Free Money Finance

Americans Saving Money by Brown Bagging

Looks like brown bagging our lunches has put the hurt on the restaurant business:

As time-pressed workers try to cut costs and eat healthier, brown-bagging is becoming increasingly popular in the American workplace, according to a new study from The NPD Group, a market research company. NPD reports that the rise in lunches carried from home is contributing to the softening of the mid-day meal business at commercial restaurants.

There's no doubt that you can save a ton of money by taking your lunch to work. Plus, there are other nice benefits of brown bagging.

My only question: once the tough economic times are over, do you think people will start eating out again?

Six Tips for Cutting Your Spending by $500 per Month

Consumer Reports listed six tips for cutting your spending by $500 per month in their recent issue. Here are the tips and my thoughts on each of them:

Find cheaper auto insurance. Annual surveys of CR readers have shown that many have stayed with the same auto insurer for 15 years. Depending on people's profiles and where they live, they might be able to save hundreds a month by shopping around.

You can save AT LEAST hundreds of dollars -- maybe even over a thousand dollars -- by shopping around for your car insurance.

Optimize your life insurance. Life insurance premiums have dropped so dramatically since the 1990s; it will probably pay for you to replace a policy bought years ago with a comparable new one.

Key points here: be sure you get the right kind and right amount of life insurance. And be sure your new policy is in place before you cancel the old one -- you don't want to be left without a policy and unable to be insured.

Shop smart for food. Plan menus around sales of fresh poultry, fish, meat, dairy, and produce, and make use of leftovers. Avoid costly prepared meals. Eat more low-priced high-nutrition foods like beans and potatoes. Try less expensive store brands, and sign up for store discount cards.

Basic money saving suggestions. A few from me: make the most of sales and coupons, weigh your produce, and grow your own food.

Stop paying bank fees. Bank at large institutions with lots of ATMs in convenient locations. Shop for free checking and strictly adhere to provisions for a minimum balance, direct deposit, or other conditions to avoid monthly fees.

These are what I call sneaky fees. They are easily avoided if you pay even the slightest attention to what you're doing.

Call up phone savings. Peruse your last few months phone bills to assess how many minutes you typically use on landline and wireless calls. Comparison shop among cellular service providers, the local phone company, and your cable TV company. Don't buy more than you need, such as an unlimited cellular plan if you rarely go over 900 minutes per month.

Better yet, get a free cell phone from your employer. ;-)

Pay off your credit card. Stop charging, then pay more than the minimum required each month until its paid off. Dig up cash for this from your U.S. Treasury stimulus check, garage sales, or extra work part-time.

Should I simply say "duh" here?

Over all, it's not a stellar list -- most of you are probably doing most of these (I'm doing them all already) -- but the piece does offer some good, basic suggestions for those who aren't that savvy yet at saving money.

Small Cities Better at Growing Net Worth

In Move, Save Money, Become a Multiple Millionaire -- All in One Step I pointed out the following:

• In many "expensive" cities across the US, you can earn a good amount more than you can in less-expensive cities.

• That said, the expensive cities' expenses are far higher than the extra income you earn (on average) by working there.

• Therefore, the best economic decision is to work in a less expensive city. Even though you'll make less, your net worth will benefit because your cost-of-living will be a LOT less.

As you can imagine, I heard it LOUD from people about how I was off base, how I didn't consider the fact that certain jobs can only be found in certain areas, that I didn't take into account the fact that people want to live in a specific area because of family, and so on. Basically, a lot of people disagreed because they didn't want to consider my point.

So, let me state for the record:

• Yes, I realize that there are a variety of reasons that someone may want to live in a more-expensive city and earn less (on average) when expenses are deducted.

• Of course, that's their choice. They have the right to spend their money however they like.

• Yes, the are a HANDFUL of jobs that can only be found in some areas of the country. However, most people can live wherever they like and find a job in their industry (there are teachers, policemen, businesspeople, nurses, etc. all over the country.)

• The "you can only get this sort of job here" walls are coming down fast with the ever-increasing pace of technology. If you're good enough, you can live almost wherever you like and have the job you want.

My main point in all of this is to show that if you simply look at the numbers, you'll come to one, clear conclusion: by living in more expensive city, your net worth won't be as high as if you lived in a less expensive city, held the same job, and spent money on the same things.

And now CNN and Money Magazine have come to the same conclusion:

If you'd like to build a nest egg with your paycheck, it may be time to give up New York and head for Plano, Texas.

A survey by pay experts at Salary.com evaluated 69 cities with more than 250,000 people and ranked the Big Apple last. Plano came in first among American cities in which to build personal wealth.

Here's the list of the best places to grow your net worth:

Following first-place Plano came Aurora, Colo., Omaha, Neb., Minneapolis and Albuquerque N.M.

And here's the list of the worst places to grow your net worth:

Following last-ranked New York were Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Honolulu and San Francisco.

Told ya.

Three New Ways to Save Money

Bankaholic lists eight ways to save money. I've covered several of the tips previously, but there are a few new ones listed. Here they are -- along with my comments:

2. Stop Tanning -- There is a growing fad for people of all ages and cultures to look bronzed. If you are seeking the warmth of a tanning bed in order to look a certain way, then it is time you stopped. Quitting now will decrease your chances of developing malignant melanoma.

Really? Is this a growing fad? Anyone out there do this on a regular basis? What sort of costs are we talking anyway? (As you can tell, this idea is foreign to me.)

5. Wear Sensible Shoes -- This is a hard message to get across to many women, as they seem to think they are better off in stylish, expensive shoes. Not so, as many high-end shoes are terrible for your back and posture. This can, in turn, lead to other problems. Opt for sensibly priced, comfortable shoes – both your wallet and your back will thank you for it.

This is an easy one for me to recommend since I'm a guy. ;-)

Seriously, I can sympathize with women since they need a variety of shoes to match various outfits. But do they need so many? And why is it necessary to pay some of the outrageous prices for name-brand styles that are here today and gone tomorrow?

My wife probably has five to ten pairs of shoes at most including tennis shoes and sandals, so I don't have anything to complain about when it comes to this issue. But we have friends where the wife has almost a closet full of shoes. Who really needs to go to this sort of extreme?

8. Relax at Home -- Rather than going out on the town when you have some free time, save your money and have a relaxing night in. Believe it or not, your stress level will be reduced when you can relax in a calm atmosphere. This, in turn, improves your overall health.

I actually prefer to relax at home versus going out. A DVD and popcorn in my living room is usually way better than a night out on the town. Much, much more relaxing (and way cheaper too!).

How to Save on Greeting Cards

We still send out cards (you know, the old-fashioned, paper kind) on special occasions to various people. The most-popular occasions include birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, but we also send out cards for thank yous, graduations, baby births, and to express sympathy for a loss.

If you've shopped for cards anytime recently, you'll know that it's very easy to drop $4 or more for a single card. Add that up over 100 or more cards per year (many people send out a huge number of holiday cards alone) and you're talking some real money. So here's how we minimize the expense while still being able to send a nice, thoughtful card:

1. We make our own cards. Not really "we", but our kids make their own cards -- birthday cards for grandparents, thank you cards for gifts given, Mother's and Father's Day cards, etc. These usually turn out to be very sweet and precious and much more valuable to the person getting them than a store-bought card could be.

2. We buy cards in bulk. You can get a boatload of cards for not much money at all -- effectively making the costs of a card way less than what you'd spend on a soda. And if you buy at the right time of the year (think post-Christmas purchases of Christmas cards), you can save a TON on a nice set of boxed cards. BTW, to make each card "special", we always include a note or letter.

3. We went electronic for holiday cards. We used to spend a fortune sending out Christmas cards. Then we went to a "Christmas letter", which we still sent to 100 people so the postage was a decent expense. This year, I whipped up a quick website and emailed out a link to it. People could see more pictures of our family (50 or so) and read what we were doing at their own convenience. Those people without web access (yes, they do exist), got the standard letter.

How about you? How do you save on greeting cards?

Save Money on Wedding Expenses by NOT Telling Suppliers that Your Purchase is for a Wedding

Here's a list of ten things the wedding industry won't tell you. Many of them offer money saving advice, but I liked #5 the best:

5. "If it's for a wedding, it'll cost you 30% more."

You might have suspected that a wedding costs more than any other kind of similarly scaled event. You would be right. Diane Warner, author of "How to Have a Big Wedding on a Small Budget," tells of a bride-to-be who wanted to test this theory for herself. "She called a service in San Francisco, asked for just what she wanted, and they gave her a bid," Warner explains. "The next day, she had her fiance call and bid on the same items for a party. He got a lower price."

In researching Bridal Bargains, Fields and his wife spoke to several florists who told them that if they get the sense a bride has big bucks, they'll suggest exotic or out- of-season flowers. "If you're wearing a big diamond ring or your fiance is a doctor, it seems you suddenly have to fly in orchids from Hawaii," he says.

