Americans like to help. In fact, total charitable contributions by individuals, corporations, and foundations was an estimated $298.42 billion in 2011, up 4% from 2010, according to a report from the Giving USA Foundation and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Unfortunately, there are people who try to profit from tragedy. In 2009, the FTC launched the “Operation False Charity” initiative in conjunction with Attorney General offices and law-enforcement departments nationwide in order to crack down on “fraudulent telemarketers claiming to help police, firefighters, and veterans.” If you feel that you have been defrauded, you can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

Some people shop at the same store at the same time on the same day, week in and week out. If this sounds like you, you’re missing out on some great bargains. Here are some ways to break out of your grocery rut and save money on your food budget.

Couponing? Nope.

Happy April, everyone! It may be 37 degrees where I live, but the sky is blue, the snow is gone, and I’m itching for yard-sale season to begin. I’ve hosted and attended a number of these consumer extravaganzas over the years… here are some tips for hosting as well as attending a yard sale that I’ve amassed along the way.

Hosting a Yard Sale

In an era when the 400 richest Americans account for the same amount of collective wealth as 62% of the nation’s entire population combined and the United States is the fourth most wealth-unequal country in the world, something is grievously wrong with the way income is earned, saved, and distributed. Fortunately, someone has come to the rescue of our next generation, encouraging them to “spend, save, and share” the money they earn. Who is this economic powerhouse preaching to our kids?

Elmo, of course.

The most recent figures show that 48.9 million people in the U.S. have served as adult caregivers, with 86% of them providing for a relative in need. Not only do these people have to contend with the myriad difficult and thankless tasks associated with caregiving, but most also have to work outside jobs in order to pay the bills. In all, more than 70% of caregivers effectively work two jobs.

As you might expect, that burden ultimately proves unsustainable for many, as nearly one-third of working caregivers choose early retirement, take a leave of absence from their job, or give up working entirely. What’s more, two-thirds adjust their work hours or take time off in order to provide care.

My mom has Parkinson’s disease. Twenty percent of people with Parkinson’s disease also get Parkinson’s dementia, and she has that, too. I cared for her for five years, the last two of which she lived with us so that I could provide the around-the-clock assistance she required. This past summer, when she forgot how to stand up, it was time to move her to a skilled-nursing facility.

I evaluated a few different places and chose one that was reasonably priced, cooked from scratch, didn’t smell, and took the best care of residents’ personal grooming requirements.  Mom had enough money to pay out of pocket for a few months, but it soon became necessary to apply for Medicaid. Mom has Medicare part A, B, and D: none of which covers long-term skilled nursing care.

With the rising cost of higher education, my husband and I joke that we’re going to homeschool our children for college. With the advent and rise in popularity of Massive Open Online Courses —MOOCs— we might not have to.

ABOUT MOOCs

No matter the age of your child, as a parent, you will want to set up different financial resources for each stage of life. Your child looks to you as their teacher – from learning how to talk at a young age, to opening their first bank account as they grow older. In addition to putting financial safeguards and assets in place early on, it is also important to directly teach your child about money and how to manage it. Follow these simple tips and be on your way to planning a solid financial future for your child

1.  The First 5 Years of Life – Investing in your child’s financial future early on is the best investment a parent can make. Consider opening a bank account for your child at this crucial stage in life. Setting up a savings account or even a college savings plan at this point allows for many years of growth. And, don’t forget to let your family members know – grandparents, aunts and uncles may want to invest in your child’s bank account or college plan. Additionally, if you have not already done so, this is an opportune time to ensure your family’s financial stability by getting life insurance quotes and purchasing a policy.

Hold on – is this the news, a dream, or some sort of Oscar Wilde-type satire?  That’s along the lines of what I was thinking last night while watching Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett report a pair of stories seemingly straight out of The Twilight Zone or Ripley’s Believe it or Not.

I mean, could AIG actually be SUING the U.S. government (as well as you, me, and every other taxpayer by extension)?  Are U.S. politics really so flawed that rape is actually LEGAL in California if the victim is single and the perpetrator impersonates her boyfriend?

Recent History of Virtualization

The Internet enabled industries to go virtual at the end of the last century. IT and graphic design led the way, with education quickly expanding into the arena. Even industries where a virtual model didn’t seem practical are now embracing the freedom. Healthcare, financial services and product innovation have all begun to realize the benefits.

