Finance Gets Personal

Well, fate has decided which vacuum we’re going to get.

Thanks to my husband’s employer’s plans to lay off 20% of its workforce, it looks like we’ll be buying a cheap vacuum with our American Express card (for the additional one year warranty) and paying it off immediately.

That’s right - my husband thinks he’s going to get laid off.

And this time, I actually believe him.

Even if he doesn’t, things aren’t looking too sunny. All 401(k) matching has been stopped, raise freezes have been extended by another year and tuition reimbursement has been stopped. And get this - although his company no longer gives matching 401(k) contributions, any profit sharing (which occurs only if they meet specific goals) will be based on the amount of money employees put into their 401(k). What a crock of…

Needless to say, we’re preparing for the worst.

Thankfully, we’d already begun directing our extra debt payments to savings, so counting our emergency fund, European vacation fund, new computer fund and basement finishing fund, we have over $7,000 saved up. And with no debt besides our first and second mortgage, we should be able to live off of my salary if necessary (with mortgage payments at 49% of my monthly take home income, it will be tight, but do-able).

Of course, that will mean no more Netflix, no more newspaper subscription, no more landline, no more clothes, no more gifts, no more cable, etc.

So we’re going to go ahead and start cutting back a little.

I’ll cut our weekend newspaper subscription down to just Sunday (for the coupons), we’ll cancel Netflix, stop our 401(k) contributions and look into getting a cheaper Internet/cable package (or maybe just a slower Internet service with no cable). We’ll also be looking into other ways to cut the budget, like ditching our landline and reducing our discretionary spending to the bare minimum.

So folks, I’m off to watch some free movies online with Netflix…while I still can!

While I’ve been debating between buying a Dyson for $440 and a cheap vacuum for $100, it turns out there are a few other options I hadn’t considered before.

The first option is buying a cheap vacuum with my American Express card and paying it off immediately. It turns out that if I would have purchased my last vacuum with my American Express card, I’d be able to get my money back even though the manufacturer’s warranty had already expired. That’s because AMEX doubles the manufacturer’s warranty up to one year for any item with a warranty of five years or less. That means my Kenmore, which had a manufacturer’s warranty of one year, would have been covered for two years had I paid for it with my card. Since my Hoover also died within two years, that vacuum would have been covered too.

The second option is to purchase a vacuum from Costco. Costco offers a “lifetime guarantee” on most products (excluding plasma TVs and computers), which means that if I purchased a vacuum there and it broke five years later, I could get my money back as long as I saved the original receipt (or a copy of the receipt, since they usually turn black after a while) and the packaging. I had heard about this before, so I called the store to confirm - it’s true! The only problem with this option is that we don’t have a Costco membership. Our parents have Sam’s Club memberships, but despite their website’s claims of a “100% Satisfaction Guarantee,” they said I would probably not be able to return a vacuum I’d been using for any amount of time over 60 days.

So now the question is, do we buy a vacuum with the credit card to extend the warranty by a year, or do we buy a $50 Costco membership to get a lifetime warranty?

While I realize that a lot of people save money shopping at Costco, I’m worried I might end up spending more than I otherwise would, especially since I usually shop sales and use coupons.

I’ve had it with vacuums!

Four vacuums in the last five years! Four!

After the first one broke (I don’t remember what brand that one was), I turned to Consumer Reports and bought this Hoover WindTunnel Bagless for about $200:



It lasted about a year and a half, and then I bought this #1 Consumer Reports rated Kenmore Progressive Vacuum for $300:


One year and nine months later, it’s time to go shopping again.

The question is, since we’re still trying to get out of debt, do we buy a cheap vacuum (under $100), or get this Dyson DC17 Animal?:


I can get the Dyson for $439.99 after using a 20% off coupon from Bed Bath & Beyond, and that’s the cheapest price I can find. (A few weeks ago there was a refurbished one on Overstock.com for under $300, but those are no longer available.) I plan to use the money from our emergency fund and pay it back with half of tomorrow’s extra debt payment.

I thought about having our Kenmore repaired, but we think the motor is the problem and that’s an expensive repair. Everyone I know who has a Dyson swears by them, but I tend to be pretty skeptical and want to make sure I’m not just paying for their marketing.

But I also know that if I buy a cheap vacuum, I’ll probably be in the same situation again before we’re out of debt.

I want to be frugal, but I also don’t want to be cheap.

What do you think?

Balancing the checkbook and paying bills used to be so easy.

Well, maybe not easy, but definitely simple and low-tech.

