Shopping When You Need an Immediate Replacement

Yesterday, while in the middle of a conference call, our home telephone dropped dead.

The phone’s small screen went black, came back on, and then refused to connect to the base. I switched to another phone – and the same problem occurred. I called back into the conference call using Skype, but afterwards, I continued to investigate. I ran through every diagnostic in the manual and a few more I found online to no avail.

Something was simply broken with the phone.

I needed a functional replacement quickly. The very next day (yes, that means today), I was scheduled for two additional phone calls that I needed to be on, plus we were receiving regular updates about an ailing relative.

This would have been a perfect excuse to just run to the store, pick up an imperfect quick replacement, and muddle through using it.

Instead, it was an opportunity to figure out what the best method is when you need to buy an immediate replacement for an item.

First, I researched the item thoroughly online. What phones were out there that had the options I needed? I hit Amazon. I hit a few other sites that offered many reviews of cordless phones.

After some deliberation, I found myself with a list of models that I would consider buying. This took about half an hour.

I then hit the websites of various retailers in my area. I searched to find out if they had any of the models in stock in the stores near me. I actually found several different options when doing it, as certain phones were carried by certain chains and a few were carried by multiple chains.

This gave me a list of phone models, prices, and locations in my area from which to make a decision. This list, made in a spreasheet, took about fifteen minutes.

Once I had that list, I read through a few reviews again to help me make my final decision and then moved forward with the purchase by selecting a store and a model to buy. I verified it was in stock before I went to purchase it.

One other big step: I made this trip into a multi-errand stop. I also needed to pick up a few groceries and stop by the post office, so I got those things in order as well. I finished up my shopping list before I left and collected together all of my mail, too.

The end result? I wound up with a pretty good phone at the best price I could find. In other words, for about fifty minutes’ worth of work, I maximized the bang for the buck from my phone purchase (with the caveat, of course, that I needed to pick it up quickly). I also focused on maximizing the value of my trip by compounding it with other stops.

Sometimes, life hands you unexpected expenses. That doesn’t mean you have to stop, throw your hands up in the air, and just pay out the nose for an inferior product. Even if you need to have something quickly, you can still take the time to improve the bang for the buck you’ll get with your purchase.

Good luck!

Continue reading Shopping When You Need an Immediate Replacement …

From The Simple Dollar.

February 25, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment

Making banking easier for those on tight budgets

If you think you don’t have enough cash flow to justify opening a bank or credit union account, it’s time take another look at what your options are.

I’ve found several options for free or low-cost accounts for my local readers in Monroe, Mich., and now here’s a national article on the topic. CNNMoney has this report: Banks and consumer groups target consumer savings.

A snippet:

16 major banks have recently lowered minimum balances on savings accounts, making it easier for people to save without having to worry about getting socked with low balance fees. US Bank has no minimum savings account balance, while Regions has a $5 balance and Bank of America has a $25 minimum balance.

Continue reading Making banking easier for those on tight budgets …

From Monroe on a Budget.

February 18, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment

Credit Counseling: Work with a Professional to Pay off Your Medical Bills

Medical debt plagues many households across the country and can often contribute to the terrible level of debt that many families and individuals are facing. While, medical debts can be erased with bankruptcy and other extreme measures, it’s important to take the time to exercise other options of debt management beforehand. The three main forms [...]

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From Frugal Simplicity.

February 6, 2010 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment

Find the $4 prescriptions at Medtipster

I know about the discount generic prescription programs that are available at many pharmacies. I’ve blogged about them and used such a program once to get a free antibiotic.

It was hard for me to keep up with all the changes in the plans as more pharmacies signed on or made changes to their prescription lists – so I didn’t even try. I do suggest that you look up your favorite drugstore’s web site to bookmark or download the discount list for easy reference, or ask your pharmacist what the options are at his or her location.

My health insurance company also has a link to this site: Medtipster. You can look up your prescriptions and find out which pharmacies in your area have specific medications on a discount plan or low price.

Yes, there are Monroe, Mich., pharmacies in the database! I also saw Carleton and Rockwood drugstores pop up when I did a some test searches on common prescriptions. And the search page is really easy to use.

You may not be able to get all of your family’s medications on a generic drug savings plan. But even if you can get one of them on, that’s money saved.

Continue reading Find the $4 prescriptions at Medtipster …

From Monroe on a Budget.

November 7, 2009 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment

The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Next Project Edition

Now that my book is finished, I’ve decided to embark on another big time-consuming project, but this one is a little different.

I’m a big fan of online banks. I think they’re an incredibly powerful tool for helping you with your personal savings. For a long time, I’ve wanted to talk about a slew of online banks, just to review all of the different options out there.

There’s been a problem with this, though. I don’t like to talk about products that I don’t actually use myself. I won’t review a book unless I’ve read it and thought about it. I won’t review a financial tool unless I’ve used it extensively myself. And I won’t talk about a bank unless I’ve used it myself.

I use ING Direct as my primary bank. I talk about it often. But I don’t mention other banks for the reason above, and I want that to change. There is a huge diversity in online banks, offering different features, different interest rates, different offerings, and different tools for managing your money.

Here’s my solution. Over the next several months, I’m going to open accounts at a bevy of online banks. I’m going to try them out, see in detail what services they offer, transfer some money in out, test their customer service, and close the accounts (if I don’t intend to replace an account I’m already using).

Then, once a week, I’m going to post a detailed review of that bank in an effort to outline clearly what distinguishes it from other banks. What do they do differently? Who is this bank most appropriate for?

So I’m going to open this up to you a little bit. What would you like to see in a review of an online bank? What features really matter to you and would cause you to make the move to switch to a new bank?

While you chew on that, here are some interesting personal finance articles that might interest you.

“Natural Inclinations…Are Hardly Ever Altered or Overcome.” Over the last few days, I’ve been enormously inspired by this little quote. (@ the happiness project)

Do you do your most important work first? I used to have a very organized morning routine, where I would do most of my “routine” tasks before starting the day. What I found is that I got my “routine” tasks done, but most of the real meat of my work – the creative tasks – didn’t go nearly as well. (@ unclutterer)

How to Change Your Motor Oil Changing one’s own motor oil is a tremendous way to save money – when you pay someone else to do it, you’re essentially paying someone $20 so you can sit in a waiting room while some guy unscrews a nut, collects some oil in a bucket, screws the nut back in place, then dumps some clean oil in the top. Why not do that at home where you can do something worthwhile while the oil drains and save yourself $20? (@ art of manliness)

What To Do With A Financial Windfall This is a great step-by-step guide to handling a windfall. If you don’t have a plan, windfalls can actually be a large negative disruption in your life, as we talked about a bit last week. (@ moolanomy)

Results of a Week Without Spending Can you go an entire week without spending any money? As an experiment, this family attempted to have a week without any spending and managed to get by only spending $3. Fairly insightful stuff. (@ pt money)

Continue reading The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Next Project Edition …

From The Simple Dollar.

November 4, 2009 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment

Quick & Easy Homemade Ice Packs: How To

A few different options for having ice packs and ice bags on hand as well as frugal ideas for keeping your lunchbags and camping coolers nice and chilled.
Reuseable gel type ice packs:
Method #1
2 cups water
1/3 cup vodka (80 proof)
Food coloring (any color you like)
Ziploc Freezer Bag

Pour liquids into ziploc freezer bag, add food coloring [...]

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From TipNut.com.

October 22, 2009 | Filed Under Frugal Living | Leave a Comment