Once upon a time there was a blogger named Ben who’s blog post sometimes took twice as long to write as they should because he was also writing code for his website. There was also a programmer named Ben who sometimes took twice as long writing code because he was working on new blog posts. If you haven’t already guessed, these are both the same guy – me.

Financial Bloggers Conference

This Fall, “programmer Ben” is going to lead a session at the Financial Blogger conference in Chicago about custom WordPress plugins. If that topic sounds foreign to you, just think of it as a way to make websites do cool and useful things that they weren’t originally designed for. There’s a wide range of topics that’ll be covered at the conference and I’m going to be speaking along with some people who have done some pretty cool things, you can check out the list of speakers here.

If Only I Had a …

Have you ever been working on a project and said to yourself, “If I only had a tool that did xyz”?  I found myself in that position several years ago when I was writing roundup articles for this site and wanted a faster way to collect good blog posts from the week into a summary article.

I wrote my first plugin to help out, it wasn’t pretty but got the job done.  Over the years I’ve created a variety of plugins for a wide range of purposes and each one has gotten a little better than the last.  I’ve written plugins to make me more efficient, to manage data, and recently have put out a few that show graphical representations of data.

For example, recently I wrote a Groupon Deals map that shows all the current deals that are going on in all the US and Canada. 

I like this one because your email inbox can get pretty crowded with all the daily Groupon deals.  Instead I can check the map for my city and get an overview of all the deals in one view.

Another example of a recent plugin is a tool that lets you compare data in charts and tables.  So far I’ve used it for these credit card bonus pie charts and a comparison table for credit card offers.

The pie chart you see here is a snaphot of the one comparing annual fees.   There are always bonus offers going on and frequently the main thing people focus on is the amount of cash or number of points that you earn.  I created some charts and tables that look at things like annual fees and the required amount of spending to earn the bonus.

As you can see, there are a wide variety of things you can do with a plugin and they can really add value to your site and articles.  There are also many “behind the scenes” types of things you can use a plugin to help with that aren’t as easy to show in a screen shot.

The reason I’m going on about the different things you can do with a plugin is that I want you to tell me what kind of thing you’d like to see a plugin for.

What Do You Need? 

If you don’t own or run a website then this won’t mean much to you.  However, if you have a site that runs on WordPress I’d like to hear from you.  I want to know what you need or want your website to do that you think a plugin could help with.

The reason I’m asking is that I’m going to build a plugin before the conference this fall and use it as the basis of my session on custom WordPress plugins.  In a way, it’s kind of like insurance for my presentation.  Even if I crash and burn, people will hopefully still like it because they get a plugin to take home with them!

Rather than build a plugin that exists purely for demonstration purposes, I want to create something that is practical and that attendees can put to use.  So leave a comment below about what kind of plugin you’d like to see, or you can let me know through my contact form.

I need to get started on the plugin relatively soon since the conference date is getting closer so I’ll put a deadline of this Wednesday on the ideas.

Top bloggers who have consistently shown they have something interesting and/or valuable to share with you will sometimes compile their best work or share their insights by publishing a book.  Here’s a list of top bloggers and their books in the areas of personal finance, business, personal development, and parenting.

Some of these bloggers have actually published multiple books but we’ve only listed one, either their most recent or best known book.  It’s no small feat to publish a book so congrats to this list of smart and determined authors!

If you know a blogger with a book you’d recommend you can submit it to the list with the form at the bottom (it’s okay to submit your own book).  Go ahead, check out what they’ve written and see if anything tickles your fancy.

I am going to be making improvements to this site over the next several months that will give you more value for the time you spend reading what we publish (I’m starting off the New Year on a mission)!

I’m working with a variety of experts to make these improvements and one of the first steps we’re going through is to define the most useful things about the current site and what you think of it. You may be wondering about the article title, how will this be worth your time?  Well when you share what I ask below, it will form the basis for improvement for the site.

To help improve Money Smart Life, I need you to share in the comments below the three words that you would use to describe the site.  If that’s too general of a question, you can think about how you would describe things like the content, the tone, and the topics covered.

Another way to go about it is this.  If you were driving down the highway and saw a billboard for Money Smart Life with only three words on it, what would they be?

