The $400 Phil and Ted’s Stroller – Dissecting The Purchase

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 28, 2008

Sticker shock. That is probably your first thought, I know it was mine when The Happy Rockette first told me about the stroller. A little more than 3 months later, we own one! See the picture below for a quick look or click here for an in depth look at PhilandTeds.com.

Here are the criteria I used to evaluate and review our Phil and Ted stroller purchase and why I think it was a great purchase:

Pay Cash. The Rockette had been working every other Saturday to help out at her former job and decided she wanted that extra effort to go towards something. We had the money in two weekends or so. That month gave us some time to do some extra research and really get behind the purchase.
Aligned With Our Values. Being in a small condo, going outside is a must. We love going the park and hiking the trails, walking the boardwalk, going to museums, etc. With the addition of Pebble Jr. two strollers just made everything much more of an ordeal. The purchase would help us cope with a small house, provide us with much more convenient time outside, and contribute to the positive welfare of our children.
Get Good Value. Could we have gotten a $200 double stroller? Sure…so that what did we get for the extra $200 dollars.
- When we went to the store to check the stroller out in person, it was quite apparent that this stroller had years of research and design put into it compared to the other double stroller. It folded up smaller then our current one seater. Size is a big deal for double strollers. It provided multiple child configurations that accommodated our baby and a toddler all the way to two toddlers. The current setup has the Pebble Jr. laying down, and the Big Pebble perched on top. There was even enough room to change the Pebble Jr. which has come in quite handy. Handles are adjustable, covers and rain protectors are easy to use and store nicely, it is easy for The Rockette to push, and the list goes on. The value is in the design.
- Pretty much everyone who owns a Phil and Ted stroller raves about it. Not in an I drive a BMW or Mercedes kind of way, but in a “it’s made my life so much easier” way.
- The resale value on used strollers was not much less than brand new, usually $300 or more. This is an indicator of people’s willingness to pay and the quality of the product. It also helps justify the purchase to know that you can unload the stroller and get a decent portion of the purchase price back.
Get A Good Price. We searched for about a month until with found a new sport one for $399 with free shipping from Pish Posh Baby. I even emailed to see if there were coupons available, but they didn’t respond until they included a coupon code for pishposhbaby.com with my order. You can get 5% with the code Save5 though, which readers say is still working.
- *Update – Pish Posh Baby updated their new price to $539, but they have the discontinued camo colors for Phil and Ted Sport for $449

So far we are very happy with our purchase, even though I still have a little sticker remorse from time to time when I realize the the stoller is almost worth the same amount as my car. What do you think? Am I crazy and just justifying a silly purchase?

Update[8/17/2008] – Here are a few answers to questions I received through email.

1. Which model did you get? – Inline Sport

2. Does it allow you to adapt your car seat to it for an infant? (If it does not, did you find this to be a problem?) – It does not adapt to the car seat out of the box, but there are car seat adapters out there – I think the stroller is way easier than the car seat. If you have a small infant that can’t sit up, it has the lay down position which works great. Phil and Ted Car Seat Adapters

3. Do you know where I can find a list of retailers where I can look at one in person?. – I think your best bet is here, although I know there is at least one local retailer that isn’t listed there. It was helpful to look in person to help combat sticker shock.

Update[7/21/2009] – Thanks to The Happy Rock reader Cristina for alerting us about a recall for almost all Phil and Ted strollers(2003 – 2008) for hinge problems. As a couple of commenter mentioned the stroller hinge is too sharp and can cut a person or rip the stroller material. View the details here: Phil and Ted Stroller Recall.

» Filed Under Cash, Children and Money, Spending

Sleep Your Way To Better Finances

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 25, 2008

With the car breaking down on Sunday and still having a ton of work to do for the 149th Carnival of PF, I ended up only getting 8 hours of sleep on Sunday night. I can survive, and ten years ago I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. The thing I noticed for the next 48-72 hours was how much that lack of sleep effected my whole life. I was much more pessimistic, less energetic, less patient, less productive, and grumpy. Since I have been getting fairly consistent sleep for about two years, I didn’t realize how good I felt. I have even felt more energetic and rested since I went mostly vegetarian and have been eating healthier. When we constantly deprive ourselves of sleep we tend to acclimate to limitations on how we feel, how we act, and how much we can get done. Changes, both positive and negative, take a while to show themselves. During that time we easily forget how we feel until we experience something different sometime down the road. Those differences can have a huge impact on every area of our lives, espcially our finances. Below is a list of ways that our finances can be directly affected by lack of sleep:

