This year’s flu shot campaign seems to have started earlier than previous years. My employer had the on-site flu shot clinics in mid-September. I got the email from HR but I didn’t pay attention to the dates. I thought it would be later in October or November; so I missed the on-site dates. Grocery stores, […]
Don’t Be Afraid To Switch
My home Internet service deal expired. The rate jumped to $46 a month just for Internet. Like in most places in the country, two companies control the market: the monopoly phone company and the monopoly cable company. I’m not fond of either. Everybody knows you are supposed to call them, pretend to cancel, and get […]
How To Buy Gas With Credit Card And Still Get The Cash Price
The gas station I usually go to added a discount for cash. The prices posted high on the board are cash prices. Down at the street level, there is a small pavement board listing the prices for cash and for credit in two columns. For regular unleaded gas, the credit price is about 3% higher […]
Pay a Fee For Better Value
The word “fee” has a negative connotation. I’m not sure why, because a fee is just a price tag on a service. Brokerage firms have to advertise “no fee IRAs.” Credit card companies say “no annual fee.” Is a no-fee product necessarily better than a product with a fee? I see heirloom tomatoes selling for […]
Safeway’s Fast Forward: Get a Discount for Using Bank Debit
Debit or credit? I still prefer credit but in the wild debit usage has exceeded credit usage in both the number of transactions and the total purchase dollars. According to an earnings release by Visa, in 2012, US consumers used debit cards 2.5 times as often as they used credit cards. The total dollars charged to […]
Pay For Advice Or For Using a Screwdriver?
The advice from knowledge and experience is the most valuable part. You can handle the administrative tasks easily yourself.
iPhone or Android With Data Plan For Low Usage
I don’t know why unlimited calling, texting and data for smartphones is so popular these days. Or is it just advertising that makes it appear to be popular? Radio guru Clark Howard likes Straight Talk at $45/month for unlimited everything. He also mentioned a T-Mobile plan for $30/month with unlimited web and text plus 100 […]
If Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness What Exactly Does It Buy?
I didn’t post last week because I was here: My wife and I visited that same place about 15 years ago. I remember we had a great time. I remember the surreal bamboo forest we walked in when it was raining. I remember the quiet black sand beach that had only the two of us. […]
For Profit vs Not For Profit
If two businesses do pretty much the same thing, but one is for profit and the other is not for profit, as a customer, should you automatically favor the one not for profit? I subscribed to a publication called Consumers’ CHECKBOOK for several years. It publishes ratings for local service providers — plumbers, landscapers, auto […]
Tip Your Bloggers With Affiliate Commissions and Social Networking Votes
A reader emailed me a few months back telling me he had been using my Amazon affiliate link whenever he bought something from Amazon. That’s very nice of him. He would pay the same price but Amazon would pay me a commission ranging from 4-6.5%. When I bought my refurbished Kindle, I first went to […]
Refurbished: Really Refurbished Or Just Lower Price?
I put in some insane hours at work lately. Management gave me a spot bonus. I treated myself to a Kindle. Not a Kindle Fire tablet, a real Kindle — Kindle Touch to be exact. I bought it refurbished, at 20% off new. It came in a sealed box, with a clear plastic sheet covering […]
Lifestyle Design: Choose Where You Live
Reader KD’s guest post about looking at the big financial picture really put many of my posts to shame. I post many small tips and tricks here and there but they often fall on the trees side rather than the forest. Most of them aren’t even trees, but twigs and leaves. Getting an extra $5,000 […]