What is your best money saving tip?

lsbcal,

1) No roaming charges on prepaid at T-Mobile
2) Ordered online (Prepaid phones: Pay As You Go from T-Mobile) but you could probably set up prepaid at one of their stores. Online they often have specials with free refill cards -- I ordered a Motorola flip phone for $19.95 and got a free $25 refill card. They usually get the phone to you the next day if ordered online.
3) This would depend on the phone/battery -- the phones are the same as you would use with a typical cell plan. Depending on use and signal strength, my phone usually only needs to be charged every 3-4 days.
4) I am not sure that T-Mobile coverage is quite as good as Verizon but I have had no issues in my travels around the country.

I have had the prepaid phone for 18 months or so and have been satisfied. I use it for my long distance calls and usually buy the 1000 minute refills for $88-$90 at callingmart. Most folks that use as much as 300-400 minutes a month would save money with prepaid since even most basic cell plans are around $45 with all fees/taxes.
 
lsbcal said:
1) Can you use your accumulated minutes while on vacation in the U.S. or are there special roaming charges? That is the one time were we might be using the phone a bit to call back home or call for reservations, etc.
2) Did you have to walk into a T-Mobile store to get the details? There are a few I could walk into around here.
3) What is the standby time before your phone needs charging roughly? Right now we have to charge ours almost every night but a somewhat costly battery replacement could fix this I guess.
4) Any idea how the T-Mobile phone coverage is compared to Verizon? I see that both Verizon and T-Mobile show us on the edge of their coverage because we are on the city edge and a state park is behind us.
Click to expand...

1) I used it on vacation in and outside of US as I recall, but don't remember (or never checked) how much was deducted.
2) I signed up in one of the T-mobile booths in a mall
3) I almost always have mine off actually, but when on the road, I turn it on. I think I charge it once every few months since it's usually off. If I recall correctly, when I had it on continuously, I could easily go for days or even weeks but no hard data here (I have "Nokia 3560 digital").
4) Never had Verizon but it's better than my old ATT coverage.
 
Thanks for the replies Lakedog and smjsl. My wife is probably going to be OK with a phone change especially if the phone has to be charged less often. She keeps the phone on so that I can reach her occasionally, like when she's in the market and I remember that I'm out of olives or maybe lunch meat. So I'll check into this T-mobile plan further -- sounds promising.
 
I'm sold on T-Mobile at least in the Midwest and Texas. Drove from Houston to New Orleans 6 years ago and up to Chicago and T-Mobile worked all the way there on that trip. My prepaid card is T-Mobile now, too. I really like their service and customer service.
 
Cancel your cell phone service -- then allow yourself to be talked out of it.

I was with T-Mobile for 8 years. Always paid on time. Rarely used more than 200 minutes a month, so I was not a big users. When I called to cancel I didn't tell them why (because I was leaving the country). Right off the rep offered me a new phone. I declined and was offered a wad of free minutes for next month. I declined and was offered a free plan upgrade.
 
Rewire your brain.

I'll illustrate with an example. The LA Times has a Money Makeover column. I have not read it in many years but I expect it's still the same. Most of the articles are on people who are in debt because they live beyond their means. In one typical case a couple had leases on two new expensive cars. They were advised to turn them in a and buy a couple of used Toyota Corollas. "We could never do that" was their response. And they meant it.

I think the best way to save money is to have simple needs. Otherwise money saving tips usually involve sacrifice. Between 1980 and 2002 I owned two cars. Was it a sacrifice? Nope. Cars are just another large appliance to me. I bought reliable ones. If a car is part of your status and ego then any money saving tip about buying less will be a sacrifice and thus not likely to be followed.

