My biff with E-Trade

I tried to sign up for a Complete Savings account from E-Trade since they offered such a great rate compared to all of the other banks around. I also liked a lot of the other services that they offered and may use them in the future. So signed up for the account and got an email shortly after saying that my funds would be transfered starting the next business day. That was back in the middle of December. That money has yet to be taken out of my checking account 1 month later. So I called E-Trade to find out what is the problem. The lady I spoke with said that they weren't able to verify my birthday and that they wouldn't open the account until they could do that. No big deal if they would have contacted me....but they never did. So I had a large sum of money sitting in my checking account NOT EARNING INTREST the whole time while they were failing to contact me. Not one single email or piece of mail was sent to me stating there was a problem. I asked why and only got a run around by two different people. I guess E-Trade has some stuff to work on if they want to compete in the real world.

Another problem I have with E-Trade is the fact that they want me to fax or mail my drivers license in to verify my information. I have opened numerous bank accounts online and have never had to actually mail anything in to any of them. I guess there is no such thing as an online only bank.

Dropping Saving Account Rates

Today I received an email from HSBC that my savings account dropped again. Now they are down to 4.25% from 4.5%. At one point my account was at 5.05% and that was barely a year ago. Luckily for me I had already begun to search for a new savings account to replace it with. I ended up finding out that E-Trade offered an online savings account at 5.05%. I also found out that they offer a $25 start-up bonus for opening an account. The $25 will cover my lost interest from transferring accounts. Its worth looking into if you are in a similar situation.

New Years Resolution

Since we are getting close to the end of the year I wanted to post on what my New Years Resolution is for this year. To start off I am working on developing some better money saving ideas. I am trying to develop a better way of managing food expenses/food inventory to cut down even further on food costs. More to come on this later. I also want to work on making a better way of doing coupons. I have no real organized way of doing my coupons and I usually end up losing them or they expire by the time I realize it. Also more to come on this later once I figure it out more. Other than that I am going to continue to write on my blog more to share more of my ideas on personal finance with as many people as I can. Help me spread the word.

Helping companies to help yourself.

One thing that I truly believe in is letting companies know how you feel.  There are so many times that I have purchased something and it turns out to be absolute junk. If its an every day item like food or soap or whatever I am not going to bother to return it. In those cases I have found that writing a simple letter or email to the company can do wonders. For instance I bought a bottle of a certain product (not to be named) and the lid broke off after the bottle was only about half full. I then proceeded to emailed the company and about a week later I received a booklet of coupons for free products from that company. It did take me a few minutes to fill out the form and describe what the problem was and how it could be fixed in the future. Hopefully the company will take my complaint to heart and actually fix the problem in the future so I wont have the issue later...which is my reason for writing them anyways. 

I have also found that even giving rave reviews can do wonders. I have also received free product coupons by giving rave reviews, it all depends on the company though. There have been some times that I have found great little known products that I absolutely love. I want those companies to know that there is support for their product and hopefully they wont take it off the market. Don't you hate that when that happens?

So help yourself by helping companies out, let them know what you think.

Buying everything with credit cards to increase rewards and interest revenue.

I have been thinking lately about an idea to increase the rewards/cash back on my credit cards and I came up with an idea. Right now I purchase everything on my Visa Check Card and it works out great for me. I am able to check my balance at any time online so I don't even keep a check register. I normally know how much money I have in my account at any given time so I have never over drafted. Being the out-of-the-box-thinker I began trying to figure out if I can do anything different for my own benefit. I have a few credit cards that offer rewards like cash back or points towards items.

Heres my idea: My idea is to try to purchase everything on credit. Then pay off the credit card with my high yield saving account. Might seem like a crazy idea but maybe you need to think of it this way. 

• First of all if I am carrying a balance in my checking account I am loosing potential interest revenue. 
  
• By using a check card, purchases are take out instantly...if you are making interest on your checking account you are losing out as soon as you make that purchase.
• The credit card grace period can help to further build the interest in your savings account.

Here's a great example: Lets say you purchased something for $1000 with a check card. You don't gain any interest on that $1000 from the time you swipe that card. If you were to make that same purchase on a credit card and not pay for it until exactly 1 month later you would make $3.75 on the interest(4.5%) that you normally would have not made. Lets add in the use of a cash back rewards card that has 1% cash back on any purchase, thats $10 more  you just made. So you can save/make $13.75 on a single $1000 purchase. Thats $165 a year if you make $1000 in purchases every month. Chew on that. 

There are some disadvantages of this method though. First this method is for people who have zero credit card debt. Please don't add more debt to your problems this wont make it any better. You also need to be able to plan ahead because transfers can take some time to complete. This can be beneficial for people if they are willing to put in the small amount of extra time needed to pay of credit card bills every month. It is also important for the people using this method to be good with there money to avoid any potential issues.

Getting Organized With Google Calendar

One thing that is very important in everyday life is to get organized. I recently started using Google's calendar feature to help me get organized more. There are some things that I really love about it that I think that anyone can benefit from.

