Being unemployed with bad credit is often a death sentence when searching for a new job.  Why?  Some employers have taken to adding the following to job postings:

“Must be currently employed”

In this economy, that doesn’t make any sense!  The argument is that people who are unemployed were let go because of obsolete skill sets and therefore were obviously less valuable to their company.  Let’s not forget the fact that it may have been due to financial constraints which overlooks talent and skill set.

But there’s hope, Huffington Post reports:

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers cannot discriminate against applicants based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would add unemployed people to that list of protected groups.

The Fair Employment Act of 2011 (H.R. 1113), drafted by Johnson and co-sponsored by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), would amend the Civil Rights Act to make it illegal for employers to refuse to hire or to lower compensation for a person because of employment status. Johnson said he wrote the legislation because he was troubled by the ongoing phenomenon of job ads specifying that a candidate “must be currently employed.”

This is a good move in the right direction which should turn the tide against employers who have such absurd hiring policies which only serve to effectively keep good people from great jobs.   One might argue if this is such a great place to work with such discriminatory practices.

My only concern about this bill is that it lacks teeth and will be hard to enforce.  The burden would be on job applicants to prove that this policy is being used against them and in order to do that they would need to have some insider information about the company and their “internal hiring policies”.   Companies will continue to shamefully discriminate for various reasons unless they begin to see the error in their ways

On the other end of this trend is the penchant for employers to run the credit of job applicants with the rationale that good or bad credit may be an important indicator of an applicant’s character.  If you ask me, that’s about as good a reason as the Tea Party’s requirement that renters be denied the right to vote.  This comes at a time when the unemployed may indeed have bad credit through no fault of their own: the lack of a job to pay the bills.  And, without that job to pay the bills your credit gets jacked.   Who knew?  Well the EEOC seems to agree that the use of credit histories result in disparate discrimination:

From Lexology:

For about a year now, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been trying to make the case that employment-related background checks involving the use of applicant credit histories somehow constitute race, and maybe sex, discrimination. According to the EEOC:

Inquiry into an applicant’s current or past assets, liabilities, or credit rating, including bankruptcy or garnishment, refusal or cancellation of bonding, car ownership, rental or ownership of a house, length of residence at an address, charge accounts, furniture ownership, or bank accounts generally should be avoided because they tend to impact more adversely on minorities and females. Exceptions exist if the employer can show that such information is essential to the particular job in question.

In one such case, Kaplan’s hiring practices came under scrutiny by the EEOC:

…the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Kaplan Higher Education Corp. … accusing it of discriminating against black job applicants through the way it uses credit histories in the hiring process.

The lawsuit, an unusual intervention by the government, comes amid rising concerns that employers are denying jobs to applicants with damaged credit histories, even in cases where creditworthiness does not appear to be directly relevant to the job.

Justine Lisser, an EEOC spokeswoman, said credit histories are often inaccurate and may not be a good indicator of a person’s qualifications for a particular job.

In the EEOC’s lawsuit, which was filed in Cleveland, the agency said that since at least January 2008, Kaplan had rejected job applicants based on their credit histories, with a “significant disparate impact” on blacks.

However, the tide is changing with several states (Illinois, Oregon, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Missouri, New York, Washington, Washington, DC, Maryland and Texas) in the process of making it illegal to use an applicant’s credit history as a basis for the hiring decision.  Check your current state law or with your local officials as to whether or not a bill banning this type of discrimination is in the works or on the books already.  If not, get behind it!

Tell us! What do you think about discrimination based on credit or employment status?  Are these new developments helpful to job seekers?

bds

Yes you read right!  If you are unemployed and have bad credit then you have another hurdle to get past:  employers unwilling to higher you because of bad credit.

It’s important to note that this is the kind of bad credit where the potential employee has shown reckless irresponsibility with their financial life thus making the employer unwilling to trust them with sensitive information.  Here in DC, that also means losing a security clearance-even after you’ve received it.  More on that later.

The NY Times article discusses the new trend:

Once reserved for government jobs or payroll positions that could involve significant sums of money, credit checks are now fast, cheap and used for all manner of work. Employers, often winnowing a big pool of job applicants in days of nearly 10 percent unemployment, view the credit check as a valuable tool for assessing someone’s judgment.

