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Upgrade Instead of Replace to Save Some Money

Alan Schram — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:00:15 +0000

We live in a world of disposable goods. Plastic water bottles, paper towels, IKEA furniture. We’ve been taught to purchase things, expect a short lifespan, and then throw them in the trash when we are done with them. Even if you ignore the environmental and moral aspects, there’s a huge financial aspect to embracing disposable goods. Plastic water bottles may only cost fifty cents each, and a reusable glass container may cost 10 or more dollars. You can, however, simply wash the glass container and use it for the rest of your life. Those plastic water bottles will add up, fifty cents at a time. Paper towels, also, don’t cost much individually, but a wash cloth can be cleaned and reused. Again, a larger initial cost but resulting in a long term benefit. IKEA furniture is cheap at first, but if you move around at all, you’ll find that the durability of the good is less than ideal.

So what’s the solution? Always purchase the most expensive goods? No, probably not. Purchasing the best value you can afford is always a good ideal, but you probably have some other purchases that at the point of no return. What to do with them? In some cases, it would be good to replace the item in question, as over the long term, it will be better than trying to patch an item that’s just no longer worth it. In other cases, you can often get by with keeping the product, and perhaps just complimenting or upgrading it.

Generally speaking, if the cost of the upgrade is more than the cost of a new product, it makes sense to purchase the new product. If the cost of the upgrade is less than the cost of the new version, then it can make sense to simply upgrade or compliment your existing item, assuming that the upgrade gives the product a longer life expectancy. Let’s look at a few examples.

Tune Up and Repair Vehicles

Automobiles are an item that is very expensive, so most of the time, a simple upgrade can be all you need to keep your car on the road. For example, if you’re feeling like your car just isn’t good enough anymore, instead of looking at new models, see if there’s something you can do to make your existing car better. Not enough storage space? You can add a roof rack. Not “fast” or “peppy” enough anymore? Take it in for a tuneup! Not right for your climate? Invest in winter tires/summer slicks and you’ll feel a world of difference on the road. There’s almost always a less expensive option than purchasing a new vehicle. The tricky part with cars and trucks is when it comes to repairs. When is it worth it to repair the vehicle, and when should you just bite the bullet and get a new car? It’s always tough to say, but the general rule is that when the cost of the repairs exceeds the worth of the vehicle, there’s no point in repairing it. Save your money for an eventual new purchase.

Upgrade Computer Parts

The cost of a computer is constantly dropping. Again, you should be able to simply upgrade your computer before you have to replace it. Is it less than 3 years old? Then it’s worth repairing/replacing. A computer can feel like new again after a format of the hard drive. It requires a little work, but it costs nothing if you do it yourself and can give your computer another year or two. If it still feels sluggish, the cheapest upgrade is adding more RAM. RAM is very inexpensive these days, so it should be <$100 to upgrade your computers RAM. Hard drive prices are insanely high right now, but Solid State Drives (SSDs) haven’t risen as much in price. Consider upgrading your computer with an SSD to get a noticeable speed performance in booting and application loading times. If it’s a desktop computer, make sure that it is clean on the inside. Dust buildup can greatly reduce performance, so get some compressed air and clean it out. If, however, the computer is simply outdated, then the price of a new computer should be low enough that it will be worth replacing entirely.

House Renovations

Sometimes you simply outgrow your home. Are you living in a two bedroom basement suite with six children? It’s time to get a new home. Do you already own your home but it just feels too small? Consider seeing if there’s a renovation that you can do that would greatly improve your living situation without having to sell and purchase a new home. Have an office that’s rarely used? Convert it into another bedroom. Have some extra land next to the house? Consider the cost of building another wing onto the house. Just sick of where’s you’re living? Think about re-doing the floors, painting the bedroom, or any other small upgrade in order to make your place feel new.

When is it worth a new purchase, and when it is worth upgrading?

Upgrade Instead of Replace to Save Some Money originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on January 18, 2012.

