We’ve been living in our apartment for almost two years, and in that two years we’ve paid a LOT of money for internet service. We’ve been with Comcast because when we moved here, they were the obvious choice. Quick and painless, but dang expensive. We’ve been paying $70/month just for internet access. (We started with a bundle of cable and internet which was about $100/year, then broke a contract for $80 just to bring our monthly cost down to $70.. what a bargain…) Seems pretty absurd doesn’t it? And our plan gives us a whopping 15mbps download speed. Not too shabby. Well, today things started to change for us for real, and it was time to get new internet service.

We’ve been getting all these fliers from this other cable company called RCN. Now I admit, it’s come up before where we thought, hey, maybe we should look into that, just in case. We’ll never go back to DSL.

Of course, we didn’t. Until today. Turns out they’re offering a solid 25mbps for $40/month for the first year, then $45 for year 2, and $50 for year 3. Yes, it gets progressively higher, BUT there’s no contract and no cancelation fees. So now we ask ourselves, “Why in God’s name did we not have this service sooner?!” Clearly because we’re fools. In any case, we’re getting a good rewiring around these parts and the cost will lead to a savings of about $360 the first year, $300 the second year, and $240 the third.. yes, that’s $900 in three years.

Even if their customer services is only as good as Comcast’s (so, awful), we still make out pretty well in the deal. Don’t you think?

Now, I admit, my experience in this department is limited. In general, you don’t want to have too many credit cards, so choose wisely. Consider what you will use the card for and what benefits you actually care about. In my case, I’ve only recently started flying more often, but I always fly on the cheap so I don’t really have any use for Delta Skymiles (though I do fly Delta occasionally). BUT there are some cards that can benefit you even on the every day stuff. That’s what I’m shooting for.

My First Credit Card

So the first credit card I got was the Chase Freedom MasterCard. This thing is great. I got $200 cash back for spending $1000 in the first three months. Since I always pay off the card completely every month, and since they were offering 0% APR for 12 months (this means I can pay the minimum balance for 12 months without adding interest, but as I said, never pay just the minimum balance, if nothing else, split a big purchase evenly over the course of the 12 months), it was really a no-risk deal. I also did some planning and got the card just before I was going to be making a large purchase (I needed a new computer). So I got the card, bought the computer, paid off the card long before my 12 months were up and collected $200. Just like Monopoly, only with real money!

This card holds some other advantages though, and it has served me well. For example, I get 1% cash back on every purchase (so I got 1% back on that $1700 computer, a grand total of $17, but still, money in the bank. As it turns out, this 1% cash back really does add up. I’ve collected several straight up checks in the mail usually for $100 (that’s about the point when I tended to cash out), just for buying stuff I always buy. That’s the key. Don’t spend money you don’t have, and don’t buy things you wouldn’t have otherwise bought. Easy tip to keeping good credit.

The real advantage to having this card though is the quarterly 5% cash back bonuses. So every quarter (Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep, Oct-Dec) they have rotating categories of 5% cash back up to $1500 spent. This means that in whatever categories they’re serving up (right now it’s Amazon.com and gas, next quarter is movie tickets and grocery stores), I got 5% back on all those purchases, up to $75 in rewards (5% of $1500). So there’s that.

The last cool thing is that I can spend the rewards a few different ways (I’ve already mentioned cashing them out for …cash). I’ve also used rewards points to buy plane tickets, gift cards, and to bid on online auctions. In some cases you get an advantage for spending the rewards on the products they’re offering in the “reward zone” or whatever they want to call it. For example, at certain intervals they offer discounts on gift cards. So this means that the number of points that would get me $100 cash, might get me $125 in gift cards. If it’s a place I’m definitely going to shop in, then that’s great! It’s an extra $25 for free, added on to my already free reward! Pretty great right?

My newest card, and why I’m getting it

So I’ve had the Chase Freedom for several years, and since it’s my oldest and most-used card, I won’t cancel it (never ever cancel your oldest credit card unless you absolutely have to, it will kill your credit score). But, that doesn’t mean I can’t take advantage of two cards. My newest card is the American Express Blue Cash card. Here’s why.

