Mrs. Micah: Finance for a Freelance Life

What Is Money? — Nichomachean Ethics

mrsmicah — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:00:41 +0000

My husband just finished teaching his Intro to Philosophy students Aristotle’s Nichomachaen Ethics. In that work (Book V, ch. 5), Aristotle launches into a discourse about money and goods. He considers money important not because you need a lot of it, but because it’s integral to just exchanges, or “reciprocity.”

I decided to read the chapter because, hey, I write about money and I’m married to a philosopher.

Aristotle proposes that a farmer and a shoemaker wish to make an exchange. The shoemaker wants food and the farmer wants shoes for his family. They can sell their products and buy from each other with money or they can just barter—either way, money will end up coming into the relationship.

If they barter, they have to figure out how many bushels of grain is equal to one pair of shoes (or vice-versa). This is important, Aristotle points out, because the grain could also be exchanged for wine. Some equation, some single, separate unit to work from, must be established for the deal to be reciprocal.

Money, then, acting as a measure, makes goods commensurate and equates them; for neither would there have been association if there were not exchange, nor exchange if there were not equality, nor equality if there were not commensurability.

Even when money never changes hands, the calculation is still based on a unit. So if the shoemaker’s shoes are worth $30, then the farmer will give $30 of grain in exchange. If the shoemaker needs more than $30 of grain, he can purchase more with money made from selling shoes to others, or he can exchange other services equal to the amount of grain he needs.

In itself, money isn’t anything at all. It’s a unit we have fixed to use for our transactions. Even gold is not inherently useful unless there’s some independent standard that tells us how much gold we can exchange for how many shoes.

For Aristotle, the point of living isn’t and shouldn’t be to acquire more money. But the point of money is to help people live together by enabling a just system of exchange.

Does it work? Aristotle is right that money enables fair exchanges. However it’s no more than a tool, independent of how people use it. And because it is key to exchanges and power, it too often gets misused, hoarded, fought-over, etc. But that’s not money’s fault, that’s ours.

—

NaNoWriMo is coming along very well. 14,273 words in the first 7 days. I’ll keep updating my progress bar in the top right sidebar on the front page and the bottom left on individual posts. This Thursday I start receiving Filgrastim shots to prepare for the donation. I’m feeling more nervous than I was last week, but still excited and hopeful.

Content © Mrs. Micah 2007 – 2009. This content may only be reproduced in excerpts by legitimate bloggers.

I reserve all rights to decide who is a legitimate blogger and to report scraper sites to Google, possibly serving them a DMCA notice. But if you’re an ordinary blogger, feel free to use an excerpt!

Managing Money On A Variable Income – Guest Post

Guest Poster — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:00:16 +0000

The following is a guest post by DebtKid, who writes about his journey to get out of debt, and achieve financial stability.
He also runs the Money Hackers blog network.

Getting out of debt has become the new mission for many consumers. Heck, It's my number one personal mission! Now that the days of easy credit and lucrative terms are history, many consumers are facing the harsh reality that their paycheck cannot support the lifestyle they have become accustomed to living. Regardless of all the advice about living within your means and not using credit as an extension of your income, millions of consumers have been doing just that for years.

With credit limits slashed and banks refusing loans the only way to get out of this mess is to eliminate your debt and start over with a budget based on your actual earnings. What happens when you don't know how much money you will be making?

Some people think it is a waste of time to create a budget when you don't know exactly how much money you will be making, however these are the individuals who need a budget the most. Here are a few tips to help create a workable budget which will allow room for savings and debt elimination while living on a variable income.

Determine earnings – Even for those who do not have a set pay amount, it is possible to look back over the past 12 months and determine an “average” dollar figure in terms of income. Whether you work on commission or are self employed with periods up feast and famine, you should be able to pinpoint a low earning amount to start your budget. If you base your budget on your lowest earning period, when you make more money it will be “extra” versus finding yourself short each month.
Pay necessities first – It is especially important for individuals who have unpredictable earnings to budget for necessities first before spending money on non-essentials. Necessities are the things needed for survival (or at least survival in relative comfort) such as rent/mortgage, food and utilities.
Think long term – Living on a variable income requires a person to think beyond this month's financial obligations. In order to make it through the lean times, you must use money from the “good” times to grow your savings and eliminate any high interest debt. This is true for all individuals however especially important when you do not know for certain how much money you will make from one month to the next. It may be tempting to use a big paycheck to splurge on luxuries, however this will only increase your financial problems in the long run. Once your necessities are covered most of your remaining income should be allocated toward savings to ease the burden in future months when money is tight.

