Do You Save Money Bundling Cable?

Bundling cable and other services sounded like a good concept when I first heard about it several years ago but I’d never researched the options through Comcast or Time Warner in my area until recently.

Benefits of Bundling Cable

For those of you not familiar with bundling cable the idea is that you buy your cable, internet, and possible phone service from the same company.  The benefit to you is that cable companies like Time Warner and Comcast will offer a discount on all the services if you bundle them together. Obviously the benefit to the cable company is that you spend more money with them instead of a different company.

Another potential benefit to you is that you only have one bill to worry about and one company to work with if you have problems. Of course, if the customer service isn’t very good then it’s actually a drawback because then you have bad service when you call in about your TV, internet, or phone.

Cable Bundling Options

As I mentioned above, you have different options when it comes to bundling. I’m most familiar with Comcast so I’ll use them as an example.  They have a package called the Double Play that allows you to sign up for both cable and high speed internet and get a discount on the services.  They have another option called the Comcast Triple Play where you add on digital phone service to your TV and web.  The total cost is obviously more but you get a discount on your monthly bill for each of the services.

Do You Save Money Bundling Cable?

What I’d like to know is whether bundling cable and internet, and possibley phone services, saves you money. The main thing I’d like to know is how much you save each month. If you’re willing to share, it would also be helpful to me and the other readers if you say which cable company you use and which package you signed up for.  So if you save money each month by bundling cable please tell us about it in the comments below.  Thanks!

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How to File a Tax Extension

Filing for a tax extension can be a good idea if the tax deadline is here and you haven’t had time to gather together all your tax forms and fill out your 1040.

I’ve filed a tax extension before; it’s easy to do and makes sense if you don’t have all the information you need to completely fill out your tax return.  Keep in mind that although a tax extension lets you delay filing your tax return you still have to pay the money you owe the IRS by April 15^th or you could face fees and interest.

Estimating Your Taxes

If you tax situation is similar to the previous year you could use your tax bill from last tax year as a starting point to estimate your taxes.  If it were me, I’d estimate high because I’d rather overpay and get some of the money back than risk paying too little and ending up owing interest on my unpaid taxes.

Typically you don’t want to overpay your taxes throughout the year because you’re giving the government an interest free loan for almost 12 months but in this case the time period between when you file your extension and you actually send in your tax return is likely much shorter.

If you use Form 4868 that we’ll cover in a second, the extension does give you another 6 months to file so if you do overpay, don’t wait until October 15^th to file your taxes.

Tax Estimate Calculator

Another way of estimating your taxes due is to use a tax estimate calculator like TaxCaster from TurboTax. Tools like this ask you to fill in information about your income, tax deductions & credits, and any tax payments.  Then they come up with an estimated amount of federal taxes due.

Form 4868

In order to file a tax extension for your personal tax return you fill out form 4868, an Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Income Tax Return.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve filed for an tax extension before, there’s not much to it.  After you fill out form 4868 you can either mail it in or you can e-file.  This gives you a 6 month extension, which means you need to have your tax return filed by October 15^th.  Resist the urge to put off filing until next October because it will be here before you know it and you don’t want to find yourself scrambling up against another tax deadline.

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Stimulus Tax Credit Help from the IRS

The Stimulus tax credit reduced the amount of taxes owed for millions of people but as the tax deadline nears, the IRS is finding out that many of us aren’t taking advantage of it when filing our taxes.

Remember the Schedule M Tax Form

In order to get the stimulus tax credit you have to fill out the Schedule M tax form and lots of people are simply forgetting to do so.  Whether they’re manually filing their tax return or using some of the best tax software on the market, taxpayers are missing the stimulus tax opportunity.

IRS Helps With Stimulus Tax Credit

Luckily for all of us that don’t file a Schedule M, the IRS is actually correcting our errors so that we can take the stimulus tax credit, according to the New York Times. I did a double take when I read that. I typically think of the IRS as trying to maximimze the amount of taxes that we pay so I was pleased to read that they’re working to make sure we take the stimulus tax credit if we qualify for it. 

Of course, you should still file your tax return as correctly as possible.  You don’t really want to rely on the IRS to help you take the 2009 tax credits.  One thing to keep in mind is that all the extra work of correcting tax returns is putting a load on the IRS tax centers, which could potentially delay your tax refund if you have one coming.

If you still haven’t done your taxes yet, don’t forget you can still file taxes online and easily meet the deadline!

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Cheapest Airport Parking Options

The cheapest airport parking options are typically the long term parking lots where you leave your car then catch a shuttle to the airport terminal.  However, when leaving long term parking after my recent trip the guy at the toll booth told me the biggest parking bill he’d ever seen was $487! 

