Which Financial Papers Can I Throw Away and Which Should I Keep?

Unsure of what financial papers to keep or discard? Morningstar’s article on what to keep and throw away provides both lists. Normally I shred outdated receipts and keep everthing else like ultility bill statements. Yet since I am limited to storage space I will happily add this list to my shred and scan pile.
Tip#1: Have a cross-shredder to shred any credit card applications and other financial documents with your personal information.
Tip#2: Have a scanner to scan other important financial statements onto a backup CD then shred the papers. This way you save more space and you still preserve important financial history even if you are unsure of what to throw away.
Tip#3: Buy a filing cabinet to maintain organization.

MorningStar’s Shred It List:
1. Throw away canceled checks (if you still get them) for routine purchases such as groceries, gasoline, clothing, utility bills (unless you deduct them).
2. Your bank and brokerage statements may come with “stuffers”–typically some marketing material about other services. Read it once when it arrives and if you don’t plan to use that service, throw it out.
3. Bank deposit slips and ATM receipts: Once you’ve verified these on your monthly statements, toss them.
4. Keep payroll stubs until you receive your annual W-2 or 1099. Once you’ve verified the information on those documents is right, toss the monthly paperwork.(Keep a few for verifiable documentation.)
5. If you’re going to vote your proxies related to investments you own, do it right away. If you choose not to vote your proxies, toss them.
6. Read your annual reports when you get them. Then you can throw them out.
7. Old insurance policies or estate documents.
8. Credit card receipts–after you verify them on your monthly statements.(Keep only if you have big ticket items like furniture for warranty purposes.)
9. Utility bills (unless you deduct them for tax purposes)
10. Old Social Security statements

Requirements as to how long to keep these records vary from 3-7 years so keep it on average about 5 years then discard them.

Auto Insurance Provider Ratings

In my quest to switch from Farmers Auto Insurance, I found provider ratings from the J.D. Power Consumer Center. The insurance companies are rated from 1-5 based on Overall Experience, Policy Offerings, Pricing, and Contacting Insurer. Based on this data I think we will give Geico a try and bypass seeing an agent for now.

The #1 Award Recipient went to Amica Mutual with a perfect score.

2. AARP with a perfect score
3. Erie 4 out of 5 on all categories
4. State Farm 4 out of 5 on all but 3 out of five for pricing
5. Geico faired very well 4 out of 5 for pricing and policy offerings, but average 3 out of 5 for overall experience and contact insurer

Allstate, American Family, and Hartford all about the average 3 out of 5

Baby Hygienic Products: Are They Better For Adults Too?

My 1 year old has her set of hygiene products and when I run out of mine, I simply use hers. She has very sensitive skin and mild eczema. She exclusively uses Aveeno Baby Bath and Lotion Products otherwise she would break out in a rash.

Then I thought about using baby products for moisturizing and cleansing. I found that applying her Aveeno Baby Bath didn’t dry out my skin as much and her Aveeno Lotion provides great moisture, doesn’t feel greasy on my skin, and is unscented so I don’t have the lingering scent of a baby. Even DH uses it!

Problem Solved: Great Tip for Getting Out Stains

Long before the days of motherhood have I had the problem of getting stains on my clothing. Those late nights at the cafe studying for finals was, for me, a recipe of spills and stains. Now that I have a 1 year old the hours of cleaning up never seem to cease.

I tried using OxiClean Wipes and I must admit they do come in very handy when we are on the move and at a restaurant. And unlike other portable stain removers OxiClean Wipes do not leave a ring around light-colored clothing.

Track Your Packages On One Webpage!

Track-trace.com enables you to track your orders with their complete list of shipping companies. They have companies like UPS, DHL, FEDEX, Post, Container, and more. This is one of the most useful websites I’ve come across. Now I don’t have to go into my email or view my account at the originator’s website. I’m just sad they don’t have USPS integrated onto their page.

How To Find The Right Auto Insurance

My first insurance policy was under my parent’s policy with Safeco, so I couldn’t vouch for any experiences with them. My husband had Progressive, but his rates increased upon renewal. We wanted to save money and merged into Farmers, then the problems ensued.

