Reducing Expenses

How to Get What You Paid For

I have always been the kind of person who stands up for herself. It’s just something that I learned to do early on, and have gotten better at over the years.

What does it mean to “self-advocate?”

When you have a legitimate issue that is fixable, and you take it to the next level by contacting customer service or a manager, you are self-advocating.

By “taking it the next level”, I mean communicating politely. It doesn’t mean going all Liam Neeson on the issue.

Here are three examples of what I have been able to accomplish with a phone call:

1. I purchased a certain service while on vacation and felt mislead. The written description did not explain the service properly. If I had understood what they were saying (the way they meant it), I wouldn’t have bought it. So, I filled out the online survey and asked that the company call me. When they did, I explained what I understood the service to be and they clarified what it was supposed to be. After advocating for myself and politely saying that I didn’t think it was worded properly, they gave us a free dinner for two in a specialty restaurant the next time we sail on that cruise line.

2. I purchased a massage through a discount website but was unable to reach the massage therapist. I contacted the website and asked for assistance in getting a.) the appointment or b.) a refund. Everything was settled to my satisfaction, because I kept records of my attempts to contact the therapist (date, time of call and response).

3. I received a medical bill in the mail for services that were not covered by our insurance, months after the service date. I contacted the billing company to ask why they waited so long to bill me. They explained that they had let the billing person go and that they were behind in the billing. I explained my case, which was we have changed insurance companies since the time of the appointment and I didn’t know if I could go back and dispute the insurance claim since this was several months before. In addition, the H-S-A account we had with that insurance was now closed. We compromised and settled the bill for an amount which we both agreed was fair.

What you need to stand up for yourself

1. The will and desire to get what you paid for.

2. The ability to stay polite and calm. I can’t stress this enough. This isn’t about ruining someone’s day or getting something extra. It’s about establishing the facts – did you, or did you not, get what you paid for?

3. Documentation – What was purchased and when (a receipt is great), what is the issue, how often and when have you contacted the merchant.

If you are doing online chat with customer service, make sure you keep a copy of the chat transcript. I recently learned that if you are dealing with a merchant who records your calls, you can and should get a recording reference number as additional documentation. Even I can learn something new.

It doesn’t always work

You will never know if you don’t try. I think you need to try to get an amicable resolution that is fair to you and the other party. If not, you can always avoid that service in the future, or leave a negative (but fair) review.

For the Price of a Text Book…

Some of you may know this already, but I’m taking a few classes to finish my degree. For those of you going to college, have a child in college, or about to go to college, this may help your wallet.

I have talked about the cost of text books before, but this was my first experience as an adult in today’s market.

I took a class this summer. The textbook was $60 used or $40 for a rental. Thinking I’d like to keep it for future reference, I decided to buy used. Imagine my shock when I discovered that the college bookstore didn’t carry the textbook for a class the college was offering. I had to prepay and have it ordered in.

After the class was over, I was shocked again when the bookstore wouldn’t buy it back. The college is offering the same class with the same book, so why not? Wanting to recoup some of my costs, I sold it online for $11.75 (postage was paid by the publisher).

Now I am taking my second class and that textbook was substantially more – $200 to buy new and $100 to buy used. I did my research and checked a number of websites for the best deal (remember to search by the ISBN number to get the correct edition). I decided to rent it for $40. On the first day of class, the Professor mentioned that we could have used prior editions. Knowing that ahead of time would have saved me a lot of money.

Lessons learned:

1. Don’t shop at the college book store.

2. Compare prices (new, used, or rental) from several online retailers.

3. Check for digital editions depending on your learning preference.

4. Plan ahead so you don’t have to expedite shipping. The cheaper the shipping the better the deal.

A couple of hard lessons learned that I will put to good use for the remainder of my classes. Textbooks are expensive. Learn from my mistakes to cut a nice chunk off of college costs.

You Can Be Frugal AND Buy Organic

I like to save money, but I have my limits. Sometimes the high-priced item is better (or just preferred). That means I have to be frugal in other areas of my life so I can splurge on the things that are important to me.

We spend more on groceries than most people we know. We prefer organic – fresh when we can get it. We prepare most of our own food at home, then take our lunches, snacks and beverages to work with us.

Where we splurge

You might be thinking, “that sounds frugal,” but it’s not (for us). Meal planning and grocery shopping is time consuming and can be costly. We’ve learned a lot about the food industry over the last few years and have made significant changes to our eating. That means we’re buying more organics and fewer processed foods. Unfortunately, the healthiest choices are often more expensive. Therefore our food budget can seem like a splurge.

