Today is the day. Is the stock market going to respond wildly to the previous downgrade of US debt and credit rating by Standard and Poors rating agency? Or is this going to be a case of everyone crying wolf, and the markets may seem to tank a bit in the morning, only to be saved by a later day rally with people picking up bargain prices?

Well, it’s really anyone’s guess, but there are some on good authroity that say that this is going to be a lot more painful than most of us are willing to believe right now. In fact, there are many who are saying we are going to feel the pain we did in the first recession, with a real possiblity that billions will be lost in retirement accounts.

But what will realy happen today in the stock market? Is everyone going to go running for the hills at the opening bell? Will it be a temporary drop followed by bargain hunting saving the day and driving the DOW back up?

No one can tell the future, but I can tell you now, I’ve already noticed, in my sideline business, that people are tightening up their purse straps. Haven’t made one sale in three days. That’s almost unheard of, and it’s the same thing I experienced when the first recession wrapped its ugly meathooks around us and had us all writhing in fear and desperation.

So, what can you do to shield yourself form the effects of this aftershock? The only thing you can do is to hedge your bets and try to go very bearish on any investments strategies at this point. Remember, don’t panic sell and lose a ton of money, because eventually the markets will go back up.

You may want to contact a professional for help with making decisions, as at these crucial times, making the right decisions can be the difference between retiring a millionaire and retiring with very little.

Although “saving money” and “road trip” may no longer be logically linked together, what with the crazy high gas prices now, there are ways that you can make a scaled back family vacation where you drive in a car instead of pay (also high) airfare.

The first is to get yourself a great credit card with gas reward points. These little cards can sometimes really take a little money off each gallon of gas you’re paying at the pump.

And the nice thing is, you can pay them off every month and never pay a dime of interest, but also still enjoy the benefits of earning rewards toward free gasoline when you use it. Let’s face it, even if you think credit cards are the devil, they certainly are the most convenient way to pay for things, and they are really a basic necessity to get by today.

Another way to save while you’re on the road trip is to pack your food, instead of stopping and getting snacks at gas stations, and stopping at restaurants for meals. Of course, there will be times when you have to stop for food, but there are cheap places where you can get in and get out for almost less money than you would have paid if you’d packed yourself. One of them is McDonalds.

I know, not everyone’s favorite nutrition-wise, but McDonalds” has the dollar menu, and you can buy a meal for two for five bucks if you order only water (or bring your own). Like I said, if you choose wisely, you can really whittle down your budget for food, and you can pay less than you would have if you’d packed sandwiches.

Plus, Mickey D’s are allover the place, you will surely find a few on your way. There are other fast food joints with cheap-y menus that are competing with this, so you can find meals at most places for under $3 a person.

To conserve on gas, avoid things like hard breaking and accelerating too fast and all at once. People who have more “even” driving habits, where they put the car on cruise control and don’t constantly press the gas petal, usually save quite a bit on gas mileage. If you really want to save, try keeping the windows up and using the fan, not the a/c.

Also, make sure you car has the proper air pressure in its tires before you leave. Tires with the wrong pressure force the car to use more gasoline, so you are essentially wasting gas if you don’t have your tires filled to the proper pressure – plus you are endangering yourself.

We’ve added a new page on tax credits and deductions to look for in the 2011 tax season for the 2010 tax year. The requirements are always changing, and the US tax code is, as it has always been, very complex, so it’s important to double check any deductions or credits that you were eligible for last year and see if they’re still ok.

Americans are strapped right now for free cash, and the government is still offering some fairly generous deductions and tax credits, so it may be well worth your time to either do some research of your own by looking at the IRS website (they of course will have the latest and greatest info).

Tax credits to look for on your tax return.

Or, even better, consulting with a qualified accountant, since it is their job to keep abreast of all the latest ins and outs of the US federal tax code and allowances.

Many times, it is well worth the money to consult a qualified accountant, especially if you have a lot of deductions and credits, so they can ensure you not only get all that you rightfully deserve, but also that you don’t take credits that you aren’t supposed to and expose yourself to a potential audit problem.

If you want to see our latest page on tax credits, see tax return credits to look for, and also remember to do your own research, as any info is really just a starting point for you to go out and see if they are still valid and allowed by the IRS.

More and more people are living together before they get married. I know that there are still some hard core old fashioned people out there who might find premarital cohabitation sinful in some way, but let’s face it, we live in hard times, and if you are together all the time or a great deal of the time anyways, what’s the big deal?

Many couples are torn by the wishes of their family and their own economic wishes when it comes to living with a loved one before marriage, but more and more people are choosing to do exactly this, for it’s not cheap to live on your own on one income when you could be sharing the costs of the mortgage or the rent and a lot of other utilities and costs with someone else.

When you consider that it’s almost impossible to live from month to month in certain areas with a room mate, or multiple room mates even, like a lot of the cities in New York or California, it’s essential that you cohabitate with SOMEONE to get by, why not let it be your partner in crime?

While it used to be considered a sin and a definite social faux pas to live together while being unmarried in the old world, it’s now a new milennia, and there are a lot of other taboos that have been broken in the name of pure practicality.

