The all-popular theme, “it’s not how much you make, it’s how much you save,” suggests that a hard dose of discipline coupled with a decent financial IQ leads to security and, what’s more important, peace of mind. Still, for many people, things like pets, multiple cars, and dearly loved hobbies can be worth debt, little to no savings, and less financial security.

Now crisis situations, like home foreclosures or loss of a job usually eliminate some of these “necessities.” However there is a chunk of people who aren’t in dire circumstances, and who are looking for a better relationship with their money, but are unwilling to change their behavior for it. Maybe they have some debt, don’t really budget, or have minimal savings, but nothing that pushes them into crisis mode. Granted, many of these people would consider their situations to be financially unstable. For them though, lifestyle and material comfort is worth financial insecurity.

Consider for example, the 32-year-old who is unwilling to forgo luxury expenses - cell phone, cable, car, restaurants - to max out his 401K.  Or the 27-year-old who chooses some debt and depletes her hard-earned savings to travel. While ideally we would pay off our credit cards each month, fully contribute to retirement and have an six-month emergency fund, there seems to be a decent number of people who are pretty responsible with their money but sacrifice some degree of financial security for more enjoyable day-to-day experiences.

As personal finance is, well, personal, and reflects what an individual wants out of their life, I am interested in where you draw the line between lifestyle and experience, and total financial security. Where does frugal become cheap? Or, on the flipside, where does carefree become careless?

1. A Book Of Quotes. During my senior year in college, I was virtually penniless but wanted to give my then boyfriend, now husband, an amazing, thoughtful gift. He always loved my habit of collecting quotes on note cards. So, I bought a journal and filled each page with quote I loved and water-colored over each. He absolutely loved it.

You could make this gift cheaper by buying a bunch of index cards and hole punching the right corner. Paint each card (nothing fancy, just wipe some paint or paste colored paper to get rid of the index card look), write a quote on each and then loop a ribbon through the whole thing to tie all the cards together.

2. Personalized Memory (or Clutter) Boxes. This is something I did a lot as a kid. I would go to Michaels and buy a number of cardboard boxes. I would spend time collecting photographs, quotes, and images that reminded me of the person. I would then shellac these over the box. These can be used as display or simply put on a shelf or in the closet as a place to save memories or hide clutter.

3. Make your own recipe book. Does someone you know have a shoebox filled with cut out recipes from magazines, newspapers and the web? Steal the box and paste all of them into a journal. Voila! You have just made them their very own personal cookbook filled with all of their favorite recipes.

I did this for my mom one year… she loved, loved, loved it. And yes, I got some serious tears.

If you know someone who loves to cook but lacks a shoebox full of recipes (or you lack access to it), you can also browse recipe sites on the web, print out your favorites, and build the recipe book yourself.

4. A Positivity, Productivity or Inspiration Box (or any other theme that might fit). Here how it works:

Find a cardboard box with a lid. Find a few pieces of pretty paper or construction paper. Cut these up into one inch by two inch squares or rectangles.

On each write, something that has to do with your theme. If it’s productivity, put a tip on each (you can find some great ones by browsing Zen Habits or Dumb Little Man). If it’s positivity, put a happiness tip on each (browse the Happiness Project for some great tips). If it’s inspiration … well, you get the idea. Fold them in half and toss them in the box. Aim for somewhere between twenty and forty of these.

You can either wrap it up and tie a bow around it, or you can theme your box by cutting out images and quotes and pasting them over your box.

5. Personalized Stationary. With the amazing amount of templates provided by most Word and graphic programs, this is almost too easy. However, you can make it a bit more personal by taking a manila folder and using craft glue to cover it with fabric. You’ve now made a personalized folder to hold all that personalized stationary.

6. Coupon books. To make this work, you’ve got to whip out your inner artist. Here are some ideas (these are really good for kids to make for Mom or Dad):
- A car wash
- Spa day by you (manicure, pedicure, facial, lunch, Sex and the City viewing party, etc.)
- Dog walking services
- Two hours of complimentary house cleaning
- Ice cream sundaes
- A homemade dinner

Check out this Wesabe discussion “What Makes You Feel Rich While Being Frugal” for coupon ideas. All are things people love to do - transform them into a coupon and you’re giving a wonderful experience as a gift.

