NSF charges
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| Wed, 06-15-2005 - 11:34am |
The past couple of days I have seen posts about NSF charges...just the sight of those 3 little letters together makes me hyperventilate - been there done that!!! I do have overdraft protection, but it comes from my husband's personal savings account. I hate the feeling I get when he see his an overdraft protection deduction from his savings statements. He never says anything and I always pay him back (it does not happen as much as it use to), but it is so degrading. Each month, heck day I live and breath by balancing my checkbook making sure that I bounce anything. I am sick of worry, so I am going to attempt to take matters into my own hands - like I should have done in the past. I really need to grow up about my money and here is a good place to start.
I was reading tips on saving money (ok ok it was actually a Disney Vacation message board and some posters were literally nickel and diming their way to Disney) and someone came up with a great idea - Round off purchase amounts in your check book. If I purchase something using a check or debit card for say $19.40... I would round it up to the nearest dollar so I would write in $20.00. Though it is only $.060 it adds up over time.
Another option (if you need your checkbook to the penny - like me) is to save all your change from day to day and then at the end of the month deposit into your checking account, but don't record the deposit.
Just a few ideas.
Jennifer

This is basically how we built our $100 buffer in our checking account. It's amazing how a dollar here, a few pennies there, adds up--both directions (after all, that's how a lot of us got into our cc debt to begin with, right?).
I also get rebates from my bank for using the credit option instead of the debit option (both come out of the same account, but it's cheaper for the bank if I use credit), and when we make cash withdrawals our bank refunds us the bank charge (because my bank is USAA, which is headquartered in Texas, there are no local ATMs, so this is their way of making it easy to bank with them without any local branches). When I withdraw money, I record the entire amount, and when the bank refunds the fee, I put it in my buffer (except now that the buffer is built, it goes to debt instead). Also, interest earned on the account goes into the buffer, and any difference between what I budget for an item and what it costs--for instance, we budget $45 for cable Internet each month, but the charge is only $44.95--$.05 goes to the buffer.
It really does add up, and rather quickly too.
Good point.
Heather