Not long ago, Mint.com received a great mention by Kevin Tofel on his site, jkOnTheRun. His article “8 Mobile Tech Tools And Tips For A Tough Economy” suggests ways that can give us a leg up during these challenging economic times. Check out these online tools and tips to help you become more organized and efficient in our increasingly connected world.

Having my father get laid off from his state government job a few weeks back has kept me busy. He’s not what I’d call tech-savvy, although he’s learning along the way. So I’ve spent quite a bit of time with him over the last two weeks: setting him up with one of our extra notebook computers, getting fast Internet service, and sorting out plans for the future. It hit me that right now there’s quite a number of folks in the same boat as the economy has been in a slump for the past eight months or so. Long time readers and fellow geeks can probably bypass the rest of this post, but I’ve gathered some mobile tech tools and tips for the more mainstream consumers in our audience. All of these are the direct result of helping my Dad get organized and empowered…

1. Never, never, never rely solely on a work e-mail address.

The few online accounts that my father had used his work e-mail address for credentials. As a result, when he couldn’t remember passwords for his stock portfolio, online bills and work pension website, all he could do was attempt to reset the password. Sounds great in theory, but the password reset instructions were sent to his work e-mail address, which of course, he no longer has access to. As a rule of thumb: unless you have to use a work e-mail address for a website (like your company’s internal 401k site, for example), always use a personal e-mail address. This way, if you lose access to the work-specific e-mail, you can still access your accounts.

2. Set up a personal e-mail account with a professional-looking address.

This is the obvious follow-up to the above rule and there are plenty of options. I set my father up with a free Gmail account, but you can go with Yahoo!, Hotmail or a number of other free e-mail providers. I recommend one that offers web-based access so you can read or send e-mail from any computer. Also: you’ll likely use that e-mail address for a long time to come, so keep it relatively professional looking. I’ve interviewed many folks for corporate jobs and the ones that had an e-mail address like “hotmama_36D@yahoo.com” went to the bottom of the pile. Your e-mail address is your personal brand, so keep it professional and simple.

3. Own a personal computer, preferably a notebook.

My father had an old clunker of a desktop that he wanted me to set up. It was so bad that it simply wasn’t worth using, so I re-imaged a two-year old notebook we had here and he’s using that. Using a notebook over a desktop gives you the advantage of being mobile; something you’re likely to be more of if you’re looking for a job. You don’t want to be unproductive while sitting around between job interviews or networking appointments. You also don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to get a notebook; there are many capable devices in the $200 to $600 range like the Asus Eee PC and HP Mini. Ideally, you need something where you can comfortably work on your resume, pay your bills, manage your money, search for a job and stay in touch with people. If an inexpensive notebook looks too small, add an inexpensive keyboard and mouse. My father has only used desktops, so an external mouse and keyboard helped him overcome his “fear” of notebooks.

4. Get connected.

My father had no Internet service when he lost his job and in the past, he’s been a dial-up user. We opted to set him up with FiOS at $40 a month. He could have gone completely mobile with a wireless broadband connection like I have, but we didn’t want a two-year commitment and the price was 50% higher. Still you need some type of connectivity. In the past few weeks, he’s been amazed by how much information he has access to with an Internet connection. Most of us take it for granted, but here’s an example of how “in the dark” he was. He actually made a long distance call to a former co-worker to find out what town a certain school district was in. Of course, I had the information on my screen using Google before the person he called could find the info in their Rolodex.

5. Find free hotspots.

In a tough economy, you’re watching your money, so if step four is too expensive, why not use free WiFi access near you? Check your local library and coffee shops as many offer Internet access at no charge. Also consider a WiFi access plan like one from Boingo: for $22 a month or roughly half of a home Internet service, you can use WiFi at nearly every McDonald’s, Starbuck’s and major airport. This is another reason I suggest owning a notebook rather than a desktop. If you do have Internet access, even for a short time, consider bookmarking JiWire’s WiFi directory to help you locate hotspots.

