Frugal Friday - Getting Your Money Back

I haven't posted a Frugal Friday tip for some time - but when I rec'd an email this morning, I thought I'd go ahead and post this tip.

If you are unhappy with a product - let the company know. You can write them or email them or telephone them. Sometimes you can return the product if it is unsatisfactory - but it's not always convenient. When a product has been opened and partially used - a refund may be even more difficult.

Case in point. We were out at Target when my son, clad in his "foamy shoes" (as we call them), announced he had some popped blisters that were paining him. He had on bare feet in his shoes. So I pulled out a couple of bandaids and fixed him up in a jiffy. About 5 min later the bandaids were falling.

But fear not - we were at Target and so I headed to the pharmacy area and found some bandaids that were waterproof and advertised as stronger than regular bandaids with some duct tape like qualities that make them stick better. Sounded like just what I needed. Bought the bandaids, got to the car, put on the bandaids and within a few minutes they were unstuck!!

I was not going to drive back to Target to see if they'd refund my money - too much of a hassle. But when I got home, I found the website for the bandaids and sent an email, detailing my troubles. The super stick bandaids - were not so sticky.

I got an email this morning from the company, apologizing and saying that a reimbursement (which I had not requested) was on it's way.

So - if you are unhappy with a product - write a letter. Send an email. Be pleasant and courteous and outline exactly what the problem is. I have done this a few times on various items and usually have received my money back (usually in the form of coupon - like "good for up to $5.00 on any of our other products).

For more Frugal Friday tips - head on over to Biblical Womanhood.

The reverse of this has also worked - if you find a new product that you are crazy about - let the company know and free samples or coupons could be on their way.

Frugal Friday - Free Legal Forms

Many public libraries offer free, to card carrying members, various legal forms. Official, State Specific, Federal, Business, Personal, Real Estate and General forms covering hundreds of legal subjects and issues, are available. All you need is a library card - and a library that subscribes to this service.

They do post a disclaimer that if you have SERIOUS legal problems or situations that are not normal (ie. you have an estate worth millions of dollars that you plan on leaving to some obscure charity rather than your 2 ex-wives, 3 step-children and your dog) – that you ought to consult an attorney.

But if you have a regular run of the mill situation, these forms may work for you. So if you have on-line access to your library check and see if they have Thomson Gale legal forms.

If you need help with filing for bankruptcy or divorce (hopefully not!) or want to legally change your name, write up your Last Will and Testament or give someone Power of Attorney – forms are available.

There are also sample letters you can print out – letters to enroll in COBRA, to request that your name be removed from mailing lists, to request a credit report of a minor, to request that your tenant vacate your property etc.

Tax forms are also available.

For more Frugal Friday tips - head on over to Biblical Womanhood.

Frugal Friday - Fix It Yourself

Your clothes dryer won't dry. Your washing machine won't wash. Your furnace won't turn on. What should you do? Call a repairman or just buy a new one?

You're frugal so you decide to call a repairman to come out and fix it...maybe he'll charge you $150 to fix said appliance or only charge you $75 to come out and tell you it can't be fixed, and now that $75 can be added to the cost of a new whatever machine.

My Frugal Friday Tip this week is to try and fix it yourself. Or if you are like my family, have your husband try and fix it first.

Most women are probably not married to a major appliance repairmen (if you are - consider yourself blessed!) - but if it means saving $100 or hundreds of dollars, isn't it worth a try?

With the internet, there isn't a whole lot you CAN'T find out about. Let's take the dryer not working. Just Google "How to fix your dryer" or "Dryer won't work" and tons of hits come up. In less than 5 min I came up with a website for the "Virtual Repairman" - a website that details how to fix various household appliances along with illustrations. I think they sell the parts also - but before you buy a part from him or someone else - check the prices on eBay first, you'll probably find it for pretty cheap.

I know when a machine breaks down - it's one you use regularly and can't wait a month to fix (usually). But it might be worth waiting a week, to see if you can fix it yourself. Like my dryer. It had stopped spinning one day last month. By using the internet (free) my dh was able to diagnose the problem, order a part and figure out how to replace the part. It was fixed within a week - the down time mostly from waiting for the part to arrive.

Total cost to fix the dryer ourself - $16.55 (Whirlpool Dryer Belt Idler Maintenance Kit (NEW).

Go here to check out some more Frugal Friday Tips.

Frugal Friday - Reduce Medical Costs

My Frugal Friday tip is to reduce medical costs (now and/or in the future) by striving towards a healthier lifestyle.

