you get when you forget how much money is in your checking account. The parking tickets you forgot to pay. Get organized!

  Recommended Reading: 10 Stupid Ways That Smart People Waste Money

• Stuff You Just Can't Afford But Are Telling Yourself You Need. These expenses include fancy cable packages, restaurants, gym memberships, and, yes, your expensive new car.

  Recommended Reading: 5 Expenses You Can't Afford If You Have Credit Card Debt

• Bad Grocery Shopping Decisions. There are two kids of people in the world. Coupon people and the rest of us. They're great for some people, but you don't have to use coupons to save money at the grocery store. And, if you do use coupons, but are looking to save even more money, these tips can help you too.

  Recommended Reading: 7 Ways To Save On Groceries Without Using Coupons

• Out Of Control "Information Age" Spending. The Pew Research Center says that after housing, cable and satellite TV service was most frequently cited as a regular household expense (78%), followed by cell phones (74%) and internet service (65%). By contrast, just four-in-ten adults (42%) say they make a car payment and just one-in-four say they make a school tuition payment. How much you spend on these ubiquitous bills matters. Just one generation ago, Americans never had to worry about a high-speed internet bill. That's why it's important to negotiate the best deal possible.

  Recommended Reading: 10 Things We've Learned From 'Confessions of A Wireless Sales Rep'
  How Joe Saved Hundreds Of Dollars Using Confessions Of A Cellphone Sales Rep
  Threatening To Cancel Comcast Saves Man $238.92 Per Year
  Cut $20 Off Your Cable Bill
  Video Tutorial For Escaping Cellphone Without ETF
  How To Get ATT Naked DSL (Redux)
  Shhh! Let's All Get AT&T's Secret Naked DSL

• Psychological Toxic Sludge. You may not think of this as an expense, but it is. Hang ups about your money, or laziness when it comes to dealing with your money is costing you money. The Pew Research center says that 51% of Americans don't use any kind of budget. Well, why the hell not? You need to take a good hard look at your finances and understand them, so you're not constantly overspending. Don't like budgeting? Get over it. Let it go. Use a very, very simple budget. If you feel like you can't even face the mess that is your finances... you are not alone. Everyone has felt that way about something in their lives. But you'll feel better if you just grab the box of papers, dive in, and get going. No, really. You will.

  Recommended Reading:
  Use Snowball Method Spreadsheet To Pay Off Debts
  The Zero Based Budget
  How To Budget With An Irregular Income
  Lyn's 2-Person Budget Spreadsheet
  Never Budgeted Before? Here's Something You Can Do Right Now
  Consumerist's 9-Step Beginner's Budget

  (Photo: msmail )

She writes: "This morning I made my very last payment on $14,300 in credit card debt and a personal line of credit for a home improvement project that was completed a few years ago. I paid it off over the last 20 months thanks to applying some of the stuff I learned at consumerist.com. It was tough. It took discipline, but I did it!

Instead of making a bunch of changes at once, I did things a little over time. It looked something like this. It's maybe not in the order that makes the most sense to a financial planner or in the order that someone else would do things; I just know that it worked for me.

MONTH 1: NEGOTIATING BETTER CREDIT CARDS RATES:
I called every single credit card company and tried to negotiate for a lower rate. I was successful with a lot of them. In once case the rate went from 14% to 7.99%. If they would not lower the interest rate, I politely thanked them and then transferred those balances onto lower rate cards. I canceled each card as it was paid off.

RELATED CONSUMERIST POST: Sample Script To Get Your Credit Card Rate Lowered

MONTH 2: GO CASH-ONLY:
I cut up every single card except one for emergencies. I actually put my remaining credit card in a big plastic cup full of water and stuck it in the freezer. That way, I'd really have to work at it to get that card. Cash only was the rule. If I did not have the cash, I did not need it. It's still in the freezer 20 months later.

RELATED CONSUMERIST POST: Paying Cash-Only, Family Spends $1,800 Less

MONTH 3: START DEBT-SNOWBALL:
It really works. I first heard about this method on consumerist and set myself up to pay off the lowest balances first. I used an Excel spreadsheet I downloaded here. I liked this one because it was easy to add extra one-time payments. I know that it would probably save me more money to pay off the higher interest rates first, but it was very, very satisfying to get stuff paid and DONE with. I cannot even begin to explain how highly motivating it was to finally pay something off. It was worth whatever little amount extra it cost me extra to pay the smallest balances off first. It makes for that good "light at the end of the tunnel" feeling. I also set up automatic payments on payday through the online bill pay to make this a seamless process. For the first couple of months, I just started off with just $50 extra because that's all I could afford. Once I started living more frugally, I applied more to the snowball.

