Learn To Save Your Money

First off Happy Thanksgiving! Please be thankful for what you have and make the most of such a holiday by spending time with those close to you.

On Wednesday I went to my local MVA’s emission center to get my car’s emission test completed, which was due within the next 2 weeks. The car that was to be tested is my daily driver/beater car which is an early 90’s Honda. In the past 7 years the car’s power windows seem to be going up and down a lot slower than normal. Due to this I hardly use the windows and have flipped the switch which disables all the windows exept the driver’s window. The employee at the emission center went to put the driver’s window down during the test. My vehicle passed the emissions test, but when I got in the car to put the window up, it would not go up. I tried to put the window up a few minutes later, but it still would not go up. Next I thought I could pull and then push the window up with some force, yet this did not work. Unfortunately I had to return to work, but luckily my car is parked in a secure lot. Only problem was that it rained a lil that afternoon. I tried to cover the driver’s seat and part of the door panel with some spare towels I had. Before leaving to go home I “Googled” to see if anyone has fixed such window issues. I was ready to drop my car off that evening at my local mechanic’s shop and pay them to fix this. They have done this before for one of my rear passenger windows. Upon checking out some forums and we sites, I decided that I could try to fix my window poblem. Heck, it was already broken, so I can’t do much more damage. When I got home, I opened the driver’s door panel and saw that the window was off the power window motor’s rail. I put the window back on the rail and then connected the door panel wiring to make sure the power window worked. After testing the switch, I put the window up. In order to prevent this from happening in the future, I disconnected the cable which goes to the power controls of the windows. Soon I put the door panel back together. All of this took about an hour and I guess it saved me about $100 which I was ready to spend at the mechanic’s.

The advise I wish to give is don’t have any fear at trying to fix something yourself. Ofcourse, this may vary from situation, but if something is broken, research how to fix the problem, and try to fix the problem. Through this you learn a new skill and save some money.

Now with gas prices dropping as oil prices have been dropping due to the various economic conditions, I have seen many people have been going back to there old habits. This varies from driving the SUV daily rather than a smaller sedan for local trips to transport 1 to 4 people.  It is great to see that gas prices are coming down and at some places are near $1.99/gallon, but you must realize that all things come to an end. Eventually there is going to be some factor that will drive the price of oil backup again. It may not be as drastic as before, but still it will more than likely increase. I not necessarily a tree hugger, but from an environmental standpoint it is better to drive a more economical vehicle and most importantly you will save money as you would be using less gas as compared to when driving a larges vehicle or a SUV. Even with the current low prices that have allowed one to spend less on their gasoline purchases, one should not just spend the money that they just saved after filling up their tank. Rather one should save this money and if needed use it for other expenses.

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Discover is running a pretty nice promotion right now, which gives users $20 in Dicover gift cards for every $200 purchase made on their Discover credit card at participating malls. At this site you can find out which of your local malls are participating in this promotion. This is a good promotion if you are already going to be making a large purchase. I wouldn’t recommend one going to the mall and buying items just to get the gift cards. Once you make your purchase, you take the receipt to the mall’s customer service desk and they they will ask to see your credit card and receipt. The customer service rep will stamp your receipt and then give you your gift card(s). Overall this is a very easy process. Not bad if you are already looking to make a large purchase and was going to use your credit card.

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With all the finance disasters being in the news, one is surely to feel as if the economy will never recover. I was talking to a friend the other day who said he was going to stop having money automatically withdrawn from his paycheck to be put into his 401k account and rather he would put that money into a savings account. He thinks that by doing this at least he will be guaranteed the 3% rate he receives from his online savings account versus dealing with the unstable financial market which could effect his 401k investment amount. The problem with this thought is that even with putting your money in an online savings account, you can’t guarantee that the account’s rate will remain the same. Sure the rate could increase, but with the way the economy has been going, rates have been dropping even for online savings accounts. By doing this you also violate the law of dollar cost averaging, thus giving up an opportunity to buy funds at the cheap lower price that they currently are. This also brings to mind the simple investing rule of “buying low and selling high”. Right now the market is at a low, but eventually things will rebound and almost anything you buy now will return a profit in the long run. This may take a year or more likely even multiple years, yet the market will eventually rebound. Think of this time period as a sale at Wall Street. Funds are at an all time low price. This is a great time to get into the market, just realize you are making a long term commitment. If you are looking to make a short term investment, then go for the online savings account. Don’t let the market fear influence the way you invest. Analyze your situation with a clear mind and then make your moves.

