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Buy That Fun Stuff Without Going Into Debt

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Cash Register

You want to buy that new something.

Maybe it’s the Nintendo Wii and the Wii Fit?  Maybe it’s a new digital camera?  Perhaps it’s a new flat-screen TV or a GPS?  You can’t afford to buy it out-right.  If you charge it to a credit card you will be paying interest on top of the price of the item.

What if there was a way to buy the item and earn interest?  What if we can help make sure you buy it at a great price?

Sounds interesting right?

I’ll tell you what we’re going to do.  First off I have to tell we’re going to wait to buy this item.  Bummer I know.  You want it now.  But you don’t have the cash and paying interest on it, as well as being in debt, isn’t a great option.  Deal with it.

We’re trying to be responsible here and still get our new thingamajig.

Do you have an online savings account that allows you to create sub-accounts?  Good.  Now go into your account and create a sub-account titled Thingamajig (or whatever it is that you want to buy).  This is where you are going to save your money.

Now what amount of money can you put away into this account monthly without hurting your budget?  Can you cut back on Starbucks or something similar every week?  What would you expect to pay on your credit card if you charged it?  That’s a good amount to start with too.

Figure out how much a week this comes out to.  Go back to that sub-account.  We’re going to set up an automatic, weekly withdrawal into this account.  Why weekly?  This way you can see the money building up quicker.  I don’t want you getting impatient waiting for a monthly addition to the account.

Now we wait until the account fills up with the cost of your thingamajig!  This can be tough as you’ll test your patience but it will pay off.  Resist cashing out until you have the full amount to cover the purchase (you calculated taxes, accessories, possible warranty, delivery, etc…into your cost already, right?).

Here’s where this plan is great:

  • You earn interest while you save! – Every month you save you’re helping yourself with the interest you are earning rather than paying a credit card company interest for the privilege of using their money!
  • You now have time to do research – Go check out the thingamajig in a few different stores and ask the salespeople about the item. Go online and read consumer reactions. Check everyone’s price and see what locations give you the most bang for your buck (do some throw in accessories or have better return policies should something not work?).
  • A new improved model may come out – In the time you’re saving you may find that a better version has come out. Maybe the first was discontinued. Technology changes rapidly. today’s top of the line cell phone could be a clunker after a little while. It could be another company now has a better product.
  • The price could drop – Look at that. Now the thingamajig isn’t even as expensive as it was. You’ve earned interest and saved on the cost!
  • You may find you don’t want it anymore – This may sound crazy but in giving yourself some time to save and watching your savings grow you may not feel the thingamajig is worth the money anymore. Maybe it was just a fad that’s already faded? Either way, you now have a little extra to add to your savings. Sweet!
  • You became more responsible with your money – You didn’t go into debt buying your thingamajig. You set up a savings plan and stuck to it. You might have even looked at your expenses and found some things you didn’t really need in order to save quicker. What you were saving is now extra savings for you if you choose after you buy your thingamajig!

There you go!  You got your thingamjig, you didn’t go into debt, you earned interest to help pay for it, and you got the best possible price for it.

I bet it’ll feel good when you get home and open it up!

photo by skippy13

15 Things To Do With Your Economic Stimulus Check

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The government Stimulus checks started going out on April 28th. If you are expecting one you should start looking for it in May (here’s a post listing the dates).

So what are you going to do with the extra money? Here are a list of ideas for using your stimulus check:

  • Pay off credit cards – If you have any credit card debt the stimulus check will be a great way knock some of that out! Paying off the debt gives you an instant return in savings of whatever you would have paid in interest fees. Psychologically, you will help in getting the debt monkey off your back.
  • Contribute to a Roth IRA – You can take your money and put it into your Roth IRA. For 2008 the contribution limit is $5000.
  • Start an emergency fund – If you don’t already have some sort of emergency fund (three to six months expenses seems to be the conventional wisdom) then your stimulus check is a good way to start one. Even if you have one you can use the money to increase your fund. A great place to start one is with ING Direct (you can even get a $25 bonus by opening your account with $250).
  • Contribute to a 529 college savings plan – You can use the money to help save for your kid’s education by putting the money in a 529 plan. Not only do you help save for college but you might get a tax break as well depending on your home state’s plan.
  • Pre-pay your mortgage – Take the money and make additional payments to your mortgage. By making additional payments you will own your home faster and pay less in interest. Just make sure the payments go towards the loan principle and not next month’s payment (also check that your lender will accept pre-payments without fees or penalties).
  • Go on vacation – You may have been planning to do this anyway so here is a good way to fund the vacation. Go and do something that will be a great experience for the family that you will all remember.
  • Improve the house – If there’s something you’ve needed to improve on your home, such as a furnace, you can use your stimulus check to pay for it (or at least help). Other options could be new paint job, carpet, furniture, appliances, etc…
  • Car maintenance – Have you been putting off a car repair? Need new brakes? New tires? Your stimulus money can fund it. If your car is about to go kaput your stimulus check could help pay for a new car (or a good new used car).
  • Learn to invest – Do some research and take the money and start investing. Companies such as Sharebuilder and Zecco offer low-fee investing. You have to do your homework with this option but it might be just enough money to start investing but not so much that you will be crazy worrying if you lose it. If you invest through Sharebuilder you can buy partial shares of Berkshire Hathaway B class shares. I hear that Warren Buffett is pretty good at investing.
  • Pay off student loans – If you have high interest student loans then your stimulus check can be a great way to help pay your student loans off. Just like with credit cards paying off your high interest student loans give you the instant return in savings of what you would have paid in interest.
  • Have a nice evening out – Take your spouse out to a really great meal. Get babysitting and go to that great restaurant you wanted to try. Go see that new show that everyone’s talking about. Make an experience you will always remember.
  • Get physically fit – The stimulus check should be enough to pay for a year’s gym membership (or more than a year). Use the stimulus check as a catalyst to get in shape and make your life healthier. Not sure about a gym? Find a class such as yoga or martial arts to join. Not into that? Buy a new bike and go riding. Or get yourself some good running sneakers and running attire. Join your local running club and enter a few small races. You never know, you may one day run a marathon.
  • Go to school – Use your stimulus check to enroll in a college course or two. This can be toward a degree or just continuing education. Hey, you can take a personal finance course. Maybe learn a second language?
  • Do nothing – This is the easiest of them all. Put the money in your savings account and forget about it. You don’t have to spend it or find any particular purpose for it. It doesn’t have to burn a hole in your pocket. One day you might find a good use for it but for now it adds to your savings.

Personally, we’re closer to the Do Nothing suggestion. Our stimulus check will come via direct deposit right into our ING account. We have no specific plans for the money so it will be added into our savings. Our check may pay parts of many of the suggestions or for none of them. Either way it will earn interest until it finds a home somewhere else.

Do you have any other ideas for using the economic stimulus check?

photo by Argenberg

I Switched To Sprint SERO And Saved Some Money

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A little over a week ago I signed my wife and I up each for the Sprint SERO cell phone plan.
We were already on Verizon Wireless. So why switch? First let me explain our Verizon experience:We had been looking into upgrading our phones since they were over two years old and we were due a credit for a new phone as part of Verizon’s plan. We even went so far as to visit a few Verizon stores but I felt like I was getting the run-around at each. See I was supposed to get $100 towards a new phone. At each location I went to they told me only $50 even though when I called Verizon they confirmed the $100. Two of three of the stores pretended to not know about a buy-one-get-one-free offer that was being advertised. This didn’t sit well with me. The next concern was cost. We had a family plan for 700 minutes that could be used between our two lines. This cost us $79.98 without any taxes or extra charges. Any texting was extra. Like 15 cents a text extra. We try to keep our texting below $5 which is what we would pay for their text plan (I don’t generally text much but my wife sometimes does). Our bill would end up between $90-$100 a month. Oh, did I mention that we got terrible reception in our home? We’ve traveled all over and Verizon has had great signals but our luck has it that our service stinks in our living room. So, we were willing to stay with Verizon but our minds were open to finding another service.

Fortunately we never found a Verizon phone deal to upgrade to.

I had remembered reading an article from Cash Money Life about how he transferred his cell plan to someone else and ordered the Sprint SERO service. Since we were already off our contract I figured I’d check the plan out. I went back to the post and saw that he got his info from fivecentnickel, checked out his site and checked out the Sprint SERO site. And isn’t fate funny? The day after I was looking at the SERO site Cash Money Life published 15 Ways to Save on Your Cell Bill. If that’s not synchronicity for you… Suffice it to say I signed us up for two plans.

So what is Sprint SERO? It’s the Sprint Employee Referral Offer. Here’s the $30 plan:

– 500 anytime minutes (they have bigger minute plans that cost more)
– Unlimited nights and weekends starting at 7PM
– Domestic long distance
– Unlimited mobile to mobile
– Unlimited Web/Data access
– Unlimited picture mail (with compatible devices)

Currently there’s unlimited texting until 5/31/08. I was told that they tend to keep extending the free texts. Hopefully this is true.

What I really love about this plan is the unlimited data/web access. I can now access my Gmail account on my phone as well as many other web functions (Gmail is really great for on phones BTW). From what I recall from Verizon their data plan is much more expensive!

But wait. How do I sign up? I don’t know any Sprint employees! If you use the email savings@sprintemi.com at the Sprint SERO site you should be fine. This worked for both Cash Money Life and fivecentnickel when they ordered their phones. Check out fivecentnickel’s article for details.

Me, I’m still a little paranoid about getting stuff online (there’s a bit of irony in there somewhere, no?) so I entered the email address then checked the site for what I wanted. I settled on the Motorola Q9c Smartphone for me and the LG Rumor for my wife. I was a little skeptical about the email address working based on info I read so I picked an employee email from the Sprint Media page (check out this forum on FatWallet.com for SERO info). Next I called their SERO ordering number. I gave the salesperson the email and it went through with no problems. He asked if it was ok for them to check my credit. This is a requirement to make sure you can afford the phones and the plan.

Here’s where it paid to speak to a human: online there is a spot to enter any promotions codes you have (you might be able to find some online). On Nickel’s site he mentions that he used the code URANG to get a $25 credit on the first two bills. This no longer worked on the site but I mentioned it to the Sprint rep anyway. He was able to still apply the credits to each line so I should be getting a total of $100 back in credits. It always pays to ask! Also, if you order by phone make sure you don’t pay for shipping. They wanted to charge me for this but I mentioned that shipping was free when ordered online and they agreed not to charge me (it also pays to check out the deal online first).

So far we love are phones and couldn’t be happier with the text and data plans!

Pros:

– $30/month for 500 minutes. That’s $60 for the both of us. I went in for the insurance plan on my phone which is $7 extra a month. The phone’s a little more expensive than my wife’s and we have two kids. Still, this is cheaper than our last plan and has more minutes ($67 versus $79).

– Unlimited data/web and texts. I’m loving having the web on my phone!

– We have a great signal at home now and have had no problems so far with dropped calls (make sure you check your area for service on the site).

Cons:

– Sprint customer service is horrible! You probably don’t have even a 50/50 shot at getting someone who knows what they are talking about! Seriously. When I called to activate the phones I mentioned to the rep that we would be porting our old numbers over (you have to order the phone with a new number then port over your old number when you activate the phone if you want to keep your old number). The rep didn’t know what to do and at one point told me I had to call Verizon and tell them to release the number. Had I actually done that I might have lost the number! He finally put me on with the porting dept. and they were able to get it taken care of with no problem. Why their reps don’t know what the process is I don’t know (my guess is their customer service is outsourced to another part of the world). Next, my wife’s phone wasn’t working. I spent a lot of time over several days getting them to fix the problem. I finally found a woman who was kind enough to take a real interest in my problem and she put a ticket in to tech support. Finally my wife’s phone was fixed but it took a LOT of time and patience! Note: If you plan on using your old cell phone number make sure you don’t cancel your plan until after you’ve ported you’re number to the new plan. Canceling it before can cause you to lose the number.

– I got the first bill already and it’s wrong. They didn’t include the credits. More time with customer service not knowing what to do. Eventually I was told that the credits were there it just didn’t update. We’ll see soon.

– It’s not open to existing customers. We switched from Verizon so it was no problem but if you already have Sprint you may not qualify.

All said we are very happy with the phones and the phone service so far. And we’re saving money and getting more services from our phones. If you’re looking into a new phone plan then you should consider the Sprint SERO plan. Check out fivecentnickel’s experience as well as the FatWallet forums and decide for yourself if it’s worth it.

Let me know what you think if you sign up or if you already have the plan!

American Girl – Not Frugal At All (Or What’s A Smile Worth)

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Last weekend we went to the American Girl store in Manhattan to buy my daughter a doll.

Have you heard of this place?

It’s a doll store that specializes in making the doll purchase a full experience for your child. Among the doll choices you have is their Just Like You collection where you pick out a doll that has features similar to your own (or my daughter in this case; I would make one ugly doll).

From the site:

Just Like You dolls help girls share their stories with the world. Every girl can find a doll to match her spirit and look—inside and out. The hair and eye color, skin tone, and outfits and accessories help bring their story, and friendship, to life. These 18-inch dolls are for ages 8 and up.

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

Each comes with a story book and a music CD. You can buy girl clothes that match the dolls’; there’s a theater; a cafe; a hair salon; even a doll hospital! Yes, you can already imagine it isn’t cheap! The doll we bought (left) was $90!!

Let me go back a sec and explain how we got here.

Last Spring my daughter went to the American Girl store with her Girl Scout troop. They were able to get a doll’s hair made up and had lunch at the cafe. If you didn’t own a doll they gave you a loaner.

Well, my daughter immediately wanted one of her own!

It wasn’t too hard to say no to her since the dolls are so expensive. But we did strike a deal with her: If she behaved (as best she could) and tried hard in school we would get her one for her birthday. She agreed. Keep in mind we didn’t go overboard for the holidays knowing we would be getting this doll for her birthday. Also, besides the party at home, this would be her only gift from us.

Did I mention the place has like three floors?!?

I went in with strong resolve, vowing to buy only the doll! But man do I have ADD when I walk into a store. They have accessories and dolls everywhere. It wasn’t long before I was asking my wife if we she get another outfit or an accessory too. We came real close but my wife, having more sense than me, said we came only for the doll and that’s what we’re getting!

Yes, it was expensive for what is essentially a trumped up Cabbage Patch kid.

But did my daughter smile when we got home!

I took a picture with her and the doll and it’s one of the most joyful smiles of her I’ve gotten on film. I know this is no excuse to spend money. I don’t think we’re spoiling her since she waited so long for it and we made sure to explain to her that this is an extra special gift, the likes of which she shouldn’t always expect.

Here’s a few justifications for buying it:

  1. We made her wait a while before buying it to make sure she not only deserved it but would still want it and take care of it.
  2. It was the only major gift she’s getting from us for her birthday. We got her small gifts for the holidays but nothing expensive.
  3. Our son is turning one two days before her birthday. Although we do our best to give equal attention to both of our children it’s inevitable that the little guy gets a bit more attention since he’s a baby. The doll is a special present for her for being so great with him this past year.
  4. We had the money in savings and will not be in debt because of it.

If your daughter has friends that own an American Girl doll now might be the time to explain to her she can no longer be friends with them. Unless you want to buy her one too. (Just kidding of course).

What do you think? Are we spoiling her? Are we guilty of “keeping up with the Joneses?”

Emotions Got The Best Of Us At The Picture People – Review

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So this past weekend my wife and I took the kids to get their pictures taken at The Picture People at the mall. We had a coupon for a free 8×10 portrait and since we hadn’t had pictures taken of our children together we thought we’d go (the little one is an infant).  We figured we’d go in, get our picture and get out.  Far from it!

Baby pictures at The Picture PeopleThey have some marketing plan set up there! We got there and checked in.  When it was our turn we were brought to a curtained off area to take pictures.  The photographer is a young guy with a digital camera.  He took all sorts of pics with each child separately as well as together.  When the picture taking was over we told to wait a bit and we would be helped.

Here is where they get us:

  • They show you about 20 pictures, all which make you say “awwwww.”  Now we want all of the pictures.
  • The sales person says “wouldn’t this be nice” and takes out a large, vertical, black and white portrait already framed.   It looks amazing until we’re told it costs about $150. He also produces a large horizontal frame with three photos.
  • When we seem like we’re not so sure he tells us there’s a way he can get us the three pic frame as well as some others in a great package that will save money. Sounds interesting. Oh, the package costs $249!!
  • When we’ve finally decided what we want (much more than what we planned) and we’re ready to pay we’re told about a membership club we can join that will make one of our pics cheaper and entitle us to some free pics throughout the year.
  • They also ask for your email address so you can view your photos online. They encourage you to send the site to friends and family so they can see if there’s pictures they want to buy (you can put a picture on anything from a mug to a mouse pad or just order copies).

Suffice it to say we spent way more than we intended to. The pictures do look great (including the three picture frame we got) and they have everything done for you within an hour.

Pros and Cons About The Picture People

Pros

  • Convenience – We made an appointment and went to the mall. We didn’t have to schedule a photographer to come to the house.
  • Ease of Service – The people were friendly and you walk out with your photos within an hour.
  • Price – Although we spent more than we wanted to it would have cost more to hire a photographer.
  • Quality – The pictures really do look great!

Cons

  • Atmosphere – It’s a bit of a mad house there with all of the families coming and going, many with small children.
  • Price – Yes it’s relatively inexpensive but the photos and packages still come out to a hefty amount (at least to our liking).
  • Emotional Factor – It’s really tough to say no to all these great pictures of your children. You see them and want them all.   I jokingly told the sales person that it would be on his conscience if we couldn’t afford to put our kids through college.

Overall we’re happy with the product and we will be going back to get our free pictures (yeah we signed up for the membership). Since we now have some nice photos we won’t be needed large packages and we intend to only go for our promotional photo.

The big lesson here is that spending is emotional and we have to be careful not to let our emotions get the better of our budget!