Living on a fixed income affords a certain security in that you know what to expect each payday to create a workable budget. The same can be true for individuals living on a variable income if they take the time and put forth the effort to create a realistic budget.

By eliminating debt you reduce the number of financial obligations which will instantly put more money back in your pocket. Building a well padded savings account also provides security when you face low earning periods. These simple steps help add some predictability
to an otherwise uncertain future.

Content © Mrs. Micah 2007 – 2009. This content may only be reproduced in excerpts by legitimate bloggers.

November – Donating, Noveling, Applying to Grad School

mrsmicah — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:00:53 +0000

This November, I will be taking most of the month off from blogging. I’ll still post on Mondays and several people have given or promised me guest posts contact me if you’re interested, so the blog won’t be entirely dormant.

I’m doing this because November promises to be a busy month. I could try to do everything I have planned and still write posts, but that would take energy away from my November projects (which I think are more worthy of my attention than some months’ projects have been) and it would probably produce lower-quality blog posts as well. Lose-lose.

So, what am I doing this November? Three big things:

National Novel Writing Month!

I’ve wanted to do NaNoWriMo ever since I found out it existed, back when I was in college. But when I was in college, I had classes and focused my energies there. The first year I was out of college, I was just starting this blog and new it would die if I took a month off–I was still finding my focus and my voice. Last year, I was still doing consulting part-time for a living and didn’t think I could balance my home work schedule and my home writing schedule.

But this year, there are no more reasons not to and I’m very excited. NaNoWriMo happens every November, when a group of crazy people all commit to writing 50,000 words of a novel (a short novel) in 30 days. It started as a fun attempt by a few friends and grew into something international. I’m hoping that my blogging will give me an edge. I’ve written between 250,000 and 400,000 words in the last 2.25 years I’ve had this blog (estimate based on # of posts and my average words per post).

If anyone else is doing NaNoWriMo and would like to be buddies on the site, email me your screenname and a link to your NaNo profile and I’ll friend you.

Donating Peripheral Blood Stem Cells (Marrow Stem Cells)

On November 16th, I’ll be donating PBSC, the stem cells that make bone marrow. The process is not quite as intense as donating actual bone marrow. There’ll be no need to stick a needle into the bones themselves. But it will be uncomfortable and require a number of days of prep work.

If things go well, I’ll be live tweeting and/or microblogging the process. I probably won’t be able to type, but my darling husband will be accompanying me the entire time and has agree to be my amenuensis.

What the process will entail in November (after a blood test today) is 4 days of Filgrastim shots to stimulate my bone marrow to produce more stem cells than normal. These stem cells will end up in my blood. This is supposed to be the most painful part of the process, especially in the areas with the most marrow.

Then on the day of donation, I’ll receive a 5th shot of Filgrastim (which is nice because it’ll last all day and help my body make more stem cells after the process is over) very early in the morning. After about an hour for breakfast, I’ll come back and be hooked up to an apheresis machine. Best case scenario, an IV will take blood from one arm, route it through the machine to take out the stem cells, and put it back in the other arm. If things don’t go as well, I may have to get a central line in my leg. Less fun, but I would get the use of my arms.

Fortunately, it normally only takes a couple days to be most of the way recovered, unlike when you donate bone marrow itself. The pain just comes beforehand.

GRE and Grad School Applications

Thirdly, I have a GRE scheduled on November 20th. I started reviewing for it in October, problem by problem, but what free time I have besides work and writing I’ll be spending working on my GRE. I’m also not going to let NaNoWriMo derail my GRE efforts, but I’ve found that spending 15-20 minutes on a day doing it seems to work well.

While my library school applications don’t have to be done until the winter, I hope to get them finished up by early December, which means filling out a lot of forms, & writing statements of intent for each program. I’ve already started that too.

Thanks for all the support so many of you have already given me on each of these three November tasks. Here’s to a successful November for all of us!