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Some people may already know about this, but currently Barnes & Noble is offering a free tall size cappuccino at their cafes with a coupon which is valid till end of the month. Their cafes use Starbucks coffee, but the coupon is not valid at Starbucks locations in Barnes & Noble stores. You can substitute a cappuccino with another drink valued up to $3.20. I normally do not frequent Starbucks or suggest people spend their money on $4 drinks, but if it is for free, go for it! As frugal as this sounds, I have been visiting my local Barnes & Noble everyday since I found out about the coupon. This comes in handy since you can browse the store and read a book or magazine while drinking your free drink. No need to buy the book or magazine you skim unless you truly need it or can’t find it at your local library.

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Last week I was sitting in the family room downstairs and watching some TV. I muted the TV for a moment to answer a call and when I got off the call I noticed the sound of flowing water. I went to the laundry room area to check to see if I noticed anything. The noise was coming from that side of the house and that is where all the hvac items are and where the hot water heater is. I suddenly looked around my water heater and noticed there is a tray underneath it, which has a drain, but I saw about an inch and half of water, which I have never seen before. I freaked out at first. I got my wet/dry vac and used it around the area. The water kept flowing and I found where it was coming from.

The next morning I called the family plumber. He tried to diagnose the problem over the phone as he had me try some things. Supposedly the pressure regulating valve went bad. The plumber told me that the water is draining from a pipe going to a safety valve and that is what is to happen when pressure builds up and exceeds the pressure that the regulating valve can handle. He said this can wait and does not need immediate attention. Two days later he was able to come out and fix the problem. Before he came out, he told me to visit the local hardware store and buy a new pressure regulating valve, which I did. This cost me roughly $35. The total cost of labor was only $40. I thought this was a bargain! The work seemed easy, but did take some time. This plumber is excellent. He fixed the problem right away and even cheked everything once again before leaving. This was my first experience with having to call a plumber and am surely glad I had this plumber’s phone number programmed into my cell phone.

Importantly I knew I could trust the plumber’s work since my dad reffered me. This plumber did some work at my parent’s house and did a great job at a cheap price. This surely beats getting ripped off by someone who calls themselves a plumber, but yet hardly knows much about plumbing and the associated city codes. I have always kept the phone numbers of a plumber and electrician handy, as it may come to be useful at such times.

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Wow a lot has gone on since I last posted. The economic state of the US has drastically changed even with the help up the latest bailout plan passing. Heck even the popular Jim Cramer is telling people to sell their stocks if they need the money during the next 5 years. I am not a fan of Cramer, but like him many are freaking out.

My whole take on the situation is that you should not pull out of all of your investments. If you feel unsecure about your current allocations, then go ahead and reallocate your investments to a level that makes you feel comfortable. Don’t fall into the trap of buying high and selling low as this is usually what happens to those who join late into the game of buying the hottest stock or investment vehicle. If you think about today’s stock market everything is down. Pretty much every stock is on “sale” right now as they are pretty much at their lowest levels that they have ever been during the past few months. Right now Wall Street is almost as good as shopping at your local discount store, since stock prices are so low. If you have some money that you are looking to invest and if you understand the risks, then I suggest you invest in the stock market.

As others have mentioned we are going through a cycle. We are not in as bad of a position as the period of the Great Depression, but our economy was doing great, then it was steady, and now suddenly it is not doing so great. For those who are not looking to retire, this may be a good time to load up on investments. I am not saying you will make money overnight, but I think within the next few years the stock market will climb back up and be pretty steady.

Personally I have reallocated my portfolio, mostly my retirement accounts, but everything else I have kept as they are. Remember no one is an expert on what to exactly do or when the economy will get better. You need to judge your insticts and go with your gut feelings.

I had an older Tivo, which I was no longer using since my computer has a built in tv tuner card and with the Windows Media Center software it has many of the same features of a Tivo. The Tivo I had actually has free lifetime basic service, but the main reason for me wanting to sell it was because it only allows for analog broadcasting. In February 2009 TV stations will be forced to broadcast in HD, thus analog transmission of tv stations will not exist except for those who have cable tv service that do not need a cable box.

