The Crotchety Old Men Podcast
Creative Cost-Cutting and Frugal Living for Everyday Wealth Building
Get ready to transform your approach to personal finances as George and Gary uncover the secrets to a wealthier life, all while keeping your budget in check. We kick things off by shining a spotlight on the humble local library—a goldmine of free resources that's just waiting to be tapped. Forget shelling out your hard-earned cash for office space or the latest bestseller; your library card is the golden ticket to everything from conference rooms to a vast array of books and digital media. So tune in, and let the Crotchety Old Men guide you down the path of smart saving.
Get ready to transform your approach to personal finances as George and Gary uncover the secrets to a wealthier life, all while keeping your budget in check. We kick things off by shining a spotlight on the humble local library—a goldmine of free resources that's just waiting to be tapped. Forget shelling out your hard-earned cash for office space or the latest bestseller; your library card is the golden ticket to everything from conference rooms to a vast array of books and digital media. So tune in, and let the Crotchety Old Men guide you down the path of smart saving.
Well, good afternoon, good morning, good night, whatever hemisphere you in, and welcome to another episode of the Crotchety O Men Podcast. I'm Gary Smith, co-host of the Crotchety O Men Podcast, and with me in the studio, as always, is my main brother, george Crumley. George, top of the day to you, my man.
Speaker 2:Top of the day to you. Smitty how you doing.
Speaker 1:Man, I'm doing exceedingly well, as I like to tell people I'm all. I'm amazing, I feel amazing.
Speaker 2:Well, that's great man. It's great to feel. Amazing, I tell you.
Speaker 1:Amen. Your health is your wealth right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely, because without the health, you've got nothing else.
Speaker 1:Well, I tell you. I tell you so what's on our agenda for today, george.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, smitty, we always talking about you know, it's not how much you make, but it's what you do. What you make, and we always talk about saving money and we talk about you know other things to do. But you know, one thing we haven't really talked about we've kind of skirted around it is ways to actually save money. So I thought we'd take this episode and talk about some ways to save money, and some of them may be obvious, but you know I'm always saying that if you can walk away with one thing from our podcast and I've done my job. So hopefully today, you know, some of our audience will look at some of these things on here and say, hmm, I didn't think about that, maybe I'll try that. So it's about savings. Today it was at the beginning of the year and I know a lot of people are looking for ways to save money. You know, stretch their dollar. So hopefully a couple of these items on here will fit in that category.
Speaker 1:Hey man. Well, let's dive right into it. I've heard a saying that goes like a penny saved is a penny earned, so saving money is good All right Right.
Speaker 1:Right. You know there's a lot of things out here, a lot of ways. Let's start with. You know we talk big about education, educating yourself. I'm a very big proponent about reading books. My feelings is this a person who can't read, you can't tell the difference. Here I go. It's hard to tell the difference between a person who cannot read and a person who do not read all right or does not read. I guess that's the proper English. So let's talk about books for just for the kick of it. Most people don't have a library card, man, and actually yeah, I mean, that's true.
Speaker 2:I just recently renewed mine after a couple of years of it being dormant and I, you know I found a great benefit because of the fact that you know I am a real estate agent, you know I work mostly out of my home. But I needed to, you know, be able to work with clients, meet with clients face to face and go over things. And I found out at our local library, which has just been a rehab. They have office space, they have conference rooms with easels and things of that nature. So, rather than going out here and renting a space because you have a lot of spaces, places where you can rent space I just flash my library card, you know, let them know when I want, how much time I need, and they direct me to the room and hey, it's free.