6. Store information online.

Some folks will rightfully argue that keeping sensitive data with a web service is a no-no, but there are safe options. Storing key info online like a resume provides you access to that information at practically any computer in the world. If that notebook battery dies in the coffee shop just before you sent off your resume to a promising job opportunity, you can still access it on any other PC. This ties in with the web-based e-mail tip above as well. Services like Box.net and Microsoft Windows Live SkyDrive offer more than ample storage for free.

7. Set up job agents.

I keep telling my Dad that you have to use the computer as a tool. Now that he has an e-mail address, I’ve suggested he go to some of the bigger employment websites like Monster and CareerBuilder. Most sites like this let you create a profile with your skill-set or a type of job you’re looking for. By providing that professional-looking e-mail address to these sites, they’ll do the job search work for you by sending you new job postings that match what you’re looking for. Why look through pages and pages of job listings when computers can do that for you? That frees up your time to focus on other challenges.

8. Manage your money online.

I don’t just mean bill-paying here (that’s a given), I mean for you to truly manage your money. If you’re in a tight spot financially, don’t you want to know where every penny is going? Consider a free money management service like Mint. Once you get set up, you don’t even need to enter in your transactions as Mint will put them from your financial institutions automatically. Then Mint has the data to show your spending trends so you can determine where your money is going. You can also budget your funds with spending limits in Mint; the service will send you e-mail reminders when your funds hit a specified limit or if your spending exceeds the target you set up.

These are just a few of the lessons Dad has learned so far. Again, regular readers have their finger on the pulse of mobile tech, but it’s evident to me that we’re in the minority. Please don’t hesitate to add more tools, tips and tricks for those that are new to our world!

 
Related Mint Tips:

Financial Budgeting Software
Free Budget Software
Budget Tracking
Budget Help

Lily from The Honest Dollar brings us the following timely post for the tax season. Lily is a former investment banker and newcomer to the personal finance blogosphere, who shares with us her thoughts on the economy, investing, credit, insurance, savings and retirement through her blog.

There are tax scam emails going around the web this month that you should be aware of. After all, most of us are about to write a big enough check as it is next week. Don’t compound the cash drain by falling prey to some web-based con artist.

Some context first: As we have become more comfortable with online financial planning, identity thieves have become bolder in trying to use the internet to phish for personal financial information. It’s important that you know the steps to take to protect your finances and identity online. The service sponsoring this blog, Mint.com, was specifically designed to apply the convenience and power of the internet to the task of money management…while maintaining your anonymity. You can read more about how Mint keeps you safe and how they recommend you protect your identity online.

Some examples of 3 common tax scams circulating today:

• Get your Tax Rebate Now!!! – Identity thieves claiming to be IRS employees ask you for personal finance information (including bank account numbers) in order to send you a tax rebate.
• Big Refund by eMail!!! - You receive an email promising you $X in a tax refund. To claim the refund, you have to follow a link and enter your personal finance information.
• Bad News…You’re being Audited!!! - Scammers send an email informing you that you’re the subject of an IRS audit. The email contains links to forms that collect personal information.

Warning Signs

None of these scams are new. Scammers used a rebate as bait when Congress passed the Advance Child Tax Credit in 2003. Phishers have also been masquerading as banks for a while. Even web-savvy people have been fooled. It’s a short leap from pretending to be a bank to pretending to be the IRS. As you work on your online financial planning tasks, you’ll need to be vigilant about the possibility of fraud.

It’s good news that tax scams are especially obvious. An email or phone call from “the IRS” should not be the first sign that you’ll be getting a rebate. In fact, the IRS never contacts people by phone or email. Hang up if a caller says he or she is with the IRS. Report any emails from the “IRS” as spam, and then delete them.

Protect Yourself

Check the IRS page on e-mail scams, which is regularly updated with new tax scams to watch out for. For broader scams (not tax-focused), check out the FBI e-scams warnings. When it comes to online fraud, knowledge really is power.

