Money & Finance #59: Credit, Money Management, and Saving

I read the article How Credit Scores Work and learned a couple of things. I did not know that FICO means the Fair Isaac Company that came up with this horrible scoring for our credit also I was not aware of the credit card policy of default. The latter gives credit card companies the ability to change your interest rates if you fall behind or default on any other credit that you have. They can instantly change your interest rate from any fixed account to the highest allowed by law. I did take the Credit Score Quiz and scored 100%. I do seem to have all the information I need to have a good credit report and score I just can't seem to do it.
I have on many occasions made a budget while it looks good on paper it seems impossible to do. Whenever I have my money portioned out something always seems to come up. If my life was free from unplanned events like car repairs, home appliances breaking down and doctor bills that are not covered by insurance I would be ok. I know that since we are now living on a fixed income it is imperative that we learn to live on a budget and I will keep trying until I get it right.
I did like being able to access the TCDRS site online. You can view your information as to how many years of service you have and the amount of money that you have in there whenever you want. It also explains different types of benefits like optional life insurance and death benefits. I did not know that if I die before I retire that my husband would be able to choose either monthly benefits that would include employer monies or a lump sum payment of money that I had deposited.

#55: Getting the Most out of Facebook

I signed up for facebook and was suprised to see that most of my relatives had accounts. I searched for and found some other ones that didn't automatically come up when I logged in. I tried to add an application but I had no pictures or videos to import. Mostly I just read what other people had posted about the applications.

Since I am new to facebook it was odd that they were able to find accounts of people that I had on my email contacts. It also showed people that were contacts of my contacts. It was very simple to sign up but I don't think that I will keep the account. I don't like the idea that other people would be about to read or see whatever I send to a particular person. Since all of my family is close I don't feel the need to be a part of this social network.

Money & Finance #58: Banking, Budgeting & Spending

My bank does offer online banking at no cost to its customers. I have to say that I really like being able to see how and where I spend my money. I can view it everyday and I am able to see if any unauthorized expenditures have been made. I have only had that problem once or twice in the lifetime of my account. The bank has always taken care of the problem for me hassel free. They returned the money to my account without a fuss. The bank that I use is not a chain so it does not offer alot of security questions or things like that but I have never had a problem. I have a security pass code and I picked out a difficult password to access the account and I always log out after I'm done. I do feel safe using this site. One of my other banks does have a site key that you have to recognize and it will ask for personal info if it does not recognize the computer that your using.

I did go to some of the sites but I didn't want to sign up for it and it wouldn't let you just take a tour. I was able to take a tour of the Buxfer site but I don't think that I would like to use it. I like to do mine on a word program like excel where I can keep it personal. I wouln't like to have my information as to what I pay and to whom floating in the internet world.

I did take the spending problem quiz and faired pretty well. I do have a few problems that I need to takle. I also checked out the spend less on everything site and got a few tips. Its true that paper products and cleaning stuff does cost more at say like Food Town compared to Walmart. I do buy my houselhold supplies at walmart, my meat,canned goods and drinks at food town and I buy larger quantity things at Sams.

I liked the bundle idea for the phone, internet and cable thing. I am going to check out the prices that are available in my area to see what type of difference it
makes to my budget. Since my family have different providers for their cells phones they have upped the texting ablity so they can communicate without having to actually make the call.

Week 10 Summary

Let me start by saying that this has been fun and it has been real but I can truly say that it is a tad bit much for me. These exercises have really taught me that there is a very large generation gap, at least conserning me. I guess I'm a little slow at adapting to technology because I don't think that I will be blogging, tagging, or creating a myspace any time soon. I do think that it's all great if that is what your into and maybe with time I'll jump on it too. But as for today I'm not ready. As far as the library 2.0 and web 2.0 I believe that it's helpful to some but I'm not sure if that would include the majority of our patrons. Let's face it when the computers crash and the lights go out its good to know that you can always reach for a good book and read by candle light/flash light. Some of the ideas are good and helpful cause I'm really liking the library elf but as far as everything being online, well i'm not to sure. I like talking to people face to face and reading a book that I can hold. After experiencing the crash we had on Oct 23rd and dealing with the backlash I'd really be afraid to put all my pennies in that bucket, but then that's just me and these are my thoughts.

Week 9 #22 Overdrive

I've used HCPL's digital media site many times to read books online such as

Marley and Me

I really enjoy this format, but sometimes the materials I want to read are being used so I have to place a hold on them and sometimes staring at the computer for extended periods strain my eyes.

