In the past we have talked about whether or to spend the money on organic foods. The debate stems from the old healthy versus thrifty argument. Organic foods are commonly more expensive than its processed counter parts but are the health benefits worth the extra cash, or is there another way to get the healthy stuff without having to toss up a bowl of freshly chopped dollar bills.

Well our friends over at Mint.com compiled a list of great organic saver tips for those who don’t want to sacrifice their health or cash. Here are some of our favorites:

“3. When shopping for deli meats, choose the store-baked meats (and don’t buy these from a place like Whole Foods; way too expensive). They typically have the least amount of preservatives and taste the best. No need to buy organic. Also get your deli meats fresh cut and not in prepackaged containers. You will save at least 50% by waiting in line with your little paper ticket.

10. You don’t need to buy organic frozen meals. All frozen meals are high in salt and that is typically the big offender for frozen meals. Regardless of whether or not they are organic, they will still have a high salt content. Limit your frozen meals, they aren’t really healthy.”

Would these tips push you off the processed ledge and into the organic crowd?

Sources: Mint.com
Photo by: Nathaliederain // CC 2.0

Looks like the government is getting their erasers out when it come to some peoples mortgage debts. A $14 billion plan has been announced that gives lenders incentives to give the unemployed slashed mortgage payments and to even erase some mortgage debt.

Reuters says:

“The new aid programs, funded from the $50 billion allocated to housing rescue under the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, will also allow borrowers to erase mortgage debt down to a maximum of 115 percent of their home’s value by refinancing through the Federal Housing Administration.

The plan comes as President Barack Obama is under increasing political pressure to change his strategy for helping struggling homeowners and stem the tide of rising foreclosures and is the second major housing initiative announced in as many months.”

The plan is modeled after a plan announced by Bank of America earlier this week.

Check out the full article and let us know what you think about the government whipping out their debt erasers.

Photo by: Pinksherbet // CC 2.0
Source: Reuters

By this point we are all well aware of the housing situation this country is in. According to CNN, nearly 25% of all mortgages are deep underwater, meaning the borrower owes more than the house is worth. Some states have homes closer to Davey Jones’ Locker than others, such as Michigan who has 39% of all of its mortgaged properties underwater. As scary as that number is, it doesn’t even come close to Nevada’s 70% underwater rate!

With all these mortgages being higher than the home value, many people are deciding to walk away from the home and take a foreclosure hit. The sad thing is some of these people can afford the payments and are just doing it as a strategic financial move.

At the time this may seem like the best/only option, but when you step back and look at the situation, walking away from an underwater house is never a good decision.

You are going to have to live somewhere after you walk away from your home and foreclosing leaves a huge black spot on your credit score for seven years! If you think that you’ll just rent till it goes away, think again. Renters are now starting to check credit scores to see if their potential tenants will be able to handle paying their rent on time.

Strategically walking away from a home not only hurts your credit score but your integrity as well. When you sign a contract for a mortgage, you are giving your word that you will pay this money back to lender. So financially it may benefit you but you might have to compromise some morals to make it work.

There are your neighbors to think about in this underwater situation as well. When you walk away from a house, this decreases your neighbor’s home value. Just think how you would feel if your home dropped in value, all just because someone decided to make a financial move and foreclose on their home.

Sure your home might be stuck in the briny deep leaving you stuck paying more than what it’s worth, but have some faith in the future of housing and realize your home value will eventually start to increase.

What are your thoughts on walking away on an underwater home?

Source: CNN Money
Photo by: Davidbaker // CC 2.0

In a previous article, Incoming Income, we talked about how to break the constraints of your income to start bringing in more cash each month. Some people don’t feel comfortable renting out a room or might not have the time to turn a crafty hobby into cash but that shouldn’t get in your way of increasing your income.

If you want to truly control your income it is essential that you get hungry. Hungry for knowledge. No matter what career path you have, it should be a priority to stay current in your field and to constantly seek out new information about your career. This ensures you are ahead of the game in whatever industry you are in and that kind of head start is the type of thing that gets people promotions, new sales leads, or increased customer base.

