Christian Financial Resources to Get Organized in the New Year

If tax season has you concerned about what is going on with your finances, help is here!

We found a web site that is packed full of the Top 50 Christian Business and Finance Blogs that will help you understand how to organize your own personal finances, get out of debt, set up college funds, save for retirement, invest, understand legalese of financial issues and much more.

Some of these resources include:

• ChristianPF.com: This site gives advice on everything from credit card tips, building personal wealth to banking tips. Also be sure to check out the “Money in the Bible” category to help you see your priorities more clearly.
• Gather by Little: Use simple Bible tips to help you increase your personal wealth, “little by little.”
• Why Religion is an Important Part of Personal Finance: Read articles about how to save money by cutting costs in unlikely places.
• Christian Finance Blog: Browse categories like taxes, retirement, emergency fund, and more. This blog gives great financial advice that is “relevant to today?s Christian.” Don?t forget to check out the verse of the day!
• Free Money Finance: Find tons of helpful resources on this blog inlcuding saving for your kids? college tuition, holiday spending trends, and Biblical investing.
• Fallible.com: Katy McKenna Raymond writes about her personal Christian experiences often touching on money and finance.
• Good Sense Ministry: Learn about the financial and spiritual benefits of stewardship.
• Crown Financial Ministries: This site gives valuable information on organizing and understanding your money.

This is one page you will want to bookmark and refer to often!

Free Book Offer of “Heaven is Real”

Cecil Murphy is the author or co-author of hundreds of books including, “90 Minutes in Heaven” with Don Piper (which is available in the Rest Ministries
bookstore – it’s a great book!)

This week his assistant, Twila, shared that “Cec’s books are taking over my world! That’s good news for you.”

Her offer?

If you purchase a copy of Cec’s newest gift book, Words of Comfort for Times of Loss: Help and Hope When You’re Grieving for $11, I will give you a hardback copy of Heaven Is Real: Lessons on Earthly Joy–What Happened After 90 Minutes in Heaven (by Cecil an Don Piper, author of 90 Minutes in Heaven)

This is a $22 value free and good only while supplies last. (These will go fast!)

You may want to read these yourselves or donate them to your church library, a grief support group, a ministry, or give them to a friend. Contact Twila at twila@gottatellsomebody.com or 563-332-1622.

Mail a REAL Letter Using Free Web Service

If you did not get those Christmas letters out, or were unable to drive to the post office in December because of crazy weather, here is an easy way to mail a real letter — paper, not e-mail!

Go to TheMailMonster.com and type your letter. It will be printed out and actually mailed to the address you submit first-class, all within 24 hours for free. How is it free?

Local advertisers may include an ad, and then they pick up the cost. But if getting to the post office can be difficult for you this is a great way to send a personal note without any expense or need for transportation.

And all our Aussie friends will be glad to know it’s free in not just the United States but Australia too.

Eat Out w/ Kids and Save Money

If your family likes to go out for the occasional meal but you don’t want to spend $10 for your child to have a hamburger and fries you may want to log on first to this web site, www.KidsEatFor.

In just a few minutes you can locate all the restaurants in your city where kids eat free on certain days.

Just type in your address or zip code and click the search button and you’ll find all of the nearby restaurants that offer specials where kids can eat a meal for free, often times when an adult meal is also purchased.

KidsEatFor is available on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Another site to check out is kidsmealdeals.com

I’m unemployed and wondering if you have any suggestions?

I’m unemployed and wondering if you have any suggestions for a mom with an illness who is interested in legitimate work at home ideas?

We’ve all seen the figures. Right now in our country we’re facing a 10.2% unemployment rate.

That number speaks volumes. What happens when income that you had coming in every week suddenly stops? Sure, we all know we should have saved for such an event, but many Americans are barely making by. And experts say that the 10.2% is really just the icing on the cake. Many more have faced having their hours cut, having to take more days off, etc. So, what are your options? Can working from home somehow help?

First, consider if this is the time to start a home-based business. Perhaps you have been thinking about this for a while and just never had the opportunity. God might just be opening the door for you and telling you the time is right. Explore the options available to you. Remember the key to success: Match your skills, experience and passion with a business that allows you to use these. Do something that you enjoy doing and feel that you can be good at.

Second, think through what can you do to earn a second income. Remember this can just be a temporary thing. Yes, you might have to work harder now, but the peace of mind of paying the bills will far outweigh having to put in those extra hours.

Both of these options can be done with many types of businesses. For example, look into virtual assisting. If you excel at administrative tasks, web design, bookkeeping, publicity, social networking, etc., this could be a fabulous business for you or a great second income. How about direct sales? Especially with the holidays approaching consider contacting some companies and seeing what they offer. How about an online shop?

So You Want to Be a Work-At-Home Mom: A Christian’s Guide to Starting a Home-Based Business details all the basics of starting a business in a spiritual, motivational, and comprehensive manner. From deciding what type of business to start to keeping your family and faith first, this helpful tool details every aspect of establishing a business. With proven success tips utilized by the authors and others who own work-at-home businesses, this inspiration approach will provide you with the resources you need to start your own home-based business.