Think about any talents or special skills you have and use these as a gift. After you’ve brainstormed what you want to do for your friend or family member, cut up construction paper to coupon size and then write/draw your gift of time.

7. Make your own frames. You can pick up cardboard frames at craft stores for less than $10. Shellac pretty paper, quotes or pictures over them and slide in a good photograph.

8. A Music Book. Have a friend you care about who plays an instrument? Head to the music store and buy a book of blank sheet music. Write a letter to them on the first page telling them how much they mean to you and urge them to start writing their own music.

9. A Personalized Journal. If you don’t have the $10 to buy a journal, buy a black and white notebook from the drug store and shellac with pretty paper (link), magazine cut outs, photographs, newspapers (this can make for a really cool look), or quotes. Write a little note in the cover and then wrap that bad boy up.

If you want to get even more personal, you could write a quote or unfinished sentence every few pages or so, to prompt some inspirational writing.

10. A Memory Collage or Scrapbook. I made this for my best friend my senior year in high school and then for a boyfriend in college. I made a list of special memories we had together and found pictures, pamphlets and quotes to describe them. I think each book was about ten pages. I wrote my memory of the event and then added pictures, quotes, stickers, movie/airline tickets.

11. Frame A Favorite Quote. This one is super easy. Take a favorite quote of a friend or family member. Buy a cheap frame. Or if you don’t want to buy a frame, you could take a piece of tag board and cover it with nice paper. Use your best handwriting or favorite font on the computer to write it up. Put in the frame or paste on the tag board. Wrap it up. My best friend framed my favorite line from Robert Frost’s poem Birches when I was 12 years old and gave it to me for Christmas. It still sits on my desk today.
Still stumped? Check out these discussions on Wesabe for great gifts that won’t break the bank.

Ideas For A Frugal But Wonderful Holiday
How To Get Friends/Family To Agree On A Spending Cap This Season

Inexpensive Holiday Gifts

Please feel free to share your ideas here!

With 22.9 million unique visitors in September, TCUK is the UK’s fastest growing quality newspaper website.

This partnership will give Wesabe the ability to help millions of new international members better manage their money and reach their financial goals. It also represents much more than a distribution deal - with the Personal Finance Planner, consumers no longer need to head to a bank or finance site to check their balances. They will now have the opportunity to view their finances in the same place they already turn for news and information. There is tremendous potential here - imagine viewing the day’s news through the lens of your financial goals. Seeing your finances contextualized by what’s happening in the markets or the grocery store.

For our U.S. members, it’s business as usual - this deal will not have an immediate impact on you. It does, however, further validate our view that your banking data should be open and free, and we hope it will lead to additional partnerships. And the larger the Wesabe community grows, the more powerful our aggregate spending trend and tips data becomes.

In looking for ways to take Wesabe global and to start helping more people worldwide better manage their finances, we couldn’t ask for a better partner than Telegraph Media Group. Cheers to our new partner, and welcome to our new Telegraph members.

“Community” is a hot-ticket item in the wide world of Web 2.0. Left and right, websites, blogs and a growing flood of major corporations are making space for communities to grow and flourish.  Explaining what exactly comprises and fosters an online community, however, can be tricky. The online component seems to be the kicker; while geographic communities, ethnic communities and professional communities are more or less readily understood, a web-based community is a different type of animal.

Some of the most popular online communities, such as the ever-loud pack at Daily Kos or zealous followers of mommyblogger Dooce, are sustained by content. At Wesabe, community has flourished in the form of an online forum, a place where one can post a question and receive a hearty amount of free financial advice within a day.

Divine Caroline takes online community to the next level. The site sets itself apart not by its endless stream of comments or well populated forums (though it has those too), but its continual output of fresh, well-written articles on everything from parenting to politics and finance to relationships, the majority written by their own members.

