Good news for those that get tax refunds and would like to direct deposit a portion of it into your savings or retirement accounts. Until this year if you had your tax refund directly deposited, you could only do so into a single checking or savings account. The IRS announced today that starting next year, you can have your tax refund deposited into up to three different accounts:

The IRS will create a new form, Form 8888, which will give taxpayers greater control over their refunds. Form 8888 will give taxpayers a choice of selecting one, two or three accounts such as checking, savings and retirement account. Taxpayers who want all their refund deposited directly into one account can still use the appropriate line on the Form 1040 series.


This is good news for those who are better at saving when they money never goes into their general banking account.

Flash has put together another contact list for contacting companies about their brands and getting onto their newsletters. This time the list is for Sara Lee:

Ball Park Franks, Bryan, Earth Grains, Hillshire Farms, Jimmy Dean, Sara Lee, Senseo Coffee, Bali, Barely There, Champion, Playtex Bras, Wonderbra, Kiwi

A Tax Press Release today from the IRS saying that General Electric (GE) filed the nation's largest tax return by e-filing it this year:

On paper, GE’s e-filed return would have been approximately 24,000 pages long. After filing, GE received IRS’ acknowledgement of its filing in about an hour. The file was 237 MB

And I thought my tax returns were difficult...

When it comes to trying to reduce debt, there is nothing worse than being taken and finding yourself worse off than when you began to try and resolve the problem. Unfortunately, there are a lot of debt counselors out there that are a lot more interested in making a buck rather than helping those in debt out.

To avoid being taken for more money, you need to do your homework if you decide to seek help from a debt counselor. Roger Sorensen puts together a few things you can do to help make sure the debt couselor you choose is on the up and up.:

Call the Better Business Bureau
Check with the National Association of State Charities Officials
Understand your contract completely
Get all oral promises in writing
Be wary of "voluntary fees"

Taking a few steps can mean a lot less hassles down the road and make sure that the debt counselor you pick is one that is there to help you rather than their own pockets.

Wixx takes the concept of "no spend days" and shows how you can turn them into a family saving money game.

No spend days are an excellent way to figure out where all those little leaks are in your budget. They are a lot more difficult to accomplish than most people think, but just as with everything else, the more you practice, the better you get at them.

Roger Sorensen who manages Investing Page answers the following question: "Should I put it in EE bonds, the I-Bond or would the stock market be better?" over at Reduce College Costs

Another set of contact websites - this time for Playtex products courtesy of Flash. The list of brands includes:

Wet Ones, Playtex Gloves, Banana Boat, Playtex Feminine Care, Playtex Infant Care

Our sister site the Timeshare Trap has been updated with a mention of a huge timeshare scam broken up in Europe that is believed to have cost thousands of people their life savings. As I have mentioned a number of times, timeshare resort vacations are a subject that I probably receive the most mail about with people desperately trying to get out of their timeshare units. While they may seem to have appeal at first glance, take the time to thoroughly research and you'll likely find that they are not something you want to get involved with if you don't want to waste your money.

Flash has added a list of contacts for Pfizer over-the-counter products to the Grocery Coupon Guide site. The brand names include the following:

Actifed, Benadryl, Bengay, Caladryl, Corn Huskers, Cortizone, Desitin, Doxidan, Dramamine, e.p.t. Pregnancy Test, Efferdent, Effergrip, Emetrol, Fresh’n Brite, Gelusil, Hemorid, Kaopectate, Lavacol, Listerine, Listermint, Lubriderm, Luden’s, Micatin, Myadec, NasalCrom, Neosporin, Pacquin, PediaCare, Plax, Polysporin, Progaine, Proxacol, Purell, Rogaine, Rolaids, Sinutab, SudaCare, Sudafed, Tucks, Unicap, Unisom, Visine, Wart-Off, Zantac

If you grocery store doesn't accept Internet printable coupons, there still may be a way to get the savings. In some cases the printable coupon can be mailed to you through snail mail. The best part of this is that the snail mail coupon is printed on special paper that can be verified as authentic by the grocery store. You can lean more about this and how to check to see if you can get the coupons mailed to at the Grocery Coupon Guide's latest article, Internet Coupon By Mail

Another list of contact websites and emails for coupons this time for Pepsico courtesy of Flash. The brands include:

AMP, Aquafina, Lipton, Mirinda Orange, Mountain Dew, Mug Root Beer, Pepsi, Quaker Milk Chillers, Sierra Mist, SoBe, Gatorade, Propel Fitness Water, Tropicana, Quaker Oats, FritoLay (Baken-Ets, Baked! Cheetos, Chester’s, Cracker Jack, El Isleno, Doritios, Fritos, Funyuns, Gamesa, Go Snacks, Grandma’s, Lay’s, Lay’s Stax, Light, Munchies, Maui Chips, Munchos, Oh Boy! Oberto, O’Kelley’s, Rold Gold, Ruffles, Rustler’s, Sabritones, Santitas, Smartfood, SunChips, Tostitos)

Flash has put together another major manufacturer contact list for coupons this time for Novartis which includes the following brands:

Gerber, Novartis Nutrition, Boost, Boost & Benefiber, Denavir, Ex-Lax, Gas X, Lamisil AT, Maalox, Habitrol, Otrivin, Theraflu, Triaminic, Voltaren, 4-Way, Bufferin, Comtrex, Excedrin, Keri, Mineral Ice, No-Doz, Vagistat

We're missing some contacts on this page, so if you happen to know any of the missing website URLs, please email me so I can make the list more complete.