How does one learn to be simple and like it? I have no clue, it's the way I was raised. I usually had one expensive money pit hobby before retirement (off road motorcycle racing, flying gliders, skiing, autocross) but most of the rest of the fun stuff was low cost: dance, hike, cook, body surf, snorkle, read, board games, book discussion group, whatever beginning art class the local parks & recreation dept. offered. Obviously if one has to travel or drive long distance to do something free like body surf it no longer is a simple past time.
 
lsbcal said:
Right now we have a Verizon plan that is probably no longer available at $15/mo. The T-Mobile deal sounds cheaper and we hardly use our phone -- I think we have something like 60 hours of time credits. A few questions for those on T-Mobile:

1) Can you use your accumulated minutes while on vacation in the U.S. or are there special roaming charges? That is the one time were we might be using the phone a bit to call back home or call for reservations, etc.
2) Did you have to walk into a T-Mobile store to get the details? There are a few I could walk into around here.
3) What is the standby time before your phone needs charging roughly? Right now we have to charge ours almost every night but a somewhat costly battery replacement could fix this I guess.
4) Any idea how the T-Mobile phone coverage is compared to Verizon? I see that both Verizon and T-Mobile show us on the edge of their coverage because we are on the city edge and a state park is behind us.
Click to expand...

1) There are no roaming charges, at least with the pre-paid plan.
2) You don't need to go to a T-Mobile store, I didn't. I bought the phone at an Office Depot and did all the signup stuff online. The plan I'm on is called Pay As You Go and I found some info here: Unsupported Browser
3) I keep my phone turned off, and the battery seems to stay charged forever that way. I try to remember to re-charge it once a month, but it normally shows as almost full even after a month.
4) I can't answer this, but can tell you that for a long time we couldn't use a cell phone in the house - we seemed to be in a dead zone for most of the major companies. We tried a lot of cells (borrowed from friends, etc.) including Verizon, and nothing worked. Then we found we can get service with T-Mobile here. We (SO and I both have the same plan) don't use the phones in the house, but it's nice to know we could in an emergency.
 
Catherine Zeta-Jones says: I love T-Mobile!

OMG, one of the old guys I swim with looooooves him some Catherine Zeta-Jones. I ask him what she has and he says "everything." Even my son has the hots for her. She needs to give lessons to the rest of us women out there I guess as she seems to have "it" whatever "it" is.
 
Orchidflower said:
Catherine Zeta-Jones says: I love T-Mobile!

OMG, one of the old guys I swim with looooooves him some Catherine Zeta-Jones. I ask him what she has and he says "everything." Even my son has the hots for her. She needs to give lessons to the rest of us women out there I guess as she seems to have "it" whatever "it" is.
Click to expand...

Allow me to suggest what she might have:

http://images.newcelebritypics.com/img/celebs/images/c/catherine_zeta_jones_in_a_sexy_dress-1325.jpg
 
Orchidflower said:
Catherine Zeta-Jones says: I love T-Mobile!

OMG, one of the old guys I swim with looooooves him some Catherine Zeta-Jones. I ask him what she has and he says "everything." Even my son has the hots for her. She needs to give lessons to the rest of us women out there I guess as she seems to have "it" whatever "it" is.
Click to expand...

Curves and sharp edges. :D

MPW-13740
 
She's a beautiful gal...but seems to be one of those women that other women don't resent either. Cool lady that seems very natural and comfortable with herself. I like her myself, but not in the same way you guys do...ha!


I have a moneysaving tip that nobody has mentioned:

In 2000 I purchased a Prada clutch/zippered wallet from Overstock.com for $75 which sells for $150. I felt it was ridiculously high even at $75 at the time, but did it anyway. Well, the wallet is still working, looks good still and should go longer. In fact, I'm curious how long this particular wallet will last now as it is made SO well. So, in brief, maybe--just maybe--for everyday clothing items we really should listen to the experts and buy the best we can even tho they seem expensive at the time. I considered this a really moneysaving tip.
 
Orchidflower said:
In 2000 I purchased a Prada clutch/zippered wallet from Overstock.com for $75 which sells for $150. I felt it was ridiculously high even at $75 at the time, but did it anyway. Well, the wallet is still working, looks good still and should go longer.
Click to expand...

