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Subscribing to our monthly ezine is FREE and you will receive NO other e-mail from us!  We even have an extra BONUS GIFT waiting for you when you sign up!!!   BetterBudgeting.com is a top family budgeting and money saving Web site and according to our own subscribers, our monthly Ezine, Living a Better Life, is "the BEST money-saving newsletter online!!!"  In addition to free budgeting help, we cover a wide range of money saving topics for everyone!  Each Issue Contains...  A Personal Note from Michelle every month! Free Budgeting and Dealing with Debt Worksheets Money-Saving Links and FREECoupons! FREE Samples and FREE Stuff! 10-12 Featured Columns on managing and saving your money (and your time) in one way or another - including budgeting, bargain shopping, credit cards, getting out of debt, starting a home business, getting organized, budget decorating, parenting, simple living and much more! Frugal Recipes & Budget Meal Planning from Michelle's Kitchen and Reader Submitted Recipes!! Grocery Saving Tips to help you save more on food each month! Frugal Crafts & Homemade Gifts for the holidays! Kid Site of the Month for your children and grandchildren to enjoy! Top News Headlines on money and the economy! Tip Rewards!  Submit your money-saving tips for a chance to win $15 (U.S.), plus up to $100 worth of FREE grocery coupons every month!!! Book Recommendations on saving, investing, home business and more! Budgeting Tools and Calculators to help you manage your money! Words of Inspiration to encourage you each month!!! And YES, we respect your privacy!  We do not collect any personal information from you, nor do we send out any additional marketing e-mails, EVER!  By entering your e-mail address in the box below, you are simply subscribing to our top quality monthly Ezine - Living a Better Life! 

 Unclaimed Cash & Property Find Your Unclaimed Money  CHECK BY STATE LINK: http://www.betterbudgeting.com/unclaimedmoney.htm  MAYBE someone will get lucky... not me lol.. figures don't it.. oh well.. I hope someone finds some money!! Good luck to ya!
by Michelle JonesDid you know you may have unclaimed cash (also referred to as unclaimed property) just waiting for you to come and claim it?  These unclaimed funds can be anything from forgotten checking or savings accounts, undeliverable tax refunds or leftover credits from mortgage payoffs.  To locate unclaimed money that might be yours just select your state's Unclaimed Property Division as I've listed below and then do a search for your name.  There is no charge for this! Although I wasn't able to find any unclaimed money for our own family (and I checked several different states that we've lived in over the last 20 years) I thought it would be helpful to provide these resources for our readers who might have missing money out there, somewhere.  You just never know!  http://ucp.dor.wa.gov/default.aspx  AND here is more.. maybe it might help someone :) I found nothing for me and terry... but maybe one of you might be rich :)  Here is the link to many other claims and forms that might lead to you having money or property that is legally yours! Doesn't hurt to check into it...

External Links

http://ucp.dor.wa.gov/external.aspx

http://www.unclaimed.org

http://www.unclaimed.org/mainframe.asp?VisitorType=owner

 these links will take you to all the following:

National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators
Search other states for Unclaimed Property Department of Health
Obtain marriage, birth, and death certificates
Pension Benefit Guarantee Information
Unclaimed Pension Funds Federal Unclaimed PropertyNational Credit Union Administration
Federal Housing Association (FHA) Database
National Information Center
Tracks bank mergers
Bank of Canada Unclaimed PropertyLinks to selected web sites on the Holocaust assets and related issues.Swiss Bank Claims
Claims Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany
International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims

39 Frugal Tips for Saving Money at Christmas
by Michelle JonesThere are a gazillion ways to save money, which is probably one of the reasons why I love my job so much… the information we can share with you is endless!  And Christmas is certainly one of those times when we need to implement as many money-saving tips as we can; so that we can spend less and enjoy the true meaning of Christmas even more!Christmas Cards:..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /> 1. Either don't send Christmas cards or cut your list in half!  2. Send postcards or letters, instead of Christmas cards.  3. You can even cut your old Christmas cards from last year in half, and send the pretty side as a postcard.  I did this many years and it works great, plus you're being 'earth friendly' by keeping new cards out of the garbage dumps. 4. If you send postcards, whether purchased or homemade, remember they require less postage than a regular card! 5. Christmas cards always go on sale better in December; this is one time when the early birds do not beat us! 6. If you purchase inexpensive cards at a discount store, just look them through carefully.  Some look really cheap, while others are much prettier.  If you're going to buy Christmas cards, they might as well look nice! 7. Make a short phone call at 5 cents a minute, a 7 minute call would still cost less than a postage stamp, and your loved ones would probably much rather you're your voice than receive a card in the mail.  Wrapping Paper: 8. Use magazine pages to wrap small gifts. 9. The comic section of your newspaper also makes pretty paper. (I once saved them up for a few months before Christmas and had enough to make a gift out of a relative's favorite comic strip. They loved it!) 10. Use your children's artwork, or create your own on plain paper… the large reams of packing paper are great for this, contact anyone who's in the process of moving! 11. Save used wrapping paper all through the year, just roll them back onto the paper tube and place a small piece of scotch tape on the edge to hold in place.  These really work great for small gifts where the previously folded lines won't even show.  If the paper is the wrong theme, you could just turn it over and decorate the plain side yourself! 12. Don't buy expensive ribbons and bows to decorate your packages, if you hunt around you can find the cheap stuff that will be just as pretty! 13. Forget the gift tags, make your own by cutting a small piece of matching paper and folding it in half.  Write the "To and From" on the inside of the paper and tape it to the wrapped present.  This is great for scraps of paper that are too small to wrap a gift, but too large to toss away. 14. Cut up old Christmas cards make great gift tags too! 15. If you sew, you could even use scrap material to wrap gifts. 16. Or inexpensive tissue paper that you've saved from other gifts throughout the year.  Then decorate the wrapped gift with little smiley faces, Christmas trees, or even just the words "Merry Christmas!" You could even add some glitter if you have some on hand. Decorations: 17. Don't decorate. 18. Don't decorate with expensive things!!! 19. The stores have incredible sales every year for decorations, buy close to the holiday or even better, after the holiday!  You could fill your house with beautiful holiday decorations every year (if you wanted to), for a small fraction of what they originally cost! 20. Save your children's (or grandchildren's) holiday crafts and artwork from school each year, after a few years you'll have a houseful of free and beautiful decorations!  And the joy your child will feel seeing his/her artwork proudly displayed year after year is priceless. 21. Have a warm and cozy Christmas the old-fashioned way.  Pop some popcorn and string it up all over the house! 22. Add some cranberries to your popcorn string for a touch of color. 23. Decorate your house by bringing the outside in, using pinecones and acorns!  Sprinkle with a few drops of pine scented oil if you have it on hand, I know a lot of you just might! 24. Invest in an artificial tree after Christmas - when they go on clearance!  25. And don't try to get all your tree ornaments in one year (this one is especially true for newlyweds), it took your parents years to collect what they have… and each ornament is more special because of it. Food:26. Many grocery stores are offering great deals during the holidays, some are even giving away food, or cash!  Read the paper every week for your local deals, or if you don't subscribe to the newspaper, pick up the free ad flyers at the store and take it home so you'll have time to look it over really good before shopping. 27. Compare prices!  I like to buy whatever's on sale at one store, then a few days later when we need more milk anyways, I go to a second store and get their best deals, it's a great money-saver! 28. Store brands are great when making casseroles and side dishes… no one will even notice!  29. Cook your turkey in a large Reynolds cooking bag and you won't need to buy an expensive Butterball, any brand will be wonderful! 30. Stock up while everything's on sale, just an extra can or box here and there… not a storage closet full!  If you end up with too many bargain buys, share them with your local food bank!  31. Visit our Grocery Saving Tips Web site for more ideas on saving money at the grocery store, with or without coupons!   Entertainment:32. It's wonderful to take your family to the movie theater during the Christmas holiday break, but this could also be a good time to catch up on the videos that have come out for rental during the holiday season.  NetFlix even lets you rent DVDs online and there's no charge for late fees (use our link for a 30-day free trial!) 33. Another great and frugal way to entertain the family through the holidays is to take a drive around your town, or another one nearby, to see the Christmas lights.  It's a family tradition of ours to do this on Christmas Eve and we look forward to it every year! 34. Get out the board games, the kids will love spending time with you.  If you don't have many to choose from, maybe you can borrow a new game from a friend or neighbor.  You never know, they might have a closet full they never even use! 35. Playing cards is always fun too, even when the kids are little you can play Go Fish… we're making memories here. 36. Sing, sing, sing!  </SPAN>Many churches and groups even have caroling get-togethers in December, what fun! 37. Sit around a warm fire, or cozy up in the living room with blankets and hot cocoa.  Tell family stories… or have everyone take turns saying how they have been blessed throughout the year, like we do at Thanksgiving.  Being thankful shouldn't end in November, keep the spirit going! 38. Have a family gathering to decorate the tree, wrap gifts, or bake cookies.  (And if you do enjoy baking cookies, we'd love to have you join our Cookie Club!)   39. Check out a Christmas book from the library and read it together as a family.  Or, decide on a story and have everyone contribute a chapter to create a new Christmas book... maybe even one about your own family!

