Lazy Man and Money

Save Money on Cell Phones

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Save Money Cell Phones
Save Money Cell Phones
I’ve written about how to save money on landline phones, but I realized that I didn’t cover cell phones. It’s time fix that. There are a lot of people spending too much on their phone bill and if these tips help one or two people, it’s well worth the effort. Of course it might help 10 people, if you spread the word by using the e-mail link at the bottom of the post.

    Manage Your Plan

  • Use BillShrink – Billshink is a company that looks at your cell phone usage (among other things) and tries to help you save money.
  • … Or Use Fix My Cell Bill – For $5 you can upload your cell phone bill and get recommendations on how to save money on your cell phone.
  • Get the Right Amount of Minutes – No secret here. If you ending the month with lots of minutes, switch to a plan with fewer minutes and save some money. If you find that you are running out of minutes don’t pay overages. If you aren’t sure where you fall, consider AT&T with their rollover minutes.
  • Look for Friends, Family, and Network plans – A lot of companies allow you to designation people you call most for discounts… That works well for my family. Some companies allow you to pay a little more for unlimited calling in the network. With Sprint that $5 option probably saves me a few dozen dollars every month.
  • Skip a Cell Phone Plan – A prepaid cell phone is a good way to save money for those who don’t call a lot. Some companies that offer this are TracPhone, Boost, and Virgin.
  • Look for a Special Plan – Sprint had a program called SERO (Sprint Exclusive Referral Offer) which was an amazing deal. It was easy to get into as well. I’m not aware of any current deals like that, but it can’t hurt to try to find a message board and see. There’s also Let’s Talk that has some interesting options. I’m not sure if they are the best cell phone plans, but they look good.
  • Reduce Your Use of Data – The days of unlimited data are coming to an end. Use smartphone apps to limit the amount of data you use. Android has Onavo Extend that compresses data before it gets to your phone. It will also tell you which apps are using the most data. With that information maybe you can use them more sparingly.

    • Avoid Cell Phone Extras

  • Skip Ringtones – The ringtone is one of the worst buys in the history of telecommunications. Sometimes people pay $2 or more for some 15 seconds of a song in the form of a ringtone. I don’t understand it. Fortunately a lot of phones, with a little work, will let you upload ringtones on for free.
  • Be Careful of Text Messages – I take it back, the text message is one of the worst buys in history of telecommunications. At 10 or 15 cents for around 150 characters, it’s the most expensive data in the world. If you do a fair amount of text messaging, consider and unlimited plan or a large bucket of text messages.

    • Get Out of Your Cell Phone Contact

    Getting out of your contract maybe a way to save money. Perhaps you want to drop your phone altogether… or maybe you see another plan with a different carrier that’s going to save you a few dollars. Either way, it’s better to get out of a big termination fee and save some cash

  • Watch for Contract Changes – Sometimes you can get out of your contract because companies change their terms. For instance they may change the cost of text messaging. When these kind of things happen you may be eligible to get out of your contract for free.
  • Swap Your Phone – Companies like Cell Trade USA and Cell Swapper help you work this out. Seems like a decent plan in theory… I haven’t had to try it for real.

I saved the best tip for last… If your contract is up (or if you can get out of via the method above), call up your current company and say that you are thinking of switching to another carrier to get the sexy phone (Blackberry Storm, Apple iPhone, Palm Pre) on their competitor’s network. You’ll often get sent to the retention department, where they will try to make you happy with all sorts of extras. It’s better for them to keep you at a discount than to go recruit a new customer to replace you. Now some may see this as a little dishonest, but I think it’s fair game. I would have an iPhone now if it was available at Sprint. Because it’s not, I feel they should give me a reason to stick with them.

It’s better for them to keep you at a discount than to go recruit a new customer to replace you. Now some may see this as a little dishonest, but I think it’s fair game. I would have an iPhone now if it was available at Sprint. Because it’s not, I feel they should give me a reason to stick with them.

This post discuses the many ways you can save on your cell phone plan. Another way to save money is by visiting savings.com where you can find savings coupons for cell phone, computers and other great products.

Photo Credit: MarkKelley

Save Money on Camping

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Today’s guest post comes from Hike Camp Fish. Hike Camp Fish blogs about what you’d imagine: hiking, camping, and fishing. You’ll notice that he has a very snazzy theme (yeah I helped him with it ;-) ). He’s also got a Hike and Camping store.

