Outsource your errands with TaskRabbit

TaskRabbit is a new online service that calls itself “service networking”. People who need extra help getting things done are matched up with those that have additional time. By combining user ratings and reviews, TaskRabbit proves to be safer and more reliable than other, comparable services online.

How TaskRabbit works

TaskRabbit is built on the idea that TaskRabbit matches individuals that have additional time with people that need help getting things done. Tasks could be just about anything – picking up groceries, running dry cleaning around, or walking a dog. TaskRabbit is the task-by-task personal assistant for anyone who can’t afford one full time. Anyone with a task posts the information and just how much they’re willing to pay, and someone in their area can agree to help out. It ends up being a win-win.

Working through TaskRabbit

TaskRabbit is a excellent way for people in big cities for making just a little additional spending money. You can even bid for or make counteroffers on a task. ”Service networking” helps turn that additional time into extra money. You need to consider a few things when you’re deciding if you should accept a task. First, think about how much cash the task will cost you. Second, map out exactly how much time the task is going to take. Decide if the offered price of the task is what you are really worth. Make sure to set aside fifteen percent in self employment taxes if you’re going to be making more than $ 600 a year in these tasks.

TaskRabbit in new cities

You will find only two cities – Boston and San Francisco – that have TaskRabbit services. There are plans for TaskRabbit to expand, but it will take time for the service to add extra cities. You can still make additional money with the TaskRabbit concept, even if it is not inside your city. The Craigslist gigs section is a great place to start with the job.

How to plan a wedding on a budget and save money

When it comes to preparing a wedding, spending a bunch of money is really not necessary. In fact, you will find numerous simple solutions to plan a wedding on a spending budget without breaking the financial institution or needing a last minute cash advance. Regardless of your spending limit, using these wedding planning tips will help you put together a beautiful, inexpensive wedding with memories that will last forever.

Plan a wedding on a spending budget by cutting the guest list

To really plan a wedding on a budget, one of the first places you should look is your guest list. Cutting down the number of guests can greatly reduce the amount of cash spent on caterers and food, among other costs. You add more strain to your budget each time a name is added to the list. So conserve yourself some trouble and skip inviting those you have not spoken to in a long time or ones you just can’t stand to be around. Don’t feel obligated to please everybody; it is your wedding, your budget and, most importantly, you that need the pleasing.

Intelligent purchasing on a wedding dress

Choosing the right wedding dress is certainly one of the primary highlights of preparing a wedding. But it can get pretty overwhelming, especially if you are preparing everything on a budget. So before you take out a cash advance to pay for that expensive wedding dress, think of other options you may have. Get online, look around and compare prices from a number of different places. You can discover many web sites that offer a wide range of gorgeous wedding dresses that won’t put a strain inside your wallet. What about renting a dress for a low price? Surely you will find numerous brides who wouldn’t mind.

The best time to have a wedding

Where and when you have your wedding will even determine how much you spend and just how much you save. The best time to plan a wedding on a spending budget is during off-season months, which vary depending on your regional climate. For cold-weather states, off-season savings kick in during winter and vice-versa for places with warmer climates. Off-season months are great times to have a wedding because you will find numerous vendors out looking for business and willing to hand out great saving deals to make some money. In addition, where you’ve your wedding doesn’t have to be at a lavish hotel or club house. You are able to have your wedding at a local restaurant, a public park or even at your community college.

Saving on food and drinks

Don’t hesitate to ask your caterer for the least costly entrees on the menu. Would a seated dinner cost you more cash than a buffet? Can you pass up the primary course and just stick with drinks and appetizers? Rather than having a full bar, can you serve just wine and beer? Food costs can claim a vast portion of your wedding budget, so don’t feel hesitant to make any alterations if needed.

Existing home sales dip 2.6 percent in June

While new home sales showed an increase in June (but a marked decrease in July), the Association of Realtors has revealed the dirty underbelly of those statistics, reports Bloomberg. Experts were confused that contracts to purchase were so low. Everything thinks that what happened was the tax buyer credit expired making the demand go down. Source of article – Existing home sales dip 2.6 percent in June by Personal Money Store.

Economists predicted 4 percent growth in existing home sales

June 2010, the National Association of Realtors expected things to get better. The tax credit expired April 30, and it was very unexpected for there to be the 30 percent drop. Bloomberg reports that the 30 percent decrease that happened in May 2010 hasn’t happened like that since 2001 when the median forecast began being kept.

Earn more with no $8,000 credit

The recession continues meaning high unemployment and raises in pay nonexistent. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner thinks unemployment will be going up which means it will be hard to get a home nevertheless. Stocks aren’t doing any better with Standard and Poor’s 500 bad news of dropping 0.6 percent.

More existing home sales

In fact, 90 percent of the U.S. housing market consists of existing home sales, so the recent downturn doesn’t bode well for a housing market recovery. Bloomberg talked to Lawrence Yun of the National Association of Realtors who said, “There could possibly be a couple of additional months of slow home sales activity before picking up later within the year, provided the job market improves.”

