By Sherry Frewerd

So you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation with your credit debt. You’re certainly not alone. Credit debt issues affect most people at one time or another. It’s so easy to whip out a credit card and over spend. If you’re getting calls from credit companies who are demanding money that you simply don’t have, you do have a few options. You could declare bankruptcy (bad idea,) get a consolidation loan, take on a part-time job or contact a debt management agency.

Credit counseling companies provide to you debt management programs that basically consolidates your credit cards into one monthly payment that you can afford. You simply pay the credit counseling agency by check or money order each month and they apply the money to your creditors.

Before you start paying, the credit counseling company will contact your creditors for you to get you lower interest rates and perhaps get rid of any late fees or over the limit fees that you’ve acquired since you have been unable to pay your credit cards on your own for the past few months. Your debts will not be eliminated, you will pay the money back, but maybe with lower monthly payments. A debt management plan gives you a reasonable way to pay back what you owe based upon how much income you have and your basic living expenses.

Your creditors may still report to the national credit reporting agencies that you’re on a debt management plan. However, if your credit score is already lowered due to late payments anyway, being on a debt management plan is the least of your worries and still a better idea than trying to tackle it all on your own.

After you start on your debt management plan, the management company will ask you to cancel your credit cards. They want to help you avoid creating even more debt while you’re trying to fix your current problem. They will also ask you to sign an agreement with them to get the process started. A word of advice is to remember that you contacted them for help, so you should do your best to cooperate with them and do what they ask.

When choosing a debt management company or credit counselor, make sure that they do not require you to pay a fee up front to them nor do they have any pre-payment penalty if you are able to pay your credit lenders sooner than expected. Research the credit counseling company and make sure they are a legitimate company and are licensed to actually do business in your state. Most states have strict guidelines when it comes to credit counseling.

Do thorough research and find a debt management company that has your best interests in mind. Do not jump into an agreement with the first agency you find online or stapled to a billboard. Scammers are everywhere and more than willing to take advantage of someone in a vulnerable position financially. A legitimate agency will work with you and your creditors to help relieve the stress and put you on the road to being credit debt free.

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Meg at All Financial Matters bemoans her friends’ and associates’ lack of knowledge about managing money.

“Every single one of my friends and peers, it seems, are people who couldn’t explain compound interest if they had to, ignore the 401(k) matches offered by their employers (despite my pleas), are comfortable having debt, and spend like they all have huge inheritances coming to them,” she writes, adding, with hyperbole, we hope, “And these are my college-educated peers. Fellow finance majors, for crying out loud.”

Meg wrote about financial illiteracy and its possible impact on the future after reading MP Dunleavey’s “Will our kids be dumb and broke?” at MSN Money. Meg isn’t sure about the answer to that question, but she does have some observations. Among them:

• Young adults probably don’t know less about finance than previous generations did, but those folks had fewer financial complications. “They had pensions, they didn’t have credit cards, and no lender would give them a loan they couldn’t afford to pay back. You had no choice but to live within your means,” she writes. “That is obviously not so today.”

• Lack of knowledge doesn’t stop with personal finance. Today’s young people are masters of video games, not books, and seem to know less about things like literature, history and science.

• A large number of uneducated people negatively affects a nation’s productivity and well-being.

“I realize every generation probably goes through some sort of ‘we’re going to be the end of civilization as we know it’ crisis, and maybe I’m just pessimistic,” she says. “But is it just me or are things actually getting worse — at least for Americans?”

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“That One Caveman” has been driven to an extreme approach to deal with his mother-in-law’s chronic overspending, particularly when it comes to the caveman’s child.

Given, her behavior is distressing. She’s a shopaholic who is threatening her own financial future. For instance, her daughter’s old bedroom is packed with stuff she’s purchased but never even taken out of the shopping bags. Now, despite being asked not to, she is showering trinkets, clothes and potentially unsafe toys on her granddaughter, and even tried to foist a $20 bill into the 17-month-old cavegirl’s hand.

That was the last straw. The caveman wants to make both grandparents sign a contract, he explains in a post at One Caveman’s Financial Journey. (His wife isn’t sure if she can go through with it.)

“We have complained numerous times to deaf ears that we do not want them to purchase anything for our daughter, especially without consulting us first,” That One Caveman writes. The contract would prohibit:

• Purchases for the child without her parents’ permission.

• Giving money directly to the child — and to the parents unless they give permission first.

• Disrespect for household rules, whether or not the parents are present.

It’s so sad that it’s come to this. That One Caveman agrees, but says he can’t let Grandma’s compulsive spending influence his child. He says, “As a parent, you cannot be afraid to stand up for what you believe is right for your household and your family.”

Some readers of his blog didn’t approve of his approach. Lisa said that “you might want to consider that this is her way of showing love and you’ll offend her by giving her a contract.”

But most thought he had every right to control his mother-in-law’s behavior toward his child if he couldn’t otherwise help her get her compulsion under control. “Frugal Babe,” whose own mother-in-law also overspends on the grandkids, wrote: “It’s tough to balance love for family members with your own values and house rules, but to us it’s worth it. Good luck.”

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Here are today’s hot deals from partner blog dealnews.com:

Timberland men’s Cargo Utility 3-in-1 jacket for $99.99. With $7 for shipping, it’s $128 off list and the lowest total price we could find.

New Balance men’s 708 running shoes for $29.97. Coupon code 141705 cuts them to $26.97. With $7.99 for shipping, that’s the lowest total price we could find by $35.

Panasonic 5.8GHz digital cordless answering system for $32.67. With free shipping, that’s $4 under last month’s mention and the lowest total price we’ve seen.

Eight-piece glass buffet set for $11.98. Apply coupon code BHWEBDEAL to slash it to $8.38. With $4.99 for shipping, that’s $12 off and the lowest total price we could find.

HP Pavilion HDX Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz 20-inch wide-screen notebook for $1,799.99. Apply coupon code NB5579 to cut it to $1,349.99. With free shipping, that’s $190 under our April mention and the least expensive HDX laptop we’ve seen.

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This post comes from Xin Lu at partner blog Wise Bread.

Once upon a time I sold a lot of stuff on eBay and Amazon, and I always needed envelopes, boxes and padding. The cost of these shipping supplies can really add up when you mail more than 1,000 things per year, so I looked into how to cut down my shipping costs.

Here are some of the ways you can get supplies for free and lower your business overhead.

Used packaging. When I receive an online order, it always comes in a box. Those boxes can be flattened and used later for your own packages. I usually keep a couple of boxes around for future use. Bubble Wrap-lined envelopes are also great and can be reused.

Newspapers. After you finish reading that weekly circular or newspaper, you could use it to stuff your packages for mailing. It is more environmentally friendly than Bubble Wrap or foam peanuts and can often provide adequate protection for your contents.

Junk mail. If you have a reasonably good shredder, junk mail can be processed into filler for a package. As long as the recipient can’t piece together your personal information, junk mail is a great substitute for foam peanuts.

Dumpsters/recycling bins. Perfectly good boxes are often available in Dumpsters and recycling bins. They are usually cleaner in the recycling bin, so I suggest looking there first.

Local stores. Recently in downtown San Mateo, Calif., I saw several shops closing down, and one of them had a lot of boxes to get rid of. If you ask around, you can also get shipping supplies from stores that are not closing down, because businesses tend to receive many packages a day and have no need for the packaging material.

U.S. Postal Service. The Postal Service offers free shipping boxes and envelopes for its priority mail and global priority mail services. You can order the packaging online or go to the post office. The catch here is that you must use the boxes for priority mail.

Friends and family. You can ask your friends and family to save packing materials for you if you do not have enough yourself. You should make an effort to pick the things up, though.

This list is by no means comprehensive, and I am sure you can find other ways of obtaining free mailing supplies. With so much online ordering and shipping of goods around the world, I think we all need to reuse and recycle our packing materials.

Other articles of interest at Wise Bread:

“6 horrible financial products you should avoid”

“Sensible ways to raise cash for a wedding”

“New ideas for old neckties“

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If Single Ma had accepted the two prescriptions written for her and for her daughter without question, she would have spent $100 out-of-pocket — despite the fact that her workplace health insurance plan includes meds.

She did some research, made some phone calls, and ended up saving $180 (that’s not a typo), without accepting reduced care for herself or her beloved BabyGirl. This practical post at Fabulous Financials illustrates why you need to be a savvy consumer when it comes to medical care.

Read her post to get the full story, but we’ll break down the essentials here:

Single Ma found out that her insurance plan doesn’t include the prescribed medications on its list of drugs, so she’d have to pay $50 each, rather than the normal $7 to $20. She wrote, “I was told … the meds were ‘non-formulary,’ which is just another word to mean ‘not on the HMO-preferred list, so you’re on your own, sucka!’” 

The drugs have no generic equivalents, so she researched and found similar drugs that are on the HMO list. She called the doctors’ offices, asked if the prescribed drugs were necessary, and suggested alternatives. In her case, the nurse offered free samples of the prescribed drug. In the second case, BabyGirl’s doctor agreed to prescribe an alternative.

Bonus: Single Ma also learned that she could get a 90-day supply for $20, rather than pay $10 for a 30-day supply. Because of Single Ma’s fabulous financial efforts, medication that would have cost $150 for three months became a $20 out-of-pocket expense, and the other $50 drug was free.

Single Ma wrote: “One of my girlfriends thought I was out of my mind to question why my doctor prescribed a certain med, then had the nerve to ask for an alternative. … this is my body, my money, and ultimately my decision — so I have a right to know, ask questions, and understand.”

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“Frugal Dad” has some great advice for buying your teen’s first vehicle, and it starts with this: Don’t buy your kid a new car.

“Some out there hock their own financial futures to put their prince or princess in a brand new car, and pay for it long into their college years,” Frugal Dad writes. “Not only is this harmful to the paren