Job opportunities in the new year

As this year draws to close, we have 2010 to look forward to. A new decade and a new year. The new year brings a ray of hope to many people that are out of work. Many companies wait until the beginning of the year to start hiring. The reason for that is because their departmental budgets get approved.

Let's all keep our fingers crosses and hope that those people who desperately need a job, find a job in the new year. The old decade will be gone and a new ray of hope begins.

Protect your ID

The one thing that gets me paranoid is ID theft. During the winter we have a fire in our fireplace and I use it to destroy old bills, bank statements and other confidential papers that have been kept for the allocated time period. Many identity theft protection companies have popped up over the past 5 years. Some of them are effective while others don't do a thing to protect you.

Recently, a company that I have an affiliate account with, got hacked. That company has my SS# as well as my full name and address. I have emailed them to find out if my information was compromised or not. I have not heard back from them yet.

I have a tendency not to give out my SS# unless the companies that I deal with owe me money and I am over the minimum payment due me. Most legitimate companies do not ask for you SS# unless you have reached the $500 mark on their records. The SS# is for tax purposes for those who have earned over $500.

Before you sign up for anything and that company asks for you SS#, do yourself a BIG favor and check out the company first. A fancy website does not mean the company is real or even honest.

Having ones head bitten off in a public forum

I have witnessed and have been the victim of very nasty replies to my, posts on forums. Strangely enough the fights usually break out when a newcomer posts a few topic starters and does not get the response they were hoping for. I recently witnessed a writing war break out on a mild mannered sewing forum. The newcomer joined in November and no one was replying to her/his posts. Finally a seasoned member (member since 2007) answered and the newcomer did not like the response and tore into the reply, picking it apart, word by word. The newcomer did not know that the long time member had a following of the rest of the forum and like sharks smelling blood they all jumped on the newcomer.

It have now been several days since that occurred and the newcomer has not posted anything new. I am waiting to see what happens next. Thankfully I did not join in on that one, I just lurked.

Another time, on another forum I jumped in on a writing war and I did not know it was going on at the time. Other members jumped on my post and I was not sure why. I had to read the past post to find out what was going on. I had the sense of mind to not post anymore to that forum until the dust died down and became a lurker for almost a month.

Lurking, or just reading, the forums seems to be the safest place to be.

Don't fall for those low payment offers

Are you getting those gift catalogs in the mail yet? You know, the ones that state right on the front cover. "you are qualified for purchases to $500". They then go on to state you have free interest for 6 months or a year and you pay only $20 a month. People, turn on the data center virtualization section of your brain and realize that you are being taken for a ride. At the rate of 12 $20 a month payments you will never pay that $500 purchase off in a year. Just do the math and figure out that $20 a month will only pay off $240 which is far short of $500. If you want to take advantage of that free interest offer you will need to pay at least $45 a month.

Don't get taken for a ride this holiday season. Think before you opt into any type of financial arraignment and as always my advice is, if you don't have the cash you can't afford to buy it.

Shopping on a very tight budget

One of the worse things to me is being forced into a tight budget around Christmas time. Buying just food and essential clothing for the immediate family can be very tough. I remember about 5 years ago having to go into our local super Walmart for bread and milk and not being able to afford anything else. At the time I was forcing myself to eat almost like a bird so others in the family would not go without food. Those times were tough, not because of a lack of income but because of not using money wisely. I cannot stress enough to people that they learn how to budget and not to spend over allotted budgeted amounts. I literally had to force a tight budget onto the rest of the family so we could get out of the debt hole we had dug for ourselves.

Learning to shop on a tight budget can be done painlessly if you not only put your mind to it but also get the cooperation of the rest of your family. Teach everyone they cannot ask, beg or plead in the store for something. If they have a request for something it should be placed on the shopping list before entering the store, preferably at least a day or two before the shopping trip. That puts a stop to impulse buying, which you will find will save you a bundle.

Next don't buy or plan anything like an elaborate vacation to the bahamas, a new car or home improvements unless you have at least 75% or more of the cost tucked away in the bank. If you don't have the money, start saving for it. Do not go into debt for non-essential expenses.

Once you have learned not to over spend, then when it comes time to splurge just a tiny bit on yourself, family or friends then you can afford to do so. Tight budgets have their rewards in the end, but only if you use them for the long haul.

Bargains this Christmas season

So what have you seen this Christmas shopping season that looks like a bargain? I have not seen that much of a drastic price drop in the pricier items like LED TVs or digital cameras. Even in our local Walmart I was expecting more of a price war with other stores, but that does not seem to be happening. About a week ago there was all this talk about Amazon and Walmart going head to head. Big deal if there is a price war on books we need real sales.

I usually see some decent laptop deals at this time of year but nothing yet. Clothes are always having sale prices just to move out the current season's fashions to make room for the next season.

What I have noticed what is selling is the unusual, unique or handcrafted items. People are not looking for mass produced items this Christmas.

So where are the bargains? We will have to wait and see what happens in the next few weeks.

Make your clothes last longer

Making that dollar stretch more is becoming almost an art form. I have personally turned to making good clothes from stained or worn out ones over the past. I remember years ago when I lived in a house that had hard water, my clothes never came out very clean. I use to hand embroider fancy designs over stains that never would come out, just so I could still use that article of clothing.

We finally installed a whole house water softener unit and that worked to almost eliminate the stains in the wash problem. You see hard water, with lots of minerals, tend to stain the clothes or make the detergent not as affective.

My daughter has another method of making her clothes last longer, she trades them with friends. Whenever she would have a sleep over she would take a bag of clothes that she either didn't like or out grew. Her friends loved her style clothes and she liked theirs. Often her friends would be given clothes as gifts that they did not like or it was the wrong size. Her sleep overs would often turn into fashion shows and they would takes pictures too.

I am sure you can come up with some creative ways to make your clothes last longer or recycle them in your wardrobe.