Credit card companies currently have the right to lower your limits even if you have done nothing wrong. Credit card companies examine risk factors to determine how much money they should loan customers. The risk factors include late payments, extreme cash advances, unemployment, check bouncing and even having a mortgage in an area where home values have decreased.  However, lately credit card companies have also targeted customers with small balances or inactivity on their accounts.

Banks and credit card companies are getting very nervous and extremely picky on who they lend money too. I can’t say I blame them for not wanting to lose money or run a successful business, but it seems unfair for those who pay bills on time, and are responsible with their finances to not enjoy the benefits of credit.

Our grocery bill has varied greatly in the past year because of a new baby. Baby food, formula, etc. caused a spike in the bill a few months ago and it was just now starting to decrease again. After grocery shopping this past week it looks like it will increase even more than with the baby expenses.

The diet calls for fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, chicken, fish, egg whites and some lean ground beef, etc. Basically no canned foods, frozen meals or any other type of junk food high in fat, calories, or sodium. Also, the big expense is protein bars, protein shakes, and other diet supplements.

So is it worth saving money on food versus eating healthy? In my opinion your health is very important, if you have to spend a little extra money to be healthy it’s well worth the expense. Try to save in other budget categories and pay a few extra dollars for some healthy food!

Come home from a hard day at work, eat a good dinner and head out into the neighborhood for a walk. It’s a great, free form of entertainment and also can provide many other benefits.

Walking is a great form of exercise. It’s very low impact so you won’t bang and strain your muscles and joints, but you will still burn some calories. The average person can easily walk a mile in 30 minutes. You’ll burn about 100 calories over that 3o minute period or 36,500 calories per year. That’s enough exercise to lose just over 10 pounds in a year without going on a diet!

Walking also helps to relieve stress. Take a look around and enjoy your surroundings. Forget about your boss at work or the pile of paperwork sitting on your office desk. Take 30 minutes to enjoy your life and relieve some stress.

Finally, if you are up for a little more challenge take a hike! Walking through the wilderness will slightly increase your intensity level burning more calories and also adding much more scenery to your walk.

Forget about spending $50on taking the family to a movie. Grab a few water bottles and head put on your tennis shoes. Take a walk around the neighborhood, enjoy the scenery and conversation and save a lot of cash!

Since I was planning a trip to Home Depot anyway I thought I would take the coupon with me and check out the prices of the bulbs. I found the other materials I needed and then made a trip to the lighting department. I was happily surprised to find that the bulbs were only $5.50 for a 4 pack. My $4 off coupon made them $1.50, well worth the money. I actually purchased two packages while I was there because I think it’s a great deal.

With my personal story told, do you really save money with the energy saver light bulbs, if you paid full price for them? Lets do some math and get to the bottom of the question.

The math is pretty simple and take right from Energy Star’s website.  You can save an average of $30 over the lifetime of an energy star qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). The CFL also uses about 75% less energy than a typical incandescent light bulb, it also lasts 9 to 10 times longer as well.

In conclusion, my coupon and trip to Home Depot was well worth the time and effort. Even at $2 per bulb I think it’s still a great deal. Not only do you save money by replacing your old incandescent light bulbs but you also save time an energy from replacing them!

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As home values continue to decline handing out a mortgage loan to just anyone becomes a big risk for a bank. Just a few year ago home values were rising faster than grandma’s yeast rolls. Banks were lending money to just about anyone because the value of the home was sure to increase and even if the loan fell through the bank wouldn’t lose a lot of money from foreclosure. Today home values continue to drop so banks require 10% and sometimes 20% equity in a home before they will finance or refinance the mortgage.

A second reason banks have decided to filter loan is because of other bank failures. I just visited the FDIC website and counted 63 banks that have failed since January 1, 2008! Banks are scared to make “bad loans” where they won’t get their money back. If they make too many bad loans they’re not going to have enough capital to keep the doors open. The last thing a bank want right now is to be placed on the FDIC website as a failed bank.

