Gas Money

By Admin on 17-02-2010

Gas money.

The inevitable question for carpools, shared rides, and mooching roommates. Do you give your friend who picked you up for the movie a couple of bucks for gas? Do you hand your sister $5 for driving you out to the family reunion? Is it even appropriate? Will they be offended if you offer?

As a person who doesn’t have a vehicle, I often have to ask others for rides. When I go out for drinks with friends, I almost always get a ride. When I am headed somewhere, I often get picked up or dropped off somewhere. I

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Optimizing Your Grocery List

By Admin on 16-02-2010

A few weeks ago, I went to the grocery store in the afternoon to take care of grocery shopping for the week. Sarah had written a list for me (in all fairness to her, it was actually closer to a set of notes for a meal plan rather than for grocery shopping; it wasn’t really a complete and finished list), but I hadn’t looked at it very carefully. However, I did know from what she told me that I would have to do at least some of the grocery shopping at a different grocery store than our usual one because there were a few unusual items on the list for special meals. As a result, I decided to pick up most of the stuff at a different grocery store than our usual one, in order to save some time.

After the shopping was over, though, I left the store in a painful daze. It

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Free Alternatives For Preparing Your Taxes

By Admin on 15-02-2010

In previous years, Canadian readers may have completed their taxes with QuickTax or Ufile. Both of these are great programs and I plan to look at them in more detail later this month. However, there are a couple of free programs for preparing your taxes that I wanted to quickly share with you. While this tax software may not have all the bells and whistles of the bigger titles, they work as expected, especially for those with uncomplicated returns.

StudioTax

I used StudioTax for the 2008 tax year and was happy with it.

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Debt fears plague global markets

By Admin on 15-02-2010

Concerns about nations’ debt levels are spooking global market investors.

Greece, of course, has made headlines in recent weeks for its sovereign debt woes. The country’s budget deficit is 12.7 percent – more than four times the 3 percent limit to which European Union member states agree – and the Greek government’s announcement that it would slash public-sector pay was met with strikes and protests in the street.

Fears about either a Greek default or the ramifications of a euro-zone bailout sent the euro lower in the past four trading days. Read more…

Do You Know How Strong Your Credit Is?

By Admin on 14-02-2010

You may know how many credit cards you have in your wallet, and how much you owe on each. But do you know what your credit rating is? Or why it might be important? Here’s the low-down on high credit scores.

Credit history matters

Your credit history is looked at by lenders to determine if they want to lend to you or not. The three major credit bureaus in this country (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian) compile your credit history and share it with the credit card companies and lenders you have submitted credit applications to.

Credit scores are based on your credit history

If you have credit history, you have a credit score. O

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