10 Unique Job Listing Sites
Get ahead of the game—check out these ten sites with unique job opportunities.

“10 Job Listing Sites With Unique Opportunities”
via Stepcase Lifehack

Bring Meaning and Happiness to Your Life with a Personal Mission Statement
Sitting back and contemplating the “bigger picture” of your life, then creating a personal mission statement based on your dreams and goals, is a positive step in bringing about change and creating happiness in your life.

“The Value of a Personal Mission Statement”
via Dumb Little Man

Solar Powered Rechargeable Batteries
If you’re out and about and the batteries in your gadget dies, you can recharge them in the sun if you have Knut Karlsen’s new rechargeable batteries that come wrapped in solar panels.

“Covering Rechargeable Batteries with Solar Panels”
via Eco Geek

How-to Make Soup from Almost Anything
Need a quick and easy supper? Find out how to make a tasty soup from what you have on hand.

“How to Make Soup from Almost Anything”
via The Kitchen

Insulate Your Water Pipes and Save Money
Uninsulated hot water pipes are less efficient and increase your utility bill. Follow this simple guide on how-to inexpensively insulate your water pipes and start saving money.

“DIY: Insulate Water Pipes”
via Re-Nest

Credit and credit cards have taken on new meaning and attention since the credit crisis. In recent months, credit has been much harder to come by as the economy has continued to contract. Knowing how to maintain and/or improve your credit score in order to hang on to your available credit has never been more important, and understanding credit scoring and credit in general can save you from sabotaging yourself. Take the short true of false quiz below and see how much you know about the industry. The answers, along with valuable information regarding the fact or myth, appear below the test.

True or False?
True or False? Answer the questions below without looking at the answers in the answers section. Once you’ve answered them to the best of your ability, scroll down to find out if you’re correct, and learn important information about credit cards and FICO scores.

1. Your FICO score is a predictor of your future lending risk.

2. Canceling a credit card is a positive step in boosting your FICO score.

3. Having too much credit available can negatively affect your FICO score.

4. Unpaid library fees and parking tickets don’t hurt credit scores.

5. Credit card companies can close unused accounts.

6. Even if you make your credit card payment on time, a credit card company can raise your interest rate if you are late on payments elsewhere.

True or False Answers
1. True. The FICO score, developed by Fair Isaac & Company Credit Organization, determines the likelihood of borrowers paying their bills. Lenders use this score to decide whether or not you are a good lending risk. Among other things, the FICO score takes into account:

• late payments
• the amount of time the line of credit has been established
• the amount of credit used versus the amount available

2. False. 30% of your credit score is determined by the amount of debt owed versus the amount of credit available. If you close a credit card account, especially without changing the amount of debt owed, you reduce your available credit, thus throwing off the debt owed vs. available credit ratio. If you close an account you’ve held for a long time, your credit score is further negatively impacted, as length of credit history significantly adds to your rating.

3.Trick question. True and False. A lot of available credit isn’t generally a problem. Let’s reword that. A lot of available credit isn’t a problem as long as you keep the amount of debt owed at less than 30% of the credit you have available. In some cases, depending on your income and your ability to pay debt at a given time, you may want to keep it much less than that.

One exception: If you’re planning on taking out a new home loan, or other significant loan requiring you to borrow large sums of money, having large amounts of available credit could hurt you. To lenders of this degree, the amount of available credit you have is deducted from what they can lend you. If you have it, you can spend it, and they’re not willing to take this risk. Several months before you plan to take out a large loan, close some accounts, but not accounts with long history or good debt to available credit ratio.

4. False. Government and private organizations have taken to reporting unpaid fines to credit agencies as a way to try to collect what they are owed.

5. True. Recently, lenders have become nervous about people having large sums of credit at their disposal but not using it. You don’t have to charge thousands of dollars each month in order to keep your account open, but do charge a couple bucks here and there just to ensure your account isn’t shut down. Remember: If a credit card company does close your account, your amount of available credit is reduced, thus negatively impacting your credit score. If the company doesn’t close your account, they may stop reporting it to credit bureaus, which also reduces your amount of available credit.

6. True. And they can raise your rates immediately and automatically.

Further Reading

“Secret History of the Credit Card”
via PBS

“Can Canceling a Credit Card Really Hurt My Score…”
via The Consumerist

“Trash Your Credit Score”
via The Dollar Stretcher

“5 Credit Card Company Tricks and How to Thwart Them”
via Get Rich Slowly

“Eight Things Every Credit Card User Should Know”
via Get Rich Slowly

How Rising Early Saves You Money
Did you know early risers have less commuting costs, lower electric bills, and can take advantage of more specials?

“Ten Money-Saving Reasons to Get Out of Bed Early”
via Saving Advice

Six Household Uses for Baking Soda
It doesn’t just work in the fridge, folks. Check out these six uses for baking soda that you might not know about.

“Baking Soda Magic”
via Bottom Line Secrets

Open Your Own Online Music Store
Want to open a music store without actually opening a store? Now you can. The People’s Music Store allows fans to build, share, and profit from their own storefronts stocked with their style of music, all online.

“Create your own music shop with the People’s Music Store”
via Ars Technica

Save Money with Energy Management Software
Google and Microsoft have introduced their versions of energy management software. Try Google’s if you’re a home owner, and Microsoft if you’re a business.

