If you’re going away to school for the first time or returning for another year, it’s extremely important to take certain precautions to keep your identity and money safe. Here are a few tips to help you avoid identify theft.

Set a password on your computer, lock your computer when away from it.

This is easy to do, and it will deflect most common computer users. Although, if your computer is stolen by a decent computer hacker, they’ll be able to get past the screen saver password so don’t store passords to your online bank accounts or other sensitive information on your computer. Make sure that you never leave your computer unattended in public such as the library, student union, or cafeteria. When you leave your laptop in your dorm room you could even stash it out of plain site.

Avoid revealing too much personal detail on social networking sites.

Every piece of information that identity thieves can gather about you is another clue to stealing your identity.  Seemingly harmless pieces of information individually (birthday, address, phone number, etc) can add up over time and eventually make you a victim of identity theft.

Not only is this good for your security, but can also protect your future career. Remember, everything you post on Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace could end up being seen by the wrong people at the wrong time. Use social networking wisely, and don’t post pictures that might compromise your reputation or give off the wrong idea about you.

Don’t let anyone borrow your credit or debit cards.

This might not sound like something you’d ever think about doing, but you’ll be running across dozens of “mooches” at school. They might ask you, “Hey man, can I just borrow your card to order a pizza, I’ll give you the cash”, but don’t trust them unless you are really close to them. Don’t give out your credit card number or debit card number to anyone, write it anywhere, or store it anywhere on your computer.

Don’t open a tab on your credit card and forget it.

I’ve never done this, but I’ve come close! You never know who might be working behind the bar and if they’ll abuse your card if you leave it there overnight. Make sure your designated driver reminds everyone to close out their tabs. If you’re walking home or taking public transportation, write a note on your hand to remind yourself.

Call right away if credit card stolen or lost.

Do not wait until the next morning if you think you lost or had your credit card stolen. Credit card companies have 24 hour customer service, and it will be much easier on yourself and the credit card company if you report it right away. Even if you end up finding it a couple of days later, it’s better safe than sorry, and you’ll receive a new card usually within a week.

You aren’t personally responsible for an unauthorized credit or debit transaction, but you can make a much stronger case that it wasn’t you if you report it as soon as you think it’s been lost or stolen.

Don’t keep cash in your dorm room, use debit card instead

Identity theives take your identity so they can steal money.  If you just leave your money lying around, they can just skip the identity part and go right after your cash. It’s not that you don’t trust your roommate (or maybe you don’t), but when you aren’t there, your roommate could be bringing in all kinds of people to the room that you’ve never met before. It’s always a good idea to keep your cash on you or better yet, use a debit card for most transactions.

If you’ve never had your identity or credit card stolen in the past, let me assure you it can drain a lot of your time and money trying to get the situation straightened out. Here are some more identity theft tips to help protect your money and your credit.

One of the toughest things about being a college student when your parents don’t support you is juggling a job with school work. I had a job for the entire four years that I was in school. About half way through, I discovered eBay, and I started selling a lot of stuff on there and other people’s stuff for a commission.

It didn’t last forever, because I got sick of eBay policies and scammers, but for the year and a half that I did it, it was good extra income in addition to my food delivery job. The internet provides a lot of opportunity and your knowledge and hobbies can also provide a source of income while you are in school without working for someone else.

Here are some college student jobs you can do from your dorm room:

Tutoring. Are you great at Chemistry or Calculus? Then, you could make $20 to $40 an hour tutoring your peers! Pass out some fliers at the end of classes and start a Facebook page.

Selling on Craigslist. I used to do this on eBay, but they raised their fees and so many big retailers flooded the market, so the upside of selling on eBay diminished. I still like Craigslist in most markets.

Some markets are flooded with a bunch of junk, but many are not. Many college kids know how to sell something on Craigslist, but few of them want to deal with it. Tell them you’ll take a flat fee or a percentage of how much you get for it, and you’ll manage the entire deal.

Freelance Writing. Are you a good writer? Look for blogging jobs at job boards such as Pro Blogger and the writing jobs section of Craigslist.

