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Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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the freezing credit cards works for many people I know.
again, look at your spending habits and see just what is a habit and how you can diminish that. Remember it isn't as much about making more but about keeping more.
Quote:
View: Small fixes add up to big savings for Bronx nonprofit manager
Source: Nydailynews
posted with the TFP thread generator
Small fixes add up to big savings for Bronx nonprofit manager
Small fixes add up to big savings for Bronx nonprofit manager
BY Lore Croghan
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, February 17th 2009, 9:59 PM
Alvarez for News
Adelina Perez, at home in the Bronx, smiles after finding out she can save more than $3,000 a year by making small changes that will allow her to travel abroad.
Certified financial planner Clare Stenstrom Roberts for News
Certified financial planner Clare Stenstrom
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* Part I: Whiz lends hand to Queens mom
* Part II: Small steps a big help for saving money
Adelina Perez is going to dip her credit cards in water and stow them in the freezer.
Should she decide to go shopping, they'll need a day to thaw - no more impulse buying. She can't speed things up by putting them in boiling water or the microwave. They'd be ruined.
"If you want something, save for it," said certified financial planner Clare Stenstrom, who taught Perez the frozen card trick.
During a counseling session arranged by the Daily News, Stenstrom came up with ways for Perez to save $3,315 a year and urged her to use some of that money to wipe out the card balances ASAP.
Until their meeting in Stenstrom's Penn Plaza office, the debt that most worried Perez was $14,000 in student loans.
"It's such a big number," said Perez, 29, who lives in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx. "I don't want it hanging over my head."
As long as you make monthly payments on time, student loans improve your credit rating, Stenstrom explained.
"Student loans are good debt," she said.
Also, employees at some nonprofits are eligible to have their student loan balances wiped out after 10 years' work, Stenstrom said.
Perez, a case manager at a nonprofit with a branch in a Manhattan hospital, plans to find out if the place she works is on the list of qualified employers for this program.
Perez has some savings strategies of her own. She brings a mat and water bottle to avoid $4 in extra charges at the $5 yoga class she takes. She gets tips on finding free or low-cost entertainment from a book called "The Cheap Bastard's Guide to New York City."
Stenstrom found other fixes, such as asking Perez's cell phone company to send a free text message alert that warns when her minutes run out. Perez's cell bill hit $375 a month when she went over her minutes. Tweaks to her cell plan - such as a cheaper texting option - and laying off the music downloads can save $462 a year.
Perez can lower her $80 monthly winter electric bill by making sure a meter reader comes to her apartment. Bills are higher when they're based on estimated power use, Stenstrom said.
Last summer, the tab was $200 a month because her air conditioner was a freebie - an old power-guzzler. She can cut the summer bill in half by measuring her apartment and finding an energy-efficient machine whose output matches the size of her home.
She can save $1,800 a year on food by sharpening her supermarket shopping skills and remembering to take her coffee mug and brown-bag lunches with her in the morning.
"When it comes to work, I'm superorganized," she said.
At home, sometimes, there's room for improvement. Making a list of what to take with her and tying it to her front door knob can help, Stenstrom said. And she should paper-clip a list of her financial goals to her wallet to remind her of the rewards for spending carefully.
Perez wants to use her extra greenbacks for a vacation. She'd like to spend a week in Spain one year and go to Italy and France in other years.
Long-term, "I want to move out of the Bronx to somewhere quieter," she said.
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