Make extra payments to the snowball. They really do help, no matter how small. Every single extra penny that came my way went toward paying down the debt. At the end of the month, if I had anything left over in any of the budget categories, I immediately applied that as an extra payment. The nice thing about online bill pay is that it's just so easy to make as many payments as you want. Sometimes it was $100, sometimes it was $10 or even $3 one month, but every little bit helps. I purchased a printer that was almost free after rebate and applied the rebate to the debt. I did a few side jobs helping a caterer do some prep work; I sold some books on half.com, cleaned out my garage and made $300 from a yard sale, grandma sent me money for my birthday and Christmas, you get the idea. The point is, every single extra penny went right to the debt.

RELATED CONSUMERIST POST: Use Snowball Method Spreadsheet To Pay Off Debts

MONTH 4: SET UP BUDGET:
I made a budget and figured out where exactly my money was going.

RELATED CONSUMERIST POST: On The Money's Budget Calculator Helps Guide Your Monthly Spending

MONTH 5: CUT BACK EXPENSES:
I figured out what I could cut back on or go without. Not only did I figure out what I was giving up would save me I also diligently applied that amount to the snowball. It also really helps to figure out what something is costing you per year. I had no idea I was spending $600 a year just on manicures!

Here's what I gave up:

Cable TV. Got a cheap netflix plan and a roku player instead. Savings: $17/month, $204 a year
Land line phone. Savings: $27/month, $324/year
Gardener. Savings: $40/month, $480/year
Got slower DSL. Savings: $10/month, $120/year
Manicures. Did my own. Savings: $50/month, $600/year
Public Radio Membership. Sorry KQED and KALW, but I have to come first right now. I'll continue to support you later. Savings: $11/month, $132/year
Gym Membership. Savings: $30/month, $360/year
Lunches at work. Savings: $120 month, $1440/year
Starbucks. Savings: $60/month, $720/year

Total extra towards snowball: $365/month, $4,380/year.
Just like that.

RELATED CONSUMERIST POST: 5 Expenses You Can't Afford If You Have Credit Card Debt

MONTH 6:
I worked on cutting my spending in other ways.

I am an avid reader and I realized one of my biggest expenditures was new books. I gave up my Amazon habit and switched to the library. My local library allows you to browse the catalog online and request books be sent to the branch of your choice. I work 2 blocks from a branch so I just picked up things there. I also used paperbackswap.com, bookmooch.com and swaptree.com to give books I no longer wanted and in return get books I wanted. It only cost me the price of shipping books to other users via media mail. I saved unknown hundreds and hundreds of dollars by making this simple switch.

For example, in September, I spent $36 on postage to send out used books, books that would otherwise just be sitting around and in return I received about $300 worth of books had I bought them new at retail price. For those who are into DVDs and CDs, swapadvd.com and swapacd.com are also awesome sites. (Other than being a member, I'm not affiliated with any of those sites)

I stopped buying anything new. If I really, really needed something, I would ask first on freecycle http://www.freecycle.org/ and search craigslist for used items for sale. For example, my hairdryer stopped working about 6 months ago. Instead of running out to buy a new one, I posted an "Item Wanted" listing on the yahoo group and had a new and FREE hair dryer within 24 hours.

Food Budget: I ate the kind of things I normally eat; I just made some simple substitutions. I ate at home instead of eating out. I brought my lunch to work instead of eating out, but I did let myself eat out on Payday Friday. I used coupons and only bought very small amounts of perishable items so there was no waste. I stocked up on items like toilet paper when there was a really good sale, but was careful not to buy too many perishables. Nothing went to waste. I gave up paper towels and used rags instead. I shopped at the grocery outlet instead of Whole Foods (aka Whole Paycheck)

Instead of buying new clothes (except for bras, panties and socks) I shopped for things at thrift and consignment stores.

I know it sounds like I gave a lot of stuff up, but I don't see it that way - I kept thinking about what I was GETTING instead, which is freedom from debt. I still gave myself a small budget for entertainment and frugal dining out once in awhile, and please, nothing could induce me to give up my hairdresser!