So, those videos I highlighted weren't off the mark after all, huh?

It seems a simple money saving tip would be not to tell the florist, DJ, reception hall, etc. that you're planning a wedding until the last possible moment. Seems like they'll often charge a lot less if you're simply planning a "party."

And of course, you could always move focus from ways to save money on a wedding to ways to make money on a wedding. :-)

Yikes! The MSM Discovers the Library

After discovering that you can save a ton of money by taking your lunch to work earlier this week, the main stream media has now suggested we can all save money by using the public library. Wow, these guys at the Wall Street Journal (the source for both pieces) really are bringing up some innovative money saving ideas, aren't they?

Maybe the tough economic times is forcing them to think of things the rest of the world has been applying for years.

Save Money by Subbing for a Sale Item

Here's a simple way to save on grocery items when you need something on sale now and it's out of stock:

Substitute a like product for the sale item.

We were at the store the other day looking for ice cream. The brand we wanted was on sale but was sold out of the flavor we wanted (happens a lot when a popular ice cream flavor is on sale), so my wife asked a clerk if they had any more. They didn't. She then grabbed a competing brand of the same flavor and asked the clerk if the store would substitute this brand for the one on sale -- at the sale price. He said they would.

So we put it in our cart, and when we got to the front to check-out, we informed the checker of what we'd been told. She called to the back to verify the agreement, got confirmation, and charged us the sale price. We got our ice cream and the sale price, so we were happy as clams.

And once we got home and ate some of it, we were even happier. ;-)

How to Save on Paint

Here's a comment left on my post titled People are Discovering Frugality:

This weekend, my wife and I went to Lowes to get some paint for a project we were doing in our basement. As we were waiting for our paint to be mixed, I saw several gallons of paint at the end of the counter that had "mistint" written on the lids. Some of them had $5 on the can, some had $1 on the can. I asked my wife if there was anything else that needed painting in the house. She told me that she wanted to paint the extra bedroom again and the color on two gallons of the mistinted paint looked like a nice color, so we grabbed them. I figured the paint was about $20 a gallon or so.

We got to the checkout and it turns out that the paint was one of their highest priced paints at $30 per gallon. We just got $60 of paint for $2. Because we were "kinda" looking at painting another room anyway, that was a real bargain.

If you want to save on paint and can be a little flexible with the color of the paint, checkout the mistints at your local Lowes. It could save you a bundle.

Good point. And who can really tell the difference between "natural green" and "forest green" anyway?

The Two Best Ways to Save on Home and Auto Insurance

Here are the two best ways to save on home and auto insurance according to Living Rich by Spending Smart: How to Get More of What You Really Want:

1. Compare premiums.
2. Raise deductibles.

My thoughts on these:

1. Simple, effective tips. They are basic, but also will represent the majority of the savings you'll find on home and auto insurance.

2. Instead of "compare premiums", I suggest you "shop around". But it's really the same tip.

3. We have high deductibles and plan on using our insurance only in case of a major claim. If you use it for all sorts of minor claims here and there, your rates are bound to go up. So we added a bit more to our emergency fund, raised deductibles, and will only use them in case of a big, big problem.

Where Do You Get an Entertainment Book?

Based on yesterday's discussion, most people seem to think an Entertainment Book is a good money saver. Now I only have one question:

If I want to buy one for my local area, where would I get a copy?

How to Save on Life Insurance

Here's a tip from Living Rich by Spending Smart: How to Get More of What You Really Want on how to save on life insurance:

The short version on refinancing your life insurance is this: Shop for a good price on term insurance from a reputable company. Sign the papers and take the physical exam. Cancel your old policy. Put the saved money toward something you really care about.

This is exactly the process I've used a couple times to lower the cost of my life insurance. A few more thoughts on this subject from me:

1. It pays to shop around for life insurance -- just like it does for car insurance.

2. Don't buy any more life insurance than you need. Here's how to determine how much life insurance you need.

3. Never, never, never cancel your old policy before you get a new one in place. Otherwise, you may be left hanging if the new one doesn't go through.

4. The "reputable company" is also key. You want to make sure that your insurer is going to be around in case you need them. A great policy that's backed up by a shaky company is not a good deal at all.

5. A couple more worthwhile posts to read on the issue of life insurance include: Life Insurance Advice from Dave Ramsey and What Kind of Life Insurance Should I Buy?

Wedding Markups are Out of Control

Smart Money lists some of the various mark-ups associated with having a wedding. These include:

Flowers -- "When doing flowers for a wedding, florists always buy more than they use," says Tara Simone, owner of Barbara's Flowers in New York. The reason: The florist needs to hedge against smaller blooms or those that aren't quite perfect enough for a wedding. To help lower the bill, choose flowers that are hardy and also in-season.

Ceremony and Reception Sites -- The big reason brides and grooms pay more for a reception location has to do with the wedding packages that most venues require. One way to gain more negotiating leverage with a venue is to book the wedding during the off-season. To get the most bang for your buck any time of the year, arrange the reception at a hotel. Hotels tend to offer better rates for weddings than other events because they draw lots of out-of-town — and potentially hotel-bound — guests.

Bridal Gowns and Accessories -- Shops typically mark up gowns by at least 100% from the wholesale price, he says. A far sneakier move: Dresses without labels and designers' nonadvertised lines may be as much as 600% more, because the label-free dresses make it harder for brides to price-compare. One way to save on a dress is to do research online first.

Catering -- Whether it's a wedding or a business luncheon, restaurants and caterers typically mark up the cost of their food and services anywhere from 300% to 500% from wholesale prices to factor in preparation time and to hedge against rapidly rising food prices. To avoid paying extra, look for a caterer who's willing to offer a la carte pricing, he says.

Cakes -- Cakes are marked up as a result of construction and decoration, says Fields. While sheet cake might cost 75 cents a slice, a sliver of wedding cake with handcrafted sugar flowers and colorful icing can easily top $15. One way to save: Consider buying (or renting) a small decorated cake for the cutting ceremony, with a sheet cake to be cut up behind the scenes and served to guests.

The piece also includes a few suggestions for lowering the cost of a wedding including:

• Shop with a variety of vendors.
• Ask for hard evidence.
• Ask about every option available.
• Talk about your budget first.

I suggest you spend as little on a wedding as possible and pocket the difference between what you could have spent and what you actually did spend. Save that amount and you'll be well-rewarded financially for doing so.

For some of my tips on how to save on wedding costs, see these posts:

• Save on Your Wedding

• Saving on Wedding Tips from a Wedding Consultant, Part 1

• Saving on Wedding Tips from a Wedding Consultant, Part 2

• Save Money on a Wedding by Renting a Wedding Cake

• Great Comments on Saving on Wedding Costs

• More Tips to Save on Wedding Costs

• Even More Tips for Saving on Wedding Costs

• How to Have A Wedding for Under $200

• More Great Ways to Save on Wedding Costs

The MSM Discovers Brown Bagging

Well, we know an idea has reached saturation when the mainstream media starts touting it. This time, it's the idea that you can save a ton of money by taking your lunch to work.

Too bad I didn't think of that, huh? :-)

Does the Entertainment Book Save Money?

Here's what I'm wondering today:

Does the Entertainment Book save you money?

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, the Entertainment Book (or any number of similar products) is a book of coupons that you buy (sometimes as a fundraiser from charitable organizations) in the hopes that you'll save more by using the coupons than what it cost you for the book. But does it really work out this way?

I've purchased products like this in the past to help out an organization and save some money and don't think I've received my money's worth. Many of the coupons are "buy a meal and get another at 25% off" at places that 1) I don't go and 2) are too expensive even with a coupon. They also feature things like "$500 off a cruise". I'm sure that this helps make the savings value of the book higher, but I don't need a cruise and think I could probably do better than $500 off if I went elsewhere.

This said, I have always found some good nuggets in each book -- a free shirt drycleaned (not much value, but still free and useful), savings on an oil change that helps me with my current garage (the match competitor's coupons), and so on. But I'm not really racking up big savings. Maybe it's because I don't spend that much at the places they have in these sorts of books. Still, if I did spend lots of money at these places, would it be a good deal for me?

I'm interested in what you think. Anyone out there have an opinion one way or the other on the value of these books?

How to Save 20% on Food Prices

Here's a two-part tip from Living Rich by Spending Smart: How to Get More of What You Really Want on how to save 20% (the book's claim) on food and non-food items at grocery stores:

1. Keep a price list. Then you'll know when something is truly on sale.

2. Don't go shopping every week for what you need. Instead, you go to buy what's on sale that week. Then you load your pantry and freezer with sale-priced foods. When you run out of peanut butter, for example, you don't go to the store to buy it at full price; you fetch a jar from your own pantry that you bought on sale.

Ok, a few comments on this:

1. Generally, I like the idea of buying on sale and stocking up. We do it on all sorts of foods and it's one reason we bought a small freezer -- so we could expand our stock-piling to include more frozen foods.

