Free Wi-Fi

As we get closer to Match Day for 4th years, I will be blogging about some resources for their transition to Residency. But I found a great website that I wanted to get out to all of you so after this post, it will be about the transition to Residency. But now, another savings tip! This website is about places to pick up free wifi. It lists sites all around the U.S. (listed by state) and also countries  around the world. So many times when I am traveling, I look for places to connect without having to pay an arm and a leg. So check out this site and you will be surfing for free! So when you are like me traveling to a small town in the Adirondacks and hoping for service now you have place to go.

Really Cool App on My IPHONE

I expected a fun dinner with friends in Florida and left the dinner both full and amazed at the power of the Iphone! Last week, I had dinner with Mike and Rita Bennett. (That is my last mention of Mike because Rita and her phone dominated the conversation) We had a great meal in Tampa but Rita showed me the coolest app for the Iphone. It is the RedLaser. After I saw it on her Iphone and we spoke about it, I immediately told her it was going on my blog and she was getting the credit. So with your Iphone app already paid for ($1.99), you “scan” a bar code and it tells you the best prices for this product both nationally and on-line. The example they give on their website is of a blanket. Locally, it costs $14.99 in stores in the Upper Valley. You can get this blanket on-line with free shipping for $11.39. Rita, is my new Iphone consultant. Apple needs to hire her.

So checkout RedLaser. It will clearly save you money. Thanks, Rita-

UPDATE: Yesterday, I went to a local store to buy a microphone for our department to do podcasts. Well, I used this RedLaser App and saved $13.00! The app pointed me to an online store for this huge savings. IT is well worth the $1.99.

Happy New Year and I am Back Posting!

I hope everyone had a great break. It has been truly crazy now the semester has begun. The blog is over a year old and the feedback has been positive. We have had 2,062 views to the website. We had 44 people view this site on January 26, 2009. This was the busiest day.  So far, there have been 33 posts and 11 comments. Thanks for reading!

Okay, so now I am going to post about more calculators. Here is a great site. It has many calculators for you to use dealing with a variety of topics. There is a cool inflation calculator but also many students when they graduate think about buying a home during residency. See the calculator on affordability. Also on this site is a savings growth calculator or a life insurance needs calculator.

As I usually say- Check it out!

More Affordable Long Distance

I am not sure how many students have landline phones still but the price of long distance definitely varies from company to company. I have had a great deal of success using Onesuite.com. I have used this company for many years and pay no fees and receive great rates. I pay $.029 cents per minute to call anywhere in the United States. As I already stated, there are no fees, so I normally put $10 on my account and it lasts months! I am writing this post because I just met with a student who was paying $6 a month in fees to get $.05 a minute.

Well, we just saved a lot of money for this student. Onesuite also has great rates to other countries and has broadband service also.

It is worth checking this out. This is a great way to save money!

Tax Time Already???

It is incredible that December is here and I am writing about taxes! Many are gearing up for the holidays and who wants to think about taxes? But with the end of the calendar year, we need to begin to think about April 15. Whether it is making a donation to a charity or a tuition payment to a college, timing is very important. Also with the downturn in the economy, there have been many changes in the tax rules. It seems like there have been many tax law changes with some one-time credits and others permanently changed. Taxes seem to always confuse and  intimidate people. This Kiplinger’s article, gives some great places to look to save some money. I imagine this is the first of more tax information as we get closer to April 15. For DMS students reading this, remember we have a free tax workshop in February to make sure you receive all the benefits of being a student! Thanks to Michelle for passing along this article.

One Day Away From Green Friday

I saw the Macy’s Day Parade Inflation Extravaganza yesterday in New York City. Last night, along with half of the people in this great city, we walked in a light drizzle to the Museum of Natural History. Standing in long lines we walked around the museum and were able to see some amazing balloons including, Mickey, Snoopy, Shrek, Spiderman, Horton, Kermit, Dora and the great Abbycadabby! Black Friday is one day away for shoppers. For the savers, it will soon be known as Green Friday. Check out the ING website on Friday. The deals have not leaked out yet but ING is known to have competitive rates. Also if you are in New Hampshire, Service Credit Union in New Hampshire is offering a 10% APY on 3-month CDs. Yes, you read that right — 10%! The minimum deposit is $250 and the maximum is $1,000. For the savers, these are two great alternatives to Black Friday! So, Happy Thanksgiving, Black Friday and now Green Friday. Oh, Macy’s opens on Friday at 5am!

Black Friday is Coming…

It is hard to believe that it is November and Thanksgiving is a couple of weeks away. It is amazing how the day after Thanksgiving has turned into such a crazy shopping holiday. For shoppers, here is the perfect website to see all of the bargains offered the day after Thanksgiving. A quick scanning of this site shows some incredible deals. Electronics look incredibly discounted whether it is a GPS or a TVs- looks like some great deals from many different vendors. So it looks like it is smart to do your research this year and check out http://www.black-friday.net

Happy Shopping!

Auto Reports- Have you checked it out?

I was reading an article this morning on  insurance and the importance of shopping around for the best deal. The article stated that credit score is a big factor in getting low rates. Another score that is checked is your your Auto Report score which is based on your C.L.U.E. report. I was intrigued because I knew about credit scores but I did not know about other scores so I wanted to check it out. So if you are like me, you may not know what C.L.U.E stands for? If you said, Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange Report you are correct.

So did you know you can pull your C.L.U.E report once a year for free? Too bad, it costs $12.95 to get a score but you do not need a score- you just need to pull your report once a year. You can access these reports at Choice Trust. Along with your C.L.U.E auto report you can pull up a Personal Property report also. It is very easy to set up an account and fill out the request form.

So why do you need to do this? Easy, as you are shopping for new insurance, you can see what the insurance agents are seeing. It gives you the last 7 years of information.

If you do not want to do this on-line- you can call the number below and request your report:

Call us at 1-866-312-8076 to order your report by phone.
Monday – Saturday: Available All Day
Sunday: 10:00 AM to midnight EST

 

 

Check it OUT!

Financial Calculator Heaven

I love learning about new financial resources on the internet. I have found the most amazing site for financial calculators all in one spot. This site allows you to use savings, tax, mortgage, retirement or debt calculators all for free. This site is dinkytown.net. It also has calculators specifically for Canadian residents. So why is this such a great site? There are over 350 calculators available for your use. Each calculator has dynamic graphs and reports that explain the calculation. Check this out and have fun!

Identity-Theft Awareness Day

Did you know October 17th is Identity-Theft Awareness Day? To celebrate this fine day, one should shred old financial and personal documents. Also, one should pull their credit report if they have not done so recently. One can pull their credit report for free at Annual Credit.com. As stated, this site is free and easy to use. Freecreditreport.com is NOT free and you have to pay way too much so do not listen to the ads or the name because it will cost you money. You need to get in the habit of monitoring your credit report fairly regularly. A good suggestion is every 4 months pull a different companie’s credit report. So in October, pull Transunion, February pull Equifax and in June pull Experian. Then the next year it starts all over again.

So have a great time celebrating Identitiy-Theft Awareness Day and go shred!