365 Ways to Live Cheap (26 page)
Whenever you’re shopping around for services from vendors, look at the introductory deals available to new customers, particularly those that also apply to shorter-term contracts. Introductory deals can often save you a bundle. Don’t stop there, though. If you discover a new introductory deal offered by a company you’re already with, call them and ask for that same introductory deal for yourself. This works best near the end of your contract with them, as the introductory deal can be applied to a renewal of your previous contract. Don’t be afraid to ask. The worst they can do is say no, and if they say yes, you save a bundle. Don’t know how to find introductory deals? Do some online searching on occasion to see what’s out there by searching for the name of the provider and the phrase “introductory offer.”
329. L
EVERAGE
C
OMPETING
D
EALS
Similarly, if you’re about to sign a new contract or renew an existing one, shop around beforehand for offers from various companies and try to use them for leverage. Bring in an introductory offer or advertised rate from another company and ask your current company to match or beat it. Either they do agree to match the price, which means you save money and get to continue with the service and equipment you already have, or they refuse, which opens the door to you to switch to that better offer. You may have to be up-front about this in order to achieve success. One strong tactic is to ask to talk to a supervisor if you hear an initial refusal to match the offer. Many companies will try very hard to keep you as a customer, so use an opportunity to switch companies as an opportunity to save some money.
330. A
SK ABOUT
T
ERMINATION
F
EES
Whenever you’re about to sign a contract, make sure you’re very clear on the termination fees associated with that contract. Why? There may come a situation, particularly early in the contract, where it’s more cost-effective to terminate the contract, pay the termination fee, and move to another contract with another group. Also, know about the situations in which the termination fee doesn’t apply, for example, if you move to an area without adequate service for your phone or if they change your contract (which should give you a window of opportunity to terminate the contract). Knowing when you can terminate without a fee can save you a bundle, particularly when it enables you to quickly sign up for an introductory deal elsewhere.
331. I
F
Y
OU
R
ECEIVE
L
ARGE
, I
RREGULAR
B
ILLS
, S
AVE FOR
T
HEM
A
UTOMATICALLY
Many of the regular bills people face don’t come on a monthly basis. Tax bills often come annually or semiannually, as do insurance bills. For most people on a tight budget, bills like these are devastating. They force you to buy regular things on credit and then get saddled with finance charges on the credit card as you pay it down. The most effective method to handle bills that come irregularly is to automatically put away a fraction of the cost of that bill every month. Contact your bank and ask if you can set up automatic deposits into a savings account each month. For an annual bill, put away 1¨M12 of the bill amount into a savings account each month (just divide the bill total by 12). For a semiannual bill, put away 1¨M6 of the bill amount into a savings account each month. If you have your bank do this automatically, you’ll barely notice that the money is gone, but when the bill comes due, you’ll find you have the money already in a savings account, saving you the pain of having to scrape together the money for the bill. Even better, it will have likely earned a few dollars’ worth of interest—an extra bonus for being smart about your bills.
332. K
NOW
W
HAT
E
VERY
F
EE IS ON
E
VERY
B
ILL
Take a recent copy of each of your regular bills and go through them all, item by item. Try to figure out what every fee is. If you don’t know what the fee is, call the company and ask what it is. Quite often, you’re being assessed a fee or two that do not apply to you and your situation, and identifying them now means a few dollars each month that you get to keep in your wallet instead of needlessly sending to a company. Knowledge is money, particularly when it comes to fees.
333. A
LWAYS
A
SK FOR
F
EES TO
B
E
W
AIVED
Even if you know what a fee is, if you’re uncertain as to the necessity of a fee you’re being charged, whether it is on a monthly bill, in a contract you’re about to sign, or in a bank transaction, always ask for that fee to be waived. Your bank statement is usually a place where many useless fees stack up, but many other needless fees crop up on telephone bills, cable bills, energy bills, and so on. If you don’t see the purpose of a fee, call and ask it to be waived. If you don’t get a clear answer as to why it can’t be waived, ask to speak to a supervisor. Getting even one fee waived, particularly a recurring fee, usually pays for the effort put out for several fees.
334. P
AY
Y
OUR
B
ILLS ON A
W
EEKLY
C
YCLE
, N
OT A
M
ONTHLY
O
NE
Move to a cycle of paying your bills every week instead of every month. At the end of a week, collect all of your outstanding bills and pay them all at once. This serves two purposes. First, it allows you to entirely avoid late fees and missed grace periods, which can stack unwanted charges on future bills. Second, if you find yourself a little short during one session of bill payments, you can easily hold the bill until the following week without worrying about whether it will be late and incur more charges. A weekly cycle of bill paying can save you a great deal of money, particularly if you’re consistently late with bills and have faced late charges before.
335. I
F
Y
OU
K
NOW
Y
OU
’R
E
G
OING TO
B
E
L
ATE ON A
B
ILL
, C
ALL
T
HEM
If a situation ever arises where you know that you’re going to send in a bill late, call the company and describe the situation to them, and ask for the late fee to be waived just this once. Quite often, particularly if you’re a long-term customer and have consistently paid your bills on time, they’ll gladly waive a late fee if you can get your bill in within a certain number of days past the due date. In a pinch, a simple phone call can often save you a penalty, keeping that money in your pocket right where it belongs.
336. L
EARN
H
OW TO
U
SE
O
NLINE
B
ILL
P
AY
One of the most effective tools available to you for paying bills is online bill pay. If your bank offers this for your use, take advantage of it, particularly if it’s free. Such services are typically very easy to use. You just enter the account information for your bills once, including the address where you send the bill to and your account information, and save it in their system. Then, you basically just fill out your payments electronically on their website, entering the amount you intend to pay and identifying which company you wish to make the payment to. Click your mouse a time or two and the bill is paid immediately. No need to waste a stamp or an envelope on the bill—it’s already done. If you pay six bills a month with this method, you can easily save $30 a year just in stamps and envelopes using online bill pay.
337. S
CHEDULE
R
EGULAR
B
ILLS TO
B
E
P
AID
A
UTOMATICALLY
Another particularly useful feature of online bill pay is the ability to schedule payments. For example, let’s say you pay the same fixed amount each month for your mortgage and for your student loans. With online bill pay, you can set up these bills to be paid automatically each month a few days before they’re due. Not only does this save you stamps, but it also saves you time and ensures that you won’t ever be late on that particular bill, avoiding any nasty late fees that you might incur. Automatic bill payments are easily the smartest and cheapest way to take care of regular bills. Set them up once and you don’t have to worry about remembering to pay the bill ever again.
C
HEAP
T
ACTIC
$
FOR
V
ACATIONS
339 Do Your Own Travel Planning
342 Consider All Forms of Transportation, Including Train and Bus
343 Stay away from Tourist Traps
346 For Hotel Rooms, Call the Local Branch and Negotiate
347 Do Necessary Currency Conversions Before You Leave
348 Know the Rules When You Use Your ATM Card When Abroad
349 Plan the Backbone of Your Vacation Around Inexpensive Stuff
351 Use a Digital Camera with a Large Memory Card Instead of Film
353 Align Vacation Trips with Visiting Family and Friends
354 Don’t Overload a Vacation with Scheduled Activities
338. P
LAN
F
AR IN
A
DVANCE
The best time to plan a summer vacation is during the previous summer. Not only do you have plenty of breathing room to figure out exactly what you want to do, but you can often get stellar rates reserving things far in advance as compared to reserving closer to the dates you wish to travel, and it gives you more time to keep your eyes open for good deals along the way. Plus, locking things in stone far in advance gives you much more leeway to get the time off from work and make any other necessary plans you need to make—it not only saves money, but saves you a lot of headaches, too.
339. D
O
Y
OUR
O
WN
T
RAVEL
P
LANNING
Instead of relying on someone else to plan a trip for you, get involved and do the planning yourself. Organize your own transportation, lodging, and tickets to any events you want to attend. With the many online tools available to you, it’s easy to find good rates on these options without having to pay the expensive fees that a travel agent might charge you just for a bit of planning convenience. Make a list of what you need on your trip and take care of each category yourself, acting as your own travel agent.
340. B
E
F
LEXIBLE
W
HEN
Y
OU
P
LAN
If you’re planning far in advance, you have lots of flexibility when it comes to the dates and locations that you’ll be traveling. The more flexibility you have, the better—find out what all of the restrictions are before you even begin planning by checking on the dates that everyone can get away from their work and other commitments. Don’t commit to a specific plan too quickly. Instead, ask around and gather ideas before committing to a specific plan. Tap the social network you built and see whether your friends have any suggestions or valuable resources (like, perhaps, a cabin owned by a friend of a friend) that you can utilize. Look at lots of potential options within your plan and get the whole family involved in the details. Vacation options may open up that you didn’t know existed. The more flexible you are about your plans as they come together, the more likely you are to plan a vacation that everyone will thoroughly enjoy while also saving quite a bit of money on the trip.
341. C
ONSIDER
C
AMPING
One often-overlooked option is the idea of camping while traveling, particularly if your mode of transportation is a lengthy car trip. Instead of spending your vacation money on a hotel during your car trip, instead rent a campsite for the night and cut some serious expense out of your trip. You can often spend four nights or more in a tent for the cost of one night in a hotel. Don’t want to camp out for your entire vacation? Go ahead and mix the two by spending a few nights camping in one place, then stay in a hotel the rest of the time.
342. C
ONSIDER
A
LL
F
ORMS OF
T
RANSPORTATION
, I
NCLUDING
T
RAIN AND
B
US
Don’t just immediately rule out all options besides flying or driving. It may be much more cost-effective to take a train or a bus to your destination and rent a car when you arrive instead of burning gas and putting wear and tear on your car during the long trip to your destination. Trains and buses can also be a low-cost alternative to airfare, particularly if you’re traveling as a family. They may take a bit longer, but the cost savings can be tremendous. Include services such as Greyhound and Amtrak in your travel planning and you may just save your family some significant cash on your vacation.
343. S
TAY
A
WAY
F
ROM
T
OURIST
T
RAPS
While it’s tempting to see the “touristy” sites when you visit a place, including all of the famous landmarks and amusement parks, you’re much better off if you get away from the tourist traps and instead observe how the locals live. Spend some of your trip hitting the must-see tourist sites, but then get off the beaten path and find some of the undiscovered things on your trip. Get out in the countryside and view the natural beauty of the region you’re visiting. Go to some of the smaller cities and towns and enjoy some of the truly local fare. Not only will they make the trip less expensive, but going away from the tourist traps will also give you an interesting and unique vacation that goes far beyond the same old things you find in guide books.
