Concert Tickets: Some Ways to Save

By David Treehouse

I went to a great The Courteeners concert the other day. Not only did I immensely enjoy the concert, here are some tricks I learned that can help you save money when you buy concert tickets in general.

Use Credit Card Benefits

Some credit cards, such as American Express, allow you to use earned points toward ticket costs. A couple of credit cards also offer presale tickets or special reduced prices. You should check your credit card's benefits to see if you're eligible for any perks. If so, use your points towards the ticket price.

Don't Buy Ticket Insurance

Most websites offer ticket insurance after you've selected your ticket. This is usually a charge of between $7 to $15 depending on what site you use. This allows you to be reimbursed if you miss the concert due to an illness, a trip, or unexpected event. But the chance of these events occurring on the date of your concert is minimal. If you're intent on saving money, this might be one additional fee you avoid.

Choose Dates Carefully

Is the artist you're going to see offering multiple concerts? Is one on a Thursday night and the other on Friday? Chances are the Friday night concert is going to be more expensive. Weekend concerts are usually more popular with fans for various reasons. If you have a flexible schedule and going on an "off day" doesn't bother you, choose the Thursday night show.

Group Deals

If you know a lot of people who might be going to the concert, see if you can get a group deal on the tickets. Sometimes larger venues will provide a discount for large parties. Ask your friends if they want to go and have them ask their friends and so on in order to round up enough people. If you're lucky enough to get a venue that offers discounts for groups, this could be a great way to save some money on tickets.

Don't Pay for Printed or Shipped Tickets

A lot of online retailers have varied prices on ticket printing and shipping. Some sites might charge you $1 or $2 if you want to print tickets online while some might charge you $5 if you choose to get tickets mailed to your house. When you're paying for your tickets, make sure you choose the cheapest option. A couple of sites, such as Ticketmaster, don't charge a fee if you choose to print the ticket yourself or pick it up at the box office.

These are just a few ways that you can help save a bit of money when purchasing concert tickets.

Find Out How Much You Can Save By Using a Debt Calculator

If your major financial goal is to pay off your outstanding debts and achieve the status of being debt-free, you are not alone. Consumer debt is a major issue for many Canadians. In fact, the average debt of Canadians, not counting mortgage debt, is over $25,000. As debt balances increase, monthly payments also increase. This means that it is often more difficult to get out of debt when you have higher outstanding balances. Using an online debt calculator is a great first step to take to explore your debt repayment options.

The Cost of Your Debt

You can use an online calculator to calculate your debt and learn what the true cost of that debt is. Many people believe that the cost of debt relates to their monthly payment or their outstanding balance. However, interest charges are assessed on debts each month. The longer your debt balances remain, the more money you will pay with time. A debt calculator can show you how much money you will pay on these debts if you only pay the minimum amount due each month. You could save money by paying your debts off early.

Your Debt Relief Options

You can also use a debt calculator to explore your debt relief options in more detail. For example, there are several different consolidation loans that you may be considering applying for. These may have different loan terms, interest rates and loan amounts. The loan you choose to apply for will affect your immediate budget, the amount of interest you will pay on your consolidation loan and how quickly you can achieve the status of being debt-free. The right calculator can help you to make a more informed decision about your finances.

Managing Your Budget

You may be trying to decide if you want to seek debt relief, such as with a consolidation loan, or if you want to pay your debts off on your own. A debt calculator can help you to compare the pros and cons of both options. Consider factors such as how long it will take to pay off your debts in full, how much interest you will pay over that period of time and how your budget will be affected by the two options. While you want to pay off your debts, you also want to make sure that your budget isn't too constrained by your efforts. Those who live on a tight budget are more likely to fall of track with their repayment efforts. Even the smallest unexpected expense, for example, can cause those living on a tight budget to struggle financially. The best option for debt repayment is often one that allows you to pay off debts without significant struggling.