In these difficult economic conditions across the world, it’s not always easy to consider luxuries like camping trips and vacations as “essentials.” However, if we’re going to maintain our sanity during these times, we’ll have to keep living our lives and find ways to scrimp, save, and still pull off an adventurous, fun lifestyle. That’s why I ask Lazy Man if I could give some tips on how to save money on camping, allowing you to take a quick, easy, fun camping trip for less money then you’ve been spending in the past.

Let’s take a look at three ways to do this:

  • To save money on your camping trip, start in your house. Your house? Absolutely – before you even start spending money for equipment and camping gear, you need to look in your garage, basement, and attic to see what you’ve already got. No sense in buying a new tent if you already have a perfect one downstairs, waiting to be used.

    Objects to look for include tents, pots, tools like pliers, lighter fluid, tarps, a cooler, rain gear, and backpacks. Many people have these lying around the home or garage and simply don’t put them to use, wondering how so much junk keeps piling up. If you’re going to save on camping, start using your junk!

  • Don’t go to the store to buy camping gear without a search online. Online stores like Amazon and eBay might have what you need at lower prices, especially if you’re buying used equipment. If you don’t have an Amazon or eBay account, don’t worry – it won’t take long to set up and you can be saving in no time! Use the Internet to find cheap items you can buy that you didn’t find around your house.
  • Bring your own food and be ready to cook it. Buying bulk items like hot dogs and buns will be much cheaper than taking your family out to eat, and roasting weiners over the fire makes the process fun. Just make sure that you’re ready for your food: pack up a cooler with ice to keep your meats cold and fresh and you’ll be set for the weekend. You can even cook popcorn over your fire, which makes a great snack and is incredibly easy to carry.

Looking at these tips, you have a great starting point for saving money during your next camping trip. There are dozens of other ways to save money, so the rest will depend on you: if you adequately plan and prepare for your camping trip, you’ll find that saving money is easy, as long as you hold a watchful eye on every purchase and ask yourself “can I save money doing this a different way?”

Save Money on Kitchenware

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Each Monday this year, I’m trying to find some new way you can save money. As always, the best plan of action for saving money is to not spend it. I don’t believe that’s a practical long term strategy. Sometimes you just need to buy things. Sometimes you can get away with cheap, and sometimes it’s worth spending a little more to get some great quality. So with that in mind here are my picks on how to save money on kitchenware.

  • Pots and Pans – The staple of cooking is to have some decent pots and pans. For me, the one non-negotiable is that they must be non-stick. I know there’s some research on the safety of non-stick coating. I haven’t done the research necessary and to be honest, it’s far from my area of expertise. I’ll simply say that this is a Lazy Man website for a reason – and in this case, it’s because I don’t like to spent all day cleaning up a pan. As I see it there are two ways to go:
    • The Non-Cooking Expert – This is me. I don’t watch the Food network. I make rice and it tastes like rice. I will not win any awards for cooking, but I can get the job done. I’m using the same 10 or 12 pot and pan set that I found on sale for under $40 in 2000. If you are like me it’s easy to save money on pots.
    • The Chef – I’ve found some big name brands (Calphalon One comes to mind) on sale on the Amazon Friday Sale – usually some 60-70% off. If you look, you can find the copper core and all that kind of fun stuff that chefs love.
  • Kitchen Knives – I may be ill-informed, but it seems there are two huge name brands when it comes to knives – Wusthof and Henkles. Like the pots and pans, I see two ways you can go with this – the complete set and the essentials
    • The Complete Set – This is another case where the Amazon Friday Sale can be your friend. You don’t necessarily have to wait until Friday, to see large discounts on sets on Amazon. It’s not surprising to find knives more than 50% off every day. It makes me wonder if anyone pays retail or if it’s one of those items that has perpetually inflated retail prices. I went for the complete set.
    • The Essentials – I often find that I use the same knife from the complete set for over 95% of my cutting. It’s a mid-size knife that seems to fit my hand well. On rare occasions, I’ll step up the biggest knife in the set – something that’s like a cleaver, but not quite.
  • Small Appliances – You can save money by getting a small appliance that does a number of duties. You can get a Cuisinart Blender/Food Processor for around $85. You can get a George Foreman Grill that can make waffles, paninis, scrambled eggs (via the griddle), and grilled cheeses. Plus it’s non-stick :-).

You may have noticed that I linked to Amazon quite a bit here. Almost everything in my kitchen that cost me over $50 has come from Amazon. I don’t know what it is, but it seems like they always have sales. Maybe it’s a little like how you can typically find a better deal on electronic on the Internet than you can at Radio Shack… you can find a better deal on Amazon than you could at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Going Back to School? Here Are Some Tips That Helped Me

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It’s been 10 years since I graduated college, excuse me if I’m not fully in character. School was a different time in my life. I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about money. My mother raised me to think frugally and I think that stuck in my subconscious.