Where we’re frugal

We make similar choices with our cleaning ingredients, but here we’re able to save money. We’ve learned to make our own cleaners with vinegar, Castile soap, baking soda, etc. This is time consuming but it is cost effective.

With the warmer weather, we can grow our own vegetables. This year we are growing several types of lettuces, tomatoes, peas, broccoli, herbs and berries. This helps cut our food budget significantly in the summer months, and (depending on the bounty) we are able to freeze items to have well into the winter months. This reduces our food budget for part of the year.

This is how a balanced budget works. If you spend more in one area, you have to reduce in others. Your spending should not exceed your income. If it does, you may end up in debt, and that’s not a healthy choice.

#30Ways2Save for Financial Literacy Month April 2014

I’ll add a video here each day in April. The newest video will be on top. Scroll down for all budgeting tips you can handle!

How to take the trip of a lifetime (cheaply). For more details on our amazing trip (and our amazing savings) go here

What do you do when you checkout at the grocery store? Look at the gum, the magazines, talk to the cashier? Here’s what you should be doing.

How to get deals on concerts and events

What about rewards cards? Are they worth it?

How to negotiate a lower price

Where to find free videos, music and audio books

Which foods are always 50% at the grocery store?

What’s your bank charging you? Find out how you can avoid bank fees in today’s #30Ways2Save tip.

Have you ever run into a store for just 1 item, and come out with 20 instead? Those impulse buys can be budget killers. Here’s the best way to stay on track

Eating on a budget? Turn 1 healthy, filling meal into 2 healthy, filling meals

Get Matching Funds to Double Your Savings with This Program (If You Qualify)

How to keep your frequent-flyer account active and earn miles – without flying!

Lower your electric bill with this easy trick

How to find free workouts in your neighborhood

What to do when your rates increase

Where’s Your Unclaimed Money?

Use Cash to Avoid Overspending in Grocery Stores and Restaurants

Prescriptions – Can You Get Them Cheaper?

Shop Off-Season for Beautiful Clothes on a Budget

Free Movies and Entertainment (without pirating)

Finances: An Honest Look

My finances weren’t always in great shape – too much debt, weak savings, with some self-indulgent spending for good measure. To stay on top of my finances, I have had to take the occasional “honest look”. I think of it as a 3-way mirror view of my situation. By that, I mean that enlightening view you get in the department store changing room where you find out how people see you from the back on a bright, sunny day.

First, I encourage you to step in front of that mirror and take an honest look at your spending and debt. You may want to stick your head in the sand. Please don’t. I can assure you that no matter where you are with your money, with action you can firm up your finances.

You need to ask yourself these questions:

Are you using credit cards for your basic expenses?
Are you making multiple transfers from savings to cover your checking account?
Are your wages running out before the end of the month?
Are you avoiding your bills by not opening your mail or emails?
Are you only making partial payments on utilities and credit cards?
Are your credit card balances going up versus down?

Answer these questions honestly – either alone or with the person you share your finances. Again, Be Honest. You may be thinking, “It’s the economy” or “I wouldn’t be in this situation if not for…” You have to face the reality that is, not what should have been. You cannot change the past. All you can do is to pull your head out of the sand and address the issue now by taking action.

The first thing to do is to track your spending. Keep a list of all that is coming in (income) and going out (expenses). That is the only way you can determine how much of a shortfall you have.

Once you know, you can begin to make changes. You will see where your money is going and can cutback and eliminate unnecessary spending. If you need help, I offer coaching packages that can get you through this.

You want to take action on the overspending now, Trust me, in my 20s I had maxed out many credit cards and had to pay off all that debt. At times, I worked three jobs and it seemed like it would never be paid off, but I did and you can too. The sooner you start the better off you will be.

Start today before it’s too late, and it snowballs into something so big that you cannot manage it, and the only answer is bankruptcy.

How We Cut Costs So We Can Afford Great Food and Travel

Saving money is a passion of mine and all these snow days have given me more time at home. Instead of online shopping, I stayed inspired by watching TV shows on frugality, doing some online research, and reading many books.

After learning about all the creative ways a person can cut costs, I wouldn’t say that I’m a cheapskate. I just scrimp and save in some areas, so I can splurge in others.

Reuse and Borrow

We do reuse and borrow versus throwing away or buying. I suppose that some people might think it’s pretty miserly to rinse and reuse a plastic baggie, or to save packing peanuts. But it works for me. We also like to lend equipment amongst close and family members. We don’t all have to own our own tile cutter or a rotor router – it’s easier and cheaper to borrow from someone you trust.

