Savings Tip of The Day: Before You're Broke

I love this quote:

"Thrift comes too late when you find it at the bottom of your purse."

--Seneca

It's important that we are smart with our money before it's all gone. When you have nothing left to work with, it's harder to find a game plan. :)

Avoiding The Rent To Own Trap

How many of us are not intrigued by the thought of a new big screen TV or living room furniture? I know that we would love to have a brand new computer or washer and dryer set today!!!!! We Americans are a little spoiled... okay, we're a lot spoiled! We live in a society of Veruca Salts (you know - "I want it nooowwww") and we will find the easiest way possible to get what we want. Some merchants have found a way to feed on this and grasp us in a long lasting and VERY expensive money trap! "Rent to own" stores have popped up everywhere offering our biggest desires for a small fee and immediate possession.

Rent to own companies allow you to lease an appliance or furniture for a small fee either weekly or monthly paid. At rates like $19.99 a week it's easy to lure those that have the "must haves". After you have paid all your weekly or monthly payments that were agreed upon (typically 12-24 months) you will own the item outright.

This sounds ok, until you look at the bottom line. The other day when I visited a local rental center just to check out the ins and outs I was SHOCKED to see that the items cost the buyer 2x the cost they could buy the product on the spot if they chose the easy payment financing. So, I could pay $1700 for a TV today or I could pay $141.67/mo for 2 years. Total that up and I would be paying $3400 total for the same TV! That's ridiculous! If I put back that $141.67 in the bank each month for 12 months, I could pay for the TV outright and avoid paying all the interest. Miss a payment, however, and my TV could be repossessed. And if  I wanted it back, I would have to start my payment plan all over! Another down side, the item I receive probably is NOT a new item. It may have been in a multitude of homes before it landed in mine. The warranty could be void, the remote could be mismatched and there may not even be a manual to learn how to operate the thing. And my husband knows, when it comes to electronics.... I NEED a manual!!!

So I hope in this you will understand that Rent To Own store are NEVER a good idea! You will never be getting the best deal! Put your money back and shop a local or box store. Who knows, with patience and the right timing you can probably land the same TV or an even better one for a much better price than the base line at the rental store!

Food For Thought.... Easy Credit

Saving Doesn't Mean Deprivation

Some think that when you start focusing on saving in the home all the fun, exciting and desirable things in our lives must vanish!

And this just simply is not the case!

Getting a hold on our finances is actually a very freeing practice that will allow you to have the things you desire plus some! Some things you will be able to have immediately by seeing where you are wasting your money to keep you from getting what you want. Other things may take a little longer as you prioritize your list of wants. Then there are the things that you may realize you never really had as much of longing to have as you once thought. The fact of the matter is when we prioritize our needs and wants to make sure the important stuff is taken care of first, then sift through what we can live without but still would like to have, we get a game a plan in place to acquire all of what our hearts desire!

So realize that maybe you are giving up an expensive car NOW to pay CASH for another only to save to pay for your expensive car outright. And perhaps you will give up those cookies to switch to a store brand only to have that extra money to put towards the tickets you would like to have. Or perhaps the name brand on that white button down won't be so important than the $20 you save on a nearly identical shirt at a box store. Don't view these as deprivation.

What are your goals? Cars? Education? Retirement? Travel? Don't defend your desires. You have the right to make your goals whatever you would like them to be! The important thing about saving and getting your finances in place is to look at the goals and getting a game plan to reach those achievements. Focus on end result and take a positive outlook on the little sacrifices.

Car Tips: Beating High Insurance Premiums

Let me start by saying... PLEASE do not think for one second if you operate a vehicle you should not have auto insurance! This is a MUST in almost every state by LAW (check your state's minimum insurance requirements).

BUT, you may be able to lower the cost of your insurance by increasing your deductible. Think of things this way. If you have a little fender bender, most likely you are not going to file a claim with your insurance company. Why? Well, first of all, claims will ultimately make your premiums go up so you won't want a strike that will potentially cause you to pay more to be covered. Second, you would want assess the damage. Do you have a ding you can over look? Or perhaps your damage is so minor that the cost of repair would be less than your deductible. Wouldn't it then make sense to just pay cash straight out for the repair? But where is that cash going to come from?

Well, talk to your agent about raising your deductible and calculate how much you would save monthly over the amount you are currently paying for the low deductible. What would it cost you over having a $1500 deductible over a $500 one? If you banked that savings in an emergency account, you would have the extra cash on hand to pay for any minor accident. And there's no need to go to insurance company to file a claim for repair. Secondly, if you do have a bigger accident, you have saved the funds for the higher deductible to be met in that emergency fund.

Let's do the math. State Farm stats say that one average it's customers file a claim every 19 years. And the insurance industry claims you are likely to have an accident every 17.9 years*. So, if you were able to drop your rates even $20 month, by putting that into savings instead of spending it, at a year's end you would have $300 saved for incidentals. At the end of 10 years, $3,000 and over the next 17-19 years in the event of an accident, you could have close to $6,000 saved to either handle repairs for small accidents or even easily pay the higher deductible in the event that you had a major accident warranting the need to file a claim. That's based on saving just $20/mo. What if you could save more, faster?

My suggestion would be to make sure you have banked your premium savings to always make sure you could handle the higher deductible payment if needed but to save 2 or 3 times that much which could save you having to file a claim even in a larger accident that would make more expensive repairs payable with cash instead. But MAKE SURE you save enough to ALWAYS be able to meet the deductible.

Remember: Take your personal driving record into account. If you often find your vehicle is making contact with another, this might not be a good idea for you. AND for this to work you HAVE to commit to putting your premium savings in an EMERGENCY ACCOUNT. If you have the money earmarked for auto repairs in the event of an accident, you won't be so worried about having a conversation with this guy -->





*Source: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/06/17/heres-how-many-car-accidents-youll-have/

Did You Know.... You can stop those calls

You can easily stop calls from telemarketers by joining the National Do Not Call Registry by clicking here or calling 1-888-382-1222. This will stop the calls coming from those that are trying to sell you things within 31 days.

This does not stop Debt Collection, Political calls, Survey Calls, Calls from Charities, and from businesses where you are a customer or asked for information. We'll talk about those in a bit....

If you continue to have problems with a telemarketer, you may file a complaint on the same site and could possible receive a small claims lawsuit settlement between $500-$1500 per violation. But you can get all that info on the site.

The truth is, you have rights NOT to be bothered by folks that are just trying to bait you into a purchase, so act now for yourself!

To my Canada friends... you can join the Canada Registry here

Be sure to share this post with your friends to stop their annoying calls too... it's easy, just click your links below! :)