Web Design and Application Development. If you know CSS, PHP, ASP .NET, or other web languages, then turn your knowledge into freelance work. Sites like eLance, goFreelance, an Guru.com allow freelance developers to start a profile and bid on contract work.

Virtual Assistant. Are you an organized person? Are you good at helping other people plan and organize?  With a computer and a phone you can have clients all around the country, check out the International Virtual Assistant Association for more info on what you can offer and how to find clients.

Being able to work from your dorm room is mostly about leveraging the skills you have or are in the process of learning. The biggest challenge is often finding people that need your expertise or your time but the Web helps make that possible. 

The great thing about many jobs like this is that you’re building up experience that will apply to your life after college, rather than just flipping burgers or waiting tables.  Not only that, they often come with a more flexible work schedule you can fit in between classes and college life.  Any other ideas for college student jobs you can work from your dorm room?

That’s a big chunk of change, especially for a families struggling to make ends meet during rough economic times. Here are some tips to help save money on back to school shopping.

1. Don’t follow the supplies list strictly. Use your own logic and consult your kids about which supplies are most important. I remember being in grade school and hardly ever using about 25% of the stuff my mom bought me.

2. Recycle old supplies. Your kids might not have used some of their old supplies, and it could still be sitting in their backpack. Hole punchers, staplers, pencils, pens, and hardcover binders are all examples of supplies that can be easily reused.

3. Buy in bulk. If you are shopping for more than one child, try looking at Costco or Sam’s for bulk items like folders, pens, pencils, crayons, and note cards.

4. Don’t take your kids with you to shop, if possible. Get a babysitter, keep one parent at home, or drop them off at grandma’s. They will try to convince you to buy stuff they don’t need, and they are very brand conscious, but won’t care what brand it is after a couple of weeks at school.

5. Don’t buy your kid a whole new wardrobe. I think some parents get into the habit to buy their kids an entire new wardrobe when they go back to school.

Sure, if your kid hasn’t gotten new shoes in a while and is growing out of old ones, then take advantage of back-to-school sales. But if you just bought them new clothes in the spring or summer, let them pick out two new outfits and possibly a new pair of shoes. Anything more is overkill.

6. Take advantage of tax savings. If your state has a tax free week or if a business decides to pay the sales tax for you, make sure you shop at those times or at those businesses. I know that JC Penney had a promotion going on that they would discount your purchase by the amount of sales tax, so it was like you didn’t pay any sales tax.

7. Stay away from sales traps. Some sales are only sales to encourage you to spend more money than you normally would. “But 1, get one half off” can be dangerous, because it could force you to buy more and spend more than you expected.

Saving money is a lifestyle. If you train yourself to save money in all situations, it will begin to feel automatic. Back-to-school is one of those times of years that we just expect to spend a lot of money, and we might let our savings guard down a little bit. Consider some of these tips, and you’ll save enough money to throw towards all of the other expenses your kids will incur during the fall months.

Home Inspections

I recommend that everyone get a home inspection.  I thinks its always worth paying for since you want to know exactly what you are getting when you put your signature on a six figure deal.

Home inspections typically cost anywhere from $250 to $500. Most home inspectors can do a termite inspection as well, but they’ll charge a little extra for it. I also recommend inspecting for termites no matter where you are or what type of construction the house is.

If you personally know someone in the real estate business, ask them for a referral for a good, thorough home inspector. Another option is to check out Angies List reviews of local inspectors. There is a small fee for the service but here are some Angies List promo codes.

You must prepare yourself when the inspector comes back with his report. Remember that no house is perfect (even new construction), and some home inspectors take it upon themselves to talk you out of the deal. In a weird way, it’s their job to make you re-think what you are doing. Your job as the homeowner is to analyze what defects are minor and major. Here are some deal breakers:

• Foundational issues. Is the foundation sinking? Are the footings properly installed? How many cracks are in the foundation?
• Major termite damage. Unless the seller is willing to pay for the repairs, this damage is costly.
• Major plumbing or electrical issues that will cause walls and/or floors to be ripped open. Is the plumbing and electrical up to code?
• Roof issues. Is the roof older than the seller thought? Does it have more wear and tear than its age indicates? A new roof is a big expense for a new homeowner.
• Major mold growth. If you have over 100 square feet of mold growth in a particular area, or multiple rooms are affected, I would stay away from this property, unless you already planned on ripping out drywall.