Here are a few more contact lists for manufacturers if you are seeking coupons. Of course, a big thanks goes out to Flash for getting the contacts together.

Nesltle

Purina

Nestle Waters

This is probably not something that applies to many here, but the IRS has sent out another press release (placed on our sister site), this time on Shareholder and Corporation Reporting and the changes made to make it easier. Basically, the IRS removed some outdated requirements to make it easier for corporations and shareholders to e-file their taxes.

I've always been a game player when it comes to my saving. If I can turn the saving into some type of game or competition, I can keep with a lot better in the long run. It also turns the saving from being a chore into something that is enjoyable (at least for me).

Wixx has come up with an interesting Finder's Fee Game that I think I'll incorporate into our other games. my wife and I do well at these type of games - especially if the savings go toward something like a nice dinner out.

When it comes to debt reduction, there are a variety of things that you need to do to help reduce your spending so that you can find extra money to put toward your debt. Making the effort to incorporate No Spend Days into your month can be one way to help you in reducing your debt.

While it obviously has the effect of making sure that no money is leaving your wallet that day, it will also emphasize the areas where you might be spending money without ever realizing it.

While no spend days may seem like a fairly easy activity when discussed, they are much more of a challenge to implement in real life and will show you how easy it is to part with your money without even thinking about it.

As you get better at them and succeed more often, they can truly be a benefit to your budget, debt reduction and savings. It takes effort, but even if you don't succeed at first, the process in itself should be of great benefit to your and your finances.

When it comes to gardening, there really isn't a need to purchase a lot of expensive garden tools. While a variety of garden tools can be a convenience, you can usually get by with the following basic garden tools:

A Shovel
A Hose
A Hoe

Of course, these are the bare minimum. There are other tools that you can add, but these can get you started at very little cost.

We have a new article up about the dos and don'ts about requesting coupons directly from manufacturers with some great common sense strategies that you might not have considered.

For example, "do not request the manufacturer to send coupons because your local stores will not accept internet printables" and "do not request the manufacturer to send coupons because you cannot print their coupons through an internet printable provider, such as SmartSource or Boodle"

Since coupons direct from the manufacturer are usually much more valuable than coupons you can find in your Sunday paper, following the rules will go a long way in helping you get the most from this source.

A couple of more coupon contact lists added to the Grocery Coupon Guide site:

Mars

Brands: Mars, 3 Musketeers, Combos, Cookies And, Dove Chocolate, Ethel M Chocolates, Kudos, M&Ms, Milky Way, Skittles, Snickers, Starburst, Twix, Uncle Ben’s, Flavia, Cesar, Pedigree, Sheba, Whiskas

I didn't know they made pet food...

McKee Foods

Brands: Little Debbie, Sunbelt Snacks, Heartland, Blinkz


Of course, big thanks goes out to Flash for all this information. We still have quite a few to go, but the list should be quite comprehensive once we've finished which should mean you can contact your favorite brands directly for coupons and promos.

I placed up a new article at Frugal Gardening titled Budget Garden Basics. The article highlights 5 points:

Start Small
Learn Some Basics
Don’t Be Afraid To Use Unusual Materials
Use Nature In Nature
Find Materials In Budget Friendly Places

All make good sense and a nice reminder article that gardening doesn't have to be expensive.

Thanks to the hard work of Flash, we have six more contact lists for getting coupons from major manufacturers live:

JOHNSON & JOHNSON

Brands: ACT Fluoride, Acuvue, Aveeno, Balmex, Band-Aid, Benecol, Carefree Liners, Clean and Clear, Cortaid, Imodium, Johnsons Baby, Johnsons Buddies, K-Y, Lactaid, Monistat, Motrin IB, Mylanta, Mylicon, Neutrogena, OB Tampons, Pepcid AC, Purpose Skin Care, Reach Access, Reach Fresh and Clean, Rembrandt, Roc Skin Care, Shower to Shower, Splenda, Stayfree, St. Joseph’s Aspirin, Tylenol, Viactiv

SMUCKERS

Brands: After the Fall Juices, Crisco, Cross and Blackwell, Dickinson’s, Hungry Jack, Jif, Laura Scudders, Martha White, PET Evaporated Milk, Pillsbury Baking, Knudsen Juices, Santa Cruz Organic, Smucker’s

HORMEL

Brands: Always Tender, Carapelli, Chichi’s Salsa, Diamond Crystal, DiLusso Deli, Farmer John, Lloyd’s BBQ, Jennie-O Turkey, Spam, Stagg Chili, World of Foods

HEINZ

Brands: Bagel Bites, TGIF, Wylers, SmartOnes, Catelli, Classico, Farley’s, Greenseas, Jack Daniel’s Sauce, Lea and Perrins, Ore-Ida

KIMBERLY-CLARK

Brands: Block-It, Cottonelle, Depend, GoodNites, Huggies, Kleenex, Kotex, Poise, Pull-Ups, Scott, Neat Sheet, Viva

COCA-COLA

Brands: Barq's, Coke, Diet Coke, Dannon, Dasani, Evian, Fanta, Full Throttle, Hi-C, Minute Maid, Nestea, Odwalla, Powerade, Simply Orange, Sprite, Swerve, TaB Energy

By far the most email I get from people is concerned with timeshares and how to get rid of them. I updated