I have found myself with a few wedding and baby showers (then the wedding and arrival of the new baby) to attend during this year. This past week I had two of the wedding showers to attend. I am part of a community that likes to support each other and love any excuse to get us women together for time to socialize. You may find yourself with a number of these showers to attend and watch the costs add up with each new shower to attend. More…

There are many opportunities to put ZERO down on different purchases these days. Zero down mortgage. Zero down event with zero payments for a year at your local furniture store. Zero down event with zero payments for a year at your local auto dealership. This is great if you are still planning and saving for your purchase along the way and paying more than minimum payments when you begin payment. More…

I usually look for sales in the grocery store flyers when I first walk into the store hoping they have something on my list on sale. I usually only shop at one store, maybe two, because my time is very limited with five children. I do make it somewhat easier by having a list, but having a list of sales would make it even cheaper too.
I gave a link in the blog entry “Making a Career Out of Cutting Coupons” which gave savings for the US. I just came across a couple of sites for Canada to check sales out ahead of time and be able to plan shopping ahead of time. Here are the links to help you plan your shopping:

• Grocery Savings allows you to look for sales for all local stores associated to select areas (eg. baby needs, bakery, etc)
• Smart Flyer Canada allows you to go through grocery flyers and other flyers as well (eg. Best Buy, Future Shop, Canadian Tire, etc)
• Flyer Mall also gives you an even greater list of flyers for grocery and non grocery stores

Do you know of any other sites for flyers or coupons for your local area?

Switchfoot wrote a song called “Meant To Live”. One of the lines says how I feel, I …”want more than the world has to offer”. My goal or dream is to be financially independent and debt free with a lot of family time together. Finding a job that helps that to happen is very challenging. I’ve been told that my dream is not the norm, so how do I think I could achieve that dream. My friend’s comment has left me thinking of how I can achieve more than what the world has to offer/sees as the norm.

I received an inspiring email the other day about Paul Potts. He also had a dream to achieve more than the world has to offer. He was a mobile cell phone salesman, but his dream was to be more than that. More…

You have gone through your budget and found that you can’t eliminate any more unnecessary expenses, but are still not avoiding going into the red. So now you need to go out and find the job that is going to earn you more money. Job hunting is quite a large job in itself. Being prepared for the interview will help the process go more smoothly and help you achieve your goal for new employment. Being successful in the interview has all to do with what you do before you even arrive at the interview and what you choose to do to follow-up after the interview.

Here are a few links to help with the interview process:

• Interview tools & tips
• What NOT to do in an interview
• CanadaJobs tips for interviews
• USAJobs tips for Interviews

What are some things you have done to help the interview process go more smoothly?

Job hunting can be very daunting and depressing. I’ve always hated the process of putting resume out after resume, but persisted hoping to find the right job or at least a good job available. The harder part was the waiting for a call back for an interview and then going through the interview process.

One method I have been taught to get my foot in the door is to ask for an informational interview. Alison Doyle of About.com tells More…

Our family just recently watched “Bee Movie”. We liked it and found it had a good moral to the story behind it (I won’t give it away). The push behind the “Bee Movie” was the payment being stolen from the bees, thus putting their long hard labor to waste.

One of my first jobs was working for a fast food restaurant. I began there wondering if I was good enough for the job and would be able handle everything asked of me. I quickly realized that, although the tasks were many, the job really wasn’t that difficult. I was working the closing shift finishing very late and then had to get up a few hours later to go to college. After realizing how exhausted I was, overworked and under paid, I decided to approach management and ask them for at least a shift change. Now the thing I still wonder is why I was willing to put up with their undervaluing attitude, but I felt stuck. The best thing I could do for myself was to make sure I was given the value for my efforts.

Maybe you have found yourself underpaid or undervalued More…

I’m happy to be back writing to you from almost a full week silent in bed sick.

I found this funny clip of a classic movie “The Money Pit”.

Tom Hanks had a great attitude to just laugh at the list of mishaps that could have otherwise put him in a fit of rage. He could have been more aware from the beginning and avoided More…

While reading through the Money magazine an article stuck out to me, “When Getting a Deal Just Isn’t Worth It“.  The author gives some great examples through her experience and another friends experience when trying to purchase the perfect car.  The author spent a great many hours searching for the best deal on a big screen TV for her family.  She questioned if she spent her time wisely.

I’ve debated this very same thing.  When I do my grocery shopping each week I try to plan where I need to go.  I save up a number of purchases for the same store to minimize the amount of time I’m actually out driving and shopping.  I’ve passed up some deals in the past because the money saved on purchasing the sale item wasn’t as great as the value of my time spent getting it. More…

Money magazine had a very short note called “Refunds for Globetrotters”. Have you traveled between the dates February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006? You may find yourself entitled to some money returned to you for Foreign Currency Conversion Fees that were overcharged.

The Money magazine article said to go to this site, http://ccfsettlement.com/ to answer any questions you might have. There are a few different links on the site for forms needed to file your claim. The number mentioned to phone for any questions is (800)945-9890.

Although you can claim a return without having the supporting documents, you may be audited in the future and the receipts and other supporting documents will save you from some awful run around in the future. See the FAQ’s on the site mentioned above for other similar concerns.

Will you be entitled to some money back? Are there any similar law suits for Canada, Australia or other countries?