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The secrets to saving BIG from Good Morning America Consumer Correspondent Elisabeth Leamy

In this battered economy, saving money matters more to consumers than ever before. But we're tired of hearing about all the small stuff, like skipping our morning latte and installing low flow showerheads. We want BIG, bold ideas, and this book has them. In a straightforward style-with a dash of attitude-Good Morning America's Elisabeth Leamy shows you how to Save BIG on the priciest parts of your life.

In SAVE BIG (Not Small), Leamy puts saving in perspective. Her philosophy is to save a lot of money on a few things rather than a little bit of money on a bunch of things. Why give up life's little pleasures when you can save more money by attacking a few big, boring expenses instead?

• Helps identify where you spend the most money so that you can save the most money. The top five costs are our houses, cars, credit, groceries, and healthcare
• Written by Good Morning America Consumer Correspondent Elisabeth Leamy
• Unlike most personal finance guides that stress the small stuff, every tip in this book has the potential to save you at least a thousand dollars

Filled with fresh advice and insider secrets, this book will have you saving more in less time.
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The secrets to saving BIG from Good Morning America Consumer Correspondent Elisabeth Leamy

In this battered economy, saving money matters more to consumers than ever before. But we're tired of hearing about all the small stuff, like skipping our morning latte and installing low flow showerheads. We want BIG, bold ideas, and this book has them. In a straightforward style-with a dash of attitude-Good Morning America's Elisabeth Leamy shows you how to Save BIG on the priciest parts of your life.

In SAVE BIG (Not Small), Leamy puts saving in perspective. Her philosophy is to save a lot of money on a few things rather than a little bit of money on a bunch of things. Why give up life's little pleasures when you can save more money by attacking a few big, boring expenses instead?

• Helps identify where you spend the most money so that you can save the most money. The top five costs are our houses, cars, credit, groceries, and healthcare
• Written by Good Morning America Consumer Correspondent Elisabeth Leamy
• Unlike most personal finance guides that stress the small stuff, every tip in this book has the potential to save you at least a thousand dollars

Filled with fresh advice and insider secrets, this book will have you saving more in less time.

Ten Ways You Can SAVE BIG
Amazon-exclusive content from Author Elisabeth Leamy

What does it mean to SAVE BIG? It?s any strategy that will save you more than a thousand dollars in less than a year. It?s saving a lot of money on a few things rather than a little money on a bunch of things. It?s the antidote to all that depressing advice we?ve heard for years that we should give up our daily lattes, install low-flow showerheads and pack our own lunches.

Author Elisabeth Leamy is the Consumer Correspondent for Good Morning America--and lives the SAVE BIG philosophy--and even she was surprised at some of the little-known strategies she was able to uncover. Here are some real-life examples from the book:

House:
? Page 90: 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.
? Page 84: Appeal your property taxes--only 2 percent of people do-- and save $2,626.

Car:
? Page 126: Buy a ?dark horse? car instead of the most popular make and model-- and save $6,814.
? Page 160: Uncover a ?secret warranty? where the dealer fixes flaws for free and save $1,200.

Credit:
? Page 209: Undergo rapid rescoring before finalizing a mortgage and save $72,000 over the life of the loan.
? Page 218: If you pay your credit card bills bi-weekly instead of monthly, you can short-circuit the bank?s ?average daily balance? and save $1,000.

Groceries:
? Page 244: Stockpile groceries when they?re cheap instead of when you need them and save $5,772 a year.
? Page 265: Bid for groceries at a grocery auction instead of buying them at the store and save 66%.

Healthcare:
? Page 299: Take the over-the-counter version of a drug instead of the identical prescription version and save $1,763 a year.
? Page 320: Enlist a medical billing advocate to fight hospital billing errors and save $6,858.

How are these jumbo-sized savings possible? Because if you figure out where you spend BIG, you can SAVE BIG. Our top five costs are: houses, cars, credit, groceries and healthcare. It?s possible to turn your biggest expenses into your biggest source of savings. Author Elisabeth Leamy shows you how. There are $1,176,916 worth of savings in the pages of SAVE BIG. Grab a latte and read all about it!

Foreword ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

Part I Houses: Home of Savings

Chapter 1 Buy a House ASAP 9

Chapter 2 How Much Should You Spend? 15

Chapter 3 Doing the Deal 27

Chapter 4 Getting a Good Mortgage 37

Chapter 5 Choosing a Mortgage Professional 51

Chapter 6 Cut Your Closing Costs 63

Chapter 7 Appeal Your Property Taxes 77

Chapter 8 When to Refinance 87

Chapter 9 Pay Off Your Mortgage Early 93

Chapter 10 Sell Your House Yourself 105

Part II Cars: The Cheaper Road

Chapter 11 What to Buy 121

Chapter 12 What Can You Afford? 127

Chapter 13 Where to Buy a Car 135

Chapter 14 Choosing a Reliable Car 141

Chapter 15 Bargaining for the Best Price 147

Chapter 16 Make Your Car Last 153

Chapter 17 Car Insurance for Less 163

Part III Credit: Loans for Less

Chapter 18 Protecting Your Credit Reports 175

Chapter 19 Understanding Your Credit Score 187

Chapter 20 Raising Your Credit Score 197

Chapter 21 Cut Credit Card Debt 211

Part IV Groceries: Guerilla Grocery

Chapter 22 Price Matching 225

Chapter 23 Stockpiling 233

Chapter 24 Creative Couponing 247

Chapter 25 Wild Cards 261

Part V Healthcare: Curing High Costs

Chapter 26 Choosing a Health Insurance Plan 273

Chapter 27 Negotiating with Your Doctor ! 287

Chapter 28 Picking Your Prescriptions 293

Chapter 29 Haggling with Hospitals 311

Conclusion 323

Index 325