You know I like a good bargain just like the rest of you, and I am frugal to a fault in some people's eyes. However, I don't think that I give up quality in many cases, and I do prioritize quality in others. For example, I don't need to pay an extra $50 for a hotel with free breakfast when I would rather hit the streets and buy breakfast along the way or have a snack of peanut butter and a bagel in my room. Or, I don't need to eat three meals out when traveling, when I can just as easily eat a bagel and peanut butter in my room and then splurge on lunch. I guess the key is that you have to be willing to eat a bagel and peanut butter! Here are a few other ways to save without sacrificing happiness.
Be aware. This is the number one thing in my opinion. This kind of goes along with culling your subscriptions, which I talk about below, but I think that you should take a look at what you are spending each month or quarter or year and then change what needs to be changed. Even if you think that nothing needs to be changed, I think it is important to know what you are spending your money on instead of just letting it all go out the door without thinking. This is easy enough as a lot of our banks will let us add external accounts so we can track our spending, but I use Fidelity's Full View. This is free for customers, and if you are not already a customer, you can open a cash management account, which is what I did.
Open a high interest savings account. The reason I opened a cash management account at Fidelity is twofold. First, they reimburse all ATM fees, so when you are traveling abroad or are going to be in small towns where you may not find your regular bank, you can withdraw money with ease. I rarely withdraw cash, but when I do, it is nice to just be able to get out a little bit and not worry about the $9+ fees that my brick and mortar bank sometimes charges me each time. I was often getting out more (too much) cash because I did not want to go back again for another withdrawal.
The second reason I did this is also due to their high interest rate. You can either leave your funds in cash, which will get you about 2.44% as of the time of this writing, or you can buy a money market fund, which is currently yielding about 4.50%. If you have money sitting in a checking or regular savings account, I highly suggest you move some of it to a higher yielding account. If you don't like Fidelity, there are also high yield savings accounts online like Marcus or Citizens which also will give you a better rate (FYI: currently my main brick and mortar bank checking account has 0% and my savings has about 0.03%, vs. the high yield accounts, which are around 4.0% - 4.5%.) It literally takes two minutes to open and maybe one or two days to transfer the funds over to a new account.
Change your phone plan. People, we are past the era where we need to be paying $75 or $80 per month for a cell phone plan. There are so many plans out there now that are cheaper, and they are not worse quality! I personally have Google Fi (this is not a sponsored post, but if you click this link, you can get $60 off) and I have had it for years now and I do not miss my expensive AT&T plan! I was paying $80 per month, and now I pay about $80 for myself and two other people. Before I added the family members, my bill was about $30/month. Google Fi also triangulates between T-Mobile and US Cellular, so it will pick up the one that has the best service and use that. Also, it works internationally with little to no extra charge. When we traveled to Mexico, a friend of mine who had Verizon paid $10 a day to have international roaming, therefore adding about $100 to his bill that month. I paid NOTHING.
I don't know all about the other plans, but I think Mint Mobile has a deal for $15 a month with unlimited data. Also, the All The Hacks podcast did a more thorough review of all of them if you want to learn more. However, the bottom line is that you pay per GB if you don't use a lot of data, or you can get unlimited data if you need it. Most of us are at home or work most of the day, where we have WiFi, and when that is the case, you do not use any data. I use less than 1GB of data every month.
After reading this post by CCR, I am adding an addition to this in that if you are traveling internationally, even if you have the expensive Verizon plan, you do not need to pay the $10 per day international fee. Most newer phones now support e-SIM cards, which means that all you need to do is download an app (I use Airalo and if you use my referral code KYRIA0085, you will get $3 off your first purchase). From home you can load up some GB of data and then as soon as you step off the plane, your data will work. Easy-peasy. If you have an older phone, you can also get a real SIM card at most airports or city centers. You can then download things like maps, podcasts and audiobooks so that they can be used offline, use any streaming while in WiFi land and you will barely use any data on the road.
