Comments on: Tip #8: Implement the A La Carte Method

By: 30 Tips That Can Save Your Money This Month « Faith Style

30 Tips That Can Save Your Money This Month « Faith Style — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:50:52 +0000

[...] gas prices to become your own hedge fund Tip #7: Create a “No Spending” day once a week Tip #8: Implement the A La Carte Method Tip #9: Only buy new things when replacing something old Tip #10: Use the free rewards from your [...]

By: Debating Between The Costs of Watching Hockey at a Bar or at Home | My Next Buck

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:59:57 +0000

[...] I can see spending close to $30-40 each time I go watch a game at a bar. I like the idea of using Ramit Sethi’s a la carte method, but it is totally possible I will end up spending more money assuming I make the effort to go [...]

By: Cable, Phone, & Internet Bundles | Create Your Own and Save Money

Cable, Phone, & Internet Bundles | Create Your Own and Save Money — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:01:24 +0000

[...] you money or should you buy a la carte? I decided to show how we saved money and why I agree with Ramit’s a la carte ideas for cable, high speed Internet, and phone packages. By taking the time to see what our local cable [...]

By: I Will Teach You To Be Rich » The A La Carte Method: Use Psychology Against Yourself to Save Money

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:23:09 +0000

[...] Here’s a detailed writeup on implementing the A La Carte Method. * * [...]

By: Asia Nelson

Asia Nelson — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:45:22 +0000

I employed the same tactic to monthly subscriptions as fashionistas suggest for your closet clutter: If you haven’t used it in 6 months, GET RID OF IT. I have stacks of magazines backlogged and unread from subscriptions I’m very interested in but never really have the time to read through. So, I canceled any subscription for a service I haven’t regularly used in the last 6 months. If, once I’ve gotten through all the backlog of mags, etc, I want to renew that subscription, I can do it then. Total monthly savings: (3 mags @ ~4.00/mag) $12/mo = $144/yr.

Also, I just called my phone company and renegotiated my monthly contract based on current deals they’re offering new subscribers. I simply mentioned that I’ve been a loyal customer who pays in full on time every month for years and was wondering if they’d see what they were able to do to spread the joy of their new plans to reward my loyalty. They immediately upgraded me (unlimited long-distance in Canada, 2000 more texts/mo, and some fancy new voice and video messaging thing I’ll likely not use but didnt’ cost me anything to have in the bundle), dropped my system access fee (which they’re doing for all new accounts), and I ended up with a plan about $10/mo less than my old plan. With this new plan, I’m set to save ~$60/mo, or over $700/year! In one phone call!

By: Budgeta

Budgeta — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:15:53 +0000

I cancelled cable 10 years ago because I didn’t want my kids and hub sitting around watching TV 24/7.
We have the internet and cell phones. One thing with the cell phones that you can do is ask them to lock the mega bytes and music downloads (sorry I can’t recall the proper terms for these 2 things). This will save you 1.99 or more if you or your kids accidently press the button that opens these. In the course of a year I have seen extra charges of at least $20 for mega bytes and music that we never asked for or used. Before I started scrutinizing my bills, I just went ahead and paid the charge. This last time this happened I asked the customer service lady if they could block this function to keep it from happening again and she said yes that they could do that! I will still check my bill, but this will save me and them the time wasted crediting my account.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:26:37 +0000

I’ve set up a file system to remind me of this sort of thing.

By the way the file system is the one recommended in “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. I highly recommend this book. After trying several ‘methods’ of getting organized this is the one that works for me because it takes into account your entire life (work, home, social…)

Anyway, last month I had to get new tires for my car. The total would have been $400 but they had two deals going. One was to fill out a rebate form. Always do these immediately while you still have all the info and get it in the mail. Then I stick a reminder in my file on the day the rebate check is supposed to be in my hands. That way if it isn’t – and you may be surprised how often this occurs – I can call.
The other deal was if I opened a credit card with them to pay for the tires I’d save another $50 so I did that and paid the bill off when it came then canceled the card. I don’t know how this may affect my credit score but I doubt it will do much damage and my $400 tire bill was reduced to $275!

By: Lee

Lee — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:12:36 +0000

I’m a bit late getting to this… but I have to say what a great idea this is. I did this on my own last month after noticing that it took effort to download songs from my $15 a month emusic subscription (I spent a few hours surfing around trying to find something I didn’t HATE to download…how screwed up is that??!!). Then I canceled my Sirius satellite radio subscription. I love Sirius, and I will likely sign up again in the future when my credit card debt is totally gone, but $16 a month for the radio? I needed it in a former job (I worked in the middle of nowhere with no radio for 14 hours a day…it was a lifesaver) but never got around to canceling it. They don’t make it easy, either! I was on the phone for a half hour after finding no way to cancel it online.
Total savings: $31 a month, 372 a year! ridiculous….

By: TC

TC — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:51:22 +0000

Actually, we are do pretty well with subscriptions. We canceled cable TV when we started Netflix, a few years ago.

$18/Netflix (According to FeedFlix.com, Netflix only costs us $1.13 per movie)
$0/Time Magazine (gift subscription from my uncle)
$85/Internet & Phone bundle

We are in the same boat as Kacie – taking out the landline phone from the bundle would make our internet go up.

This tip: $0
Current total: $225

By: Maren

Maren — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:11:14 +0000

Already did most of these. Saved $50 on our internet/cable bill by going to basic (SO BORING, but why pay $50 just to sometimes watch the Daily Show?), canceling Netflix for a little while ($15), taking our texting plan down to 200 a month ($25), and we don’t get magazines anymore. So, that’s over $100 right there if you count letting my EW subscription expire last year.