You'd be surprised how much you can actually do for FREE if you just look around.

Free Theatre: Lots of theatres need volunteer ushers. You work in the theatre for an hour or so before the show, maybe stuffing envelopes or something. You help seat people before the show and then you get to see the show for free. You often get good seats too. I saw 3 or 4 free show a month this way. You often have to wear black
slacks or skirt and a white shirt, but that's a small price to pay for free theatre.

Artist's receptions: You get to mingle and talk with people, see some (hopefully) lovely and interesting art, plus get fed wine and cheese.

I also used squidlist to find cheap and free things to do.

HOW IT FEELS
I was disciplined and determined and I did it! Thank you consumerist! As of today I am debt free (except for my thankfully low fixed-rate mortgage) and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my mind. My spirit feels lighter. I am FREE. I am doing a happy dance! My plan is to continue to live frugally and start building up a savings
now. I will never, ever be in that much debt again. I never want to feel the stress an anxiety of owing so much.

Oh yeah, all during this time, I also put just $40 per month away into a savings account (ING) which I set up as an automatic $20 deduction every payday. I now have $800 to spend guilt-free and after 20 months I'm ready for a vacation. So, as my prize for getting debt free, I just booked a $295 flight to Cancun a bit later in October. I really deserve this vacation for a job well done and best of all? It's NOT going on a credit card.

Thanks, consumerist!

-trixare4kids"

Excellent work! We're proud of you, trixare. You really buckled down and make the right decisions to aggressively attack your debt. For anyone who's in debt, even if you just adopt a few things, there's a lot in here to get you further down the path towards true financial freedom.

(Photo: lemonjenny)

Install a VPN program and run it every time you go online using a public Wi-Fi hotspot.

Using a public Wi-Fi spot without a VPN is like shouting everything across the room in plain English—anyone who wants to listen in, can. Using a VPN is more like shouting in a made-up language that only you and your twin sibling understand. A VPN will encrypt anything you send from your laptop to the Wi-Fi router, so that nobody else in the coffee shop, student center, or hotel can see what you're doing.

If you work for a large company, odds are your IT department has already got you using a VPN when you're traveling or working away from the office. If you're everyone else—a freelancer, a student, a small business owner with one or two computers and no real "back-end" system—then many of those VPN solutions are out of your reach. Either they're too complicated to set up without computer skillz or they're too expensive.

Luckily, there are cheap VPN programs you can install on your laptop that are more or less self-contained: you install the app, then launch it when you log on to a Wi-Fi network, and everything you do online from that point forward will be encrypted. There's also a hardware-based solution—a USB drive that you can plug into any computer for a quick VPN environment.

A couple of things to note:

1. When the website you're on uses https, your data is already encrypted. For some Google-based services (like Gmail and Google Docs), you'll be using https automatically or you can add the "s" yourself to force the encryption. But not every site offers this extra security.
2. These VPN programs are not the end-all in security solutions. If you're really serious about security, don't get your advice from this blog. Find a skilled computer security technician to help you set up an awesome home-based VPN solution (where you route all your laptop traffic through a home network remotely), or teach yourself how to do it with freeware and your router.

So with those caveats, here are some options you can consider. The first two programs listed below install the same as any other app, but I haven't tested the other three. If you've tried any of these and can share an opinion, please join in the comments below.

AnchorFree's Hotspot Shield
Free, but ad-supported. While browsing, you'll see ads appear occasionally at the top of the browser window. It's great if you infrequently need it, but annoying if you find yourself in a Starbucks once a week.

Witopia's PersonalVPN
$40 per year

HotSpotVPN
$9 per month (listed as a temporary price reduction as of October 2008)

iPig
Free with a 10MB cap / $30 for 30GB of data transfer

PublicVPN
$70 per year, or $7 per month

About that hardware solution: IronKey is a USB flash drive that offers a few extra features you can't get with the software above. It encrypts any files you store on it, and it comes with its own VPN software that runs automatically when you plug it into a Windows PC. It comes with the Firefox browser included, so you can surf the web through the IronKey no matter what PC you're using. It costs $80 for a 1 GB drive with a 1-year VPN subscription.

And finally, Consumerist reader Ein2015, who provided an invaluable service by vetting this article before I posted it, pointed out that there's an awesome open source VPN solution called OpenVPN. It's cross-platform and free, so if you're feeling techy and want to set up your own virtual private network using your home computers, you might check it out.