You may get the inspection report back with a 100 red flags, but 95 of them might be minor stuff. Make sure you can filter out what is a deal breaker, and what can be fixed easily by you or the seller. Don’t let a home inspection ruin the deal unless there are major red flags like the ones specified above.

Tomorrow we’ll finish out the series on home buying by taking look at closing costs.  You might also want to check out the posts on mortgage pre approval, mortgage interest rates, down payments, and home equity lines of credit.

Mortgage lenders and real estate agents sometimes try to push different programs on buyers that may not be in your best interest. So let’s take a look at your down payment and how it effects private mortgage insurance.

Private Mortgage Insurance

This is an insurance policy that the mortgage company will force you to pay on a monthly or yearly basis that covers them in the event that you don’t pay back the loan. All mortgage companies will require you to pay this if you don’t start out with at least 20% equity in the home.

That means you either need to contribute either 20% or more for a down payment, or the combination of your down payment and equity from a higher appraisal value than the purchase price equals 20% or more. The premium typically runs about $100 a month for a $200,000 to $300,000 house.

You basically have three choices when it comes your down payment for a real estate purchase if you plan on getting a partial loan for the property:

20% down or more: You’ll be eligible to apply for a conventional loan from lenders such as Bank of America, Citi Group, and Wells Fargo with prime interest rates. You’ll also avoid paying private mortgage insurance. This is the most ideal down payment to make, if you are able to save up a 20% or more down payment.

10% to 20%: You won’t avoid PMI, but you’ll still qualify to apply for a conventional loan through traditional lenders and credit unions.

10% or less: You’ll pay private mortgage insurance, and you’ll have to apply for loans through wholesale lenders and programs such as an FHA loan that is backed by the federal government and allows as little as a 4% down payment if you have a good, clean credit history.

You can still get a prime interest rate with little money down if you have good, stable income and clean credit. The only problem is that these loans are harder to qualify for nowadays. The sub-prime mortgage meltdown has put many wholesale lenders out of business, and the ones that are doing well have drastically tightened up their underwriting guidelines.

This post is part of our home buyer series.  We started off by looking at mortgage pre-approvals and next we’ll take a look at a few different types of loans.

Many other personal finance bloggers have written about the benefits of starting a business such as My Two Dollars and Man Vs. Debt. Although starting a business isn’t easy it can be rewarding, here are some steps to get you started.

Turn your passion or hobby into a business

You’ve already read about this a hundred times from other bloggers, but the reason we keep saying it, is because we are living proof that you can earn extra money by starting a business that you are passionate about. The reason you choose a hobby or something you love to turn into a business is because you are more likely to stick with it when you aren’t making any money from it.

For instance, if you are good at math, but you hate the subject and you are not a patient person, then you shouldn’t start tutoring high school kids on Algebra and Calculus. Here is a quick list of some good examples for side businesses to start:

1. Math or Science Tutoring
2. Camping/hiking trip guide
3. Landscaping
4. IT Consultant
5. Musical Instrument Instructor
6. Photographer/Videographer
7. Personal Trainer
8. Mail Order Baked Goods Company
9. Specialty Arts & Crafts business
10. Professional Organizer (yes, some people enjoy organizing stuff!)

Focus On Getting Business Before You Set Up Your Business

If your business is a skill that you have, then focus on getting clients first. So many people focus on getting business cards, a website, setting up a business bank account, start an LLC, and they don’t even have any customers yet. The truth is, you don’t have a business until you have customers or clients. Start networking with people, tell your friends and family what you’re doing, and get some commitments from paying clients first. Worry about the details later.