Every year, we look for gifts that are “different,” that really show our loved ones how much we care. This is not always easy, especially since it seems that we are surrounded only by material gifts that will be forgotten or thrown away over time.

With these thoughts in mind  the GradSave team went in search of gifts that will not only hold their value, but that will actually help the ones you love save money. Here are our tops five picks:

There’s no escaping it: The holiday shopping season is officially upon us, which means it’s time to get serious about gift giving and holiday spending. The good news is that this year, with the wealth of mobile apps that make holiday shopping more convenient (and cheaper!) than ever, there’s no need to shell out a bunch of cash on presents you can’t afford.

Check out these four apps that will not only save you money during the holidays, but they’ll make holiday shopping more fun, too.

Prepare to be astonished:  Banks aren’t the most consumer-friendly businesses out there.  I know, I know, you’re flabbergasted, right?  After the excessive fees, bait-and-switch pricing, lawsuits, and sketchy customer service issues we’ve seen over the years, that news must come as an absolute shock.

At the risk of surprising you into cardiac arrest (or, you know, killing you with sarcasm), allow me to fill you in on some new research that adds another contentious chapter to the financial institution-consumer saga and will likely fuel distrust of big banks even further.  The Pew Charitable Trusts today released a study on the dispute resolution policies employed by the nation’s largest banks and credit unions, aptly titled “Banking on Arbitration:  Big Banks, Consumers, and Checking Account Dispute Resolution.”

We’ve all seen the news reports about consumer credit card data being stolen as a result of a major retailer, card network, payment processor, gaming company, etc., having its network breached by hackers.  But unless you were directly affected, the details of the crimes and the scope of the damage were likely quickly forgotten.

For example, you may not recall that 94 million credit card accounts were exposed when hackers broke through the firewalls of TJX Companies, Inc. – the holding company for T.J. Maxx and Marshalls – in late 2006 or that 134 million more accounts were breached when Heartland Payment Systems’ records were compromised by spyware in 2008.  There are indeed countless examples, including more recently when, in 2011, an attack on the PlayStation Network unearthed 12 million unencrypted credit card numbers, along with 77 million accountholders’ full names, e-mails, and home addresses, costing Sony millions.

A dollar doesn’t go as far as it used to. With food and gas prices rising, instability in the job market, and national debt looming like a dark cloud, many Americans have been wracking their brains to make every dollar count.

Your own home is a great place to start. I’m not talking about making drastic changes or contemplating unusual alternatives for powering your home. Rather, just take a closer look at your home spending habits and it can go a long way toward cutting overall costs and bringing some peace of mind. If you dread opening your monthly bank statement, try implementing some of these easy steps to financial frugality.

For starters, let me just say that if you’re a bit of a conspiracy theorist or have been known to be paranoid, you might want to stop reading right now.  They’re watching you, after all.

Who are they, you ask?

Consumers are often looking for ways to repair and improve their credit scores, and many seek the assistance of a credit repair company to handle the process. As the number of consumers looking for help increases, so does the number of fraudulent companies looking to take advantage of vulnerable individuals. In order to make sure that you only deal with a trusted and reputable company please take the following into consideration:

Common Sense Due Diligence: Just because a company has a website does not automatically make them a legitimate business. Many of these companies offering credit repair help are not even real businesses. Do a simple “who is” check on their website domain. If they are a legitimate company it will notate that the company owns the domain, and provide full contact information for the business including a phone number, email address and business address. Make sure that the information presented matches the information on the website. If the domain search reveals that the domain is registered private and there is no information available it is a huge red flag that you are not dealing with a real company. If the company were operating legally then why would they hide their information? Do you think companies such as Best Buy or Target hide their website registration information? Of course not! Why wouldn’t a company want potential customers to be able to track them down, unless of course they were hiding something?

“The first time I got a check and I seen the chunk out of it … that’s when I found out about taxes, that’s when I found out about everything.”

The average consumer receives multiple monthly bills to pay for services, utilities, credit accounts, and other purchases. Knowing which bills to pay first might be challenging, but it’s certainly good to learn how to prioritize them. Remember, some bills might be for services that you can do without while others could mean losing important things like healthcare coverage, a home, or your car.

