This is how much I spend a month on food. I don’t cook, so everyday I go out to eat and spend around 10-20 dollars a day. The amount excludes at least 3 days worth, because I went home and food is free there

I bet I can cut that cost down next year by making my own food! I’ll go to the store two times a month and spend 130 dollars each time. That’ll be enough food to last me at least two weeks.

I have it all planned out.

Yeah.

After successfully reaching its job-cutting goal of 11,000 jobs, Chrysler chairman Bob Nardelli announced a very enticing incentive to lease a Chrysler. Until May 31, Chrysler will be offering $2.99 gas for three years at 12,000 miles per year. No matter what the price of gas, a card from Chrysler will pay the difference, only costing you $2.99 per gallon.

On the surface this looks like an extremely enticing deal, especially with the price of gas breaking new records nearly every day recently. Some say the average price of gas could reach $4.00 per gallon during the summer of 2008, however, with some rough math the savings aren’t as great as expected.

I made some very rough estimates, saying that the average Chrysler vehicle hold 18 gallons of gas and averages 20 miles per gallon. Then I estimated that the average price of gas over the next three years would be around $4.20 (luckily in Texas we don’t see near the average). That equals 360 miles per tank of gas, meaning you would fill up 33 times per year at the 12,000 mile limit, equaling 100 total fill-ups during the 3-year leasing…

Some of ya’ll have already received the Economic Stimulus check, and are ready to either buy stuff or pay off debt. For those of you who don’t know, US government made the 2008 economic stimulus package, which alloted 152 billion dollars worth of rebates to tax payers. The reason for these rebates is to boost the consumer spending, and fix our economy’s current trend.

Needless to say, many company are very anxious to get a hold of your rebate check.

• Kroger, Albertsons and SuperValu are offering 10% bonuses (check your local store for info).
• Wal-Mart will cash your rebate check for free, in hope you’ll spend it all in their store.
• Staples has launched the Economic Stimulus Center. This will give consumers even more discounts, hence more incentive to buy!
• RadioShack is offering 10% deductions on purchases of $50 or more.

Even though I paid taxes last year, my parents claimed me as a dependent and I won’t be getting my check. I freaking paid 40% of my income on taxes too! Damn self employment tax and income tax. I’m just glad that Texas doesn’t have state tax, otherwise I’d be paying…

#1. All their cards have all the rewards and benefits that Visa and Mastercard provide, whether it’s 1% cash back or airplane mileage.

#2. If you buy something, below $300, and the merchant refuses to refund your money, Amex will pay you for it; however, you can only redeem up to $1000 a year doing this.

#3. If you buy something with a warranty Amex will match that warranty, up to a one full year.

#4. Most cards have travel insurance. In case you get sick or die, while traveling, Amex will  pay the covered person up to 1.5 million for their loss. It depends on what type of card you have. In case of “loss of  one hand and one foot” the coverage is between 50,000 to 1,500,000.

#5. When you rent a car with a qualifying Amex card, you’ll be covered under their Car Retnal Loss and Damage Insurance Plan. So you don’t need to buy insurance from the car renter!

#6. Don’t be scared to lose your bags when you travel, because Amex has Baggage Insurance. Eligible members are allowed to claim $500 for checked bags, and $1250 for carry-on baggage.

The thing you…

Tonight, I went to Amy’s Ice Cream and wasn’t too pleased with the service. The line wasn’t long when I got there, but it took at least 15 minutes to get my ice cream. I really don’t get how tough serving ice cream and shakes can be. But apparently the three employees had a hard time.

 
I was with two other people and we were going to order together. One person served all three of us, rather than all three helping. I don’t get the logic here, but one of the employees refused to serve me because there was somebody else helping my two friends. That employee also took the time to chat with a coworker, after turning me down. My first impression of Amy’s Ice Cream is that it has a really relaxed atmosphere. But that guy really ruined it for me, and made Amy’s Ice Cream seem like a haven where slouches can work. This is a perfect example of how a successful business gets bad publicity.

 
Let’s talk about making money.

Anyways even with bad employees, Amy’s Ice Cream is totally a cash cow. Their return of investment…

CreditKarma is giving away free credit scores. Usually websites give you free credit reports, but they don’t tell you the actual credit number but CreditKarma will! This service is free to use and allows you see your score change daily. The reason the site is free is because they make their money off advertisements and affiliate offers.