Bootstrap Your Business

Since most service-based businesses can be started for less than $1,000 you probably don’t need to take out a loan to get started.  Drum up some paying customers and use that money to pay for any initial expenses you may have.

It’s trickier if your business involves a product that you make since you may need to buy the raw materials.  I think the best way to do it is to create the product on demand. Don’t go out and by hundreds of dollars in materials, make a bunch of widgets, and let them sit there and collect dust.

Instead make a sample or two, target your audience, invite them to your house for a demonstration or display show, and start taking orders on demand.

Network to Market Your Business

Have a presence on Twitter and Facebook and incorporate a blog into your business website.  Be sure to connect with other small business owners through local business organizations like the chamber of commerce or a Business Network International chapter. Let all of your friends and family know about your side business, strike up a conversation about it when appropriate. 

The most important part about starting a side business is to be patient. You won’t be rolling in extra cash right away. It takes a few months to get your name out there, and you’ll get rejected a lot. Be persistent and be patient.  Who knows, someday your side business could end up turning into your full-time business.

Erik Folgate is an associate writer for Money Smart Life. He also writes about personal finance, social media, and personal life issues on ErikFolgate.com.

Research Summer Camp Options

There are some good ones, but there are also some horrible ones that cost a lot of money. If you are thinking of a summer camp, don’t go for one that just trucks kids around town to the movie theater and arcade. Look for local, public camps like camps centered around sports or arts and crafts. There are also many public camps that take kids to the museum and other public attractions around town.

Public sports camps can be very cheap, and they are a good way to help your kid learn fundamentals of a sport and get some exercise. If you find your kid is great at one sport and really loves it, you can splurge for the privately run camps. These are much more expensive, but the quality of coaching is usually better. The point is to do your research, and look at all of your options before registering them for a summer camp.

Create Your Own Summer Camp

If there are enough stay-at-home parents in your neighborhood, you can create your own mini-camp for your kids. Assign each parent to one day of the week for the summer. Then, choose an activity that takes up a good chunk of the day like going to the lake/beach, a water park, the science museum, or a big pool party if someone in the neighborhood has a pool.

It will be more work but will certainly be cheaper than paying for a summer camp run by someone else. Plus, your kids will be with their friends, and the stay-at-home parents will get a break four days out of the work week!

Put Your Kids to Work

Aside from their daily chores, find some projects for your kids that are old enough to stay at home by themselves. Set up a compensation structure for these extra projects, and give them an incentive to do it. For instance, if they complete all of their tasks during the week, you’ll pay for them to do something fun with their friends over the weekend.

You can even pay them without it coming out of your own pocket. Have your older kids clean out the garage and attic, organize it, and pick out items to sell in a garage sale over the weekend. Let them keep whatever money they earn in the garage sale. This is a great way to teach kids the importance of working to earn money.

Help Them Start a Business

Another great idea for keeping older kids busy is helping them start a summer side business. Mowing lawns, running errands for elderly people, cleaning and organizing garages, pressure cleaning driveways, babysitting/house-sitting/pet-sitting, and landscaping are all great businesses for young teenagers to start during the summer. Teaching your children about entrepreneurship is one of the most valuable money and career lessons you can teach them as a young person.

Plan Out Your Child’s Summer

Your child won’t plan it out for themselves, so you need to make sure you have a game plan for every week of the summer. Sending them off to their grandparents or a favorite aunt and uncle’s house is a great way to save money and get some time to yourself!

I am so surprised that this has become such a less common thing for kids to do over the summer. My wife and her sister used to visit their grandparents in Michigan without their mom and dad for two, three, and even four weeks at a time.

Be creative this summer. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars each week to keep your kids busy while you are working. Again, planning ahead is the key. If you map out a plan for the next few months, you’ll spend much less money and you’ll know your kids aren’t sitting around bored and looking for trouble : )

My family was pretty traditional, and we didn’t have a ton of money, so we usually drove the grueling 18 hour trip from Florida. Although back then, gas was about .89 cents a gallon, so it was always less expensive than flying up there. Summer family vacations are part of America’s heritage, and I have great memories of from those days.

