He Who Hesitates Loses Stuff

When you see something at a great price (and I mean a price that you know is awesome and that you know won't get any lower), buy it.  Don't go get coffee, don't come back to the store over the weekend, don't wait.

Even online items go quick when the prices are low.  Amazon has had lightening deals that literally sold old in under one minute.

So all things being equal (free shipping, etc.), don't hesitate and make the purchase when you have the confidence that the price isn't going to get any better.

The Blackest of Fridays

To say that Black Friday ain't what it used to be is an understatement (SmartMoney outlines 10 Things Stores Won't Say About Black Friday).  BF used to be for an intrepid few willing to get up in the wee hours of the morning to go shopping, like 7 a.m.  BF now has extended to (grey) Thursday - and that's not even the main problem.  Way too crowded, if you want to get that specific item, you have to get in line hours before the store opens, and at by the time it's all over, it's just not worth it.  Remember that your time has value, and if you're spending five hours to save 20 bucks, it may not be worth it.  Plus, many stores have the same items online as they do in the store (Best Buy has free shipping on all their items).

Keep this in mind - it's more fun to stay up late until midnight, buy the stuff you can find online, and then sleep late on BF.

Gettin' Gizzy With It

There are a lot of deal sites out there, but Gizmodo's Deal of the Day is pretty unique.  It focuses on tech and gadgets, but you also get a random selection of other items, such as toys, TVs, DVDs, and free and discounted apps.

If You Gotta Get That New Videogame

Gears of War III just came out.  If you were salivating for it and had to have it launch day, you had a lot of options for pre-order.  But the best option?  Probably Amazon.

While GameStop, one of the worst videogame retailers, will give you a fairly lame download, with Amazon you generally get some form of money or credit (in the case of GOWIII, it was a $20 videogame credit plus some other cheesy download.  What do you get elsewhere?  Cheesy download.

Recommendation - at least check Amazon for what extras they'll be giving you on the big game titles.

Avoid Sales Tax (Sort Of)

If you have a Discover Card, after logging onto your online account, you can then access ShopDiscover.  And what pray tell will ShopDiscover get you?  Anywhere between 5% to 20% cash back from select retailers.  Here's how it works:  Let's say you want a Nano from Apple.  Log onto Discover and go to ShopDiscover.  Select Apple (they are one of the dozens of retailers).  Shipping is free, and because you are going through ShopDiscover, you are going to get 5% back.  So if you have to pay sales tax, it's kinda like getting a rebate on your sales tax...

If You Like Amazon and Have Some Patience, Ride a Camel

This is pretty cool.  CamelCamelCamel (I guess I could write it cooler with superscript if I knew how to do that on the web (or just 3xCamel)) will set up a price alert for you on Amazon.

Let's say you are looking for a certain watch.  You go and tell 3xCamel that you want to know when the price drops.  3xCamel will send you an email when that happens.  No more going back to Amazon waiting for your price-point!

Eating Out

It seems like eating out is more of America's pastime than baseball (which only makes sense since the baseball season never seems to end and each game is a study in tediousness, but I digress).  And if you eat out a lot, you should never pay full price.

One option is restaurant.com.  At their site, select a restaurant and pay for a gift certificate.  Here's where it gets good - if you wait long enough, certificates will go on sale for up 80% off.  The best deals are for certificates for $25 that cost $10.  With 80% off, that means you are paying $2 for $25.  Now for the fine print - you typically have to spend a certain amount of money.  At some restaurants you have to spend $35, some $50, so be wary.  Another caveat is an 18% tip will automatically be added to the bill (which is what you should be tipping anyway).  But there is some good news with this fine print - alcohol is not excluded (so drink up).  Depending on the restaurant, there are other gift certificate denominations (for example, for $20, you can get a $50 certificate, but you have to spend $100) if you will have larger parties.

Long story short - if some of your favorite haunts are available at restaurant.com, stock up on their certificates when they hit that 80% off mark.

Vegas, Baby

Shows are a prime draw to the Strip - each hotel has a big one, and while they are fantastic, they are very expensive.  But you don't have to pay full price.  Tix4Tonight offers discounted tickets up to 50% off - you just need to purchase the day of.  Stop by one of their locations (most are on the Strip).  They have a large selection, but don't be overly disappointed if they don't have your particular show.  Often, they have Blue Man Group, a few Cirque de Soleil shows, and lots of comedians.  Tix4Tonight also has discounts for Vegas restaurants.

Airport Parking

Airport parking is way too expensive.  Even for lots in the hinterlands, you'll pay around ten bucks a day (more if you park closer in).  Lots of hotels near the airport offer discounted parking and free shuttles to and from the terminal.  Just be sure to check shuttle policies to verify you have a ride to your car if your flight gets in late.

Liquidation Sales Aren't Really Sales

Borders just declared that they were going out of business.  At the local store, numerous shoppers were walking out with bags full of books.

They all paid too much.

And that's because liquidation sales aren't really sales.  At Border's (at least right now), everything is "up to 40 percent off."  Most items are only 10 percent off original price.

You can get more than 10 percent off books just about anywhere, including Amazon.  The only real way to get a good deal at a liquidation sale is to camp out the store constantly or just be lucky.

Trolling for Deals

Ernest Hemingway once told his son, "You make your own luck."  Deals are the same way.  You've got to look for them in order to find them.  But the interwebs and the googles make this pretty easy.  One of the best sites to go trolling for deals is SlickDeals.  You can view in different ways (Grid may be the best so you can see a picture of the picture).  There's even iOS and Android apps available to check for deals on your phone or tablet.

And there's more - forums, coupons, local deals, category searches - all now typical of deal sites - are also available on the site.

More Cheap Reads

Buying books has one of the best methods for comparison shopping:  the ISBN.  To search for a specific title, go to Amazon where the ISBN is listed (you can pick either the 10 or 13 digit number).  After highlighting it, you can paste it into Google and then go to Google Shopping where you can see all the different prices.  Don't like Google Shopping?  Take it to another deal site like PriceGrabber.

Laundry Savings Are Not Static

There is no immutable law that states that fabric sheets can only be used once.  They can certainly be used two or three times, which reduces the cost of doing your laundry.

Photos on the Cheap

Sooner or later, you're going to want to print out some of those (thousands) of photos that you've been taking with your digital camera.  You can do better than your local drugstore or even Costco.  Maybe even free.  Dealspl.us rounds up sites with free photos as well as some photo coupons.

The Public Is Your Domain

Everyone talks about reading the classics - and now you can - for free.  If you have an e-reader, just about every "classic" is available in the public domain.  For example, if you have a Kindle, you can get the Three Musketeers for free.  (Such classics in paperback or hardback range in price from a few bucks to ten dollars.)  The same applies to other e-readers like nook and kobu.  And if you can't find them at storefronts, you can also try Project Gutenberg, which claims over 36,000 titles on a variety of devices (just don't expect to find The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on this list).

Free Android Apps

As an open source operating system, Android is great in that you can find many of the apps you need for free (though keep in mind, Android apps are way more hack-able and track-able than iOS).  A great source for free apps is the Amazon Android App Store.  In addition, every day there is a free app available for download normally is a paid app.  These aren't all duds like Turbo Grannies - Angry Birds Rio and Plants vs. Zombies both have been featured free apps.

Cheaper Cable

Many times, you can get cheaper cable just by asking (just be ready to say that you're willing to move to a satellite provider or FIOS or something).  Check out some recommendations on how to do this.  Even if you hate negotiating, this will probably work easily enough.  Really really hate negotiating over the phone?  Try your cable company's chat room to get a better rate.

iTunes Stuff

To get cheaper stuff from iTunes (aside from all the free crapps), buy gift cards (for yourself).  Best Buy, Target, and Amazon will occasionally offer iTunes gift cards for ten to twenty percent off (usually $48 for $60 in cards, or $50 for $60).  Using the card essentially drops the price by that percent.  You're now effectively paying .79 for that .99 song.

The Roundabout Way to Save Money on Toner

This is pretty wasteful, but it works.  Don't buy toner.  Buy a new printer.

For laserjets, at Office Depot or Staples, you can get a small, desktop laserjet for $50 or less.  The cost for a toner cartridge?  $70 and up.  (You can purchase non-OEM cartridges, but this is something of a gamble).

