Free Money?

You know you never know just what you are going to find on the Internet! I say that because I have happened upon a site that is in a way just giving away free money!

Actually it is a site that was started by someone who started their own business (fulfilling a dream that they had always had!) and then sold their business for a lot of money!

Now that they are financially free they have started a website for those who are in need and are looking for some financial help!

And you know the oddest thing about this site? IT WORKS! Now I'm not saying that you are going to make millions of dollars but I have seen people on this site receive on an average of $100!

If you would like to know where exactly this site is then you can send me a $5 donation and please remember to state that you are requesting a link to the website and please leave an email address so that the link can be emailed to you!


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Updates!



September 2008! - One disaster relief organization received a $75,000 donation in 5 days!




July 11, 2008

• You can also use this site if you would like to start a memorial fund in someone's memory!
  
  
• July 14, 2008 - here is an excerpt from someone who has received donations of money in the past from this website!
  
  "Thanks to all of you I'm able to pay my back taxes. Wow, what a relief. I'm so blessed by all of you, and will never forget your kind acts. Without your help, I would be homeless soon. Words just can't express my gratitude enough."
  
  
• A woman who is requesting $500 in donations for her and her family to help them get back on their feet has received $100 in donations so far!
  
  
• August 10, 2008 - a woman just joined the group and is requesting $12,000 so that she can buy her family a mobile home so that they can have somewhere to live and have a home of their own!

Are You Looking For Work?

Did you know that despite the news about there not being enough jobs for people, there are some industries that are begging for qualified workers!

One of the biggest industries that need qualified workers now is the health care industry! There are many job openings for nurses and home health care workers and aides. Also according to my Grant Basics 101 Blog, there are many job openings in our own government. Here is a quote from one of the online articles:

"Many of the positions, which require specific skills and offer salaries in the range of $30,000 to $45,000, have been vacant for six months or longer"

Since workers are needed so badly a hiring incentive program was recently announced to help encourage existing employees to refer viable candidates. Those responsible for bringing in new hires are eligible to receive $2,500 to $5,000, depending on the position. Also added in is a signing bonus for the new employees!

There are several online sites that you can go to that post job openings in your area. You should also look into working for the government as well because they have many job openings and government workers receive good benefits in addition to a highly competitive salary.

As far as other kinds of job openings are concerned here is another excerpt from an online article:

Things are even worse on the higher end of the pay scale. At a wireless leasing firm, a position for director of lead generation, which pays $90,000-$140,000, has been open for three months, with no candidates in sight.

Debt Collector Was Sued And Now Has To Pay!

Here is a very interesting article about someone who sue a debt collector and WON!

The details are kind of complicated but hopefully after you read the article you will understand the whole thing better.

Basically it seems that the article is saying that the debt collector was in fault because they didn't properly review the details of the debtor and a judge ruled in the favor of the debtor.

Outsmarting A Debt Collector

Are You Praying For A Financial Miracle?

Are you praying for a financial miracle seems to be one of the most popular blog posts on this blog. I'm guessing that that means that people are looking for a financial miracle even if they have to find it on the Internet!

I guess that I really shouldn't be surprised about this because so many people are facing financial crisis of one kind or another!

A lot of people are losing their jobs and they don't seem to be finding any promising prospect soon. If you have ever considered working from home then you should take a look at my Working From Home Blog.

Home foreclosures are on the rise but there is still some hope. Take a look at my The Foreclosure Blog to see how some people have managed to save their homes from foreclosure. There is even one story of a person who got their home back after foreclosure because the person that won the foreclosure bid on their house actually gave the house back to the homeowner!

I hope encouraging stories such as this will show people that there is still some hope!

Are you praying for a financial miracle? You just may get one!

"Confessions Of A Debt Collector"

I found a very interesting article online about what it's like to be a debt collector. A real debt collector was interviewed about the various aspects of her job. While this would probably also be a good blog post for my Working From Home Blog because of a salary that a debt collector can make, it is also quite interesting to see how being a debt collector works.

