Get In$pired: Check Your Bills & Find Money
We've been writing a lot recently about the importance of saving and budgeting, so today we thought we'd switch gears and talk about something more fun—finding money! By simply checking your bills, you'd be amazed at what treasures you might discover. Intrigued? [read on...]
CHECK THE CHECK. We often see people at restaurants or stores hand over the credit card or plop down the cash without even looking at the bill. Sometimes it's because they just don't want to think about what they spent and other times it's more of an ego thing ("I'm such The Man, I don't have to look at bills because money is no issue for me). Alas, mistakes do occur. Manisha had THREE recently happen to her:
"I was at local restaurant and they rang up an entree twice, turning a $15 dollar breakfast for two into a $25 breakfast for two. The second was at the grocery store. I ordered a pound of ground beef and it got labeled a pound of filet mignon! So a $6 chunk of meat turned into a $16 chunk of meat. Then my homeowner dues got auto-debited from my account twice, doubling my monthly payment. Not one of these people were trying to "take me for a ride." The mistakes were all genuine human error. The first guy accidentally hit the key twice, the second guy entered in the wrong code when wrapping the meat, the third was a result of a computer glitch. Yikes—thank goodness I was looking."
CLASSIC BILLS TO KEEP AN EYE ON: Restaurants, grocery stores, credit card bills, check bank statements for auto debits. If you add extra payments to your mortgage or credit cards, make sure they get properly credited as well. It's amazing how often mistake can happen. Taking just a little bit of time to keep an eye on your bills can literally help you "find money."
Finally, if you've found this article helpful, please forward it to a few friends so they can learn too. As we like to say of our book ON MY OWN TWO FEET..."It's more than a book—it's a movement!" Our goal with these articles is nothing short of inspiring millions of Americans learn to live their lives from a position of financial strength.
Manisha Thakor & Sharon Kedar are Chartered Financial Analysts and co-authors of On My Own Two Feet. They wrote this financial-health guide to give women the tools they need to take charge of their financial lives, and to inspire women everywhere to increase both their confidence and their financial security. Learn more at www.OnMyOwnTwoFeet.com.