No doubt about it. We’re living through one of the most unsettling economic periods most adults have ever seen. If your own family hasn’t experienced a job transition, you likely have a neighbor or friend who has. Taking note of the auto industry’s stimulus programs, Iowa Realty just announced Friday their Iowa Realty Job Loss Protection Program. Job Loss Protection Program offers:

• Six months of mortgage payments to home buyers who lose their job within first two years of buying their home
• Up to $1,800 per month totaling more than $10,000 in protection

Homes included in the Job Loss Protection Program must meet these criteria:

• Home sellers are required to pay a $500 fee at closing time
• Home buyers must be employed at closing
• Homes must be listed or purchased through an Iowa Realty agent

This is the first program of its kind in Iowa and is part of the national non-profit Rainy Day Foundation, whose purpose is to help people maintain home ownership.

Check out KCCI’s news story on Iowa’s Job Loss Protection Program. For additional details, go to Iowa Realty.

Happy home hunting!

Good luck all!  Submitted my tips yesterday.  There's some great tips entered already that you can see when you enter yours. All so you can start saving more now!

Click here to enter: Spend Smarter Sweepstakes.

I can already tell you some of these savings tips will be a hassle for me to do consistently.  (See # 5, # 23 & #24.) But most involve a different way of doing something I’m already doing. Just scaling back a bit or being more conscious of how my daily activities impact expenses.

Drum roll….here’s my Savings 24/7. Hope you find some new hints, as well as website resources you can use to find your own ways to save.

1. Turn off the lights when you leave a room.

2. Turn off the TV when you’re not watching it – and for me, that includes not falling asleep with the TV on.

3. Stop drinking diet coke – (easily has saved me $5 - $10 per day)

4. No more Starbucks – You'll save $$ and calories by sticking with the plain old brewed version.

5. Pack a lunch for work.  Likely healthier, too.

6. Actually eat leftovers. and 6a. Actually remember to bring your doggy bag home from the restaurant.

7. "Don't pay for 411 calls, call 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411), for free directory assistance from Google."

8. Cook at home more…eat out less. 

9. Organize and use your gift cards before the expiration date (I can’t tell you the number of cards I found with expired dates. That’s just ridiculous.)

10. Cancel the health club membership – it’s nice outside. Skip the elliptical machine and take more walks with the dog.

11. Take a close look at cable service and cancel extra channels.  Check out Hulu.com where you can watch episodes of favorite TV shows and download videos.

12. Get rid of the landline phone. My husband and I have gone back and forth about this for a year. Time to cut the cord!

13. Set desktop monitor to turn off after a certain time period to save on energy.

14. Check the lint trap in the dryer more frequently to improve dryer efficiency and save energy.
15. Give up brand loyalty to personal things like toothpast, contact lens solution, antiperspirant. Focus on buying what's on sale. Crest will forgive you.

16. This is a tough one....axe movie night out. I found Hellomovies.com where you can watch movies for free as many times as you want. Selections for the free streaming video somewhat limited.

17. Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs (75% more efficient).

18. Drink tap water instead of buying bottled water.

19. Use cold water when washing clothes – clothes are just as clean.

20. Use 1/2 of the amount of laundry detergent and use dryer sheets twice. Yes, I tested this. My clothes are just as clean, soft and static-free.

21. Hang dry clothing rather than using the dryer.

22. Don’t rely on AC all day. Open up the windows and let the breezes in. Ahhhhhhhh. Good for the soul.

23. Reuse paper printed only on one side when possible.

24. Start using coupons. I used to do this years ago right after I graduated from college, but tired of trying to manage them. So now, I’m committed to only clipping coupons or printing out online coupons for things I really need.
 

It was like a whack to the side of my head. 24's success formula might work for me! I need to approach my personal savings with a focus on a short timeframe…and then repeat.  I admit it; I’m an adrenaline junkie. Anything that smacks of the mundane bores me completely. Figuring out how to save a few bucks here and there certainly doesn’t capture my interest for long.

Tomorrow, my goal is to come up with 24 ways to save money in one day – and actually implement them.  Stay tuned. I have a feeling the only counter terrorist poised to derail my savings efforts may be…me. 
 