Speaker 1:You know, and you know it's amazing because it's so resourceful, not only to your point that you can get the rooms and things, but books I mean we're talking about every genre of books that you can get Periodicals, you know, you don't have to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York Times, even your local newspaper. They have all that stuff in the library free. And if you're too lazy or you don't have transportation or just can't make it to a library physically, you can go online to your local library and there's a digital section there so you have access to things that are digital. So if you want to learn anything from cooking a book to creating a business, it's there to library, Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly yeah. And then what about the Library of Congress? You know people think you know first thing they think about Library of Congress they think, oh, I got to go to DC, but actually a lot of this stuff is available online also. I mean it allows you to get access to, like, say, old newspapers, old playbills, old like say, if you want to find out the history of China, you know, all that kind of stuff is at the Library of Congress and that's our information and you can get that information online free.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's some free educational resources. Well, I've been able to hook up with Harvard Business Review, things like that. Grab a couple of free courses there, or you may be a white paper that someone has written a professor, what have you? That's almost akin to going to Harvard, man, because you can get that information, same information as someone else may pay for. You can get it free 99. I like to say 99.
Speaker 2:I like that. I like that any other free Periodicos or ways to get free books that you, that you'll wear a?
Speaker 1:well, you know, I've heard of a. You know, of course, the guttenberg, or that's one good burger. I may be mispronouncing that Libby, libby, calm. I think that's another one's kind of tied into a library of some sorts, but it's like bar in the book. You can go online if they have that book digital, digitally, or what is it when you read your books, kindle? There you go.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, kendall yeah on Kendall.
Speaker 1:We have downloaded, you read it and they'll disconnect it after a month or so. No different than checking out a lot a book at the library. So in my opinion, man, the library is your friend.
Speaker 2:Definitely.
Speaker 1:Okay, what are the stuff out there, man?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, um, one of my favorites is Don't auto renew your auto or your homeowners insurance. All these things are obviously you know they just dump the stuff in a computer and spits it out and automatically gives you raises your insurance in certain areas. I just recently renewed my car insurance and when, first things you want to do is make sure none of your discounts you know multi-car discounts and those things don't drop off. And then, secondly, you know, at our age You're entitled to a senior. If they classify you as a senior citizen, your insurance goes down.
Speaker 2:If they classify your cars is now Recurational as opposed to, you know, for you know, going back and forth to work, that reduces your car insurance. And then also, if you can, you take a driver, a defensive driving course or or any type of certified driving course. It'll also give you a discount on your insurance and that's good up to three years. So I just recently took one through AARP and it's probably gonna save me anywhere between a hundred and fifty two hundred dollars a month I'm sorry, a year for the next three years. So those are kind of a couple things that you can look at as far as your your your insurance, your car insurance, and that same thing goes for your home insurance. Sometimes they're billing you for things that you don't have. You may not need they, may you know your, your limits may be off a little bit, but all that stuff affects the premium. So you want to look very carefully at these documents.
Speaker 1:You know you bring something to mind because since COVID there's been so many people either by choice or just been forced to work from home. I just wonder, here, as I'm sitting here, as we're talking, how many people have thought to check with their auto insurance and make that Correction that, hey, you're not driving five miles, ten miles, back and forth to work, you're working from home. So to your point, that's for probably some savings right there, that all you got to do is pick up the phone, say I don't, I use my car strictly for recreation. I do, I no longer have to commute to work. That alone probably can make it save some money, oh, yeah, I think.
Speaker 1:Another one to George is you know we've all seen the commercial about the bundle with state farm. Mm-hmm, I, yeah, and so that doesn't just, that's not just uh, to state farm. You know you can bundle without, regardless of what insurance company you had. Yeah, you know, look to that. Um, look for ways, like you said, multiple cars adding your uh, uh Home insurance and stuff like that. And actually, if you got other property, I'm not sure if it takes into consideration rental property or not it does, does it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, yeah. Yeah, I've got all my assurances for my, my rental property as well as my main property all under the same umbrella Um company. So, yeah, you get a discount for having the multiple Policies together. So, yeah, there's discount plus Um. A lot of insurance companies will give you here again discounts if you're using a rp, aaa and some of the other uh Cardhold big organization subscription organizations out there. So you want to look at that also, right?
