As it turns out, whether you’re selling your home or you just want to improve it, one of the best places to start is the kitchen, because kitchen remodels often have the highest return on investment, whether you’re selling or just wanting to make a change.

There are a variety of relatively simple do-it-yourself kitchen improvement projects. I found the following budget-friendly ideas that would have been good to know before I started:

• Do your homework first. It will likely save you time, money, and a headache or backache.
• Replacing kitchen cabinets can be an unnecessary expense. Painting, refinishing or refacing cabinets can cost a quarter of what new ones may cost. New cabinet hardware is also a great way to add life and personality to old cabinets.
• Replacing your countertops is second on the list of major expenses. Prices have come down considerably for granite and other popular stone finishes, so do your homework and get competing bids. You may even consider using granite tiles and installing them yourself. Laminates have also improved in quality and they are generally more economical.
• Give your kitchen a polished look with a backsplash. You can purchase a sheet of stainless steel and create a modern look, or you can tile your backsplash yourself. It’s much more affordable than having a designer do it and it adds color or a nice design element.
• Stainless appliances are nice but pricey. Consider replacing old appliances with basic white or black. You may even be able to use inserts from the manufacturer to make your existing appliances match.
• Update your lighting. Just like cabinet hardware, new light fixtures can add a nice designer touch without much expense. If you like your current fixtures but wish they were a different color, paint them. There are heat-resistant paints that cover just about any surface.
• One of the most economical ways to add new life to an old kitchen is with a can of quality paint. Semi-gloss or gloss is recommended for kitchens because it cleans up well.  Take the time to do the necessary prep work and masking to protect cabinets, counters, and appliances from spills or splatter.
• Add small touches. Something as simple as a piece of art, a bulletin board or a towel rack hung in the right location can add a personal touch as well as a designer look and feel.

Remember to be wise in your budgeting and spending for the project, too. Added debt can easily negate any added value. Consider doing a portion at a time in order to maintain fincancial strength and to avoid unecessary debt.

There’s a lot of discussion about change in the banking industry right now.  Business plans have been turned on their ears.  Once solid and seemingly safe ways to make loans are now being questioned.  It’s getting more difficult for financial institutions to provide distinguishing products and services.  It’s even getting hard to tell what a bank is or is not anymore.

What an incredible opportunity this presents for all of us!  This shifting is creating an environment where it has never been a better time for consumers to make their voices heard, and for bankers (at least the smart and successful ones) to be taking the time to seriously consider every customer comment, complaint, note of praise, or suggestion.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret…this is not a totally new concept to community-based financial institutions.  I’m not talking about the big guys claiming to be community banks, I’m talking about the true community-centered banks that take the time to look a customer in the eye, who may have had to eat some crow now and then, and who have tried to adjust to their customers’ needs and wants in order to stay alive in a highly-regulated and viciously-competitive marketplace.  For these smaller institutions, listening and adapting to your needs is something they try very hard to do.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, not every small bank or credit union fits this description, but generally they try.  They at least try harder and are more capable of faster change than the giant institutions that care more about making money off of your money than they do about earning your trust, providing you honest services at a reasonable rate, and investing in your future as a partner–whether you have $5 or $5,000,000.

So here’s a chance for you to make your voice heard.  Whether you’re a customer of Western Community Bank or not, comment on this post.  If you’re reading this on our blog, comment below.  If you’re an email subscriber, visit http://smartbankingtips.com/ and leave us your thoughts.  Help us transform banking to be better for you.  Help us strengthen our communities.  Help us better understand your needs so we can better serve you. 

Our ears are open.  We’re a little nervous.  But we want to hear from you.  The platform is now yours…

The following tips can help you manage your account wisely to avoid overdraft situations.

• Keep an eye on your account balance prior to writing a check or using your debit card. Prevention is your best medicine.
  • Review your transactions on an ongoing basis.
  • Use services, such as online banking, your bank may provide to help you keep up-to-date with your balance.
  • Remember to record and deduct checks, automatic recurring payments and debit card transactions and to add any deposits that have not yet been posted to your account.
  • Do not use your debit card like you use your credit card. Your debit card is like an electronic check and the funds are automatically deducted from your account.
• Ask your bank about all of its overdraft services. Community banks generally offer three types of overdraft services: overdraft lines of credit, transfers or sweeps from a savings account or another checking account, and overdraft coverage.
  • Overdraft lines of credit charge interest but provide a safety net. They may also have a transaction and/or annual fee. If needed, disbursements can be repaid over a period of time.
  • Transfer or sweep arrangements allow customers to cover overdrafts using their own funds for a small transaction fee.
  • Many times a bank will choose to pay an overdraft for a fee to avoid consumers having the inconvenience of returned transactions – embarrassment, fees and hassles from merchants.
  • Talk to your community banker about the best choice(s) for you.