For inkjets, many printers use the same type of cartridge.  Keep your really nice photo printer and buy the cheaper printer when it goes on sale (many times these can be had for $35 to $50, usually less than the cost of toner replacement).  (If you're printing photos, you really need the OEM toner.  The non-OEM toners just don't come close to the quality you may desire.) Then you can take out the toner and donate the old (new?) printer.

Always at least donate your old printers.  That would be too wasteful just throwing them away.

You Can Do Xbox Live Cheaper

It's advertised as $60 for an annual membership to XBL, but you never need to pay this.  Buy.com, Amazon, even Wal-Mart, will offer an annual membership card for around forty bucks, a savings of around thirty percent. You can get XBL points the same way.

Free and Cheap Stuff

From speeding tickets to online storage to education, Lifehacker provides a pretty good list of 10 things that you can get for free or cheap.

Save Money at the Drive Through

This isn't about coupons (though I imagine you could).  This is about the hidden costs of what we do.

Invariably, I'll pass a McDonald's with an empty parking lot and the drive-through line ten deep.  Every car is idling, waiting to move up another 12 feet so they can eventually pay, move up again so they can eventually get their meals.

For each car ahead of them, I figure that it's at least a one minute wait.  Seemingly insignificant, one minute grows to ten in, well, a matter of minutes.  That's time that your car (or truck, or monster SUV) is using gas.

And right now, gas ain't cheap.  At over four dollars in some areas (and at least over $3.50 everywhere else), the cost for that $15 bag full of Happy Meals just got higher.  We even think we're paying for convenience, but in reality, we're just paying for the privilege of not getting out of our cars.

Even if it's a small amount of gas expended while waiting, it's an expenditure that can be avoided by just parking at the restaurant and using the counter service.  And you can make sure that your order is correct.

Some may argue that vehicles expend more gas stopping and then starting back up.  Not anymore!  Apparently the rule is ten or more seconds (except in street traffic) you should kill the engine.

And to paraphrase Joe Pesci, they always get you at the drive through.  

Quick Google Tip from Cheapy Cheep

Before placing an order, especially if you are not using something like PriceBlink, do a Google search on the product and then click on Google Shopping.  You'll be able to find the lowest prices (with and without shipping and taxes) at different online stores, and you can even locate the cheapest price at a local brick and mortar.

The Lazy Man’s Guide to Couponing

There are some great sites out there providing guides and tips for couponing (Southern Savers and Jill Cataldo, just to name a couple).  Extreme Couponing on TLC takes it a step further, showing how individuals save upwards of 90 percent with couponing.

Just keep in mind - this is work.  The ‘extreme couponers’ have databases, buy multiple newspapers which they have to go through, comb the Internet, and spend hours upon hours for (typically) one big haul.  

A few things about the extreme couponers.  

It’s an actual job.  A great deal of time is spent doing this.  While it may be fun getting stuff for next to nothing, your time has some value.

They buy a lot of stuff they don’t use.  One joker proudly displayed over 1,000 tubes of toothpaste.  Others even remark about how they don’t even need antacid tablets, yet they clear the shelves because it’s so cheap with coupons.

You never see these people buy any fruits or vegetables.

It is a good idea to use coupons (coupons really are another form of money).  So here’s how to save and put forth extremely minimal effort.

First, let all your coupons stack up.  Save them and make a nice, neat little stack.  When one of the grocery stores offers double coupons of $1.00 (or more, Harris-Teeter will go just under $2.00), start cutting.  While cutting, separate the coupons by price (those with a face value of a buck-plus) and by area (e.g., frozen, health/beauty).  

When shopping, concentrate on using the $1.00+ face value coupons, buy stuff that you use, and buy stuff that gets you the absolute lowest price (in other words, bigger is not always better).  Even stuff not on sale may end up being free.  For the coupons less than $1.00, use those at other grocery stores that double that may have lower costs if the other store does not appear to give you maximum savings.

For this little amount of effort, you’ll save somewhere between 40 to 60 percent.  You’ll even be able to buy some fruits and vegetables.  

Coupons to the Extreme

There’s a new show on TLC called Extreme Couponing, depicting individuals saving lots and lots of money using grocery coupons.  They go to a store, onlookers watch in amazement, and savings reach somewhere between 90 to 95 percent, and hundreds of dollars.  

It’s also kind of silly.  