Content © Mrs. Micah 2007 – 2009. This content may only be reproduced in excerpts by legitimate bloggers.

How to Dispute Problems on Your Credit Report

mrsmicah — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:00:51 +0000

Earlier this week, I got a comment asking:

I’ve been married for 7 months now and I was wondering my husband had electric through progress energy and I didn’t even know him then. Well for the past 7 months they have called me every single day wanting me to pay the bill. Now it is on my credit as well on my husbands how do I go about getting that off my credit?

My initial suggestion, of course, was to pay off the debt (and try to work out a payment plan with the creditors, if they’re not able to do it all at once) and look into laws about how collections agencies can treat you. However, the mark may still show up on her credit report. Because she didn’t incur the debt, it’s appropriate that she do her best to get it off her credit.

In order to do this, she’ll have to formally dispute the item on her credit report. Here’s how to find out what’s on your credit report and dispute incorrect items. It can happen to anyone—and it’s estimated that about 25% of credit reports contain serious errors.

1. How to Get Your Free Credit Report

The three major credit bureaus—Experian, Transunion, and Equifax—are required to give you one free copy of your credit report every year. This was set up so that consumers could keep an eye on their credit reports.

You can access your credit report for free by going to annualcreditreport.com (not freecreditreport.com) and filling out your information. You’ll then have the choice of picking any of the three bureaus. Many people spread this out and check one report from a different bureau three times a year, but you can also check all three at once.

When select the bureau, you’ll be directed to their secure website. At this point, they may attempt to sign you up for credit monitoring services. You do not have to sign up with these services in order to receive your free credit report, each has an option to bypass.

2. How to Read Your Credit Report

Your credit report should show every loan or credit card (revolving loan) you currently have open. It will include any flags from the last 7 years—including bankruptcies, certain late payments (late payments of less than 30 or 60 days may not be reported), defaults on loans, and non-payment for certain other things, like the commenter’s husband’s electric bill and my friend Brian’s library fines. After 7 years, these should not show up on your report any longer.

What you’re looking for are reporting errors. Does it report that you owe on a debt incurred by your significant other before you were married or living together? Does it report a debt you paid off, or the same debt twice? Is your name misspelled or your address outdated? These are all things to get corrected.

3. How to Dispute Errors on Your Credit Report

The FTC has put together a great resource on disputing errors on your credit report. Some of their tips:

1) Gather as much substantiating material as you can. If you’re trying to prove the spelling if your name or your new address, make a copy of your driver’s license. Print out a bank statement with the canceled check showing that your payment was cashed or print a screenshot of your bank account and highlight the payment.

2) Circle or otherwise note the errors on your credit report.

3) Include a letter with the specifics of the error on the report, the reasons why it’s an error, and the proof you’re sending. Be as precise and brief as possible. If you ramble, it may become unclear exactly what you want them to do.

In the commenter’s case, I also suggested that she include information about and proof of her living arrangements at the time the debt was incurred. Otherwise, the reporting agency may assume that she and her husband were living together with only his name on the lease and electric bill. That may have been the assumption which led the electric company to report it as a non-payment on her account in the first place.

Mail a copy of the letter along with copies (not originals) of your supporting documents to the credit bureau(s) you received the report(s) from. Send the letter as certified mail with “return receipt requested.” Save the return receipt when it comes back, as proof that you made this dispute.

Mail another copy to the company whose item you’re disputing. Include another copy of your credit report and copies of your supporting evidence. Request return receipt. If you can, find the specific address the company uses to handle disputes.

Disputing an item does not guarantee that it will be removed from your credit report. If the credit bureau thinks your claim is frivolous, they won’t investigate. Even if they investigate, the charge may disappear from your account for a short-time, but it will come back on if they decide not to accept your claim.

I add this because some “credit repair” groups use the strategy of disputing everything bad on your credit report, including legitimate complaints from your creditors, which may have the effect of removing them temporarily. But it doesn’t work in the long run, because the charges are legitimate. Then the only person better off is the repair group, who’s got your money.

4. Once Your Credit Report is Fixed

If you successfully dispute items on your credit report, you can have a corrected sent to people to whom the change would be relevant—employers (or potential employers), or others. According to the FTC document:

If you ask, the consumer reporting company must send notices of any corrections to anyone who received your report in the past six months.