Recycling – Including Rainwater and Kitchen Scraps

We are avid recyclers. Our town accepts all plastics, glass, metal, newspapers and other paper at the dump. It doesn’t seem like work to me. Honestly, my mother was a recycler and that’s just how I grew up. We have a rain barrel in our yard for watering the flowers and garden. We have a compost bin for our fruit and vegetable scraps, which is a really great fertilizer for our vegetable garden.. We have cut down our trash to about a bag a week.

The extra work saves us money on our water bill, fertilizer, and our trash bill. And, it makes me feel good.

The Thrill of a Great Bargain

Buying on sale is kind of a thrill. The new curtains we bought for the bedroom were on sale – plus we had a coupon! The curtains originally sold for $39.99 a panel. They were marked 75% off to $10 and we had a $5 off coupon. So they became $7.50 per panel. Trust me; I didn’t buy them for the price. We only bought them because we liked them and they would look great in the room. But getting them on sale with a coupon is a great feeling. It was a great find.

Where We Splurge

Yet there are things that we are not frugal about. If you have followed this newsletter, you know that we travel. It’s true that we are able to get great deals when we want them, but sometimes we want to travel at a peak time when the weather is great and the price is higher. We’re also not frugal on our food choices; we spend extra on grass fed meats, wild seafood and organic vegetables.

The Bottom Line

Bottom line is that you need to be comfortable with your choices. But if you are an over-spender (stay tuned for next week’s newsletter on overspending), you should try to find ways to cut costs on things that aren’t important to you so you can afford the things that are.

Tell us, what’s your favorite cost-cutting trick and your favorite splurge item.

How to Negotiate a Lower Price

Let’s talk about negotiation. I’m not as comfortable negotiating as I would like to be, but I’ve been trying it out and it works!!!! Honestly, what have you got to lose? The worst they can say is “no”.

I bought Dave a big screen TV with a great online deal, but when we tried to set it up, we realized it didn’t fit on the TV stand. That never occurred to me, and we had company coming for the holidays. So the search was on to find a media console at a good price, in a style that matched our furniture, before the family arrived. Was it possible? Yes.

Both Dave and I (together and separately) checked many stores – furniture stores, clearance centers, consignment shops, online websites, etc. Some stores had what we wanted but couldn’t meet our timeframe. Another store had one we liked, but the price was over our budget. We even found one that we liked and fit our budget, but it was out of stock. This was a full-blown all-out search as time was running out.

Then we found it – the perfect one. So here’s how we negotiated:

1. The store couldn’t get it to us in time, but we asked if we could buy the floor model. Yes, we could.

2. They had a poster in the window advertising 20% off with store credit. We asked if we could get the store credit discount if we paid in full right then. Yes, they gave us the advertised discount even though we didn’t open a store credit account.

3. The floor model had a few nicks and scratches, so we asked if they would give us an additional discount for imperfections. Yes, they would.

We walked away with the media console that afternoon at an amazing price.

Bottom line, it wasn’t horrible to negotiate. We simply asked questions. We were not pushy or demeaning about the product or the staff. And, yes, we would have politely walked away if we didn’t get a price that worked for us.

So, the next time you’re out shopping, ask questions that might help you negotiate a better price. You may well get the answers you wanted to make the sale a win-win for everyone.

Happy Negotiating!

The Worst Things You Can Do With Your Money

This is my personal top five list of the worst things you can do with your money

no-1 1. Pay ATM fees (or for that matter, any bank fees) – There are banks out there that won’t charge you just for the privilege of having a checking account. You shouldn’t be paying a monthly maintenance fee or ATM fees. Ask your banker how to eliminate the fees. If they can’t, or won’t, move your money to a better bank.

2. Pay interest or finance charges on credit cards – Paying interest or finance charges is a complete waste of perfectly good money. It might have been a great deal when you swiped your card, but when you add interest, you’ll end up paying more than it was worth. If you currently have credit card debt, try moving it to a card that offers zero percent interest on transfers for the first 12-18 months. Once you are out of debt, pledge that you will not pay interest or finances charges ever again.

no-1 3. Sign without reading the fine print – Never sign anything that you don’t read. If you read it and don’t understand it, then ask questions or do your own research to understand it before going forward. I speak with so many people who just signed an agreement thinking they got a great deal, and then were blindsided hidden fees and additional charges. Were they really cheated? No, they just read the price in the big print, and not the details in the small print.