How Avoiding the Big Supermarkets In Canada Can Save Money

Guest — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

When I first moved to Montreal I decided out of habit that it was probably most economical to load myself up with a back pack and a few plastic bags and head to the large supermarkets for a big box bulk shop. From my very first shop I felt like something wasn’t quite right, the costs just seemed a little too high compared to my home country (UK) prices.

This went on for a while but on the way home one evening, walking from downtown to my home in Westmount along Boulevard Maissoneuve, I noticed Marche Almizan on the corner of St Mathieau. It caught my eye because had some interesting breads outside. I love bread, so I popped in expecting just to pick up some new kind of bread. I walked around the store and noticed they had a ton of cool goods and they were not expensive, in fact, as far as I could tell they were cheaper than the box supermarkets I had frequented.

After that I started to check out some other smaller stores and supermarkets, I found more and more that I could find items in them at cheaper prices. I used to find some places would have cheaper canned goods and dry goods, such as Fruits Rocky Montana near DADs Bagels in NDG, and some cheaper for vegetables, such as Fruiterie Mont Victoria in Westmount on Rue Sherbrooke. Many places from the McGill Ghetto to Cote De Neige exist and have great prices.

When you start digging under the surface of a Montreal a lot of off the path deals can be found such at the goods at the Frigo Vert organic supermarket, next to Concordia downtown, and the donation based canteen style People’s Potato of Concordia downtown campus, yes you can get a lunch meal for nothing there!

But that’s Montreal?

I can’t say for sure that every city in Canada works like this but I have found some success using similar techniques back home in London, UK and have been told that it works like this in Vancouver too and some other places in Canada too. My best friend is also finding luck with this in Auckland, New Zealand.

The point is that by stepping outside of what is considered the normal thing to do you may find yourself finding better deals, better quality goods and you will also have the added benefit of supporting smaller more locally based business. You can create a shopping route and bulk shop (where possible) once a month or so, or if it’s on a route you tread daily just pop in when you need stuff.

Food is something that is needed so when we can work out a way to cut back on its cost it’s worth pursuing. In some cases it may be more work for you but you’ll actually find you feel more a part of your city and you’ll learn about places and people you never knew about.

After all this is how people used to shop until the big box supermarket came into existence and it helped harbour a sense of community amongst everyone.

Do you have any experience with small store shopping over bog store shopping and do you find it saves you money?

Author Bio: Forest parks writes about lifestyle, frugal living, finances and more over at his blog FrugalZeitgeist.com. He writes about things such as The Cheapest Places To Live and How To Simplify Your Life.

How Avoiding the Big Supermarkets In Canada Can Save Money originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on January 10, 2012.

Save Money – Be Your Own Tech Support

Alan Schram — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:00:55 +0000

I’m lucky enough to have grown up with technology. In elementary school we had a computer lab where they taught us to type, play games, even program a little. In high school I could do the majority of my work on a computer, or using the internet for research and writing papers. I was one of the first to get a broadband internet connection, I was on Facebook as soon as they opened it up outside of universities, I’ve had multiple smart phones, game consoles, and I’ve now even built my own computer. So it isn’t surprising to me that I can do my own tech support, because I’ve grown up with the technology, and even if I don’t understand how it works or how to fix it, I know where to look to find out.

The big secret that we have, however, is not a gigantic encyclopedic knowledge of everything to do with technology. We have a basic understand of most troubleshooting steps to take when things go wrong, and we know where to look when that doesn’t work. So the next time your computer breaks or you can’t get your new HDTV working, follow these steps before you pay someone else to fix it for you.

Reboot

It’s a common joke in the tech world – the first step is to turn the device off, wait, and then turn it back on again. It sounds ridiculous, and it sounds like it shouldn’t work. But it does. 50% of the time, a simple reboot or power cycle will fix the problem. Computer acting weird? Reboot it. Can’t get onto the internet? Power cycle the modem/router. TV can’t recognize the game console/set top box/DVD player? Disconnect everything and plug it back in. Why does this work? Most devices are programmed to follow a boot up program that will place their software in the correct order. Sometimes during use that software can get confused or look in the wrong place for the device it’s supposed to be connected to. Unplugged it or rebooting it can get it to look in the correct place again. I know it sounds silly, but it works, so try it first before you do anything else.

