Renter's Insurance

I'll start off the bat and say everyone who rents should have renter's insurance. It's just a given and it's not very expensive, so look into getting it immediately if you don't have it.

For those of you who've had it for a while, make sure to check in annually to adjust levels and make sure everything's cool. My policy recently renewed and the price went up pretty significantly, so I called my insurance company (USAA) and they told me premiums had increased everywhere, but we reviewed the line items of my policy and found out we could adjust it so that it went down to where it was last year.

For example, I had insured my laptop as an additional asset and since I'm insuring that with my business policy now I didn't need it on the renter's policy. We tweaked a couple of other things too. So make sure to check in with your company, especially if there's a rate hike, and confirm that the policy you have is the one that you need. You may be making more money now than when you set up the policy and are comfortable with a higher deductible that can bring your premium lower, etc. Make sure to ask lots of questions and have them explain the line items to you. Many of them are standard and may be unnecessary to you.

I assume this is the case for car insurance too but there may be less flexibility. I haven't owned a car in years so I don't know. If you have any tips on that feel free to comment.

Fundamental rule of frugality: always be looking for ways to lower your overhead costs!

I've missed y'all too

I decided to come back and do more posting because of the popular demand for ChaChing (you know who you are). I'll try to occasionally post things that I come across, but I've got a good excuse for putting this on the back burner: I started a business in March and am busy getting this baby to fly. I blog about that now over at Hands On and you can find Lunar Massage here.

I created a cool, affordable place to get a great massage that's not intimidating or over-priced, so I'm still living the ChaChing lifestyle! Hope to see you at Lunar soon.

Money saving Tweets

If you're on Twitter, check out The Simple Dollar's list of Tweeters that are about money savings and sales - many direct from companies themselves such as Amazon and Dell that give you a heads up on deals in real time. I started following @CheapTweet as a result.

Update: just got followed by @CouponTweet which seems pretty good too.

Four job sites you probably didn't know about

I thought the CareerBuilder commercial was WAY better than the Monster.com one during the SuperBowl, but you still should check out the more boutiquey job sites if you're in the market.

Via Fast Company magazine:

NotchUp - lets employers offer $$ for people to sit for an interview

Jobfox - has a match-up algorithm for candidates and job descriptions

Blue Chip Expert - finders fee if someone you referred gets hired

H3.com - $10k bonus for referring the winning candidate from your social network

Because you can't save money if you're not making any!

Check what light?

This is pretty cool via My Money Blog - there's a doohickey you can buy that will help you determine what's wrong when your "Check Engine" light comes on. For those of you with older cars, this might be a great purchase if it saves you the a half day at the dealer or a couple days without your car. Both my boyfriend and my brother have had issues with this light in the last year so I can appreciate the usefulness of finding out the problem.

if you search for “OBDII”, “OBD II”, or “OBD 2″ code readers, these devices will plug into your 1996 or newer model year car and read the diagnostic code from your car computer. In addition, they can erase or reset the code so that you can see if it is an ongoing problem.

Mechanics basically use the same thing and they can charge $50 for the service. MMB found a code reader for $25.

Blago's car needs

I'm actually surprised at the swift beheading of Blago. His wife lost her 6fig job too. They don't have a car - may I suggest Carmax for a good deal? Though something tells me the advance on his book deal may help them get by...

don't you dare pay $40 for a sports bra

Sorry guys - I need a second to talk to the girls about the girls.

I recently realized that i hadn't updated my sports bras in a long time and that I needed ones for my higher impact workouts. But if you've shopped for sports bras lately you'll see that good ones are about FORTY CLAMS. Eff that - bypass the new stuff and head for the clearance section. Who cares if you have "last season's" sports bra?? These things do not go in and out of style. They need to fit right and provide the right support - that's all.

There are also really advanced materials now for workouts that wick away sweat and allow your skin to breathe. I went on Champion's website and found a super cute, technologically advanced, high impact bra (shown above) that was normally $36 and but on sale for FIFTEEN.

Right now they're having a sale to save $10 on 2 sports bras but that's still probably more expensive than ones already on sale.

I've worn mine several times now and it's a HUGE improvement - much more stable, and the pink and brown double-layer look is great. Remember to pay attention to the impact levels - these things are scientifically designed. If you are a runner or do any intense cardio work, you really need to make sure your jugs are locked down or you'll cause unnecessary soreness.

As a side note, the cleaning instructions on workout clothes usually say you can dry them but I air dry the bras just to be sure they last longer.

The email in my inbox this morning from Champion said they're also have a flat $5 shipping rate for orders placed in the next 2 days, so if you've been holding off on this, now is a good time to spend the $20. Your tits will thank you.