You can have a corrected copy of your report sent to anyone who received a copy during the past two years for employment purposes.

If your problem isn’t human error, but identity theft, this this FTC resource can help you with long-term strategies. Disputing fraudulent charges is a step, but there’s a lot more that has to be done. This has information on freezes, on submitting reports of the fraud to various groups, and steps to recover your identity.

Content © Mrs. Micah 2007 – 2009. This content may only be reproduced in excerpts by legitimate bloggers.

Is the Era of Democratic Credit Really Over Now?

mrsmicah — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:00:48 +0000

When the Wall Street Journal printed an article a couple weeks back (subscriber only, sorry, no link) about the end of the democratization of credit, my first thought was “old news.” Credit has gotten tighter in all its forms. Credit card balances are being slashed for no reason or for red flags that were ignored before the recession, HELOCs are being closed, mortgage refinance attempts are being denied, and people aren’t getting granted as much credit in the first place.

Despite all this people with good credit and smart credit card practices could still get credit cards, mostly. And no matter how high the interest rates were, it didn’t matter because they paid them off on time.

But is that about to change?

An article by USA Today reveals some disturbing new trends that will upset the system of credit as we know it, if they continue.

Credit Card Companies Now Charging Fees For Too Little Spending

That’s right, it’s not even an inactivity fee (which some are charging). Citigroup has started charging annual fees to people who don’t spend enough with their credit cards.

There’s a certain logic to it. If you’re a good money manager, then you don’t carry a balance on what you spend. Therefore the only way the credit card companies profit from lending you money is by getting that 3% of your spending (from merchants). For $2400, the example number cited in the article, that’s $72 the credit card company receives. Apparently that’s enough for them.

Look Out for New Annual Fees

Even if you spend enough on your card that you’re not worried about inactivity fees or low-spending fees, you may still be hit with new annual fees. Bank of America has announced that they’re going to be putting annual fees from $29-$99 on some of their cardholder’s accounts. USA Today says that customers who don’t carry a balance and haven’t ever paid late may still be effected.

Adding an annual fee is the right of any credit card company, written into the contract. They have to give you warning and you can choose to close the card, but unless you can call and get it waived, you can’t stop it.

And Your Rates Can Still Go Up

Citibank recently got in hot water for increasing rates on customers who hadn’t been behaving badly. While the CARD Act will offer some protections about the speed at which rates increase and the warning you get beforehand, ultimately the credit card company still has the right to raise the rates.

So, What Does This Mean for Credit?

Credit has almost never been democratic. Large lines of credit were restricted to the very rich. A poorer person might be able to borrow at high interest (or with a security of equal value, such as in a pawn shop). There were very personal credits such as tabs at stores, but these weren’t in the amounts to which we’ve become accustomed. The idea that a middle-class person might have $20,000 in credit card debt, would probably shock people even 50 years ago (even adjusted for inflation).

Is credit going away?

I don’t think so. And I don’t think it’ll entirely lose the universal aspect it’s acquired in the past 30-40 years. But of people start getting charged annual fees and low-spending fees as a matter of course, then I think that the way many financially-savvy people use credit is going to change.

I would not be surprised to see them leaving cards with annual fees but still using the cards with low-spending fees, being careful to spend the appropriate amount while remaining within budget (since many of these people use the credit cards soley to get the rewards, rather than to maintain a good credit history).

For those who habitually carry a balance, I think this won’t be a wakeup call. But it may be the start of a system that drives more people to get out of debt so they won’t get eaten by fees and interest.

So here’s my question for my readers, because I’m the curious type: If your credit card company started charging a low-spending fee and you weren’t spending enough—would you spend more on the card or would you close it?

Content © Mrs. Micah 2007 – 2009. This content may only be reproduced in excerpts by legitimate bloggers.

Are PayDay Loans Cheaper Than Bouncing a Check?

mrsmicah — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:00:41 +0000

There is one kind of advertisement that I won’t sell on this blog and that’s ads for payday loans. (Unfortunately, keyword-based AdSense will display some on this post, but I can only eliminate a certain number of advertisers.) I’ve made this decision because payday loans often trap people in a cycle of debt and repayment at high interest, and can hasten a downward financial spiral.