Every time money came out of your account, there was a check associated with it. You simply recorded the check number, payee and amount in your checkbook register. Then, when it was time to pay bills, you grabbed a calculator, book of stamps, your checkbook and your pile of bills. An hour later, you’re done.

Things are so much more advanced now, but I’m not sure it’s gotten easier. Until I switched computers, I used the desktop version of Quicken. It took me hours to set up all my accounts, and I never did get them synced with my online accounts. I stopped saving debit card receipts because the transaction usually cleared before I had a chance to record it, and my free checks no longer have that little carbon copy. I get some bills online through my bank account, and some still come in the mail. I pay most bills online through my bank account, but some are set up as automatic debits, and others I still have to mail in. In short, there are a million little things that could go wrong and make me think I have more or less money than I actually do.

Now, a used PC has replaced my aging Mac. But I don’t intend to purchase another desktop version of Quicken for PC when there are so many online programs that supposedly do the same thing - for free.

Except, they don’t all do the same thing.

First, I tried Mint.com, which is actually a pretty cool site. The problem I had was that you can’t record upcoming transactions. You can get a good idea of the history of your accounts and where your money is going, but have no idea how much money you’ll have left at the end of your next paycheck. Fail.

So, I then set up all my accounts on Quicken Online. It was working pretty well until I discovered that my repeating transactions only show up once in my register. The next scheduled transaction doesn’t show up until the previous one has cleared the bank. This is definitely a problem, because while I write a check to daycare every week, they often cash them once a month. Luckily, I’ve found a tedious way to work around this - list all my transactions as “one time only.”

From what I’ve seen so far, there is no perfect program (especially a free one!) to balance your checkbook and track all your expenses. One of my Twitter friends has recommended I try his site, BudgetPulse. While I haven’t had a chance yet, you might want to check it out. The only downside I know of is that the site doesn’t sync with your accounts online, but this does give you peace of mind if you have security concerns.

How do you balance your “checkbook” these days?

Photo Credit: MmHnCnChBkMt by Hello Turkey Toe, used under Creative Commons licensing.

January 9, 2009

CVS Caremark Corporation
Corporate Headquarters
One CVS Drive
Woonsocket, RI 02895

Dear Sir or Madam,

I began shopping at CVS regularly last May, and I have generally been pleased with your company’s customer service.

However, my experience tonight left much to be desired.

I came to the store with a list of specific items to purchase based on the deals I found by studying your weekly circular, CVS store coupons, Internet manufacturer coupons and manufacturer coupons from my local paper. Since sale prices were not marked on the shelves, I carefully consulted my list and checked the price of all my items at the ExtraCare scanner to make sure I was purchasing the correct items.

When I got to the register, the cashier rung up all my items, then started going through my coupons one by one. Without scanning any of them, she read each one and looked through all my bags to make sure I had purchased each item, and challenged some of my coupons (”Did you purchase three of these? I only see one.” “Yes, the other two in the second bag.”) Because I had a lot of coupons, this took quite a while.

Although I gave her my coupons in the correct order for them to go through the register correctly without causing any problems (store coupons, then manufacturer’s coupons, then ECBs), she then scanned them through in the opposite order, again reading each one aloud and hesitating before she scanned them.

I have enclosed a copy of my receipt, but here are the items I purchased and coupons I used:

• For the $10 ECB when you purchase $20 worth of Johnson’s products:
  1 Listerine Whitening Pen ($10), 1 Carefree 92 count liners ($4.50), 2 Stayfree 32 count pads ($4.50 each), 1 BandAid 20 count character bandages ($3).
  Total Before Coupons: $26.50.
  Coupons Used: CVS coupon for $5 off $25 of Johnson’s products (received in the mail), CVS coupon for $3 off Listerine Whitening Pen (from the CVS Beauty Book), manufacturer’s Internet coupon for $2 off Listering Whitening Pen, manufacturer’s buy one Stayfree product get one free coupon, manufacturer’s $1 off Carefree product
  Total After Coupons: $11

• For the $5 ECB when you purchase $15 worth of Bayer, Aleve or Alka-Seltzer products:
  3 Bayer 100 count tablets ($5 each)
  Total Before Coupons: $15
  Coupons Used: CVS coupon for $3 off any $15 purchase of FSA-eligible items (from CRT), CVS coupon for $2 off any $10 purchase of pain medication (from CRT), CVS coupon for $1 off any Bayer purchase (from CRT), 2 manufacturer’s $1 off Bayer product
  Total After Coupons: $7

• One Revlon Lip Gloss
  Originally priced at $7.99, on clearance for 50% off
  Total Before Coupons: $3.99
  Coupons Used: CVS coupon for $2 off any Revlon color cosmetic, manufacturer’s $2 off Revlon color cosmetic
  Total After Coupons: Free

• 2 Boxes of Hallmark Christmas Cards
  On clearance for 75% off

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to use so many CVS coupons for the $5 ECB when you purchase $15 worth of Bayer products, but I thought that since I had four FSA-eligible products totaling $18, including $15 worth of pain medication, it would be OK. However, I have been wrong before, and I don’t argue with the cashier if the register beeps and I’m told the coupon cannot be accepted.