If you are like so many others who have used a debt repayment calculator, such as the calculator found at http://www.Debt.ca, you will make the decision that debt consolidation is your best option. This method typically allows consumers to pay off debts more quickly and easily while also providing for immediate relief in their budget. You can use this calculator and explore the debt consolidation programs offered through this website.

Put Online Calculators to Good Use

We could all use a helping hand when it comes to improving money management. The problem is that such assistance, usually in the form of books and advice, tends to cost money. Luckily the World Wide Web offers an array of free information and tools at your disposal in the pursuit of perfected personal finance. In addition to blogs such as the one you are reading right now, online calculators are particularly helpful in your journey toward economic enlightenment.

Virtually every avenue of personal finance has an online calculator to go along with it. When organizing a plan for credit card repayment, why not run it through the Federal Reserve repayment calculator first to see just how much interest you will end up paying? Find yourself in the middle of salary negotiations with a new employer? Gain the upper hand with a cost-of-living calculator.

There also exist online calculators that help you lower your energy bills, as well as for finding the most fuel efficient automobile in your price range. With oil prices expected to explode this summer, very few people can afford to not care about saving on energy costs in the coming months. Otherwise you may be forced to use credit cards in order to afford getting to and from work. As far as smart personal finances go, this is a no-no.

But don’t forget about student loan repayment calculators, retirement calculators, cost-of-smoking calculators, and websites that estimate the likely cost of raising a child in a particular region. There are countless calculators available for free online just waiting to be used. If you’re serious about improving your personal finances, then there is no reason why you shouldn't have these handy tools bookmarked.

Reduce The Cost of Smoking

There is no doubt that smoking cots a lot. If you are looking to save money with smoking, your best option is to just give smoking up. There are a large number of costs associated with smoking beyond the cost of buying cigarettes, but this is not always the easiest option for a lot of people. For others, quitting smoking can only seem like a distant dream. Even if you know you aren't ready to quit smoking completely, it does make sense to try and learn how to cut down on your smoking costs.

One of the easiest ways that you can cut down the amount of money that you spend on smoking is to just roll your own cigarettes. This may seem somewhat hassle-filled, but this can actually be a positive. If you must roll your own cigarettes, you're likely to smoke less which will help to save you at least a little bit of money.

Rolling your own cigarettes means that you will actually have to spend the time to roll a cigarette. In turn, this means there will be certain times when you would normally take a smoking break when you will no longer smoke simply because you can't really be bothered to roll a cigarette. This can significantly cut down on the amount that you smoke during the day while not depriving yourself from smoking since you can at any point you want. This can be the first step in breaking the smoking habit by showing how much you do smoke simply out of habit.

Go Generic

Health care can be expensive and one of the last things that you want to worry about when you are sick is paying for any prescribed drugs after you have been diagnosed and given medication instructions. There is nothing worse than getting to the pharmacist and having to pay a small fortune just to make yourself feel better.

One of the things that you can do when you have been told you need prescription medication from your health care professional is to ask for the generic equivalent of the medication rather than a named brand. Name brand prescription drugs are a lot more expensive. If you explain to your health care professional that you are struggling with money or looking to save a few pennies, they will be happy to prescribe an generic prescription if they feel it will do the same job.

Both generic and brand named medication will all work the same, much in a similar way as store brands are the same as the more expensive "named" brands. It's just the label that is different – they do the same job, have the same effect and they contain the same active ingredients. The only difference is that the name brand prescription drugs cost a lot more than their generic equivalents. It doesn't make a lot of sense to pay a lot more for something that is exactly the same you can get for cheaper.

Since all medication must be FDA approved, you can be sure that the difference between the two will be incredibly minimal, if at all. Of course, if you do have any questions about the potential differences between generic and brand medication, you can always ask your health care professional who will be more than happy to explain their feelings on the two. If generic is not an option, always check to see if there is are prescription drug coupons available for the brand named drug as this can also save you quite a bit of money.

