Tax Rebate

I received this today in the mail and thought it was hysterical so I am passing it on. But it is SO true, which is actually very sad LOL!

"This morning President Bush said each one of us would get a $1200.00 tax rebate. It was previously slated to be $1400.00, but they dropped it to a $1200.00 tax rebate because of various budget problems.

Now, if we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China , if we spend it on computers, most of the money will go to Korea or India. If we spend it on gasoline, it will all go to the Middle East, and none of these scenarios will help the American economy.

We need to keep that money here in America .....so the only way to keep that money here at home is to drink beer, gamble, or spend it on prostitution. Currently it seems that these are the only businesses still left in the U.S."

Fun Quip of the Day and Best Money Saving TIP!

The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.

Got a Date but Can’t Afford the Bill?

Don’t go into Dating Despair - The Fab and Frugal Diva has Come to the Rescue

Are you in a funk with dating despair? Have a hot person in mind for a fabulous night, but you can’t afford the dinning tab? Don’t despair! Sometimes, eating out can be less expensive than eating in. There are several methods to dinning on a dime that will help you out of your dating funk.

• Have a lunch date, instead of a dinner date. Eating at a restaurant during lunch can be a lot less expensive for the same items than during the dinner hour. Most restaurants use "lunch specials" to draw in customers during a normally slow lunch period.

Some of the finest restaurants have early bird specials that will cost you 2/3 less than ordering during prime time. Many restaurants offer salad or soup, an entrée that includes two vegetables, desert and soda, coffee or tea for one small price. Look for combination meals, rather than ordering al la carte. Having a date for lunch also leaves you more time to invest with your hottie or an earlier time to ditch if they turn out to be a dud.

• Use www.restaurant.com to save 60% at some of your favorite restaurants. For only $10, you purchase a gift certificate worth $25! That $15 savings can buy you a lot of bonus points with your date later on!

• Be prepared. Make your reservations for your meals using www.opentable.com. When you walk into restaurant with your date, your date will think you are smokin’ because you already have a reservation and a table waiting. In addition to being prepared, by using www.opentable.com’s services, you can earn valuable reward points that you can use for future dates!

• Buy the two-for-one coupon books from a school and help them make money while you save! Or go to http://www.entertainment.com to purchase them there. Right now, they have a sale on that also includes free shipping. These coupon books are a dream value for saving money.

Two for one dinners and entertainment. The $10 - $20 you pay for them will return to you with only a few coupons. If you think your date will consider you cheap for using them, think again. Most people love other people who know how to handle their money, but still have a fabulous meal! Additionally, if you buy an online membership instead of a book, you only pay $4.95 a month nationwide and you can cancel anytime! Print the valuable coupons off your computer from home or while you are traveling. Excellent!

• When planning something other than dining (and in another article I will give you the Fab and Frugal way to have fun with very little money), why not go to www.upromise.com and spend money the smart way. By using www.upromise.com, you can earn valuable rewards to use for college tuition as well as many other things such as paying your student loans down. Now there’s a great idea!

These fun and fabulous frugal money saving ideas are a great way to being a wonderful dating relationship! Bon Appetite!

Jaci Rae is known as The Queen of More Green. For more advice and money saving tips, please go too: www.thequeenofgreen.com or www.pennymeals.com

8 Ways to Save Money and the Environment by Going Green

Going Green is the cause celeb of the day, but if you really look at history, going green has been a cause for many people from the get go. The following are a eight tried and true methods to help you go green, which will not only save you money, but will help you help to save the environment for generations to come.

1. Make your own baby food. Cook veggies of any kind as well as meats and other healthy foods and process them in your food processor or blender until they are creamy and smooth. You will not only save money, but also save on the jars and packaging that are needed to package the baby food you purchase in the store. Additionally, the food will be much healthier for your child, because you know exactly what you have used and put into it.

2. Shop at rummage sales and go online to places like freecycle.com. This will help save the environment by reusing items that normally would end up in landfills as well as save your pocket book from spending a lot more money than you need too.

3. Use cloth diapers instead of disposable ones as much as possible. Yes, they have an odor that stays around and yes, you have to wash them, but you will be saving money from the expense of buying disposable diapers as well as saving the environment because of the sheer volume of diapers that are put into landfills on a daily basis.

4. If you own a company with a commercial printer, change to soy-based ink instead of using petroleum-based ink. Soy based ink is roughly the same price, but you will be saving the environment from toxins produced by ink and the cartridges used to carry the ink.

5. Ride your bike to work, walk, take the bus or better yet, talk to your employer about setting up an incentive program for employees who commute to work together. The rising cost of gas as well as the toxins produced from the carbons is incentive enough to use any one of these methods.

