Keep More Income

Another almost obsessive tip today, but remember that everything adds up, and even the ideas that seem the most minor can end up saving you the most money!

Today I am speaking to all the apartment-dwellers out there.  If you’re anything like me, you’re lazy when it comes to laundry.  If I had a laundry machine inside my apartment, this would be a different story.  As it is now, though, I’ve got to take all my clothes down to a laundry room and do everything there.  There’s just something unappealing about having to walk one hundred yards to do my laundry.

Well, I found a way to motivate myself, and it involves just about twenty-five more yards of walking.  I now proudly save money when doing my laundry by simply walking next door to my neighbors’ building and doing my laundry there.

The machines at my neighbors’ building — which, by the way, is under the same ownership as my building — end up costing 75 cents less total to do a full load of washing and drying.  It seems insignificant at first, but that adds up — every other load of laundry ends up being free, compared to using my building’s machines!

An added bonus, although technically stealing: a lot of my neighbors leave their bleach out, and I’ll admit that, yes, in a pinch, I’ve taken some.  But just enough for one load.  I promise.

But most importantly, simply exploring and going another twenty-five yards with my laundry has resulted in a great money-saving find: I’m basically getting some free laundry done from this!

Internet access can get expensive.  Where I am, a cable Internet connection costs $45 a month.  However, I’ve made it a bit cheaper by sharing the connection with my neighbors.

No, I don’t steal their Internet access.  That seems like an attractive solution to lots of people but, all legalities aside, it just does not provide a steady Internet connection or the promise of consistent access.  Trust me, I’ve been in situations in the past where I had to “borrow” Internet access in this way and the day you stop getting access to it is very frustrating.

These days, I have a deal set up with my neighbors where we share the Internet connection, and the set-up is very simple.  (This tip largely applies to apartment-dwellers like me, but is also relevant to those living in neighborhoods with densely-packed houses.)

If your dwellings are very close, then you will only need one wireless router.  Set everything up, put a password on it, give the neighbors a password, and set up a payment system with them.  You’re done.

If the connection is not consistently strong for your neighbors, what you’ll need is a wireless router with WDS (Wireless Distribution System) enabled.  Most new wireless routers have this built-in straight out of the box.  If you are a Mac user, Apple makes it very easy to set up with their Airport Extreme and Airport Express base stations.  Simply have your primary wireless router sending the Internet signal out, and then set up the second router in your neighbor’s place where the signal is the strongest.  WDS will work with the router to simply “extend” the wireless connection.

I work in tech support and, trust me, I know that this can be very confusing to most people.  What I’m trying to get at is that it is easy to set up an Internet-splitting deal with your neighbors, and that you should do it!  My instructions here are not meant to tell you exactly how to get it done, but rather to get you started on the right path.  Consult your hardware’s manuals when setting it up to see how to do everything properly, and also don’t forget the power of a good Google search.  My job here is to plant some ideas in your head, give you an idea of where to get started, and finally encourage you: get started!

Today’s tip may seem nit-picky to some, but that is just the spirit of this site.  This tip will only save you a couple dollars a year, but in the long run, combined with everything else you’ll be doing, it’ll make a difference.

Today, I simply advise you to use less paper towels, tin foil, and plastic in the kitchen.

It’s very easy to do this.  In the case of the paper towels, simply tear off small sections of each paper towel instead of ripping a whole towel for clean-ups.  For example, when I clean my microwave, I use a paper towel but I only use half of one.  If someone spills something small on a counter top, I don’t need a whole paper towel — or even two or three, as is the case for some people.

It may seem simple and obvious, but trust me, most people fly through paper towels when they don’t need to!

In terms of plastic and tin foil, simply reuse it.  Most people don’t even think to do this, instead throwing out plastic bags and sheets of tin foil after one use.  This is ridiculous to do, especially when the materials were made for reuse.  Just run each through the sink, let the water dry out, and you’re back to square one and are ready to use either material fresh.

Again, today’s tips are simple and seem obvious, but most people don’t abide by them.  When you take a small tip like this — and all the other tips you receive every day from this site — they will add up to a hefty savings.

I’m a relatively cautious, careful driver, but I still end up with dents and dings on my car.  The most recent collection of bruises I received came from someone parking nearby my car, denting it as it pulled out, and not leaving any kind of note.

My run-ins with car dents have always ended inexpensively, though, because I know a nice little trick.

I call up the local high school and ask to speak to the shop/mechanic teacher.  Most major high schools have a shop class that works on cars, and they are more than happy to have a “guinea pig” car to work on.

I let the shop teacher know what’s going on — I just want a couple dents pulled out of my car — and now he has a project for his class, and I end up with free dent removal from a professional (the teacher).

You can likely use this technique for other minor cosmetic blemishes on the car as well.  Just consult with the teacher to see what’s possible.

Of course, don’t forget to remove any expensive or important items from the car before attempting this, unless you are a very trustworthy person.

Sometimes you have to spend a little money to save a little money.  This tip isn’t really a necessity, but it has come in handy big-time for me.

I like to keep a clean apartment.  But an apartment with white carpets can dirty up, and quickly.  The only way to efficiently clean a dirty white carpet is to rent a steam vac, which in my area is about $60.

I found one day searching on Amazon that many consumer-level steam vacs (many of which technically don’t incorporate steam, but work just as well) run from $100 to $200.  I picked one up and had my investment paid back with just two cleanings.

