It wasn’t until November of 2007 when I happened upon an article on MSNBC about Progressive offering pet coverage that I even considered changing insurance companies. Because our dogs Ludwig and Wolfgang are very important to us (they always wear seat belts in the car), I immediately went to the Progressive insurance website to find out more. I learned that the pet coverage is included with their collision coverage and therefore assumed that it would be much costlier. But I was wrong.

The coverage we had with Anchor General was only for liability and at a rate of $300 for 6 months. When I obtained a quote from Progressive, I was amazed to find that for only $60 more, we could have 10 times the amount of liability coverage than we had been getting from Anchor General as well as medical payments, comprehensive, collision (including $500 pet coverage), and roadside assistance.

In fact, if we had paid our Anchor General premiums in monthly installments, which we didn’t due to their exorbitant $12.00 monthly installment fees, we would have paid exactly the same amount as the Progressive policy which has a more reasonable installment fee of $1.00 per month.

This experience really opened my eyes to the dangers of complacency not only with insurance but many other things. This could apply to all services and not just auto insurance — home insurance, health insurance, cell phone plan, etc.

So, never be satisfied with what you’re paying. I’m not saying you should spend all your time looking for a better deal, but at each renewal period, do a little research before re-committing yourself, which is sometimes the easier thing to do. With the internet, it is very easy to obtain insurance quotes these days. You don’t have to talk to anyone or deal with pushy salespeople trying to rush you into signing.

Spend a few minutes and you could possibly save a few hundred dollars.

Related posts:

• 20 Minutes Can Save $180 & Tips for Receiving Better Customer Service
• Simple Solutions to Staying Out of Debt
• Pay Bills Online and Save
• Pay Bills Online and Save (Re-Post)
• Introduction to “Our Fourpence Worth” Blog

Whenever I make my 15-mile drive to the grocery store, even traveling at the posted speed limit of 55 mph, I am constantly being passed (via the oncoming lane), or tailgated until the highway splits to 2 lanes after 10 miles. While I understand the concept that “time is money,” this behavior just doesn’t make sense to me.

I admit to a somewhat wreckless time in my youth when the speed limit seemed like a nuisance that kept me from getting where I wanted to go as quickly as I wanted to go. But some time in my mid-twenties, I began to see how stupid I used to be and shudder at the chances I used to take.

Financial Reasons to Slow Down

• Save Gas
  According to the California Energy Commission, “Vehicles lose roughly one percent in fuel economy for every mile per hour driven above 55 mph.”
• Speeding Tickets
  In my aforementioned wreckless youth, I have been the recipient of 2 speeding tickets. My first (1999), for going 50 mph in a 35 mph zone, cost me $67. My second (2002), for going 30 in a 25 zone, was around $70. I don’t know how much speeding fines are these days, but I know they cost a lot more.
• Auto Insurance Rates
  Traffic violations and accidents, even if you’re not at fault, will raise your auto insurance premiums.
• Risk of Accidents
  Even if you’re insured, an accident will most likely cost you money in the form of repairs and deductibles. If you injure someone or damage someone’s property, it could potentially cost you a fortune in legal and liability costs.
• Auto Maintenance
  The less wear-and-tear you put on your car, the longer it’ll last and the fewer repairs it’ll need.

Health Reasons to Slow Down

• Reduce Chances of Serious and Permanent Injury
  Is the risk of an injury that will impact many years – if not the rest – of your life worth getting wherever you’re going 5 minutes faster?
• Reduce Stress
  Driving at high speeds is stressful. Whenever I drive at speeds over 55 or 60 mph – even when within the speed limit – I find my body tension level significantly increased. My back and legs are often sore when I arrive at my destination. We already have enough stress in our daily lives, why add more?

Moral Reasons to Slow Down

• Injury to Others
  This includes other motorists, pedestrians, children and pets. Injuring, or worse, accidentally killing, someone or someone’s pet would affect more than your own life.
• Your Loved Ones
  What would happen to your loved ones – children, spouse, parents and others who care about and depend on you – if you were seriously injured or killed in an accident?

Maybe because I drive very little these days – a few times a month to run errands – I am more conscious of the dangers of driving. Every time I leave my house, I am acutely aware of the fact that anything can happen. I don’t have human children, but I have a dog that I care about more than anything, and I remind myself that getting to the store 5 minutes faster is not worth the risk of my not being here to take care of him.

I know we live in a busy age where everyone has 30 hours’ worth of things to get done within a 24-hour day. But is it really worth it to jeopardize our safety, risk accidents, fines and more to get there faster? Try to leave earlier. If you can’t get everywhere you need to without speeding, then maybe you need make some changes. Easier said than done, I know, especially if it’s work related, but speed limits are there for a reason.

When I was younger, I used feel like I was being rude if I was holding people up, even if I was already going over the speed limit. But, not anymore. I drive the posted speed limit not only because it’s the law, but because it’s the smart and responsible thing to do. I will not be made to feel guilty or like a “prude” for driving the speed limit. I won’t increase my risks just so others behind me can satisfy their need for speed.

Recommended Reading

• Yahoo Finance: Slow Down a Little, Save a Lot of Gas
• California Energy Commission: Slow It Down to Save Gas and Money

Related posts:

• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #19
• Economical Pet and Child Safe Ways to Repel and Kill Ants, Spiders and Other Insects
• When “Free” Things Aren’t Free: Beware the Hidden and Indirect Costs
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #6
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #15

Merriam-Webster defines the word “vacation” as “a respite or a time of respite from something”. Well, if that “something” from which one is taking a respite is “peace and quiet” then I would have to agree with the definer. Otherwise, gathering from my 2 recent “vacations” (one to Disneyland, one [working] vacation to Las Vegas from which I have just returned), vacation seems more like a respite from peace and quite to me.

Anyhow, I thought I would put together a pre-vacation checklist to help all you other poor vacationers prepare for your vacations, because if there is one thing I have learned, vacations are costly – and I am not just talking about transportation, lodging and amusements, but all the little everyday necessities – and the only way to travel frugally is to travel prepared. Also, the better prepared you are, the better the time you will have on your vacation; knowing that everything back home is taken care of and that you are prepared for most common travel mishaps will allow you to enjoy yourself to the utmost.

And yes, I am the extremest of Type A personalities, but admit it, sometimes it is handy to have someone who has the bases covered. You’ll certainly be glad to have one of us along when the unexpected happens because we’ve planned and prepared for it (or at least have given some thought to it beforehand so as not to be caught by surprise). This isn’t a list of what to pack (toothbrush, underwear, etc.) but rather more of a pre-departure to-do list to help prepare for your trip. I’m not saying you need to do everything suggested, but hopefully a few items will prove helpful or relevant to your circumstances.

Prevention is the best medicine

Just because you are on vacation, it doesn’t mean everyone else is. This goes for utility companies, burglars and your own plumbing and wiring. When you come home from vacation, you want to make sure you still have an intact home to come home to, and aren’t met with a mountain of additional expenses. Therefore before you leave, you might want to try some of the following:

(These checkboxes are check-able, so feel free to come back and use it.)

Home and Business

Travel Arrangements

Better to be Safe than Sorry

You never know what can happen on the road, and when it comes to health and safety, it is infinitely better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. Therefore,

Well, this may not have covered all the bases, as everyone has different situations, but hopefully this list proved helpful in some ways. Bon Voyage!

If you’re traveling with your pet, check out my next post, Guide to Safe and Smart Traveling with Pets,

Related posts:

• Welcome MSN Money Central Smart Spending Readers!
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #4
• June 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Guide to Safe and Smart Traveling with Pets
• Resources

With a current budget deficit of $17.2 billion, the urgent issue of who should pick up the firefighting bill has arisen. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed an insurance surcharge on all California home and property owners to help raise funds for firefighting.

But for those of us who have not chosen to build and live in the areas where these frequent seasonal fires occur, we can’t help but feel a little resentful of this proposal. The existence of homes in those areas drive firefighting costs up due to the necessity for differing procedures and additional resources. Not only does it cost more to have to use fire engines, airplanes and helicopters to defend these structures, but they take resources away from other remote fires that would otherwise be more quickly and easily contained.

According to Timothy Duane, professor of environmental planning and policy at UC Berkeley:

“When you are forced to move resources in defense of structures, it means you’re often taking resources away from other areas of the fire, or entirely separate fires, which means those fires are harder to contain with less resources. You have to deal with life, and property and natural resources, in that order, and when you’re dealing with the first two, it increases the extent of the fire and the time period before you can put the fire out.”