Further Reading:
Financial Planner
Online Finance Software
Personal Finance Advice
Online Finance
Online Personal Finance

This guest post is by Ginger, a late 20’s fashionista, wife and graduate student who strives to have it all while keeping watch over her personal budget. She is the blogger behind “Girls Just Wanna Have Funds”, a blog dedicated to the woman that wants to take charge of her personal finances. Just like Ginger, we here at Mint.com value budgeting, investing and frugality.

Admit it. Being frugal isn’t something that you look forward to; after all it means that you’ll be giving up or cutting back on some or all of your favorite activities. But what if you found a way to cut back without giving up those things completely?

What if you found a way to actually get a hold of the things you enjoy without spending a fortune?

To prove that this can be done, I’ve compiled some money saving tips and a comprehensive list of cheap alternatives to the “must haves” in our lives.

Shopping

There are a number of web sites out there that can help you stay fashionable for less! These are but a few of my favorites:

• Fashion under $100
• Frugal Fashionista
• Frugalicious
• The Budget Fashionista

Also, check out this list of stores from Fashion Under $100. These stores provide trendy options without breaking the bank:

• Go Jane!
• Goody’s
• Hot Couture
• In My Shoebox
• Kohl’s
• La Redoute
• Lady Language
• Love My Shoes
• Lulu’s Fashion Lounge
• Mandee
• Mango
• Metrostyle
• Newport News
• Old Navy
• Onatoko
• Rampage
• Reitman’s
• Shop Lush
• Smart Bargains

Money Saving Tip: Check out annual and semi-annual sales and buy clothes at certain times of the year. For example, after Christmas or New Year and at the end of every season, many department stores seek to unload their inventory, allowing consumers to benefit from the deep discounts.

Entertainment

If you’re always on the go and never at home to watch your favorite television shows, dump the Tivo and your cable company and plug in to iTunes instead. iTunes allows you to watch your favorite shows online for a small fee, $1.99. For example, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and Boston Legal can be bought per episode for $1.99, or $24 per month. What’s great is that you get to watch them sans commercials and on your own time. Apple also now offers movie rentals for $2.99 – $3.99, and HD for a dollar more.

If this doesn’t work for you then hang out at a friend’s house, go to your local sports bar, or join a meetup.com group that gets together to hang out and watch popular network shows. This option really appeals to me as I seek ways to enjoy entertainment while maintaining a flexible schedule so that I can live more productively. This is just one way I’ve been able to keep within my personal budget.

Money Saving Tip: Most major network shows can be watched for FREE on their respective channels such as ABC, NBC and the like. Remember that you don’t need to pay hefty cable fees to catch good shows or movies on television.

Automobile

One thing I love about living in a major metropolitan area is that we have so many options for getting around town. Think of the money you can save without owning a car: car payments, insurance, gas and maintenance – all of which can be costly! Zip Car is an option for those of us who only need to use a car on occasion. Zip Car rates start at $50 per month for the extra value plan, and $9/hr or $66/day for occasional driving.

Here’s a map with their current locations:

This way you’re able to have the convenience of a car without the monetary commitment. The access fees pay for gas, parking and insurance! You can’t beat that!

Other options include biking to work, using public transportation and carpooling. The latter brings to mind an awesome service facilitated by Erideshare.com. Use the site to connect with others who are carpooling in your area. From the website: “you’ll find this service a good way to commute or travel inexpensively, and maybe even make a few friends.” If you’re new in town and looking to save money, this is a great option.

Now if you must have a car, then either buy it used or check out Beater Cars, which is another kind of used car becoming popular amongst the frugal. Why? According to Beater Review, buying new is for suckers! With a new car depreciating 20%-30% in the first year it makes perfect sense. This saves you extra money on insurance, and in most cases you won’t even have a car payment.

Money Saving Tip: Make the best choice for you and your situation. If you don’t live in a city or have Zip Car within reach, then buying an inexpensive or used car, or deciding to carpool should help you save money.