2. This doesn't work on perishable items, and the author recognizes that.

3. Of course, you have to have room to store everything or it doesn't work. We have a HUGE pantry, so it's no issue for us.

4. You also have to use everything. Buying stuff on sale at a great price doesn't work if a portion of it goes bad from not being used.

Can We Afford the Storage Lifestyle?

My kids used to have a CD set that featured talking animals on various adventures in the jungle. Each one was meant to teach a life lesson, and I remember the one on accumulating too much stuff (versus using your surplus to help others) very clearly. They kept repeating: "The more you have, the more you have to have to take care of the things you have." How true.

Here's a piece from MSN Money that talks about this issue and how our growth in "stuff" has led to a growth in the need for a place to store it:

Consider this: The self-storage industry grew from about 289 million square feet in 1984 to nearly 2.2 billion square feet by the end of 2007, according to the Self Storage Association.

And it probably wouldn't surprise you that the spike in storage happened to coincide with one of the most profligate, credit-crazy times in America.

It's not that people shouldn't pay for storage if they need it. But these uneasy economic times demand a long, hard look behind those corrugated doors: Can we afford the storage lifestyle?

Obviously, there are certain times that people need to pay for storage. In particular, times of transition (divorce, move, summers while in college, etc.) offer a fairly good reason for renting storage facilities. And, in many cases I'm sure, renting storage is a cheaper option than say building a new garage on your property. But really, do we all need to store the massive amounts of "stuff" that we seem to accumulate? As I said in Save $3k Per Year or More by Throwing Away Stuff, simply eliminating our extra stuff (which we could sell, btw, to make some extra cash) could save us a boatload every year.

I can sympathize with over-stuffers since we fight it as a family too. We're currently going through our house and cleaning out stuff we've accumulated but no longer use (giving it or throwing it away). There's a bunch of it. But al least we've kept it under enough control that we've never had to rent an outside storage facility.

For us, the openness in the house is much better when the extra stuff is gone (we're already seeing this in a small measure.) And since we could be selling our home at any time, having a less cluttered appearance will help our home show better. That said, we are sure to look for new homes that have enough "storage space." ;-)

How about you? Anyone out there also struggle with too much stuff.

Can the Amazon Kindle Save You Money?

Here's a piece from the Wall Street Journal asking if the Amazon Kindle can save you money. For those of you who don't know, the Kindle is Amazon's electronic book reader (get details at this link: Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device). Here's what the WSJ says about the piece and the two ways it could save you money:

First, you usually pay less for books purchased on the Kindle than you do for those printed on paper and delivered to your door. In a completely unscientific survey, I picked an array of 10 popular books and compared their Kindle price with that of the paper version bought from Amazon. Kindle versions worked out on average about $6 cheaper. (And, of course, you get them instantly.) The savings were biggest on new books, especially those only out in hardback. At a saving of $6, you'd need to buy 61 new books to earn back the $365 cost of the Kindle.

However, this product has a second intriguing aspect: Free mobile Internet access, using Sprint's excellent third-generation data network. The service is included primarily so you can buy and download books remotely. But the Kindle also has a small keyboard and a basic Internet browser. So if your mobile Internet needs are pretty basic – such as checking email and news, that sort of thing – you can do that too. Most data plans from a mobile network start at about $20 a month.

So if you need rudimentary mobile Internet and you typically buy two new books a month, getting a Kindle could save you $32 a month. Even when you factor in lost interest, that's a payback period of 12 months on the $365 cost. If you buy four books a month, that drops to 9 months.

It's hardly for everyone. But the numbers will work for some. And, of course, they'll get better if the Kindle follows the usual pattern for new technology and quickly drops in price.

Obviously, this is only a viable money saving move if you currently buy tons of books. I don't. I use the library or get my books for free (one perk of having a popular website.) I buy MAYBE three books a year.

That said, the price of the Kindle will drop and the web feature is an interesting option.

Anyone out there own a Kindle? What do and don't you like about it?

Keys to Getting a Great Deal on a Car

Here is an EXCELLENT series from Edmunds.com titled Confessions of a Car Salesman. The car information site had one of its writers go undercover and take jobs at a couple car dealerships to give us all the inside scoop on what car salesmen are like. It's a very interesting and fascinating read (though it's long). I recommend it to anyone thinking of buying a car.

At the end of the piece, they list seven car buying recommendations as follows:

1. Use the Internet.
2. Don't be in a hurry.
3. Walk away from any deal/salesperson you don't like.
4. Know the numbers.
5. Shop around.
6. The deal's not done until you drive off in your new car.
7. Always remember that it's your money.

Basically these tips boil down to simply being fully informed -- of the prices as well as operating methods of most dealerships.

The point I like best is what they had to say about using the Internet. Their thoughts:

The Internet is an amazing tool for car shopping. It levels the playing field by giving accurate information to the consumer. It takes the anxiety out of negotiating. It forces dealers to slice profit because they must beg for your business. It allows consumers to comparison shop loans and leases, as well as extended warranties and insurance. It gives the consumer power. Use Edmunds.com to conduct research and our PowerShopper tool to solicit bids. Once you enter the information about the car you are looking for into the PowerShopper interface, the dealers will come to you.

This is EXACTLY what I do. In fact, if you're looking at buying a new car, use my guide to buying a car using the web. If you use it as detailed, you WILL get a great deal on a car.

Four Steps to Asking for a Discount

Here's more on asking for a discount -- this time from Yahoo. They include some nice stories like the lady that got a $36k surgery for $18k, the woman who got a $180 phone for $30, and a guy who bought a $200 candle for under $100 (wow, that must have been some candle!) simply by asking for discounts in a specific way. They then list four steps that are vital when asking for a discount:

• Step one: Don't walk into the situation looking for a fight. "The key thing is to approach the salesperson at any store in a friendly, cooperative, congenial manner with a low-key pose of calculated incompetence," says Cohen.

• Step two: Negotiate with the decision-maker. "Always ask for the manager when you get a no," says Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumers League. "I'm a staunch consumer advocate, and too often we consumers don't exercise our rights. Every price you're given has some padding in it, and you can still allow the merchant to get a very nice profit while also giving you a good deal."

• Step three: Be crystal clear on the result you want when the deal is done, says Michael C. Donaldson, Los Angeles attorney and author of "Fearless Negotiating" and "Negotiating for Dummies."

• Step four: Know what your time is worth. Cohen suggests saving your firepower for big-ticket items like automobiles and furniture. "Could I negotiate for a quarter-pound of butter? Sure, but if I spend two hours to save 11 cents it's not worth it," he laughs. On the other hand, I started asking for discounts as I was researching this story and found the little stuff pays off big.

The piece also includes a few other good tips:

"Always ask, 'Can you do better? Did you just have a sale, or are you having a sale in the future?' "

Multiple purchases always represent a discount opportunity, she says (citing the 10 percent off she recently received at a liquor store for buying several bottles at a time).

Meanwhile, if you can't reach your price goal, think about other ways to save -- whether it's free delivery or a bonus item (always ask for a free tie with the purchase of a new suit, says Cohen).

And I just HAD to include this one -- they also suggest this tactic which matches an earlier suggestion I had:

"If you show up dressed for success, they get defensive," he adds. "In negotiation, dumb is better than smart, and inarticulate is better than articulate. Act a little slow, make them feel superior to give them a sense of control. Say, 'I don't know, I don't understand' and they will help you with the transaction."

Yep, it always works for me to "play dumb." Then again, maybe I'm not playing. ;-)

As you all know, I'm a big fan of asking -- both asking for a discount to save money and asking for a raise to increase your income. If you want to grow your net worth, sometimes all you have to do is ASK!!!!

Cheap Vacations Abroad

As most FMF readers will know, the dollar is in the tanker. Which means that if you want to vacation abroad this year, it's likely to cost you a fortune to travel to most place. Most, not all. Kiplinger's has a list of vacations abroad for less and includes the following countries:

• Mexico -- Travel to neighboring Mexico avoids one of the biggest problems of vacationing abroad: the weakening dollar.

• Canada -- Visiting Canada can save you on fuel surcharges that many airlines now add to ticket prices, based on the number of air miles you’re flying. Although the U.S. dollar is weakened against Canadian currency, you can skip the exchange and use the greenback just about everywhere.

• Puerto Rico -- Still technically part of the states, Puerto Rico affords you an overseas trip plus the relative ease of domestic travel.

• Panama -- If you’ve been dreaming of Fiji’s huts over the water but can’t afford airfare over $1,500, consider Central America’s Panama. "You’ll get everything you want and you’re not gonna pay nearly as much," says Schwartz. Plus there’s no need to bother with exchange rates –- the U.S. dollar is widely accepted throughout the country.

• Ireland -- If you have your heart set on a European vacation despite the U.S. dollar cowering before the Euro, the Emerald Isle is one of the more affordable options.

