We have gotten a few calls since we put my car up for sale. The most interesting was one that kept text messaging us asking questions that were already answered in the ad. The final question was if we would accept $8,000 more than the asking price and send them a check for the difference. Seriously?
My husband researched it and found that it is a typical scam the con artists try to pull on people selling a car. They never take possession of the car and you never get the money they offer, but they get away with your money.
My favorite article of the week
Play the Annual Invest Lazy Man’s Money Game.
Want to invest someone else’s money? You can! He is letting readers invest his Roth IRA contribution. I love to invest other people’s money!
Saving Money on Food
How I managed to spend almost $9000 on lunch this year at Brip Blap.
Looking at the cost of eating out versus bringing your own lunch and investing the difference and the money really adds up!
Coupon Tips and Tricks That Can Cut Your Grocery Bill By 80%
Tips to combine loss leaders with coupons, stock up when things are on sale, and donate the extras to charity.
Frugal Recipe: Beef Stew at Million Dollar Journey.
Kids
Lots of great articles about kids and money this week:
- Ten Ways You Can Teach Your Kids About Money
- Principles Parents Must Teach Their Children If They Ever Want to Get Rid of Them!
- Morningstar’s Best and Worst 529 College Savings Plans
Other articles I enjoyed:
- Saving Money, Saving Fuel, Saving The Environment at The Good Human
- 12 Household Uses for Used Plastic Containers at Frugal Dad
- Microloans Make A Difference For Those Living In Poverty at My Super-Charged Life
- Think Your Mutual Fund Fees Are High? at The Wisdom Journal
- Thank You, Yahoo!, for Perpetuating the Use of Home Equity as Cash at Generation X Finance
Carnivals
- 149th Carnival of Personal Finance
- Carnival of Money Stories included What I Learned About Taxes This Year…
- Money Hackers Carnival featured Do You Back Up Your Financial Data? as an Editor Pick!
Related Articles
Thanks for the mention. Glad you enjoyed the “12 Household Uses for Used Plastic Containers” article.
And thanks for including the Morningstar 529 ranking. We haven’t been too happy with our state’s plan and may be shopping around soon. This is a great guide!
Frugal DadApril 23rd, 2008 at 8:56 am
@ Frugal Dad: Be sure to check out the Ohio plan. It didn’t make the morningstar list, but it is terrific! Low expense Vanguard index funds. What more could someone ask for?
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:30 am
If you still have the text messages from the scammer, you should report the attempted scam to local authorities. They might not care, but they will likely have a ciber crimes unit interested in the information.
FlaimeApril 23rd, 2008 at 9:33 am
@ Flaime: Really? I didn’t even think of that. I’ll check with my husband to see if he saved it. I would feel horrible if someone else actually fell for it and lost money.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:39 am