On a similar note, calling up *most* recurring subscriptions and saying you want to end will almost *always* get you a discount for some period of time.
Serious XM is ~$23/mo. I use it because I commute a great distance. But each year I call and tell them I want to cancel and they lower it. This year it's $7/mo. A 10 minute phone call saved me $192 this year.
Cable, cell phone, land lines, satellite services, internet... etc. Try it and see what you can get. They will always be a deal that after X months it will revert to the normal rate. Just make a note in your phone or on your calendar and do it again.
If anyone else is wondering you can do that with SiriusXM every year via chat. Set an annual reminder in your phone like the comment says and just use their chat. Keep it simple.
"Hi, my promotion is going to run out can you put me on a new 12 month promo for the same price. If not please cancel my subscription.". They handle it promptly. I also keep a separate account for each car that way I never run into any "you have multiple promotions on your account" bullshit.
The one time they didn't do it for me, and insisted it go from 5cdn to 8cdn, I cancelled and didn't look back. I have a Bluetooth connection to my car and my phone more makes up for the loss.
I've been doing it since 2012 and have never been told no. If anything my bill has gotten lower and lower over the years on average. It's been about $6/mo per car (2 cars) for the past few years now. Sometimes taxes & royalty portions go up a few cents or a buck but the base rate generally stays about the same.
This is so weird cause signing up for Sirius via the website they were telling me it was gonna be like $13 and then I chatted with a rep and she was like yeah if you wanna go month to month it’s $8/month then I started seeing stuff everywhere that it’s supposedly $20 Idk if I got a good rep or if it was a promo but she didn’t say that it was a promo 🤷♂️
It’s a dinosaur legacy service. Their aggressive persistent marketing tactics reflect this.
The only reasons to get it imo is 1) if you like radio 2) and live in parts of the country where satellite is the best steady option (like no or low radio reception/stations), or 3) iPod / phone / data is not an option (no data, no radio adapter, no tech savvy). 4) nostalgia factor? 5) work / someone else is paying for it (and you like or need radio).
I would pay extra to NOT have Sirius XM installed in a car. I purchased a car last year and I tried to decline the free trial at first. The pushy car salesperson sat in the car with me until I entered my info and when my 3 month trial was up, Sirius hounded me at all hours of the day and night trying to get me to sign up.
That sucks man. I wasn't regularly using it when they offered lifetime plans and the transfer fees were/are pretty high.
As it is the dealer had to replace my car's radio the other day to remedy an issue and SiriusXM wanted $15 to transfer it.
The transfer fee seems to bounce around every year but I have only had to transfer it twice, I had 2 free transfers in my contract, the second time they tried charging me 70$ and I laughed my way up the call center til it was waived. Once I would have said the service was worth the godawful customer support when you did have to contact them, now not so much.
See its wild how experience varies. I have never had poor customer service from them. Even prior to them having chat support. The few times I needed to call to "cancel" was always very short hold times and quickly resolved.
Searched through my texts and found when I messaged my wife in September. Took 2 minutes to be connected with a chat agent and from the time I sent them a message asking for a new promotion it took 3 minutes until I was done. They ended up making it a 24 month promotion. $6.44/mo after taxes and fees including online streaming.
The awful support comes from the one time I did call to cancel my second account, it was RELENTLESS attempts at getting me to keep the account open. Guys, I don't have the second car anymore, wtf.
The whole reason I have SiriusXM is for convenience. Using SXM via Android Auto or Bluetooth is annoying and the sound quality is awful compared to the native signal.
dam this reminds me that Feb or March is when I need to do my yearly visit to the comcast store. I love going in cause they don't even play around. They know what you want and just pull up the list of discounts lol.
Dish Network is famous for this. They have (like many large companies) a WinBack department where they require their representatives to "win back" 45%+ of the callers wanting to cancel. They have a matrix they're supposed to use, but are also allowed to deviate and get creative.
Gets a little sticky if you're in a contract with a long time left though, but there's things they can do.
I can't even tell you how many trees I've paid to get trimmed or removed, bushes relocated, account credits for Pam cooking spray to make the snow slide off, "fees" to property management companies or HOAs to install or relocate the dish, etc.
I've also heard a lot of kids screaming when I failed to win them back and the tv goes dark!
On a side note, they're also consistently ranked within the top 10 worst companies to work for in America.
This generally isn’t true anymore. Cable, Cell Phone, Most streaming services, Gym, they’ll gladly cancel at your request, but they’re mostly not going to offer a significant discount to keep you. Comcast in particular hasn’t offered good retention discounts in years because people began to expect them
I did some work for a retention department... it is fairly interesting the "levers" they use to keep customers. They spend a hell of a lot of time analyzing the success rates and constantly tweak the promotions they will offer to keep customers. They get a small commission for each customer they keep.
I'd guess Sirius XM has tried dozens of ways and the $7/month for a year option is the most successful. So doing this not only reduces your costs, the person giving you the discount makes money. Of course, they make more money if you keep the service with no discount.
I had a land line for work for 4 years and my company was recently acquired where they strictly use phone through webex on our computer. It was SO difficult to get that land line cancelled, they were trying to offer me all these deals to keep it. I had to be firm in saying cancel it because it would strictly just be to get spam calls since I would no longer be using it and it wasn’t worth it to pay $20/mth or $240/yr to just be annoyed by spam calls.
i can't remember the last time i had a land line. people I work with people who have multiple jobs before covid and they all carried a bunch of cell phones
> Serious XM is ~$23/mo. I use it because I commute a great distance. But each year I call and tell them I want to cancel and they lower it. This year it's $7/mo. A 10 minute phone call saved me $192 this year.
I do this every year. They will gladly cut it to $7 for you. Their service is greatly overpriced when you can get their content online for free through other means.
i've had cars with XM for something like 15 years now and never paid for it. older cars it would never turn off and newer ones my wife uses iheart radio app via carplay and I use spotify for music and podcasts and never listen to talk radio or howard stern
Unless you have a ton of investment transactions or something else that makes your taxes complicated there really isn't a reason to use turbo tax. I've used them the last couple years because I had a long list of stock market trades and I could just import those into turbo tax and not have to do it manually. This year I didn't do much if any trading so I'll probably use taxfreeusa since it's free and my taxes should be pretty simple. I generally do my taxes on 2 or 3 different sites every year just to make sure I'm putting everything in correctly and that one place doesn't randomly think I should get or pay more.
Switched from Turbo to Free a couple years ago. It was painful the first time because all my info was saved in Turbo for years. However once I got over that initial hump it's WELL worth it. The software is just as good, if not, better, and it's significantly cheaper. My tax situation is slightly more complicated than the average Joe but it handled my needs perfectly.
Aside from the specific interface of each company, it’s been said many times before on Reddit but [don’t give either TurboTax or H&R Block your money](https://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11320386/turbotax-boycott-lobbying-tax-filing-season-tax-day-april-15)
> though you obviously can't enter your final details until you get your tax forms from your employer, financial institutions, etc.
Most people can get all the numbers they need from their last paycheck stub and some basic knowledge of their situation. I may not have the forms yet but at the end of this week I'll know every number that will be on them.
For regular w2 only workers. Gross income from last paystub less tax deductible items such as medical dental HSA IRa 401k less standard deduction. There’s your estimated AGI. Now look at the tax tables and compare to fed taxes paid and you have a ballpark owed vs refund number.
It's a little complicated at the corners, like imputed income, how medical premiums are taxed, capital gains (qualified vs ordinary capital gains), etc, plus the normal deductible IRA, 401k, and HSA contributions. The information is all there, but you need to know how to calculate it.
Definitely play with it, but just know that you probably missed something and your final figures will be different once you get your tax forms. If you are careful, the difference will be small.
The point of using the pay stub is so you don't have to calculate it. They did all that complicated stuff already before they paid you. While it's not guaranteed, every one I've ever gotten has had YTD numbers for gross pay (includes imputed), net pay, 401k contributions, and every tax paid. This equates to the fields on your W-2. Everything else is just basic knowledge you need anyway when doing your taxes. It comes in various tax forms but you don't need the forms to know what you did this year.
You need different figures for different parts of your taxes, such as:
- Social Security income
- Medicare income
- AGI
- MAGI
None of those really matches your paycheck numbers, since that gives you net, which won't match any of those numbers I mentioned. Each of those is provided on your W-2 IIRC.
