Insurance vs no insurance

I had something interesting happen at Meijer pharmacy yesterday. Dr Davison, my doctor ordered some new meds for me. (an antibiotic called tetracycline). When I showed up, my co-pay was $9.63. Normally my co-pays are $10,$20 or $40. I asked him if they had run this med through my insurance. He said no, so he ran it through.

It came back after insurance that my co-pay was now $10. I was like without it, I only owed $9.63! This was by far the first time that that's happened. I got to get it for the lesser amount. For what it's worth, it doesn't hurt to ask (on the flip side, I have a med that I get for free, since it's a specialty drug, that costs $4400 for a 28 day dose. That one I'm happy about!)

Marriott Rewards

I've mentioned in the blog a few times that I stay at Marriott's when I travel. Well, it's not because I think they have the nicest rooms, or anything like that. It's because they have the best rewards system for staying there that I could find. A colleague used to stay at Hilton because of their rewards, but he has seen the light and made the flip.

Let me just say that I don't stay at hotels all that much. I don't like being away from the fam. However, if we go on a trip as a family, I'll pay the extra buck and stay there. For work, if I go on the road, of course they pay for it, so it works out well. Plus, we can get the government rate at Marriott since I work for the University, so even then the prices are quite reasonable. (Gov't rate often drops the price by 1/4 or even in some, by 1/2).

I've earned enough points to get 3 free nights when we go to Charleston, South Carolina next month. I stay at a hotel on average maybe 2 nights a month. I also signed up for the Marriott Visa card (I HATE credit cards, but I pay them off, and I encourage you to do the same) The reason that I did this was because I got 20,000 free points and an E-ticket for a free night's stay. Plus, when you pay for your hotel with the Marriott Visa, you get triple the points.

Some hotels only "cost" you 7,500 points a night (like the Fairfield Marriott in Galesburg, IL). When you head to bigger cities or the coast, I've seen them as high as 55,000 points. I would say the average is around 20-25,000 points a night. My average points per stay is about 1-2 thousand.

I also signed up for promotions on their website. I'm in a Megabonus promotion right now, and so every few stays, they through in an extra 5,000 points. I also signed up someone for the rewards system, that's 1000 points for each night they stay, up to 5000.

Even with the three nights free in SC, I'm already back up to 20,000, so I have another free night stay. If you stay in hotels, look into this program, but by all means, let me know so that I can give you my number so that I can get the referral!

Free Digital Prints

For a while now, I've been getting my digital photos processed online and sent to my home. It's a lot easier and 9 times out of 10 I am able to get them cheaper than if I were to go to Walgreens or CVS or even Sams Club. I'm always telling Mark, "I just got another 20 free prints." Today I surprised him and said, "Wow, I found a way to get 95 free prints from CVS!" He then asked me to blog about my "ways." So, let me explain...

First of all, here's the scoop on the CVS deal. In order to take advantage of this you need to have an ExtraCare Rewards Card. If you haven't registered your card online and made an account online then you are able to redeem the full 95 free prints. However, I've already registered my account online so I was only able to get 60 free prints I think. Go to this link : http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=752669 and just follow the instructions. It's really simple. I got this link off of www.slickdeals.net (another great site for good deals that are posted many times throughout the day). Happy Free Picture Getting!

Here's my other advice.. If you've never signed up for online photo printing sites like Winkflash, Shutterfly, or Kodak, do it. Almost all of these sites give you free complimentary prints when you sign up. Then all you have to do is upload your pictures and pay shipping (unless you have free shipping codes - which you can search for online or I can tell you some places to start looking..) I have signed up for about 10ish different photo printing sites and used my free photos. The other nice thing is that once you sign up they send you out emails with different promotions. Sometimes they put their photos on half price which is better than what they are at Sams or Walgreens. I've even had a couple of sites send out emails saying they were having some problems with their site and because of the hassle, they were applying 20 free prints to all of accounts of their members. Nice! I'm always getting emails about good deals they are running or ways to redeem free prints. I've also signed up both Mark and I so that means double the introductory free prints and double the specials that are running.

Just an idea if you're a picture addict like I am. I enjoy looking for deals and the CVS deal made me super happy today!!!

Investopedia

If you are a young investor like me, and you are interested in learning about investing, www.investopedia.com is a great place to start. It's a great website that teaches you about investing (obviously), with a cool game that I will talk about later.

