Posts Tagged ‘Ideas’

Enough Already with the Debt Ads

Are you just as sick as I am of those “get help with your debt” ads on tv? I know I am. I even saw one the other night in Italian as I watched an Italian-language replay of the Italy – USA soccer match from the Confederations Cup! <sigh>

But I do applaud those debt relief companies for trying to expand their business beyond their usual clientele. And lord knows some of us can use the debt help, just witness all those shows on tv like Till Debt Do Us Part.  Not everyone is as finance-conscious as we all are, right?

I found an interesting article online that gave a great name to our ignorance: debt denial. It’s great, alliterative, and so true. We all have, at some point, just ignored the numbers on our bank statments or even just refused to open the bills that come in the mail from time to time — that’s classic denial. We just want to live life the way we want, rather than the way we should.

This blog helps keep me honest, as I tell y’all about the silly things I do, like having an overspend day, or how I found some change on the ground. (see the sidebar for the totals) Seeing everything in black and white forced me out of my denial and made me face what exactly I had done to get myself in this mess. It’s not for everyone, but if works for you, do it! But most of all, I recommend that you face your finances, face your debts and stop denying them because life will be so much better if you worried about more important things, like your health and your family.

Just stop the denial! Your spirit will thank you.

Saving Money at the Movies

Being a member of CAA means I get access to discounted tickets for a number of events and things to do around the country. One of them is discounted movie tickets. Instead of spending $11 for a matinee or $14 for a regular priced movie, I can buy the tickets for $8.50, which is a steal!

What’s even better about these tickets is that they’re considered “tickets”, not “passes”, so I can use them on opening weekend of a movie (like I did this weekend.) A friend dragged me to see Fast & Furious because she wanted to see Paul Walker up close. Plus I’m a bit of a gear-head, so I didn’t mind going.

People can buy these tickets at a number of places, if you’re a CAA member you can buy them through them, , and through some property management companies (my apartment building has them.) So just take a look around and see where you might be able to buy some, you can have a cheap night out!

The Dilemma With Found Money

Oh happy day, but this week I got my income tax refund from the government! YIPPIE! I think it might have been a record for them, as it took them only 13 days to get it to me. Gotta love direct deposit, that’s for sure.

But now I’ve got a dilemma-what to do with the money. Because I’m currently not working full-time, I’ve got some options for the money. I had previously blogged that I was going to split it into thirds and send the money into debt repayment, emergency fund, and something else (hadn’t figured out what to do with that final third.) These are good option, however I have since changed my mind, mainly because of course I’ve only made $5 as a freelancer so far.

So my options are:

1. Move the money into one of my Lines of Credit. This has the benefit of giving me immediate access to the money, as well as saving me money on the interest I’m being charged, since it’s calculated daily.
2. Move it into my Citizen’s Bank Global Chequing Account. This also gives me the benefit of immediate access to the money, but also earns me a bit of interest on it.
3. Move into my emergency fund. This will replenish what I’ve taken out, plus earn me more interest than Option 2.
4. Pay off the Visa card. Okay, the refund wouldn’t pay it all off, but it would take care of about 57% of that card’s balance, which of course would save me money on the interest.
5. Pay off the MasterCard. Again, this doesn’t cover the entire amount, but it would take care of 38% of the balance, and save me money on the interest.

My main hesitation on moving the  money to either credit card is simply the fact that if I need access to the money for something like rent, I can’t get to it. And since the refund amount wouldn’t clear the entire balance, I couldn’t really use it for living expenses either, you know?

For the time being, I’ve just moved it to the TD Line of Credit so I at least save on the interest, but I’m not entirely convinced I want to just leave it there, you know?

What are your thoughts? Which option do you vote for?

How To Save Money With Your Office Supplies

A few months ago I bought some Pilot G2 pens to use around the office. These ones are supposedly the “best” ones to use, because of their “security” feature: you can’t wash out anything written with one of them. This is a useful feature when signing those cheques or anything else with your signature. The document cannot be used fraudulently. I know this isn’t a big concern for most people, but still, I thought it was a nice feature.

Plus I’m just a sucker for a great writing pen, and these are definitely fun to use.

I had bought a three-pack for around $10 or $12, and I was a little sad to see that they seemed to be disposable pens. Until yesterday.

I finished off the blue one last week, and threw it out. I’m not a huge environmentalist, but I was a little annoyed that such a well-made pen was disposable.

Then yesterday I was in my local discount department store, and saw that they DO make refills for the G2 pen! Hot diggity! So I immediately picked up a 2-pack of refills for $4, not a bad deal. But of course on the drive home I had to remember if I still had the empty pen. Luckily due to my lazy housekeeping skills this week I hadn’t actually emptied out the trashcan in my office, so this morning I fished around in there and found it! I discarded the empty cartridge, put in the new one, and voila! I’m good to go.

What’s the lesson here? Well, it’s that you can save money by buying refillable pens. Sure, they might be a little more expensive for the initial outlay, but in the end you save money with the refills that could be up to one-third cheaper than an entirely new pen.

How have you been saving on your office supplies? Buying printer paper in bulk? Leave a comment and let me know.