At Christmas time, one always ends up overshooting their budget. A great way to save some money is to make some of the gifts at home. Not only are they cheaper, but also they add a personal touch. Contrary to what you might think, they are not difficult to make and indeed, they can be fun projects for the family.

Here are a few Christmas gift ideas that you may find interesting:

1. Themed Baskets: It can be a bit tricky to choose the items to put in the gift baskets, but if selected properly, they make wonderful Christmas gifts. You can put some freshly baked cakes in them or even try out some of your special delicacies. Or you can try a completely different theme all together and fill them with small decorative pieces like a small potted plant, a few pens, a wall hanging that your son or daughter made in class, the ideas are endless.
2. A Gingerbread House: It is always a great gift for kids and even a good one for adults. You can make them using kits available in the market or create more artistic ones yourself. Imagine the thanks you will get, for gifting your niece or nephew one of these!
3. Endow other with your Skill: Know how to play the piano or how to nurture tender flowers or even bake delicious cookies? Spreading around this skill can be a really beautiful Christmas gift and a practical one too.
4. Decorative Candles: These are really easy to make and look beautiful. All you need is a teacup or a small glass and some colored wax. Melt it and pour is into the glasses, with a wick inserted of course, to make these dainty little things.
5. Make your Own Cards: Apart from gifts, you can make your own Christmas cards too and save some money. As a personal touch, you may even add a photo of you and the person you are sending the card to in it. Indeed, some of your friends might cherish them for a lot longer than the cards you get at gift shops.

Obviously, some of these ideas may not be your cup of tea or you may not have taken a liking to them. But, the beauty of homemade gifts is that you are free to choose anything you like or make a thing you are most comfortable with. With a little thought you are sure to come up with something that makes a great Christmas gift idea. Why not try it this Christmas?

Managing your finances can be tricky, specially purchasing insurance policies. You are never quite sure how much money should you spend on them, does a lucrative looking policy have many hidden clauses, is it sensible to spend more for the extra cover that is being offered? The questions are endless. So many people turn to brokers and other insurance advisors for help. However, a bit of additional advice never hurts, but rather helps you in making a more informed decision.

Here are a few tips to help you in purchasing a life insurance policy:

* Understand your needs: Before making a choice, it is important to understand what you need from your insurance policy. There may be many policies that offer you a very comprehensive cover. But, most of the covers offered may not be applicable to you. So, it is beneficial to perform a risk assessment yourself before selecting a particular policy. The sales representatives of companies usually receive training to sell as big a policy as possible. So always have a look at their advice carefully and analyze all alternatives.

* Understand the difference between Term Insurance and Permanent Insurance: A term insurance policy usually covers you for a limited period of time and usually helps a lot in clearing your debts and current financial crises. A permanent insurance policy on the other hand covers you for your entire life. Though the latter seems attractive, it also means that you have to keep paying the premium periodically for all your life. A term policy is more flexible and usually provides you with options for renewal or conversion to a permanent policy.

* How does your broker get his cut: There are usually two modes of compensation for the broker viz. fees only and fees plus commission. In case of the latter, the broker might be tempted to sell you a policy that’s more expensive. So, always be sure to analyze all your options before committing to a policy.

* Never hesitate to ask questions: It is essential to know all you can about the insurance policy. If at any time something seems missing or the broker seems to be withholding some of the information, be sure to clarify your doubts. Be as thorough as you can while asking the questions and don’t be shy to ask about a thing again if you don’t understand it in the first go. On a related note, never buy a life insurance policy on your first consultation with the broker. Be sure to meet up with him a few times and discuss it with him. In this way you can also get the doubts that may arise after the first meeting cleared.

* Use the 30 day trial to good effect: Whenever you buy a life insurance policy, you can always cancel it within 30 days and get a full refund on the premium. Use this trial period to explore the policy further. If you are dissatisfied with it in any way, you can always try out other policies that seem more beneficial.

Hopefully, these 5 tips will come in handy, when you are searching for an insurance policy. Remember that a planned approach will help you in securing a better policy, so do your homework well.

As the month is nearing its end i would like to give the readers the last frugal recipe of october. I thought i might as well make it a cheesy yummy one.

So here is how you prepare a Cheesy Pasta Pie.

Combine 3 cups of prepared pasta, 2 teaspoon butter and quarter cup Parmesan cheese. Spread in a glass pie dish and pour spaghetti sauce on the mixture. Now sprinkle 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and oregano. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Your yummy pie is ready to eat!!!

