Found Money

[lucille]

I have been going through a few things this week as far as finances go. It can be really eye opening where you can find some money just by changing a few things.

1. We got a notice from the state that our property taxes are going down $200 a year.
This really didn't require any effort of mine it was just a nice bit of news in the mail box.

2. I finally got around to talking to the insurance guy at our credit union and had him do some pricing on our home owners and auto policies. He found us more coverage on both with lower premiums, saving us $500 a year.

3. We have a new health insurance carrier due to a job change. By utilizing their pharmacy benefits to maximize what we get for the dollar and moving a couple of prescriptions to a generic alternative they suggested we are saving $340 a year.
Our copays have also gone down by $20 per visit. We average at least 6 doctor visits a year so that is another $120 saved. They also cover much more so if we do need to use our coverage we will probably have a smaller bill we have to pay.

So through a little luck and a few hours of work we saved $1160.

Just wanted to throw that out there for some ways to save money without really having to give something up.

[Rebecca]

Wahoo! That's fantastic! Thanks for the ideas! Sometimes I forget that by saving money like that it's really the equivalent of finding extra money.

[lilac]

This is a little bit more of a literal application to your thread, but my partner's sister has had one savings account that she hasn't touched in years since she was really young. She's having some money troubles lately, and went into the bank a few days ago to see if there was a balance in the account. She found out that there's £76 ($149) in there! She was pretty excited when they told her that.

So, if you have any random accounts laying around, take a gander at your balance and see if there is something in there (even if you think there isn't)!

[lucille]

Originally Posted by lilac

This is a little bit more of a literal application to your thread, but my partner's sister has had one savings account that she hasn't touched in years since she was really young. She's having some money troubles lately, and went into the bank a few days ago to see if there was a balance in the account. She found out that there's £76 ($149) in there! She was pretty excited when they told her that.

So, if you have any random accounts laying around, take a gander at your balance and see if there is something in there (even if you think there isn't)!

Another similar thing here in the states are these state unclaimed money websites. They are run by the states but any unclaimed money at some point has to be either reported or handed over. Then the state posts the names of everyone owed money. We checked when these first came out and an old employer owed my hubby $50. We had to fax them proof of identity and they sent a check.

[lilac]

Originally Posted by lucille

Another similar thing here in the states are these state unclaimed money websites. They are run by the states but any unclaimed money at some point has to be either reported or handed over. Then the state posts the names of everyone owed money. We checked when these first came out and an old employer owed my hubby $50. We had to fax them proof of identity and they sent a check.

That's great! I am originally from the states so I had a looksie to see if someone owes me money. Unfortunately, they don't

Here's a list of all the states' Unclaimed Property websites though for the rest of you to check. Hopefully someone out there will be lucky:

http://usgovinfo.about.com/blunclaimed.htm