Speaker 1:and you know what? Don't forget the veterans discounts rides a veteran discounts. Us AA is a veteran sponsored insurance company for auto home insurance, and they are very, very competitive, and so make them compete for your business Exactly. Let them know you're shopping, let them know you're looking at other companies.
Speaker 2:That's what I was just thinking about, gary, was that a lot of people don't realize that you know they're looking for your business and they Will pay a premium to get your business. You know, anytime you change from one company to other, whether it's, you know, home owners, insurance and things of that nature, that they always have an introductory rate. You know it's with your cable companies, uh, which you know they always, if you notice, they always have. If you go into sam's club, they always have an introductory rate which you long, you longtime subscribers don't take advantage of, always ask so what do you got for existing customers? You, you know, you, you, you court and these new customers, but what do you have for us? And usually it's nothing. So it's, it's okay to switch. You know if at one point I was switching from, you know, cell carriers and cable companies just to take advantage of the discounts they're gonna give for the new subscribers.
Speaker 1:Shoot you another way. Uh, have multiple email addresses. Okay, because I used to subscribe to bloomberg. I shouldn't be putting this out here publicly, but I'm saying anyway, you should subscribe to bloomberg. All right, you get that free introductory rate $1.99 a month for three, four months. Then they're gonna come back and hit you with a $39 thing. All right, I'll cancel that one. I'll just get sent them to my sign up with another email. I get that new Hit, that new customer rate all over. Heck, I do that four times a year. I got bloomberg for free.
Speaker 2:Okay, there you go, there you go.
Speaker 1:Well, same way when you change it or buy another automobile. Recently bought my wife another automobile. We have serious right now. Discount on it from the other automobile, but it wouldn't you know, for whatever reason I'm doing this online, they won't let you transfer it without a new, higher rate, so I thought you know what? Forget that, because the salesperson told me so. Mr Smith, you get three years I mean three months free Serious subscription for your new automobile.
Speaker 2:I said great.
Speaker 1:That's it. So I just counseled, started all over again, so I started all over three months that I get free Serious XL don't have to pay for there you go, there you go.
Speaker 2:There you go, yes, and then yeah, and then for our golf Lovers, you know and this is not endorsement for this particular company, but it's one that I use it's called golf golf now it's 99 dollars a year but you get a $50 gift check for a gift card from Taylor made which you can use that immediately. And then you get a year subscription to peacock Television, so that kind of pays for the membership right away. Then in you and you look at the actual membership benefits, you get a discount anytime you play golf and that discount can anywhere between 10 and 15 dollars. So if you plan on a course that's say $40, you know, you do the math and that's how much it's gonna cost you, so you can pay it, play a lot, a lot of different places, and that that's not just here in Georgia, that's in any country. I've gone to North Carolina, florida and several other States and I've been able to use my golf now subscription. So, yeah, it's just golf now calm, and you can sign up for that.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Hey, you know, in in every opportunity to save money is worth the time To look it up and go do it. You know now, george, I'd be remiss if I would say that everybody listening, as soon as they just podcast is over, they're gonna rush right to their computers and they're gonna sign up for this stuff or look for discounts.
Speaker 1:We both know I'm wrong, right right, right so hey, we're trying to give you these pearls and stuff. To do what? Save money, save money, and when you save money You're really making money Out there man we're here again.
Speaker 2:One of my favorites I've talked about this before, if you're a listener is Sam's Club. You know, you, I've got the Sam's Club card. I get the 5% cash back on gas, 2% back on I think it's food. So 2023, how much did I say? And remember, I'm not paying any interest because I'm paying this bill off every month. $224 that's how much I made. That's how much I made from Sam's. Okay, so not only get the cheaper gas, I'm not paying any interest and then they gonna send me a check for $224 at the end of the year.
Speaker 1:I love it. That's like a dividend. It's like a dividend on a stop man without buying the stop.
Speaker 2:And you do same thing with Costco.
