TCU Savers Club

Find an adventure in your own backyard

With this economy everyone seems to be cutting back on a lot of things, especially vacations. Everyone needs a vacation even if it’s just for a weekend. There are many opportunities for you take “mini” vacations close to home with a small budget. Here are some examples:

• A Zoo
• Site seeing in Chicago or Indianapolis
• The beach (Lake Michigan)
• Camp at a nearby state park
• Pack a picnic and spend the day at a local park
• Visit local attractions your community has to offer
• Beat the heat with a matinee at the movies or play
• Check out different counties’ 4-H fairs or other fairs and festivals 

There are many places through out Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. These destinations provide the feeling of being in a new place but are only a short drive away. Check out www.tcutravelagency.com, www.in.gov/visitindiana/, www.puremichigan.com or www.illinois.gov/visiting for more on these spots. If you have some extra money to splurge on a bigger vacation, here are some ideas to save on those trips: 

• Book flights and hotels in advance so you can get the best deals.
• If you can, traveling during the week is the best time for cheaper flights and hotels.
• Book a hotel room with a kitchenette so you can buy groceries instead of eating out every time.
• Many Walt Disney World® vacation packages have great deals for families
• Travel to a destination during its off-season

Contact TCU Travel to help make your travel plans! Remember, it’s never too late to start saving for spring break or next summer’s vacation. Contact TCU to open a holiday/vacation club account and start saving today.

Q-pon or Cou-pon?

It doesn’t matter how you pronounce it, the bottom line is, coupons save you money! We all remember mom cutting coupons out of the Sunday newspaper flyers or pulling out an envelope full of them at the store. Well we’ve got to admit–like always–mom is right. With more and more people watching how they spend, clipping coupons is a great way to save money on necessities.  That is why they have coupons, to help you save money! If you take a few extra minutes after reading the Sunday paper to flip through the coupons, you can find surprisingly good deals on items that you need. Or you can find printable coupons online at www.shortcuts.com or www.coupons.com.
 
Once you have collected the coupons try to use them at stores with discount shopper cards for even more savings. These cards that are usually free and the cashier can usually sign you up quickly. They are offered at most grocery stores (Kroger’s, Martins), convenience stores (Walgreen’s, CVS) and many other department or chain stores. Most stores have weekly savers’ advertisements in the newspapers on certain items when you use your card. So plan your shopping day to pick up those items at these stores.  
 
Another way to save some money is use your TCU Visa® Check Card as credit instead of debit on purchases. It still takes money from your checking account and TCU will pay you 0.5% as a rebate* on your purchase. We’ll even double your rebate if you use your rebate towards a new TCU service, such as a mortgage, auto loan or a travel service through TCU Travel!  
 
TCU Everyday Savings is also an easy way to save. With Everyday Savings all your TCU Visa Check Card purchases are rounded up to the nearest dollar amount and the difference is automatically transferred from your checking account to your savings account. For example when you buy a large coffee for $2.15, we’ll round your purchase up to $3 and put the difference (.85¢) in your savings account. (In this case $3 is being taken out of your checking account.) Building your savings has never been easier. Contact a TCU Representative for details.

Go Green to Save Green

Going green and saving money are two items that are at the top of most people’s list these days. Here are some tips you can use to help keep the world beautiful while saving money at the same time!

• Unplug appliances that are not being used or turn off lights when rooms are vacant, it saves energy and keeps those nasty electric bills down.
• Another way to save money on the electric bill is by going as long as possible with out using the air conditioner in the summer. In the winter months set the thermostat lower, and those sweaters in your closest do need to see the light of day sometime. Nothing is better than cuddling up in a nice warm blanket on a cold snowy night anyway! 
• Find a friend that you can carpool with. Try it for a week and you’ll be amazed how much you save in gas. Or, if you live close enough to work, ride your bike or walk. It’s great exercise and you would be doing your part in saving the environment.  

Here are a few other ideas to Go Green to Save Green

• Use reusable water bottles, anything made from plastic is still around today and will be years from now
• Donate and recycle your old computers, cellphones, and PDAs
• Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) not only last longer (some up to two years) but save energy too
• Line dry clothes on nice days (plus they smell amazing too)
• Rain barrels that catch rain water keep the toxins out of the ground and great way to get water for your plants
• Instead of paper towels use old washcloths to wash/dry dishes (also trying hand washing dishes)
• Pay bills online, TCU offers an amazing bill pay service, check it out and sign up today at tcunet.com
• Go paperless. Sign all of you accounts up for e-statements. It’s usually a free service offered by many institutions.

If Going Green is too much of a hassle TCU offers many other tools to help you save and budget money at www.getthebearessentials.com.

Do you have tips to share about saving money and going green? Please share them by adding a comment. 

The Bucket Budget

You'll need two checking accounts and one high-yield savings account, like the TCU Savers Club Money Market Account. First, figure out how much of every paycheck you want to put toward savings. Have that automatically sent to the savings account, which will fund your future goals (vacation, retirement, college fund, etc.).

Send the rest of your paycheck to checking account No. 1. You'll use this account to pay monthly fixed expenses, such as mortgage and utilities. These bills will be paid using Internet Bill Pay.

Figure out your monthly surplus in this account after your recurring bills, divide by four, and set up a weekly automatic transfer for that amount to checking account No. 2. This is for variable expenses like groceries, entertainment, and eating out. Two rules: You can't transfer more money over until the next week, and you can't use credit cards.