Home seizure fear

Then there are those pesky foreclosures. Mortgage rates are doing really well being down to 4.54 percent although you will find already 38 percent more foreclosures than there were last year reports RealtyTrac, Inc. The market has gotten worse than ever reports Donald Horton from D.R. Horton Inc., and he believes it won’t end for a long time.

Additional reading

Bloomberg

bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-03/pending-sales-of-existing-u-s-homes-unexpectedly-decreased-2-6-in-june.html

Homeowners who are staying put

youtube.com/watch?v=5c0oemzh-vU

Kristy Lee Cook gets on the bad side of PETA

Supporters of “American Idol” will no doubt remember Kristy Lee Cook, the fresh-faced young cowgirl from Selma, Ore., who rode her country style all the way to seventh place on season seven of the singing competition in 2008. Her country styling’s were probably what paved the way for her most recent role on the Versus channel show “Goin’ Country,” where the hunting and singing are fine. The hunting in unique has made an enemy of the publicity-grabbing animal rights organization PETA. The headline-grabbing group is after a public apology from Kristy Lee Cook. Source of article – Kristy Lee Cook in sights of PETA over hunting reality show by Personal Money Store.

Kristy Lee Cook has called PETA’s bluff

According to Fox News, Kristy Lee Cook makes no apologies for her participation with “Goin’ Country”. PETA made a public statement lambasting Cook for not following the path of “Idol” alums Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler and Simon Cowell, who have all participated in public animal rights advertising for PETA. Cook, who supports animal rights, fired back at the bully organization. “Given that hunters have done more for American wildlife conservation than any other group in history, I make no apology for being one,” Cook told Fox. ”Indeed, I join the ranks of millions of American hunters who celebrate our outdoor heritage and who conserve millions of acres of wild lands. These same people support more than 600,000 jobs across the country and provide a critical voice to encourage more investment in American conservation”.

Kristy Lee Cook hunts, sings and goes organic

“Goin’ Country” depicts the daily life of Kristy Lee Cook, from the work of trying to make it in the music organization to life’s lighter moments. Her charity organization, the “Kristy Lee Horse Heaven Foundation,” also receives attention. Among her family’s recreational pursuits is hunting. During the program, Cook makes a point of showing that she handles hunting in a responsible fashion, focusing on conservation and healthy roles meat can play in one’s diet. “If I don’t take the meat home to my family, then we give it to orphanages or homeless shelters,” she said.

Meat is good for you, says science

Meat is valuable to human evolution, something that PETA and other hunting-critical groups tend to ignore. Anthropologist Leslie Aiello told NPR that when humans became meat-eaters, major changes in evolution started to occur.Specifically, she told NPR that “What we think is that this dietary change around 2.3 million years ago was one of the major significant factors within the evolution of our own species”. Using tools was a large part of the brain development that went on when meat eating began for humans. Fat and calories from meat were instrumental in human brain growth because of the influx of energy from something other than comparative mass quantities of vegetable. The theory is that meat gave the brain a more efficient supply of energy – that might be effortlessly processed – thus making it easier for the brain to grow. The subsequent invention of cooking also helped brain development, as it demands social interaction and division of work.!

Find more details on this subject

Fox News

foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/08/03/exclusive-peta-takes-aim-kristy-lee-cooks-hunting-shoots/

NPR.org

npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128849908

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristy_Lee_Cook

Gorilla glass safeguards your TV from Wii accidents

Video gamers know about Wii damages involving TV glass, and now there’s a business that thinks they have an option. The AP reports that Chemcor, an old invention from the labs of Corning, is now about to hit the market as super-strong Gorilla glass. Soon, Corning will use Gorilla glass in high-end TVs and touch-screen tablets.

Gorilla glass first roared two years ago

After decades of nothing, Corning began to use Gorilla glass in cell phones in 2008. Using the product for cell phone screens started a $ 170 million per year business, but that’s small compared to what Corning could make in the flat screen TV and touch screen system market. In specific, Gorilla glass could possibly be used for frameless flat screen TVs that would look like artwork on a wall, rather than a television. Gorilla glass’ resistance to scratching, denting or other breakage would both preserve a high-end television’s elegance and cut down on broken glass from dreaded Wii accidents.

Strength times three, thickness divided by half

According to the AP, Gorilla glass beats standard glass by a mile. It is three times as strong – like a gorilla – but it is less than half as thick. A Gorilla glass flat screen can be thinner than a dime, which greatly decreases shipping costs. Thus, Corning hopes to get its Asian manufacturers to get Gorilla glass into the TV market by early next year. Share prices of Corning are already up, which is a good sign. Corning’s TV glass sales amounted to $ 5.4 billion last year, and Gorilla glass will take than number through the roof in 2011, experts predict. Adding Gorilla glass to TVs is forecasted to add only $ 30 to $ 60 per unit.