Even though six dollars a day isn’t that expensive, it can add up if you leave your car parked there for almost three months. Here are a few airport parking options if you’re looking to save some money.

Satellite Parking

The same thing as long term parking, these lots are usually a ways out from the airport and require a bus ride into the main terminal.  If the shuttles run often then this can be a good option.  Just make sure you allow extra time, around 30–45 minutes depending on the airport, when going to the airport to catch your flight.

A few tips, write your parking spot down when you leave or you could spend hours wandering the lot when you get back.  You also want to make sure you turn off your lights in your rush to jump out of the car to catch the shuttle bus or you’ll come home to a dead battery.

Carpool

Ride with someone else who’s going on the same flight and split the cost of parking.  This works best when you’re going on a vacation with friends or family or if you’re on a business trip with a co-worker.

Airport Drop Off

This option doesn’t actually require any parking fees at all.  Most airports have 30 minute free parking so if you can get your friends and/or family to take you to the airport they can park for free for a short period of time while they see you off or pick you up.

Of course if your flight leaves at 5:30 in the morning or gets back late at night you might have a hard time convincing them so think ahead when scheduling your trip.

Airport Park & Ride

Our airport doesn’t have a lot of public transportation options other than one express bus to the airport from downtown but in some cities you can take advantage of a park and ride.  Park for free in a public lot and then catch a train up to the airport.

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How Not to Miss a Connecting Airline Flight

I was stuck in the Milwaukee airport for most of a day because I missed a connecting flight.  I’m not a frequent flyer so I made a few mistakes that led to me missing my connection.

Here are a few tips I picked up that might help you when flying in the future.  They’re worth reading, I missed my connecting flight at 7:30 AM flight and the next one didn’t leave until 4 PM, check out the tips so you don’t get stuck in an airport all day.

Read the Fine Print

I bought a last minute plane ticket from CheapoAir and didn’t take the time to read all the fine print on my receipt.  The first leg of my flight was with Frontier airline and the second leg was on AirTran.  This meant I needed a separate boarding pass for the second flight, if I’d have read through all the information in my email I’d have realized that.

Check in Online Ahead of Time

One of the tips in the email was to check in for my flight online so I could print out my boarding pass and bring it along with me.  Of course the benefit to this is that you don’t have to stand in line and wait for your boarding pass, unless of course you have bags to check.  Which leads us to the next tip.

Carry on Your Luggage

If you can fit everything into two carry on pieces of luggage and you print out your boarding pass ahead of time then you won’t have to wait in line to check into your flight.  If you’re flying two different airlines, checking bags can eat up time between your connecting flights.

Get Your Boarding Passes for Entire Trip

The problem I had in Milwaukee was that I had to go back to ticketing to get my boarding pass for my AirTran flight, which meant I had to come back through security to get to the terminal.  I only had 40 minutes between flights and the security slowed me down just enough that I missed the connecting flight.

Even if you don’t check in ahead of time online, you can still get your boarding pass for all your flights from your original destination airport. If you’re flying the same airline all the way through they give them all to you when you check in.  But even if you’re changing airlines, you can still go to both airline counters at the first airport you fly out of and get your boarding passes for the whole trip.

Inspect Your Bags

I didn’t look through the bags I brought before packing my stuff and that contributed to me missing my flight.  Turns out I had a camera accessory at the bottom of my bag that the airline screeners thought looked suspicious.

They sent my bag through the x-ray machine two times then manually inspected it to figure out what they were seeing on the x-ray.  As they took everything out of my bag, valuable minutes ticked away and I ended up missing my flight.  So make sure you know what’s in your bag and that you’re not carrying anything verboten by the security rules.

If you do miss your connecting flight many times the airline will re-book you on the next flight out.  Of course the people that paid for seats on that flight get priority so many times you’ll have to fly stand-by.  But the earlier you fly in the day, the higher the chances there will be one or more flights later that day and the better your chances of getting on one of those flights. Happy flying!

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Angies List Electrician Saves the Day!

Angies List came through for us again this week! I logged onto Angies List first thing in the morning and just a few hours later we had a certified electrician working on the power outlets in our study.

Finding an Electrician

Our electrical troubles started when I smelled something burning and discovered one of our wall outlets was really hot and was melting the plastic on the side of the plug. Unplugging everything cooled off the outlet but I was worried about the potential of a fire so I wanted an electrician to inspect the outlets in the room.

A scenario like this is where I’ve gotten myself into trouble with contractors in the past. I needed help right away but didn’t have a working relationship with an electrician, or other contractor that I felt I could trust. In the past I’ve ended up just calling out of the phone book, which sometimes worked fine and other times not so great.

