2014 - Additional Goals

Previously I posted our 2014 savings goal numbers, I have a couple of other goals to list as well.

Back in March 2012 I posted about wanting to install plantation shutters in our front, first floor bedroom.  Well, almost two years later, we've not made any progress on this goal, although we have accomplished other house projects.

So, for 2014 my goal is to replace the cheap plastic blinds (that have been up since we bought the house almost 10 years ago) in the front bedroom.  You will note that I've not renewed the goal to have plantation shutters installed.  While that is still a goal, I recognize that plantation shutters are both an expensive and time consuming project.  I will, eventually, have plantation shutters installed, but for now my plan is to order blinds to replace the crappy plastic ones.

I've settled on a blind company.  But, I have not decided on whether I'm going to order blinds or roman shades, much of that will depend on pricing.  Many of our windows that need replacement window treatments are the same size, either as a single window, group of two or group of three.  Off the top of my head, I have 6 bedroom windows, 2 study windows, 2 laundry windows).  As a result, the blinds that I order  now can, at some point, be moved from the front bedroom (after I get my shutters), to the back bedroom, to the study, etc.  Said another way, even though I still plan to get shutters the blinds/shades that I plan to order now will not be wasted when I want to upgrade to shutters.  Even at $100 a window (a high end budget), $400 in blinds will make me very happy (plus we've saved that money in our house account).

Also on the agenda this year is an office upgrade.  We are going to do an Ikea cabinet and bookshelf built in hackplus new paint and our budget is $1000.

Finally, a debt goal.  At present our debt load is @$538,000.  I would like to get our debt below $500,000 in 2014.  I have no idea if that is a reasonable goal or not.  I've got to do some number crunching since we did not include any additional mortgage prepayment in our 2014 goals.

Ask, and you shall receive

I have been a DirecTv customer for years.  We also have an HBO package which includes access to HBO Go.  HBO Go is a great service, we can watch any and all HBO series, including past seasons and current seasons, on an iPad or iPhone anywhere (assuming access to WiFi) at anytime.

But, there is a down side of DirecTv and HBO and that is the price.  While, I feel like we get a lot of enjoyment out of the service, DirecTv has been inching up and inching up in price.  So I've developed a habit of calling once every 13 months or so and asking for a discount.  I used to call armed with information from their competitors, but now I just call up and tell them I want to keep our same services but I want to pay less and it seems to work.

Last night I called, and I received a $10 discount on our DirecTv package and then I spoke to someone in the premium channel department and received a $10 discount on our HBO package.  The general discount is good for a year and the HBO discount is good for six months.  So in 5 minutes I saved us $180.

This is a good lesson for all who are working on killing debt, sticking to a budget or increasing savings.  While you may have to cut certain things out in your quest for improved personal finances, there are also opportunities to keep the same services but pay less.

When we were killing our credit card debt in 2007 I regret that I never called, on the cards that were not 0%, and asked for reductions in interest rate or some other accommodations.  Last year, we combined and redid our car insurance (more than 5 years after we got married).  We dramatically increased our coverage and saved a ton of money (which we put towards our umbrella insurance policy).  We could have saved thousands of dollars over the 5 years of insurance status quo, but we didn't make the time to investigate our options.