February 2011 Archives

The weather was a mess. Cabbies went on strike, making it tough to get around. And worst of all, her most hated team won the championship.

But none of that mattered to Susie Supalo. Her trip to the Super Bowl -- earned by redeeming more than 300,000 rewards points from her NFL credit card -- was still a thrill.

It's no secret that mobile technology is the future of payments. Starbucks has taken a step forward that may ignite even more popularity with mobile payments.

I just learned that in late January, Starbucks announced a new mobile smartphone app for mobile payments for the Starbucks Card, a rechargeable gift card that can also be used for their loyalty rewards program.

According to a press release, with this new app, "customers can manage their card account, reload their card balance directly from their smartphone with a major credit card, check their My Starbucks Rewards status, find nearby Starbucks stores and pay for purchases with the newly expanded mobile payment capability."

With such a loyal customer base, I'm not surprised that they are one of the first companies to really embrace this technology. Mobile payment does have its downsides, and there is still the debate of data safety when credit cards are involved, but the convenience may be worth it.

For more thoughts, tips and tricks about personal finance, please read on for my roundup of my favorite blog posts from the past week.

Today and tomorrow, and for the first time in history, Girl Scout cookie buyers in Point Loma, Calif., and in northeast Ohio will be able to use their credit cards to get those treasured Thin Mints or savory Samoas.

The good news? The Fed is now more optimistic about 2011, predicting that the economy will grow by 3.4-3.9 percent, according to Time. The bad news? Food and clothing prices are going to rise much higher.

Time published another article that says we can all expect clothing prices to go up 10 percent in the spring even though clothing prices dropped in the past decade. Price tags will get even higher in the second half of the year. The cost of cotton has skyrocketed, labor rates have increased and the demand for synthetic blends has grown.

Food prices are also on the rise. According to Business Insider, food prices have risen 15 percent from October through January. Costs of sugar and edible oils have grown significantly in recent months, as has corn.

Are you ready for prices to go up? If we all get huge raises this year, we'll probably be OK, but if our income stays the same or close, we may need to prepare our budgets and spending accordingly for this spike. Read on for my list of my top 10 favorite personal finance blog posts from the past week.

While most people think of Valentine's Day as a time for expressing love, personal finance bloggers know the holiday is really just a great theme for the latest Carnival of Personal Finance.

In that carnival -- hosted by Well Heeled Blog -- a clever story about Cupid offering financial advice to four famous fictional couples (Romeo and Juliet, Peter Pan and Wendy, Snow White and her Prince and Pongo and Perdita) is used as the vehicle to offer a roundup of great personal finance blog posts.

Today, I turn 26 years old. At age 25 and under, I feel like it's easy to still consider yourself a young adult, or even a kid. Now that I'm above 25, I feel like I'm truly in adult-land. That's probably a good thing, considering I'm now on a budget and getting married next month.

Looking back, I've learned a lot this past year. Thanks to my responsible future husband, I now save my receipts and enter my expenses, purchases and credit card payments into a spreadsheet.

Starting last May, I began the grueling task of planning my wedding--another experience with budgeting. I have had to obtain vendors quotes, compare prices and goods, maintain records, keep up with payments and more. I've also had to practice negotiating, which doesn't come easy for me. I saved a good chunk of my money on my catering and invitations this way. If I can do it, anyone can.

Now I'm off to celebrate my birthday. Read on for my favorite list of personal finance blog posts from the past week!

Sure, credit cards enable all kinds of fun activities -- such as buying more stuff you don't really need and paying bills online. Super awesome! But until now, payment cards have failed to help with some of the most basic tasks, such as shaving, picking locks and holding people at knifepoint. Thanks to the latest collection of card-sized gadgets, however, credit cards finally are becoming the everyday tools they were always meant to be.

Take a gander at this latest assortment of credit card gadgets, and I'm sure you'll agree.

Welcome to the 295th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance, a weekly roundup of the best personal finance blog posts on the Web. This week's theme is the seven deadly sins of personal finance. From lusting after unnecessary expenses to slothfully letting debt grow, we're all a little guilty of financial transgressions from time to time.

This week's theme is the seven deadly sins of personal finance. From lusting after unnecessary expenses to slothfully letting debt grow, we're all a little guilty of financial transgressions from time to time.

Brrrrrr. It's cold outside! We've had our coldest week of the year this week here in Austin, Texas, with well below-freezing temperatures. I didn't remember to leave my faucets dripping on Tuesday night, and I woke up on Wednesday with no hot water. That evening, I had to heat a few large pots of water on the gas stove and use this to rise off in the bath a la 1800s. It was very difficult to wash my long hair, and it made me extremely grateful for our convenient, time-saving, modern amenities.

Not surprisingly, I started thinking about how many other modern conveniences I take for granted. One? Plastic. With my credit card, I never have to think about getting cash out of the ATM or having enough of it on hand (well, my fiance wishes I was better about doing that). It's easy to swipe my credit card or debit card mindlessly without effort. It's difficult but important to be more mindful of spending despite the fact that it is so darn easy to blow through money.

Read on for my roundup of my favorite personal finance blog posts from the past week, and stay warm!

Just a quick note to let the personal finance bloggers in the audience know that Taking Charge has been selected to host next Monday's version of the Carnival of Personal Finance. It will be the 295th edition of the weekly carnival, making it one of the oldest and certainly the most widely known in its genre. We've hosted four previous editions.

You don't have to be a bank executive -- or even a personal finance reporter -- to know the last few years have been rough for credit card issuers. Amid the economic downturn and some negative publicity over their treatment of customers, banks decided to bypass the cost and visibility of creating Super Bowl commercials for the most recent NFL championships.

And it looks like we won't see any new credit card promotional spots during the commercial breaks for this year's Super Bowl XLV. Expect a lot of car ads, along with the requisite celebrities, including Kim Kardashian, a Claymationated Eminem and an oddball pairing of Justin Bieber with Ozzy Osbourne (can a duets album be far behind?).

With that grim reality facing those of us who enjoy the commercials as much (or more) than the game itself, here's a look back at some noteworthy credit card ads from Super Bowls gone by: