I'm sure that everyone knows about Amazon's FREE Super Saver Shipping by now. You buy $25 worth of from Amazon and you get free shipping. Even if you live in Hawaii. The problem is, is that not all items are eligible for free super saver shipping.
I'm also sure that whoever has tried for Amazon's free shipping has at one time been a few dollars short of the $25 requirement. This just happened to me today and I did a search for "cheap things on amazon to get FREE Super Saver Shipping". I got some listmania lists from Amazon where people found various cheap items that qualify for free shipping. This was very helpful. So helpful that I decided to put all the lists I could find in one place. Check out my Cheap Things on Amazon to get FREE Super Saver Shipping compilation when you're in a bind.
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Sunday, June 26, 2011
How to go on your Dream Vacation
The "Dream Vacation" is always an expensive vacation. It's always far fetched and light years away. The reason it's so far from reach is because the "Dream Vacation" is just that, a dream. To make it a reality it needs to be your number one focus. You need to find out exactly how much it will cost and how you will get there. The Honey and I are planning our (her) dream vacation to Disney World / Universal Studios. This is how we achieved or goals.
1. Find out your Daily Expenses
Once you find out how much you are spending every month you can find out how much you actually need to survive and how much you can save every month. It also lets you cut some things out if you don't really need them. For a unique way on how to figure out your monthly expenses (including annual payments), please see my post on Where Did My Money Go?
2. Find out the Minimum Cost of the Trip
After finding out where you are in terms of finances, now you can find out where you need to go. Plan your trip as if you are going. Pick the dates you will be traveling and use the internet to find out airline and hotel tickets. The best website for this is trip advisor. They compare costs from multiple airlines, combination of airlines, length of trip, etc. Also include costs such as the cost to get into theme parks if you are planning to visit any, museums, shows, etc.
Don't forget to include food cost estimates. For example, if you are traveling to Disney World and are planning on purchasing the meal plan, include that.
3. Find out the Cost of Your Trip
In this step find out the cost of what you think you will spend. The previous step was all about getting there and being able to stay there for X amount of days. This step is the cost of the actual vacation spending. For example, if you usually bring home gifts for people, add that cost here. If you usually buy so much soveniers, try to find out what kind of souveniers you think you'd want to get. From there research or estimate the cost of these items. We live in a world where everything is online. So for us, finding out what was in the Disney World store wasn't too hard.
4. Evaluate
Now that you know the general cost of your vacation and how much money you have right now, it is time to evaluate if you can go without going broke. If you currently do not have enough saved, Step #1 can show you how much you can save every month.
If you can come close, but don't quite have enough before the time you picked, it's time to look for savings. read on.
If the cost of the trip will take years to save up to, you have some thinking to do. You can either postpone your vacation or you can make some cuts and try to make some side income. There is a last resort where you can volunteer for a local organization that is planning on going to the location you want to visit. Once in their organization you can help them fundraise and get to travel for a much cheaper cost.
5. Savings
If you're close to going on your trip, but not quite there, you can try to find deals and cut corners here and there.
1. Find out your Daily Expenses
Once you find out how much you are spending every month you can find out how much you actually need to survive and how much you can save every month. It also lets you cut some things out if you don't really need them. For a unique way on how to figure out your monthly expenses (including annual payments), please see my post on Where Did My Money Go?
2. Find out the Minimum Cost of the Trip
After finding out where you are in terms of finances, now you can find out where you need to go. Plan your trip as if you are going. Pick the dates you will be traveling and use the internet to find out airline and hotel tickets. The best website for this is trip advisor. They compare costs from multiple airlines, combination of airlines, length of trip, etc. Also include costs such as the cost to get into theme parks if you are planning to visit any, museums, shows, etc.
Don't forget to include food cost estimates. For example, if you are traveling to Disney World and are planning on purchasing the meal plan, include that.
3. Find out the Cost of Your Trip
In this step find out the cost of what you think you will spend. The previous step was all about getting there and being able to stay there for X amount of days. This step is the cost of the actual vacation spending. For example, if you usually bring home gifts for people, add that cost here. If you usually buy so much soveniers, try to find out what kind of souveniers you think you'd want to get. From there research or estimate the cost of these items. We live in a world where everything is online. So for us, finding out what was in the Disney World store wasn't too hard.
4. Evaluate
Now that you know the general cost of your vacation and how much money you have right now, it is time to evaluate if you can go without going broke. If you currently do not have enough saved, Step #1 can show you how much you can save every month.
If you can come close, but don't quite have enough before the time you picked, it's time to look for savings. read on.
If the cost of the trip will take years to save up to, you have some thinking to do. You can either postpone your vacation or you can make some cuts and try to make some side income. There is a last resort where you can volunteer for a local organization that is planning on going to the location you want to visit. Once in their organization you can help them fundraise and get to travel for a much cheaper cost.