I had my suspicions that these debt collectors got a commission off of the money that they collected but I didn't know that they had high quotas to fill (according to the online article) It also doesn't surprise me too much to know that some of these debt collectors are quite human in that some of them don't like to be harrassed theirselves or talked to in a negative way. And even sometimes they will speak to people who are in such a dire financial situation that the debt collectors "feel" for them but they still have to do their job. I remember one example from the article mentioned one person saying that they lost their job and that the wife lost the baby that she was carrying but still the debt collector asked "so when can you send in a payment.........".

It also seems that a debt collector's salary averages to about $14 per hour. BUT according to the article they have to make a certain quota or they risk losing their jobs.

The article also gives some advice on what debt collectors can and can not do as far as when they can call you and what they can say. There are also some good insights as to how sometimes the people they call can get the best of them by getting them to go "off script" or just by not co-operating.

A very interesting online article indeed!

Confessions Of A Debt Collector

Woman Feeds Her Large Family On $4 A Week!

I found another interesting article online about how a woman feeds her large family (and pets) on $4 a week!

Of course the secret to this is coupons! The online article calls her the coupon queen! In one example she bought over $200 worth of groceries and paid less than $1 for all of them!

This is definitely something you may want to look into if you are looking for ways to save money - especially on food!

Sunday papers are loaded with coupons and mailing advertisements and circulars also have a lot of coupons in them. You can also even get coupons online as well!

Here is a link to the article:

Woman Feeds Family For Less Money!

Avoiding Those Banking Fees - Tips!

I'm a very big fan of Selfgrowth.com and I found this article about tips to help one avoid those high banking fees!

I thought that I knew almost everything about how to avoid high banking fees - you know things like not using ATMs that are from another bank, etc.,....... But after reading the article I found some interesting stuff - especially about overdraft protection!

I always thought that overdraft protection was a good idea BUT I didn't know that there was a charge to have it!

It seems that there is a lot that I don't know!

Personally, I, myself, try to avoid banking fees but I have had them! I do have to make it a personal financial goal to stop incurring those banking fees! I have used other ATM's - mostly because I was in a rush and not able to get to an ATM that was with my own bank - so I used the ATM at the store I was at even though the ATM wasn't with my own bank. There was a charge for using that ATM plus there was a charge from my own bank for using that ATM! It does add up!

I realize that there may be instances where emergencies come up and you have to use an ATM that isn't with your bank but now in today's economy you have to try and save all the "pennies" you can - especially when it comes to those (high) banking fees!

I hope the article provides useful information for you all.

Buyer Beware! Especially With Your Credit Card!

I found another online article showing yet another example of why it is a good idea to read all of the small print when you buy something with your credit card! In this case is the example of a simple rebate check that may cost you over a $100 on your credit card!

To Find out more just click the link below. If you have any comments about this article please feel free to add them here as well.

What do I think about this article? I'm glad that I read it although I personally haven't ordered this particular product. It seems to be that its getting easier and easier for companies to take advantage of peoples' credit cards! I'm even leery of giving my credit card number to the products that offer all those paid survey sites where people get paid to answer surveys (which I talk about more on my Paid Surveys Newbie blog.)

So people, lets be careful out there! - Especially with our credit cards!

That Rebate Check Could End

Up Costing You More!

Looking For A Job?

I recently posted on my Grant Basics 101 Blog about how there are many job openings in the government! Besides government grants and programs our government also has a lot of job openings as well.

I found another article online about "6 Jobs That Are In High Demand" meaning that there are still job openings out there that are available for people who are looking for jobs and for people who are looking for work.

I won't give away the whole article but one of the jobs on the list that surprised me was that of web designer. I was surprised because I keep reading about web designers out there who are having problems finding clients but according to the article - this is a job that is in high demand!

I hope you enjoy reading the article and the reason that I didn't post this on my Working From Home Blog is because these jobs (for the most part) are jobs where you are working for someone else outside of your home.

6 In Demand Jobs!

College Students & Credit Card Debt!

Here is an interesting article about college students and credit card debt! As soon as I read it I knew that I would be posting it here!

Paying Bills Online?

This is something that you may want to consider doing yourself! I just added another bill account to my online banking at this late hour of the night (what the heck! I couldn't sleep!) and it made me realize just how convenient online bill paying can be! Not to mention the fact that you won't use as many stamps and it will definitely help save you money on postage! (Did I mention the fact that the cost of stamps has gone up again!)