Increased food costs. When we are tired we tend to eat out a lot more or by more expensive pre -packaged food.
Increased risk of accidents and sickness. This includes driving and normal around the house type injuries. These types of setbacks can cost money for medical services and oppurtunity cost at work and other endeavors.
Lower self control. The lack of control can lead to increased extraneous spending and debt.
Lack of energy and productivity. This means no energy to sell stuff on eBay or Amazon or to invest in other extra income tasks, perform well at work, or invest in budgeting and financial planning and learning.
Lose of creativity and intellectual prowess. Have you been stuck on how to solve a money problem? Well, research shows you really could find the answer in your sleep.
Grumpiness and impatience with others. This means less communication and teamwork in a marriage or with people who can keep you accountable. It means less satisfying relationship which will directly effect happiness and ultimately your wallet.
Pessimism and depression. In just a few days, I saw how quickly my outlook was effected in negative ways. Getting out of debt and having financial discipline isn’t easy and you need all the help you can muster.

So next time that you want to stay up late to watch some movie you have seen 5 times already, play a Wii game, or spend some not so productive time on the internet, remember what it might cost you. Some of you may be thinking that it doesn’t matter how much sleep you get because you feel about the same no matter what. I will tell you that I used to feel the same way, until with the Rockette’s help, I was able to consistently go to bed and wake up at similar times for an extended period(months). I didn’t realize how good I had been feeling, until I didn’t get enough sleep and felt like my old self again. If you are getting around 8 hours of sleep consistently and you still feel bad, it might be worth having some sleep tests done to make sure there aren’t any apnea or other sleep issues.

There is plenty of research on the benefits of sleep, but I don’t think we even need to go there. In my experience a little experimentation and anecdotal evidence will give us all the ‘research’ we need. Solve your sleep problems and your finances will most likely show a marked improvement.

» Filed Under Careers, Debt Elimination, Happiness, Health, Marriage, Spending

Breakdown – Is Triple A(AAA) Worth The Money?

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 24, 2008

As we were driving home from watching some of our nieces and nephews for the weekend, I realized that pushing on the gas pedal of our Nissan Murano was not doing ANYTHING! I quickly pulled over and coasted to a stop. I figured I would try a restart and see if that fixes anything. Nope, the dreaded low battery cranking and then clicking. We were stranded!

Deep breath, stay calm. Call The Happy Boulderette(Mom) and arrange ride. Call AAA to get towed. Entertain The Happy Pebble and The Not So Happy And Hungry Pebble Jr. for about 45 minutes. Luckily we had a spare bottle that we heated with body warmth to keep Jr. content enough. All in all it was actually kind of endearing to see the family huddled together in the front seat making the best of a not so perfect situation.

Both my mom and the tow truck arrived almost he same time. We arrived home without incident and our car ended up at the mechanic. Got the car back today and it turned out to be the drive belt pulley and bracket to the tune of $400 with oil change and tune-up.

So no the real question, is AAA worth it……Yes. The trick in trying to analyze the whether AAA is truly worth the cost is to realize what you are paying for. For those that don’t know what AAA is or what they have to offer, here is the link to the benefits page of Mid-Atlantic AAA. People sign up for the emergency roadside services, and rarely use the discounts or travel planning from what I can tell. The point to remember is that you are buying insurance. Like most insurance the percentages and math say that it is isn’t worth it, but that doesn’t mean the protection, convenience, and psychological aspects don’t make up for it math.

First, if you use the discounts for things like movie theater, hotels, and other related activities, the membership will probably pay for itself pretty quickly. For the most part though, you can get similar or better discounts and planning on the web for free.

Second, the road services value will depend on the kind of car and driving you are doing, so these numbers will vary by family. For us, we have been paying the $150 a year for AAA Plus(150 mile towing package) for 6 years now. Including Sunday’s use I have used it 5 times. Two lock outs in the hectic time leading up to our wedding and three tows, two 5 miles and the other 50 miles. Mathematically the numbers are ugly. $900 paid and only about $350 in services used. I suspect that those numbers will be pretty close to the same for ‘most’ people.

