While there are dozens of official reports about the economy improving, the general population has yet to feel the effects of it. With unemployment rates hanging in the double-digit percentage points, it’s become apparent to the average family that it is time to modify their budget, and not in the desired direction.

Going shopping these days, you may see some sort of common pattern. The department stores and ‘non-necessity’ stores are drastically marking down their prices. The same, however, does not go for grocery stores. Grocers are marking up prices, only to put them “on sale,” which brings them to the originally marked prices, anyway… and that’s when they have the sale.

Health conscious Americans will tell you that the prices for produce are even worst. At their best, fruits and vegetables have been horribly overpriced in comparison to almost any other country in the world. What does it tell you when you see those own an extremely low budget commonly being overweight in the US, whereas the low income people in other places are rather thin? Well, take that situation and multiply it a few times, because that  is quickly becoming the common situation throughout the States, where those on a fixed budget are eating very unhealthy foods because of their low cost.

One of the secrets of the gourmet shopper is buying by the bulk. Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you have to purchase a huge amount. You will, however, say goodbye to (most of) those pre-packaged foods. By shopping for only what you need for a particular recipe, you can help to eliminate wasted food and money.

Using the Internet, you’ll be able to find some fantastic recipes from some of our favorite food websites. For the remainder of this post, we’ll point out some great recipes that can be made on a budget. Be aware that there may be even cheaper options available, but we’re going for quality over a few cents difference.

Breakfast

Marmalade Stuffed French Toast

This french toast recipe requires the use of french bread or other thick loaves - but definitely not your standard sliced white bread. At higher-end markets and most bakeries, they replenish their stock of this bread daily. Look for the “day old bread” bins, be sure to smell them to rule out any presence of mold, and you’ll save a bundle. Feel free to exchange the orange marmalade for another favorite fruit preserve.

Freshly Squeezed Grapefruit Juice

Ingredients: 3 large red grapefruits, 1 juicer (check the local dollar store for one)
Procedure: Slice the grapefruit in half at the largest point. Center inside fruit above the juicer, push down, and grin. Pour juice in tall, slim glass over crushed ice.

Even in the sunny State of California, good quality produce for in “middle America” grocery stores is supremely difficult to come by. In the Silicon Valley area, Mollie Stones has a weekly sale on produce of the highest quality, which brings the price to numbers even lower than the local Safeway. For those living in other areas, don’t be afraid to step into a commonly “higher end” grocery store - you may just be surprised at how beautiful the fruit is, and for a relatively low price.

Lunch

Italian Parsley and Beet Salad

While it is possible to find olive oil sold per the specific quantity required, this is one item you’ll want to have on hand all the time. Go for an extra virgin olive oil from Italy, Greece, or Israel that will be versatile enough for all of your dishes.

Greek Chicken Wrap

Tortillas are a great opt-in for wraps when a slightly more traditional lavosh isn’t available. On the other hand, feel free to grab one of the rather large pre-cooked rotisserie chickens from Costco and substitute it for the chicken breast called for in the recipe.

Chickpea Fritters with Tzatziki

Chickpeas, or garbanzo beans, are available canned (ready to go), bagged (dry), or in bulk (dry). If you purchase a can of these beans, rinse them off before using them in a recipe. If you plan on going with the dried beans, make sure to start the preparation the day before.

Dinner

Seasonal Country Salad with Spiced Walnuts

The price difference between iceberg lettuce and the “fancier” varieties at markets worth their salt is minimal enough to constitute choosing, again, quality over a few pennies. Go for field greens and gain some great vitamins and nutrients.

Moroccan Halibut

Feel free to substitute any whitefish for the halibut.

Carrot Fennel Soup

This recipe calls for fennel seeds. These are usually included on any prestocked spice rack. Purchase one at your local department home store for about $20 and you’ll always have the basics on hand.

Easy Italian Chicken

Canned tomatoes are great to have in the pantry. Instead of buying fresh tomatoes (which, of course, are always better to have) that will rot if not used in a couple of days, having these in stock will come in handy for almost any dish the calls for tomatoes to be cooked.

Café Au Lait Puddings

What a great, simple to make and yummy treat, proving that anyone can eat well on a budget.

If you’re a blogger that receives any kind of payment, whether in the form of cash in exchange for writing a blog post or in the form of free products you’re reviewing on your blog, you are now subject to following new guidelines put into rule yesterday by the Federal Trade Commission.