The past year has been stressful for many, including my family. Additional unexpected expenses related to my husband’s trip to the emergency room, the slow housing market, hikes in college tuition fees and right sizing at my company all have me feeling insecure about my financial future. 

I’m a smart girl. You would think that I would logically adjust my spending during stressful times. And, I have. I buy fewer Diet Cokes and drink more water. I’m more careful about turning the lights off when I leave a room. I try to combine errands into one trip to save on gas. We have dinner at home more and eat out less.

But what I’ve noticed is that I’ve started to buy more “stuff” for fun. Not big ticket items, but a pair of shoes that were a steal deal. Or the cropped jeans I rationalized I “need” for summer. All of the purchases were online. Easy, quick and heck, I could always return them later if I decide I don’t need them. Except I don’t return them. Ever.

I’ve fallen into a trap of thinking “hey, I deserve this. I work hard. I’m making sacrifices. We’re not going on vacation this year. What’s buying one summer top going to hurt?” Except it doesn’t stop at one purchase. There’s been more than a handful this spring.

So, the alarm’s gone off. I’m responding to the wake up call. Feeling stressed isn’t a good reason to ignore my end goal of improving my finances. I’m putting a freeze on online buying. And, I bet I feel a lot less guilty and a lot less anxious about finances.

See if you recognize yourself in the “You Might Be a Stress Spender If” list. I saw a bit of myself in # 5.

I’m proud to say that Affinity Credit Union, my credit union, is one of the first credit unions in Iowa to participate in a pilot program through the Iowa Credit Union Foundation, Credit Union Family Partnership Program. Affinity CEO Sandy Robinson believes the key program component is teaching people to save. "It's a matter of people understanding there is help out there," she said.

Check out the Des Moines Register article featuring Affinity’s participation in the Credit Union Family Partnership Program. 

To improve my financial position, Sandy suggested that getting a grip on what I spend money on, no matter how much, is important to understanding the overall picture of my finances.  Good point. I happen to be the type of person who can't tell you the price of a half gallon of milk or what I spend weekly to fill the gas tank.  I'm not exactly a spendthrift. I just simply am not aware of what I spend on daily items.  I think there are a couple of reasons for this: 

• I've already got a lot on my mind with family & work, and
• My grandmother pointed out the cost of every single thing she bought, from a cup of coffee to the birthday presents she gave me. Annoying & boring. 

I was thinking about my lack of enthusiasm for tracking how I spend money. Clearly, I'm not wired to enjoy this. I started thinking about if my personality affects my finances.  So, I Googled "how does personality affect finances." The search returned 10,600,000 results!  Turns out there's an entire industry focused on finding the answer to this question.

I took a few online financial personality quizzes.  My favorite:  "What's Your Money Personality" posted on MSN Money.  In less than a minute, I learned I'm The Innocent. People who fall into this category are described as:  "avoids paying significant attention to money, believing (or hoping) that life will work out for the best." It appears I'm the financial version of Pollyanna.

What money type are you?  Take the quiz and let me know. 

Life is good.  Except…for this nagging concern that maybe we're not as secure financially as we should be. Call it a typical mid-life crisis response…call it worrying for no reason…blame it on the media's depressing economic reports.  Finances are getting to me. And, I finally decided I need to do something about it.

So, I called my friend and self-appointed financial advisor, Affinity CEO Sandy Robinson. Sandy just got me talking about what I saw as my finance pressure points. Our conversation led to an "ah haa" moment. Why not put some visible accountability to improving my financial situation? So we decided to track my progress and document my journey in a blog.

This a bit of an experiment…a personal stretch to "put myself out there" and get my finances tracking in the right direction. And, when Sandy and I talked about sharing my trip down the road to financial health, I thought "Why not?" Maybe my stumbles and successes will give a lift to others. Maybe some of you will see a bit of yourselves in me. And, hopefully you can try on the financial tips and check out resources I find to see how they fit in your lives.

I plan to have some fun with this. Have to. Budgeting and saving don't fall into the "fun" category naturally for me.  Stay tune for more from SQUEEZED.