Just because the park is a free admission park doesn’t mean it has boring rides. On the contrary, some of the best amusement park rides in the country can be found at Knoebel’s. The Phoenix is a wooden roller coaster that has been featured in television shows on the best roller coasters in the country. The Haunted Mansion (or Haunted House) has been named as one of the best dark rides in the country for years. The Bumper Cars were recognized as the best in the country several years back in Parade magazine. And the food at the park is award winning.

You have two options for paying to ride the rides. You can purchase a hand stamp (available most weekdays) where you can ride the rides as many times as you want or you can purchase tickets and pay for each ride as you go. Each ride has a value – the children’s rides are cheaper than the roller coasters, for example. No matter what option you pick, if you want to go on the skyride, use the pool or go into the Haunted Mansion you must pay for those attractions with tickets.

You can bring food to picnic at the park because there are many different picnic pavilions where you can eat. You don’t have to sneak your food into the park here – many families bring their coolers with them in wagons to save money.

Knoebel’s is located in Elysburg, PA. It is about 2.75 hours away from Philadelphia, 3 hours from New York City and 4.25 hours from Pittsburgh.

First, not all stores will take online grocery coupons. You should check with the store for their policy on using them. One of the stores where I shop will honor the coupons, but only if they can be scanned. While they might manually enter in a newspaper coupon they won’t do that with an online grocery coupon.

Second, you’ll have to install programs on your computer that allow you to print the bar code on the grocery coupons. These programs are safe to use. As long as you are running a good anti virus/anti spyware program that is up to date you’ll be fine.

Next, you will want to get a junk email account for your coupon surfing. Some of the websites require you to sign up with an email address to get access to the coupons. You don’t want to use your regular email address because, trust me, you will be overloaded with emails. You can check your coupon email address once or twice a week. There are lots of places online to get free email addresses like Yahoo!, Gmail, AOL and Hotmail.

Finally, you are ready to begin searching for online grocery coupons. Here are some of the sites I found that have some good coupons to use:

www.Redplum.com
www.Coupons.com
www.Coolsavings.com
www.Couponsurfer.com

Don’t forget to go to the official websites for the products you use. You can often find some good coupons there too!

Payday loans are short term loans, ranging in amount from $100 to $500, designed as a fast fix to an unexpected financial problem.  You borrow the money for a week to ten days for some reason (car repairs, for example) and then pay it back on your “payday”.  What happens is that some people become dependent on these loans to pay everyday expenses.  They just pay off one loan only to find out they are short this week and have to go back and borrow even more money.

The fees associated with payday loans can be steep – sometimes 10 to 15% of the cost of the loan.  That would mean that on a $500 loan you could be paying a fee of $75.  If you look at the interest costs of a traditional bank loan these fees are really high.

Here’s my opinion – stay away from these short term loans if you can.  Try and re-evaluate your budget and see if there is anywhere you can cut costs to save money.  If you have a really high interest rate loan try and refinance it for a fixed rate loan.  If you think you need some help, meet with a consumer credit counselor to help you get through your financial problems.  Only consider payday loans as the very last resort, if at all.

I’m not saying that you should quit your job and become a stay at home mom. I’m just putting forth a few considerations to review before making a decision one way or the other. You might have an ideal work situation where it’s close to home and you can work a flex schedule, or maybe you have family nearby that can stay with your children when you work. This is just a blog post putting out some ideas to think about before you make a decision one way or the other.

Every job has certain costs associated with it. Some of the costs are obvious – transportation, for example. Do you take public transportation to work? Do you need to pay to park your car each day? How much in tolls do you pay every day to commute to work? There’s also the wear and tear on your vehicle, as well as the cost of gas.

Next, you need to have a certain wardrobe in order to work. I’m not talking a designer wardrobe here. You need to have a wardrobe that is appropriate with the official or unofficial dress code at your place of business. For many people you need to have a summer and a winter wardrobe, winter coat, brief case/tote bag, etc.

How about the cost of food associated with working? You might bring your lunch to work, but what about your morning coffee, the Diet Coke in the afternoon as a pick-me-up or the weekly lunch out with the people in your office?

Then there are the sneaky costs associated with any job. I call them sneaky because you often don’t think about them – the weekly lottery pool, birthday gifts, sympathy gifts, baby shower gifts, the Girl Scout cookies, the fundraiser for the local dance school, and so on.

Finally, and probably the most important out of all these expenses, is the cost of quality child care for your children. I used to work with a guy who would rush out of the office every day, because if he didn’t get to the day care by 5:20 he was charged PER MINUTE for each minute his children were left there. I don’t remember exactly how much he had to pay, but it wasn’t cheap.

Once you add all this up you can see if financially it is worth your time and effort to take a job outside the home.

There’s more to this equation than just financial considerations. Think about the following:

• You might be required to work overtime on very short notice – do you have contingency plans in place for child care?
• What about snow days? Do you have anyone who can watch your children when school is called off for inclement weather?
• How long is your commute to work? Do you have to get your children up and out of the house before 7:00 a.m. so you can make it to work on time?
• How does working impact your ability to parent? Are you always tired, frustrated and stressed out by the day at work?

