Cheapo Groovo

IRS to Track Online Sellers' Payment Transactions

Starting in 2011, any bank or other payment settlement company that processes credit cards, debit cards, and electronic payments such as PayPal will have to issue information returns telling the IRS what merchants receive. The new returns are Form 1099-K, Merchant Card and Third-Party Payments.

Reporting is required only if gross amounts for the year exceed $20,000 or there are more than 200 transactions.

Government Workers Feel No Economic Pain

Private-industry employers spent an average of $27.42 per hour worked for total employee compensation in December, while total compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged $39.60 per hour.

The average government wage and salary per hour of $26.11 was 35 percent higher than the average wage and salary of $19.41 per hour in the private sector. But the percentage difference in benefits was much higher. Benefits for state and local workers averaged $13.49 per hour, nearly 70 percent higher than the $8 per hour in benefits paid by private businesses.

The California legislature took a reckless gamble that makes Wall Street's bankers look cautious. At the top of a bull market, they enacted a huge pension boost for public-safety and industrial unions. The bill reconfigured the compensation formula for pension benefits of all public-safety employees who retired on or after January 1, 2000. It let firefighters retire at age 50 and receive 3% of their final year's compensation times the number of years they worked. If a firefighter started working at the age of 20, he could retire at 50 and earn 90% of his final salary, in perpetuity. One San Ramon Valley fire chief's yearly pension amounted to $284,000—more than his $221,000 annual salary.

Sources: WSJ & Washington Times

Make Your Own Soda

The dangers of high fructose corn syrup as well as aspartame are well documented. Blue Sky soda is healthier but expensive. So if you still enjoy soda (like I do), what are your options?

Make your own. The equipment is very basic and the key is choosing your extract. While there are many sites to get the goods, I use Leeners. It's a one stop shop for making all sorts of stuff - beer, wine, mead, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, even mustard and hot sauce. 

Save Big Money When Buying A House

The U.S. title-insurance industry faces increasing pressure from regulators to justify the fees charged to consumers for ensuring they have clear ownership of their homes, Title insurance can range from several hundred to several thousand dollars!

So here is what you do. Early in the process of buying a home or refinancing, let your real-estate agent and lender know you will select your own title insurer. Research title-insurance costs online and check whether there are fees on top of the premium (in many states, consumers pay separate fees to the agents for that research, on top of the premiums).

Use an old rake to organize outdoor tools #reuse #recycle

Source: Uploaded by user via Who Knew? on Pinterest

Freeze water balloons for a fun alternative to ice! #party #tips

Source: Uploaded by user via Who Knew? on Pinterest

Use the bond market to predict stock market direction

These days, the motto is "risk on, risk off".

So when you see 10yr and 30yr US Treasury Bonds rise in price (fall in yield), stocks will ultimaetly sell off. Flight to safety play.

Look at Portugal, Spain, and Italy bond yields. When they rise, stocks will ultimately sell off. Risk aversion play. Notice how the WSJ fails to give investors complete data!

Here are some facts for those of you who follow the mindless chatter on CNBC or any stock market blog:

Amounts outstanding on the global bond market increased by 5% in 2010 to a record $95 trillion. Government bonds accounted for 43% of the value outstanding at the end of 2010, up from 39% a year earlier.  The US was the largest market with 39% of the total followed by Japan (20%). The considerable growth means that at the end of 2010 it was much larger than the global equity market which had a market capitalization of around $55 trillion.

Food Tips That Save You Hundreds!!!!

• Eat in more often and cook from scratch as often as possible
• Avoid convenience foods like fast food and prepackaged foods
• See if the store brand meets your needs
• Look for the “dented can” shopping cart as soon as you enter the store
• Bring your own coffee and soda to work rather than buy from a vending machine.
• Use the pricebook and buy in bulk only when the pricebook tells you to
• Buy your foil, wax paper, plastic wrap from restaurant supply stores
• Plant a garden
• Use food dehydrators. Here is a simple food dehydrator you already have!
• If you can’t do a garden. Check out farm stands, farmers markets, and “pick your own” farms
• Order water at a restaurant instead of soft drinks, coffee, tea or alcohol
• Shop Aldi and other no frills grocery stores
• Become a vegan
• When inside a supermarket, ask the deli manager what time they mark down food items at night 
• Buy chuck roasts. Cook and shred the meat for soups, stews, and BBQ beef
• Subscribe to the 99 cent chef blog
• Utilize freezer meals

Free 2nd Amendment T-Shirt from Cabela's

Why Traditional Job Searches Fail

Corporate downsizing is here to stay. When large corporations total up the health care costs, retirement plan, vacation pay, life insurance, and disability insurance, a $35,000 college graduate really costs $50,000.

Outsourcing takes care of the downsizing problem. Consider the trends: IT outsourcing topped $100 billion in 2005, 80 percent of companies expect to increase their investment in outsourcing., companies love India because English is a second language

Résumés are confetti paper: Every graduate uses the same MS Word and WordPerfect templates, so all resumes look the same. When a company asks for a scannable (keyword) resume, candidates become even more indistinguishable!

Job skills change every few years. The average undergraduate student takes 5 years to get a B.S. degree. In that period of time, the entire world has changed. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the careers showing the most promise through 2012 are service related, health care related and homeland security related. Of those, only highly skilled health care jobs – doctors, nurses, and specialists – are paying a livable wage.

Human Resource departments are there to keep you out, not grant you an interview. They are not the hiring decision makers, you future boss is.

Did you know that most jobs are never advertised? The jobs are filled before there is any need for an advertisement.

Click that Learn to Earn on the upper left side of the page!