Even though the math doesn’t work out in your favor, most people are still willing to pay for the insurance. They want to know that their wife can easily get out of a jam or that someone will be there relatively quickly with just a phone call when something does happen. Just from talking to people this aspect of the AAA coverage is generally accepted as well worth the money.

So, is it worth? I say yes, as long as you realize that you are paying for piece of mind and not getting a good deal on roadside coverage.

* Note – Some auto insurance policies provide emergency roadside clauses, but I have had to dig for information on my previous policies. I have now learned to call and ask.

» Filed Under Cars

149th Carnival of Personal Finance – Chasing Dreams Edition

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 21, 2008

If this is your first time visiting, feel free to look around. You can join the others by subscribing to my RSS feed or you can receive updates via email so that you don’t miss The Happy Rock’s articles!

Welcome to the 149th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance! Below are 86 personal finance articles from the last week or so. In the articles you will find awesome information, but the real question is…”why do we care”? What motivates us to spend less and save more? Without being lead by our dreams and desires our enthusiasm and motivation can quickly fade, but if you figure out why you want to get out of debt or save money than it becomes amazingly easier to make wise money decisions. This is edition is dedicated to those dreams!

Without further adieu, here are all of the entries organized by category. Pay special attention to the Editor’s Picks which are listed in the first section. As you read through the carnivals, you’ll notice pictures that represent some of our common dreams to help inspire us to greater heights.

Editor’s Top Picks

Frugal Babe presents The Choices We Make – Frugal Babe gives an inspiring snapshot of the money decisions that have set the foundation for their happiness and success.

MomAdvice presents This American’s Dream – Amy Allen Clark shares an motivating post about their completed journey out of debt and what it means to their family.

Free Money Finance presents The Spending Smart Philosophy: Controlling Spending is the Key to Building Wealth – FMF writes that controlling spending is the key to wealth. A long but energizing read.

You Might as Well Burn $5! presents What If Rent Was Already in the Bank? – Margaret tells us how to reframe our emergency fund saving. Sometimes these little tricks can go a long when in seeing us through to the end.

Greener Pastures presents The Psychology of Money-”I Have to Have It”-The Impulse Purchase – Lisa teaches us where impulsive shopping urges come from and how can we control them. The layout and insight here is helpful in examining our own spending foibles.

Rather-Be-Shopping presents 5 Ways to Survive on One Income – Kyle James writes that having a parent at home with the kids is often more doable then you might think. These personal glimpses into lives of others provide a great backdrop to give us perspective about our own decisions.

I‘ve Paid For This Twice Already presents The Psychology of the $1000 Emergency Fund – paidtwice shares his thoughts on why having a small emergency fund helps you attack your your debt. $1,000 is just the beginning, but it shares a big psychological and practical purpose.

Saving

The Personal Financier presents How to Make Saving more Rewarding and Tangible: 5 Practical Tips – Dorian Wales writes that increasing the tangibility of your savings and rewarding yourself for achievements is crucial for success in this long term effort.
The Baglady presents Is Inflation Eating Away Your Savings? – The baglady discusses protecting your savings from inflation.
How to make $7 million in 7 years presents How much interest do you earn on one million dollars? – AJC writes teaches us why just leaving your money in the bank is a high risk strategy … you are much better off OWNING the bank!
Blueprint for Financial Prosperity presents Laddering Your Emergency Fund – jim discusses maximizing earnings for emergency funds.
Are You Going To Be This Way the Rest of the Time I Know You? presents How I Use My Bank Accounts to Manage My Bills and Save, Save, Save – BeThisWay shares about her banking setup.
Smart Easy Money presents How I Save Money (aka Why I Have Seven Savings Accounts) – Shana writes about here savings setup with seven accounts.
Sick of Being Poor presents Thank Goodness for My Emergency Fund – shelbug99 shares about needing to dip into her emergency fund.
Saving to Invest presents I am NOT going to cut back on my cup of coffee – Andy S writes that life’s daily little pleasures like my morning cup of coffee have an intangible value to me which far exceed the $3 or so I spend on it.

Debt

Dreaming of Ferraris presents Preparing for the Debt Attack – Foxie writes that it’s always good to have some idea of what you want to do in the future with your money. and outlines here own future plans for reducing my debt.
LivingAlmostLarge presents Should you Pay off your student Loans? – livingalmostlarge asks should you pay off your student loans? Or are they last on the list after even a mortgage?
Chic Saver presents Sharper Image? – Chic Saver shares how some business are using debt too much like herself and other consumers.

Career

INDEBTED 2 YOU – Freelance and Contract Technical Writing Rates – Starving Artist presents an excellent personal look at trying to find out what your worth.
The Digerati Life presents Get Hired, Get a Raise and Get Paid More By Improving Your Appearance – Silicon Valley Blogger writes about the effect that appearances can have on your income.
Know The Ledge presents When Opportunities Knock You Better Be Prepared – Joe D shares his experience on being laid off and how he learned to prepare in the future.
Think Your Way To Wealth presents Two of the Most Important Work Habits for Increasing Your Income – RC gives his insight on two solid career tips.
Girls Just Wanna Have Funds presents Beat The Rat Race: Work from Home as a Virtual Call Center Agent – Ginger writes that opting out of the rat race is an eventual goal as I’d like to be ale to pursue different interests as long as I have an internet connection. However, there are a few considerations before jumping ship.
Feminist Finance presents Equal Pay Day – f.f. shares about getting equal pay for women.
HelpMyCashGrow presents Retirement Is Not For Everyone – Anthoney Grigsby shares how retirement isn’t what he is shooting for.

Money Managment

Debt Marathon presents The Freedom – Cynthia shares the freedom a budget has given their family is a wonderful thing!
Alpha Consumer presents Debunking the Money Myth – Kimberly Palmer writes that Despite all the bestselling books, women really aren’t worse with money than men!
Life Lessons of a Military Wife presents Place Oxygen Mask Over Your Face Before Helping Children – Veteran Military Wife writes Teach ‘em right so they don’t have a lifelong screwed up relationship with money.
The Penny Mine presents On Intermediate Goals and their Importance – Hannah shares here success with setting intermediate financial goals.
squawkfox presents Ten Things You Should Never Carry in a Purse or Wallet – squakfox writes that he opened my wallet and dumped my purse. The results are financially terrifying as I found ten things you should never carry in your purse or wallet!
Saving Advice Blog presents When Staying In Becomes More Expensive Than Going Out – Jennifer Derrick shares an example of how not to manage your money.
Move To Portugal presents Organising my paperwork – Laura shares how they organize their financial paperwork.
My Dollar Plan presents Do You Back Up Your Financial Data? – Madison DuPaix shares his experience with backing up his financial data.
The Financial Blogger presents How To Create An Alternative Source Of Income Part 7 – The Financial Blogger that administrating profit from an alternative source of income can become tricky.
Ask Mr Credit Car presents Emergency Sources of Funds + Income Compliment Your Emergency Funds – Mr. Credit Card talks about various possibilities for backup emergency funds.
Moolanomy presents eFinPLAN Online Financial Planning Software Review – Pinyo shares his initial thoughts on a trial run with some financial planning software.

Finance

Master Your Card presents Banks vs. Credit Unions: Which is Better? – Jonathan gives us his take on the beauty of the credit union.
The Wealth Accumulator presents Calculating your expected net worth – Enoch Ko teaches us to calculate our expected net worth.
Tales from the road less traveled presents I’m Only On Page 7! – Momma shares how she has problems with the victim mentality of Suze Orman’s The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom.

Investing

Thicken My Wallet presents Share Buyback or Dividend Increase – Thicken My Wallet shares a look into whether a share buyback is all that it is cracked up to be.
Investing Lessons presents Are You Ready for the Next Bubble? – Mark Runta arms us with some information on how to protect ourselves from the dreaded ‘bubble’.
Save and Conquer presents Protecting Downside – Stop Loss Order – Bryce teaches that a stop loss order is where you set a price for a stock at which it will be automatically sold. This is a very useful tool if you will be away from investing for a while, or want to limit a possible loss.
Dividends4Life presents Who is Charles Mangum and Why Should We Listen to Him? – Dividends4Life says Charles Mangum is an interesting man with an excellent investing track.
record.
Canadian Capitalist presents Top Three Investing Mistakes – Canadian Capitalist explains why chasing performance, not paying attention to expenses and not focusing on the big picture were my biggest money mistakes.
Quest For Four Pillars presents Early Excitement in New Investments – Mr. Cheap says that Mr. Cheap new investors get too excited!
The Dividend Guy presents Do Stock Charts Have a Place for Long-Term Investors? – The Dividend Guy suggests that stock charts do have a place in long term investing.
Mrs. Micah presents Spousal IRAs Make Sense for Stay at Home Moms (SAHMS) – Mrs. Micah talks about retirements planning for stay at home moms.
ProBargainHunter presents Stocks investment strategy – buying on weakness – Yan discussing buying stocks on weakness.
My Retirement Blog presents Guaranteed 4.625% Ain’t Bad – retirehappy talks about investing in treasury notes.
financesimplified presents How to identify the quality of a share – sunitha writes about finding a quality stock.
Asset Allocator presents Invest In The Long Tail: An Amazon.com Case Study – Kyle writes that the term long tail refers to a socio-economic trend away from a hit-based economy to a niche-based one. See how companies like Amazon.com profit from this trend by capturing the long tail of retail sales.
Uncommon Cents presents High and Low: Keeping Perspective – Ryan Suenaga writes that eeping your head on straight whether the market’s soaring or diving is critical.