These are all things you need to consider when deciding if you are going to become a stay at home mom or go back to work. Don’t think I’m advocating becoming a stay at home mom. There are a whole other set of challenges that go along with that. I’m just saying that when you look at the big picture you might see that you kill yourself working 40 hours a week or more for a very little bit of money when you tally everything up.

Why would you want to consolidate all your loans? Most people have many small loans and credit cards. Because they are small, they traditionally have higher interest rates. This is because the lender knows you probably won’t have to pay them for very long, so with a higher interest rate, they get more money from you quicker. When you get a consolidation loan, it is larger, so the chances are good that the interest rate will be smaller.

What are the benefits to getting a debt consolidation loan? There are many benefits to getting a debt consolidation loan. One is a lower interest rate. It may also make things easier for you when it is time to pay the bills. Rather than having to pay several lenders, you will only have to pay one. Because it has a lower interest rate, it may also help you stay within your budget each month.

What are the disadvantages to getting a debt consolidation loan? There are a few disadvantages of getting a debt consolidation loan. The period required to repay your debt consolidation loan will probably be longer, so you will end up paying more money in the end. The lenders that offer debt consolidation loans know that most people looking for them are having a hard time making their payments each month. Because of this, it is very important that you read the fine print on the loan. If you do not read it very carefully, you may inadvertently accept a loan with bad terms or conditions.

Things to remember about debt consolidation loans

While debt consolidation loans may be helpful to you, remember that the company is in the business to make a profit off you, just like all lenders. If the debt consolidation loan has a repayment term that is too long, you may want to avoid it. Consider cutting back on your expenses before to see if that is a better option than taking out a long-term loan.

Be sure to look at the loan papers carefully. Notice if the interest rate is lower and if you are truly saving yourself money by taking out this loan. You may actually end up paying out more to a debt consolidation loan in the end if you are not careful.

As with any loan, you should never make a hasty decision to get a debt consolidation loan. If you have good credit on your credit report and can find a debt consolidation loan with a lower interest rate, it may be a great option for you. But if you have bad credit on your report, taking care of a short term goal like wiping out all your debt with one loan may actually end up costing you more in the long term.

Many consumers are able to get a better interest rate on a financial package before they sign on the dotted line. Why would a lender negotiate with you? To beat out the competition! They know that if they don’t offer you a mortgage loan, there are plenty other businesses that will. However, you may not be able to negotiate with a credit card company. Most of their packages are fixed, so you cannot get a lower interest rate.

A good credit score is a great tool for you to use in negotiating these lower interest rates. You have an excellent credit history and are a “good risk” for the lenders. You can click here to get a free copy of your credit report along with your credit score.

Once you do sign the mortgage papers, you chances of negotiating a lower interest rate is not as good. That is because the effect it has on the return in their investment would be altered. But, while negotiating with mortgage interest rates is good before signing and bad afterwards, credit cards and small loans are the opposite. If you find yourself with a loan or credit card with high interest, you can try to get lower interest rates.

If you have a good credit history, negotiating a better interest rate will be easier. The institutions will be able to see that you are responsible with your finances and are more likely to pay them back the money you borrow from them.

Institutions don’t like to take chances with risky customers because it ends up costing them money. They have to take the customer to court to have them repay their debt to them. Usually though, a deal can be worked out between the customer and institution so the money is repaid over a period of time.

This is part of the reason it is easy to negotiate a better interest rate with your credit card lender. They also know that it may be easy for you to transfer their balance to another card with another lender that is a lower interest rate. That means they lose you as a customer if they don’t lower your rates – something they don’t want to happen!

Here are a few tips for negotiating lower interest rates.

It is best to have any deals that you do with the financial institutions in writing. That way, if something happens and you have to go to court, you have something tangible to show the court.

Try to avoid being confrontational when negotiating. If you appear too challenging, they will think you do not want to resolve the issue. So remain fair when negotiating. If the interest rate you are demanding is too outrageous, you may end up being ignored. And never threaten the institution. Saying you are not going to pay or claim bankruptcy can be used against you in court and will show that you aren’t willing to fulfill your financial responsibilities.

You want to be realistic, but still try to turn the tables in your favor. Try to negotiate a fixed rate with payment periods that are acceptable for you.

Once you have requested a lower rate that your lender accepts, be sure to keep up with your new commitments. Once you fail to make the new payments, it will be detrimental to you if the lender takes you to court. So be realistic in your demands, be polite, and follow through with your commitments.

If you want to try to fix your credit yourself, just request a copy of your credit report from one of the major bureaus: Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. Once you get it, read everything on it and if you think something is unfair or untrue, you will need to write a letter stating so. If something shows up as bad, but is valid, you can write the lender to see if something can be worked out to pay your debt in order to have the bad credit mark removed from your credit history. This is the same thing a credit repair service will do for you.

