Gas Station Swindle

I’ve had the worst luck lately with my Visa card and much of it leads back to just one type of retailer; the gas station. When I pull into a gas station, I want pumping gas to be easy and pain-free, so I normally use the credit card swiper right on the gas pump. Well, not any more (or at least not in the same way.) Two incidences have made me rethink this payment option: 1.) My Visa debit card was compromised and somebody in Lahore, Pakistan tried charging my debit card three times, and 2.) My Visa credit card was compromised and someone in the UK tried charging a few items. Thankfully, my banks caught the fraudulent charges and canceled my cards. However, both of these problems (on two separate occasions) happened right after I had used these cards at a gas station.

However, I’m not the only one with such bad luck at gas station pumps. Just the other day, I over-heard a colleague freaking out about how her debit card had been used at three different gas stations after she had used the same debit card to pay for gas. They had wiped out her bank account with these charges. She was not at all happy about having to wait a few days for her funds to be reimbursed not to mention the hassle of having to cancel her debit card and set up a new one.

So my strategy for paying for gas is to only use prepaid gas gift cards. If I purchase them at my local grocery store, I earn double rewards points that I receive back each quarter in the form of a check and coupons that I can apply toward groceries. I now don’t have to worry about my credit or debit card information being hacked or stolen and reap rewards in the meantime.

Have you had difficulty at the pump lately?

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I have the perfect giveaway – Ghirardelli Chocolate Bars! Who doesn’t like a little chocolate in their life? A simple, sweet indulgence that’s easy on your pocket book, and in moderation, very good for your heart.

Did you know that chocolate has health benefits? Not only does chocolate boost your endorphins, making you feel good, its antioxidants protect you from free radicals. Chocolate can also lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The great thing about the Ghirardelli bars is that you can break them off in bite-size pieces; perfect for moments of indulgence, yet small enough to keep your diet in check.

I’m giving away a total of 6 beautiful 3.5oz packages which include their new Gourmet Milk ‘Sea Salt Escape’, ‘Creamy Devotion’ and my personal favorite ‘Coconut Rendezvous’. The lucky winner will receive two bars of each flavor! All you got to do is one of the following to be entered: Like Me on Facebook, Follow Me on Twitter, Like the Blog post or Tweet about the give-away using the Rafflecopter widget you see below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

While major events like buying a house, purchasing a car, going to college, or visiting a hospital might seem to have the greatest impact on household finances, it’s really the day-to-day details that count. The ability to make good decisions about spending and saving consistently is what will lead to better results for you and your family.

There are plenty of opportunities to needlessly throw away money every day. The plethora of bills and expenses can be daunting, and you may find yourself spending without thinking. However, it is truly worth the effort of reviewing your monthly costs and seeking out better deals and more opportunities to save.

It’s easy to get complacent with your roles in the household. However, you might be missing out on plenty of savings that will be vital in the long-run. That’s why it never hurts to have someone else be your second pair of eyes once in a while when looking over your monthly expenditures. As a team, you can help each other find new ways and opportunities to better your financial situation. Can we find a cheaper internet provider? Is there a better cell phone plan out there for us? Do we actually need the cable TV package that we currently have?

A good place to start looking for savings each month is your car insurance. Because it’s usually easy to switch to a new provider without incurring any extra costs, it’s certainly in your best interest to seek out a better deal. Then, check out other household expenses. In no time, you’ll be saving a few hundred dollars each month while only expending a little extra energy.

Have you compared car insurance lately?

Goal: Save 10%

This year my goals were fairly simple; save money ($6,000 for the year), continue to grow my blog (375 readers daily), and ride my bike (1,000 miles this year). Using the SMART technique, I came up with a plan to meet each target goal. I also added in paying off the car, but that goal is soclose to being completed, I almost can’t count it as a “New Year’s” goal. So how am I doing at day 31?

Biking

One month into the new year I’m finding that riding my bike 1,000 miles this year is going to be a piece of cake. I’m super motivated since I’ve started a bike blog, Bike Lane Living, and the weather has been sublime. It helps that this is something I have complete control over; it’s up to me to wake up 15-30 minutes earlier than usual and it’s up to me to psyche myself into “You gotta ride, the weather is terrific!” There’s really few, if any, outside factors working against me to meet this goal. Progress: Ahead of the game.

Blog

So starting another blog this year may be splitting my time and focus in two and could detract from my initial goal. However, I’m realizing I need to outsource some of the “busy” work it takes to “run” a blog. But of course, some of you know this already! I’ve enlisted the help of a couple of colleagues to help me network more often; submit to carnivals, comment on blogs I just don’t have time to catch up on, etc. This should assist me in meeting my blog goal and expanding my readership. So far, my page views have been consistently improving and this is a good sign. Progress: On target.

Saving Money

I just wrote an article the other day mentioning some strategies for those of us (i.e. ME) that need mind tricks to SAVE MORE MONEY! If finances were completely up to me, I think I’d be on schedule (Ah, Um…I need to save so pay me more! Or, hey, we don’t really need that, do we?). But let’s face it; outside factors influence how much I can save and what I have to work with. Yet, sticking with a 10% savings plan, I think I’ll be able to play catch-up in the next couple of  months. I’ve also been good at stashing the Lincolns in my Mason Jar, so hopefully that will add up to some extra green by March. At only $200 saved so far this year, I’d say I have a bit of catching up to do! Progress: Behind.

If only saving were as easy as biking, I’d be doing great. I need to break the cycle and save more because this is becoming a recurring theme (and post)!

How are your New Year’s goals or resolutions going so far?

For instance, my cats seems to prefer to barf up their hairballs on the carpets instead of the laminate flooring that covers three-quarters of my house. Once a year I have to have my carpets cleaned professionally due to cat vomit; cost: $120. We purposely have a light weight blanket over our bedspread for exactly these kinds of mishaps. Over the past year, the stains have sunk in and just won’t come out. Sometime this year, I’m sure I’ll replace it; cost: $35. Every now and then, my cats get into a bit of trouble and knock over a trinket on a counter top. Those trinkets are usually under the $20 range, but that can add up over time; cost:who knows.

It’s just not cats, though. Just the other day I overheard someone describing her puppy’s destructive behavior, chewing up shoes, books, and who knows what else.

Well just last night, my cats decided to pull a doosey of an accident. One of them (and I’m not sure which one) knocked over a fairly heavy bar stool (I’m thinking it’s my fat cat Fred) and destroyed it. It landed on its side and broke the top of the back off like a twig. It’s a shame because this particular bar stool is $300. Yep. That’s the true cost of pets I suppose.

If you have pets, how much do you estimate you spend annually on pet destruction?

Pocket those Percentages.

One way I’ve been able to stash some extra cash is to set aside a percentage of my income. Using percents makes it easier for me to feel like I’m accomplishing my savings goal, especially since I live on a fluctuating income. I set aside 10%  percent from every source of income I receive and apply it towards savings. I auto debit the amount from my pay check making it easy for me to not count it as “income.” For all other sources of income, I automatically move 10% of the total check to my savings account.

If I had a set amount, I’m not sure I’d be able to meet it every month and I’d become discouraged. Percentages work no matter what my income might be in any given month.

Don’t Spend the Lincoln’s (or Benjamin’s, or Jeffersons, etc.)

I came across this tip on another website (of course I don’t remember which one!) that used a mind trick to save some extra cash; select a bill of choice and make a commitment to NOT spend it. I rarely have cash on hand, however, my goal is to save every Lincoln I come across. Five bucks here and there will eventually add up. After three to six months, my goal is to deposit the total into my savings account. This might motivate me to use cash more often. Of course the objective here is to increase your savings account, so place the cash where you can forget about it for a while!

Save those Gifts

Birthday’s, anniversaries, and even holidays are great ways to boost your savings. Deposit cash gifts into your savings account and turn gift cards into cash by cashing them out, or selling them. If the gift card is from a place you normally shop, save them for future use and stash the cash value in your savings account. If you don’t feel comfortable turning a gift into cash, tell family and friends that you’re working hard to ramp up your savings and would prefer gifts that help accomplish that goal.

Find Motivation

Another great way to get motivated to save more money is by using an online company that offer rewards for saving such as SaveUp. SaveUp wants to make saving money fun and offers daily give-aways to help motivate their members. Setting up an account earns you points that you use to “play” a game for a prize. Prizes include cash, bills paid, cars, shopping sprees, and many other options. Just a warning: SaveUp is a little addicting.

Do you use mind tricks to save more money?

Mint.com

I’ve known about Mint.com for quite a while now, but I never thought I needed it because I use Quickbooks. I’m also the person responsible for all the finances in our family as well; I create annual budgets, pay the bills, and keep track of our online accounts, so I really didn’t think I needed this to keep track of our finances. Yet, after speaking with a close family member who was clueless on their family’s finances (and frightened about what might happen in the future), I realized my significant other (SO) needed to be kept in the loop.

I don’t intend to relinquish my obsession, I mean responsibility, with our finances, but I realize it’s important for him to know what bills we (I mean “I”) pay, when they’re due, and how to pay them. I’d hate for something to happen to me and my SO to be completely clueless as to what to do next. So, I signed up for Mint.com – for his sake. With Mint.com it’s a “read-only” kind of site, but it gives him access to all of the accounts we’re responsible for paying and our financial information.

What I Like About Mint

• Easy to set up. It was fairly easy to set up my account. I had to gather all of my financial information that I wanted to keep track of, but the site made it easy to find the correct financial institutions. (However, with Mint.com, you need to have online accounts with your financial vendors).
• Emails me reminders about bills that are due. It also lists them on my “home page” for accounts that I’ve added.
• Records transactions. It lists the debits and credits for all the accounts I’ve set up.  Having this in one place makes it easy for my SO to see where we’re spending money.
• Updates balances each time I login. This gives me an up to the hour (some institutions update faster than others) balance.

But I’m Not Keen On…

• The budget section. For my own use, I thought I’d set up the budget section to cross-check against my Quickbooks and make sure I’m tracking my income and expenses properly. However, Mint.com automatically categorizes debits and credits willy-nilly. Maybe I’m not using it correctly, but I had to go through some of my recent transactions and re-categorize them. It also doesn’t take into consideration income from one month and expenses from another. My budget states I’m over by quite a bit, but the income came in last month and the expense went out this month. I’m sure this will clear itself up eventually, but in the meantime it’s irritating.
• Double transaction entries. Since I’ve been using my credit card for daily purchases, it’s seeing them twice; once when the purchase is pending and again once it goes through. This completely messes up the budget portion of my account. It shows I’m way over my budgeted amount for certain categories.

I’m sure once I get a handle on the budget section and categorize my “uncategorized” transactions, I’ll appreciate the budget part of Mint.com a lot more. Hopefully, the double transactions will resolve themselves. However, now my SO has access to our financial information – and it’s in one place for him to easily access.

Do you use Mint.com? Is there one person in your family responsible for the finances, or do you share responsibility?

One week later, we were running errands and decided to pop into Fry’s Electronics, which usually has great prices on TV’s. Just for the heck of it, we price shopped our exact TV and lo and behold it was $200 less than what we had purchased it for just 7 days earlier. We had the sales assistant print out the price and ran it over to the store where we had made our purchase. Within 15 minutes they had verified the price match and refunded the $200 plus sales tax.

Now, you may be wondering, “Why didn’t you just buy it from Fry’s to begin with?” Fry’s hadn’t dropped the price until the weekend we price matched our purchase  and there was no way of knowing they would price it for $200 less than our first vendor choice.

We still have 45 days left to find our TV for less. I don’t know if that will happen, as I’m pretty sure we’ve now gotten it at the bargain-basement price, but having this option available to me makes me feel like we are smart shoppers. Big ticket items on sale that offer price matches are great deals!

Have you purchased an item with a price match and took them up on the offer?

I’m glad to say that we’re $378 shy of meeting our goal and will be completely car-loan-free by February 10th. Yahoo!

How did we do it? Last October, our stocks just weren’t doing so great. We didn’t have a ton of money invested, but what money we did have either wasn’t making much or was beginning to decline in value. Instead of watching them languish in the topsy-turvy market, we decided to cash them out after a slight gain and apply a hefty amount towards our car loan.

The amount we applied towards the car was equal to almost 5 car payments – that’s a big chunk paid off the loan. I was able to also apply an extra $500 payment last November (close to one and a half car payments). Then again, at the end of December, we realized we had some money in savings that we could apply towards our car and still have a comfortable amount left over for emergencies. That equated to the equivalent of 3 car payments.  Since I was still auto-debited each month for our car payments, the extra payments we made were on top of our scheduled payments.

Instead of having the car paid off in November of this year, we’ll have it paid off in February – 9 months early! If I stay dedicated to my savings plan, I should be able to increase my savings by almost $3,000 by applying the car payment amount towards savings each month. I’m also saving approximately $200 in interest off the car loan as well. I should soon see my savings bar grow!

Having a financial plan and seeing it work is a terrific feeling, especially so early in the year.

How are your plans and long-term goals going?

One thing I’ve realized during my traveling is the less you have to carry in your hands, the better and a backpack is a perfect solution. Carrying a backpack on your back down a tight airplane aisle is much easier and faster than wriggling a smallish carry-on down the aisle. Does a backpack work for every trip? Of course not. But it will work for many trips, especially if you plan accordingly:

• Travel to tropical regions - the warmer the climate, the less bulky clothes you have to pack.
• Travel during the spring and summer season – again, warmer temps mean less bulky clothing.

Most backpacks expand more than you think. For example, my $40 backpack that I use for my books, work and school was a great option for me when I traveled to New York this past May. I took a couple of pairs of pants, a few shirts, a sweater, a light-weight windbreaker (it can get cool in New York in May), and a pair of slip-on shoes. I was able to squeeze it all into my backpack.

Backpacks expand more than you think.

I even packed my toiletries in the front, small pocket using Zip Lock baggies and small containers. I kept my toiletries to a minimum since most hotels provide hair dryers, small shampoo and conditioner bottles, and a few other things you might not want to take with you – and friends and family can share if you’re staying with them instead.

Small, clear baggies work great and get you through security.

A few tips for using a backpack in lieu of any other luggage:

• Wear your most bulky clothing that you’ll be taking on your plane ride, including heavier shoes. Smaller items fit more easily into your backpack.
• For women, you can still take your purse. I was able to fit a couple of items in my purse once my backpack became over loaded.
• Make sure your backpack can fit under the seat in front of you for standard class travelers. The benefit of a backpack is it’s easier to take than a small carry-on and will fit in front of your legs so you don’t have to fight for a space in the overhead compartment. You also won’t have to wait to grab your bag when you depart the plane.

This summer, I’m attending my sister’s wedding. I plan to take my backpack and that’s it. However, my husband and I will need access to our nice clothes; a dress, a suit and dress shoes. These items won’t fit in our backpacks and will become horribly wrinkled if I try to stuff them in. Solution: We’re shipping our “nice” clothes ahead of time to the hotel. Using UPS or FedEx and shipping a garment-sized box (flat and mid-length) will cost just less (about $5.00 less) than checking one piece of luggage. And, there’s less chance of the suitcase getting lost since we can track the shipment with a tracking number!

Summary of benefits of taking a backpack on a trip:

• No checked luggage fee.
• Reduced possibility of luggage getting lost.
• No wait time at the carousel after leaving the plane. Just grab your backpack and go!
• Hands-free bag. You can actually hold on to your kid, your coffee, or your partner without loosing your grip on one or the other.

As far as I’m concerned, backpacks are the best invention since sliced-bread.

How do you travel – light or heavy? Would a backpack work for some of your trips?

]]> http://www.littlehouseinthevalley.com/how-to-beat-airline-luggage-fees/feed 18