Doing the math... is refinancing worth the hassle?

No, I'm not talking about your house... I wish we could get in on some of these awesome interest rates, but since our mortgage is upside-down and our loan isn't owned by Freddie or Fannie, we're out of luck. What we can refinance, however, is our car.



We purchased our 2009 Subaru Forester in Nov. 2008. While we don't necessarily regret this purchase, I wish we had taken more time to do some research and look around.



You see, this was an impulse purchase. We needed a new car after a car accident on Nov. 15, 2008 totaled our 2006 Forester, and shook us up pretty badly. Physically, we made out pretty well... but emotionally, it was kind of hard to finally realize that life can be over in an instant. One person in the accident didn't make it, and two others had life-altering injuries. We were in awe of how our Subaru reacted to the HUGE Mercedes SUV that slammed into the driver's side, crumpling the body, but not even denting the steel frame behind the driver's door, which is what kept Andrew from being severely injured.



Thanksgiving was fast approaching, and there was no way we could squeeze our three dogs into our VW GTI. Insurance check finally in hand, we went to Brown Subaru on Thanksgiving Eve... just to look. Well, after hearing about the new safety features while safety was at the forefront of our minds, there was no way we could walk away without that brand new car, financed by the dealership through Chase. We still negotiated and got a pretty good deal on that new car (which we LOVE), but financially we should have weighed our options more and maybe looked at a used model since we had been really happy with our 2006.



At the time of our purchase, the credit union couldn't come anywhere near the interest rates offered on our new vehicle purchase. Now, though, the credit union is offering a special auto loan rate of 3.99 for 09-newer, whether it's a new purchase or refinance. Initially I ignored the promotion... we got a pretty good rate through Chase, and we have paid almost two years of our 6 year loan... but I got curious and decided to run the numbers. I used the calculators at bankrate.com to calculate the amortization schedule of our initial loan. The total interest paid by the end of the loan would reach over 3,000... and we've paid a little over $700. I then calculated a new amortization schedule for a 5 year refinanced loan. To my surprise, we would pay only slightly over $1000 in interest to the new loan, saving us over $1000 total interest.

I then calculated the amortization schedule if we were to continue making the same payments (about $60 more than our recalculated payment), and we would not only save over $1400... but we would then have it paid off a month before our current loan ends! That's a pretty awesome deal! We promptly filled out the application online, confirmed some information over the phone, and met with a loan officer for 15 minutes to sign the papers... about 30 minutes total to save over $1400!!!

So sometimes it's worth it to do a little math... there is no way I thought we could save so much while still paying off our loan before its current due date... just think how much we could save if we could afford to refinance our home!

Get paid to shop online!

Yes, seriously... there are sites that will pay you cash back to shop online! My website of choice is ebates.com.

So how this works is you go to Ebates when you're ready to make a purchase online. Find the store that you want to shop with and click over to their page on Ebates... not only will it list the cashback amount that you could earn by making a purchase there, but they will give you a list of coupon codes... (sometimes these differ from coupons found on retailmenot... it's always best to check both). Many popular sites will only offer 4-5% cashback, but I've seen cashback amounts go up to 26% everyday, and up to 40% during limited time specials!

So, even if you only shop at 4-5%, the amount still adds up... especially during a concentrated shopping time like Christmas, or if you have a big purchase to make like college textbooks or furniture. I've only used my Ebates account for recreational use, thus far... no major purchases... and I've already received over $20 cash back and I have over $25 pending (cashback pends for a certain amount of time to verify that there are no returns). Checks are only written once per quarter, so your cashback is allowed to accumulate over time... and you can also choose to have the money deposited in your Paypal account rather than coming to you in a check.

Ok... so $25 doesn't sound like a lot of money, but getting paid for something you're going to do anyway is pretty cool, and if you make bigger or more frequent purchases, you can make much more... and also, with all the cheap Groupons out there, $25 could easily buy you a nice dinner out! PLUS... Ebates has an awesome referral program... you get $5 for each person you refer... and that person gets a $5 credit in their account! If you're popular, that money might accumulate faster than you realize :)

So here's how I incorporate Ebates into my online shopping habit...
I tend to find deals first using dealnews.com or other sites... I then follow the link to the website itself. I shop through the website, adding things to my shopping cart and exploring my options. Once I've decided to make the purchase, I then open two new tabs, retailmenot.com and ebates.com. If I find the site listed on ebates.com, I click the link through Ebates and close my original window. I check the coupons through Ebates and Retailmenot and compare what I find... then use the best code, or stack them if possible. So I get a good deal, add an additional coupon if possible, and get cashback in a few months... which is how you can weave some awesome deals.

retailmenot.com... coupon codes!!!

You know that input area when you're checking out that asks for any coupon or promotional codes... yeah, about 7 out of 10 times you should have that field filled in. How do I do this? Retailmenot.com.

While certain sites you follow might send you coupon codes in their e-mail correspondance... and while you might find codes listed on sites like dealnews.com, retailmenot is all about coupon codes. Just type in the website you're hoping to purchase from in the top right hand corner and the site will pull up every coupon code for that site that they've been able to find, listed by their success rate. I always try any code that looks good... you never know when one might work for your particular transaction! While sometimes all I save is 3-4 bucks, it's 3-4 bucks I can spend elsewhere... and there have been times where this site has saved me MUCH more! Also, don't be afraid to use two or three different codes... you never know when these might stack. For example, if you see a code for 20% off your purchase, and then you see a code for free shipping... try them both... most of the time they will work together and get you a super deal.

The site does not require you to sign up or log in, and won't bother you with pesky e-mails just for using their service.

The most recent transaction I can think of where I used retailmenot.com was our purchase from daveramsey.com. I've been following DR on Facebook, and I got an update saying that his starter system was going on sale for $44. The starter system is basically just a bundle of books, dvds, and personal finance software that runs over $125 seperately, so we were already getting a good deal on something we had wanted to purchase for quite some time. I also checked the resale value of the components on half.com to make sure that we could sell everything for at least what we paid for it, if not more. So once I saw that yes, if we chose to resell, we can get much more than the $44 for the seperate components, we decided to buy. My biggest issue is shipping... I hate paying for shipping... so I went onto retailmenot.com to find a code for free shipping. What I found were two seperate codes for free products with any purchase. One coupon code added a second copy of the personal finance software plus an audiobook for free with a minimum purchase... the second code was for a paperback copy of DR's book More Than Enough. I was able to add both, because the site allowed you to stack coupon codes. The best part, though, was that on the site, any purchase over $50 ships free. Since the total is taken before coupon codes, it counted the free merchandise as part of the total order and my whole order shipped free! We got $183.65 worth of stuff for $44 total.

So yes, I never check out before visiting retailmenot.com... you never know what you're going to find, or how much you could save!

Dealnews.com

While many of you haven't thought as far ahead as Halloween, I've been planning for Christmas for months. In the past, we've waited until Black Friday to start our shopping... but this year we decided to try something different. We decided instead to plot throughout the year to find things that were a good deal that we thought our friends and family would enjoy. Not only will this stretch our Christmas budget over a longer period of time, avoiding the emptying of our accounts in December, but it also allows Drew and I some flexibility in our finances this fall.

So while I'm about halfway done with my shopping, I know there are a good portion of you waiting to get started. I've decided to feature some of the sites that I absolutely love! Each site will save you money if used properly... with some self-control!

First up is Dealnews.com. My love affair with Dealnews has been going on for quite some time. Dealnews features daily deals from all over the web, from Amazon and Barnes & Noble to Newegg and Meritline. Each of the sites they feature have been vetted by the company, so you know you're purchasing from a safe and reliable site.

Instead of spending hours hunting deals online, you can log on to dealnews.com... sort through the posts by category or time listed... and you automatically get a list of the day's greatest deals. Not only do they list the current price, shipping charges, and any possible coupon codes, they also list the lowest price they've seen it recently, and the next lowest price they could find it for. For example, right now on their site they list an inflatable movie screen from Home Depot for $99 plus $11 shipping. The $99 is after the coupon code they have listed in the description (down from $197). They tell you that the price ties a mention from two weeks ago as the lowest price they've ever seen. They also mention that this price is $20 under the lowest price they could find for any brand of inflatable movie screen. While I know an inflatable movie screen probably didn't make it onto your shopping list, they also feature tons of deals in electronics, media, home & garden, childrens toys... and they even have a whole spin-off site called dealmac for just Apple products (though most of them are featured on dealnews too).