After giving me a hard time about having $4 worth of Revlon coupons for a product that cost $3.99 ($4, had the register rounded in the store’s favor), this cashier manually pushed through the CVS coupon for $2 off $10 in pain medication that beeped without saying anything about it.

Then, she came to my CVS coupon for $3 off $15 worth of FSA-eligible products coupon. “I don’t know what this is,” she said, and I tried to explain that it’s for medicine and other items that are indicated on the receipt. She tried to scan it, and it beeped. She said the register was telling her I didn’t purchase enough eligible products - that I had only $6.35 worth of eligible products. I tried to explain that this was probably because she scanned the manufacturer’s coupons first, so now the register thinks I only purchased $6 worth of FSA-eligible products, when I actually purchased $18. She then manually pushed through the coupon, saying, “I’ll do it this time, but don’t come to me next time you’re here because I’m not going to do it. Something is wrong. I don’t think this is right. You have too many coupons for the same thing.”

I responded that I should be able to use one CVS coupon and one manufacturer’s coupon for each product. She then said that because I was using so many coupons, I was basically getting paid to purchase the items (technically, I used $3.99 in ECBs, paid $20.42 in gift cards and cash, and received $15 in ECBs). “That’s why people shop here,” I said. “I come here every week and never have any problems. It’s completely legitimate.” She replied, “Maybe to you it’s legitimate.”

Obviously, I was angered and embarrassed, especially since there was now a line behind me.

While I understand that coupon fraud is a growing problem, I don’t expect to have my ethics questioned and be treated like a criminal when I am, in fact, a paying customer. Given these economic times and people’s increasing desire to save money, I would suggest you properly train your employees in your coupon policies and in basic customer service. If the number of people taking advantage of these deals is a threat to your bottom line, I would rather see your loyalty programs eliminated than be treated like I’m “getting away with something.”

If I have misused or misunderstood your coupon policy, please let me know. Also, I hope that you will personally contact the store’s manager about this issue. In the meantime, I have shared this letter with the readers of my personal finance blog, Finance Gets Personal: www.financegetspersonal.com.

Sincerely,
Finance Girl <—– no, that’s not really what I’m going to put!

Suze Orman is appearing on Oprah today to discuss the financial aspects of “living your best life.”

You can currently download her latest book, Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan, on Oprah.com for free.

I haven’t seen the episode yet, so I’m not sure how long it will be available, but I’d download it within the next 24-48 hours to be safe. Update: The download is available through Thursday, January 15.

Yesterday, my husband sent me the following email:
Despite not getting raises last year, it appears I made more money than the year before. That going to ruin our taxes?

I replied:
I don’t really know. I think I might have made a little more too. Last year I think we about broke even on the refund from federal and amount owed to state. I donated a lot more stuff this year too.

Given that I didn’t actually know how much money I made last year, I decided to finally open the envelope with my pay stub in it.

$55,816.

Hmm, I think that’s better than last year.

So, when I get home, I ask, “How much did you make last year?”

$65,000.

Wow, that’s like $120,000!

I think we made about $105,000 in 2007. My husband didn’t get a raise last year, and I didn’t get a raise until July, but I guess our bonuses were bigger than the previous year?

However it happened, I guess it’s a good thing. But now I’m a little worried about what our taxes are going to look like. Despite both of us claiming zero exemptions, somehow our state taxes are always a mess and we usually owe $600-$800 to the state we work in. Last year was only $180 or so, but now I’m scared!

I realize that probably doesn’t make a lot of sense since the more you make, the more you pay in taxes, so everything should work itself out. But I’m sure it’s still screwed up somehow.

At least the next tax bracket doesn’t occur until $131,450.

I’m also feeling a little lame now in “only” having paid off $26,951 in debt last year given that our income went up by $15,000. I’ve got to sit on this one for a while to try to figure out why we didn’t pay off more, since we’ve been living basically the same lifestyle as before.

Photo Credit: My Bling by nicora, used under Creative Commons licensing.