The benefits of this card are also cash rewards, but the rewards are different. The Chase card gives me 1% back on every purchase, no matter what and 5% back on the quarterly categories. So for this card, I’m taking advantage of 3% back at supermarkets, 2% back on gas and department stores, and 1% back on everything else. So the plan is as simple as this: use this card for my every day purchase, or at least at grocery stores and department stores (I don’t own a car so I really don’t care about gas), and use the Chase card for the quarterly benefits. This way I take advantage of the highest possible percentages for things I’m going to buy anyways (like groceries). So in this case, I’ll get this card to go grocery shopping until April, then I will use my Chase card for groceries from April to June (5% back that quarter), then go back to using the Amex. So I collect 3%, then 5%, then 3% again, instead of 1%, 5%, 1%. See what I mean?

I’m not crazy, I swear

Now, at this point you might think I’m crazy. I took out a different credit card to collect an extra 2%. But here’s how the math works out. If I spend $200/month on groceries, that adds up to $2400 a year. So if all I have is the Chase card, I’m collecting 1% for 9 months and 5% for the three months of that quarterly bonus, a total of $48 back (for those of you following along, that’s 9 x $200 = $1800, x 1% = $18 and 3 x $200 = $600, x 5% = $30 and $18 + $30 = $48). Not bad, but not great. Now, add the Amex. I get back 3% for 9 months, and then use the Chase card for the quarterly bonus. So that’s $1800 x 3% = $54 (yes, in only 9 months I’ve surpassed an entire year using only the Chase card), PLUS add the quarterly bonus of $30 and now I’m banking $84… just for using a different card. That’s an extra $36, just on groceries. Not bad if you ask me, and really, no trouble—just gotta remember which card to use. NBD

So that’s how I do it, anyone else have some other suggestions for folks? Leave it in the comments!

Kitchen items worth paying for

1. Dish soap. Not kidding, buy the good stuff, pay some money for it. Use a coupon, sure, but get a good brand. Dawn, Palmolive.. doesn’t matter. Make sure it’s super thick, not that watered down generic crap. You’ll use less, so it lasts longer. The upfront cost is a bit higher, but it pays for itself in the amount of soap you don’t waste.
2. In the same vein… sponges. Get the good ones, the curvy ones with the scrubby side by Scotch Brite. This helps keep your expensive dish soap from going to waste almost as much as the expensive dish soap itself.
3. Cleaning wipes. Clorox wipes are the sh*t. Ask anyone. Also, Lysol wipes are pretty great too. However, those Kirkland Costco variety are not so great, same goes for any other generic we’ve tried. They usually have some weird thing about them, bumps or something that prevent proper cleaning, and sometimes they’re dried out.
4. Swiffer supplies. We’ve got the sweeper and the duster, nothing else compares to their awesomeness. The sweeper is great because you can use the dry cloths or the wet ones (ours is old-school, no batteries powering it). The duster is just such a time saver.
5. A decent set of pots and pans. For the every day cook, a person with things to do other than cooking all day, a good set of nonstick pans is the way to go. Make them last longer by keeping metal spoons away from them and don’t put them in the dishwasher. They’ll last a good long time and you won’t spend hours scrubbing off last nights dinner.

Bathroom items worth paying for

1. Scrubbing Bubbles. Those cute little smiling bubbles really work.
2. Drano. Got hair? Get Drano.
3. A nice floor rug. The nice ones have the right amount of soft mixed with the right amount of cushion. They’re absorbant, and ideally, not white. White never lasts.
4. Toothpaste, our choice is Crest 3D White. I’m sure I’ve tried dozens of different toothpastes over the course of my life. Find the one that works for you and stick with it. Toothpastes I can’t stand include: Colgate (cinnamon one, do they even make that anymore?), Tom’s (all natural, *shudder* sorry, it was awful), Crest Pro-Health (numbed my tongue for over an hour after brushing, every time).
5. TP. Not all toilet paper is created equally. And I’m actually ok with both ends of the spectrum on this one. I like Scott, they really cover their bases. You can get the thin 1000 sheets or the thick and luxurious “Extra Soft”. If you get the thin kind you’ll go through it faster (probably why they give you a remarkable 1000 sheets), but this one is sort of a matter of preference.