For the first time in 29 years, the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising has been amended and specifically targets new media outlets which includes not only blogging, but also Facebook and Twitter. If you have not yet been introduced to the new 81-page document or you do not have access to someone possessing the eccentric skill set needed to decipher the document, it basically comes down to bloggers that are paid in any way by a company to positively portray a company or a company’s product, are now mandated to disclose any relationship had with said company. The new guidelines are only subject to US bloggers, who I suppose also have their websites hosted in the United States. However, if a US blogger is found guilty (yes, in actual court) they could be subject to pay up to $11,000 in fines.

As a so-called professional blogger who makes a nominal income from my blog and as a blogger who severely depends on professional, business relationships with several companies and people who provide products and services that I am fortunate enough to have the ability to comment on through my writing, I obviously have quite a few thoughts about the FTC’s new guidelines. In my opinion, this is merely an attempt to put the putsch in motion to initiative even more guidelines and mandates on bloggers in the future. Let’s face it, blogging is the newest media revolution; although people have been sharing their thoughts on the internet for years, as soon as bloggers found a way to make an income from doing what they love, the government decided to stick its nose in it. Social media as a whole is constantly evolving and it was only a matter of time before the government decided to rule over the people and their freedom of speech, but this really just smells like an impending can of worms. How is the FTC going to know what bloggers don’t have disclosures on a blog post, especially considering a great deal of “professional” bloggers whose blogs make up their entire income, update their websites a dozen or more times every day. How is the FTC going to keep up with the constantly-evolving social media that it obviously doesn’t understand now? What is the truth behind FTC’s new blogging rules?

David Risley makes a great point about government interference in social media:

“I think the free market takes care of this problem far faster and far more efficiently than a government bureaucracy. The moment one discovers a quid pro quo for a review, the entire reputation of a blogger is cast into question. Those kinds of people don’t usually last long, and the backlash can be severe in the social media circles.”

Again, only time will tell what the FTC does with its new mandated guidelines for bloggers who review or accept other forms of compensation for the hard work they put into their blogs every day and as far as I’m concerned, I’m not looking forward to the first court case where the government tries to take down a blogger.

National Grandparent’s Day (September 13th) is one of the most overlooked and neglected days of the year. While I’m sure more people recognize the day much more than other “national days of celebration” like for instance, Flag Day or Secretary Appreciation Day (no, I’m not making this up,) National Grandparent’s Day is one of those days that a great deal of people do not even know exists in the first place. Because of this, Grandparents.com and MomSelect have teamed up to kick off a celebration for Grandparent’s Day by holding a Twitter party.

I have a unique respect for grandparents and more specifically, my grandmother, whom I have to thank for my deep understanding and passion for Democratic politics and the women’s liberation movement. I credit my grandmother solely for giving me the Lincoln Logs to build onto my own modern-day feminist activism. I come from a so-called “unconventional family,” being raised by my father, grandmother and aunt. My grandmother and aunt have always been and still remain to be the mother figures in my life, giving me that unique and unwavering respect for all that grandparents around the country do for both their children and for their grandchildren. Because of my “unconventional family,” I am thrilled that Grandparents.com and MomSelect have teamed up to dig National Grandparent’s Day out of the overlooked national days of celebration closet.

The Grandparent’s Day Twitter party will take place Thursday, September 10th from 8-9PM EST. The conversation will consist of swapping stories, sharing ideas and giving away great prizes that would make terrific Grandparent’s Day gifts. You can find the discussion on Twitter by searching for hashtag #grandparents. If you are planning on joining the Grandparent’s Day Twitter party, RSVP here. Your registration will count as an additional entry to win a $25 e-gift card from Target.com. Additional giveaways will be held throughout the evening, including 2 $25 gift cards to 1-800-Flowers and 2 gift cards to Snapfish. For updates as well as prize information, make sure you are following @ResourcefulMom on Twitter.

For even more chances to win great prizes, if you tweet the details of the Grandparent’s Day Twitter Party (including hashtag, date and time) between 8AM and 8PM on Thursday, you will eligible for a separate drawing for another $25 e-gift card from Target.com.

You know that feeling, where your heart starts beating faster, you feel like you can’t breathe, and you just want to avoid the reality? I’m not talking about an anxiety attack, but about getting freaked out when checking up on your finances. You are definitely not alone, even if I’m the only other one with you.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been very independently minded, even from childhood. I even held a job of some sort since the age of 10, cooked, cleaned, looked after others… but I was never fully financially independent.