• Ability to check your calendar at any time online from any computer. There are so many times that I have run into the issue of forgetting to write something down in my planner and not know what it is that I had going on later in the day. I can just hope on any computer and find out what it is that I had planned for the day.
• Daily emails of the events for the day. I don't always remember to check my calendar but I always remember to check my email before leaving for the day. Plus you can have Google email you a set time before a certain event is set to happen.
• Have daily email sent to your mobile phone. Wouldn't it be nice to have your daily events sent right to your phone without having to invest in a smartphone? Your daily schedule can be texted to you in the morning before you head out so your less likely to forget.
• Setup multiple calendars. It is very easy to setup various calendars for different aspects of your life, for example work, school and personal.
  
• Never forget birthdays. I was able to import all of my friends birthdays from Facebook and I can very easily add in future birthdays for new people I meet...or delete birthdays for that matter.
• Add public calendars. There are lots of public calendars out there that you can add to your own calendar like federal holidays, group/organizations calendars, company calendars, etc.
• Create a calendar for your company. You can create a public calendar of any events that your work has that any employee can access and add to their computerized calendars with ease.
  
• Make your calendar public. With a public calendar you can allow your friends, family, or co-workers to view your calendar and schedule themselves into a time that works best for the both of you. With the public calendar you can make it fairly secure so it would be difficult for people to come across your calendar by accident.
  
• Easily Search your Calendar. Not all calendar applications are easy to search like Google calendar. You would be surprised at how important it is to be able to search for certain things to know when they are due.
• Integrate into other calendar applications very easily. With Google calendar I can very easily send my information to my iCal on my Macbook and then Snyc it to a Bluetooth phone or PDA. Also information can easily be sent the other way starting from the phone.
• Get a better understanding of your future finances. You can create a calendar of all of your due dates for bills, when you will get paid, when a certificate of deposit(CD) will come due, etc.
  
• Make sure your spouse is on the same page as you. Like I said before you can create public calendars and add events to other peoples calendars. With this feature you can add events to your spouses calendar so they have no reason to forget. :)
  

Google Calendar doesn't replace the old paper calendars or planners but it can be another tool in todays world that can help to organize your life.

The $50 Christmas Challenge.

One thing that has also been difficult for me is determining what exactly go get for people for Christmas without breaking the budget. This year I have about 10 people to buy for. If I only spend $10 a person that should make my budget at $100. I don't have $100 to spend on Christmas this year. I am going to set my Christmas budget at $50. This might seem like I am a cheap skate but I am determined to make the most out of the $50 that I can. I am going to use all of my frugal skills to see what I can come up with for 10 people with only $50. I will post my results at the end of the year after Christmas to show what all everyone got and to see if I truly stayed within my budget. I am going to call this the $50 Christmas Challenge.

Money saving tips I'm scared to try

I read a lot of various article on how to save money on various things. There are some things suggested that I want to try but either don't have the initial money to startup or I am afraid to do it.

1. Home made wine - I found this last night and this sounds like a great idea. I am just afraid that if I don't make it correctly that it will taste bad and I will want to throw away the whole batch and be out the entire cost.
   
2. Home made beer - I would love to try this because I like beer. I am not an alcoholic by any means but I do love the occasional beer on the weekends. I don't think I drink enough beer to justify the cost of the kits. This is something that I want to look into investing in for the future though.
3. DIY projector - I looked into building one of these back in the day but I never got around to building one. The cost of operation is suppose to be lower due to the lower cost of building and the lower cost of lightbulbs for the units. If I ever get enough money I will likely just buy a projector instead of building my own. Although the temptation is there.
4. Home made laundry detergent - This sounds like a great idea but I just don't have the space necessary to store a large amount of laundry detergent. Also I don't do enough laundry in a given month to even come close to needing large amounts of detergent.
5. DIY Solar heater - This was a very interesting idea that I found while searching around on the internet. The only reason I haven't done this yet was because I have no south facing windows in my apartment currently. This is something that I am going to seriously look into in the future.
   

Storage Containers vs Zip Lock Bags

On a previous blog I had talked about using storage containers for cereal to allow it stay fresher for longer. I didn't start using storage containers until only about a few months ago when I realized the full benefit that they can provide.

The question would be whether storage containers can replace zip lock bags or not. I have found they can and actually do a better job in most cases. In the past year since I stopped using zip lock bags I have not once said to myself that I wish I had a ziplock bag. 

First some things to keep in mind about storage containers when purchasing them:

• Get a good quality set. A good set of containers will last a long period of time if they are well cared for.
  
• When buying a set make sure you have a way of organizing the lids and containers. This was my biggest issue because I could never find the lid that fit the container.
• Look for ones with interchangeable lids. This will make your life so much easier.
• Get sizes that will meet your needs. Do you make sandwiches for work? Do you make meals with massive amounts of leftovers...or just alittle?
  

I finally found the Gladware Interlocking Lid containers. They are amazing for their organization ability but they are really cheap quality so I personally wouldn't recommend them. My girlfriend picked up a set of Rubbermaid Stain Shield containers that are really good quality but are a mess to organize since it comes with 10 sizes and there are 6 different lids. Although they are all different sizes and shapes so its easy to tell them apart. If these ever go bad I am going to look for the storage containers that are easier to organize and possibly have interchangeable lids to make it even easier to

Prosper

I am always looking for easy ways to make money and save money. Investing is quite possibly the easiest way to make money without doing anything. I happened to come upon the site Prosper which offers great rates on very small investments. You can start with as little as $50 and you can control how much of a risk you are willing to take. Its very straight forward and there is even a $25 sign-up bonus when you begin lending if you click the ad below.