DontSpendMore.com Blog

Category: Save Money

  • How To Cut Your Cell Phone Bill

    Life has now become impossible without a cell phone to go along with its high and lows. But high cell phone bills often leave you feeling low. But don’t despair because there is hope yet. You could cut back on your cell phone bills without having to cut your cell phone into pieces. Here’s how:

    Select an appropriate plan

    Usually we select a plan at the time of signing a contract with the cell phone service provider and then practically forget all about it. But once you have used this plan for some months you will get an idea of your actual usage. Review all your previous phone bills to get a clear picture of your usage history and then approach your cell phone company to provide you with a plan that better suits your current usage.

    Doing so will help you cut back on unnecessary expenses and pay only for what you actually need.

    Axe the extras

    There are so many features that we all keep paying for, irrespective of whether we use them or not. Most of the times, we are not even aware of what we are paying for. Scrutinize your bills minutely and see if you are being charged for services like visual voicemail, roadside assistance, GPS etc.

    If you are sure that you do not need any of these services, make it clear to the cell phone company and they will deduct those charges from your next phone bill and stop providing you those extra services as well.

    Banish the bandwidth hoarders

    There are so many apps that sneakily use up a lot of your bandwidth. More bandwidth usage translates into more expensive data charges. There are many commonly used apps like Google maps, free version of the game Angry birds, Netflix etc which hoard a lot of bandwidth. Just get rid of these apps and see how light your data usage becomes and saves you quite a few dollars as well.

    Care for a new carrier?

    In the US, there may be only 4 major players in the cell phone service arena, but that does not mean they are the only ones out there. Many small players are quietly trying to make a mark out there too. At DontSpendMore.com, you can compare various cell phone plans in just a few seconds.

    Dig up info on them and see how they compete with the biggies to provide you with comparable service at dirt cheap rates.

    Play with prepaid

    Prepaid plan can never go wrong when it comes to managing your cell phone budget perfectly. Instead of paying for what you use (as in post paid plans) you are limited to use only what you paid for. This restriction actually allows you the freedom to stick to your budget. Instead of having to foot the bill after a month of reckless usage with a post paid plan, you can save money by avoiding limiting your usage to a predetermined sum of money each month.

  • Credit Card Secrets You May Not Know

    It is quite tough to agree that you do not know of any secrets about credit cards. You have been using plastic money ever since you can remember (for most part of it) and now there’s nothing you do not know about it, right? Well, if you ask me I think it’s a bit too early to say that. At least not until you have read through this article to the last word. So, you ready to move forward to reading this post? Yeah, I thought so.

    Paying balances first is prudent

    Majority of us credit card users already are aware of the dangers of availing a cash advance on our cards. But probably very few of us know a secret about cash advances. The credit card company will always give first priority and preference to standard purchases.

    So no matter how quickly you may have paid off the cash advance that you availed on your credit card in a desperate attempt to get rid of the cut throat interest rates, you will never succeed in freeing yourself from its claws if you carry a balance.

    So this means that your cash advance will continue to be considered as unpaid debt until you pay off the outstanding balance on your credit card purchases. And need I remind you that cash advances are charged up to 29.99 % interest until they get paid off in total?

    It is tough to keep a secret from your credit card company

    Have you read your credit card agreement in full detail? I doubt it; because I am sure you have not yet read about the Universal Default Clause yet. What this means in layman terms is that your credit card company has the right to hike the interest rates applied to your credit card, at any given point of time, if they get wind of your financial secrets (at least you thought that it was a secret).

    What is this secret? If you have defaulted on payments of any of your loans like auto loan, home loan or personal loan (from banks which have no relation whatsoever with your credit card provider), your credit card company will find this out and will automatically brand you as a ‘high risk’ customer. And you know that ‘high risk’ is not a pretty label to carry around in the credit card industry. No matter how old your account with the credit card company is, you are suddenly thrown down from the pedestal of ‘loyal customer’ to a deplorable ‘high risk’ category.

    Your creditors’ address could affect your interest rates

    Have you ever imagined that the address where your credit card company is located can influence the interest rates that they charge you for providing service? Well, there are States like Delaware and Utah have no cap on the interest rates that credit card companies are permitted to charge. Blame it all on weak Usury laws, but if your credit card company is incorporated in States which have no cap on the interest rates, then they could charge you through the roof or hike their current rates of interest without breaking any law.

    Didn’t I say that I knew of 3 secrets you never knew about credit cards?

  • How To Save On Insurance Bills

    Insurance is a commonly included item in most of our budgets. While the type of insurance may be different like home insurance, health insurance or car or insurance, it goes without saying that if you manage to save some money on your insurance bill, you can make a considerable difference to your budget as well.

    Here are three easy steps to cut back your insurance bill and save some money in the process.

    Pay Higher Deductibles

    Paying more money to save money does seem a bit counter-intuitive at first. But here’s how it works. When you agree to pay a higher deductible, the insurance company looks upon this as a favor from your side. Now the insurance company decides to reciprocate by extending a discount in your insurance premiums. After all, you are taking off a burden off the company’s shoulders (albeit small) by paying a higher deductible until the insurance benefits kick in.

    Bundle your insurance needs

    It is very common for an average individual to have more than one type of insurance. Majority of the folks have insured their homes, their cars and their health with different insurance companies.

    You may have chosen different providers because you were approached by them at the time of your need. But most of the insurance companies do not limit themselves to a single type of insurance. They do offer coverage for all major types of insurance.

    What you can do is compare the different companies and then select one of them which has an affordable coverage plan. Now approach this company and intimate them of your decision to merge your other insurances along with the one you already have with them. So if this company is already providing you home insurance coverage, indicate that you would like them to handle your health insurance and auto / car insurance as well.

    This is a win-win situation for both of you, because the insurance company gets more business and reciprocates by extending considerable discounts in premiums to you.

    Don’t stop shopping — compare and save

    Don’t be under the impression that you need to stick with the insurance company you currently have. It always helps to look around for more lucrative deals. Chances are that you will stumble upon better discounts or better coverage plans if you look around.

    The best way to do this is to keep track of the latest entrants into the insurance market, because these are the companies that are eager to land new customers and build their business.

    At DontSpendMore.com, we have several insurance plans that you can compare at the click of your mouse.