However, as I was recently given a post-dated check by a friend (we’d agreed on this beforehand, as it was more convenient for both of us than waiting until their payday), I began to reflect on the costs of bouncing a check.

Bank Fees for Bouncing a Check

The cost to you of bouncing a check depends on who you’re banking with. Wachovia charged $25 last time I checked. Some charge $30. If the check was less than $100, then this is more than 2 weeks interest on even the high-priced 500% APR ($20).

Store Fees for Bouncing a Check

If the check you bounced was for a store, there will probably be another $20-30 fee. Why? Because their bank probably charged them for the having deposited a bad check and they’re passing the cost on to you, the person who wrote the bad check.

ChexSystems, Long-Term Effects of Bouncing a Check

But bouncing a check may cost you more than the up-front fees from your bank and the store. Most banks report bounced checks to a group called ChexSystems, which functions like a credit bureau for banking. A black mark on your ChexSystems report may prevent you from getting another checking account.

Not a problem, you’re set with your own bank? Well, bounce enough checks and your bank may think otherwise. After all, a checking account is a privelege, not a right.

What if I Post-Date the Check?

Unfortunately, banks will try to cash post-dated checks. Businesses probably won’t check the date before depositing the check (and if they do, they’ll probably refuse to take it). Post-dating is an especially bad idea when dealing with collections agencies, which are notorious for promising to honor the check’s date and then turning around and depositing it anyway.

Post-dating only works with people you can depend on to honor your wishes. That’s never a business or a collector. Even friends and relatives may not be dependable. So be very careful and don’t assume that post-dating will keep you from bouncing checks.

So Should I Get a PayDay Loan, Then?

Not if you can help it. Despite their alleged convenience, payday loans are not a good solution. They’re best in situations where you’ve run into a one-time emergency and aren’t able to access your savings for some reason. Unfortunately, that’s not who they’re marketed to.

If you really, honestly don’t have any money, then borrowing more at interest is not a viable long-term solution.

Is one better than the other? What do you think?

Content © Mrs. Micah 2007 – 2009. This content may only be reproduced in excerpts by legitimate bloggers.

I’m Being the Match

mrsmicah — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:00:01 +0000

Five years ago, the National Marrow Donor Program (now “Be the Match”) showed up at my college campus to sign people up for the marrow registry. It was a bad year for me, I was depressed and struggling with my mother’s diagnosis. I wanted to find some meaning somewhere, and while it may not have been the healthiest decision at the time, I decided to sign up.

I’d forgotten about all that until last spring, when I got an e-mail from a representative of the NMDP. I’d been matched to a candidate. Was I still interested? Would I be willing to undergo further blood tests to confirm the match?

I thought about it for a couple days, scoured their website, talked with my husband and family, and then agreed. The tests didn’t happen until July, but they confirmed that I was an eligible donor for this person and the best match. Since the recipient wasn’t yet ready, they put me on hold. Being on hold meant that I agreed to donate at an unspecified date, to be confirmed within 60 days. During those 60 days, I agreed to do my best not to engaged in things which would disqualify me from donating–street drugs, pregnancy, tattoos, travel to certain countries, etc.

Late in September, I got the call that the recipient was ready. This meant further tests, which I underwent last week. Yesterday the verdict came back, I was not only the match, but I was in good enough health for the donation process to be safe for both me and the recipient.

I’ll be donating on November 16th. Instead of a regular bone marrow donation, this will be a donation of PBSC, the stem cells that create new bone marrow. They’ll be given to the recipient, whose body will then form new bone marrow based on my healthy marrow pattern. The recipient has MDS, which used to be called pre-leukemia. If the treatment works, then the recipient will not develop leukemia, if it doesn’t, then they will probably develop adult leukemia.

I’m writing about it today for two reasons.

First, I’m very excited to have gotten the news. I’ve been sitting on this since the Spring and it’s great to be moving forward. As the daughter of a long-term, terminal cancer patient, I’m also excited to be able to help another person and family. I know how precious even another few years can be and how amazing a cure would be.

