HealthBee

Women, particularly moms in general, have little time, and lots of friends to buy birthday cards for. If you think how many people you know off the top of your head, you probably know a lot more than you realize: the person who boards your dog, your children’s teacher, the Sunday school lady who plays piano in your church group, the soccer coach, and just other moms in general. And all of them have birthdays.

As a mom, you’ve gotta stretch that dollar as far as you can. And birthday cards can get expensive. Think about it. Most cards these days cost around $3.50 to $4.00 apiece if you purchase them in a store. Not to mention the time it takes to pick them out, all while you’ve got kids running around you, or bored to death, or whining that they don’t want to be in the store.

One easy to save money and to avoid the pain of the card store is to buy birthday cards in bulk online and store them until you need them. A tip: look for businesses that cater to other businesses to find the best deal on buying items in bulk.

Cards Direct has a great assortment pack of birthday cards that you can purchase that includes 5 designs of 10 cards each.

AND..here’s the really cool part: you can personalize these cards however you want. So, you can get the return address pre-printed on the envelope to save you even more time. Because CardsDirect is a company that caters mostly to businesses, you can get such great deals on cards.

This kind of out-of-the-box thinking can save you some big dollars. Give it a try.

With all of the housing loan woes of today and the economy looking being one of the most sluggish since the 1980’s, people all over the US are looking for more ways to save a little money AND their credit. One of the biggest expenses most people have next to their rent or their mortgage is their car loan.

There is help, however. Many women do not know that it is possible to refinance their car loan. What this means is that a new lender will take over your original loan. Many times, you can get a better deal on your interest rate which, over the life of the loan could save you thousands. This is also something you may need to do in the event of a divorce in order to get your ex-spouses name off of the loan.

If you realize you do need to get a Car Refinance, you may wish to take a look at the Finance Genius web site. I particularly like the calculators they have including the auto finance calculator so you can see what you really spend, a calculator to figure your debt to income ratio, and the impact of only paying the minimum on your credit cards.

I very much believe it is time for women to take a personal stand in their finances. Being in the know about how your money is spent gives you power. And as women, we need all the power we can get.

To be well means wellness in all of your life, including your financial life.

I have to say that when I first saw the book “Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Own Destiny” by Suze Orman, I didn’t want to read it. In the past, I found that many of her books were difficult to understand and frankly a little preachy. When I saw that I could get it for free on Oprah’s site (for one day only) I figured I had nothing to lose. I downloaded the book and then watched her on Oprah later that night on my Tivo.

She made a very good point. She said that often people came up to her and asked how they could start saving for their kid’s college. The first question Suze would ask back was “Well, do you have enough money saved for your own retirement?” and most of the time, the answer was “Well, No.” And Suze, in her authoritarian voice “Well, then why are you trying to save for your kids when you haven’t saved for yourself. Let them go to Community College so they don’t have to support you in your old age.”

It is a different approach than I’ve ever heard before. It seems, as women, we are taught to take care of everyone else first and save ourselves for last. We forget that the only way we can truly care for other people is if we are well enough to care for ourselves first.

Intrigued, I began reading the book. Surprisingly, it was written in a different voice than the rest of her books. I didn’t feel stupid when I read it because she wrote as though she were talking to someone who had absolutely no idea of anything money related.

The book goes into a 5 month plan of teaching you about your own finances and how, if you follow her plan, you can start saving money for yourself. And, her plan is simple: it only takes 24 hours each month. That is one day, Ladies!

I think the most interesting part of the book is that it focuses on women taking care of themselves. Even if you are married, you should have your own bank account, and savings that are in your name only. Because, sometimes, things happen out of your control when you need to be able to take care of yourself.

She also has a deal on her site with Ameritrade: open up an online savings account with Ameritrade and faithfully put in $50 a month for a year, and you will get $100 dollars from Ameritrade. FREE MONEY! That’s a good deal. It is only open until the end of this month, so you have to act fast.

For more information, you can go to Suze’s site:
http://www.SuzeOrman.com