Speaker 1:Yeah, costco's, your Sam's Club, your BJ's of the world. Look for those type of organizations that you know membership or subscriber base, because there's perks to come along with that. I'm sitting here thinking about that in terms of Interest rate on your credit cards. Yeah, interest rates is high and George, you spoke of this on several other episodes but pay attention when they start dropping his interest rates and interest rates are gonna change. Look for those opportunities to Switch cards or roll your cards over, because some of these credit card companies will offer you zero percentage rate on your Money's rolled over for a certain period of time.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, especially if you guys got out there with those high balances. You definitely want to take advantage of that.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that's one of the best things going. I use those all the time, I mean, especially with my business. I mean, think about you do it. You do a A card where you're gonna they're gonna give you 15 to 18 months of no interest and you've got a renter there. Based on, that renter is paying that, that note for you and then all you know and you're not paying any interest on it. So I mean, there's no better way to finance, you know, any type of business. You know as well as your personal. But that's how I primarily use it. From a business, you know, I got to put a roof on or I got to do something Major to one of my rentals. Hey, I just get me one of those no interest for 18 months. Take the money, pay the cash. You know, with these Suppliers also, you're gonna get a discount because you know you're paying cash. You're not charging it with them. So there's a savings all around. But you got it, these tools are out there and that's just basically having good credit.
Speaker 1:And here before a moment I want to speak specifically to our seniors. There are programs in your counties and in your local districts that have senior programs For installing new windows on your property, new roofs on your property, things that needs to be done to update appliances, and stuff like that that are free. Did I and you hear me, I know I like my my quote free 99. Well, I'm talking about free without the 99, free seriously. So it would be whoo anybody that classifies as a senior and you own your home to Look into these programs.
Speaker 1:They're out there, they're not advertised and they're really not hitting. Well, they're hidden in plain sight and so you just have to go look for them. They're online. Or get someone as younger who knows their way around a computer if you're, you know, intended it by a computer. But call the county, call the city where your property is and find out what programs up do you have for senior citizens? And you'd be surprised that you know you can get a lot of Updates and repairs to your home just because you know, hey, you earned it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you know. Also, if you're low income, the government has a program where you can get free internet. So that's, you know, regards of what age you are, if you're low income and I'm not sure what that dollar amount is. But yeah, the government will give you free, will pay for your internet through the whatever carrier you're using. That's been enacted. I think they started that before COVID.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, that's probably the push to get everyone Wired up and you know connected. That should be Right, should be before we wrap up. Man, is there anything else? There's gotta be some other thing.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, man, that's a lot of my. We're gonna cherry pick some of them. But if you're not an AARP member, you're missing out, because you can get, you know, up to 15% discounts on rent at restaurants, 30% on car rentals, you can get vision discounts, prescription discounts, and that's in addition, addition to good Rx. If you never use good Rx, it definitely works Okay, so I've used that before. You can get $10 off on your AT&T bill. You can get 20 up to 20% off on hotels. You can get either five up to 20% off on using some items at UPS stores I can go on and on 15% off on FTD. I mean, if you're not an AARP member, you're missing out on a lot of discounts, a lot of discounts. So definitely you want to check that out and you don't have to be 65. I believe ARP you can sign up at 55.
Speaker 1:I think so, I think so.
Speaker 1:There's a no, it's still around y'all. If you don't know it or not, that's Groupon. Yeah, you can find a lot of deals that go for everything from travel to massages, all right, and just some of this little ancillary stuff that we may buy here and there. You know Ganges or what have you? Those play though there, and the services are Performed by your local business community. Not only are you helping them out, what you help yourself out, getting that discount, all right. So I tell you, I want to encourage everyone within listening To take advantage of the discounts. They're there for a purpose, they're there for a reason, you know, and these, these companies, they compete for your business. So make them compete. Make them compete and look for the ones that give you the perks. If they don't give you any perks and another company does long. That Service is quality. Give us some strong consideration.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you know Switching gears right quick. Everyone uses banks and, as you know, banks make a lot of their money off of their late fees and their service charges. You need to be aware that if you ever charge a late fee for whatever reason, you know you use your debit card and you didn't have money in that account. You know whatever. Call them and challenge them. Okay, I, I've done this many times and they will remove the car that that charge.
