Ramsey County

Making $ense of Dollars and Cents

April 21, 2008

Finding Leaks in Your Budget

          An ancient Chinese proverb states that “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”  The central idea of that proverb is to tackle large tasks one small part at a time.  The same idea can be applied to managing finances. Following are several ideas for finding leaks in your budget.

          -  Paying bills by mail.  The average household receives 15 bills per month.  Figuring in the cost of postage, you can spend just over $70 in postage to pay those bills. Save time and money by signing up to have your bills paid by credit card, by automatic debt from your checking account or look into online payment.  If using automatic withdrawals, you will need to insure your checking account has sufficient funds on hand to cover the withdrawal on its scheduled date.  Otherwise, you might end up spending more money to cover the cost of an overdraft.

          - Paying an annual fee for a credit card.  If you are paying an annual fee for your credit card in order to be part of their rewards program – such as a frequent flyer program – double check that you are in line to receive those rewards. For individuals who pay off balances monthly or who charge only a modest amount each year, paying to be part of a rewards program usually costs more than it saves.  The web site www.bankrate.com is an excellent location to compare the offers form credit card companies.

          - Cell phone plans that don’t fit your life.  If you have too many minutes as part of your cell phone plan, you are wasting money; too few minutes and the cost for extra minutes can bankrupt any budget.  When your cell phone bill arrives, take a close look at how many minutes you use and when.  You may find that you need unlimited evening and weekend minutes but fewer daytime minutes.  Call your company and ask about negotiating a new plan or compare plans with other carriers when your contact is due to expire.

          - Paying for free credit reports. Ads for “free” credit reports are everywhere but for most of those ads, when you read the fine print you need to pay a “service” fee. Federal law entitles you to a free credit report from each of the three major bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion (www.annualcreditreport.com). One thing to be aware of: A credit report will show your payment history and any identity-theft activity, but it doesn’t include the all-important credit score. For that, go to www.myfico.com, a site operated by Fair Isaac Corporation, the company that originated the credit-score system most lenders use. A simple credit score costs $15.
 

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524 4th Ave NE #5, 2nd Floor Ramsey County Courthouse
Devils Lake  ND  58301
701-662-7027
email - ramsey@ndsuext.nodak.edu