I’m making this post in part to share with you, but also to make a reminder for myself of the things that I need to look into. One of the mistakes that I and many other people make is not shopping around enough. While you may have found the best deal when you bought something, if you are still paying for it, you might not be getting the best deal still.
The most obvious place where this could be true is with insurance. I’ve been with my insurance company for about 10 years. When I first purchased the insurance, I did a fair amount of shopping around and comparing and bought the insurance that was the best fit. Since then, many things have changed. I got married. We’ve had two children. We bought a house. We both turned 25 several years ago. All of these things could easily cause some drastic changes that really warrant a new comparison. But, we never did that. It’s time we did. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be doing a bit of shopping around for better insurance rates and coverages. In particular, our home owners insurance seems much higher than it should be, and consequently, I am now in the market to find cheap home insurance cover.
The other thing that I really need to look into (and should have a while ago) is the mortgage on our house. We managed to buy our house when rates were good. We’ve since added a second mortgage that is about 25% of the original mortage’s size. The rate on that is not as favorable. (9% ish) So, I need to look into whether refinancing the whole thing and rolling the two together might help us out with a lower overall rate and maybe even a lower payment.
That’s just the two things that came up recently. I’m sure there are plenty of other things that need to be checked regularly that I and others do not. What are the things that you check regularly to save money?
I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way I’ve met and found many blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on the Beating Broke accounts: Twitter and Facebook.
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A consolidation loan is a con, if you don’t learn from your mistake and stop adding to your debt. Consider it stupid tax and pay the loans off as fast as you possibly can. Minimum payment on all but the smallest, any extra on the smallest. Work your way through them smallest to largest to get a few small victories, to SEE some change, and it will help you to pay everything off. Paying the highest interest debt is the most efficient way, but as emotional creatures we NEED to see change or we get discouraged. The difference between the two methods will not be that much, and either way you will be free of debt!
Is it Great to get the credit card bill and owe nothing after the xmas holidays, then go to the shop for car repairs and pay in cash and still have money in the account? YOU BET!!! No debts = less problems!