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Save Money on Car Rentals

Carol — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:34:01 +0000

In this tough economy, most hotels and airlines have cut prices to offer incentives to bring in customers. But car rental companies have done just the opposite…they’ve raised prices. Average rates have gone up double what they were last year.

Here are a few ways to beat the high prices. These may be unconventional but they will save the money.

Rent Away from the Airport

When you rent a car at the airport, you’ll not only be paying the high rent but also airport taxes and fees to boot. Leave the airport and rent a car in town. Most rentals will be cheaper and you won’t be paying the fees. The worst part is just getting back and forth to the airport.

Zipcar

Pay an annual fee of $50 and you can drive anything from Ford Escapes to Mini Coopers for as little as $6 an hour. Zipcar is located in more than 60 cities in North America and the U.K. Zipcar also lets you rent by the hour if you only need it a little while. And insurance and gas are included. You can make your reservation online and your plastic Zipcard acts as a universal key.

Rent from a Car Dealer

Many dealers will rent cars. In fact, about 70% of Toyota dealers and 35% of Ford dealers rent cars by the day. These cars are often brand new, and the rates are reasonable. But you have to contact dealers directly to find one who rents. It’s also a smart way to rent a car that you’re thinking of buying before you take that step.

Rent-a-Wreck

The oldest and largest used car rental company in the world, Rent-a-Wreck has over 150 locations. They may affectionately refer to their cars as wrecks, but their fleet of clean, well maintained and safety inspected vehicles has kept customers happy and safe for over 35 years. There’s one main difference between normal rental cars and theirs; their cars usually have from 40,000 – 80,000 miles on them. But when you save over 75% off the normal rental price, you’ll quickly forget about that.

Save Money by Rounding Checkbook Figures

Carol — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 13:58:43 +0000

Here’s a simple, painless way to save a bit of money. When you write a check for a payment, make sure you write the real amount on the check, Then, in your checkbook register, round the figure up. For example, if you write the check for $8.69, enter it in your checkbook as $9.00. This will “add” 31 cents that you won’t see.

When you deposit money into your account, round the figure down. If you’re depositing $34, then enter it as $30. This add $4.00 that you won’t see.

Of course, the extra amounts will actually be in your bank, but because you didn’t write it down, you don’t spend it. You will never, see or feel the lack of these small amounts but over time, it adds up to big savings.

Save Money and Stop Paying for Useless Stuff

Carol — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:37:40 +0000

We’ve all done it…fess up! We’ve bought that utterly useless gadget or trinket. Next year’s garage sale fodder, I like to call it. Last summer when Geri, myself and a couple other close friends spread out all our useless stuff on my driveway for our now annual garage sale, it’s easier to see how much money we’ve wasted on things we really either didn’t need or didn’t use.

Garage sales will net you usually 25% of the original cost of the item. Imagine how much cash you’d have right now if you hadn’t purchased it in the first place? In these economic times, we all need to learn a hard lesson about impulse buying. And think of all the extra money you’d have over your lifetime? I’d be a wealthy woman.

This last year, I’ve learned that there are lots of “nice-to-own” things that I really don’t need. Look through my closet…five pairs of black shoes…I admit it. If we can avoid these extra purchases, we’ll have more money to put to really useful purposes like retirement or paying down debt.

Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

Landline phone

I did it. I finally got rid of my landline phone. Each family member had a cellphone anyway, and we found that 95% of all our landline calls were from telemarketers. Savings = $40/month or $480/year. If you’re not ready for such a big step, cut out the landline extras like call forwarding, call waiting, long distance (use your cellphone), or extra phone book listings. Really look at your bill, and call customer service. Pair down to only what’s necessary.

Cell phone apps and ringtones

My son thinks it’s cool to have a different ringtone for each friend and family member. So does the cellphone company who collects 99 cents per month per ringtone. All these fun add-ons can increase your bill as much as $10/month. Times 12 months, and that’s $120. Steel yourself to only add what’s free on the internet. Check websites like Phonezoo.com or Myxer.com. Or make your own ringtone from any MP3 that’s already on your iPod.

Fast food and Starbucks/coffee shops

Who boy, that’s a big one with my three sons. Just yesterday my youngest teenager told me he regularly goes to the local coffee shop to buy this great cup of tea…for $3 a cup! For hot water and a teaspoon of loose tea! Now think…go to Starbucks every day at $3-4 per latte for a year. $4 x 365 days = $1460 per year spent on drinks alone. And fast food is even more expensive and bad for you too. Even a lowly bagel and smear cost $3 these days. Save yourself lots of cash and pack yourself a lunch and make your own tea or coffee. Save these outings for special treats.

Gym memberships

How many of us have paid for memberships with the good intentions of getting into shape, then letting that membership languish? Normally, you need to go to the gym at least 3-4 times a week to break even. Most of us don’t which is how they make money. Even if we do exercise faithfully, then find a recreation center or gym that will let you pay as you go. Or better yet, don’t pay at all. Go for a walk, or visit a park with a set of outdoor exercise stations. Find great workouts on TV for free or “On Demand”.

Cancel unused memberships

I’ve heard this countless times. You sign up for a self-renewing plan and never cancel it even after you no longer use it. Some of the plans I’ve heard about are Xbox Live, Pet Care plans (even after you no longer have the pet), self renewing gym memberships (see above), or computer protection plans that you don’t use anymore. Keep an eye on these credit card bills, call the number, and cancel!