Be Considerate

Even if you stop reading here, at least you’ll have already read the two most important words written on this page. Simply being a considerate roommate will make your roommate experience that much more positive. As the old adage goes, don’t do something that you wouldn’t want done to you. Don’t put an empty milk carton back in the fridge without replacing it when you know that that would drive you nuts if someone else did that to you. Even beyond this, though, consider the fact that you and your roommate(s) are not the same person. Maybe things that wouldn’t bother you may bother him/her. Maybe you’re the kind of person that doesn’t care if friends / family randomly drop in for a night or a weekend, but maybe your roommate is the type of person that would like to know ahead of time. Simply taking two minutes to give your roommate(s) a heads up could avoid a potentially stressful situation for all parties involved. Making assumptions about your roommates’ feelings, even if they’re people you think you know through and through, is a good way to create unnecessary conflict. In the end, taking a second to consider how your ideal roommate would behave in various situations will ultimately make your life and the lives of your roommates a lot more enjoyable.

Which brings me to one of the most common issue among roommates…

Cleanliness is next to godliness

At least in communal areas of the apartment. If you’re a messy person, keep your mess in the areas that are yours (bedroom, etc.). Nobody wants to clean your dirty dishes or have to scrub your leftover toothpaste off of the bathroom sink. There’s no more frustrating roommate than one who you have to either 1) constantly clean up after or 2) constantly insist that they clean up after themselves. The worst areas are almost always the kitchen and bathroom, where people’s tolerance to varying levels of mess vary as greatly as their cleaning schedules. Here are some simple ground rules:

Kitchen

• Dirty dishes / pots in the sink are not OK. This is especially true if there is a limited number of plates, bowls, silverware, cookware, etc. Go back to our first rule (BE CONSIDERATE)…if you were getting home from being at work all day do you want to have to clean up the kitchen before you can cook dinner? Probably not, and neither do your roommates.
• Don’t leave food / cooking remnants strewn about the counters. Basically goes back to what’s said above…nobody wants to try and cook in a dirty kitchen, and nobody wants to have to clean the kitchen before they can make dinner when they’ve been at work all day.
• Take out the garbage when it’s full. See below, but really use common sense here…

Bathroom

• Hair clogging up the drain is not OK. Standing ankle-deep in dirty shower water because your roommate’s hair is clogging the drain is no fun, nor is the soap-scum build up it causes. Clean out your hair when you’re done, and buy some Drano.
• Toothpaste / other gunk on the mirror or counter is not OK. If you can’t brush your teeth without getting toothpaste everywhere then get into the habit of wiping down the sink area after you brush.
• Not necessarily a cleanliness thing, but don’t use the last roll of toilet paper in the bathroom and not replace it. That’s just rude.

There are plenty of other things that could be listed here, but these are just a few examples of things you should be thinking about.

Split up the chores

Nobody wants to be the only person taking out the garbage or vacuuming the living room. As with most of this stuff, the best thing to do is set up some type of system or ground rules with your roommates before the situation gets out of hand. Don’t just assume that things will get taken care of. This is especially true when you’re moving in with friends. Being friends doesn’t preclude roommate conflict, so make sure you have this talk with your roommates even if they’re people you’ve known since you were just learning to walk.

Money, money, and more money

This is a big one, and definitely goes under the list of “things to solve before you move a single box into your new apartment/house/etc.” Sit down with your roommates and figure out what all your definite bills are (rent, electric, heat, etc.) and what all the “other” expenses are (internet, cable, etc.). The reason that you should consider this type of grouping is because there are certain expenses that not everyone is going to be concerned with (or necessarily want). Things like rent and electric are generally divided equally since everyone uses them. The other expenses, such as cable, are less clear. You may absolutely require HD cable with the sports package, but your roommate may not even own a TV. While it’s likely that things like this will ultimately be split in an equal manner, you do not want to find out that your roommate doesn’t want to pay for cable when your cable bill is due in two days. Better to figure these things out before hand.

One of the least clear expenses that falls under this category is groceries. Splitting groceries can result in awkward situations, but so can having completely separate grocery lists. Three gallons of milk in the fridge doesn’t sound like a big deal, but wait till you see it. Again, discussing this type of thing before hand is the best way to avoid any potential issues.

How the bills are actually going to be paid also needs to be considered. There are a few different options for paying bills with roommates. While the feasibility of each is going to vary depending on the situation, this is again something that needs to be absolutely clear before you or any of your roommates sign a lease or any other contract.

