The winter months are the perfect time to take a day off of work to dedicate to your personal finances.
There are dozens of things you can do. Start out by calling your cable or internet provider and ask for a deal. While you’re on hold, go online and see what the competitor is offering. Tell the customer service rep you’d like them to match that offer. Most of the time it’s that easy.
Next, call your bank and see what you have to do to get free banking. Since my wife and I already had a bank branded credit card, all we needed to do was throw $500 into a mutual fund to qualify for free banking. It was an easy decision.
Try your credit card provider next. Even if you don’t carry a balance, try and ask for other perks like waiving the annual fee. If you’re currently using a no-fee card, see if they’ll upgrade you while waiving the fee for a year. You might end up really supercharging your rewards.
After lunch, take a good long look at any subscription services you might have. Are you paying for services like Netflix, Crave, or Texture that you barely use?
Next, go through your investments. Is it time to re-balance? Are there dividends waiting to be reinvested? Should contributions start going towards a cheaper ETF?
By the end of the day, you can potentially save yourself some big money. Even $100 per month adds up to more than $1,000 per year.
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