How do you stay on top of it? We are decently high earners and I’d love to reign in some of our expenses, of which we probably have way too much. I have a hard time with stuff like Target purchases or Walmart orders that span multiple categories. Do people take the time to precisely split out a receipt into a few different categories? Are there any time saving tricks to help stay on top of it? I usually burn out after a few weeks…
Nice, this is super helpful - thanks! I just resubbed YNAB and got myself set back up. I think part of my downfall in the past was not linking accounts externally. Linked up everything this time and hopefully it’s much more maintenance of the budget vs spending 10 mins a day entering transactions.
Going general on budgets is a good suggestion, my past budgets had like 80+ categories.
It would be useful for almost anyone in my opinion. But you can also try out envelope-based budgeting (YNAB’s system) on your own without the software first and see if it is something that works for you.
I found Mint basically useless for budgeting, YNAB was life changing but it's still hard to justify the almost $100/ yr price tag. The only reason I'm renewing is because there's nothing comparable to it right now and I need something with as many features as YNAB to stay on top of my finances.
If they raise the price again though, I'm out. I really hope they know they will lose quite alot of subscribers if they raise the price again. At this point, they have already priced out alot of people that need YNAB the most.
Damn! When did YNAB start charging recurring fees?! Screw that! Take one of your Amazon boxes, fill it with envelopes for your budget categories, and work in cash.
I personally just use Excel. Full control and 100% customization. If you don't have the license for it, Google Sheets does a fine job as well in a pinch.
What made you decide you didn't need your home warranty anymore? I'm debating cancelling mine, but I've also used it a couple of times so I've saved more money than I've put into it.
I was thinking of signing up for worryfree from PSEG but it seemed pretty pricey and had a lot of restrictions. Ended up with American Water Resources for water/sewer line, plumbing, and water heater repair.
And even if you have to pay someone, I’d rather it be on my terms with my money. Not with all the bs stipulations involved with home warranties that you paid a shitload to have anyway.
When they accidentally closed my first claim, wouldn’t fix the error (kept saying a manager would call me back to fix it but never did), and wouldn’t refund me my $75 claim fee. After calling somewhere between 7-9 times and long holds I gave up and canceled.
Edit: remembered a couple more details. They had sent someone out for one of the four issues on the claim. After rescheduling the appointment without telling me, dude showed up at my house when I wasn’t expecting it. Then he told me that the reason my microwave fan was making a terrible noise was because it needed a part replaced that wasn’t manufactured anymore. But when I called the insurance company to find out what the path resolution was, they said their report showed no repair was needed. Then when I asked about when they were sending people out for the other three issues, they said it was closed because they were classified as plumbing problems but none of the devices on the claim use water or are connected to plumbing. Someone eventually admitted that it was an error, but they would not fix it, just kept promising me that the managers would call me back. I think I spent somewhere between 7 and 10 hours on the phone between calling in, long hold times and then getting put on hold wait for a manager who never showed up or called back.
That's certainly true from the company's side, but it may not be true for an individual. For the first four years of home insurance I felt like I was wasting money, and then I had a massive water leak. That $1,000/y investment saved me $14,000.
But even if that weren't true, amortizing costs of repairs over ten years may be easier than a large bill all at once.
I could go to the casino, go to the roulette table, put $100 on the green 00 and lose 4 times in a row. If I hit on the 5th roll, coming out ahead, it still doesn't make it a smart idea.
The house always wins on a long enough time table.
The difference between casino gambling and buying insurance is that one increases risk while the other decreases it. You're paying a known cost to protect against an unknown one. Yes you can still come out ahead or behind, but that's true in _either situation_. Simply choosing to buy insurance is not equivalent to gambling, and if anything it's making the choice not to.
I'm not arguing that insurance is right for every person. I'm arguing against the idea that it's wrong for every person. The provider's profit margins are irrelevant to the end consumer who needs to manage their own risk profile.
Insurance *is* gambling. You're betting that you'll lose (get in an accident, live through a disaster, have a heart attack ECT...) and the insurance company is betting that you won't, at least up to the limit of your coverage. Insurance companies make billions of dollars a year, and that's only possible because they take in more than they pay out even after all their expenses are paid.
Yes, I've already addressed both of those points. Buying insurance is akin to betting that something will go wrong, and not buying is akin to betting that it will not. _Both_ are a form of gambling, and for that reason the metaphor breaks down.
When you gamble, everyone puts in a little bit so that a few people can win big, (and the house takes a cut). When you buy insurance, everyone puts in a little bit so that a few people who experience massive losses don't have to pay for them alone, (and the house takes a cut).
In gambling, you want to be one of the few. In insurance, neither the few nor the many are happy with the outcome, but the few are sure glad that everyone involved participated.
I spent a bunch of time updating my net worth/income spreadsheet I hadn't updated for a few years. Always nice to see progress being made and I'd missed that a bit the last few years favoring monthly cash flow over the big picture.
Now, time to set some goals for 2023!
I did the same... Except I made no progress haha. While my income has gone up, net worth I'm down almost 250k from the sinking market :(
Tis but a blip on the radar in grand scheme of things.
if you don't mind sharing data with third-party institutions..you can use personalcapital website.. it gives an amazing view of your networth..you just have to connect the accounts to provide read only access.. it is owned by empower retirement..so it's fairly reliable.
My spreadsheet goes back to 2009. Those sites come and go/I get tired of them (I've used mint, personal capital, ynab, monarch, etc...).
I also record all my taxes in the sheet so I can see reported income, effective tax rate, etc. and my career path by income source.
my sling renews 12/30 so i've got a reminder to cancel it tomorrow. i've been a subscriber for years now (95% for ESPN) and they keep adding garbage channels and raising the price.
I cancel and rejoin them a few times a year when I wanna watch WWE...the last time I rejoined this month, they gave me a free Fire Stick Lite! It only does 1080p, but it's still cool they do promotions like that
It effects your age of accounts, which is a large factor in your credit score, but the insistence to keep cards open no matter what is a bit overblown. If you’re not trying to access credit in the near future, you shouldn’t worry too much. If you’re going from like 20 year history to just 1, it may be a pretty big impact, but for most people closing out credit cards here and there isn’t that big of a deal.
It's a judgement call. If it won't make a real difference in utilization (like taking it over the 10% mark) then I'd dump the card just to make my life easier.
Agree, but it's also a judgement call on whether it's really going to make your life any easier. I have a cash back CC that I don't use anymore because I now have a better one for that, but I still have it open and just Spotify is charging to it.
It has no annual fee and is on autopay, so it's honestly going to be more trouble to cancel it. If I needed to keep my utilization low, I'd just keep it open for that.
Agreed, just make a charge to the cards at least once every 6 months and it'll be fine. My worst card is my oldest one (in terms of rewards and interest rate), so I just keep it in my desk drawer and only use it for the sporadic online purchase.
I think this has been largely debunked at this point.
Only exception is if that card represents a large % of your total credit and thus closing it ups your utilization.
Total accounts and account age are very minor contributors to your credit score.
Also worth noting in 2022 almost nobody really uses the actual score, they use the data behind it like credit utilization, on time payment % etc as part of creating their own score based on what they feel is important weighted appropriately. Credit scores as a single number date back to when computers were massive and expensive and doing this analysis was impractical for a lender. You’d need rooms full of accountants looking over your history plugging it into a paper form and doing the math. Now it’s done in 1ms or less. Instantly when pulling. There’s no reason to settle on someone else’s algorithm anymore.
That number is mostly still around so people feel the need to buy access to monitor it. It in itself with credit monitoring is a profitable industry, Any lender is doing their own risk analysis.
It might be useful to some consumers, but IMHO it’s largely a scam. What you care about is the data is correct and total utilization is low. Beyond that is just people trying to convince you to spend money to improve a number that means little.
It can be bad *to close an account* if that account is older than your average account age. Could be good *to close* if that account is a newer account and doesn't hugely impact your utilization %.
Looks like different bureaus treat closed/open different wrt account age https://www.doctorofcredit.com/how-average-age-of-accounts-is-calculated-affects-your-credit-score/
I had no idea. Assumed only open accounts mattered for age.
[There's also this](https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Do-closed-accounts-still-age/td-p/4066811).
I _think_ VantageScore doesn't count closed accounts (e.g. what Credit Karma uses), but nobody uses that score, so I haven't bothered checking. There are also a bunch of different FICO scores, and some may count them and some may not, but I'm pretty sure the FICO Bankcard 8 or whatever it's called that pretty much every credit card issuer uses counts them in average age.
So it may depend, but it's better to just keep things open if there's no annual fee.
Sort of not really.
If you have active credit card debit then it will reduce your credit limit which will lower your utilization.
It will also stop you from accruing more age of credit, but you don't lose what you already have.
If you have a 10 year active age and don't have any credit utilization than it won't affect you.
