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| More Bargains |
| 01.15.05 (3:12 pm) [edit] |
Ok, so last blog was about bargains. I LOVE bargains.I was talking about expensive appliances because I am in need of a few appliances myself. One item I had been pricing was a washing machine and had found a good machine for a very good price. I investigated its options and particularly liked the multiple water levels. Often I want to wash a small load and hate to waste water. Here in Hawaii we especially hate to waste water because it is a finite resource (unless you know a cheap way to desalinate the ocean). So here I was, about ready to spend a couple hundred dollars on a new machine, when I came across a website called FreeCycle.Org [url=]http://freecycle.org[/url] where people offer items for free, just to keep them out of the landfill. What a concept! In the past I have seen people go to the dump, dump their trash and then hesitate a while to see if anyone else was bringing in items they could use. What could you FreeCycle? Well, let's say that you just moved somewhere and had lots of cardboard boxes in good shape. Why not let someone else have them who also needs to move? Why should everyone moving need to buy new boxes and then throw them away? Perhaps over the years, you have been collecting aluminum foil (or have a giant ball of string...) perhaps someone else can use it for something constructive? Well, I signed up for the Big Island version of FreeCycle and not a few eeks later, saw a posting that someone had a washing machine to give away if I would come get it. The place was 2 ,iles from my house and if I had been able to cut down a few more trees, probably could have seen the location from my lanai. Although the machine has only 1 water level, I'll make do. The unit is 9 years old and although has seen reasonable use, it works fine. I may even be able to modify it slightly to use less water. I will now be looking around for things I can get rid of the same way; kinda pass the bargains around. My neighbor gave away a ton (well maybe not quite that much) of avocados that he had this year. In my case it looks like it may be mangos (mangoes). I may have hundreds of them this year... So there you go! Be creative in your cheapness. It will pay off! :) |
| Two Coins |
| 01.03.05 (5:09 pm) [edit] |
|
Here is a riddle. I have two US coins in my hand. Their face value totals 35 cents. One of the coins is not a quarter. What are the coins? Yes, they are CURRENT United States coins, not some weird coins from the 1800’s or so. Two coins whose value adds up to 35 cents and one of the coins is not a quarter. Give up? The two coins are a quarter and a dime. I know, you are saying, “But you said one coin was NOT a quarter!” That is true. THAT coin was a dime; the OTHER coin was the quarter! I know that you think that was a trick question, but in reality, you didn’t think it through. I bring this up because I was watching a TV show where couples came on and whined that they were going broke and didn’t know what to do. One couple bought a house that they could barely afford, then took out a home equity loan to pay off fixing up the yard, adding wood flooring to parts of the house, screened in a porch and added granite countertops in the kitchen. They bought a new SUV to take the kids around town. When the host asked why a NEW SUV, the wife said because a “clunker” wouldn’t fit the four kids. HUH? You mean to tell me that older cars, perhaps 3 years old, would not fit four kids? I think what she meant was ‘I don’t want to be seen in an old vehicle. The neighbors may think that we can’t afford a new vehicle.” In reality, they couldn’t afford the new vehicle. How do these two stories tie together? The answer is that there are a few simple things that the family can do to avoid bankruptcy. They can: a) Spend less money b) Make more money c) Both of the above It is similar to people who wish to lose weight. Generally, people gain weight when they take in more calories than they burn. I’m not a nutritionist, but generally I think they can eat less (or eat better foods) and then do a bit more exercise. How can people save money? A co-worker once complained that he was always living hand to mouth. He had a wife and baby. I asked him 3 questions and it was obvious why he was always behind. See how you do. 1) Which grade of gasoline do you buy and what brand? 2) Where do you buy your toilet paper and paper towels and how often 3) Who is your long distance company and how much is your monthly bill? His answers were: 1) I buy high test and get it at XXXXX (where XXXXX was a major gasoline company) 2) I buy my toilet paper and paper towels at the grocery store every week or so 3) He said his long distance company was a major ex-telephone company and he paid maybe $40 a month on long distance I asked him why he bought high-test gas and he said better gas bas better for his car. He had a 4-cylinder import. I asked him if his car knocks with lower grade gas and he said no. There is NO REASON for him to be paying 20 cents a gallon more for high-test because contrary to popular belief, that gas is not really better for you, just more expensive. Also, few cars NEED higher-octane fuel and to use it when you don’t need it, is a waste of money. Then I asked him why he was not buying gasoline at his local COSTCO (which is a warehouse store which also sells gasoline at discount). His reply was that he thought the $45 a year membership fee was a waste of money. “I’m not going to PAY to go shop”; yet that is exactly what he was doing by shopping at the neighborhood store for all of his items. Granted not all items at a warehouse store are bargains, but you CAN save money. For example, here in Hawaii, you could save 20 cents a gallon by buying gas at the COSTCO. So if you fill up and use 20 gallons, you save $4.00. If you get gas every two weeks, you would save you $104 a year. So you have already paid off the membership fee and have $50 or more extra. Add to that a lower grade gas and you may save even more! You go do the math and see. Yes, if the car knocks when you use a lower grade of gas, you may have to go up