And what about other products?

Corning is confident that Gorilla glass is suitable for myriad products. For example, refrigerator doors, vehicle sunroofs and stationary touch-screen interfaces are all opportunities. For the moment, Corning is on the precipice of making large cash with Gorilla glass in high-end televisions.

Further reading

Associated Press

cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/01/ap/tech/main6734387.shtml

Falling gold price could mean the gold bubble is about to burst

The rumors say a gold bubble burst is within the near future. Investors have perceived gold as a safe haven during the global financial crisis. The global financial crisis is ending which means the gold bubble might burst, although it rose since October 2008. If the markets continue to rally, the demand for so-called safe investments like gold will fall. Gold went down quite a bit already from June 21 from $ 1,266.50 to $ 1,185. Article resource – Falling gold price could mean the gold bubble is about to burst by Personal Money Store.

Knowing when the gold bubble will burst

It can be a sign of the gold bubble burst the gold prices are so unsteady. Brian Rezny at Seeking Alpha writes that India and China, the world’s first and second largest gold markets respectively, are purchasing a lot less gold. He said that gold is a commodity with a value based upon entirely on the assumption that it will increase in price. Gold became a safe haven during the global financial crisis based on perception. The only reason gold is valuable is because investors have believed it is valuable. A gold bubble burst would change that perception overnight.

Market in Europe changes because of credit crisis

One reason the gold bubble may be about to burst is since the markets may have exaggerated the effects of the credit crisis in Europe to the global economy, as outlined by Ron Acoba at Daily Markets. Acoba explains that there isn’t any effect on their business with the whole credit crisis. Rezny said the gold bubble is about to “end in tears,” and the recent decline in gold prices will get worse. Similar to what is happening now, gold peaked at $ 850 an ounce in 1980. Adjusted for inflation, that $ 850 was equal to $ 2,300. And then it tanked, falling to $ 253 by 1999.

A safe haven gets risky

Since many have bought gold, the gold bubble has gotten huge. Celebrities are endorsing gold. Hucksters like Glenn Beck are convincing average people to dump a large percentage of their investment portfolios into gold — even their life savings — to be safe when the global economy collapses into the stone age. Beating Broke is concerned about what will happen after the economy recovers. Gold buyers will be sad to see their investment of $ 1,100 or $ 1,200 an ounce change to be $ 800 or $ 900 an ounce instead. If these investors lose 30 percent of their savings or portfolio, the gold bubble will burst. The price of gold will drop even further as people rush to sell off their holdings. True believers in gold will lose even more.

More on this topic

Daily Markets

dailymarkets.com/forex/2010/07/28/did-the-gold-bubble-just-pop/

Beating Broke

beatingbroke.com/is-gold-the-next-bubble/

Auto dealer exemption means first time car buyers must be wary

An auto dealer exemption was signed into the financial reform bill. Auto dealers are more likely to deceive buyers since the auto lending regulation is no longer in place. To get a better deal, very first time car buyers have to know about these practices. You are going to want to know what you are getting into with auto financing as well. Post resource – Auto dealer exemption means first time car buyers must be wary by Personal Money Store.

Car payments down with more interest

There isn’t nearly as much money in auto sales as there is in auto financing for dealerships according to AOL Autos. Car dealers do not even give choices for interest rates; they want to know what kind of payment you are looking for. The dealership bases anything off that info. An rate of interest that is lower for a car loan will conserve people thousands of dollars. Car buyers have to be careful working with an auto dealer on car loan for their next vehicle.

Get your credit score before learning about interest rate deals

Bankrate.com reports that dealers are middlemen working with lenders who give them wholesale interest rates. Dealers mark up those rates by up to 3 percentage points. Numerous dealers hope the consumers do not know what interest rates they qualify for so higher interest rates could be charged. You need to know what interest rates you are able to get.

Discover your loan approval before looking at cars

A good way to know for certain what type of rate of interest you qualify for is to get approved for a loan before you even set foot on the car lot. However, The New York Times reports that if a car buyer shows up already approved for a loan, dealers will make an effort to discover some other way to make money off them. Some things they try to sell are window etchings, disability, or other kinds of insurance. Many dealers tell the customers that they can only get their loans with extra add-ons, although this is illegal.

Don’t sign anything that says loan approval is a condition of the sale

”Yo-yo” is what the Times article calls it Buyers can get their cars and leave just to get an annoying phone call just a little later saying the loan didn’t go through and needs to be changed so it is a higher rate. This won’t happen if you get your loan approved beforehand. Before you get your automobile, make certain the dealer gets your financing approved, Bankrate.com suggests doing. You may have to wait a few days longer than before, but it is worth it.

Find more details on this subject

AOL Auto
autos.aol.com/article/car-finance-interest-data/
Bankrate.com
bankrate.com/finance/auto/3-tips-on-getting-a-car-loan-at-the-dealer.aspx
The New York Times
nytimes.com/2010/07/17/your-money/17money.html