As I sit behind this mindless monitor, plinking at the keys of a wireless keyboard, clicking the wireless mouse, I think to myself, “Where the hell is my office?”.

A poignant observation as the fall air chills and makes me long for the hayrides of my youth. The “cubicle” of corporate America is being corrupted by the fat-cats in power that take, and keep on taking. My office is erased by the notion of “Work at Home”, and as I get a call from my creditors in India telling me my account is past due, I think “ Geez, I’d love a job calling people telling them their bills are late”, especially the CEO’s of the banking institution because they were caught spending company funds on hookers in Costa Rica, and funneling the “business expense” through an off-shore bank account, while people trying to buy houses are unable to get quality loans because of the abuse of the past.

I think, that as the government bailed out these lenders, the lenders are holding on to the homes trying to persuade the consumer that they can’t quality, but in reality, they are holding on the homes so they (lenders) can turn the house around when the economy rebounds.(whatever that means)

The economy for me pretty much sucks, not because I lost thousands in stocks, or that even though gas prices have declined, I still can’t travel, no. The economy sucks for me because as unemployment increases, I can’t even get a job as a cashier because I’m “over-qualified”. I had to dumb-up my resume to reflect my lack of achievement, and not my achievements. I’ve had to omit degrees, experience, qualifications, and work experience to get even the most basic of employment. (As of this writing, still unsuccessful.)

The office I speak of at the beginning is the cubicle of the mind. The confines of the cubicle are a direct reflection of the aptitude and resolve of the common American. As an American, I feel (personally) that I am not too good for anything. I am willing to assume a position (sic.)that will allow me to live above the poverty level. (Apparently, 150% below the average income means)

I write, because it affords me to escape the cubicle, and allow the freedoms as Americans, have lived and died for. Basically, it’s the last place a boss can affect you work, because of it subjectivity. (Also, every once and a while, someone will pay you to do what you enjoy)

As the corporate cubicle compresses on the average soul, my office will continue to have a hand grenade on the desk, sitting on a sign that says please take a number, as a number one hangs every so gently from the pin.

Andrew Rutigliano

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First of all I am an amateur writer, however I’m broke just like all the other bloggers and desperate to find extra cash. So please don’t kick my blog to the curb.

My experience involves banking. As much as I try to manage my funds I can never come out ahead.  Try balancing my checkbook.  Miss something, overdraft.  Then the banks go and change up midstream telling you that they don’t care if you have money in your account or not every purchase will go through.

So I monitor my account online. My account gets severely overdrawn.  I call cust service they tell me that they rearrange your purchases according to amount, largest to smallest.  So I make about six small purchases.  My account has $800 dollars in it.  I make a purchase didn’t check my account rushing make a $758 purchase and 2 small purchase about $21 and $14.  They overdraft.  I check my account and see last 2 overdrafted. The next day I’m -$325 in the red.

Read the rest of this entry

From my experience, it is a good thing to save money and get free food and I just sent away for a coupon from for a free chicken sandwich and a coke from Chick-Fil-A. You can too, just go to this site http://www.freechickenandcoke.com. This offer ends on September 29, 2007 or after 1,000,000 coupons have been distributed, so you better hurry.

Oh, don’t expect to go get it right away. The coupon takes 6 – 8 weeks for delivery, just enough time to build up an appetite.

Obviously, this has expired but you can still find more coupons or at least where to get them at the best coupon websites.

Get a Lawyer When Making a Will

A will is a document that you use to outline what you would like done with your property after you die.  If you own any sort of property, you need to make a will, even if you are young or do not own much.  This may seem like a daunting task, but there are plenty of resources and tips you can use to make your will.

Making Your Will – Get a Lawyer

Making a will requires the help of a lawyer, but it is beneficial to have things figured out before you visit the lawyer.  The first step before meeting with your lawyer is to review your assets and determine what you have and what needs to be distributed.  You should look at your bank records and any retirement accounts you might have.  You should also make a list of investments, property and other valuable items.  This information will help you to compile a list of your assets. Read the rest of this entry

The economy is in a shambles, and people are losing their jobs. They are losing their homes to foreclosure, while bankruptcies are on the rise. How is it that anyone can suggest that you budget less? With negative budgeting…by choosing negative budgeting, you can spend less time managing the budget, while saving more money. Read the rest of this entry

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There was a time when it was not at all tough to lead a middle class lifestyle. In order to lead middle class lifestyle you were only required to do an average job. Same was the situation with me. I was a solid middle class person making my livelihood through an average job but things changed with the recession. I was laid off and thus started my problem with managing the finances. Debt reduction was the most important thing that went on in my mind otherwise I knew that it won’t be possible for me to make the ends meet.