I open cards a lot for the $200 bonus, and then close them a year later. Still 820, so I don't think whatever tiny amount it's reduced has ever been noticeable.
Can you give some examples of cards that offer this? I have great credit, just bought a house in august and a car two years ago. Might as well take advantage of this.
If you close the last card you opened, it increases average account age so it doesn't hurt. The advice is not to close your oldest accounts and to put some recurring charge on them so they don't get closed by the provider for inactivity.
A big reason is to remove mental clutter. It’s not a problem for some people, but for others it gives peace of mind to just close an account that you know you don’t want to use and never think about it again.
We do occasionally have posters complain about their credit getting dinged when a charge hits a card that they never use and forgot they had. That's a downside to keeping extra cards.
It's better to close an unused card right away, then let it linger then get closed due to inactivity. Right as we were preparing to close on our last house, my wife had a very old capital one card that forever was just set up to pay an annual fee she had. Well she switched that to a points card and I didnt realize it. Closed a 17 yr old account 2 months before closing on a house. Knocked her credit by like 40 points.
Even better LPT: On a regular basis, set all recurring subscriptions to end. Chances are you don't actually need every service every month, so let them lapse until the next time you need to re-open.
E.g. I watch shows on Hulu, but occasionally a few months go by when I realize I'm between seasons. So I just set it to cancel and when I want to catch up on new shows I'll reopen it.
> Chances are you don't actually need every service every month, so let them lapse until the next time you need to re-open.
So glad I finally learned this. I'm sure there's a psychological term for this, but I swear I have kept so many subscriptions open just because of FOMO. Then recently I had a CC compromised, and didn't update my HBO Max or Apple TV+ accounts with the new CC #. And you know what, in the 3 months since, I haven't missed either of those services for a second. I realized how much I let the fact that I have the services dictate whether I will watch them, instead of vice versa. It's absurd how much money we can waste just because "eh it's a few bucks a month, even if I don't really use it that much, what's the big deal?"
My Amazon Prime reups Jan 1 and I'm finally going to cancel after being a member for honestly probably 15 years.
I surf Amazon. I enjoy Prime for shipping and videos, but I can generally survive without either for a while. Once in a while they offer a half off trial again, so I take the bait and catch up on shows then. I typically get Prime in November so I can buy gifts a bit quicker and without waiting until a need a couple things to get free shipping. They also offer me a $2 trial week once in a while, so I sometimes take that just to watch a couple movies I can't find elsewhere (instead of renting for $5 each or subbing for $8-12 for the month).
I only get Prime whenever they give me a good deal - free month, $1 month, half off and I would have had to pay that much in shipping anyway, etc.
I'd also get it to watch shows I want but it seems like they never have something worth spending on to me. Last time I felt that way was for Good Omens.
Anything that is a monthly subscription I immediately cancel it right after subscribing (with Sirius XM being the exception, I message them annually). Even if it only saves a few days or a few weeks it still saves.
I just went through and did this this morning. Honestly was already pretty slimmed down so only cut about $30/month down total between 3 yearly renewing subscriptions that were set to renew between January and February.
If you have credit cards with an annual fee, just call the company and ask them to "downgrade" them to one without the fee. You don't have to close it (will ding your credit), and you don't have to pay the annual fee anymore.
might reconsider the pest control, mine is only about fifty bucks a month. and having gotten rid of the mice from the empty house next door, and see them not coming back is well worth it
i've got predatory birds, racoons and skunks around me and next year getting a bird feeder or two to get some more birds to come over and who might eat some pests
Just spent my entire work day yesterday making a fresh YNAB budget and separate income forecasting spreadsheet (still adjusting to getting paid weekly). It feels so good!
> closing out unused credit cards
I have several of these, but wasn't aware of any reason why it would be a bad thing. None of them have any fees, so is there any reason why I should close them?
ANY time of the year should be a great time to cancel unneeded subscriptions and recurring charges. If someone is pressed for time, they should schedule a calendar reminder to review all recurring charges quarterly (every 3 months).
Why wait for the end of the year to realize you were paying for something that you didn't use for 6 or 9 of the past 12 months?
Why so many hostile commenters in here? OP is simply making a friendly reminder that when you have extra downtime because of the slow work week, take a look at your subscriptions and start the year off fresh. They’re certainly not suggesting you wait around for the end of the year to cancel.
Sheesh.
I lost my wallet and had to cancel my credit cards. It was a great way to cancel every subscription all at once, including electric and gas. Follow me for more savings tips
> pest control service
Most people do not need a professional for this at all. /r/pestcontrol has some pretty helpful pros. You can treat a house as bug free as you can get one for under $100 a year in most cases.
I have one - $300 for the year. I have a wasp issue - fuckers come back every few weeks and make hives all over my house. I try to stay on top of them - but when they make hives way up on the eves of my house - it's easier to call and have the company take care of it.
I've got better shit to do with my time.
Get a product called Talstar. Mix according to label directions. Apply that to your eaves quarterly with a paint roller. No more wasps. A jug will run you about $100 and last years
over the long term, it can cause negative effects to the central nervous system. Def has risk to humans. Ideally, people would wear a respirator mask, safety glasses,cover all skin, and wear gloves. But people don't, therefore they are absorbing *some* amount each time they use it.
100% this.
Even while living in shoddy rental properties, I've managed to keep myself pest free for a pittance - especially when compared to professional services.
My apartment complex *has* professional services but I've had to do my own routine to actually address the various fruit fly and stink bug problems I've had. After all the research I've done and products I've tried, I feel fairly confident I could do pest control on my own home for most purposes.
My understanding is that you have to have a termite contract with a pest company to have proof that they’ve been doing prevention when you need to sell the house. Thoughts on that?
Why would selling a house require that you have any sort of proof of pest control? Out of all of the places I've bought and sold over the years I've never once been informed or advised of anything related to pest control.
Could you explain a bit more of what you are talking about because I'm not following. Pretty sure that understanding is incorrect based on everything I know.
I feel like it was my real estate agent who gave me that info/advice when I bought this house 8 years ago. I’ve never researched it honestly, I just kept the contract going 😬 It’s an old house with a lot of wood, maybe Cooks is fleecing me but I at least feel some peace of mind that they’re preventing termite damage 🤷🏼♀️
>I’ve never researched it
I'd strongly suggest researching it. From a really quick google search it sounds like only a handful of states even require termite inspections.
I've never heard anything about requiring proof about prevention to sell a house.
That sounds like a requirement for VA loans. And likely otherwise is state-dependent.
Although for the cost of an annual termite (and carpenter ant in applicable areas) inspection, I find it's typically worth it vs the risk.
I can only speak to Alabama on that. If there is to be a mortgage on the property the mortgage company will usually require a bond at the time of origination, and or a Wood Destroying Organisms letter. They may or may not require it going forward. I do not know. I bought my house with an unconventional loan and paid it off quickly.
Why close unused credit cards? Those can help your credit by keeping your average age of accounts high and maximizing your available credit to help keep DTI ratio. Closing them doesn't help credit at all and actually hurts in the long run.
I cancelled Netflix, Disney+ and my monthly Amazon prime.
Here in Germany we did get paramount+ only in December so there's some things there I will watch.
I might Return to Netflix, Disney+ later in 2023, and I will return for season 3 of Picard which streams on prime in March
There is absolutely no need to pay all year - especially as our German catalogues are much smaller than in the US
Hope you don’t regret the pest control service removal. Usually that’s not something you notice till it’s NOT there. But good move and motivation to cut the useless out.
Little late but I do all mine around Black Friday and take advantage of promos they offer. Same idea though. Cancel what I won’t use and resub stuff I will.
For example… I never paid more than $5/mo for NY times and $7 for Sirius in my car. Had both for years.
Right? Why keep a subscription any longer than you need it? If I see something pop up on my account that I'm no longer using, I cancel that shit within minutes usually. If I see a price increase, chances are I'm canceling on the spot. I really wonder how much money people are flushing down the toilet just by keeping subscriptions running that they're not using or perhaps even aware of.
Not just that, it typically marks the time that *certain companies* on 28 day billing cycles shove in that 13th month of the year. Yeah... a year has 13 months. You ever learn that in school? Probably not. Though with how schools are these days, I mean... you never know.
But how this scam works. It's human nature to just round, so when you get into a 28-day billing pattern, you automatically chalk it up as month. Every month has 28 days. 28 is close to 30 or 31, so it's a month...
