Tag Archives: Spend less

Nov 1 2013

THE BEAST

Most adults have one or have access to one. They come in various colors, sizes, shapes and, of course, horsepower. I call mine The Beast. It’s really a very zippy little reddish bronze 2006 Mazda 3 approaching 90,000 miles. But, it can suck money out of my bank account faster than it can zoom zoom down the highway. It constantly needs to be fed, maintained, insured and taxed as expensive personal property. And, now, it also needs repairs. As I zipped down the highway a few weeks ago, suddenly…thud, jerk, AT and engine lights on…ugh. After arriving at my destination, a ride fraught with anguished looks at my dash and praying there would be no more thuds or jerks, I called Martin for reassurance.

And, then, one dealership appointment later the diagnosis was “reading no codes”. You know, everything’s electronic these days. So, if a machine tells the mechanic it can’t find anything in this machine, The Beast, we all believe the diagnostic machine. Independent thinking and the good ol’ days of a person ferreting out what’s ailing The Beast are gone. But, fear not, I left with a list of things the machine did find wrong with The Beast along with an estimated cost to repair of $775.

My dealer, wanting to give me the best possible customer service, followed up with two automated phone calls affording me the chance to hit a button, speak with a live person and make an appointment for said repairs. And, just in case I hadn’t gotten the phone calls, they sent me a couple of emails as further reminder. Best of all, the sales manager sent me a letter via the ever reliable old fashioned US Postal Service, telling me how the dealership was short on premium inventory like The Beast and if I traded it in, I could count on them to give me a good deal on a new beast or one of their premium used beasts. Premium used beasts? Hmmm…wait just a minute. You just told me you’re short on inventory, which is why you desperately need The Beast so, my choices on premium used beasts must be non-existent. And, besides, if I’m going to trade for another premium used beast, why don’t I just keep the premium used beast I have? And, one other thing, how is The Beast premium anything when it needs repairs?

Oh, I see, you’d have a chance to sell me a shiny new beast. Whoaaaa Nelly. A shiny new beast would not only need to be fed and maintained, my insurance and beast taxes would increase. Oh, sure, it would be a while before it needed any repairs but how would I pay for it? I’d have to rob my retirement nest egg or worse yet, have a beast payment. A loan!?! I’m adverse to loans. They cost even more money. What with interest and all. While I ruminated on all the ins and outs of new beast versus old premium beast needing repairs, suddenly, thud, jerk, stuck in third gear, AT and engine lights on and me praying I’m not about to be sitting on the side of the road with The Beast broken down. Luckily, as I came to a complete stop at a red light, The Beast calmed down and once again I made it to my destination.

I don’t usually procrastinate but it took me a week and two more experiences including thud, jerk, stuck in third gear before I called the dealership and said, “O.K. I’m coming in.” This time, the machine found “codes” in The Beast saying the electronics weren’t sending the automatic transmission the proper signals. So, now, a well-trained human could actually go to work on The Beast, costing me just another $525.79 to get rid of the thud, jerk, stuck in third gear along with the annoying engine and AT lights. Yes, I had the other repairs done, too. You see, by procrastinating, I hung out long enough for the dealership to send me a Halloween Spooktacular Savings email taking 10% off any recommended service through year-end. And, big picture, I only had to rob my retirement nest egg for a fraction of the cost of a new beast or about 3 beast payments. I’m still debt-free. And, with only 88,000 miles on it, at only 7,000 miles per year and periodic repairs, The Beast should last me another 10 years. That’s right. I plan on being an old lady driving a junker beast. But, the really, really, really good news…I’m retired.

Apr 8 2013

THE PERKS

The first time I really thought about the benefits of fitting the definition of senior, I was just shy of my sixtieth birthday. Considering there are places where 50 is the magic age of senior, I guess I’m a little slow. But on that winter day, I went grocery shopping like many other days in my life. I swiped my debit card at the check out, followed the bagger outside where he loaded my car and I drove home. As was my habit, after arriving home, unloading the car and taking care of all the cold stuff, I looked at my receipt to be sure I got the all the buy one, get one and other good deals. Then, I noticed it. There at the bottom of my tab. A 5% senior discount. SENIOR DISCOUNT??? At this particular grocery store, a 5% discount was given for anyone shopping on Wednesdays who was 60 or over. Sixty! At first, I felt a slight bit insulted. I wasn’t sixty. I was, well, 59 and 5/6ths. It must be the gray hair! They think I’m old. Maybe I should have kept coloring my hair. Whoa, wait a minute. I am old. Then, I thought, isn’t this great! Perks for old age.

While I wasn’t crazy about being called a senior or a retiree and I certainly don’t like the negative sounding definitions of retirement, the moment I realized there were perks to this old age thing, I was bitten. Heck, I shamelessly sported my gray hair as a ticket to more discounts. I started actively looking at the AARP website for discounts. I Googled “discounts for seniors”. I talked with neighbors, friends and family, even strangers. What did they know about the perks? What about where I lived? Maybe there was a state with more perks than South Carolina. So, I checked South Carolina’s government website. I knew about the $50,000 homestead exemption on property taxes for 65 and over. Despite already low property taxes, I’m looking forward to an even lower bill. What else was South Carolina willing to do for their seniors?

