Save Big on your Comcast Bill!

I watch my money closely and review all of my utility bills every month for mistakes and rate hikes. Today I found that Comcast jacked my rate up to $62.95 for internet only. WAY too much!

I called customer service and was on hold for quite some time. After speaking to an agent I threatened to cancel my service due to the hike. I was transferred to the retention department who has the power to discount your account to more reasonable levels.

I made my case as I had AT&T U-Verse up on my screen. They were showing a promo price of $29.95 per month for a year then $48 per month thereafter. It was the same speed as my current Comcast connection and a lot cheaper. AT&T was my bargaining chip.

After a brief hold Comcast offered me $42.95 per year. I took it since I did not want the hassle of cancelling them, install/scheduling AT&T, and having to buy a new modem. My price is good for a year and they will retroactively credit my account since the $62.95 already went on my credit card for this month.

A 15-minute phone call saved me $20 per month or $240 for the next 12 months. That is a great use of my time! I get to keep my same service and equipment with no hassle aside from the call for the next year. I did this last year also. I will continue to do this every year if I have too.

Don't pay too much! Don't site back and just accept rate hikes! Make the companies compete for your business. It costs them a lot more than $240 to acquire a new customer. They will do everything within reason to keep you as a customer. Finally there is no contract for my rate adjustment. It is a simple discount.

I got a raise FINALLY!

Today at work it was announced that we all would get a 5% raise. This is a long overdue event as we haven't had one in years. This does give some hope for the future as opposed to before when things were not looking great but we held on. Patience gets rewarded!

My plans for it are to ramp up my savings for the most part. Most of the rest of my budget will not change. I always need to save more money! I can have a small sigh of relief today.

Credit Card for Student Loan Payments!

No I am not implying you would pay your student loans with a credit card. That is risky. Although getting the points for it would be good if you were responsible and paid off the card each month!

This time I am referring to the Citibank ThankYou credit card. You earn ThankYou points that can be spent on gift cards, cash back, and in my case student loan payments! It starts as low as 2500 points = $25 payment. In my case I am getting 50,000 bonus points for meeting $2500 in spending. That will give me a total of 52,500 points or a $525 student loan payment.

This is a good card for someone who is financially responsible and is still paying down their student loans. They get a 1% rebate on all of their normal spending to go towards their student loans. Not doing this (assuming they are responsible with credit cards) is literally leaving free money on the table! Get every penny you are due!

This will cost me $0 to achieve since I will be doing my normal spending and some business travel expenses on the card. This was a no-brainer in my case as one of my latest credit card churns. Knocking off a nice chunk of my student loans for something I have to do anyway for free is smart money! All I have to do is call Citibank when the points are posted and request a check be sent. Easy!

More Work Travel: Getting busy!

I learned today at work that if all goes through I will have quite the busy travel time. I am already booked for Maine and Boston. I still have Baltimore at some unknown time for at least 3 trips. Now looks like I will be adding Salt Lake City, UT and Tennesse and WV/VA/NC and Scranton, PA. That is a LOT of road time!

I am seeing lots of per diem, miles, points, and good times in my future. Of course I will be working a lot but will do my best to throw in some fun stuff when I can. I will be adding new states to my list as a result and seeing some great scenery in Utah. I am assuming more of the same around Scranton as well as West Virginia. It is great to see the country on someone else's dime!

Time to dust off the travel bags. Here we go!

Book One Way Delta Award Tickets...Sort Of

I recently discovered a way to book one way Delta award tickets at half the round trip price. There are a few caveats but it is possible. It involves using Air France/KLM's Flying Blue program. This is a roundabout way to do it but is a good value. I will outline the process here to make it as simple as I can:

1.  You will need the miles in your Flying Blue account. American Express Memebership Rewards is a transfer partner for them at 1:1. Starwood points can also be transferred to Flying Blue at 1:1.
2. You have to find low level award space on Delta. I suggest logging into Flying Blue and find your desired flights BEFORE transferring points to them. 
3. Book the flight you wish on Flying Blue for points + taxes and you are done!

The key here is that Flying Blue simply allowed one way awards on any of their own or partner flights. Delta also does but charges the round trip price anyway. Doing this can save a lot of miles in the future! This is our only option until Delta gets their act together and allows one way awards like the majority of their competition.

Planning meals saves time and money

This year I have gotten a lot better about planning my meals for the week so I save money and time. Firstly I can make a grocery list before going to the store. Second I have less trips to the store saving gas and time. Finally I don't have to worry about what to cook for dinner as it is planned in advance.

I also save money by going to the store less and having less temptations to buy extra stuff not on the list. I also vow to not waste any food like I have in the past so my overall costs go down a lot. I use leftovers for lunches and it gives me some variety at work. The same old sandwich gets old fast when you have it 4-5 times per week.

Planning meals ahead also keeps me from getting lazy and going out or getting take out. If I have a really long day I will still eat the occasional meal out but not nearly as much as I used too. I am cutting my spending way down and forming good habits to pay off in the future.

Taxes are filed!

I have completed my tax return for 2011. I will get just north of $1700 as a refund and the state of Georgia finally allows direct deposit of refunds. All I have to do now is wait for the deposits to hit my account.

Getting a refund is nice. It allows me to get further in my personal financial goals. The refund this year was much higher than I expected. My plans for it now are to help fund a small business idea and also add to savings. The sooner I get the emergency fund ramped up the sooner I can have more freedom in life as a whole.

I used H&R Block software again which cost $20 but saved me hours and a lot of paper and mailing. E-filing is the way to go as it gets you the refund the quickest. Unfortunately e-filing for state costs $20 extra so I elected to paper mail it in. Waiting an extra week or two puts $15 more in my pocket after mailing costs. Worth the wait to me!

Net Worth Updates Ending

I have decided to stop posting my net worth publicly. I will still track it of course but not make it public. It can bring unwanted attention from people as it continues to grow. Privacy is a must these days!

Stay tuned for more interesting posts!

The Difference a phone call makes!

Today I was taking care of some stuff that has been lingering on my desk for a while. One of the bigger items was a $178 medical bill from Feb 2011 that showed up in December. Something seemed a bit off but I put off calling about it. Until today!

I called the doctor's office and was about to pay the balance myself until she said the claim was denied by my insurance because they requested information. I hung up and called my insurance. Sure enough I did send the information they wanted but it never made its way to my claim. They re-opened the claim and said they have what they need and will pay the amount due.

I called back the doctor to inform them of the new case. They said they would handle it from there! While I am not 100% out of it yet I am pretty sure I won't have to worry about it any more. This is good news after a couple of rough months financially. I can breathe a little easier now.

Car got hit while parked at work

Sometimes people surprise me. I came to work today just like any other. Parked my car and went into the office. I had to run to the company storage unit for some things and found a note under my wiper blade. Someone hit my car.

There was no major damage just a scrape on the rear bumper. I called the person that left the note and we agreed to work something out without involving insurance. Works for me since it is less paperwork and hassle for both of us. I like easy!

Now I have to get an estimate and actually collect. We'll see if she pulls through on her promise!