In case of a financial emergency, paying the right bills can save you time and money. By learning how to prioritize, you’ll be better prepared for times when money is tight.

Parents, if your children have unexpectedly started cleaning their rooms, adhering to curfews, and making you breakfast in bed, there’s good reason to be suspicious. Kids, start doing those things immediately and casually mention that you saw something on the Web about an upcoming change to the gift tax exemption. This holiday season could result in a lot more value changing hands than usual, which means we can expect a lot more sucking up in the coming months.

All kidding aside, New Year’s marks an important date for the way wealth in the United States is passed down from generation to generation. This is when the federal lifetime gift-tax exemption will revert back from the roughly $5 million threshold now in place thanks to the Tax Relief Act of 2010 to the standard $1 million. In other words, through December 31, 2012 you can give another individual (presumably a loved one) up to $5.12 million without it being taxed, but come New Year’s, amounts over $1 million may be taxed at rates upwards of 50%.

The countdown to December and the date that could alter our future is on. Have you started thinking about what you’ll do if the prognosticators are right? Do you have contingency plans? Will you remove your money from the neighborhood bank? After all, the impending elimination of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance on small business bank accounts is no joke (raise your hand if you thought I was talking about the Mayan prediction that the world will end on 12/12/12).

The fate of FDIC insurance on business accounts has certainly garnered less mainstream attention than the latest, greatest doomsday prediction, but with the more than 27 million small businesses in the United States employing half of all private sector employees, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, it’s certainly significant nonetheless.

Recently a study conducted by students at Cornell University showed that people who are in a committed relationship or a marriage are comparatively happier than those who are single, and both of the partners have the highest sense of well being, even if they do not rate themselves as happy. The study, related to happiness and well being, reported that people who are in a live-in relationship are equal to married people in terms of happiness. They are followed by people who are in a steady relationship, and last come those who are in casual relationships. To be very precise, researchers say that it is good to be in a relationship as it keeps both men and women in a happier state of mind. As the relationship between a couple gets stronger day-by-day, they feel better and happier than ever.

It is often said that married people or those who are in a relationship live longer than others. Statistical surveys, conducted in a number of countries throughout the world, prove that people who are married suffer less from disease and illness, and, even if they become ill, they recover sooner than those who are single. Married couples who live under one roof suffer from lower risk rates, for example, from driving, smoking, etc. The rate of suicide and alcoholism is also less. It has been observed that health changes toward the positive frequently take place after marriage. A husband or wife who was vulnerable to frequent health issues earlier suffers less after marriage.

You know the toll that usually costs around $3? Well, imagine how you’d feel if the price tag suddenly rose to $53. Unfortunately, this is not a hypothetical scenario for many consumers, but rather an all-too-common headache associated with renting a car in the age of automated toll plazas.

Typically, when a driver goes through an automated toll without an EZ-Pass or another similar electronic payment device, the toll’s cameras will snap a picture of the license plate and mail a bill to the registered driver. This is obviously impossible with a rental, however. So when a rental company gets charged, it typically passes the cost on to the driver, along with a hefty surcharge, through a company like the aptly-named Violation Management Services (VMS), which works with Fox Rent a Car.

Once that final bell rings on the last day of school before summer break, the minds of students across the country will immediately shift from history, math, and science to pools, beaches, summer sports leagues and free time. For most, summer jobs will be a means to an end, a way to afford summer fun, and taxes won’t even be on their radar. That’s a dangerous oversight, according to the California Society of CPAs (CalCPA). Understanding the implications of taxes on summer earnings can save student workers both time and money down the road, and the California accountants have a number of tips for how to do so. 

1.  Understand the IRS forms you fill out

Things are looking up for job seekers. According to the Department of Labor, December 2011 marked a three-year high for job postings, and while the numbers dipped slightly in January, they were again on the rise as of February, the latest month for which data is available. Just because employers are hiring doesn’t mean you’re assured of a job, however, so how are you going to differentiate yourself?

If the Great Recession has taught us anything, it’s that competition for jobs can be fierce. Under healthy economic conditions, roughly two people compete for every job opening, yet there were as many as seven candidates for each available position in 2009. Now, with 12.8 million people unemployed and 3.5 million jobs available, there are roughly four people per each open job. And when you consider that most jobseekers apply for a number of different openings at the same time, it’s clear that the competition level is actually exponentially higher than that.