Save Money by Ordering Glasses Online

Buying glasses is a costly undertaking. A new set of lenses and frames can easily cost $200 - $300. If you want designer frames, prepare to pay even more.

Shop online

This is the key to saving money. Today there are several online glasses companies. They save the overheard of a brick & mortar store. They operate cheaper, as do many online companies in general.

Check out your options

There are many online glasses options. You could try Frames Direct, Eye Buy Direct, 39 Dollar Glasses, or surf around and find another seller.

A few things to look for:

• return policy - Some sellers offer full returns if your prescription is incorrect. Some allow credits if you don't like the look of the frames. They all differ.
• shipping costs - These can vary too. They might not vary much, but it could make a difference.
• extras - Want anti-reflective coating? That will probably cost. Rimless frames might be an extra fee as well. Things like this can add up, so do your math ahead of time.

My recommendation

I wrote on another blog about buying glasses online. I highly recommend 39 Dollar Glasses for this. I just got my glasses, and they're great. The whole process was quick and painless.

Don't Overlook PayPal's Money Market Option

When you're trying to earn and save money, every little bit helps. That's why I signed up for the PayPal Money Market Fund.

If you have a PayPal account this option is a no-brainer. When you select this, your PayPal balance is automatically part of a money market account. Currently, the "7-day average yield" is at 5.04%. This is pretty good, in my opinion.

The best part of this is the ease of investing. Getting paid with PayPal is simple, and then every dollar in your account is automatically earning interest. Why wouldn't you sign up for this?

Seriously, if there's a downside, I haven't seen in. My account has been in the money market fund for a few months. I've only earned about 30 cents in interest, but that's free money.

Mortgages - National Banks Versus Local Banks

Have you ever tried to get a mortgage? Did you go with a national or more local bank? Here's one key difference between the two: formulas.

National lenders usually get their money from the same place. They all follow federal lending guidelines regarding debt to income ratios and similar formulas. Thus, if you have a special case, it can be hard to get accepted under a national lender's program.

Local banks, on the other hand, usually supply their own money for mortgages. They loan much less money, but they are generally more flexible in the money they do lend. This means that if you have a special case, you might have a better chance of getting mortgage through a local bank.

If you have a high debt to income ratio OR you have income that is hard to properly document (self-employed, etc), a local bank might be a good mortgage choice for you. Check into them, and let me know how it worked for you.

Make Espresso at Home to Save Money

One of the best investments an espresso lover can make is to buy your own espresso machine. No, I'm not saying it's evil to buy a latte or espresso at Starbucks. My point here is simply to be aware of your personal "latte factor."

Yep, I'm a coffee lover myself. I enjoy a morning latte and even one in the evenings too sometimes. Buying these at a coffee shop would easily cost $3-4 each. That's easily +$90 a month on coffee.

Instead, I opted for an espresso machine. I actually got it through a rewards program, so the machine itself was free. Thus, all I pay for is coffee. Of course, I buy milk too, and I'm a fan of vanilla lattes, so I've got to buy vanilla syrup as well. But when all is said and done, I spend about $20 a month on coffee supplies, with most of that going for soy milk.

If you're looking to save some money on espresso, try making it yourself. You don't have to leave the house for coffee, and your wallet will thank you.

Find Your Student Loan Management Website

It's time to apply for a mortgage. What a big step. Don't get me wrong: we're excited about a house. However, there are tons of steps we have to accomplish first.

One of these tasks is to find out our total amount of debt. Since I'm still law school, my loans are in deferment. Thus, I don't know the actual balances right now (especially with accrued interest). What am I to do?

Fortunately, all three of my student loan servicing companies have great websites. I found these simply by googling the name of the servicing company. I then created an online account, and I was good to go.

What's the benefit? Now I can check my student loan balances online. I was able to calculate our total amount of student loan debt quite easily. Plus, when my loans enter repayment, I'll be able to manage all that as well.

Do your student loan servicers have websites? Do some searching and see.

Do Your Homework on Health Insurance

I'm starting a new job in a few months, so health insurance will be a big question to tackle. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject.

Right now we use private health insurance. We have a pretty good policy, but we still have a yearly deductible, copays, and coinsurance. Plus, some of our benefits are somewhat limited.

The company I'm going to work for has a group policy from precisely the same insurer. The big question is whether that policy is better (and/or cheaper) than our current policy.

The company's policy has lower copays, no yearly deductible, and more thorough benefits. However, it will cost us more per month in premiums (not to mention what it will cost the company).

Which is better/cheaper?

What I plan to do is make a spreadsheet that calculates different health care costs that we've paid in the past couple of years. Luckily, we track our expenses with Microsoft Money, so this should be relatively easy. Then I will add in the cost of our current health insurance. This will show the current total cost of health care for us.

Then I will do the same kind-of calculations, trying to project our future health care costs. Our insurance premiums would be higher, but some out-of-pocket costs would be lower. That will tell me what it would cost us to change to the company's group insurance policy.

In the end, I'm hoping that one plan or the other comes out the clear winner. That should make it an easy choice to decide whether or not to switch to the company's policy. I'll definitely be posting the results here, so be sure to check back. I'll also post the template I use to calculate this, so you can try it yourself, if needed.

Learn About the "Seller's Gift" for Buying a Home

Are you thinking about buying a home? Having trouble with cash for closing?

You should check out this website. It's just a 29-year-old guy explaining how he bought his home in Texas with only $70 cash. Well, he actually wrote checks for a few hundred dollars right before the closing, but he got a check in return at closing for everything but $70.

The secret: the seller's gift. Basically, he asked the seller to give him $4,000 to cover closing costs. This money is then rolled into the mortgage, and he didn't have to come up with all that cash at closing. Neat, right?

I think this is the same type of thing that people do for improvements to homes they buy. I believe it's akin to a "carpet allowance" or something of that nature. Basically, you finance the house + the extra "gift." The buyer then can do what he wants with that money. In this case, the guy used it for closing costs.