Archive for Savings

The Change in My Pocket

January 15, 2015 Savings No comments

Coins in jar

When I arrive home at the end of the day, I walk into my bedroom, reach into my pocket and drop the change I find there into a small cup on my dresser. Does this sound familiar? Do you have a similar routine at the end of your workday? As I stared at the pile of miscellaneous coins one morning a few months ago, I thought about how much this small change would add up to over the course of a year. Answer: $100. This is the tally of an average of $.40 per day over the course of a full year that I regularly deposit into the small cup on my dresser.

Most of us use a lot of alternative payment methods like debit cards, checks, credit cards, and electronic payment systems. The change in your pocket may not add up to as much if you are less likely to pay with cash. I would gamble that even with the diminished use of cash, that the change you save over the course of a year would add up to more than you would expect.

“Finding” $100 made me think about how I could use the money for something that I value. Instead of letting the coins slip through my fingers for my next latte, I decided to make use of this accumulated bounty for something very special. I took that $100 and made a contribution to my favorite charity.

My gift made me feel good – much better than the latte would have. Consider exploring unique gift ideas that not only bring joy to yourself but also add a special touch to the act of giving, making it a truly memorable experience.

Groupon: Such a Deal!

November 21, 2014 Savings No comments

Coupon

For about six months I was a dedicated Groupon purchaser. I was so excited to get my daily email with the special deals around Portland. It was the ultimate impulse purchase for me. Sign onto my email account, click on the latest Groupon email, pick one of several colorful, intriguing icons, and Bam! I had a very low cost massage, or tickets to an event, or fill-in-the-blank deal that I was going to enjoy.

I enjoyed several interesting adventures – a sushi dinner, a hockey game, a film festival. After a few weeks, I realized that I had amassed quite a few Groupons that I hadn’t used. These were great deals. What was wrong with me? I needed to get planning and inviting friends to join my on these wonderful Groupon-adventures.

Except that I didn’t. The deals were great, but they didn’t always mesh with the available times when I wanted to go on the adventure. Or my friends didn’t share my enthusiasm for the two-for-one tickets to a GermanFilm Festival. The cost of the ticket became market price when this happened.Or worse, I no longer had the same level of enthusiasm for the adventure andleft it to languish in my Groupon account.

I finally unsubscribed. Since that time I have actually saved money on my entertainment because I am paying only for the things I really want to do instead of being wooed by the colorful icons on the Groupon email.

Anne Lee
Director of Operations

Is the Credit CARD Act of 2009 Already Out of Date?

September 10, 2014 financial literacy, Savings, Uncategorized No comments

It has been five years since the Credit CARD Act of 2009 was passed, has it made a positive impact? Is it out of date already? Here’s one reason why it might be.

I am what you’d call a ‘deadbeat’…no really. ‘Deadbeat’ is a term commonly used by credit card companies for those who pay their balance off every month. That means the credit card companies do not make finance charges or fees on my, except I do have an annual maintenance fee. Does that mean the credit card companies make no money on us? Absolutely not! Every time I swipe my card the credit card company is making money by charging the merchant a processing fee.

Last December, I blogged about how I got over $2,000 back from my credit card company. We try to put everything we can on the credit card because of the cash back we get on our Capital One Venture Card. I know of several others who utilize their credit cards to wrack up points or miles. The trick is making sure that it is paid in full each month. My husband and I have gotten into the habit of logging into our accounts each week and making a payment on our credit card so we don’t let our spending get out of control to where we cannot pay it off within the month.

Congress understood that consumers did not understand the terms of our credit card contracts and likely the power of compound interest. For years I have stressed to my students the importance of calculating how much you are paying for something when you borrow the money. I say “if you do not know when you will have the item paid for then you should not be borrowing to buy it”.

Now this can come as a shock right? Have you ever signed mortgages papers and saw how your interest over the life of a 30-year loan was two to three times the amount you were borrowing? It can be hard to swallow, but that’s a good thing.

Time and time again I’ve heard from students they assumed they were doing the ‘right’ thing by making the minimum payment on their credit card. “I got a bill that says to pay $25, I paid it, all must be well.” Not all think this way, but many do fall in the trap.

While lecturing about credit to my summer students I mentioned some of the aspects of the Credit CARD Act of 2009, one being the requirement that the credit card companies show on your statement how long it would take to pay off your balance by making the payment and the total, including interest, you would pay. In addition, the credit card companies are required to show you how much you need to pay in order to pay off the balance in three-years (assuming of course you do not charge anymore and your interest rate does not increase). I though about this for a moment and realized I had never see this on my statement?

Was my credit card company out of compliance?

No, because I don’t actually look at my statements. I receive electronic statement notifications, log in each week, review my transactions and pay accordingly. I am a ‘deadbeat’! I never actually look at my credit card statement. In order to view my statement I have to log into my account and download the pdf to look at my statement.

I am not sure how many customers opt to receive electronic statements, as I do, but I’m pretty sure the percentage is pretty high. We live in an electronic age that encourages us to, not only, seek instant information, but also be ‘go paperless’.

