July 9, 2008
My cable rate was up to $40/month for the past 6 months. When averaged against the other 12 months of the 18 month contract, it wasn’t a terrible price but then again, 18 months ago, I envisioned that I would be in a very different financial position.
Knowing that, I decided to cancel the cable service as soon as it was up. It’s not like I even know how to work our television anymore, anyway, so no great loss to me. On the phone with Dish Network, the CSR started asking me a couple of questions about why I was canceling and I took a minute to explain that I don’t spend that much time watching tv (er, none?) and that I wasn’t very pleased with the service quality.
He offered me a service with about ten channels for $10/month, and I was about to thank him and decline when he said, “for free for six months. Try it, and if you like it, it’ll only be ten dollars a month after that.”
Uh…. six months? Free?
Yes. Yes, six months free with some of my favorite channels (Food Network, History Channel, Discovery Channel) and he’s waiving the $5 local channels fee that I was protesting many moons ago. For life. He waived the local channel fee for life. Hum.
So, free cable for six months. Ok, why not?
Since we’re only a few days into the current billing cycle, he’ll apply it to this one, which means I can cross a $40 bill off my list of bills for the month.
And I might want to figure out how to work the durned tv.
July 8, 2008
My preference for Rite-Aid rebates, despite rarely going there since I don’t live near one, was always because I could easily submit the rebates online. Now we can submit our Walgreens rebates online as well!
Thanks to Kacie:
I just tried it out, and it was pretty easy. Go to Walgreens.com, click the EasySaver catalog button and click “claim rebates.” You’ll have to register for an account, but it doesn’t take much time.
You’ll enter a unique code from your receipt to show that you’ve purchased an item that generates a rebate.
July 1, 2008
(ie: Supplemental income)
Ahhh, yes. My second income “make-up” check has come in, and I’ve divvied it up.
Originally this was going to be the All Responsibility Check: 20% to savings and 30% for taxes. Since I’m struggling with cash flow, I took 5% of it from the savings allotment and put it that in the expense account. I might as well. If I run short and have to dip into the emergency fund, I’ll just be really annoyed and I have a policy against dipping anyway. As Sistah Ant and I discussed once, it seems like a slippery slope to tread, dipping into the e-fund for non-emergencies.
I’ve an abundance of Citi and ED savings accounts but they’re all being used for specific purposes (Travel, Car/House Maintenance, easier access E-fund, expenses, Car Insurance), so I’ve finally returned to my old ING Direct account to hold my tax savings. That money is just going to be sitting there until next April, so I want it out of sight. Even better, ING is offering a 3% APY rate, so it’s actually doing better than ED.
I’m considering moving my entire emergency fund over to ING, actually, since it’s a fairly substantial amount. I think the Car/House Maintenance and Car Insurance funds can also be moved because those expenses won’t crop up so suddenly that I can’t wait a few days to transfer the money from ING.
Oh, and I still need a Moving fund; it’d be nice to have most of the sub-accounts in one place.
*thinking ….*
June 26, 2008
Boston Gal’s posting of this WSJ article about folks who are cutting back on their retirement savings made me feel guilty.
I know that I had a perfectly good reason for doing it, but it still stings that not only did I cut down, massively, on contributions, my account keeps dropping like a rock and doesn’t even reflect the amount of contributions I’ve been making since the beginning of the year. At this rate, I’ll never crack $25,000! [I’m not talking about overall, just between the 401(a) and 403(b).]
Ok, that’s not guilt I’m feeling, I’m just disheartened.
The important things to remember:
1. The reduction is temporary. It does not affect my match because I’m maxing out the 401(a) which is the only account that is matched.
2. Finances have to be flexible to accommodate when life happens. Obstacles are inevitable, and stubbornly stashing hefty amounts in my retirement fund while cash flow suffers does not make sense.
3. I’m simultaneously working on reducing all expenses so as to narrow the gap between expenses and income. This reinforces the temporariness of this solution. I’d like to see the gap closed in a matter of months, but it’ll take some more mathing, when I have time.
June 24, 2008
Happily, two bits of great news: I got confirmation from a friend that I can use his lodgings for my trip to San Diego this July. A couple friends will be joining me, and normally that would require a hotel room for them, costing about $130 for a motel that’s none too near our destination. This is a great convenience! I have to find something cool for him there, or think of something cool to give him. I don’t know what to give a man who can afford to live in NYC and maintain a condo in downtown San Diego, though. Any ideas?
The other thing is the truck registration was unexpectedly $12 cheaper! I went online to pay the bill today, and noticed the reduced price. It’s nearly enough to offset the increased airfare. Yay!
June 22, 2008
Not to steal Citibank’s thunder, but my curiosity got the better of me. Wamu’s offering an online CD for a slightly shorter term and lower rate. I’m not sure that there’s any real benefit to accepting the lower rate for a month less term, but here ’tis:
Minimum deposit to open and obtain APY is $1,000.00. To obtain the APY for the effective date on the day you apply, the Online CD account must be funded within seven (7) calendar days. If received on or after the eighth calendar day, the then effective date APY will be applied. Certificate of Deposit accounts earn a fixed interest rate and APY for the selected term. Fees may reduce earnings. Penalty for early withdrawals apply. Restrictions and limited servicing apply to Online CDs (See, details above). Programs (including, without limit, fees, rates and features) are subject to change without notice.
If you’re willing to take a much longer term, to the tune of 48 months, you could opt for their 4-year CD at a rate of 4% APY/3.93% APR.
These are online CDs only.
I did like their online savings rates, though. For accounts with less than $10,000, you earn 3.3% APY/3.25% APR. I suppose accounts with more than $10,000 earned more interest once upon a time, but the rates are the same for both categories right now.
I was just checking on some banking today when Citi’s teaser caught my eye.
The terms:
- A minimum opening deposit of $500 is required for CDs opened online.
- Interest is paid monthly or at maturity for all CDs with terms of one year or less.
- Interest is paid monthly for all CDs with terms greater than one year.
- CDs renew automatically at maturity for the same term at the rate in effect at the time. If you don’t want to renew, you have a 7-day grace period to let us know online, by phone or in writing.
This is a heck of a lot better than my current sub-2% savings rate with Citi’s “high-yield savings” accounts, or at least a bit better than ED’s 2.75% APY.
You can apply online or give them a call.