By providing a publishing platform for women (the site caterers to women but welcomes men), Divine Caroline takes the ever important “engage your members” to a new high. By enabling women, for free, to easily submit and automatically publish their stories alongside professional content, Divine Caroline empowers women to share their wisdom. As a result, their site is thick with diverse content springing from a wide range of voices and backgrounds. While a quick browse through the Divine Caroline site would attest to this, I have highlighted a few articles that stood out to me:

“Never Satisfied? Try These Six Negativity Busters”

“Everything Is Better Wrapped in Bacon”

“Eight Easy (and Cheap) Ways to Improve Your House”

“Where Are Our Manners?”

In addition to hosting member content, the website encourages community reviews of products, has active forums, and provides rich member profiles.

Wesabe is now a Divine Caroline partner, meaning you’ll see some of Wesabe’s blog posts and other content highlighted in the site’s Money and Career section. Feel free to check out Wesabe’s profile and some of our stories or join Divine Caroline and build your own profile.

Ramit has never been a fan of promoting frugality tips like, “start a garden” or “just eat soup”, because he doesn’t believe most Americans are good at deferring their immediate wants. However, he was recently inspired by both a CNN article which cited that “As many as 80 percent of Americans are stressed about their personal finances and the economy”, and his readers many requests for advice on how to save money and decided to launch the Save $1,000 in 30 Days Challenge.

Here’s how it works: Each day in November, Ramit will post one suggestion to cut your spending. If you spend time each day working on the day’s post, Ramit is betting that the most of you will save over $1,000 each month.  And even if you don’t get all the way there, saving $700 is sure better than nothing. For the first 15 days he will post tips of his own. For the last 15 days, he’ll turn to his readers and those following the challenge who have submitted their best frugality tips.

We think the 30 Day Challenge is a great idea and fits quite well with another great idea from Wesabe member CymbidiumKelly, the “No Spend Month”. The tips on how to save from Ramit’s challenge and those that have been shared in the Group’s discussion about the No Spend Month, should help anyone who is looking for ways to save meaningful amounts of money.

Many Wesabe members are following Ramit’s challenge and the No Spend Month, and some are planning to write about their experience, which we’re planning on posting here. We’ll also have a new 30 Day Challenge Wesabe Group where members can post their thoughts, ideas and experiences. If you’d like to join the challenge or the No Spend Month and want to share your experience, we’d love to publish them on our blog! Shoot over a few paragraphs about how one or a few of Ramit’s tips are working out for you to allese@wesabe.com.

Join the “Save A Thousand Dollars in 30 Days” Challenge here.

I spent a good two minutes in the supermarket the other night debating instant cornbread mixes. Both the same brand. Both cornbread. Both instant. But a $2.50 price difference.

No, one wasn’t a Family Pack size or some deluxe version of cornbread. One was simply organic. The package smugly informed me of this in red, cursive letters across a steaming pan of cornbread.

Now, some people would have grabbed the cheap one and moved on to the eggs. However, I found myself seriously mulling over the merits of organic instant cornbread mix and whether or not it was worth $2.50.

Then I came to my senses and remembered I was buying instant cornbread for pete’s sake! I grabbed the non-organic, cheap one, and, with a quick pang of green guilt, moved on to the eggs.

This got me thinking about the organic versus non-organic battle and the quite high, price difference. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not knocking the merits of organic food. I am essentially on organic automatic in the fruit and vegetable aisle, the meat aisle too. I also think that paying a bit more to promote better farming practices is important. But an extra $2.50 for instant cornbread??!! It’s friggin’ instant! What’s next? Organic Pepsi? $4.00 a can?

So today, I took great interest in the daily green tip I get from this really cool website, called Ideal Bite that leaves an eco-living tip in my inbox every morning. This one, called, “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Scary High Organic Food Prices Freaking You Out?” quickly assuaged my cornbread guilt. It read:

“We’d love to buy everything organic, but we usually don’t have the cash to go all out. So if you’ve only got a little extra to spend on organics, put it toward the produce items that tend to have more pesticide residue. A few of us have pretty much memorized the Environmental Working Group’s pocket guide (see the list below) as a result.”

The Benefits of The List

Less bloodcurdling. Pesticides won’t actually curdle your blood (as far as we know), but more than 80% of the most common pesticides are potentially carcinogenic.

