personal finance

Monday miscellany: Frugal February edition.

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Longtime readers know that I consider all months to be frugal. But since at least 2012 some folks have observed Frugal February, for one (or both) of the following reasons: Holiday bills have hit with a vengeance. Doing something for 28 days sounds lots easier than doing it for 31. Whatever the reason, Frugal February … Read more

Monday miscellany: Sleazy scammer edition.

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Lost your job due to the pandemic or looking for a side hustle through a work-at-home job? Be careful where you click. The increase in work-at-home jobs is a perfect fit for an Internet scammer, reports Kathy Kristof on the SideHusl blog.

“Crooks hide in the crowd, making their offers appear so similar to real ones that it’s hard to tell the difference,” says Kristof.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, job scams have cost U.S. residents at least $150 million in the first nine months of 2020. I say “at least” because who knows how many people who were victimized bothered to file an FTC complaint, or who didn’t know they could?

Here’s what the thieves want:

  • Personal information, such as a Social Security number
  • Passwords to accounts
  • Access to your computer (for example, the crook might send you a link to fill out an application – but it’s a spoofed site that will infect your computer with malware)
  • For you to cash a personal check or write them a personal check

To be clear: There are loads of legitimate work-at-home jobs out there. But you need to be cautious about any offer, even if you think it’s legit. Kristof’s article can help.

In addition, the Internal Revenue Service reports a new text scam: Messages saying, “You have received a direct deposit of $1,200 from COVID-19 TREAS FUND. Further action is required to accept this payment into your account. Continue here to accept this payment …” 

 

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Monday miscellany: Disastrous beginner mistake edition.

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The delightful but definitely NSFW (in a good way!) personal finance blog Bitches Get Riches has tackled a topic that needs a perennial takedown: what to do with retirement funds. “PLEASE tell me you’re not making this disastrous beginner mistake with your retirement funds” is an essential read if you’re just starting out, but also … Read more

Why I threw away my underwear.

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Five years ago I wrote a post called “Why I sewed my underwear.” That piece still gets good traction; either people want to be justified in sewing their own smalls, or they want to read just why someone would bother repairing when replacement undies are so cheap.

(Well, cheap the way that I buy them: six- or eight-pack cotton drawers from Hanes. I’m well aware that solo scanties can cost $30 or more. I would never deny any woman – or any man, or any non-binary person –  undies that make them feel pretty. Personally, though, I’m built for comfort, not for speed.)

Today I threw out five pairs of unmentionables. And I feel just fine with that, for a couple of reasons.

The fixes weren’t holding. Either I’m a lousy sew-and-sew or some garments simply can’t be repaired over and over. DF thinks it’s the latter: “After one fix, out it goes.” And this is from a man who has been known to repair just about everything. Once, when the elbows of a shirt were threadbare, he cut the fabric above the elbow and started hemming his new short-sleeved shirt.

It’s okay not to wear tattered tighty-whities. I can afford new, whole briefs rather than having to slide (carefully!) into a few loosely connected underwear molecules. After all, I do have a job and that job lets me replace things that need replacing.

So yes, I bought new bloomers. But I did it frugally, because of course I did.

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Monday miscellany: Murder houses.

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Want to pay less for real estate? Look for a place where someone died.

Myles Ma of Policy Genius has written an engaging piece called “How death can haunt (or help) your house hunt.” According to one of his sources, you can expect a 10 to 25 percent discount a house where someone died.

Morbid? Yeah, a little. That is, if you can actually find out what happened there. In 32 states you don’t have to disclose such information; in 15, you have to disclose if the buyer asks. The toughest laws are in California (death within past three years) and South Dakota and Alaska (one year prior).

It doesn’t have to be murder, incidentally. Some people just want to know if a person breathed his last in a place they’re thinking of buying.

One of the most geekily fascinating parts of the article has to do with the so-called “Murder House” – a Los Angeles manse where a season of the television program “American Horror Story” was filmed. The folks who bought the place are suing the realtors for allegedly not telling them that some creepy fans of that very creepy TV show known to, um, haunt the place. Some of them sleep just outside the property line and others have frequently trespassed to the point of actually trying to get into the house. Yikes.

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Monday miscellany: Money mediocrity edition.

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Note: Surviving and Thriving is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

This is the sixth year for Amazon Prime Day, but the first time that it happened so close to Christmas. Usually it takes place in mid-July; this year it starts at 3 a.m. Eastern Oct. 13 and winds up in 48 hours.