I am thankful to be living in a country where medical care is easily accessible, where medical technology is advanced and where some of the best doctors and medical experts reside.

But...I do not like the high cost of medical insurance (I lived most of my life in Canada where medical care was "free" - but then again, you got what you paid for).

I do not like being sick. I do not like visiting the doctor. Ditto visiting the dentist. It can be an unpleasant experience, it can be painful, it can be stressful and it costs money! I don't mind spending money on pleasurable pursuits - but paying for pain isn't my idea of money well spent!

How can you and I potentially reduce our medical costs? Two words - diet and exercise. Sure we all know that we ought to eat better and exercise more for the benefit of good health - but for all you Frugalites out there - maybe it's time to think of it from a financial perspective too.

When I say "diet" I don't mean going on a diet - but having healthy eating habits. By "exercise" I don't mean the things you hear or read in books like, "When you are at the mall, park your car far away from the entrance so that you have to walk a bit further and get some exercise - or take the stairs instead of the elevator." Sure those things are good - but if that's all you are going to do - it's not going to make a lick of difference. By "exercise" I mean doing something daily or even every other day - that makes you sweat, that makes your heart race, that makes you tired out, that makes you feel fit!

Being sick can be expensive... a trip to the doctor...a trip to the pharmacy...a trip to see a specialist recommended by your doctor - it adds up pretty quickly. But the cost is nothing in comparison to surgery to clean out clogged arteries. Or the cost of being on daily medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol etc.

Diet and exercise isn't always the answer - you can eat well, exercise daily, run marathons and still end up with cancer. You can eat well, exercise daily, run marathons and still end up falling down the stairs, breaking your neck and ending up paralyzed. You can eat well, exercise daily, run marathons and then visit a 3rd World Country, get bit by an insect and contract a fatal illness. You can eat well, exercise daily, run marathons and die in a car crash.

Those are all things we cannot control and we are not responsible for things we cannot control.

But if there is something we can control, that would considerably decrease our chances of heart disease, or high blood pressure or diabetes - shouldn't we do it? The rewards are two-fold...a healthier body and money saved.

From The American Heart Association website, "Better food habits can help you reduce your risk for heart attack." They also say, "Physical inactivity, along with cigarette smoking, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol, is one of the major modifiable risk factors for heart attack. There is no guarantee that you won't get heart disease, but you'll reduce your chance of heart disease if you avoid the risk factors."

For more Frugal Friday tips - visit Crystal at Biblical Womanhood.

Frugal Friday - Monitoring Electricity Usage

Here is my Frugal Friday tip - buy, beg, borrow or steal a "Kill A Watt".

About a year ago we purchased a little device called a "Kill a Watt" (KAW). "Simply connect any appliance to the Kill A Watt™, and it will assess how efficient they really are. A display will count consumption by the Killowatt-hour, same as your local utility. You can calculate your electrical expenses by the day, week, month, even an entire year. Also check the quality of your power by monitoring Voltage, Line Frequency, and Power Factor. Now you´ll know if it is time for a new refrigerator or if that old air conditioner is still saving you money."

Having this little device can let you know in seconds how efficient your appliances are. For instance - the little heater living beneath my desk in the basement - sucks up a-lot-O-watts. If it were not for the fact that the basement borders on sub-arctic temperatures in the winter, and my computer lives in the basement...I might have to give it up.

But since I'd prefer to advert the danger of hypothermia - I'm gonna keep it, but I'll monitor the use of it. If I leave my desk, even for a few minutes - I (usually) turn it off.

The KAW costs about $23 on Amazon or you can find them on eBay for various prices. I don't like the idea of spending money to save money, but it might end up saving you a lot more money than the amount you spent for the KAW in the first place.

Better yet - after you've used your KAW to test all your appliances etc. - sell it on eBay. You probably won't get back what you paid for it - but something is better than nothing. Or get together with a sibling or friend and divvy up the cost.

For more Frugal Friday tips - please head on over to Crystal at Biblical Womanhood.

Super Cheap Magazine Subscriptions

Well the cheapest magazines you can find are the ones you can check out from your local library and read for free.

But there are some magazines that are worth keeping around…magazines where you’ll be cutting out recipes or saving articles…or that will be read and re-read.

For instance, I enjoy reading “Family Fun” magazines. Four years ago I bought a four year subscription on eBay. I do not remember the cost but it was less than $20 – I’m thinking it was $10. Right - $10 for a 4 yr subscription on a monthly magazine. This magazine has craft and game and family ideas – so my 8 yr old has always enjoyed looking at it too. And she re-reads the copies until they are dog-eared. So for us this is a magazine worth buying a subscription to – as long as we can continue to get it for just about free. $10.00 divided by 44 magazines (I think they combine the Dec/Jan issue) works out to about 23 cents per issue. I just saw a 4 yr subscription to this magazine on eBay for $3.78 - less than a dollar per year.