Speaking of referral codes. Before buying most things or signing up for anything, I check Reddit to see if there is anyone offering a voucher or a referral code for it. (I also use cash back apps, which I will discuss in a future MM post). A lot of the time, you will get a discount and probably the person referring you will get something too. Sometimes it can be as high as $60 off, like my Google Fi code, or sometimes it is a % off, or a discount on your first purchase, like Airalo. And I am sure you yourself have referral codes for things you use; you can post them on this site and if someone clicks on it, you may get a bonus too. I have received statement credits on my Google Fi account of $600 (the max allowed) by doing this! You can find my referral codes on my travel tips and hacks page if you are interested in getting a discount or giving me some extra points for something you were going to get anyway. :)
Cull your subscriptions, or alternate them. I know that it is easy to just set it and forget it, but do we really need to have four or five different streaming subscriptions at the same time? What if you make a list of which shows you like on each platform and then alternate one every two or three months? This does require a little organization, but it is worth it. Also, see above; maybe your library app has the show you like! Also, often the channel itself will show the show for free; for example, ABC has the option to watch past seasons of Grey's Anatomy right on the ABC website for free. And who doesn't love Grey's Anatomy?
Additionally, things like Amazon subscriptions can pile up (hello TP and cat food, I am looking at you!) and so it is worth reviewing them every quarter to see if you really need more of the items on your list. I make a point to review my credit card purchases every month to see if there is anything out of whack, but if you don't have time for that, I think at least once a quarter is a good idea. Even if it is something like a credit card fee on a card that you meant to cancel, you can call them and often get it removed retroactively. And...if even once a quarter is too much, there are apps like Rocket Money or Pocket Guard that will do the work for you, and will even suggest or negotiate better deals for things like your cable or phone bill. (disclaimer: I have not tried either of these apps myself)
During NoBloPoMo, this will be a once a week feature, so stay tuned for next time, when I talk about credit card hacking! Also, if there is something you want to learn about, or any questions you have, let me know!
Do you keep track of your spending? If so, what tips do you have? What phone plan do you have, how much data (non WiFi) do you use each month, and how much do you pay per month? Do you have a high yield savings account?
This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here.
I've been keeping track of every penny (almost) since 2009 and it has worked wonders in my life and allowed my family to live safely and well on on income while paying down massive student loans. We use U.S. Mobile and have for many years. Most of those years I had zero texts or data but now I have a newer plan with 1gb data a month, unlimited calls and texts for $6/month (paid annually). Yes, $6 a month!!!!! My referral link if anyone is interested and that is ok: https://www.usmobile.com/referrals?referrer=88C34676&name=Jennifer&utm_page_url=monster_referral
ReplyDeleteI do think that keeping track is key, and congrats to you for paying off your loans quickly! $6 a month is very low! I think that many people get stuck in their groove, and don't want to change, but really it is not giving up anything! You do have to be smarter with your data usage, but again, even an unlimited plan for my family would cost less than it would on a big carrier. There are deals out there if you look for them! You should put your referral on the Reddit page, although obviously people want to get a benefit for it, so if that is the case, make sure you say that!
DeleteYESSSSS for Money Mondays!!!
ReplyDeleteI use Empower Personal Capitol to track my spending. It's free and easy to use. For a long time I didn't really track my spending other than being frugal in general, and I think that as long as someone is cash positive and not in debt that's an OK approach to take, but maybe just check in once in a while and see where your money is going.
High interest savings FTW! I check in with Nerd Wallet every once in a while to see what the rates are to make sure that my bank is staying competitive. My side hobby is opening new checking and savings accounts that have new account bonuses. It goes without saying that I am very careful to pick banks that do not charge account fees and are truly giving away money for nothing. My biggest win was that once when I went to open a new checking account there was a Rautken deal on top of that - an extra $125 on top of a $300 new account bonus. BTW, my pet peeve is banks who charge account fees - why when there are so many banks that don't?
I have the Google Fi plan that has the base fee of $20 and then $10 per GB of data, but it's starting to get a little pricey because I use more data when I travel. The service is great though. I'm most likely going to check out Mint Mobile just for funsies when my service period ends this month. If I don't like it I can always go back to Fi. I just can't even that Verizon is still charging $10 per day for international. Whyyyyyy? Not why are they doing it but why are people paying that?
