FiLife

Think you maintain a sustainable lifestyle because you put out the recycling and cruise to work in a hybrid? Maybe not, according to a free, online game called Consumer Consequences.

This short game asks you questions about your lifestyle, calculates your “ecological footprint” and tells you how many earths we’d need if every human lived exactly like you do. Consumer Consequences also lets you compare your results to those of other Americans who played the game, as well as to individual NPR radio show hosts. (Check it out fellow NPR nerds!) It was developed by American Public Media, the folks who created Marketplace and Weekend America.

The lifestyle questions are organized into a few different categories: living situation, energy consumption, trash habits, transportation requirements, diet and shopping preferences. As I clicked through them it became obvious that my lifestyle is not as green as it should be. It also occurred to me that a green lifestyle is actually a financially savvy way to live. (more…)

“I don’t mind spending money, but I do mind wasting it.”That was the credo in my house as a kid. Still is. I remember thinking how foolish my parents were for buying me barrels of Disney goods, but now I see the method to their money madness. As cool as it would be to have my own Ms. Pacman set up in my new apartment, I should probably buy some basic silverware first.The line between being monetarily modest and miserably miserly can often be hard to draw. Moolanomy has a short quiz to help you gauge where you are on the spendrum. I got a 30, putting me in the “You’re frugal. Good job!” range. Phew.I can put those fears of growing up into a Scrooge McDuck at rest…for now.For more money quizzes on the web, check out FiLife’s roundup.-Mary PilonIllustration Credit

It figures. Just as I’m packing for Rome, the dollar hits a new all-time low against the euro.

I’ve put off traveling overseas for several years in hopes that the dollar would eventually firm up. But when you start reading stories about how some New York shopkeepers are beginning to favor the European currency, you lose hope. And you just go anyway.

Since we’re already starting at a disadvantage, I want to avoid as many of the fees banks and credit-card companies tack on every time you make a transaction in a foreign currency. So I did some research to find out the best credit-cards to use, as well as what’s the most economic way to convert my weakling dollars into euros (I need a small pile of euros to qualify for a 10% discount on my hotel). (more…)

When planning an upcoming trip to Rome, I knew we wouldn’t be staying at a hotel of the fluffy-white-robe variety.

When you factor in the impact of the weak dollar, a Holiday Inn-quality hotel suddenly carries the price tag of a room at the Hilton. So finding a comfortable place to stay in the center of the city - without spending a bundle - became our mission. Besides, that would allow us to indulge with a little less guilt on decadent dinners and other Roman treats.

We came up with a list of hotels using traditional sources: Frommers.com, Fodors.com, and recommendations from friends and family. Once we narrowed down the list, we started shooting off emails to our target hotels. And we were pleasantly surprised to learn there were ways to shave off a few euros here and there. (more…)

Recession, shmecession.

Everyone keeps blathering on about the dwindling dollar, the deflating markets, and an economy that is sure to dissolve into something obscenely dire any day now. But what does that all really mean and what exactly are we supposed to be doing about it?

For those of us who are too young—or let’s say financially challenged—to own a home or have loads of money in various investments, the recession is something that seems utterly dreadful. But, we’re not entirely sure why.

The full explanation of what causes a recession is too intricate to explain here. And it would probably cure your insomnia quicker than an Ambien CR. All you really need to know is what to expect if a recession really comes to pass.

So we phoned Villanova economics professor David Fiorenza to help us get a clue. And here are the wonderful things he said we have to look forward to: (more…)

I love Cinderella stories.

Whether it’s J-Lo rising from the Bronx or Rocky knocking out Mr. T., there’s something inherently wonderful about the idea of someone rising from scrubbing floors to being transported into that proverbial pumpkin.

So when I heard about Alan Corey, the 22-year-old basement-dwelling bro who met his goal of becoming a millionaire by the age of 30, my own impoverished twentysomething soul leapt for joy, but was skeptical. Was he a drug-dealer? Did he invest in Apple right before the iPod? Is he related to Mark Zuckerberg?