During these challenging economic times, consumers are making tough financial choices–more so than they have ever had to do in the past. We want to be sure that consumers manage their accounts wisely. Most community banks provide some form of overdraft services, and do so in a way that best meets the needs of their customers. Remember that community bankers are there to help you.

Moreover, in their search for financial safety and security over the past year, consumers have actively redistributed their financial resources. Encouraging this trend and seeking to help stabilize the economy, the FDIC has extended its increase in insurance limits to $250,000 to the end of 2013.

This news should come as no surprise to anyone.

Much of the opposition to the economic stimulus plan centered on concerns that the stimulus money would be saved, and therefore not provide the hoped for stimulus.  The BEA report illustrates the fulfillment of the basic concepts that people are going to hold on to their money when, 1) money is getting harder to come by, 2) people are afraid to spend in an unstable economy, and 3) the smart spenders know that if they hold out long enough they can get a better deal than if they spend the moment they have a little money.

Note this simple definition from Wikipedia: “Saving is the conservation of money…Saving also includes reducing expenditures, such as recurring costs.  In terms of personal finance, saving specifies low-risk preservation of money, as in a deposit account, versus investment, wherein risk is higher.”  It’s not rocket science–in a down economy, people save.

So, at the risk of sounding like a punk kid, I respectfully say to the Bureau of Economic Analysis and all politicians who thought the stimulus should have had a different effect: “Duh!”

Certainly, practicing frugality is an important thing to do more often than “at the moment” when one considers the bigger picture of economic downturns, saving for a home, college, retirement, or building wealth.  But, like many things, being frugal is sometimes more easily talked about than practiced. 

Even the fact that I found someplace to eat within walking distance in order to save gas is overshadowed by the fact that I am still spending money for a lunch that could be even less if I packed one from home–even though I love Chinese food and the potstickers are the best I’ve ever had.  (Fortunately for me, I have a great spouse who effectively, yet subtly, reminded me that I should be more conscious of my spending by making me a lunch earlier this week.) 

So here’s the tip this week: Frugality is always a good idea.  How to do it is up to you, but here is some helpful strategy advice from Wikipedia regarding “Frugality“: “Common strategies of frugality include the reduction of waste, curbing costly habits, suppressing instant gratification by means of fiscal self-restraint, seeking efficiency, avoiding traps, defying expensive social norms, embracing free (as in gratis) options, using barter, and staying well-informed about local circumstances and both market and product/service realities.”

On a side note: I think Wikipedia may have just provided a surprisingly accurate description of why Western Community Bank created this blog.

If your kids are like mine, they have made you keenly aware of the fast-approaching summer break.  And with the  summer kick-off holiday of Memorial Day just a few days’ away, summer travel and vacation plans are being completed at a feverish pace.  So here are some things to keep in mind, lest you overspend and end up with a year’s worth of debt for your freewheeling ways.

Plan Wisely
To help you reduce the financial stress of planning your summer getaway, we’ve found a cool and free web-based “travel calculator,” designed to help you plan your vacation budget and stick to it once you’ve left home. The calculator will help you determine the cost of gas (updated daily based on national averages) for your trip as well as account for all the small things that really do add up, and, if you’re not prepared, sneak up and cause you headaches for the rest of the year.

Take the stress out of your next vacation
Jason Alderman, director of Practical Money Skills for Life, shares insights and links to websites where you can research and save money.

Don’t turn a glorious summer into a winter of discontent
Thinking of spending beyond your means for this year’s vacation? Find out what that will really cost with Practical Money Skills for Life’s Cost of Credit calculator.

Stop identity theft before it happens
Keep your identity safe and your money where it should be– in your account. Be aware of situations that identity thieves love.

Check your credit report when you get home
Even if you think you’ve kept all your information and valuables safe, we recommend checking your credit report for suspicious activity when you return home. Check out or last post, “Tips to Help Build and Maintain Good Credit” for more information.

Oh.  So that explains why I always fill my shopping cart with pre-packaged, pre-prepared foods–it’s cheaper.  (Not to mention it usually lasts longer if I don’t eat it right away, and it’s less work.) 

But what’s the trade-off?

Studies abound that show there are greater benefits from eating healthy foods like fresh fruits and vegetables than from eating the pre-packaged, pre-prepared foods.  And other studies indicate that poor diets cause an increase in illness.  And increases in illness usually cause increases in medical expenses.  So is a less-than-healthy diet of cheaper, unhealthy foods less costly than increases in medical and prescription expenses?  Probably not.