Our rates were never the same when we received the bill and ranged from paying one month to paying for 3 months. Our auto payment plan did not go through and we had to contact our agent numerous times to resolve all these issues.

Now our contract has expired and we are searching for a better auto company. Edmunds.com has an excellent article that elaborates on choosing that right auto insurance.

1) Visit your state’s department of insurance Web site. Although you may not be familiar with it, your state, and every state, has a department of insurance. Most departments have Web sites, and many publish “consumer complaint ratios” for all of the insurance companies that sell policies in their state. This ratio tells you how many complaints a car insurance company received per 1,000 claims filed. The I-CAN Web site provides links and contact information for every state’s department of insurance.

2) Find out which insurers body shops recommend. One of the best ways to identify reliable insurers, according to Howard, is to contact local body shops that you trust and ask for their recommendations. Body shop managers have a unique perspective to offer, since they regularly interact with insurance adjusters. They know which companies have the smoothest claim processes, which affects how quickly the work can be completed on a damaged vehicle. And they know which companies are pushing aftermarket parts, in lieu of genuine original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts, to cut costs.

3) Check the J.D. Power Ratings. J.D. Power and Associates collects data from individual policyholders nationwide and rates them according to coverage options, price, claims handling, satisfaction with company representatives and the overall experience.

4) Consider insurers’ financial strength ratings. As a final check, you can take a look at the A.M. Best and Standard & Poor’s ratings. Both companies publish financial strength ratings for all insurance companies — these “measure” an insurance company’s ability to pay out a claim (they have nothing to do with the way a company treats its customers).

5) Still confused? Consider working with an agent. It used to be that everyone purchased auto insurance from an agent, but now, car insurance companies like Amica, Esurance, Geico and others allow you to purchase insurance directly — over the phone from a customer service representative or online. Still, many of the major players have preserved their national networks of local agents — even if you use State Farm’s or Allstate’s Web site, you will still be assigned a local agent.

More tips can be found at Soundmoneytips.com. Which has the goods on how to lower your auto insurance payments. Here is a list of a few that really helped me receive those much needed discounts:

Ask for higher deductibles
Reduce Coverage on Older Cars
Group Insurance
Take Advantage of Low Mileage Discounts

6 Excellent Free Sites For Physical Health and Well-being

This year I made a vow to myself to not only be more green, but get into shape, eat healthy, and find ways to de-stress. Still I suffer the repercussions of motherhood and long for the day to get back into my skinny jeans. 

Along the way, I found some excellent sites with an amazing community of genuine people who share experiences and provide support daily.

• A fantastic site called Limeade.com is all about a journey into enpowering oneself towards a better emotional well-being. Upon your free sign up you take a Well Being Assessment Test. This test evaluates you in five areas that you can fill out in shorter sections or all together (takes at at least 15 minutes to finish the “Entire Assessment”): Physical, Emotional, Actualization, Capacity for Change, and Work Life.
• Afterward you receive charts that recommend goals and activities for you based on what you need to improve on. You then personalize your goals with a date you wish to achieve them. Limeade is a great way for me to stay on track with my goals and hopefully accomplish them.

• 
• SparkPeople.com is a fabulous online community that offers free diet plans, nutrition and fitness tool, and a very engaging support for you to stick with your plans. I am on a plan to lose 30 lbs by June and I am so thrilled to have a my meals planned out for me monthly. And if you simply want to maintain your weight and not do the Yo-Yo they also have a plan for that too. I cannot believe it’s free!
• 
• Traineo is a free and simple website that gives you the motivation and support to reach your weight loss and fitness goals. traineo’s idea is simple: join traineo for free and pick up to 4 friends or members of your family (who will become your ‘traineo motivators’) to receive weekly email updates on your progress towards your weight loss and fitness goals.
• 
• FatSecret.com