Not freaking out other animals. Pesticides aren’t just toxic to the intended pests - they can also harm other animals as well.

Averting bill-induced chills. Budgets are tight, so if you can only splurge a little on organic food, spend where it counts.

It then provided me with a nice list of the top-10 produce items that you should buy organic:

1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Lettuce
9. Grapes (imported)
10. Pears

Wesabe’s Frugal Foodies Group has had a lot of great discussions, so I posted this list and the organic vs. non-organic question there.  Stop by to join in the discussion!
I came across Ideal Bite on the web the other day, when my daily BBC check took me on an unusually long link journey. I found myself at Ideal Bite, “a sassier shade of green”, and read:

“Welcome! We know that you would just love to “do the right thing” for yourself and the planet if it were convenient, fun, inexpensive, and made you feel good. But until now you have lacked a good source of advice for real people leading busy lives.

Congrats. Now you have a free one. Easy eco-living tips are delivered in a short, sassy email each weekday.”

And every morning, like clockwork, a green minded tip greets me in my mailbox. You can also choose to receive tips catered specifically toward several different cities, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., as well as the UK and Canada.

The site is well designed and filled with interesting facts. When clicking on the San Francisco page I read that:

“If 10,000 SF Biters eat only locally produced food for a year, we’ll save enough gas to drive from SF to the Bronx and back nearly 30 times.”

I also found out about a new Farmers Market in San Francisco that happens on Sunday … nice!

So, if you want to become a “biter”, check it out here.

Internships often equal stuffing envelopes, filing, and other mind-numbing tasks. I’ve had plenty of internships and have fortunately been quite lucky in escaping that fate. A lot of this probably has to do with where I worked - I never applied for an internship at a big company. Looking back, I don’t think this was as much intentional as it was closely reading the descriptions and wanting to work in an environment where I got do cool stuff and had a chance to showcase my skills.

I’ve had a number of people ask me how I got an internship at Wesabe and how I turned that into a full-time job. Here are my top 12 tips for doing just that:

Consider Applying at a Start-Up
While working at a new company may not have the same name-brand appeal as working for an established company, start-ups are a lot leaner and chances are you’ll get to do much more “real” work. Also, because the company is trying to get its feet off the ground, the work you do makes an impact and the “big bosses” can see it. During my Wesabe internship, I interacted with the CEO (and most everyone else in the company) nearly every day, and attended company-wide meetings.

Be Crazy-Anal about the Details
After I was hired for the internship, Debbie (our head of communications) told me that one of the reasons my resume made it to the top of the initial pile was because I followed directions. When she filled out the intern request form at UC Berkeley (where I went to school), she could ask for just a resume or a resume and a cover letter, and asked for both. Believe it or not, she said that out of 25 candidates, I was the only one that sent both. Everyone else just sent a resume. She also told me that she didn’t really care about the content of the cover letter - she just did this to see who was paying attention to her request.

Do Your Homework
Prior to your interview, research the company you want to work for (spend time on their web site or see where their product is at in a store, read up on competitors, etc.). Takes notes and keep all this information in one notebook. During your interview, give some thoughts or feedback that shows you know how to do research and have analytical skills. Ask your interviewer thoughtful questions and try to transform the interview into dialogue. This can be really, really hard, often because you’re so nervous.

To ease those nerves and help with prep, I would suggest brainstorming and then making a list of questions you have about your prospective position and the company. Keep these questions in the same notebook you’ve compiled your research notes in. Bring that in during your interview and ask those questions! You can also reference your research notes in your chat about the company and its competitors.

Go Beyond the Facts
So you’ve researched how many people work at the company and their main products and services. Now, get curious about this company. What makes them special? Why are people passionate about working there? What problems do they solve and where do they want to go? Pretend you’re the CEO or the founder of that company; why do they want it to succeed, why are they so passionate about it? Tap into to this vision and speak from it at your interview.

Be the Go-to Person at All Times
Once you’ve landed your internship, aim to be that responsible, go-to person who can efficiently and quickly accomplish any task.