In his book A Million Bucks by 30, Corey reveals his secrets. Whether you choose to follow them or not is another matter. (more…)

Debit and Credit-Card Purchases Per Month: About 50
The Percentage Mint Tagged Incorrectly or Incompletely: 34%
Shopping For Better Deals Right Now? Always open to possibilities

Unlike Irina, my husband and I charge pretty much everything we can (and pay it off in full each month).

It’s worth noting, however, that if you aren’t set up for online access to your credit or debit-card accounts, you’ll need to do that with all of the card companies before starting in with Mint. That’s because Mint needs your usernames and passwords to access your account. Handing these over made me nervous – another FiLifer will be addressing Mint’s security in detail in a day or two.

Setting up online access to a handful of our accounts took about 15 minutes. What followed, however, really tested my patience. (more…)

Last week, I questioned why more credit-cards don’t do a better job of categorizing monthly spending. And I promised to do a little digging to figure out who offers what.

In an ideal world, my credit card would provide a monthly pie chart to help me keep tabs on where the bulk of my money goes. If that can be linked into my online bank account, even better. These seem like reasonable requests, but most banks and card-issuers only offer bland year-end summaries. Or, they’ve focused their energies on services that sound cutting-edge in theory – like receiving text messages when your balance is due – but that don’t really help us manage our money. Others, like Bank of America, are on the right track.

Here’s what I found: (more…)

Living on a budget takes the spontaneity out of living. If my husband and I discover an adorable little restaurant while we’re walking through Brooklyn, we never think about whether we’ve budgeted for it. We just go.

But there comes a time in life when you need to take a hard look at what you’re spending, largely because you’ve set some goals. For us, that time is now.

In our household, we charge most of our expenses to a credit card and pay off the bill, in full, each month. That way, we earn more points and get a general idea of where the money disappears to. But you know what would be even better? Knowing precisely what percentage of my money went to food, shoes and other frivolities. And you know who would be really good at doing this? My credit-card company (that means you, Citibank), because it would require no effort on my part. (more…)

There are so many good web communities these days, there isn’t enough spare time to play around in them all. Here’s one I plan to make more time for though – the new Upromise user forums.

There’s no live link here because the company is making the forums available to a limited number of users first. I somehow got on the list – Upromise picked beta users of all sorts, a spokeswoman says.

A quick explainer: Upromise is a rewards program that helps you save for college. Little bits of refunds land in your Upromise account based on how you spend your money in various places. Then, you move those refunds to a 529 college savings account every so often.

Though there are all sorts of ways to milk money out Upromise, there’s one part of the program that’s so easy and lucrative that every parent (or grandparent) ought to be using it. I’ve racked up over $400 in savings in the last couple of years just by doing my online shopping through Upromise’s portal.

Somewhere between one and eight or so percent of what I spend at eligible retailers comes back to my account and ends up in my daughter’s college fund. All for things I would have bought anyway, from companies I was already about to patronize. You can learn more about how the (simple) system works here; many of our refunds come from iTunes, drugstore.com and Kodakgallery.com, but there are scores of other brand-name sites that participate.

Given my loyalty to the program, I was curious to see what would happen if I posted a tough question or criticism (or both) on the new forums. Turns out I got immediate replies, including some from Upromise employees. The company’s president himself helpfully posted the email address for an executive at a potential Upromise partner that I wish would join the program (Hello, FreshDirect!). That allowed me to lobby her personally.

To me, the real learning here is that when a company launches user forums for its own customers, it’s best to pile in and participate early. That’s when the company’s own employees will be watching most carefully – and reaching out to help people who make a lot of noise or post thoughtful, probing queries.

I’ll post the link to the Upromise forums once they open fully to the public, which should be in the next several weeks.

– Ron Lieber