There seems to be a definite lack of good news when it comes to the economy, jobs, and recovery. Are there Web 2.0 tools that can ease some of the pain? 

 

Learn 

What's Going On?

This 4 minute video explains the 2008 financial crisis. Made by Say It Visually.

Good Magazine explains how our economy works and how we got where we are today in this chart .

FinancialStability.gov focuses on the President's Financial Stability Plan that addresses the credit crisis.

 

What To do?

 

First the education tools.

 

MyMoney.Gov (US Financial Literacy and Education Commission)

MyMoney.gov is the U.S. government's website dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics about financial education. Whether you are planning to buy a home, balancing your checkbook, or investing in your 401k, the resources on MyMoney.gov can help you do it better. Throughout the site, you will find important information from 20 federal agencies government wide.

National Endowment for Financial Education 

The mission of the National Endowment for Financial Education is to help individual Americans acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to take control of their financial destiny. NEFE’s mission is grounded in the belief that regardless of background or income level, financially informed individuals are better able to:

• Take control of their circumstances, 
• Improve their quality of life, and 
• Ensure a stable future for themselves and their families.

 

Banking 2.0

Fine Print: We are not responsible for anything but telling you about these sites. You make the decision to use them.

 

Many banks offer online access and management for their customers. Several Web 2.0 tools that offer more ways to manage your money have popped up recently. Managing your money in the cloud has several advantages--convenience, access from wherever you are, less paper, etc. It is understandable tha being in the cloud with money makes many people uneasy. ReadWriteWeb discusses online money management services here. The top sites:

Mint.com--With Mint you can manage your bank account, credit card accounts, loans, brokerage and investment accounts, and more. The site also provides guides that can help you make big financial decisions like buying a new car or home. A unique feature with Mint is its ability to scan through your bank account and credit card transactions in order to help you find savings. They do this by matching you up with offers for new credit cards with lower rates or by negotiating a lower rate with your current company.

ClearCheckbook--A free ClearCheckbook account will give you the ability to balance your checkbook, create budgets, view reports of your spending, create reminders and recurring transactions, plus many many more features. To see some of these features and tools in action, check out the tour page.

WhatBills.com--Don't pay late fees.  WhatBills.com will help you get your bills organized; it will give you a six month history, and send you an email to remind you of when a bill is due.

 Thrive is aimed at the 20-30s set to get them off to a good start with money management.

Need more recommendations or reviews? These two list cover many more sites for money management:

• WallStreetFighter
• Online Finance Sites from Mashable

 

Ways to Save

Feed the Pig-If you can stand Benjamin the Talking Pig, there are some useful tools here to calculate your savings if you "break a spending habit."

 

Driving

FuelEconomy.gov from the US Dept of Energy offers gas mileage (MPG), greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution ratings, and safety information for new and used cars and truck. Find mileage tips, gas prices, and more.

Erideshare- Find van pool ,car pool, ride share options in Minnesota and elsewhere.

GasBuddy-Find the lowwest gas prices in your area.

 

Cell Phones 

Evaluate various cell phone rate plans http://www.myrateplan.com/

 

General Pennypinching

Wisebread

Frugal Dad offers 75 hints

Find many frugal bloggers

 

Sell Your Stuff

If you've got old electronics to sell try these sites from Mashable.

Craigslist has outpaced the traditional classified ads as the place to buy & sell or to find an apartment, a lost pet or wallet, a date, or a job.

Freecycle lets people list stuff they don't want for people who need it to find it.

 

Shopping

Use these two Google maps/Craigslist mashups to plot your garage sale shopping.

• Weekend Treasure
• Yard Sale Treasure Map 

Thrift Store finder 

Save time and money with Lifehacker's The Savvy Shopper's Guide to This Year's Online Deal Finders

 

Coupons

Coupon shopping is even more popular. Try these sites.

RetailMeNot

FatWallet

And 20 more sites via Mashable

 

Self-Sustainability

As the White House plants a Victory Garden and encourages families to eat healthy, you can learn to be more self-sufficient atthese sites and forums.

Raising Chickens

• MadCity Chickens
• ChickiWiki 

Gardening

Victory Gardens

Minnesota Gardening

U of M Extension Gardening Information

 

 

Do

1. Explore at least one tool/site from each category in the Learn section. You don't have to go deep into the tool--look at the intro, FAQs, review the features, and try a few out. The starred ones are those we like.

2. Choose at least one of the sites/tools you explored and go deeper--set up an account and get started or go farther into the site.

 

Blog Prompts

1. Find anything use in any of these sites?
2. What was your favorite(s) site(s) and why?
3. Did you find any new sites that you'd like to share?
4. What are your favorite money management/money saving/shopping tips?