You Need a Strategy

In order to get out of debt, you need a strategy that allows you to make your minimum payment each month and pay as much as possible more toward your debt to get rid of it quickly. The faster you get rid of it, the less you’ll pay in interest. The more aggressive you are at paying off your debt, the faster it will disappear. A strategy will get you there. A budget is the ideal strategy.

How to Budget

Budgeting isn’t that complicated. Once you learn how to construct a budget, the process of following it is simple. It’s not painless, but it’s not complicated either. You’ll have to make sacrifices and do without, at least until your debt is paid off, but once you set limits on your spending and stay within those limits, it will become a rewarding habit.

Benefits

What does a budget help you do? The benefit of a budget when you’re in debt is that it helps you to squeeze out every extra dollar possible to put toward your debt. A budget helps you cut back on your spending in the most efficient way. As long as you follow the budget, you’ll have a lot of extra money leftover to put toward the debt.

Another benefit is that it makes getting the extra cash you need to put toward your debt payments a lot easier. You don’t have to constantly think about whether or not the things you are buying are okay and if you’re putting enough money toward your debt. A good financial plan will set up a timeline for your debt repayment, and as long as you follow the budget, you’ll reach your goals to pay off debt simply and quickly.

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Just sign up for the promotion at the Exxon Mobile Speedpass site. You need to register an online account with them if you haven’t done so already.

If you are unfamiliar with a Speedpass device, it is a little key fob that you wave in front of the machine to active the gas pump. It links to your credit card, so you no longer have to use your credit card at the gas station. Exxon Mobil gas stations also have readers inside as well as at the car washes. No more dealing with money or credit cards anymore.

If you don’t already have a Exxon Mobil speedpass, you can Sign Up Here then register for the promotion after your account is created.

You figure with current gas prices at around $4. Getting $.15 gallon off is like saving 3.75% at the pump. Not a lot, but at least you can brag to your friends that you only paid 3.85 for gas while they still paid $4!!!

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1. Save Money By Renting Textbooks Instead Of Buying Them As you can probably tell from the lack of consistent...

I came across a site called Chegg.com where you can actually rent textbooks. This saves you the hassle of buying them and then trying to sell them. I remember back in college when you would spend $100 on a book just to realize after you took your final that they would be a new version of the book and they weren’t going to buy yours back. Lets just say I have a bunch of useless books in my basement.

I decided to look into the text book rental a bit more. As I had just completed my first MBA class, I did a quick comparison. I purchased the text book Organizational Behavior from Amazon.com for $169.34, which was about $40 cheaper than the bookstore my school recommended. I then sold it back to amazon using their trade-in program for $89.20. So I only ended up paying $80.14 for the use of the book. Well I took a look at Chegg.com and their rental price for the book was $60.70 for the dates that would have covered my class.

A savings of $20 would have definitely been handy. I then checked for my upcoming class and it is a savings of over $35. I ordered the book through their website and just received it yesterday. It comes in a reusable box and contains info on how to print a return shipping label for free once you are ready to send it back. The nice thing is that all shipping is included in the rental price. All you have to do is make sure you send the book back by the rental expiration date.

At this point, I think I am going to switch to textbook rental. Obviously it doesn’t make sense to rent if you actually want to keep the book, but for right now I am just taking general education required classes which I could really care less about keeping the book.

If you are in undergrad or grad school, I would definitely take a look at Chegg.com and do the comparison between them and the other bookstores to see if money can be saved on the books. Lets face it, tuition isn’t cheap anymore and for some reason the cost of books increases right along with it, so why not do what you can to keep a little bit more money in your pocket.

Once I send the book back I will do a more indepth Chegg.com review for you all.

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Note that there is a 4% balance transfer fee on the balance of the transfer. If you are going to balance transfer for the full 18 months, then the 4% fee is pretty negligible.

0% balance transfer offers are becoming more and more scarce these days as the credit card companies try to find other ways to increase their revenue based on the new consumer card act that was passed last year. If you are needing to transfer some debt at a low interest rate, then this deal could be for you.

Other benefits of the card include the following:

• 0.00% introductory APR for 12 months from the date of account opening.
• 5% Cashback Bonus in categories that rotate each quarter
• 5% to 20% Cashback Bonus through our exclusive online shopping mall
• Up to 1% Unlimited Cashback Bonus on other purchases, automatically
• Redeem rewards for cash

For more details on this offer, check out the Discover More Card Promo offer details. Make sure to read the “Interest Rates and Interest Charges” section at the bottom of the application so that you are fully aware of the terms and possible fees with this promotion.

