Every once in a while I make an online purchase so good that I track its movement almost ritualistically. For example, when my new iPod Nano  was on its way, I hit up the FedEx package tracker  on pretty much an hourly basis to watch my new gadget travel from China to South Dakota (with stops in Alaska and Kentucky along the way).

I’m currently tracking something else, and my excitement is palpable. I seriously can’t wait for my something to get here. And literally I mean “something.” The package is coming from the Something Store .

Now, you know I’m trying to be good about frivolous spending, but when I heard the story about the Something Store on NPR , I just had to try it. So here’s my endorsement for one-time frivolous spending … with a $10 cap! :)

The anticipation of what my something is has been worth the price! The store offers you a chance to see recently shipped somethings  to get an idea of the kinds of items they send. I’ve been checking it regularly and guessing what my something will be. Fingers crossed for an auto emergency kit.

Of course I’ll let you know what my something is once it arrives! Hopefully it will be here soon.

Yay, surprises!

Posted by Barbara at 10:38 AM |  Permalink |  Comments (0)
Found in Budgeting, Money management, Shopping, Social networking, Wells Fargo Bank

My stepdaughter is starting her senior year in college  this fall, and she's planning on grad school after that. But recently she's starting thinking about how competitive grad school is in her field. What if she doesn't get in right away?

"I don't have a Plan B!" she said.

It got me thinking: Even the most well thought-out plans sometimes don't pan out the way you expect. Your senior year in college can be stressful when you don't know what your post-college life will hold. You can help minimize that stress for yourself by creating a specific backup plan in case you don't get that dream job, or your grad school plans fall through.

And if you think that sounds like "planning to fail" — well, I think of it as just planning an alternate route for your life's adventure. You can still get where you want to go by taking another road.

Because, frankly, sometimes your "Plan B" can work out for the best. I fell back on my "Plan B" after college — moving from Colorado back home to Iowa — and I ended up getting great experience in my first job, and I met a lifelong friend in the process. Whenever I think back on it, I'm so glad I had to "settle" for my Plan B — it set the stage for a lot of great things in my life.

How about you? Do you have a "Plan B" for after college?

Posted by Caroline at 09:25 AM |  Permalink |  Comments (0)
Found in Financial education, Post-college, Wells Fargo Bank

Hi everyone! I am thrilled to announce that I am back at Wells Fargo, and I'm excited to start contributing to the Student LoanDown again!

It's been a while since I last wrote — 10 months to be exact — and there have been a lot of changes in my life. I got married, changed my last name and finished my graduate degree program, just to name a few. So I have lots of new challenges and experiences to share with you all!

But that's for another day…for now, I just wanted to say hi, but you'll hear from me again soon!

Editor's note: The Student LoanDown is thrilled to have Kathy as part of our team again. We have missed her sharp wit and strong voice!

Posted by Kathy at 10:00 AM |  Permalink |  Comments (1)
Found in Wells Fargo Bank

Okay, technically, it's not ME that has been framed. It's my new house!

Now that the walls are up, it's starting to feel more real each day. My contractor says I can expect to be finished sometime in September, almost a month earlier than planned. That means I need to get moving on selling my existing home — good thing I watch a lot of "Designed to Sell"  on HGTV .

Although I'm optimistic that I won't have too much trouble selling my current place (fortunately, the real estate market is still pretty healthy here in the Midwest), I've started to panic about funds. That's because in my Online Banking profile, I can see all the money that I'm on the hook for: my existing mortgage, my home equity loan (which I used to buy the land), and my construction loan. Let's just say that the debt outweighs my deposits by quite a bit, not a comfortable place for me.

Gulp. I keep reminding myself that real estate is an investment.

I've also been keeping an eye on mortgage interest rates, since I will need to secure my permanent financing fairly soon. Unfortunately, they have not been going in the direction I'd like them to! I'm trying to be optimistic about this, too. Worse comes to worst, I may end up with a higher rate initially and will plan to refinance down the road.

If you're not yet in a position to build your own new home, or if you think I'm just plain nuts to be doing so, you can get some practice by building a virtual one in Stagecoach Island. They've even got their own HGTV-esque show!

Posted by Staci at 10:00 AM |  Permalink |  Comments (2)
Found in Budgeting, Debt, Financial education, Home Ownership, Home equity loans, Interest rates, Money management, Mortgage, Preparing, Wells Fargo Bank

Lately, I've been trying to resist summer spending. And I've found a tactic that works pretty well to deter me from a purchase.