Silly not because the savings are artificial (they are real savings).  It’s silly because these people, at least from what I can discern, don’t even come close to using what they buy.  It’s silly because it appears, through the subjects or the direction, these people do it more for the kill than for the prize.  

Case in point -  J’aime Kirlew, an overly made up woman in high-heel boots and brittle, colored blond hair is one such extreme couponer.  The show depicts her organizing dozens of newspaper inserts, culling and organizing coupons, and developing a strategy for the trip to the grocery store.  

Once at the store, she with some 70 coupons for mustard, she cleans out the store, removing 62 bottles of mustard because she can drop the price to 39 cents a bottle (this is actually pretty expensive since I personnally don’t pay for mustard - I typically get it for free with coupons or for less than a dime - I just get one or two bottles, because what the heck am I going to do with 62 bottles of mustard?).  At the end of her segment, the eyeshadow heavy pseudo-blond does a little dance at the checkout counter, as if preventing future customers from buying mustard is something to be proud of.

The shows go on with other extremists, purchasing what seems to be a lifetime supply of Maalox, storing products in every nook and cranny in their homes (a shower stall is packed to the ceiling with paper towels, great if you need a paper towel, terrible if you need to take a shower; dozens of bottles of BBQ source are hidden away in a child’s room; basements are stocked ready to survive the upcoming zombie apocalypse).

So, yes, you’re going to save some money, but before you go out and buy 20 copies of the Sunday newspaper, keep these thoughts in mind:

1)  At a minimum, extreme couponing is a part-time job, and just how far you take it, may be a full-time job.  It takes time to research coupons and store ads, shop, checkout, and finally unpack and store all that stuff.  You are simply not going to pick up your Sunday coupons, go to a store for weekly shopping and expect to get the deals these extremists are getting.

2)  It’s pretty rude.  It’s rude to the store.  It’s rude to other customers.  It’s rude to other couponers.  

It’s rude to the store because they must spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with these jokers - restocking, checking them out, and later processing all the coupons must take hours for these individual customers.  Most checkout line appear to shut down because of them.  

To make matters worse, the extremists game the system, often separating purchases into multiple transactions to take advantage of special deals.  Because of one store’s policy limiting multiple transactions, a couple had to call friends to stand at the checkout line, wasting the time of the store.

It’s rude to other customers because particular products are gone.  What in the blue blazes are you going to do with 62 bottles of mustard?

It’s rude to other couponers because there’s going to be a point where stores will begin enacting (if they haven’t already done so) increasingly restrictive policies regarding coupons.  In the NOVA area, on double-coupon days at Harris-Teeter, customers are limited to 20 coupons, per household, per day.  This is an obvious response to the extreme couponers who split their transactions into multiple transactions.  Bottom line, people that do this that are happy to save 30 to 60 percent won’t be able to anymore because stores will eventually limit the extremists for receiving the savings in the 95 to 101 percent range.

3)  Stuff goes bad.  In the houses of the extremists, there are boxes and boxes of cereal.  Bags and bags of chips.  Stuff goes bad.  Stuff goes stale.  Mustard doesn’t go bad, but I can’t imagine that I would be able to use 62 bottles in my lifetime.

I hope some of these items get donated or traded with other families; however, seeing rows of cleaning supplies, stacks of paper towels, and bunkers of cereal, it’s doubtful.  (The eyeshadow queen mentioned above claims on her website that almost all items were donated to food banks, friends and family.)  These purchases become more of a showcase (much like a mounted lion’s head on the mantel).

And there’s some legal issues involved.  It has to do with using coupons for their non-specified use.  High-heeled boot lady generated so much vitriol about this that she was forced to turn off her comments on her facebook page.  Read more about this at Jill Cataldo’s website.

Next week - the lazy man’s guide to couponing, which is certainly not extreme.

Are Video Games Too Expensive?

Yes (this kind of a duh answer).

Video games are expensive.  Really expensive.  New titles cost about $60 for the big boy systems (Xbox 360, PS3) and $50 for the Wii.  You rarely need to pay these prices.  

Let’s take the upcoming Batman Arkham City game that will be coming out in October 2011.  If it’s anything like the previous Arkham Asylum game, it will be great.  But there’s no multiplayer.  New copies of console versions of Arkham Asylum now go for $25 to $30; you can typically find it on sale for $20.  

