I initiated a wire transfer today from an out-of-state credit union to my home credit union. Because the amount of money was fairly significant, they called me up to verify a few things before they did the transfer. After the woman gave her name and who she worked for, she asked for the passcode to … Read more
We’re (hopefully) in the final stretch for purchasing a new house, and part of the paperwork for this was setting up homeowner’s insurance for the new house. We called the same company that sold us our current house’s homeowner’s policy, as well as our current auto insurance policy. The agent was able to get us … Read more
Cutting costs anywhere that makes sense adds to that budgetary cushion that can be used to pay off debt, add to an emergency fund, save for college, or anything else. One fairly easy way to do this is to reduce, or eliminate, trips to the vending machines down the hall. The markup in our building … Read more
After giving myself a giant environmentally-friendly pat on the back for how green it was for me to buy a used washer and dryer, a big hole was pointed out in my argument. I had considered the costs of electricity and manufacturing, but neglected to consider water costs. Commenter “First Step” points this out: I … Read more
What’s more, there are likely a few more appliances that I’d be eager to buy used, even though there are more efficient, “greener” versions being made today. I mentioned in the roundup that we bought a used clothes washer and dryer. We found the advertisement on our local Craigslist, went up, and found the set … Read more
Smart Money’s recent article, Ten things not to buy in 2010, listed the who’s who of soon-to-be-obsolete consumer products. Among them: CDs, DVDs, and newspapers. Newspapers, I can understand, especially after seeing a comedian absolutely decimate the folks at the New York Times. (Though I do fully recognize their point that news gathering is expensive … Read more
This Huffington Post article puts a big spotlight on all of the money that credit card companies and banks are making by being the broker of donations to charities that support rescue and aid over in Haiti: About 97 percent of these donations will actually make it to the designated organizations — but the other … Read more
Once in a while at work I hear one of my coworkers talking about their retirement portfolios, usually about how badly it’s been hit the past couple of years. One particular time I was cleaning out my lunch dishes and was overhearing a friend and another coworker talking. Her portfolio had taken a hit (like … Read more