Save Money By Checking Your Automated Finances
I have my finances basically set up so that I do not need to log in to check anything. My ING account pays my credit cards and the car loan and all my other bills go to one or two cards.
I have everything set up according to my zero based budget so that I don’t go over in any one area when it comes to paying a bill. Two days ago I logged in to one of my credit cards to look at the data and make sure that it it matched up with all my receipts.
Five Dollar Bonus!!!
Five!
Five dollar!!
Five dollar bonus!!!!!
I recently logged int0 my Discover credit card account saw that I had some cash back money waiting on me.
I have a balance of $46.97 in my account which I could redeem for cash OR I could get a CVS gift card for $50 by using up $45. Woo hoo.
Guess which one I chose.
Well of course I chose the CVS gift card since you all know how much I love to go shopping for stuff at CVS…especially when I get it for FREEEEEEEE.
Sneaky Credit Card Trick
While I believe that credit cards a great tool if used correctly I must admit that I almost got in trouble with a sneaky credit card trick. I pay all of my credit cards automatically via ING so that I do not have to deal with the hassle of writing checks.
I have a system to pay my credit cards where the two cards I use on a regular basis (to earn cash back) get paid four times a month based on my budget for what is put on that card. I have an idea of what I put on each card and divide that by four and ING sends that one fourth payment every week to the card. The amount is more than the minimum payment would be and since I am paying multiple times I do not even have to worry about the due date.
Chase (ing) MyPoints
I have used MyPoints for years now because I love the rewards that I get from them. MyPoints is a program that basically pays you to read their advertising emails from partners. You get points for every email that you click through and then you can redeem these points for gift cards to certain retailers.
If you would like to try MyPoints let me know and I can send you a referral and we BOTH win!!!!
I used MyPoints to get gift cards to restaurants like Red Lobster (my favorite!!!) and also recently to stores like CVS where I can get stuff for free!
What Your Credit Score Means and Why It’s Important (Guest Post)
In today’s struggling economy, a good credit score is more important than ever. A credit score that was good enough to get a loan in the past may not cut it as easily today. Creditors are tightening the reins on lending, while credit scores are increasingly touching on more and more aspects of a consumers financial life. Insurance companies use them as a component of their pricing engines, employers use them to screen employees and landlords demand a peak at your credit file before renting an apartment to you. Good credit health is essential. Yet many people have no clue what their credit score is or what it means.
Debt Update: January 2009
It is time again to take stock of how much I owe and the progress I have made towards paying off debt. I have updated my NetWorth chart and as you can see it is still in the negative but slowly creeping upwards.
I have also made some progress with the Debt Payoff chart and I am slightly above halfway done with the original debt. Here are the next two targets in my snowball debt payoff plan:
Capital One Card
Lending Club
I currently have $298.50 left on Capital One and with a few micro payments, or snowflake payments I am going to have this card paid off by February.
Snowflake Target (Christmas Resolution)
Welcome to How I Save Money!
Most people wait until New Years to make resolutions or to set goals. I am making a Christmas resolution to pay off a credit card by March.
I have written about my snowflake process before and how I take any extra money to pay towards certain targets.
My next target is the Capital One credit card which currently has $727 at 0% interest rate. I had been paying the minimum on this card because it was at a zero percent interest rate and my money would have been better put to use elsewhere.
Tracking My Finances In September: Day 17
Welcome to How I Save Money and tracking of income and expenses for the month.
Income for the month to date: $94.47
Expenses for the month to date: $1762.35
Net effect: -$1667.88
I got a $5.00 gift card to WalMart AGAIN from my insurance benefits. I tell you that if you have Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance you NEED to look up the site to see if you can enroll in the Blue Points program. By just answering a few questions or logging simple things like how many glasses of water you drink you can earn points and then get FREE stuff.