Update

If you have a software issue, before you call up Apple or Samsung and scream at them for issuing a broken device, make sure that it is updated. Almost every electronic device has some sort of software on it. Your iPhone has an iOS that would need to be updated, your Android phone can too. Your computer software may have a bug fix update that resolves the problem you’re looking at as well. Even your TV or internet router will have built in software called “firmware” that may need to be updated in order to work properly. So make sure that the device that your having difficulty with is up to date, as outdated equipment or software is often unsupported anyways.

Website

If you’ve rebooted the device, ensured that it is up to date, and your still having problems, check out the website of the company that you’re having difficulty with. Sometimes it’s a temporary known issue, like Twitter’s servers being down, which would result in your phone’s SMS tweets not working. Here’s where you can find all sorts of information your problem as well. Look up your specific model number and see if there’s any new/better software out for it, or find support forums filled with people ready to answer your questions.

Google

If the basic troubleshooting steps failed, then it’s time to search Google. The thing about Google is that you have to know how to search for your problem. Putting in “computer doesn’t work” won’t yield any relevant search results. First, determine as specific of the problem that you are having. “Email won’t send” is okay, and may give you some results that can give you a general idea of what to look for. “Email won’t send on Win 7 using Outlook 2010″ is better, and including the specific error code that your given (ie. 08XFH4800) is best. Look through the top three or four results to see if there’s any known issues or solutions for your particular problem. If there’s any potential steps that might fix it, try those.

Ask a Friend

If you can’t find out the solution to your problem yourself, before you shell out your cash for Geek Squad to format your hard drive without your permission, ask someone to help you. Everyone should have a friend, neighbour, or relative that is “good with this sort of thing”. Give them a call and see if they have any suggestions, or invite them over for a coffee/beer and a quick look at your ailment. Don’t expect or demand anything from them, just let them know what sort of issue you’re having and if they’d mind taking a look. As one of those people, I definitely don’t mind helping out friends and family, but it is nice to feel appreciated when I do.

All in all, most technology is surprisingly hard to break these days. Don’t worry that by checking the wrong box or clicking on the wrong link you’ll completely destroy your computer or TV. Almost everything that you could possible do can be undone in one way or another. Just make sure that you backup your most valuable information first (as you should already be doing) so that if it does get lost, it can be restored quickly and easily.

Save Money – Be Your Own Tech Support originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on January 4, 2012.

Saving Money On Video Games: Steam Sales Edition

Alan Schram — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:00:41 +0000

Steam is your best friend when it comes to saving money on video games. Steam is an online digital game distributor run by the gaming publisher Valve. Every Holiday, they hold what are affectionately known as “Steam Sales”. These sales are when they start to heavily discount the video games they distribute for the purpose of getting more games into the hands of gamers right when those gamers have the most extra cash floating around. There’s a few things to know about the Steam Sales before you dive in, so read on to make sure that you take proper advantage of the discounted merchandise.

Format

The Steam Sale is broken up into a variety of segments. The first and foremost is called “Daily Deals”. These are one day deals that are available for 24 hours. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. So, if you see a game on sale on a Daily Deal, and you want that game, you ought to buy it. There is little to no chance that you’ll be able to get that game at that same low price later on in the sale. You must take advantage of it while you can. At the same time, if you see a game that you want that is not a Daily Deal, do not purchase it. It may become tomorrow’s Daily Deal. Even if you see the game is already on sale, don’t buy it unless it’s a Daily Deal. Wait until the end of the sale. If, on the last day of the sale, the game has not been a Daily Deal, then you can feel confident that you are purchasing it at the lowest price it will be available at for this sale.

If you missed a Daily Deal and see that the game is still discounted (just not as much), still do not purchase it until the last day. The very last day of the Steam Sales are usually all the best deals from the previous Daily Deals. So if you missed the sale you wanted, wait and hope it comes back at the end.

