Possible Telephone Savings July 23, 2008

Sunday morning, as I was lying in bed still only half awake, I was struck by a brilliant thought!  I have been pondering how we can minimize our spending on a landline for our new home in Virginia, and I think I’ve got it. 

First, let me back up and explain something.  My husband and I both have cell phones, but because we tend to move around a lot, those phone numbers never match our local area code.  As a result, we always get a land line, just so we have a local phone number for business transactions, etc.  We also get a landline because we hate to use our cell phone numbers to register for services, as it tends to lead to sales calls.  Since we almost never USE our landline, it is frustrating to me that it becomes one of our monthly bills.

So, onto my brilliant idea.  To solve the local phone number problem without paying a monthly bill, I propose that we get a pay-as-you-go cell phone with a local number.  The pay-as-you-go phones are cheap (usually $30 or less) and as a minimum to keep your service, you just need “charge” your phone minutes with a $20 top up card every 3 months.  The $20 top up card buys you 200 minutes,  which, for the amount we use our “house phone” is more than enough for a 3-month period.

What has been your experience with pay-as-you-go cell phones?  Do you think this will work? I’ll keep you posted when we try it this fall.

I am so angry with Verizon! July 22, 2008

My husband and I lived in Virginia for 2 years.  During that time, we had phone service (regular, NOT cell) through Verizon.  We had a ton of problems with the company right from the start.  The first, was that our phone service didn’t work for the first month we paid for it.  We went back and forth with the company, they kept insisting it was our apartment complex’s fault, and our apartment complex kept checking everything, and stating that it was Verizon’s fault.  I finally broke down and cried on the phone during my 4th call to the service rep.  I insisted they fix the problem, as our apartment maintenance guys had tried everything on our end that they possibly could.  Verizon’s response was that they COULD send someone out, but if the problem ended up not being their fault, they would have to charge us for the visit.  I agreed, though I was very concerned that the problem would never be fixed.  They sent a rep out, and sure enough, it was Verizon’s problem.  In the interim, we tried to switch to digital phone through another company, but our apartment complex wouldn’t allow it.

Eventually, our phone service problems were resolved, though Verizon offered us NO compensation for our trouble, and still charged us for the month that our phone service wasn’t working.  Tired of fighting with them, I just gave up and paid our bill.  We left Virginia in September of 2007, and cancelled our phone service with Verizon 2 months before leaving, as we didn’t see much use for a landline at that point. (We both have cell phones).  Since we had our phone bill automatically deducted from our bank account, and we hadn’t heard from the company in 2 months, we assumed when we moved out that everything was settled.

Verizon strikes again.  A month ago (this is now a full YEAR after we canceled our phone service) we recieved a collections notice from a company claiming we owed about $20 on our Verizon bill.  Looking it up on the internet, we saw that there was a popular mail scam where fraudulent notices had been sent out supposedly from that company on behalf of Verizon.  Since we had our bill automatically taken out from the bank account, and hadn’t had that phone service in a year, we were going to ignore it, assuming it was a scam.  Well, after some discussion, we decided instead to contact the company, just in case it was legitimate, as we are going to be getting a mortgage loan soon, and we didn’t want this on our credit.  We tried to log into our online account, but found that since we no longer had a phone number with Verizon, it wouldn’t let us access it.  So, my husband called the company.  Apparently, Verizon didn’t automatically deduct our final bill.  Instead of notifying us of this fact, they just turned the matter over to a collections agency and sent them after us.  I am SO ANGRY about this.  This is the worst customer service I’ve ever heard of, and I will be EXTREMELY upset if it damages our credit score. 

Lessons learned from this: 1) Always call and verify that your final utility bills have been paid before moving, even if you have them auto-deducted from your bank account. 2) If your phone company has poor customer service from the start, let that be an early warning sign of future problems.

Weight-loss goal achieved! July 22, 2008

Today I met my ultimate weight-loss goal!  I joined Weight Watchers online for the first time back in February, and as of today, I have lost 24 pounds.  I am now well within the healthy weight-range for my height (5′11), and have not only gone from a snug size 12 to a size 10, but my size 10’s are feeling pretty loose.  I feel awesome!  I would recommend this program to anyone, as I have never managed to stick to any sort of dieting or exercise program in the past, and this one really worked for me. 

What I liked most about the plan was that it didn’t really put any restrictions on what I could eat — it just helped me to learn about portion control, and made me more aware of the calorie content of the foods I eat.  It also inspired me to be more active – the more exercise you get, the more you are allowed to eat that day.

Interest rates July 10, 2008

Since we have decided to buy our first home this fall, I am very excited about the low interest rates available for mortgages.   The flip side of this, of course, is that I’m not too impressed with how much my savings interest rates have fallen.  I currently have a money market account that earns about 1.3% and a regular old savings account that earns .8% for balances below $5000.00 and 1.26% for balances of $5000+. 