Now I know you’re thinking, this is just wholly unfair.  While some employers (like the federal government) may say that they look at a host of factors when making the determination, I cant help but think how much time and access to information from the applicant do they really have in order to make an informed decision.  Will job applicants now have to disclose their financial histories and struggles before knowing if they have the job?  At this point, applicants might as well start putting that information on their resume!

This will only lead to a black hole for the unemployed causing them to get caught up in a never ending cycle as Finking remarked:

“You can’t re-establish your credit if you can’t get a job, and you can’t get a job if you’ve got bad credit.”

It’s surely a frustrating cycle for job hunters and lawmakers are organizing to do something about it:

“Others say that the credit check can be used to provide cover for discriminatory practices. Responding to complaints from constituents, lawmakers in a few states have recently proposed legislation that would restrict employers’ use of credit checks. While some measures languish, Hawaii has just imposed new restraints.”

This is just another way for employers to cut down the number of applicants they actually have to sift through.  Think about it, more applications are coming in from people who are under qualified, qualified and overqualified for positions.  There has to be a way to cut a few off the top, so in this case, it’s the folks with bad credit and it’s not right.

Let the hiring managers tell it:

“If I see too many negative things coming up on a credit check, it’s one of those things that raises a flag with me,” said Anita Orozco, director of human resources at Sonneborn, a petrochemical company based in Mahwah, N.J. She added that while bad credit alone would not be a reason to deny someone a job, it might reveal poor judgment.

“If you see a history of bad decision-making, you don’t want that decision-making overflowing into your organization,” she said.

While I understand their concerns, you can’t paint all people with bad credit with a broad brush.  This puts them in the nasty predicament of a never ending cycle with the only way of getting out before getting a job is to plead their situation at the end of their resume before the hiring manager procceses the credit check.  I think they should look at each applicant based on their merits and then if bad credit becomes a serious issue (continued reckless use of credit with no attempts to repair it) then it might warrant a sit down.

The federal government uses the following to determine if someone should lose their security clearance even after receiving it:

Employees should be aware that security clearance adjudicators consider the following when making decisions in cases involving unpaid debts:

– Are the financial problems largely beyond the individual’s control?

– Is the person receiving financial counseling and/or taking other responsible action to help resolve the problem?

– Is the person making a good-faith effort to repay creditors?

Adjudicators don’t just look at the amount of debt; they look for patterns of irresponsibility and dishonesty, as compared with patterns of responsible and honest behavior.

“Proactive efforts to recognize and deal responsibly with emerging financial problems are indicative of responsible, honest and trustworthy behavior,” officials said.

That makes more sense to me and I think private companies should follow suit.  Furthermore, if employees find themselves in a bad predicament then the federal government advises that they should take the following steps (applicable to the rest of us as well):

– Advise their security office of the current financial situation;

– Take advantage of the Employee Assistance Program offered by their local human resources office;

– Contact the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, a national non-profit credit counseling network, at 800-388-2277 or visit www.nfcc.org;

– Contact Military OneSource, which offers access to credit counseling services to military families, at 800-342-9647 orwww.militaryonesource.com;

– If in the military, contact Military Aid Society, which offers interest-free loans and grants for financial emergencies. Contact Army Emergency Relief at www.aerhq.org; Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society at www.nmcrs.org or Air Force Aid Society at www.afas.org;

– Retain copies of all correspondence between creditors;

– If failed to file an income tax return by the due date, file the return now even if it’s late and they are unable to pay. Certain service members, such as those who have been deployed, may be eligible for an extended filing deadline and/or a deferral of payment;

– Become educated on current financial situation and the “debt load” that can be afforded.

The lesson?  Now isn’t the time to dodge your creditors.  Work out a plan with them to make good on any debts and visit www.creditboards.com for help with specific credit issues, they are very helpful.  PlanetFeedback.com is also another very helpful tool Ive used in the past to communicate with creditors about past debts and having them removed.

Partners:  Accepting Credit Cards

Imagine reading your Sunday newspaper, in my case, the Washington Post where the requisite financial stories abound discussing the recession and families scaling back etc and then screeching at this headline:

Squeaking by on $300,000:  Recession Fallout in Six Figures

Now, like many of you, the sarcasm dripped as I read through the article thinking to myself, how crazy this woman is for even stating that she was squeaking by on 300k.  

Here were the responses on Twitter:

@Gingerlatte That article was crazy…..She should downgrade their lifestyle… bigtime!

