Playing Defense

Managing money well takes team effort. In our family, my husband plays offense when it comes to our finances. He is the wage earner and he works hard to make money. I see my job as primary spender to play defense. What does this entail? It means that I pay the bills (on time to avoid any penalties). It also means that I do my best to be savvy about getting the best deals. At least once a year it is good to check if you can get a better deal on your monthly bills. Check to be sure that you are still getting good insurance rates. Call your telephone company, cable company, and Internet provider to find out if they have any promotional deals you can take advantage of. Check out your cell plan and make sure you are not overbuying or under buying for the minutes/texts that you use. Sometimes just by calling and asking, they will offer you a better deal. I also try to play defense on the smaller purchases I make. When I go to the store I pay attention to when they ring up my purchases. In the past two days I have been overcharged at 3 of the 4 places I have made purchases. I was overcharged for colored pencils at Staples, toilet paper at WalMart and pizza at Papa Murphy's. Each time I had to wait for the employee to verify the price before they corrected it for me. Though kind, none of the employees were apologetic about overcharging me. Though it is time consuming, for me it is a matter of principle. I believe that when stores have prices posted, things need to ring up right. Make sure if you are doing well on offense (making money) that you also play good defense (stretch those dollars).