Be sure to read the comments on the piece -- not everyone agrees with this list.

As for us, we're planning to go to Chicago this year (only a few hours from home), so no international travel for us. But we could go to Canada quite easily and should probably add it to our list of places to take the kids.

How about you? Anyone out there planning an international trip this year?

Real-Life Money Saving Example

Here's another real-life example of how to save on car insurance by shopping around. It was left as a comment on my post titled A Real-Life Example of How to Save $1,300 in Less than Two Hours by Shopping Around for Car Insurance:

I had the same thing happen to me! We had been with state farm for years, and a friend of ours told us about AIG insurance for autos. I gave them a call, and they quoted me at $680/six months for 2 cars (a 1997 toyota camry & a 2002 subaru outback-full coverage on both). With state farm we were paying $640/6mo-toyota and $720/6mo-subaru. It's almost half! When I called to cancel, my statefarm agent yelled at me, and told me that "I'd be coming back." I don't think that will be the case. It made me want to look around for a different home owners insurance policy too.

Almost a 50% discount is pretty good, huh?

How to Avoid Paying Airline Baggage Fees

Smart Money magazine lists thoughts on how to avoid paying airline baggage fees. They list suggestions for carry-on, checked, and shipped bags as follows:

Carry-On Bags

• Embrace the middle seat -- It usually has the most under-seat space, ideal for a squishable duffel, backpack or small rolling briefcase.
• Board early -- If you're worried about getting that space in the overhead bin, know your airline's boarding routine — and make sure you're among the first in line for your section.
• Be aware of carry-on limits.

Checked Bags

• Check airline exemptions -- American and United waive first-bag fees for first- or business-class passengers and elite frequent fliers.
• Note item exceptions -- Most airlines allow passengers to check strollers, car seats and wheelchairs free of charge. Read the policy.
• Start small -- Large bags are just plain heavy — even when empty — and they also lend themselves to overpacking.
• Look for a light bag -- Here's one case where it works to your advantage to go with cheaper luggage.

Shipped Bags

• Weigh the fees -- Sending just the one bag doesn't make sense, but someone traveling with three or four pieces of luggage, or something bulky like sports equipment, might come out ahead.
• Consider well-known carriers -- A 50-pound bag sent via UPS Ground from New York to Los Angeles costs just $59, with five days in transit.
• Check with your hotel -- Some hotels charge a fee to accept a package, plus more per day to hold it until your arrival.

What a $%^&*$#@ hassle!!!! Remember the good old days when you could breeze through airport security carrying your 20 oz. drink and checking baggage was free? It appears those days are gone forever.

The tactics I use the most are to 1.) pack light and 2.) try and get on the plane first. I used to be a frequent flier on Northwest (the carrier I use the most) and was then able to get on board as soon as I wanted. But now I don't travel that much anymore, so I've lost that advantage. Still, I usually pack light enough that I can fit everything under the seat in front of me (most of my trips are overnight only), so I'm fine.

And who ever thought that "get the middle seat" would be advice offered for air travelers? What a topsy-turvy world we're looking at these days!

Two More Ways to Cut Wedding Costs

Smart Money lists ten ways to cut wedding costs. I've covered most of these previously, but there are a couple that I'd like to highlight. They are:

1) Slim down the invites -- The more you stuff into that wedding invitation envelope, the more you'll pay both in product costs and postage, cautions Summer Krecke, deputy editor of WeddingChannel.com. Streamline the contents by putting reception and ceremony information on the same card. Eliminate extras, like fancy liners and interior envelopes. And in lieu of including a map, send an email with a link to mapped-out directions or include the address of your wedding web site where guests can find the full details.

By lightening an invitation's total weight from two ounces to one (say, by eliminating the reception card, map insert and envelope liner), you'll save roughly 17 cents per invite in postage. Use response postcards instead of a card-and-envelope combination, and save another 15 cents apiece. For 150 mailed invitations, that's another $48 saved.

Here's a better, related idea: don't invite every person you've ever met, especially to the reception. At $30 or so per plate, each person is a very expensive part of a wedding's total costs. And a few extra people here and a few there can start to add up to some really big money. And odds are that the people on the fringes of your list don't really want to come anyway. ;-)

An alternative: have a pre- or post-wedding get-together at home a week or so before/after the wedding for more casual friends. This way they can still "celebrate" with you but in a way that's generally more comfortable for them and much less expensive for you.

10) Borrow from other brides -- The "something borrowed" part of traditional bridal attire is supposed to lend good fortune from an already happily married couple. So why stop at a borrowed pair of earrings or shoes? Talk to other recent brides about leftovers from their weddings, suggests Forden. Purchases like the ring bearer's pillow and reception wishing well (to stash cash gifts) are rarely reused and often linger in storage. Broaden your options by posting through a local Freecycle group, which encourages members to give away unwanted items. And if you feel comfortable doing so, speak with the bride that's using the ceremony or reception site right before or after you. You may be able to share decorations or other items and split the cost.

Love, love, love these ideas! Most people will probably bristle at the suggestion of using something "used" (especially from a stranger), but really, what's the big deal? Borrowing is a GREAT way to save some good money on a wedding. And, as we all know, saving a good amount on your wedding can significantly improve your finances.

When is Being Cheap Being Too Cheap?

Here's a piece from Crosswalk that talks about being too cheap. It details when the author selected the cheapest painter to do a job and had to have it re-done a couple years later. As such, her "deal" wasn't really that good.

As a result of this experience, she suggests a formula for getting a great deal that balances price and performance. Her suggestion:

The best way to know for sure if you are making the most cost-effective choice is to do the math. In the same way you are careful to consider the unit pricing of items in the grocery store, learn to compare prices on big purchases like paint job, roofs and mattresses using the per use *or* per year cost of the item *or* service being considered.

In other words, a painter who did a job for $500 where the job was expected to last two years (cost of $250 per year) wouldn't be as good as one who cost $1,000 but the job lasted five years ($200 per year.)

It's not exactly the same idea, but our way of buying products is similar to her line of thinking. As such, we very rarely buy the cheapest option available. But we do buy an inexpensive item (car, appliance, etc.) that's expected to last for a long, long time. This way we get what we consider the best bang for our buck.

A key to this strategy for us is to check Consumer Reports as we start the buying process. We especially look for items that CR rates as a "best buy" -- products that are among the tops in their class on performance but at a price that's usually far less than comparable items. So far, this strategy has worked very well for us across all sorts of product categories. And when we haven't followed it, we've gotten ourselves into trouble.

How about you? How do you balance price and performance?

Big Savings in Medical Tourism

Kiplinger tells the story of Mary Percak-Dennett, an Alaskan woman who went abroad for knee-replacement surgery that would have cost $90,000 in the U.S. Instead of paying the $90k, she went to Gleneagles Medical Centre in Penang, Malaysia and saved a fortune. The details:

At first skeptical about the safety and costs savings, Percak-Dennett is now a convert to what's known as medical tourism. Last June, for a total of $17,000, Percak-Dennett got her knee replaced, round-trip airfare and a stay in a fine hotel. Most important, she's happy with the outcome -- no more cane or pain. "The care was phenomenal," she says. Everyone spoke English, and the nurses doted on her. The surgeon answered her many questions. "It's the way care used to be," she says.

Jet-setters in search of sun and a cheaper facelift are no longer the only ones traveling to exotic locales for health care. Percak-Dennett is one of 80,000 Americans who traveled abroad in the past year for heart surgeries, hip replacements and other medical treatments. Savings can run from 15% to 85%.

Let's see -- $90k here or $17k in Malaysia. Seems like a no-brainer as long as the care is comparable.

I've written quite a bit about medical tourism and it's a trend I think will keep growing -- especially as costs of healthcare begin to threaten the retirement of millions. For review, here are a few pieces on the topic:

• Want Better Health Care? Go Abroad

• Medical Tourism Saves Money and More Insurance Carriers are Approving It

• Why Go Abroad for Medical Care Reason #1: Cost Savings

• Why Go Abroad for Medical Care Reason #2: Better Quality Care

• Medical Tourism Can Save You Thousands of Dollars

Thoughts on Alternative Energy

This post from The Street about the costs of solar energy made me consider the following:

• Most alternative sources of energy probably aren't a good investment at the current time due to the high initial cost, lack of financial incentives (like tax rebates/deductions), and the low amount of savings they deliver per use versus the "standard" sources of energy.

• That said, technology is likely to change quickly, bringing initial costs down and perhaps delivering more power versus current options. In addition, I think it's likely that our new president will offer some sort of tax savings for personal investment in alternative sources of energy.

• A friend of mine at work has already made some progress in this effort. He bought a corn/wood burner and in a few years has recouped the investment versus his propane costs.

• I'd like to take advantage of some alternative sources of energy someday. In particular, I'm most interested in/fascinated by wind power. Seems like we have plenty of wind in Michigan (more than we have of sun), so why not make use of it?