Let’s get to it, she either needs to scale back to keep her mouth shut, she sounds crazy.  I need not tell you that people are losing their homes, living in shelters and taking menial jobs in order to put food on the table and in some cases, that means the Dollar Menu from McDonald’s or the local dollar store.  But she has time to form her lips and state that she is struggling on 300k?

I’m sure you’re eager to know the stats but it’s important to know that she does not earn 300k, her salary is actually $150k plus a bonus and she also receives $75k in child support from her ex husband.  But this year her salary/bonus will be reduced by 10%.  Furthermore, as the article states, this began with her divorce, not the economy:  ”Life in this $2.5 million house was built on the premise of two incomes, not the income of a divorced mother of three in a tanked economy.”

Her expenses?

“Her property taxes are $35,000 a year, the nanny is $40,000 and the gardener is $500 a month.  When she bought out her husband’s share of the house after their 2006 divorce, she assumed the costs of keeping it afloat — $8,000 to $10,000 a month. There’s a pool man, a gardener and someone to plow the snow from the quarter-mile-long driveway.”

“As tight as money is, she has decided that living in a 4,000-square-foot house on three acres is the practical thing to do.

“A), I couldn’t sell the house right now,” she says, citing the slow real estate market.

“B), this is where my kids go to school.
And C), it’s where my job is.”

Pick your jaws up off the floor and stay with me, this gets better.  Apparently the rich don’t talk much about this type of thing, you know it’s in bad taste to discuss money around these parts.  Meanwhile Ms Stein has a sewer problem that apparently stinks throughout the basement that she would rather ignore and keep her children in the same house, deny herself highlights and get her daughter…….wait for it—>a generic cellphone.  How about we reduce some expenses, do your own hair color and the daughter goes without a cellphone altogether?

I’d like to remind Ms Stein that while everyone is feeling the pinch, she has a concrete solution.  Sacrifice and spend less.  That’s it!  I understand that she can’t very well sell the house and come out on top in this economy, so I feel her on that one.  But the nanny?  Gardener? After school activities?  Cell phone?  Would all have to go!

I am in no way advocating taking away her children’s childhood’s by yanking all social activities but if they are engaged in 3-5 after school/recreational activities then I would cut that down to 1 or 2.  The private school would also have to go.  Parents often project onto their children their own feelings during hard times which is understandable.  They have to remember that children are resilient, in fact more so than adults and taking them out of the local private school which I’m sure costs many thousands per year would just mean another life adjustment for the children.  They would survive and learn to live with it for the time being.

Then I would fire the gardener and either find out how to do the work myself or barter the work in exchange for some kind of services that she can perhaps provide herself.

The nanny would either have to go or she would take a pay cut in exchange for health insurance, after all she gets FREE room and board in a very nice house, honey she would need to feel the pinch too.  If a pay cut isn’t possible then fire the nanny and ask one of her unemployed local friends to take over at a much reduced cost.  The nanny also has the nerve to talk about her personal recession starting in 1994?  Go back to school, retool yourself and get a job like the rest of us!

Ms Stein also has to think about the fact that her job and bonus are on the line.  She is the Vice President of Mastercard and given the way the credit card companies are hurting right now, she needs to get over this sense of entitlement and reduce her expenses which are largely related to keeping up with the Jones’-ITIS.  

Finally, consider this, her lifestyle right now and the struggle to keep afloat has everything to do with her 2006 divorce and at that point she should have downsized according to her SALARY and not her bonus and child support, none of which are guaranteed.  Hell her salary isnt but as long as she is in her position at Mastercard, she gets a check right?  Ex hubby can decide not to pay child support and the bonus could very well disappear.  So it would seem to me that this is of her own doing and wanting to keep up appearances after the divorce.  

Time to step into reality with the rest of the world Ms Stein.

photo credit: jenn_jenn

This article has been cross posted at EFinancialBlog.com as part of the America’s Top Financial Bloggers Series

People all over are scrambling to make ends meet in one way or another across income brackets.  Virtually everyone is feeling the pinch of the recession and they are surely thinking about next steps.  There are no more HELOCs or credit cards to fill the gaps as banks are cutting limits like a lumber jack wading through the forest.  Jobs are also scant as businesses are cutting back in critical areas to stay afloat.

So what’s a well intentioned person to do?  

Check out the following tips to learn how to make smart financial choices amidst a deepening recession.  You’ve probably heard of these before, but now more than ever is the time to apply them to your lives.