With the opening of my first bank account, I had a nice sum of money… which, of course, went quickly. Why? Because I didn’t know anything about budgeting or money management. I wasn’t taught at home how important it is to check your statements and watch your spending, and with the rise of the feminist movement, the decline of home economics courses occurred before I even started school. Shortly after receiving some money put aside for me by a wealthy family member, I was at negative 100 dollars in my bank account. I got that covered, but from then on always had a fear that my balance would be too low and I just didn’t want to confront it.

So, for the first few years of my adulthood, I would never check my balance. I always just assumed I either had enough money, or didn’t, and somehow thought I could budget properly this way. I never took out a credit card, due to the lack of any credit at all. But, at the age of 23, I finally decided to take control of things… and it’s felt good, albeit occasionally nerve-wracking, ever since.

Credit Reports and Score

It is very important to keep an eye on your credit report. United States law requires that each credit bureau must provide you with a free copy of your credit report each year. The only government-approved website to obtain these statements is AnnualCreditReport.com.

Why does my credit score matter?

Your credit score and history determines your ability to be approved for a new credit card, a loan, and is even used to decide if you are trust-worthy enough to rent an apartment or home. Whether or not you are worthy of many of the basic conveniences of American life is based upon your financial history. It will show if you’ve paid your bills on time, how much you are currently in debt, and if other financial institutions have determined you to be credit-worthy.

There are three main credit bureaus that report your credit score:

• Equifax
• Experian
• Transunion

The majority of Americans have a credit score between 650 and 799. The highest possible credit score is 990, while the median is 723 (according to FICO). An okay credit score is 700, 800 is good, and a score below 650 makes it hard to be approved for almost anything.

Something to keep for your notes is that each time you apply for a credit card, your score is dropped a few points. So it is very important to check up on your score prior to applying for one. While there are many credit reporting services online, it is best, if you’re going to get one in addition to your free credit report, to contact your bank for their recommendation.

Saving Money

When money’s tight, the last thing that’s considered is actually saving any of it for the long term. While that may be the case, it is unbelievably important to start saving at an early age. Expenses, minus college loans, are relatively lower before one starts a family, buys a house, and incurs more regular responsibilities.

College students and young people in general need to begin putting money aside … and not touching it. The first step is to set goals for your savings plan. Determine what it is you’re saving money for, then figure out a time line for accomplishing your goals. To learn more, check out Goal Setting for Saving Money.

While finances may be scary, don’t leave it up to only your accountant (or your husband) to keep track of them. Check your bank account balance regularly, pay off all of your bills on time before buying anything new, and sit down to make out a budget plan. A great online resource that can handle all of this is Mint.com, or you can just do it the traditional way and keep books of record. You can save yourself from debt, and get a healthy credit score in no time.

The problem on Twitter is that the idea isn’t always the same as the implementation. Receiving a list of people without any description doesn’t tell me much; it especially doesn’t give me a reason that I’d enjoy getting to know the person.

A while back I decided to do my own version of FollowFriday. Instead of posting a list of people with perhaps a short description, I wrote a blog post explaining why I recommended those people.

A friend, Allan Cockerill, loved the idea and ran with it. Every week since, he’s written a FollowFriday post and introduced some fascinating people.

No bots here :)

Today I thought I’d recommend four Social Media Moms that I think are great:

@susanreynolds has been a friend almost since I started on twitter a couple years ago. Like me, she’s an idea person, and when we get rolling, we can come up with enough ideas to solve half the world’s problems. She is also one of the founders (and the poster girl) for the Frozen Pea Fund, one of my favorite charities. When I was questioning whether I could work and homeschool the boys at the same time, she shared how she had done the same thing with her children, which was just the encouragement I needed. If you’d like to know more about her, she blogs at Case-Notes from the Artsy Asylum.

@AmberCadabra is another friend that I met soon after joining twitter and had fun hanging out with on Plurk. She is the Director of Communications for Radian 6 and writes an awesome social marketing blog, Altitude Branding.

@angesbiz is one of those people who feel like they’ve always been a friend. She writes at Buzzing with Ange and is one of the most positive people I know. She describes herself as a Social Networking addict who loves chocolate.

@queenmarypat and I first met when another friend, @LindaZimmer, suggested I join the Virtual Coffee Dates Group on Skype (which I’ll write about another time, it’s an awesome group and you can join on Facebook as well). MaryPat teaches social media marketing strategies to other mompreneurs and blogs at Queen of Marketing if you’d like to learn more about her.