How about you? Anyone out there using or thinking of using alternative sources of energy? Are you going to do it only if you can save money or will you pay more to be more environmentally friendly?

Five Ways to Fly Cheap

Here's a list of five ways to fly cheap from CNN Money:

1. Fly during the slowest days of the week
2. Fly during the slowest time of the year
3. Fly to popular destinations at unpopular times
4. Buy during the cheapest times of the day
5. Buy a travel package, even if you don't need it

Let me summarize #1 through #3: be flexible. If you can be flexible in your travel arrangements, you can save a ton of money. When we went to Disney, we went in the off-season (still September), traveled on days most people didn't want to, and flew at times most people didn't want to. We capped it off by driving to an airport two-hours away versus flying out of the one that's 15 minutes from our house. The result? We paid less for four tickets than our friends did for one ticket flying in peak season at prime times.

Being flexible and traveling at non-peak times helps in other ways too: lodging, rental cars, and food are all generally less expensive as well because there's less demand. Better yet for our Disney trip, there weren't huge crowds at the parks. I think we waited 20 minutes for a ride at the most -- many waits we 10 minutes or less.

As far as #5 goes, you can get some great deals on packages, ignore part of them, and still save money on what you use versus what it would cost you to buy the usable portions elsewhere. We did this with Disney tickets. We bought packages and saved a bit (tiny) on the portion we did use.

Change Your Car's Oil Only When You Need To

We were talking about oil changes the other day and one of the ladies in our office noted how she always gets her oil changed every 3,000. A couple of us asked her if that's what her owner's manual suggested and she said she didn't know -- that she just gets it changed every 3,000 because that's what she's always done. That's what you're "supposed" to do in her opinion.

So consider this a news flash for those of you still changing your car's oil every 3,000 out of habit -- you may not need to. Consider this piece from Yahoo:

It’s been a misconception for years that engine oil should be changed every 3,000 miles, even though most auto manufacturers now recommend oil changes at 5,000, 7,000, or even 10,000 mile intervals under normal driving conditions.

Greatly improved oils, including synthetic oils, coupled with better engines mean longer spans between oil changes without harming an engine. The 3,000 mile interval is a carryover from days when engines used single-grade, non-detergent oils.

Not only is the outdated 3,000-mile rule costing you more money, but it's contributing to other problems:

Using 2005 data, the Board estimates that Californians alone generate about 153.5 million gallons of waste oil annually, of which only about 60 percent is recycled. Used motor oil poses the greatest environmental risk of all automotive fluids because it is insoluble, persistent, and contains heavy metal and toxic chemicals. One gallon of used oil can foul the taste of one million gallons of water.

In other words, we're throwing away (and using) much more oil than we need to be. Bad for our pocketbooks and bad for the environment.

Car service shops do all they can to perpetuate the 3,000-mile myth. Even my dealership -- who KNOWS that my car requires an oil change only every 7,500 miles -- puts a sticker on the top left side of my windshield reminding me to bring the car back in for an oil change in 3,000 miles. They even send me letters reminding me that it's probably been about 3,000 miles since I was in last -- and that I need an oil change. The place I regularly go to get my oil changed (I only go to the dealership when other works needs done -- they're too expensive otherwise) does the same thing with the window sticker. They want me to come back in 3,000 miles.

I take the stickers off the car and throw them away. I track my miles and have a note that reminds me when a change is really needed. I do this for both of our cars.

So if you're getting your oil changed every 3,000 miles simply because you're "supposed" to -- check your owner's manual and see what the real mileage should be. It could be 3,000 miles, but it's more likely that it's a lot higher than that.

Are Certified Cars Worth the Money?

I thought this article was a good follow-up to our discussion on when it's the right time to buy a new car. In this piece, Bankrate talks about certified cars as a way to get a quality used car that you can be fairly sure will last you a good, long time. (For those of you who don't know, to become "certified", a car is brought up to the manufacturer's standard for a used car and typically comes with an extended warranty.) But doing so comes at a price. Their summary:

The first thing a shopper will notice is that the certified vehicle will carry a significant premium over a similar vehicle that isn't certified.

For example, a 2005 Honda Accord LX sedan in outstanding condition with 20,000 miles would likely be listed by a dealer at about $16,000. If it's a certified vehicle, shoppers can expect to pay about $1,100 more for the same vehicle.

And what do you get for your $1,100, maybe not as much as you think if the extra warranty overlaps with the original one:

But the comprehensive 12,000-mile/12-month warranty may not be that valuable because it might overlap with what's left of the factory warranty on this hypothetical 20,000-mile Honda.

An alternative:

One option for the used car buyer is to save money by getting a noncertified vehicle and then buying a separate extended warranty.

But in the end, Bankrate does like certified cars:

In the final analysis, shoppers who are looking for a used car in a condition that comes as close as possible to the condition of a new vehicle likely will find the certified used vehicle to be the best deal. It offers value and a degree of peace of mind.

I'm interested in what you all think of certified cars. Are they worth the money? Anyone buy one (or refuse to buy one)?

People are Discovering Frugality

I found this piece very interesting. It's from MSNBC and talks about how the rapidly increasing prices of food and gas are making consumers look at saving money every way they can. In particular, the piece highlights the small, everyday savings consumers can realize if they simply put forth a bit of effort and have some self-control. A summary:

The "latte effect" of the go-go years had consumers spending $4 a day on coffee. Now the downturn is forcing them to rethink the wisdom of such habits.

As inflation squeezes budgets, middle-class Americans are taking fresh stock of their spending in search of ways to save a nickel or a dime. The result: People are giving up a variety of small financial vices.

For Michelle Hovis, that means refilling her husband's used soda container from a 2-liter bottle she buys on sale for 98 cents. She tweaked his daily habit of buying a 20-ounce bottle when the price crept up to $1.39.

A few thoughts here:

• It's nice to see people realizing that a good amount of money can be saved by cutting small levels of spending here and there. I've written about this before in these posts: Even a Small Leak Can Empty Your Money Bucket Quickly and Keeping Small Spending Under Control.

• Hopefully, these people can keep saving after the economic crisis has passed. It could help their finances dramatically.

• If they had started saving in small ways earlier, many Americans wouldn't be feeling the pinch they are now.

• And before someone says it -- yes, it's important to save on the BIG areas of spending too. That doesn't mean that "small" spending isn't an effective strategy, though.

More Gas-Saving Tips

I've posted tips for saving on gas before, but this piece from MSNBC has some new ideas that I haven't seen before. In particular, they focus on how to save on gas while traveling. Their list and my thoughts:

1. Buy gas the day before you travel. You already know where the best gas deals are near your house or office, so you might as well purchase the first tank of your trip at a price you know and can control.

I do NOT do this. Michigan has very expensive gas, and I know I can get a better deal in almost any other state. I wait to get out of Michigan (if I can) before I fill up (and coming back home, I fill up before I get into the state.)

2. Empty out your ride.

This is hard to do when you're taking a car trip. Our vehicle is usually packed with luggage for the trip. There's no room for wasted weight, but the whole vehicle is packed to the brim.

3. Choose an exit with several gas stations. You can usually tell these from the amenity signs on the highway leading up to the exit — the ones that list several fast food joints, local diners, hotels and gas stations. If the sign lists two or more stations, you will often benefit from the simple fact that there is competition for your business.

They also suggest choosing the station furthest from the exit ramp because it will likely have the lowest prices and be less crowded. I didn't know this (and am not sure it's even true.) Can anyone verify or deny these claims?

4. Use "official" rest stops. Oddly enough, these official rest stops tend to have fairly competitive prices.

Didn't know this as well. Again, anyone out there who can verify?

They also list some thoughts on how to save gas when renting a car -- click through to read that part if you're interested.

Then they end with the following information that I found very interesting:

A recent study found that, when searching for parking spaces, people lose the most time and burn up the most fuel by trying too hard to get too close to the entrance of the store, restaurant or hotel they are visiting. Not only that, they found that the harder you tried to park up close, the longer you waited overall.

The results found that:

• People who drove to the first obviously available spot and walked, no matter how far from the entrance, tended to get to the entrance first and burn the least fuel.
• People who drove around looking for the best spot, then parked when they found one, tended to get to the entrance next, and burned more fuel.
• People who waited to see someone who was about to pull out of their spot, then sat and waited for them to pull out and pulled into the spot, tended to get to the entrance last, and burned the most fuel.

Ha! I'm probably in the second group the most often, but control myself and am in the first group now and then too. How about you?

My Wife the Money-Saving Machine

A couple weeks ago my wife and I went food shopping while the kids were over at a friend's house playing (I know, we lead an exciting life.) As I've said before, my wife really knows how to save money, and grocery shopping is her specialty. She went armed with coupons, a rain-check (from a previous sale) and a store flyer. When we were done, I was amazed at the amount of savings she realized off the retail price. Here was the tally:

• Total cost of groceries before discount: $67
• Amount of savings/discounts: $17
• Net cost: $50

In other words, she saved 25% off the regular retail prices. As I was thinking about this experience, I had the following thoughts:

• We spend about $400 per month on food. If the purchase above was indicative of what my wife saves, this nets out to $100 per month she saves us or $1,200 per year. Not bad at all!