Publisher Packs

Publisher Packs are a fantastic choice for the budding gamer. They are filled with a ton of games, all from the same publisher, all discounted for one low great price. They are a fantastic choice for someone who doesn’t have a lot of computer games yet, but they’re probably not such a great choice for someone who might already have one or two of the better games from that pack. However, don’t forget that the games within the pack can be on a Daily Deal as well. So the same rule applies here, where you should wait until the end of the sale, and then determine if you need/want the publisher pack. Otherwise you might find that the game that you bought the pack for just went on sale for 75% off and the rest of the games you never really wanted anyways.

Gifting

You can gift Steam purchases. If you don’t have an account, simply create one. Then when you go to purchase a game, it’ll ask you if you want to purchase it as a gift or for yourself. If you choose as a gift, all you need is the recipients email address. Steam will send them an email for you saying that you bought them a game. They will then be able to add that game to their account, download it, and play it. If you don’t want to send it to them yet (perhaps you want to wait until Christmas), then purchase it as a gift, but put your own email address down. When you get the email from steam, simply hold onto it, and forward it along on Christmas morning. Steam doesn’t really care what email address you put in the box, the important part is clicking on the link and activating it within the email. That way if gamers have multiple email addresses, they don’t have to have multiple Steam accounts if a friend or relative sends them a game, but to the wrong email address.

Strategy

There’s a couple popular strategies for making the most of Steam Sales. If you’re a game that already follows the scene and knows what games they want to get, it’s best to just ride it out, check out the Daily Deals, and wait for the games you want to go on sale. You’ll get exactly what you want, at the best price, and you won’t spend a ton of money on games you may or may not want. But what if you don’t follow the scene? What if you’re a new gamer and are unsure what games to get? Here’s where you’ll want to spend a few minutes doing some research. On the main Steam page there’s a “most popular” tab. If you wait 12-18 hours after the sale has started, that Most Popular list will accurately reflect the best deal of the day. Purchase that game. Wait for the next day of Steam Sales, and repeat. Gamers are very diverse, and as the Daily Deals are also diverse, if you purchase the best game or two from each Daily Deal, you’ll end up with a massive collection of amazing games that you can play and check out for a fairly low price. Most Steam Sales bring games down to <$10, so even a week or two of doing this won’t completely break the bank.

Do you take advantage of Steam Sales to saving money on video games? What are you purchasing this Holiday season?

Saving Money On Video Games: Steam Sales Edition originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on December 21, 2011.

Don’t Be Perfect

Alan Schram — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:00:13 +0000

I’m a bit of a perfectionist. If I’m going to do something, I want to do it well. I would rather not do anything instead of trying and failing. So when I started getting involved in personal finance, I wanted to do it so well that I would stand out above the crowd. I wanted to take my money and utilize it the absolute max. What I’ve come to learn, however, is that by attempting to be perfect, I’ve lost something even more valuable along the way – time. Being financially perfect is difficult. There’s so many different ways that you can use your money, using it as “perfectly” as possible is a difficult task. It’s not far from impossible. It is, however, really close to time consuming.

Think about it. If you want to make sure that you’re using your money effectively, you need to know what options you have. If you’re investing, for example, you need to know what type of investments are available. You need to know which investments are more likely to get a greater return, and which ones are more likely to fail. You need to know a lot about investing in order to make the best investing decision. Even grocery shopping can be difficult. Should you purchase ketchup now or wait until next week? How long can you go without buying bread? Is milk cheaper here or at the grocery store down the road – and are the savings worth the extra cost in gas money? Are there coupons? When do they expire? What meals will most effectively use the ingredients that are already on sale and already in my cupboard? As you can see, it can quickly become a difficult task ensuring you’re getting the most for your money.

So what’s the solution? Stop trying to be perfect. I’m serious, just plain stop trying. Don’t stop trying to do well with your money, of course, but stop trying to be perfect. Don’t worry about where the milk or the gas is the cheapest – it’s not worth the gas money, and even if it is, it won’t be worth the extra time it takes to drive from one place to other. Unless your closest grocery store is consistently and vastly overpriced, don’t worry about making sure you have the best deals all the time. Just do your best, make smart decisions, and let the rest go. Unless your full time job is making sure that the money that you already have is spent correctly, don’t pursue perfection. Pursue “good enough”. If there’s a deal or a bargain or a sale going on, don’t wilfully ignore it, but don’t spend your limited time on the earth making sure you are saving thirty seven cents here or there. Money can come and go, but you only have so many hours on this earth. Don’t waste them pursuing financial perfection so that you can afford a better TV or another meal out. Spend your time with family and friends watching your crappy TV and eating leftovers.

