Hey guys it's Chelsea from the financial diet and this week's video is brought to
you by RetailMeNot and this week we wanted to talk to you guys about the
things that you are probably paying for that you could be getting for free. So
much about saving money and spending smarter is about being creative with how
you get what you need and learning to rethink the way that you get things.
Simple swap outs or being a little bit more patient or even consuming a little
bit less than you think you need are extremely effective ways to save while
still living the life that you want. So let's get right into them with these
free things that you are probably paying for. Number one is network TV. 66% of
Americans are still paying for cable and of those who do have cable subscriptions
more than half also subscribed to at least one streaming service. Now there
are many reasons that people will still want to watch broadcast TV channels but
there's no reason to pay for a cable package to get network TV. If you're
mainly watching things like NBC, CBS, PBS, etc you can get these channels through
an antenna rather than having to pay for a whole cable subscription or a
broadcast TV service. Now obviously there is the one-time startup cost of actually
getting the antenna but you can get antennae that fit the job perfectly for
under 30 dollars on Amazon and it's a one-time cost rather than a recurring
one. Being able to tune into big television moments like award shows,
sporting events, etc is a great reason to want Network TV but you don't need to be
paying a monthly bill for it. Number two is custom tailoring. Now
something we've mentioned over and over on TFT is how important good tailoring
can be to having a great long-lasting professional wardrobe and to get use out
of items that you may have gotten secondhand or which maybe wouldn't
otherwise fit you because of a change in your body type. It's also a good way to
feel super confident in the clothes you're wearing because you know they fit
you like a glove but it's also something that a lot of us can avoid because we
think it's really expensive and/or a big hassle.
Now small tailoring jobs like say bringing up the hem on a skirt can be 10
to 15 bucks but when you talk about things like reshaping the shoulders or
bust of an outfit, you could easily be charged seventy bucks or more for single
tailoring jobs. But what many people don't realize is that there are tons of
stores which offer tailoring services for free when you buy your clothes
there. Stores like Nordstrom will offer free basic alterations on full price
items just make sure to bring your receipt or proof of purchase.
Lululemon provides free hemming on tops and pants and you don't even need to
bring your receipt and we provided a whole list in the description of
different stores that offer these free alteration services along with their
specific requirements. Just being slightly more strategic about how you
shop for things especially stuff like high quality workout gear and office
staples can mean getting that amazing tailored look without having to pay
extra for it. Number three is cloud storage. Now there are tons of cloud
storage services out there that can run anywhere from a few dollars to over 20
dollars every single month but what these services are selling you is
literally just a question of space and while many people think that they may
need to upgrade to those paying subscriptions for things like family
photos, videos, etc the average person would actually be perfectly suited to
many of the free cloud storage options out there for personal use. And there are
several awesome free and complimentary options for cloud storage. For example
anyone can set up a Google Drive account for free and have automatic access to 15
gigs of free storage and if you have an Amazon Prime account you have automatic
access to another five free gigs of storage which is actually something I
have access to and had no idea about. Now of course there are still plenty of
reasons why you would need to upgrade to more cloud storage availability but make
sure that you get to that point before you assume that you need it. Even things
like storing a lot of family photos you may be very well able to do on places
like Google Drive and Amazon. Number four is makeup samples. So I'm a huge devotee
of the makeup sample life. I travel quite a lot for work and personal reasons and
I have on my little makeup shelf what I refer to as my goody bag which is
essentially all of the samples I've accumulated that I kind of sift through
every time I'm traveling to take items I need with me everything from sunscreen
to face masks to lipsticks to highlighters. It's so convenient to have
these sample size, travel size little things of dry shampoo or whatever it
happens to be in addition to the fact that samples are a great way to test out
products particularly if you have, like me, problem skin and need to be
working through a product for at least a week before you know if it's right for
you. And you may think that you need to sign up for things like Birchbox or Ipsy
in order to get these free makeup samples but that is far from the truth.
You can get tons of products totally for free. So first you can get them simply by
signing up for loyalty or tester programs through things like specific
brands stores magazines or websites. You can also become a beauty tester where
whether at home or at a retail location you're provided with specific products
to test and honestly review. Sometimes you can even be paid for being part of
these programs. We'll link you guys in the description to a few great ways to sign
up for programs like this. Another really smart way to get a lot of awesome
freebies tailored to your needs is to shop for your makeup at a department
store. Not only do they often offer amazing freebies and giveaways with your
purchases but the retailer's themselves are actually way more empowered to give
away tons of product. I am a huge devotee of Estee Lauder products and I
specifically get my Estee Lauder products from a specific Macy's on a
specific floor of the store from the same specific woman. Every time I go
there I walk away, whether or not I have bought an item that day, with a treasure
trove of samples in amazing sizes that literally can last me up to a month and
almost literally every time I do buy a product I receive a gorgeous little
makeup bag with tons of samples and full sized products to try. Several of my
favorite lipsticks I literally got that way and a year later I'm still using
them. Department store cosmetics are perhaps one of the most untapped
resources by Millennials on getting awesome free shit. Number 5 is college
textbooks. So you may not know this but there are near endless resources online
for free downloadable PDF versions of literally thousands of college textbooks
currently in use. And while the PDF approach may not fulfill 100% of your
textbook needs for a given semester, students who followed this PDF method
reported up to 75% of their course needs met just through PDFs alone and you can
even print these PDFs and bind them if you prefer the print experience. We'll
link you guys in the description to a ton of different places where you can
find PDF versions of college textbooks online right now. There are also tons of
great websites and online groups where students donate their old textbooks,
partner up with buddies to share textbooks throughout the year, or
organize class-wide swaps. A little bit of coordination can mean that you and a
buddy have to buy only half the amount of books for a given semester.
