Rainy Day Pennies | Debt Free Living and Personal Finance

Life takes unexpected twists and turns to the best of us. While there are a number of things that are beyond our control, there are at least a half dozen things that are.

1. Keep your car properly maintained. Oil changes and air pressure in your tire will keep efficiency high. Regular oil changes with inspections will alert you to problems that could be very costly down the road. My last oil change and inspection showed my serpentine belt was starting to crack. While I wasn’t happy with the $115 bill, it saved me a potential $170 in towing fees to a garage during a breakdown.

2. Magazine subscriptions. The majority of us don’t read the magazines we subscribe to. If you aren’t reading every issue, get rid of it.

3. Cable TV. Are you watching all those channels? Probably not. Unfortunately, cable subscriptions do not make it very easy to get just the channels you like. However, a cheaper plan will probably get you most of what you want. Personally, since most of the video stores around my neighborhood carry television series box sets, I just rent the shows I like. I may get them a season later, but it suits my lifestyle better. I rarely am around when the shows first air anyway.

4. Cell phone plans. This can be a HUGE money sink without realizing get. Get an accurate assessment of how many minutes you are using. Shop around for plans/services that fit your needs. For me, this was switching my monthly plan to a pre-paid plan. I had a fabulous promotional plan of 600 minutes and unlimited nights and weekends. The problem was, I don’t talk on the phone that much. Most of my cell phone usage is during the day when I draw minutes anyway. I consistently use 300 minutes per month, yet I didn’t want to switch to the 300 minute plan because there are times when I exceed that. I do not want to pay the over minute charges. I’ve NEVER come close to using 600 minutes. Thus, pre paid was the way to go.

5. Internet subscription. Internet is more of a necessity for me than a phone or a television. However, this was still an area I could trim. I was paying Comcast $68/month for internet + TV (and they forced the TV on me). My connection speed and reliability were good for my area. The problem: the price. I don’t download a ton of media, I need a reliable connection for remote work, I mostly read blogs and download an occassional game from Big Fish Games. 768 down/450 up is more than adequate for my needs. It’s even good enough to play World of Warcraft. Seriously – you don’t need as much as you think. So I switched to ClearWire. It’s been handy for traveling purposes since it’s portable too. Plus I’m saving $48/month.

6. Dining out. This is a weak spot for me. I try to mitigate the cost by taking advantage of Happy Hour prices.

-Cathy-

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Budgeting by Cathy