Over at Lifehacker, they have an article on Avoiding Fees and Getting Free Money.
In my book, it should be only 8 tips they have there, but numbers are just numbers. But there list is as follows:
10. Find the Right Bank
9. Switch to a Credit Union
8. Skip the Fee-Ridden Perks
7. Use Jenny’s Number for Grocery Store Discounts
6. Combine Your Cash Back Credit Card and Checking Account
5. Try a High Interest Savings Account
4. Apply Student Discounts to Everything You Can (Even If You Aren’t a Student)
3. Find Unclaimed Money in Your Name
2. Use a Debit Card Without Getting Screwed
1. Maximize Your Credit Card Rewards
It isn’t too hard to guess that I’m against #1 and #6, but I also think you should just forego #10 and jump feet first into #9 and open a credit union account.
Using Jenny’s number (867-5309) was a new one to me. But in this age of reward card discounts it makes sense and goes hand-in-hand with the early days of paywalls on the web and using the username cypherpunk with the password cypherpunk.
Using Student Discounts should be a given, but I’d also recommend checking to see if your employer has discount programs available as well. Many large companies have discounts negotiated with cell phone providers, gyms and other fitness programs, and even some discounts on retail purchases. If you are a government employee, you may not realize the wealth of discounts available to you with your government employee ID card. My wife is a government employee and we receive discounts from the Apple Store (the website, not sure about physical Apple stores), hotels & rental cars, our gym membership, and our cell plan (even with iPhones).
Also in line with Jenny’s Number, if you are doing any online shopping, make sure you take a run through RetailMeNot.com to find out if there are discount or promo codes available for the site you are shopping on.