So here are a few tips for buying more healthy foods without busting your budget: 

• Buy staples such as brown rice, oatmeal, and beans in bulk when they go on sale.
• Buy produce in season. Not only will it taste better, it’s usually cheaper. A local fruit stand like Verd’s Market on State Street in Orem or Chavez Fruit Stand in Lindon is a great place to look for deals.
• To lengthen the shelf-life of fresh foods like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, corn, and other veggies you freeze at home, blanch them first. Put them in boiling water for one to three minutes, and then plunge them into ice-cold water. Drain well and then freeze in plastic bags.

For more tips on healthy eating and shopping on a budget, visit http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematter.org/.  For the complete SelectHealth article “Healthy Foods Don’t Have to Break the Bank” visit www.selecthealth.org/totalfitness, and click on the “Total Fitness Spring 2009″ link.

Of course, you can always plant a garden and a few fruit trees and grow your own healthy food, too.

For the rest of us, making–and sticking to–a meaningful budget can be an essential tool for ensuring that our money gets used where it’s needed.  Even if you’re in the fortunate situation of having plenty of income, the homework involved in creating a budget can be instructive.  You may find that you’re spending more than you wish (or need) on things like groceries, entertainment or eating out.

Taking the time to sit down and draw up a budget used to be pure drudgery enlivened only by the reality of staring your unwise spending habits in the face.  In fact, one of the biggest obstacles to creating a meaningful budget is that most of us would rather not know how we really spend our money–because we know that to follow a budget requires sacrifices we may not be willing to make.

But have courage.  With the great (and often free) online tools available today, budgeting can be as easy as a few clicks and setting some basic goals. As for the sacrifice part, a realistic budget will help you find the areas in your spending where you can afford (and are willing) to sacrifice more–or less–according to your desired goals.

If you’re not sure where to start, use a free tool like FinanceWorks to help you take a quick snapshot of where you’re income is going.  Simply categorizing your expenses is often motivation enough to hunker-down and make a meaningful budget.  And you can use the goal setting features of a program like FinanceWorks to take your budget to the next level.  These automatic features will help you monitor and adjust your spending, and reach your goals more easily than programs that only allow you to categorize expenses.

“Confused by the economy?” Ms. Ashford begins, then answers four (only four, mind you) finance-related questions.  I’m not going to repeat them all–you can click the link to the article above if you want to read the entire piece.  The third question and response is worth sharing here because I hear this question with some regularity when I’m in the bank, and when people I meet find out I work at a bank:

“Q. How much should I have in savings?

A} At least six months of living expenses.  The general rule of thumb has always been that dual-income families should have three to six months of living expenses accessible in a savings account…But fewer than 40% of adults have enough in savings to tide them over for even three months, according to Bankrate.com.  And now that the economy is so uncertain, experts are leaning toward six months. “If someone loses his job, it’s anybody’s guess how long it will take to become employed again,” says Donald E. Whalen, a certified financial planner in Alpharetta, Georgia.  But don’t get overwhelmed by the thought of having to save so much money-”living expenses” doesn’t mean cash for leisure activities.  It’s the money needed to cover bare essentials, like mortgage, food, and health insurance.”

To beef up your emergency fund:

 A) Set up a weekly automatic debit from your checking account into a high-interest savings account, and increase the amount when you can.

B) Raise the deductibles on your home and auto insurance, or shop around for a better deal, and then stow the difference in a savings account.

C) When you finish paying off a credit card, keep making payments-to your emergency fund.

D) Try bundling expenses (like getting phone, Internet and cable from one company) then stash the savings.”

These are great ideas, and the emphasis is clear: Look for places to cut expenses and then save the money rather than spend it.  For more ideas on how to save money, check out some of our past posts.

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This ability to track and transfer funds has also made it remarkably easy to save money.  Chances are your bank has a feature in its online banking system to set up scheduled automatic transfers between checking and savings accounts.  (If not, we know a great bank that does.)  You can easily set-up these automatic transfers to move nearly any amount of money from your checking to your savings-and you won’t ever have to lift a finger after the transfer is set-up.

After time you may find you don’t ever really think about it either.  Try it for a month to see how easy it is.  Set-up a $5, $10, or $25 (or whatever amount you can afford) automatic transfer from your checking to savings account.  Set it to be a weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly transfer.  After the month passes, examine your finances.  Did you miss the money?  Maybe you need to set a lower amount.  Perhaps a more aggressive amount is appropriate.  Soon you’ll be building up your rainy day or vacation fund without a second thought.

Was this post helpful?  Please leave us a comment below and tell us what you think of our blog, or to request information on another subject.