HOUSE:
- Fight junk closing costs, such as application or processing fees, when you buy a home and save $2,530
- When interest rates go down, use the savings to refinance into a shorter mortgage instead of the kind you have now and save $103,536.
- Appeal your property taxes (Only 2% of people do) and save $1,265 a year.
- You can save about 20% on a car by buying a lesser known equivalent vehicle instead of the most popular make and model. They're called "dark horse cars" -similar in style and quality but less well known. Your potential saving= $ 6,814.
- Pay cash for your car and save $2,608.
- Exercise a "secret warranty" where the dealer fixes flaws for free and save $1,400.
- Ferociously guard your credit score and save $2,916 a year on your mortgage.
- Undergo rapid rescoring before finalizing a mortgage and save $72,000 over the life of the loan.
- Reduce credit card debt by paying down high interest rates and have savings of $1,500 by using your low-interest savings rate.
- Rather than rushing around to all the stores in the area to buy the items they have on sale for the week, go to the one store that honors other store's sale prices and get everything there. You save time, money and gas. This is called price matching and it can save you $4,628 a year on groceries.
- Stockpile groceries when they are cheap instead of when you need them and save $5,772 a year on groceries.
- Master creative couponing (Click don't clip!) and save $7,956 a year.
- Raise your health insurance deductible and save $2,700 a year.
- Take the over-the-counter version of a drug instead of the identical prescription version and save $1,763 a year.
- Hire a medical billing advocate to fight hospital billing errors and save $6,858.
Elisabeth Leamy is the Consumer Correspondent for ABC News' Good Morning America and also contributes consumer stories to World News, Nightline and other ABC programs.
Her specialties are stories on how to save money, keep your family safe, and avoid scams and rip-offs. She loves her beat because it's not theoretical; her stories matter to people and their pocketbooks.
Elisabeth was nominated for two Business and Financial Reporting Emmys in 2009 and one in 2008. Regionally, she has received 13 Emmy Awards and four Edward R. Murrow Awards.
For more information, visit elisabethleamy.com and thesavvyconsumer.com
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