Do you pursue financial perfection? Where do you “let things slide”

Need A Reminder? Using Alarms to Save Money

Don’t Be Perfect originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on December 14, 2011.

6 Tiny Tips to Help with the Holiday Season

Alan Schram — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:00:59 +0000

Everyone could use some help with the holiday season. Whether it is a few more bucks in the banking account, or having family over to help manage the kids while you wrap presents, everyone would appreciate having an extra boost for the upcoming Winter. With that in mind, here are a few quick things you can do to help launch yourself into the Christmas festivities with a few more dollars in your pocket.

1. Use a rewards credit card for all of your Christmas purchases

Obviously, be sure to not overspend by using a credit card (you did set a budget, didn’t you?). If you can resist that temptation, then in January you can cash in your rewards to pay off your bill or get started on your new year’s resolution. Make sure that you have the best rewards credit card for you – it depends a lot on where you make most of your purchases. I personally use a Capital One cash back credit card. I don’t spend a lot in any one place, so getting a consistent 1% back on everything that I put on the credit card really helps.

2. Skip the annual Christmas party

Spoiler, someone gets drunk. So often Christmas parties require such time and energy that they’re simply not worth it. Unless you really want to go, or unless you feel like keeping your job is dependent on it – skip it. You save the hassle of getting ready, and the money on gifts, clothing, and liquor.

3. Get all your Christmas shopping done now

Every day you wait just means that the stores will be that much busier. Not to mention, the frantic mindset you’ll have come Dec 24 will mean less chance to comparison shop, get the best bargain, and save yourself some money. Even worse, you could end up purchasing something that the gift recipient doesn’t even like and they end up returning the gift after Christmas!

4. Skip Black Friday/Pre-Christmas/Boxing Day sales

Recent studies have shown that prices for some items tend to fall well after Black Friday. If holiday sales didn’t work for retailers, they wouldn’t be having them. Come January when sales have slowed down, prices start to drop as new models come out and old stock needs to be moved off the floor. Give yourself a late Christmas gift and purchase your big ticket items after the crazy November/December “sales” are over.

5. Clarify gift giving etiquette with friends and family

Are you still going to give a gift to Uncle Johnny? Are you expecting a gift from your neighbours? Take a few minutes and phone the people you’re not sure you’re going to give or get a gift from. If you’d like, agree to not give each other a gift, and instead promise to send an update email or grab a coffee sometime. Obviously, that won’t work for everyone. In some cases, try suggesting that instead of an awkward gift exchange, you each donate to a Charity of the other’s choosing. Exchange the gift receipts. It will probably cost less than purchasing a gift, the receiver gets exactly what they want, and the charity gets a donation. Win, win, win. If that doesn’t work, consider taking a day off to craft a plethora of gift exchange presents. Do one thing really well (like your famous cookies, flavoured oils, hand paintings), and use those for each different gift/exchange you go to.

6. Automatic withdrawal to your savings account for Christmas

Seriously, create an automatic withdrawal to a savings account for next year’s Christmas. Set it up to take $50 a month and put it into a separate bank account, and by next year you’ll have over $600 towards gifts, travel, whatever you need. This is the first year that we did it, and I’ll tell you, it’s a huge relief to have that money tucked away. There’s no stress in trying to fit Christmas budgets into regular budgets – the money is just there.

All of these things are simply, one step actions that will reduce a huge amount of financial stress for the next few weeks. What are your tiny tips?

6 Tiny Tips to Help with the Holiday Season originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on November 23, 2011.