5. Savings
If you're close to going on your trip, but not quite there, you can try to find deals and cut corners here and there.
- Sign up to newsletters. Airlines offer specials like $60 one way tickets to various cities throughout the US. If you sign up to their newsletter or the location you are visiting, you may get a surprise email that will allow you to travel.
- Sign up for Quibids and try for the $250 American Airlines Gift Card
- Sign up to Airline Miles programs like credit cards, affiliate partners, and even get miles for just searching the web.
- If you're going to a popular location like Disney World, you can find many sites that give you tips and tricks in saving money, going to things with the best values, etc.
Labeled
budget
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Where Did My Money Go?
Have you ever wondered where your money has all gone when you look at your bank account? Ever been asked to "upgrade" something for "only $10/month"? This post is all about finding where that money went and why $10/month may not be so cheap.
The $10 upgrade
Let's say you have broadband internet and are paying $50 / month. You see a special where you can order cable on TV and internet in a bundle and it would only cost $80. So you get it. The cable company calls later asks if you want to upgrade to digital cable for just $10 more / month. Wow, ok. All these new channels for only $10 sounds great. Then you get a new TV so hey might as well get HD cable for another $10/month. A few months down the line your friend has DVR and you get jealous that he or she can record shows and watch it any time they want to. The cable company offers this for only $10 more / month. Wow that's cheap. Ok get it.
By all means, if you can't live without DVR or HD, that's fine, but think about a time when you didn't have this or if you could go an alternative route. If you didn't have HD, DVR, or cable for TV your bill would be $50. Now that you do have it your bill is $110. You would've saved $60 / month or $720 per year. Sorry, that's for another post. For this post, I'm just trying to point out that $10 upgrades sounds fine one at a time, but when you add up all the upgrades, it starts to do just that, add up.
The One time yet Reoccurring Cost
These types of costs are things like car registration, dentist bills, Costco memberships, etc. They don't hit you every month, but they do have a cycle. I for one didn't pay attention to these costs as they did not occur very frequently. It was almost like a one time cost. If you break it down however, it gets pretty interesting...
Breaking it Down
This is what it would've looked like if I just looked at my monthly statements.
The difference between your bills that consistently reoccur and the bills that you pay once in a while or that slightly vary every month is where your money goes. For us it was almost $500 / month. This is the google docs version of the spreadsheet I used to figure all this out.
The $10 upgrade
Let's say you have broadband internet and are paying $50 / month. You see a special where you can order cable on TV and internet in a bundle and it would only cost $80. So you get it. The cable company calls later asks if you want to upgrade to digital cable for just $10 more / month. Wow, ok. All these new channels for only $10 sounds great. Then you get a new TV so hey might as well get HD cable for another $10/month. A few months down the line your friend has DVR and you get jealous that he or she can record shows and watch it any time they want to. The cable company offers this for only $10 more / month. Wow that's cheap. Ok get it.
By all means, if you can't live without DVR or HD, that's fine, but think about a time when you didn't have this or if you could go an alternative route. If you didn't have HD, DVR, or cable for TV your bill would be $50. Now that you do have it your bill is $110. You would've saved $60 / month or $720 per year. Sorry, that's for another post. For this post, I'm just trying to point out that $10 upgrades sounds fine one at a time, but when you add up all the upgrades, it starts to do just that, add up.
The One time yet Reoccurring Cost
These types of costs are things like car registration, dentist bills, Costco memberships, etc. They don't hit you every month, but they do have a cycle. I for one didn't pay attention to these costs as they did not occur very frequently. It was almost like a one time cost. If you break it down however, it gets pretty interesting...
Breaking it Down
- A $50 annual Costco membership costs only $4.16 every month
- A $60 semi-annual dentist visit (horrible copay) costs only $10 every month
- A $240 annual Car insurance costs only $20 every month
Below are my expenses along with the honey's expenses broken down per month. This is a list of as many things I could think of that takes money from my pocket.
Update: A few more things that, depending on your budget, may impact where your money went. Think of the reoccurring necessities like toilet paper, paper towels, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, etc. Alone, they are inexpensive, but together multiplied by their frequency of purchases adds up to you saying "Where did my money go?" So you may want to include those into your breakdown of your spending.
Update: A few more things that, depending on your budget, may impact where your money went. Think of the reoccurring necessities like toilet paper, paper towels, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, etc. Alone, they are inexpensive, but together multiplied by their frequency of purchases adds up to you saying "Where did my money go?" So you may want to include those into your breakdown of your spending.
 |
| All Expenses |
This is what it would've looked like if I just looked at my monthly statements.
 |
| Consistently reoccurring monthly bills |
The difference between your bills that consistently reoccur and the bills that you pay once in a while or that slightly vary every month is where your money goes. For us it was almost $500 / month. This is the google docs version of the spreadsheet I used to figure all this out.
Labeled
budget,
eye opener
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