If you’re living on a fixed income, things like high heating fuel bills can be a frightening prospect. However, there are fuel assistance programs available and an easy way to find them in your area.

Not all assistance programs are created equal but many offer protection against shut-off if you can’t pay your heating bill in the colder winter months. There may even be an emergency assistance program that will deliver fuel to low-income residents.

To find out what programs are in place in your state, visit US Department of Health and Human Services’ Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

Identity theft is a growing concern and scammers are finding new ways every day to get sensitive personal information on consumers. With that information they can run up charges on credit card accounts, deplete bank accounts and set up new accounts in the name of the victim.

AARP has an online seminar called Preventing Identity Theft. To take the course you will need a network connection of 56kps or faster and you must be using Internet Explorer 6 or higher, Netscape 7.2 or higher or an equivalent browser. I was able to take the course using the Firefox browser.

In this course, you will:

* Know what identity theft is
* Do a wallet check to protect yourself from identity theft
* Take steps to protect yourself from identity theft in your home and on the road
* Recognize early warnings of identity theft
* Take the first steps if you’re a victim of identity theft
* Have the numbers to call to get help or more information

For more information on the course go here

When you are ready to take the course, click on the link at the AARP page or click here.

When it comes to choosing a vacation that is within your means, the AARP service is invaluable. They have a comprehensive list of suggestions for destinations and ways to make your money go further.

One I looked at was Seeing New York for Free, an excellent article giving details of places to visit where the costs are very low or non-existent. These include such famous places as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library and the Rockefeller Center, as well as suggesting the use of a Big Apple Greeter.

We all know the disadvantages to getting older - how the body begins to show the results of all those years of hard work, stress and strain; so it’s great that there are benefits too and we should use whatever is available, including such useful services as AARP’s.

AARP Destinations Site

Wal-Mart has once again expanded its $4 prescription drug progam, making good on its promise to spread the program nationwide. In addition to adding 11 more states to the list, it has also added 17 more prescriptions to the list. That brings the totals to 331 commonly prescribed generic prescriptions drugs available for $4 in 38 states.

If you live in Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, or Washington, you can now take advantage of the $4 pricing at Wal-Mart stores.