Free Personal Finance eBooks
I came across couple of free Personal Finance Ebooks
- Plan Z – How to Survive Financial Crisis 2009
- Tips for Change eBook from Financial Literacy Month
From Tips for Change
When buying a car, shop with your head and not heart.
Do you really need a landline? I switched to digital and have been happy with the savings
Join EnergyWise. Save $25 on Progress Energy Bill
Yesterday I received an email from Progress Energy with Subject “Get $25 from Progress Energy. Join EnergyWise today”. So, I decided to checkout the deal.
What is EnergyWise?
EnergyWise is a new, voluntary residential program created to temporarily reduce power consumption during periods of peak energy demand. It was designed based on similar successful programs that have been used in other parts of the country for many years, but the local program has been customized for the energy usage patterns in our area.
Won’t it impact my comfort?
Energy Wise is designed to cycle the air conditioner’s compressor off and on at 10-15 minute intervals, not to turn it completely off. Your system’s fan will continue to operate normally.
For your convenience, EnergyWise will not be activated on weekends or holidays, except in the event of a system emergency. PLUS, you may choose up to two days per summer season to override the cycling of your air conditioner.
Florida Customers Save upto $145
In FAQ ( highlighted above) said they have used in other parts of the country. So, I searched to get more details on Florida where ProgressEnergy operates. Looks like customers in Florida can get upto $145 credit for using EnergyWise.
So, I was wondering why NC customers can receive ONLY $25 credit, where as Florida customers can receive upto $145?
Other States in US
Progress Energy operates in Florida and North Carolina. Utilities providers in your area might have similar program, that can save lot of money. Check out the with your Electricity provider to see if they offer similar saving options and consider enrolling in the program.
If the credit were $50+ I will not be having a debate to enroll, but for $25 I’m still considering my if its worth.
Carolina Premium Outlet Mall, Smithfield – Coupons
Shopping at outlets mall is fun and usually we save lot of money by shopping there once in a year. Products sold at outlet mall stores are usually cheaper compared to retail store. But, what if there is way to save even more while shopping at outlet mall?
Yes, there are 2 ways to get additional secret coupons to save more greens at Carolina Premium Outlet Mall at Smithfield, North Carolina. It’s about 45 minutes drive from RTP area, but it’s well worth that trip.
Carolina Outlet Coupons
Outlet mall at Smithfield comes under Chelsea Premium Outlet chain of malls. They have VIP Club, where you can register for free account. After you complete the free registration, select Carolina Premium Outlet as your favorite mall. Look under Exclusive Coupons and VIP Coupon Book
- Print those coupons for individual stores
- Also, print the coupon for VIP Coupon book Voucher
Take the VIP Coupon Book Voucher to the mall office located between Nike and Dairy Queen. You will receive another Coupon Booklet. Some stores will allow you to use both the coupons. So, at end of the day you will end up saving lot of money.
Do you have any additional savings tips to share, leave a comment to this article.
Valpak Savings – Do You Really Use Those Coupons?
I have been receiving Valpak Coupons ever since I moved to Triangle Area. Every time I get Valpak Savings in mail, I open and go through all the coupons sitting next to Paper Trash and thrown them in the trash after seeing the deals.
I can think of 2 reasons why I don’t use those coupons
- While looking at coupons, there was immediate need to use those advertised services or
- Deals wasn’t attractive enough to use any of the coupons (i.e. better deal can be found online)
Last night I saved one coupon for Wheel Balancing ($10 off of $70). I have to check online to see if there is better deal out there. If not, I might finally use my first Valpak Savings coupons.
How to Get 1 Month Free Vonage Service?
In last post, I had wrote about how to get Vonage Free Calls to India for just $18 per month. I have 2 vonage accounts, one we use here and second one in India. Since we already have free calls to India through new Vonage World calling plan, we decided to cancel the second Vonage.
Vonage 1 Month Free Service
I called customer care to cancel the vonage phone line. After few minutes of discussion, customer rep offered 1 month free credit and then it will continue to be same plan after 1 month. So, I decided to take that offer. What will happen after 1 month? Not sure.
I’m still going to call Vonage Customer care after 1 month to cancel the account. I’m expecting they will offer
- $9.95 for 100 outgoing minutes first and
- $4.95 for 0 outgoing minutes if I decline the above.
That’s typical way for Vonage to retain the customers. But, with $5 plan other fees will add up to total of $10. So, we haven’t decided if we need to pay $10 to retain a phone back in India, eventhough vonage world calling plan offers free calls to India?
Vonage Free Calls to India – $22 per month
I was paying close to 40 cents per minute to call India, when I first came to US. My friends used to say they had paid close to 55 cents per minute to call India from USA.
I used to wonder if there will be a day when we can take our landline phone and call India as we call any other number in US. Finally that day has arrived through Vonage World Calling Plan.
You need to signup for Vonage World Calling Plan and it includes free calls to India and 60 more countries around the world.
Vonage Free Calls to India – Cost
- Monthly Service Fee for World Calling Plan – $24.99
- Total After taxes, 911fees, .. – $33
- 1 Year Total Expense = $396
So, if you are spending even around $20 to $30 per month on Local and Long distance phone service, you can switch to Vonage World Calling plan, that will include free calls to India.
How to Save on Vonage
Savings is not just limited for 2 months. Here is a neat trick that can save even more money by using Vonage Free calls to India.
- Default 1 Year Expense = $396
- Use Annual Pre Pay Plan after creating Vonage Account(20% Off ) : 396 – 79 = 316
- Use the Banner to sign-up (2 Months Free) : 316 – 49.98 = 266 ( About $22 per month)
- Refer one person after you sign-up : 266 – 49.98 = 216 ( About $18 Per Month)
Hidden TOS from Vonage – Lack of continuous dialog activity, unusual call patterns, excessive numbers and/or consistent excessive usage (i.e., More than 5,000 minutes per line per month for unlimited residential calling and/or more than 10,000 minutes per line per month for unlimited small business calling), will be considered indicators that use may be inconsistent with normal use, or that impermissible use may be occurring and may trigger an account review by us.
Intuit Buys Mint.com – What Next?
Do you use Mint.com to track your spending and plan monthly budgets? Well, we use Mint.com as well as Quicken Online. I have tried using various personal finance online tracking tools, but finally opted to use both
- Mint.com
- Quicken Online
Other Online personal Finance tools I have used in last 3 years include
- Yoodle Money Center
- Wesabe
- GeeZeo
- Microsoft Money
- Excel Spreadsheet
Intuit Buts Mint.com
Intuit is going to complete purchasing of Mint.com for whooping $170 Million. Mint has about 1.4 Million users, what will happen to current users base? If Intuit brought Mint to increase the use base, then its a good move, but if they could even kill the competition and wipe out mint. We have to wait and watch the game.
Intuit haters in that 1.4 Million customers will end up buying their products, if Mint will be enhanced and offered for free.
So have you tried using any of the above tools? I know some of my friends are scared to use such tools, since they have to give the use name and password for all their bank accounts to single site.
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