Dear Parent,

Your child's starting college soon, right? We know what you're feeling.

It's a major milestone in her life and yours. Freedom (for you and her), new friends, and a financial commitment that will hopefully pay off for the rest of her life. It's a transition that when planned well, can go quite smoothly.

Here's a list that won't take all the stress away, but it should get you thinking rationally about the shift:

• Be supportive. Yes, it may be emotional but don't forget to be supportive of her and give her encouragement. On that note, will her to go out and conquer the challenges college may hold. Knowing that you are her biggest supporter will take her far!

• Help her pack. You're not only being accommodating; you're thinking about things that may get overlooked in her rush to get enrolled. It's good bonding time, and even if she's not moving too far away from home, it's nice for her to know you're wanting to get some quality time in before the move.

• Make a "care kit". On the practical side, change for laundry, a small toolbox, and a medicine kit is a great call. On the sentimental side, don't forget the stuffed animal from her childhood and framed photos to remind her to call mom and dad.

• Let her know she can come home and decompress. College can be an emotional roller coaster ride. With the stresses of studying, homework, and new friends, when the going gets tough, tell her to come visit.

• Discuss expenses. Books, food, supplies, going out...it's not going to be cheap, but having a plan before she hits the door is the best way to go so that you can avoid stress down the road. (Shameless plug: I can't neglect to remind you to look at the Parent Survival Loans we offer!)

With summer in full swing (well, as long as the hurricanes and tropical depressions will give us a short reprieve from gray skies), sunburns can be just around the corner.  While we have many options on how to ease the process of healing a sunburn, the good news is that many remedies are already in our home cabinets.

Aloe is probably going to be at the top of your home remedy list for good reason. It’s packed with natural vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids and sugars and is a great anti-inflammatory tool.  If you don’t already have an aloe plant in your backyard or on your front porch, find a friend with one and ask for an offshoot from the base of the parent plan. If you must use bottled aloe, put it in the fridge just enough to cool it down. You're not only getting the natural effects of it but the coolness also helps to soothe burned skin.

Ok, this may sound crazy, but apple cider vinegar is great as well. It's not going to heal the burn so much as it will take away the sting. Simply get a cotton ball and soak it just enough to cover the area of skin that is burned. The smell is, well, like you’d expect vinegar to smell, but if it means taking down the stinging, it’s well worth it! Vinegar also has natural acids and enzymes from fermentation. It’s best to buy a bottle that is free of chemicals and additives so that you get the purest apple cider vinegar possible, and if it comes with the “mother,” you’re getting the good stuff.

You’ve probably heard of oatmeal baths for chicken pox or >poison ivy. Oatmeal is also a great sunburn home remedy for reducing peeling, blistering and tenderness. Take an uncolored sock and organic rolled oats or colloidal (fine powder) oatmeal, which will be easier to dissolve in the bathtub. Fill your tub with cool to lukewarm water (hot water will dry out your skin even further). Soak the oatmeal-filled sock in the tub for a few minutes, soak for at least 30 minutes, and rinse with cool, clear water. Very relaxing!

Prevention, it’s been said, is the best cure, so before you plan on staying out in the sun, don’t forget your sunscreen!

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An estimated 9 million Americans have their identities stolen every year, and while many of them probably did their best to protect their information. It is more difficult to keep information secure today than it was a few years ago. Thankfully, there are some very easy things that can be done to help make potential thieves have a harder time.

Always shred documents that contain your social security number, credit card numbers, or anything that might be used to impersonate you. This doesn't mean that there is a need to rush out right now and buy a shredder, but make sure that any checks that are thrown away are torn up, and the same goes for other paper with your information on it. This will make it harder for an identity thief to impersonate you if they are digging through your trash to find something of use.

When surfing the internet be vigilant about where you enter your passwords, user ID's, and personal information. Many times you need to enter this information to take care of something like securing a loan online, or renewing your vehicle registration. The important thing to make sure is that the address of the website matches that of the institution you are trying to interact with. The web pages where these types of transactions take place are secure, and somewhere in the browser there will be a lock logo. This lets you know that your information is being protected, and is another sign of authenticity.

Another best practice is to always keep your computer clean, and anti-virus software up to date. This will keep malware from taking some of your information. Avoid buying this software in response to a pop-up ad, but research the options that are available and pick the program you use based off of customer reviews.

When picking passwords try and be creative. Use numbers, symbols, and capital letters, and associate them with something you will remember. Do you like The Beatles? How about: 1amTh3W4lrus --> I am the walrus. You can do this with just about anything and it will create a password that is both secure and easy to remember. The remembering is important. Using the same password for every site on the internet is not secure because if a thief gains access to one of your accounts the can then access any account you have a relationship with online.

When looking for signs of identity theft always check your bank statements for purchases you didn't make, and your credit report for signs of activity that were not you. When you see that someone is making transactions in your name contact the police, and they will help you in guiding how you should respond, and what your options are. There are many more things that can be done to secure you identity, and while the reading isn't the most fun it is best to play it safe.

More information on identity theft can be found on the FTC's website here.