We're very stingy with our streaming subscriptions. We'll get Netflix or HBO for 1-2 months, watch what we want, and then cut them off without mercy. And honestly we can go a long time just watching random videos on YouTube for our nightly TV entertainment that we don't get the paid services very often.
Haha! I knew you would like these, but I actually thought that the Fi referral would have been the thing you were most excited about!!! I do the same with opening accounts with bonuses and I have a spreadsheet so that I don't forget to transfer them back after the waiting period (sometimes); I also do this with brokerage accounts, but I was going to talk about these tricks in a couple of weeks (you beat me to it!! You also beat me to the cash back apps, but I will still post about them later too!! )
DeleteMy grandma has Mint and I think Money-G (work hub) has Cricket and it is very similar as far as costs go. I actually do not have ANY streaming services either, as I basically use YouTube or Hoopla or Kanopy!
We do track our spending. We used to use mint, now we use Fidelity Full View. We are both frugal by nature and live very very below our means so we haven’t had to make many changes. Phil is the one who finds the best savings account rates. Like for awhile we have a faith-based credit union account in the state of IA or something like that? He likes to poke around for these deals so I am like - have at it buddy.
ReplyDeleteI do still have Verizon. I have had awful experience with other carriers so I am terrified to switch TBH. I need reliable internet and I do actually use a decent amount of data, I think maybe from google maps when driving or something like that? I’m not 100% sure. But Phil’s phone is paid by his company so at least we are only paying for my phone. I get a discount through work so it’s not too bad.
I love Phil; he is a man after my own heart. I (like Birchie above) will often change my savings account if they have a better rate or a bonus, but it is sometimes a bit fiddly to keep track of! FYI, Google maps can be downloaded offline and then you don't need to use any data! But I get that it is hard to change or make new habits. I think I was Verizon back in the day of pagers, but after that I was always Cingular/AT&T, until they started to charge crazy charges, and did not even work half the time. Also I know this has gotten better over the years, but my parents live in a place with no cell service, so it was important or us to have texting/calling over the internet. Now other plans have that too, but for a while Google was one of the only carriers who did that for free.
DeleteDaria from momofchildren.com
ReplyDeleteAmerican Express high yield savings 4.10%
No Amazon subscriptions, I feel like it can get out of control fast. Walmart for everything but meats and produce: stop and shop for that.
Acorns for spare change investing, making meals while traveling and only doing lunch out.
We do not waste food either so that is why we don’t have cosco membership.
4.10% is pretty good! They are starting to go down now, and so maybe in a year or so, we will have to have a different strategy, but I think over 4% is pretty good. I really like Money Market Funds though, which you can get in a brokerage account, and are still yielding about 4.5% (for now). I do have a Costco membership but it is shared, so I don't feel as bad about it.
DeleteWow, that's a lot of great information, I've bookmarked your post to read through this properly. It's always good to learn something new and helpful.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I think the comments are helpful too so am glad you are following along!
DeleteI love that post. So many great suggestions.
ReplyDeleteMy feeling is that I do most of them without thinking much. I guess i also grew up frugal because we just didnt have much in East Germany and you always had to be creative to get stuff, make stuff or save.
We never book hotels with breakfast. If we want hotel breakfast its an add on we decide on site and often do only for check-out days. And I always try to stock up on water and snacks when in a hotel.
I used to have a prepaid card for my phone for years until the husband had a good family deal and I switched. The promotion has ended and now its 30€ and I wish it would be lower.
I have a money post coming up later this week too. It seems to be a theme this week.
I can't wait to read your money post! I have a bunch in my drafts, which is why I decided to make it a weekly thing. I do a lot of things without thinking too and definitely stock up on snacks when in a hotel!! I do the same for airports and usually on my way to the airport I will get a burrito and then go through security with it. I always get pulled aside, but they always let me through with it, and for the $8 I spent, it can last me the whole flight sometimes!
