Green Panda Treehouse

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Photo Credit: dbking

It’s not exciting or ‘fun’, but our economic stimulus check will go towards knocking down the car loan. This is the best plan for us as it will eventually lead us to having an extra $235 each month to spend as we please (after the loan is paid for).

I’m so tired of seeing the stupid plans retailers have come up with on the stimulus checks. Some seem ok, while others seem just plain stupid:

• Sears: They are adding another $10% to your stimulus amount if you convert it to a gift card.
• Car Dealers: I’ve seen on TV where they are matching part or all of your refund when you buy a new car.
• Ace Hardware: Their stores will have 20 % off sales on selected merchandise.
• Kroger: They will convert a tax rebate check for a Kroger gift card, with a 10% bonus.

My opinion: Don’t give Sears your money! Taking your stimulus money and converting it to a gift card here limits your options severely. (Note: I have personal bias against Sears as I’ve seen them charge family members practically 30% a year in interest.) Something like an extra 10% for groceries would actually be useful for many people as we have to eat.

• If you have high interest debt, use the stimulus to pay down or eliminate it.
• If you have no savings, put it in a high interest savings account to start your emergency fund.
• If you have no debt and have savings, looking into depositing the money into an IRA.
• If all of the above is in place, have fun with the money. Actually you could send it to me. 

Please, just have a rational plan for your economic stimulus check. Don’t waste this opportunity.

Update: The Carnival of Money Hacks #10 hosted by Money Hacks featured this article!

Photo Credit: Midnight-digital

Last post I wrote about how the cable plus internet bill was less than the cable bill at home. One way we achieved it was cutting the extra channels. If we would’ve maintained both the extra channels plus the internet it would’ve been about the same price we paid in our last state for just high speed internet.

Some people may have wondered why we didn’t just keep the extra cable channels if they was no change in our budget. The real wasn’t whether we can afford, it was whether we used it enough to justify paying for it. My husband and I got used to not having those channels and were able to be fine. In fact some of the shows are available on the channels website, which gives the benefit of saving money and fitting TV into our schedules.

I was tempted to keep the channels, especially since I love Sci-Fi, HGTV, and Spike TV (they show Star Trek a lot). When I looked at how much TV I watch, though, I realized it was a waste of money. I could think of three ways to better use it:

1. Pay down my car debt. I can’t stand having this loan. This would help me sleep easier at night. (It’s growing everyday and my last payment had $50 applied to interest!)
2. Put that into savings. That’s an extra $200/year that give me a cushion from bills.
3. Put that towards our eating out budget. We do enjoy eating out with friends once in a while and I’d rather do that then veg out in front of the TV. I think after we pay off the car, we might increase our eating out budget.

Does this mean I’ll never upgrade my cable? No, never say never. Circumstances change and I can see myself watching HGTV. I just don’t think it’s the best use of my money now.

What bills have you cut down? Which expenses do you think are worth it? What’s your favorite channel and why?

Photo Credit: krayker

Since moving a few weeks ago to a new state I wanted to give an update to how our budget has been affected.

• Rent: This actually has increased, but we expected it would go up because we wanted a second bedroom. The apartment is twice the size of our old place and we couldn’t get the same deal in our old state. The one bedroom apartment was definitely affordable, but having guest over proved to be stressful. With a second bedroom here we’re using it as an office. We’re looking for a futon to utilize it as a guestroom as we’re hoping friends and family will visit us. We also now have a second bathroom, which is a nice bonus, which is now used for the cat as his space.
• Food & Phone: These are pretty much the same. We use our cell phones primarily and I added a Skype number ($3/month) for local people who call us.
• Gasoline: My favorite change of the budget. J I fill my tank and it lasts around two weeks (a bit more) instead of one. My work commute is mainly responsible. Gas itself, though, is about 10 cents more in this state than last. L
• Cable/Internet: We got high speed internet and basic cable for less than just internet back home. Not bad. I use Hulu.com to watch some shows, so I’m not really craving the extra channels.
• Car Insurance: Points to my husband for getting this expense down. I really happy we were able to save some cash.

So far we’re doing alright with the move. There is still a lot of the city to explore and boxes to unpack, but no rush. We’re just trying to enjoy our new apartment.

How was your budget affected from a move? Do you wish you did things different?