Just as I thought life was getting back to "normal" things were slightly derailed. Once I have a chance to mentally regroup I'll go into more details. In the meantime enjoy this great guest post by Michael D. from Credit Card Forum.

From past blog posts, I know Mr. and Mrs. NtJS aren’t exactly the biggest fans of credit cards to say the least. I actually run a credit card forum/blog myself, and as ironic as this may sound, I actually agree with most of their viewpoints on them! There are definitely quite a few problems that come about with using credit cards. Today I want to talk about one of those problems that most people don’t consider.

First, let’s rewind back to the 80’s and 90’s… do you remember how little credit cards were used? In the small town I lived in Michigan, I remember grocery stores only accepted cash or checks for payment. In fact back then, the only places that always took credit were department stores and the like. Nowadays it seems that almost everyone takes plastic… grocery stores, doctors’ offices, and even charities. That last one is what I want to talk about, let me give you an example…

A while back I read a book called the The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us? It’s written by a man named Richard Stearns, previously a “jet set” CEO who ended up becoming President of the Christian charity World Vision, initially against his own will. In a nutshell, this raw and brutally honest story is a must-read for everyone and the message is so powerful that World Vision is now my favorite charity. But what does this have to do with credit cards? Let me explain…

Since reading the book, I’ve been sponsoring a child through World Vision. I have this amount automatically charged to my credit card every month. In addition, the bulk of my giving is made to their general fund, another amount which is charged to my card. Now this is a very efficient organization (a very important criteria for me when giving) and while reviewing their most recent annual report, here’s how the numbers break down:

For every dollar:

• 89% goes directly to the programs
• 7% for fund raising costs
• 4% for administrative/management/general expenses
  

Now that’s pretty impressive… only 4 percent goes to actually running the organization. But what about that second number, the 7 percent? Make no mistake about it, that is an extremely low amount to pay for fund raising regardless, but what if everyone used checks instead of credit cards for their donations? How much lower would that fund raising number be? Because yes, unfortunately the credit card companies don’t even give charities a break… they still charge them those pesky processing fees.

Now I’m not an expert on credit card (interchange) fees, but according to Wikipedia the average is 1.79% in the United States. That means 1.79% of transactions goes to the credit card company. I’ve been using my Chase Freedom card, which is a rewards card, and those typically carry a fee that's even 0.30% or more higher. So according to those calculations, probably around 2.09% or more my giving to World Vision is being eaten up by Visa and Chase Bank. It may not sound like much, but if you take 2% of all their credit card donations, that ends up being a lot of money!

So what’s the lesson? I definitely need to use the check book from now on. If every one of their donors skipped credit cards, just imagine how many more people could be helped… with the same amount of money given! Of course at the same time, I do realize there is a “convenience factor” of credit card giving that may bring in some money from people who normally wouldn’t give because of the “hassle” of writing a check (and obviously a 98% donation is better than none at all!) but for everyone else, please don’t be lazy… use your checkbook and your money will go even further.

About the Author: Michael is a forum moderator and blogger at CreditCardForum.com, which is a website for credit card reviews and discussions. Although he’s fanatical about raking up his rewards, he does acknowledge that credit cards truly do have a lot of drawbacks, are definitely not suitable for everyone, and can lead to nightmares if a balance is carried.

--- Continue Reading This Post ---

Be sure to tune in later for our Two Cents Tuesday post (and leave your two cents, too!), but first I want to direct your attention to a guest post we wrote for Matt at Debt Free Adventure on Tithing Our Time. It's a new concept that we've been considering and finally pulled together.

So head on over to Matt's site and and give it a read. Be sure to leave a comment, as we'd love to hear your thoughts. While you're there check out some of Matt's posts and don't forget to subscribe.

Here are some posts not to miss at DFA:

• Tithing our Time (shameless plug)
• Credit Cards - Close 'em Shred 'em & Forget 'em!
• Wise Use of Paid off Credit Cards? You Decide.
• Easy and Frugal Homemade Granola Recipie
  

--- Continue Reading This Post ---

Everywhere you go these days you hear people griping about the bad economy. There is no denying that the recession has hit a lot of us hard. However, most things are neither inherently good nor bad but rather are what we make of them. If we can maintain a positive attitude about the situation that we’re in then we may find that there are actually a lot of good things coming out of the downturn in the economy.