one level, but at least TRY a lower grade. I used to drive a performance car (IROC Camaro) and NEVER used anything but 87 octane! Buying paper towels at a grocery store may not be your best bargain. Yes, at a warehouse store you may have to buy 40 rolls at a time, but you will save money in the long term. You can always hide the remainder under the bed or in a closet until needed. For paper towels, I always look for the lowest price per sheet. I don’t generally clip coupons because many times the coupons are for money off a named brand item and the generic item is cheaper than the name brand. Finally, he was paying a big monthly fee and a high cost per call to make telephone calls. AT the time there was a company called BigZoo where he could make telephone calls for 2.9 cents a minute with a 75 cents a month service fee. BigZoo was a very popular service but recently went out of business. I certainly gave them lots of business as I referred friends to them to get good deals. BigZoo went out of business because of the new VOIP service now available. VOIP is “Voice Over IP” or could be called Internet Telephone Service. If you happen to have a high-speed internet connection, you can get a service like Vonage or Packet8 and pay a flat fee every month for long distance. I use Packet8.Net and pay $20.55 every month and can call anyone in all 50 states or Canada and talk all month if I want for just over $20 a month. Vonage is more. I also can choose my inbound number from most any city and state. If I wanted I could even use my old telephone number as my inbound number. In my case, I live in Hawaii but chose an inbound number in Daytona Beach Florida so that my Mom could call to local number to reach me here. All my outbound calls show a Florida number in caller ID, but who cares? With that simple fee, I get voicemail and three-way calling, call waiting and so on. What this means is that if I wanted, I could use this service as my only telephone, choose a local number and have complete telephone service and long distance all for $20 a month. This is in addition to the high-speed internet connection cost, but I already have to pay that anyway for my business. (Side note: I like Packet8.Net so much that I became an affiliate for them. If you decide to get Packet8, enter a coupon code of LAVAROCK and you will get a discount. There are other VOIP services, so compare rates, available inbound cities and services. Also, if you intend to call overseas, check out what each service charges for calls to the countries you call. As with the gasoline example, add all costs to determine your final cost and savings) Another way to save dimes and quarters is to decide if you really need to spend the money in the first place. I made a business decision to have a toll free number for my customers. I don’t push it in my advertising, but it is there for customer service issues. It costs me $2 a month if nobody calls and that includes it spelling something having to do with my business name. I prefer not to take orders on it at the present time, because I may be driving around and not be able to fully conduct order taking while on the road. Also, I prefer to receive free email rather than pay someone to call J Then to save money, I bought a domain name for $9 a year. Oh yes, I COULD have spent $20 a year for the same name, but why pay some other company $11 more a year? Shop for bargains! I used to shop at two “discount” stores, Big Lots and another called Aldi Foods. Aldi sells “store brand/private brand items with a full guarantee. Where my grocery store sold Campbells Chicken Noodle Soup for $1.50 a can, Aldi sells its brand for 39 cents! Big Lots sells things that perhaps did not sell at retail stores and you don’t have to buy a ton of something like at a warehouse store. For example, remember all of those after-shave Christmas Specials in your local drug store? After Christmas, the store sells unsold items to Big Lots who then marks it way down. You buy the aftershave in the Christmas packaging a few months later and perhaps save 75% off the price. A friend used to tell me “I don’t understand why you drive across town to save a few cents off on gas or food and THEN gamble it all away in a casino?” He didn’t understand that the money I saved driving across town PAID for my trip to the casino! I like a particular brand of frozen food. Here on the Big Island it appears to go on sale at the same store every two weeks. So why would I buy it on impulse during the expensive week? Why would I want to pay $1200 for a washing machine when a $300 one does the same thing? Do you realize that companies do not sell enough of the expensive units to be able to get all of the bugs out? Thus you may find that these very expensive items need to be serviced often and may take forever to get parts for them? There are websites where they match people with items they no longer need with people who want them. This is NOT a sale, but rather a way to keep items out of he landfill. http://freecycle.org is one of these sites. Also, there are sites where you can get things for free. Samples of products and free things are common. One example of a site like this is http://thefreesite.com Yes it is true that sometimes a cheaper alternative is of lesser quality that a more expensive item, but think closely about your choices. For the most part, aspirin is aspirin, regardless of whose name is on the bottle. Oftentimes, the company who makes the more expensive name brand item also makes a cheaper “generic”. Why would they do that? Some people just refuse to buy a generic, relying upon the name brand version, thus the company makes 100% of those who buy the name brand. There is a portion of the public who buys based upon price. If the company offers the same product under a generic brand, they may gain 20% of the generic market also; thus increasing their bottom line. So, my suggestions are, decide if you need an item or not. If so, can you purchase a cheaper alternative? Every cent you don’t spend makes you richer! Of course, remember that I give you a quality 100% Kona Coffee for a reasonable price over at ItsKona.Com http://ItsKona.Com :) |