A final reason banks have tightened lending practices is for short-term and long-term business reasons. Banks want to keep some of the cash for short-term investments in order to recoup some of their tremendous losses.  Banks also want to stash away some of the bailout money to cover future losses.  No matter how careful banks are with their lending practices they are still going to make some bad loans. Things happen and people can’t make their payments. Banks want to ensure they have enough money saved themselves to cover these losses in the future.

Even though there are many new lending restrictions placed on home mortgages, it is still possible for the average middle class family to get a home loan. Keep an eye on your credit score and save money for a down payment. As the economy starts to progress lending restrictions will loosen up and banks will start lending money again!

Every month we are faced with a multitude of financial decisions to make. Sometimes it can be hard to make the right choice every time. In order to keep our financial outlook looking good we have to make good choices most of the time.

If you’ve set financial goals in the past and forgot about them, why not start next month off right by making at least one good financial choice.

Good Financial Suggestions

• Start an automatic savings plan
• Start or increase your retirement plan
• Donate some money to a charity
• Skip soda and vending machines for a month
• Clean out your pantry and save money at the grocery store
• Take your lunch to work
• Carpool with a co-worker
• Pay all your bills before their due date

Start an automatic savings plan

An automatic savings plan is easy to setup, especially with an online bank. It helps keep you disciplined about saving and is definately a step in the right direction when it comes to saving.

Start or increase your retirement plan

If you haven’t already started a retirement plan start now. I can’t stress how important it is to start saving as soon as possible. If you already have a retirement plan try to contribute a little more. Adding another $5 per month can mean thousands of dollars when you retire.

Donate some money to a charity

It never hurts to donate some money to a reputable charity. Not only does it help those in need, but it will give you a greater appreciation for the wealth you do have.

Skip soda and vending machines for a month

If you have a 2 a day soda habit you can save quite a bit of pocket change in a months time. Who knows you might even kick the habit and help your health as well.

Clean out your pantry and save money at the grocery store

I know you’ve got some stuff in your pantry that you bought a while back that never made it to the stove or dinner table. Suck it up next month and find some creative recipes online to help you use up the extra food. Not only will you save some money on your grocery bill, but you’ll get your pantry and fridge organized and cleaned out.

Take your lunch to work

It can be an expensive luxary to eat out for lunch everyday, but thousands of Americans do it each day. With even fast lunches costing $5 or $6 the cost can add up really quick. Try to minimize eating out for lunch to 1 day or even none. You may save over $100 in one month.

Carpool with a co-worker

Got a co-worker who lives on the same side of town? Try to carpool for a month. Each of you drive to work for 2 weeks and you’ll save 1/2 on  your automobile gas bill. You’ll also cut down on  your maintenance costs and maybe make a better friend.

Pay all your bills before their due date

Late fees from credit card companies, banks, retail stores, and utility bills are very expensive. Sometime credit card companies charge $30 - $50 for a payment being 1 day late. Make a special effort this month to pay all of your bills early. Avoid the late fees charged by your creditors and you pay over on a loan.

These are just a few suggestions of smart financial choices you can make next month. You can make your own list and remember you don’t have to stop at one. I just wanted to suggest making small steps toward fixing your finances.

Bring fast food home. If you’ve had a busy day at work and just don’t feel like coming home, cooking a full meal and then cleaning everything up fast food is a great alternative. It’s usually cheap and it’s always easy to clean up. However, instead of getting the family together and making a trip to your favorite burger joint, grab it on your way home. How can this help save you money? Most fast food places offer $1 and under menus. A burger and fry will only cost about $2. Skip the drinks you’ve already got drinks at home. Drinks even at fast food places can cost a family of 4 as much $6. A family of 4 can actually eat dinner out for less than $10.