Angies List Search

In this case I used Angies List to find electricians in my area with a history of good customer reviews.  I also called an Angies List rep and told them what I was looking for in case I had overlooked something in my web search. 

I went through the results and picked the ones with the highest ratings in price, quality, responsiveness, punctuality, and professionalism.  Here’s some of the information for the company I ended up working with.

• In Business Since:: 2004
• On Angie’s List Since:: August 2005
• Free Estimates:: Yes
• Warranties/Guaranties:: Ask for details
• 24 Hour/Emergency Service:: Yes
• Licensed: Yes  
• Bonded:: Yes  
• Insured:: Yes

I actually called a few companies, some with even higher ratings, but they were the only ones that could come out right away.  Their prices were reasonable, customer service was great, they got the problem solved quickly, and they even gave me an Angies List discount that they offer anyone who finds them through the service.

So far,the website’s been a great way for us to find various local contractors in a pinch.  If you find yourself in need of assistance you can try one of the Angies List promo codes and check the service out.

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Cheap Flights at the Last Minute

Are cheap flights and last minute airline tickets a total contradiction?  Can you really get cheap tickets when you book your airfare the day before you leave?

I have to travel unexpectedly this weekend so I spent hours last night looking for airline tickets online. It seems the closer you get to the day of your flight, the higher the prices of the plane tickets.  I’ve heard of people getting last minute deals on flights but what I’ve found is that you have to be pretty flexible to get those discounts.

Cheap Flight Search

I started off on airline ticket websites like Orbitz, Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity, and Kayak and ran the same search on each of them.  Then I compared the results of each using the search filters they offer like arrival & departure time, number of connections, layover time, and of course price.  Then once I found the best flights I’d also jump over to that airline’s website and check out the deals they offered there.

Travel Website Deals

The nice thing about the travel websites is that they make it easier for you to narrow down the cheapest flights that meet your criteria. However, the same flight and prices pretty much showed up on all the websites that I searched.  Most of the good deals I was able to turn up involved being really flexible about when you flew. 

For example, Priceline offered a combined flight and car rental for $422 when the cheapest all the other sites where selling the same aireline tickets for was a little over $600.  This caught my eye but I dug a little deeper because it seemed too good to be true. It turns out that you basically have no control over when you fly, the airline picks the flight for you:

 

“Your trip will start between 6am and 10pm on your travel dates.  Although we always look for non-stop flights first, flights may make up to one connection each way. Your exact flights and times will be shown to you once your purchase is complete.”

American Express Airline Rewards

My next thought was that perhaps I could get a deal going through the AmEx website and buying with my American Express Blue Cash card.  Turns out that the prices I found searching flights on their site were no different than the ones I found elsewhere online.  They do allow you to help pay for tickets with your rewards points but I get cashback on my Blue cash card, not rewards. 

American Express was offering a Delta SkyMiles promotion where you earned a 25,000 bonus for opening the card and $50 back when you bought your first airline ticket but I needed to get a seat right away.

Airline Coupon Codes

Since I wasn’t very flexible about the times that I could fly, it turns out that the best savings I could get on airline tickets at the last minute was by using a coupon code when I checked out. 

CheapoAir was offering a fixed discount when you bought a ticket through them and I was also able to find a CheapoAir coupon code that saved me another $15 on top of that.  So overall, I found that you can’t find cheap flights at the last minute unless you’re willing to be really flexible.  I guess the best way to get the cheapest airline tickets is to plan ahead!

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Online Bill Pay Benefits

The benefits of online bill pay outweigh the downsides of setting up automated bill payments online, at least in my opinion.  Although I’ve written lately about how I missed a payment using our online bill pay system, the problem wasn’t that we’re using automatic bill payment; but rather that I wasn’t checking in periodically to make sure all bills were being paid smoothly.

Online Bill Pay Reminders

Setting up bill payment online is only the first step, you should still keep an eye on your payments to make sure all your bills are being paid.  One good way to do this is to setup calendar reminders for the days of the month right before your biggest bills get paid.

For example, our largest bills by far are our mortgage and credit card bills.  They’re always due at the same time each month so an alert a few days before they’re due can remind me to login and check to see that they’re scheduled.  I didn’t have these reminders setup when I missed my payment but I do now.

Online Bill Pay Benefits

Time Savings

So what’s the point of using online bill pay if you still have to login and check on your bills?  For me, it’s still faster than sitting down each month and writing and mailing a bunch of checks. It only takes two minutes to go online and verify that all our payments are set to go.  The main problem for me is simply remembering to check on them, which is why the alerts are helpful.  Some online bill pay systems offer their own alert methods through email or automated phone calls or you can setup your own calendar alerts for regular payments.

