Use Your Cents

Another bird pooped on my head today. That aside...

Viacom still has yet to approve my Cobra subsidy, so I've had to seriously buckle down on my spending. To start, I've been returning everything I've recently bought but didn't need.

First to go was an impulse buy from The Body Shop. The saleslady gave me her best pitch for a few minutes on why I should keep the shimmering body bronzer until finally I told her I needed to put that $18.50 towards my health insurance - because I had been laid off. She quickly hushed up and proceeded with the refund.

I'm also trying to avoid convenience fees and fines that add up and could have been avoided by keeping a calendar of when things are due. But sometimes, thoughtless mistakes happen.

I realized a dvd case I had returned to the library ahead of it's due date was actually empty - the disc was still in a player in my apartment - 2 days too late on a holiday weekend. Ironically, the movie checked out was Volver (Espanol for return). By the time I noticed my mistake it had amounted to $12 ($3 for every day). In front of several preschoolers reading Dr. Seuss, I had to convince the head librarian to be absolved of my fine.

Unfortunatly, there are some fees and wasted cash I will never be able to get back in life. And the longer I remain on unemployment the harder it is to let these little costs go.

To even things out a bit, I keep my eyes peeled for ways to save or even gain cash. A few examples:

During the cleaning of my apartment/office space I count all the spare change recovered. I then take it to a penny arcade at TD Bank knowing exactly how much it is. For "guessing" correctly how much money is deposited, you win $3.

While cashing in a coupon for Snapfish pictures I noticed the savings were the same amount as the shipping fee. I avoided paying the $11 by having them shipped to a local Walgreens and picking them up instead.

This past weekend, the free shuttle from the Princeton Junction train station to a nearby Hyatt was m.i.a.. Rather than pay for a $10 cab to the hotel where my friend Kim's bridal shower was being held, I hitched a ride with a nice elderly Swedish couple. Ok, so that last money saver was kind of risky. Next time I'll use better sense.

The point is you can't cry over spilled milk and sit around cursing your situation. Let it go. Be proactive and find ways to save cash for the more important things in life. Like Phillies/Mets tickets. Who's goin with me?