Yes, we do feel sorry for those who have lost their homes or whose homes are in danger, but they willingly purchased and/or built homes in areas that they knew were susceptible to seasonal fires. When we purchased our California home, we did so after researching the various environmental factors and comparing risks of natural disasters with other areas. With this sort of information readily available, as well as the fact that the wildfires are widely covered in the news each year, it’s hard to claim ignorance to the risk when they purchased or built their homes.

I know I should be more charitable and sympathetic, but frankly, with the daily inflation of food and gas prices, the heat wave increasing our electric bill, and decline in business putting a strain on our already modest lifestyle, I am not in the mood to pay a surcharge on my home insurance in order to make up for the poor home purchase decisions of others.

Related posts:

• July 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #5
• Save on Vehicle Registration, Driver License Renewal and (for California Residents) Smog Testing & Repair with DMV Online
• Lottery Tickets: Worthy Investment or Waste of Money?
• Patchwork Berets from Fabric Scraps

Originally posted 2008-07-10 12:23:32.

A necessity is an item/service that you simply cannot do without in your everyday life and that is vital to your survival and situation.

A luxury is anything that is not a necessity.

A few examples of necessities (or necessary expenditures) would be:

• Food
• Rent/mortgage
• Auto insurance
• Home insurance
• Health insurance
• Gas
• Auto Maintenance
• Utilities: electricity, gas and phone

Of course these are not the only necessities in the world, and it’s different for everyone, but when you really think about it, true necessities are actually quite few in number, and many things that you think you need are in fact not that necessary.

A few common examples of luxuries would be:

• Entertainment – movies (at the theater, renting, or buying), music and/or books
• Cable or satellite
• Toys and games (video or non-video)
• More than one home phone line
• More than one computer (even one computer could be considered a luxury in dire circumstances)
• High speed internet service

Even in one of the main necessities, food, there are luxuries that aren’t necessary. Necessary foods are foods that are vital for your health and continued existence. These are usually basic foods and staples that fill out your food pyramid and keep you in good health. Any food that is not vital to your health and survival should be regarded as a luxury.

A few examples of luxury foods when grocery shopping would be:

• Chips and other junk food
• Cookies and other sweets
• Gourmet cheeses
• Alcoholic drinks
• Soda and other bottled beverages
• Bakery goods
• Specialty breads i.e. foccacia
• Seasonal and tropical fruits
• Fancy meats (i.e. steaks)
• Pre-prepared and packaged foods (sandwiches, salads, sushi, cut fruit, etc.)

I say “should be regarded as a luxury” because I think it is important to understand and appreciate the difference. I am not saying that your life should be completely stripped of all pleasures and comforts, but when you are purchasing a new DVD or CD, it is important to be aware that what you are purchasing is a luxury item.

So, the first step in trying to figure out how to cut your expenditures is to go through your regular purchases (including services) and distinguish all luxuries from necessities. Luxuries should not be regarded as “forbidden” because it could turn into an obsession (the desirability might be blown out of proportion), but be aware that by choosing not to purchase these items, you are gaining an advantage.

Related posts:

• Pecuniary Links & Pecuniarities Update ~ July 2009 #1
• Simple Solutions to Staying Out of Debt
• Frugal Christmas: Skipping the Tree and Presents This Year
• Financial Lent: A Frugal Fast to See What You Can Live Without
• Carnival of Pecuniary Delights No. 24: Friends Edition

Originally posted 2008-04-25 00:59:12.

But this morning, I went to the Charter site for an entirely different purpose: checking out the options on one of the most un-frugal things there are – cable TV. I know I shouldn’t be doing that because nobody really needs cable, but I recently got hooked on a few shows that I’ve discovered on Hulu (House M.D., The Office and Battlestar Galactica) and am itching to see the re-runs of all the past seasons I’ve missed. Of course, I was just looking, with no intention to buy because when it comes down to it, it really is a terrible waste of money. But anyways, when I clicked on Add/Upgrade Services, I saw that there were 3 High Speed Internet promotional plans available to my area – $19.99, $24.99, and $44.99 a month. I decided to get on customer service chat for some clarification on the plans available to my area, and 20 minutes later I had saved $180.

The plan was this: I could get on the 10 Meg High Speed plan (upgrade) at $24.99 a month for a promotional period of 6 months. There are no contracts so if I happen to have to move (which is a possibility but hopefully not – knock on wood), and there are no fees for upgrading or downgrading so I can just re-downgrade to the 5 Meg service at the end of the promotional period. While it’s not a permanent fix, it’s at least a 6-month fix, and one that’ll save us $30 a month which comes out to a total $180.

All I have to do is remember to contact them again in November and have them downgrade us to our original plan. Or maybe if we’re really lucky they’ll have another promotion for us then! So, if you think you might be paying too much for a service – any service – phone, cable, internet, insurance – do a little research and/or call your service provider (Further reading: Insurance Matters: The Cost of Complacency.) Companies are always running promotions to bring in new customers or keep old ones, so chances are probably good that you’ll be able to save somewhere. Even if it’s just a few dollars for a few months, it’ll add up.

If you are going to contact your service provider, here are a few tips for getting the best results:

Tips for Receiving Better Customer Service

Obviously, these are tips for when you have engaged a live customer service representative after bypassing the robots. In the interest of readability, I may sometimes use the impersonal pronoun “they” instead of typing out “he/she”. I know it is grammatically incorrect, but “he/she”, “him/her”, “his/her” can get old.

• Firstly, try to avoid dealing with customer service when you are: hungry, thirsty, tired or sleepy as these states can cause you to be less focused and coherent, and possibly cranky.
• Also, allow yourself plenty of time. If you try to squeeze a call into a short amount of time (i.e. while standing in line at the post office, the last 10 minutes of your lunch break, etc.) it is likely that you will not get the best out of your call. You will be in a hurry to get off the phone (or computer) and might lose out on an otherwise better option, or be impatient and lose your temper and making your customer service agent less willing to help you. Give yourself at least 20-30 minutes and try to make the call in a quiet place where you are least likely to be interrupted or bothered.
• Use Live Chat customer service whenever available for the following reasons:
  • It is easier to keep details straight when you can see them in front of you.
  • It is also easier if you are dealing with customer service that might be outsourced to another country, or even a customer service rep located in the U.S. but who has an accent or regional dialect that might be difficult to understand.
  • At the end of the chat, do a select all (ctrl+a), copy (ctrl+c) and paste (ctrl+v) the text from your entire chat session onto a word document file for later reference.
  • Make sure you note the customer service rep’s name or ID number, the date and time of your chat session. This might make it a little easier if you need additional customer service later one and you and refer to the session.
• Greet your customer service representative. A simple “hello” (and maybe even a “how are you”) will start the conversation or chat off on a friendly note.
• Remember that you are speaking to a real person who will respond to the way you speak to him/her. If you are nice, chances are they will be nice in return. If you’re not nice, chances are they will be too. Having worked in customer service, I know this for a fact.
• If using internet chat, try to use proper spelling, capitalization, grammar and punctuation. It may take a few seconds longer, but it will make your messages easier to read, which is important for both courtesy, accuracy and professionalism. Yes, even if you’re the customer, professionalism on your part will help them to take you seriously and encourage them to serve you better.
• Do a little prior research about the company’s current plans and promotions. If anyone you know has received a promotional deal from the same company, mention it to them and ask if you can also receive the same promotion or something similar.
• If you are looking for a plan that costs the lowest, be sure to mention it to them. They might sometimes only offer you a plan or package that sells you more service than you need. If you only want one specific service, be sure to mention it to them.
• When offered a promotion, make sure you get all the facts. Don’t just ask them if there is anything else you need to know, but rather ask them to clarify each point for you:
  • Are there any additional fees for switching plans permanently or temporarily (if you’ll be switching back at the end of a promotional period)?
  • Are there any contracts or obligations and for how long?
  • Is there an early cancellation fee? (In case you are dissatisfied with the new service, if you have to move etc.)
  • Are there any service limits different from your current plan?
• At the end of the conversation thank them for their help, say goodbye and even wish them a nice day. This ensures that both of you leave the conversation on a positive note which could affect the next time you deal with this company. Even if you never deal with the same rep again, if every customer was polite to every customer service rep, then customer service in general might be a lot more pleasant.
• Remember to make a note on your calender if you are receiving an offer that requires cancellation or downgrade at the end of a promotional period. If you use Google Calendar, Mozilla Sunbird or Microsoft Outlook, get on your calendar as soon as you get off the phone or chat and set yourself a reminder to alert you a few days before the end of the promotional period. Canceling on time (instead of canceling and re-switching after you have been permanently enrolled or charged for the new plan) will save you a lot of headache, time and money.