She has an ongoing contest too! Check this out... I have racked my brain trying to think but darn, think she has most of it covered lol :)View Our Winning Thrifty Tips!  http://www.betterbudgeting.com/thriftymoneysavingtips.htm

Tip Rewards:  As a subscriber to BetterBudgeting.com you will have the opportunity to win a cash Tip Reward of $25.00 USD for submitting the BEST money-saving tip of the month!  (A new winner will be selected and featured in our free newsletter EVERY MONTH!!!) And entering a thrifty money-saving tip for our monthly Tip Rewards contest is EASY to do!   Our Editor, Michelle Jones (a frugal mom of 4), will also include a month's worth of FREE GROCERY COUPONS as a free gift for the winner of our Tip Rewards each month!!!  (These are current clipped coupons from our U.S. Sunday newspapers, usually with a total redemption value of $100.00 or more!)  Please Note: This offer is for subscribers only, if you are not already a member please get more details about signing up for your FREE subscription here   http://www.betterbudgeting.com/subscribe.htm , or just enter your email address in the subscription box at the top of the site if you're in a hurry! Tip Submissions:  Tip submissions for each issue are generally accepted through the 10th of the month.  For example: submissions for our next issue will need to be submitted on or before the 10th of the month (as we usually publish the ezine during the third week of each month and need time to review the tips and select a winner.)  Tips received after the 10th of the month will automatically be considered with the following month's submissions. Tip Guidelines:  Please send your submission directly by e-mail, attachments will NOT be opened. Professional writing is not required (your tip will be edited for proper grammar, spelling and punctuation if needed), however, please review your tip before submitting to make sure it is worded the way you want it to be.  All Tip Rewards submissions will become the property of BetterBudgeting.com, as is standard with most publishing contests.  If your tip is selected for our monthly Tip Rewards feature in the newsletter we would like to include your first name and the state you are from, along with your tip.  If this is okay with you please include that information with your submission.  You will be notified by e-mail if you win, so please make sure we have your correct address if it changes before our next issue is published! Each month's winner will be announced in the ezine!    Please feel free to submit as many tips as you'd like, however, once you have been selected as our Tip Rewards winner of the month you will be exempt from winning again for 1 year.  This will help give everyone a fair chance of winning! :o) Thank you for sharing your favorite money-saving tips with us and GOOD LUCK!!! Submit Your Tip Here...  editor@betteditor@betterbudgeting.com

the above, you may have to copy paste as I can't seem to make it clickable..

 Hints for submitting a winning tip: 1. DON'T submit a one sentence tip; include as much detail as you can about your thrifty money saving idea! 2. DO submit a creative tip; something that you feel most of our readers may not have thought about.  (Please keep in mind, our readers are becoming very savvy at saving money and have learned a lot from our site already... but there are endless ways to save money so we can still learn from each other!) 3. DO submit more tips if your first tip does not win, we select a new winner EVERY MONTH!

