July 26th, 2006 
NCN If you’ve missed it, I’ve been running a post about the very, very best money saving tips. Well, the post now has 20 tips, from bloggers all around the personal finance blogging world. Please check out the original post here:
If you have a tip, please leave it in the comment field of the post above.
July 26th, 2006 NCN A few days ago I called Dish Network to see if I could get a discount on my Satellite service. I thought everything had gone fine and dandy, but, alas, the attempt to get a discount hit a snag or two.
Original Package Costs: PVR120 channels plus Atlanta Locals = 53.99 + 5.99 = 59.98
Discount Package Costs: PVR120 channels plus Atlanta Locals = 43.99 + 5.99 = 49.98
(Both packages would also have taxes)
So, I was going to save 10 dollars a month for 10 months, for a total savings of 100 dollars. Yay! Right? Not quite…
First, Dish Network messed up my entire programming package by CANCELING my Atlanta locals, and replacing them with local channels that are closer to where I actually live. Yuck!
So, I called to get my Atlanta locals back, and guess what? I no longer “qualify” for Atlanta locals. My address requires that I have locals that are closer (because they are available). Now I am stuck with the cheesiest local channels EVER!
(By the way, Dish Network uses outsourced phone operators, and I had to change operators 3 times before I finally spoke to someone I could understand…)
So… Here’s where I stood, after the mix-up about the locals:
PVR120 with crappy locals = 43.99 + 5.99 = 49.98
But, that’s not all folks…
When I got my bill from Dish Network, there were literally dozens of charges, subtractions, charges, subtractions… I could have interpreted a Sanskrit poem with greater ease than it took me to figure out my satellite bill.
AND… You guessed it… Instead of a discount, my total due was actually 3 dollars HIGHER than it was THE MONTH BEFORE. Seriously. No discount, no Atlanta locals, a PBS channel that I did not order, Crappy locals, AND they over-charged me. Arrgghhh….
Back to the phones…
This time, I decided to go on the offensive. I told the FIRST “heavily accented” operator that I was going to cancel my service if I was not IMMEDIATELY transferred to a service manager. Thankfully, I was connected in less than 30 seconds to a higher level service associate who spoke perfect English. Yay!
I explained, very, very slowly, my entire history as a customer of Dish Network. The woman I was talking to was very professional. She listened to me, took notes, and responded rapidly. She was, however, unable to re-connect me with my beloved Atlanta locals. But, she was able to fix my bill, remove the PBS channel, and give me and ADDITIONAL 3 months of 10 dollar discounts. So, here is the final breakdown:
PVR120 + Crappy Locals = 43.99 + 4.99 = 49.98 for THIRTEEN MONTHS
Hassle Level (1 -10): This was a solid 7. I had to make 5 phones calls, stay on hold for a total of at least 30 minutes, and talk to 11 different people.
Was it worth it? Ummm.. Yes and No. I am super glad that I will be saving 130 dollars over the next 13 months, but I really miss my Atlanta locals. Perhaps I should have left good-enough alone.
July 24th, 2006 NCN As always, there’s a ton of stuff happening here in No Credit Needed Land:
The latest episode of the No Credit Needed Podcast can be found here.
I have posted tons of new and updated charts over at the No Credit Needed Network page here.
(The NCN Network now has 36 members! Please, come over and join up today!)
So far, 16 different personal finance bloggers have posted their very, very best money saving tips here, at the link-a-thon post.
(If you have a super duper money saving tip, please leave a comment and I’ll add it to the growing list. And thanks to all of you who have commented thus far!!!)
I will be moving to dedicated hosting (I hope) very soon. If you have not done so, please see this post about updating your links / bookmarks to the various No Credit Needed Sites.
Lastly, I still have a few ING Direct referrals left to give out. Please see this post about how to get $25.00 when you sign-up.
Whew, enough self-linking love. I’ve been away so much this summer, and I have missed being able to post daily. I will be getting back in the groove, and I want to thank you for hanging out with me.
July 24th, 2006 NCN Well, well, well. Things were going so very, very well. And then? And then? We had an emergency. A 1000 dollar emergency. We actually had 2 emergencies. One involved a medical need, the other involved an automobile repair. So, I had to dig into the 13K in our emergency fund. I am very, very thankful that we HAVE the emergency fund. Why? Because, if I did not have an emergency fund, I would have had to have used my credit card. Yuck! So, we used some of emergency fund savings, paid for the medical need and the automobile repair, and moved on. No interest to be paid. No bills to worry about. No middle-man.