6. Replace old light bulbs with energy efficient light bulbs. You will save money on your electric bill and when the energy efficient light bulbs are on sale, you will be saving a lot of money on the purchase price as well. The environment is also helped by using less energy.

7. Use an energy efficient space heater instead of your house heater. Move the space heater into whichever room you and your family are occupying at the time (be sure to unplug it when someone is not in the same room to monitor it). Why pay a lot of money to heat parts of the house you are not in. Save money on your electric bill and help save the environment by putting the green in your pocket instead of sending your green to the electric company.

8. Use Energy Star appliances and file for the rebates, refunds and tax credits that are allowed when you purchase such appliances. You will again be putting the green in your pocket and saving electricity, which helps the environment.

There are many more ideas you can come up with on your own. The point is to go green and save your green for a better future for your children, their children, and a better retirement when you start using your retirement fund that was bolstered by your money saving acumen.

Jaci Rae is known as The Queen of More Green. For more advice and money saving tips, please go too: www.thequeenofgreen.com or www.shopforaday.com where you will also find free gifts from Procter and Gamble.

Today's funny Quip of the Day

If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

Funny Quip of the Day

Here and there I read some really hilarious things (don't we all?). But I wanted to share this with you! I have no clue who wrote it, but here it is!

Also, be sure to watch me on Better Homes and Garden Television on April 21st. Blessings! Jaci

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire."

Fab Frugal Tip of the Day

If a piece of produce (specifically fruit) does not smell the way you would want it to taste, it generally won't taste the way you hoped for. Smell first, even cold pieces and you will get a faint aroma of what it will taste like.

Job Security

Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.

Gas Prices Hit $5 a Gallon

What price is too high for you to go to work and live your life. $5 a gallon, $7 a gallon. Skyrocketing fuel prices have helped decimate our economy and it’s only going to get worse they say.

Are you worried about gas prices yet? In Southern California, gas prices skyrocketed to $4.09 a gallon and in Northern California, the gas prices average at $3.79 a gallon. Those prices spiked when crude oil rose to $103 a barrel.

Recently, crude oil rose to $109.72 on the New York Mercantile Exchange and analyst predict it will rise to an even higher price of $120 a barrel! What does that mean?

Currently, the people in charge of regulating the gas prices have everyone guessing. Additionally, I believe they are conditioning us to think the price that was so ridiculously high to us a month ago is now a steal of a deal.

How much will gas be this week? There are hundreds of websites dedicated to the lowest priced gas in your neighborhood. Everyone is racing for $3.09 (isn’t that cheap!) because tomorrow it will be $3.59 a gallon.

Soon, consumers will think $5 a gallon is inexpensive gas and will be racing to find that price because gas just hit $5.89 a gallon in most places.

Analysts believe that American consumers will not scoff at the price of gas too much and will actually increase their spending on gas in the coming months because it is summer. However, those analysts are obviously not living in the real world.

While our European counterparts have regularly paid much higher prices over the years for gas, they also have readily available and functional mass transit. American’s do not have that same luxury, with the exception of a few major cities. Americans must drive a car in order to go to work, school, purchase groceries, etc.

Additionally, Europeans have health care plans that are paid for by the government and a lot more benefits than American’s do, so their dollar stretches much farther than ours.

What has happened to our economy?

1. Washington has not been paying attention to the bottom line (like that’s a surprise! They do not care; they have everything paid for from our taxes!).

2. American companies have shipped our factories out of the country, which has devalued the dollar. By shipping out our factories, American’s have lost jobs.

3. Almost everything we purchase is made in China or other foreign countries. There is not much to be done about it now. Try finding much of anything that is not made on foreign soil now.

4. Rising gas to prices that are beyond what the average consumer can bear will make it impossible for some people to continue to go to work. Who can possibly afford to pay to go to work?

If you don’t live in one of the few cities in America that have easily accessible mass transportation, you can try commuting on a bus or a train. To find out what it took to commute to work this way, I routed a commute via bus and shuttle to a friend’s workplace.

Three buses, one shuttle, 5 ½ hours and $43 later, I would arrive at his place of work, which normally would take 45 minutes via car. That means I would spend 11 hours a day commuting and $86 a day to pay the fare! To add insult to injury, the bus would leave me nine blocks from his work, where I would have to walk or take a cab in the freezing rain.

5. Insurance companies and mortgage companies have been allowed to run rampant with greed and have sucked all the money out of pockets that were already running on empty.

I think the politicians and the people who regulate all this pandemonium need to be brought to task and made to live the American dream, which has turned into a nightmare.

Pointed directly at the politicians and greedy mongers: Try filling your tank without a job, going to sleep when you don’t have a home to lay your head in and healing yourself when you are sick without insurance.