Really, I need to give my mother the credit. See, when I was younger and would beg incessantly for something, a frequent response from mom was, "Barbara, it would take me X hours of work to pay for that." It always got my little mind thinking.

And once you start making your own money, it makes you think even more.

In my opinion, one of my generation's  biggest struggles is really considering the value of something before you purchase it. We tend to just throw our money down instead of evaluating what it will actually take to buy the item.

Implementing my mom's logic has helped me get my arms around what an item will really cost me. Next time you're out shopping, try it! Make $10 an hour? You'll need to work five hours for those $50 jeans — or a whole day for that $80 to buy a couple new video games.

Kind of puts it in perspective.

Recently, I've been searching for a new dress to wear to summer weddings. After browsing online and selecting some options , I ran the numbers. Turns out, some of my favorites would cost upwards of a whole day at work! A new dress isn't worth that much to me!

Looks like I need to adjust my price range to around two or three hours…or not buy a new dress at all. As Staci just reminded me after popping into my cube, I already bought a dress quite suitable for summer weddings.

Drat! Why does she always have to be so practical?

Posted by Barbara at 10:00 AM |  Permalink |  Comments (5)
Found in Budgeting, Financial education, Money management, Paying, Wells Fargo Bank

Living in California , we've been lucky to start out summer early with sunny weather and backyard barbecues .

With the 70-degree weather this past weekend, I managed to attend not one, not two, but three BBQs — one of which was a backyard pool party! It was so much fun, but also somewhat dangerous because small children love the water.

Both of my girls take swim lessons — mainly for safety so they learn how to float on their back. Those lessons came in handy on the weekend. Long story short, my two-year-old couldn't wait for daddy and left the safety of the pool step to try a few laps on her own!

Needless to say, she didn't get very far. After a few strokes she did the right thing and rolled on her back, but I scooped her out immediately. I was slightly freaked of course, but happy that she was able to float rather than sink!

As I came into work today, I thought about my daughter's incident, and how it's actually a pretty good analogy for managing credit. Let me explain…

Building and maintaining good credit has never been more important, or more challenging. It is important for everyone to learn how to "swim" by understanding how to manage the debt you take on, especially in these tougher economic times.

Just as my daughters take lessons to learn how to be safe while swimming, we all can take lessons to become smarter about credit . If you're looking for some ways to help you stay above water, here are some good tips on building and maintaining good credit.

What other resources have helped you stay afloat?

Posted by Dinna at 10:00 AM |  Permalink |  Comments (0)
Found in Credit, Debt, Financial education, Looking back, Money management, Preparing, Wells Fargo Bank

For the last few months, I've watched my savings account grow. I've been allocating a bit more than usual from each paycheck in anticipation of a big purchase: a bicycle.

A bike has been on my "want to buy" list for quite some time. The bikes of my childhood were generally passed down. Even during college I had a borrowed bike to get around.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever had a two wheeler that was just mine.

Biking has always been fun for me. So, after much careful consideration, I decided that it was time to invest in a quality bike that would last me a while — preferably before summer arrived. Luckily, I made that decision with time to save up for my big purchase.

As warmer weather arrived, I started to research my options. I even enlisted the help of seasoned biker Caroline to talk through the information I learned from several biking blogs and forums and by visiting local bike shops.

A few test rides later and I found her: my green beauty .

Speaking of green, I'm hoping shelling out this bit of green will help me save green in the future — and go green for that matter. (Aaah! Color overload!)

Instead of hopping into the car for a quick trip to the store, I'll take my bike instead. This way I save gas and don't overbuy (you think twice about putting an item in your basket when you know there is limited space to bring it home!). And even though the commute will be a bit of a trek, I'm hoping to bike to work on occasion.

Living green to save green: Caroline's wise advice stretches far past biking shorts recommendations!

Posted by Barbara at 10:00 AM |  Permalink |  Comments (0)
Found in Bikes, Budgeting, Environment, Financial education, Saving, Wells Fargo Bank

I know, I know, you thought school was out for summer , right? Well the other night, my stepdaughter called me with some basic questions about her credit card, and it got me thinking that there are probably lots of college students out there who don't know the details about their credit cards  either.

Can you answer the following questions about your credit card?