• How many people don't take the time and effort to save money on food purchases and simply buy what they want at full price? Those that do are paying a TON more than they need to be for food, I can tell you that for sure!

Weighing Your Produce CAN Save You Money

A few month's ago, we discussed weighing your produce as a potential money saving tip. I didn't have any experience with the idea at that point, but a recent trip to the store with my wife changed that. Here's what happened:

• She wanted to buy lettuce and the two heads of "regular" lettuce were listed as $X.XX (I didn't get the exact price) for what was supposedly 22 oz.
• The "organic" lettuce was listed as $X.XX (the same price as the regular) for what was supposed to be 12 oz. (almost 50% the size of the regular option)
• My wife thought they felt about the same and weighed them both.
• They both weighed 22 oz.
• She got the organic lettuce.

Whether or not you think organic lettuce has any more value than non-organic lettuce, the point about produce not always reflecting the stated weight holds. So weigh your produce to make sure you're getting what you think you are -- as well as potentially saving you some money (if a pack of potatoes is the same price as another pack, buy the heaviest option.)

And for those of you who have kids, here's a time-saving tip as well as a way to keep your kids busy/interested during shopping: have your kids weigh the produce while you keep shopping. My wife assigns the task to our 12-year-old. He weighs two options and tells her which is the heaviest. He has fun and it helps my wife shop faster.

How NOT to Shop for Wedding Supplies

Sometimes things are so funny because they are true. Unfortunately, these videos on how many people shop for wedding supplies (flowers and a cake in this instance) are that way. ;-)

How to Pay for a Wedding You Can't Afford

Check this out:

To help pay for her big day, the 23-year-old hairdresser has turned to eBay, auctioning off an opportunity to be one of her bridesmaids.

With a 1 -year-old daughter and a combined salary of about $32,000 per year, she and fiance Karl Gau, a 23-year-old roofer, are struggling to make ends meet, let alone save for the wedding, she said.

They intend to keep costs under $7,000 by using an iPod instead of a DJ for music and baking their own cake, Gray said. Booking the venue, the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel and Conference Center, alone will cost $3,100, she said.

Trying to keep costs below $7k? Seems like they could keep it waaaaaaay lower than that if they wanted to.

Save Over $5,000 on Sneaky Fees

Kiplinger has an article on what they call "sneaky fees", the extra charges like $2 here and $4 there from your bank, credit card issuer, and so on -- the same sort of fees talked about in Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day-and What You Can Do About It. It's a decent piece if you want some background, but there are more specifics in their list of ways to save over $5k on sneaky fees. Here's what they came up with:

• Reduce Your Bank and Credit Card Fees -- Total Annual Savings: $238
• Beat Back Investment Fees -- Total Annual Savings: $819
• Zap Cell Phone and Land Line Fees -- Total Annual Savings: $832
• Put a Stop to Car Rental Fees -- Total Annual Savings: $1,074
• Avoid Hotel Surcharges -- Total Annual Savings: $630
• Navigate Around Airline Fees -- Total Annual Savings: $1,170

A few thoughts on these:

1. I have no doubt that SOME people pay many of the fees they list, but I don't think many pay a majority of them. Or maybe they do. Maybe people are more clueless than I suspect.

2. I pay very few of these fees as many of them are easy to avoid.

3. Some of them are actually worth paying from a convenience standpoint (such as renting a car at the airport.) It may be worth the extra fee not to have to haul your bags across town on a shuttle. And if your company is paying for it and they don't mind, what's the issue?

I'd be interested in your take on this too. Are these fees something that most people see or not? How about you?

Three Ways to Lower Gas Prices

Just had a friend send me this. Click the link for a short video, try to ignore the fact that the speaker is Newt Gingrich, and listen to the ideas -- they seem to make sense to me.

I'd be interested in thoughts/comments from those of you more versed in this topic.

Don't Over-Buy on Your Next Vehicle

Here's a comment left on my post titled Nine Ways to Save on Gas This Summer:

There is a very interesting article in today's NY Times about the cost of driving. An excerpt:

While the F-250 costs $100,000 and a fully loaded F-150 — the better-known, smaller Ford pickup — costs about $70,000, a Ford Focus still costs less than $40,000 over five years. A Honda Civic Hybrid does, too. A Toyota Prius costs only a little more. A Subaru Outback station wagon runs $50,000 or so.

To put this in perspective, the difference between a Focus and an F-250 over five years is $60,000. The annual pretax income of a typical family in this country is also about $60,000. So choosing a F-250 over a Focus is like volunteering for a 20 percent pay cut. The relative resale values might cushion the blow a little, but not much.

That’s why more people are deciding that towing capacity and the other benefits of pickup trucks and S.U.V.’s are not worth the costs. The F-250 may still make sense for some business owners. But, as Mr. Fisher says, on those few occasions when the rest of us need to move some horses, we can rent a truck. “The new economics of car buying is, ‘Don’t overbuy,’ ” he told me. “Buy something you’re going to need most of the time.”

This is an excellent suggestion in my book. Most people I know do the opposite -- they buy for their highest-level of need (room, options, speed, etc.) and end up with more vehicle than they need most of the time. Instead, they should buy low and make alternative arrangements (like renting a car) when exceptional needs occur.

Nine Ways to Save on Movie Tickets

Here are nine ways to save on movie tickets from Smart Money:

• Seek out freebies
• Clip coupons
• Head to the drive-in
• Check out independent theaters
• Buy in bulk
• Avoid reservation sites
• Trade up on snacks
• Go at off-times
• Be loyal

Here's my take on these:

1. We have a kids' film festival here twice a year. Kids get in free and adults pay $2.50 each. The movies have been out a bit of time, but for a "big screen" experience, it's hard to beat this.

2. We regularly get coupons for a free popcorn, so while we have to shell out for the movie itself, the treats (which have unlimited refills) are free.

3. We don't have a drive in around here. Are these even still around? I haven't been to one in a couple decades (fun memories, though.) ;-)

4. We have a $3.50 per ticket theater here that shows movies after they have been out a few weeks. If you can wait a bit to see a film, it's a great deal.

5. We don't see enough movies to buy in bulk.

6. Does every theater charge more to book online? Seems like the tickets should charge less.

7. Better yet -- buy at Walgreen's and take snacks with you. The theater size candy there is $1 versus $4 at our theater.

8. Yeah, we save $0.50 for going at something like 3 a.m., but the time/cost savings tradeoff just isn't there.

9. Again, we don't go that often to rack up points.

As far as alternatives to theaters, we use the public library (free) and Blockbuster (cheap) for most of our movie entertainment. But if you watched a lot of DVDs (which we don't), I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to justify joining Netflix.

Another source for us -- we have friends that own over 500 DVDs. Their family has 12 people (mom, dad, and 10 kids), so buying the DVD is by far a better deal for them than going to the theater (though Netflix would probably work for them too.)

Over 800 Money Saving Ideas!

With people feeling the pinch from higher gas and food prices and thus looking for ways to save money, I thought it was worth a post to highlight the various money saving ideas I've shared over the years. I've had so many that I broke them up into different categories. Here they are:

• 519 money saving ideas -- This is a list of the money saving ideas from the start of this blog in 2005 to the beginning of 2007.

• 220 money saving ideas -- Most of my money saving ideas for 2007.

• 100 money saving ideas -- What I've posted so far in 2008.

If you can't find any ways to save extra money in these posts, then it's likely that you're already the world's greatest saver. ;-)

Save Money by Losing Weight

Here's an interesting piece form MSN Money that says you can save a bundle of money by losing weight. They talk about the issue from a national standpoint (What if no one in the country was fat?) and come up with a pretty big savings number:

Imagine a lean and healthy America: The savings on medical, fuel, food and other costs would be enough to give every U.S. household more than $4,000.

Read another way, if you're overweight and you lose to get back to your desirable weight, you could pocket $4,000! That's per year, by the way, so it adds up to being a pretty good deal ($200k at 9% for 20 years.). Not to mention you'll live a longer, healthier life. Looks like you'd win all the way around!

Most people lose weight for health reasons, but I'm curious: anyone out there lose for financial reasons?

Note: For those of you who watched "The Biggest Loser" last year, one guy did lose his weight for financial reasons -- he couldn't get on the company health insurance plan unless he got to a certain weight. he lost a ton of poundage (I think over 100 pounds) and made the weight needed to get insurance.

