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!

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!

Tips To Help Save On Gas Money!

As soon as I saw this online article I knew that I had to post a link to it from this blog!

Currently gas prices are at an all-time high and average at least $4 a gallon and to make matters even more worse that price is expected to rise to $5 per gallon!

How To Reduce Your Gas Costs!