Budgeting

TV Girl and Money presents Choosing Fight Over Flight – TV Girl shares about the day she decided to do something about here debt.

Real Estate

Funny about Money presents Home Inspections: Hire Your Own Craftsmen – vh shares advice on how to get around the home inspectors conflict of interest.
Smart Money Daily presents Selling Your Home Series – Part One – FSBO – JS shares the pros and cons of For Sale By Owner selling.
All About The Ben presents Save Money On Your Home Purchase With The Broker’s Commission – Jacob teaches us a about For Sale By Owner buying.
Living After Foreclosure presents Why get foreclosed on when you can just “walk away” – mbhunter thinks that there will be a lot of companies doing this.
Searchlight Crusade presents Retirement Account Contributions and Mortgage Loan Qualification – Dan Melson discusses the effects of 401k contributions on mortgage qualifications.

Taxes

Don’t Mess With Taxes presents The out-of-control tax code – Kay writes that Congress talks a lot about making our tax chores easier, but every piece of tax legislation adds more pages to the tax code and turns into “The Accountants Full Employment Act.” This article is worth the read for the tax code size graph alone!
FiveCentNickel presents Ten Things to Do With Your Tax Refund – nickel give us ten tips for using your tax refunds.
Money Blue Book presents How To File A Form 1040X To Correct A Tax Return Mistake – Raymond share his experience about fixing his tax mistakes.
FIRE Finance presents Short on Tax Money – Pay in installments via IRS’s OPA! – FIRE finance gives us information on filing for extensions or requesting installments for our US Federal taxes.
Finance Gets Personal Next Year Will Be Different – Finance Girl writes that it is time to get organized for next year’s tax season!

Frugality

Wealth Junkies presents Going Green In The Wallet – Alexander writes believe it or not, going “green” isn’t just good for the environment; it is great for your wallet as well.
Sound Money Matters presents Six Affordable Summer Vacation Ideas – Aryn writes that you can still take a vacation without going into debt. Here are six ideas for affordable summer vacations.
SavingFreak presents Cutting the Cost of Food – Paul shares his tips on how he saves at the grocery store.
Hustlermoneyblog presents Free DVD Rental Every Monday – Hustler shares how to get some free Redbox rentals.
Money Under 30 presents An Expensive Mistake: How I Overslept and Missed My Flight – David shares about his non-frugal mistake.

Credit

creditaddict presents Beware the Promise of Interest Free Purchases – Credit Addict teaches us about some of the caveats with zero percent purchases.
Not the Jet Set presents Ever Taken a Financial Beating? – NtJS gives us a look at the Universal Default policy and shares that some credit card companies seem to follow patterns of abuse.
Trees Full of Money presents The Complete Guide To Protecting Your Identity and Credit – Ben Dinsmore shares his attempt to write the only identity theft prevention article you may ever need.

Reviews

Dividend Growth Investor presents Rewards Checking Accounts Overview – An inside look at the mechanics of rewards checking accounts.

Economy

Wide Open Wallet presents Are hybrid’s cheaper – Mom her analysis on why a hybrid isn’t cheaper for them.
Journey To Financial Freedom presents Understand Recession in Simple Language – Harrison teaches us more about Recession with the simple language.
Pinching Copper presents Being poor is a state of mind – Seb writes that some people are portrayed as poor in today’s society, and they live like kings.
Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck presents Retirement for Gen X: Black Hole or Perfect Storm? – Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck writes that some experts blame Gen X’s high expectations for their financial challenges. Yet a recent study found that 43% of Gen Xers don’t ever expect to be able to retire. Sounds like pretty low expectations to me. Maybe the black hole of Social Security should shoulder some of the blame too?