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Weddings are very expensive. The average wedding costs about $20,000. This is a tremendous amount of money, and if you aren't married yet, want to be, and aren't saving for yours I would recommend opening a savings account now! Many of my friends got married while they were in college, and sometimes were not able to enjoy a large amount of financial support from their families. Here are some ways that they were able to save money on their weddings.

Unique Use of Wedding Gifts
Many of us have friends with incredibly unique skills. That might come in handy for a wedding. Maybe you have a friend who is really good at coordinating events, and instead of bringing you a wedding present they would be willing to act as your wedding planner. Many of us have friends that are brilliant photographers, and they might be happy to shoot your wedding for free. There are a few caveats, of course. We never want to take advantage of our friends, and use our special event as emotional blackmail to get them to do something they otherwise wouldn't. My photographer friends have, on occasion, complained to me about their inability to get their friends to even consider paying them for their work. With that in mind, your friends still might be willing to discount their skills. In the end the cost of putting unnecessary stress on relationships might make the cost of these services worth it.

Consolidate Venues
Is there a reason to rent both a church and a reception hall? Having the ceremony in the same place as the reception, and giving 30 minutes for the room to change over can save money. There are even venues that are designed specifically for this. I've had friends get married at a great venue with two outdoor pavilions, one for the ceremony and the other already set up for the reception so that there wasn't even a delay in serving people food after the bride and groom walked down the aisle.

Regular Suits and Dresses
This might not help the bride or groom save money, but their wedding party would be thankful. Why not allow the groomsmen to all wear black suits? A tux rental can run upwards of $100, and eventually every man will need a black suit. And what about the bridesmaids? Once the colors for the wedding have been picked why not let them pick dresses that fit the color? This will give them more freedom to pick a dress they might wear again, and even give your wedding a unique look and feel. Though, I would recommend letting the bride have final say on what dresses are worn.

Elope
Yes, you rob your friends and family of the joy of sharing in the public proclamation of your unending and eternal love, but you get the satisfaction of being married without any of the costs. This could have serious repercussions on family relations for years to come. This is the nuclear option of saving on a wedding.

None of us wants to have a wedding that looks cheap, but there are definitely ways to save on the big day. What are some of the tricks that you know of for having a less expensive wedding?

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Not really, but this is one of the ways that my extended family saves money during the holiday season. Ever since my sister and I came to the age where we could understand and accept not getting a present from every relative we could think of my family has met on Christmas Day and done a white elephant gift exchange. If you are have never participated in this type of gift exchange it works by everyone putting the gifts they brought in the center of the room. Then everyone takes turns getting a gift and as the exchange progresses they have the option to steal gifts, but only twice. A spending limit is placed on the gift, somewhere between $30-50 and each person tries to come up with something that will be fought over by the rest of the family.

Nothing brings a family together like trying to steal gifts from each other. This usually allows for better gifts to be given because instead of shopping for 20 people on a budget, you are able to focus on one really cool thing. While gifts are nice, and thoughtful gifts are even better this provides an opportunity to interact with your relatives and spend some time avoiding a bit of the commercialism that can take away from the Christmas spirit.

Another way to save would be to assign everyone a Secret Santa. Then on Christmas day there could be the fun of trying to figure out who gave everyone what. The advantage here is that you can focus on a personalized and hopefully meaningful gift for one person instead of a vague desirable gift for the whole family. I enjoy our family tradition, it helps us focus on each other when we are together, and helps to relieve some of the stress of the holidays.

I have been looking forward to our exchange all year, and more importantly the pies that come with any family gathering. I hope this helps with your holiday planning, and let us know anything else that your family might do to try and hold down the cost of Christmas.

1) Don't Buy Textbooks

During my sophomore year at college I had a friend who sat in front of me in one of my political science classes. Before class he would borrow my book and read the section that we would have a quiz on once the professor showed up. My friend, a senior, let me know that he had not bought a textbook in 3 years and had 3.75 GPA.

The average cost of textbooks in a semester is anywhere from $300 - $500 dollars. So over the course of your education you can save about $2,800 to $4,000 dollars. The savings can add up, but it is unrealistic to go without purchasing textbooks.

However, you don’t have to buy every book brand new. Usually you can find used copies on websites like half.com. If you are even more adventurous you can buy the old edition of the book. These poor pieces of printed material are no longer relevant because their graphs are out of style, or the author had decided that he wanted to rewrite the introduction. This is usually a good idea for classes like economics. While the graphs may be updated to include more recent years, the basic principles of macro and micro haven't changed that much in the last fifty years.

2) Go Without A Cell Phone

For my first semester of school I did not have a cell phone, and I got one during Christmas break. This was a very hard time in my life because my friends could never get in touch with me. By not having a cell phone in those months I saved about $300 dollars, and if I had persisted and not had one at all during school I could have saved $3,360. That is a semesters worth of tuition!

Again, this is drastic, but if you are paying for your iPhone perhaps you should reconsider and go with a pay as you go phone with fewer features. If you can get your cell phone bill below $50 a month during school you can be accessible, and will be able to get by on less a month.