You can leave them in the comment section below or you can submit them via the contact form. 

Happy New Year!

Please share below the three words you would use to describe this site.

Recycling may not be the first thing you might think about when the topic of climate change comes up but recycling can certainly make a difference. Here are some recycling stats from the recycling section on the University of Michigan website:

• The U.S. recycles approximately 32 percent of its waste which saves an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases to removing 39,618 cars from the road.
• Increasing the recycling rate to 35 percent would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an additional 5.2 Million Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent.
• Net carbon emissions are four to five times lower when materials are produced from recycled steel, copper, glass, and paper. They are 40 times lower for aluminum.
• Just one person recycling their newspaper, magazines, plastic, glass, and metal for one year is enough to save 471 pounds of carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere.

I’ve always made recycling a habit, maybe it’s because when I was a teenager we lived in Germany and everyone recycled there.  I’m sure my parents had something to do with building the habit since they were firm believers in “reduce, reuse, recycle” growing up.

Here is some more information on recycling and climate change from the University of Michigan:

“Recycling and waste reduction are actually very much related to climate change. The energy used in the industrial processing of virgin materials and in their transportation, involves burning fossil fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and coal, all major sources of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

 

While manufacturing goods from recycled materials still requires energy, it is much less than extracting, processing, and transporting raw materials. Recycling and waste reduction also avoid emissions caused by incinerators and landfills which produce large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane (21 times more potent than carbon dioxide). Waste reduction and recycling also slow the harvesting of forests, which act as carbon sinks, meaning they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”

I don’t cover “green” topics very often but I do try and use our natural resources responsibly. For many years I would ride the bus to work, now that we have two kids in childcare that’s not as practical but I still do recycle all the junk that we go through.

This post was part of this year’s Blog Action Day to help combat climate change.

• Common Questions About The Cash For Clunkers Program Answered
• Finding More Cash for Clunkers
• Cash for Clunkers: I got in before the money ran out
• Get the Best Cash for Clunkers Deal
• Cash for Clunkers Bill
• Cash for Clunkers Tax Rules
• Car Allowance Rebate System – Cash For Clunkers
• “Cash for Clunkers” Is Really Economics for Dummies
• Cash for Clunkers: The Revenge
• Cash for Clunkers Program Suspended
• Cash For Clunkers Over Already?
• Cash for Clunkers Program
• Cash for Clunkers Bill
• Cash-for-Clunkers: An ‘Expensive’ Way to Reduce Emissions
• Cash For Clunkers: Good for car sales, bad for the environment

– Time has come to say fair’s fair, to pay the rent now to pay our share – Midnight Oil

– My mother says to get a job … but she don’t like the one she’s got – Green Day 

– If I had a million dollars,  I’d be rich – Barenaked Ladies

– I know a treasure is waiting for me, silver and gold in the mountains of Spain… – The Doors

– with my mind on my money, and my money on my mind – Snoop Dog

– Put another dime in the juke box baby! – Joan Jett

– Mike D grabbed the money, MCA snatched the gold… Beastie Boys

– All about the Benjamins – Puff Daddy

– Money, Money, Money – ABBA

– bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow they’ll be sun – Annie

– You never count your money when you’re sittin at the table – Kenny Rogers

– … fresh out of clover, mortgaged up to here. But don’t pass the plate folks, don’t pass the cup. I figure whenever you’re down and out the only way is up! – Many Artists

What money tunes did I forget?

I could never bring myself to spend that much money on a massage for myself but I’m glad to spend it on my wife to say thanks for things like putting up with living with me (anniversaries) and going through months of constant discomfort (pregnancies).

I’ve only had one professional massage in my life, that was thanks to my sister who bought gift certificates for my wife and I one year for Christmas.  It  was pretty relaxing and I remember thinking to myself as it ended that it was too bad I’d never get another one (since they cost a dollar a minute).

Then yesterday my friend called me up to tease me about our prank caller, while he was waiting for his wife to get a massage and gave me hope that I may someday get another relaxing massage. It turns out that people in the latter stages of massage school need to earn “hands on” hours giving massages before they can get their license.

