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I am going to have a fun day with my girlfriend today that will cost about $45 for the whole day. We are splitting up the costs, so it is going to be a fun day on a budget. I am always against massive spending, but sometimes hard work deserves a bit of fun!

First we are going to see the United States Curling Championships and Olympic Trials. Curling is that silly sport with the big stone and brooms.

This evening we found “free” tickets (only have to pay Ticketmaster fees) for Rascal Flatts in concert. My girlfriend is a big fan, so we are going to that too.

Two different events at two different venues is a record for me. It is going to be a fun day. For about $20 each for our daily entertainment budget, it is a good deal as well.

This blog just broke even last week. Even though I broke even, I do not see this as a big money generator at any point in the future. I just do it for fun and to educate people. There is one site I have spent time on that is not just for fun, it is for the money.

eHow is one of the highest ranked pages online. If you search for “how to…”, you will likely end up at an eHow page from your Google results. Every time you view and rate an article on eHow, the writer makes a little money.

So far in February I have made $55. I have written 32 articles on eHow, many of which relate to personal finance, legal issues, and computers. Some of my articles have made nothing. One of them is inching closer to $100. It is a good stream of side income. The picture here is my 2008 earnings summary. That was my first year on the site.

So, if you have a little extra time, make a few extra bucks. eHow pays via PayPal and requires your social security number for tax reporting. It is only available to US citizens. If you are on backup withholding from the IRS you are not eligible for the writer’s compensation program.

Update: I forgot to add my user name. You can read my articles by visiting my profile (Eric1985). If you like the articles please rate them well!

I am not usually one to complain about taxes. I fully appreciate the value taxation has on our lives. I appreciate the roads, bike paths, street lights, trash service, police, fire protection, and so on that I get from paying taxes.

I recently wrote about my bonus, and I got the pay stub for it yesterday. I will get the real money tomorrow. I looked to the bottom line, and it was quite a bit smaller than I expected.

I figured I would pay taxes on my bonus at the same rate as on my regular pay, or about 30%. Not the case! 42.8% went to the government!

I appreciate that I will get a substantial portion of that back next April, but that slightly changes my student loan payoff that I was planning. I am still going to put the entire amount into the loans, but there will be more leftover.

That concludes my complaining for the day.

As you might predict given the state of the economy, bankruptcies are on the rise. I do not consider bankruptcy an option under any circumstances. I have helped people plan out ways to reduce their debt costs per month and put an end date on paying everything off.

Third quarter 2008 bankruptcy numbers were recently released, and individual insolvencies have increased by 8.8% over the prior quarter.

Here are several strategies to avoid bankruptcy:

1. Do not buy stuff that you do not need. Bankruptcy means you cannot keep up on debt payments. If you cannot keep up, you spent too much on stuff you did not need or could not afford. Look at ways to cut your spending.

2. Work strategically. Make a list of all of your debt and try to consolidate your higher interest debt to the lowest limit you can. If you own a home, equity loans may be able to lower your interest rate significantly.

3. Stop making it worse. Do not increase your debt while you are trying to pay for debt. Skip the vacations, skip the new TV, cancel your cable, do not go to Starbucks, cook rather than eat out, bring your lunch to work, etc. You can do it.

If you can get yourself into a bad situation, you can get yourself out of it. It will not always be pleasant or easy, but you can do it. It is much better to deal with your problems head on than declare bankruptcy. That bad mark will spend at least seven years on your credit report.

When I worked in banking, we had many great customers. Part of our strategy was to grow our customer relationship to cover all of the customer’s banking needs. These primarily included checking and savings accounts, credit cards, and loans.

Every month most Americans over the age of 18 have some kind of recurring bill. Mine are rent, utilities, cell phone, car insurance, and credit card. Those are pretty much standard. Some people’s are more, some are less. Some of those have to be paid by check. Other, however, give me the option to pay online. Here is a little cost/benefit analysis of check vs online payment.

Checks
Pros:
Checks are traditional and comfortable. You know that when you send in a check, it will come out of your account and will work. People have been doing this for a long time, so it feels warm and fuzzy. You also get the “float time” for the day or so it is in the mail, but I would not count on that for anything.

Cons:
Checks are slow. Checks have to be mailed and processed before your account is credited. Many companies will give you a couple of days for this, but many will ding you as late if you put the check in the mail the day your bill is due. Also, checks are more expensive. You have to buy check blanks and pay for a stamp.

Online Payment
Pros:
Online payments are generally free and fast. If you pay on a weekday your payment will generally be credited the next day. It is less expensive for a company to process an online payment, so they usually make it easy and do not charge. Online payments (and paperless billing) prevent identity theft because there are less papers with your information on it floating around the postal system and the rest of the world. You are also helping the environment by using less paper.

Cons:
While online payments prevent identity theft, you have to be careful online. Do not make payments using a public computer (like at a school or a library). Also, make sure the web address starts with https rather than just http. The “s” stands for secure. Also be aware of phishing and other sneaky situations.

What I Do
I pay everything online that I can. I even using online banking at ING to send paper checks when I can. I have never had an identity theft problem or worried about security. Some companies give online payment discounts or incentives. Ultimately paper billing will likely be phased out. Get ahead of the game and start paying online today if you can. It might be a little confusing at first, but you will get the hang of it. Just be patient and read the entire screen when you are getting started.

The market price of one ounce of gold just passed the $1,000 mark.  The price of gold usually increases when the economy is down, and decreases as the economy recovers.

The reason gold goes up when the economy is bad is simple to explain.  When people are worried that their money is not safe, they buy something that has an intrinsic value.  Gold has historically been looked at as a thing of value.  In the days of the ancient empires of the Aztecs and the Persians, gold was always thought of as the standard for what it means to be rich.  In the 1400s, the explorers of Europe tried to build up their national wealth through finding gold in the new world.  Kings and queens have always had a thirst for expanding their riches, namely through the collection of gold.

The same goes today.  One ounce of gold is worth $1,000.  There is not much in the world that is worth that much.  If the stock market is in shambles. real estate is losing value, and banks are failing, there is only one place many people want their money.  People can put gold in a safe in their house and do not have to worry about it becoming worthless.  While the price does fluctuate, it is a fairly safe investment in the long term.

I always tell you all about what I spend my money on, but I have never shown you my budget. This includes my car loan and school loan payments (that I overpay by a whole lot every month). What do your budgets look like? Do any of you have budgets that are very different?

This is a screen shot of my budget from Mint.com.