November 11th 2007
Black Friday is notorious (in America) for great shopping deals and extreme crowds. The day after Thanksgiving stores stay open all night or open at midnight and millions of people actually go shopping at those odd hours just for the low prices. I hate shopping in crowds and used to avoid Black Friday, Sundays, and Tax-Free Weekends like the plague. But if you’re on a tight budget, you might just want to venture out to see what kind of deals you can get.
BlackFriday.info posts leaked ads for big retailers in the U.S., including Target and Best Buy. After browsing through the incredible list of ads, I’ve decided I’m going to hit up Big Lots! and Office Depot, my two favorite stores. If I go to my mom’s for Thanksgiving, I’m going to go to Ikea.There’s also has a list of great deals, including a nice leather chair from Office Max for only $80.
The website is affiliated with Keep Cash, which is another great coupon resource.
Posted in Money with 4 comments
November 5th 2007
I’m still four years away from having to repay my student loans, but I know I should start thinking about it now. Get Rich Slowly posted a great guide to repay student loans.
If you have federal loans, your options are much simpler. The interest rate is lower, so it’s usually best to just pay them as scheduled. Private loans are a whole different ball park and very confusing because terms usually vary from provider to provider, while government-backed loans are stuck with the federal terms given, no matter who your lender is.
One option is consolidation, which is not the best option unless you seriously can’t afford the monthly payments. Consolidation leads to a higher interest rate because you’re extending the life of the loan and there are more complications with private loans. Depending on your financial plan, consolidation can be a good or a bad option.
There are also options for loan forgiveness if you are going to be joining the Peace Corps or the military (or other programs that are listed on the FinAid website). I personally don’t qualify for any of this, so I hope I’ll get a high-paying job with my really expensive fancy degree so I can pay my loans off quickly.
Also, you can’t simply just declare bankruptcy anymore and be done with your loans. Certain federal loans will go away, but not private loans. The government decided on this a few years ago because too many students were coming out of college and declaring bankruptcy right off the bat. There are certain circumstances surrounding the issue, which are covered in more detail here.
The FinAid website also has a Loan Calculator that just made me feel very sad about the amount of interest I’m going to pay just on my freshman Stafford loan. Bring on the next three years worth of borrowed money.
Posted in Financial Aid, Money with 4 comments
October 25th 2007
We’re all suckers for stuff, whether it’s fancy shoes or video games. When you’re broke, it’s hard to just curb that desire, even though you know you should. I have seven ways to shop smart so you can afford to spoil yourself sometimes.
1. Dealio is your source for the best deals on anything, anywhere. It’s a community that allows you to search for items to find the best deal, whether it’s in a store or on Ebay. They also have coupons for weapons for websites like overstock.com, which is already cheaper than buying retail, which means you save more.
2. Shop around. I can’t stress this enough. Just because you finally found whatever you’re looking for doesn’t guarantee a good price. Sometimes waiting means you find a better deal, or realizing that you don’t actually need the item.
3. Pro Bargain Hunter is a blog full of bargain news, tips and resources. They offer an Amazon discount table, as well as other free tools to find great prices.
4. Retail Me Not is a great website, one of my favorites for bargain hunting. It is a collaborative website offering coupons for thousands of websites. I’ve saved nearly $70 through Amazon with their coupons when I was shopping for textbooks.
5. Use Google Products to help compare between their giant list of stores to find the best price, and then compare with Amazon, Ebay and Craigslist.
6. Always try Craigslist. If you can find it locally, it cuts out the shipping cost.
7. Last but not least, FatWallet.
Posted in Money with 1 comment
October 13th 2007
Last night I opened up an ING Orange Savings Account. It’s about time, too, because this entire semester’s financial aid has been sitting in my Bank of America checking account, earning me nothing. I finally decided to make the switch because Bank of America holds onto my money for unknown amounts of time and doesn’t tell me why or when I will get it.
I had already switched my October money over to USAA because Don finally had his debit card for that account and I got my free checks.
The only reason I’m actually going to keep my Bank of America accounts open is because I have an automatic payment for my car that I haven’t gotten around to switching. I didn’t want to sign up for EFT in the first place, but the credit union that’s financing my car required it.
My favorite thing about USAA is the Deposit@Home feature. I simply scan a check and it gets deposited and is available for spending the next day. No having to deal with tellers and then not seeing the $200 cash I put in for three days (unless it’s over a weekend and then it’s more like five days.)
I’m still waiting for ING to verify that my USAA account is mine so I can deposit the rest of the money and start earning interest. It’s 4.3% APY, which is fairly high for an online savings account. I also haven’t heard any negative comments about ING, unlike WaMu and Capital One.