And now, I have a request. Is there a Social Media Mom that you’d like to see mentioned in a Follow Friday follow-up post? If so, post their twitter name and a short introduction to them, telling why you think we should get to know them. I look forward to seeing your recommendations!

Here’s the problem: There are only 24 hours in a day, in which you need to run a household, do your paid work, bathe, eat (which usually means cooking time), and sleep. What’s missing there? Oh, right, family time. You know your family, those people you live with and see on occasion, or those kids that have made you and your vehicle into their personal limo service.

Of course, there’s the option to go a restaurant with rude waiters, noisy patrons, and silverware that isn’t quite as clean as it should be. The other option is to order in, which may seem like the lazy way out of things, but with all that you have to do -  it’s it’s a great way to free up an hour or two of your day for the family.

My favorite to order in from is SeamlessWeb, a sort of umbrella food delivery service. They are located in 14 different cities and feature menus from restaurants serving all types of cuisines, including those catering to dietary restrictions. While mostly businesses use it outside of New York City, it’s still very easy for the individual to order food from. As the chart (below) shows, you order food from your computer, where SeamlessWeb will send the order to the restaurant to print. The restaurant then confirms your order, estimates delivery time, and shoots over an e-mail to you letting you know when you can expect the food. Then they deliver it when it’s ready, of course. Pretty simple, but it cuts out an unnecessary step for the consumer while providing a solid amount of options from which to choose.

They’re fully running in New York, and have expanded to limited areas in other cities. Check out their website, which you can input the delivery address and check if SeamlessWeb offers service in your area. I also really like that they’ve joined and are active on Twitter … someone even proposed marriage to them!

No duh, right? I mean, after all, that’s the most basic part of social media.

But lately I’ve been too caught up in the whys and hows of social networking that I lost track of what makes social media so much fun.

It’s kind of like writing. Sometimes I get so caught up in producing a well-written article that I get lost in the structure instead of just putting words on paper and enjoying the process…and then I wonder why I’m having writer’s block.

So today, I’m going back to the basics and forget about the mechanics. I’m going to carry on conversations with old friends and hopefully meet some new friends. I’m going to share smiles and laughs and remember why social media exists in the first place: so we can connect with each other.

By the way, if I haven’t connected with you yet on a social network, I’d love to meet you. I’m Teeg on Twitter and Plurk (and most other social sites) and Te-ge on Facebook.

Twitter Moms is a genuinely accepting and supportive community for virtually any woman with a Twitter account who wants to reach out to, connect with, and share information about pretty much anything you’re interested in with other women. With 345 different groups (and counting!) there is something for everyone; from conversing about how to stretch your dollar as far as it will go, how to increase your blog traffic, being a work at home mom, and there’s even a Twitter Moms book club. But while you could very well find more than a handful of other fun groups that make it a lot easier to connect, communicate, and network with other women bloggers (I should know, I’m part of more than a handful of others, including Twitter Moms,) what sets Twitter Moms apart from the others is their unique sense of camaraderie. While genuine friendships evolve from all forms of social media and internet communication, Twitter Moms takes it to a new level by hosting monthly get-togethers the only way it would be acceptable to with a name like Twitter Moms—right through Twitter.

On the last Friday of every month from 5pm to 7pm PST Twitter Moms hosts the Twitter Moms Wine Tasting Twitter Party. I participated in the Wine Tasting Twitter Party last month and I can attest that it is definitely a great time. Each month there is a wine that the community discusses or you can talk about what you’re drinking if you’re not tasting the wine the group has decided on; last month there were wine drinkers, cocktail drinkers, and tea and coffee drinkers. The point of the monthly party is not to get drunk in front of your computer and be in bed by 7pm, although that certainly is a possibility. Overall, the monthly Twitter party is just to sit back, relax, and have fun while talking to a group of amazing women and we’re not just talking wine; the conversations that take place during the Twitter Moms Wine Tasting Twitter Party are varied but always interesting and you always end up making some new and fantastic contacts.

This month’s Twitter Moms Wine Tasting Twitter Party will be tomorrow, July 31st from 5pm-7pm PST and participating in the party is super easy!

To view the discussion just search for #tmwc on Twitter or click here to go to the discussion automatically. To make comments and/or reply just include the Twitter hashtag #tmwc so your comment can be seen by the entire party!

Don’t forget to pick up a bottle of wine and join in on the fun at the Twitter Moms Wine Tasting Twitter Party!