Thank goodness for that, because we also live in a time of spiraling out of control expenses and the cost of living has really gone through the roof. This isn’t the fifties any more, when most families could get by on one income, and housing and living wasn’t so astronomical.

Living together before marriage, in my humble opinion, is almost a necessity. Not only from the obvious financial angle, unless your a millionaire, but also from the angle that you really need to know eachother, and what better way to figure out if you can live together for a long time than actually living together?

Believe me, you can know someone, but not know whether you can live with them for a long time, 24/7, until you actually try it out. It’s a “trial run” for marriage and cohabitation, and it’s definitely a good way to figure out if you’re compatible in the most minute of details.

I’ve actually thought about this predicament many times. I’m far from being an alarmist, but I’ve had so many people that I know or that are in my family affected negatively by the recession, losing their jobs or having a really hard time finding one, that it’s kind of forced me to take a look and mine and my husband’s job situations.

I don’t want to dwell on it, but sure, I’d like to be somewhat prepared mentally and financially if one of us should abruptly lose our jobs.

There are far too many Americans who were caught unaware and lost their jobs, only to lose their homes, their cars, and their good credit. It’s a real wake up call to those of us that do not really have any savings set aside for a “rainy day”.

I just had another person I know lose their job they’d had in a very prestigious field and they actually had to move hundreds of miles away to get a comparably paid job.

It’s just sad that people have to be uprooted out of their lives in order to make a comfortable living, and it’s really disrupted a lot of Americans lives. At least the good news is some economists say there is really no chance of a “double dip” recession.

According to surveys, over half of Americans still fear that they are in danger of losing their jobs, but many less than that are actually financially prepared if that happens. The rule of thumb is to have at least 3 months savings of what your salary would be, but that will only cover you for three months. What if, like so many others, you lose a job and cannot find one for a year or more?

Even when I look around at local department stores and grocery stores, I see the effects of the recession and the job market. I’ve noticed way less teenagers working at jobs that used to be considered perfect for teens like checkout clerks and baggers and greeters, and a lot more people who look like they are of retirement age doing these jobs.

This tells me that a lot of retired folks had to go back to work too, and of course, this also makes the pressure on available jobs higher as well. We need jobs to become more readily available for this recovery to pick up steam, but thus far, that has been the most challenging part of getting the recovery going.

With all the focus on saving money and the battered job market and the recent disheartening statements made about the economy’s prospects by none other than Ben Bernanke, I figured it would be a good time to sort of reiterate some of the best ways you can save money. I put many of these methods into use in my own household, and I’ve found that over time, they can save you a significant amount of cashola, which is just what everyone is short on these days.

I’ve really been able to use these consistently, and I actually make a kind of game out of it, and it can be kind of fun. Not only that, it may even help you to lose weight! Just listen and you’ll understand why.

Let’s talk about these five ways, I’ll list them.

1.) Clip coupons. I used to laugh my butt off about this one when I was younger. Now, I’m older and much wiser, and I’m such a fuddy duddy now that I LOVE to clip coupons. Finding a good one is akin to winning a small lottery, and it’s really fun to see the tally on your grocery bill go down several dollars when you have some really good ones in your wallet. Find something to carry them in though, they do accumulate, and can be a pain to carry around. And try to remember to actually use them before they expire. that was my biggest obstacle when I first started using them!

2.) Turn off the lights and all electronic appliances in your home all the time when you are not using them. Turn down the A/C when you leave for work during the day, and then increase it when you get home, or better yet, get one of those timed thermostats from your power company. Many power providers will actually give you a free one!

3.) If you buy bottled water, get yourself a Brita water pitcher. These things are great, and if you’re a huge water drinker like I am, you will save tons of money on bottled water, and you’ll be helping the environment too! While you’re at it, recycle. It cuts down dramatically on the number of garbage bags you use, and oh yeah, it’s great for the environment too!

4.) Cook at home, and cook large amounts, so you can have leftovers the next day. This saves not only money, but time. It also saves your butt from getting bigger. If you don’t have time to cook, a great way to experience many different types of foods and restrict calories is to get Lean Cuisines when they’re on sale and add a veggie to them.

5.) Make sure you have the right tire pressure in your car, as your tire’s pressure has a big impact on fuel use.

Saving money is extremely important to your financial future and success. Many people don’t realize this, and they literally spend more than they make. Instead of putting away any excess cash they have, they actually spend that money and then some, putting themselves into deeper high interest credit card debt and other types of negative equity situations.

It’s the typical problem about the idea that we have to have material goods here and now. Instead, what people should be practicing is something called delayed gratification. Instead of putting a deck on our house now, which I know we could do with a line of credit on our house, for example, we are choosing to delay this project in favor of paying off high interest debt first, and also of saving for your future in tax deferred instruments like 401k’s and IRA’s.

This way, we are actually paying ourselves first instead of dumping money into something that isn’t really paying us. Probably the single most important factor in saving money is keeping it “out of sight, out of mind”. This means that your money comes right out of your paycheck and into a savings account, automatically, with no interference from you. With this method, it’s automatic, and you don’t even think about it or have a chance to spend it before it’s deposited into an interest bearing account.