During that time you’ll see a lot of deals, some of which might be exactly what you want. Although I am an Amazon Prime member I have yet to take part in Prime Day. A single-mom relative of mine has used it to stretch her holiday budget, however.

It’s being said that Amazon is basically encouraging everyone to do their holiday shopping now. Apparently other retailers have the same idea, both in-store and online. Black Friday “previews” and “sneak peeks” are already showing up and may come out in force during the month of November.

According to Consumer Reports, the idea is to keep crowds down and thus reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19. Until I read that, I figured it was just another prime (as it were) example of “Christmas creep.” But the coronavirus angle makes sense, too.

To take advantage of Prime Day deals you must be a Prime member. You can do an end run around this by signing up for a 30-day free trial and canceling once Prime Day is over.

Consumer Reports has these tips for getting the most out of Prime Day:

 

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Monday miscellany: Mental ledger edition.

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Note: Surviving and Thriving is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Maybe you’ve heard yourself using this phrase lately: “I deserve it.” After all, the pandemic has caused so much stress and fear – and, often, financial loss – that many folks are in a constant state of anxiety. Thus we deserve that frou-frou coffee, some new nail polish, a great-looking book or two scoops of our favorite ice cream.

Personal finance writer Emily Guy Birken broke down that phrase in an intriguing way recently. In a post called “How to avoid a pandemic spending frenzy,” she said that the word “deserve” is a big mistake.

“If you deserve something, that means you could be un-deserving of it,” Birken writes.

Additionally, saying you deserve something “means you are placing yourself in a position where what you already have is not enough. This is no recipe for happiness, because there will always be another thing you feel you deserve at some point…Defining purchases and treats as something you deserve is a way to feel resentful, rather than satisfied.”

 

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Monday miscellany: Single-mom stimulus grant edition.

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Note: Surviving and Thriving is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

On March 26, writer Emma Johnson created the 2020 Kickass Single Mom Stimulus Grant. Since then she’s given away a $500 cash grant every week to single moms in need.

The criteria are pretty simple:

You are a single mother.

You need the money right now.

If that’s you, head over to Wealthy Single Mommy and apply for the grant. And if you don’t need the grant but know of other single moms in need? Please share the link.

This is a no-strings deal, according to Johnson. Having worked with her, I can say if she says she’s going to do something, she does it. No BS.

 

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Get free credit reports weekly.

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Thanks to the economic impact of COVID-19, some people are paying credit card bills and other obligations late. Or even missing them altogether, which can put a major hurt on your credit score.

Coronavirus-related scams are on the rise, and identity theft is a big concern since so many people have been shopping online. The Federal Trade Commission fielded four times more fraud claims in the first few weeks of April than in the previous quarter combined.

We’re all supposed to check our credit reports every four months, through annual free reports from the big three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). But for the next nine months, you can check it every week.

Those bureaus have teamed up to provide free weekly reports through AnnualCreditReport.com. It’s a collective response to COVID-19, whose financial upheaval has led to those late/missed payments, and it continues through April 21, 2021.

However, you don’t have to be struggling financially to want to check your credit report. It’s always a good idea to make sure there’s nothing weird on your report – and it’s not always fraud-related. Incorrectly entered info, such as transposed digits in a Social Security number, can lead to errors.

For example, one time when I checked the report seemed to think that I worked at a credit union in the southeastern United States. Nope, that wasn’t me.

Note: A credit report is not the same as your credit score. But this new paradigm offers help with that, too.

 

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Free financial planning for those hurt by coronavirus.

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If you’ve been laid off, had to take unpaid leave or otherwise been hammered work-wise by the coronavirus, some bonafide money experts want to help.

Members of the XY Planning Network stand willing to help with cash-flow troubles and other issues that many U.S. workers are facing. (Or are already feeling.)

You’ll be able to get this help virtually, from the comfort of your own home. That means no problem finding someone in your area, or having to leave your school-canceled kids by themselves.

These folks are the real deal. I regularly reach out to XY for interviews for personal finance articles, and they’re invariably excited about helping people get control of their cash. #fellowbudgetingnerds

As the network’s name indicates, they specialize in helping members of Gen X and Gen Y. But basic money smarts apply across the board, especially when it comes to dealing with tough times.

Did I mention that it’s free?

 

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