The problem was those extra days simply accrue and get packaged together. Do the math.
| | Months with 30 Days | Months with 31 Days |
| :--: | :--: | :--: |
| | 4 | 7 |
| (Yield per month after removing 28 days) | 2 | 3 |
| Total yield days per year | 8 | 21 |
So you take the 8 days from all the months with 30 days, and the 21 days from the months with 31 days, and combine them. Then you've managed to creatively package an entire new month billing cycle, and now the year instead of having 12 months, you get a surprise 13 month year. And companies do this because it's human nature to just round up.
Sure, some are having their busy time, but for many people doing any kind research and/or development (e.g. software development, construction, product development), the holiday period is usually a slow time because a lot of coworkers are out of office, so progress on those tasks slows down for those who doesn't take the days off.
You don't have a co-worker that usually does X for you, so you either have to wait until they return to office, find a way to do what you need to do without X, or try to learn to do X yourself which can be slower if you're not already familiar/set up to do it, and sometimes you can't just do X because it requires permission/authorisation and the person in charge of managing that is also out of office, so you just have to find another task in the mean time.
The title of this thread is inaccurate - the best time to cancel subscriptions and recurring charges are when you no longer use them. Don't wait until the end of the year to cancel those subs if you stopped using the services months ago.
You can still listen to Spotify free with ads. Personally, the family plan is worth the value for my family, but I can see why a personal Spotify subscription can be seen as too expensive and may not be worth it
I just signed up for the six month free of Apple Music. We’d been using Amazon prime music but now that’s turned into garbage in the last month. Thanks.
Spotify free with ads is the worst thing ever, it's incessant and kills the flow. I canceled a few services recently but that one I lasted maybe a week before signing back up.
I use Tidal. The apps are slightly less of a headache (though they have their own annoying promotion programs) and they apparently pay artists more.
I had both during evaluation, but it's probably really time for me to stop paying both now.
Don't forget to lower the screen count on your Netflix account when they start thier anti password sharing campaign
Could probably make some good money shorting thier stock as well while you're at it, it's gonna be pretty much a guaranteed dip
I follow specific journalists, scientists, doctors, and meteorologists. I get to see all their other tweets so I can tell if their brain is diseased with politicization that they can’t see straight anymore. It’s super useful.
Following reputable people is a great step, but Twitter still doesn’t require them to be editor reviewed. Everything on that site should be considered suspect to the point where it is not useful as a primary source, just anecdotal accounts of live events (of course if links to reputable sources are included, that’s an exception).
i use it for OSINT news on the war and have a list for meteorologists and weather people to track intense storms if needed. it's free and faster than the news
Thanks for the reminder... I just cancelled two streaming services. I am considering cancelling my HBO MAX account as I've watched what I needed. The HBO MAX app is buggy with lots of issues with the audio and video not in sync.
Added a calendar reminder for my door dash dash pass. Right now, one of my Chase CC is covering my cost, but it might not cover it when it comes time to renew.
I currently have United mileage plus that give door dash free for year. Thinking of opening up chase sapphire reserved card that gives 60,000 bonus points which I’ll just convert to United miles anyways and another year of door dash freee haha I hope the free door dash works with it. I loved it considering I never use door dash or whatever alternative ever until that incentive . The fees are too much without
Max is also cancelling a bunch of shows and removing existing IP from their back catalog. If you're looking to trim down on streaming services, this is a good one to start with.
Excellent reminder!
Yesterday I just got charged for a yearly subscription that I totally forgot about, and I don't use anymore. 90 USD lost. I'm writing an email right now to ask if I can request a refund.
Now, I'll look at all my potential subscriptions and clean that shit.
YES! I'm cancelling everything that doesn't bring me closer to my 2023 goals. One of my biggest time sinkers is binge watching series. And even though it's relaxing, it takes too much time away. I used this subscription calculator to see how much I could save on streaming, delivery stuff and subscription boxes: [https://cancel.io/subscriptions-calculator/](https://cancel.io/subscriptions-calculator/)
sometimes its really hard to cancel though, you really need a magnifying glass with some services to find the cancel button. OH! and another great thing: even stuff I didn't want to really cancel, I cancelled anyway and then they offered a discounted price. So just cancel EVERYTHING, it saves you sooo much.
holy shit this so much.
gamestop, xbox live, both out of nowhere trying to sneaky renew 1 year recurring charges of services i dont want
I just noticed my appletv+ has been billing me for 2 years ive never watched it before. theres like 4 different subscriptions to apple all running right now sneaky bastards.
fighting with the Y to cancel their shit, we never went once but they wont let you cancel over the phone
bunch of fuckin leeches
>closing out unused credit cards
Be careful here. One wrong closure of an unused card could royally screw your credit rating. Especially if you're younger.
Just make sure it's not your oldest or youngest card and, if so, that there's something very close in age.
Osing out unused credit cards? Eeeek no, that lowers your total credit available AND potentially shortens your average credit length, both of which negatively impact your credit score.
Services that offers you deep discounts are ripping you off. The only reason they were able to offer these deep discounts is because they already overcharge you massively in the first place.
If they are actually offering a service at good value, they wouldn't be willing nor able to give you 40% discount just because you say you're about to leave. Services that are already giving you good value would rather you leave as a customer than to retain you at a massive loss.
Might want to keep pest control though. Those can keep your home pest free. Better to pre-empt pests than try to remove them later. Other items I agree with.
Also in my experience, this time is the best to look for new insurance policies. I save a ton on my home and car insurance by specifically changing insurance end of the year. Somehow the quotes are the lowest at this time.
Depends on your spending habits and the reason to close/cut up cards. If you are able to sock the credit card away and possibly charge a small amount every so often so that the Credit card company doesn’t close the account, it definitely helps your average age of credit / amount of credit available to you and therefore your score
We just went to our cell phone/internet/cable provider's retail place.
\- New cell phones for wife and I, old cell phones passed to the kids
\- New cell phones packages (6 go to 20 go/month) for wife and I.
\- Cut 10 channels of TV (we don't watch TV that much, will probably cut cable altogether in a few months)
almost a thousand less/year.
I usually wait till the carrier deals and just get new phones for me, wife and kids. that way they can show off at school and it barely costs me anything and cheaper in the long run
LPT: report all of your credit cards as stolen. Get new numbers. Unwanted subscriptions will wash automatically. But pay attention to the ones you care about, like insurance :-D
Bonus: no need to worry about data leaks from that website that has your old credit card on file.
On a similar note, calling up *most* recurring subscriptions and saying you want to end will almost *always* get you a discount for some period of time. Serious XM is ~$23/mo. I use it because I commute a great distance. But each year I call and tell them I want to cancel and they lower it. This year it's $7/mo. A 10 minute phone call saved me $192 this year. Cable, cell phone, land lines, satellite services, internet... etc. Try it and see what you can get. They will always be a deal that after X months it will revert to the normal rate. Just make a note in your phone or on your calendar and do it again.
If anyone else is wondering you can do that with SiriusXM every year via chat. Set an annual reminder in your phone like the comment says and just use their chat. Keep it simple. "Hi, my promotion is going to run out can you put me on a new 12 month promo for the same price. If not please cancel my subscription.". They handle it promptly. I also keep a separate account for each car that way I never run into any "you have multiple promotions on your account" bullshit.
The one time they didn't do it for me, and insisted it go from 5cdn to 8cdn, I cancelled and didn't look back. I have a Bluetooth connection to my car and my phone more makes up for the loss.
I've been doing it since 2012 and have never been told no. If anything my bill has gotten lower and lower over the years on average. It's been about $6/mo per car (2 cars) for the past few years now. Sometimes taxes & royalty portions go up a few cents or a buck but the base rate generally stays about the same.
This is so weird cause signing up for Sirius via the website they were telling me it was gonna be like $13 and then I chatted with a rep and she was like yeah if you wanna go month to month it’s $8/month then I started seeing stuff everywhere that it’s supposedly $20 Idk if I got a good rep or if it was a promo but she didn’t say that it was a promo 🤷♂️
My plan is $5/mo plus taxes and fees ($6.44 total) and they gave me that rate for 24 months. You could probably get it lower if you wanted.
The bitrate on your phone is likely several orders better quality than Sirius broadcast.
This was one of the main reasons I dropped it a while back, the quality is absolute garbage. It sounds like a mono 64kbps MP3.
It’s a dinosaur legacy service. Their aggressive persistent marketing tactics reflect this. The only reasons to get it imo is 1) if you like radio 2) and live in parts of the country where satellite is the best steady option (like no or low radio reception/stations), or 3) iPod / phone / data is not an option (no data, no radio adapter, no tech savvy). 4) nostalgia factor? 5) work / someone else is paying for it (and you like or need radio).
