Did you know that the average American household spends a whopping $2,200 on electricity each year? Using a power monitor can slash your bill by nearly 20%. Watch the video below to see how much I was able to save on my electricity bill by using one.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Question: My wife’s birthday is coming up and she asked that I donate to a charity in her name instead of buying a gift. How can I be sure that the charity I choose is legitimate?
-Jack, Connecticut
Answer: Despite tough economic times, Americans are still finding ways to donate to charity. According to the Giving USA Foundation’s Annual Report on Philanthropy, Americans donated $229.3 billion in 2008.
Unfortunately though, there are a number of false charities looking to capitalize on the good nature of those looking to donate their hard earned cash. Thankfully, there are websites out there designed to help you vet charities you’re considering donating to. Here are a few of my favorites:
Charity Navigator: An independent charity evaluator, Charity Navigator offers information on over 5,400 charities in the United States. Charity Navigator assesses charities based on two factors: how responsibly it functions from day to day and how they expect the charity to be able to sustain their programs in the future.
Guidestar: Guidestar combines information provided by the actual charities with data from several other sources. More…
Photo by Gil Vaknin
If you lost a job, how long would your nest egg hold out? For six in 10 Americans, the frightening answer is less than 90 days. For four in 10 it’s an even more frightening less than 30 days.
And how would your family fare in the process? That’s the question posed by a prime-time special from the folks at Sesame Workshop in collaboration with David Letterman’s company Worldwide Pants and Lookalike Productions. Families Stand Together, hosted by the husband and wife team of Al Roker and Deborah Roberts – in which I was fortunate to play a role — airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. on PBS stations across the country and will be available at SesameWorkshop.org thereafter. It takes a look at the experiences of five families who have experienced job loss or other economic setbacks. More…
Elmo and I joined Bob Shieffer on Washington’s Unplugged a few days ago to talk about our PBS special, Families Stand Together: Feeling Secure in Tough Times. You can catch it on Wednesday, September 9th at 8pm EST. In meantime, check out our chat with Bob:
A confession: I am one of those parents guilty of not always giving my kids their allowances. I know the disturbing lesson this teaches them — that when they grow up and eventually have bills and debts of their own they really don’t have to pay them on time. They can slide. Little will happen. Of course, when the mortgage or utility company and not your teens are the creditor, that’s absolutely not the case.
For the past two years, I have “promised” that this year will be different. It hasn’t been. Instead, there will come a week when one of my kids (or both) will say, Mom, you owe me 4 (or 5 or 7) weeks allowance. And not knowing if they are right or — perhaps — giving themselves the benefit of the doubt (that’s parental guilt working in their favor) — I pay up. More…
Here are some helpful links if you're looking for more information about Jean:
Find Jean's blog posts on specific topics:
|
|