Simpler Living

When faced with a recession, people start living a more frugal life which in turn often leads to living a simpler life. Many of us have stopped rushing around so much because we simply can’t afford the movie tickets, weekend trips, community classes and other things that were taking up so much of our time. Instead, we’re making do with the entertainment that we have at home. This allows us a chance to really get our priorities straight and to gain a more thorough understanding of what matters to us. It also allows us to find pleasure in life’s little things. Even in the face of financial stress, we may find that the little pleasures of simple living are actually reducing our overall stress levels.

Stronger Communities

The recession has caused a lot of us to grow closer to our families, friends and community members. We’re spending less time on entertaining each other and more time just talking and spending time together. We’re getting to know one another better. Since we’re all in a financial bind, we can really empathize with others who are in a tight spot. People are lending each other a helping hand. Bartering is making a comeback among people who have services to trade even though they may not have money. Living in a close community is far more important to most of us than living in a rich one!

Healthier Lifestyles

We typically think of poverty as a cause of unhealthy living but the recession is different. The recession is causing some changes that actually improve our health. More people are going vegetarian since meat is expensive. They’re often buying local foods. This is healthier for their bodies as well as for the environment. In fact, a lot of money-saving efforts are also efforts that reduce waste and make for a more eco-friendly way of life which makes the earth around us healthier. Additionally, many of us are taking better care of ourselves than in the past. In trying to make ourselves feel safe in a time when things are chaotic, we are paying more attention to meeting our own needs. We’re also remembering that money doesn’t matter nearly as much as our health does and we’re acting accordingly.

Embracing our Creativity

All of these changes are causing us to really explore a creative side to ourselves that many people have let lie dormant for far too long. We are learning to get creative in making things since we can’t afford to buy them. We’re getting more creative about our approaches to indulgences like vacations so that we can enjoy them without spending a lot of money. People really do thrive when they express themselves creatively so this is definitely a good thing that’s come out of the bad economy.

Following our Passions

The change in the economy has caused a lot of people to lose their jobs. That’s a terrible experience but many people are turning it into a positive thing. When work is steady, it’s easy to just fall into a pattern of doing it even though you don’t love it. When you realize that your job isn’t secure, you start to ask yourself why you’re doing it. This is causing a lot of people to realize that the work they’ve been doing isn’t the work that they love. People are finding a fresh reason to identify their passions and to follow them.

Doing Better at our Jobs

Those people who do have jobs may be reinvesting themselves in their work. They’re making a concentrated effort to do their work well. Although the fear of job loss that is motivating them is not a positive thing, the result is a positive one. People care more about a job well done. That’s something to be valued.

Learning about Ourselves

All in all this experience of going through a bad recession has caused each of us to learn more about ourselves. We have had to find wells of inner strength to get us through these tough times. We have had to make tough choices about how we want to spend our money and making those choices has helped us to learn to prioritize things in our lives. We have had to look at the work we do, the way that we do it and the goals we have for our lives. The recession has required us to shift our thinking and the result is that our thinking is opening up. We may want the recession to be over but we can use this time to make positive changes that will last us for the rest of our lives.




Guest post by Kathryn Vercillo. Kathryn is a writer for Promotionalcodes.org.uk which gives away free voucher codes (like this Laura Ashley promotional code) and also publishes money saving tips.

--- Continue Reading This Post ---

--- Continue Reading This Post ---

Wide Open Wallet is a blog by a stay at home mother of two. Ashley takes an honest look at family finances by discussing debt, budgeting, saving, and frugal living. Check out her site and if you like what you see, consider subscribing!

******************************************************
We got our tax return back last week. We like getting a big tax return and claim zero to make it happen. I know it goes against the general consensus of personal finance people but hey, that's why they call it personal finance. Because sometimes you have to forget what they say and do what works for you. I've figured it out and we are losing less than $100 a year in interest. For me, the forced savings is worth the lost interest. I just like getting a tax return too much.

Anyways, we got back $10,500. Usually we pay $1,000 in extra principal towards the house out of our tax return and then put the rest in an account to cover us when overtime is low at my husband's job. But not this year. I just don't feel comfortable sending money to the house with the economy so fragile. It's already gotten way worse around here than we thought possible. So for now, we are keeping all of our tax return tucked away safe in our savings account.

I hate not sending it to the mortgage but if things don't pick up at my husband's job we may need it. And it's not going to do much good for us as equity in the house. As much as it stinks, we have to put the goal of paying off the house aside to make sure we meet the goal of feeding the kids. We'll see where we stand next year. If we can send $2,000 I will. Hopefully we will at least be able to send the regular $1,000.

--- Continue Reading This Post ---