Now now all magazines are this cheap - others might be $10.00 for a year, which also isn't bad if you generally are spending $4.00 per issue retail.

How can magazines sell subscriptions so cheaply? It’s the advertising in the magazines that pays for the publishing of the magazine. Sure they’d love to make a lot of extra money by selling you a year subscription for a lot more money - but if they can't sell it to you for retail, they'll sell it to you for something.

I have bought numerous subscriptions on eBay for myself and for gifts. Take heed though. Out of all the subscriptions I’ve bought – about 2 “went bad”. The seller looked legit but then before I even rec’d one magazine – the eBay seller closed up shop. No refund from the seller. No help from the magazine. In spite of this – I think it’s worth the “risk”.

I try to only buy from eBay sellers with not only high feedback rating – but lots of feedback over a long period of time. If I have success with one seller – then I try to order my next subscription from him too.

For more Frugal Friday tips - go visit Crystal at Biblical Womanhood.

Frugal Friday - Saving $ Mailing Packages

Mailing packages is expensive. Mailing packages to Canada and overseas is even MORE expensive. It's pretty bad when you spend a lot more on the shipping, than on the item being shipped!

Here is how I save a bit of money.

If I am mailing magazines to my sister overseas - I tear out all the little paper inserts and all the pages that are just advertising. I'm sure she doesn't mind (you don't, right Kelly??) One magazine before removing the "extras" was 1 lb - after removing the "extras" it weighed 10 oz. An envelope weighing 1 lb to my sister overseas would cost $10.10 - a 10 oz envelope would cost $8.65...saving $1.45. Most packages I send weigh much more than 1 lb - so the savings is even more significant. A first class package weighing 4 1lb would cost $27.50...a 3 1lb package would cost $21.70...saving $5.80.

I also try to remove any unnecessary packaging on the items I send...you know how you buy a little toy and it has huge amounts of extra cardboard and or plastic...when prudent, I cut it off or remove it. Obviously you don't want to cut off any instructions for an item, or something that would make the item more likely to break - but the stuff that is going to be thrown in the trash right after it's opened, is fair game.

I know things tend to look used if you remove packaging and such - and if that is a concern to you, you could always include a little note stating that the item is new and that you removed the excess packaging. By removing huge packaging you may also be able to fit the items into a smaller box thereby saving even more on shipping. Or it might just mean that the recipient gets the bigger box, filled with MORE stuff - rather than more stuffing.

You can also save money on shipping by using free "Kraft" paper for wrapping up your parcel.

For more Frugal Friday tips - please visit Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood.

Frugal Friday - Is Frugality a Fallacy?

Crystal is hosting a Frugal Friday. Here is my Frugal Friday tip - does frugality even work? Is it a fallacy? Fallacy is defined as "a misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning ". Is your reasoning on pinching pennies incorrect?

Let me begin by saying that we do try to live frugally and responsibly with our money. We try not to waste food, spend inordinate amounts of money on fleeting pleasures, or to spend money to keep up with the proverbial Joneses. Once in awhile I do re-use my ziplock bags or my tinfoil (only if it’s been on dry foods). I shop at garage sales and thrift stores and I even used cloth diapers (though I was never totally convinced of the savings vs the work and hassle).

It seems like so often people that are trying to save money/make money – get out of debt - get so caught up in the little things, little ways to save money, to live frugally, that they miss the forest for the trees.

They become fixated on the nickel and dime stuff but they do not tackle the bigger issues. They give themselves the illusion of frugality but it doesn’t amount to much.

No one ever avoided the poor house b/c they washed their tinfoil, turned the thermostat down at night, saved every extra packet of ketchup from fast food restaurants, recycled their Christmas cards or made their own cleaning products from vinegar. These all are good things, “waste not, want not” and all that – but if you really want to make a difference – your whole lifestyle needs to change and you need to focus on the major issues.

Again to avoid offending anyone – I am not saying that you shouldn’t do the little things too, I’m always happy to save a couple of dollars – and I realize that some people are doing the little things because they have no control over the “big things”, and every penny does count. That’s right – but the bigger pennies count for more.