1. What is your credit card balance right now?

2. What is the interest rate on your card? (not the introductory rate  that lasted a few short months after you got the card, but the actual rate you pay if you carry a balance currently)

3. What is the fee if you make a late payment?

If you can't answer these questions off the top of your head, it's time to get more familiar with your credit card — what you don't know can hurt you when it comes to credit! So, dig out that credit card bill and take a close look at it.

Got any questions about what things mean? Ask us!

Posted by Caroline at 09:50 AM |  Permalink |  Comments (0)
Found in College, Credit cards, Financial education, Interest rates, Work-study

Sometimes there is no better feeling than arriving home after a long day at work. Just entering my house, I often breathe a bit easier.

On my arrival home last week (after greeting Bill and supplying her dinner, of course), I grabbed the mail and plopped down on my couch to sort the "keep" (mail I need/want) from the "shred" (junk mail o' plenty).

Included in the pile was my bill from Nebraska Furniture Mart  — that's where I purchased my living room furniture and later a kitchen table, both of which were financed at 0% interest for a set number of months. As I opened the envelope and read through the detailed statement, I realized: I'm sitting on something that I own.

What's a better feeling than the first step into your home after a long day at work? Paying something off. Removing a debt. Owning a large item outright. It's an awesome feeling. This furniture is completely mine — no more $100 a month from my budget!

Which brings me to another great thing about paying off one debt: more money to throw at other debt. Snowblower, anyone? (BTW, that's also at 0% interest!)

So what could possibly feel better than paying something off? I'm happy to say I know the answer to that, too! Buying something you've saved for. No financing needed.

I'll talk about my big purchase in another post soon...stay tuned!

Posted by Barbara at 08:57 AM |  Permalink |  Comments (0)
Found in Debt, Financial education, Money management, Paying, Saving, Wells Fargo Bank

Student LoanDown readers, recently we received this question (typos and all — we publish 'em as is) on one of my older posts from kat s., a concerned grandmother:

I would like to ask you a queston. My grandson was attendin college. One semester he could not go because he had gotten mononucleosis. He was so sick from that. He was going to school through having a studeent loan. He also went on the Pell Grant. He has his own apartment and his only means of support is what he makes at Applee's. Whgich he makes pretty good money. He wants so badly to go back to college and finish ge4tting his degree, but even though the student loan place where he got his loan has so far said nothing since he had to skip the one semester, he feels thagt if he applies again that they will turn him down and make him try to pay back his loan at one time. He wants to go on the Pell Grant instgead of taking the ute of increasing the student loan. Is there a way that this can be done while having the outstanding loan balance from the student loan or will they make him pay back everything right away before he can go back.

Well kat, you and your grandson certainly are not alone in your concerns about student loan repayment. I hope my answers will calm your fears and help get your grandson back to school, where he belongs!

First of all, if your grandson is not currently attending school but has not heard from his lender yet, it's possible that he is in his grace period. On Federal Stafford Loans (the most common type of student loan, and the one I'm assuming he has) students have a six-month grace period between the time they graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time enrollment and the time that they have to begin making payments.

Once your grandson does have to start making payments, he won't have to pay back the full student loan amount all at once. Generally student loans are repaid over time — not in an immediate lump sum.

However, if your grandson doesn't know what's happening with his loans right now, ultimately it's HIS responsibility to find out. The worst thing he could do is bury his head in the sand  and pretend like those obligations don't exist. Please encourage him to contact his student loan lender, let them know that he is not attending school right now, and work out a repayment plan. Ignoring the issue could damage his credit and/or impact his eligibility for future student loans — big risks, in my opinion.

When your grandson is ready to go back to school, he also should contact his lender. The lender will put his loans into an "in-school" status, and then he will not be required to make payments as long as he is enrolled at least half-time.

In terms of the Pell Grant , I certainly can see why your grandson would prefer to use that to fund his education — it's a grant, which doesn't need to be repaid! However, please keep in mind that Pell Grants are based on financial need and are awarded to low-income students. If he qualified for a Pell Grant when he initially started school but now is making more money at his job, it's possible that he won't be able to qualify for it again. Your grandson's best bet would be to talk with the financial aid office at his school and see what kind of funding he's eligible for when he's ready to return.

Sure, student loan repayment can be scary, but when you have some information on your side, it doesn't have to be.

Now, what other questions can we answer?

Posted by Staci at 09:15 AM |  Permalink |  Comments (7)
Found in Back to school, College, Federal loans, Financial aid, Financial education, Grants, Paying, Preparing, Student loans, Tuition, Wells Fargo Bank