“Google and Microsoft Start Serving Up Energy Management Software”
via EcoGeek

Check Flight Arrivals and Departures Quickly and Easily
At Flight Arrivals, you can check the status of flights at 46 major airports. The website is updated every 4 minutes.

“Flight Arrivals Tracks Status of North American Flights”
via Lifehacker

Flight Arrivals

Ultra Small, Mobile Photo Printer Unveiled
Dell has come out with a new photo printer designed especially for those with mobile lifestyles. The printer measures just 4.8 x 2.8 x 0.9 inches and weighs only 7 ounces.

“Dell unveil ultra-mobile Wasabi PZ310 photo printer”
via Geek.com

If using public transportation, purchasing a more fuel efficient car, or traveling via foot or bike isn’t a viable option for you, the tips below will help you drive smarter and greener with the car you currently own. Smart driving and regular vehicle maintenance can save you money and reduce air pollution by cutting fuel consumption. And it’s easy, too! All of the tips highlighted below take minimal time and effort, but could save your wallet, and the environment, big in the end.

Check It
Fuel mileage that is. Don’t assume your vehicle is getting the gas mileage the sticker said it would. After you fill up, note the number of gallons you put in the tank and the mileage you went. When you get home, pull out the trusty calculator and divide your mileage by the gallons it took to fill up. The number you see is how many miles you traveled per gallon of gas. Check your mileage every time, and if you notice your miles per gallon consistently decreasing, start investigating.

Tune It
Regular vehicle maintenance can reduce your fuel consumption by up to 30%, which in turn reduces the amount of pollutants your car emits into the air. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to save money just by keeping your vehicle in top shape. Check out these stats from The Daily Green and Tripnet.org.

• Regular tune-ups that include changing your oil, replacing your air filter, and aligning your tires can reduce fuel consumption by 10%.

• Selecting the right motor oil improves gas mileage by 1-2%.

• The wrong tire pressure can increase your fuel consumption by as much as 3%. Make a habit out of checking your tire pressure every time you fill up with gas.

• A leaking gas cap can contribute 175 pounds of air pollution per year.

• Immediately repair any air conditioning leaks, as your refrigerant may contain chlorofluorocarbons which contributes to air pollution.

Lighten It
A heavy foot, as well as a heavy load, increases fuel consumption.

For every 5 miles per hour you drive over 60, you lose 7% of your fuel efficiency. In the 1970s, the government instituted the 55 mph law during the gas shortage for this very reason.

Keep a steady pace, at a reasonable speed, and avoid quick acceleration and hard braking.

For every extra 100 pounds you carry in your car, your fuel consumption goes up by 2%.

More Smart Driving Tips
Using an engine heater in cold climates makes your vehicle run more efficiently, thus reducing fuel consumption.

Don’t idle. Idling wastes fuel, and new cars don’t need to be warmed up for more than a few seconds.

Live closer to where you work, shop, and travel.

The Drive Smarter Challenge
Find out how much money you can save on fuel by taking the Drive Smarter Challenge. To start the challenge, click the link above. Once you’re at the site, follow their simple instructions, and in only minutes, you will be on your way to a slimmed down gas budget. All you have to do is enter your zip code, the make and model of your car, the year, and the number of cylinders your engine runs off of. From there, accept or decline their tips, and at the end, you will be presented with a dollar amount that corresponds to your savings. You can even enter your contact info and receive money-saving coupons.

Articles to Read and Sites to Visit

“Green Driving 101″
via The Daily Green

“Green Driving Tips: Information About Environmentally Friendly Driving”
via Tripnet.org

“Four Easy Tips to Improve Gas Mileage and Save Money”
via The Daily Green

“The 10 Most Fuel-Efficient 2009 Cars and SUVs”
via The Daily Green

Gas Buddy, check fuel prices in your area

Job Hunting Costs are Tax Deductible
If your job hunting expenses are more than 2% of your adjusted gross income, you can take a tax deduction. Checkout the list of what you can deduct at Bargaineering, and visit irs.gov for more information.

“Job Hunting Costs are Tax Deductible”
via Bargaineering

How-to Find the Time to Follow Your Dreams
Tip number one—you don’t find the time, you make the time.

“Making Time for Your Dream Project”
via Dumb Little Man

Google Books Now Available on iPhones
iPhone users now have access to 1.5 million books in Google’s database. The books are free, but you must be in WiFi range.

“Read Google Books on Your iPhone”
via Wired

Tips for Eating Organic on a Budget
If eating healthy is important to you, but you don’t have endless money to spend on organic food, check out these tips for where to look for savings.

“Quick Tips for Eating Organic”
via Get Rich Slowly

10 Green Colleges in America
Want to attend an environmentally conscious college? Check the list and find the right school for you.

“10 of the Greenest Colleges in America”
via The Daily Green

Get Thousands of Radio Stations for your Car
The Blaupunkt/miRoamer internet car radio will bring thousands of radio stations from all over the world into your car. The internet radio, which currently connects through Bluetooth technology, will be available late this year for around $399.

“Gadget watch – internet car radio…a nice piece of KITT”
via Reevoo