The perks of living with roommates are many. Shared expenses mean lower expenses and having friends around to hang out with is great, and to make sure that those relationships work for the long term, setting a few simple ground rules never hurt!

I was also traveling alone, so any discomfort I may have had would really only be affecting me, and that’s a risk I’m willing to take for a great deal. So I planned my course and made it from Chicago to Boston and back for a grand total of $117. That’s $39 fare each way! Add in all those taxes and 9/11 fees and there you are. $117. Here’s how I did it.

Shop around, and try Bing!

Turns out Bing is pretty dang good at travel searching, better than google even. The greatest feature of all is the ability to type in “flight from Chicago to Boston” and the thing starts a massive, full-on internet search blowout to get you the best deals.

Yes, you could hit up Kayak to get all the travel site deals, and I always check Southwest, Air Tran, and Jet Blue (I don’t care what anyone says about them, I’ve flown them all and I’ve never been disappointed). Most of the other major airlines give the same deals and prices on Orbitz and Priceline, etc.

But this time, my quick Bing search turned up a $39 flight on Spirit Airlines.

Flying the Ultra-Low Price Airline

Yea, I never heard of them either. So a quick yelp search turned up some shady reviews… I was more than a little hesitant because everyone was complaining about poor service, cramped seats, and nickel and dime pricing on everything.

Being the kind of nonchalant folk that I am, I decided to give it a go anyways. Like I said before, the only one I’d be inconveniencing if it absolutely sucked was me, and I don’t care.

So here’s the tricky thing. They do charge you for absolutely everything, meaning even a carryon bag that would go in the overhead bin is $20 (if you pay before you get to the airport, at the airport the price shoots up to $35). Additional checked bags would cost more. In-flight snacks and drinks were a-la-carte (and almost no one ordered anything). The seats were indeed small, but even being the super-long-legged freak that I am, I found it only as uncomfortable as any other airplane I’ve ever flown in.

Travel light and bring food from home

Since I was traveling light, I only had my backpack. Purses/backpacks that can fit under the seat in front of you are considered personal items, and they ride free. So the first $20 were “saved” by only bringing what I absolutely needed for the trip.

As for food, I do like to have a snack on the flight, so I just brought a couple granola bars and pop tarts with me from home and had them on the plane. If you want to be especially frugal, bring your own not-throw-away water bottle—empty—and you can take it right through security and fill it in a water fountain when you’re through. Now you’ve got free water for your flight (no water is worth $4 a bottle, unless you’re dying).

So that’s pretty much it. I usually prefer to fly Southwest, but I’m not airline-centric—I just want to get a great deal. Don’t be afraid to try a new service, AND as my paranoid sister informed me, Spirit Airlines (and Southwest and JetBlue) is still on the rather short list of North American airlines without any fatal accidents. Don’t see American Airlines / United / or Delta on that list… hmmm.

You, oh-creditless-one, are a risk

When I first started driving, which wasn’t until I was 22, I had the hardest time getting car insurance because I had no driving history. Of course, I couldn’t have a driving history until I had car insurance. It’s a catch-22. Credit is the same way.

If you met a stranger on the street and they asked to borrow $10, but said they’d pay you back, would you give it to them? Maybe, if $10 isn’t that important to you, and you’d be ok with not getting it back. Otherwise, you’d probably just say no. The fact is, you don’t know this person! You have no history with them. You don’t know if they’re good on their word. For all you know, they’re just gonna take that $10, and you’ll never see them again. That’s how credit companies see you if you’ve never had a credit history. You’re just a liability to them.

So how DO I get credit?

Students in college are in luck. It turns out it’s really easy to get a credit card if you’re in college, and here’s why. When you go off to college, credit card companies assume you must have a loving family back home who will do anything they can to make sure that you stay on the right track. To rephrase, credit card companies prey on college students because they know that when you inevitably get yourself into deep debt on that credit card that came with a free slice of pizza and a t-shirt, Mommy and Daddy will bail you out because they don’t want you to start your life with terrible credit and in debt. Get it?

If you’re not in college but still in your early 20s, it can be extremely difficult to get a credit card. Here are some tricks that can help.

Don’t apply for too many cards all at once.

Your credit score is affected by a lot of different factors, and some people never think about them. One that can hurt you before you’re even out of the gate is applying for too many cards. Credit companies can see everything on those reports. If they see that you’ve applied for 30 cards and haven’t gotten anything, they might convince themselves that you’re a higher risk than you are.

