Getting Married, Change Name Services Save You Time
If you just got married, you definitely need to legally make a name change (maiden to married – yeah!) But is it true that you could find all the forms you need for free and not use a “married change name service? Yes, of course, you “could.” But the real question is do you really have the time? You just got married, “change name” is probably at the bottom of your list of things to do — spend time shopping together for a new bedroom set; now we’re talking! I mean it could take hours and hours of tedious research, and I mean hours. First you even have to figure out all the different things you even need to change your name for, not to mention tracking down all their individual forms and finding out where to submit them to. Just the organizational part of it sets my head spinning.
You just got married, “change name” is probably at the bottom of your list of things to do — but it shouldn’t be and doesn’t have to be an ordeal.
We’ve all heard the saying that time is money. Well, when it comes to using one of these bridal change name kit services versus doing all the legwork yourself, be thankful there are some great services out there that make this process a piece of cake. A study has shown that the average bride can save over 13 hours of research, form completion, and filing mishaps through using a name-change service.
So, if you are looking to make a name change from maiden to married, the two name-change kits that we especially like are MissNowMrs.com and the Official New Bride Name Change Kit:
- Simple three-step system that is completed online
- Answer questions, print all of the necessary forms that contain your answers, and file
- “The Best Wedding Websites from A to Z”
- Contains instructions, checklist, all government name change forms and mailing labels
- Forms are customized based on your state and zip code
- Each kit is delivered to your door in an elegant pink box
What’s the difference between the two? The main difference (besides if packaging sways you one way or another and you have a preference for pink or blue), would be that the MissNowMrs.com married change name kit is completed online and if you do everything with a computer, like me, then you might want to lean toward this one. The Official New Bride Name Change (“maiden to married”) Kit is equally reliable and filled with all the necessary forms, but it is an actual “kit” that will be shipped to you for you to manually fill out the forms. I think MissNowMrs.com could be a bit more of a time saver from that perspective, but again, it boils down to how you personally like to deal with things – on a computer or more hands on.
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com. See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.
“Create Your Own Wedding — Own Your Style, Not Someone Else’s — and do it all while keeping money in your pocket!”
How to Save Money Tips – 30 Easy Ways, Part II
Yes, indeed, there are many ways you can save money, and this being the 2nd part of our article on How To Save Money Tips in 30 Easy Ways is going to lay out another 10 suggestions to put cash away for your Wedding Day! So, sit back, read and start thinking about what great things you will be able to add to your wedding reception or your honeymoon with the extra money you will gain when putting these “how to save money tips” into action.
So – How Do You Save Money? Part II:
- Consolidate and pay off debt as soon as possible: This is important also as you start your new life together. If you can help it, you don’t want to begin your marriage carrying debt, so focus on consolidating it into a lower interest card or get a low interest equity line of credit to transfer the debt to and then pay it off as soon as possible. Money paid in interest is money thrown away! Why spend your hard-earned cash to make the financial institutions rich?
- Pay your bills on time and avoid late fees: With the Web and banks having everything online now, you can set up most all of your payments so they are automatically deducted from your checking or even charged to your credit card (get mileage or reward points – but be sure to pay it off when the bill comes in). So there really is no excuse for forgetting to pay a bill on time and forking out the late fees, but if by chance you do forget a bill, if you are a first time offender, call the company and request politely to waive the late fees, and more likely than not, they will to it for you.
- Be aware of your bank balance and avoid over draft fees: If you use your checking account often or have some bills that are paid automatically from your checking account, be aware of your balance at all times to avoid overdraft fees. And make sure you reconcile your bank account every month to know exactly where you are at in your account. While we try not to make mistakes or be forgetful, they happen – a check might be written that you were in a hurry and forgot to record in your book or worse … I once wrote a check for what I thought was $350 toward a bill that we owed a few thousand on, but I somehow managed to write it for $3,500 (I was obviously short on oxygen that day) and that messed me and my account up for weeks, and the overdraft and NSF fees that mounted up — UGH!!
- Avoid ATM fees: Be aware of the ATM withdrawal fees. There is no reason to pay these – just be sure you think ahead of time for when you will need cash and get the money from your own bank’s ATMs or just withdrawal the money from the bank.
- Avoid credit cards with annual fees: Credit cards with their cash back bonuses and reward points are a great way to save some money. Just make sure that the card does not charge you any annual fees! There are cards that offer fee-free reward plans, so there really is no reason to pay the annual fees.
- Disconnect land line if possible: Unless you have small kids in the house or older people to take care of, it is more than likely that you could survive with only your cell phones and can get rid of your land line. I have friends who have survived without a land line for a couple years now without any problems. I have to admit I haven’t made this transition yet myself, but that’s because I’ve had my same land line number for 30 years and it seems like part of the family – I have to get over that as I know it would be a big savings for us!
- Instead of buying books, borrow books from the library: Unless you need a reference book that you will look back at often, why buy a new book (in fact, see the next tip on this). Whenever possible, use your local library to get the novel you want or research something that one you have your notes you wouldn’t need to refer back to the book anymore. Library cards are free and they are generally well stocked. In many cities, the chain of public libraries is connected and you can check online for available books. All very convenient and affordable!
- If you have to buy books, check if you can buy it used: Considering you can get used books for sometimes as much as half the price as it would be new, this has got to be a good option for many books. They might not have quite the same feeling as leafing through the crisp pages of a brand new book, but really, it’s like a new versus used car, once you’ve used it, it is now used. My favorite place to buy used books is from Better World Books. Not only do they have great discounts, but they have social, economic and environmental value, collecting and selling books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide. Check out their website at Better World Book, Used Books, Free Shipping. Another great option is AbeBooks.com
, being the world’s largest online marketplace for books, you are bound to find what you are looking for here, and some books are discounted up to 90%.
- Price check before buying anything expensive: For any items you are looking to purchase that are on the expensive side, ALWAYS do a price check before buying the item. Having the World Wide Web (“www”) at our fingertips today, there is no reason not to search the living daylights out of any expensive item before making a purchase. If buying online, you should also check out the Coupon Dork (I only just found out about this cute money saving “dork” myself a few weeks back). This site has online coupons that you get the code for and “poof,” it’s another easy way to save some money.
- Avoid impulse buying: This is REALLY A GOOD ONE – because we’ve all been guilty of this! Make it a habit to avoid impulse buying. If we had just waited for a day or two on many of the items we thought we wanted to buy just because we saw them, we often determine we are OK without them, and man what a savings that is!! Also, waiting means you will be able to check prices and make an informed decision to buy it at the best possible price. And, if you decide to buy it, you won’t have any buyer’s remorse as you will have done your homework!
The final 10 How to Save Money Tips will be published in the next couple weeks. Check back or subscribe to our website to be notified of when Part III is released.
Incorporate more and more of these tips into your life and the savings will add up, and you will be pleasantly surprised to find out that you can actually save thousands of dollars over the course of a year.
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com, See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.
“Create Your Own Wedding — Own Your Style, Not Someone Else’s — and do it all while keeping money in your pocket!”
How to Save Money Tips – 30 Easy Ways, Part I
Wouldn’t it be great if you were able to increase your wedding dollars budget by saving some extra cash in the months prior to the big day that you could use for the honeymoon or to put toward something you really wanted for your wedding but at first couldn’t figure out a way to pull it off? Answer? YES!
We found some fantastic savings ideas that I bet you are not doing. These “how do you save money” tips are great not only for helping you save some extra cash for your BIG Day, but let’s think even bigger than that – we all need to learn how to watch what we spend because we don’t become financially independent by spending all that we have; we do it by finding ways to save and build on what we have!
Since we consider these tips very important and don’t want you to fall asleep while reading all 30 “how to save money tips,” we decided it best to break this up into 3 Parts.
So – How Do You Save Money? Part I:
- Cook at home often: If you both work, on top of finding time to plan a wedding, we understand this can be a bit difficult. But start out by reducing the times you eat out by one each week and slowly increase the frequency until you find a balance between saving money and getting stressed out. Find ways to make this doable! Maybe one time a week you make it a “combined” effort, another time it’s all up to you and the next time it’s all up to your fiancé. That way there’s only 1 of the 3 times that really felt a little stressful and each of you gets 2 times that it was no big deal. Go to Trader Joe’s and Costco, they have great pre-packaged meals you can heat up – and they’re good, I should know; we buy them all the time! Some are better than others; just keeping trying and tasting and you will find some real “foodie” jackpots!!
- Make your own coffee: My kids are Starbucks Caffe Latte (non-fat of course) addicts. It’s not financially healthy! Don’t get me wrong, I love it myself, and I treat myself a couple times a month, but that’s it. If you make a daily trip (or both of you x only 3 times a week) to any local specialty coffee shop, that’s over a thousand dollars a year, and that’s not counting any croissants or muffins you saw while you were there (which play havoc on the waistline as well). In the long wrong you would be better off purchasing a great coffee maker for $100, a grinder and coffee beans. You’ll save money, be able to enjoy a cup whenever you want one, and avoid the seeing the bakery goodies. I’ve found Green Mountain Coffee to be one of the tastiest around and if you purchase through their Café Express, they offer a savings.
- Brown bag lunch at least a few days a week: I understand that lunch out with co-workers, the boss, or even a friend or relative is great networking and/or quality time with loved ones, BUT it adds up fast! Find a balance between saving money with brown-bagging and making “connections” – as they are both important! I used to order a Cobb Salad with Iced Tea at a chain restaurant across the street from me at a hefty cost of $11.41 each time (not counting tip as it was take out!). I’ve since come to realize I can buy just as good a salad at Trader Joe’s or Costco for about 4 bucks per serving!
- Make a list before going shopping: You’ve heard the term “impulse buying;” well, they call it that for a reason. We all simply have a very tough time resisting temptations to purchase extras while shopping. In fact another tip wrapped up in this ought to be: DON’T go shopping on an empty stomach (that’s one of my main problems)! But back to the list… without a list, we buy items that we simply don’t need. Pre-plan your trips to the store by making a list before hand and sticking to it (NO impulse buying), and having a list helps you to get all you need in one trip avoiding another unnecessary trip and the temptation that goes with it!
- Go grocery shopping while you are in a hurry: OK, this is definitely a new idea I’m going to use – I hadn’t thought of this before, but it makes total sense! Armed with your grocery list and little time to carry out the task at hand due to something else you must (or want) to attend to, and you should be In-N-Out (not talking the burger place) with no repercussions lickity split.
- Watch out for expiration dates on perishable goods. Might seem simple, and it may not be one of the bigger savers; however, you’d be surprised how many people do not pay attention to expiration dates. There’s no point buying a gallon of milk if it’s going to turn sour within a couple of days. The same goes for meat, eggs, yogurt, spreads, deli/bakery items, etc. There are some people (my husband included, I’m sad to acknowledge) that say you can use a few items a few days after the expiration date; personally, I value my health more than money and would rather avoid buying such items in the first place!
- Buy in bulk whenever possible: For non-perishable items, buy in bulk whenever you find something on sale. Items you can stock up on are cereals, canned goods, rice, pasta, sodas, toothpaste, body wash, shampoo, TP, etc. Shopping at Costco or Sam’s Club type stores can save you quite a bit of money provided you stick strictly to your shopping list when you go to these places. I have to admit these places get me a bit – I always seem to walk out with one of those big round containers of red vines that were definitely not on my list! So, be truthful with yourself, if you don’t have the discipline, then going to those warehouse type stores is probably not worth it for you.
- Buy generic products whenever possible: Does it really matter whether your cereal is made by Kelloggs or is the store brand? Does it matter if your milk is Borden or the store brand? There are a few things I just can’t switch from my brand name product on (I am a Diet Coke fan), but for most other items I don’t mind generic store brands if they can save me money. Find what works for you, taste the items, give them a chance and then decide which items you can be OK with switching to generic brands. There are probably more than you think! Did you know that most of the items you think come from “somewhere” come from “somewhere else”?
- Use grocery store bags to line trash cans: This a great tip, unless you have a dog because then of course we need to use our grocery bags for, well, you know what… But this is the kind of thinking we need to be doing. Instead of buying garbage bags, line you smaller garbage cans with plastic grocery bags and you not only save money but are recycling at the same time!
- Bottle your own water: Drinking water is good for your health – we all know that. Bottled water is the most convenient as it can provide protection against accidental spills and of course it’s easy to carry around with you. That said, buy bottled water only once in a while, or better yet, buy a permanent type water holder, and then reuse that bottle to fill with your own water. If you are not happy with tap water, as I’m not (just a phobia I have) then invest in a Brita Filter Pitcher or something similar – in the long run it will save a lot of money!
How to Save Money Tips 11-20 will be published in the next couple weeks. Check back or subscribe to our website to be notified of when Part II is released.
Incorporate more and more of these tips into your life and the savings will add up, and you will be pleasantly surprised to find out that you can actually save thousands of dollars over the course of a year.
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com, See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.