Do you agree this regulation might be out of date already? In 2009, electronic statements were very prevalent, why didn’t anyone think to also require these minimum payment calculations show on the home screen when you login?

It would make people think twice to see this right when they login. This comes from my credit card statement, which I finally downloaded and looked at. Why don’t they add a third option “pay in full” pay off now and pay “0” interest?

Would love your feedback!

Melody Bell

Screen Shot 2014-09-10 at 5.38.20 PM

Any Educators Ever Have a Similar Classroom Experience?

August 4, 2014 financial literacy, Savings No comments

I thought in honor of the upcoming Financial Literacy Teacher Conference that I would share my own personal Educator story around personal finance and how excited I am that this resource is now available to Educators in Oregon.

I’ll never forget when I was teaching on the topic of personal finance in a career transition class (pre Financial Beginnings) and I had a student say to me, “why do I need to put my money in a bank?” I think I stumbled on my words for a bit and then I said, well, that’s just what you do.  Of course, I knew the importance, but honestly, it has been ingrained in me from a young age, that I was caught off guard by the fact that they even asked. Wow, if I knew then what I know now! I would have loved to have the opportunity to attend the Financial Literacy Teacher Conference.  I would have felt more confident in explaining the importance to the class, and not just base my reasoning off of something I have always done.  Many students don’t understand the importance of personal finance and maybe the first place they learn about it is from a teacher.

If there are any educators out there who have had a similar experience, come to the conference, so that you can feel more confident about educating your students and yourself!  Click here to register for the conference.

I’d love to hear if you’ve had a similar experience, share your comments below or send me an email, sarah@financialbeginnings.org.

 

-Sarah Janda

Free Shipping? Not this year…

December 19, 2013 Savings No comments

By Sarah Janda

I recently heard about Free Shipping Day that was on December 18th this year.  There were hundreds of stores that participated and offered free shipping.  I decided to check it out this year and went onto Targets website as they were taking part in free shipping day.  I spent over an hour adding various products into my cart that I was going to have shipped directly to my family and friends in Wisconsin for Christmas gifts.  When I went to checkout and pay for my purchase it was telling me that the shipping fee was $15.  I wasn’t sure why, because I thought it was free shipping day, and there were various places on the website that said spend over $50 and receive free shipping.   So, I thought because of those two options, I was covered.   Well, I failed to pay attention to the fine print.  Only certain items on the Target website were available for free shipping, none of which were in my cart.  Also, spend over $50 to get free shipping was only available to those with the Target store Red card, which I don’t have.  Also, because I was shipping to a state that has sales tax, there were taxes included, in addition to the shipping fee.  So, I decided to forgo Free Shipping day this year and will have to hurry and get to the store to buy some gifts.

Tis the season to get a deal on holiday cards

December 2, 2013 Savings, Uncategorized No comments

I recently ordered our staff photo holiday cards and this was a new experience for me.  I have never ordered holiday photo cards, so I needed to do a little research.  While shopping around online I discovered some very interesting ways to get the best deals.  I started out by checking into a few suggestions from Melody and Basha and looked at Costco, Zazzle, Vista print, etc.  The average price per card on most of these sites was around 50 cents.  I then decided to check out some of the sites that are specifically known for photos, like Snapfish and Shutterfly.  They were a little bit less, averaging around 40 cents per card.  I then came across a website called Pocketyourdollars.com.   This website linked me to several websites that offered cards ranging from 22 to 50 cents per card.  I started with the site with the lowest price and that was Yorkphoto.com.   It wasn’t until I created an account and put the almost completed project in the cart that I ended up finding out 22 cents per card only applied to the first 20 cards.   After the first 20 cards, it then increased to 41 cent per card.  I then decided to check out another site peartreegreetings.com.  Their cards were coming up for around 30 cents per card.  I went ahead and completed the photo project and put it in my cart and sent it to Melody for a last review.  The next morning I opened my inbox and I had an email from York Photo with a code for 60% off.  This brought the price down to 16 cents per card.  York Photo also offered more variety of template choices.  Satisfied with the price and project, I went ahead and completed the order.  Another surprise was that less than eight hours later I received an email saying the holiday cards were already completed and ready to be shipped.   I discovered that with a little bit of research and tempting companies with the thought of your purchase by posting it in the cart and waiting, they just might send you a better deal. 

Vacation in Northern California on a budget (part 3)

November 14, 2013 Savings No comments

In my previous blog I discussed a few ways I was able to keep the transportation costs down on my trip to Northern California. In this post I am going to discuss specifically how we were able to affordably dine out and site see while vacationing in Northern California.   Prior to the trip I was watching 20/20 and they did a story about traveling on the cheap and it just so happened they were in San Francisco.  One of the tips they offered was to always go a street over from where the tourists were to find the deals.  That is probably best advice I could have received when it came to dining out and sightseeing.