 all the following blue links are found on her website at:

http://www.betterbudgeting.com/savemoneyongas.htm

 Save Money on Gas!i
What's a frugal family to do?  Saving Money on Gas - 37 Tips!
Copyright © by Michelle Jones, founder and editor of BetterBudgeting.comHere are some great gas saving tips to help you save more at the pump, including how to figure your car's average mpg (miles per gallon) and whether or not you can save money driving with A/C on or off!  Doing whatever we can to cut back on our consumption of gas is not only important for saving money--especially with the current high cost of gasoline--but it's also just good stewardship to conserve our resources.  Below you'll find just about every tip I could think of to help you save money on gas, if you have an additional gas saving tip to share with our readers please contact us and we'll add it to the list!1. Save on other areas of your household budget so you can afford the gas needed to get to and from work each week, we've got thousands of money saving tips here at BetterBudgeting.com to help you save all through the year!2. Find the lowest gas prices online!  A great site for tracking the lowest gas prices in your area is GasBuddy.com.  Just search the (U.S. or Canada) map for your state and click to see if prices are available for your city!  GasPriceWatch.com is also a great resource, and my husband also likes autos.msn.com, though my computer always warns me of a blocked intrusion whenever I visit the site.3. Combine daily errands into one WEEKLY trip, including getting gas if necessary.  If you usually have to make quick trips to the store for bread or milk, buy enough to get you through the week.  (You can also freeze both of these staple grocery items, just empty some of the milk before you freeze it because the container will expand.)4. If you run out of milk often consider switching to powdered milk, or at least keep one box on hand so you don't have to make an extra trip to the store. (And you'll also save money on milk as well as gas!)5. I often stretch weekly trips to the grocery store to every 10 days or more, it's a great money saver!  By doing this you'll not only save money on gas, but you'll also save on groceries!6. ALWAYS keep a running list of items you need on the fridge (groceries and non-groceries) so you don't forget anything when you do finally make your trip to the store!7. If you're on a fixed income spend less on groceries than you normally do so you can better afford to pay for the gas you do need. Visit our grocery savings site at GrocerySavingTips.com to read more of my free grocery tips!8. Carpool with a friend or neighbor whenever possible, then either share the cost of gas or take turns driving.9. Walk or ride a bike instead of driving your car to school, work, or nearby destinations, if you're able to.  10. If you do have to drive your car to school or work, pick up groceries or other items you need on the way home--instead of making a special trip later at night or on the weekends.11. Try to get the best price on gasoline, but don't drive all the way across town to do it!!!12. If your tank is more than half full but you see gas for a really good price go ahead and top your tank off, but, ONLY if you can't save more money by doing something else with the extra time it's going to take... like clipping a few grocery coupons.  Better yet, do both!  (We also give away up to $100 worth of free grocery coupons each month to our Tip Rewards winners, which are featured in our free monthly ezine!)13. Try to buy your gas during the week if you can, our local stations have always tended to raise their prices on the weekends, and especially on holiday weekends.  So wait to fill up until they come back down a bit, maybe on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.14. Make sure you remember to put your gas cap back on securely after filling up.  (This can be hard to do when you see how much it just cost to fill up your tank!)15. Take the highway to avoid stop-and-go traffic in the city if you can, but don't drive over 65 mph!  Anything over that will eat up gas faster.16. Don't let your engine idle for very long, if it's going to be more than a few minutes just turn the car off.  (This is one we're really having to work on!)17. When driving around town don't run the A/C unless you really need it.  Please note: This only helps when you're driving at a lower speed; if you're driving at a higher speed or on the interstate the air friction from having the windows open could actually lower your mpg!  Years ago when our children were very young and my husband and I both had cars without A/C we used to joke about how great it was to have FREE air conditioning, also known as 2-65. (Sometimes you just have to laugh to keep from crying!)18. No matter how frustrated you get, avoid gunning the engine when ticked off at bad drivers.  It will lower your mpg!  19. Park 'n Ride.  If you live in a city that has public transportation you can park your car at the nearest stop on the bus line and then ride the bus the rest of the way to and from work, for a fraction of what it might cost to fill your tank up every week.  20. In some large cities (Seattle-WA, Portland-OR, Washington DC, Los Angeles & San Diego-CA and Chicago-IL) you can even ride public transportation and then join Flexcar, which lets you borrow a car by the hour, while you're at work. The company is founded by Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, and is quite a cool idea.21. A few of the schools in our area are considering a 4-day school week to save money on the rising costs of gas, as I'm sure some businesses may be thinking about as well. I know even the idea may sound a bit shocking, but who knows, maybe it could work.22. And if you have children who ride the bus to school make sure they are ready on time in the morning so they don't miss their "free" ride!  I told our children if they missed the bus again they'll have to do the dishes for an entire week--it seemed to work! ;o)23. If your children forget their homework or lunch money at home and the school is quite a drive... well, I'll leave that one up to you.  One day my youngest son forgot his weekly report which was pretty important, so I drove it up to the school and ran a few extra errands while I was out.  The very next day my youngest daughter forgot her lunch money on the kitchen table, but I knew the school would let her charge it to her lunch account and we could send the extra money in the following day, so I left it on the table and talked to her about it when she got home.  (Packing their school backpacks at night does help, but with 4 children we're notorious for forgetting things from time to time... thankfully our schools are close to home!)24. Movie tickets are already pretty high, but now we've got to consider the added cost of traveling there and back. Now is a great time to join Netflix if you haven't already, it won't cost you a penny in gas!25. If your family has two or more cars you might want to consider sizing down, as long as the extra trips won't end up costing you even more than maintaining the additional cars. 26. If you're a double-income working couple and are commuting to work in two separate cars, have the one who's job is the furthest away drive whichever car gets better gas mileage!27. If you're not sure what your car's gas mileage is… you can calculate that by writing down the odometer reading when you fill up your tank or resetting the trip meter to zero. Then, the next time you get gas, make a note of the mileage and how many gallons it takes to fill the tank back up.  Take the difference in mileage (which is how many miles you drove on the trip meter), and divide it by how many gallons of gas it takes to fill up.  For example, if you drove 100 miles and it takes 5 gallons of gas to fill your tank back up, you're getting 20 mpg. 28. Your gas mileage may also vary just a bit with each fill up depending on traffic and how you're driving, but you'll have a good idea of what your average is by continuing to keep track of your mileage over several weeks or months (a small notebook would be handy).  Once you have at least several weeks of figures to use, add the mpg averages together and divide them by how many there are.  For example, if you've got averages of 20, 21, 19, 22, and 25, your total would be 107 and you would divide that figure by 5, bringing your average to 21.4 mpg.29. If your car gets less than 20 mpg you might consider trading it in for one that's more efficient.  SUVs may be great cars, but I'm still very glad we don't have one!30. Consider getting a Hybrid vehicle.  Our local news featured a gentleman who has a Honda Hybrid, he was laughing all the way home (as he was in the interview) I'm sure... his electric car gets 77 MPG on the highway!  Yes, you read that correctly, 77!  He also said that they are not as difficult to recharge as people think, it automatically recharges every time you step on the brakes.  I believe there was also a $2,000 tax break in 2005 for people who purchased hybrid cars: "Under the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004, the deduction amount is limited to $2,000 for cars first put into use in 2004 and 2005.  The deduction will be limited to $500 for vehicles placed in service in 2006, and no deduction will be allowed after that year..." http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=107766,00.html