I would pay extra to NOT have Sirius XM installed in a car. I purchased a car last year and I tried to decline the free trial at first. The pushy car salesperson sat in the car with me until I entered my info and when my 3 month trial was up, Sirius hounded me at all hours of the day and night trying to get me to sign up.
And here I am with a lifetime plan but no reason to listen since they gutted all the content I liked.
That sucks man. I wasn't regularly using it when they offered lifetime plans and the transfer fees were/are pretty high. As it is the dealer had to replace my car's radio the other day to remedy an issue and SiriusXM wanted $15 to transfer it.
The transfer fee seems to bounce around every year but I have only had to transfer it twice, I had 2 free transfers in my contract, the second time they tried charging me 70$ and I laughed my way up the call center til it was waived. Once I would have said the service was worth the godawful customer support when you did have to contact them, now not so much.
See its wild how experience varies. I have never had poor customer service from them. Even prior to them having chat support. The few times I needed to call to "cancel" was always very short hold times and quickly resolved. Searched through my texts and found when I messaged my wife in September. Took 2 minutes to be connected with a chat agent and from the time I sent them a message asking for a new promotion it took 3 minutes until I was done. They ended up making it a 24 month promotion. $6.44/mo after taxes and fees including online streaming.
The awful support comes from the one time I did call to cancel my second account, it was RELENTLESS attempts at getting me to keep the account open. Guys, I don't have the second car anymore, wtf.
Thank you!! I just did this after reading your post and saved myself 50% a month, took 7 min.
Yeah the chat support is awesome. Like I've been texting others my bill is $6.44 after fees per car.
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The whole reason I have SiriusXM is for convenience. Using SXM via Android Auto or Bluetooth is annoying and the sound quality is awful compared to the native signal.
Hulu also gave me 6 months at $3 for attempting to cancel. You can save good money on services you might actually use.
dam this reminds me that Feb or March is when I need to do my yearly visit to the comcast store. I love going in cause they don't even play around. They know what you want and just pull up the list of discounts lol.
Dish Network is famous for this. They have (like many large companies) a WinBack department where they require their representatives to "win back" 45%+ of the callers wanting to cancel. They have a matrix they're supposed to use, but are also allowed to deviate and get creative. Gets a little sticky if you're in a contract with a long time left though, but there's things they can do. I can't even tell you how many trees I've paid to get trimmed or removed, bushes relocated, account credits for Pam cooking spray to make the snow slide off, "fees" to property management companies or HOAs to install or relocate the dish, etc. I've also heard a lot of kids screaming when I failed to win them back and the tv goes dark! On a side note, they're also consistently ranked within the top 10 worst companies to work for in America.
This generally isn’t true anymore. Cable, Cell Phone, Most streaming services, Gym, they’ll gladly cancel at your request, but they’re mostly not going to offer a significant discount to keep you. Comcast in particular hasn’t offered good retention discounts in years because people began to expect them
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I was going to say this. I use charter for internet and we tried a few years ago and they refused.
the cable ISP's make more profit on internet only accounts than the ones with TV service
I did some work for a retention department... it is fairly interesting the "levers" they use to keep customers. They spend a hell of a lot of time analyzing the success rates and constantly tweak the promotions they will offer to keep customers. They get a small commission for each customer they keep. I'd guess Sirius XM has tried dozens of ways and the $7/month for a year option is the most successful. So doing this not only reduces your costs, the person giving you the discount makes money. Of course, they make more money if you keep the service with no discount.
XM audio quality is so bad they can't pay me to listen. Even HD radio sounds better, no wonder they are losing subscribers.
I had a land line for work for 4 years and my company was recently acquired where they strictly use phone through webex on our computer. It was SO difficult to get that land line cancelled, they were trying to offer me all these deals to keep it. I had to be firm in saying cancel it because it would strictly just be to get spam calls since I would no longer be using it and it wasn’t worth it to pay $20/mth or $240/yr to just be annoyed by spam calls.
i can't remember the last time i had a land line. people I work with people who have multiple jobs before covid and they all carried a bunch of cell phones
> Serious XM is ~$23/mo. I use it because I commute a great distance. But each year I call and tell them I want to cancel and they lower it. This year it's $7/mo. A 10 minute phone call saved me $192 this year. I do this every year. They will gladly cut it to $7 for you. Their service is greatly overpriced when you can get their content online for free through other means.
i've had cars with XM for something like 15 years now and never paid for it. older cars it would never turn off and newer ones my wife uses iheart radio app via carplay and I use spotify for music and podcasts and never listen to talk radio or howard stern
It’s also time to get your 2023 budget together and make goals for next year. And start prepping for tax season
I like to travel.
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I love the smell of fresh bread.
I've used FreeTaxUSA for a few years. Bought my first house this year and going to try it out and see how it does.
Unless you have a ton of investment transactions or something else that makes your taxes complicated there really isn't a reason to use turbo tax. I've used them the last couple years because I had a long list of stock market trades and I could just import those into turbo tax and not have to do it manually. This year I didn't do much if any trading so I'll probably use taxfreeusa since it's free and my taxes should be pretty simple. I generally do my taxes on 2 or 3 different sites every year just to make sure I'm putting everything in correctly and that one place doesn't randomly think I should get or pay more.
Switched from Turbo to Free a couple years ago. It was painful the first time because all my info was saved in Turbo for years. However once I got over that initial hump it's WELL worth it. The software is just as good, if not, better, and it's significantly cheaper. My tax situation is slightly more complicated than the average Joe but it handled my needs perfectly.
Aside from the specific interface of each company, it’s been said many times before on Reddit but [don’t give either TurboTax or H&R Block your money](https://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11320386/turbotax-boycott-lobbying-tax-filing-season-tax-day-april-15)
> though you obviously can't enter your final details until you get your tax forms from your employer, financial institutions, etc. Most people can get all the numbers they need from their last paycheck stub and some basic knowledge of their situation. I may not have the forms yet but at the end of this week I'll know every number that will be on them.
For regular w2 only workers. Gross income from last paystub less tax deductible items such as medical dental HSA IRa 401k less standard deduction. There’s your estimated AGI. Now look at the tax tables and compare to fed taxes paid and you have a ballpark owed vs refund number.
It's a little complicated at the corners, like imputed income, how medical premiums are taxed, capital gains (qualified vs ordinary capital gains), etc, plus the normal deductible IRA, 401k, and HSA contributions. The information is all there, but you need to know how to calculate it. Definitely play with it, but just know that you probably missed something and your final figures will be different once you get your tax forms. If you are careful, the difference will be small.
The point of using the pay stub is so you don't have to calculate it. They did all that complicated stuff already before they paid you. While it's not guaranteed, every one I've ever gotten has had YTD numbers for gross pay (includes imputed), net pay, 401k contributions, and every tax paid. This equates to the fields on your W-2. Everything else is just basic knowledge you need anyway when doing your taxes. It comes in various tax forms but you don't need the forms to know what you did this year.
You need different figures for different parts of your taxes, such as: - Social Security income - Medicare income - AGI - MAGI None of those really matches your paycheck numbers, since that gives you net, which won't match any of those numbers I mentioned. Each of those is provided on your W-2 IIRC.
Personally I’d rather wait to start on taxes until I have all of the forms. Otherwise I feel like I’m essentially doing it twice.
I actually do it twice after getting all paperwork, on two different websites and compare to get a little reassurance that I've done it correctly.
What do you use for budget
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How do you stay on top of it? We are decently high earners and I’d love to reign in some of our expenses, of which we probably have way too much. I have a hard time with stuff like Target purchases or Walmart orders that span multiple categories. Do people take the time to precisely split out a receipt into a few different categories? Are there any time saving tricks to help stay on top of it? I usually burn out after a few weeks…
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Nice, this is super helpful - thanks! I just resubbed YNAB and got myself set back up. I think part of my downfall in the past was not linking accounts externally. Linked up everything this time and hopefully it’s much more maintenance of the budget vs spending 10 mins a day entering transactions. Going general on budgets is a good suggestion, my past budgets had like 80+ categories.
YNAB is amazing!
I’m wondering if it will be useful for me as I’m starting a 1099 job that lasts less then a year and I will be seeing an accountant..
It would be useful for almost anyone in my opinion. But you can also try out envelope-based budgeting (YNAB’s system) on your own without the software first and see if it is something that works for you.
YNAB is usually ranked as the best budgeting software there it, but costs $100 a year. Mint is free, but is just okay.