Now go and save yourself some money.

[ad#banner468x60]

Related posts:

• It Saves to Be Nice Part 2: How to Be a Nice Customer
• May 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• It Saves to Be Nice Part 1: It’s Business But It’s Also Personal
• Simple Solutions to Staying Out of Debt
• It Saves to Be Nice Part 3: How Being Nice Pays Off

Originally posted 2008-05-06 16:00:29.

I have been wanting to get around to this topic for some time, and was reminded by Penelope’s recent mentions of speeding violations. Traffic tickets cost money and the resentment for that loss is often directed at the police officer who prescribed it. There are many instances when you may feel that you have been unfairly singled out while millions of speeders go unpunished. But your feelings, when  they are expressed, may get the the opposite result from that which you desire and compound the damage you incur financially and otherwise.

Once, when I was 20 years old, I unintentionally let my car go way too fast while coasting downhill. Because I was on a new, smooth, and wide stretch of highway with no other vehicles in sight, I had no sense of danger or unlawfulness until I approached an intersection and saw a police car half concealed behind some very bushy roadside plants.

This was the first and only time I had ever been pulled over by a policeman, and although I absolutely deserved to be ticketed and fined (because I acknowledge that my behavior was both reckless and inattentive) my encounter with the officer concluded with him giving me a benevolent warning to slow down and wishing me a nice day.

Because I have always been adept at dealing with people in authority, I want to share some tips on how to behave when confronted by someone who is superior to you in age, legal station, or position in a school or business. Even in instances when you feel that a so-called superior is morally and/or intellectually unworthy of that position, it does not benefit yourself to always show it.

But I want to emphasize the fact that submitting to authority does not mean being a pushover. Showing deliberate disrespect will only gratify a person’s desire to punish you and make you feel a disadvantage. By being respectful, you are acting in a manner which promotes the other person’s desire to benefit you and make you happy. This involuntary response to your (hopefully sincere) politeness can have a significant impact on the severity of your punishment or whether you are punished at all.

Some of the factors which persuaded the police officer against giving me a speeding ticket are as follows (in the order encountered).

One: I looked clean and neat

How you look is the first impression you make when someone approaches you. Its effect may last only until you open your mouth or forever. For example, if you first see someone in a stunning outfit and flawlessly groomed, you will still think he or she is good-looking when encountered later in grubby sweat suits, unshaven, or in the middle of a bad hair day. We can’t all look our best 24×7, but having a general habit of being clean and neatly dressed increases your curb appeal (and reduces society’s impulse to demolish you).

A clean appearance shows consideration for the health and comfort of people around you. Clothing that does not stray too far from convention shows you have respect for the ideals and customs of society. These two factors will contribute to persuade someone you are not in the habit of offending others, and do not intentionally do wrong.

On the day of my offense, I was wearing a buttoned up blouse, knee-length skirt and light makeup consisting of pale powder and pink lipstick. I think my benign appearance made the policeman reluctant to be unpleasant towards me. I also saw him glance repeatedly at my dog who was riding with me, and noted the power of a pet (like children) to influence someone for or against you. He saw that my dog was clean, well-mannered, and his breed and appearance (border collie with traditional markings) suggested that I had a conservative personality.

“When constabulary duty’s to be done, to be done, A policeman’s lot is not a happy one, happy one.”– from the  Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan

Two: I said Hello

When you know that someone is coming to give you a fine, it might not come naturally to offer a greeting as if you were pleased to see him. But saying nothing makes you look resentful. Think of the sulky silence of a teenager when being scolded by a parent or teacher. By saying hello, you turn a punitive affair into a social engagement.

When I rolled down the window with a little hello and a half smile, I saw a halt in the stern speech I was about to receive. The officer seemed a little surprised, returned the greeting, and then proceeded in a friendlier fashion.

Remember that cops are human too, and that they may be tense when approaching you because they are used to being met with resentment while doing their job. When you offer a polite greeting, the other party feels obliged to return it. Courtesy creates an obligation of return. But do not appear sycophantic, because authority figures who think you are trying to manipulate them will want to teach you a lesson.

Three: I did not argue

This may have been a little sly, but I gave no indication that I knew why I had been pulled over. I just looked at the officer as if I were curious what he wanted. This allowed him to choose how to bring up the subject and feel in control of the conversation. When he informed me how fast I had been driving, I said “Oh, sorry.” And I did not contradict him or argue on my own behalf. I just indicated that I accepted his ruling and casually apologized for having misbehaved.

The surest way to make a policeman angry is to deny that you were doing what he said you were doing, because you are calling him a liar and that would make anyone angry. If you say that the verdict is unfair (because everyone speeds), you are saying that he is unethical, which is equally offensive. By acknowledging that you were in the wrong, however slight the offense, and though you may have had good reason, you demonstrate that you do not think yourself above the law and the need for discipline is diminished.

I do not mean that we should be dumb sheep in the hands of the law. I am all for standing upon my rights when there is true injustice. But accepting the consequences when you have erred can reduce the cost of present and future incidents.

The Snowball Effect of Good Behavior

The same principles apply in school or work. My classmates in high school had a tendency to regard teachers as the enemy. This made the teachers eager to punish them, escalating the resentment on both sides over time. In college as well, students who make excuses for late homework or missing classes persuade teachers that they are more than usually deserving of penalties.

On the other hand, by showing respect to authority figures (so long as they retain my good opinion), I have often been pleasantly surprised by receiving sympathy or assistance when I expected to be scolded. I couldn’t help but notice that quite a few teachers could not bring themselves to lower my grades on the rare occasions that I missed classes or turned in homework late. I am aware that any such bias in my favor is not entirely fair and so am careful not to abuse it.

When you respond politely to people in authority, you are more likely to get a positive result from the encounter or at least avoid a disagreeable conflict. This will affect how you feel and behave when dealing with other authority figures you meet afterwards. Now I have met my share of bad authority in persons such as my legal guardian and a few bosses and teachers. In these cases, insubordination is perfectly acceptable so long as it is carried out in a practical manner and does not negatively affect your dealings with honest and respectable persons.

When people think you are a nice and generally responsible person, they feel guilty about doling out fines and punishment. This applies in relationships of five minutes or five years. The key to getting good treatment is having no expectations. Expectations give rise to resentment, whereas people are usually happy to do something nice when they may freely chose to.

Returning to the subject of my traffic violation and pecuniary considerations, the obvious benefit of being polite to a policeman was that I was spared the expense of a fine and increased car insurance rates. But perhaps the lesson learned was more valuable, for I was rewarded for good behavior and inclined to continue in that way.

Related posts:

• It Saves to Be Nice Part 2: How to Be a Nice Customer
• Prune Your Spending and Watch the Savings Grow
• It Saves to Be Nice Part 4: How to Save Money by Helping Businesses Keep Operating Costs Down
• 20 Minutes Can Save $180 & Tips for Receiving Better Customer Service
• Under the Weather – Recommended Reading

This month’s Group Writing Project is about Personal Experiences with Loans, so we’ll tell the story of our first, somewhat disastrous experience with loans, of how we got in trouble and rectified the situation.

In May 2003, when we moved from Hawaii, we lived in a tiny garage apartment in Hayward, CA (more about this in Our Family Financial History). After a few harrowing experiences of walking as long as 3-4 hours through the dodgy neighborhoods to run errands, we decided we needed to buy a car ASAP.

Not knowing the first thing about buying a car or obtaining a loan, we set out on foot on Memorial Day 2003 and walked several miles to the car shopping district. The first used car salesman we spoke to asked us about our credit history, of which he had none. He told us we wouldn’t be able to buy a car without credit history and made some suggestions that we buy some jewelry on financing to build credit. Well, we needed a car then, not a year after owning jewelry we didn’t need, so on we went.

At the next used car lot we stopped at, a young salesman hurried out to speak to us. I can’t quite recall what was said in the conversation except perhaps that we were looking to buy a used car. Before we knew it, we had been whisked off in one of the used cars and driven over to the KIA dealership a block down the road and seated at a table with 2 car salesmen.

Again, they began by asking about our credit. We told them we had no previous credit history, but they went ahead and pulled our credit and came back shaking their heads and tsk-tsking about it, saying it would be really hard for us to buy a car. But good news was that I had an Old Navy credit card account (which I had never used), so I could actually get a loan – at an interest rate 24% APR. It was the only way, they said, that we could get a car.