(Many, many thanks to Ein2015!)
(Photo: Getty Images and stevecadman)

We are pretty smart people who did some pretty stupid things and now we are just trying to get out of debt. We know exactly what to do in the future to manage our spending, savings and credit score. And we both agree that nothing is worth putting on a credit card if we cant go home and transfer money to the card to pay off the balance when we get home. But that doesn't change the fact that we are currently facing a staggering mound of debt and see no end in sight.

J, you've got two choices:

To pay off your debt you will need one, a method, and two, a madness. First, pick a method: Snowball, or Highest-Interest First.

SNOWBALL
1. Commit yourself to making the minimum monthly payment on all debts
2. Figure out what extra amount you have in your budget to put towards debt repayment
3. Take your lowest amount bill
4. Pay the minimum plus the extra on that bill until it is paid off
5. After it's paid off, put all the money you were putting towards that bill to the next lowest bill
6. Repeat until out of debt

HIGHEST INTEREST FIRST
Do the same thing as above, except choose your debt with the highest interest first.

PROS, CONS: Many people find the snowball method to be the more psychologically gratifying. The highest-interest first method will result in you paying off the debt faster and at a lower cost. If you get depressed about your debts and it demotivates you from paying it off, the snowball method might be better to go with if it keeps you on track better.

NOTE: It's important to make sure you're current with all your lenders. This means making regular payments and not dodging their letters and calls. They're not just going to go away like a CD-of-the-month-club, they, or the shady debt collectors they sell your debt to, will keep after you until you pay up or declare bankruptcy. If you don't have enough to make the minimum payment, try calling and negotiating for a lower one. They're willing to work with you if your payments are regular and scheduled and lower than if they're getting no money at all.

HANDY TOOL: Whichever method you use, this free Excel spreadsheet can help. Just enter your credit cards, their balance, and interest rate. Then enter your required minimum monthly payments and the maximum possible amount you could put towards it, based on your budget. Select which style of repayment you want, such as snowball or highest interest first. The program then spits out an effective payoff strategy. It calculates how much interest and the total you'll end up paying, and how long it will take to get out of debt.

THIS IS SPARTA!

The deeper you're in, the more hardcore you need to be about getting out. This is the "madness" to your "method". Suffer, cut back, say no. For instance, you can cut up the credit cards and go cash only. Sell extra things around the house and use the money to pay off debts. Sell the car and get a beater, or a bicycle. Take on a second job or work longer hours. Maybe you even have to move back in with your parents while you pay off your debts. Whatever it takes, attack your debt like a hungry wolf. Intensity is the number one difference between those who become truly free and escape debt slavery, and those left staring out the prison bars.

Share your stories about struggling with debt in the comments.

(Photos: samwilkinson.org, kamshots)

#atlgas [search.twitter] (Thanks to Elizabeth!)

AnnualCreditReport.com is the website set up by the credit bureaus in order to comply with a federal law that entitles you to one free credit report each year — hence the name "annual credit report."

Don't been fooled by other sites. They want to sell you a trial subscription to some credit monitoring service that you probably don't need.

[Annual Credit Report.com]

Why Personal Letters Beat Form Letters
Don't get suckered in by the quick and easy "Write to Congress!" form letters littering the internet. Form letters are not an expression of values; they are a show of organizational strength. If the NRA convinces five million people to send letters opposing gun control, it shows that the NRA can muster five million people to action, not that five million people necessarily care about gun laws. Congressional offices know this and generally disregard form letters.

So what happens when you send a letter?

Every office has its own procedures for tabulating constituent correspondence, but most will produce a report at the end of week breaking down how many letters were received by issue area, separating out form letters from letters sent by individual constituents.

Members treat each type of letter differently, but most look for individual letters as a barometer of their district's concerns. These are the letters that have the most influence, the ones we will show you how to write.

What Should Your Letter Say?
We adhere to the three paragraph rule: introduce yourself, introduce your issue, request action. Congressional offices have staffers whose days are spent solely on the mail, so make their lives easier by keeping letter succinct and to the point.