Track Spending, Eliminate Bad Habits And Determine Priorities

What are your current goals?  How are your financial actions and choices aligned with said goals?  Are you saving towards an 8 month emergency fund but splurging on weekend shopping sprees and coming home with nothing to show for it?  How about that $500/month car payment?  Is it all really necessary?  Can you trade it in or sell it in order to lower the monthly payment?  If you’re living on the edge or are close to it then look at your spending and determine based on your goals and priorities if your spending habits are aligned.  If not, you have a problem and the two need to be in harmony, fast.

• Action:  Use Yodlee.com to track your spending for 30-60 days.  Review all transactions for the first 30 days then use the second thirty days to make adjustments.  Open an ING Direct account for savings not easily accessed and use a Paypal debit card or separate bank card to keep “play money” separate from bills.

Also review each of your monthly bills and determine where you can cut back.  This includes: 

• Electricity:  Lights off if no one is in a room.  Plug out appliances overnight and during the day when you aren’t home.  Check windows for energy efficiency. 
• Gas:  Cook weekly meals on Sunday to avoid more usage in the week.  Also, plan errands instead of making multiple trips during the week. 
• Insurance: Do you really drive that much in a recession?  Live near public transportation?  Use it and tell the insurance to reduce your mileage for the year which in turn reduces your monthly premium.   You save on gas and insurance
• Credit Cards:  Call your bank or credit union and try to secure a personal loan to consolidate your debts if the personal loan rate is lower than your current credit card interest rates.  Once secured, pay off the debts, and you now have one lower monthly payment.

Understand Your Weak Points

What’s the saying?  Squeaky wheel gets the most grease?  Well, the same thing applies here.  My weaknesses are beauty products gadgets.  Right now I am eyeing a very expensive WIFI Sony Cybershot camera but know that I don’t absolutely need it right now, but photography is a hobby of mine.  Still, it can wait till Christmas or until Ive made all of my financial goals for the year.

• Action:  Look over your Yodlee 30-60 day transaction charts.  Where are you the weakest?  Lunch?  Dining out too much?  Too many trips to the grocery store or the mall?  Where are you weakest in your finances? Address those immediately and watch how much you can save which pushes you even farther towards your goals.

Protect Yourself: Set up Life Insurance and Stack 8 Months In An Emergency Fund

What happens to your loved ones if you’re no longer here?  If you lose your job tomorrow are you prepared to support yourself until your next job?  Suze Orman recommends stacking an 8 month emergency fund before paying down debt.  

In the event of the unthinkable, are you prepared?  I know that we can’t prepare for everything that may come our way but we can do the best we can with what we have.  An insurance policy protects you and your children in the event of your passing.  

• Action:  Please consider at the very least looking into and sitting down with a life insurance agent to discuss your options.  Term life policies cost less and provides coverage for the essentials upon your passing.

Pay Down Old Debt/Refuse New Debt

Need I say more?  Make a plan to pay down old debts and refuse to take on new ones.  If you can’t pay for it in cash then you cannot afford it.  

• Action:  Check out the Snowball Method of paying down debt and see how it can work for you.

Consider Multiple Income Streams

I hate to beat the horse to death but if you lose your job, how would you make ends meet?  Do you have a side hustle or business?  Work on making yourself immune to the recession by having a back up second source of income.  If you do-bravo!  If not, consider making a hobby profitable by turning it into a business.  The ladies of the Girls Just Wanna Have Funds Meetup.com group in DC are getting together to showcase their side hustles to inspire and motivate each other to create second streams of incomes.  In some cases, these businesses have been lucrative enough so that if laid off they did not have to seek employment. 

• Action:  Consider making a hobby profitable by turning it into a business

Tips:

• Be realistic about your goals: If you’re down to one income, pay the essentials and work out the rest with your debtors or let it work itself out.  Your survival is paramount

• Couples: Discuss Goals, adjust your spending accordingly.  Discuss new spending limits if needed due to layoff or job loss.  Be honest with each other about your financial limits and honor them.

• Families:  Discuss new financial changes with your children and help them to understand that due to current economical conditions, you may need to start tightening belts.  However, instead of taking certain luxuries away, replace them with cheap/free options as you have the discussion with your children.  This helps them understand that while they may not be able to go away on an expensive family vacation this year, a closer to home staycation may be in order.