DeleteI don't know much about the European deals, but I feel like you could get it lower, because even an e-SIM at Airalo (I just checked) for Germany for 30 days and 3GB is about $10.50!
You know how I feel about this topic! SO EXCITED for all the future posts in this series.
ReplyDeleteJohn and I actually finished doing a high-level overview of existing assets and investments ahead of our meeting this week with a new financial advisor.
We have Netflix and Disney+ but share the Netflix sub with my Dad (they now have an option where for $7/more you can add a second person, but we split it 50/50, so it's a win/win for both of us). I have never had a single Amazon subscription.
I have written lots about all the ways we save money but bigs ones:
- Buying below our means. Our home and our vehicles (though technically a luxury brand) are always used and below market value.
- Thrifting! I thrift clothes and gifts.
- On sale food. I go through ads every week and we eat based on what's on sale! I also freeze things. 50% bread? I pop it right in the freezer.
Oh and we also exclusively use Airalo when we travel internationally. It's AMAZING. So cheap and great service.
You already know all the tricks! :) I do pretty much the same thing as you, and I even found a few merino wool items on ThredUp for like $12 each, and they are regularly $80-$120+ EACH! I am happy about that and it will be nice to wear a different shirt! In case you care, if you ever see Smartwool, Icebreaker, Unbound, Ibex etc. at your thrift store, you may want to give it a try!
DeleteI can't wait to hear about your advisor meeting! I will be interested to hear what they thought about LT planning, how far along you are in their eyes, and what they have to say about the Canadian things that I know little about.
I agree with you on saving on trips by eating breakfast in the room, quick and easy, just as we would do at home. I do monthly expense tracking via excel sheet, which helps to raise awareness and for posteriori. I like to see I spend according to my values.
ReplyDeleteI have a corporate phone that works everywhere in the world, for free, so that's a big plus not having to worried about phone/data plan when traveling.
I also have minimal subscriptions: Netflix and audiobook.
I agree re the Excel sheet. I have been tracking for years and I can still go back and see what I spent on groceries (even itemized) 10 years ago if I want to! It is kind of fun to compare sometimes! Oooh you are lucky with your work phone; that really is nice not to have to worry about that.
DeleteYou have so many great tips here! I’m lucky that my husband loves numbers and budgets, and I’m very happy to let him do it and just follow along with the plan! Subscriptions are probably my biggest spending downfall, and I’m going to reassess and get rid of the ones I don’t need. It seems like everything requires a subscription these days!
ReplyDeleteEverything requires a subscription, and a lot of them offer a discount the first year and then they keep charging! We were talking with my parents and it somehow arose that both of them had been duped into Amazon Prime accounts and they were paying for two of them! Oopsie!
DeleteGreat tips, Kyria. My husband and I struggle with finances, but it REALLY helps us when we track our spending (duh.) We've gotten better about culling our subscriptions- for a while we were paying for all sorts of things we didn't even realize. Hopefully I'll redeem myself a little when I say I'm always willing to eat a bagel with peanut butter instead of a fancy meal.
ReplyDeleteI know that it seems like tracking would be obvious, but I think that a lot of people don't do it! Before I tracked it all on my own (I do it on Excel, even though I have a website that does it for me) I used my credit card tracker, which was back in the days when I only had one or two cards, so it was pretty easy! However, I like being able to put my own spin on it! Bagel for the win! You don't have to redeem yourself; we are good!
DeleteI have a high interest savings account and love it. Also CDs for money that I don't need right now. I told my brother and my cousin about the high interest savings and they were SO HAPPY, and passed on that info to others. We are locked in with Verizon right now, because my husband and daughter just got new phones this year, but once those are paid off I'm going to research and see about some of these other plans, they could save us a bunch I am sure.
ReplyDeleteOh, the breakfast when traveling...I hate paying for that, and would MUCH rather go out and find something, and a bagel and peanut butter sounds absolutely perfect.
CDs are a good idea if you don't need to access the funds for sure, especially with the rates going down. If you can lock in the higher rate, that is excellent! I will often buy T-bills to do this as well, and for those you can see if you needed to, which is kind of nice.