Anyone have any experience with ING? I wanted to get an Electric Orange checking account, but my credit isn’t good enough.
Posted in Money with 5 comments
October 10th 2007
Student loans are the answer to money problems these days, especially because you can defer payments until after graduation, unlike other loans. But if you aren’t careful, you can end up owing a lot more than you borrowed. I was able to get $4000 in scholarships, but the rest of my expenses are covered by loans. I was able to get a subsidized Stafford loan through Wells Fargo (the government pays the interest while I’m in school) for $3500, but all the rest is in a Parent PLUS loan, which has a high interest rate and although payments are differed, it accrues interest now. If you can get Stafford loans, even if it’s unsubsidized, I’d take advantage, even if you need another loan as well. Stafford loans are a great deal.
I didn’t have to get any private student loans, but for some people, this is what they choose to do for whatever reason. Think Financial offers student loans as well as financial advice and resources and a comparison chart. Think Financial is a well-known student loan provider in cooperation with Charter One Bank and their website is very helpful. They don’t require collateral, and you can apply and get an answer in fifteen minutes and you can use the money for all expenses, unlike some providers. Private loans also give you your money much faster than going through a university.
The biggest reason people choose to go this route is because the amount you can borrow is up to $40,000 for one year, which is a lot more than financial aid offices award students. There are other loan companies, such as Sallie Mae and My Rich Uncle, although I personally like Think Financial or Chase.
If you’re going to go this route, I definitely suggest doing a lot of research into the company and the rates. Be sure to read the fine print and make sure you’re getting a fixed rate. Some companies, such as Sallie Mae have allegations against them so beware of that. Also, private loans usually require good credit to be approved so it helps to have a parent or older family member that’s willing to help. But if they’re going to put their name on it, sometimes it’s better to take out a second mortgage or do a home equity loan with a better rate.
Posted in Financial Aid, Money with 2 comments
October 1st 2007
Mint.com is a new online budgeting tool. You input your bank and credit card logins for their websites and it gathers the data and pulls all of your financial information together. It simplifies everything because it’s all in one place. You don’t have to login to six different websites to pull up your balances. They also have an alert system to notify you when your balances become low so you don’t overdraft.
I tried it out and was actually very impressed. If you’re not sure how to budget or don’t want to bother, Mint is a great way to keep track of your money. I personally found it a little too simple for me. I have an exact image of the way I want my budget to be and I’ve just had to keep using a spreadsheet do so.
I really like how it breaks down spending and shows trends. It doesn’t always recognize certain charges, but for the most part, it puts them in the right categories. It compares cash and debt, which is nice since apparently it thinks I have more cash than debt (it doesn’t know my poor “cash” is really all debt in student loans.) It does know, however, that my most frequent stop is at HEB (grocery store).
The feature that shows ways you can save money by switching accounts is nice, but doesn’t really apply to a college student with little credit. Mint thinks I could save $424 by switching checking accounts and credit cards, but what it doesn’t know is that I can’t just get another credit card because mine has too high of an interest rate.
Of course, there are some drawbacks to a website like this, the most important being that they have your bank information. As a paranoid person, I just don’t like giving other people my passwords to anything, much less my bank accounts. What with all the security leaks recently, I’m even more paranoid. It doesn’t take much to hack a website and steal all of this information. Other than that, sometimes it seems too simple for me. I have a pretty complicated plan for my budget and have yet to find a program that does what I want.
Posted in Money, Reviews with no comments
September 28th 2007
Finding good, reliable software is hard sometimes, especially after being spoiled by programs like Photoshop or Coda. But spending precious money on software is not the smartest thing to do when you can find equally good (and sometimes better) programs for free. Almost all of the programs on my computer were free, with the exception of Illustrator, Photoshop and Coda.
Software for Starving Students is a great resource for both Mac and PC users. (Again, sorry Linux) Their collection of freeware is geared toward students, although anyone could find most of the programs useful. They have a version for both Mac and PC. There is a good number of programs (30+ in both packages) and I have most of them. Unfortunately, you have to download the file and burn it to a CD that will install everything. If you don’t want to do that, they have a list of all the included software and you can pick and choose which to install.
Two other great websites are Open Source Windows and its Mac equivalent, Open Source Mac. They list the essential types of software, including browsers, word processors, graphic programs, and instant messengers.
For Mac users, FreeMacWare is a great resource for free software. They have almost every free program that’s available. If you’re looking for programs not offered at the above websites or just want to clutter up your Applications folder, this website will help you.
Posted in Money, Software with no comments
