(From Lifehackery.com)

Lots of the times I won't find relevant coupons that apply to the items I want to buy next time at the grocery store. Sometimes I run into ecoupons/coupons that may apply to basic things I need in the future but I spend so much time trying to figure out if I may need it in the future that I just toss the coupon.

One way to prevent the above scenario from happening is to make a list of things that you will ALWAYS NEED in the future and stick it somewhere near your computer where you can easily find this list. My ALWAYS NEED list is as follows (and is still being edited every now and then):

-tampons
-pads
-dish soap
-toothpaste
-toothbrush
-body soap

That way when I'm looking through coupons, it is a brainless activity to decide whether or not the coupon is relevant to future shopping.

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Hope that tip helped! A blogger I look up to when it comes to coupon hunting is Money Saving Mom. She has a tip on how to stretch your dollars online. Good read for new coupon cutters like me!

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So sorry I haven't posted for a while. I've been incredibly busy with business school and studying and life in general.

Things to mention that I've been up to lately:
-I started volunteer tutoring for accounting last week! I'm logged for 4 hrs/week, but lately I've been logging in an hour more than I've said I'd volunteer.
-I also started logging hours of study and homework time each week. Last week, I logged 5 hours of homework, and 6 hours of studying. It's still not enough time to catch up with everything I learn in class. =[
-I'm working on a Professionalism blog post (thanks to BDO's recruiter, Jennifer, who provided a lecture for accounting students)

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I'm wondering, how much do you guys study and do homework every week? What is the amount of time doing homework/studying that you have found success? My friend says he does 15 hours of studying a week. But I'm guessing it varies depending on the person and what their major is. Let me know!

Cheers! Until next time.

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CAREER FAIR.

Just something about those two words that frighten me. Maybe because those words prompts images of too many intimidating people in one room, dreadful conversations, and just lots and lots of awkwardness.

Those WERE the first thoughts that crossed my mind when I walked into my first career fair two weeks ago. But after going to my second career  it turns out, it's not so bad. In fact, it is kind of fun.

There are two things that will make you scared (I say WILL because if you have that expectation when you go to a career fair, you  will expect it and you will at least know where you will be fearful. Versus, if you went to a career fair, encountered these two things, didn't expect it, got intimidated by the fear, and left...which is pretty much what I wanted to do):

1. Seeing so many people dressed in professional garb competing for a recruiter
2. Walking up to a recruiter and initiating a conversation

Help for fear 1:
Now, the first one is a fear that you gotta just let pass. It IS intimidating, but DON'T leave. Looking around at a career fair in a "big picture" view (seeing everyone confidently talk to recruiters etc), WILL look intimidating. But on a personal scale, you'll realize that as the fear passes, that it's just a big social and it's not that bad. All that matters is the conversation between you and whatever person you talk to that night. This is where fear two comes in....

Help for fear 2:
Now, the second fear is harder to combat because in order to fight it, you must take action. But remember the FIVE seconds it takes to walk up to a recruiter and introduce yourself and shake hands will be the only time you'll really be scared. Just think of those five seconds as an investment to your career. All you have to do is get past those first five seconds and you might have a career in line. After that, a conversation gets rolling, and it isn't as awkward.

Steps for these fears:

These are steps I take when I have one of these fears:

Walk around the room and sample:  What I mean by this is scope out what companies are there. Take note of what firm is where. Getting familiar with your surroundings helps the first and second fear.

Talk to the first recruiter that is free and looks at you eye to eye: The best way to start a career fair is to dive into your first conversation. I literally saw people standing around trying to fight themselves to talk to a recruiter.That's just awkward. Don't be one of those people. Take the initiative, remember it's just five seconds of awkwardness trying to talk to someone, smile and introduce yourself. BUT!  DON'T let this be the firm that is the firm you came to the career fair for. If anything you want to practice with a firm that you aren't familiar with or don't care too much about so that when you get to the firm you really want to impress, you would have had some practice.

"But what if I have to stand in line to talk to a recruiter?"

Okay, yes, the awkwardness lasts a little longer, but sit patiently and wait to be talked to, or walk around the room again. I don't recommend the latter because it just seems more awkward and standing in line shows confidence.

These are the only two fears I had when going to the career fair. The rest is downhill from there!

Stay tuned for more tips on career fairs

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I sent an email to Money Saving Mom to ask her about an incident at Safeway today. If you have any feedback, please, I would LOVE for you to include it as a comment on this blog.Here's the email I sent her:

I was at Safeway today and I tried to use a $2.00 off visine coupon, which expires 2/28/2010. The safeway employee told me that they don't take coupons that more than 60 days away from the expirationdate. I gave her a puzzled look but bought the visine at full price anyway. What's the deal with that? I don't understand what Safeway gains by declining to use any coupon 60 days or away from the expiration day. To me, it's like saying that I have a gift card for 2 bucks, but I can't redeem it until 60 days before the expiration date. It makes no sense to me. Can you explain why Safeway declined my visine coupon? I would love it if you could!

Thanks.

Michelle
BA Business - Accounting & Info. Systems
University of Washington
June 2011

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As a college student, I find it important to be able to keep up with fashion trends. The difficulty with this passion is...well...that I'm a college student. Money will be a problem. That's why I love shopping at thrift stores, especially Goodwill. My goal every time I shop at Goodwill is to find really good deals that fit my fashion needs. Also, I want to be able to complete an outfit using only buys from Goodwill. Here are some of my recent finds.

