Money Matters Monday!

Hidey ho everyone!  Did you survive Father's Day?  I was stressed that I would forget to call my dad and he would be pissed and then I call and he doesn't even realize it's Father's Day.  Figures.  We had a nice, albeit short, chat, and then I called my grandfather next door (to my dad) to wish him a happy Father's Day.  Which took less than a minute then I chatted with my grandmother for about a half hour.  Completely reflects my family life.

I'm trying out a few things to prompt myself back into writing here on a more regular basis.  I recently came across a cool blog called Never Niche where the name stems from the fact that her blog is about a conglomeration of interests that just don't fit into a specific spot in the blogosphere.  And neither do mine.  I try but then after a short period of time I tend to write about anything shiny that catches my eye.  After all, I am all about the whimsy. 

Rather than change my blog name yet again (and "Never Niche" is taken), I thought I'd start alliteratively allocating certain days of the week to certain topics.  So today is (for now) "Money Matters Monday."  Where I'll gather up all my debt-busting related stuff in one spot.

I'm continuing to coupon but I'm kind of broke so my spending threshold is fairly low.  As in, I'll buy something if (a) I need/stockpile it and (b) it's generally couponed down to $1.00 or less.  This past week I did a fun deal at Rite Aid after finally figuring out how the Up+ rewards works.  Here's what went into it.

On Wednesday, I bought the new Bayer Advanced Aspirin.  I only bought just that because everything else I was looking for wasn't in stock.  It was on sale for $3.99 plus a $1.99 Up+ reward.  (Up+ rewards are like cash off your next purchase when you buy the qualifying item.)  I had a $2.00 off one coupon, bringing the total down to $1.99 and then I got the Up+ reward, making it free.  On Friday I went out to see if I could find the rest of the stuff I had been looking for.  Again at Rite Aid, I got two Arm & Hammer toothpastes ($3.99 each with a $3.00 each Up+ reward, and I had two $1.00/1 coupons, making them free), two Oral-B toothbrushes $2.99 each with a $1.00 each Up+ reward and I had a buy one get one coupon, meaning I paid $0.99 for two toothbrushes), and then I bought another Bayer Advanced Aspirin because I found out it works well on headaches.  Hmm, I had a coupon but it didn't ring up...  Anyhow, together with the previous $1.99 Up+ reward I paid $10.97 out of pocket but got $8.00 back in Up+ rewards for my next purchase -- meaning that total spent was only $2.97. 

I have told myself that I must stop buying toothpaste now.  I'm set for a while.

I'm looking into ditching my cable in favor of satellite TV.  For the TV portion of my cable bill, I pay about $90 per month.  If I switch to Directv, I'll pay about $40 per month for the first year; I think it goes to $55 in the second year.  That's a savings of $600 in the first year just on TV.  I'm looking at switching my internet provider as well; currently I pay about $55 a month for broadband.  I should be able to get it for a lot less than that. 

Of course, as part of the anticipated switch to satellite -- where they have tons of free HD programming -- I had to purchase a new TV.  Yep, I've finally gone flat screen and high def.  It's huge.  I'm in love.  I may never leave the house again.

Anyone have any money saving tips or suggestions that I can do?  Particularly about satellite TV and internet service?  I'm a little wary of switching car insurance, anyone actually switched to Geico or Allstate with good results?  Horrible results?  Bueller?

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl