How to Save Money on Gas, Groceries on The Clark Howard Show

How To Save Money on Gas and Groceries

CNNMoney.com has a terrific feature that will help you save money on everything from gas to groceries. It’s a feature called the 5 Best Money Saving Apps. The best part about these features? They’re available on your cell phone. Here they are. Click the read more link at the bottom to get all the information.

READ MORE on CNNMONEY.com: 5 Best Money-Saving Apps

Gas Prices Surge Again!

It’s a good think you now know how to save money by finding a cheap gas station with your cell phone – you’ll need it. Gas prices surged again on Monday.

READ MORE on CNNMoney.com: Gas Prices Surge Again

Number of Homes in Negative Equity Goes Up!

In the two years since it reached its post-crash bottom, the stock market is now up nearly 100 percent. The housing market? Not so much. The median national home price is still 10 percent lower than in March 2009 and nearly one-third below its early 2007 peak. And fresh data from CoreLogic suggests it’s going to be a while before housing gets off the mat.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, 23.1 percent of homeowners with a mortgage owed more on their loan than the current value of the home, a situation that’s typically referred to as having negative equity or being underwater. That’s slightly higher than a quarter earlier. Add in homeowners who currently have just 5 percent equity, and the percentage of at-risk homeowners is nearly 28 percent. Not exactly the direction we’re all hoping for.

It’s not just the 11 million homeowners in negative equity territory who are impacted. If you happen to live in an area with a preponderance of negative equity mortgages, normal sales activity takes a hit as potential trade-up buyers can feel shackled in their current mortgage. Moreover, negative equity can be a harbinger of more foreclosure pressure, as homeowners with negative equity have more incentive to walk away from a mortgage.

READ MORE on MONEYWATCH.COM: Number of Homes in Negative Equity Goes Up!

What Can You Buy For $1,000 and Other Amazing Foreclosure Deals?

On the show today, I talked about the posts I’ve been writing for MoneyWatch.com about how much you can buy in the world of foreclosures. Here are some of the Foreclosure deals I’ve found:

READ MORE: What Can You Buy For $1,000 and Other Amazing Foreclosure Deals?

READ MORE: Foreclosure For Sale: $7 (I am not making this up!)

READ MORE: 10 States Where Foreclosures Are On Sale

How You Can File Your Tax Returns for FREE!!

Approximately 70 percent of taxpayers qualify for the various free filing services available in English and Spanish, according to Eric Smith, an IRS spokesman. Do you? Click on the story to get the list of free filing services, phone numbers and information on who qualifies to file for free.

READ MORE on the EQUIFAX PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG: How You Can File Your Tax Returns for FREE!!

Eight Ways To Wipe Out Your Student Debt

The topic of student has been on my mind recently, as I start to think about paying for my son Alex’s college tuition bills in a few years. The best way to deal with student debt is to not let it get out of hand to begin with – and that means NOT taking out more than you need (your student loan is not a checkbook or ATM), NOT letting interest accrue while you or your child is in school, and NOT taking deferrals unless you absolutely need them.

Here’s a link to a great MoneyWatch.com story about some other things you can do to wipe out your student loan debt.

READ MORE on MONEYWATCH.COM: Eight Ways to Wipe Out Your Student Debt