• Introduce Yourself: There is a two-prong test for determining your worth: 1) Are you a constituent? 2) Are you an important constituent? Feel free to puff up your chest. Are you a lifelong member of the district? Are you associated with community groups? Say so! Convince the reader that yours is a voice of experience and wisdom.
• Be specific: Don't just ask a Member to oppose mandatory binding arbitration agreements. Ask them to rush to the floor to support S.1782, The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007.
• Marshall Facts: Your argument—and you are making an argument—must be supported by facts. Feel free to use facts gleaned from us or other sources, but don't copy and paste paragraphs of pre-written text from form letters. Personal experiences are particularly effective, and often moving. Share them!
• Be Exceedingly Polite, Please: Congress attracts haughty personalities. Staffers don't appreciate being spoken down to or insulted. You are trying to rally them to your cause, so be nice.
• Clearly State Your Request: Plainly tell your representative that you want them to support or oppose a certain bill. If you want a response, explicitly (but politely) ask for one.

Send Your Letter To The Right Place
Only write to your representatives. You have three: one Representative in the House, and two Senators. Do not send more than three letters. Some citizens try to get their voice heard by writing to all 435 members of the House. Congressional courtesy compels the 434 Members who do not represent the zealot to forward his letter to the one lucky Member who does. This angers the Member's staff greatly at the expense of any point you are trying to make.

The addresses for your Representatives and Senators are available online, but don't waste your time with an email. Letters carry significantly more weight. Send your letter to the Capitol, where the legislative staff is based, though it will take a while to arrive since all incoming Congressional mail is irradiated thanks to those still-unidentified Anthrax mailers.

For an even greater impact, send your letter care of the staffer covering the issue. These staffers - called Legislative Assistants - are the Member's eyes and ears on their assigned issue areas. Finding the staffer destined to read your letter is easy: call the Capitol switchboard (open 24 hours a day!) at (202) 224-3121, ask for your Member's office, and ask the person who answers for the name of the staffer handling the issue area or bill number. Once you get that name, address your letter like this:

Member Of Congress
c/o Staffer
Office Building/Number
Washington, DC 20515

What Should You Expect In Return?
It depends. There are 535 Congressional offices and each handles constituent correspondence differently. The vast majority respond to letters with either a form letter pre-written by a Legislative Assistant, or with a more personal response written by a Legislative Correspondent. Controversial issues that attract many letters normally receive a form letter response, while smaller issues or specific questions often receive the attention of a personalized response.

Conclusion
Members of Congress work for you. Without your votes, they won't stay in office. They go to great lengths to cultivate a positive relationship with you, their boss. Very few people take the time to write to a Member of Congress, so the few that do carry a disproportionate influence.

Fifteen minutes is well worth the time to influence a $2 trillion enterprise.

(Photo: indi.ca)

10. Food Preservation. Learn to preserve fruits and vegetables for the long winter. Make beef jerky! It's healthy and fun.

9. Risk Management. Wikipedia says, "Financial risk management is the practice of creating economic value in a firm by using financial instruments to manage exposure to risk, particularly Credit risk and market risk." Apparently, there is a need for people to learn how to do this.

8. Learn A Second Language. It's a global economy, boys and girls. Time to learn to communicate!

7. Cooking. The days of getting take out every single night are over. You must learn to cook, and by cook, we mean "Prepare nutritious meals at a reasonable price." You will probably not need to own any saffron.

6. Dumpster Diving. There are sure to be some good "deals" on office furniture to be had pretty soon...

5. Budgeting. Creating and using a simple budget is easy! Even you can do it.

4. Cooperation. For example, you could find other people in your neighborhood and car pool with them. To begin, locate another human who lives near you. Say, "Hello!"

3. General Repair and Maintenance Skills. Learn how to fix things! Change your own oil! You can do it! Hardware stores often rent tools, and some cities have "tool libraries" where you can check out what you need and then return it.

2. Gardening. Growing herbs on your windowsill is easier than you might think. Start small and concentrate on inexpensive plants that are hard to kill.

1. Self-Control. Benjamin Franklin said:

When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled my pocket with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children; and, being charmed with the sound of a whistle, that I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave all my money for one.

I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth; put me in mind what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with vexation; and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure.

This however was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing, I said to myself, Don’t give too much for the whistle; and I saved my money.

(Photo: Maulleigh )

1. Don't panic/worry. It's not going to do you any good at best and at worst it can lead you to make some very poor financial moves.

2. Learn from what's going on. How would you have liked to have had all your retirement savings in Lehman Brothers stock? Key learning: diversify. If you have a large percentage of your portfolio in any single company, especially your employer's stock, you're taking on a big risk. Spread your money out and you'll be much better protected.