Courtesy of VodPod

Despite the recession, some industries are still going strong, and apparently long and hard through the night if you get my drift. White collar women who once held top dollar jobs on Wall Street are now shakin it fast on easy street for a quick buck.

“You’re seeing a lot more beautiful women who are eligible to do so many other things,” said Gus Poulos, general manager of New York City’s Sin City gentleman’s club. He said he got 85 responses in just one day to a recent job posting on Craigslist.

The transition to the nightclub scene isn’t always a smooth one — from learning to dance in five-inch heels to dealing with the jeers of some customers.

For some, I know this has to be a hard decision to go from a respectable job to stripping in order to pay the bills. But here’s my issue and bear with me while a jump up on my soapbox.

This kinda thing follows you wherever you go in life. For instance, I saw the MSNBC video and I couldnt help but think how incredibly stupid the woman is who they interviewed. Here she is grinding in all her glory on a stripper pole and talking about how she used to work on Wall Street. Excuse me, but did she think one of her old bosses would see her on MSNBC and then phone in a favor? Come on now. Ok, so you have to do what you have to do but must you plaster your face all over TV? Just saying, handle your business but don’t make it harder to jump back into mainstream American when you’re busy telling millions of people that you’re a stripper, formerly working on Wall Street.

Still there are more substantive concerns:

• Safety
• Emotional well being: No matter how many strippers/hookers tell you they like it, they don’t and never will. It all catches up to them some day.
• Objectification of women: No I dont think this is about women being independent, I think this is the same crap that we scream about when our bosses make sexual advances yet we want to have the feminist freedom to shake it fast AND get respect at work. Pick a side and stick with it. Either we work hard and sacrifice for what we want in life or we go down easy street and risk our dignity. The former is more appealing to me and I’d rather be on welfare and live in a shelter working my way back before stripping away the last bit of self respect I have.
• Unwittingly carving out a future for themselves based on current perceptions: Once a stripper, always a stripper, at least in the minds of those who get the opportunity to see them in all their nude stiletto glory. Who wants to hire a stripper to be the face of their company.

While this sort of thing may be appealing because of the fast money, there are long-term consequences that should be considered. Sallie, Visa and Bank of America can wait, but your dignity won’t.

Question: Should feminists applaud them for making ends meet on their own, or attack them for feeding into sexist stereotyping?

This is a guest post by Rebecca Brown via DivineCaroline.com

This is a guest post by wowOwow, via Divine Caroline.com

There’s been heavy talk recently around “walking away from foreclosures” and the devastating effect it’s having on banks and homeowners.  Jingle mail occurs when the borrower drops the keys in the mail and sends them back to the bank as final step in walking away from their home due to a rising mortgage and hard economic times all around.   But one thing we bet you hadn’t considered is that depending on the state, the lender may or may not have recourse or legal ability to seek the balance from you upon foreclosure in the form of a deficiency judgment.

Some states are non-recourse, which means they aren’t able to pursue a deficiency judgment against the borrower, most notable, the homes in California are non-recourse for purchase money mortgages.

Before walking away from your home consider ALL of your options:

• Short sale: Call your lender to find out whether or not this is an option for you.
• Loan modification: A loan modification can reduce your interest rate thereby changing your monthly payments to reflect one inline with your budget
• Loan extension This option allows the bank to place your payments on hold for a period of time and the balance that is unpaid is put towards the end of your loan to be paid in a balloon payment at the end of the term.  But this may not be available through all lenders.
• Principal write down The bank will refinance your loan down to the current market value, giving homeowners some equity back in their homes and more reason to stay put as most homeowners are disenchanted by the negative equity and perception of their largest investment being worth nothing or very little to them.

The above mentioned options can be pursued through your lender or better yet through housing non profit organizations like NACA and ACORN.

If the above options aren’t available to you for one reason or another you may be thinking about walking away from your home altogether.  Before you mail the keys, consider the following consequences:

Payment

You may be on the hook for the balance of what is owed after your home goes into foreclosure depending on your state and it’s laws around lender recourse.   The lender may seek a deficiency judgment where you either pay it off or let it charge off on your credit report which leads to severe damage to your credit standing.

Taxes

You may also be taxed on the amount forgiven or the balance owed in either situation.  The tax rate can range from 10-35% depending on your income.  The IRS treats the discharge of the debt as income or it is listed as “discharge of indebtedness income” on your tax bill.  So while losing your home is bad enough, just wait until you get the tax bill.