Today, it’s much more expensive to travel as a family, so here are seven tips to help you save money on your family trip.

1) Drive instead of fly. Even though gas prices have crept back up to about $2.25 a gallon, it’s still much lower than last year. If you live within 12 hours of your destination, it’s probably more economical to gas up the minivan and take a road trip. Road trips can be good bonding moments for families, because it forces you to have conversations! If you must fly, here are some tips to help you save money on airline tickets.

2) Pack food on your road trip. Instead of stopping for all three meals, pack sandwiches and snacks for the trip so you can skip lunch and sometimes dinner.

3) Look for a vacation rental on Craigslist or VRBO. You can find vacation rentals at every vacationing spot on these websites. Typically, you’ll find weekly rentals that are cheaper than renting two hotel rooms. Plus, you can find nice condos and houses with full kitchens and multiple bathrooms.

4) Make sure your hotel or vacation rental has a full kitchen. You can blow so much money eating out while on vacation. Having a full kitchen allows you to buy food at the grocery store and make breakfast and lunch so you can save your dining out money for nice dinners. Here are some of the best travel websites to help you research hotels.

5) Plan out your trip ahead of time. If you plan out your itinerary ahead of time and know what you’re going to do and spend each day, you’ll avoid tourist trap attractions that prey on bored tourists. Sometimes, your plans don’t work out due to weather or something unexpected. Write down a list of three or four other activities as a back-up plan just in case you get a wrench thrown in your original plans.

6) Do Things together. You ARE going on a family vacation. Even if your teenagers are whining about having to spend time with you, make them do stuff together with you. If everyone is off doing a different activity, it will add up quickly. Choose activities that the whole family will enjoy, not just your youngest child.

7) Choose a destination just outside of the tourist hotspot. Every vacationing spot has a strip of hotels or entertaining areas that everyone is attracted to. If you stay just outside of that area, you’ll spend less on lodging and less on eating out.

Making family summer vacations enjoyable for the entire family is tough. Everyone has different interests and a different idea of having fun. If the parents keep a good attitude, the children will pick up on that and eventually start having a good time.

You’re on vacation, so don’t be afraid to spend money, as long as you aren’t going into debt to do it. Splurge a little on activities you don’t normally do. When my wife and I go on vacation, we’d rather spend the bulk of our money on experiencing new things, rather than blowing it all on food and nightlife. Maybe you are different, but hopefully these tips will help you plan out your trip this summer. If you have any more suggestions, feel free to post them in the comments suggestion.

Calculate Your Rent Budget

Generally, one-fourth of your take home pay is a safe estimate for the rent price range you should be looking for when renting an apartment or house. If you find that all of the apartments or houses you are looking at exceed 35% of your take home pay, consider living with a roommate or looking in a cheaper area. Although roommates can be annoying, one good thing about splitting the rent is that it can help you save up an emergency fund and pay off college debt faster.

Know Your Apartment Needs

Doing your research before you start looking for an apartment is vital to finding an affordable and safe apartment. Don’t compromise safety for cheaper rent if you can help it, sites like rent.com and apartments.com can give you a feel for the average rent prices in an area.

Take a close look at what features are most important to you. Is two bathrooms more important to you than amenities such as a pool and a clubhouse? Would you rather have a washer and dryer than upgraded kitchen appliances? With the power of the internet, doing your own research is much easier than ever before.

I typically don’t recommend using a rental finder agency, many of them will charge a finders fee for work you can do on your own. Of course if you are relocating to an unfamiliar city, especially an enormous one like moving to New York City, then it might be beneficial to use a rental agency.

Knowing what features you want in a particular area is essential before you start looking at places. Remember, landlords and leasing agents are sales people, so they will do what they can to make their rental seem like the perfect place for you, that’s why you need to know what you want. Then, you control the situation, not the agent.

Finding Affordable Housing

Craigslist. It is now flooded with many commercial apartment complexes, but you can still find independent landlords soliciting their rental properties for lower prices.

