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Tips for everyone to give, take, share on saving money

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Great advice tshile. Both on the benefit of properly using a credit card, and the need to save. They are valuable practices.

Like Goaldeje, the wife and I spent a lot of time in CC hell, in our younger days. Clawing your way out of it takes the same discipline as preventing it from happening again. Make no mistake, it's damn hard to get out of it when you're there. But it can be done. And anybody can do it.

If somebody thinks they're too weak to do it, think about this. You are better off learning to discipline yourself, than you are trying to avoid it.

Discipline, in all things, is one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal. Learn to use it.
 
tshile said:
Side note: very jealous. I always wanted to go to Thailand. The pictures I see of other people's trips there look like they're out of a movie about wonderful places :)
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Me too! My wife's cousin does a floating teaching gig there and her pics and overall comments on living there make it sound and look like such an incredibly beautiful place
 
Got myself in the same trouble a couple have mentioned in this thread. Haven't had a CC in 10 years and am about to buy another house. You don't need one, but like t- and Lanky said...if you can discipline yourself enough...it can pay off.

Call me paranoid, but in today's day and age...I like cash because the CC companies and the government cannot track my purchasing patterns. It's not their business what I purchase.
 
Also, on the general savings idea, make sure your utilizing your bank's resources. A lot of banks, especially small local ones that pride themselves on customer service, offer free or cheap services to help you get your finances in order. Yes, some of them are salesmen just trying to push services, but you may be surprised how many are genuinely trying to help you.

Elephant said:
Call me paranoid, but in today's day and age...I like cash because the CC companies and the government cannot track my purchasing patterns. It's not their business what I purchase.
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That is an unfortunately valid point. Healthcare companies are actually in the process of setting it up so they can track your CC purchases so they can adjust your rate to reflect how you live. Buy fast food once a day? Your rate will go up. Have a gym membership that bills your credit card? Your rate will go down. Right now I'm 99% sure they have to get your permission to do it, but they're certainly working on getting their hands on as much data as possible without having to get express permission from their customers.

Another thing to think about for those of you on facebook - lenders (banks, credit cards, etc) are investing in research on using social media and people's interactions on it to determine a person's credit worthiness. Have lots of friends on facebook with low credit scores? That may bring your score down as well.

That technology is still in its infancy, but make no mistake about it - it is being used and it will only grow in its use. Best thing you can do is be aware of it and think about how it may impact you. You may want to dump all those facebook friends from highschool that weren't successful in life that you never talk to - they may bring down your credit score :paranoid:
 
here's an article to the social network datamining I was discussing. We actually have a few people on these boards with some expertise in the datamining field.

http://betabeat.com/2011/12/as-bank...he-wrong-friends-might-just-sink-your-credit/

Oh, and that was published late 2011. This type of stuff improves exponentially in very short periods of time.

A little teaser:
Employers have already started using social media to evaluate potential candidates, and in 2009 a woman in Quebec stopped receiving disability payments for major depression after Manulife decided, based on beach vacation photos on Facebook, that she seemed happy enough to work after all.
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Money saver for those of you who work in an office environment. Buy a few red pens, and fill them with blue or black cartridges. Why? Nobody steals red pens, so you won't have to keep buying pens to replace the ones that walk away.
 
Extreme said:
Money saver for those of you who work in an office environment. Buy a few red pens, and fill them with blue or black cartridges. Why? Nobody steals red pens, so you won't have to keep buying pens to replace the ones that walk away.
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My office environment buys the pens, lol.
 
Extreme said:
I'm not paying a dime on credit cards, I don't have them :) I got burned one time when I was 18, and that was more than enough for me.

....and there's no such thing as an interest free credit card, just ones that are interest free for a limited time before they bend you over and "forget" the KY. That is, unless you're lucky enough to have the means to use the hell out of a card and pay it in full every single month. A luxury most people don't have.

Cash is always the best option. A bank can't take it, skimmers can't skim it, I can't break it trying to get in when I'm locked out, it doesn't expire, I don't have to call an automated number and waste time on hold if I can't find it, I don't have to worry about new laws changing what it does, I can spend it and not have it drained from my wallet by a waiter at a restaurant, and I always know exactly how much I have.
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But you can get robbed, mugged, or have your cash stolen.
And just carrying around debit cards and no cash, gives me a good excuse whenever strangers walk up and beg for money.
Cash is also full of germs. Think of where it's been......strippers, drug dealers, etc
 
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Fear The Spear said:
But you can get robbed, mugged, or have your cash stolen.
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You can have that happen anyway. At least with cash, you don't have to look up a bunch of phone numbers, and deal with the headache of canceling and replacing anything.

