Free entertainment at your local library

Something I read over at My Money Blog today reminded me that I should remind y'all about: free entertainment at your local library. They've got DVDs to rent for free, books a plenty and sometimes even storytime for the little ones.

As a teenager I was an avid reader, but after university, where I studied French & Italian literature, I was a bit book-ed out. I often had to read 5-7 novels per course I was taking, so there wasn't much time for pleasure reading.

But moving to the big, expensive city after graduation, I was reminded that there were many free things at the library. So I renewed my acquaintance & library card and was off to the races.

One of the newest things I've been enjoying is the Internet reservation system, where you can simply browse for the books online, click a few radio buttons, and voila! You've got yourself a book. Speaking of, I've actually got to go pick one up at the library today. I got a voicemail from the nice lady at the library (actually, it's an automated system), telling me my book arrived. So I'll head on over after work and see what it is. (That's another part of the fun, especially if you've got a list of things on your waiting list...you're never quite sure what's arrived till you get there. :-) )

Reward Points Exchange Bonus

I just scored and extra $5 in free gas by doing a rewards points exchange! Yes. I am currently collecting RBC rewards points, as well as Esso Extra points. RBC has Esso gift certificates for free gas at Esso, and I was at the point level where I could get a $25 gas certificate. I thought about it for a moment, then decided to check out their point exchange rates. Was that ever a good move!

By converting the same amount of RBC rewards points, I got an extra $5 in free gas at Esso! So instead of just $25 in free gas, I could get $30 in free gas, which is a total bonus.

I'm also a member of Points.com, which helps link up some reward programs that aren't normally linked, but being in Canada, my choices there are a bit limited. If you're in the US though, I highly recommend taking advantage of it.

Cash Advance Interest Rates - Low?

While looking at my latest credit card bill, I just realized that my cash advance interest rate is only 1.9%. That got me thinking.

• Could I use a cash advance from this card to pay down some of my other debt?
• Should I do that?

What do y'all think? I'm tempted to do it, as it would definitely be a cheaper option for me, as the lowest interest rate I've got somewhere is 3.9%. Hmm...

Cheap places to buy groceries

Wal-Mart opened up a few of their Super Centers in the Greater Toronto Area a few months ago, and while I hate the fact that they're such a ubiquitous thing in the retail landscape nowadays, I find myself shopping there frequently. Especially right now because I'm trying to save money, I find it's the best place to go. It has surprisingly good quality fruit & veggies, and good prices on a lot of the other items I use every day.

I also like to shop at the Real Canadian Superstore as well, as it also has good prices on the things I use & buy every day. Surpringly, the Superstore in Oakville has better prices than the one in Don Mills (in general), which I find interesting. How is it that the different store managers are able to charge different prices for the same items? Is it a franchisee versus corporate store issue? Who knows, all that matters is that I can find cheaper prices on bagels and juices than elsewhere.

Where do you go shopping for cheap groceries these days?

Cutting down on the number of payments I make a month

Having debt is a frustrating thing for me right now. The biggest issue, aside from the sheer amount of the debt, is the fact that it is spread out over a number of items. That is, I've got a personal loan, a credit card on which I have a balance transfer, and a line of credit. All three are at the same bank, however it's a hassle making the payments for them because I don't actually do my day-to-day banking with this bank. (that's another story) So I end up having to do some juggling between my chequing account, my savings account and these three items, and it's hard to keep all the due dates straight, even with all the various technological implements I use (my computer, my email account, my cell phone, etc.)

So I'm considering going to my day-to-day bank and see if they'll give me a line of credit, for my total debt amount and then transfer it all over. That way I've got only one place to make a payment, I can transfer money in & out as I like and it will make my life easier. My only problem is that I probably wouldn't be able to get a line of credit for the full amount due to the amount of that debt. It's a bit of a catch-22, which is frustrating. I'm definitely going to go IN to the bank to see someone about this, because given the amount of debt I have, they would be making lots of money off me in interest payments, so it would definitely be worth their while to do so. Keep your fingers crossed that I find a sympathetic banker.

Number portability and You

Phone number portability has finally arrived here in Canada, and I for one, am quite happy about it. The only reason I've stayed with my current cell phone provider is because I've had the same cell phone number for the last 8 years. Otherwise I wouldn't have minded switching to another provider because the other one had better plans for me.

Considering I have been a customer for 8 years, you would think that they would've offered me a deal on something, right? Especially given that number portability has arrived, right? Wrong! I haven't been offered a single thing by my current company, which has ticked me off somewhat. So I gave them a call and asked them about it. "Well, since you're currently on contract, we cannot offer you anything," was the response I got. And this is utter hooey as well, because the contract means they can't change anything on my account without telling me. It doesn't mean they cannot offer me anything, they just can't do it automatically. Sheesh. Talk about ridiculous.

The rep then proceeded to tell me he could give me all of my extras (voicemail, caller id, etc.) for free, if I qualified. So I told him to go check...surprise! I did qualify. So I now am saving $8 a month with this little manoeuvre. He then proceeded to tell me there's a different plan that I could switch to once my contract ends that would be better suited to my calling patterns. Again, I thought it was odd that they couldn't just give me this plan now, but whatever.

Here's my dilemma then:

To get out of my current contract, I would have to pay approx. $275. Then I would have to purchase a new phone at the new provider (the one I want is $179, but there's a cheaper one for under $100 I could do in a pinch), and then switch.

Overall cash outlay: $500+
Savings per month with new provider: $25 per month (that's a savings of 50% per month)
Amount of $$$ I'd pay my current provider waiting for my contract to end: $560
Time to break even and really start saving: 11 months.

So, what do you think I should do? Do I switch now and eat the contract termination fee due to the monthly savings I could have with the new provider now? Or do I wait till my contract is up and then switch?

I think either way I'm switching to the new provider, as the plan definitely suits me better. The question is when.

Credit cards & limits - Part deux

This weekend I logged in to my online banking website to check out whether my latest credit card payment had been posted to my account, and I noticed something strange: my credit limit had been increased. Now I purposefully have a low credit limit to discourage myself from spending it, as I know that I would. I even had the bank put a note on my file, telling them not to raise it without asking me first (most banks have this feature, you just have to ask). So I was a little concerned to see the increase, especially because they raised it $3000! They just doubled my limit in the blink of an eye. I was a little stunned. Then yesterday in the mail I got a letter from the head of the Customer Service department telling me about the increase, and how they did it because I'm such a loyal customer, blah, blah, blah.
I'm half tempted to get them to lower the limit again, however they're also giving me a balance transfer deal till May 2007, which would actually allow me to consolidate and cancel another card that I was only using for their low balance transfer rate. I was actually going to have the other card paid off by February anyways, so I wouldn't actually be losing any interest savings anyways. I'd just be saving on the aggravation of having so many cards on my credit history.