How I managed to save money

There are some basic things that I did in order to save money and would like to share those strategies with you.

1. I tried online money making – First of all I started online research for gaining proper knowledge on online money making techniques. I love writing so I started freelancing and blogging. I even sold off many such items that lay unused in my house. If you think that you have a flair for writing you too can start freelancing or blogging. These are a good way to make decent money.
2. Created a budget – With online research I came to know that budgeting was of foremost importance for financing. Budgeting helped me to get an idea on my affordability as I was required to maintain a list of my whole income and expenditures. It also helped me to stay within my limits and incur fewer debts. I had used an online budgeting tool in order to find out my budget.
3. Opened a new savings account – I opened a new savings account and started putting money into it diligently. It is really important to put away some of the money into the savings account to save for the future.
4. Opened a virtual piggy bank – Other than opening and maintaining a savings account I also talked to the bank with whom I have a credit card and asked them to open a virtual piggy bank for me. This bank works in a very different and unique way. If you have been charged $35.25 with your credit card to buy an item and if you later pay $36 to the bank, the bank will put 0.75 into your virtual account. In this way though in a small scale, I started saving money.
5. Went for debt settlement – Other than doing the above things I also started to negotiate with my creditors on settling my debts. Though I knew that debt settlement hurts credit, I was already late on most of my payments so I went on with debt settlement. It helped me save some money on my debt payments. I had $18,000 in credit card debt and with settlement it lowered to $10,000. I used the following calculator to calculate my debt payment
   Powered by Debtconsolidationcare

Though it has been tough to consistently go on saving money, still I diligently went on with the savings plan in my head and now I am debt free and secure enough with my savings.

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A good seventy percent of the United States economy is derived from consumer spending. If you can personally attest to this fact due to your spouse’s spending habits, then you may have a problem. Once upon a time, your spouse’s spending habits may not have bothered you. When you’re young and don’t have a mortgage and three kids, it’s easy to throw cash around without any real impact as long as you’re making a good salary. But when people get older, their priorities often change. You may now prefer to save your money for retirement rather than going out to the movies three times a week. However, what if you spouse hasn’t changed his views and is still as big of a spender as ever? Cutting up your spouse’s credit cards or creating a secret bank account isn’t the way to go if you want to keep your marriage intact. Here are some tips on how to save money when your spouse is a spender without wrecking your marriage due to squabbling over money.

First and foremost, take a good look at your own spending habits before going after your spouse. Are they really a major spender or are they just spending money on things that you personally do not think are important? If you’re a man, understand that a woman may not consider her purchase of a new shirt every week or so a spendthrift habit. Ladies, if you think your shoe collection is reasonable but you flip out every time your hubby comes home with a new gadget, think twice.

If there really is a spending problem though, cajoling, not criticizing, is the way to go. Is there something you can offer to your spouse to encourage them to spend less? One great way to go about it is to make an enticing offer. If your spouse cuts the spending, offer up new lingerie or a nice romantic dinner as an incentive and see if that helps turn a spending problem into a win-win situation.

Try negotiating with your spouse. If you sit down with your spouse and discuss your concerns, most reasonable adults will understand the need to save; the only thing you two may actually differ upon is the amount of money to put aside. Saving won’t come naturally – it’s like starting exercise. When you’re out of shape, it’s hard to run around the block but if you keep it up, eventually it becomes easier. The same goes for saving – eventually, it will become second nature.

Don’t tell your spouse that they can never spend anything ever again. A more practical way to go about it is to figure out how much they are allowed to spend. Divvy up your paychecks and figure out how much should be saved and how much should be used for expenses. The remainder of the money should be split between yourself and your spouse to be spent in whatever way the two of you please. If your spouse only spends money from their personal share, you are officially never allowed to criticize or ask how much they paid.

David writes for a life insurance quotes website known as Life Cover, posts weekly on a number of other blogs and is also happily married.

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