Having an IRA like we do is great, but it's for the long haul. I chose to go with an IRA rather than a Roth since we were rolling it over from a 401K. We have it through Chase Bank, where we do all of our banking. I go online to look at it periodically, and it's doing fine, even in a down market. I'm in a pretty high risk account (Investor Growth Fund) but we're young, so we have time on our hands, to outweigh the risk. It's managed by one of the industry's top fund managers, JP Morgan. We're quite happy with the funds that we've chosen, and they are doing a fine job at managing the account. But, they're kinda boring. Slow and monotonous.

We also have a 529 plan set up for Madalyn for college savings. It is through Bright Directions, an Illinois approved plan. Again, it's doing well, it's also age-based (she's only 15 months) it's volatile, but again, we have time to outweigh inherent risk. It's also kinda boring to watch, a necessity nonetheless. Also, a little added here ant there adds up tremendously due to compound interest. The earlier you start, the better.

Since my job is with the U of I, I also pay into SURS (State University Retirement System). About 7% of my gross income goes into this program. I believe this program is in lieu of social (in)security. It's also doing well, but I'm not able to manage these funds, since I signed up for the traditional package, not the self-funded one (an oversight on my part, but it's not able to be changed at this point, so I have to live with it. I wasn't as financial savvy two years ago when I had to make the decision). Again, another uneventful, but necessary evil.

This brings me to our other account, our mutual funds that we hold with Fidelity. I've been very happy with Fidelity. It's our elected investment account. Only 1% of gross goes into this account, and I have liberty to pick and choose how we want to invest this money, hence the reason that I'm reading books and searching on line how to use them wisely. Individual stocks really interest me. Obviously mutual funds are much safer, but if you have a high-risk tolerance, are slow to be emotional about money and research, research, research, stocks might be a good alternative for you. The old adage, "buy and hold" is just not sensible anymore. Jim Cramer tells us to "buy and homework." If you look at up and coming companies (IPOs), there are some awesome potential. I can't tell anyone what companies to invest in on this website (it's not ethical), but there are some neat companies with long term potential. Look at companies that are going green: water desalination or energy, or companies with big mergers coming up. I find it terribly intriguing.

This is where the stock simulator on www.investopedia.com comes into play. They give you 100k fake money to invest in the up to date, real time market. You can research things and see how you would do. If you want to day trade, you can try your luck. You can test the waters in a lot of different ways. With 1ook, I have made about $3,000 with the investments that I've chosen for myself so far. Not bad for a month's work (I started mid to late January).

If you find investing interesting, this might be a good place to start. There is unending info on the web. Take things with a grain of salt though. Make sure that the author has pure motives and isn't steering your towards something that he has a vested interest in (ie, he's been paid by a company to represent their shares!)

Frequent Flier Miles

If you travel a lot for work, you are probably well aware of frequent flier miles. They really add up quick and you can earn free trips and so on. I use American Eagle out of Willard Airport, and I have miles with them. If Willard would fly to Midway Airport, we could use Southwest, as for every 8 round trips you make, you get one for free. That's a good deal. We recently heard that if you use Avis rental car, they will add to your frequent flier miles as well with their rental cars. I used Avis recently, and sure enough, they added 50 points to my total.

I also have a similar program set up with Marriott hotels. With the Marriott rewards, you get free nights stay too, so I always stay with them. I started with them early on because there's one across the street from the U of I medical center, and that's where they put me up when I need to take a trip to Chicago. I abhor debt, but if you don't mind taking a small hit on your credit report, if you sign up for a Marriott credit card, you get 25,000 points and a free nights stay (after a 50$ purchase). Cancel the card and take the freebie. Never hurts to ask and investigate.

Cleveland-Hopkins Airport Internet

If you travel through Cleveland-Hopkins airport and you need internet services, listen up. I was thinking about buying the internet one-day package through AT&T, when I noticed a little note that stated if you already have AT&T as a carrier, click here. We have it on our home phone, and we have DSL through them. Since we already had an account with them, you could put in your User ID and password and get free (very fast) wireless internet at the airport. Saved me about $6.00. (I could have turned this in as a work expense and gotten it reimbursed since I was on company time, but if I don't have to, I don't want to). Never hurts to look around.

Cell Phones

Ok, so I'm a cell phone junkie. I think a lot of people are. However, cell phones are becoming more and more expensive. I will probably update this post periodically, as I find new ways of cutting corners. I try to combine things. If I have to buy something, is there any way that I can get something more out of the transaction. Is there any way that I can negotiate a better price, or bundle 2 items together for what it would have cost me to buy one thing. It's an art, I agree, and for me it's a simple way of having some fun in an otherwise mundane experience.