Other

Prime Time Money presents My Interview with United States Postal Inspector J. Krafels: All About Identity Theft – PT shares a a great interview packed with identity theft information.
Chief Family Officer presents Teaching our children value and to accept – Chief Family Officer shares teaching children the value of money and potentially saying no to paying for college.
Cash Money Life presents Spending Money is Good – Patrick writes that sometimes it’s easy to forget that spending money is a good thing.
MoneyNing presents Being in Las Vegas and not Gamble – MoneyNing shares how he is in Vegas and not gambling. How do you treat gambling?
Living the Cheap Life presents How to work at McDonald’s and retire rich – Mike runs some numbers on being able to retire while only working for McDonald’s.
Lazy Man And Money presents Monavie scam? Was my wife recruited sell snake oil – Lazy Man writes about a multi level marketing drink sale that his wife was presented with.
Growing Money presents My Goals and Project Statuses April 2008 – Smarty discusses how we plans to make his money in the upcoming year.
Mighty Bargain Hunter presents Why PayPal makes it a chore to pay by credit card – mbhunter talks about the hoops PayPal goes through to keep people paying by checking account.
Can I Get Rich On A Salary presents The 9 Or So Paths To Getting Rich—And My Purported Analysis Of Them(Part 2 of 2) – GBlogger writes about 9 paths to “get rich,” what are the upsides, downsides, risks, andtimelines of each path?
Millionaire Money Habits presents Title: Teenage Millionaires – Ryan Taylor writes that making millions even for these teenage millionaires did not happen overnight. Maybe it was a bit of luck or being at the right place at the right time, but these kids found a way to provide something of great value and capitalize on it.

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» Filed Under Blog Carnivals, Chasing Dreams

Hosting The 149th Carnival Personal Finance On Monday

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 19, 2008

Just a reminder that The Happy Rock is hosting the 149th Carnival of Personal Finance. Come back on Monday to view a collection of 100 or so of the best personal finance articles from the last week. The guidelines for submission can be found here. Use this form to submit your articles.

I also have a special request to help support the theme of the upcoming article. If you could post a short comment on what your reasons are for trying to get on top of your finances? What dreams are you chasing? I appreciate the help.

» Filed Under Blog Carnivals

Find Out The Delivery Date Of Your IRS Stimulus Package

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 16, 2008

The IRS lists the schedule of the stimulus package checks for tax returns processed by April 15th. The dates are determined by the last two digits of you Social Security Number and whether you are using direct deposit or paper check. According to the schedule our $1500 rebate should be direct deposited on May 9th. We plan to comply with the stimulus directive and do a couple of projects around the house.

Click Here for the Stimulus payment schedule.

Update – It looks like the checks will start shipping on Monday the 28th of April, a week earlier than the IRS originally posted according to CNN.

Update 2 – We received our $1500 stimulus payment by direct deposit on May 9th. May 9th was the exact date listed in the 2nd group of direct deposit, so it looks like they are arriving on time.

» Filed Under Taxes

Check The Status Of Your Federal IRS Tax Refund

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 15, 2008

I thought this was a useful little page provided by the IRS. With you Social Security Number, Tax filing status, and the refund amount you can find out the status of your 2008 Federal Government taxes.

I got this message:

We have received your tax return and it is being processed. Unless we find mistakes or you owe other taxes, you should receive your refund by April 29, 2008.

I will be surprised if the direct deposit takes that long, but I did file closer to the deadline when it is busier.

Click Here to check your status.

» Filed Under Taxes

Just Ordered My $15 Entertainment Book

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 14, 2008

Just $15 for a plethora of great coupons. For those that don’t know, the Entertainment book is a local book of coupons for everything from fast food to casual dining to theme parks and golf courses. It is $35 dollars when it first comes out, but gradually drops throughout the year. The current $15 and free shipping deal is set to expire on 4/30/2008. We normally buy the book early in the year, but figured we don’t really need it in the winter and would get better value later.

