The Budget Smart Girl’s Guide to the Universe

What’s the saying about there’s no such thing as a free lunch? That might be true, but when it comes to finding free resources in this tough economy, just check your own community.

Last week I stopped by the library to pick up some books. I also grabbed a copy of their Events and Classes catalog that lets you know what’s happening in libraries around town in the next three months.

First of all, all these classes are free. Secondly, I was amazed at the variety of topics offered these days. For example, if you need to brush up on your job hunting skills they have a class for that. Need to brush up on your computer skills to land a job, they’ve got that too. Not just World, but Excel and Access too. They can show you how to search the Internet to find a job. And when it comes to tax time, and yes, you know it’s coming…they can even offer assistance which is free if you’re on a limited or low income. And here’s a class that I’ve never seen offered before…not even in community education, how to shop using coupons.

After the library, I stopped by the county service office to renew my driver’s license. The office is housed in the same building as the extension offices, so I took a detour to find out what they were offering. Seems they rent DVDs on topics like gardening, cooking, how to improve your credit score. And they have a whole bunch of brochures on cooking and food storage topics.

My tip for this week, check your library and extension offices to see what’s going on in your neighborhood. I think you’ll be surprised what you can find.

And what’s ahead on Budget Smart Girl site this week? I’ve got a great expert lined up for one of this week’s articles. I’ll be chatting with him later today and he’s going to share some secrets about ways to save more money. And I’ll be giving you some tips and Web site links to help you reach your financial goals.