We believed what they said and settled on a used 1999 Sephia LS, which was listed at $7,000, with a monthly payment of $230 (about $190 of which turned out to be interest) for 36 months. I didn’t like it, but by this time, we had been there for hours, were famished and really just wanted to get out of there. We also felt that we had to get a car that day, because we were too tired to walk all the way back home in that hot weather, and we couldn’t go on walking to buy groceries (Hayward is a scary place and our experience with public transportation there hadn’t been good).

So we finally gave in, put a down payment of $1,500 and took the “deal,” which upon later examination of our loan documents and after licensing and taxes (another $1,500) would have us paying a total of $11,300 for a not-so-great used car. We also made the mistake of not planning ahead and looking into auto insurance, so we had to take the dealership’s deal for insurance until we could get our own.

After we bought the car and spoke to our cousin, who had lots of advice for what we “shouldn’t have done” after the fact, we decided that we would do our best to pay off the loan as quickly as possible. The one good thing about this awful loan was that there was no pre-payment penalty. So we made our monthly payments and saved as much money as possible. By the beginning of June 2004, after 13 monthly payments, we had saved up enough to pay off the remaining balance of about $4,300.

By paying the loan off 2 years early, the final amount we ended up paying for the car was around $8,800. So we were able to save about $2,500. It was a mistake to go car shopping armed with no knowledge, but we did learn from our mistake and you can be sure we will never make the same mistake again. We’ve decided that next time we need to buy a car, we’ll order a new one from Cars Direct and pay in cash.

* * *

About the PF Bloggers Group Writing Project

The Personal Finance Bloggers Network currently consists of 7 active personal finance and frugal living blogs. The Group Writing Project is a monthly project wherein each blog will write a post on a pre-determined topic and publish it on the same day of each month. Be sure to visit the PF Bloggers Group Writing Project page for the others!

Extended Group Writing Project Invitation

If you are a blogger, we would like to invite you to write your own post on this topic and submit it for listing with our entries on our Group Writing Project pages. Please visit the following page for details on how to participate in our Extended Group Writing Project.

[ad#banner468x60]

Related posts:

• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #9
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #8
• Poorest Time of Our Lives
• Insurance Matters: The Cost of Complacency
• Falling Off Your Financial Horse: If You’ve Never Fallen Off a Horse, You Just Haven’t Ridden Enough

I am also hosting the Money Hacks Carnival tomorrow, so be sure and check back for more great reads! If this is your first time here, please look around and consider subscribing to our RSS feed.

Now on with the carnival!

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Editor’s Picks

• Silicon Valley Blogger presents Lost Money: How Money Drains Add Up To $175,000 In 10 Years.
• MoneyNing presents Frugally and Happily Back to School 9 Different Ways.
• Kevin Brink presents “Sale” Can Sometimes be Just Another Four Letter Word.
• ISPF presents 10 Tips to Get Anyone into the Habit of Cooking at Home (Even if You Have Never Stepped into the Kitchen Before).
• Savingadvice presents Reached Financial Independence. Now What?

The Frugal Lifestyle

• David presents 25 Frugal Ways To Reuse Everyday Household Items.
• Kate presents Time Well Spent.
• HowToMe presents How To Make a Washing Stick to Pamper Ones’ Hands.
• RC presents Making the Conscious Choice to Get By With Less.
• Anna presents Not by Bread Alone.
• Kacie presents Frivolous or frugal to outsource tasks?

(AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Frugal Family Activities

• Joanne presents Make Stuff Your Kids Can Play With.
• K presents Five Frugal Toys Using Food.
• Aryn presents 10 Frugal Anniversary Ideas (That Are Also Romantic).
• Ryan Suenaga presents Frugal, Fun, and Healthy: Five Outdoor Activities.
• DJ presents Camping on a Dime.
• Faron Benoit presents 10 Cheap Date Night Ideas.

Saving on Food: Groceries, Cooking & Dining

• Tiffanie presents 13 tips on how to maximize grocery shopping.
• FIRE Getters presents Top 5 Ways To Trim Our Grocery Bills!
• Jamie McIntosh presents Save Money With Organic Produce.
• Grey presents 5 Breakfast Ideas for Brown Rice.
• Todd presents Save 20% On Restaurant Meals.
• Adam Berry presents The Frugal Approach to Cooking.
• Megan presents Saving the Economy by Dieting?

(AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Shopping Tips: Sales and Coupons

• Karen presents Does a tax holiday really equal savings?
• Erin Gifford presents 5 Ways to Save Money While Shopping Online.
• Briana presents Surviving the Checkout Lane with your coupons is a breeze if you arm yourself with knowledge.
• Amy Hobbs presents Coupon Myths Debunked.
• Lisa Spinelli presents Six Money Saving Websites With Ongoing Big Fat Deals.

Spending and Budgeting

• Emily Starbuck Gerson presents Young British couple has ‘credit crunch wedding.’
• Rich Leverage presents How to Avoid Nickel and Diming Your Way to the Poorhouse.
• KCLau presents How a medium family can retire comfortably (Real Life Case Study).

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Back to School Saving Tips

• Kris presents If I Had Known Then: Food and Financial Advice for the College-Bound (Also, a Story).
• Tom Tessin presents Shopping Tips for College Students.
• Madison presents Back to School Savings Challenge.
• Ben presents College Dorm Room Decor Ideas – How to Decorate Your Dorm on a Budget.
• squawkfox presents Printable Dorm Room Essentials Checklist.

Saving on Transportation

• Jim presents 547 Ways to be Fuel Smart by Roger Albright.
• Steve Faber presents Top 12 Cars With the Best Gas Mileage That are Actually Fun to Drive.
• Steward presents Bike Commuting Is Tough on the Tush.
• Curt presents How to Minimize Your Automobile Total Cost of Ownership.
• Penny Nickel presents The true costs of driving– how much could you save on transportation?
• Pamela Grundy presents Unbelievable Car Rental Deal! Thanks Alamo!

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Personal Financial Journeys (Stories)

• Amanda Milne presents You Can Have Frugality and Quality of Life.
• NtJS presents What Is: The Smartest Advice You Ever Got – Mrs. NtJS’s Turn.
• The Happy Rock presents The little things…starting to trim the budget.
• APFB presents A Lifelong Money Lesson.

Miscellaneous Savings Tips

• J. Savings presents Avoid Overdraft Fees by Tying your Checking to your C/C.
• Chief Family Officer presents Money Saving Tip: Check the address for recurrent online payments.
• Amy presents 13 Uses for Vinegar.
• Shaula presents Finding Free WiFi.
• Livingalmostlarge presents Frugal Tip – Use CC to buy Gas.
• Randy presents 12 Free and Fantastic Windows Applications.
• Abby Freedman presents How to get something for nothing.
• Joseph presents Saving Money At Garage And Yard Sales.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Other

• Michael Geoffrey presents What Do You Believe About Money?
• Dorian Wales presents How to Invest Wisely In a Bear Market?
• Sandy Naidu presents Emergency Fund Savings – Emergency Fund Tips.
• Nina Smith presents Five Things Not Worth Repairing.
• Kevin presents Should You Invest in Visa? A 5 Month Update.
• Michael Cintolo presents In sickness and health (insurance).
• VH presents Is the Layoff Boom about to Fall?

(AP Photo)

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of Frugality using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

[ad#banner468x60]

Related posts:

• Festival of Frugality #152: Affected by Recession Edition
• Festival of Frugality #140: The Frugal Quotes Edition
• Recent Blog Carnivals (February 2009)
• May 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• August 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals

With our automatic garage door inoperable, we’ve been parking our car in the driveway these last few months. Last week, when I needed to go the hardware store, the car wouldn’t start. Everything sounded fine, the engine cranked, the battery was good, but the bloody car simply wouldn’t start.

I called our auto insurance company (Progressive) with which we have roadside service, and arranged for towing to our local mechanic, and 2 hours later my mechanic called with the diagnosis: rabbits had chewed the cables under the car. This is a common problem in our area due to large amounts of undeveloped land – our house is one of 5 or 6 on our street.

This simple problem of chewed cables cost us $150 for the mechanic to take apart the engine and fix the cables. This repair supposedly took him 2 hours (at $75 per hour), but I have a hard time believing that it really did, because when I got there a little under 2 hours later, the mechanics were playing solitaire on the computer. This is what I hate about hiring people to do work that I myself don’t know much about. I have half a mind to go and learn auto repair – and everything else it takes to maintain the entire house.

