Comments on: 3 money-saving strategies that can backfire

By: 261 Bits of Advice for Saving Money, Avoiding Financial Problems, and Picking Liquor That’s Cheap But Not Cheap-Tasting | Conserving Money

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:48:07 +0000

[...] 3 money-saving strategies that can backfireSuch as: doing your own taxes. [...]

By: Horstman's Blog

Horstman's Blog — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:24:30 +0000

[...] 3 money-saving strategies that can backfire Such as: doing your own taxes. There’s no way that you, who focuses on taxes for a few days every April, can be as informed as someone who arm-wrestles our tax code for a living. [...]

By: 261 Bits of Advice for Saving Money, Avoiding Financial Problems, and Picking Liquor That’s Cheap But Not Cheap-Tasting - It's Your Money - TIME.com

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:21:06 +0000

[...] 3 money-saving strategies that can backfire Such as: doing your own taxes. "There's no way that you, who focuses on taxes for a few days every April, can be as informed as someone who arm-wrestles our tax code for a living." [...]

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 15:25:17 +0000

I totally agree with your sentiments.

Especially regarding any DIY project involving heights. If you can’t accomplish your project within 4 feet of the ground, hire someone! (and make sure they’re bonded or otherwise have their own insurance). Two tree trimming deaths in the family?? My deepest sympathy.

Of course everyone has their own comfort zones. Depending on the car, oil changes are no big deal for me.

By: lizweston

lizweston — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 01:02:13 +0000

I believe it’s more than possible to fond trustworthy mechanics, but you often have to put some effort into finding them…they’re not the ones offering the $19.95 oil change specials.

By: lizweston

lizweston — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:59:41 +0000

Well, I usually learned my limitations the hard way. After you pay someone a few times to fix what you screwed up, you should get the message that it’s cheaper in the long run to pay someone who knows what he’s doing!

By: harry

harry — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:41:36 +0000

Even if u don’t do your own auto work, it is extremely valuable to know as much as reasonably possible about your car. There are many books and (of course) the web. The very real problem is finding an honest mechanic. I grew up in an environment where we had to fix our cars. Thusly, I learned a great deal about repairing them. My experience has been that most “mechanics” are not honest. They will regularly mis-diagnose the problem and/or try to sell you work/parts you don’t need. A common scenario is; your car suddenly won’t start or turn over. You have it towed to a shop. They tell you that you need a new battery (50% of the time a battery is not needed, the battery terminals are corroded and just need cleaning); you agree to this. The battery is replaced and you leave the shop a happy camper. You’re driving home the following evening and your car stops running for no apparent reason and won’t turn over. You have the car towed back to the same shop where the work had just been done. They now tell you that you need an alternator, but that the old battery was really bad and you needed that anyway. You agree to the repair. While they’re doing the work, they tell you that your pully tesioner (the average person has no idea what a pulley tesioner is) is weak and should be replaced also. Again you agree, hopefully to avoid any future issues. When you get your bill, you may notice the labor charge for the alternator repair is based on (let’s say) 1.5 hrs. You also notice that the labor for the pulley tensioner is also 1.5 hrs. Most people would not question this. Unfortunately, what the “mechanic” hasn’t told you is that the tensioner is next to the alternator (frequently the case); and that he/she (politically correct) had to do almost exactly the same work for the tensioner as was done for the alternator. The mechanic probably didn’t take more that 3 minutes to replace the tensioner while he/she was replacing the alternator. Yet you were billed seperate full labor charges for both repairs- this happens regularly. Recently a friends daughter spent over $900 on tires and brakes on her old Isuzu. They also told her she needed a tune-up. Within 24 hrs her car started running very poorly. She was about to take it back to the same shop that had done the brakes and tires, when I stopped to visit. I checked the car and found that SOMEHOW A SPARK PLUG WIRE HAD COME OFF. Simple to fix of course….and of course she would have paid hundreds of dollars at the repair shop for work she didn’t need. Sorry for the long-winded comment, but (sadly) these are not uncommon story.

By: DelGainesInSanDiego

DelGainesInSanDiego — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:55:53 +0000

after 20+ years of breaking my back , and everything else, for home owners one of the funniest things to me is for a fella who is all healthy and feeling good about himself to go bonzai DIY on a project and rapidly find himself working muscles he never knew he had.but continue insisting he can do it himself , hire a day labor flunkee for ??? bucks, and still want me to do it for half price , when he’s already spent double screwing up what he wants me to fix…and then , liz , the folks like you are such a pleasure to work for and you guys always get as much as i have to give, thank you…!

By: lizweston

lizweston — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 01:12:35 +0000

If you have a really simple estate, Quicken WillMaker is probably fine and certainly better than procrastinating one more day. But once you have some assets accumulated or minor kids or a second marriage or any complicating factor, it can be worth having an attorney’s input.

By: B simple

B simple — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:49:35 +0000

I have not done this but I people who have drafted their own wills. Just to save the legal expense. I would not recommend you do this. Just pay the cost of the attorney fees. If you make a mistake you make end up costing you a lot more than those attorney fees. Nice article.