On my first day as an intern at Wesabe, the CEO left me at my new desk and said he’d email me my first assignment. I sat nervously anticipating the email and then one new message popped up. The subject line read: “Competitive Matrix.” I opened the email. The contents: “Please use this list as the basis for your model.” Attached was a list of the competition.

That was it. I friggin’ freaked out. What the $%#* was a competitive matrix? There was nothing else, no direction, no how-to, no example. What did I do? I got resourceful, I started Googling, I called everybody I knew about that might have the slightest tidbit of information about a competitive matrix. I checked out the competition. I tried to piece things together. When I had a grasp of what this competitive beast thing was and what our competition looked like, I headed back to the CEO’s office and asked if I was headed in the right direction. Turns out I had some things right and some things wrong. But my research made me look capable, responsible and like a self-starter.

Be Innovative: Think Before You Ask
I cannot stress how important this is. Before you say, “I don’t know” or “I need help,” really ask yourself, “Where could I find this answer? What else could I do to find resources?” Every single time that I stop and think before asking a question, I almost always find it’s something I could answer myself.

Additionally, instead of saying “I don’t know,” your answer is always better when you pose it as, “In response to X task, I checked A, B, and C resources and found D. Is this the direction you’d like me to follow?”

Think Like the CEO
I know I mentioned this before but I think this is the best piece of advice I’d ever gotten. When in doubt, think about what action you could do that would help the company succeed and how your work on your current project matches with the greater company vision. Go above and beyond without direction. Really think, brainstorm, about how you can expand your duties in the best direction for the company, and then do it without being asked.

Take Notes and Always Have Your To-Do List
Whenever you meet with your boss, bring a pen and notebook and take COPIOUS notes. After your meeting has finished, recap the major points, tasks and deliverables to your boss to make sure you both are on the same page.

Often after a meeting, I will brainstorm or summarize the contents of my notes and then try to think creatively. What other tasks are here that I am not thinking of? Given these priorities, what else can I do to help the company succeed? Again, critically think about this. If it’s a big meeting, I might even email my list and subsequent brainstorm over to my boss afterwards, titling the email “Recap of ______ Discussion.”

Do More than You are Asked
Showcase your skills. For example, Wesabe has an amazing community of users that share advice and tips in our Groups forum. Even though no one specifically asked me to, I knew the community aspect of Wesabe was key, so I jumped in and started asking questions in the Groups section and sharing my experiences. I think this level of participation really helped me get my job and my responsibilities as community manager (and it also gave me some great advice!). Along these lines, volunteer for extra assignments. Lunch with a member? Count me in! We need new copy for a web page? I’ll do it!

Constantly Ask for Feedback
When you finish a project, ask if you met the requirements of the assignment and what you could have done better. When you get feedback, such as “there was a typo in your email,” be sure to listen carefully and be certain not to make the same mistake again. Don’t be afraid to ask your boss how you are doing. During a quiet, non-stressful time, ask if he/she has a moment; if they say yes, then respond, “I just wanted to check in about how I am doing.” List off the major things you are working on, then ask if there’s more you could be doing. I try to do this about once every month.

Think about the Future
Be preventive, proactive and maintenance-level-driven rather than crisis-level, reactive, response-driven. This means you look to and work not just in the present but the future as well. Think about how your work can benefit the company in the coming months, anticipate and prepare for future challenges, and keep in mind the company’s priorities.

Be Interested! Be Curious! Be Grateful!
The last and most important advice I have is: Be INTERESTED! Be CURIOUS! Be GRATEFUL!

Maybe you end up with grunt work. The way out? Thinking creatively. Doing more than you are asked. Look around you, listen and really think about what you could do to benefit the company and to expand your job. If you don’t want to do grunt work, then you can choose to complain and ask for more interesting work (which will make you look ungrateful and entitled) or do some critical thinking and have a heavy brainstorm. What else could you do? Make a list, then start checking it off while still completing the grunt work. Show your boss you can do more interesting work without asking for more interesting work. Chances are, your responsibilities will increase!

(Note: A version of this post first appeared on Wisebread, which featured me on their site in the “Women of Personal Finance” forum. Thanks to Wisebread for including me in this series and for getting me thinking about this topic.)

