What are your thoughts on ways to teach your children money management skills? How early is too early? Share them below.

Picture is credited to Amazon.com and depicts the ATM Bank toy mentioned.

Skip the prolonged engine warm-ups in the winter time, and getting the car cooled down for your passengers in the summer. 30-45 seconds is good enough to warm up the engine and get going. It will avoid wasting fuel. In the summer time, get in and go. As long as you roll the windows down you are good. Using the A/C kills gas mileage!

Avoid starting and stopping the engine more than you have to. Starting your engine uses gasoline that idling the engine for one minute uses. If you’ll be waiting awhile, go ahead and shut it off, otherwise, leave her running.

Keep your car tuned up and eyes on the oil. The better your car is tuned up, the better mileage you’ll get. Several things impact your gas mileage, so you need to be sure your car is in optimum condition.

Fill up at the coolest time of the day. You are charged for volume of purchase, so it is during the coolest time of day that gasoline is densest. This means you’ll get the most for your money.

Drive the speed limit! Gas efficiency decreases the faster you drive!

For more, check out this website: http://www.howtoadvice.com/savinggas

Keep the change. Each day, you should empty your pockets full of change into a jar. A bank account will sometimes allow you to round the purchase amount up to the nearest dollar, and transfer the rest into your savings account. You will be surprised how quickly this adds up. Occasionally, throw all your single bills in there, too.

Open a Savings account. Each month, deposit your change savings into your bank account, and/or have a set amount transfer over from checking. Never touch the savings, unless it qualifies as an expense that you need the savings for, such as a vacation, or an emergency.

Re-Evaluate your budget. Take a look at your expenses. See where you can cut them. For instance, if you spend $20 a month on movie rentals at the store, switch to an online store, spend $15. You’ll get more movies each month, and some money to save! Keep the budget the same even though you cut it. Throw the difference in savings.

Check out online programs. Programs like MyPoints, Upromise, and others will have you earning money or points on to use on gift cards or college savings. It will help your budget, and will not take much time each day. There are also coupon websites you can join to get coupons to use at the grocery store.

How do you save money? Share your thoughts below! I’m sure we can learn a lot from each other!

The theme “Ready for Recession?” was not meant to merely be a statement of my personal opinion concerning the economic climate; however, it is a popular topic and many in the personal finance blog world have touched on it in some manner over the past few months, some quite regularly.

First up is Michael at Debt Prison’s post, “Why Americans Can’t Afford Credit.” After taxes (including hidden taxes in your phone bill, property taxes and sales tax), inflation and mandatory insurances, there is not much left to spend. Don’t miss this article.

Grandpa and the Great Depression, submitted by Bryce, was one of my personal favorites. It’s a first-person account of a man born in 1915 and gives a glimpse of what life was like during the Depression.

Aaron’s lengthy article on “17 Economists on recessions, stimulation plans, and what they might mean to you” is chock full of links and resources. He contends that many economists don’t think the government interference will be effective, and will likely do more harm than good. I think he’s right.

In case you’re wondering how we got into this mess, Lisa presents an extensive answer in When People Go Bad: A History of the Subprime Mess. Hint: It didn’t happen overnight.

Christine describes in detail Eating in France on 10 Euro per Day for 2 People at her blog. Given the weakness of the dollar against European currencies, this is a timely subject.

Spending less and repaying debt more quickly can help you weather a recession, and to that end Brice shares with us 3 Steps to a Lower Interest Rate on his blog.

Frugal shopping is taken to a new level with Erica’s post on “Secret” eBay and Craigslist Hacks That Will Save You Thousands of Dollars Online. Check it out–I had no idea you could get an RSS feed for Craigslist searches you save. I’m not in the market for $400 purses, but maybe it will help me snag a hard-to-find Ergo baby carrier I want.

FIRE Finance suggests Riding the Recession with Awareness, Planning and Investment.

Michael isn’t investing in Apple anymore, and explains Why I Sold My Apple Shares Today to the curious.

Steve answers What is the Mortgage Foreclosure Process? in a very detailed, informative post on his blog. Unfortunately, this process may become familiar to many in the coming months and years.

With bad credit and tougher lending standards, you might find yourself unable to get a loan. Finance Tips explains The Pros And Cons Of Personal Loans.

But then, asks Sarah, Are you Ready to buy a House? Considering the damage done by banks and borrowers who rushed the process, many would do well to consider her post.