I purchased the unit as a refurb off of eBay about 2 years ago for $190 and I eventually bought the wireless antenna for it which was $25 off of eBay since I did not have landline telephone service. In total I spent $215 for my Tivo. I eventually realized I was not using it much and for recording I was using my PC since it can record channels in HD. This led me to consider the option of selling my Tivo. I looked on eBay to see how much people were getting for the same device and I saw I pretty some auctions end at a nice fairly high price. I figured to take the chance and post my Tivo for sale. I ran a 5 day listing and the Tivo sold for $150 (after eBay and PayPal fees; I always make buyers pay for shipping). Upon selling the Tivo I posted my Tivo antenna on eBay as well, which sold for $35 (after eBay and PayPal fees). In the end I sold everything for $185. My loss after selling the items was $30 and if you factor that into the time I owned the Tivo, I spend only $1.25/month on the device….not bad!

It felt good to sell a few things I didn’t need. I posted this so I can emphasize the fact that no matter what you have you should try to sell rather than just throw it away. There is a buyer for everything. Heck some people lack understanding of an item and still buy it. I guess I got lucky in the sense that someone was not educated about the February 2009 analog tv cutoff. This comes to my next item, which is before buying anything, do you homework! This will save you time and money down the road.

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Recently I was in the market to get an aftermarket GPS system for my girlfriend as a gift. I shopped around and found the best deal for a nice entry level GPS system which features text to speech and decided on the Mio DigiWalker C230. Stapes had this GPS unit on sale for $99 on their web site. I know that Stapes usually sends coupons to those on their mailing list or who have a credit card with them, but I did not have any coupons. I turned to eBay and bought a coupon from a seller for $1.00. The coupon was for $25 off coupon a purchase of $75 or more. I saved pretty much $24 just by using eBay to buy an item I was already going to buy.

With eBay you can find coupons for other online retailers such as Dell, Best Buy, Office Depot, etc. Before making an online purchase, I would defiantly look on eBay to see if they have any coupons which can be used to save some money.

Personally I don’t have a GPS unit since my cell phone has an unlimited data plan (Sprint SERO) and a GPS reciever built in, which allows me to utilize free apps such as Google Maps for GPS based directions. Aftermarket GPS units are surely a lot cheaper than purchasing one from the dealer as an option with a new vehicle.

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I am a pretty big fan of sending in a rebate when a product has a rebate available. I figured the process is worth it if I am going to get some money back.

The most difficult part about rebates are mail in rebates and one having to wonder if they will ever receive their rebate. Earlier many companies would receive your rebate request, but would “forget” to mail you your rebate or some would just say they “lost” your rebate, or even you did not send everything required, when in fact you did. In order to overcome such struggles I try to maintain copies of all forms, receipts, upc codes, etc before I mail in a rebate.  Once I make the photocopies for my record, I make sure to staple all the documents together, write the date I mailed/applied for the rebate, and then file the papers in a folder I have in a file cabinet. It may be easier to scan the documents as pdf files and electronically archive them instead. This way I have records of what rebates I have applied to receive, when I sent the reabate or when I requested the rebate, and I still have a copy of the items mailed. Once I receive a rebate I will mark the receival of the rebate on my copies and either shed the documents or maintain them for my records. If I don’t receive a rebate within 8 weeks I usually call the toll free number that is on most rebate forms. If a rep says they lost my form, I at least have my copies, which I can then copy and resubmit. In this case make sure to note the rep’s name, ID, and the date you spoke to them. If after a few more weeks you still don’t receive a rebate you can try to open a case on the BBB’s web site or contact the manufacturer/retailer yourself.

With the use of electronic submission for rebates this process has gotten a lot easier. Staples has been a heavy user of allowing rebates to be submitted electronically. Another use of the web, which involves rebates is that many stores/manufacturers now allow you to check and track the status of your rebate. This helps one know when to expect their rebate and assures on that the company recieved their rebate forms, receipts, etc.

A good filing system/record keeping system will ensure that you will recieve your records even if it means your originals were “lost” or enever recieved.

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