• Fatsecret is a new place for people interested in diets to come and find out what works. You can explore the site and take in a range of interesting and useful diet information or you can become a member and experience the power of the community help you make better dieting decisions. We think our features such as creating a personalized diet and finding recipes that are right for your diet are pretty special, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. fatsecret is your one-stop-shop for all things diet – the secret is out!
• PeerTrainer.com gives you the motivation &
  support you need to achieve your weight loss and fitness goals.PEERtrainer is free. We offer:
  – daily logs for meals, workouts & goals
  – small groups that keep you accountable.
  – calorie counter, community & blogs
• gimme20.com
• Track your Results!
  Did you just finish a workout? Record your results in a couple of clicks. You can even share your fitness results with friends and family. You can even use your mobile device in the gym to report your results at http://mob.gimme20.com.Chart your progress
  Visualize your improvements over time.Build a Workout
  Use the ‘Build a Workout’ section of the site to build your own custom workout from our community driven archive of exercises.

  Find a Workout
  Looking to try someone else’s workout? Find one you like and track it!

  Schedule your Workout
  Want to get reminders from Gimme20.com when you want to workout? Schedule a workout and we’ll not only remind you, but we’ll also send you a printable workout sheet to take to the gym!

Guide to Credit Cards: Find the Perfect Card for You

Earlier I posted about my initiation into college and my naive initiation into the credit game, Sound Money Tips provides excellent tips on acquiring that perfect credit card for you. A couple of my favorite money sites that compare rates with credit cards, banks, mortgage home loans, and offer more tips are Bankrate.com and Smartmoney.com. The power a credit card unleashes can be the demise of the abuser so manage wisely.

The Guide is unbiased and independent. By exposing the ways credit card companies make money and play their customers, it helps you to avoid the expensive mistakes that most credit card users make. The Guide was written by David Jackson, an independent financial analyst with no ties to the credit card industry.

Tips on:

What you need to know about the credit card business
Using credit cards to beat the industry and make yourself money
How to choose the right credit card to maximize profits
Credit card tricks and spam

What My Parents Didn’t Teach Me and What You Should Know Before You Go To College

There are many things my parents did teach me like respect, the importance of family, generosity, support, being humble, and above all love. My parents did not teach me about being frugal nor about money management.

At the age of 17 I moved from home and attended college out of state. It was the hardest transition I had to endure, even more difficult than being a mother because nurturing comes naturally to me. No longer was I living the high life of having my laundry washed or my clothes ironed for me. I thought I had life figured out-until money and college life came along.

I believe that every freshman college student or at least every senior in high school should not only learn new study habits for college, but new financial habits as well. The seduction of the credit card beast seemed a part of adulthood. I did read books on personal finance but the only information that stuck was having to establish good credit by opening a department store credit card. All other information was lost in translation somewhere between my lecture notes and cramming for my finals.

Thinking I was being frugal and establishing good credit, I activated 8 departments store credit cards. My credit score was quickly established, but I learned that many creditors inquiring about my credit score also had an adverse affect on it and the more credit accounts did not amount to a better credit score. The next step I took was to terminate all department accounts except for my Visa and one other department store card. The best way to manage credit is to have a few accounts open, use them about every other year, stay just below half of your credit line, and obviously pay the balances in full or at least for a few months. This whole credit game can be very confusing!

Creditors taunt and prey on unsuspecting victims and increase your credit limit when you reach good standing. Since opening my first bank Visa, my credit line went from $1,000 to $3,700 in 4 years.

What do we do to cut back expenses? Evaluate our financial situation, create a budget, cook at home, take lunch to work, do free recreational activities, educate ourselves, shop at thrift stores, Ross, TJ Maxx, Big Lots, Walmart, Target, store clearance sections, buy items discounted, ebay, Amazon, and do comparative shopping.

Although our debt sculpture is a combined amount from my husband as well, the best thing we can do is chip away at our creation until there is nothing left but gold financial freedom.

Stuff I Dig

Healthy Care Booster Seat by Fisher Price
It is portable, foldable, convenient, dishwasher safe, and has a snap off tray. While I unpacked this seat DD exclaimed, “Chair, chair!” She was so excited about her new chair, she resisted vamoosing from it after dinner. I just appreciate how easy it is to maintain.