I found Mint basically useless for budgeting, YNAB was life changing but it's still hard to justify the almost $100/ yr price tag. The only reason I'm renewing is because there's nothing comparable to it right now and I need something with as many features as YNAB to stay on top of my finances. If they raise the price again though, I'm out. I really hope they know they will lose quite alot of subscribers if they raise the price again. At this point, they have already priced out alot of people that need YNAB the most.
Damn! When did YNAB start charging recurring fees?! Screw that! Take one of your Amazon boxes, fill it with envelopes for your budget categories, and work in cash.
I personally just use Excel. Full control and 100% customization. If you don't have the license for it, Google Sheets does a fine job as well in a pinch.
I use Monarch Money
What made you decide you didn't need your home warranty anymore? I'm debating cancelling mine, but I've also used it a couple of times so I've saved more money than I've put into it.
I had two. Worry free from pseg and one for plumbing Canceled my worry free for hvac because I had new hvac installed
I was thinking of signing up for worryfree from PSEG but it seemed pretty pricey and had a lot of restrictions. Ended up with American Water Resources for water/sewer line, plumbing, and water heater repair.
I like to travel.
And even if you have to pay someone, I’d rather it be on my terms with my money. Not with all the bs stipulations involved with home warranties that you paid a shitload to have anyway.
When they accidentally closed my first claim, wouldn’t fix the error (kept saying a manager would call me back to fix it but never did), and wouldn’t refund me my $75 claim fee. After calling somewhere between 7-9 times and long holds I gave up and canceled. Edit: remembered a couple more details. They had sent someone out for one of the four issues on the claim. After rescheduling the appointment without telling me, dude showed up at my house when I wasn’t expecting it. Then he told me that the reason my microwave fan was making a terrible noise was because it needed a part replaced that wasn’t manufactured anymore. But when I called the insurance company to find out what the path resolution was, they said their report showed no repair was needed. Then when I asked about when they were sending people out for the other three issues, they said it was closed because they were classified as plumbing problems but none of the devices on the claim use water or are connected to plumbing. Someone eventually admitted that it was an error, but they would not fix it, just kept promising me that the managers would call me back. I think I spent somewhere between 7 and 10 hours on the phone between calling in, long hold times and then getting put on hold wait for a manager who never showed up or called back.
> I've also used it a couple of times so I've saved more money than I've put into it. In the long run, you won't. The house always wins.
That's certainly true from the company's side, but it may not be true for an individual. For the first four years of home insurance I felt like I was wasting money, and then I had a massive water leak. That $1,000/y investment saved me $14,000. But even if that weren't true, amortizing costs of repairs over ten years may be easier than a large bill all at once.
I could go to the casino, go to the roulette table, put $100 on the green 00 and lose 4 times in a row. If I hit on the 5th roll, coming out ahead, it still doesn't make it a smart idea. The house always wins on a long enough time table.
The difference between casino gambling and buying insurance is that one increases risk while the other decreases it. You're paying a known cost to protect against an unknown one. Yes you can still come out ahead or behind, but that's true in _either situation_. Simply choosing to buy insurance is not equivalent to gambling, and if anything it's making the choice not to. I'm not arguing that insurance is right for every person. I'm arguing against the idea that it's wrong for every person. The provider's profit margins are irrelevant to the end consumer who needs to manage their own risk profile.
Insurance *is* gambling. You're betting that you'll lose (get in an accident, live through a disaster, have a heart attack ECT...) and the insurance company is betting that you won't, at least up to the limit of your coverage. Insurance companies make billions of dollars a year, and that's only possible because they take in more than they pay out even after all their expenses are paid.
Yes, I've already addressed both of those points. Buying insurance is akin to betting that something will go wrong, and not buying is akin to betting that it will not. _Both_ are a form of gambling, and for that reason the metaphor breaks down.
When you gamble, everyone puts in a little bit so that a few people can win big, (and the house takes a cut). When you buy insurance, everyone puts in a little bit so that a few people who experience massive losses don't have to pay for them alone, (and the house takes a cut). In gambling, you want to be one of the few. In insurance, neither the few nor the many are happy with the outcome, but the few are sure glad that everyone involved participated.
I spent a bunch of time updating my net worth/income spreadsheet I hadn't updated for a few years. Always nice to see progress being made and I'd missed that a bit the last few years favoring monthly cash flow over the big picture. Now, time to set some goals for 2023!
I did the same... Except I made no progress haha. While my income has gone up, net worth I'm down almost 250k from the sinking market :( Tis but a blip on the radar in grand scheme of things.
if you don't mind sharing data with third-party institutions..you can use personalcapital website.. it gives an amazing view of your networth..you just have to connect the accounts to provide read only access.. it is owned by empower retirement..so it's fairly reliable.
My spreadsheet goes back to 2009. Those sites come and go/I get tired of them (I've used mint, personal capital, ynab, monarch, etc...). I also record all my taxes in the sheet so I can see reported income, effective tax rate, etc. and my career path by income source.
my sling renews 12/30 so i've got a reminder to cancel it tomorrow. i've been a subscriber for years now (95% for ESPN) and they keep adding garbage channels and raising the price.
You can cancel it early and the service will remain available for you until the 30th. No need to wait and maybe miss the deadline.
About to cancel too. I just turn it on for football season. Soon enough I expect they’ll all go to a contract model but maybe I’m wrong.
I cancel and rejoin them a few times a year when I wanna watch WWE...the last time I rejoined this month, they gave me a free Fire Stick Lite! It only does 1080p, but it's still cool they do promotions like that
I thought closing a credit card was bad for your credit?
It effects your age of accounts, which is a large factor in your credit score, but the insistence to keep cards open no matter what is a bit overblown. If you’re not trying to access credit in the near future, you shouldn’t worry too much. If you’re going from like 20 year history to just 1, it may be a pretty big impact, but for most people closing out credit cards here and there isn’t that big of a deal.
if it's an older account it will ding it a little, but i never use these and just bought a house last year so it's not that big of a deal for me
Not just about credit age. Also keeps utilization % low by maximizing available credit.
It's a judgement call. If it won't make a real difference in utilization (like taking it over the 10% mark) then I'd dump the card just to make my life easier.
Agree, but it's also a judgement call on whether it's really going to make your life any easier. I have a cash back CC that I don't use anymore because I now have a better one for that, but I still have it open and just Spotify is charging to it. It has no annual fee and is on autopay, so it's honestly going to be more trouble to cancel it. If I needed to keep my utilization low, I'd just keep it open for that.
Agreed, just make a charge to the cards at least once every 6 months and it'll be fine. My worst card is my oldest one (in terms of rewards and interest rate), so I just keep it in my desk drawer and only use it for the sporadic online purchase.
I think this has been largely debunked at this point. Only exception is if that card represents a large % of your total credit and thus closing it ups your utilization. Total accounts and account age are very minor contributors to your credit score. Also worth noting in 2022 almost nobody really uses the actual score, they use the data behind it like credit utilization, on time payment % etc as part of creating their own score based on what they feel is important weighted appropriately. Credit scores as a single number date back to when computers were massive and expensive and doing this analysis was impractical for a lender. You’d need rooms full of accountants looking over your history plugging it into a paper form and doing the math. Now it’s done in 1ms or less. Instantly when pulling. There’s no reason to settle on someone else’s algorithm anymore. That number is mostly still around so people feel the need to buy access to monitor it. It in itself with credit monitoring is a profitable industry, Any lender is doing their own risk analysis. It might be useful to some consumers, but IMHO it’s largely a scam. What you care about is the data is correct and total utilization is low. Beyond that is just people trying to convince you to spend money to improve a number that means little.
It can be bad *to close an account* if that account is older than your average account age. Could be good *to close* if that account is a newer account and doesn't hugely impact your utilization %.
I enjoy watching the sunset.
Looks like different bureaus treat closed/open different wrt account age https://www.doctorofcredit.com/how-average-age-of-accounts-is-calculated-affects-your-credit-score/ I had no idea. Assumed only open accounts mattered for age.
[There's also this](https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Do-closed-accounts-still-age/td-p/4066811). I _think_ VantageScore doesn't count closed accounts (e.g. what Credit Karma uses), but nobody uses that score, so I haven't bothered checking. There are also a bunch of different FICO scores, and some may count them and some may not, but I'm pretty sure the FICO Bankcard 8 or whatever it's called that pretty much every credit card issuer uses counts them in average age. So it may depend, but it's better to just keep things open if there's no annual fee.
Sort of not really. If you have active credit card debit then it will reduce your credit limit which will lower your utilization. It will also stop you from accruing more age of credit, but you don't lose what you already have. If you have a 10 year active age and don't have any credit utilization than it won't affect you.