10 Tips to Save Money on Pet Care

Here's a listing of 10 tips to save money on pet care including:

• Spay or neuter. Spayed and neutered pets have fewer health and behavior problems.
• Keep ‘em healthy. Pet obesity can lead to other health problems, such as bone and joint trouble.
• Buy toys and chewies in bulk.
• Make your own dog or cat bed.
• Consider low-cost clinics for basic veterinary services.
• Shop around for medications. Your vet isn’t the only source for pet medications.
• Become a pet chef. Homemade pet food and treats are a great way to both save money and to control your pet's diet.
• DIY pet-sitting. Pet-sitters are great, but if you have a friend or neighbor that also owns a pet, consider swapping services when you go out of town.
• Make your own safe carpet cleaners.
• Take on the grooming.

Here's my take on these:

1. We always had our pets spayed or neutered. Didn't want any babies or the other difficulties that can come from a pet not "fixed."

2. Our cats were ALWAYS big/fat. Our dogs were fine, but they were outside and got tons more exercise. Cats and exercise don't seem to go well together.

3. How about skipping the toys or making your own?

4. We had a special word for our cat's bed: couch. My dad did save some money by making a doghouse, though.

5. Not sure where I'd find a low cost clinic around my home.

6. Just like you would with your own prescriptions.

7. My mom is the queen of this. Her dogs eat "well", but I'm not sure it's the most healthy food. It's human food re-worked with some pet food too. The dogs sure like it.

8. Another idea: ask someone to house sit for you. You can pay them about the same as taking the dog to the kennel, but you get your house watched too!

9. You mean pets make a mess on carpets? ;-)

10. If I can cut my own hair, I can certainly do the same for my pet.

How to Save Money When Eating Out

The Street offers 10 tips for saving money when eating out. Their list:

Have a snack: If you are going to go out to eat, learn to have a light, healthy snack before you go.

Appetizer dining: One way to save money at a restaurant is to cut out the appetizers, but another way is to focus on them instead of a full meal.

Coffee and dessert at home: Coffee and dessert are some of the most expensively marked-up items on restaurant menus. One easy way to save money when dining out is to simply save the coffee and dessert for when you get home. 

Pass on alcohol: Like dessert, alcohol is expensive when dining out. Instead, choose a nonalcoholic drink such as iced tea, which many restaurants provide with unlimited refills. If you really want to go frugal, you can skip the drink altogether and ask for a glass of water.

Split meals: If you follow the advice and have a small snack before going out to eat, you may be in a position to split a meal with the person you're dining with instead of each getting a full meal.

Take leftovers home: If splitting a meal in a restaurant makes you feel uncomfortable, getting a full-sized meal with the intent of taking home a portion can also save money. This will mean that you will have a meal to take to work the next day so that you don't need to make or buy one.

Take advantage of discount programs.

Avoid major holidays: This can actually cost you more. Holidays and special events like Mother's Day and Valentine's Day are the busiest times for restaurants, which means that restaurants will often have special, limited menus that cost more than their usual fare.

Change times: Most people think about dining out as an evening event, but if you can change yours to morning or lunch, you can dine for a lot less.

Give feedback: While you won't always receive something for your effort, you'd be surprised at how many times a thank-you response will arrive with discount coupons enclosed.

Here's my take on each of these:

1. Doesn't having a snack before you go out kind of negate the purpose of going out? Why not just eat in?

2. This has worked for me -- especially those sample appetizer dishes that include a bit of everything. On the negative side, they aren't that much cheaper than a normal dinner and they are usually really, really bad for you.

3. We don't drink coffee, but certainly the dessert comment rings true for us. Why pay $5 for each dessert when we can get a half gallon of ice cream for less than that?

4. We drink water all the time. It's better for you and doesn't add another $1 a person (at least) cost to the tab.

5. I can usually eat my meal and be ready for more. On the other hand...

6. ...my wife hardly ever eats all her meal. We always take it home and she'll eat it the next day.

7. My wife can find a coupon for almost everything. We also belong to the birthday club at Bob Evans, though I think that we end up going there more just to get our "free" kids meal (that's the point, isn't it?) ;-)

8. We hardly ever eat out on a "special day" because it's just too crowded. We usually prefer a day or two before the actual "holiday."

9. I love going out for breakfast!

10. Especially if you've had a bad meal, let them know. Most places will take it right off the check immediately.

12 New 'Necessities' That Drain Your Cash

Yahoo lists 12 new 'necessities' that drain your cash and the annual savings you'd realize by dropping them. Their list:

Daily Latte: Brew your own and save $25 a week, or $1,300 a year.

Cable TV: Dropping premium channels should save you about $25 to $30 a month, or $300 to $360 a year. If you're more ambitious, you can save a bundle by dropping premium and basic service. Basic service often runs about $30 to $35 a month, or $360 to $420 a year. So if you drop cable entirely, you'll save $55 to $65 a month, or $660 to $780 annually.

Manicure/Pedicure: If you only skipped one of each per month, you would save $50 to $110 a month, or $600 to $1,200 a year. Just doing your own weekly manicure will save you $520 to $1,300 annually.

Botox: Let nature take its course and save $1,200 to $4,800 a year.

Bottled Water: Drink tap water and pocket the $25 to $40 monthly fee for bottled water delivery, based on online averages.

Second Car: "We save at least $1,000 a month," she estimates.

Cell Phone: You can save $40 to $60 per month on average, or $480 to $720 per year, for every cell phone you eliminate. A prepaid plan used sparingly will save you money over a contract plan.

Lawn Service: The average cost for weekly mowing, hedge trimming and leaf blowing is $65 to $90. It's hardly a savings to shell out $260 to $360 a month, is it? Mow your own and save the dough. If you do enough lawn and garden work, you may even save the $35 to $40 you shell out each month for your fitness club membership.

Clothes: "I think most Americans could easily go for one year without buying any new clothes," Yeager says.

Private School: Go public and save anywhere from $8,000 to $35,000 per year, according to the Boarding School Review Web site.

Childhood Parties: "And they celebrate graduations, from preschool, for kindergarten, for elementary, junior high," she says. "When they get to be teens, the whole group has to go somewhere. By the time you graduate high school, now you go to Aruba."

Pet Grooming/Walking: The cost of grooming your dog averages $30 to $50 for small breeds, $50 to $70 for midsize breeds and $70 to $90 for large breeds. A pet walker on average runs $15 to $27 per walk. To save money, invest in a $25 set of electric clippers and learn online about how to groom your pet. You'll pay for the razor with the first haircut.

It's an interesting list to say the least and you can save a ton of money simply by avoiding some (most? all?) of these.

Here's where I stand on each of them:

• Daily Latte: I don't drink coffee except maybe once or twice a year on a special occasion. And I consider it more of a dessert than a drink since they put so much chocolate, flavors, etc. in the drinks now. Even whipped cream!!!

• Cable TV: Just rabbit ears for us. Yeah, we only get the local channels plus PBS, but we don't really need any more than that.

• Manicure/Pedicure: Nope. Interesting story though, we once counseled a couple who was going several hundred dollars into the hole each month. One of their weekly expenses was $90 for the wife's manicure and pedicure. We must have spent half an hour trying to convince her that these weren't necessities, but she just didn't get it. I thought I was going to blow a blood vessel on that one!!!! ;-)

• Botox: Since when is this a necessity?

• Bottled Water: We drink (filtered) tap water.

• Second Car: Guilty on this one. But we don't have mass transportation to my work and my wife an I go separate ways during the week. What's the alternative? For us it's a matter of convenience and practicality. And since we don't do most of these others, we have room to spend on this one. ;-)

• Cell Phone: My work pays for my cell phone and my wife/kids don't have one. We've talked about it, but the use of one doesn't really justify the cost.

• Lawn Service: We do it ourselves (and I actually enjoy it.)

• Clothes: I'm actually trying this -- seeing how few clothes I can buy this year. I love t-shirts (I wear them all the time) and they are my one downfall. Trying to have restraint in 2008.

• Private School: I think this is the same group getting Botox. Not for us.

• Childhood Parties: So far, our kids haven't wanted birthday parties, but my daughter is talking about one this year. But we certainly won't hire clowns, a baby elephant, a bouncy room, or anything of the like.

• Pet Grooming/Walking: I actually think this could be a great business. Lots of easy money here!!!

As you can see, we don't participate much in these "necessities" since, to us, they aren't really necessities.

How about you? Which ones must you have and which ones can you do without?

13 Secrets for Stretching Your Travel Dollar

MSNBC lists 13 "secrets" for stretching your travel dollar. They're meant as tips for international travelers, but many also work for any sort of trip you might take. A couple of them stood out to me:

Grocery shop. Go to the local supermarket and stock up on food, picnic and sandwich materials, and try to limit your restaurant visits to one a day. Get a room with a refrigerator or better yet, see how much more a kitchenette option would be.

We did this on our trip to Disney and saved a bundle. We rented a condo (lots more room at the same or less than a hotel room -- certainly less than a hotel room on the Disney property), stopped by a grocery store, stocked up, and ate most of our meals at the condo. We got to eat what we wanted, it was healthier, and it was tons cheaper. Yeah, we had to cook it, but how hard is it to make pasta anyway?

