New Credit Cards - the Upsell

I recently got a few new credit cards in order to increase my credit limit before I apply for educational loans in the spring. I did my research, raised my credit score by becoming an authorized user on my parents' cards and applied for specially selected cards. I was approved for all three, making my combined credit limit something above $12,000. I felt good about myself, very responsible, and don't plan on changing my spending patterns to match my new credit limit. I've never carried a balance or paid a bill late and don't plan on doing it now.

When I received my cards, I proceeded to call the 1-800 numbers on the sticker to activate my cards. With the first card, I read all the enclosures, then made the call and was connected to a call center in India. The man who answered the phone was very difficult to understand, so when he tried to upsell me on credit protection, I had to ask him to repeat himself. Finally understanding, I said no, I was only interested in activating my card. When he tried his second upsell, I cut him off, and reiterated that I only wanted to activate my card and was not interested in anything else. He got upset and hung up.

The second card connected me to a person who was much easier to understand, but who was also wily about the upsell. She would phrase everything in statements, making it harder to say no. "So I'll just go ahead and sign you up for travel insurance." "No, really, I would prefer not." At least this time, she didn't get upset when I told her no.

The third card had an automated system. I finally thought I would be able to activate the account and hang up. Not so. The recording then proceeded into scary statistics about identity theft and how much it could cost me without their service, ending in a command to press one to enroll or press two otherwise. Pressing 2, it launched into the same spiel about identity theft and tried to sell me the same service again. I listened and pressed 2 again before hanging up.

I wonder how effective credit card companies find this upsell. It just had the ability to annoy me, but really, since when do credit cards not only give you credit, but try to be the first thing you spend your newfound credit on?

Thousand Dollar Month Update

My thousand dollar month is going o.k., if only because I’ve been able to eat my way through my kitchen. If I hadn’t had the stock of foods, this whole thing might be going differently. I’ve eaten my way through the can of sauerkraut that’s been on my shelf since February and made bread for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the two packets of yeast that were hiding on the baking shelf. I made some peanut sauce with the long forgotten curry paste from the fridge, which goes nicely with some frozen mixed veg and rice noodles from who knows where. I ran out of milk a week ago and eggs a few days ago, but have still managed to not go to the grocery store. This is obviously not a sustainable solution. There will be some grocery shopping things weekend, as soon as I run out of bread.

While the food situation has definitely helped keep my spending down, I have managed some other areas pretty well. I haven’t been sending packages every few days and haven’t needed a tank of gas in more than a month. This weekend involved going to the (cheap) county fair one night and hiking the next day. I’m not really feeling deprived at all, even though my expenditures for the weekend were less than $20.

I could probably maintain a budget lower than $1000 most months if I continued to live in my small town, never traveled, and lived a quiet life. On the other hand, I’m only going to be young and single for so long. Am I wasting it?

An August Challenge

Recently I came to the realization that although I'm doing a good job budgeting and saving, none of it has really been a sacrifice. I still eat out with friends, I still travel and I still send lots of mail. As a result, I've decided to actually stretch my self-restraint for August and set a budget goal I haven't met in my five months of tracking: a $1000 month. Even if I only get close, I'll still be doing great.

With that in mind, my $1000 August budget:

Category	Budget
food	$200.00
housing	$450.00
entertainment	$150.00
transport	$100.00
clothing	$15.00
travel	$0.00
health	$20.00
beauty	$0.00
education	$0.00
misc	$65.00
total	$1,000.00

I predict more frugal eating and very little travel. Should be interesting.

July Results

July, July! It was less painful than expected, but still not a really sustainable level for the savings I'm trying to attain. The good news is that I've paid for my prerequisite class, meaning that University of Phoenix will be getting no more of my hard earned money. Without the education expense it was actually a pretty good month, but I admit that the significant other has started to pay when we're together, making entertainment and food lower than they probably should be.

Category	Budget	Actual	Difference
food	$300.00	$239.92	$60.08
housing	$500.00	$450.00	$50.00
entertainment	$300.00	$119.82	$180.18
transport	$150.00	$151.97	($1.97)
clothing	$100.00	$10.97	$89.03
travel	$100.00	$37.75	$62.25
health	$100.00	$11.90	$88.10
beauty	$50.00	$0.00	$50.00
education	$1,700.00	$1,557.00	$143.00
misc	$300.00	$190.83	$109.17
total	$3,600.00	$2,770.16	$829.84

Hopefully August will be better to my savings account.