So did you calculate your  net worth yesterday? If not start your 7 day ritual from today. Its never too late. On the second day we are going to concentrate on the debt.

Today take time to analyze and categorize your debt. Determine which of your debt needs more attention and which can wait.

Categorize them accordingly and list them in a notebook. Make sure that you would set automatic payment options on a monthly basis according to the hierarchy of the debt.

Your mind has to be determined that all the debt should be over very soon. Only this will pave way for you to be disciplined in money matters. Yes thats it for today. Will meet you all tomorrow.

If you are getting married any time soon, then you have to seriously give a thought about how as a couple you are going to manage your money. Life changes in every aspect post marriage and finances are no exception. Hence be prepared for the change and plan in advance to make the transition smooth.

There are few things that you could implement to get ready for the change. First of all you could talk to your partner and decide which part of the household expenses would each of you be handling. Also you could take out your credit scores and read them together and discuss about it. Finally you both could set up financial goals as a couple and plan on how you are going to achieve them.

Collection agencies have always been dreaded by people. Often people end up doing things that they are not supposed to while handling debt collectors and end up in trouble. There are also situations when people do not know their rights and fall victims for inappropriate behavior from the agencies.

Here are few steps you could take to handle this problem

Research : Learn about your rights as a borrower. Learn the rights of the debt agencies. Learn what they are allowed to do and what they aren’t

Respond: Ignoring the notices and calls would not solve the problem. Hence patiently answer the calls or reply to the notices explaining your situation.

Record: Keep a record of all correspondences between you and the collection agency. This might be useful in case a dispute arises.

If you follow the above said steps, then you no more have to fear the collection agencies.

Still haven’t taken a step to manage your money? Well you aren’t alone, there are a million waiting for an auspicious day to begin this sacred ritual. So i thought why not do this together? Yes lets all start to manage our money and fix all our financial troubles in this week. Lets take the first step now.

Day 1:

Today is the first day in our ritual. Lets spend half hour and take the most important step. Calculate our personal net worth. All we have to do today is dig up all old documents or if you have  great memory, sit with a diary to write down all your assets, its value and then the value of the liabilities and finally subtract the liability from the assets. Bhoom!!! You have just calculated your net worth.

Yes thats was simple isn’t? Yes thats all we are going to do today. Tomorrow we will take our next step. Till then relax!!! We are surely going to fix your finances in 7 days.

On October 27th Disney announced that booking for its dining could be done, 180 days in advance. Previously Disney’s  bookings for the dinner could only be done 90 days in advance. But now Disney has altered this option.

Hence if you want to have a wonderful disney vacation, plan in advance and make your booking from the comfort of your home in few clicks. Yes you can make the reservations online!!!

We wish you a very happy Disney Vacation!!!

Stimulus-The one word that has been a Mantra for millions of Americans this year. How to receive it? Will i be eligible? How do i apply? There is an easier way to create your own Check.

Well without giving any further lectures about stimulus check and its history and popularity among people, i am going to get to the business straight. Here are few ways i think you could make your own way to increase your earning and use it for an important cause of your choice.

1 Start a Savings Account : Start a high yielding savings account with FNBO direct or ING direct and make sure you deposit your extra money there, no matter how little you manage to save some every time. By end of this year you would at least have $400 if you are single and double the amount if you are saving as a couple.

2 Do Over Time: If you have the facility to make extra money by working more hours make use of it but make sure yo don’t lose the quality time to be spent with the family.

3 Start a Side Business: It is as simple as it sounds, if you enjoy assembling furnitures , computers or making jewelery then start making money outof it right away. If you are a great cook you could even start blogging about your recipes and sign up to Adsense.

This is not all but i will be back with more ideas in the next session.

This is the CNN’s list of top ranked Domestic Vehicles of this year.

• Family sedan: Chevrolet Malibu at $21,605, 30/22 mpg
• Small car: Ford Focus at $15,520, 35/24 mpg
• Upscale sedan: Lincoln MKZ at $32,695, 28/18 mpg
• Pick-up: Chevrolet Avalanche at $35,460, 20/14 mpg
• Green car: Ford Escape Hybrid at $29,645, 31/34 mpg

• Luxury sedan: Cadillac DTS at $46,280, 23/15 mpg
• Small SUV: Ford Escape Hybrid at $29,645, 31/34 mpg
• Mid-size SUV: Ford Taurus X at $28,270, 24/17 mpg

So if you are planning to buy a new car this year. You have a list of cars to short list from. Have something to add to this from your experience. Let us know.