Money-Saving Myths: Fact or Fiction

Folks are getting bombarded these days with various claims on how to save money. Some of these tips are worthwhile, but others could end up costing you big. Those are the ones we can't stand! So we put together a list of "advice" that you should avoid at all costs.

Ken Dolan: Daria and I say starting off this video, this very special video on saving money, although sometimes saving money can cost you money. You look marvelous. Daria Dolan: Well, thank you very much Billy. Oh, Ken. Ken Dolan: As I was saying Daria, at this time of the year, you see lots of stuffs saying “save money, save money, some save money tips” and some are good and then we’re going to pass some good ones along. But others are going to cost you one. Daria Dolan: Exactly. Ken Dolan: And let’s talk about some of those too. Daria Dolan: Right. You know my favorite I mean it’s not so important anymore because people are paying more reasonable prices for gasoline. Ken Dolan: Oh yeah, really excited. It’s only three dollars a gallon now. Daria Dolan: Well, depends on where you are. Ken Dolan: Slight four fifty. Daria Dolan: But the fact of the matter is that during the high gas prices, there was this whole group of people that worked under the idea that if you fill up your gas tank first thing in the morning, while the molecules are cold. Say, you’ll get more gas. It will cost you less money and the experts say “baloney”. Ken Dolan: Did like Engineer Keith say that he likes all his cars. He likes his car stuffs. Daria Dolan: Yeah. You fill up when you need to not because of cold weather. Ken Dolan: Also, staying along the ideas of cars, we don’t know a lot about cars but I wanted to spell this myth. Daria Dolan: I know. I have to drive one. Ken Dolan: Most of the time. We should talk about that outing. We’ll talk about that some other time. Anyway, a lot of people are saying you’ll see you’re reading that “Using a high octane gas really juice up the car. Get that engine running hot is better than a lower octane.” Not necessarily true. Daria Dolan: And it’s going to cost you more money if you don’t need that high octane. Ken Dolan: Check your owner’s manual for the octane that you should use. Some cars need high test. Many do not so be sure to check. And when you’re paying, it’s like a gas saving thing. How about the rebate though? Daria Dolan: Well, this is the last one on gas and then we’ll move on to other things. Yes. Get a gas rebate card because that will help you save money. Ken Dolan: Three to five percent rebate. That’s good. Daria Dolan: It’s time you purchase a tank of gas or to get any gas. Well, here is the fallacy in that. That may work extremely well for the people who pay their bills every single month on time and find gas rebate cards that do not have annual fees. But some of them have annual fees so even if you pay it off and get that rebate, it’s going to cost you money and if you don’t pay off the balance in full every single month, you’ve totally negated your rebate because the interest is going to eat it and there’s much more interest on that card than there is a rebate to begin with. Ken Dolan: Also Daria, some other cheap gas stations, not the people are cheap. The gas stations with cheap gas sometimes they don’t take credit card. Daria Dolan: This is why the gas is cheaper. Ken Dolan: And sometimes you can get six or seven or ten cents a gallon off if you pay by cash. So do the math. Speaking of doing the math, often a lot of people are saying, “We’re financing. Always pays off and always makes sense because you’re making. You’re going to get a new mortgage at a lower interest rate.” Well, that makes sense in the respect that the payment’s lower, I guess. Daria Dolan: But the cost to refinance may not justify getting that lower payment if you’re not staying put for a long time. Now let me say this, if you are with one of these adjustable right mortgages by all means, consider refinancing. But we’re talking to a fix rate. But we are talking basically for people with fix rates already who think “Oh boy, I can save fifty dollars a month” Well, they’re going to charge you three or four thousand dollars to do the refinancing. Ken Dolan: You better be there a lot of months. Daria Dolan: Or more you better be there a lot of months to make up the difference. Ken Dolan: I have another tip mortgage moister. Then let’s say you’re thinking of refinancing ten to twelve years. Let’s say ten years. Ten years in to the mortgage. Okay, that’s great. So for the next oh, not twenty years with a thirty year mortgage, if we do a new thirty, now it’s a forty year mortgage. So be careful and as we said with the gas rebate card, do the math. Now since you have somebody that does all of our laundry and we have three different maid, we have a housemaid, we have a cook, and we have somebody doing the laundry, give them the laundry room. Daria Dolan: And I have to do this because in all years we’ve been married, thirty seven years. He has never used the washing machine. Ken Dolan: I really haven’t. I don’t know how to use it. Daria Dolan: There is a whole coterie of people who believe that if you do small loads instead of big loads and you’ll use less water and it’s going to cost you less money the cycle won’t run so long. No, first off, it’s more wear and tear on your washer and drier every time you turn it off. If you’re doing a lot of cycles and you’re using more water because it’s not going to cut back all that much on the amount of water. And if you’re doing ten loads a week as opposed to three big ones, look at all the water that’s being used. One big load will do the trick and cost you less in the long run. Ken Dolan: Daria, last one, we are here all the time especially obviously in the summer up north or pretty much all year in Florida and Arizona, etcetera, that if you open the windows, and turn on a bunch of fans, that’s going to be better than if you’re living in like pretty sealed tight house, turning on the air because of the cost of the cost of electricity. Wait a minute. One air conditioner or five or six fans, you might be better off if the house is well sealed during the air conditioning. Daria Dolan: Exactly. Absolutely. So if you don’t have a well-sealed house, whether you live in the south all year long with warm weather or up north with two seasons that can either make or break you financially because of the hot and the cold. Make sure your house is well-sealed. Id you want to spend some money. That’s where to spend. Ken Dolan: Well done Daria, some good money saving tips. Money tips that actually work. Use them it’ll save you some bucks.