The Chronic Consumer

Usually I’m all about saving money whenever and wherever possible. I love a good bargain as much as the next person, and my rather limited funds makes it imperative that I take advantage of all the discounts I can find.

But I’ve learned the hard way that cutting corners on car insurance isn’t always the smart play. Doing so can lead to unanticipated complications if you ever get into an accident and actually have to make use of your policy. I’m saying this after spending the past two years with a cut-rate, no-frills outfit that was NEVER available to talk me through problems I was having with my policy.

So now I’m looking at going back to a well-known company that can provide customers with a truly comprehensive policy at reasonable rates, and that won’t give them the runaround when it comes time to submit car insurance claims. After all, insurers are supposed to be there in customers’ time of need in order to help, not hinder, the process.

I can’t wait until my current policy expires so I can change providers!

I read a pretty interesting article on the Woman’s Day blog about some subtle ways that retailers get us to spend more. Click through to take a look at the tips and guard yourself against opening your wallet too wide on your next shopping trip!

Here’s a fairly interesting slideshow at Forbes.com called “20 Ways You’re Getting Ripped Off“. It talks about bad buys such as airline club memberships, title insurance, college textbooks (yeah, tell me about it!), and even some kinds of baby formula.

Check it out, and avoid these money mistakes if you can!

All consumers run into problems from time to time, whether we’re talking about a bad hotel room or a defective product. And we all know that there are effective ways to complain in order to get the results we want. But do we always follow the advice that experts put out there? Probably not, which is why it’s a good idea to read a reminder every once in a while. Take a look at this column by The Haggler over at the NY Times. It’s a good one, with many tips worth remembering.

Ever wonder when is the best time to buy a treadmill? Or a lawn mower? Well, Consumer Reports has published a shopping calendar that helps people figure out what’s on sale when. This is a handy chart that will let you know if you should wait another month or two before making that next major purchase. I’ve bookmarked the calendar and will definitely refer to it whenever necessary!

And just in case you’re curious, May is the month to buy athletic apparel and shoes, cordless phones, camping and outdoor gear, lawn mowers, and small consumer electronics. Interesting!

Online education is a very popular alternative for working adults these days, but there are so many different programs available now that it can be hard to choose the right one. I have a lot of experience looking for schools that offer accredited online degrees, so my advice is this: do some comparison shopping before enrolling. There is quite a big price difference depending on which school or program you choose, which makes shopping around a good idea. For instance, online classes at a “name” school like Penn State can cost $463 per credit (or $1,389 per 3-hour class), while similar classes at a no name school like Adams State College cost $375 (total) per 3-hour class — which is obviously a major difference. I don’t know what your budget is like, but I can tell you right now which price I’d rather pay…!

The bottom line here is that you don’t have to enroll at the very first school you come across. You might end up finding great tuition deals at a fully accredited school that you’ve never even heard of. There are plenty out there, so shop around!

I have a couple of friends who are going to have their first babies within the next few months, and they’re kind of debating how they should handle the birth announcements. They’re not planning to issue the announcements together, of course; they were just kind of bouncing ideas off each other.

Anyway, the biggest sticking point seemed to be whether the new parents should buy the announcements from a store or simply print them out on the computer. One friend said for something as important as the announcement of a first child, you should go all out and buy the nicest cards you can afford. The other said nobody except close relatives will even care anyway, so a computer printout would be fine.

I was almost asked for my opinion — until they remembered that I didn’t send out any announcements at all when my son was born! Oh, well.

So what do you say, folks? Is it too tacky to print out birth announcements? Should you go with nice store-bought cards instead?

I haven’t clipped coupons in forever, but after reading this Wall Street Journal article, I might start up again. The article says that the average savings per manufacturer coupon is $1.44, and since it takes just a minute to clip the thing out and get it ready for use, that translates to a whopping $86.40 per hour — which is what some people pay in monthly car insurance or disability insurance premiums. That’s pretty substantial!

I stopped getting the Sunday newspaper a long time ago, but I plan to buy one this weekend just for the sales circulars and coupons. If I end up with a bunch of useful coupons that add up to great savings at the grocery store, I might make the Sunday Trib a must-have once again!