3. Focus on your career. Your career is your single biggest financial asset. As long as it's going strong, you have a very reliable safety net in your earning potential. Take some opportunities to improve your earning power/marketability/job security by attending a seminar or two, volunteering for a new project that adds to your experience base and delivers needed results for your employer, and networking with others just in case a change is needed. Making yourself a better, more marketable employee is never a bad decision — and these days it's one solid investment you can bank on.

4. Increase your emergency fund. Having a bit more financial cushion is a good idea these days. To save more, consider cutting spending where you can. Funny how a simple, innocent purchase in good times seems very frivolous these days. It's a cliché, but that twice-daily latte that runs you $8 total adds up to almost $3,000 a year. Is coffee really that important to you or would you rather be a bit more financially secure? Maybe it's not coffee for you and there's certainly no reason to eliminate all of life's pleasures, but there are areas of spending we all have that can be cut back a bit and not really cramp our styles much.

5. Keep investing. Yes, the stock market has been brutal of late. That's the bad news. The good news is that stocks are as low as they have been in some time. It's a great buying opportunity if you have ten or more years before you need the money. Prices may go down further in weeks and months to come (no one knows for sure), but if history is any indication, you'll do very well if you can hold out for a decade or two. 401(k)s are especially good investments. Look at it this way: even with the big losses in the stock market, you're still ahead of the game if you get free money from your employers' 401(k) match.

Those are a few of our tips. What would you add to the list?

— FREE MONEY FINANCE

(Photo: Kevin Dean)

The $50 & Up Underground House Book [Official Site]
$50 and Up Underground House Book [KK.org]

The "What's Left" approach might be too vague for those of you who want details, details, details when it comes to your money. Instead of presenting you a dashboard of data, Rudder uses what our editor Ben called a "no-thought-required cash flow management" approach. Not that there's anything wrong with that, especially if you feel like you need to take control of your finances but don't know where to start.

Click here to see a sample Rudder email.

As Cnet puts it:

Rudder's name for this magic number is "what's left" and it figures out what you've got for discretionary spending based on when you're getting your next paycheck and what's in your various savings and checking accounts, compared to credit card payments and other bills that need paying off. The entire process is shown to users, something Roy hopes will educate as much as it does take the work out of doing the math yourself.

As far as security, Rudder asks for read-only access to your accounts through CashEdge; Rudder itself doesn't store any user names, passwords, or account numbers. It's free as in ad-supported—you can see an example of the sort of ads they serve in the sample email above.

Rudder.com
"Rudder steers personal finance to your in-box" [Cnet]

Part I: Preventing the old switcharoo.

You should always assume that the other customers are criminals and scammers, and the store's employees are Al Capone. Why should you assume this? Because that's what the store assumes about you. It's nothing personal. It's just business.

That's why you should you always take the following steps when making a major purchase.

1) Pay with a major credit card that offers purchase protection and extended warranty protection.
You may not like credit cards. In fact, you may hate them. In that case, consider a charge card. For the small annual fee, a charge card will offer you many of the same warranty protections that Best Buy and it's ilk are trying to sell you. If you eventually enter into a dispute with the store, it pays to have someone on your side. Do you think Best Buy is going to argue with itself on your behalf just because you bought a warranty from them?

2) Open the box before you leave the store and inspect the item. If you find old phone books or a severed head instead of your new laptop, it will be easier for everyone if the store knows that there's no possibility that you were the scammer/decapitator. Otherwise, they will assume that you are the guilty party and no amount of arguing will convince them otherwise.

3) Check to make sure the serial number on the item matches the serial number on your receipt. If it doesn't, the store will assume that you are the one who switched the item. Again, do this before you leave the store so there can be no question about it.

Part II: Self-Defense Tools

Credit Cards: Buy large purchases with a major credit card or charge card that has "Purchase Assurance," "Purchase Protection" and "Extended Warranty Protection." Purchase Protection is usually a 90-day window in which loss from accidental damage and theft are covered by your credit card company, provided that you paid for the item with the card. Extended Warranty Protection extends the manufacturer's warranty. These are both good things to have.

Paperwork: Keep your receipts. You're probably saying "duuuuuuh," but that's only because you don't read our tipline. Buy a folder. Get a magic marker and write RECEIPTS on it. Put your receipts in it. Put the folder in a safe place.