On top of it all, I had to traipse across the desert (alright, just a small chunk of desert – about 10 minutes) in 101 degree heat to pick up my car.

So a word of advice: If you live in an area where there are wild rabbits, try not to park your car outside, especially during hot summer days. They hide under the car to get away from the sun, and because there’s nothing else to do, they gnaw on whatever they can find under the car – namely, wires. When I went to pick up my car, the mechanic pointed out parts of my engine that had rabbit hairs stuck to them.

I do still think they’re cute. I suppose you can’t blame them. They don’t know any better, and they have to chew things to keep their teeth from growing to long. To prove just how cute they are, here are a couple of bunnies that visited us a couple of years back. Now how can you hate anything as cute as this?

P.S. We are now looking harder to find a professional repairman who will service our area.

[ad#banner468x60]

Related posts:

• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #5
• Watch “Sandra’s Money Saving Meals” and “The Dave Ramsey Show” Videos Free on Hulu
• Two Natural and Economical Ways to Shed Dry Winter Skin
• March 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Untangling Yarn Troubles

I know everyone hates hearing these trite statements, but the reason they are so often repeated is because they are true. In fact, they are so basic they should be considered common sense. These principles work for both staying out of (and maybe even getting out of) debt.

The simple solutions to staying out of debt are:

• Spend less than you make
• Don’t waste money
• If your expenses are higher than your income
  • Cut back, and/or
  • Make more money

How to spend less than you make

Before you spend money on any treats for yourself, set aside what you need to pay your regular bills. If you aren’t able to keep from spending that money by only mentally setting it aside, try the following:

• Open a new bank account for your regular expenses (rent, utilities, etc.). Tip: Credit unions offer accounts without fees or minimum balances. Let’s call this account your “Expenses Account.”
• Add up all your bills and expenses at the beginning of each month and transfer that amount from your main account to your Expenses Account.
• If the bank or credit union issues you an ATM card and/or checks for that account, keep them in a safe place at home instead of carrying them in your wallet or purse.
• If you get paid every 2 weeks and your bills are due at the end of the month, try not to spend any money on luxuries with the first paycheck of the month. If your expenses are less than the amount of your paycheck, put all of that amount into your Expenses Account, plus a little extra padding just to be safe (to prevent overdraft charges in case you added wrong).
• After you have set aside all the money necessary to pay your bills, see how much you have left. Put as much into savings as possible, but if you feel like you need to treat yourself to a little something, do so at your own discretion.

How to not waste money

Money wasted is money you will never see again. And money is one of the easiest things to waste and justify (at least at the moment of the wasting). The easiest way to keep from wasting money is to ask yourself the simple, and again oft-repeated, question of “Do I really need to buy this [item]“? It is likely that 60% or more of the time, you will find that you really don’t need it after some thought. But if just asking yourself this question isn’t enough for you, try some or all of the following:

• When tempted with an impulse purchase, leave it and think about it a week later. Don’t go and look at the item, but just think about it. Looking at it might bring the impulse back. After a week, see if you still really want it. Chances are that you will no longer feel as strongly about it as you did before.
• When there is something you really want to buy, make a list of “Reasons why you need this item” and “Reasons why you should not buy this item”. Take a look at your reasons and see if they are good enough reasons to justify the expenditure.
• If you do need to buy something, spend some time to research the quality of what you buy. Many websites have consumer opinions on all sorts of products. If you do spend money, make sure you are spending it on something that will last you a good while. Don’t compromise your desire or need for something by settling for something cheap and of inferior quality that won’t last in usefulness or value.
• Think about the potential of that money. Check out my earlier article Prune Your Spending and Watch the Savings Grow and use the savings interest calculator to see how much a few dollars here and there can grow into a sizable nest egg in future years.

How to cut back on spending

If your expenses are higher than your income, then go through all your bills and see which ones you can do without or downgrade. Do you really need lightning speed internet on your personal computer? Do you really need 1000 minutes, internet and 200 text messages on your personal cell phone? Check out these previous articles I have written that deal with lowering expenses.

• Discerning Luxury from Necessity – This is a basic guide to get you started on figuring out what you need and don’t need
• 20 Minutes Can Save $180 & Tips for Receiving Better Customer Service – This is an article on how I saved some money just by contacting my ISP to ask about lower rates.
• Insurance Matters: The Cost of Complacency – The lesson I learned about assuming that my auto insurance company was still giving me the best rate after I relocated.
  

How to increase your income

There are many ways of increasing your income. It doesn’t have to be a major endeavor, but a little bit of extra money never hurts. Here are a just a few suggestions for what you can do to increase your income. Some are one-time solutions, and others are things that you can do continuously.

• Sell your stuff
  Go through your things and find some things you no longer need but are good enough to pass on. Hold a garage or yard sale, or offer them for sale on one of the many online trading sites. I know someone who always has to have the newest technology – computers, cell phones, MP3 Players, etc. I imagine he must have thousands of dollars’ worth of still good technology just sitting around his house.
• Sell your abilities
  Do you have a skill not possessed by everyone? If you speak a 2nd or 3rd language, play a musical instrument, or have some knowledge of a subject, you can tutor or teach from your home or create an informative website on to earn ad money. If you are good at crafts, fixing electronics, woodworking, minding children, or any other special skill, there are numerous ways to earn a little money here or there and you may even end up being a professional in a field you never considered seriously. Some people do not even know how to install software on their personal computers and will pay to have this common task done for them.
• Open a CafePress Store
  If you have photographic, artistic or graphics ability, open a CafePress shop. All you have to do is upload your images and create products with your artwork on them. Check out our store Mozartini, which we started in December 2007 and has begun to make more money each month. We love CafePress because once the artwork is up and products created, all you have to do is wait for the money to come it. CafePress takes care of customers, prints and ships the orders and sends you a check. I just love waking up in the morning and finding those “You’ve made a sale at CafePress” emails.
• Check out a few other suggestions by my fellow financial blogger, Jonathan from Master Your Card, who recently wrote a guest post for us: Five Ways to Make Some Extra Income on the Side.

Related posts:

• Welcome MSN Money Central Smart Spending Readers!
• June 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Resisting the Urge to Splurge
• Pecuniarities (Our Fourpence Worth) 1 Year Anniversary
• Under the Weather – Recommended Reading

A few instances where I often choose not to buy in bulk are:

• Trying a new product
  I recently shopped for a multi-purpose household cleaner. (We try to use vinegar and baking soda when possible, but there are times that we feel we need a stronger cleaner.) Because we have pets, we try to be as cautious as possible when choosing cleaners, and I found one called Simple Green that I liked the looks of because it claims to be safe and biodegradable, and it comes concentrated and makes several times the amount of the bottle.

  Simple Green comes in 3 sizes at our local Ace Hardware: 22 oz. spray bottle ($5.99), 1/2 gallon jug $8.99), and 1 Gallon jug ($10.99). Needless to say, the larger the jug, the lower the cost of use. With the larger sizes significantly cheaper than the smaller sizes, I was tempted to purchase the gallon sized jug. However, having never used or heard of the brand, I was hesitant to purchase such a large quantity for fear that it would turn out to be unsatisfactory for various reasons. Our local Ace Hardware charges a 15% restocking fee for all returns, which I consider a waste of money, so I don’t like to think of that as an option.

  I ended up choosing the 1/2 gallon jug of Simple Green. It was a hard decision because for just $2.00 more, I could have had twice the amount of product, but I figured that if it turned out I hated the product, I would be $2.00 richer for having gone with the $8.99 instead of $10.99. Also, the 1/2 gallon was enough to mix so much cleaner that it would be a very long time before having to buy more. And that extra $2.00 sitting in the bank for another 6 months to a year (or maybe even longer) will earn me a little interest, so in the end it might not make that much difference.

• Imminent large expenditure
  We sometimes opt not to purchase some things in bulk when we are expecting a large expenditure in the near future – i.e. income taxes, property tax, home and auto insurance renewal, vehicle registration and smog check, etc. which for us always come together at the same time (April and November). So in the weeks ahead of these months, we sometimes buy things we use over a longer period of time in smaller quantities. Yes, it does cost more in the long run, but sometimes we feel it a worthwhile cost in exchange for the added security of a little extra money in the bank account when larger amounts of money are going out.
• Less frequently used products
  If you are purchasing something that is used very infrequently, maybe only a few times a year, you might waste your money by purchasing it in larger quantities if it expires and loses effectiveness over time. This also goes for –
• Products nearing their expiration date
  Stores often have sales when products are nearing their expiration dates because they cannot sell them once the date has passed. In many cases, the items on sale are the bulk quantities and the price is so low that it is tempting to purchase it. But as mentioned above, some products lose effectiveness when they age so you may end up wasting money on products that no longer work as they should.