Recycle in Your Garden

Everyone with a yard wants theirs to look as beautiful as possible. The problem is that most people believe that a beautiful garden means they have to spend a small fortune. The truth is that you could have the prettiest little garden of your dreams without spending an arm and a leg if you start to incorporate frugal garden tips into your repertoire. One of these frugal tips is to recycle

There are a wide variety of things that cost little to no money which you can use to spruce up the appearance of your garden. For example, you can get an old newspaper, shred it into strips and place at the bottom of containers and plant pots to retain the moisture. This is an especially great tip for the summer if you do not have the time that you would like to dedicate to your yard. This way you ensure that your plants stay alive even if you forget to water them once in awhile. Newspapers can also be a great barrier against weeds. When you read your weekend newspapers, rather than throwing them away, save them for future use in your garden.

Recycling can come in many forms. If you renovate a bathroom in your home, consider using the old sink as a display feature in your yard. You can add flowers to create a unique garden display that everyone will marvel at. it's definitely worthwhile thinking about how all the things that you throw away may be able to be used in your garden before you actually throw them away and help save environment.

There really very few things that you can't recycle to spruce up an unloved garden if you are willing to use your imagination. There are plenty of websites on the Internet that can give you ideas on how to recycle stuff in your garden to create a nicer looking yard.

Save Money On Pets

We all love having pets in our homes and for the most part, our furry little friends are considered to be just as much a part of the family as our siblings or our partners. That's the thing about pets -- we love them and they love us unconditionally. The only problem is, it's very easy to over react to the slightest pet ailments, and this is where most people find themselves spending a lot of money. The one tip that you should know about if you're looking to save money on your pets to not rush down to the vet too quickly when symptoms are not serious. The key is being able to distinguish between what is serious and what is not.

You wouldn't rush to the doctor's office every time you got a runny nose, so it's important no to panic when your pet gets ill. Pets get common ailments just the same as humans do, so it pays to invest in a book on on pet ailments so you can understand when your pet is in need of care and when he simply needs rest. For example, if you own a dog, buy a book on dog health care (or at least read up on common pet conditions online from a reputable website). Investing in a quality pet health book will pay for itself many times over the first time you reference it and realize that there is no need to rush off to the pet emergency room. Beyond the cost of the vet bill, you will also save the transportation costs, any medications and even costs of losing a day at work.

If you take the time to educate yourself on the different types of ailments that your pet is likely to come across in his or her lifetime, you can be assured that you will not rush to seek medical advice for your furry little friend too soon. If the ailment can be treated without a trip to the vet such as worms or fleas you will save yourself a bundle of money and your pet will be all the better because you caught the problem early.

Looking for a great way to save money and find more time all in one move? Stop watching TV (or greatly limit the amount of TV that you watch). Here are a few ways that reducing the number of hours of TV you watch can help your finances:

1. You won't be exposed to as many advertisements.

2. You will have additional time to focus on more important things in your life with the amount of time you save (the average person watches TV for 4.5 hours a day) from not watching TV.

3. Not watching TV will reduce electrical use.

4. You can cut or reduce the cost of cable TV since you won't be watching TV as much.

5. You have the opportunity to build wealth with the extra time you have.

It's amazing how much you can save (and what you can accomplish) when you decide to reduce or eliminate TV from your schedule.

Save Water and Money With Appliances

Here are a few simple ways to save water and money when you use appliances:

Remember to only use appliances such as your washing machine and dishwasher when they are completely full to save water and money. Some appliances come with different size settings, but even when they do, a full load is always more water efficient than a smaller load. There may be times when you need to use an appliance when it is not full. In these instances, try to make the water level size setting so that it matches the size of the load you're doing.

When it''s time to replace an older appliance with a newer model, opt for an appliance that offers the option of both cycle and load size adjustments. Appliances that offer these settings are more water-efficient and energy-efficient than older appliance models.

Instead of getting a new glass every time you want to drink water or any other beverage, get into the habit of use a single, specific cup or glass throughout the day. By doing so, you will reduce the amount of times that it's necessary to run the dishwasher.