Archives for December 2005

Side Jobs For Extra Income: Past College Jobs

Posted on December 16, 2005 // 14 Comments

Now that my classes are over for this term, I want to spend some time thinking about how to make some side money while going to school full-time. This got me thinking about jobs that I’ve done before when I was studying for undergraduate. There has been a good variety. Let’s see what we got, from lowest paying to highest:

Drive-Through Cashier, $6/hour – A mom and pop fast-food type restuarant. Took orders for drive-through, made drinks, cashier stuff.

University Security Escort, ~$7/hour – Walked people home at night from the library to their dormitory or off-campus housing. It was nice, you get to work at night and meet a lot of new people. I actually met my wife this way!
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Filed Under: General //

When Is It Worth It To Move Your Money?

Posted on December 16, 2005 // 12 Comments

Another good question spurned by fellow rate-chasers’ comments. We now have a lot of competition in the high yield savings account arena. So, a good question asked is “When it worth it to move your money”? This is because there may be a gap in between money transfers from Bank A to Bank B where your money will not be earning any interest, which could negate much of the benefits of moving. (Another good question is which bank or entity is earning money off the float.) Things to consider:

1) When does Bank A stop paying interest?
2) How long does it take to for the transfer?
3) When does Bank B start paying interest on your deposit?
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Banking //

Credit Transfer Denied, But With Possible $100 Silver Lining

Posted on December 15, 2005 // Leave a Comment

So I asked if I could transfer my credit limit from my other Citi credit cards to my new Citibank Professional Card, as discussed previously. I got the same answer that other readers got – No, because it is considered a professional/business card. So I can’t increase my current $9,000 limit. But then I recalled that most business cards are not reported on your consumer credit report, but on a separate business credit report. I asked a Citi Rep about this but she obviously didn’t know the difference. I’ll have to check my credit report after 30 days to see.

The reason why this is good is because if I it is not on my credit report, then I can take out the whole amount and it won’t affect my regular credit score! Which means I can apply for more cards with bonuses later 😉

Filed Under: Credit Cards //

Credit Limit Transfer Denied, But With Possible $100 Silver Lining

Posted on December 15, 2005 // 8 Comments

So I asked if I could transfer my credit limit from my other Citi credit cards to my new Citibank Professional Card, as discussed previously. I got the same answer that other readers got – No, because it is considered a professional/business card. So I can’t increase my current $9,000 limit. But then I recalled that most business cards are not reported on your consumer credit report, but on a seperate business credit report. I asked a Citi Rep about this but she obviously didn’t know the difference. I’ll have to check my credit report after 30 days to see.

The reason why this is good is because if I it is not on my credit report, then I can take out the whole amount and it won’t affect my regular credit score! Which means I can apply for more cards with bonuses later 😉

Filed Under: Credit Cards //

Switching to 6-Month Treasury Bills

Posted on December 14, 2005 // 14 Comments

My current 4-week T-Bill ladder has been working smoothly, with the money going in and out of the C of I so that I don’t have to do anything but watch the interest add up. But, this week’s T-Bill auction results gave a disappointing 3.63% rate, which is the post-tax equivalent of 4.13% APR for me. I can already get that at Presidential Premier Savings.

So I think I’m going to switch to 6-month T-Bills. I chose 4-week T-Bills for their relative liquidity, as I wanted to use it as an emergency fund. But since I usually have enough cash in various accounts while earning bank bonuses, I want to grab higher yields. My savings horizons are longer than 6-months too. The recent 6-month T-Bill rates are about 4.33%, or 4.92% APR bank equivalent for me. That’s much higher than any 6-month bank CD. I think I may be getting too obsessed with optimizing my cash returns, but it only takes a few clicks =)

Filed Under: Treasury Bills and Bonds //

Pet Insurance Revisited: Self-Insuring Update

Posted on December 13, 2005 // 8 Comments

A while ago I asked out loud “Is Pet Insurance Worth It?“. My conclusion was no, so we started putting $20 a month into an ING sub-account instead. Well, we have a spaniel, and he got an ear infection. We ended up taking him to the vet today since it was getting worse. Total cost for checkup + medication + ear cleaning solution: $88.50. Money saved up so far in ING: $80.