I have a Treo 650 and Verizon is my carrier. Most of my family and Jenn's family use Verizon, so for us, it just makes sense to stick with this carrier at this time. However, I also realize that probably less than 5% of all of my calls are to other Verizon customers, so it's not that big of a deal. We also have unlimited long distance with our home phone, so when we are home, we use that service which is through AT&T. I'm thinking about switching to AT&T cell phone (so that I can bundle my home phone and cell phone, thus saving a few bucks). I call home more than any other number when I'm on the road, so to call home when I'm on the road would be "In" if I switch. I'm seriously thinking about it. Also, I don't have the data package, even though I have a Treo. It's another $50.00 or so a month after taxes and fees (don't forget about that), and for me it's not worth it. I already get an 18% discount because I'm a state employee (another one of those, Never hurts to ask scenarios). If I'm on the road and need to check my email, usually I will know in advance, and so I will bring my laptop, which obviously has Wi-Fi, and I will find a wireless network to plug into. I have great luck at fast food restaurants and car dealerships, believe it or not. Starbucks and places like that often charge you, so I will even find a Panera, where it's free.

Madalyn was chewing on my phone months ago and the letter "B" and number "0" stopped working. I called Verizon and they were going to charge me several hundred dollars to replace it. I was like, nope, after all, I bought it on Ebay for $125.00 (used). So, I called Palm, the manufacturer, explained the situation, they asked me when I bought the phone. I told them July (true) and they said that I could get a replacement for $25.00 if I sent in my old one. I agreed, and got a brand-new Treo 650 for that amount. Never hurts to ask.

I recently learned that if you get one of the newer Treos, they have a built in wireless card, so you don't even need a data package if you have a wireless connection available. Look into that to get around the data package price (which by the way I cannot have my 18% discount added to, it's only for the voice package).

Rental Car Nightmare

We've had issues when renting from rental car companies before. I've mentioned this our other blogs (by the way, if the amount that you owe goes over the amount that insurance is willing to pay, offer to split the difference with them, I did, and it saved me $100. Never hurts to ask.) When I went on my business trip for 2 days to Cleveland, I had reserved a car with National rental. We have a corporate account with them and I get a discount. When I arrived at 1:30 am, they were closed, and I was upset, so I went down to Avis rental car. They put all my information in the system, and we started talking about options. I told them that I needed a comfortable car as I was driving over 300 miles that day. They offered a Ford Focus. No, I said, they mentioned that was the biggest car they had at the time. They also said that I could get an SUV. I asked them what the difference was in price. The price between a medium size car and an SUV was identical. I found out that often times, prices on premium cars or regular cars is sometimes as little as .01$. I took a Ford Expedition and drove in style for the day. Never hurts to ask. Now, this was a little splurge, as I only got 18 MPG, and since the U of I pays mileage, the better mileage I get, the more I come out ahead. The U of I pays me .17 cents per mile (I can deduct the difference on my taxes), even at 18 MPG, since the cost of gas was cheaper in Ohio, I still came out ahead. To avoid gas at all, they do have a feature where for a set price ($2.99 a gallon) you can buy a full tank and then not have to worry about filling up. The unused gas is non-refundable though. By the way, don't buy the insurance on the rental cars that they try to get you to buy. It's a rip off, and if you have good insurance, and you are a decent driver, it's a total waste of money.

I've used Enterprise rental car before too. They have a nice program where you don't buy the prepaid tank, but you return the car as empty as you want, and they fill it up for you. The bonus here is their gas is greatly reduced. Their gas was about .20 cents lower per gallon than what you paid at the pump. Great combo: convenience and discounted cost.

Arby's

I recently went to Arby's. I love roast beef and cheddar's. They are rather expensive, $3.19 normally at this store. I was in southern Ohio at the time, and I didn't have a coupon, however we had one at home. I asked the lady behind the counter if she would accept my coupon for 2 Beef n cheddar's for $5.00 coupon that I had left at home. She smiled and told me that they had a special going for 3 beef n cheddars for $5.00. This brought the price down to $1.67 each. Never hurts to ask.

Replacement Sunglasses Case

We both purchased sunglasses this past year at Lenscrafter's in the mall. We had a good experience. We found out that state employees get a great discount. Cheaper than the advertised rate, so if you are an employee, make sure you mention this to them. Also, I got a soft case cover for my prescription sunglasses. When we got home, I realized that I wanted a hard case like Jenn had. I went back and they exchanged out the soft case for a hard case for free. I flew back from Cleveland on Monday and my hard case was smashed (in the outside pocket). Sunglasses survived, but the case did not. Rather than go buy a new hard case, I went back to Lenscrafters and they gave me another free RayBan titanium hard case and cleaner for free. Never hurts to ask.