DeleteI was looking forward to Money Mondays. As you know, I love talking about finances and you have some great tips here. There are so many "little things" that add up. We've been tracking our finances for years now and account for every penny. I find it mind-boggling that some people don't realize when they have "extra charges" or are paying twice for a subscription or something like this.
ReplyDeleteWe've been with Verizon for many, many years. I know it's not the cheapest option, but they have very reliable service and we have a family plan with three lines (we pay $45/line for unlimited data). I know that I am the person that who uses it the most (outside of Wifi) because I use Peloton classes when I am outdoors. I can predownload them but since I have unlimited data, I haven't always bothered to do that.
$45 is not too bad, but do you know if they have a cheaper option for a smaller data limit? I actually don't know much about their current plans, and they probably do have to be semi competitive with the other cheaper options out there now. You are right, the one thing they have going is that they do have reliable service. Where my parents live, there is no cell coverage, but if you drive down the road 8 miles, you can use the Verizon tower to make a call!
DeleteWell, timing is everything, as they say. I JUST switched all of our lines to Verizon last week, as you know, but I do think that with 7 lines I got a pretty good deal. Also, Mini is going abroad and I'm going to drop her plan down to a regular plan (she has something special like ultimate for when she's in Florence). My dad is an accountant and he would freak out if he knew I wasn't following a strict budget. For ex: he used to make my mom bring $100 to use at the grocery store (decades ago), so she had to budget what she bought. I should track our spending - dang, when would I have the time. We are pretty frugal and don't eat out much, and don't have a lot of streaming services, etc. I'm sure there are areas where we can improve though. These are great tips.
ReplyDeleteErnie, I think you are saving money by making Halloween costumes, and it is not all about spending all your time trying to save money. However, I did do a review of a friend's credit card spending and there were things like duplicate subscriptions on there (two different cards), and so I think at least looking at your bill before you pay it makes sense to me. The $100 at the store is funny; I had a friend that used to do that. She would set aside the grocery money at the start of every month (in cash) and then that is what she had to use! It is a good way to make sure you are not going crazy with the CC spending!
DeleteHa! Well, yes. I guess I 'saved' money making costumes. We did loads of budget things when the kids were growing up - like renting movies at the library and I cut all the kids' hair (still cut the boys' hair when they let me). And I still remember when I was with my mom at the grocery store and her bill was over $100. She cried on the way home, because she couldn't believe she was spending so much on groceries. Um, I'm one of 5 kids, and 100 bucks put her over the edge? Crazy. If I spend 100 at the grocery now, it's because I only got milk, break, and fruit. Ha.
DeleteMy grocery bill is pretty low, and I am single, and even I don't spend less than $100 oftentimes. Was that per week? I hope it was not per month, and if it was, your mother is Houdini!
DeleteOh, I love this! Thank you for sharing all of your money-handling habits. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series! The more saved, the more I can enjoy it with others!
ReplyDeleteI, too, am frugal and have always been. For the last few years, though, I've told myself to spend more if it increases my happiness. I don't buy more of anything but I am sharing more. The most important things to me are shared experiences/memories so I am trying to do more of that and be generous with those who aren't at that stage yet so I can enjoy their company more often.
I don't want to comment/ask questions on the older posts (I only started reading this month's posts late last night) because I know you're inundated with comments with your daily postings -- but I think I read that you were a Kinesiology major? I'd love to hear how you went from your major to being in the Finance world now/more recently. Did you go back to school or was it a on-the-job learning type? I loved reading about your childhood/young days -- it sounded idyllic (although I understand/can relate that as young 'uns, we don't quite know how to appreciate it!)
I agree that I want to save money when I can, but not if it sacrifices happiness! I also am not a fan of overbuying/wasting, but am happy to buy lots or pay more for quality if it will be used, like ice cream! :) I started doing "experiences" with people for gifts and I feel like some of them still balk at it a bit, and feel like they need to buy me a "thing" as a gift, but I would much rather have a memory or a good meal than another running shirt that I have to throw away/give away at some point. (side note: I ran a lot of races and had A LOT of running shirts).