Now that you have more information, let’s take a look at how the situations are treated depending on whether or not you live in a recourse or non-recourse state.  Take note of your state’s laws, the bank’s ability to see a deficiency judgment and, if so, then consider your tax liabilities.  The IRS is far more tenacious in its collection of taxes owed so please consider the penalties and consequences of walking away from your home.

The following is a list linking to all the states and their respective laws and information around bank recourse:

If you live in a state that permits recourse then you are liable for the balance owed.  If the sale did not yield enough proceeds to cover the balance then you, the borrower must pay the difference which includes the interest that accrues during the process of foreclosure.

For example, if you have a home that is worth $600,000 and you have a $675,000 loan, in a recourse state, the bank has legal standing to go after the borrower for the balance and the IRS will send you a tax bill for the taxes owed on the $75,000 as this is treated as income.  The lender is required to send you a 1099 detailing the forgiveness of the debt of which a copy is also forwarded to the IRS.

If your loan is non-recourse then it is secured by the loan collateral.  If the sale of your home in foreclosure does not cover the balance on the loan then your lender has no legal standing on which to pursue the remaining or outstanding balance.  Therefore if you have a home that is worth $600,000 and you have a $675,000 loan, in a non-recourse state, the bank may not pursue the remaining $75,000.

Keep in mind that you could end up owing capital gains taxes if your loan is non-recourse.  You are reading correctly: the bank is selling the house, you are not, still the IRS treats this transaction as if you are selling the home.

Straight talk from the IRS:

Publication 544:

“If you do not make payments you owe on a loan secured by property, the lender may foreclose on the loan or repossess the property. The foreclosure or repossession is treated as a sale or exchange from which you may realize gain or loss. This is true even if you voluntarily return the property to the lender. … You figure and report gain or loss from a foreclosure or repossession in the same way as gain or loss from a sale or exchange. The gain or loss is the difference between your adjusted basis in the transferred property and the amount realized.”

There you have it.  Straight from the IRS.  Please consider all your options before walking away from a home you worked hard to obtain.  Foreclosure can have devastating consequences not only financially but psychologically as well.  Please be sure to talk to your lender, CPA and Realtor to gain an understanding of the options available to you.

*Whispers* But if you decide to walk away because it’s just a devalued money pit, that’s alright with me, but you didnt read that here.

Question:  Would you consider Jingle Mail if you lived in a non-recourse state?

I don’t have to tell you that food prices have been on the rise right?  I’d be preaching to the choir so rather than go into a long diatribe about my grocery bill, I thought it best to discuss how to plan your menu around weekly supermarket sales.

First, when planning your menus around supermarket sale, you should consider menu planning and keeping your pantry stocked with basic kitchen pantry items.  Both save you valuable time and money in this area.

Menu Planning

Menu planning allows you to plan your menu for the week, every two weeks, month or for some ambitious gals I know the season and even the year.  This enables you to plan ahead for your grocery list and saves you from multiple trips to the supermarket.  This way you shop ahead, prepare the meats perhaps the night before and catch certain recipe items on sale before you’re due to make a certain meal.

Here’s what my old menu looks like:

Shopping list of staple ingredients for a well-stocked kitchen.

Baking
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Brown sugar
Condensed Milk
Corn meal
Corn starch
Evaporated Milk
Vanilla
White Sugar
Yeast

Herbs & Spices
Black pepper
Chicken bouillon cubes
Cilantro
Cinnamon
Crushed garlic
Garlic powder
Green seasoning (found in the international aisle of grocery store)
Nutmeg
Oregano
Onion powder
Sea salt
Seasoned Chicken Breader by House Autry

Oils, Stocks, Condiments

Mayonaise
Beef stock
Chicken broth
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Red wine
Soy sauce

Tomato sauce
Vegetable oil
Vinegar
White wine
Worcestershire sauce

Miscellaneous
Cream of mushroom/celery/chicken soup (canned)
Pasta
Rice/Couscous

Menu Planning Around Supermarket Sales

Tips:

• Plan your menu, preferably for a month or so ahead, this way when you see sale items you can buy them before a meal is due or even switch it out to prepare it early if a perishable item is on sale such as bell peppers.
• Check for sales online, then check your menu to see which recipes call for a particular sale item.  I recommend keeping your menu on your computer and printing them weekly due to changes you may make due to changing weekly sale items.
• Consider adding one pot meals to the mix, as this is another time saver.  Here are a few from iVillage.com:

Chicken Provencale
• Cuban Chicken and Yellow Rice
• Emerilized Tuna Casserole
• Louisiana Gumbo
• Pot Roast and Winter Vegetables
• Yummy Vegetarian Pot Pie
• Hearty Minestrone with Pesto
• Greek Chicken with Onions, Oregano, Olives and Feta
• Strata with Goat Cheese, Tomatoes and Herbs
•Tuscan White Beans with Sausage and Sage

When planning your menu, consider the basics, meat + starch + vegetables = Balanced meal

Meats: Chicken, beef, turkey, fish and meatkind or tofu for our vegetarian readers.

Starches: Rice, Potato, Sweet Potato, Pasta, Yams, Dinner Rolls/Bread etc

Vegetables: Lettuce, Spinach, Broccoli, Bell Peppers, Green Beans, Sweet Peas, Squash, Pumpkin etc

Tonight’s Dinner Menu:  Southwest Chicken with Potato Salad, Cranberry Sauce and Salad

Looking at this week’s sale circular, I chose Shoppers as they have the best deals hands down in our area. The main items to shop for are chicken, potatoes, sweet peas, salad and eggs since I already have the Southwest Chipotle Spice from Mrs Dash which is a must have staple in our house.  Other items like salt, pepper, mayonnaise, mixed veggies and cranberry sauce are staples as well.  This is a meal that get’s recycled at least once a week so I buy what I can to last through 2-3 recipes

Here are this week’s ingredients that happened to be in the Shopper’s sale circular:

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+

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Voila!

Southwest Chipotle Chicken with Potato Salad with Cranberry Sauce with salad on the side:

This is just an example of one meal planned via the supermarket sale, think of how many more meals and snacks you can plan all while saving money.

Question:  Are you using supermarket sales to plan your weekly menu?  Do you find it useful?  If not, tell us why in the comments.  What other food saving tips can you share with us?

At first glance, I thought women fairing better than men in the recession is because we are naturally more resourceful and flexible in our careers but I was wrong. It seems that the recession is hitting men harder because male dominated jobs such as construction and manufacturing are on the chopping blocks while women continue to do well in stable industries such as education, and health care.

This Yahoo article points out:

From last November through this April, American women aged 20 and up gained nearly 300,000 jobs, according to the household survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). At the same time, American men lost nearly 700,000 jobs. You might even say American men are in recession, and American women are not.

Manufacturing is over 70% male and construction is about 88% male. Meanwhile the growing education and health services sector is 77% female. The government sector, which has remained strong, is 57% female. The securities business, which is filled with high-paying jobs, is likely to be the next sector to get whacked — and more than 60% of its workers are men.

Interesting.

While I’m happy we’re doing well in the recession, many of us are married, attached or related to the men in these articles so this isn’t by any means good news for us. We’re feeling the pinch in areas such as rising gas prices, clothing, groceries while taking are of the home. But, there’s still some good news for us, women are graduating from college at rates higher than men and we fair better because we tend to be in positions where we use our “sensitivity, intuition, and a willingness to collaborate” which is only to our benefit. Men on the other hand tend do better in “the hierarchies, following orders and relying on positional power,” says Andy Hines, a futurist at the Washington (D.C.) consulting firm Social Technologies.

However, while women continue to make gains in increasing salaries, there is still a gap in this area. So while we are landing more jobs than men, we aren’t necessarily being paid better than men. Before you berate me in the comments, I seek equally for the sexes, not female domination, although that would be nice

The article also points out differences in how men and women handle job loss which make it harder for men to get back on track once given the pink slip. As the article notes, to go from a $20-$30/hour union job to working at Walmart can be a huge blow to the ego. I can certainly understand this as men tend to value themselves based on their salaries and ability to “bring home the bacon”.

 Read more:

• Taking a Toll:  The Effects of Recession On Women
•  Women More Realistic than Men over Effects of Recession
•  Men Are in Recession, Women Apparently Not – Housing Tracker
• New Report: Recession Taking A Toll On Women
• Slumping economy: It’s a guy thing
• Recession By Gender 

What say you? Does this ring true for any of you? Women, are you experiencing any fears of job loss? Men, do you find that you or your male counterparts are losing more jobs? How are you faring in these hard economic times?