The point is, Arkham City will be same game in 2012 and 2013 as when it drops in 2011.  Waiting a few months will get you a savings of between $25 to $30 (according to Google Shopping, you can get Arkham Asylum for as low as $25 on a console).  

You’re going to get the exact same experience, at a lower price. You just have to <gasp> wait a little while.  Unfortunately for most people, as Tom Petty eloquently sang, “waiting is the hardest part.”  

But sometimes, if you view yourself as a gamer, you need to get a game when it first comes out or you get left behind in the multiplayer experience (e.g., Call of Duty; Halo).  In these cases, your best bet is to seek out the pre-order specials that some stores offer.    For major titles, Amazon, Best Buy and Wal-Mart will often offer gift cards or promotional credits to entice you to purchase the game from their store, effectively giving you a 20% to 33% discount.

Complain, Gripe, Whine, & Kvetch

I went to Kentucky Fried Chicken one day, and when ordering, was informed that they didn't have legs or thighs in original recipe or extra crispy.  When I got home, I contacted KFC asking why they didn't have any chicken at a place with "chicken" in their title.  They sent me a coupon for five dollars off anything.

Complaining does two things - first, you let companies know what they are doing wrong so they can correct it.  Second, you may get some free stuff (in this case a coupon) by letting them know what they are doing wrong and the hope that you will continue to patronize them.

It's not a bad idea to complain.

Two caveats.  One:  do it with professionalism and courtesy (don't try to get someone fired).  Two:  don't make stuff up.  Don't complain just to see what you can get; actually have a valid reason.

Final recommendations:  Contact the corporate office - this is your best chance to see results.  And for food establishments, wait until you get home before complaining.  You don't want anything 'special' from a disgruntled cook or waiter.

Never Pay Full Price for Justin Bieber Concerts

Don't go.  He sucks.

What's Your Point?

No, really - what's your point?  For purchases, establish a personal price point that you will not exceed.  For example, if you are a regular soda buyer, make your price point $3 for a 12-pack case.  Anything under, consider yourself getting a deal, like when they go on sale for three for $8.  The price point system is also useful to know when things are overpriced.  The other day, a grocery store was advertising the aforementioned soda as a deal at two cases for $8.88 (or one for $4.44), well above the price point of $3.

Most Recent Steal

Columbia Durango Jacket - current lowest price is $66 on eBay, got for $24.46 from Kohl's - over 85% retail price of $180.

Cheapy Cheep Says:

Never, ever, ever, ever pay full price for HDMI cables.  Best Buy and other retail outlets sell these things for upwards of $30, $40, even $50 or more.  HDMI cables can be purchased for less five bucks at places like Meritline and Monoprice.

Never Pay Full Price for:

Toothbrushes or dental floss.   Have you seen how much toothbrushes cost?  Sometimes four to five dollars, depending on the brand and that special "grip."  With coupons, you should be able to get a decent toothbrush for a buck (same for dental floss).  Also, check out the dollar store in your area - cheaper toothbrushes can be had for about twenty cents each, a bit more for the "premium" toothbrushes.  Dental floss also can be had for a buck a the dollar store (including bags of those little plastic handled flossers).

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Looking for the best thrift stores?

Then this blog is not for you.  

Are you looking for dumpster diving techniques?

Then this blog is not for you.  

If you are looking for that type of information, you can check out America’s Cheapest Family or buy a copy of the Tightwad Gazette.  There’s nothing wrong with thrift stores; there may be some issues if you are overly fond of dumpster diving.  But let’s face it - most of us are normal consumers.  We buy stuff.  We buy stuff online or at stores.  We don’t have an interest in making our own cat litter or turning a milk carton into a vase.

This blog is about buying stuff.  And getting stuff for the lowest price possible.  

So to start, the first recommendation is to install Price Blink on your browser.   It’s pretty nifty if you are using Chrome, IE or Firefox.  After installed, when you select something you want to buy at a given store, Price Blink will let you know if that is the lowest available price, where you can get it cheaper, or if there are any coupons or free shipping for the store.  Price Blink does collect browsing history (as is needed for these comparisons), but it works pretty well.

That’s a pretty nifty way to save money for doing nothing.