We wrote about Bing Cashback before, as an easy way to earn real cheese through your regular online shopping.  Unfortunately it looks like that gravy train has run out of steam.

According to the following e-mail notice to customers, the program is ending next month.  Fun while it lasted.  Need more ideas on how to make a little extra cash to help pay off your bills? Check out our Earn More archive.

Bing cashback

Dear valued cashback customer:

We are writing to notify you that the Bing cashback program will be discontinued, and the last day to earn cash back on your Bing Shopping purchases will be July 30, 2010. Until July 30, 2010 9:00 pm PST, it’s business as usual so continue to take advantage of great offers from your favorite merchants. You can redeem all of your earned cashback savings consistent with the cashback terms and conditions and access theBing cashback customer support system through July 30, 2011. We encourage you to redeem your cashback savings and to further support redemption, we are waiving the $5 minimum payout effective July 31, 2010. To assist with prompt delivery of your cashback earnings, please visit http://cashbackaccount.bing.com to ensure your account information is current. For more details and answers to your questions, please visit our frequently asked questions page. Thank you very much for being a loyal cashback user.  We remain committed to delivering great value to our customers, and we are currently working on an exciting new program which you will hear more about from us later this summer. Sincerely, Bing cashback team

The growing use smartphones and now the new iPad are straining the mobile networks that power these devices with e-mail, apps and Internet access.  As a result, companies are looking to reduce how much their customers utilize this limited resource and make more money off the growing demand.

Mobile phone data use is measured in megabytes or gigabytes, and in the era when only the leading-edge consumers used a lot of bandwidth, most cell phone companies offered unlimited megs for a flat monthly fee.  That era looks to be over.

AT&T (the exclusive data network for the popular iPhone) recently announced that starting next week it will stop offering its unlimited data plan to new customers.  Now cellphone and iPad users can choose between a monthly subscription of $15 for 200 megabytes or $25 for two gigabytes.

Many analysts believe that AT&T is only the first mover, and other mobile phone carriers will soon follow suit.

For people looking to save money, it’s now important to know how they can save money with the new data plans coming out or see their bills skyrocket if they’re not careful.

First off, e-mail and text messages use very little data.  What gets folks in trouble is usually web surfing, downloading songs and movies, and streaming video and audio.  So knowing what activities rack up the big megabyte usage is critical.  That then allows you to adjust you behavior to fit with your data budget.

If you can control your YouTube fetish, the new plans can save you money by offering lower priced plans with lower data usage limits.  So simple e-mailing and the occasional Google search won’t break the bank.  But be careful of the potential overage charges which can lead you straight to the poorhouse.

But if you absolutely must stream Pandora, use your phone’s GPS, check in everywhere with FourSquare and refresh ESPN.com every 10 minutes then you should expect to have a very unpleasant surprise at the end of every month.  And that’s not frugal.

Getting out of debt means making sacrifices, and not having the ability to download the entire Internet to your phone is one of them.  Know your cellphone carrier’s data policy and exercise some restraint.  No matter how witty your Facebook status updates are.

As Americans nationwide gather to grill hot dogs, drink beer and welcome the opening day of swimming pool season, we also take pause to remember the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform who fight and die to keep us safe from our enemies.  Unfortunately, members of the armed services are too often forced to wage war on the financial front as low pay, long overseas deployments and difficulty finding a civilian job lead many to the front lines of debt and bankruptcy.

Debt has become an increasing burden on military families, who use payday loans three times more often than members of the general public and use credit cards at an alarming rate.

Soldiers sent to war are amassing debt, getting divorced and losing their homes due to the financial hardships brought about by fighting prolonged wars in a time of deep recession.

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act was passed to help alleviate some of these problems, but eviction, foreclosure and job loss are still a reality for too many of our brave men and women warriors.

Money woes also lead servicemen and women into the arms of scam artists.  The government considers this enough of a problem that it is looking to make protecting members of the armed forces a key action item in new financial regulation.  Because soldiers are away for long stretches at a time, they are typically forced to entrust their financial dealings to others.  An Oregon woman was recently caught bilking servicemen out of their money by marrying them and draining their bank accounts.

All of this hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Defense Department.  The government considers financial stability to be a vital aspect of the personal readiness of soldiers, sailors and airmen and as a result provides provides financial information, training, and counseling through the Persoal Financial Management Program (PFMP) and through other programs and services. The PFMP provides classes, one-on-one counseling sessions, and additional information designed to educate service members and their families about consumer rights and to help them achieve financial stability.

Hopefully we can all remember the sacrifices that are made on our behalf and do something in turn for our war fighters.  Take a break from your own debt battle and make a contribution to the USO today.  It’s the least we can do.