5 Ways to Save Money as a Notary Public

1. Don't pay to become a "certified" signing agent. Your state doesn't require it. The escrow companies and loan officers probably don't care.

2. Spend 5 minutes on Google before buying supplies and insurance. Look at any bundles and see if you can do better buying the items separately elsewhere.

3. Same thing with any required education. In Pennsylvania, for example, prices for the required 3 hours class range from $30 to $115. Maybe it's just me but I'd rather pay $30 for the class and have money left for gas and dinner and .... .

4. Don't pay for long distance. Set up a Google Voice account and call free (at least through the end of the year.)

5. Stay on top of what the state regulator is doing. Perhaps check their web site once a month. This will avoid any fines for something you didn't hear about.


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Saving money -- what is "long distance"?

I call a friend 2,500 miles away every afternoon. I never pay a penny in long distance.

If you call clients and are getting hit with a toll or long distance, find out about Google Voice.

With a Google account and a phone, you can set up a GV account. They'll even give you a new number if you like. There are lots of tricks GV can do. You can program it to direct certain people straight to a tailored voice mail message, to ring certain phones, to ring a phone only during certain hours.

But the reason I like it is free long distance. I don't know how they do it. But they're saving me bucks. (True, for business I could deduct the expense later. But I'd rather not have the expense.)

Google has said no charges through the end of the year. So you might want to not give the number to clients in case you opt out later. Though it's possible Google may make 2012 free as well.

In any case, for now, here's a genuine bargain.

I don't get any money for passing this info along. Just telling you about something that works. Nice.

More tips on saving money: 12 Tips to Make More Money as a Notary Public. Probably tax deductible as business expense--ask your accountant. Available for just 99 cents from Kindle or Nook. Or instant PDF download