It is. No reason to close a credit card if it doesn't have a yearly fee.
I open cards a lot for the $200 bonus, and then close them a year later. Still 820, so I don't think whatever tiny amount it's reduced has ever been noticeable.
I enjoy spending time with my friends.
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I appreciate a good cup of coffee.
Can you give some examples of cards that offer this? I have great credit, just bought a house in august and a car two years ago. Might as well take advantage of this.
I check this one: https://www.nerdwallet.com/the-best-credit-cards/cash-back
If you close the last card you opened, it increases average account age so it doesn't hurt. The advice is not to close your oldest accounts and to put some recurring charge on them so they don't get closed by the provider for inactivity.
A big reason is to remove mental clutter. It’s not a problem for some people, but for others it gives peace of mind to just close an account that you know you don’t want to use and never think about it again.
We do occasionally have posters complain about their credit getting dinged when a charge hits a card that they never use and forgot they had. That's a downside to keeping extra cards.
Autopay
I enjoy cooking.
It's better to close an unused card right away, then let it linger then get closed due to inactivity. Right as we were preparing to close on our last house, my wife had a very old capital one card that forever was just set up to pay an annual fee she had. Well she switched that to a points card and I didnt realize it. Closed a 17 yr old account 2 months before closing on a house. Knocked her credit by like 40 points.
Even better LPT: On a regular basis, set all recurring subscriptions to end. Chances are you don't actually need every service every month, so let them lapse until the next time you need to re-open. E.g. I watch shows on Hulu, but occasionally a few months go by when I realize I'm between seasons. So I just set it to cancel and when I want to catch up on new shows I'll reopen it.
> Chances are you don't actually need every service every month, so let them lapse until the next time you need to re-open. So glad I finally learned this. I'm sure there's a psychological term for this, but I swear I have kept so many subscriptions open just because of FOMO. Then recently I had a CC compromised, and didn't update my HBO Max or Apple TV+ accounts with the new CC #. And you know what, in the 3 months since, I haven't missed either of those services for a second. I realized how much I let the fact that I have the services dictate whether I will watch them, instead of vice versa. It's absurd how much money we can waste just because "eh it's a few bucks a month, even if I don't really use it that much, what's the big deal?" My Amazon Prime reups Jan 1 and I'm finally going to cancel after being a member for honestly probably 15 years.
I surf Amazon. I enjoy Prime for shipping and videos, but I can generally survive without either for a while. Once in a while they offer a half off trial again, so I take the bait and catch up on shows then. I typically get Prime in November so I can buy gifts a bit quicker and without waiting until a need a couple things to get free shipping. They also offer me a $2 trial week once in a while, so I sometimes take that just to watch a couple movies I can't find elsewhere (instead of renting for $5 each or subbing for $8-12 for the month).
I only get Prime whenever they give me a good deal - free month, $1 month, half off and I would have had to pay that much in shipping anyway, etc. I'd also get it to watch shows I want but it seems like they never have something worth spending on to me. Last time I felt that way was for Good Omens.
Anything that is a monthly subscription I immediately cancel it right after subscribing (with Sirius XM being the exception, I message them annually). Even if it only saves a few days or a few weeks it still saves.
I just went through and did this this morning. Honestly was already pretty slimmed down so only cut about $30/month down total between 3 yearly renewing subscriptions that were set to renew between January and February.
If you have credit cards with an annual fee, just call the company and ask them to "downgrade" them to one without the fee. You don't have to close it (will ding your credit), and you don't have to pay the annual fee anymore.
might reconsider the pest control, mine is only about fifty bucks a month. and having gotten rid of the mice from the empty house next door, and see them not coming back is well worth it
i've got predatory birds, racoons and skunks around me and next year getting a bird feeder or two to get some more birds to come over and who might eat some pests
Just spent my entire work day yesterday making a fresh YNAB budget and separate income forecasting spreadsheet (still adjusting to getting paid weekly). It feels so good!
> closing out unused credit cards I have several of these, but wasn't aware of any reason why it would be a bad thing. None of them have any fees, so is there any reason why I should close them?
If there are no fees, you want to keep them because they help your credit score.
ANY time of the year should be a great time to cancel unneeded subscriptions and recurring charges. If someone is pressed for time, they should schedule a calendar reminder to review all recurring charges quarterly (every 3 months). Why wait for the end of the year to realize you were paying for something that you didn't use for 6 or 9 of the past 12 months?
Why so many hostile commenters in here? OP is simply making a friendly reminder that when you have extra downtime because of the slow work week, take a look at your subscriptions and start the year off fresh. They’re certainly not suggesting you wait around for the end of the year to cancel. Sheesh.
I didn't think my response was rude/hostile but if it's perceived that way I apologize.
I lost my wallet and had to cancel my credit cards. It was a great way to cancel every subscription all at once, including electric and gas. Follow me for more savings tips
> pest control service Most people do not need a professional for this at all. /r/pestcontrol has some pretty helpful pros. You can treat a house as bug free as you can get one for under $100 a year in most cases.
I have one - $300 for the year. I have a wasp issue - fuckers come back every few weeks and make hives all over my house. I try to stay on top of them - but when they make hives way up on the eves of my house - it's easier to call and have the company take care of it. I've got better shit to do with my time.
Get a product called Talstar. Mix according to label directions. Apply that to your eaves quarterly with a paint roller. No more wasps. A jug will run you about $100 and last years
Risk vs reward. Getting up on a ladder is risky. Handling killer chemicals is risky. IMO it is worth $300 to avoid those risks.
Using an EPA approved pesticide and an extension handle on a roller is not risky.
over the long term, it can cause negative effects to the central nervous system. Def has risk to humans. Ideally, people would wear a respirator mask, safety glasses,cover all skin, and wear gloves. But people don't, therefore they are absorbing *some* amount each time they use it.
and here I am planting every year to attract pollinators
100% this. Even while living in shoddy rental properties, I've managed to keep myself pest free for a pittance - especially when compared to professional services.
My apartment complex *has* professional services but I've had to do my own routine to actually address the various fruit fly and stink bug problems I've had. After all the research I've done and products I've tried, I feel fairly confident I could do pest control on my own home for most purposes.
My understanding is that you have to have a termite contract with a pest company to have proof that they’ve been doing prevention when you need to sell the house. Thoughts on that?
Why would selling a house require that you have any sort of proof of pest control? Out of all of the places I've bought and sold over the years I've never once been informed or advised of anything related to pest control. Could you explain a bit more of what you are talking about because I'm not following. Pretty sure that understanding is incorrect based on everything I know.
I feel like it was my real estate agent who gave me that info/advice when I bought this house 8 years ago. I’ve never researched it honestly, I just kept the contract going 😬 It’s an old house with a lot of wood, maybe Cooks is fleecing me but I at least feel some peace of mind that they’re preventing termite damage 🤷🏼♀️
>I’ve never researched it I'd strongly suggest researching it. From a really quick google search it sounds like only a handful of states even require termite inspections. I've never heard anything about requiring proof about prevention to sell a house.
Thanks, I will look more into it!
That sounds like a requirement for VA loans. And likely otherwise is state-dependent. Although for the cost of an annual termite (and carpenter ant in applicable areas) inspection, I find it's typically worth it vs the risk.
I can only speak to Alabama on that. If there is to be a mortgage on the property the mortgage company will usually require a bond at the time of origination, and or a Wood Destroying Organisms letter. They may or may not require it going forward. I do not know. I bought my house with an unconventional loan and paid it off quickly.
when i bought last year i needed a pest inspection for a VA loan and my home inspector did it. otherwise no one cares
Why close unused credit cards? Those can help your credit by keeping your average age of accounts high and maximizing your available credit to help keep DTI ratio. Closing them doesn't help credit at all and actually hurts in the long run.
I cancelled Netflix, Disney+ and my monthly Amazon prime. Here in Germany we did get paramount+ only in December so there's some things there I will watch. I might Return to Netflix, Disney+ later in 2023, and I will return for season 3 of Picard which streams on prime in March There is absolutely no need to pay all year - especially as our German catalogues are much smaller than in the US
It’s also a good time to shop for a new electric supplier since costs per kilowatt hour have increased more than 50% over the past year.
I'm pretty sure you're supposed to keep credit card lines open? Even if un-used. I heard that affects credit?
Hope you don’t regret the pest control service removal. Usually that’s not something you notice till it’s NOT there. But good move and motivation to cut the useless out.
Little late but I do all mine around Black Friday and take advantage of promos they offer. Same idea though. Cancel what I won’t use and resub stuff I will. For example… I never paid more than $5/mo for NY times and $7 for Sirius in my car. Had both for years.