I’ve written about growing a Depression Garden to help save on groceries, but Eric takes it a step further and suggests growing money.

If you couldn’t decide by yourself, you can read about How to Spend Stimulus Checks and Tax Refunds in 2008.

In case things get drastic, check out How to Survive Total Economic Collapse. Yikes.

Not everyone was impressed by my theme. One submitter sent a link to a blog post completely unrelated to the topic at hand, stating “Nope nothing like that! I don’t believe in recessions!”

If only it were so easy.

Preparation is important. And nobody really knows what’s next for our economy. If a recession, or depression, looms, let’s do what we can to minimize its effects on our families. Are you ready for a recession?

Carnival photo by Craig Jewell

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Sorry for the short list this week, but I’ve got to get back in the swing of things with maintaining the blog! If you have any freebies, send them my way at LWatrous21@hotmail.com

Take a look at this article I wrote for Demand Studios/eHow for step-by-step guidelines for buying stock one step at a time!

Before writing that, I had no idea that you could buy just one stock at a time. If you find the right firm that will not charge an arm and a leg for trades, you can definitely ease your way into the stock market.

There are specialty services that allow you to purchase one share of stock as a commemorative for birthdays, and other special occasions. This is a nice service for that purpose, but if you really want to get into the stock market, you want to look at online brokerage firms.

Are you in the stock market? What tips can you share with us?

Look for sales. Look through local circulars and find the best deals for the things you need to buy. Wherever you see the best sales, is where you need to do your shopping.

Use coupons. Find coupons for the stuff you buy and use them. Remember, coupons only help when use them on things you normally buy! If you use them on things you do not usually purchase, they will only cost you more money in the long run.

Shop at Wholesale Clubs, and stock up! When there is something you use frequently, you save money by purchasing it in larger quantities and storing the extras until you need them.

Cook meals ahead of time and freeze them. You save time and money by doing this. When there are times you do not feel like cooking and you want to go out to eat instead–you can still have a quick dinner if you have frozen something, and you do not spend the money you would have by dining out.

What are some of the ways you stretch your money?

Financial responsibility means that you are aware of your budget. You keep track of the money you have coming in, along with the money you have going out. Part of being financially responsible means that you are educated about financial information–you are aware of things like credit. You know how to save your money for emergencies, and you are into investing.

Here are some tips you can use to help teach your kids and teens about money.

Open a Savings Account. From the time your child is very young, you should open some sort of savings account for them. Save some funds they get from Christmas, Birthdays, and chores for them without making it known to them for the first few years.

Contribute a portion of allowance or pay to savings each week. Keep adding to that savings account each week, and do your best to keep from touching it. The longer you do this, the better off they will be!

Start an IRA on 18th Birthday The child who saves 5K a year from 18+ will have twice that of the 40+ adult contributing 20K a year! It will provide some great tax advantages too.

Get a Student Credit Card. Several companies have deals for students, that will have low credit limits and interest rates so that your teen may learn about credit, while building his or her own. Make sure the teen understands the ins and outs, and knows the card is for emergencies only!

Analyze Spending and Track with Financial Software. With a program like Microsoft Money, your teen can track where his or her money goes. When he or she sees it in front of them (they’ve spent $50 on fast food this week and can’t believe it!) they will be able to make changes.

What are some ways you plan on teaching your children financial responsibility?

What do you do? You are dependent on that income, and now you do not have it! Crisis! Relax.

Here are some tips to help you move forward through this bump in the road, and keep you moving.

Apply for Unemployment Assistance if you can. Filing for Unemployment gives you information on how to file. Not everyone is eligible, and those who are eligible for different amounts of money, and for different amounts of time. During this time, you must prove that you are searching for employment.

Apply for Food Assistance Food Stamp Assistance Information Visit your local state agency to get some help with your grocery bill.

Cut expenses where you can. Go through the budget with your family, and cut expenses where you can. Instead of going out for hair cuts, cut your hair at home. Put manicures and things like that on hold until a job comes back in. Use coupons, and look for free samples of things online.

Please share your tips for saving money and dealing with losing your job with all of us!

Well, now you can try Land of Lakes Butter for free. Click the link to get to a pdf free butter form you can print. Send it, along with your receipt and UPC code, to the address on the form for a full refund of the purchase price.

If you have a coupon, you can save even more.

I love freebies.