How To Screw The Power Company

Nelson Smith — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:00:32 +0000

As an admittedly ~~cheap bastard~~ frugal guy, I cringe at opening my bills each month. Sure, I like having things like running water and heat, I just don’t like paying for them. Even though utilities are incredibly cheap, I still don’t like paying. Imagine all the money I’d have if I didn’t have to pay utilities. I could spend it on all sorts of other extravagances- like potato chips. Have I ever mentioned how awesome chips are? Oh, only every minute? Never mind then.

We’ve established my hatred of paying for utilities. How can you avoid paying for them? Well, beyond illegally squatting in your neighbour’s basement, there’s no way to get free utilities. But what about minimizing them?

Enter Solar Power

One of the ways that’s become popular is buying a solar power system for your home. Especially if you live in a warm climate with a lot of sunlight. Before you go down to the local Canadian Tire and start buying solar panels, is the idea even feasible? Just how much will it cost? This blog post will attempt to answer some of those questions, and will probably fail. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Keep in mind that I have zero practical experience in this arena, nor do I even know anyone who is doing this. With that out of the way…

A solar power system has two components, the panels themselves and the battery system. In simplistic terms, the panels convert the sunlight to energy, where the battery stores it, since your house will use energy even when the sun isn’t shining. The panels are installed on the roof commonly, meaning you might have to replace your roof before even embarking on the project. Let’s assume your roof is relatively new, so onto the next step. How much does it cost to install?

Cost of Solar Power

Well, this is where it gets murky. Canadian Tire has a 85 Watt panel currently on sale for $600. An 85 watt panel will produce 85 watts per second, which is just enough to… power a 60 watt light bulb with a little room to spare. Doh. You’re obviously going to need more than one.

According to this article (easily the most useful one I found on the topic) having 720 watts worth of capacity will mostly power a normal house. 9 Canadian Tire panels would give you 765 watts, at a cost of $5400. As is the nature of our economic system, I checked around, and the cheapest I could find after my exhaustive search (read: 3 minutes on eBay) was about half that much from a wholesaler out of Montreal.

That’s just the cost of the solar panels. If you’re a relatively handy guy, you’ll probably be able to install them yourself. If not, you’re looking at maybe $500-$1000 for installation. Once they’re installed, you can either install a battery system to draw on when it’s dark, or simply draw from the existing power grid system at night. You’d sell your excess power back to the grid during the day (often at attractive government mandated prices) and then draw off the grid at night, meaning the cost would approximately be a wash.

There are also tax incentives available for home owners who take the initiative to install a solar power system. In Ontario, the provincial government is willing to let a homeowner write off the HST paid for the system, a 15% savings. Many other provinces have similar incentives for solar power. The federal government is willing to kick in $500 assuming the components of the system are on their approved list. We’re not talking huge amounts of money here, but a few hundred bucks here and there help make the system more economical, which is the real reason we care.

Should You Bother?

Understandably, you’re probably a little nervous about this. Solar power has come a long way since you were first amazed by a solar powered calculator, but is it feasible for your energy needs? I’m not going to pretend this piece is the penultimate authority on the subject. However, the cost seems downright reasonable. Just how much money can you save?

Assuming the system costs $7500 to install (a generous estimate, to be safe) and you pay $100 in power like I do, your investment in solar power pays for itself in a little over 6 years. Considering the solar panels have an expected life of 25 years, you could have next to free power for 19 years. As demand for energy continues to go up, the price of said energy will surely increase as well, meaning the return becomes even more attractive in the future.

What’s most exciting about this concept is that solar energy isn’t very far away from being a mainstream source of energy, even in a cold place like Canada. A key part of thinking like a wealthy person is not being dependent on others. I don’t know about you, but I’d enjoy the freedom of no longer having a power bill. As long as the numbers make sense.

How To Screw The Power Company originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on November 17, 2011.

Which Service Plan is Right For You?

Alan Schram — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:00:42 +0000

As everyone who has been through puberty knows, self perception is often quite wrong. Even though if feels like everyone in the world is constantly watching you, judging you, and waiting for you to fail, it takes a few years to realize that everyone else was just as concerned with how they were being seen to bother paying attention to you. However, even as you grow and age, your self perception will fail you.