One more thing while the horn is still in tooting position. Wesabe VP of Marketing Gabe Griego is going to be a guest on ReadWriteWeb Live today at 3:30 p.m. PT. The topic is Online Personal Finance. Details on how to listen in and participate in the call can be found here, and RWW will be archiving the audio on its site.

From what I have found, this seems to be what makes the Roth IRA a better deal than the 401k. Both are plans that allow your money to grow tax-free, however, because the money you put into the Roth IRA is after-taxes, you don’t have to pay any money upon withdrawal, a time when you’ll likely have more assets. Having more assets means you’d have to fork over more money in taxes upon withdrawal. By saving part of your already-taxed income into mutual funds, stocks, bonds, or whatever investments your heart desires, it gets to grow rapidly and you won’t have to pay taxes on it when you take the money out.

One very important thing to note. If your company has a 401k match, meaning they contribute money to your 401k as you contribute money to your 401k - yes, true story, your company may give you money for your retirement - then a 401k is definitely, absolutely, the best choice. If your company matches your 401k contributions, make sure you max out the amount they match prior to opening a Roth IRA.

Back to the Roth. Ramit of I Will Teach You To Be Rich made the benefits of the Roth IRA crystal clear in an article called “The World’s Easiest Guide to Understanding Retirement Accounts” (you can bet I liked this guide) when he wrote:

Here’s how it works: When you make money every year, you have to pay taxes on it. With a Roth, you take this after-tax money, invest it, and pay no taxes when you withdraw it. If Roth IRAs had been around in 1970 and you’d invested $10,000 in Southwest Airlines, you’d only have had to pay taxes on the initial $10,000 income. When you withdrew the money 30 years later, you wouldn’t have had to pay any taxes on it. Oh, and by the way, your $10,000 would have turned into $10 million.

Think about it. You pay taxes on the initial amount, but not the earnings. And over 30 years, that is a stunningly good deal.

No Credit Needed posted a very short article titled “A Fully-Funded Roth IRA At Age 18 Could Net You 3.5 Million Dollars” with a very convincing graph that will help you visualize the benefits.

Now of course there are exceptions. If you make more than $95,000 a year, you’re not eligible for a Roth IRA. The maximum you are allowed to contribute in 2008 is $5,000 if you’re 49 or younger, and $6,000 for people aged 50 and above. It’s a very smart idea to max this out (meaning contribute the whole $5,000), but if you can’t, every dollar still counts.

As Ramit put it, “Even waiting two years can cost you tens of thousands of dollars… don’t care where you get the money, but get it. Put it in your Roth and max it out this year. These early years are too important to be lazy.”

And yes, I recognize that talking about investing at a time of economic turmoil may sound foolhardy, but remember – this is your retirement money. The magic of dollar-cost averaging means that when the market is down, such as now, you’re able to get more for your investing dollar.

We are gearing up for a NO spend month.
We have worked really hard over the last few months, but our resolve is slipping, and we have virtually erased our EF [emergency fund].

So as a means of replenishing it, and saving up for the Christmas holiday (and 3 of our kids have birthdays in the winter), we are cutting out ALL spending for one month.

My goal is to start on 10/25 so we can end it right before Thanksgiving and enjoy a big Thanksgiving feast!

Basically we would only spend money on essential bills. Mortgage, credit card min. payments, life and auto insurance, car payment, school for our daughter, utilities, gas to get back and forth from work, and to our son’s school, and our cable “bundle”.

So no food, eating out, clothes, odds and ends, craft supplies, etc.

A lot of people seem to like the idea, and are joining CymbidiumKelly in her project. They’ve also added some fantastic tips for making it work. Think of it like a crash diet for your wallet — but with a difference. Instead of going back to your old habits at the end of the month, taking a break from your discretionary expenses can give you a real sense of just how discretionary they are! When my wife and I did something similar a while ago, we found that we were having a lot more fun and eating a lot better by cooking at home each night, rather than going out to eat so much.

Congrats to CymbidiumKelly and everyone joining her on a great project. We’re pulling for you! If you’re interested in joining in, drop by and add your name to the list. Ideas and support from others are a great help in making a project like this work. Add yours!