And beyond that if you're looking to take university level courses for your
own education that's also something you can largely do for free now. Websites
like Coursera offer world-class university education for free and while
you can't necessarily seek a degree through these methods, they are immensely
valuable for learning a specific new skill or just sharpening your critical
thinking and cultural awareness. In short approaching a college education with as
much savvy, creativity, and frugality as possible ensures that you will get what
you need without spending a penny more than you need to. Number six
is everyday money stuff. So there is no real wrong way to manage your money, but
if the basic management of your money is costing you money every month you may
want to rethink how you're doing it. According to a 2018 moneyrates.com
survey the average maintenance fee for a checking account rose to $13.51
up from $12.83 the year before. This means that on average just having a
checking account would cost you over a hundred and sixty dollars every single
year. And most of us have probably never considered switching bank accounts
because it seems like such an inconvenience, but have you ever stopped
to think what led you to your current bank in the first place? Was it where
your parents banked or the one that happened to be located near your
apartment or your workplace or just what you happen to stumble upon first when
looking to put your money somewhere? Chances are you probably came to this
decision more through hazard than anything else and when it comes to how
you manage your money on a daily basis, it is super worth rethinking every
element of it and making sure that you're doing it for the right reasons.
And when it comes to eliminating or seriously reducing these fees, you have
things like fee free online banks as well as smaller bank chains and credit
unions which often have much lower fees. And for what it's worth credit union
members often incur way fewer fees in general. In a comprehensive panel study
of consumers detailed bank and credit union account statements researchers
Victor Sango and Jonathan Zinman found that credit union members incurred an
average of 72 dollars in total checking fees
whereas bank customers incurred an average of 183 dollars. Another thing
that many people don't realize you can get for free is your credit report.
You're actually entitled to one free credit report each year from the major
reporting bureaus, which means that unless you're
like applying for something specifically, there's no need to pay for that extra
check. So to avoid paying fees for your credit report, simply make sure to space
it out strategically so that you're checking from each of the bureaus once
every four months. Number seven is valuable household items
or furniture. So several of my most prized and versatile items in my home
happen to be things that I literally got from the street. One is a really nice and
originally super expensive leather couch that our rich neighbors were giving away because rich people are insane and another is a wooden kitchen cart that we
found walking home from a bar one night took home on the subway and proceeded to
sand clean and paint white. And those are just two of the big ones. There are also
several other super functional items that we've inherited secondhand or found
for free on Craigslist. But aside from the basics of Craigslist and things that
people leave on the corner when they're moving, there are tons of location
specific websites and Facebook groups where people simply giveaway or swap
household items. One great website is freecycle.org but there are also
Facebook groups like broke list which I'm a part of for my local area. And
these free secondhand items are especially useful when setting up a
first apartment or going through a big move but it does require on your end
just a little bit of vision. Chances are you're not going to get the item exactly
the way you would have wanted it if you had bought it at the store
but things like changing out handles painting, whitewashing, sanding, etc can
make a world of difference. You can also set up with a friend a buddy system for
furniture. Chances are over the years when you move to different apartments
your furniture needs just change. One funny example of this is a side table
that Loren myself and our managing editor Holly have all at various points
owned. It's been passed from one of us to the other as we moved and had different
furniture needs. I personally used it as a vanity table, Holly uses it currently
in her living room, Lauren had it as a nightstand table but basically we
realized that the same piece of furniture could be totally functional
for different people depending on the place that we happen to be living in. And
each of us also, it should be noted, painted at a different color. Challenging
yourself to find at least 40% of your household items through these methods
will shock you in terms of how much money you can save
and how much utility you can get out of it. Lastly number eight is a virtual
assistant slash personal helper. So while you may not be currently paying for a
virtual assistant, chances are that in your mind this is something that you
would have to pay for and in many ways you're right. But there are super helpful
and unique apps which when used in combination can act as a sort of
failsafe for your own brain and reminds you to do the things or do the things
for you that you're constantly forgetting about. One particularly great
program for this is called if this than that basically it allows you to link up
all the different services and devices that you may be using at any given time
and trigger things to happen when other things happen. So basically it could be
things like "every time X amount of time passes set up a dental appointment" or
"when my mom calls send me a reminder x time afterwards to call her back" or it
could be "set up an alert for me when things go on sale so I know to buy them
at that time" or it could be "set up a reminder to me when certain coupon codes
go live so that I know to use them." Setting this up in tandem with other
apps like a really robust Google Calendar and/or things like a great
coupon app will allow you to get the most value and remember to do the things
that you're constantly forgetting to do. It essentially provides you the virtual
assistant experience without actually having to pay for one because ultimately
the entire point of things like that is just to be an extra brain on top of our
brain that can remind the first brain to do what the first brain is supposed to
do. Even swapping out one area of spending in your life for something more
frugal or possibly even totally free can provide huge benefits over the course of
your entire life. It's so important we rethink things and make sure that we're
always getting the best deal possible and one way to make sure never to miss
out on that deal is to use a great coupon app like RetailMeNot which I am a
huge personal fan of. So as always guys thank you for watching and don't forget
to hit the subscribe button and to come back every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday
for new and awesome videos.
Bye!
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