They’ve gone through all their training so they pretty much know what they’re doing but they need experience on “real people” in order to become official.  Since they’re still students, you can go into the massage school and pay only $20 an hour to get a massage from them.

I did a little poking around the web and it sounds as though there are other massage schools around the country that offer this cheap massage option as well. I haven’t tried it out myself but it sounds like a pretty good way to relax for cheap.

Attack of the Prank Caller

We’ve been having the same person prank calling us for the last several weeks and the calls are starting to get ridiculous.  Last weekend they called at 7 AM on Sunday morning and then proceeded to call several times throughout the day.  When they first started I thought they were just wrong numbers because all they do when we answer is ask to talk to Steve or some other common name.

The calls came randomly but after a while I noticed it was the same person’s voice.  Once they started coming more frequently I realized it was more than cooincidence and then last weekend the blitz of calls confirmed it was someone pranking us.

Spending More Money on Phone Service

This week I called up AT&T to see what they could do about the calls.  Their answer was to upgrade to a new package that had caller id and call blocking for up to 10 phone numbers.  We’v always had the cheapest, base package because we didn’t need all the various options they’ve offered.  Plus all the taxes and fees they charge jack the price up high enough all on their own.

So I upgraded to a more expensive package that will allow us to see the number the person is calling from and then block that number from calling us again.  Of course, we’re still using the phone we got for a wedding gift about nine years ago and it doesn’t have a display to show the caller’s numbers.  So on top of having to upgrade service I’m also going to have to spend money on a new phone that handles caller id.

Spending, Spending, Spending

I’m glad that there’s at least a way we can stop the calls from coming but I’m really irritated that I’m having to spend more money each month because of a prank caller.  Since my wife left her teaching job to stay at home with our kids we’re trying to find ways to save money but it seems lately like we keep taking on more expenses rather than trimming them.

What I’d really like to do is ditch the home phone and just use the minutes on our cell phones for all our calling but my wife is adamant about having a home phone.  What can you do ….

I had some great customer service last week so I decided to make today Good Customer Service Appreciation Day.  Check out my good experiences and be sure to leave yours in the comments below.

eBay Express

We needed a rather expensive baby related item last week and needed it in a hurry.  I bought it on eBay for $100 cheaper than at Baby’s R Us and asked the seller how much I could pay to have it rushed to us.  Here was her immediate response:

I dropped your item off at Fedex this evening, tracking should be available on-line within a few hours. I bumped up the delivery time for you without cost, it was only $6 dollars more and should be to you by Friday morning according to Fedex. thanks again for your purchase and congratulations!

Not only did she save us $100 bucks, she rushed it to us at no extra cost.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

Covista Communications

Due to some credit card fraud, we were issued a new card several months ago.  Apparently Covista had our old card number on file and hadn’t been able to bill us since February.  I got an automated phone call letting me know our bill was past due and giving me a phone number & website I could use to settle our bill.  I got the phone number from the Covista website and had a customer service person on the phone immediately, no holding.

I explained to her my situation and she setup my new card right away and in a very pleasant manner.  Unlike the terse responses I’ve become accustomed to getting from customer service reps, this lady was pleasant and helpful. She didn’t sound irritated that I was calling or put off by my questions and was very gracious on the phone.

She didn’t charge me any late fees and when I asked her to help me with another question she didn’t put me on hold or transfer me to another department. 

Within minutes of discovering I had a billing problem, the issue was pleasantly resolved, and I was off the phone and moving on with my life.  It was by far the best customer service I’ve had on the phone for a very long time.

Share your good customer service stories below.

I guess I should have noticed that something was wrong since I wasn’t even getting any spam comments.  Typically I get at least dozens of spam comments a day, which are screened out by filtering software.

It appears that the software went haywire and was actually blocking anyone from even attempting to leave a comment.  So sorry if you tried to leave a comment and were denied.  I think I’ve got it all figured out now, if you run into any problems you can let me know via the contact form.

Here are all the posts that have been published since the comments were disabled.  If you had any thoughts you wanted to add at the time but weren’t able, now you can comment away!

• Roth 401k Frequently Asked Questions
• Teaching Kids About Money
• Auto Insurance for College Graduates
• Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s Gone
• Emergency Funds for College Graduates
• Three Big Decisions for College Grads