I came across this Take home Income vs Budget for various monthly expenses.

I really haven’t calculated as per following spending percentages, but it should be easy to pull the data from Mint.com

• Housing or Rent – 20 to 35%
• Utilities – 4 to 7%
• Food – 15 to 30%
• Home Needs – 2 to 4%
• Medical – 2 to 8%
• Transportation – 6 to 30%
• Shopping – 2 to 10%
• Savings – 10 to 15%

Housing or Rent

• Mortgage or Rent
• Property Tax
• Home Improvement
• Home insurance

Utilities

• Water and Sewer
• Electricity
• Gas
• Telephone
• Landline
• Cell Phone
• Internet
• Cable TV (or Satellite)
• Law and Garden

Food

• Groceries
• Dinning Out

Home Needs

• Personal Care
• Laundry
• Toiletries

Medical

• Doctor visits
• Hospital Bills
• Medicines

Transportation

• Car Loan
• Auto Gas
• Auto Insurance
• Maintenance and Repair

Shopping

• Clothing
• Entertainment
• Travel
• Electronics

Savings

• Savings Account
• Stocks
• Fixed Deposits

Did I cover all the expenses? I could have missed few, if you find one that is missing, speak up in comment below.

Bank of America announced $5 fee per month to use Debit Card starting 2012. ATM usage doesn’t count.

I’m not going to spend $60 per year to use debit card.

I have looked Wells Fargo (branch is nearby). But, looks like Wells Fargo is testing $3 fee in certain states.

Maybe in few months Wells Fargo might start charging $3 per month for debit cards.

I have 2 options

1. Move to different bank (credit unions, regional banks)
2. Stay with Bank of America and don’t use Debit Card (use Credit cards)

Anyway I have always hated bank of america. Now is the time, but the question is where?

Consumers Union offers advice here, including a link to a PDF guide on how to change banks smoothly in an era when many people rely on pre-authorized debits to pay key bills.

Received the following Email from ICICI bank for NRO Fixed Deposit Accounts interest rates.

Maturity Period and corresponding Interest Rates for deposits upto INR 10 Million

• 390 days 8.50%
• 590 days 9.25%
• 790 days 9.25%
• 990 days 9.25%

Savings Account Rate is About 1.2% for Online Savings Account in US and CD’s are bit higher.

• Discover Bank – 1.15% ($500 minimum)
• Sallie Mae (Utah) – 1.10%
• Nationwide Bank – 1.05% ($1000 minimum)
• iGoBanking.com – 10.1%

I was using HSBC Online savings account to have emergency funds. But, their rates dropped from 5% to 0.80% over the years.

After searching for better online savings rate, I opened the account with Discover Bank (Online Savings) account. Right now, they offer 1.15% APR. Mint.com pulls the data from Discover Bank, so it makes it easy to manage the budget and cash flow.

I looked at Ally and ING Orange.

It would be nice to have separate sub-accounts within Discover Savings account like ING offers.

PS – Savings Account in India pays about 7 to 8% in interest rates. I can send the money to India to earn higher interest rate, but if exchange rates drop, those extra savings will be vanished in a flash.

Found this article in CNN Money – 11 New Money Tools.

My Favorites – Money Messenger and Enloop.

I came across this interesting blog post

Telephone Landlines
You can’t deduct the cost of your home telephone line, even you use that phone for your business.

• Tax Cheat: You can, however, deduct the cost of a second telephone landline or a cell phone that is used exclusively for your business. In addition, you can deduct long distance and similar charges on your land line if you prove business use.

Commuting Costs
You can never deduct the cost of going to and from work, no matter how far you live from the workplace. Even if your commute is expensive, the burden is a non-deductible expense.

• Tax Cheat: Work-related travel expenses are deductible. This includes costs to visit clients and vendors, going to a business meeting away from where you work, and traveling back and forth during the workday.

Read More – How to Cheat on Taxes – Legally.

You can read my previous blog post about lowering Time Warner Internet bill last year. I  called Time Warner Internet customer service after seeing increase in the monthly bill to $57 from $34.95

CRep  -  How can I help you?

I: Can you transfer my call to Customer Retention department.

CRep – Transferring the call.

CRep – How can I help you today?

I: My Internet bill increased, can I get lower rate? Economy is hurting out finances and increase of $20 per month is something we cannot afford.

CRep: We offer lower rates when you bundle the services.

I: I would definitely like to bundle, but I had to disconnect my cable service, so I can pay for my internet service.

CRep: Ok, we have new promotion that will give 34.95 for next 12 months, is that something you will be interested in?

I: Sounds good, but I saw there is another promotion for $29.95, do you offer that?

CRep: sorry, we don’t have that promotion.

I: Alright then, I will go with $34.95 offer.

That’s it folks, I will pay $35.95 for another 12 months. Not sure if I will be able to get another round of 12 months offer in 2012. But, I will definitely give it a try.   Vonage here I come next.

Dec 2010 – Utilities Bill

• Gas (PSNC) – $135 (No of Days below 30F – 20)
• Power (Progress Energy) – $80
• Water & Sewer – $70
• Total – $285

Dec 2009 – Utilities Bill

• Gas (PSNC) – $104 (No of days Below 30F – 10)
• Power (Progress Energy) – $70
• Water & Sewer – $59
• Total – $233

Time Warner  Roadrunner standard internet promotion ended last month. Promotional rate was $34.95 and monthly bill jumped to $57.95. I just cannot imagine paying $57.95 monthly bill for internet.

I called customer service number and asked for Customer Retention department. Regular customer service reps don’t have authority to lower the bills. So, as soon as someone answered the phone, I asked for customer retention department. After waiting for couple of minutes, CS rep answered the call.

CSP: How can I help you today?

I: I was wondering if there’s a way to lower my Internet monthly bill. I was paying 34.95 and rate jumped to 57.95.

After verifying name, address, phone #

CSP : Do you want to bundle services (Cable and Telephone), we can give you lower monthly rates?

I: Do you have Sun TV, Java TV (Indian Channels), we watch those channels regularly.

CSP: No we don’t offer those programs.

CSP: How about digital phone service?

I: Can I make free unlimited phone calls to India, like Vonage?

CSP: No, its not possible.

I: I would love to bundle my services, if you offer both options.

CSP: Let me see if I can offer you the promotional offer, because you have been with us for long time…after few seconds..we can extend 34.95 plan for another 12 months. Is that something you would be interested?

I: I saw online road runner for 29.95? Can I get that offer?

CSP: We don’t have that offer. Best I can do is 34.95 for 12 months.

I: Alright, I will take that.

So, it took me less than 5 minutes to get the rates lowered on roadrunner Internet bill. Well, this is what I did last December to lower the rates. Rates went up again last month and I again haggled to $34.95.

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