My husband and I have been beefing up our savings/money market contributions in recent months in hopes of saving up enough for closing costs and for moving expenses.  My husband’s job will pay for the actual movers, but when moving from Hawaii to Virginia, you tend to accrue a lot of hotel room, restaurant, and rental car fees, as it takes your cars a month to ship, and your household goods 2 months to ship.  Also, I will be leaving my job in Hawaii, without a job already lined up in Virginia, so a little extra in the savings wouldn’t hurt in the interim.

My husband is also due to get a substantial bonus this fall, which we are hoping to use all or part of for a down payment.  We qualify for a VA loan, which doesn’t require any down payment, and we are currently in a debate about how much to put down and how much to keep and use for furniture, appliances, etc.  I’m currently also pondering opening an ING orange savings account to put the bonus in.  Even though it’s only currently at 3%, that’s more than double the interest rate we are getting at our other financial institutions right now.   My only concern with this is how accessible the money will be, as we are planning to use a lot of it in a few months time. 

What do you think?  Is it better to put down a large down payment (and mostly obliterate your liquid savings), or is it better to put down a smaller down payment and leave yourself a better cushion (even if it may get spent, not saved).  Also, any personal experience with ING savings accounts? Are they easy to use? Do they deliver the interest rates they promise?

Things I want to do July 9, 2008

In no particular order . . .

- watch less tv

- spend less money on eating out/unnecessary items

- find a job that uses my skills and will make me happy

- play the piano more frequently

- study and learn French

- read more

- exercise more

- find a great house in a good location that I can afford

- Find ways to help my parents improve their financial situation

- maintain my current weight (I recently lost about 20 pounds)

- move from Hawaii to Virginia without racking up a bunch of credit card debt

- pay off my loans/debt

-  increase my savings

- do a better job at keeping in touch with friends (Facebook doesn’t count!)

I was browsing through the blogosphere one day when I discovered a whole bunch of blogs about personal finance, and about women in their 20s trying to achieve their goals/get their lives in order.  Not only was I astonished to find that I was not alone in my desire/struggle to figure out who I am and achieve my goals, I found that I was also not alone in my crazy list-making/goal-setting/financial-obsession.  This discovery led me to start my own blog with similar themes, in hopes that it would motivate me to work towards my goals.

Money for College – Every little bit helps! July 7, 2008

I recently signed up for a program called Upromise, which allows me to earn money toward paying off my student loan by giving me a percentage back or “reward points” for online purchases, dining out, grocery shopping, etc. Once a quarter, if I have accrued a minimum of $25 in rewards, Upromise transfers that as an extra payment to SallieMae, my student loan company. It’s kind of a neat program — it’s basically the same as getting world points on your credit card, except you only use those points toward education. Upromise can be applied towards student loans through SallieMae, and it can also be put towards a 529 college savings plan. So, if you don’t have student loans, you can use the program to save money for your own or your children’s college education.

You don’t earn a lot through the program, but I’m of the philosophy, “every little bit helps.” If Upromise wants to give me 3% back on an online purchase I was planning to make anyway, I’m not going to complain. Most people probably only earn $25-$50 a year, but in my mind, that’s $25 that doesn’t come out of my own pocket, and $25 less in student loan debt that is accruing interest on a daily basis.

As far as using it to supplement a 529 plan goes, a lot of people would think, “$25 is not going to be worth anything by the time my child goes to college.” That’s probably true, but that $25 earns interest, and again, it’s $25 less in student loans or out of your pocket.

My parents didn’t have the money to pay for college for my sisters and me, but my mom always found as many little ways to help out as possible. Our family would throw our spare change in a jar, and every time that jar got full, my mom put it in our college funds. She also did mail-in rebates and every rebate earned went in the college fund. As kids, we were required to put half of all money we got as a gift, and half of all money we earned (babysitting, pet sitting, lawn mowing, etc.) in the bank for college. When we had accrued a sizeable amount of money ($1000 or so) my mom would buy a savings bond or a certificate of deposit in our names to boost the interest rate.

Ultimately, though I worked every summer babysitting, and got my first “real” part-time job at 15, this only paid for 1 semester’s tuition. Believe it or not, it did, however, make a big difference in how much I had to borrow for college. During my last term of college, I hit the limit for federal subsidized loan money. If I had had to pay for one more term of college, I would have had to take out unsubsidized loans and accrue interest much earlier. As it was, since I had paid for that first term out of my savings, I managed to avoid unsubsidized loans completely as an undergrad. I know that a lot of families won’t be eligible for subsidized loans when sending their kids to college, but the point of my story is, you’d be amazed how a little savings can make a big difference.