9+ years? That's amazing! :eek:
 
I guess I can't really see paying more than $10-20 for a wallet. Some claim the designer wallets that run $200+ retail (like Orchidflower's type) last a long time. But my el cheapo is going on at least 8 years and show no signs of wear. I'm sure it wasn't more than $20. Some people like nice things and a $75 wallet/purse on sale should be nice. And that is ok. I just wonder if it justifiable from a strictly financial net present value standpoint (completely ignoring aesthetics).
 
No laughing now...:cool:

I needed to replace my inside-the-purse wallet. I'm checking out the ladies' wallets, all flimsy leather and with really thin fabric liners in the billfold, card holder and change pockets. Not enough slots for my various ID and retail discount cards. Expensive. :nonono:
So I hop over to the men's department and find exactly what I need in a solid black medium duty leather, with good solid liners, thin profile wallet. Half the cost. Good utility design.

No brainer there. :D
 
Orchidflower said:
So, in brief, maybe--just maybe--for everyday clothing items we really should listen to the experts and buy the best we can even tho they seem expensive at the time. I considered this a really moneysaving tip.
Click to expand...


I agree with you on that . I'm not a purse person but I do buy nice quality clothes especially JJill & Liz Claiborne (when she was still making nice clothes ) and these pieces are timeless . We had a party to go to last week end and I wore an older Liz outfit probably seven years old and got so many compliments on it and I wear my JJill clothes until they are unwearable so I really get my money's worth out of them .
 
Insist on keeping your old cell phone plan even after upgrading the phone. When my cell died I got a new one "free" (but needed ~$70 worth of crap to operate: charger, hard cover, memory chip). Sooo Verizon proceeds to upgrade my plan ... way to many minutes and way over priced. Customer service said it came with the "free" phone. Sooo I said put me back in my old plan or cancel. Needless to say the put me back in my old plan (~$20/month cheaper).

Cancelled Vonage in favor of ooma. Vonage instantly offer an unadvertised discount plan in the hopes of keeping me ($9/mo for 100 minutes). Funny what they'll do when cornered.
 
Just remembered this one:

Cancel the paper delivery. Wait 30 days you'll get a "we want you back" discount. I pay $1.50 for 7 days delivery ... the Sunday paper ALONE is $2.

When the discount period expires (6 months) cancel. Wait 30 days, repeat.

I am in my 3rd year of this.
 
Has anyone mentioned Ross Dress for Less, which is now in most larger cities, and TJ Maxx and Marshall's sell last season's clothing for half or less? Even my son buys there now for shirts, underwear, jeans, belts and so forth.

We, too, cancelled the local paper which had little in it as there are 3 papers vying for attention in an area of only 400,000. Plus, we get the Wall St. Journal daily.
And for general news, you can find USA Today on the computer daily which we use.
 
DW likes the coupons in the paper (Sunday especially). Hunting the same deals online is hard since the paper is local.
 
Orchidflower said:
Has anyone mentioned Ross Dress for Less, which is now in most larger cities, and TJ Maxx and Marshall's sell last season's clothing for half or less? Even my son buys there now for shirts, underwear, jeans, belts and so forth.

We, too, cancelled the local paper which had little in it as there are 3 papers vying for attention in an area of only 400,000. Plus, we get the Wall St. Journal daily.
And for general news, you can find USA Today on the computer daily which we use.
Click to expand...

I buy almost entirely from TJ Maxx and Marshall's(I like that they have low every day prices, no coupons, so-called sales, etc.). A Ross Dress for Less was supposed to open in a new strip mall near me last year but due to the economy, they razed the old building but built nothing....sign announcing "coming soon" came down. I read the local paper for free online and subscribe to the WSJ online edition.
 
Thought of another couple of moneysaving tips:

Wall Street Journal: When my paper copy deal runs out, I am buying the computer version for $109 a year. Good deal.

House insurance: I insured the HOUSE only and not for the total cost I would get if I sold the house and the land. In short, I didn't insure the land. Saved me TONS!!

Women's Tennies or gym shoes: Buy men's in one size smaller. Same quality but MUCH cheaper ($10 at least). This was suggested to me by a shoe guy at the largest sporting goods store in Houston which is the size of a small auditorium it's so big. Been doing this for years now.
 
Marry the right person, and stay married.........:)
 
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