Apply for a credit card from your bank.

If you have a good bank and you’ve been using them for a checking account for awhile, they probably offer some type of credit card. This tends to be a better option for 20-somethings out of college because you already have a relationship with them. They are more likely to approve you because they can see that you consistently keep a certain amount of money in the bank.

Ask a parent or guardian to co-sign on a credit card.

This is a good fallback option if the others fail. If you trust your parents and your parents trust you, they might be able to co-sign on a credit card for you. This will help you start to build credit, and the credit companies are more likely to approve you for the same reasons as the college students I mentioned above. Beware though, your parents may not like this idea, and you’d better have proven yourself very responsible with your money.

Build credit without a credit card.

Above I mentioned that your credit score is affected by a lot of different factors. This actually implies that there are other ways to build credit without a credit card. Any kind of debt (in an official capacity) will contribute to your credit history. This means that if my sister were to go out and buy that car, probably with an excessively large down payment, she might be able to get that loan and start building her credit. She could also have a responsible adult co-sign on the loan and they would then be responsible for the payment should she default. Again, if you haven’t shown yourself to be the most responsible person with your money, it might be hard to find an adult that will trust you to actually make your payments and probably won’t co-sign for you.

Hopefully this list helps you get started in the wonderful world of credit, but you also want to make sure you stay on the right track. Try to find cards that will offer you rewards like cash back, and avoid cards that have an annual fee. To build credit with little risk, use your card for small, everyday purchases. This will ensure that you will be able to pay it off in full each month. Trust me, compound interest is a bitch.

I will give her some credit though, but not the monetary kind. She did know that she would need to qualify for a loan, and that she would need to have good credit to do that. So her best effort to build credit has been to apply for credit cards. Astonishingly, she has not qualified for any credit cards. Of course, she was baffled by how this could be. As she put it, how could they think she can’t afford to pay the $10 or $15 minimum balance? Er…

But they’re only asking for the minimum!

So my sister thought that the credit card companies should just approve her because she would have no trouble paying the $10-15 minimum. To be honest, many credit companies would love for you to just pay the minimum. Here’s why.

Credit isn’t free.

Credit cards come with an interest rate. If this is your first credit card, there’s a good chance your interest rate will be somewhere from 18-30%, and your credit limit might be fairly low. An interest rate that’s that high will either ensure that you pay up each month, or ensure that you inadvertently get into terrible debt which they will make you pay.

So my sister thought this. If they gave her a $500 credit limit, and she buys $200 worth of stuff each month, then she would only have to pay them the $10 minimum and be on her merry way. So I happily pointed out what would happen if that’s what she did. According to her, she’d pay it off eventually, right? Er..

Calculating interest, it adds up.

So let’s say she pays her minimum balance, she’s now $190 in debt for the following month. However, she has to pay the interest on that $190 (she didn’t know about this part). So assuming she has about 20% interest rate, next month she owes $228 ($190 x 20% = $38, $190 + $38 = $228). So what was a $190 bill is now a $228 bill, on an original $200 bill. Just for kicks, let’s pretend she spends another $200 the next month, so now she’s up to $428 out of her $500 limit. She pays her $10 minimum, and now she’s up to $501.60. Now, in two months time, she’s already over her credit limit, having only spent $400 and already having paid back $20.

Could you ever pay off the balance if you only pay the minimum payment?

Just for kicks, let’s see if she was right in thinking she’d eventually pay it off with her $10 minimum payment. The first month, like I said, she used $200. So by the second month, she owed $228. Following the same process ($10 minimum payment, 20% interest rate), the third month she owes $273.60. IF she didn’t have to pay ANY interest, she would have been able to pay off the $200 (in $10 increments) in 20 months (200/10). However, in that same 20 months of $10 payments WITH interest, she will actually owe $5,746.74! And she’s actually already paid the credit company the original $200 (because she paid her $10 minimum each month), but she still has to pay all the interest. Since the amount carries over each month, she pays 20% on whatever the previous months interest brought her balance up to. This is called compound interest; it makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.

So, should I never carry a balance?

