Financial concepts
8. The sweet smell of saving money on your trash service and more!
Are you spending more than necessary on your trash service, doctor link house alarm and postage?
One of the easiest jobs in the world is the one we love to hate! Taking out the trash can be smelly, find drugs sticky and just gross. I remember when we had little ones and our trash can was awful. I would put on one of my paint masks to hide as much of the smell as I could every time I took out another bag of diapers. Have you checked with the competition on your trash service lately?
I was relaying the fact that I was writing this article to a friend, site and he passed on a great example I want to share with you. My friend owns a business and was paying around $200 per month for his trash service. Obviously, he creates more waste than we do in our homes, but after getting fed up with his monthly bill, he finally checked rates with other companies, and made a switch. He is now paying $70 per month for his service! Another trick I learned is to ask if your company has as needed pickup. My parents, for example, rarely have a full can every week.
House and office alarms are another expense that can be shopped. If you are out of your initial contract, monitoring can be provided by any company! Another friend gave me an alarm example I want to share. This friend owns an office building and needed to change his monitoring service because he rented a section of vacant space. Even though his call to the alarm company was to change and not cancel his service, the rate was lowered more than he anticipated to keep his business.
Postage costs are another expense that can be managed. Do you still mail your bills? Most companies have the ability to take payments via their website. Furthermore, your bank probably has bill pay service, which allows you to tell them how much to pay and when the payment needs to be made. Every 10 payments you can make online, you save $4.40 now and in all probability more when postal rates increase.
Is it possible for everyone to use these ideas? Maybe, but I will make one promise. If you do not try, you will not save money!
Make sure also to watch for our next Savvy Dads webinar June 2nd. It is FREE and Ken Canfield PhD will talk about Dads & Daughters with special guest Maurice Hilliard!!! Click here to register.
9. Shop in clearance areas
Did you know many stores have a detailed mark down process for items and a specific clearance area to sell those items?
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Every retailer has one problem in common; many items they sell are either discontinued, viagra 40mg purchased and returned, have new and improved packaging or are one time purchases. When these situations occur, the last item or two typically is marked down for quick sale, because the new product needs to be “merchandised” (this is the term retailers use for placing products in their stores). This problem is good for savvy shoppers!
Being attentive and learning how stores operate is the key to finding these deals! Every company is different but I will give you several methods of which I have learned. The first and most typical is an actual clearance area in an obscure area of the store. The easiest way to find these areas is to ask one of the managers in the store. Many employees may not know where or if there is a specific clearance area. The second, and more difficult spot, is using a different colored tag. One store I am thinking of specifically uses a yellow and white tag to indicate everyday prices and a white tag for mark downs. The third and most difficult is if the cost reduction is indicated by the numbers in the price. Survey the prices for this type of store, the last numbers of the price are usually the same, such as 8 or 9. The marked down products will have an entirely different number at the end of the price, such as a 1!
For example, let me share my last experience using this method. I was at my favorite store in the whole world, I am not going to mention a name, but you have to show a card to get in, and I strolled directly to the clearance area as I always do. Upon arrival, I found, what I thought to be, a fantastic deal. A Honda Black Max, self-propelled mower was in a box and had been used one time. The original price was $299, and was marked down to $209! This thought ran through my mind; “The mower is almost 33% off for the initial price for someone else taking the time to set up the mower for me! SOLD!!!” I do need to share some back story because I do not make large purchases regularly. I owned two push mowers already (one I had purchased 12 years earlier at this particular store and was in the clearance area as well) that I could sell. My total cost ( I sold the other mowers pretty easily) ended up being $60 for a brand new Honda mower!!!
Is it possible to use this idea for every purchase? Maybe, but I will make one promise. If you do not try, you never will make it work.
Make sure also to watch for our next Savvy Dads webinar June 2nd. It is FREE and Ken Canfield PhD will talk about Dads & Daughters with special guest Maurice Hilliard!!! Click here to register.
10. Shop on Tuesdays
Welcome to the Dad Cents, no rx 10 ways to put money back into your budget without stopping the fun stuff, view series. The countdown begins.
10. Shop on Tuesdays
You might think this sounds a little odd and wonder how the day of the week matters, medicine but let me explain.
In most retail establishments Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the largest traffic/shopping days of the week. More people means more accidents such as torn bags, displays falling over and any other mishap you could think of occurring. On Monday, the store employees clean up from the weekend traffic and make special packages for those who are shrewd shoppers.
Therefore, Tuesday, is the day to look for these special packages. By special packages, I mean the products that have been in an accident and are currently marked down from their retail price for quick sale. If you know what to look for, spotting these products is typically, quite easy. Most retail sellers have their own marking system but they will typically have a special sticker, special place for mark downs or some type of repackaging.
For example, I will share my last experience using this method. Our yard was looking a little thin and the dandelions were thick, consequently I was going to be in the vicinity of my local home improvement warehouse stores. It just happened to be Tuesday, so I stopped for lawn fertilizer and grass seed. Upon arrival, I walked directly to the yard care section of the store and proceeded to look for damaged bags or bags that were wrapped in another bag. I quickly found a bag of each product that I sought and found a store employee. After our conversation, the bags of fertilizer and seed that were originally priced at $80 plus tax, I purchased for $40 plus tax!
Is it possible to use this idea for every purchase? Maybe, but I will make one promise. If you do not try, you never will make it work.
Make sure also to watch for our next Savvy Dads webinar June 2nd. It is FREE and Ken Canfield PhD will talk about Dads & Daughters with special guest Maurice Hilliard!!! Click here to register.
New series: 10 ways to put money back into your budget without stopping the fun stuff!
The economy has been brutal to many and putting money back into the budget would be helpful to many families. Over the next several weeks, online I am going to write 10 posts covering easy, advice practical methods to reduce your spending without ending your daily Starbucks run, Sonic happy hour or eating out on Fridays. Alternatively, your conscience may speak and encourage you to begin giving more to your church or a ministry in need!
If you apply the ten ideas I will share with you, I believe you will have the potential of putting $100-$400 per month back into your budget. Some of you may know and already be applying some of these ideas, but together they can dramatically help you improve your monthly cash flow.
The first series post will be Friday, May 20th at www.dadcents.com/blog. Please share this with your friends!!!
Do you influence your teen’s money habits?
The results of a new poll by the Northwestern Mutual Foundation’s financial literacy Web site, Themint.org show YOU, the parent, have the greatest influence on your child’s money habits! According to the press release, “The poll asked teens to choose who had the biggest influence on the way that they saved or spent money. In a landslide, seven out of ten kids aged 17 and younger said “parents” swayed their actions the most, outpacing “friends” (16%), “TV, magazines, books, radio or celebrities” (14%), and “teachers” (1%).”
Do these survey results surprise you? The results may or may not be a revelation to you but the end result should be an evaluation of your preparedness to model and teach your children. Would fear or relief be your response if you knew your children would have spending habits just like yours when they become adults?
Northwestern Mutual’s survey “also asked teens how they would grade their parents as role models for saving and spending money. Nearly seven out of ten kids aged 17 and younger gave their parents either a “B” or a “C” grade, saying that moms and dads should spend money more responsibly and involve everyone in conversations about the family budget. Less than 30 percent of children honored their parents with an “A.” Fortunately, only two percent of parents received a failing grade.” How would you grade your ability to model wise financial decisions?
I have found kids are always ready to evaluate their parents but are you ready for the answer? I know teaching your children financial principles is challenging because it is not second nature for most of us. You have a responsibility to your children and I recognize the desire of every parent I speak with is for your children to leave home knowing more about money than you did when you left your parents home.
What are you going to do to affect that change?