401k’s and similar work-savings for retirement programs work this way. They simply draft the money right out of your paycheck, thereby reducing your taxable income by that much, and you don’t even see that money in your paycheck, it’s just automatically gone, into an account that pays you interest, dividends, and whatever other capital your account happens to appreciate by depending on your investment choices.

You can also do this with different types of savings accounts too, if you want to have say an extra fund set up for emergencies or for something bigger that you want to save up for that you don’t want to pay for on credit. Sharebuilder and other online savings, banking and investment services, have bank accounts that you can set up this way, or your local bank can often draft money directly from your paycheck into a savings account, so you don’t even have to think about it on a monthly or bimonthly basis. ‘

This sure beat the old money between the mattresses trick, where it’s as easy and going over to pull some cash out for temptation’s sake, and you’re not earning a penny in interest!

We keep hearing about how the Fed is going to hike the interest rates back up, then we hear that no, they’re going to keep the base interest rate, the barometer by which independent financial institutions supposedly raise and lower their individual rates they charge consumers and businesses.

Well, this last time apparently, aside from the speculation by some that the Fed was bound to increase the rates, they did not. They kept them at the near zero rate they have been at almost since the great recession started, back in ’08.

But, what a lot of people don’t realize is that an increase in this “emergency” rate may actually bode well for the US economy. Why? Because an increase into the normal range again is a signification from the Federal Reserve that they think the economy may be turning positive again, and may not need so much help from the Fed to remain stable, in the form of bottom of the barrel interest rates.

It’s essentially a vote of confidence on the American economy, and people may pick up on that. Eventually it will become a sort of self fulfilling prophecy, if you know what I mean, and it may have the desired effect on the economy.

Of course, this is all speculation, but it does make sense that although at first the stock market may go down in response to the news that the rates are going back up, ultimately, it will turn around and to the positive again because of the prospects that it won’t be direly needed like it was in the past when it was instituted.

Several states usually participate in what’s called a “tax holiday” where it’s citizens can go shopping for a period of a few days, usually over a weekend, without paying sales tax on anything. For instance, right now would be the time for the tax holiday for many states that do it because it’s prime back to school shopping time. I’m sure the reason they do it this way is that working parents get a break on shelling out the dough for their kid’s back to school needs, so they get a little economy boost while also feeling good because they did something for a kid and for their parents.

Sales tax can range usually from about 5% up to above 7%, depending on what states you live in. That can add a substantial amount of money to your end-bill if you’re buying a lot of goods, so this tax holiday can really be an incentive for many shoppers. Which is why it would especially be good with the way things are now, to help stimulate the economy and the consumer mindset and jump start it now that some good news is starting to come out about this economic recovery.

However, some states are so strapped for cash that they may cancel or at least postpone these popular tax holidays. Among the states that have cancelled this tax holiday are Massachusetts, Florida, Maryland and the District of Columbia,with the state of Illinois putting their tax holiday on indefinite hold due to difficulties, but not out and out cancelling it. Many states have already had their tax holiday by now, but those that haven’t are contemplating it, at least some of them are.

So, does your state offer a tax holiday? I know I wasn’t sure if my state of Ohio did, but they actually don’t. You can keep up on the latest by reading your local papers that are based in your state or by keeping up with the local news online, which of course as you know, has pretty much replaced newspapers these days for thousands of people. Usually this kind of local news is covered and you won’t miss out on an important opportunity to save some money. It’s basically like money in your pocket if you pay attention and take advantage of going shopping for things you need anyways when these types of deals come up!

One of the little ways in which we try to spend less money on frivolous things like dinners out and fun things like entertainment, is to save our change whenever we have a few quarters, nickels and dimes that are leftover. I regularly get a lot of change, since I do pay for a lot in cash like fast food, or small items at drugstores and things like that, if it’s a small amount and I don’t necessarily feel like using my debit card, so I tend to have a lot of change jangling around in my purse/wallet at all times anyways.

What I do, is at the end of every day or at least at the end of every few days, I take the change and throw it in sort of a kitty – which is an old standup cosmetic bag that I happen to have laying around, and let it build up. At the end of a year or so, I’ll roll the change or take it to a Coinstar location where the machine can give you dollar bills for your change when you throw it down into a little receptacle, and pay about 7 cents on the dollar for the priveledge of getting my change turned into dollars quickly and with minimal inconvenience.

If you don’t like paying that much on the dollar, then take it to a bank all rolled up or go to your bank and get money rolls, I’m not sure if they charge for them or not, and roll the coins and exchange them for cash money. Then, you can have a nice dinner out or two and maybe a movie, depending on how much you saved up (aka how much change do you generate over that period of time), and not have to feel guilty about it like you would if you were spending your “hard earned” money that you have in your checking account of whatnot.

I know it’s neither here nor there, because you could spend that money on some outstanding debt that you have and make that your duty for the money, or you could spend it on a night out. My money’s on the night out, because you gotta live, and this is a way to do it without feeling guilty about. I know money is money, but this feels like it’s sort of a freebee in a way I supposed.