(Why does it seem to hurt more to spend 1000 dollars that you already have, as opposed to using a credit card to charge 1000 dollars?)
Just a brief note:
I have made several updates to the No Credit Needed Network. We now have 36 members. Yes. Please click over and check out what we’ve been up to.
I should have a new podcast up by Tuesday afternoon. Please check the No Credit Needed Podcast for more info.
July 16th, 2006 NCN The UPDATED list of tips can be found here:
Your Very, Very Best Money Saving Tips Update.
This post last updated Nov. 4, 2006. We now have 35 entries. We need 65 more.
UPDATE (08-14-2006): Because of the awesome response to this post, I have decided to turn this post into a CONTEST! I want to see if I can get ONE HUNDRED ideas. That’s right. ONE HUNDRED of your very, very best money tips. So, it you have a blog (or, even if you don’t), check out the very, very best money tips post, leave a link to your best idea for saving money, and you will automatically be entered into the No Credit Needed “choose your own personal finance book” contest. Yes sir. You read that right! As soon as the post reaches ONE HUNDRED ideas, I’ll put all of the contributors’ names in a hat, and I’ll pick a winner. That lucky winner will win a copy of his / her favorite / most desired personal finance book. (Maximum book value, 20 bucks, delivered from Amazon!) So, check out the post, rock the mic with your very, very best money tip, cross your fingers, and hope that you win when we hit ONE HUNDRED ideas. (Plus, you get a FREE link to your blog…)
Okay, my blog is moving to dedicated hosting (please, please read this post about updating your links to me) and I thought that it would be fund to create a link-a-thon for this week. What is a link-a-thon? Well, I’m not sure. I think that I just made it up, but I could be wrong, and there could really already be such a thing. Anyway, here’s the deal.
I’ll post my very, very best money saving tip here at the No Credit Needed site, and the YOU can post your very, very best money saving tip on your site, and then YOU come back, leave me a comment with a link to your post, and I’ll update my original post. I am hoping to create a massive post with the VERY, VERY best money saving tips from throughout the personal finance blog family. If you DO NOT have a blog, please leave a comment below with YOUR VERY, VERY best money saving tip. Thus, we will create a link-a-thon. I will keep this post up and running with updates for the entire week… and we can see just how big of a list we can create.
Benefits? You get a link back to your site, I generate a bit more traffic for old NCN, and our readers learn how to save money. Win, win, win. Yay!
Simple rules:
Create a post with your own VERY, VERY best money saving tip.
A money saving tip is something that can be done easily, rather quickly, and will result in the saving of money. Simple tips for everyday people.
Okay, here’s my Very, Very Best Money Saving Tip
1. Learn to enjoy, buy, and use Generic and / or store branded items. If you use coupons and can get deals on brand name items, YAY! But, for those items without coupons, I have found that the quality of store branded items is the same as the quality of branded items, and they usually cost much, much less.
See, that’s a simple, easy to understand Money Saving Tip.
2. From Mighty Bargain Hunter (Buying Used…)
3. From The Good Human (Saving Energy…)
4. From Simply Us (Groceries…)
5. From Frual For Life (Dumpsters…)
6. From Bringing Down The Debt (Trains…)
7. From Beyond Broke (Thinking…)
8. From A Dollop Of Sour Cream (Waiting…)
9. From Money Wise (Bulk…)
10. From Blogging Away Debt (Pausing…)
11. From Boston Gal’s Open Wallet (Sharing…)
12. From Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge (Water…)
13. From Tired But Happy (Re-Using…)
14. From Udandi (Groceries…)
15. From Single Ma (Organization…)
16. From Lazy Man and Money (Yourself…)
17. From Seeking Contentment (Library…)
18. From Pragmatic Finance (Researching…)
19. From Don’t Mess With Taxes (Momma…)
20. From Financial Freedumb (Wait…)
21. From We’re In Debt (Walk…)
22. From Stuff You Oughta Know (Make…)
23. From Debt Free (Warehouse…)
24. From My Money Forest (Learn…)
25. From Jane M. Says (Magazines…)
26. Frome Commentor Terry (Catalogs…)
27. From Commentor Aimee (Phone…)
28. From Jane M (Magazines…)
29. From Commentor Jersey Girl (Freeze…)
30. From Merle Sneed (Insurance…)
31. From Commentor (Language…)
32. From Double2Mil (Garage Sales…)
33. From Confessions Of A Hoarder (Awareness…)
34. From Easy Change (Half…)
35. From One Big Mortar Board (Volunteer…)
(Man, I hope someone will actually participate in the link-a-thon, or I’m going to feel like a complete dork…!)
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