My mom and I were able to enjoy the foodie scene of San Francisco and Northern California all while spending on average than on less than $50 a day during our vacation. We usually only ate one large meal and then were able to snack or eat smaller meals.  One night we even ate leftovers from the previous nights dinner, which we only paid $25. Of course, we were only able to do this because we had a fridge in our room and there was a microwave available to reheat the food.  We were in San Francisco on a Saturday and were able to grab a fresh homemade breakfast from the Farmers Market on the Pier, which is very similar to Portland’s Saturday Market.  The Farmer’s market was also a great place for browsing the local arts scene.  The vendors offered many free samples of locally grown produce, desserts, wine and much more.

Another great way we saved money was by purchasing bottles of water from local corner market stores and not the tourist areas.  In these areas you would pay almost $3 for a bottle of water, but walking a block or two over you could find a large bottle for around a dollar. Souvenirs were the most affordable in Chinatown and the shops outside the main tourist areas.  As far as sightseeing there were plenty of things to do and see for free.  The only two attractions that we spent money on were the Conservatory of Flowers museum ($7) and then wine tasting/tour of Castillo de Amorosa in Napa Valley ($34).  Overall, my mom and I had a great time on our trip and it was a bonus to save some money and stick to a budget at the same time.

Vacation in Northern California on a budget (part 2)

October 25, 2013 financial literacy, Savings No comments

In my previous blog I discussed a few ways that I was able to get a good deal on airfare and hotel rates on my trip to Northern California. In this post I am going to discuss specifically how I was able to keep the transportation costs down.   Once off the plane, with minor confusion in finding my mom’s gate, we connected, and were on our way to downtown San Francisco via the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train.  The cost of a one way trip via the BART to downtown was $8.50, much cheaper than a taking a cab, which would have cost us around $50.  The quick half hour BART trip dropped us off only a few blocks from our hotel, although that did include a steep uphill climb with our luggage.  When we got off the BART we where right near the welcome center and that is where we bought our MUNI passes. The MUNI pass covers all public transit, including bus, streetcar, and tram wrap advertising, which is an eye-catching advertisement that connects with potential customers on a daily basis. as well as the ever-popular cable vehicle. We purchased the three-day Muni pass and it cost $22.  I added up the amount we would have paid if we purchased single tickets and in the first day alone we would have surpassed $22.  We did also rent a car to go to Napa valley, but I was still able to find a good deal via my AAA membership.  For a two-day rental including gas and additional fees, and insurance it was still under $200. 

Stay posted for my final blog about my trip in which I will discuss how we were able to affordably dine out and site see while vacationing in Northern California.

Vacation in Northern California on a budget (part 1)

September 20, 2013 Savings No comments

I recently took a trip to San Francisco and Napa Valley.  It was a mother daughter vacation as I flew my mom in from Wisconsin to join me for the trip.  My flight only ended up costing me $50 because I had some money left over on a flight voucher (see my blog Delayed flight could lead to a perk for your pocket book).  That allowed me the opportunity to pay for most of my mom’s flight as a birthday, Christmas, mother’s day present for her for the next year…or two.  I will admit I really didn’t do much research on the cost of taking a trip to San Francisco until after the flight was booked.  When I started looking into booking a hotel room I began to realize how expensive it was going to be to stay in downtown San Francisco.  After lots of research and reading many reviews on Tripadvisor, I was able to find a good rate on a great little boutique hotel in downtown San Francisco.  This great deal did come with a bit of a catch, I had to pre-pay to get the rate and it was non-refundable.   If you are willing to take a risk when you travel, you could end up saving a few hundred dollars by prepaying for your hotel room. 

Stay posted for my next blog where I will share other ways I was able to stick to a budget and save money while vacationing in Northern California. 

Delayed flight could lead to a perk for your pocketbook

July 13, 2013 Savings No comments

I love traveling, but I am not a big fan of the airports, airplanes and especially the cost.  I just spent the last week visiting my family in Wisconsin and now I am sitting in O’Hare International Airport in Chicago waiting for my connection back to Portland.  I will admit, O’Hare is my least favorite airport, however, in order to get the best deal on flights, I must submit to a connection in Chicago.  I am fortunate this time to not have any delays as I have had to spend the night in Chicago a few times.   The good thing is that when this has happened, the airlines put me up in a hotel and provided food vouchers.  Although it does bring it’s share of frustration when you only get a few hours of sleep before you return to the airport and go through security again and all you really want is to be at your destination.

I really can’t complain about the cost of the flight this time, as I did not have to pay for it.  The last time I visited my family I volunteered to get bumped due to my flight being overbooked.  This worked out well to my advantage as I had an extra day built in to my trip.  By taking the bump I got to spend an extra day with my family and received a substantial voucher.  The voucher paid for this current trip and most my flight for an upcoming trip to San Francisco.  This can be a great option for travelers, especially considering the increase cost of flying.  I would highly recommend this, especially if you are not in a hurry to get to your destination.  It just might pay for your next flight or allow you to take a trip you didn’t plan for in your budget.

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