The book contains more than enough great coupons to be well worth it, but only if you remember to use the coupons and you don’t spend more money because of the coupons. We have bought the book for the last few years, and gotten more than our share of great discounts from it. Here are a few of the highlights for the South Jersey book. Our local mechanic has a 20% up to $25 coupon that usually covers the price of the book. Buy one get one free(BOGO) Papa John’s, Cold Stone Creamery, and Rita’s Water Ice. $2.00 off coupons for the Camden Adventure Aquarium and $4.00 Six Flags Great Adventure. That is about $75 in coupons I know I will use for $15, plus a handful of others that will get used as needed. You can search on their website to makes sure there are some good local deals before you buy.

One little tip that The Happy Rockette has done the last few years is to buy a small inexpensive photo album. Cut out the coupons of interest, fill the photo album, and throw the coupon album in the car. It helps serve as a great reminder and provide quick access to help us extract even more value out of the book.

Anyone have other good tips, or great experiences with the Entertainment Book?

» Filed Under Favorite Books, Frugality, Money Savers

Debt Is The Symptom – Fix The Problem

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 13, 2008

“Symptom - A characteristic sign or indication of the existence of something else” Source

Picture yourself driving down a familiar street. Out of the corner of your eye you see a huge nail in the road. You swerve, but only enough to drive directly over the nail with your tire. Arghhhh! You don’t hear a pop or a hissing, so you continue on. Everything seems fine until two weeks later when you go to leave for work and your tire is flat. It has been long enough that you forget about the nail, so you borrow an air compressor from a friend and fill up the tire. Everything is fine for four weeks, until you notice the flat tire again. You fill it and go on your way. The tire seems to stay inflated long enough that you just keep filling the tire, rather than actually getting the tire fixed. The flat tire is the symptom of a bigger problem that needs to be fixed.

Debt is just like the flat tire. Debt is almost always just the sypmtom of a larger behavior or planning problem. Although the symptom is usually what attracts our attention and keeps of from creating behaviors that will allow us to be financially successful. People all kind of things to get rid of debt: hire a consolidation company, transfer to a HELOC or a 0% credit card, sell houses, sell cars, ask for more loans, marry, and even declare bankruptcy. All of those methods never really address the huge nail in the tire that is causing the leak. If you don’t fix the source of the problem, you most likely won’t stay out of debt long.

It is often tricky to identify the cause of the problem, but it can be a wide range of things. Depression, no budgeting, no planning, lack of self control, retail therapy, coveting, lack of knowledge, and lack of caring can all lead us into debt. The tried and true debt snowball or similar debt reduction methods that require hard work and discipline usually help change our behavior along the way. That is why they work, and that is why playing games to get out of debt usually fails.

Debt is not your problem. You must address your behaviors that got you there.

» Filed Under Debt Elimination, Financial Succes, Psychology of Debt

Don’t Let Verizon Wireless Take Your Money When Canceling Service

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 11, 2008

I have never had any love for Verizon Wireless, and I was quite relieved when my two year contract was up. They hadn’t done anything really bad, but they certainly didn’t ever do anything earn my respect. Nothing had really been post worthy until the last stunt they tried to pull as I closed my account.

I had already activated my $60 a year Virgin Mobile service, when I called to cancel my Verizon account. Everything was fine, until the last thing the agent mentioned as I was about to hang up.

Verizon Agent: You’re account is set to close on the 25th of April.
The Happy Rock: But, it is the 8th.
Verizon Agent: Our policy is that accounts close on the last day of the billing cycle.

I was a little caught off guard, so I just ended the conversation. It bothered me, so I mentioned it to my cube mate Ray @ TMABB. He helped verify my feelings and I decided to take action.

First, I checked my customer agreement and I didn’t see any mention of such a right for Verizon, so I quickly emailed them and asked them to produce documentation showing that they had to right to charge me for service I had wanted canceled or they should cancel immediately and refund the money that was owed.

The stalled for a few days and then finally an agent called to reiterate that closing on the last day of the billing cycle was their policy. I demanded that they produce some kind of proof. They then relented and canceled the account immediately, although they used todays date rather then that of my original call even after I asked. They also kindly informed me that the $17 check would take 6-8 weeks to process. I knew there was a reason I couldn’t wait to get away from Verizon Wireless.

Finally today, they left a message saying that they had worked out a special deal for me. The Rockette deleted it long before I got home…teamwork. I gave Verizon plenty of opportunities to provide me with more reasonable service and price options, but they refused. Now I shouldn’t ever have to deal with them again.

» Filed Under Cell Phones, Money Savers

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