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 So in simple terms, if you have 1 million dollars in a single bank you normally would only $250,000 would be insured. But today, if that money is in a non-interest bearing account, all of that 1 million dollars in insured. A few things to stress here is that the money MUST NOT BE in an account that earns interest. If you have questions, make sure to ask your local bank representative to clarification on which accounts will work with the Dodd-Frank Act. Also note that this unlimited insurance is only in effect until December 31st 2012. You are still insured up to $250,000 on interest bearing accounts.

If you are like me and am not even close to meeting the $250,000 limit then this really doesn’t concern you, but if you have a ton of cash that you don’t want to earn interest on, then at least you can rest assured that if your bank fails, your money is still safe. Not sure how many people want to have over $250,000 in an account that earns nothing, but hey, to each his own right?

More information on the Dodd-Frank Act.

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Some banks waive their fee when you use ATM’s that aren’t theirs up to a certain amount, others increase the fees the more you use them.

If you are like me, you probably think, I don’t really want to count anything. I want a bank account that rebates ALL fees each month no matter what ATM I use. Well you are in luck. Ally Bank has an online checking account that does just that. Any fees that are incurred from an ATM withdrawal are credited back to your account when the statement for that month closed no matter how many times you do it.

What makes this account even better is that there are no minimum balances, no fees, 0$ to open, Free Online banking and Bill Pay and no direct deposit requirements. They actually pay you interest as well depending on the amount you have in the account. They have an ACH transfer system where you can transfer money in and out of the account to any other bank account that you have.

If you are being choked by your current bank where you get no interest on your money, ridiculous ATM fees and crazy direct deposit requirements, then you should check out there Ally Bank Checking Account . It literally costs you nothing to open and use, but can save you a fortune in fees and hassle!

Originally posted at Budgetcents.net

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All you need to do is to register your American Express card at the American Express Promo site. Then start buying gas through January 20th.

I was able to register my Fidelity American Express Rewards card, even though it is not an American Express “issued” card, so we will see how this works. It also appears that this will work on non gas purchases as well, but I will need to try that first to verify.

Since most credit cards have dropped their rewards percentage, this 5% is pretty attractive offer even if it is only for 30 days.

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• Amazon.com : Free super saver shipping ends on Friday 12/17. Standard shipping ends Monday 12/20. See their full shipping schedule for more detail
• UPS: You have until Tuesday 12/21 to get a package out using their 3-day select service. If you really have to cut it close, to get it there by Christmas you can still do next day air on 12/23, but be prepared to pay a bit more.
• FedEx: Similar to UPS you have until 12/23 for next day air service, but FedEx is also offering same day shipping in Christmas day
• USPS: Last chance for First Class Mail is Monday 12/20. After that you can use their faster services to get the packages there. Again 12/32 is the last day for next day delivery.

As this being the winter season, don’t assume just because you get your packages out on those days they will actually make it. With winter storms, possibility of your package getting lost in the delivery process, etc, the sooner you get it shipped the better. And it will definitely be cheaper than waiting until the last minute.

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Discover Bank is the same institution that issues the Discover credit card, so they have been around for a while. In addition, they are FDIC insured up to $250,000 per account.

One interesting thing about Discover Bank is that you rarely see advertisements like the other banks. I am not quite sure why with such a high rate you think that they would steal away the competition. The High Yield Savings Account also has been been the Bankrate.com Top Tier Winner for consistently high yields.

There is an ETF feature that lets you move money in and out of the account to a linked checking account that you set up. There is also live 24/7 customer service in case you need to call them for any reason.

If you are looking for a safe bank with a high rate and great customer service, you should take a look at the High Yield Savings Account from Discover Bank.

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magicJack uses a device that plugs into your USB port on your computer. You then plug a regular phone into the MagicJack device and that is it. You then make and receive calls like a normal phone service.

You also get all the features of your current home phone included such as call waiting, caller id, call forwarding and voicemail.

When you sign up for magicJack you can choose an area code that you want your number to be in. They have a large offering of numbers in many different area codes. You can’t currently transfer your current number over to them yet, but according to their website they are currently beta testing that feature.

Currently there is a 30 day free trial available. Once the 30 days is up and you are satisified you only need to pay for the device which is $39.99 and $6.95 in shipping and handling. That price includes your first year of calling. After that you only pay the $19.95 per year.

I have been using magicJack for about 6 months now and love it. For unlimited calling at $20 per year, you can’t beat it. I use this mainly as a second line as both my wife and I have cell phones. I never thought I would find something to get me to drop Vonage, but this was definetly it!

You can find more details on the magicJack service here

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