Just think of these classic examples. The soccer mom who thinks she is her teenage daughter’s best friend. The elderly man who thinks his eyesight is just as good as it was 40 years ago. The driver who thinks everyone else on the road is a horrible driver. Your self perception will fail you, and it could cost you money when it comes to signing up for services.

When you sign up for your cell phone bill, the sales person will often ask you what types of services you will need. Do you want to access your email on your phone? Do you like always having your phone with you? How often do you send or receive text messages? These types of questions will help them determine just what level of package you might need.

The problem is, you are probably the last person they should ask to see how you are going to use your phone. Why? Because you will answer based on your self perception. “Oh, I call my mother all the time! I best get a long distance plan”. Even worse, you might answer based on what you are hoping you will use the service for. “I’m going to use this new cell phone to text message all my old college friends! It’s going to be so fun”! How do you stop the cycle? How do you prevent this from occurring? You have two options. You either let someone else pick your service plan for you, or you go with what you think/hope you will use, and re-evaluate after 6 months. Has it already been six months? Let’s look at your service level plans.

Cell Phones

How much of your cell phone do you actually use? Did you get a smart phone because your teenage kids thought it would be the best/coolest phone you can get? Do you ever actually use the data plan that you are paying so dearly for? Go take a look! Most cell phone providers will be happy to provide you with that information. Either give them a ring, or go to your service provider’s website. Most companies will now show you your historical usage.

For example, I have Bell as my cell phone provider. They actually provide me with a “6 month trend” of my usage. In my case, I have up to 350 talk time minutes per month that I can use. I use approximately 1/3 of that each month. There’s potential savings! As for data, I use between 250-750MB per month. I pay for 1GB, and the next lowest option is 500MB. So I am probably best off staying where I am, or dropping down a level and seeing if I can restrict my usage a little more.

Television

How many channels do you actually watch? I can’t tell you how many times as a kid I wished I had more channels to watch. I was so sick of there being nothing on the 20 channels that we had. Every so often, at a friend’s house, I would get to watch Satellite TV. There were hundreds of channels, and within an hour or two, I would be bored. I was spending more time trying to find something to watch than actually watching it, if I could even find anything good to watch. There’s plenty of options, but when your options are primarily infomercials, local news for places that aren’t local, and reruns for B-movies, there aren’t actually that many options.

So take a week and write down which channels you actually watch throughout the week. There’s a good chance you are not using all of your channels. Once you do, take a look at your provider’s website, or give them a call. You may be paying extra for channels that you don’t actually watch. It’s worth checking periodically as well, as channel lineups and provider packages seem to change on a regular basis.

Internet

How fast do you need your Internet to go? How large of a bandwidth cap will you use? Just like your cell phone bill, you may be paying more than you need to for your service. The speed of your Internet will rarely affect your user experience. As long as the YouTube video loads after a few seconds, you should be good. As long as the download from Microsoft takes minutes, and not hours, you will be fine. As long as your games don’t lag and you can Skype your grandmother, there’s no real reason to need a faster Internet.

Most provider’s regular package should be more than enough for you. Don’t get me wrong, I love having a fast Internet, but there are few occasions where I can justify the additional cost for a few seconds difference. As for bandwidth caps, your provider should again be able to provide you with how much you have been using, and whether or not it is worth going up or down in cost for your personal needs. It could save you money!

How do you select your service plan level? How do you justify the additional costs?

Which Service Plan is Right For You? originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on October 26, 2011.

Small Changes Add Up To Big Savings

Robb Engen — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:00:20 +0000

Everyone’s heard about the latte factor, or about how much money you can save by quitting smoking. Our daily vices can quickly become a financial burden if we don’t keep them in check. But what about the more subtle habits that are a constant drain on our finances?

Years ago, before my wife and I got married, we lived down the street from a Tim Horton’s. Shocking, I know…considering there’s only one Tim Horton’s for every 8,000 people in my city.

Every weekend we would walk over to Tim’s for breakfast; which consisted of a large coffee and two everything bagel’s with cream cheese for me, and a large coffee, muffin and yogourt for my wife. Total cost – $10. Sometimes we ate there on Saturday and Sunday. This was our equivalent to the pack of cigarettes a week habit.