So there are a few ways I like to use this site:
1) Figure out what you want and look for it. A few weeks ago, our external hard drive died on us. We needed to replace it fairly quickly so that we could transfer data from one to the other. I knew we needed at least 1TB of space, so I typed that into the search bar on Dealnews. When I didn't find any deals I really liked, I set up an alert. Whenever Dealnews listed a new deal on external hard drives, they sent me an e-mail. I think I had the alert set up for less than a day because something they sent me was a perfect match.

2) Figure out who you need something for and keep an open mind. Sometimes you know a birthday is approaching, but you have no idea what to get for that person... spend a little while on the site just looking at all of the deals, and usually something will jump out at you. It's a great place to browse because everything's on sale!

3) Browse daily to keep an idea of current prices on hand. Ok, so I know this is probably just me being weird... but I like to know when things are really a good deal. I usually check dealnews a few times a week even when I don't need anything just to keep up with prices. When Drew offered to buy me a netbook for my birthday, I had a general idea of what I could get on one through Dealnews, so when we walked through Best Buy and looked at their "sales," I knew I could do MUCH better.

While Dealnews.com has been on my list of favorite sites for a long time now, there are so many awesome places to go online that will save you money... all tried and tested by me, and all on my list to share with you. My goal is to make this your most frugal Holiday yet... but make it look like your most generous!

Long Absence

So, I do still have a lot to say, I just got lazy about saying it. While Facebook served as my frugal outlet, I've learned that I can't keep writing notes for every little tidbit I'd like to share... so the blog is back! I've added a lot of arsenol to my frugal living, while simultaneously simplifying my couponing. First, the couponing...

So while I was a true binder girl for quite a long time, I have since grown tired of clipping, sorting, and filing my coupons. My theory now is that my time is precious, and I can coupon almost as well by doing barely any work at all. So here's what I do: my coupons come in the paper, I pull them out and file them in a dated folder. I carry all my folders in a messanger bag that I can tote around with me, and when I want to plan a shopping trip, I visit a coupon matching site and just reference the date that the coupon I need came out. I clip it at that time and file it into an envelope with the rest of my coupons for that shopping trip. I write my shopping list on the outside of the envelope, tuck my coupons inside, and I go shopping... much much easier than before! I'd say that I spend about 30 mins. planning a couponing trip, but that 30 mins saves me 75% or more of my grocery bill... that's like $150 or more per hour of my time!

The other changes in my frugal arsenol revolve around online deal sites. Sites like Groupon, Eversave, Jasmere, Ideeli, Hautelook, and Swirl all feature a limited number of deals for that day... usually at drastically reduced prices. While it takes a lot of self control to figure out what deals I should take advantage of vs. pass up, I think it's worked in my favor so far. I've tried a bunch of new stores and products that I hadn't tried before, but we've been really good about not going overboard. For example, I've been wanting to make pesto for a while, but pine nuts around here are so expensive. We took advantage of a Groupon deal a few weeks ago for nuttyguys.com, $25 worth of products for $10... we got pine nuts and granola for much less than I would have paid for the pine nuts alone, plus we discovered an online retailer that we really like. We liked our products from Nutty Guys so much that we immediately jumped on the deal a week later at Eversave for $18 worth of product for $1! Our almond slivers, candied almonds, and flax seed should be here in less than a week, and we paid less than $7 total! Some other deals we've taken advantage of have been American Apparel (I got three dresses for $33 from Swirl), Demeter (I got perfume for $10/bottle from Hautelook), and tickets the the VA Science Museum ($9 for museum, Imax, and Planetarium from Groupon). I'll try to share more in depth reviews of each of these sites in future blog posts.

So for now, I'm back... ready to post and share my frugal living tips with the world. We may not have it perfect yet, but I think we're doing fairly well as a young couple on a limited income.