Second, I’d like to encourage others to sign up for the registry. This is a way you can make a huge difference in the life of another person and of their family. You may well be someone’s only chance of a match in the registry. The marrow program covers expenses such as flying to donate (I’m fortunate to be able to donate right here in DC!), hotels, food, transportation, and other expenses incurred in donation.

If you’re too nervous, then don’t sign up now. I’ll be blogging more about it around and on the day of the donation (helpful hubby has agreed to transcribe), so you can get a picture of how the donation process (PBSC in my case) works and an idea of whether or not you’ll be able to do it.

Signing up is easy. You can do it on their website and all they’ll need is a cheek swab. They even mail you a cheek swab kit to return. Take some time to check out their website, it’s got a lot of information about the donation process.

Edited to add: Mapgirl reminds me that minority donors are especially needed, since only 30% of people in the NMDP are minorities. The Cammy Lee Leukemia Foundation sponsors drives aimed at signing Asians and Pacific Islanders (for the NMDP).

Content © Mrs. Micah 2007 – 2009. This content may only be reproduced in excerpts by legitimate bloggers.

Are Crazy Personal Finance Goals and Challenges Better Than Slow and Steady?

mrsmicah — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:00:15 +0000

Next month, I’m going to be participating in a glorious, 10-year-old tradition—National Novel Writing Month. I’ll say a little more what I’m doing on November 1st, but this is my first time and I’m very excited.

National Novel Writing Month is like the Dave Ramsey of writing. You have to write a 50,000-word novel in one month. You slowflake your time, you cut out other leisure activities, you shut yourself in a room and avoid friends and family, you do what it takes.

Why? Because crazy, short-term goals inspire action. I couldn’t write a novel if it meant doing this kind of thing for a year. But I can for a month. And past experience suggests that without this kind of goal/event, I’d never get started in the first place, or wouldn’t keep going.

NaNoWriMo makes me think of the debate that so often happens in personal finance. Should you buckle down on your debt repayment goals with gazelle-like intensity and not look back until you hit the finish line? Or should you find a pace that keeps you from feeling miserable and (unreasonably) deprived so you stick with it?

My answer is yes.

For & Against Gazelle Intensity

Arguement for gazelle intensity: A large debt can weigh you down for years if you stick to minimums. And interest will often end up charging you half again as much, or even double. Intense debt repayment will free up the rest of your life and cost you less.

Argument against gazelle intensity: It’s one thing to be intense when you only have to do it for a year. When you’ve got to do it for 3 or 4 years minimum, you’ll burn out and give up entirely. Better to repay a little faster and more aggressively and leave the sprinting to people who are in for the short-term anyway.

From experience, I can tell you that the short-term sprints are fantastic. Paying off a credit card, paying off a car, putting away over half of our combined income for debt repayment—it’s a great feeling! It’s inspiring, it makes you want to do more.

But it’s also the sort of thing that can make you burn out. With so many years ahead, you find yourself wondering if you can keep this up. And it’s not a realistic expectation for most people.

This doesn’t mean I advocate dropping back to paying the minimums in between. Instead, I believe the best method (at least the best for us) is to set your monthly debt repayment goal somewhere above your minimums. As high as you can comfortably go. Then make sure that you have at least a little money put aside in your budget for fun spending. It doesn’t need to be much, whatever is enough to make you happy. $50/ea misc. personal for me and Micah is delightful and rarely always used. Other people need more, other people need less.

With this snowball, you still can’t afford lots of new gadgets, big tvs, expensive cars, and the like. But you’re not so stressed by squeezing out every penny that you give up on debt repayment.

Then mix it up with these bursts of gazelle intensity. The momentum and short-term nature keep you going and the payoff is fantastic. At the end, you’re more inspired and you feel great about the dent you’ve made in your debt.

When To Sprint With Debt Repayment?

Definitely at the beginning. Despite our initially meager salaries, it was great to start w/paying off the credit card in 2 months.

Definitely at the end. Sprinting to the finish in any project is a great way to wrap it up (providing you’re not skimping on quality, of course).

At intervals. It’s not easy to plan, but I’ve found that it’s especially exciting to cut down on spending on months when I have a lot of alternative income coming in. That way the repayment fund is being fed by both streams at the same time and gets impressive.

Are you a gazelle? Have you found it easier to come up with a method like ours, or something else?

