Tag Archives: save money

Thinking Before Paying To Save Money

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All to often, we don’t really think before paying  for our purchases!

I’ve been guilty of this too!  I use to get a bill in the mail and just write a check and mail it in.  But today, I’m here to tell you that this is not the best way to go about paying bills, and I’m going to explain a better approach towards your bills.

Thinking Before Paying

When a bill comes in, you should ask yourself “Is this bill for the best service and price for this particular service or purchase?”

A great example would be bills from insurance companies.  Every few years, you should go shopping for a cheaper price for your various insurance needs!  We routinely jump to different car insurance companies.  This saves us hundreds of dollars versus just sticking to one insurance company.

We do this because  most insurance companies know that you don’t want to go through the aggravation of switching companies, since it’s a bit of a pain!  So over the years they raise the fees on you more and more, effectively milking you for all they can.

I actually hate to change car insurance companies, but doing so will save me hundreds of dollars… so I do it anyway!

After a while, you kind of get familiar with the process and it does get easier each time you do this rotation!

Charging To Save Money

First let me start off by saying that I pay my credit cards in full each month.  Okay with that out-of-the-way, when possible, I like to charge expensive bills to my credit card(s) as much as I can!

Why?

I only have reward credit cards, so this give me an instant discount on the purchase price whenever I use it!  While 1% or 2% isn’t a huge discount on the cost of the product (or service), every little bit helps.

If you put some thought into it, you should use certain credit cards for certain purchases.  I say this because some credit cards provide higher reward points for certain types of purchases.

Thinking Outside of the Box

  • First, do you really need to make that purchase?  Why not try to find alternatives or try repairing the item that you are thinking about replacing?
  • Next, can you buy used (ex. cars), that could save you some big buck on high ticket items like automobiles!
  • Have you check out freecycle.org?  This is a no brainer if you are aware of the site’s existence.
  • Check out eBay, Craigslist and other online sites for deals.
  • Can you borrow the item (like an edger) from a neighbor, family or friends.  Doing this is especially good from a tool to accomplish something that is needed very infrequently (again, the edger is a perfect example).
  • Can you use your credit card reward point for the purchase?
  • Buy the item at deep discounts or when special are going on.
  • Haggle if possible…  I couldn’t hurt!

I see so many friends buying at the wrong time of the season (don’t go coat shopping at the start of winter) and on things that aren’t really necessary.

I would advise mulling over a purchasing decision on something you want to buy for at least 1 week if possible.  During this mulling week, try to think of ways you can get it for free, or reduce the cost of the item.  You’d be surprise what solutions you can come up with or comes your way.

-MR

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Saving Money Using Google

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Google is great for searching for your favorite topic of interest, but did you know you could use it to save money too?

Last Feburary, my dryer started making a horrible metal grinding sound (I tried turning up the TV to drown out the sound, but it got louder). I didn’t want to buy a new dryer (these are hard time afterall…), so I decided to try to figure out how to repair it myself via google.  So for the search criteria, I entered “whirlpool dryer squeak” and I was able to find some good site on what the problem and how to fix it.  I like to put just the key words in the search windows.

I tried to type things like “whirlpool dryer is making a squeak sound“, but that wouldn’t give me as good of results as “whirlpool dryer squeak“.

I didn’t even know how to get the dryer apart to figure out the problem… until I googled it. It turned out to be the felt gasket, that the drum twists around over. It cost me $20.00 in total to fix the dryer.  I ordered the part (off of ebay), and install it. Normally, to get a repairman out, it would probably cost me at least $150 to $200 and they would do exactly the same thing that I did myself.

I’ve been able to do this with my car brakes and with other car repairs too.

During one of the coldest days of last winter (-10F), my heat pump decided to stop working.

Using google, I was able to quickly figure what the problems was, but I didn’t have time to order the part. From a few websites, I was able to determine what to do, and I was also able to determine that the part would cost me only $26. Unfortunately, I didn’t want my pipes to freeze, so I called a repairman so they could get it fixed that day.

The repairman did exactly what the websites stated to do, but instead of costing me $26 by doing it myself, the repairman’s fee cost me $234.

The moral of the story, the internet (using google to find a fix-it guide) is a great resource for saving money by diy (doing it yourself).

Google rules!

-MR