Archive for December, 2008
Free US Grant Resources & Directory!
The current economic environment is full of stress. As the Christmas is over now, I am sure some of us must have started thinking how to survive if they get the pink slip in the New Year. Even though I wish every one a very happy New Year but I know it may not be good for some of us. So I have started thinking about what needs to be done to manage the upcoming year. In a series of blog posts, I will review the grant opportunities which any US resident can use it. My apology for residents of other countries as I am not familiar with their system.
Today I am writing about the available free grant resources so that you can start exploring the world of US grants. In the upcoming weeks, I will share with you other paid or premium grant resources too.
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Don’t Use Credit Cards to fill in the Budget Gaps?
Do you know that most of the credit card issuers can cancel the card at its own discretion? If your credit card company comes to know that you are laid off or you are in trouble, they may decide to cancel your account.
Imagine if people can’t repay back to these companies, then what would happen to these financial companies. What’s happending already is shocking for all of us when mega financial companies go bankrupt overnight. So most of these companies or banks try to tighten their credit standards to reduce the future losses.
If your account is canceled, you will be allowed to pay off the balance under your current terms.
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How to get Maximum from Your Credit Cards?
This is the rule number one - as you get your new credit card, don’t simply go ahead and use it. You should always have a plan for all of your credit cards. You must be thinking, what does this mean? Here are some examples of the credit card plans i.e. this credit card for grocery purchase only, another one for entertainment only, etc. Why this is important? Because you keep a better check if you keep your expenses in separate buckets. But before you go ahead and implement this plan, you should know some of the basic credit card rules.
So here are the credit card rules:
- Don’t spend what you don’t have. This is a very important rule for all of us!
- Always pay in full every time you received the credit card statement. Don’t get into the trap of paying minimum balance every time.
- Always pay on time or ahead of time.
- Know your credit limit and don’t cross this credit limit.
How to Save Money on Banking?
Do you know banks make good money on daily banking? If you have more transactions to your checking account than the stipulated allowed transactions, you might be paying good money to your banker for those transactions. Did you say you don’t think so? Please do yourself a favor and check out with your bank. Some prefer paying monthy fee for unlimited transactions.
But why not go for no fee banking? You should do research in your local areas for finding out those banks which offer no fee banking. You can also get this information on internet. And you don’t forget that there could be other fees even with free checking accounts. Are you asking what are these fees? So here are some examples like banks do charge for bounced checks, banks do charge if you want to stop payment, banks do charge if you wan to inquire about the balance etc.
So while looking for a low fee or no fee banking, you should ask questions before you sign up.
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How to Save Money on Your Daily Coffee?
I meet every day many of my friends who can’t start their day without going to Starbucks or Tim Horton or any other similar coffee shop. While going to office, they go to their favorite coffee shop to buy their cup of coffee. Let’s say they paid $2-4 dollars every day to buy their coffee. This means that they paid $80 every month (considering 20 days in a month for going to office) which means they paid $960 every year.
Can you imagine how much we can save if we start preparing coffee at home or take coffee in the office? I am not being cheap but trying to communicate the message here that any one of us can save money when we start realizing the magnitude of the opportunity.
If you prepare the coffee at home and keep doing this for 10 years, then you have saved $9, 600 over the period. I am not considering any interest earning here.
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Saving Opportunities - it’s all about Saving here!
There is really bad economic situation now a days. But saving money any time should be the main focus of all of us and not focus now because of the bad situation. If you believe that saving is a habit which is one of the most important pillars for the success in life, then you are at the right place.
Our goal is to provide you with exciting opportunities to save money and time on various categories like financial, health, education, insurance etc. Please explore all the categories to gain maximum from this blog.
We get many of our best ideas from our readers. If you’d like to contribute a suggestion, ask for help with a problem, or even a write column please send email to info(at)InstantSavingSolutions(dot)com . We invite you to share your resources here with all the readers so that every one can benefit from this.
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