Eating Out

Cutting back on dining out takes discipline. How about these frugal alternatives?

Potluck with friends

• This is a great way to hang out with friends and try out new dishes. Keep leftovers for work or dinner the next day.
• Save money by cooking in bulk and using it for lunch and dinners during the week. Or be creative by turning leftovers into “planned-overs”.

Make your favorite restaurant meal at home

• Instead of buying drinks or food at restaurants, why not find the recipes for your favorite restaurant dishes then make them from scratch at home?

Money Saving Tip: Check out this great article from J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly, who has additional great money saving tips on how to save while eating out.

What do you think of these alternatives? Which ones do you employ in your own quest for frugality? What is the impact of these choices on your personal budget?

Catherine from Frugal Homemaker Plus is a homemaker and freelance writer with a mortgage and a few student loans she’d like to retire by 2012. This post describes how she practices frugality, and exemplifies one of our core philosophies here at Mint.com: spend less than you earn.

Taking a lunch to work does take a little time, but the savings are astronomical over time. For people trying to cut costs, save money for a larger goal, or reduce debt, packing a lunch is an easy way to cut costs and improve your bottom line. But I’ve heard a good number of people claim that this was something they just couldn’t do, for a variety of reasons.

Here are some of the common things I hear when people say that they can’t possibly pack a lunch:

Excuse: I don’t have time in the mornings!

Neither do I. I would never pack a lunch if I had to do it in the morning. I pack my lunch in the evenings, when we’re cleaning up after dinner. Since my husband and I almost always pack dinner leftovers for our lunch the following day, we simply prepare individual servings as we’re cleaning up the kitchen. I keep around quick-to-grab stuff (bought on super sale, of course!). We often take fruit snacks, dried fruit, crackers, yogurt, cheese sticks, real fruit, and cut up veggies as sides. For drinks, we settle for water from the office cooler. But if instead you prefer soda or juice, then pick it up from the store where it’s cheaper to get than from the office vending machine.

Excuse: My workplace does not have a microwave or fridge.

You can always take wonderful meals to work! Sandwiches are quick and easy. If you hate soggy sandwiches, then pack each individual ingredient separately and assemble your meal at lunch time. Not only are salads healthy but they are also convenient and do not require microwaving. Cold soups also make for refreshing lunchtime treats. My favorite quiche tastes wonderful at room temperature.

What about those cold packs you stick in the freezer to cool your lunch? Well, you don’t even need those. A reusable water bottle filled most of the way up and kept frozen makes a good ice pack, and as a bonus, turns into cold water to drink with your lunch. I’ve heard of people doing this with juice boxes as well.

Excuse: My job requires me to drive and I’d rather not eat in the car.

I’ve been there. I once had a job as a maid for a cleaning service. We cleaned several homes during the day, and our company policy did not include a “lunch break” in the traditional sense. My employers considered the time we spent driving between houses as our break, so I had to pack something that would survive in a hot car that I could eat while driving. We weren’t even permitted to get a drink of water while at a client’s house, so I would leave my house every day with the following: several large bottles of water, most of which were still frozen from the freezer; an igloo cooler type lunch box, and assorted food items cut into bite sized pieces. The frozen water would preserve my lunch and would quench my thirst throughout the day. I would make and cut PBJ sandwiches into four triangles, cut apples into bite sized pieces, cut up cubes of cheese – these were all easy to eat while driving and were easy to snack off throughout the day. Most of my coworkers did not bring lunch so we’d pop in at a drive through, or stop briefly at a gas station. My lunch was much cheaper and healthier than theirs, for sure!

In grad school, I had a microwave but often had a schedule that did not allow for a leisurely lunch. One semester I had to eat while walking between classes — not fun! Again, the solution was to opt for food in bite-sized pieces and ready-to-sip cups of soup.

Excuse: I have to eat lunch out everyday because I need to network and get ahead with my career!