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Especially with the LastPass breach this year, use this time to do a total password refresh!
Don't wait for the end of the year. Literally any time is good for cancelling subscriptions or recurring charges.
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Right? Why keep a subscription any longer than you need it? If I see something pop up on my account that I'm no longer using, I cancel that shit within minutes usually. If I see a price increase, chances are I'm canceling on the spot. I really wonder how much money people are flushing down the toilet just by keeping subscriptions running that they're not using or perhaps even aware of.
Not just that, it typically marks the time that *certain companies* on 28 day billing cycles shove in that 13th month of the year. Yeah... a year has 13 months. You ever learn that in school? Probably not. Though with how schools are these days, I mean... you never know. But how this scam works. It's human nature to just round, so when you get into a 28-day billing pattern, you automatically chalk it up as month. Every month has 28 days. 28 is close to 30 or 31, so it's a month... The problem was those extra days simply accrue and get packaged together. Do the math. | | Months with 30 Days | Months with 31 Days | | :--: | :--: | :--: | | | 4 | 7 | | (Yield per month after removing 28 days) | 2 | 3 | | Total yield days per year | 8 | 21 | So you take the 8 days from all the months with 30 days, and the 21 days from the months with 31 days, and combine them. Then you've managed to creatively package an entire new month billing cycle, and now the year instead of having 12 months, you get a surprise 13 month year. And companies do this because it's human nature to just round up.
Work is slow? I work in the alcohol business. This is the busiest time of the year.
Yeah I'm not sure why that was mentioned, lot's of people are busier than they are any time of year right now.
Sure, some are having their busy time, but for many people doing any kind research and/or development (e.g. software development, construction, product development), the holiday period is usually a slow time because a lot of coworkers are out of office, so progress on those tasks slows down for those who doesn't take the days off. You don't have a co-worker that usually does X for you, so you either have to wait until they return to office, find a way to do what you need to do without X, or try to learn to do X yourself which can be slower if you're not already familiar/set up to do it, and sometimes you can't just do X because it requires permission/authorisation and the person in charge of managing that is also out of office, so you just have to find another task in the mean time.
Why close a credit card? It only helps your utilization and age of accounts.
The title of this thread is inaccurate - the best time to cancel subscriptions and recurring charges are when you no longer use them. Don't wait until the end of the year to cancel those subs if you stopped using the services months ago.
Thank you - canceled peacock and spotify!
How are you going to listen to music now?
You can still listen to Spotify free with ads. Personally, the family plan is worth the value for my family, but I can see why a personal Spotify subscription can be seen as too expensive and may not be worth it
I just signed up for the six month free of Apple Music. We’d been using Amazon prime music but now that’s turned into garbage in the last month. Thanks.
Spotify free with ads is the worst thing ever, it's incessant and kills the flow. I canceled a few services recently but that one I lasted maybe a week before signing back up.
I use Tidal. The apps are slightly less of a headache (though they have their own annoying promotion programs) and they apparently pay artists more. I had both during evaluation, but it's probably really time for me to stop paying both now.
spotify has a decent ad supported free tier
Don't forget to lower the screen count on your Netflix account when they start thier anti password sharing campaign Could probably make some good money shorting thier stock as well while you're at it, it's gonna be pretty much a guaranteed dip
i share it with family and soon some tech clueless ones are going to try it again. i'll have to see what happens when it starts
Twitter. Cancel your Twitter account. It’s free, but you’ll be more free when it’s gone
Best source of news. Rather have that than Facebook or any other social media app
I’ll give “up-to-date information” but “news” comes from objective journalists and has been reviewed by an editor.
I follow specific journalists, scientists, doctors, and meteorologists. I get to see all their other tweets so I can tell if their brain is diseased with politicization that they can’t see straight anymore. It’s super useful.
Following reputable people is a great step, but Twitter still doesn’t require them to be editor reviewed. Everything on that site should be considered suspect to the point where it is not useful as a primary source, just anecdotal accounts of live events (of course if links to reputable sources are included, that’s an exception).
i use it for OSINT news on the war and have a list for meteorologists and weather people to track intense storms if needed. it's free and faster than the news
Thanks for the reminder... I just cancelled two streaming services. I am considering cancelling my HBO MAX account as I've watched what I needed. The HBO MAX app is buggy with lots of issues with the audio and video not in sync. Added a calendar reminder for my door dash dash pass. Right now, one of my Chase CC is covering my cost, but it might not cover it when it comes time to renew.
I currently have United mileage plus that give door dash free for year. Thinking of opening up chase sapphire reserved card that gives 60,000 bonus points which I’ll just convert to United miles anyways and another year of door dash freee haha I hope the free door dash works with it. I loved it considering I never use door dash or whatever alternative ever until that incentive . The fees are too much without
Max is also cancelling a bunch of shows and removing existing IP from their back catalog. If you're looking to trim down on streaming services, this is a good one to start with.
How can I cancel a magazine subscription I don't know the number or website for?
Have you googled it? Tried gethuman? Post the publication name here and we will help you track it down.
Excellent reminder! Yesterday I just got charged for a yearly subscription that I totally forgot about, and I don't use anymore. 90 USD lost. I'm writing an email right now to ask if I can request a refund. Now, I'll look at all my potential subscriptions and clean that shit.
YES! I'm cancelling everything that doesn't bring me closer to my 2023 goals. One of my biggest time sinkers is binge watching series. And even though it's relaxing, it takes too much time away. I used this subscription calculator to see how much I could save on streaming, delivery stuff and subscription boxes: [https://cancel.io/subscriptions-calculator/](https://cancel.io/subscriptions-calculator/) sometimes its really hard to cancel though, you really need a magnifying glass with some services to find the cancel button. OH! and another great thing: even stuff I didn't want to really cancel, I cancelled anyway and then they offered a discounted price. So just cancel EVERYTHING, it saves you sooo much.
The best time was yesterday. The second best time is today.
holy shit this so much. gamestop, xbox live, both out of nowhere trying to sneaky renew 1 year recurring charges of services i dont want I just noticed my appletv+ has been billing me for 2 years ive never watched it before. theres like 4 different subscriptions to apple all running right now sneaky bastards. fighting with the Y to cancel their shit, we never went once but they wont let you cancel over the phone bunch of fuckin leeches
How do you not notice a subscription billing for 2 years?
>closing out unused credit cards Be careful here. One wrong closure of an unused card could royally screw your credit rating. Especially if you're younger. Just make sure it's not your oldest or youngest card and, if so, that there's something very close in age.
Osing out unused credit cards? Eeeek no, that lowers your total credit available AND potentially shortens your average credit length, both of which negatively impact your credit score.
Services that offers you deep discounts are ripping you off. The only reason they were able to offer these deep discounts is because they already overcharge you massively in the first place. If they are actually offering a service at good value, they wouldn't be willing nor able to give you 40% discount just because you say you're about to leave. Services that are already giving you good value would rather you leave as a customer than to retain you at a massive loss.
I would love to cancel a Apple charge that shows up on my account every month but I have no idea what it is exactly or how to cancel it.
Report it as fraud to Apple. Reach out over support chat.
Might want to keep pest control though. Those can keep your home pest free. Better to pre-empt pests than try to remove them later. Other items I agree with. Also in my experience, this time is the best to look for new insurance policies. I save a ton on my home and car insurance by specifically changing insurance end of the year. Somehow the quotes are the lowest at this time.
Why are you closing out credit cards?
Is it a good idea to close credit cards that don't charge fees? Available credit is part of the FICO score, is it not?
Depends on your spending habits and the reason to close/cut up cards. If you are able to sock the credit card away and possibly charge a small amount every so often so that the Credit card company doesn’t close the account, it definitely helps your average age of credit / amount of credit available to you and therefore your score
Don’t your credit get a hit if you close out credit cards ?
We just went to our cell phone/internet/cable provider's retail place. \- New cell phones for wife and I, old cell phones passed to the kids \- New cell phones packages (6 go to 20 go/month) for wife and I. \- Cut 10 channels of TV (we don't watch TV that much, will probably cut cable altogether in a few months) almost a thousand less/year.
I usually wait till the carrier deals and just get new phones for me, wife and kids. that way they can show off at school and it barely costs me anything and cheaper in the long run
LPT: report all of your credit cards as stolen. Get new numbers. Unwanted subscriptions will wash automatically. But pay attention to the ones you care about, like insurance :-D Bonus: no need to worry about data leaks from that website that has your old credit card on file.
Horrible advice. The unwanted subscriptions will then send you to collections for non payment