31. Keep your car in good working condition, this includes oil changes (every 3,000 miles), air filters and checking the engine regularly.  Getting a tune up might also help, especially for older models.  Check your owner's manual for recommended service dates.32. Make sure your tires are inflated properly, and rotate your tires every 6 months or as often as recommended by your service company. 33. When driving on the highway use your cruise control if you have it. This will also help you avoid those nasty traffic tickets that would eat up all of your hard earned gas savings!34. If you're still using premium gas instead of regular unleaded check your owner's manual to make sure this is necessary. Most vehicles are made to operate just fine on regular unleaded!35. Shop online whenever you can to avoid extra trips all together, we have a special list set up for clearance sales and special offers (including free shipping at many online stores) in our Super Savers department.  Don't buy anything unless you really need it though, every dollar you save can help pay for the rising costs of gas, food and housing.36. For many years I have recommend local sight seeing (traveling by car) as a frugal family fun outing--it's one of our favorite things to do!  But with the price of gas now being double what it used to be, you may just need to choose areas that are very close to home.  Although... considering the even higher costs of hotels and airfares, it's still a frugal way to have fun! :o)More Tips from Our Readers...Do you have a gas saving tip you'd like to share with us?  We'd love to hear from you!37. "Carrying extra weight in your vehicle decreases fuel efficiency.  I drive a minivan but usually don't need all of the seats.  We took out one of the middle row captain's chairs.  Having put it back in there once, I can assure you that it is quite heavy.  It's that much less weight that needs to be moved down the highway." - Shona R

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