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You don’t need much cash on hand to lead a good life. I’m not talking about credit cards. If you are a resident in U.S.A., you can live well without having a big salary or load of cash in the bank. Ok, you can live comfortably if you know how, and have internet access.

You can have your heating bills paid for, which would keep you warm. You can even own gorgeous designer handbags. You can dine at fancy restaurants and get paid to live the good life.

How is that possible?

By mystery shopping. You’ll find where you can do just that in the resource box. Let’s start with the really cool part about eating at fine restaurants and getting paid for it.

Basically, the company wants to check on their sales staff or service staff. Obviously, the staff would recognize the big boss or top management people if they were to show up. The management wants to know whether the sales staff or service staff are doing their work properly.

In the case of a restaurant, the management wants to know if the waiters please the customers, if the chef cooks well even when the management is not looking. So they get mystery shoppers to do these spot checks.

That means, the fancy restaurant pays you to wine and dine there, like a regular customer. The restauraunt will pay for your meal. You then feedback to the management your experience. Imagine. Getting paid to be treated like royalty. Now that’s living it up.

Besides restaurants, many service oriented companies hire mystery shoppers to keep their staff on their toes. Carpet cleaning companies could pay you to get your carpets cleaned. Pizza delivery companies pay you and give you free pizza. You get to live it up and get paid for it.

Besides mystery shopping, you can get a lot of your bills paid for by filling in surveys. These could be as simple as between 2 products, which do you prefer. Or what you like or don’t like about a product. It could be your demographic information. The company may be trying to get in touch with the likes and dislikes of their customers, or potential customers and are willing to pay your bills or give you useful gifts in return for your participation in their surveys. The company might be trying to build a customer profile for their product, or simply trying to understand the market better. At the end of the day, you benefit with free stuff and better service or products as the company makes adjustments in line with the results of the surveys.

That means you can get what you want at kmart or walmart by joining their programs and getting their gift cards. You can get $250 gift cards that can be used to by your groceries or your thanksgiving food. If you have a sweet tooth, you can get $100 worth of chocolate for free. Gas bills too high, there is even a program that lets you have free gas for a year. Fancy your own laptop? You can get yours for free too. Not from an unknown brand but the good laptop brands like IBM, Toshiba or Gateway. You can get a Tiffany bracelet, carry a Fendi bag, go for a vacation without paying a cent. While you are on vacation, you can take great photos with you new digital camera, listen to music on your new MP3 player and call home with your wireless phone, all of which you got for free.

Want to lose weight, go to the gym, with a free 1 year gym membership. Even your pet gets to eat for free with a year’s supply of pet food.

So you see, you don’t need much cash to live it up. If you spare the time to fill in some forms, you could basically live a good life… for free.

Another way you can stretch the dollar is to get what you need at discount prices. I like to go to warehouse sales or closeouts to get branded goods at below retail prices. Big sales may be crowded but if you can stand the crowds, they are well worth the trip. Some of the items could have been brought in specially for the sale to attract crowds. These would probably be the first items to sell out. You might want to go to the sale as early as possible to ensure you get the best deals before they run out.

You can also find lots of great stuff at below retail prices online. Why? For one thing, online stores do not have the high rental overheads that a real brick and mortar store would have to pay for. The savings could then be passed on to the customer in the form of discounts. Even some brick and mortar stores have web only discounts which are well worth a look at. By paying less than retail prices for your purchases, you can live it up even on a small income.

You can find free gifts and you can sign up for mystery shopping as a shadow shopper at http://www.cheapestsale.com/freebies.html That page only shows you what is available to U.S. residents though.

The writer is the webmaster of http://www.womanht.com/discounts with shopping discounts that let you stretch the dollar. That section features only the items that are sold at below retail prices.

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Every year millions of people have property damage from unexpected events. There seems to be a rise in natural disasters occurring all around us, from the western earthquakes to the southern hurricanes. Although we rarely think of the IRS and our taxes when disasters happen, it can actually be a place to find some relief from the financial burden. A casualty loss deduction can often help offset losses.

The IRS considers a casualty as the damage, destruction or loss of property resulting from a sudden, unexpected or unusual event. The casualties that we automatically think of for deduction are auto accidents, hurricanes, civil disturbances, earthquakes, explosions, fires, floods, hail, ice and snow, vandalism, winds and tornados. Other incidences will also qualify including theft from larceny, robbery and embezzlement.

Really, the thing that qualifies you for a casualty deduction is simple. The event that causes the damage or loss must be sudden and swift, not slow and progressive. If your bathroom has water damage from a slow leak between tiles, you do not have a deduction. If the pipe freezes and breaks, ruining your carpet and walls, your loss qualifies for deduction. Non-deductible losses include termites, dry rot, corrosion and rust.

The deductible amount is determined through several calculations. First, you must determine the fair market value of the property before and after the damage. This is the price for which you would be able to sell the property. Next, establish your basis in the property. This is your cost plus improvements, less any depreciation. Your loss is the lesser of the two calculations.

For example, the IRS cites the destruction of a painting worth $100,000 as a total loss. The painting was originally purchased for $1,000. The decrease in market value is $100,000 since it was completely lost. But the buyer’s basis is only $1,000. The deductible loss is limited to $1,000, because the buyer’s actual investment in the property is less than the decrease in value.

This deduction is only available if you file a timely insurance claim. If you choose not to file, you can only deduct the portion of the loss that would not have been covered by insurance.

If the area in which the property exists is declared a federal disaster by the President, you have the option of deduction the loss on the previous year’s tax return. This allows for an immediate tax benefit. Other casualties and losses are deductible only in the year the event took place.

By declaring a casualty or theft deduction, you can help minimize the financial impact of a disaster. But you must always make sure that your deduction is backed up by paperwork. Deductions can be a red flag to the IRS, so make sure that you retain information that supports your submitted loss. Keep photos of the lost or damaged items, receipts and appraisals and police reports as proof of loss.

Sometimes, we don’t know that certain deductions exist. By being informed of what is deductible, you can help your accountant give you the best return possible.

Martin Lukac, represents http://www.RateEmpire.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate/mortgage market. We specialize in daily updates, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies! Visit http://www.RateEmpire.com today.

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So if you already know that your credit is not so great, then you will be able to learn how to find a lender to fit your needs. If you don’t know how your credit is, then you need to get a copy of your credit report before you do anything else. Now, in order to get an Indiana bad credit mortgage there are a few steps you need to follow when choosing a lender.

The first step is you need to try to clean up any bad credit you might have and be able to clean up. This could include small collections that could easily be paid off or smaller credit card bills, or even larger bills that could be caught up. This will increase your chances of being able to get a mortgage when you find the right lender.

The second thing you need to do is make sure that you are not applying all over town for credit. Every time you apply for a credit card, loan, or anything else that has to do with your credit they pull a credit report. This drops your credit score. Avoid this at all cost.

The third thing you need to do is find 3-5 non conventional lenders. A non conventional lender is a lending company that is not technically a bank. Banks are much harder to get a loan through unless you have a very strong history with them. These are companies like Ameriquest, Beneficial, or American General. Those are just a few examples.

The last thing you need to do is start comparing their programs. Call them up and give them your credit score. Let them know that you don’t want to have a credit report pulled until you are sure that they can most likely help you. If they want your business they will be fine with this. Ask them to put a quote together based on the credit report that you have. Even offer to mail them a copy of it.

After you have accomplished these steps you will be well on your way to finding the right bad credit mortgage for you. These steps can greatly increase the chances of you getting the loan you need and getting a lower rate on it. Make sure to shop around enough to know that you are getting a good deal.

Start your search for a bad credit mortgage loan by comparing multiple lenders with an online quote below:

Online Mortgage Quote

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