4. Pay for unused services (or things) – Are you paying a monthly fee for services you don’t use or could get for free? If you’re actually using them, that’s fine. But if you not, you could use that money for something that will actually make you feel good. I cancelled my magazine subscriptions because I wasn’t reading them. If you pay a credit monitoring service, you can do this for free with very little time investment. Are you paying for online services instead of using the free version? If so, are you actually making the most of it?

no-1 5. Duplicate Spending – Have you bought something at the store only to find out you already had one in the back of the closet? That is duplicate spending. You can resolve this by getting organized and getting rid of the clutter. If you know where to find something, you can easily access it before you go out and buy a duplicate.

In the comments, let us know where you stopped wasting your money!

Boo! It’s Time to Plan for Holiday Spending

The gift-giving holidays are around the corner. If you don’t believe me, go buy some Halloween supplies. You’ll have to walk around Christmas decorations to get to the costume aisle. My warehouse club had Christmas decorations on Labor Day weekend. That’s way too early, even for me.

Depending on which holiday you celebrate, you have about a month for Chanukah and about two months before Christmas. Where does the time go? It seems that we were just talking about planning your summer vacations.

Don’t panic. You still have time to tackle your to-do list so you can stay within your budget.

Here are my suggestions to keep the holidays bright on a budget:

1. Make a list. Write down all the names of the all people you want to give gifts to. This includes family, friends, coworkers, teachers, service people (baby sitters, hair dressers, delivery people, etc.). Then, don’t forget the additional expenses that happen at the holidays: special entertainment events, parties, and travel.

2. Set your budget limit. This is how much you can afford to spend without having credit card debit in January.

3. Put dollar amounts next to each person and event on your list. Don’t forget to include shipping and travel costs. Also, add in the hostess gifts and food for the events you participate in. Those should be part of the budget, too.

4. Compare your budget limit and your list. How is that working? Do you have more people than your budget allows? If so, go back and make adjustments. You don’t have to leave people out – think of fun alternatives, instead. Can you do a family gift, a gift-less potluck, or a name-draw gift exchange? You want to be able to afford the holidays and enjoy them. You do NOT want to spend more than you can afford. There’s nothing worse than greeting the New Year with January credit card debt.

5. Start shopping. Comparison shopping is by far the best way to shop. Know what you want to buy, do your research and don’t stray from your list. Compare retail and online for the best deal, but, don’t forget the after-sale deals. You should watch for rebates and make sure the store will give you a refund if you purchase something before it goes on sale (within a reasonable time period). Keep those receipts handy.

6. Buy hot items early. These are gifts that are guaranteed to go out-of-stock because every child (and some adults) think they have to have it. It might be a video game or console, or a new kind of toy. Whatever it is, if it’s important to your gift plans, don’t wait.

Remember that planning ahead and taking your time will help your stress level. Pace yourself, and follow your list, so you can relax and enjoy your special time with family and friends.

Lessons in Cheap Travel from an Expert: Me!

We just returned from an amazing trip to Northern Europe and, surprise, surprise – it didn’t break our bank account. How did we do it?

Transferable frequent flier miles

When we fly, we usually use one airline so our frequent flier miles are easy to use. But, our first destination was Copenhagen and our favorite airline doesn’t fly to Denmark. Lucky for us, the airline was in the One World Alliance so we were able to transfer our miles to another airline to receive free flights – we only paid the taxes.

We earned extra miles just by eating out and shopping

Our airline has a dinning program so you can eat out at participating restaurants to earn miles. The program is free. You just need to register your credit or debit cards. The shopping program works great for us. When we shop online, we start at their shopping website. Then use their links to access popular retailers. Between flying, eating out, and ordering online our frequent flier miles really add up.

We used our hotel points

Our flight got us in to Copenhagen a day early, so we had time to explore and meet up with a good friend. We stayed at a hotel and our lodging points covered the cost of both nights. Even better, we used extra points to upgrade to a room with access to a hospitality suite that served breakfast and late afternoon snacks.

We used timeshare points for the cruise

As some of you know, we like to take cruises. So, when we found a cruise that visited the Baltic regions of Northern Europe, we were really excited. Neither of us had been, so it was a first. We were so happy to find that we could trade our timeshare points for the cruise. All we paid were the taxes and port fees. We sailed to Tallinn, Estonia; St Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden.

Yes, it took a lot of coordination and advanced planning…

But, our travel, lodging and cruise were covered – we only paid taxes (which were minimal). Of course we spent money for some of our food, entrance fees to museums, the tours themselves and souvenirs. But we saved money by walking, taking public transport, or tour transports where the only cost was the tip for the guide.

So, that’s my experience and my expert advice. You can travel without killing your budget!

That’s several more countries checked off our bucket list. Where would you like to go?