Again, the decision to not buy in bulk are usually for things that are not used up quickly. For everyday things like food, shampoo, laundry detergent, toilet paper, etc. we always buy in as large quantities as possible, but with things that are used over the course of a few months to a year, it can sometimes be more beneficial in the short term to purchase in smaller quantities.

P.S. We have been using Simple Green for a few weeks now and I am happy to say that I do like it. It gets the job done and smells really nice – sort of minty. Should have gotten the gallon size for just $2.00 more… darn it!

Related posts:

• Pecuniary Links ~ August 2009 #1
• August 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Is “Simple Living” Just Another Term for “Giving Up?”
• Prune Your Spending and Watch the Savings Grow
• Festival of Frugality #140: The Frugal Quotes Edition

Our monthly household bills look something like this: electric, gas, water & sanitation, 2 mortgages, cell phone, home insurance, auto insurance, 2 credit cards – an average of 10 bills per month. The cost of a first-class postage stamp is $0.41 ($0.42 starting May 12, 2008), and the cost of a personal check for us is about $0.07. (Since the companies usually provide the envelopes, we won’t count the cost of an envelope.) So the cost of mailing one bill is $0.48. At 10 bills a month, that amounts to $4.80 a month, and a total savings of $57.60 each year. A larger household with children and more bills could save even more than this.

If the company doesn’t have a website, it usually has a toll-free number you can call to pay by phone. Some companies allow you to set up automatic monthly charges to your credit card or withdrawals from your bank account, which could save you a lot of time.

Another option is through your bank or credit union’s online banking program which often includes free bill paying service. You can set up one time or recurring payments and your bank will mail a check for you. The recipient can be a company or an individual such as a landlord or babysitter.

In the years that we’ve used online payment options, we have never had problems with security or errors and never have to worry about the check getting delayed, lost or stolen in the mail. And we always pay with a credit card whenever we can. To see how you can save more money by paying with a credit card, please refer to our previous post Credit Cards Really Aren’t So Bad.

Related posts:

• Pay Bills Online and Save (Re-Post)
• Switching to Paperless Statements to Save Money, Time and the Planet
• Pecuniary Links ~ July 2009 #2
• It Never Hurts to Ask: Getting Late Fees Removed
• Financial Lent: A Frugal Fast to See What You Can Live Without

With the economy in its present state, there is a sudden surge of interest in frugality, the practice of prudent economy and avoidance of waste (of money or resources). Having been practicing the frugal lifestyle for the past 5 years, we thought this a good time to start a compilation of our tips for shaving a little expense here and there and making the most of what you have.

We will also periodically post time and cost efficient recipes, pet care tips, reviews and recommendations on books, music and films that we have found particularly noteworthy. For more information about us and this blog, please visit our About This Blog and Mores About Us pages.

Related posts:

• It Saves to Be Nice Part 2: How to Be a Nice Customer
• Monopoly Game Expansions for Learning Money Management and Investment Principles
• About This Blog
• Warm Weather Food Safety Tips
• Under the Weather – Recommended Reading

Just a reminder for our American readers that new and increased USPS (United States Postal Service) postage rates take effect this coming Monday May 12th, 2008. If you are planning to ship any packages via USPS, now is the time to do so – today Friday May 9th or tomorrow Saturday May 10th – especially if you will be shipping a lot of items.

Below is a quick overview and reference for the various shipping options taken from a prior article I wrote back in February, Save by Knowing Your Shipping & Mailing Options, but with added info and updated rates that will take effect May 12th. (If you are new to this blog, be sure to check out the above referenced post for tips on how to save on shipping and why you should be aware of your shipping options rather than relying solely on postal clerks to advise you.)

A few items of note:

• Express Mail is switching to a zone-based system with lower rates for closer destinations, so the new rates for some weights and destinations may be lower than current rates.
• Printing postage online can save you time and money; Priority Mail postage printed online can save you about 3.5% and Express Mail 3%.
• Purchase your Forever Stamps before Monday if you do a lot of mailing to save one cent per stamp. However, if you don’t do all that much mailing – i.e. by paying all your bills online (we’ve only used about half of a 20-pack I purchased last May) – it might be wiser to not stock up on a lot of stamps if you have a tendency to misplace them.

USPS Package Shipping Options

• First-Class Mail
  • Time: 2-5 business days
  • Cost: Starts at $1.17 for 1 oz. up to $3.21 for 13 oz.
  • Description: This is a good option for small and light-weight items including a single book or DVD with a total weight (envelope + item) up to 7 oz. as it would only cost you $2.19 as opposed to the 1 lb. Media Mail Rate of $2.23, and is faster than Media Mail. Using a padded envelope is highly recommended to prevent damage to the book or DVD.
• Media Mail (Book Rate)
  • Time: 2-9 business days
  • Cost: Starts at $2.23 for 1 lb. up to $26.38 for 70 lbs.
  • Description: Can be used for “books, film, manuscripts, printed music, printed test materials, sound recordings, play scripts, printed educational charts, loose-leaf pages and binders consisting of medical information, videotapes, and computer-recorded media like CDs and diskettes”, but cannot contain advertising.
• Parcel Post*
  • Time: 2-9 business days
  • Cost: Starts at $4.55 for 1 lb. and increases with weight and distance (zones)
  • Description: Can be used for general shipments of gifts, merchandise, etc. You will need to use your own packaging (free Priority and Express Mail boxes cannot be used for Parcel Post).
• Priority Mail*
  • Time: 2-3 business days
  • Cost: Starts at $4.80 for 1 lb. and increases with weight and distance (zone)
  • Description: Can be used for general shipments of gifts, merchandise, etc. You can also mail small, non-fragile parcels that will fit in the Flat Rate Envelope for $4.80 regardless of weight. While the 2-3 days estimated delivery time isn’t guaranteed, in my experience, Priority Mail is almost as fast as Express Mail. A package from California to most destinations is 3 business days, but some packages to New York City have been delivered in as quickly as 2 business days, delivery to Texas is almost always 2 days. Occasionally a package to destinations such as Georgia may take 4 days, and only one package in the past 3 years took 1 week.
• Express Mail*
  • Time: 1-2 business days
  • Cost: Starts at $12.50 for 1/2 lb. and increased with weight and distance (zone)
  • Description: Guaranteed on-time delivery by USPS. If your package isn’t delivered by the guaranteed date and time, you are entitled to a refund of the postage you paid. Also includes up to $100 of insurance against loss or damage. I only suggest using Express Mail if the delivery date is of vital importance. Otherwise, I have found Priority Mail to be almost as fast and much less expensive. If you live in more outlying and remote areas, Express Mail usually takes 2 business days.

*Zone-based. Go to http://postcalc.usps.gov/Zonecharts/ and enter in your zip code to get a Postal Zone Chart based on your zip code.

A Note About the Priority Mail Flat Rate Box

USPS is always trying to promote the Priority Mail flat rate box and telling us how much time and money we can save by using it. In my opinion: Time – possibly. But money – not necessarily (again, refer to this article). Be sure you check the full rate chart and compare the actual cost of mailing your package via regular Priority Mail if you are really interested in saving money.

For example, you can still mail a 12 lb. regular Priority Mail package to a local zip code for $9.75. You can mail a 4 lb. package to a zone 3 zip code for $7.85. So spend a couple of minutes checking the actual regular rate before packing up the Flat Rate Box and you could save a few dollars.

In order to figure out the rates, go to:

1. Postal Zone Charts and figure out what zone your recipient’s zip code is in
2. Prices and Fees and see what the rate for regular Priority Mail (or even Parcel Post) is

The rates for the Flat Rate Priority Mail Boxes are as follows:

• $9.80 for regular size (11″ X 8.5″ X 5.5″)
• $12.95 for large box (12” x 12” x 5-1/2”)

More info:
New Prices Coming May 12, 2008
International Shipping Rates

[ad#banner468x60]

Related posts:

• Save by Knowing Your Shipping & Mailing Options
• Our Favorite Sources for Affordable Fabrics
• Beware of Fake IRS (Internal Revenue Service) Phishing Email Scams
• Frugal Travel Begins Before the Trip: Vacation Preparation Checklist
• Giveaway: TurboTax Premier Online (Free Federal, State Preparation & e-File – $85 value) to 2 Winners

Originally posted 2008-05-09 05:32:27.