The outskirts of the city. If you are willing to commute a little bit to work, more family oriented areas will offer lower rent prices. The hip, young area of town will typically ask for the highest rent prices.

Mother-in-law suites. Some homeowners build these suites on their property to house family members to take care of them. These suites become vacant from time to time and many homeowners take advantage of the space by offering to rent it out. These apartments are hard to find, but they sometimes offer great deals on price.

Saving Money on Apartments

Negotiate the rent down. This can be an option if you do some research and find that the landlord is having problems renting out the apartment.

Offer services for lower rent. I know many people who get cheaper rent because they offer to mow the lawn, make maintenance repairs, or offer professional services to the landlord.

Look for new complexes. Many new complexes will offer rent promotions to fill up all of their units. Avoid amenity rich complexes since you will be paying for the developers cost to maintain the property and the common areas.

Housing costs will probably always be your biggest fixed monthly cost throughout your life, so stop focusing on how many lattes you are drinking. Saving money on your rent could result in thousands of dollars in savings per year!

 This post on finding affordable apartments for college grads is part of a series on personal finance for college graduates.  Some of the other topics covered include auto insurance for grads, budgeting, health insurance after college, buying renters insurance, and credit card tips for grads.

Now that you’re leaving college and looking for a job it’s time to start thinking more long term about your finances, if you haven’t already.  Once you get that first paycheck, you’ll have every urge to spend that money on a bunch of stuff that you don’t need. Resist the urge, and start saving some cash for an emergency fund.

How Much Should You Save?
$1,000 is a good start, but eventually you should try to save up about three to six months of your monthly expenses. That sounds like a lot of money, but your basic monthly expenses would only be calculated using your bills that provide your essential living expenses such as rent, utilities, food, and transportation.  You can even suggest contributions to your emergency fund as a college graduation gift.

What Should You Use Yor Emergency Fund For?
Defining an emergency is important for knowing when to use the money in your emergency fund. It’s not an emergency that you don’t have an LCD TV, and you want one. It’s not an emergency that you want to take a trip to see your old roommate. Some people go as far to say that unexpected car repairs and house maintenance repairs should be budgeted separately from your emergency fund, because it is reasonable to believe that you will need to make car and home repairs at some point.

I am not that hardcore, but my advice is to limit yourself from using the money unless you are in a dire situation. Losing your job and unexpected medical expenses are two major reasons for using your emergency fund. These two events can destroy your financial health, and the emergency fund acts as a safeguard to prop you up while you go through a difficult situation that limits your income.

What Could Happen If You Don’t Have an Emergency Fund?
Chances are you’ll end up relying on credit cards. Many young people are taught they should own a credit card for emergencies. If you make a habit of relying on credit cards to bail you out of a bad situation, you’ll rack up more credit card debt than you can imagine; this is exactly what happened to me while I was in college.

I put car repairs, books, health expenses, shortfalls in monthly income, and other expenses on a credit card, and I walked out of school with $8,000 in credit card debt. Don’t let this happen to you whether you are in college or just graduating. It will add up quickly, and you’ll spend too much of your hard-earned money paying credit card interest.

The importance of an emergency fund is not a news flash. Personal finance experts talk about them all the time, but still, many young people fail to save for one. Don’t get caught up in the frenzy that you “need” a new car, new furniture, and new clothes. You can get those things later. Save up some money right away to safeguard yourself from disaster.

Where Should You Keep Your Emergency Fund?
A free, online savings account is my preference for parking short-term savings cash. I like the ING Direct Orange Savings account. The interest rate has dropped considerably, but it has an easy to use interface, quick transfers, and the ability to set up sub-savings accounts. You can also open an ING online checking account with a debit card to make it convenient to access your money if an emergency arises.

Luckily, deciding where to keep your emergency fund is the easy part since there are many good FDIC insured alternatives.  Here are some of the best online savings accounts:

• FNBO Direct
• HSBC Advance
• WT Direct
• Etrade Bank