Save on Christmas Spending with Swagbucks

mrsmicah — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:00:12 +0000

As I mentioned last month, I’ve been using Swagbucks to earn a little extra spending money. Unlike similar groups such as MyPoints or Cash Crate, Swagbucks doesn’t use surveys. Instead, the primary way to earn points (Swagbucks) is through searching.

My previous article covered my thoughts on the search engine and other ways to earn money through Swagbucks, such as direct referrals and points for purchases.

Though I’m using it for fun money, I’ve been thinking about other applications. In particular, Swagbucks can be used to cut the cost of Christmas spending. There are three ways you can use Swagbucks to save money on Christmas and another way that your spending on presents can save you on later presents.

1. Buy Christmas Presents Straight from the Swagbucks Store

Swagbucks has a store or “prizes” section, where you redeem the Swagbucks you’ve earned for items, cash, or gift cards. By earning Swagbucks, you can buy these Christmas presents for free.

To give you an idea of what sorts of things are available directly through Swagbucks, here are some items currently in the SwagStore (10/16/09):

The Office, Season 5 episode (single) – 60 SB
HD Digital Camcorder – 2440 SB
Time Subscribtion (28 issues) – 185 SB
Obsession by Calvin Klein cologne gift set – 790 SB

The selection changes periodically. It’s not always going to be things that people on your gift list will want. At the same time, there are things like the Office Season 5, Fringe Season 1, which people are probably going to be wanting this Christmas.

Since we’re already into October, you may not have time to save up for larger items (depends on how you plan to use Swagbucks) until next Christmas or perhaps for other events during the coming year.

2. Redeem Swagbucks for Christmas Gift Cards

If Swagbucks could only be redeemed for items, it might be harder to find the gifts you want. However, you can redeem Swagbucks for gift cards to various places including Amazon.com, which sells far more than books. These gift cards can be used to purchase presents or can be the presents themselves.

An important thing to know about Swagbuck’s gift card program is that most of the gift cards are electronic and many come in small units (so you can cash out more easily). This means that if you want to give someone $25 in gift cards, you have to give 5 separate cards.

Also, unlike electronic gift cards purchased from some locations, gift cards from Swagbucks have a short waiting period so that the orders can be done in bulk. For example, Amazon.com electronic gift cards codes are posted on the 16th and 30th of every month. Amazon.ca posts on the 1st and 16th of every month. This is good to know for planning.

3. Redeem Swagbucks for Christmas Cash

You can also redeem Swagbucks for plain old cash, which works as a gift or can be used to buy gifts. It’s more economical to redeem them for Amazon gift cards right now (45 SB to $5 on Amazon vs. 70SB to $5 cash), but sometimes cash is the best answer.

4. Shop Swagbucks Partners for Presents and Earn Points

In a reversal, you can also earn Swagbucks for some of your Christmas shopping. This is not unlike getting cashback on purchases, only (like most rewards credit cards) it’s in the form of points you can redeem for something else.

Swagbucks has a number of retail partners (you can check it out at their site even before signing up). If you buy from them through Swagbucks (instead of just going to the retailer’s site or store), then you earn Swagbucks in return, generally 1 SB for every $5 spent.

These Swagbucks earned through Christmas shopping can then be used in turn for presents in any of the three ways listed above.

Little Ways to Save Money for the Holidays

There are a lot of little things you can do to save or earn money for the holidays. Starting in October, you won’t have time to pay for an entire Christmas with Swagbucks, but every bit helps.

(It’d be interesting to see if someone could start saving Swagbucks in January and pay for a whole Christmas with Swagbucks. It shouldn’t be too hard if you’re buying one present each for around 10 people and keeping it to approximately a $20 value…harder if you’re going for something bigger, but you could use it to get one big present for one special someone too. Anyone feel like taking up that challenge?)

When the Doctor Charges for Unnecessary Tests

mrsmicah — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:00:54 +0000

A story from our week along with some lessons we drew from it:

Part 1, February: After his primary care physican moved unexpectedly, Micah went to a new doctor to get a maintenance prescription refill. Upon arriving, he was told to pee in a cup. “Might this be a drug test to double-check that the prescription history I provided was correct?” wondered Micah. Doctor seemed distracted, constantly coming in and out. At one point, he said Micah should be given a strep test, and left. His assistant, also a doctor, came in looking confused and saying, “He wants me to give you a strep test?”