Extended warranties

Extended warranties are big business for companies and with good reason. They rarely used within the time allotted, and therefore cost you plenty and the company nothing. Research tells us most appliances fail either within the manufacturer’s warranty or long after the extended warranty runs out. A better way to handle this is take the money that you would have spent (anywhere from $10 a month to hundreds of dollars) and put it in a saving account. Use this if you need to, but more likely than not, you’ll have that money when the warranty expires. Note: the only item I would purchase extended warranty on is a laptop computer. It’s so easy to drop, or spill something on.

Rental car insurance

No need for this…waive that puppy. Your normal car insurance, if it includes collision and comprehensive coverage for rentals, usually covers any car you drive. Not sure if your insurance plan does this, just give them a call. Also many credit cards offer rental car insurance as a bonus. This simple step can save you $9 to $30 per day of rental.

Computer software

Microsoft word can cost hundreds of dollars; Photoshop can cost hundreds of dollars. There are so many free software products on the internet, there’s no reason to buy for any of these unless you’re a professional. Online there are games, graphic studios, office suites, fonts, all with no money to spend. Visiting FreewareHome.com is a good place to start for a list of more than 5,500 free software programs. I recently uploaded Hornil StylePix from there for graphic design and it’s very much like Photoshop but without the cost.

Bottled water

So bad for the environment and bad for your wallet. My company quit buying individual bottles of water, and so should you. We’re fortunate to live in the US where our tap water is safe to drink. Do you really believe the bottled water is any different from your filtered, treated tap water? I recently was driving in a particularly nasty part of Denver, and lo and behold, passed a very well-known bottled water company. Let’s do some math. A bottle of water costs about $1 each, but 16 cups of water from the tap costs about a penny. Take some of your saved money and buy a water filter for your tap and a nice refillable water bottle.

Medical Receipts and Records – Organize Your New Year

Carol — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:19:26 +0000

Are you using the old shoebox method for storing your medical receipts? Do you have to rummage through a pile of receipts, tally them up and hope you didn’t miss anything at the end of the year to prepare for taxes? It can be tedious and time consuming. If you have a dispute with your insurance company, do you know where to find all your records and proof of payment?

Take a few minutes now to organize your medical receipts and records. It is well worth the investment of time. Be sure to read my blog on Organize Your New Year—Taxes.

Buy a 2” three-ringed soft note book and add tabs for every member of the family. In front of the tabs add a columned ledger. I love using these ledgers which you can find at any office supply store. Every time a family member has a medical expense (including prescriptions), add the receipt behind their tab and record the visit on the ledger including the date of service, the recipient and the amount. When you receive the Explanation of Benefits from your insurance company, place them behind the appropriate tab. You now have everything at your finger tips as well as a running tally of all expenses. At the end of the year you simply total the columns and add the binder to your tax files for that year.

It is easy to miss medical deductions on our tax returns if we are not diligent and record every penny spent. Don’t forget to include all of your out-of-pocket expenses, dental, counseling services, vision, pharmaceuticals, physical therapy, medical equipment, co-pay, and of course your medical insurance monthly premiums. If you are not sure if something is eligible—ask!

Let’s keep it simple!

Taxes – Organize Your New Year

Carol — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:25:16 +0000

Christmas is over and we have ushered in a new year. January is the time to get down to business and get ourselves organized. With very little effort you can have everything running like clockwork. Are you still using the proverbial shoebox to organize your taxes? There is a better way! It is easy to maintain and at the end of the year most of your work is complete. Remember that your accountant charges by the hour, so the more work you do for them, the more money you will save. If you do your own taxes, you will have saved yourself time.

In January label four file folders and one soft binder for that year:

Accounts payable (you will need a thicker folder)
Business
Investments
Miscellaneous
Medical (soft binder)

Your accounts payable file will sit empty until December 31st when you will fill it with all your statements and bills for that year. In January, I also label a file folder for every monthly payment made on things like car payments, house payments, insurance payments, phone bills, utilities, water bill, credit card statements, etc. Starting in January when paying bills, I write on each invoice or statement the date paid, the amount paid and the number of the check or other payment type. It then goes into the appropriate file. On December 31, I pull each file, remove and staple or rubber band the contents together and run a total indicating the total dollar amount for that year. I run totals only for those needed for tax purposes and permanently transfer them all into the accounts payable tax file. I choose to keep everything in one large expandable folder along with tax records for that year. You won’t have to create new file folders for your monthly payments as they are now empty and ready for a new year.

I keep a ledger in the business file folder to record and keep any and all car mileage, business meals, office expenses, etc. You may prefer to use envelopes to hold the receipts and keep a record of those expenses on the outside of the envelope.

The investment file folder is where I place a copy of anything bought or sold during the year along with the year end statements you will receive towards the end of the year. Keep a list of your investments in the file to check off when you receive the year end statements.

The miscellaneous file folder will hold things like your charitable contributions, W-2’s, car registration taxes, etc. This is my catch-all file folder. Anything tax related that I am not sure of goes into this file.

The medical binder will hold all your Explanation of Benefits from your insurance company as well as all your medical receipts. Before creating your medical binder, please see my blog on Organizing Your New Year –Medical Receipts and Records.

Adjust these ideas and files to your needs. The point is to keep records updated and in place as they happen. You will find that it saves time and you are less likely to lose important receipts and information that may be needed to complete your taxes. As well, if ever you need to go back to another tax year for audit purposes, you will know that everything for that particular year is in one place with all the pertinent information. Good Luck!