Archive for October, 2008:
Links you’ll love, and what I’m up to lately
Also coming up: I need to get the car serviced and ready for winter, and I need to seal our windows with plastic to help keep the cold out. We did this last year and I think it helped us save a ton of money on our electric bill. Our highest bill was $89 last February, with many winter months topping out in the $70s or lower.
Earlier this month, I discussed how I was going to try to go cash-only for October, just to try something new. We have a week left of this month, and I’m not out of money yet! I’ll give you an update soon.
Here’s some things you might enjoy:
Have a free cup of coffee (or other hot drink) by printing this coupon and taking it to Barnes and Noble. Expires Oct. 31. (hat tip to Northern Cheapskate).
I added a new widget to my left sidebar for You Data. It’s a new ad service that pays you to view ads. I’ve been a member for about two weeks, and I’ve received a small payment each Friday via PayPal. Maybe you can sign up with them to earn a little money to snowflake toward savings or debt. You can view links on the You Data main site, and if you view them from a widget on a blog (like mine) you can decide how much to keep and how much to share with the blogger. Interesting concept! We’ll see how this works out.
Here’s some links you might appreciate:
- When the budget is tight: 10 things you can stop buying at the grocery store
- Making your own household cleaners
- 1,000 ways to save I’m amazed at the hard work this blogger did to compile this list (broken down into ten posts with 100 tips each). Go through it, be inspired and perhaps learn some new ideas!
- Back to basics: 79 budgeting resources you’ll love at My Supercharged Life
From my friends at the Money Life Network:
- Stop paying taxes on work bonuses – legally at Milk Your Money
- What are your kids gift expectations? at Free From Broke
- What to do with pumpkins after Halloween at Remodeling This Life
- Another easy money-maker: Write reviews at Bible Money Matters
- How is what we’re going through now different from the 1930s at My Investing Blog
- Start saving money for holiday expenses at Prime Time Money
(Photo: I took this last weekend at the Christmas in the Woods festival in eastern Ohio)
‘Fruglier’ and ‘frugliest’ ways to save money
There are plenty of ways to save money on common household purchases. Part of frugal living is exploring new ways of saving money or getting more use out of an item. There isn’t one “best” way to save money or time on any particular thing. The best thing is what works for you and your family. It’s worth it to try new tightwad tactics.
For instance:
Fabric softener:
Frugal: Tear dryer sheets in half and use half of it per load. Of course, these sheets were purchased on sale and with a coupon.
Fruglier: Use vinegar instead of liquid softener.
Frugliest: Go completely without a fabric softener additive.
Car maintenance:
Frugal: Find coupons for oil changes.
Fruglier: Change your own oil using oil and supplies purchased on sale.
Frugliest: Sell your car and take the bus.
Towels and napkins:
Frugal: Find paper towels on sale or get them for free with gift cards/extra care bucks.
Fruglier: Tear towels/napkins in half if you don’t plan on being messy at dinner.
Frugliest: Use cloth towels and napkins for all but the gooiest of messes.
Frugross:Use your sleeve. Or, your neighbor’s sleeve.
What can you add to this list?
Open enrollment: Save money with your benefits package
For some employers, this time of year is known as “open enrollment.” Many employees can take a look at their benefits package and make changes to their health plan or other benefits during this time of the year only.
It’s open enrollment for Shane’s employer, and we’re making a few changes that will hopefully save us a little bit of money.
If you’re blessed to have certain employment benefits and your open enrollment period is right now, definitely review your options. You don’t want to miss any new benefits (or old ones you didn’t know about) and you want to make sure your coverage matches your family’s needs.
Health insurance – Our HMO has worked really well for us in the last year and we’re going to keep it. I’ve been pleased with the customer service on the HMO side, and the medical providers and the associated costs.
Dental insurance – We have one option for dental insurance, and we’re keeping that the same as well.
Vision insurance - Shane and I are both glasses and contacts wearers, so it makes sense for us to keep our vision insurance. Shane’s company offers two vision plans: A discount plan which has no cost to the employee, and an insurance plan that covers exams and either a set of glasses or contacts per year (with some restrictions). If one or both of us had 20/20 vision, we wouldn’t likely need this coverage. But, we do.
Medical flexible spending account – I’ve really appreciated having our flexible spending account to pay for our out-of-pocket medical expenses over the year. We’ve used it for co-pays, dental treatments, medicines, my first-aid kits, and other similar things. However, we decided to contribute a little bit less to it. We did our best to estimate how many co-pays we can expect, added up the cost of our vision needs for the year, and threw in a small buffer for those unexpected things. We might run out of the FSA funds before 2009 is over, but we won’t have to worry about the funds going to waste.
In case you aren’t familiar, an FSA account is paid with pre-tax dollars, so you can enjoy a substantial savings on your medical needs. If you elect to contribute $1,200 per year, then you’ll see a $100 deduction from your paycheck each month to fund it. The full $1,200 should be available for use by the first of the year, even though it hasn’t been completely funded by you.
If you have an FSA, look and see if you can get a debit card to use instead of being reimbursed. I love the convenience of my card!
Dependent care flexible spending account – Some employers also offer an FSA for the use of dependent care. If this is a need for your family, look into using your pre-tax dollars to help pay for it.
Group legal plan – We decided to enroll in Shane’s company’s group legal plan for the year. After adding up the monthly cost, we think it would be much cheaper to go that route than to privately hire an attorney to help us with our wills and other legal documents that responsible adults have to tend to. I don’t imagine we’ll need it for the following year, so I’ll remove it at next year’s open enrollment.
Other benefits you might want to explore:
Commuter pass – Shane takes the city bus to work, as many people around here do. His employer offers a monthly bus pass that can be paid with pre-tax dollars.
Life and disability insurance – Your employer might offer an optional group term life insurance policy. It might be already included with your benefits, or you might be able to buy coverage for a really cheap price. The same might hold true for disability insurance. Check it out to find out what’s what.
Discounts – You just never know what your human resources department might be offering in terms of discounts. You might be entitled to discount cards for use at area merchants, discounted admission to attractions, and who knows what else.
A representative of a health insurance company e-mailed me about open enrollment things, and it reminded me to blog about this. The e-mail included a link to a page with more suggestions on optimizing your health needs during this time.
What other benefits should people explore? Do you have suggestions on how they can save money?