Take night courses at a local community college to keep up with current trends in your field because after all if you let your knowledge become obsolete, so do you. For the working professional, night classes might be out of the question but most colleges have online courses that give you access to new exciting information about your field that will give you’re the professional edge. Who knows, you might take enough classes and before you realize, it could add up to a Masters Degree on your resume (perfect for promotions).

Look for training courses put on by different companies that specialize in your field. Let’s say you are a mortgage professional, Training Pro has courses all over the country that will prepare you to take different certification courses that will keep you on top of your game and ready to make more money.

Get certified by accredited programs, this shows employers and customers that you have taken the steps necessary to learn all you can about your field. Certifications are an excellent way to become next in line for that supervisor position.

Be the master of your domain and learn all you can about your field to make yourself a commodity. When you are the only expert around, employers will go out of their way to keep you at the company and this usually means higher compensation.

Open a book, take a class, or get that certification, whatever you do, make sure you keep feeding that brain so you can feed your wallet in turn!

Photo by:M00by // CC 2.0

Here at MoneyLounge we appreciate our readers, and to show our appreciation we are going to give you an insider tip that could earn you an easy $3,000 to pay those housing bills.

Starting April 1st, Shore Mortgage is launching a special contest that will award 3 winners $3,000 each and 1 winner $1,000 to pay housing expenses!

Want in?

All you have to do is stay tuned to MoneyLounge in the next two weeks and we will give you insider information about the contest a full week BEFORE it’s released to the public! Just our way of saying thanks for staying tuned.

So keep your eyes open and get ready to win big!

Photo by:Atanski // CC 2.0

If you are reading this article, it’s a safe assumption that you own a computer. So until the MoneyLounge book comes out, if you want a hard copy of these unbelievably insightful articles you are going to have to rely on your trusty ink printer.

Only problem is in order to get those articles on paper you are going to need some ink, and that black gold costs anywhere from 30-60 bucks a cartridge. So if you’re looking for some ways to stretch the life of that precious liquid, you’ve come to the right place!

Set it up: Before you print, go into the settings and change the print quality from “normal” to “draft”. The color will not be as strong but this little trick can double the life of your cartridge.

Leave it out: When there is only a certain area of text on a web page you need printed, copy the text, then paste it into your word processor. This way you can still get the information you need but without using up ink on graphics and banner ads that are on the web page.

Shrink ray: The bigger the text, the more ink you need to print it. Shrink that text down to a size that doesn’t take up the whole page.

Out of style: That’s right, black is out of style! Change the font color to a medium gray tone. You will still be able to read the text and it saves on ink.

Ignore it: Many printers have a warning light that comes on when your ink is out. Don’t throw it away when this happens, just relax and keep on printing. Most of the time, you will be able to print for another few weeks on that “empty” cartridge.

Don’t do it:If you are really crunching on ink, why print at all? If you need something small like directions or a short recipe, take the time to write it down the old fashioned way, with a pencil.

If you are sick of paying more money for ink than you did for the printer itself, keep these tips in mind next time you decide to tap “Ctrl + P” on your keyboard

What are you favorite ways on saving that black gold?

Photo by:Angelune // CC 2.0

By now everybody has heard of the First Time Home Buyer tax credit, and to take advantage of the $8,000, you have to meet the April 30th deadline. What the government is now saying that your second time is almost as good as the first!

Now anyone who has owned a principal residence home for five consecutive years is eligible for a $6,500 tax credit!

The same rules apply to the Repeat Home Buyers tax credit that apply to the First Time Home Buyers, meaning you must have a household income no more than $75,000 for singles, and no more than $150,000 for married couples filing a joint return.

Just to be clear, the government is considers the following to be acceptable principal residences:

• Single-Family Detached Homes
• Townhouses
• Condominiums
• Manufactured/Mobile Homes
• Houseboats

The tax credit will only be 10% of the purchase price of the home, to a maximum of $6,500. If you meet the requirements to get the tax credit, it’s a great way to help you get your first home! You better hurry though because the April 30th deadline is quickly approaching.

Good luck house hunting and enjoy that $8,000 or $6,500 tax credit!

Source: Federal Housing Tax Credit
Photo by: Spaunsglo // CC 2.0

No, MoneyLounge hasn’t turned to an animal advice blog, but we are concerned about the money you are spending on your feet! Unless you are living the surfer’s dream, walking barefoot on the beach half the day and the other half riding the pipeline, you have to worry about protecting your feet.

