Ok, let’s talk about the elephant in the room…and by elephant I mean that wrinkly, gray economy that has affected all of us in some form or another. Although there does seem to be some light starting to shine thru the end of the tunnel (at times the tunnel has been more of a spelunking expedition into the abyss), no one is in a hurry to rush out and buy sunscreen for the upcoming burst of gloriously warming financial sunshine.

When the economy started its decent, everyone panicked. While some made jumpy, rash decisions, others assumed the “deer in headlights” pose and a few just folded under the pressure. If you’re still in business or busy, you must have done something right so congratulations.
For Fargo Design, making a few concessions made a huge difference. While I’m no financial advisor, I do balance a mean checkbook. In exchange for a small amount of leg work and some minor inconvenience, you too can keep a few extra beans in your pocket at a time when you probably need it most.

Whether you are a freelancer or a larger firm, operations can be expensive. The “experts” will tell you that you should review your accounts and policies at least once a year to make sure you are getting the best service at the best price. We all know we should but when IS the last time you compared your insurance rates, your payroll company fees or your internet plan?  Sure it’s convenient to let the phone bill hit the auto debit month after month but are you paying more than you need to for the same service you can get for less?  I can tell you first hand, vendors are out to make a deal right now. There is no better time to review  your monthly services/products and the vendors who provide them.  I know, I know… “I don’t have time to call around”,  “I’ll do it next month”, “I like my service from XYZ Co.” …I get it. I was the one saying those things but here’s a heartwarming success story that may just be a bit of incentive….

We started our “cleansing” in January as a way to alleviate a little of the “outgoing” and to our surprise, eliminated nearly $1000k a month in payments and fees. We did consolidate and refinance a few debts but if you aren’t one of the lucky ones with a decent FICO score, there is still plenty you can do. Keep in mind that you certainly do not have to completely switch every account you have or sacrifice service. There are definitely services/products that are worth the extra loot (Everyone knows that Heinz Catsup and Q-Tips should NEVER be substituted, but you owe it to yourself to try Hunts and Super Value Cotton swaps at least once so you confidently KNOW the difference.)

Here’s how the few changes that we made stacked up:

• Consolidation Loan on Credits cards (-$500 monthly)
• Switched auto insurance carriers (-$48 monthly)
• Switched property/liability insurance carriers (-$100 monthly + more coverage)
• Finally ditched Verizon phone & internet (-$62 monthly + faster internet)
• Eliminated our efax service and started using one of our 3 dusty fax machines ($-19 monthly )
• Got a new security system (-$10 monthly+6 months free)
• Moved our web reseller accounts to a better and less expensive server (-$200 monthly)
• Changed cell phone carriers (-$30 monthly)
• Moved to a newer and better mail xchange server ($20 monthly)

…grand total? $989 less clams! Just like a Xenedrine commercial, I’ll give you the fine print… (results not typical), but you can certainly reduce your monthly expenses by a few hundred bucks if you spend a day making the calls or doing a little online research.

So far, so good. No horrible drops in service, no screaming employees, no inconveniences. So, did I just reveal the gold medal secret at the “how to survive the recession” Olympics? Probably not, but I did save a ton of money by switching to Geico….

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