CNNMoney printed an article today on the most requested home improvement projects and topping the list were, in order of popularity, home office, game room, and a mud room. In terms of best value, these three aren’t the best value. Only home office appears on the list of best valued home improvements (60% return) but it goes to show that people don’t pick what the best dollar return improvement, they pick the one they’ll enjoy the most. (something pointed out in the best value article as what should be driving your improvement decisions anyway)

With Sept. 1 around the corner and the last quarter of the states getting their free reports (details here) and every other personal finance blogger writing about (with very good reason), this isn’t about how to get the free reports but how not to accidentally get the ones you have to pay for. For example, a few weeks ago Experian (one of the three reporting agencies) agreed to pay close to a million dollars to settle a case in which they were accused of deceiving consumers into signing up for their $80 reports instead of the federally mandated free reports. You can imagine how many folks just didn’t pay attention and wound up paying for something they thought they were getting free.

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JLP at AllThingsFinancial has published the 11th edition and it weighs in at almost twenty submissions. Predictably, top billing goes towards the recent skyrocketing gasoline/oil prices but there are some good articles on popular personal finance topics such as budgeting, debt management, and financial planning. Here are the ones that piqued my interest:

Clutter2Cash has a very interesting article on creating a personal 401(k), for those of you with self-employment income. This is something I might take advantage of in the future since the fees of a personal 401(k) are much higher (with justification).

Dawn at Frugal For Life has joined the “homebuying tips” fray with her own suggestions on tips before making the big purchase. I would argue that the minimum number of years you intend to stay somewhere before you buy should be seven years, not two.

Ironman has created a very helpful hybrid vs. standard car comparison calculator and submitted it this week. It would’ve been awesome if he had listed some common EPA mileage ratings but the calculator is still useful regardless.

Home and renter’s insurance cover your personal belongings in the event of theft (and other bad things) if your home is ever broken into. One of the bad things about theft is that the items are now gone and unless you have an inventory, it’s very hard to remember every last thing you know is missing and go through the painful claims process. I’ve read several strategies online throughout the years and have settled on the easiest method I know of, taking photographs and writing on the back.

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My dad bought a mat, a net, a couple hundred golf balls, and a set of clubs three or four years ago and ever since then he’s been hitting balls in his backyard. He’s since graduated from his Golden Bear set of clubs and gifted them to me, despite my lack of game. In the last month or so I’ve decided I’m going to follow the same path and learn how to play this infuriating game, because it feels so ridiculously good when you hit the ball off the tee and it flies far and true. However, at $12 for 160 crappy range balls, it can get expensive to “practice.”

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My girlfriend recently moved down here from New Jersey and is in need of a job. A chemical and biomedical engineering is what’s on her resume but that makes her qualified for a whole bunch of engineering-type jobs that include process engineering and the like. Anyway, part of her search has put her in the databases of several head-hunting firms here in Baltimore so in addition to her own searches on Monster, Hotjobs, etc ad infinitum, there are temp agencies and head-hunters looking for her as well. This has yielded several interviews with local companies, one of which is some manufacturing firm in Baltimore that makes some widget for something. She was offered a contract engineering job with that company doing something that she wouldn’t be entirely thrilled about for pay that is fair for the work but perhaps a little under (not much) her fair market value. Should she take it?

They liked her so much that they offered her a job knowing it’s not her thing and told her she could continue to look for a job (at night). She picked up on the fact that they were hoping she’d start, really like it, and stay. She’d have to commit for at least a month and it would be a full time job. Now we begin to weigh the pro’s and the con’s (in my order of importance):

Pro: She is being paid and she gets health benefits.
Con: It’s not the work she truly wants to do. It’s not like she hates it, it’s an indifference.
Pro: She gets frequent interaction with people during the day.
Con: She has to commit to work there at least a month, preferably six; which means if a job dropped in her lap today, she wouldn’t be able to start that for another month. Plus, it’s a little irresponsible to only work somewhere for a month.
Pro: She gets used to the daily grind again, which isn’t critical since she only stopped working a few weeks ago.
Con: It may not be an entirely ideal work environment, as is the case with a lot of heavily male manufacturing facilities, there is probably a little (or a lot) sexism.

I don’t think this will be the only job she’s going to be offered and I think she shouldn’t accept it. The money isn’t important now, she can activate a COBRA if she needs it, and I don’t like the idea of locking yourself up for a month just for some extra cash. We talked about it and she had come to the same conclusion; anyone have thoughts on this?

This year there have been close to ten million identity thefts (check out this updated FTC report) and that doesn’t even take into account all the information mishaps, leaks, thefts, and whatnot recently reported in the news. A peek into how the black market of identities works strikes fear in the hearts of many (including me). So when I read a Money Magazine article via CNNMoney about Identity Insurance, it piqued my interest. Sadly though, the insurance doesn’t really cover much but the article does list some good alternatives (some of which are free).

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