Olian "Robe" - $7
Hollister Skinny Jeans - $10

Keds slip on's - $3

Lucky Brand Jeans - $10

Showing you my deals, I'd like to introduce to you: The Goodwill Hunting Game.

Goal: Create an outfit from buys from Goodwill (or Value Village, or any 2nd hand store).

Post your outfits (or any awesome deals you found) in the comments box!

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Just enter the code 9HB6MP22 at any Redbox location to get your free movie (1 day rental). Note that they still need your debit/credit card for tracking purposes. But! you can use this code for every debit/credit card you have!

I'm not sure when this offer expires, but I just used the code yesterday!

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After the dreaded date of April 15^th, tax payers look forward to receiving their long awaited tax refund. Many people greet this check from the government with excitement, myself included.

But my views changed on the tax rebate the government sends to us each year when I read the chapter on taxes of my Personal Finance for Dummies book:

“Some people feel lucky when they get a refund, but all a refund really indicates is that you overpaid in taxes during the year. You should have had this money in your own account all along.”

Some people will find this information eye opening, like I did. I never realized that tax refund wasn’t a gift from the government, nor did I realize the government was just giving me the money I should have had in the first place. Furthermore, I didn’t know a government tax rebate isn’t applicable to every taxpayer.

Although I just turned twenty and am starting to learn more about the financial world, I’m wondering how many other people thought the same thing I did about taxes. That is why I’m dedicating this post to those who had that same misperception on tax rebates as I did.

What I learned yesterday: Marginal tax rate and the AMT

Another misperception I had on the government taxes we file every year was that every dollar I earned was taxed the same.

WRONG.

[This comes straight from my Personal Finance for Dummies book]:

“When it comes to taxes, not all income is treated equally…If you work for an employer and earn a constant salary doing the course of a year, a steady and equal amount of federal and state taxes is deducted from each paycheck. Thus, it appears as though all that earned income is being taxed equally. In reality, however, you pay less tax on your first dollars of earnings and more tax on your last dollars of earnings. For example, if you’re single and your taxable income totals $45,000 during 2006, you pay federal tax at the rate of 10 percent on the first $7,550 of taxable income, 15 percent on income between $7,550 and $30,650, and 25 percent on income from $40,650 up to $45,000. Your marginal tax rate is the rate of tax you pay on your last, or so-called highest, dollars of income. In the example of a single person with taxable income of $45,000, that person’s federal marginal tax rate is 25 percent. In other words, she effectively pays 25 percent federal tax on her last dollars of income – those dollars in excess of $30,650… ”

I just learned about all of this yesterday and it’s still sinking in (and it’ll probably a long while before this all sinks in…) and I’m not sure I really understand all of it quite yet...But I'm glad I'm aware of it even though it is very shocking to read.

AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax)

Just to warn the readers, this was probably the most disturbing concept I came across yesterday on taxes.

"over the years, as the government grew hungry for more revenue, taxpayers who slashed their taxes by claiming lots of deductions or exclusions from taxable income came under greater scrutiny. So the government created a second tax system - the alternative minimum tax (AMT) to - to ensure that those with high deductions or exclusions pay at least a certain percentage of taxes on their incomes...if you have a lot of deductions or exclusions from state income taxes, real estate taxes, certain types of mortgage interest, and passive investments, you may fall prey to AMT...AMT restricts you from claiming certain deductions and requires you to add back in income that is normally tax free (like certain municipal bond interest)."

I'm not too sure how many people are aware of this, but I'm hoping this post helped spread the word, not just on AMT, but the other info on tax.

Note: All quotes are from Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson. I really enjoy this book because it's very simple and has helped me improve my financial knowledge and literacy. I recommend this book for those who are just starting out to learn about money and want to gain a better understanding of things.

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I found this as I was reading "Now, Discover Your Strengths". It describes us Achievers -- those who love to hack away at the daily to-do list:

Your achiever theme helps to explain your drive. achiever describes a constant need for achievement. You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself. And by "every day" you mean every single day -- workdays, weekends, vacations. No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied. You have an internal fire burning iinside you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more. After each accomplishment is reached, the fire dwindles for a moment, but very soon it rekindles itself, forcing you toward the next accomplishment. Your relentless need for achievement might not be logical. It might not even be focused. but it will always be with you. As an Achiever you must learn to live of discontent.  It does have its benefits. It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out. It is the jolt you can always count on to get you started on new tasks, new challenges. It is the power supply that causes you to set the pace and define the levels of productivity for your work group. It is the theme that keeps you moving. 

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One of the most annoying things is not having access to my bookmarks when I'm not on my own laptop. Going to work and having to search for the things I've bookmarked at home takes too much time and effort! One site that has helped me synchronize my at-home workspace with my work-workspace is http://delicious.com/... After registering for free, Delicious saves your bookmarks online, making access to your bookmarks as simple as typing in a web address.

Other sites similar to delicious are http://digg.com/ and http://www.stumbleupon.com/...I haven't tried these sites quite yet, but I'm guessing these bookmark sites are just as good.

Though One thing I love about delicious’s website is that you can see all your bookmarks visually through favthumbs

 Hope this helps!

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