Well, the idea of credit is to be able to carry a balance, and in some cases, you can actually build credit faster by carrying a balance on the card. That said, you only want to really carry a balance when you absolutely have to. If you only use your card for your day to day purchases, then you never want to keep a balance on those types of purchases. It doesn’t help build your credit any more than paying it off will, and you’ll just accrue more and more interest. But, if you’re making a big purchase on your credit card that you will only be able to pay over time (be careful doing this), then yes, it’s ok to carry the balance, because you can’t really afford not to. Just try to pay it off as fast as you can afford to. That will ensure you’re at least minimizing your interest fees.

Option 1: We split every bill and send two checks

I admit, this one is pretty dumb, but it crossed my mind so there it is. The downfalls, of course, are many. Ultimately, it’s much more likely to cause confusion for the payee and mistakes are more likely to be made.

Option 2: One person pays the bill, and the others pay that person

This one could work, but you have to feel for the person that pays. They have to now go out of their way to make sure that they get paid back. It’s not really fair, and it can be uncomfortable in roommate situations.

Option 3: We create a joint account, and pay all the bills from it

This one works great for us. As long as you know you can trust the person/people you’re living with, this is a great way to simplify things. You create a single account, preferably one with as few fees as possible. With online banking, you can set up money transfers from any account at any bank to any other account at any other bank, so everyone should be able to add money to the account easily.

Since we’re a couple, I’m going to talk from the perspective of two people, but there’s no reason it wouldn’t work for multiples.

How we set up our joint account

First, we added up all of our joint expenses. We took into account our rent, utilities, and groceries, then added a couple hundred extra dollars. We decided on $800 per person per month, for a total of $1600 in the account at the beginning of every month, no exceptions.

We only use this account to purchase things that are for both of us. For example, if we go out to eat, or want to go see a movie, or go grocery shopping, these are collective expenses, so they can come out of that account. Not everyone will want to split everything, if you want to keep your own food or pay for your own movies, that’s fine, but make those rules clear at the beginning so there’s no confusion or frustration for anyone down the line.

Have an out

So you might not want to be together for the rest of your life. What happens to the account then? Easy, split the remainder and close the account.

Now I admit, this setup does require some trust, but hopefully you do trust the people you choose to live with. Definitely think it through before making any big decisions, and have a discussion with everyone involved. Don’t pressure someone to do something they don’t feel comfortable with. Money is a touchy subject, and everyone handles it differently.

Organize your closet with a closet organizer

This is the best investment you will make for your apartment or house if you’ve got limited closet space. It can cost anywhere from around a hundred bucks to upwards of several thousand dollars. Don’t get too crazy, the cheap ones will suffice, they just probably won’t look as pretty. I spent about $300 on our closet system, and did all the measuring and cutting right at Home Depot. If you plan it well, you can really maximize your space.

I’m not going to say my closet looks like it’s right out of Apartment Therapy or something (since we actually own more than 2 articles of clothing), but it works. Let’s check it out.

I started by planning out what types of things we would need to put in there. Dan has a few suits and I have a couple dresses and longer jackets, so we need room for those. Dan also hangs just about everything he owns, whereas I really only hang my pants and sweaters, so we needed some room for BOTH of our normal-length clothes. I also put in a shelf upside down for shoes, the end of the shelf holds the shoes on since the shelf is angled downwards. This also leaves us two big shelves above the clothes for storage, and a small shelf that holds my clothes that hides behind Dan’s that we can put summer/winter clothes on to store for the season. Now, I’m almost embarrassed to show what this looks like in practice, but here goes.

Grandma didn’t realize she would need to adopt new advice to accommodate for annoying technology. No cell phones at the dinner table. Heed this rule in all situations. There is absolutely no excuse for you to take your phone out at the dinner table, unless directly prompted by the conversation of the table.

Last night we went out to dinner with Dan’s very nice cousin and her husband who are visiting Chicago for the weekend. They mentioned how all the little cousins really liked dancing with Brian, and he happened to have an adorable video of this little guy dancing away. This is the exception, not the rule.

In general, when you’re with company, it’s rude to take out your phone. It suggests that you don’t consider the company worthy of your attention, or that you have other more important matters to attend to (which you don’t, trust me). While we’re at it…

Places to absolutely put your phone away

• Movie theaters
• Restaurants
• Meetings
• First dates
• Any dates
• Job interviews
• Class