I know that people have to be careful about their money and how they handle it but since I do work from home, paying my bills online has become quite convenient for me and it might be the same for you if you give it a try.

I remember the first time I paid a bill online for the first time! When I first opened up my bank account one of the customer service people at the bank showed me how to do this! He was very helpful and he showed me how one pays their bills online. It took me awhile before I actually did it myself because I was worried about something going wrong! Goodness knows that I don't need ANY mistakes with my bank account!

But I finally managed to do it - nervously of course - and I got through it! Now I'm glad that I did do it because it saves a lot of time and it saves me a lot of postage costs!

If you would like to try paying your bills online then you should talk to one of the customer service representatives at your bank and ask them to show you how. You might be very glad that you did!

Be Sure To Keep A Close Eye On Your Bank Account!

It seems that the banking industry is finding new ways to gouge their account holders! Basically speaking banks are going to start to increase the banking fees that they charge their customers!

For instance some banks are going to double the fees that they charge for overdraft protection and some will even increase the fees that they charge for checking account maintenance.

An online article says that the banks say that consumers are using their debit cards more now than they are using their credit cards and since credit card interest is a big income generating thing for the banks they feel that they have to recoup their money (or should I say profit(s)) from elsewhere.

A good point that the article noted was that even though the banks got a big amount of money from President Obama's stimulus plan, the banks don't seem to be helping the consumers because of it. In fact it seems to be that the opposite is happening in that the banks are looking for yet other ways to profit.

The article didn't say that all of the banks would be doing this but they did give some examples of banks that will be. So if you're concerned and want to see whether or not your bank is on the list then I suggest that you check out the online article.

The Banks Are At It Again!

Want To Read About An Actual Government Grant Recipient?

If you don't already know, I do grant research as a living.

There are so many people out there who are skeptical about government grants but I'm here to tell you that they do actually exist! As a matter of fact here is a link to someone who actually got 2 government grants to get their power shut back on!

Well I'm In The Process Of Filing My Taxes Online!

I'm kinda almost finished though!

I must say that this is the first time that I have ever filed my taxes online! And for me - and I don't know why - but it felt like a scary thing to do!

First of all there was my local area tax which is called the Earned Income Tax - EIT for short. This is a tax that my local area has where residents are charged a 1% tax on any income that they have earned. Of course in the previous years I have always filed this tax the old way which was by filling out the form, paying the tax and mailing it in. But this year I decided to try and file online. Well the first time I tried to file this form online it wasn't working for me right and I got frustrated and stopped. Then a few days later I decided to try it again and it went almost 100% smoothly! I was still quite nervous filing it out maybe because it is getting so near the due date to file the income tax forms. But I did manage to get through it in one session and when I saw "your tax return has been filed successfully", I breathed a sigh of relief! *I should note here that while filing a tax return online may be more easier and convenient for some, I noticed that as far as my local tax return is concerned the company that handles it charges a fee for filing online if you owe any tax!

Ok so next comes my state (Pennsylvania) income tax form. Now while I was feeling good about filing my local tax online successfully, I was still a bit nervous about going to the next filing - I don't know why - maybe it was just because I was doing it for the first time! But after a slow start, I did successfully manage to file my state income tax form online as well and as well I got that same "your tax return has been filed successfully".

Goody! I was successfully able to file both returns online and I made it by the due date (which is next week!)

I haven't filed my federal income tax return online yet because doing 2 of them in one day is just too much more than my nerves can stand! So I still have a few days left yet to file my federal return online.

If you have never filed your income tax forms online before I'm here to tell you that it is kind of a scary thing - at least for me it was - but it may be something that you might be interested in doing. Of course you save the cost of a stamp but maybe that is just a small matter.

I'm blogging about this mostly because I don't know why I put myself in such a state of nervousness when I was trying to do this. In fact I think my nervousness and anxiety about doing this made it even worse! But I got through the first 2 forms and I'm feeling good! Now I have the one form - the federal - left to do.

If you're thinking about filing your taxes online you may find out that it isn't as hard as you thought it might be!