That's a great tip, Marc! I haven't heard of other states in which anybody can buy Costco Gas. According to the Costco Gas site: "The Gas Station is open to Costco members only. There is an exception: Costco Cash Card customers do not need to be Costco members." So as you mentioned, the easiest loophole to buy Costco Gas without a membership would be to have somebody purchase Costco cash cards for you.
I know it's not a solution for everyone, but I switched over to T-Mobile, largely to offset the cost and hassle when traveling internationally. Since late last year, they have offered free international text and data while roaming, while phone calls are a flat rate of $0.20 per minute (either locally or back to the US). It's worked great for me and is extremely convenient.
That's good stuff!
I didn't know about the report date. I don't wait until the due date...I pay everything on my pay day and categorize when stuff is due based on when I get paid.
Anyway --- I'll have to take a look at the report date. Thanks for that tip.
Many thanks for the great tips! I like "travel slowly" most of all, besides reducing expenses, it gives you a chance to better feel the place you're traveling around and to see more without being exhausted.
Great ideas. When my kids were young and I stayed home, I was the queen of free entertainment. For several years in a row the local bowling alley handed out a "Ball Pass" allowing 1 free game per day per child. I went online and bought used bowling alley shoes for each child for $7 a pair. We bowled quite a bit for several summers like this. We also went to free movies at our local movie theater that offered older children's movies in the morning. The public library was also a great place to find activities for kids. Too many times parents feel pressure to spend money on kids they don't have. Appreciate the article.
I converted my plan with Verizon to a prepaid plan once my contract expired and went from paying about $95 a month + taxes and surcharges to a flat $45 per month. Yes, you have to keep using the same old phone and yes, I did have to sacrifice a bit of data allowance (which I rarely fully used before anyway), but to save over $50 a month, I think it's a fair tradeoff.
I got rid of my landline and that saves $70 or $80. My cell phone is very plain and I never spend more than $20 per month using it. I am not a texter either!
In my case, a friend killer - a friend of 30 bloody years.
Borrowed 10K to pay out a lease on a luxury car - never had one of those. He helped me out in the past while I was going through a divorce so I felt somewhat "obliged".
Very little paid back over 5 years and lots of ignoring the situation.
2 major mistakes.
1 - Never aid and abet someone who can't afford a lifestyle you couldn't. (I know, goddamn friend guilt)
2 - Always, ALWAYS, throw a promissory note under their nose for terms and signature as a condition for YOUR money. If it insults them, tough ****!
mystShopper.com is a great place to go to get the latest information on legitimate mystery shopping companies and to find out which ones just don't pay. They also have a few great mystery shopping tools to help make sure you make the most money possible.
A colleague at work said to check my AT&T account for a possible discount. Sure enough - by clicking through a few links, I saved $60 per month and ended up with more on my data plan than before. My sister saved $150 per month by doing the same thing. All just for checking my on line account!
Great blog - and so timely given the temperatures out! There are a bunch of those ideas that I just have to try! Love all the "grown up" popsicles ideas!
We have a family cell phone plan, a corporate discount with our provider and no land lines. We use the minimum phone minutes available and have unlimited text, which is how we communicate most.
Are you THE Zach who founded Landline Assassin? If so, say so. Don't post a comment that touts a service as if you are an arms-length reviewer when you have a vested interest. If you are a different Zach, then it's just a coincidence. Landline Assassin looks like a great, simple and reasonably-priced service. No reason not to stand behind it.
I found a service called Ting.com that charges packaged amounts for different services as you use them and no contract. After dealing with subpar prepaid services I have had great reception with Ting and my home cellphone bill is about half of what it used to be. About $40/mo for our typical usage. You may not get an unlimited online package (watching a movie every day on 4g is not advisable with this service. It will get very expensive) but you also won't pay over $100 for services you might not even use to the fullest extent. You also don't have to worry about running out of minutes in the middle of a conversation. You pay for what you use every month.
I gave up my landline about 5 years ago and don't miss it at all. I use a Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go phone on their cheapest monthly plan, and I very rarely even need all my talk minutes. Texts are free, so I use that a bit more. All in all, I'm not a big phone person so it's pretty affordable for me.
That's a great tip, Marc! I haven't heard of other states in which anybody can buy Costco Gas. According to the Costco Gas site: "The Gas Station is open to Costco members only. There is an exception: Costco Cash Card customers do not need to be Costco members." So as you mentioned, the easiest loophole to buy Costco Gas without a membership would be to have somebody purchase Costco cash cards for you.
