March 3, 2010
As always, every little bit counts! And as always, you’re welcome to share!
From the readers
eemusings: I just called my phone/internet company to get a late fee waived (Post office effed up and didn’t process my payment till after the bill due date…), which I assumed I would get slapped with. But apparently it’s all gravy. Woohoo!
@Tabitha2cute: My son went on class field trip to the library and needed a replacement card. He couldn’t get one w/o an ID (which he didn’t have) so his teacher had to check books out for him. I went after school to the same library. Unhappily so–and it was visible on my face. I told the librarian what happened and that I wanted to purchase a replacement card. When I asked how much it was, he said he wanted me to leave much happier than I got there so he was waiving the fee. I then took my card out to pay the late fees. When I asked how much they were, he said “you no longer have late fees.” I smiled and thanked him. I left MUCH happier.
Personal victories
Credit limit goof: I’d switched out credit cards for regular use some time ago. Well, I feel especially inept and dumb about this little screw-up. I knew this least-used card only had a $500 limit, as opposed to the $20K limit of my other Citi cards. BUT, since I wasn’t using the cards much and in the midst of dealing with one malady after the other, I completely forgot to call and request for a transfer of a credit limit from a retired card. Three swipes at the dentist and pharmacy later — $39 over credit limit fee. Because I went $5 over. AUGH.
The second I discovered the charge, I was on the phone. No love. Was cut off by the system twice after holding for 20 minutes. Sighed. Resolved to take my lumps because really, that was my own stupidity in forgetting to call and forgetting to monitor the spending.
Tried again the next day. The very nice CSR noted that I’d had a medical issue, waived the fee, and requested a credit limit change which went through in two business days. Whew. I felt particularly idiotic after that gaffe.
February 24, 2010
Just as I started on a quest to explore options for my cell phone, I discovered entirely by happenstance that my parents were harboring yet another (financial) secret: Mom’s phone has been broken for weeks.
I’ve been paying $70+/month for their family plan. Without telling me, they’d requested new phones which reactivated their contracts 18 months ago which jettisoned my plans to switch their calling plans to something more affordable and sensible according to their usage. Then, again without telling me, they changed their plan to give themselves more (unnecessary!) minutes because they don’t pay or read their bills which meant another contract extension.
Totally frustrated by the parent-imposed roadblocks to trimming the budget, I’ve let it lie until now. Discovering that I’m paying a premium for basically one phone ticked me off, and I’ve researched several possible options to pick a plan that makes sense with T-Mobile’s Online Help Chat.
Important Definitions
Prepaid Pay By The Day customers enjoy Unlimited Nights and Unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile calling on the T-Mobile network. Pay By The Day customers incur two types of charges: A $1 per day ($1/day) usage charge and a $0.10 per minute charge (if applicable).
Prepaid Pay As You Go means that you refill the account and pay per minute for your incoming and outgoing calls.
Even More plans keep you on a contract basis but changing to one does not change your contract date, does not incur migration fees, and offers discounted phones that lock you back into a 2-year contract.
Even More Plus plans are non-contract plans, incurs a one time $35 migration fee, retain the contract date, and does not offer discounted plans.
Option A
Due to her much reduced usage, I can switch Mom to a prepaid plan and put Dad on an Even More individual plan for $50/month for 1000 mins, unlimited nights and weekends.
Cost: $50 early termination fee + new phone + [$30/month and usage charges OR just PAYG usage charges]. I would have to train them not to use her phone for anything but emergencies. Given her cognition issues, this may be a challenge.
Gain: Saving $20/mo on Dad’s plan, and if I go with PAYG for Mom, I wouldn’t break even for more than 6 months.
Option B
Wait three months until the contract is up, and then execute the plan above, saving $50.
Cost: new phone + prepaid usage
Gain: Saving $20/mo on Dad’s plan, and PAYG for Mom, I would break even in about 6 months. Depends on the cost of the phone.
Option C
Move them both to an Even More Plus plan, then switch Mom to a Prepaid Plan.
Cost: $70 in migration fees, still have a contract date through 5/18, and that’s before replacing the phone.
Gain: Forget it.
Option D
Move them both to an Even More plan with the fewest minutes possible ($60/month for 750, well over their current usage), wait three months while finding a replacement phone for the contract to run out.
Cost: None
Gain: Save $10/mo.
It’s Option D for now. I’ll save $30 between now and the contract expiration in three months, and decide what to do beyond that then.
February 6, 2010
From the readers
444 Express meets the insufficient funds monster! And has managed to prevent a promotional balance from garnering all the interest from the promo period on a card carrying a balance.
Abigail of I Pick Up Pennies: 1. My MIL is (finally!) quitting smoking. She has been using Kroger brand patches. She went to get another box of the step she was on. Couldn’t find it. Went to 3 more Fred Meyer’s and… nothing.
So she went up to the pharmacy and asked if they had any in the back. He said they were out. She mentioned they were out at 3 other stores. So he made a call. Turns out, they’re not going to make that step anymore.
She asked if he would give her the Nicoderm at the Kroger price. He said he didn’t think he could do that. She pointed out that it seemed unfair to pull the rug out from under people who had started the program with the generic. He thought about it, made a call, and gave her the generic price. Fifteen dollars saved — which is a big deal when you’re on disability!
2. We got Tim 3 pairs of sunglasses (he loses/breaks them a lot) and he wanted to get a case or two to keep them safe. So we headed over to Walmart’s optical store. As we were discussing the merits of various cases, an employee approached us. He had a case — nicer than the ones we were looking at, and it came with a cleaning cloth — that he had been given and wasn’t using. He just handed it to us. (So, okay, this wasn’t us asking, per se. But it was still pretty cool!)
3. At Macy’s the woman in front of us was using a $10 off coupon. I asked where she got it, she told me it was in that day’s paper. When it didn’t work for her, she offered it to us. It was supposed to stop working at 1 p.m. (It was about 1:10.) But we tried it anyway, and it worked. And I wouldn’t have gotten the coupon if I hadn’t asked the woman about it.
Karen – My lease was up for renewal and the management sent me a letter with my rent increase. It was a 6% increase. I have never renewed a lease so I am uncertain if this is a standard rate increase. Due to owning a dog greater than 25lbs and needing to live within a certain radius, my options are limited. I called the property manager and asked why my rent was going up 6%. I was told my rent was under market value and that it would still be under market value with the 6% increase. She asked if I was expecting no increase. I wasn’t however I wasn’t expecting 6%. She said she would look at my lease renewal and see what she could do. She called back and offered a 4% increase instead.
Personal victories
Textbook madness: With only two classes, I shouldn’t complain but I had ordered books in readiness for the new quarter only to be surprised with a different book on the syllabus posted on the first week of classes. Mon Dieu, professor! Why lead me astray so I’ve a useless book at the ready and naught to be used??
I emailed the instructor, hoping with my eyes squeezed shut that it was an old syllabus, that he’d neglected to update the text. Alas, twasn’t the cast. Crestfallen, I glared at the book. I had to find, and price- and shipping-times compare. Like Superman (Prime), like Optimus (Prime), Amazon Prime came to my rescue, the book priced just $2 less than the rental with a two-day ship time.
Unexpectedly, an email pinged in from the instructor. He’d spoken with the course representative and suggested that we touch base for a reimbursement. A few emails and a phone call later, the course representative agreed to reimburse me for the cost of the replacement book. ($63)
But the saga doesn’t end there — I was expecting to hit the road and needed the replacement book to meet me at a halfway point. Thanks to Amazon Prime, I expected to see the new book within a couple of days, but it took me almost 48 hours to realize that the shipping address had reverted to my home address. Cuh-rap. Another round of calls to Amazon to get the shipment rerouted turned into five calls and 16 hours of frustration. Finally, I was offered a $10 discount from Amazon for their inability to help me (and for the previous CSRs lying to me). I spent half of it to get the book shipped to the right place.
Macy’s and the everlasting coupon: Like Bed, Bath and Beyond, Macy’s has become one of those retailers I won’t shop without a coupon. They’re overpriced and reasonable only with a combination of sale, coupon and gift card. Unfortunately, my friends insisted on making an impromptu stop without doing coupon research beforehand. *the horror*
I looked up coupons on my iPhone, and asked the floor manager if they were willing to scan my phone since I couldn’t print a coupon. He laughed at me saying, “You’re just trying to be difficult” and waved off the phone. Instead he manually entered a discount when he rang up the purchase, giving us 15% off every item instead of just 10% off Housewares. Savings: $10.79
Hot Pot and VH’s butcher trick: A friend and I had hot pot plans for dinner, but I was too tired to shop at the Asian grocery store, Trader Joe’s, the produce place, AND Safeway. We needed thinly sliced pork, though, and usually there’s no call for that at a regular grocery store. My only option seemed to be buying pork chops at $4/lb and slicing thin strips off the chops.
Instead, I talked to the butcher at Safeway, explained what I needed and lo, he led me straight to the pork shoulder, on sale for 99 cents/pound and offered to slice it up for me. I should have gotten a few pounds of the pork and frozen it for later at that price! He saved me both an extra trip and 75% off the meat.
As always, every little bit counts! And as always, I welcome your sharing!
January 5, 2010
Readers’ successes:
SS4BC – I was shopping at REI for some shoes. I had a $50 giftcard that needed to be used (this was a rebate giftcard from buying merchandise from them the year before).
I found a beautiful pair of Merrells that I wanted. With my $50 GC, I would pay around $36 out of pocket for them. Not too bad.
I went up the the cashier and smiled. Then I said “Hi, I would like to buy these shoes, but I don’t want to pay full price.”
To which he replied (I kid you not): “How about a 20% discount?”
Me (astonished that this actually worked): “Sure! That sounds great!”
He rings them up – $86 with a 20% discount, we’re down to $63. I hand him my $50 giftcard. I pay $13 for my $86 pair of shoes. And could not have been happier.
All because I ASKED.
RainyDaySaver – Today alone, I got a free cupcake because it was my birthday and had a jeweler take links out of my too-big watch for free. And a follow up post here.
Sense to Dollars – When I complained about my dental visit a little while ago on this blog, I also put my sentiments into a letter written on the Lumino site feedback form. I very nicely explained my disatisfaction with my visit, and how horribly inept I found the dentist’s technique to be.
Read the rest here: Complaining pays off in more ways than one
Success! There were issues with my seats (reading light out, sound was out) to and from HNL last month. I emailed United informing them of the malfunctions, and left it at that. I suppose this doesn’t really count as asking, so much as speaking up. They replied with an apology and a $150 courtesy gift certificate good for a one-way or round-trip fare, expires in a year.
Success! I’ve been helping a friend move into a new place. When we picked up furniture in the city, we had to park in a neighboring structure to go into the store. It wasn’t until we were committed to the $6 parking fee that we found out that the folks in the storage area would be willing to carry out and help load our packages in the car only if we pulled up front. They wouldn’t help if they were brought out onto the sales floor. I asked the parking attendant to let us pull out and pick up the stuff, and then come back and park, explaining that we had no idea they’d only help us if we were pulled up out front. The attendant decided to be kind, giving us the first hour free so that we could leave and come back after loading up the car.
Success! My missing rebate finally arrived.
It’s fun keeping track of these wins, big and small. If anyone wants to join in the fun, or submit their own for inclusion, please email me!
December 8, 2009
I’ve always been an advocate of just asking for a discount, negotiating, or requesting fee waivers. Negotiating and haggling take a lot of practice, but you can always start small with requests for refunds, discounts and waivers. It’s a simple question, and worded politely, can save you a bundle!
November’s forays:
Success! Requesting a little stand to go with the piece I’d picked out as a gift from Little Dipper Castings. I knew my giftee would never wear the piece as jewelry, but would love to display it. The seller was nice enough to throw in the requested display block, free. [saved $9 on the chain]
Success! Chase charged me an incoming wire transfer fee of $15. As I’d called 4 times in the past verifying that I would not be charged, and been assured that I wouldn’t be, I called them back and the CSR immediately reversed the charge. [recouped $15]
Success! My wireless optical mouse rolled over and died. I love this thing and desperately needed it to keep my hands from seizing up with cramps from using the [I think] mildly insane touchpad. It’s got a few bats in the belfry. A call to Logitech, and five minutes on hold, and voila! A new mouse will be shipped out [via slowest ground shipping possible] without my having to return Defecto Mouse. [saved ~$45]
Work in progress! That pesky rebate: Those guys aren’t keeping my money! I called and pestered them, and tried to point out that they’re idiots for recording the shipping date as the order date nicely, and the guy acknowledged it, but couldn’t get them to process the rebate without sending in a second resubmission. It’s been sent in, and I’ll follow up again until they send my check.
Success! AT&T hasn’t been applying the FAN (15%) discount to my account since my contract started 19 months ago despite my verified eligibility. Three phone calls later, the last of which was more than a little frustrating, yielded both the $6 discount from now on, and a credit on my account for the entire contract period. [recouped $114]
This set was about small wins for me, but Oil and Garlic recently had a great fat honkin’ win!
It’s kind of fun keeping track of these wins, big and small. If anyone wants to join in the fun, or submit their own for inclusion, please email me!
November 4, 2009
The guest post on Money Tips from Poker at Bargaineering gave me a different perspective on the conversation we’re having at Fabulously Broke about personal spending limits.
As a once and former overachieving student, I like rules. Not because they’re limiting and I like to obey, but because they offer a benchmark to measure performance and the opportunity to go you one better, much like the Stretch goal is to the SMART goal. You’ve got to set the original goal first before you can beat it. [Note: I like my rules best. Who doesn’t?]
That’s why I kept moving my savings goals up as soon as I reached them – it’s boring not to have something to reach for. That’s not to say my rules don’t know how to limbo, they totally do. And have. And probably will again. It’s ok, as long as I don’t completely shatter the major ones.
When talking about the upper spending limits we set and why, it seems we all have a personal comfort level up to which we can spend. Spend more than that and we’re big squirmy excuse-making babies trying to justify the price tags. Or maybe that’s just me ……
But I don’t know anyone who has a mathematical reason for why this can cost up to $100, but that can only cost $15. The general levels rise and fall according to the feeling that one set of pricing is ok and the other is not, but why not set rules with a basis in fact? Mathematical rules? Ones that are rational? I’m talking about the bankroll management from the article.
I love the idea of setting your levels of spending by multiples of your available cash. In the article, the example is between 30-50 multiples of the bankroll. I’d like to steal that formula as is, but it doesn’t quite work out because my expense budget is vastly smaller than my entire bankroll. I’m protective of my savings, the multiple would be something insane like 300.
In our cases, that formula could translate into a percentage of the clothing budget. If you’re planning to save $100/month for clothing, perhaps each season gets 25%, or a weighted percentage because coats on sale tend to cost much more than bathing suits on sale. By a ratio of 5 to 1, in fact. If I were doing this, Winter would get 40%, and the other 3 seasons get 20%. That’s not precisely fair, but it’s probably more true to shopping reality than people realize. Breaking that down:
Winter: $480
Spring: $240
Summer: $240
Fall: $240
Right off the bat that tells you not to spend $400 before tax on a winter coat unless that’s the only thing you’re going to buy.
Of course, seasonality is only one way to break that down. You could just take that whole annual budget of $1200 and allocate 80% for staples like jeans, daily wear shoes, accessories, etc.; 20% for specialty items.
Truthfully much of this is hypothetical for me because I don’t yet have a clothing budget. I’m definitely still just saying “$100 is too much for jeans, I’ll pay up to $40 for them” and “No summer dress can cost more than $20.” As soon as my budget changes, though, I think it’d be great to implement a set of rational rules that I didn’t just make up as I encounter sales.
June 4, 2009
Every time I get set in my financial plan, I turn my mind one-quarter turn to the right and find myself seeing it in a slightly, or wholly, different way. That change of focus is, in many cases, a good thing.
So … I thought I had too much cash? No, not really, it was more like I finally realized that my previous worrying was excessive. Not unjustified, just rather obsessive. I am a slightly obsessive personality. Normally, I vent, develop a game plan, set the course and go! This time, I tinkered with the game plan, started off and kept second, third, and fiftieth guessing myself. For months. No wonder I was going slightly mad.
No small part of that is that there’s enough uncertainty in the job market, aside from the rather certain rejections I’ve had, to keep me guessing about how confident I should be.
More, reading articles about folks who planned well, saved, and still couldn’t find a job after months and even years of pounding the pavement catalyzed panic mode. I could literally taste my every fear coming to life: of following my family’s footsteps into unemployment and drudgery, of being the last bastion of support, and spiraling into financial and health failures … just like they did.
That’s one reason I haven’t even mentioned the layoff date to my family. I have no answers for them, other than unemployment +savings, and I can’t even mention the savings because my lousy brother will take that as an excuse to coast even more. The irony, of course, is that I’m hiding a major life event from my family that I support and still live with, yet I still haven’t forgiven my dad for lying to me about his job losses and indebtedness.
After spinning my mental wheels for a while, that steam wears out and leads to more productive thinking like, I can probably take a little of that stash and start investing now. I know that I haven’t maxed out either of my retirement vehicles yet, but with a dwindling income stream, I’d prefer not to lock up any more cash in the 403(b)/401(a)/Roth.
I’ve been wanting to buy some dividend stocks for years. Not on a grand scale. But what am I waiting for? Someone to take my hand and lead me through it? That’s not how I operate and that’s definitely not how I learn. I can read all I want about the schools of thought behind investing, but what I want is basic: to create income and protect assets. I’m looking for dividends and lower prices for companies that are basic and sound.
The temptation is to do it up big: throw five grand in the pot and create a diversified portfolio right from the get-go. But that dips far too heavily into the emergency pot for something that is essentially a business venture, non-essential, and a bit of an analgesic for the financial fear that swamps my common sense every so often.
So! The plan: open up an account with TradeKing using a referral from Sun at The Sun’s Financial Diary, deposit $1000, and buy some stocks. And hold them. No day trader am I.
Simple. Quick, except for setting up the ACH transfer capability which has always seemed rather primitive to me. Easy.
It’s all about finding the comfortable zone between being ultra-safe and taking some risks. I’m not going to get anywhere by stashing all my money in retirement accounts and CDs, nor will I throw caution to the wind. It’s just time to get in the game. More importantly, it’s time to work on things I can do.