Want some “better than fast food” for dinner? My wife and I have recently started ordering take out food and bringing it home. You can save $4 - $5 on the tip since you have no waitress or waiter. You also don’t need to buy those crazy overpriced drinks from the sit down restaurant. Sodas at sit down restaurants now cost over $2 in some places. You can also have a cheap appetizer at home such as chips and salsa for 1/2 the cost. Another thing we’ve discovered is our kids prefer the mac and cheese from home over the fancy sit down mac and cheese. Since the microwave will fix mac and cheese and peas in less than 5 minutes that means even more money saved.

Not only do we save money by using these tricks we also don’t have to find entertainment for our children while we are at the restaurant. Once they finish their meals they can be excused to play in the comfort of their own home.

The DOW was at it’s peak in October of 2007, topping the 14,000 mark. From that point it started to take a slow downward pace and then took a nose dive in September of 2008 reaching levels in the mid 6,000’s.

With just a little research you can notice it’s slowly climbed back up to almost 9,000 now. Do a little more research and you’ll discover the market has took a couple more dives in the past, but it’s always climbed back up.

The government is currently taking many steps to help ensure the success of the U.S. economy, and the past few months have proved this. Stocks have slowly climbed back up, but not to their peak levels. Now is the time to invest!

I wouldn’t recommend investing in individual stocks, especially if you aren’t an experienced investor. Financial advisors, and investors are paid to do in dept research into companies. Most of them know what they are doing. Find a reputable financial investor and let them help you make some money. They will have a large list of mutual funds, index funds, and other investment opportunities to suite your individual investment style.

The market is definitely warm and moving toward HOT, don’t miss a great opportunity to secure your financial future!

Even money market accounts, which typically yield higher than savings account rates are now less than 0.5%. Also, a quick glance at bankrate will show you the horrible rates offered from CD’s. A 6 month CD is about 1.7% while locking your money down for 1 year will only give you 2.3%.

With all the bad rates where can the savers turn to, to increase their savings rates? High-yield online checking accounts may be a solution. Some high-yield interest rate checking accounts are offering slightly over 6% interest rates on your money!

There are some requirements from these great checking accounts, but nothing that is impossible to meet. Most require the use of a debit card a certain number of times per month, at least one automatic direct deposit, and/or use of online banking at least once per month. If you don’t meet the requirements for that period your interest rate will be significantly reduced. Even if you don’t meet the requirements for a given month you are still earning some interest on your money.

Some people may still be concerned about the security of online banks and online banking. With so many hackers out there trying to get your hard earned money how do you know that an online bank is a safe place to put your money? I’m no expert on Internet security, but I would be willing to bet that online banks are more secure than your hometown bank. There are more security measures in place to protect your money than the security guard at the bank.

You can increase the security by increasing your knowledge of how the Internet works. Online banks or any other financial institution will never ask for personal information or passwords via email. Always disregard these emails or report them to the proper authorities. Also never give you passwords to anyone! Never click links in emails to go to your banks website, always type the address in the web address bar. There are many spoof or fake emails trying to get your personal information. Follow these simple rules and your online high-yield checking account will help earn you some money, even in this bad economy.

Sure high interest rates have forced millions of Americans deeper into debt, but who is really at fault? Can you blame the credit card companies for wanting to make more money? Or can you blame the consumer for not being responsible with their spending?

No matter what, the credit card companies are going to come up with a different strategy to make money. After all the credit card companies have bills and salaries to pay too. Who is most likely going to pick up the bill? The responsible credit car users.

In order to increase profits most credit cards companies will start charging annual fees to use their services. They will also reduce or even drop rewards programs.

We personally use a credit card almost everyday. We pay many bills with the cards and about 95% of our spending is done with our credit card. We pay off the bill every month on time to take advantage of the rewards. I can only think of one time where we were late paying a bill so over the past 7 years we are well ahead of the game. Sounds like those days may be over.

If  credit card companies start charging annual fees and drop rewards programs we will switch back to cash or start using our debit card to pay for everything. Credit cards are such a convenient way of paying for things and can be rewarding if used responsibly, it’s sad to hear this news!