I know it's not a solution for everyone, but I switched over to T-Mobile, largely to offset the cost and hassle when traveling internationally. Since late last year, they have offered free international text and data while roaming, while phone calls are a flat rate of $0.20 per minute (either locally or back to the US). It's worked great for me and is extremely convenient.
We use the Pay-as-you go plans
That's good stuff!
I didn't know about the report date. I don't wait until the due date...I pay everything on my pay day and categorize when stuff is due based on when I get paid.
Anyway --- I'll have to take a look at the report date. Thanks for that tip.
Many thanks for the great tips! I like "travel slowly" most of all, besides reducing expenses, it gives you a chance to better feel the place you're traveling around and to see more without being exhausted.
How do you find out what the report date is?
Great ideas. When my kids were young and I stayed home, I was the queen of free entertainment. For several years in a row the local bowling alley handed out a "Ball Pass" allowing 1 free game per day per child. I went online and bought used bowling alley shoes for each child for $7 a pair. We bowled quite a bit for several summers like this. We also went to free movies at our local movie theater that offered older children's movies in the morning. The public library was also a great place to find activities for kids. Too many times parents feel pressure to spend money on kids they don't have. Appreciate the article.
I converted my plan with Verizon to a prepaid plan once my contract expired and went from paying about $95 a month + taxes and surcharges to a flat $45 per month. Yes, you have to keep using the same old phone and yes, I did have to sacrifice a bit of data allowance (which I rarely fully used before anyway), but to save over $50 a month, I think it's a fair tradeoff.
I barely us my landline and make all long distance calls in the evening/night on my cell since it's much cheaper.
I got rid of my landline and that saves $70 or $80. My cell phone is very plain and I never spend more than $20 per month using it. I am not a texter either!
We don't have any bells and whistles, we pay it in full each month, and we don't have long distance on our landline. Every little bit helps!
In my case, a friend killer - a friend of 30 bloody years.
Borrowed 10K to pay out a lease on a luxury car - never had one of those. He helped me out in the past while I was going through a divorce so I felt somewhat "obliged".
Very little paid back over 5 years and lots of ignoring the situation.
2 major mistakes.
1 - Never aid and abet someone who can't afford a lifestyle you couldn't. (I know, goddamn friend guilt)
2 - Always, ALWAYS, throw a promissory note under their nose for terms and signature as a condition for YOUR money. If it insults them, tough ****!
mystShopper.com is a great place to go to get the latest information on legitimate mystery shopping companies and to find out which ones just don't pay. They also have a few great mystery shopping tools to help make sure you make the most money possible.
A colleague at work said to check my AT&T account for a possible discount. Sure enough - by clicking through a few links, I saved $60 per month and ended up with more on my data plan than before. My sister saved $150 per month by doing the same thing. All just for checking my on line account!
I use pay as you go phone service.
Great blog - and so timely given the temperatures out! There are a bunch of those ideas that I just have to try! Love all the "grown up" popsicles ideas!
We have a family cell phone plan, a corporate discount with our provider and no land lines. We use the minimum phone minutes available and have unlimited text, which is how we communicate most.
Are you THE Zach who founded Landline Assassin? If so, say so. Don't post a comment that touts a service as if you are an arms-length reviewer when you have a vested interest. If you are a different Zach, then it's just a coincidence. Landline Assassin looks like a great, simple and reasonably-priced service. No reason not to stand behind it.
I call our service provider every once in a while to see what special offers they have because they never let you know unless you call.
I wish the site would have new material more often. I really like the finance tips.
Skype.
I found a service called Ting.com that charges packaged amounts for different services as you use them and no contract. After dealing with subpar prepaid services I have had great reception with Ting and my home cellphone bill is about half of what it used to be. About $40/mo for our typical usage. You may not get an unlimited online package (watching a movie every day on 4g is not advisable with this service. It will get very expensive) but you also won't pay over $100 for services you might not even use to the fullest extent. You also don't have to worry about running out of minutes in the middle of a conversation. You pay for what you use every month.
I gave up my landline about 5 years ago and don't miss it at all. I use a Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go phone on their cheapest monthly plan, and I very rarely even need all my talk minutes. Texts are free, so I use that a bit more. All in all, I'm not a big phone person so it's pretty affordable for me.
I use whatsapp to save on text charges.
I have an unlimited data plan, which means I can use it as much as I want and I don't have to worry about going over a monthly limit.