This assistant doctor had been in the room the whole time the doctor had been there and didn’t seem to find the test consistent with the visit. Besides, Micah wasn’t there for a physical check-up or sick visit in the first place. The doctor just needed another excuse to leave the room to talk to some people who had showed up. The assistant doctor swabbed the back of his throat, did something with the swab, and reported that the test said he was negative. The assistant doctor said something along the lines of “We already knew that” and left.

Micah wasn’t given the option of not having the strep test done. It was an order given by the doctor to his assistant. Micah was not informed that he would be charged for it. The doctor then wrote him a prescription for an allergy medication (whose name shared a couple of vowel sounds with the anti-depressant Micah was seeing him about) and gave him two samples of the allergy medicine. Micah assumed that the doctor knew what he was doing, and therefore didn’t notice that the prescription and samples were wrong until he got home.

Micah got the things straightened out the next day and resolved never to visit this doctor again.

Part 2, September: Seven months pass. We receive a letter from the doctor’s office letting us know that while the insurance company covered the appointment in full, they only paid about 2/3 for the strep test and the urinalysis. The office is billing us $22.50, or thereabouts, for the strep test and $2.80 for the urinalysis.

Micah goes to the office with a plan. Offer to pay for the rest of the urinalysis–which might have had some medical significance–but tell them he won’t pay for the strep test. The test was the doctor’s way of keeping him busy, they get paid 2/3 of the bill for it paid anyway.

His plan has a second stage if they insist on the strep copayment–to politely tell them that he won’t pay the bill and that he’d be contacting the insurance company as well as the state’s medical board with an official letter detailing the appointment and the doctor’s use of irrelevant tests as a way of keeping patients occupied. It’s certainly something the insurance company should know about and the medical board might consider it unethical. No arguing, no yelling, just polite information with a suggestion that they inform the doctor.

Fortunately, the office accepts his offer without any need for the backup plan. They say that they’ll put a note in his medical chart and accept the $2.80.

Micah had already resolved never to visit that doctor again, this bill was just confirmation that he was correct in his decision.

Lessons We Drew From This Experience

1) Challenge BS tests. Micah’s a non-confrontational guy and not a doctor. Though he was pretty sure the tests were BS to keep him occupied while the doctor went off to see some apparent friends who had decided to drop by the office, he believed that these would be covered under the insurance payment and might somehow be relevant since this was his first visit to this doctor.

Since now we’re aware that we may get charged in part for these tests, we’re both more inclined to challenge anything that looks like BS filler. It’s probably jacking up the cost of health care in America and we certainly don’t want to receive bills for it later.

There’s nothing wrong with asking your doctor “Why do I need this test?” You don’t have to be confrontational, just ask for information before proceeding. If you’re there about antidepressants and he wants to give you a strep test, challenge. It’ll save you the rest of the trouble.

2) If Charged, Make an Offer. Micah thought the urinalysis was probably BS too. But since it was only $2.50 and, unlike the strep test, wasn’t definitely irrelevant, he thought the gesture might make them consider accepting his refusal.

3) Bring Evidence to Support Your Argument. Micah brought along the detailed bill sent from the doctor’s office. It included the amounts the insurance company had alread paid which showed that that despite this test being unnecessary, the insurance company had paid 2/3 of it anyway.

4) Have a Backup Plan. It’s not illegal for a doctor to order unnecessary tests, even if his/her only goal is to keep your occupied, or if s/he is so distracted that s/he thinks you’re someone else. However, if these tests were ordered with no real medical purpose, it’s wasting the insurance company’s money. It’s also unethical to order these tests and charge the patient and their insurance for them. If they don’t remove the charge, follow through.

Both the insurance company and the state medical board will probably be interested in this information–the board for ethical reasons and the insurance company because they don’t want to be paying for even part of BS tests. Letting your doctor know you’ll be contacting them doesn’t mean yelling or arguing or even threatening. It’s a way of letting them know that you’re serious and also providing documentation of your refusal to pay and your reasons for doing so.

This documentation could come in handy later on if the doctor turns your account over to collections.