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Newsletter to Your Friends (Use this link only if you receive this newsletter by email) Week of April 5, 2010This is an OPT-IN list ONLY! If you feel that you have received this message in error, please follow the directions at the bottom of this email to unsubscribe. Thank you.Click Here to view this newsletter online. Navigate This ColumnGrandpa Terry's Update Welcome to The Budget Stretcher! No doubt you have seen the offers for a Free Credit Report on the web, tv or on radio or in print. But if you have ever checked into them you find that you have to sign up for their free monitoring or other service and pay their fee. Effective April 2, 2010 the Federal Trade Commission will no longer allow this practice. The Federal Trade Commission’s Free Credit Reports Rule will require new prominent disclosures in advertisements for “free credit reports.” For example, any Web site offering free credit reports must include a disclosure, across the top of each page that mentions free credit reports, which states: THIS NOTICE IS REQUIRED BY LAW. Read more at FTC.GOV. You have the right to a free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com or 877-322-8228, the ONLY authorized source under federal law. The Web site disclosure must include a clickable button to “Take me to the authorized source” and clickable links to AnnualCreditReport.com and FTC.GOV. Click Here to read more about this new rule What a waste. There isn't much I like about Social Security but today I want to write about two of the dumb rules and the reason you should never rely on Social Security as your sole source of retirement. First, if you elect to retire at age 62 which anyone can do you are penalized by a large reduction in your monthly benefit. As if that penalty isn't enough they also do not allow you to earn over $1180 per month (For 2010) or they will take $1 for every $2 you earn over that limit. The rules are a little more detailed than this but it's the basics. I can understand reducing your benefit for retiring early but I can't believe that they would limit your earnings. If you have a logical explanation of this please let me know. Secondly, why do some have to pay taxes on their Social Security benefits if they earn over a certain amount. When you were paying into Social Security it was deducted out of after taxes income so you have already paid your taxes on these benefits. Again, if you know please pass it along. You can read a few more of my thoughts on Social Security by reading my article: Social Security - Retire in Poverty, Die Penniless That's all for now. Remember, I really enjoy hearing from you folks. If you have any comments, complaints, suggestions or just want to say Hi, please send me an email to tre2000@midwest.net If you know someone that may be interested in subscribing to our newsletter just copy and paste the below link into an email to them and have them subscribe: http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/confirmsubs.html Have a great week, Grandpa Terry Sponsor AdvertisementAre you frustrated trying to get by on the money you make? Would you like to get a good view to where all your money is going? Would you like to start saving your money, or save even more? Looking for something easier then software like Quicken or Money? Would you like to teach your children about finance? Click Here to check out My Budget Planner Today Grandpa Terry's Tip of the WeekSome of you might want to shoot me or at least unsubscribe at the suggestion that you actually sit down and determine who and what you owe. However, I think it's worth the risk. All too often we just concentrate on what the payments are and not the bottom line. That's good to a certain extent so long as we keep those payments within our budget. I have bought cars and other items where what the item cost or how long I was going to have to pay never really crossed my mind. This is how our debt can get out of control. When you know how much you really owe you will have a better idea of how to go about managing that debt. It should be our goal to reduce our debt from year to year. The only way to do this is to list all of our debts on a single piece of paper once or twice a year and compare it to what we owed the year before. Finding out how much you owe is a simple process. I would recommend that you write down the account number, company name and the balance on all of your debts on a single piece of paper as you receive your statements for any given month. If some of your debtors do not send statements, you may have to call for the balance. Then, when you have the information you need for each debt simply add those balances together. It might be a sobering experience. I have developed a simple form for this purpose you can print if you like. You can find it at http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/owe.html or you can use the calculating for at http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/calcforms/owe2.xls . It would probably be best if you kept this form with your other budget forms. Sponsor AdvertisementPaying highest-interest debt first is the SLOWEST way out ... You can laugh at money worries - if you follow our simple plan. Discover savvy consumer money secrets your friends don't know and banks won't tell you. Limited time only. ACT NOW: ///////////////////////////////////////// Grandpa Terry's EmailHey, My question has nothing really to do with your email. I was just wondering if you have heard any of those probably thousands of ads that say they can cut your credit card bills in half. They claim things like the gov't gave millions to these banks and now the banks want to give us a break. Give me a break the banks are (well at least trying) to pay the gov't back. I say trying since the fed don't seem eager to take the money back since it lessens their conrtol. Anyway I hear these ads but am sceptical to say the least.What say you?Dennis My Response: Hi Dennis, I've checked out 4 different offers that claim to have government backing for their debt settlement program. While the government has bailed out these banks I can find no evidence that they are sponsoring these programs or saving the consumer any money. With debt settlement you normally hurt your credit score severely. You also have a good chance of getting ripped off. Even if the program works for you and you eliminate a great deal of your credit card debt, you will probably have to pay taxes on the amount that was forgiven. As bad as debt settlement is, it's a better alternative than bankruptcy. Here is a link to a very informative article of Debt Settlement: http://education.cardhub.com/debt-settlement-program/ I hope this helps, Terry Featured ArticleBunnies and Ham and Eggs, Oh My!
By Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam
It's almost that time of year again. You're standing, dumbfounded, in front of a mound of hard boiled eggs, sliced ham and chocolate Easter bunnies. You wonder, "what am I going to do with 6 dozen eggs, 6 lbs. of ham and 25 chocolate bunnies". The stress of it is almost enough to send you to bed for a week--or at least tear most of your hair out. Here are a few ideas and recipes from www.LivingOnADime.com to help you avoid both of those.
Leftover Bunnies:
~~ice cream
~~use in milk shakes
~~stir a few in a mug of hot chocolate
~~use in place of chocolate chips for making cookies
~~melt for dipping fruit and candy.
Leftover Ham:
Make:
~~ham salad
~~chef salad
~~ham sandwiches ~~potato salad
~~scrambled eggs
~~omelets
~~top baked potatoes
~~potato soup
~~scalloped potatoes
~~au gratin potatoes
~~pasties
~~pizza- with pineapple.
~~Top tortilla with ham, salsa, and cheddar cheese and warm, for hot ham and
~~cheese sandwiches. Leftover Eggs:
~~potato salad
~~tuna salad
~~pasta salad
~~chef salad
~~spinach salad with eggs and bacon
~~deviled eggs
~~golden morning sunshine
~~fill tomatoes with egg salad
Golden Morning Sunshine ~~2 cups white sauce
~~4 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
~~Make white sauce. Once the white sauce has thickened, add eggs. Serve on toast. White Sauce ~~3 cup dry milk
~~2 Tbsp. flour
~~dash salt
~~1 cup cold water
~~1 Tbsp. margarine
~~In a covered jar, combine dry milk, flour and salt and mix well. Add water. Shake until all the ingredients are dissolved. Melt margarine in a 1 quart sauce pan. Stir in flour-milk mixture and cook over low heat until mixture thickens and starts to bubble. Keep stirring until thickened completely.
Tawra Kellam is the editor of LivingOnADime.com. For more free tips and recipes visit her web site at www.LivingOnADime.com. In 5 years, Tawra andher husband paid off $20,000 personal debt on an average income of $22,000 per year.
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