Verizon Hates Us and Sher’s Blog Medley #1

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We love our current rental. We had very specific requirements when looking around, and most were met here. There is one thing we didn’t consider when researching, and we are paying for it dearly.

Verizon does not offer high speed internet in our area. We aren’t even going crazy asking about Fios, but we want to be offered more than a land line and DirectTV.

Begging Computer

This may seem like an insignificant problem to some, but our cable company is charging exorbitant fees for high speed internet and because they have no competition, we are forced to stay with them.

It is infuriating because those services are available ALL around us, in our town, and in the town that is approximately 1 mile away from us!

So if any of you have any “pull” with Verizon and the way they extend their coverage area, hook us up! 😎

Okay, my rant is over. On to the medley!

Sher’s Blog Medley #1

Blog Medley

In honor of Self-Awareness help day, Kylie shares 12 tips to help with self-harm, depression, and other mental health disorders and her own experience with these.

Lisha from UpGusto writes about a great way she learned to recharge your life!

Where do your money habits come from? Tahnya takes a look at the money habits she shares with her sister.

Derek tells us a great way to save some money – and some pounds – when going out to eat!

Mario from Debt BLAG ponders the attractiveness of frugality.

What will be facing in the next decades? David from Financial Nerd lists mega-trends that will shape our world in the near future.

Chuck from The Tortoise Banker gives a guide to avoiding car payments.

Finance Blog Zone shows how to safe-guard yourself from credit card skimming.

Amanda from Frugal Confessions takes on the 3 best pieces of financial advice and explains them in a manner that’s easy to follow.

Barbara Freidberg had Ben from The Wealth Gospel answer the question he proposed, “In what situations is it better to have universal life, variable life, or other investment-based insurances?”

20 Money Saving Tips for Low Income Earners

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[The following is a guest post giving 20 great money saving tips for low-income earners!]

Many people across the country are having a hard time making ends meet at the end of each month. With the price of many goods and services increasing at a faster rate than people’s pay checks, it is easy to see why this has become an overwhelming problem for so many families.

This can be especially true for low income earners, who are already feeling stretched to the limit and have very little resources left after paying just their basic bills.

20 Money Saving Tips for Low Income Earners

The good news is that there are some basic ways that everyone can save money on their day-to-day purchases. Below is a look at the top twenty money saving tips that are perfect for anyone, including low-income earners.

Money Saving Tips

  1. Change to a bank account that does not charge account-keeping fees or requires a minimum balance in their accounts. Some banks also refrain from charging low-income people additional fees like overdraft charges.
  2. Look for ways to save on transport expenses like walking instead of driving, when possible, or using public transportation instead of driving yourself.
  3. See if a couple of co-workers are willing to carpool, so everyone can save on transport costs.
  4. Eliminate your Pay TV services and use Free-to-Air TV instead.
  5. Instead of stopping at the coffee shop for coffee on your way to work, make your coffee at home and take it with you or wait until you get to work.
  6. Instead of heading out to the movie theater where tickets are fairly expenses rent a movie or watch a free movie at home.
  7. Never run the washing machine or dishwater unless you have a full load to help reduce your water bill.
  8. If you have a cell phone plan already, you may be able to eliminate your home phone, or consider running your phone through your internet service at a reduced rate.
  9. Shop for sales items at the grocery store and purchase items in bulk, to get the cheaper per unit price.
  10. Rent books and movies at your local library instead of purchasing them at the store. They usually have a wide selection to choose from.
  11. Limit the number of times you eat out each month and choose to eat at home instead. When you do eat out, be sure to ask for water instead of more expensive drinks, and skip dessert at the end of your meal.
  12. Consider making homemade gifts or offer to provide a service, such as dog walking, instead of going out and purchasing a gift.
  13. Lower your energy bills, by turning down your thermostat when you are not home, turning off your air conditioner when you go to work, turning off your lights and TV when you are not in the room, and unplugging your appliances at the outlet when not in use.
  14. See if you can group all of your insurances into one package to get a reduced rate on all of them.
  15. Sell and buy items at a local consignment shop or thrift store when buying clothes, household furnishings and miscellaneous goods.
  16. Contact your utility companies and ask about bill smoothing to keep your bills consistent and budget better.
  17. Check your bank statement each month and make sure that no additional charges are added on. If you do have additional charge find out why and if they can be eliminated.
  18. Instead of going to the gym, start a walking club with some of your friends, or purchase inexpensive fitness videos that you can do at home.
  19. Purchase generic-named medications, cleaners and groceries instead of the more expensive brand-named products.
  20. Trade services with someone else. For example, maybe you can babysit a friend’s children in exchange for a manicure or haircut.

Combined these twenty money savings tips can help you spend less on the everyday items you purchase, so you have more money available. While not all of the tips may be applicable to you, just doing five or ten of them on a regular basis can help you save a lot of money over the course of just a few weeks.  You should always be on the lookout for ways to save money, no matter how much you earn.

Trying to Reduce Expenses? Sweat the Big Stuff!

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When you are beginning a weight lifting routine many trainers will advise you to focus on a few large muscle groups, rather than try to work every minor muscle at once. There are two main reasons for this; first, by focusing on the major muscle groups you will have a large impact on your overall health in a short period of time.

Secondly, trying to focus on every muscle in your body from day one can be overwhelming and may cause you to get discouraged and quit. The same is true with our finances. When we are first attempting to get our personal finances in order, we need to focus on the larger areas of spending. If not, we run the risk of getting overwhelmed by trying to change every small area of our finances.

Over the last few days, we took a look at reducing some of the larger areas of our spending. In order to see the details of each article, just click on the header for each section:

Housing Costs:

  1. Downsize & buy a smaller home
  2. Refinance
  3. Stop paying PMI
  4. Sell your home & rent
  5. Downsize & move into a less expensive place
  6. Find a roommate
  7. Negotiate and/or Barter with the landlord

Credit Cards:

  1. Negotiate a lower rate
  2. Use a balance transfer offer
  3. Get a personal consolidation loan
  4. Participate in P2P lending

Auto Costs:

  1. Make sure you know how much insurance you actually need.
  2. Make sure you are taking advantage of any discounts that are offered for having a clean driving record, taking a defensive driving course, or even for having a high G.P.A.
  3. Also, if you have multiple policies – life, homeowner’s or renter’s insurance – you can probably get a sizable discount for having them all under one company.
  4. Get rid of your second car.
  5. Don’t neglect maintenance

    Cell Phones, Internet, Cable & Utilities:

  1. Make sure that you have a plan that fits your needs. For instance, an Individual Plan with 900 minutes costs $60 with AT&T; if you only use 400/month, why not drop down to the 450 minute plan for only $40, or better yet, get a prepaid phone.
  2. Have a data plan? If you are not required to have one by your phone company (some smartphone owners are required to keep a data plan), check your usage to see if you really need one. If your phone has wi-fi capabilities, then you can use any free wireless connection to use the internet on your phone! So it should be free to use your internet connection at work, home, most friend’s homes, and libraries. In that case GET RID OF YOUR DATA PLAN!
  3. Texting – Google Voice offers FREE texts and phone calls. They also give you the option of having your free texts forwarded to your email account. So, if you have a data plan (see above),  then you can just check your email to receive your texts! They also allow you to send/receive texts from your computer – this is great when you are at work and can’t easily access your cell phone.
  4. You could also get together with a few people that you trust and establish a Family Plan and split the bill!
  5. If you are out of your contract, use a service like Billshrink to compare your options and get the best price.
  6. Once you are ready to buy your new phone, be sure to go to Amazon.com’s new wireless store for a great deal (usually much better than going through the carrier)!

    Landline Phone:

  1. Cancel your home long distance plan if you have a cell phone. Since your cell phone plan likely includes long distance calls, it is a waste of money to pay for it on your landline.
  2. If you have a landline and a cell phone, cutting the landline is probably the best way to go.
  3. If you feel that you need to have a home phone (or a line separate from your cell phone), then you can try a few alternatives such as, Skype, Magic Jack or even Google Voice.

    Cable/Internet:

  1. Look at your cable bill and eliminate the channels that you don’t need. It doesn’t make sense to pay for 600 channels when all you really need is ESPN!
  2. Or cancel your cable plan entirely – it’s not as hard as you may think (read about Paul’s experience with eliminating TV service at ProvidentPlan.com).
  3. Netflix – this is a great alternative to cable. You are able to rent DVD’s via mail (free shipping) and they usually arrive the next day. There are no due dates or late fees. And for many accounts you can watch movies and tv shows on your computer or on your tv (using your Nintendo Wii, xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or the Roku Player).
  4. Take advantage of a bundle. Many service providers will offer discounts if you sign up for more than one of their services. You can usually save money by combining your internet, cable (or just get rid of it), phone (get rid of that too) and maybe even cell phone onto one bill.
  5. Make sure you have an internet plan that works for you. Most internet service providers like Megapath will price their plans based on the download & upload speeds (measured in Mbps). If you are not constantly uploading and downloading large files, you probably will be fine with downgrading to a slower connection and saving some money.
  6. Share an internet plan? This is another tip that calls for extreme trust. If you have a close neighbor that you trust, one of you can cancel your internet plan, and just split the cost of the remaining plan. Just be sure to have a reliable Wireless Router.
  7. Do you really need internet access at home? Many of us have internet access at work and don’t go on the computer that often once we get home – especially if your job calls on you to stare at a computer screen for 9 hours! Also, you can go to your local library if you only need internet access occasionally. Don’t forget about going online with your smartphone (if you have one). If this describes you, then cancel your internet plan and save big!

    Energy Costs: So much has been written about how to cut energy costs that it doesn’t make sense to try and reinvent the wheel. Here are a couple of articles that you can read on the subject:

As Kevin from Out Of Your Rut said, “We can only clip so many coupons and recycle so much stuff, but the real savings are going to come when we take a look at the bigger expenses and start chopping there.” Be sure to leave your money-saving tips in the comments section below.

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photo credit: alancleaver_2000