A few months ago, while I was at my local USPS Post Office to pick up a registered letter, a man came in with a stack of 5 or 6 DVDs and asked the mail clerk at the next window how he could mail his DVDs. Instead of explaining his various options to him, she merely recommended the Flat Rate Priority Mail Box, and unaware of his other options the customer took her advice and proceeded to pay $8.95 to mail his DVDs. Being somewhat of an introvert in public (and having had a previous problem with that particular mail clerk), I held my tongue at the time, telling myself it wasn’t any of my business and that I would only cause problems.

This incident riled me because the customer could have mailed his 5 or 6 DVDs for a lot less than $9.00. I have weighed a stack of 6 DVDs, including a few 2-Disc Collections, and they weighed in at about 1.5 lbs. A stack of 6 single-disc DVDs weigh in at just over 20 oz. Even if he had had 8 DVDs, the entire package, counting the box and contents, would have weighed in at 3 lbs. and he could have mailed it for $2.81 using Media Mail or “Book Rate”, less than a third of the price he paid for the Flat Rate Priority Mail. Granted, Priority Mail does take less time than Media Mail, but my experience with Media Mail in the past couple of years has been that it is a lot quicker than you’d think; I have had Media Mail from across the country arrive in as little as 3-4 days.

I learned from this incident that we cannot always rely on our postal clerks for shipping advice. While I have met many nice and helpful USPS clerks in the past, the unfortunate truth is that there are many whose main agenda is getting rid of customers as quickly as possible rather than helping them. So I have decided to provide an overview of common shipping options that every postal customer should have some basic knowledge of.

USPS Package Shipping Options

• First-Class Mail
  • Time: 2-5 business days
  • Cost: Starting at $1.13 for 1 oz. up to $3.17 for 13 oz.
  • Description: This is a good option for small and light-weigh items, including a single book or DVD with a total weight (envelope + item) up to 6 oz. as it would only cost you $1.98 as opposed to the 1 lb. Media Mail Rate of $2.13, and is faster than Media Mail. Using a padded envelope is highly recommended to prevent damage to the book or DVD.
• Media Mail (Book Rate)
  • Time: 2-9 business days
  • Cost: Staring at $2.13 for 1 lb. up to $25.26 for 70 lbs.
  • Description: Can be used for “books, film, manuscripts, printed music, printed test materials, sound recordings, play scripts, printed educational charts, loose-leaf pages and binders consisting of medical information, videotapes, and computer-recorded media like CDs and diskettes”, but cannot contain advertising.
• Parcel Post
  • Time: 2-9 business days
  • Cost: Starting at $4.50 and increases with weight and distance (zones)
  • Description: Can be used for general shipments of gifts, merchandise, etc.
• Priority Mail
  • Time: 2-3 business days
  • Cost: Starting at $4.60 and increases with weight and distance (zone)
  • Description: Can be used for general shipments of gifts, merchandise, etc.

Note: The 1 lb. Parcel Post rate being only $0.10 less than the 1 lb. rate for Priority Mail which only takes 2-3 days, you might find it worth the extra $0.10 to upgrade to Priority Mail, as I feel, the less time spent in transit, the less chances for loss or damage to the parcel.

A few tips for saving on shipping:

• When you buy things online, save the nicer boxes and packing material. There is no need to spend $2.00-$3.00 to buy new shipping boxes when you can re-use older ones as long as they don’t have dents or tears.
• When packing your shipments, make sure you pad excess space with packing material to prevent damage from jostling. Newspapers are a good, inexpensive filler, but if you use a lot, they can end up costing you more if you exceed the lb. threshold.
• Don’t be stingy with tape. It is a good idea to tape all the open seams. Insured packages must be completely sealed in order to qualify for claims.
• Always include a packing slip clearly displaying the destination. Listing the package contents won’t hurt either. In the event that the package is damaged or torn, USPS will still be able to direct it on to its intended recipient rather than to the lost and unclaimed items auction.
• If you do a lot of shipping, a reliable postal scale can save you time, money and trips to the post office, because you will know exactly how much each package weighs and not have any surprises when you get to the post office.
• Another way to save time and money is to use online shipping options, which will be the topic of my next post “Save Money & Time with Online Shipping”.

Related posts:

• Shipping via USPS? Mail Your Packages Before May 12th
• Pecuniarities (Our Fourpence Worth) 1 Year Anniversary
• Pay Bills Online and Save
• May 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Pay Bills Online and Save (Re-Post)

Originally posted 2008-02-21 19:32:52.

While going through my piles of unopened mail (mostly bills) the other day, I decided I’d had enough and finally took the plunge into the world of Paperless Billing and Statements. Even though I’ve been fully online – shopping, selling, socializing, banking and bill paying – for years now, for some reason, I’d always felt hesitant about not receiving hard copies of my bills. But after years of accessing my accounts and paying bills online, and running out of places to stash all my account statements, I’ve decided that it’s probably a better system that will end up saving me money, time (which is also money), space and paper cuts.

The Benefits of Paperless Statements

• Saves Time
  Time is money, so the time you would spend organizing and filing your account statements would be cut down. Filing would just consist of logging into your account and downloading the statements to your computer. Most accounts will allow you access to several years’ worth of statements, so you don’t need to do this every month, but can wait and do all your filing at once a couple of times a year.
• Saves on filing equipment
  No need for file cabinets (which are very costly), folders, labels and organizers, and no need to upgrade to larger or additional file cabinets as your files increase in volume.
• Saves space
  Digital storage is becoming more affordable and space efficient so they take up considerably less space than file cabinets, making it easier to keep your home and office organized and clutter-free.

  For example, this Iomega Desktop Hard Drive, USB 2.0, 750GB – 33750 for just $110, costs considerably less than a file cabinet, takes up a fraction of the space of a file cabinet and has capacity for at least a decade’s worth of bills and statements. It also looks a lot nicer than a file cabinet, which often doesn’t look that great in a home environment.

• Saves money
  Some companies have already begun to charge for paper statements. When I enrolled in Paperless Billing for my T-Mobile account, I was informed that I will be charged $1.99 per month if I revert back to paper statements. Perhaps if companies can save on billing costs, they can pass the savings on to us consumers by offering lower fees for their services.

  Also, by paying bills online, not only do you save paper, but postage. Check out an earlier post of mine, Pay Bills Online and Save, on how we save about $70 a year by paying our bills online.

• Saves the Planet
  Obviously. Some companies, again T-Mobile for example, are promoting Paperless Billing by planting a tree for each customer that changes to paper statements, so you’re no only saving current trees but adding to them.
• Earn money
  This depends on the company. Certain companies such as my Chase Amazon Visa account, offered 500 reward points, the equivalent of $5.00, for switching to Paperless Statements. Not a bad deal for doing something that’s going to save me time and money.

So not only is this the smart choice for those with regular computer and internet access, but the green, environmentally-friendly choice. Most of our bills and bank statements received via snail mail remain unopened anyway because I usually just go online to check the amount and make the payments when the bills are due.

Of our 12 monthly bills and bank statements, we are able to receive Paperless Statements for 9 of them, which will reduce our annual mail volume by 108. This will be quite a relief as our file cabinet really can’t take anymore. I only wonder what took me so long.

[ad#banner468x60]

Related posts:

• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #8
• Why I Will Not Change My Mindset, Plus the Difference Between Justifying and Being Optimistic About Spending
• 20 Minutes Can Save $180 & Tips for Receiving Better Customer Service
• Pay Bills Online and Save
• Pay Bills Online and Save (Re-Post)

Originally posted 2008-09-11 10:00:05.

As some of you already know, I am the worst of procrastinators. And taxes being so unpleasant, I naturally tend to procrastinate when it comes to filing my taxes every year.

First of all, I do put off filing my tax return for one valid reason: we owe each year so I prefer to wait till April to file and pay in order to earn more interest in  savings. But this also gives me an excuse to put off working on our returns.

This year I was worse than usual, and my procrastination and 2 unforeseen events almost got me in trouble.