Every person has the right to walk down a street without having to be whistled at, leered at, honked at, or have unnecessary comments made in bad taste directed at them, so the next time you’re harassed tweet it to @catcalled, a “moderately attractive young lady just tryin to walk around without getting hassled.”

I love the idea of tweeting catcalls that are directed towards you or that you hear on the street directed towards other people. Oftentimes your tweet will get retweeted and it will continue to show others who pay attention just how often and just how consistent catcalling is, regardless of where a woman is located or what she is wearing.

Unfortunately, many people do not take street harassment as seriously as they should. When a woman comes forth with information about being bothered by street harassers and being catcalled, women are often told to get over it; that it wasn’t that bad or to stop complaining because at least she didn’t get hurt, and looking at the silver lining, at least someone thought she was so attractive that they just had to say something about it. The pervasiveness and complete terror that comes with this problem is often completely ignored; that is, unless you’ve been walking home from work one night and just about jumped three feet in the air and swore your heart exploded right out of your chest because a car drove by and honked at you and then went speeding down the road; or instead of speeding down the road, the people in that car rolled their windows down and while driving slowly alongside of you, yelled obscenities and hurled sexually charged comments at you.

Hopefully, as more and more people start taking street harassment more seriously, it will not be something that women must merely tolerate or be told to get used to.

Social media platforms have seen tremendous success with bloggers, businesses, and everyone in between. In my observations for the time I started really paying attention to social media, anyone who was anyone had a MySpace account. Whether you wanted to stay in touch with your friends who had moved away, gone to college, or you would see the next day sitting behind you in history class, or if you were a business or blogger advertising your brand and staying up to date on whatever trends were abound, MySpace was pretty much a daily internet-stop that let you advertise liberally and soak in what others thought you may be interested in. Then “Tom” sold his soul to the devil in a matter of speaking, littered MySpace with more ads than space to express yourself or your brand, and people began to stop frequenting their MySpace pages so often moving to the next big social media pond–Facebook. And in most cases, there they stayed. But in addition to Facebook, microblogging has begun to take over pretty much all other social media platforms and it isn’t just Twitter; Twitter just happens to be the most popular at this given moment.

There are virtually countless new social media platforms popping up all the time trying to make it as the next “social media sensation” and while you may be complacent with your Twitter account and think that that is really all you need to advertise yourself and your brand or to stay up to date with the goings on in the world, or whatever else you use Twitter for, just think about MySpace and how in a matter of a few months, one platform can become old news and before you know it, there’s a new social media messiah in town.

It’s always good to get in on a social media platform early. Just look at the success people have had with social media sites when they launched, whether it be appearing in an article for a tech magazine or website or getting the most they can out of the platform as they see big names coming in and having that account early on. It happened with MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, and we will see it continue with other social media platforms in the future; and there are more coming out all the time.

With so many different platforms that we have accounts on, it most definitely can become stressful having to update all of your social media accounts on a day-to-day basis. You log into your Facebook account and start connecting with friends on there and update our status and keep connecting with friends and so on. Then you log into your Twitter account and do the same thing. You repeat this process with upwards of 20 times and then the day is over and you have accomplished practically nothing. It can be grueling going through this process, which is why it is almost mandatory to have an account on a site like Ping.fm.

Ping.fm keeps track of all of your social media accounts and lets you update all of them at the exact same time, giving you more time in your day to get some actual work done and not have to be attached to your computer, blackberry, cell phone, or whatever it is that you use to connect yourself to social media constantly. I have used Ping.fm for quite some time now and use it to track many of the social media platforms that I participate on including Twitter, Plurk, LinkedIn, Identi.ca, Brightkite, hi5, kwippy, and of course Facebook and the almost archaic, ‘I don’t know why I still pay attention to this’ MySpace. Ping.fm allows you to create a presence for yourself across the social media board and it allows you to connect with a different audience that appears on each site. Sure, you could run into finding the exact same people that you are connected with on other social media platforms and websites, but there is always a unique audience to be captivated by your brand on each singular platform; you just have to look for them.

Ping.fm is not the only service that allows you to post simultaneously to all of your social media accounts, but it is my personal favorite and performs its job as it’s supposed to. If you do start using its service, do not mistake it for your all-in-one social media platform. It is still imperative to log into each of the websites you want to create a presence for yourself on; when using this you just don’t have to log into these websites quite as much, which is definitely a time saver for you and takes a great deal of the stress some experience out of social media.