JILL HART is the founder of Christian Work at Home Moms, the co-host of the live internet radio show, The CWAHM Network, and the publisher of RadiantLit.com. She resides in Nebraska with her husband and their two children. DIANA ENNEN has been a leader and mentor in the work-at-home industry since starting her business in 1985. She is the author of many books, including Words from Home: Start, Run, and Profit from a Home-Based Word Processing Business. She resides in Margate, Florida, with her husband and their three children.

Make Your Own Reed Diffusers

You may love the scents of the reed diffusers, but they quickly dry and up get expensive to replace.

Here is an easy way to make your own or make up a bunch for special Christmas gifts. You can get cute bottles at your local craft or $.99 store (or Google “wholesale bottles”) and tie a pretty bow around it.

• Just pour some unscented mineral oil into your bottles and then mix in 1 tsp of your favorite essential oil scent.
• If you don’t have reeds, cut off the points of some bamboo skewers you use for BBQing and you are ready to go.

Now you can have lavandar in the bedroom (for easy sleep) and peppermint in the kitchen (to wake you up!)

Find a Deal With These Internet Tools

As the Christmas season grows closer, some of us are wanting to get a little gift for a loved one, but most of us are also tightening up those purse strings. If we find a special tool to help you save some money, or create a gift, we’ll let you know.

Be sure to share your latest money-saving tips too in the comments below so we all can benefit!

Have your eye on something special but you don’t want to pay the asking price? Sign up with dealalerter.com .

You will get notified When an item’s price drops. You just pick your item and the service will check its price daily for you and then send you an email alert when the item you want to buy drops to the price you said you’d be willing to pay.

PriceSpider.com is a similar service for electronics.

Get Coupon Savvy!

There are lots of ways to save money these days. Here are a few ideas we’ve been recently using!

• smartsource.com and coupons.com list their coupons at the beginning of each month.
• Sign up for memberships at your pharmacy. CVS.com, RiteAid.com, and Walgreens.com are a few that have amazing deals online and you can print coupons out. CVS sends out email surveys that take 5-10 minutes too and you get $5 CVS bucks.
• Sign up to get the ads in advance at the stores you frequent the most so you know what is coming up.
• Use paperless coupons. Many sites now allow you to put in your store’s membership cards (such as your grocery store or pharmacy membership). You go online and click on all the coupons you want and they automatically will be applied when you check out at the actual store and use your card membership.
• Don’t forget to go straight to the manufacturer of items you use frequently and sign up for deals or coupons. For example, Procter and Gamble has a huge assortment of coupons available.
• Want to trade coupons? thriftyfun.com
• Need to buy something in bulk, like Ensure? Look for coupons in bulk on ebay or craigslist.com . For just $5-10 you can get hundreds of dollars worth in coupons.
• Watch anything that is BOBO (Buy one, get one free). Lots of times there are coupons for the product. You buy 1 and get the second free. Then your coupon is applied to the first item. You can often get 2 products for the 25% of the price of just one – or less!

ChristianBookVideos.com to Give Away 5 Books Each Week

If you love to read good Christian books but are finding they are not in your current budget, head on over to ChristianBookVideos.com ! They will give away five Christian books each week for the next five weeks. Each week, five individuals will be chosen to receive a free book.

To be eligible to win a free Christian book from ChristianBookVideos.com, individuals must visit ChristianBookVideo.com’s website and take a short three to four question survey. The site will feature a new survey each week and individuals must take the survey to be entered to win that week’s drawing. Five random winners will be chosen each week to receive a free Christian book.

ChristianBookVideo.com’s book giveaway begins the week of September 27, 2009. The website will feature a new survey and different book giveaways each week.

The book giveaway each week will be as follows:

Week of September 27
How Can I Run a Tight Ship When I’m Surrounded by Loose Cannons? Proverbs 31 Discoveries for Yielding to the Master of the Seas
Kathi Macias, New Hope Publishers

Week of October 4
Believe That You Can
Jentezen Franklin, Charisma House

Week of October 11
Cashless: Bible Prophecy, Economic Chaos, & the Future Financial Order
Mark Hitchcock, Harvest House Publishers

Week of October 18
The Ten Testaments: Lessons from the Greatest Teacher of all Time
Scott Campbell, WinePress Publishing

Week of October 25
Fiction title from publisher, Sheaf House, to be determined.

ChristianBookVideos.com is the one-stop viewing place for Christian book videos on the Internet. Launched in February 2009 by Marketing Christian Books Inc. of Charlotte, NC, ChristianBookVideos.com is rapidly becoming the premier viewing place for Christian book trailers. Publishers and authors can submit book videos to ChristianBookVideos.com for free. Advertising opportunities are also available.

To enter to win a free book each week, take the survey on ChristianBookVideos.com’s website at http://www.christianbookvideos.com

Contact:
Edward Bolme
ChristianBookVideos.com
support@christianbookvideos.com
704-995-6739

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Saving for Kids College

Most of us are on a budget and saving for our kid’s college education is one of those things we know we should be doing, but we just don’t know where that money will come from! Well, think again.

Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at BankRate.com recently told Woman’s Day magazine that it’s easier than we think. “If you take $5 every week and put it into a 529 college savings play earning 5% interest, at the end of 10 years you’ll have $3.371 painlessly saved for your child’s education.”

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• Should You Save For College or Retirement? (usnews.com)

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