I had a roommate who did this and was slowly going broke, so as a solution, he’s decided only to lunch out on Wednesdays. He and several of his work friends call it the Wednesday Lunch Club and take turns trying to find an interesting hole in the wall restaurant to dine at. This was an interesting compromise! I’d also suggest bringing in some healthy snacks to eat throughout the day, so that when it’s time to go out and network, you can settle for a more affordable and lighter lunch, such as a soup or salad.

Excuse: I just don’t like packing lunches.

There are days when I don’t like to pack a lunch either. When this happens, I pull out a trusty frozen meal, like Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice frozen meals. This was something I didn’t do in the past because the meals were expensive and I try to avoid processed food. However, I came to realize that this was a much easier, cheaper, and healthier option than ordering a Value Meal at a fast food joint. If you watch out for coupons and sales, you can get these frozen meals for about a dollar each.

Packing a lunch does not have to be inconvenient or costly. It may take a bit of preparation at first, but you’ll soon get the hang of it! And the savings will almost certainly be worth it!

We decided to run some numbers to quantify these potential savings…and we came up with a big number: $1,000 to $1,500 per year. Surprised? What do you save by brown bagging it? What other tips would you like to share on how to save in the workplace?

Personal finance is something that we care about here at Mint. Learn more with great personal finance tips in our blog article index.

We came across this blog post by David at MyTwoDollars right about the time we were launching our new SpendSpace feature last month. SpendSpace allows you to compare your spending, in any category, to city, state and national averages. Check it out (it’s located at the bottom of your Spending Trends page)… but be forewarned that it’s highly addictive.

As we were designing this feature, we gave a lot of thought to whether or not we should all be apsiring to “keep up with the Joneses”. David’s take on this was insightful, and we wanted to share it with you.

Everyone has heard the expression “Keeping up with the Joneses”. In fact, I have used it on MyTwoDollars quite a few times. But I started giving it some thought and I started to realize that most of us, on purpose or on accident, try to keep up with the Joneses we see on television and in magazines, and not the real Joneses that are living next door to us.

The reason I think that is because if we truly had an inside look into our neighbors affairs, we would see that they are probably just like us… they probably own the same kind of cars, the same kind of appliances, they have done the same kind of remodeling that we would do. After all, they live in our neighborhood, so they are probably very similar to us. So when we feel like we don’t have as much as our neighbors or we need newer stuff to feel more accepted by society, I think we are judging our lives by the fake ones we see on our favorite television shows and not by the reality surrounding us.

Look around your block or neighborhood; is everyone else driving a BMW while you are driving a Toyota Yaris? Does everyone else have a much nicer house than you do? Do they get to take more vacations than you? Chances are, they aren’t and they don’t. They are making things work just like you are, and some of them might have a few more things than you do, and some of them might not. But really, they are probably very similar.

I think this is important to keep in mind as we are inundated with advertising proclaiming to deliver the good life if only we bought that new Mercedes, took this new drug, bought that new house in the hills. The people on TV look and act different than we do because they are different than we are…they are actors, on a television show or in an ad, trying to either entertain you and/or sell you something. Truthfully we don’t need a new washer and dryer if our existing one still works fine. But I guarantee they can make you think you need a new one because of how white their shirts are! The Joneses you might be trying to keep up with are not real Joneses, because those real Joneses are just like you.

Just something to give some thought to before you feel like people have better stuff than you, more stuff than you, are more successful than you. Take a minute to check out your true surroundings, and not the fake ones created on television. I think you will find that most everyone around is just like you, and there is no one you need to be keeping up with. It’s never a good idea to try to keep up with people anyway; it’s much more important to carve your own way, make up your own mind as to what is important in life and not let others dictate what you should or should not be doing. But it’s especially important to not let advertising or television fool you into a false sense of what you aren’t or what you should be.

You can see more of David’s writing on personal finance topics on his blog at MyTwoDollars.com.