Money Sense Tips

Most individuals who own credit cards annually check their credit scores with the three agencies; Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.  While these scores are important in obtaining credit, loans, and lower interest rates, there seems to be several credit score myths that need to be debunked.

Myth:  There is only one credit score.
Fact:  There are three credit scores; one from each of the aforementioned agencies.  Read The Main Credit Bureaus

Myth:  Your score will decrease every time you check it.
Fact:  Not true.  You can ascertain what your score is as often as you need to and it will not lower your score at all.

Myth:  The FICO score is determined by income, age, and gender.
Fact:  False.  Your score is determined by many factors, none of which include the above.

Myth:  The more money I have, the higher my score will be.
Fact:  Untrue.  The score is based on payments made on time, and keeping your debt under 75% of the credit available.

Myth:  Credit repair organizations can remove information on your credit report that is unfavorable and thus increase your score.
Fact:  False.  If you find inaccuracies on your credit report, you can easily dispute them by writing to each agency individually.  However, it will not increase your score.

Myth:  The more credit card applications received, the lower the score.
Fact:  Untrue.  While we are flooded with these applications in the mail, if you don’t apply, your score is untouched.  It is only when you do apply, and wind up with many high-balanced credit cards that are in use, that your score may be lowered.

Myth:  Scores will rise if credit card accounts are cancelled.
Fact:  False.  The truth is that it is better to keep a long-existing credit card account even though you may not use it.  It has a history attached to it; the number of years you’ve had it, used it, and maintained steady on-time payments.  This is the card that gave you a high score to begin with.  To cancel out an account would defeat the purpose of maintaining a high credit score.

Myth:  Applying for a new credit card to pay other credit cards raises the score.
Fact:  Absolutely untrue. Keep in mind; if you own $5,000 and you apply for another credit card to pay the $5,000 off, you are still in debt for $5,000.

Myth:  Having no credit cards is a good thing.
Fact:  Wrong.  At some point in your life, you will need to establish a credit card history.  It’s a catch-22 situation.  Without a credit card, you cannot create a credit history, you cannot finance a car, home, or other tangibles you wish to own.  Credit history is essential in obtaining high credit scores.

Owning a credit card and working to obtain a high credit score will serve you well, as long as you do not incur expenses above your means.  Pay on time and/or pay off balances when you can; stay within the 75% of available credit and over time, your credit score will work well for you.

The top 10 easiest ways to live a more sustainable life.

Although switching your incandescent light bulbs to CFL bulbs does help, you won’t find it on this list because we’re going to cover some more creative and effective ways to stop global warming and save our precious planet!

1. Recycle! Now, I know we all have heard of this concept before, but I’ve come across quite a few people who actually feel that recycling isn’t worth their time. Well, I’ve got some news for you… it is. Over 86% of the U.S. population has access to recycling programs, stop putting renewable resources into landfills!
2. Compost! Most of the leftover food that we have can be composted and used as fertilizer for your garden. Even if you don’t garden, composting keeps good fertilizer from rotting away in landfills. But, if you don’t have a garden, why not?
3. Start a vegetable/herb garden! Save money at the store, and give life to something beautiful. Planting a garden can be so rewarding in a huge variety of ways. Homegrown food lacks the chemicals that commercial farms use to grown their products at a rapid rate, so not only does it save you money at the store, its super-healthy food too! Sounds good to me.
4. Invest in some reusable bags! What do you do with all your plastic bags you get from the grocery store? Well, in our house we have a huge pile of them left over that we’re never going to be able to use. A few months ago we bought some canvas bags that we now bring to the store with us so we don’t have to acquire even more of those horrible plastic bags. True story, I often have nightmares about our house slowly filling up with plastic bags until I’m up to my neck and close to suffocating to death. Alright, that’s not exactly true… but start carrying a bag!
5. Use the car sparingly. With gas prices lately, I’m sure everyone is a bit more concerned with this. But gas prices aside, using an automobile is very hurtful to our environment, and we should be aware of this. Now, we are a very mobile civilization, so we can’t feel too much guilt about using our cars, we need them to keep up to speed with how fast the rest of the world is moving. If your lifestyle requires you to travel a lot, then you should maybe consider a hybrid car, but.. even hybrids have their pros and cons, they aren’t as good for the earth as the car companies advertise, as they use much more of the Earth’s resources to build than a conventional car.
6. Remember to turn your electronics when you aren’t using them. Did you know, just by leaving your computer turned on at night while you’re asleep you’re probably paying around $20 extra a month depending on the wattage of your computer? Try practicing turning off and unplugging all of the appliances you aren’t using, experiment with how much it can really save you. Unplug your toaster, don’t leave the television on, turn off the lights if you aren’t using them, make your wallets happy!
7. Take short showers when possible. If you want you get radical, you can even install a low-flow shower head to reduce the amount of water used. Typically, try to be in and out of the shower in 3 or 4 minutes. Oh! Wanna try something innovative? Put a bucket in the shower with you and use it to water your garden. Just remember to not get much soap in it or it’ll hurt your plants!
8. Energy Star Appliances. I personally can’t wait until one of our AC units goes out so I can invest in one of these. They’re a great investment if you want to save some money without being uncomfortable without air conditioning. Although, don’t go and replace your appliances when you still have working ones! Get the most out of what you have right now.
9. Cook with lids! This will keep the heat in your pans and cause your food to cook much faster.
10. Dry your clothes outside. Allow your clothes enough time in between when you wash them and when you need to wear them and let them dry on a line. This is a no-brainer, but quite a nice excuse to get out and enjoy the weather (unless its rainy of course, don’t try drying your clothes in rainy weather.. it never seems to work out well).

Last but not least, what you see is just a short list of things you can do to reduce your footprint on the Earth.  It is not something that we cannot do. Everyone should be able to at least do a few things on the list. By simply following this list, you will be amazed that how much energy and money that you can actually save.