  • Car – I was the one with the car. Many people may say that you don’t need a car in college. It depends on the college, but at many it’s very important. I defer to the PCU quote, “Will you have a car? … Someone on your hall will, find them and make friends with them on the first day …”  If you are going to be the one with the car, here are some tips to save money on cars.
  • Clothing – Image isn’t everything… Or is it? For the first two years of college I wore sweat pants and sweat shirts almost exclusively. A great female friend of mine showed me that I might want to have something other than tube socks in my sock drawer. I made a decent investment in my wardrobe – going through a bunch of stores at the mall. It was the right idea, but not the right implementation. I would learn a few years later that I could have put together a similar wardrobe from TJ Maxx for about a third of the cost. Women: I’m going to attempt to speak for most men when I say that we don’t really care about fashion too much. With the way my hormones were in college, I could be impressed by breathing and having a pulse ;-). Lesson: Considering doing some research on how to save money on clothing. Random note: 7 years later the aforementioned friend would become instrumental in introducing me to my wife.
  • Easy Classes – I wouldn’t be afraid from taking an easy class or two the first semester. College is going to be a whole lifestyle adjustment and while you are there to learn – you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. Also be careful about classes that appear easy, but take a lot of time. I thought the first level Spanish class would be easy since I had 7 years of it in college, but it required a lot of work. Just because you know the subject doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.
  • Technology – When I was in college laptops were very rare and quite expensive. However, you can now pick up an Asus EEE for less than $300 on Craigslist or an Acer Aspire One. These computers would be perfect for taking notes or hoping online in between classes.

    If you’re going to be living off campus with some friends or housemates, don’t bother with a landline. Research the best cell phone plans in your area and pick the one that suits you ““ between instant messaging and texting, chances are you wouldn’t use a traditional phone too much anyway, so save yourself the money.

The Money Writers have gotten together to provide you some more Back to School tips

Weekend Links: Game Seven Edition

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It’s game seven time in Boston and I can’t imagine the atmosphere. I personally stopped watching the Celtics when legends retired (Bird, Parish, McHale, etc.) and the new stars literally died (Reggie Lewis, Len Bias). The team philosophy for a number of years seemed to be to try to stay .500. This year, I’ve started watching a little more basketball – about 10 games compared to the 72 I used to watch. Yes, I’m a fair-weather fan, but I think it’s reasonable considering the circumstances. So let’s dedicate this set of links to the Boston Celtics.

  • At Digerati Life this week, we’re given the motto work smarter not harder with increase your salary without increasing your work. An example to this philosophy is to follow the money. Just beware of your cost of living expenses!
  • Are you in financial trouble? Generation X Finance gives ten steps to take when you are in financial trouble from negotiating old loans to asking for a pay raise.
  • Ever wonder what the best cash back credit cards are? At the Sun’s Financial Diary find out what percentage you can get and where you can get it.
  • Here is a simple way to save money on food that keeps you from spending you hard earned money at Starbucks. Breakfast! Blip Blap explains that breakfast stops your cravings for midmorning junk. So it’s not only smart on your wallet but smart for your health.
  • Summer is here and that means going to theme parks. Money Smart Life provides several stout ideas on how to save money at amusement parks from your food and admission to hotels and souvenirs.
  • Over at Million Dollar Journey this week learn how to hedge against your bills by owning the company. If you own stock you’ll get dividends to pay for or pay you more than your monthly bills. Check out the dividends achievers list provided in this post.
  • Do you know what credit card arbitrage is? My Dollar Plan presents 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers providing a list of credit cards that offer this currently and how to make it work for you.
  • Do you know why absolute real estate auctions are big deals? Mighty Bargain Hunter explains simply that they have to sell it at the last price offered which could be as low as a dollar and the auction house would have to sell it. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, doesn’t it? Be warned though, you’re not liking going to get it for a dollar. Read why.
  • Do you play the balance transfer game? Or want to learn more about it? Over at NoCreditNeeded read the guest post from Five Cent Nickel on credit card companies want your money to read the rewards and risks of the game.
  • We always knew that TV was a time waster, but have you ever really wondered just what you’ve lost because you watched TV? At Free Money Finance learn how to save money and improve your life just by turning off your TV.

    • I was included in a couple of carnivals as well. Check them out. I also want to thank MSN for highlighting my article on snowforting – even if everyone missed the satire behind the post.