More Googling. Wow! Without even planning for it, I learned I was living in one of the top ten tax friendly states in the nation…for seniors. Thirty six states including South Carolina exempt Social Security benefits from state income taxes. But, another perk in my home state at 65 and over is a $15,000 deduction per person ($30,000 per couple) of retirement income, regardless of the source, from state income taxes. And we younger seniors can deduct up to $3,000 of retirement income, including public and private pensions and IRA distributions, from our taxable income. If you’re looking for ways to stretch your retirement income, look for one of the tax friendly states to call home. Hint: Most of them are in the south.

Looking for other perks for seniors, I found state supported colleges in South Carolina offer tuition-free classes to age 60 and over. If materials are included in the cost of the class, you have to spring for the materials. So, say you want to take a pottery class, plan on buying your own clay. But, the actual tuition for the instruction is free. Lifelong learning at no cost. That should give any retiree plenty to keep them challenged!

There are also the usual perks, like restaurants offering a free dinner, dessert or appetizer on your birthday, free coffee everyday with breakfast by showing your AARP card. Recently, I booked a hotel room for a trip we’re planning later this spring. The first thing I did, of course, was check their website for senior discounts. Their best rate dipped from $159 a night to a very pleasing $125 for 60 and over. I’ve heard some airlines offer senior discounts if you dig deep enough. There are senior discounts for that bastion of retirement bliss, the cruise. RVing? Look for RV parks offering senior discounts. When I’m 62, if the federal deficit doesn’t eat this perk, I’ll be buying my lifetime access pass to national parks for the unbelievable sum of $10!!! That’s lifetime, folks. Perks. Perks. Everywhere. So, even though I look for a better description for retirement than the one in the dictionary. And, even though I still think of a senior as some 17 year old about to graduate high school, from here on out, I will be looking for the words “senior discount” wherever I go. After all, old age has it’s perks.

Dec 17 2012

UNPLUGGED

Remember the girl from the hayfield? She didn’t own a TV. No TV for the first 10 years of our marriage. Then my in-laws decided to buy my kids a TV for Christmas. Without consulting my husband and me! We could afford a TV; we just didn’t want the TV! “But they really enjoy it when they visit.” Yes, we know. That’s because they don’t have it. They don’t have it because we prefer reading, playing games with our kids, going to the park or the YMCA. We want family time. But once that Christmas gift was opened, it was tough to undo the damage. We’d had pressure from our family and friends, our kids’ teachers and even strangers to own a TV. Maybe we were just tired of being the weird people with no TV. Whatever it was, in time we became just as plugged in as the majority of Americans. We owned three TV’s with cable service. We had phones throughout the house. We took on the internet as soon as we could get our hands on a computer and AOL.

These days, however, watching the morning news ain’t what it used to be. I used to tune in to CNN first thing, tearing myself away to get ready for work. I’d flip between stations in an attempt to avoid the commercials. I admit it. I was a news junkie. In my retired life there is no CNN. If it isn’t network news or education TV, we don’t have it. Why? Because we got tired of paying $85+ a month to watch just a handful of stations. No kidding. Our lineup was CNN, network stations, SyFy, TNT and not much else. So, we decided until the satellite or cable companies allow their customers to choose a menu and pay for only what they want, not what the companies need us to want, we’d unplug for a while. Well, a funny thing happened. At least once a week for the past 15 months, we’ve received a letter from our old company offering a low one year rate of only $29.99 a month. Lately, they’ve also been throwing in a $200 Visa card if we agree to a two contract. But, once we decided to unplug from the satellite dish, an even funnier thing happened…we don’t miss satellite TV! We don’t even watch much TV at all anymore. We read, write, talk, play games, engage.

Hmmmm….we asked ourselves, “What else could we do without electronically?” Well, there was the landline. The one used mainly by telemarketers. We had it armed with voicemail, caller ID and call waiting. Once in a while someone we knew would call the landline. If we didn’t answer, they hung up without leaving a message and called our cell phone, where, if they didn’t reach us, they left a message! So we were paying for a landline because…? There wasn’t a rational answer. Oh, but, whoa just a minute. We did need the landline for our security system. No, no, no. Even the security system could run on a cell signal. So, there went the landline. And, as a side benefit, by unplugging the phone, we also claimed more desk space.

Once we decided to unplug, we started questioning all of our gadgets. Now, even though we’re still connected, we’re less connected. Satellite went the way of the landline in favor of only a cell phone. The computer went in favor of an iPad with 3G or wi-fi. No contract on the 3G. I can turn it on or off at will. And it costs less than half the cost of internet on the computer. The iPad isn’t a computer but with all the apps, I’ve not found much of a handicap. In fact, I’m writing this article on Pages and will post it using my iPad.

So, we have a few less gadgets, more money, more space. We engage more with each other and life in general. And, when we plug in these days, it’s because something or another needs a charge.