DeleteFeel free to ask any questions that you want; I love comments, answering comments, and people who ask questions! I was a Kinesiology major. I finished my undergrad and was going to take a year off before starting my masters, and at this point I did two things. (1) I traveled. I went and lived in London and Istanbul for six months. (2) I ran out of money and came back to the US and started working again as a financial analyst (training on the job) to make money, while concurrently volunteering for a Physical Therapists office, which is what I thought I wanted to do.
This resulted in two things! (1) I realized I did not like touching people, and PT was not for me, and so I was not going to do a masters in that. (2) I was making pretty good money at my new job, plus it was a contract job, so I could work three to six months and then travel for a month or six months, and this was so sweet, I did it for eight years and never looked back. After that, I started working in financial services as an investment advisor. This job was 100% different from my last but also did on the job training and required I study for and pass licensing exams. I did that for ten years and here I am now. (this was a very long answer, but feel free to ask anything else!)
I love getting details -- so thank you for this! OMG -- I never thought about touching people when you're doing PT! My son just graduated with a Finance degree but he didn't know what he really wanted to major in when he was starting out. Kinesiology was one of the things we discussed -- his 3-yr older cousin was majoring in it to become a PT but since my son didn't have a strong preference for it, we decided he could major in something he showed a lot of aptitude for and will be helpful in his own life (everyone needs to learn a bit of personal finance!) and if along the way or after he finds a strong preference for something, he can always continue on to pursue it. My nephew who majored in Kinesiology didn't end up going to school for PT -- but he is in IT/computers/coding now and is very happy and doing quite well with it. It's so interesting to see these because I majored in Accounting, finished in 4yrs and have never swayed away from it and retired from my one and only job -- LOL -- but yes, a very straight path. It's nice to see variations in people's paths where they follow their passions or happen to stumble onto something that better fits their needs/personalities.
DeleteYes, I think some people, specially the younger ones, still want things. But more and more, even my younger nieces and nephews want experiences so maybe the tide is turning. I don't necessarily gift these as birthday or Christmas gifts or anything like that -- but it's more when they wish they could join doing something but can't afford that I'd step in and say "I'll pay for you!" Both parties win in that they get to do what they want without worrying about the money side, and I get to enjoy their company/share experience/make memories! :-)
I think that the older we get, the more we cherish the time together, so I am glad your nieces and nephews want experiences already! Or maybe it is just due to the social media showing people traveling more now!? I do think that is a good thing about social media. When I was growing up, nobody in our area really traveled abroad. Now it seems like either everyone is doing it, or it SEEMS LIKE everyone is doing it because of the availability of the information on the internet (or maybe that is just what my YouTube algorithm is showing me!)
DeleteI just have to chime in and say if you live in a rural area, be very careful if you switch your cell phone plans. So many carriers have really bad coverage in the area where I live (the town where I work is a big black hole for T-Mobile). So many of our friends have tried to change to a low cost situation and they always end up back with Verizon! We are paying too much every month, but at least we know it.
ReplyDeleteI agree; my parents live where there is no cell service, except for one hill you can hike up and get a tiny bit of Verizon. However, this is why we go them Google Fi, as it is internet capable for everything (phone calls and texts included).
DeleteI track our spending. I agree with checking your spending regularly. G takes one day per year to check the pricing for our health insurance, and utility providers. He can usually save about $1000 for the year doing that. We always mean to cycle through our subscriptions but we can't get oursleves properly organised with our watching schedule.
ReplyDeleteI don't really watch TV, so that one is easy for me, but I can see how if there were certain shows you like, or want to have on demand, it would be harder. I am curious, does Hulu and Netflix do Black Friday deals for you guys? You can sometimes get Hulu or Peacock etc. for like $0.99 a month during these deals, so it may be worth canceling the one in your name and signing up for another in your husbands later this month!
DeleteWe don't have Hulu or Peacock here. We have netflix, stan, prime, disney, binge, appleTV and paramount+. At the moment we have netflix, disney and prime
DeleteAh, well, shucks! I have never heard about Stan or Binge.
Delete