My Taxing Experience

• Dec. 31, 2008–April 11, 2009 — Procrastinated
  We have a few different sources of income so there are a lot of elements involved in our tax returns – calculating various types of expenses and almost 20 different forms between the two of us. Needless to say, this takes a lot of preparation, which I just kept putting off.
• April 11 9:30PM — Started to panic
  3 days, 2 hours before April 15th, I finally realized just how little time was left and kicked myself into action.
• April 12–13 — Worked like mad
  Pulled an all-nighter and finished my “first draft” of the PDF forms.
• April 13 11:00PM — Crisis #1: Printer wouldn’t print
  After double- & triple-checking the forms and calculations, I was ready to print and be done with it — only to find that the printer wouldn’t print. I re-filled the ink cartridge but print quality was awful. Thinking the ink needed time to settle and let the air bubbles work their way up, I called it a night.
• April 14 5:45PM — Crisis #2: Power outage
  After more ink re-filling and printer maintenance, it was printing properly again, but half-way through approx. 40 pages, our power went out due to wind storms in the area. the outage was all over town and lasted until 11:00PM, so I didn’t finish compiling and packing everything up till around 1:15AM.
• April 15 — Phew!
  Got to the post office and got everything mailed out. Thoroughly exhausted.

I was extremely lucky that I was still able to get everything done by the 15th. Had I delayed just one more day, I probably wouldn’t have made it. When the power went out on the 14th, I started contemplating all the other things that could possibly go wrong, such as:

• What if my car won’t start when I need to go the Post Office tomorrow?
• What if the wind storm gets worse tomorrow and I can’t drive?

Any number of things could have prevented me from being able to get our returns postmarked on the 15th. The amount we owe is high enough that a penalty and interest charge would be quite unpleasant.

This experience got me thinking about other ways procrastination can set back your financial health. I have been thinking about this for the last 2 days and here are my conclusions.

Other ways procrastination can lead to financial disease (and possible eventual death)

Putting off . . .

• Contacting service providers, insurance companies, etc. to lower your bills
• Canceling services you no longer need
• Minor maintenance and repairs on your home or car until they become major repairs
• Paying off credit card debt by just paying the minimum payment
• Refinancing loans when interest rates are low
  

I have to admit I have been guilty of all but one of the above (I don’t have credit card debt). When I was in college, my fellow students and I often joked about how we procrastinated studying for our exams or writing term papers. The fact is, I’m the type that works better under pressure. Oftentimes, when I sat down to write a paper that wasn’t due for a few more days, I would get writer’s block. But the night before the due date, I would get serious and the ideas would start flowing.

Thus, I have always operated under the premise that this is just how I work so it’s O.K. to procrastinate. But now that I’m a grown-up dealing with grown-up matters where it’s no longer just a grade at stake, I’m beginning to see just how self-destructive this type of behavior can be. While this past week has been torture, I have learned a valuable lesson, so perhaps it was good for me that I had this harrowing experience.

It seems the tax gods were with me this time and let me get by with a lesson learned and no harm done. I shouldn’t expect to be so lucky again and must start getting things done ahead of time. Not only could it save me potential financial penalties, but keep the stress and blood pressure levels to a minimum.

Related posts:

• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #19
• Funny Money Lessons from Fiddler on the Roof: If I Were a Rich Man
• Holidays Should Be Happy: Have a Party-Preparation Party to Reduce Stress
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #20
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #10

Bible Money Matters wrote yesterday on how credit card companies act like they’re your friends when they really just want your money. This is true, of course, but frankly it neither surprises nor bothers me. Credit card companies and banks are businesses – just like your health insurance carrier, supermarket and baby sitter.

The Business of Business

No one starts a business for the purpose of making friends. “Making friends” by providing cheerful service and offering “helpful” advice  is merely a means to an end. When a business advertisement says “Your satisfaction is our #1 priority,” the word “satisfaction” is really a metaphor and euphemism for “money.” Otherwise the business’s existence would be pointless.

So when a credit card company offers you “advice” to put all your purchases on your card to maximize your cash back or rewards earnings, they are in fact helping themselves. We all know that. There is nothing you can do about what they say to try to get you to wrack up a large debt. But just because they hope you’ll do it doesn’t mean that you have to.

Everything you have done and continue to do with regard to your credit card has been, and continues to be, 100% up to you.

• Can the credit card company strong-arm you into swiping your card at every store you see or enter?
• Can the credit card company force you to spend beyond your means?
• Can the credit card company make you not pay your balance in full every month?

A Grain of Salt and a Pinch of Brain

Just remember that any “advice” coming from someone whose goal is to make money from you should be taken with a grain of salt. Example —

Car salesman: That car looks great on you.

But neither do you need to be bitter about their attempt to sway you into debt. Laugh it off. Congratulate yourself on your ability to see through their ruse. Then take that grain of salt, add a pinch of noggin and think about how you can benefit from what they do offer.

(Talking points from Money Matters’ post in green with my added 2 cents in normal color.)

1. Use Your Card Wherever You Go
   Only on the things you need — groceries, gas and necessities.
   
2. Make Chase Rewards Plus Your Favorite Place To Shop
   Treat it as you would the mall. Only go there if you need something in particular. If their prices are competitive and you get 10% cash back, you just might save money. But remember to comparison shop.
   
3. Pay Bills Using Your Card
   This is something I actually do whenever I can. Automatic payments charged to the card means I can keep money in my savings longer, then transfer the total amount to checking when it’s time for the credit card payment. We received $75 in Amazon Gift Certificates last month thanks to the 10x points promotion on bills.
4. Add An Authorized User… At No Extra Cost!
   Madoline and I have been sharing credit card accounts for 5 years now because we share all our money. Together, we were able to earn over $500 in cash back on our on our AMEX Blue Cash Credit Card in the last 2 years, something we couldn’t have done with separate accounts because of the $6,500 threshold for the higher cash back percentage. Read more about how we Maximize Cash Back and Interest Earnings by sharing accounts.
5. Feel Secure With Your Upgraded Benefits
   We usually choose our cards for the cash back or other rewards and not for the added benefits. But we actually have saved money by using the rental car insurance from AMEX, and if you think about it, some identity protection, however narrow the policy, is better than none.

Now, I’m not saying everyone should use credit cards. They have their pros and cons. They work for some people but not others. If/when you apply for and use credit cards, be aware of the risks and take responsibility for them and for your actions. If you get ripped off by fine print you didn’t read, you’re not entirely blameless because you could have canceled the card immediately upon receiving and reading the terms. Yes, credit card companies are tricky, but so are many other businesses.

You Control Your Spending, Not the Other Way Around

Psychology aside and whether or not credit cards cause higher spending, it all still boils down to one thing: choice.

• Whether or not you are paying by cash or credit, you are still making an active, conscious choice to spend.
• You are the one in control of how much you spend.
• If you are in control, you can choose not to spend.

If you can’t control your impulse to spend, then you should cut up your credit card and keep your cash in a time-lock vault that releases set amounts of money at set times like those automatic pet feeders that release one compartment of food at a time when pet owners work late or go out of town.

Related posts:

• Introducing Pecuniary Associates & Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #17
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #12
• Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals: Week of Unexpected Delays
• Car Trouble: Watch Out for Those Pesky Wabbits
• March 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals

The origin of the fraudulent solicitations I received were very different in nature — a crafts product testing club, an automobile warranty service and a “Title Compliance Board” — but they all had two things in common: they wanted me to pay hundreds of dollars for things they will never deliver or for something I could get myself for about $5 (my property deed), and they came in very convincing looking packages.

So I thought I’d christen this Identity Protection and Fraud Prevention Week here at Pecuniarities and follow-up my last 2 posts:

• Beware of Fake IRS (Internal Revenue Service) Phishing Email Scams
• A Few Tips for Protecting Your Identity Should You Lose Your Wallet

with a compilation of links information on fraud prevention.

I’ve spent the majority of this week working on this list where you will find almost 100 links to online resources provided and recommended by the government to teach you how to protect yourself from the rampant greed of the physical- and cyber-world. Topics covered include how to recognize, avoid, report and recover from scams and frauds of all sorts.

Click on the Table of Contents link below for a preview of the topics covered in this list.

If you don’t have the time to go through all this information right now, be sure and bookmark this page so you can refer to it should the need arise. And please share this page with your friends and family!

Table of Contents (click to view/hide)

Share This Page With a Friend

Tell-a-Friend

1. Your Name(required)
2. Your Email(valid email required)
3. Friend's Name(required)
4. Friend's Email(valid email required)
5. Optional Message
6. Ten minus five equals

 

cforms contact form by delicious:days

---

Related posts:

• March 1st-7th is National Consumer Protection Week!
• Pecuniarities News: Top 100 Finance Blogs, MSN Smart Spending, FrugalFocus and Consumer Safety
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #16
• Friday Fun: Meme Me! 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Me (Penelope Pince)
• Beware of Fake IRS (Internal Revenue Service) Phishing Email Scams