BedKnobbery2
<font color=blue>Saucy Pants!<br><font color=red>W
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2002
- Messages
- 1,385
Greetings, everyone!
Just thought I'd post my recent experiences to try and help others save a little extra $.
I recently took a new job that I absolutely love, but which has resulted in a temporary decline in my income (I'm part-time but will be going full-time in the next 1-2 years). I'm sooo much happier in my new job, but it has been difficult to try and tighten the financial belt a bit to be able to survive the decline in pay.
So, I went through all of my expenses, and this is what I ended up doing:
Since we rarely watched our premium TV channels, I eliminated them from our line-up, which saved me an extra $30 per month.
I downgraded my cell phone plan as I no longer need as many minutes since I am no longer traveling for work. Saved $50 per month, but it appears I'm not even using as many minutes as I expected, so I'm going to call and downgrade once again, giving me another $20 savings per month.
I got rid of my extra services online, which saved me $15 per month.
I cancelled work-related services I no longer needed, which saved me $30/month.
I have a balance on my Disney Visa, which I had transferred earlier when they ran a 3.99% fixed APR for 6 months. (This is a balance I have been diligently paying down, and is almost half of what it was a year ago; I'm not adding any new charges, and am paying my other card off in full each month.) Those 6 months recently were up, bumping my APR to 7% above prime, or 11%. I recently got a deal sent to me from my card that has no balance, for a 4.99% fixed APR until the balance is paid off, with no transfer fees. I called Disney Visa and told them about the deal, and asked if they could do anything with my current rate so I wouldn't have to transfer. They couldn't match the rate for the balance I had, but did offer me a fixed APR of 3.99% for any balance transfers until the transfered balance is paid off; I'm not going to do that, since i have no new balances to transfer, but thought that might be helpful for anyone here....there is a transfer fee for this, 3% of the balance with a min of $5 and a max of $50. They did reduce my current APR at no fee, however, bringing it down to 3% above prime, or 7%. So, I'll still transfer my balance, but this new rate applies to any new charges. So the moral is: call your credit card companies to see if you can get a better rate!
So, I saved a minimum of $145 per month, not sure what the savings will be with the balance transfer, I've done too much math already this morning to figure it out.
Anyway, thought I'd share this to prompt others to look at their expenses and see where you can cut back....every little bit helps to making that Disney Vacation dream and reality!!
Good Luck,
BK
Just thought I'd post my recent experiences to try and help others save a little extra $.
I recently took a new job that I absolutely love, but which has resulted in a temporary decline in my income (I'm part-time but will be going full-time in the next 1-2 years). I'm sooo much happier in my new job, but it has been difficult to try and tighten the financial belt a bit to be able to survive the decline in pay.
So, I went through all of my expenses, and this is what I ended up doing:
Since we rarely watched our premium TV channels, I eliminated them from our line-up, which saved me an extra $30 per month.
I downgraded my cell phone plan as I no longer need as many minutes since I am no longer traveling for work. Saved $50 per month, but it appears I'm not even using as many minutes as I expected, so I'm going to call and downgrade once again, giving me another $20 savings per month.
I got rid of my extra services online, which saved me $15 per month.
I cancelled work-related services I no longer needed, which saved me $30/month.
I have a balance on my Disney Visa, which I had transferred earlier when they ran a 3.99% fixed APR for 6 months. (This is a balance I have been diligently paying down, and is almost half of what it was a year ago; I'm not adding any new charges, and am paying my other card off in full each month.) Those 6 months recently were up, bumping my APR to 7% above prime, or 11%. I recently got a deal sent to me from my card that has no balance, for a 4.99% fixed APR until the balance is paid off, with no transfer fees. I called Disney Visa and told them about the deal, and asked if they could do anything with my current rate so I wouldn't have to transfer. They couldn't match the rate for the balance I had, but did offer me a fixed APR of 3.99% for any balance transfers until the transfered balance is paid off; I'm not going to do that, since i have no new balances to transfer, but thought that might be helpful for anyone here....there is a transfer fee for this, 3% of the balance with a min of $5 and a max of $50. They did reduce my current APR at no fee, however, bringing it down to 3% above prime, or 7%. So, I'll still transfer my balance, but this new rate applies to any new charges. So the moral is: call your credit card companies to see if you can get a better rate!
So, I saved a minimum of $145 per month, not sure what the savings will be with the balance transfer, I've done too much math already this morning to figure it out.
Anyway, thought I'd share this to prompt others to look at their expenses and see where you can cut back....every little bit helps to making that Disney Vacation dream and reality!!
Good Luck,
BK