Book early. The earlier you book, the bigger the savings. Look for a price match as many airlines will match other airline flight prices. Sometimes you can get a cheaper ticket on a code-share airline that flies on the same flight. So while your ticket may say ABC it could be on XYZ, only cheaper.

I'd suggest a twist on this -- book when no one else is going. Go during the off-peak season and you'll save a fortune. We did this with Disney and plan to do the same when we go to Chicago this fall. For details on this line of thinking plus some more travel-related savings tips, see Strategies for Saving Money on Travel.

Is Too Much Treatment Hurting Your Health and Your Wallet?

Here's an interesting piece I found in the July issue of Consumer Reports. It says that aggressive medical care can cost you more money without improving your overall health. The details:

Patients treated most aggressively are at increased risk of infections and medical errors that come from uncoordinated care, such as doctors prescribing drugs that duplicate or interact with other drugs. They also tend to receive poorer care, spend a lot more money for co-payments, and are the least satisfied with their health care, the Dartmouth researchers found.

A few thoughts on this issue:

1. This situation impacts your money because you're spending more and not getting anything of value from it.

2. It's also an issue that needs to be considered as our nation/government considers what to do about affordable healthcare (which can/will impact taxes for us all.) Many Americans equate "more healthcare" with "better healthcare", but this isn't necessarily true.

3. If you're not healthy, it doesn't matter how much you own. It's hard to enjoy the fruits of your labor if you're gasping for breath. It's also hard to earn a living. That's why good healthcare is a key part of a solid financial plan as well as vital for most people to enjoy life to its fullest.

4. This is the issue that could derail retirement.

A Real-Life Example of How to Save $1,300 in Less than Two Hours by Shopping Around for Car Insurance

Travis, a regular Free Money Finance reader, left a comment on this site saying he had saved a bundle by shopping around for car insurance. I emailed him and asked if he would share his story with all of us. He was gracious enough to do so -- here's what he had to say.

Have you ever had the feeling that you’re getting screwed but you don’t have proof yet? That’s how I felt about my wife and I’s insurance policies. The thought had been plaguing me for two years, and yet I did nothing about it. I was once mentored by a millionaire who told me that people always want to learn how to get rich, but the first step should be plugging the leaky holes in your bucket. If you get more money, you’ll just lose it twice as fast as you did before unless you plug the areas where you’re losing money now. And one major area is home and auto insurance. I “knew” this and yet did nothing for two years. I hope this helps you see that the secret in getting rich is not in the “how to”, it’s in the “to” (the actual doing). I just recently got married so changing insurance was on the endless list of things to do, so I explored my intuitive feeling, of being screwed, and here is what happened:

1.) I got out the phone book and called around to all the insurance companies in the area who’s names I recognized (Geico, Allstate, Farmers, Progressive, etc. etc.). Geico had the lowest quote.

2.) I called our current carriers, Statefarm for me, and Farmers for my wife. Explained that we had a lower quote and wanted to see if they could match it (I’ve been with Statefarm for 16 years, talk about loyal). No luck, they couldn’t match it, and to be honest they didn’t even seem to care one bit that I was thinking about leaving. They were very short with me.

3.) I was ready to call Geico and guess what, a had another intuitive feeling that there was more to do so I did a quick Google search for “how to save on home and auto insurance”, searched all of my favorite blogs, and somewhere I found a link to this site. I went there and grudgingly filled in all of my information (I hate filling out online forms). It printed out a sheet of matches for insurance carriers, and said that they would contact me.

4.) About four of the eight contacted me within a day or two and a small local company had the lowest quote. It was a company that I had never heard of before. The name of the company was merely the owner’s last name. His quote was so darn low, I became skeptical. He explained that since he is not under one carrier anymore (Allstate) he can now shop around to different carriers and get the best deal for his customers. We settled on a quote from Safeco.

5.) Because of my skepticism I went to www.bbbonline.org and did a Better Business Bureau search for his company, no complaints (I forgot to check our local chamber of commerce).

6.) I went to http://www.naic.org/cis/index.do to see if the insurance company (Safeco) had any complaints.

7.) I went to http://www3.ambest.com/ratings/default.asp to check out the rating of the insurance company (Safeco). (a shortcut to steps 5-7 is to simply ask the sales agent to send you the information that you want)

8.) I checked out an unusual but helpful site http://www.badfaithinsurance.org/. This is a site that my former millionaire mentor uses.

9.) I called the sales agent back and signed up. I went in to meet him, talked about life, family, and got to know him. I paid for a year up front (it’s cheaper that way).

Oh, and in case you’re wondering the coverage’s are higher than we had before. This was about an hour and a half of work spread out over a week, 10-15 minutes a day. Our deductibles are $1,000 for house and car. I drive a 1989 Honda Accord (my focus is now on riches not reputation). My wife drives a 2005 Suzuki Forenza (she’s jumped on board too).

Old Premiums

• 1989 Honda $176.42 every six months
• 2005 Suzuki $642.80 every six months
• Homeowners $542.75 for the year

New Premiums

• 1989 Honda $77.40 every six months
• 2005 Suzuki $192.60 every six months
• Homeowners $355 for the year

Yearly Savings: $1286.19 or $107 a month that will now go to paying off debt and then to some kind of investment (mutual fund, index fund, ETF, Stock, etc. etc.)

TIPS THAT I PICKED UP ON WHILE SEARCHING FOR CAR INSURANCE

1.) Get a pen and paper and write all of your quotes on the SAME piece of paper. (I used to just grab whatever was near me to write on)

2.) Every time you get a quote ask the sales agent what discounts you qualified for. WRITE THEM DOWN, on the same piece of paper! They will come in handy.

3.) Each new quote you get, ask the sales agent if you qualify for the following discounts: (the ones you wrote down in step 2). If you keep doing this you will notice that some insurance agents don’t automatically apply all of the discounts that you qualify for when they quote you. You have to be proactive.

4.) My credit score is lower than my wife’s and my lovely banker gave me a secret that has saved us thousands of dollars. Whoever has the better credit put them as the applicant and the lower credit person as the co-applicant. Even though I was on the application they used my wife’s credit score and hers only. My new insurance agent said insurance works the exact same way. So…whoever has the best credit ask the agent to quote you using their name and social. The bad credit person I believe will just be a co-driver. I’m not sure how it works with insurance but I did ask him to run the quotes both ways with me first, then my wife first, and as we expected the quote came back less with her name first (because of her good credit).

5.) I also noticed that on his quote he had the policy effective date about 3 weeks out. I asked him why and he explained that it’s a little insurance trick. He said that with some insurance carriers if you quote the insurance far ahead in the future it triggers another discount. Something along the lines of, you are reward for shopping around early instead of waiting to the last minute and shopping for insurance the day your policy is about to expire.

6.) Have a conversation with the sales agent. Ask them do they enjoy their job, does their family carry the insurance that they are quoting you. Just get to know them. A friend will try to save you money before a stranger will. You’ll be surprised how much “insider information” they will share with you once they get to know you.

How to Save on Cooling Costs

Here are some Consumer Reports tips via Yahoo on how to save on cooling costs this summer. Their list:

• Use fans more. Fans cost little to run, and they create a breeze that can help people feel cooler.

• Create some shade. Close the drapes and blinds, and roll out the awnings to filter the sun.

• Swap lightbulbs. Incandescent bulbs produce about 75 percent more heat than Energy Star-qualified compact fluorescent lights.

• Summerize the house. Add insulation and seal air leaks.

• Use the A/C wisely. Installing an air conditioner in a shady spot could increase its efficiency by up to 10 percent. For people who have central air conditioning, annual energy bills can be cut by about 10 percent by using a programmable thermostat.

• Maintain the A/C. Clean the air filter on window units and central A/Cs monthly or as needed.

Here's my take on each of these:

1. We use both regular and ceiling fans to cool the house up to a certain point. We also have an attic fan and often "blow out the house" at night when we go to bed since it's often in the 60's at night even if it's been much warmer during the day.

2. Still an on-going family battle for us. Which is worse -- heat or dark?

3. I never really thought about the heat associated with regular light bulbs.

4. An on-going issue for most homeowners for both winter and summer -- seal those leaks!

5. We have a programmable thermostat and use it year around.

6. I check the air filter once a month and change as needed.

Save Money by Bartering

Here's an article that talks about the benefits of bartering -- of trading something you do/own for something you want/need. For example:

• A New York attorney offering to prepare a simple will and healthcare proxy in exchange for the services of an experienced floor sander or painter.

• A San Francisco parent interested in trading two sets of luggage for beer or wine for her son's baptism party.

• A painter in San Francisco willing to proffer his services for a Harley.

I don't really do much (any? I can't think of anything I barter) bartering, but I love the idea of it.

How about you? Any barterers out there?