Camera: If you have a camera, take pictures of whatever goes wrong. Lots of pictures.

Part III: How to take advantage of these tools so that you never get stuck with a pile of crap.

Now, let's say that for some reason or other you've still managed to get yourself into a pickle. You've bought a box full of bathroom tiles from Best Buy and they're refusing to take it back.

1) Document everything. Take photographs of everything, save all the paperwork.

2) Contact your credit card company and report the fraud. Selling people boxes of bathroom tiles, or used, broken piles of crap instead of the real product is fraud. Fraud, fraud, fraud. It is not OK to sell fake stuff just because you are a multinational corporation and have a policy that says it's not your fault. "Policies" do not supersede laws.

3) Consider reporting the incident to your state's attorney general and/or department of consumer affairs. You may also want to inform the local police. It's possible that whomever put a ringer in your box is committing some sort of systematic retail fraud, and your report may help the police to catch them.

If you've followed these steps, your credit card company should be able to issue a chargeback. That's what happened with the real bathroom tile guy. There's no reason why you should be any different.

Epilogue:

If all else fails, or you find yourself in a situation not covered here, consider small claims court. Small claims court can help you force a company to uphold a warranty, and they can help you recover damages if you're unwittingly sold a used, defective, or broken product. Here's a success story from one of our readers who sued Best Buy over a defective washer. Best Buy said it was their policy that they were not responsible for selling a broken washer because the consumer didn't pay for their delivery service, but thankfully for our reader, policies aren't laws.

When Barbara Troxell started one in 2004, she started by putting flyers in neighbors mailboxes. After getting about 14 people together, she started calling up dealers to see if they would offer a group rate discount. The group negotiated a $40 discount off a $179 annual plan, got downside price protection, with a pre-season boiler check included. Now the group is up to 50 people.Through collective buying power you can negotiate a better deal to buy in "bulk" than you can individually. For more info and tips on the nuts and bolts, check out this article.

How to Save Money by Starting a Fuel Oil Coop [Furnace Compare] (Photo: Getty)

Just enter your credit cards, their balance, and interest rate. Then enter your required minimum monthly payments and the maximum possible amount you could put towards it, based on your budget. Select which style of repayment you want, such as snowball or highest interest first. The program then spits out an effective payoff strategy. It calculates how much interest and the total you'll end up paying, and how long it will take to escape the shackles of debt.

If you're carrying multiple balances, this is a great tool for getting started on, or optimizing, your personal debt payment plan.

Debt Reduction Snowball Calculator [vertex42] (Thanks to Matt!)

SCREENSHOTS:

Consumer Reports' Happy Refrigerating Tips:

1. Clean the compressor coils every few months or so. (The coils typically are at the bottom of the appliance, though on some older models they are behind the box and on some built-ins they are behind a grille at the top of the unit.)
2. Keep gaskets on the refrigerator and freezer doors clean with mild detergent and water, not bleach. This will ensure a good seal and prevent wasted energy.
3. Check the gasket seal by closing the doors on a dollar bill; replace the gasket if the bill falls out or can be easily removed without opening the door.
4. Be sure the refrigerator is level; if not, the door might not close properly. Most refrigerators have adjustable feet or casters.
5. Before you open the door to retrieve items, decide what you want. Every time you open the door, up to 30 percent of the cooled air can escape.
6. To maximize the storage life of your food and use the least energy, keep the refrigerator temperature at 36º to 38º F and the freezer at no colder than 0º to 5º F.
7. Try to keep the refrigerator compartments full to limit temperature fluctuations.
8. If you have a choice of location when remodeling your kitchen, keep the refrigerator away from direct sunlight and heat sources.

For more information and tips about your fridge, check out this blog post.

Protecting your investment: Refrigerators [Consumer Reports]
(Photo: Meggito )

Fonolo [Official Site]

Camp Millionaire
Ages 10-12, $279-$300, Santa Barbara, CA, 5 days
YoungBiz Smart Start To Money Camp
Ages 13-18, $100-$300, Sarasota, FL, 3 days.
Camp Challenge
Ages 10-14, $350, Westfield, NC, 1 week.
Young Americans Center for Financial Education
Grades 4-5, $185, Denver, CO, 1 week.

It's obvious that schools not teaching how to be a savvy consumer isn't working so hot.

Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh, My Portfolio Is in the Gutter [WSJ]