Speaker 2:That's also with credit cards. So you you send in your bill. Like me, you still use the old post office to send your bill. They say they didn't get it. They want to charge you a late fee column challenging Nine times out of ten. They will remove these late charges every time. You should not be paying 35 and 45 dollars for late charges and fees. Uh, for any type of mishap with the come with these companies. So you know things happen. Call them, challenge them, have them remove those charges.
Speaker 1:And you get further. If you use sugar and honey as you will, then you use it, you know. Be nice be nice because they'll say something Okay, we'll do it this time. Well, heck, that's the only time I'm calling for this time. Exactly so that's all you want. Is what you want, all right, so, uh, but yeah, I hope you're taking Taking advantage of these things, because George and I are I mean, that's how we know about them, yeah, and so we, we know, we live what we talk about. So what else we got pop?
Speaker 2:Well, you know I'm. I think that's about it right now, smithy. Um, oh, don't forget about your modems. You know, I mean, everybody's using internet. You got to get that into your house. So if you're not owning your own modem or router, you need to go to one of these electronic stores and buy you one, because that's seven to nine dollars a month you can save. Uh, you don't need to be written that from the, the cable company. So, uh, yeah, make sure you do that also.
Speaker 1:And you know, george, I'm glad you mentioned the price, because we look at sometimes say, oh, that's only seven dollars a month and I let it go. But no, no, no, no. Just multiply that by 10. We all know there's 12 months in a year. Just multiply that by 10, that's seven dollars a month, is actually 70 over 70 dollars a year. Make it 84 dollars. You can want to be exact, that's 70 dollars a year. If you've been doing it for the past 10 years, that's 700 dollars.
Speaker 1:Do we need to go any further with that math? That's money that could be in your pocket. Or, more importantly, that's money, investment money. Because you hear some time people, george, say they don't have enough money to invest, I can't buy a stock. Well, heck, that's seven dollar a month bill could help you buy a stock On the savings that you have. So use your savings, use it wisely, but reinvest that money. We talked about a penny earner, a penny. Save the penny earner. Don't turn around and burn yourself by going out spending it on something that doesn't bring you any money.
Speaker 2:You know something, smithy, every time I'm going to pass it over to you to sign off, I think I want more Real estate agent. Okay, you've heard this term first time buyer programs and if you say that you say, oh Well, I already bought a house. But you know, a first time buyer is defined as anyone that has not bought a primary residence in the last three years. So yes, so so say, for example, you, you know you bought a house, you, you pay for the house, you know you want to move to another house. You know, whatever your circumstances are, when you haven't bought a house in the last three years your primary residence and you want to buy a primary residence again and it's and it's, and you haven't done in three years, you can qualify for a program that's designed for first time buyers and you know, it happens.
Speaker 2:It happens. So, for example, if you you know you've lived in your house for 20 years, you want to sell that house. You want to buy another house. You can qualify for a first time buyers because you haven't bought a primary residence three years, even though you're selling another house.
Speaker 1:Wow, there you go. You heard it first when the clutch of the old men podcast.
Speaker 2:There you go, there you go, there you go. Hey man, I just, I just love this fact that we're on youtube now. They can see these faces and see the expression that we have, even how enlightened we are when we pass all this good old information over to them. So with that, to me, I think we've kind of given them enough, enough pearls for the day. So, uh, what kind, what kind of words of wisdom you got for them.
Speaker 1:Well, let's take one, a quote from Andrew Carnegie. He says you are what you think as a man think. If so, is he? We've heard that before right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, since we are what we think, so think big, believe big, act big, work big, give big, forgive big, laugh big, love big and, last of all, live big. There you go, all right.
Speaker 2:Well said, well said. And as we always say on the crotchety old man podcast if you didn't know, you know, you know, take care, be blessed, peace.