This month Jim and I both had some lessons in shopping around. One item we’d been putting off purchasing for awhile was a new camera for Jim. While it is a “want”, it’s still something that we both agreed was worthwhile for him to have to document some of his journey. We decided on a budget and were determined to stick to it, however, all of the cameras at the store on the base were all way over what we wanted to spend. So, I did some looking around in town and found a good deal at Wal-Mart. I purchased and got it ready to ship to Jim. Coincidentally, they got a new shipment of cameras in right at the same time and Jim was actually able to purchase one on the base for about the same cost as the one I bought – so, we were able to skip out on the shipping and I returned the one I bought here.

The other shopping excursion I was quite happy about was one for my sister who’d had no luck finding an outfit for my nephew to wear to her upcoming wedding. She knew exactly what she wanted but hadn’t been able to find it. I did a few minutes of intense online searching, made a couple phone calls, and was able to find just what she was looking for at an outlet store nearby. It also was a fraction of the cost of other outfits she’d found and wasn’t satisfied with.

Both of these shopping adventures reminded me the importance of discipline when spending your money. By setting a budget and doing a little research ahead of time, we were able to get some things we wanted (and help out my sister, too!) and not break either of our budgets.

This week we had an interesting group session on credit reports! This is a topic that I was pretty clueless on. The few things I knew were if you miss payments on things, it counts against you and if you close out a lot of credit cards it could lower your score, but I had no idea why. Ok, so starting with the first thing I had an idea about: Missing payments = BAD! When asked at our meeting how long we thought before a creditor would report a missed payment, we all had guesses ranging from 60 to 180 days and we were way off. It’s only 30 days! Miss a month and it could count against you! This is definitely a reminder to me to make sure that all payments are made
on time.
 

And I learned why closing out credit cards could lower a score. One reason is that when you close out a card you close out the history you had with that credit card company, so it’s like erasing part of the credit report’s memory that they were using to score you. Another reason is variety of credit – if you have a student loan, a mortgage and a couple credit cards then the credit report can see how you pay things off in different circumstances and if you eliminate one of those, then it’s harder to tell how reliable you are. The other big reason is that even if you’ve paid off a card and aren’t using it, it’s still reflected as available funds you could use – so it’s like you’re worth more. So, paying off is good but closing out could bring the score down. This is all good info to know but if you’re like me and say you’ll only use a card for emergencies and then have an “emergency” shopping trip at Target for new serving dishes, then you should still close out the card!!! Taking a hit on your credit score is better than paying interest on a credit card balance!

The most important thing I learned was to actually look at our credit reports each year! There’s a site you can use to check your report once every 12 months – it doesn’t give you your score, but it shows all the credit cards and loans you have and if you’ve had late payments on any of them.

www.annualcreditreport.com

 

As I paid the bill for the cell phone this month I was shocked to discover that it was actually $50 MORE than what we paid last month!!! How could this be after we had dropped a line?! As it turns out, dropping the line and decreasing the minutes only saves you money when you stay under the allotted minutes purchased . . . Jim and I had completely taken for granted that we were saving so much money with him using Skype instead of a cell phone or calling card, but I didn’t take in to account the minutes I was using on my end! This definitely reminds me that just because you make a change, it doesn’t mean you can quit monitoring the changes you make. So, this month I’m working at being more aware of when I talk on the phone and for how long, and trying to utilize the chat function on Skype more instead of one of us using up cell phone minutes.

I’ve officially signed up for a half marathon in June and I’m full swing in training. Part of what motivates me is the competition. But, unlike this Financial Makeover competition that is saving me money, races can add up quickly and cost quite a bit in the long run. So, I’m taking some steps to get as many races in as I can and still stay frugal. Many have “early bird” prices – it pays to sign up early! I’m also taking advantage of runs that are sponsored by my office – free is really good! Some races actually let you opt out of the extras (t-shirts, post race food, etc) and save a few bucks. The hardest part was deciding that some of the races didn’t make the cut. Since the half marathon is more expensive than a shorter run, I’m only allowing myself that one big race this year.