 
So why are credit scores important? Credit scores are used to rate how reliable you are in paying loans back. The number way to raise this score is use a credit card and pay it back monthly. I got my first credit card when I turned 18 and now I have a fairly high score. I purchase everything with my credit card and pay it back on time. Another way to get your credit score up is to take out a loan and pay it back on time. I took out a secured loan, basically paying for a loan, and now every month when I pay it back my credit score rises. If you ever plan on getting a loan or applying for a credit card, the higher your credit score the more…

I just paid my Sprint cell phone bill and had to share this with the people who don’t already know. Sprint currently has their employee plans open to the public.

You just need an employee’s email (leave a message if you’re having trouble finding one), which you can find pretty easy on Google, and you’re set. By the way, if you’re currently a Sprint customer you can change your plan without charge to SERO because Sprint changed a policy starting this year. All SERO plans come with unlimited texts, night and weekends at 7 PM, unlimited weekends, unlimited data (great for people with PDAs or smart phones), unlimited picture mail, and great Sprint service! 500 minutes is $30, 1250 is $50, and 2500 is $100. However, it is very easy to get added perks when you call Sprint and tell them you want to cancel. My roommate, “Ultrayeah,” has 700 minutes with 6 PM nights for $30 and I have 600 minutes with 6 PM nights for $30. I strongly recommend you get the SERO plan if possible, and please leave a comment if you need any more information.

Rent- $770 (including water)
Electricity- $55
Internet access-$30
Cell phone- $35
Car insurance-$30
Gas- $45
Food- $550
Miscellaneous-$100
Monthly-$1615
Annually- $19,380

 
This budget is reasonable based on how I live. My cellphone plan is very cheap and I spend little to no money on entertainment. I use Yahoo DSL, which is cheap but has very shitty service. The only cost that is exceptionally high is Food: I go out to eat everyday, because I don’t have the time or skill to cook. The miscellaneous costs include clothes and personal items, which I don’t buy every month, but when I do, can be very expensive: I treated myself to a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses this month.

 
Overall, I bet I could live happily with just making 25k a year. That’s plenty to cover my expenses and I could invest the rest. If I wanted to save money, I could get a house and the mortgage would definitely be lower than $770. Also, if I learned to cook, I could save a lot on the food expenses. Based on my budget I could go on at least one vacation a year, or buy a new car.

 
This just goes to show you don’t have to be a millionaire to…

If ya’ll have a savings account at a local bank, such as Chase or Bank of America, get rid of it! I’m almost positive that your interest rate is lower than any online savings. When I was with Bank of America, their savings rate was like 1% or .05%; I don’t remember exactly, but I know it was ridiculously low. The only reason there is a savings account is because the banks need to borrow money: They take your money at a low rate and give it to somebody at a higher one. I’m not sure what the savings rates are now, but I can guarantee it’s even lower than before. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates that the banks can borrow at, and now they don’t need to use your money anymore; therefore, you will get a rate closer to 0% than 1%.

But there are still a few banks out there that have a competitive rate. All those online banks don’t have a high enough market share to charge low rates, so they offer great savings. Yesterday, I ditched Emigrant Direct, which had a savings of 2.95%, for CountryWide: They have the highest…

My very first credit card-Gold Card From BOA- is about to expire next month. It was the most pointless card I ever got: I had to pay to receive the card and it had no rewards plan. Oh well at that time I had no credit, so that’s probably the only card I could have gotten. Because it’s expiring I want to get another card to replace it.  There were two things that I considered when looking for a card: Rewards and spending limit.

 Right now, I’m using my debit card to pay for my affiliate marketing, because my limit isn’t high enough on my card cards. That becomes a big hassle: I get quite a few charges a month and have to deposit money every few days. To solve this problem, I looked for a card that has very flexible credit. Luckily, American Express has charge cards, which don’t have a preset spending limit, but you usually have to pay it off within one month; otherwise, they charge pretty high APR rates. Now to solve the second part of my problem-need rewards- I looked into the “ONE” charge card. Not only does this card have a no preset…