I visited LibriVox and it seems like a good site to get audio books, especially for free.

Week 9 #21 Podcasts

I researched Podcastalley and Podcastnet and found an interesting podcast. On podcastalley I found 1 year audio bible that has daily prayers, scripture and other interesting bible facts. I also found some intersting travel podcasts like Go Travel Updates that provide travel news and information, very handy.

Week 9 Podcasts

Here are the videos I posted, one of our favorites (the pugs) and one of my sons favorite. We both love pugs and he loves boxing, enjoy.

Week 8 #19 Web -based Apps

Zoho is a good to use if you have a team/group of people working on one project. It gives you formatting options, the ability to spell check, send pictures and use tags as folders. It gives the other people the ability to read or write on your document. I would consider using this if working on a project.

Week 8 #18 Social Networking

I think that myspace and facebook are a good way for you to keep in touch with your friends, and family near and far. It gives you the ability to share your pictures, music and thoughts. It's faster than mail and less costly than a phone call. I Personally would not use this method of socializing but it seems to be a big hit with the younger generation. In my opinion these tools can be dangerous in the hands of unsupervised children because it is possible to communicate with people who might not be honest about their ages and intentions.

Week 7 #17 Technology

This technology thing seems really hard to keep up with. Just as soon as I get a grip on one thing something else comes up that can do things better and faster. I feel so out of step sometimes but it is rather exciting to be around to experience it. Most of our entertainment comes from movies and music. We have a fabulous 1080p flat panel tv that makes you feel like you could just reach out and touch whatever it is you are seeing. I couldn't believe it when we turned it on at home and the picture seemed to be even better than at the place we bought it. The ipod is another amazing thing, I can't get over how small they are and how much music they can hold. Right now my favorite things is the digital frame. It holds all my favorite pictures and all I have to do is watch as my favorite people and pets are displayed for me, its truly great. As far as all this blogging technology goes, its ok but I still like to be able to pick a persons brain one on one in person but I guess the time will come where it will be just as common to me as picking up the phone.

Week 7 #16 So Whats in a Wiki

Well I created a log in account and added my blog to the favorite blogs page. Not sure about everybody being able to edit or add to whatever is on it. I like having control over my things. I guess that would kind of limit me but that's just me.

Week 6 #15 Library 2.0

To me Rick's piece about icebergs is a bit much. For one I don't believe that our circulation has decreased in fact with all of the construction on our side of town I believe it has grown. Even though all of this supposedly easy to use technology and at your fingertips stuff is great I still think people enjoy driving to a library and picking up a good book. If there is still a need for bookstores, that are usually packed with people when I have gone, I believe that their is still a need for libraries. I do not believe that every household has access to computers. Michael's segment on librarianship is some what ok in planning or forseeing the need to keep up with those who chose to use the online services but again I do not believe that 100% of the public is at that level at this time. Maybe somewhere in the future more people would want to find the services readily available to them but I believe it is a bit premature to believe that everyone will prefer this to actually going to a library. Maybe I'm just not tuned in to all this affair with the web but these are my thoughts at this time.

Week 6 #14 Technorati

Looked at technorati and tried some searches found lots of listings with the general advanced seach. Seems a tad overwhelming to me and don't know if this would be something I would use.

Week 6 #13 Tagging makes the web 2.0 world go round

Tagging Is A Great Shortcut To Those Hard To Find Places. For Instance, Instead Of Browsing Thousands Of Videos Or Pictures To Find One In Particular, I Can Use Tagging To Pinpoint It Immediately. Another Convenience Is That Similar Interests Can Be Found When Using Tagging.

Week 5 #12 The "Library" Elf Will Remind You

Registered my cards with the elf it was very easy. To have these updates sent to one email address is great especially if your family has several cards. It's an easy way to keep up with everybodys due dates so you won't have to spend your hard earned cash on fines.

Week 5 #11 A Thing About Library Thing

Looks nice, not too hard to do, but had trouble linking it to my blog.


http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=senrique69

Week 5 #10 Image Generators

I used the post it note generator to create this message. It is really easy and fun.

http://postit.note.txt2pic.com/

Week 4 # 9 Finding Feeds

This was easy, I just went to my favorite CNN site and they had alot of RSS feeds that I was interested in like animals, travel and shopping. Now I can access my fav's from one place.

Week 3 #7 Photo Editing Tool

I edited this picture using Pixer... I used the clouds special effects