3) Only Eat For Free

This is a bit of an exaggeration, but there are plenty of student groups that offer free food at their weekly meetings. A lot of times university programs will give away food to raise awareness. These need to all be on your calendar. I'm not saying that joining 7 student groups to have free lunch 7 days a week is a commendable thing, or even something I recommend, but being aware of free food is a way to keep your day to day costs a little lower.

Also, it is hard when all of your friends are going out to lunch and dinner everyday, but there is no shame in heading home to eat, or brown bagging it. If you play your cards right you could even establish a weekly picnic with all your friends and that will lead to a great time and money saved.

4) Don't Own A Car

I did this. I do not recommend it for everyone. I lived walking distance from campus and my job was on campus. Not having a car probably saved my about $8000 during my time in school. Because I did not have a car I could also work a job that didn't pay as well because I didn't need as much money.

This did not always make me popular with my roommates, but I lived with 4 other guys, trips to Wal-Mart were frequent, and I was always able to catch a ride when I needed one.

The ability to do this will be determined by your personality type, the generosity of your friends, and the type of college town you live in. Mine was fairly small and for the most part I could walk anywhere I needed to go. Perhaps, to keep your gas costs down all you need is a bike, but don't be afraid to give up your car keys. It can be done.

5) Couchsurf
The boldest move you take to cut costs. Live on your friends’ couches.

One of my former roommates did this for a semester. He lived like a nomad and for some reason was allowed by my friends to live rent-free in their apartments.

Planning on this lifestyle is probably not realistic, but if you are able to try and live in a house or apartment with several roommates.

For two years I lived with five other guys and ended up paying about a fourth of what most of my friends paid for their whole apartments.

College is expensive, but there are ways to find savings. Even if some of the ones listed above are more humorous than realistic it is always good to find ways to save money while working towards that degree. Maybe living at home for two years and knocking out the basics at a community college is the way to go. The decisions you make while you go through school will be based on your own unique financial picture.

Some people have a college fund and will be able to live as they please and not worry about how to pay for their next semester, and others will out of necessity have to take out student loans to finish their degree. One isn’t better than the other, but in both situations it is always good to stop and take a look at what you are spending your money on and figure out if there are ways that you can make each dollar go further.

I was reading last month's newsletter and was glad to see Gap insurance spotlighted on the second page. This is a service that TDECU Insurance offers.

GAP protects the difference between you vehicle's value and the amount you owe. In the event your vehicle is totaled or stoled and non-recovered, GAP coverage will reduce your out-of-pocket expenses and even cover your insurance deductible up to $1,000.

I just recently pruchased a new car, which I am loving. In case you were wondering it is an '09 Nissan Versa, and it's already a champ in my book. When I financed the car, I made sure that I had GAP insurance in place because I knew that when I drove the car off the lot I was immediately going to owe more than the car was worth. I probably should have taken more time with my car purchase and found a used model so that I could avoid taking the largest depreciation hit on the vehicle, but I do believe there is some value in knowing the entire maintenance history of a vehicle. I know everything about mine from mile seventeen on. But, enough of my rationalizing.

The point is if I am in an accident I know that I am not going to be car-less and left with a bill for a couple thousand dollars. The piece of mind is well worth it, and I can drive our highways without having to worry as much about the texting driver behind me who just had their slushee spill all over them. If you're about to buy a car, or just recently got one I would recomend taking advantage of this service and visiting our Insurance Offices.

Recently the cost of stamps increased to .44 cents. That's almost as much as it costs to get a can of soda from the vending machine. If you still mail checks to pay your bills you could be saving some money.

Check out this calculator. It will show you based on how many bills you mail a month what your monetary and time savings will be by using online bill pay.

In addition online bill pay is safer because there is no risk of having a check get lost in the mail! Simply click the Bill Pay link on the left side of your screen when you log into TDECU's All The Time Banking and enroll.

Members of TDECU are able to go to any Credit Union Service Center and conduct transactions just like you would in one of our own branches! These are other Credit Unions that have created a network to allow greater convenience to their members.

At a Service Center you are able to make:

• Deposits
• Withdrawls
• Loan Payments
• Make Transfers Between Accounts

all on your TDECU accounts! To access this great benefit all you need is your account number, a valid government-issued photo ID, and our name.

Just look for this logo at another credit union near you, use this search on our website to find the nearest one.

I've always had a hard time saving, and always told myself that I would start when I got my next paycheck. The plan that i had was to put away a certain percentage before I even touched the money, but I always found myself unwilling to see such a large sum of money go away.

Yesterday, I was reading some of what Ramit Sethi has to say over at IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com. While I was there I stumbled upon this article. The premise of the article is to start saving you should begin by taxing yourself on all the purchases you make. For instance if I spent $100 on groceries and and I was taxing myself %10 then I should put $10 into my savings account. This way I am saving as I spend, and it will effect my spending habits because everything will cost more than the sticker price. This should lead to lower overall spending, and increased savings.

I am actually excited about saving this way, and have already made a deposit into my savings account. The real trick will be the follow through.  Hopefully, I will be able to!

 What are some of the ways that you all save?