I wanted to see how much VPI pet insurance would have covered if we actually had it. I think it would’ve been covered, under “otitis externa”. Why can’t it just say “ear infection”? But there is a $50 deductible per incident, so we are actually ahead so far with the self-insuring. In the end, I still think pet insurance should be used as catastrophic insurance, if you couldn’t afford $5,000 surgery.

Filed Under: Insurance //

Saving Money With Cheaper Hobbies?

Posted on December 11, 2005 // 20 Comments

Another good frugal living tip I hear is to get cheaper hobbies. I know a lot of people with very expensive hobbies – Golf, Boats, ATVs, Gadgets, Photography, and Mountain Biking come to mind. Each of these involves pressure to buy the latest and greatest widget to “take you to the next level”. Like getting the newest Super-Mega-Big-Bertha, or the latest Shimano XGVRSTQ++ titanium alloy components, is really going to help your game all that much.

My expensive hobby of choice? Snowboarding. I try to keep things under control; my equipment was bought off-season, and is now 6 years old. But it’s still expensive. Lift tickets now average $50 a day, gas for the 3 hour drive to get there, hotels for multi-day trips, food on the mountain…
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Filed Under: Frugal Living //

GMAC Bank paying 4.30% APY

Posted on December 10, 2005 // 27 Comments

As mentioned by readers. GMAC Bank MM Savings at 4.30% – FDIC Insured, $500 minimum to open and maintain to avoid fees, ATM Card, limited check writing. I don’t have an account with them currently, let’s hope others move to match.

Filed Under: Banking //

Budget Results for November

Posted on December 9, 2005 // 1 Comment
Budgeting Results

As expected, since we hosted my family for Thanksgiving, we blew through the Dining and Groceries budget guidelines this month. It takes a bunch of food to keep 6 people fed for 6 days. We finally finished our ham and turkey leftovers though! Everything else seemed alright, we must have spent a whole tank of gas just on outlet mall hopping. Hurray for American Consumer Day (aka 12/25). Speaking of which, our tally for holiday gifts is almost complete, I’ll share that in a bit.

Filed Under: Budgeting //

Sunrocket VoIP Phone Service Review

Posted on December 8, 2005 // 35 Comments

I replaced my landline telephone service and switched to SunRocket VoIP service back in February. I got a whole year of unlimited local and long distance, with tons of features, for $199 a year or $16.58 a month. Now that I’ve had it for 10 months, I’d though I’d give it a review. The short version is, it’s definitely not perfect, but for the price and my current needs it rocks.

Pros:
Simple, no-hassle pricing – The $199 includes everything, ALL features, ALL taxes, I haven’t been charged a penny since my first $199 bill. There are no rebates to mess with. There is no cancellation charge. If you cancel within 31-days, you get a full refund. If you cancel after, you still get a prorated amount back of your unused time. Even the shipping for your free equipment is free.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Budgeting //

Fun with Dick and Jane – Consumerism Comedy

Posted on December 7, 2005 // 5 Comments

Just saw a trailer for Fun with Dick and Jane, a new Jim Carrey movie hitting on how we are too obsessed with owning Stuff and “Keeping up with the Jones'”. In this case the Jones’ have a new voice-activated Benz, while Dick looks sadly at his mere non-voice-commanded BMW. Awww, poor baby.

Dick gets fired, and since they’re mortgaged to the hilt and want to keep living in happy gated-community suburbia land, they have to share one huge single-trip salad bar plate, and start showering with the garden hose (how does that save water?). Dick even gets a job at KostMart (think Costco + Walmart). In the end, the only way to solve their money woes is of course…. spending less? Nah. Robbing people!!

Filed Under: Frugal Living //

Confused?

Posted on December 7, 2005 // 7 Comments

I guess I’ve been leaving newer readers behind with all this talk about taking advantage of credit cards with 0% balance transfer offers. Sorry about that. Check out this old post:

How to make money off of 0% APR balance transfers

Filed Under: General //
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