I’m not sure what we did to finally break this habit, but now we eat breakfast at home for about $2 a day, including coffee. And guess what? The bagel and coffee are just as tasty at home. Something as simple as changing our breakfast habits has saved us over $500 a year.

The point is that I used to think it was impossible to save more money or cut back on our expenses, but when I took a closer look at our daily routines and habits, I was able to find big savings just by making small changes in our routine.

Meal Planning

We’ve all come home from a busy day at work without giving a second thought to our dinner plans. So what do we do? Stop for take-out on the way home from work, or head out to a restaurant for a quick meal. Taking a few minutes to create a weekly meal plan helped us break that habit and saved us hundreds of dollars a month.

Budgeting

Most of us find the budgeting process tedious and believe that as long as we pay ourselves first we can do whatever we want with the rest of our paycheque. The problem with this approach is that you’re more likely to squander money on little things that you don’t even realize have become a habit. Tracking your expenses for a few months will give you a good sense of your spending habits and then you can develop a budget to keep your expenses in-line.

Spending

Canadians love debit cards, even if we have to pay up to $12.95 a month for the privilege of using them. After I got my finances under control, out of habit, I still used a debit card for my everyday spending. Then I discovered rewards credit cards, which worked just like my debit card except I was the one getting paid in the form of cash back or Air Miles rewards. Just make sure to pay off your bill in full every month and don’t overspend just to earn more points. I’ve earned more than $500 a year just by using my rewards credit card regularly.

Develop Healthy Routines

We all have our vices, and I’m not saying we need to eliminate the things we enjoy. But it’s important to understand the difference between healthy routines and bad financial habits. Small changes in your habits can save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year.

Small Changes Add Up To Big Savings originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on October 4, 2011.

Finding the Best Travel Deal Online

Guest — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 09:00:00 +0000

There’s hundreds of active airlines in the air. This means high competition to attract each personal airline passenger. Looking for the very best travel deal takes time and research, but there are some tips that will help you unscramble your options. There are cheap tickets to be had even with the major airlines, but there are many smaller ones that take away the fluff and offer lower fares.

Best locations to treat as your departure city

If you are anywhere near one of the major cities offering the best deals, you may consider driving part of the way to gain an advantage. These cities include, but are not limited to, Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, and Halifax. Airfares and travel agencies always use strategies for offering the lowest prices on air fares, hotels and cruises, at least for their economy class. If you decide to follow this tip, be sure to count the present high cost of gas and longer term airport parking.

Take your mobile device with you

No one likes to be stranded at an airport when the weather intervenes. Sometimes you can check online to get the best alternative to getting you where you are going even if it ends up being by a roundabout way. Online access is vital no matter what the situation, even to seeing the airplane inflight toward your location. The best airfare and the best route may be garnered by switching your ticket even if it costs you extra.

Watch Special Events

Cheap tickets are often acquired by flying against the crowd. One year, when the Super Bowl was in Phoenix, Arizona, the fare round trip from Phoenix to Chicago was $120 if a person was flying from Phoenix on the day before the Super Bowl and flying back to Phoenix the day after. Many planes were necessary for several airlines to accommodate the expected crowd waiting at each terminus. The airlines were happy to have some passengers to help support the aircraft returning.

Look for Smaller Airlines and Their Routes

Once you have determined your destination, find out what airlines fly to that destination from your targeted departure city. They are also a website that supports RSS feeds and Twitter. Not only do they offer a plethora of destinations, they specify what airline supports the fare published. Some of the airlines not currently supported on comparison web sites are smaller airlines. You need to become familiar with the list of airlines presently in operation and Google for their web sites. This is part of the research that will pay large dividends.

Research, research, research are the key words to finding the best travel deal online. Plan and take your time making the basic decisions. If you are a free spirit, snapping up last-minute deals is also very thrilling.

Author Bio: This post was written by Bernard Prince, web specialist at travel agency VarVacations.com. You can also find him on their Voyage à Rabais Facebook page.

Finding the Best Travel Deal Online originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on August 20, 2011.