The added bonus of the steam vac, though, is that it can clean upholstery beautifully.  I actually now make a small side income by picking up couches and chairs off the street that are in perfect condition except for dirty upholstery, and simply spend twenty minutes cleaning them with my steam vac.  They come out looking good as new, and make me a small profit.

So not only was my steam vac paid for within two cleanings, but it has ended up making me even more money.

I realized a few more ways to justify getting that great home theatre set-up.

When you have a great home theatre, you end up preferring watching your movies at home.  With movie ticket prices around $10 or more, watching just ten movies a year will pay for a large chunk of your home theatre.

In other words, make movie night a social night at your place.  Stop going out to the movies and instead get friends to chip in and rent movies with you, and you’ll have a significant amount of money available to pay for your home theatre set-up.

Now you have no excuse.  Get a killer home theatre and save money.  Seems fair enough, doesn’t it?

I don’t pay for cable or satellite TV, but I do have a great home theatre set-up.  LCD TV, 5.1 surround sound, up-converting DVD player, and more.

In fact, having this set-up is what is allowing me to save money by cutting the premium cable TV.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that, with an HDTV, you can pick up all local channels in full digital high definition quality with nothing but a set of standard rabbit ear antennas.  That’s right, the same antennas that were powering TVs in the mid-20th century are the same beasts that can pick up full HD signals of your local stations.

“Local stations” of course refer to the big guys — ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, PBS, and so on — and include all the most-watched shows in American television.  Big sporting events are aired on the same stations.

In the United States, all HDTVs are, by law, required to have a tuner built-in.  What this means is that, once you have your TV purchased, rabbit ear antennas are all you’ll need to start picking up high definition TV shows.

Because I don’t pay between $600 and $1000 a year in cable TV costs, I can easily justify my home theatre purchase.  One can easily find good 5.1 speakers for around $300, a 37″ LCD TV can be had for $600, great DVD players around $50, and a strong antenna will set you back $30.

My set-up will last me for many, many years.  I don’t see upgrading my speakers or TV anytime soon.  For the one-year cost of cable TV, I was able to get a brand new, high-definition home theatre, and I can still watch most of my favorite shows — including big, live sporting events, like the Super Bowl, all in high definition.

Seems worth it to cut the cable, huh?

This one is simple.  Cable or satellite TV services are expensive and will drain your wallet.

In my area, digital cable TV packages start around roughly $60/month.  This is for the “basic” package.  (Of course, there are always promotions, but they end up with jacked up prices after a couple months.)

Satellite TV is a little more reasonable, at around $40/month minimum.

Of course, many people get tempted into the “premium” channels and end up with $80 to $100/month TV bills.  Many of my friends with debt and smaller incomes — all mid-20-somethings — claim to be paying close to $120 or more a month in total TV and Internet expenses, with promotions included.

That is simply ridiculous.  Considering that the most-watched shows in America are provided on free network television, I can’t see how anyone can justify a minimum of roughly $720/year to have more channels.

The truth of the matter is, YOU don’t need cable or satellite TV.  But there are always shows you want to catch that are only available on paid TV services.  I know that there are a few shows on HBO that I hate to miss.  What do you do then?

Simple.  You have two choices.

1. Many TV shows can be treated as social events.  When I want to see the latest episode of Entourage, I call up one of my buddies and ask if I can run over to see it.  It turns into a group social event and is even more fun than it would have been watching it alone.  Trust me, unless you never talk to your friends, you won’t be seen as “using” anyone, and in fact everyone will be even more psyched to have you over.  Treat TV as social “hanging out” time.
2. Wait for the DVDs.  Paying $30 for a season of a TV show you like is a whole lot better than paying close to $1000/year to be able to watch it on a schedule.  Better yet, if you only need to watch the episodes once, just rent it.  Rent the DVD sets for six shows and you’ve saved tons of money.

Stayed tuned for more ways that cutting the cable bill will benefit you.

I save a ton of money every year by calling my utility providers to get lower rates.  For example, I do not pay full price for my cable Internet or my cell phone.

I’m shocked by how many people don’t bother calling their utility providers to get lower rates.  In fact, I’m shocked by how many people don’t even know they can do this.

My cable Internet regularly costs $44.95/month, but there are “new customer” promotions running all the time for around $15 or $20 less per month.  I always get the “new customer” rates, even though I’ve been with my provider over a year and am definitely not a new customer.

How do I do this?  Simple — I simply call up, threaten to switch to DSL, and ask what can be done to keep my business.  Framing is very important in this situation — don’t give the customer service representative a chance to shoot you down.  If I were to ask, “Is there anything you can do to keep my business?” they can easily tell me no.  If I give them the opportunity to take me back and frame the question as though I expect something in return (”what can you do to keep my business?”) I am more likely to get an offer back.

Here’s the most important part of this: If your offer to switch to a competitor’s service falls on deaf ears, simply hang up, call back, and speak to a different customer service representative.  Do the same thing until you get someone who offers you the promotional rate.

Whenever my promotional period runs up, I simply call back and start the whole process over.

NOTE: it helps to know competitor’s rates.  Use a deal web site, like the Fatwallet Forums, to know competitor prices.

Another way to try and save money is simply to call your utility providers and ask if you are eligible for any kind of corporate or membership discount.  They will ask you questions and there is a chance you are like me and ended up being eligible for a 20% monthly job-related discount.  Others will find out they can get a discount simply because they are a member of a specific service, like AAA.

I even had a friend once call his cell phone provider and simply ask what promotional offers were available and end up with free text messaging!

Don’t be afraid to call up your cable, cell phone, and other providers and wring out whatever kind of deals you can.