For a few years, my dh and I were financial counselors through a Christian organization. There was only one case that I can remember – where the financial problems were due to a lack of money (a young couple starting out, lots of college bills, and wife newly pregnant). Most of the financial problems were due to the following:

Too many cars – or expensive cars
Too big/expensive of a house
Paying for private school education or kids’ college

For the most part, the people we saw were not spending too much money on entertainment or on gifts or on vacations or in savings accounts – because they did not have the money to do so. Some of them had budgets, some did not – some probably kept track of every penny but it didn’t help.

The decisions you make on the choice of a house can mean hundreds of dollars a month once you consider all the costs of housing (more taxes, more work, more furniture needed, higher utilities). And a difference of $5,000-10,000 a year. If you are not right on the big stuff, saving $5 a week on brown-bagging it – isn’t going to make a difference. If you are buried 10 ft deep in debt, a spoon isn’t much help.

Nickel and diming will never make a difference when you are up against too much house, or too many cars, or monthly tuitions that are above your means. Take care of the big issues and then all the small things WILL make a difference.

Frugal Friday - Teaching Kids To Be Money-Wise

Crystal is hosting a Frugal Friday/Making Your Home a Haven...my "Frugal Fridays" post is about teaching children to save money, and about the concept of interest.

For the past 2 or 3 years we have been giving our 2 children a small allowance. It’s based on a flat figure plus their age – so the older child receives a bit more than the younger.

The allowance is not given as “payment” or reward for doing chores – we want them to realize that the chores are just something they do based on the fact that they are part of the family and that we all work together.

We came up with the purpose of the allowance interest plan first – to teach the benefits of saving and growing money. And in order to teach them about money, we had to first provide them with some money.

This is what we do. Each month the children receive their allowance. The money is given to them in cash. Then they have the option of depositing the cash into “The Dad Bank” (DB) aka “Fridge Money”. Any money that remains in the DB at the end of the month, we gives them an additional 5% interest on that amount. The kids can either take the interest in cash or deposit it back into the DB, thereby increasing their interest the next month.

If they receive any additional money throughout the month it is also deposited into the DB.

When we are out shopping and the kids want a treat (a toy or book or ice-cream etc) they know it comes out of their DB account – and if that money decreases, there will be less interest that month. If they want to buy presents for the rest of the family on birthdays, or Christmas – this is where there money comes from. Most of the time physical money is not exchanging hands – but is all kept track of in a spread sheet.

Each month the children are informed of their savings total in the bank, their allowance and their interest for that month.

Not only does this method teach the children about interest, but also to be responsible for some money and to have to be the one to decide whether or not it's a "wise decision" to take out some money from their DB and spend it. There have been numerous times when one or the other child has asked me whether I thought it was a "wise decision" for them to buy something and if I answered "no" they would put it back. Sometimes they will put it in the cart, think about it for awhile and then decide for themselves that it wasn't a "wise decision".

The amount of the allowance and the amount of the interest doesn't matter - you can choose whatever amounts you are comfortable with. But also remember that in order to learn about money, children need to have some that is considered their own. You can't expect a 16 year old with their first job to automatically know how to handle money - they need practice.

Frugal Friday - Lowering Your Expectations

Crystal is hosting "Frugal Friday" which consists of many links to helpful tips on living frugally.

Even though my posts are primarily about food and eating exotically (which may sound expensive but it isn't), I thought I'd join in and post a tip.

Lowering your expectations.

Settling for something less. Here is one way to be happy living a frugal life – lower your expectations. Be content with less-than-perfect. Easier to say than to do. The new dining room table you desperately want is $1500. It would look fabulous in your new dining room and you’ve never had a dining room before…so you REALLY want it.

But then you find one second hand for $250. Maybe a listing in the newspaper, maybe a friend is getting rid of hers. It’s not EXACTLY what you want and it’s not new – but you know what, it’ll work. Might have a few nicks and scratches, but so will the new one in a year.

You’d really like to buy your son that new bike for Christmas. He is 7. It will be his first “real” bike, so you want it to be special. A new bike is $140 – the thrift store has one for $50. The $50 one is a few years old, needs it’s tires pumped and a wash-down. But it will do. What your son really wants is the bike itself.

Now there are times when you don’t want to “settle” for something less. Obviously something that would comprise your health or the well being of your family isn’t any good. “Settling” for a prospective husband or wife is not a good idea either.

Set an example before your kids of having “lower expectations” when they are young. The other day we were out shopping at the mall and my dd saw the prices of mall clothing. “Wow” she said “no wonder you shop at the thrift store.”

It’s not a new tip to buy something used – the tip is in lowering your expectations of what you really need or want.