Electronic Records

Not only does online bill pay save me time but the convenience of having all of our payment records in one place is great. Having one set of electronic records that I can search and download makes it much easier to track where our money is going.  Some banks or online bill pay services offer good reporting features on their sites, if they don’t you can still download a consolidated file and import it into a tool like Quicken.

Payment Rules

Another useful feature of online bill pay is the ability to setup different payment rules for each of your bills.  For example, you can have your cable bill be paid automatically each month as long as it’s under a specified dollar amount.  If it’s over the maximum then instead of being paid automatically it’s set to pending and you’re sent an alert.  These types of rules are nice because they can protect you from paying too much in the event of billing errors.

Online Bill Payments

One potential downside to automated bill payments is the potential of trying to pay bills out of an account that doesn’t have sufficient funds.  The best solution to this worry is to setup overdraft protection on the account that you make the payments out of.  So if there is a payment that exceeds your balance it will pull the needed funds from a backup account and avoid the fees and hassles of non–sufficient funds issues.

Another reason you might not be sure about online bill pay is that you like to keep your funds in your savings account as long as possible to earn interest on the balance before moving it to checking and paying your bills. Fortunately, now there are enough banks that offer interest checking accounts that you can move the necessary amount of money into your checking account and still earn interest on it while the funds are waiting to be paid out.

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Income Tax Filing Tips

Your federal income tax filings are due in just over a week!  If you’ve been putting off your preparing your tax return here are some tips to help get you through the next week during your last minute scramble to

Tax Software

If you’re filing your taxes yourself you still have time to use tax prep software.  The most recent versions let you do everything online, without having to go to the store or wait for anything in the mail.

• Best Tax Software
• Turbo Tax Review
• H&R Block at Home Software
• Turbo Tax Free Trial!
• How to File Taxes Online
• TurboTax Online Edition

Tax Credits & Deductions

Tax credits and deductions are the best part of tax time right?  As Sandy Botkins used to say, “everything’s cheaper when you can get a deduction”.

• Standard Deduction or Itemized Deduction?
• Tax Credits for 2009
• Tax Savings You Don’t Want to Miss
• Medical Expenses & Income Tax Deductions
• 2009 Federal Tax Brackets
• 2010 Federal Tax Brackets

Taxes

One of the most frequently asked questions about taxes is probably, “when do I get my tax refund”? Here’s a look at some tax deadlines, when you can expect to get your tax refund, and a few other tax tidbits.

• Tax Refund Status
• Tax Return Deadlines
• Capital Gains Tax Q&A
• Federal Tax Forms Overview
• Tax Refund Loans – Costs & Alternatives

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Cheap Kids Artwork Display

If you’re like us you have lots of artwork from your kids around the house but no great way to show it off. Between daycare and home projects our son has built up a kids portfolio of arts & crafts. Before this weekend it was stored away in a big folder but now we can put it up where we can enjoy it.

We had an empty wall that we wanted to use to show off his creations but hadn’t come up with a good way to display it. My wife saw an idea she liked online, so she went to Target last weekend and bought two plain, black curtain rods.

As you can see from the picture the hoops make it easy to put up and take down his artwork and the price was right!

Here are some other useful frugality articles and posts on several other money topics to help start off your week.

Taxes

– Get Free Tax Advice by Calling 1-800-829-1040 @ Generation X Finance
– How Long Does it Take to Get Your Tax Refund Back? @ My Dollar Plan
– How to File Taxes For Less or Free @ Free From Broke

Investing

– Making an Early IRA Withdrawal From Vanguard @ My Money Blog
– How to Invest With Inflation on the Way @ Consumerism Commentary

Frugality

– 3 Disadvantages of Ready Made Meals and TV Dinners @ The Digerati Life
– Stop Wasting Time & Start Clipping Coupons! @ Fiscal Fizzle
– Live Like the Jones, Without Keeping Up @ Money Ning
– 6 Simple Tricks to Save $1000 On Coffee Per Year @ Being Frugal

Personal Finance

– How To Organize Electronic Financial Documents @ Bargaineering
– How Big is Your Financial Safety Net? @ Million Dollar Journey

Debt

– Confessions of a Gadget Junkie @ Get Rich Slowly
– The High Cost of Debt @ Free Money Finance
– Simple Ways to Improve Your Debt Management Skills @ Good Financial Cents
– Job Loss, Save Money or Get Out of Debt? @ Debt Free Adventure
– Five Simple Habits That Will Help You Avoid The Debt Trap @ Five Cent Nickel
– Don’t Let Debt Dictate Your Life. @ My Two Dollars

Real Estate

– Tips for Selling a Home in a Down Market @ Frugal Dad

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