Shoes are something we wear every day, so it’s no surprise to learn how quickly they wear down. When those puppies finally break down, that’s just one more added expense for the month, and purchasing pedis coverings (fancy way of saying shoes), if you’re not careful, can cost you a pretty penny. There is no way of avoiding the inevitable fact you will have to buy new shoes, but follow these tips and you will be able to keep those kicks kickin’.

Stunt double: Instead of trashing your old sneakers, hold on to them when you know you’re going to be in a messy situation. So next time you go to do yard work or paint the house, save your everyday shoes and bring in the stunt doubles to take care of the dirty work. This way your everyday shoes stay pristine much longer.

Also if you have a pair of nice gym shoes, don’t wear them from the car to the gym. Bring out the stunt doubles in, and only wear the good shoes on the court. This way they stay clean and extra wear free. It’s also much safer because there will be no water on your shoes to make things slippery.

Shower time: You don’t need to put them in an actual shower, but it helps if you wash them up from time to time. Dirt and grime build up on shoes make them look worn and aged, so take the time to wipe those babies down once in a while to keep them shining.

Walking on air: Now that you have the outside looking fresh and clean, pick up some cushion inserts to keep the insides comfortable when the original padding has worn down. After all why bother making a squeaky clean shoe if it makes you feel like you’re walking on hot coals all day.

If you take the time to treat your shoes right they will do the same to you. The best part of this is the longer your shoes last, the longer you go without having to buy new ones!

What’s the longest you’ve had a pair of shoes?

Photo by: Zub // CC 2.0

The great thing about technology is it makes our lives so much easier. Spelling is checked for us, phone systems rout us to the department we need, emails are sent, and bills are paid all with the click of a button. Most of the time you don’t even have to click a button anymore, the machines and programs know when and what they need to do without your help! A big problem with this is people tend to get lazy and don’t check up on the program. People tend to get burned the most with automatic bill payments.

Paying your bills online is a great way to save paper, time, and sanity but when we use those extra features we tend to forget to check up on them. Automatic bill payment took a fast way to pay bills and made it so fast you don’t have to do anything! Set a date, give them an account number and the money is automatically taken out of the account.

What a great way to save time!

Time, yes. Money, no. This automatic payment allows people to be lazy and forget to check what is taken out of the account. You could get slightly over charged or even double charged without even realizing it. Even if you get over charged you will be able to get your money back, but then you have to take a day to make the calls, wait on hold, and deal with the service reps.

To combat this, say yes to online bill paying and no to automatic bill payments. If you make the effort to remember when your bills need to be paid and click pay on time each month, there is no way for you to be over charged for anything.

If you’re worried that this barbaric method of online bill payment will take up too much time, then you might need to reevaluate your schedule if you can’t find literally 5.2 free seconds to click the pay bill button. It’s time to revolt against the machines and take back what is yours. Your money!

What are your thoughts on automated bill payment?

Photo by: Donsolo // CC 2.0

On May 19, 2009, the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD) was passed and set to go into effect February 2010. Well it’s February and if you haven’t already, it’s time to learn about the CARD act and how it affects you.

First of all, the CARD act protects the holder from unfair rate increases and term changes. With this new act, all promotional rates must last at least six months, rate increases do not affect previous balances, and your rates can not go up in the first year of a new card.

CARD also protects holders from high fees. Now you cannot be charged a fee if you go over your limit, unless you opt into over the limit transactions. This is great for all of you who get a little plastic happy from time to time. The act also requires any penalty fee to proportional to the violation.

For all of those who worry about paying the bills on time, it is now required to send the bill out twenty one days in advance instead of fourteen. This is a great opportunity to start working on your budget a few weeks ahead of time.

If you ever had a problem with your terms and rates of your card, you will now be given forty five days notice if your rates or fees increase.

Young adults get a piece of the action by getting increased protection for students against aggressive credit card marketing.

There are many more changes to the way we use credit and they can be viewed at the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs website.
It’s very important to stay current on all the new credit laws so you don’t get blindsided by anything dealing with your credit.

What are your thoughts on the new CARD act?

Photo by: Andresrueda // CC 2.0
Source: United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs