Sense to Save

Check your airline’s baggage policys to avoid paying extra

A few days ago, several conscientious readers pointed out that airline baggage requirements are changing, and now some airlines are only allowing one “free” checked bag per flier. Lovely.

I checked with our airline, AirTran, and sure enough, starting May 15 they will be charging $10 for a second checked bag. That’s the day of my flight. Arg.

From the AirTran web site:

Through May 14, 2008 — For each fare-paying customer, AirTran Airways allows two (2) checked pieces free of charge, with size limitations. The maximum weight is 50 pounds and maximum size is 61 inches (length + width + height).

Effective May 15, 2008 — The charge for a second checked bag will be $10. For each fare-paying customer, AirTran Airways will allow one (1) checked piece free of charge, with size and weight limitations.

Click here to see Delta’s policy (changes on May 5).

Are these changes going to result in lower airfares and better service? Doubtful.

Anyway, because of these baggage changes, I’m probably going to buy all of our food in Florida now, rather than pack a suitcase full.

I hope that Shane and I will be able to fit all of our belongings in two suitcases between us, plus our small carry-ons. I’ve been able to travel light before (I went to New York City for like 4 days using just a carry-on!), but this should be tricky. At least we’re going to a warm climate, where we won’t need to pack winter coats and boots!

Make installment payments to yourself

When my husband and I first started paying our own car insurance, we could only afford the payment schedule that had us make five or six monthly payments. We simply didn’t have the $400 or so to make a one-time insurance payment.

Now that we’re making some financial headway, we’re starting to save money to make annual or bi-annual insurance payments.

If you aren’t planning on spontaneously selling your car and relying on public transit, then you’re going to be making car insurance payments for as long as you have a car.

Rather than send the insurance company a check each month, why not pay yourself the monthly amount into a high-interest savings account and then pay the balance in full?

Doing so will keep your overall expenses as low as possible, while allowing you to earn interest on your money.

For example, our next car insurance premium is $366 for a six-month period. If we made monthly payments, due to extra fees we’d pay $65.05 each month for six months, for a total of $390.30. That’s $24 more!

By comparison, if I put $61 in my ING Direct account each month ($366 divided by 6), six months later, I’d have the full amount and I’d earn about $3 in interest at its current rate. That would bring my overall savings to $27 every six months (if my two policies were identical).

I like “paying myself” with my ING Direct savings account because I can create sub-accounts to easily separate my money.

The same tactic can be used for renter’s insurance and many life insurance policies as well. Look at your policies, and if making more payments costs you more money, you can benefit by making those installment payments to yourself.

It can be difficult at first to pay your current premiums AND put aside extra so you can pay it in full someday. But, once you get to the point where you can pay a policy in full (or in two payments), if you keep on making monthly payments to yourself, you’ll have the full amount in due time, and come out ahead in the long run.

One final thing: Some people are uncomfortable tying up their money with a one-time payment. If your money is really tight, I can understand that apprehension. Still, try to work toward eventually making one or two payments instead of six or twelve in a year.

Remember, if your car insurance policy is paid in full, then you won’t have to send that company a check for another six months.

Mid-week roundup of posts you’ll enjoy

Be sure to check out these great blog posts that have popped up in my Google Reader recently.

By the way, if you read more than a handful of blogs regularly, you absolutely should look into using a feed reader! You can “subscribe” to your favorite blogs and sites and you’ll be able to streamline your blog-reading experience tremendously. It saves me so much time and I don’t miss a thing.

Check out this post for more information on feed readers, and click here to subscribe to my site’s feed (thanks for doing that!).

Curious about how to get free things at CVS, Rite Aid or Walgreens? Be Thrifty Like Us has an explanation on how the systems work. Awhile back, I used to be all about getting deals at the drugstores. Now that I have a healthy stockpile of toiletries, I just go to Rite Aid & Walgreens once per month or so to get the really easy free deals, if I want them.

My friend Sally Ann finally gave shopping at Aldi a try. She loved it! She does her shopping every three weeks, and spent over $200 each time at Giant Eagle, despite using coupons which the store doubled. She bought similar items at Aldi and spent about $104! She’s now saving over $100 every three weeks. At that rate, that’s a savings of $1,700 per year or so. Pop on over to read about her experience, and be sure to comment!

If you don’t have an Aldi in your area, or just don’t like it for whatever reason, then you might like learning new ways to optimize your coupons. The Digarati Life has a great list of ideas for using coupons to slash your grocery bill.

Not inspired to do the little things to save you money here and there? You need to read Trent’s post on how the little things can turn into huge money-savers. They truly do add up, and if you have a purpose for every dollar you save, you’ll reap those frugal rewards.

At Gather Little By Little, we see a list of secrets the credit card companies don’t want you to know. Some of them make me sick. I hate credit cards these days, and this post made me hate them a little bit more.

I enjoyed this post featured on Smart Spending from Blueprint for Financial Freedom. If you can be an impulse shopper, then you can be an impulse saver, as well.

Finally, a post from the Sense to Save archives: Last September, I cooked about 15 or so pounds of potatoes. I made potato fries, twice-baked potatoes, potato salad, and au gratin potatoes. I froze what I could in individual portions. The big batch cooking cost about $8 in all, took about 2.5 hours, and saved me a ton of time and money in the months ahead. Check it out to see what I made and the cost break-down.