A credit report monitoring service like Triple Advantage by freecreditreport.com will monitor your credit report for you and let you know if there is any suspicious activity or any changes to your credit report.
The legitimate credit repair services will tell you what they can and can’t do as well as give you their fees and clearly explain what you will get for that fee. Unfortunately, there are disreputable credit repair services you need to avoid. They may attempt to confuse you with legal jargon you don’t understand. They may not fully disclose your legal rights. They may ask you to not contact a bureau directly (which you can). They may even suggest you create a new credit identity by using an Employer Identification Number (EIN) rather than your social security number. They may suggest you remove all bad credit, whether it is valid or not, which if you do, you will be committing fraud.

Keep three things in mind when looking at credit repair companies:

1. Make sure they only want to remove inaccurate information from your credit report.
2. Don’t pay a big price. Check around with several credit repair companies to see what a valid fee is. What they are doing is relatively easy and shouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg.
3. The credit agency cannot dispute any claims in your name unless they have a notarized power of attorney to do so.

Remember that is you are serious about repairing your credit and have a little time, this is something you can do yourself!

There are a few steps you should follow for your budget:

1. Figure out what your committed costs are.  These are thing you must pay, including expenses like mortgage payments, utility bills, etc.
2. Figure out what your essential costs are.  These are things like your food bill, gas bill, etc.  What you will have left after #1 and #2 is your disposable income that can be used for luxury items such as clothes or coffee.
3. Figure out any consumable costs you will want to pay on a monthly basis.  This is for things such as birthday presents, movie tickets, or a hobby you have.  This can vary from month to month or you can budget a certain amount each month.

You must stick to your budget for #3.  If you create a budget, but still buy things that you haven’t listed in #3, your budget will be useless.  Once you can accurately predict what you have at the end of each month, you can know your budget is working.

Here are a few more tips to budgeting:

• Don’t spend all your money down to the last dime.  If you spend and do not have any savings, you won’t be prepared for unexpected costs such as car repairs.
• Save a little each month for an emergency.  At first, you may not have very much, but as you continue to save each month, you will see your saving build.
• It will take some work, but stick to your budget.  Remember that a budget only works if you adhere to it.  Once you start to stray, money begins disappearing.
• Keep track of your monthly costs.  See if anything, such as a bill has increased or if there is something you can cut out to save even more money.  You may be surprised at the amount of goods or services you pay for each month that you can actually do without.

Once the bills start to pile up, it is easier to just ignore them. But they won’t go away and the quicker you take action, the better off you are. If you continue to ignore bills, you get hit with late fees and over limit fees and they just continue to build. If you find yourself in this situation, you can stop ignoring your bills and face up to them now.

In order to face your bills, you need to be completely honest with yourself. You need to sit down and write out exactly what you are spending each month. Once you list all your bills and the amount, you may be a bit shocked. Once you have everything sorted out, you can start taking positive steps to getting your finances under control.

When coping with debt, especially overwhelming debt, you need to stay calm. There is a way to make your situation better, but you will need to figure it all out. It took a long time to get into the debt you have and it may take some time to get out of it, but using the best plan on attack will help you do it quicker than just ignoring the situation.

After you have figured out all your debts, you need to know how to pay them down. You can make more money (either ask for a raise or take an additional job). You can also downsize – start spending less money, which will give you more money to pay on your debts. The more you can pay, the quicker you will get them paid off. It may mean tightening your belt and just cutting out some unneeded things. Take a little time to think about what could be cut out and you may be surprised what you can do without. Do you really need the deluxe cable television package that costs almost $100 a month, or can you survive with just the basic package?

Ignoring the bills is the worst thing you can do. Don’t ignore that stack of bills – open them and take control of your own finances. Trying to resolve all your debt is the first step on the road of financial recovery.

• Repair the credit you already have
• Build up your credit rating by taking out new loans and paying them off in a timely manner
• Wait for the bad credit time limit to pass

Many people are not aware of it, but repairing your credit yourself is often easy to do.  To begin, you will need a copy of your credit report from one of the three credit bureaus.  Look over the report to see if you notice anything that may be wrong or unjust.  Then you will need to write a letter to the lender explaining why you think this item is wrong or unjust.  They have up to 30 days to respond to your dispute.  If they don’t respond in a timely manner, the bad credit may be removed from your history.  All disputes will not be easily solved, but remember that there are mistakes made that can be removed.

Building better credit will be easier.  You can simply take out new loans and pay them back on time until they are paid off.  By paying your debts on time, it shows lenders that you are a responsible customer.  It will help offset any bad credit that appears on your credit record.  New loans can also be used to help people who do not have bad credit, but simply little credit history.  Just taking out a few small loans and repaying them in a short time can be helpful to your credit history.  But, keep in mind that if you miss any payments, you are further harming your credit history, so do not take out any loans you are not 100% sure you can pay back in a timely manner.

Of course, waiting for you bad credit to go away is an easy way out, but it isn’t very industrious.  It takes seven years for bad credit to clear from your record.  Once that credit history is removed, you will have to begin to build you credit again.  It is well worth your effort to try to repair your credit rather than wait the seven years for it to clear.