Fear The Spear said:
And just carrying around debit cards and no cash, gives me a good excuse whenever strangers walk up and beg for money.
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I just ignore them or tell them no. No reason to tell a story.

Fear The Spear said:
Cash is also full of germs. Think of where it's been......strippers, drug dealers, etc
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You're right, but you know what's been proven to be waaaaaay more germ filled than cash? Those buttons you have to push after swiping your card :) Plastic holds germs and contaminants way longer than paper linen does.

And this isn't even considering the fact there are still numerous products and services that are cash only.
 
I'm saving $249.99 a month, just cancelling all of my porn subscriptions. Turns out there's plenty of free stuff out there. :anonymous:
 
Extreme said:
You can have that happen anyway. At least with cash, you don't have to look up a bunch of phone numbers, and deal with the headache of canceling and replacing anything.
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Exactly, because there's no chance of replacing the cash - it's gone forever.
At least with credit or debit cards, you have the possibility of recovering the funds, or stopping the illegal activity.
Once your cash is gone, it's gone. Who ya gonna call, to give you support for your lost cash ? I'm more than happy to call a few numbers if it gives me the chance of recovering it - as opposed to the other alternative.
 
Fear The Spear said:
Exactly, because there's no chance of replacing the cash - it's gone forever.
At least with credit or debit cards, you have the possibility of recovering the funds, or stopping the illegal activity.
Once your cash is gone, it's gone. Who ya gonna call, to give you support for your lost cash ? I'm more than happy to call a few numbers if it gives me the chance of recovering it - as opposed to the other alternative.
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I'd rather lose cash than lose a whole lot more. I've known people who have been the victims of identity theft and fraud caused by someone getting a hold of their card. The aftermath isn't pretty, and in a lot of cases, the identity theft issue takes several years to resolve if it ever gets resolved. Cash don't treat me like that :D

Mike is right though, Navy Fed is the only way to go. They almost take your word without any evidence once you've established yourself. A while back, my dad had his card skimmed. It was hell to straighten out, and wasted a lot of time for a long time. He has BB&T. When it happened to me and my wife with Navy Fed (not skimming, because we don't take the card out of our safe except to make online purchases - a shady company sold out or number and it was run up thousands), we called them and it was fixed in under 5 minutes, the money was all put back, and the new card was shipped out.
 
Debit cards don't have very much security which is why you shouldn't even carry those to begin with. You certainly shouldn't use them to shop online with. People who have issues with identity theft normally have their issues with debit cards. The exact level of security depends greatly on who the debit card is with - there are banks/credit unions/etc that provide good security, it just isn't the norm or standard.

Credit cards provide much more security in many different ways.
 
My bf's debit card recently was ripped off and we still have no idea why. Someone was using it to get their hair and nails did in Atlanta. Of all the things to spend someone else's money on...

Luckily he was able to get a new card and get the money back with no problems through BOA.

As far as saving money, I've recently starting saving a lot by creating a meal plan and going to the grocery store once for the week, and by establishing a limit for my weekly fun spending and sticking to it. It also doesn't hurt to let your friends know that you're on a budget, and to hang out with people who are on a similar budget.
 
renaissance said:
My bf's debit card recently was ripped off and we still have no idea why. Someone was using it to get their hair and nails did in Atlanta. Of all the things to spend someone else's money on...

Luckily he was able to get a new card and get the money back with no problems through BOA.
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They're called skimmers. They're a real problem right now, especially in the DC, MD, Northern VA area. I'm sure they're also problems in other major metropolitan areas, but since I live in this one I know it is a huge problem right now. It has been since late 2009, and it's only grown in use.

Basically they attach a device to the slot for the card that reads the magnetic strip when a card is inserted. It records it with a timestamp. Then there is a camera set up somewhere that is designed to read the PIN you punch in. They match the timestamps and bam - they have unlimited access to whatever account is tied to the debit card.

They then sell the information online at extremely cheap rates. That's how someone in Atlanta, GA winds up with it.

They hide the cameras in creative ways - behind fake mirrors, or they'll install it somewhere outside the ATM and use the mirror most ATM's have to see the reflection. They've gotten pretty good at it.

They're most commonly found on ATM's and at gas station pumps, but they can be on anything that a card slides into. Best practice is to make sure you cover the PIN pad with one hand while typing with the other, so if they skim your card they at least wont know what the PIN number is.

Of course - I just recommend people stop using debit cards for anything except withdrawing money. It's gotten really bad in this area. They've hit quite a few hospital ATM's in addition to gas stations and banks. It's nice to know BOA took care of him. I like to know which banks screw people and which ones actually refund the money.
 
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