You’ll keep more cash if you follow our advice.
It’s a pretty good bet that you have leaks in your budget— car insurance that costs too much, bank account fees, home energy wasters or mutual funds with high expense ratios. Each of those leaks in isolation won’t damage your finances, but all of the drips can quickly add up to big bucks—maybe even thousands of dollars a year—going down the drain. On the following pages, we identify typical leaks and show you how to fix them so you can keep more money in your pocket.
Shop Smarter
Hunt for discounts. You can find store discount codes, often worth up to 20%, at sites such as RETAILMENOT .COM and PROMOCODES.COM. But if you’re not in the mood to conduct the search yourself, HONEY (www.joinhoney .com), a browser extension available for Chrome, Safari and Firefox, searches for coupons at thousands of sites and applies the discounts at checkout. Honey also searches Amazon.com for the lowest price.
Don’t assume Amazon has the best deal. LendEDU, a comparison marketplace for loans and other financial products, compared a shopping cart of 50 identical items from Amazon and Walmart in five categories : home goods, kitchen/appliances, tech, food and beverage, and miscellaneous items. Walmart bested Amazon in every category except food and beverage.
You can score deals at the supermarket without clipping coupons. If you sign up for a loyalty card, you can save up to 30% on sale items, and you may be able to add virtual coupons to your card if you register it on the grocer’s website.
This story is from the April 2018 edition of Kiplinger's Personal Finance.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 2018 edition of Kiplinger's Personal Finance.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
A SOLID YEAR FOR THE KIPLINGER 25
All but one of our favorite actively managed, no-load mutual funds gained ground as markets recovered.
YOUR VACATION HOME COULD PROVIDE TAX-FREE INCOME
If you plan to rent out your vacation home, it's important to understand how your proceeds will be taxed.
IT'S NOT YOUR IMAGINATION: YOUR CEREAL BOX IS SHRINKING
To avoid raising prices, some manufacturers are reducing the size of common grocery items. Here’s how to fight back.
SHOULD YOU WORRY ABOUT BEING LAID OFF? IT DEPENDS ON YOUR INDUSTRY
Downsizing has hit certain sectors. But cutbacks may be slowing, and some companies are expanding.
How identity thieves are exploiting your trust
Con artists themselves are disguising as well-known brands to steal your money and personal information.
CUT THE COST OF YOUR WIRELESS BILL
AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon dominate the market, but smaller outfits offer similar network coverage at lower prices.
MAKING HOME ENERGY MORE AFFORDABLE
Households in need can get energy-efficiency upgrades, help with utility bills and more from this nonprofit.
A HEAD START FOR SAVERS
The Saver's Credit is designed to help low- and middleincome taxpayers contribute to a retirement account.
Say I Love You With a Money Date
To nurture a lasting bond with your partner, meet regularly to talk about money.
Plan for Your Own Elder Care
AFTER I wrote a series of columns in 2022 about elder care planning for family members, I received a number of responses like this one: “What about married couples who have no children or whose family members don’t live nearby?” wrote one reader. “Or a single individual with no close relatives? How should these people plan for their own elder care?”