It’s been quite awhile since I discussed snowflaking, the art of building up lots of small amounts of money into one large amount, here in this blog, largely because I haven’t been doing well at it.
One of the reasons why is that I’ve just been unable to get to the recycling station. I probably have over $50 in recyclables here. Additionally, I’ve been a bit behind on my blog billing (shock, horror!) and I haven’t gotten a payment from Google Adsense in quite some time–although one is on its way.
I was reminded of this because I just got a $50 Discover Card cashback bonus, which is kickstarting me into thinking about snowflaking again.
I’ll have to work on this harder in the next few months.
There’s a big move to “buy local”, both here and nationwide. The theory, I think, is that in tough economic times supporting small, locally owned businesses means more of the money spent stays local to you, rather than going to some large company that’s not anywhere near you.
It’s a great idea, but not always economically feasible. For instance, I would love, love, love to be able to buy bike stuff from one of my local bicycle shops, shorts, for instance. But when I can get six pairs of shorts from Performance Bike for what it would cost me for three locally of similar quality, I just can’t do it.
I definitely do what I can to buy local when it comes to food, for instance–locally grown produce tends to be a fine idea, and stores such as Crestek and McCully Bicycle are great places to shop, but it really still comes down to money. The first pocketbook I need to take care of is my own.
Many Geeks, myself included, use mobile broadband–quite frankly, for me, it’s a bit of a necessity given how often I’m on the road. There are national providers of such services (the big telecoms–AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and TMobile) who typically charge about $60 for the bogus “unlimited up to five gigabytes” plans; I currently have a MobiPCS Hele which is truly unlimited (or so they claim) but not the best coverage–and restricted to the islands, but a lot cheaper at $30 a month plus tax.
Recently there’s a different option that’s become available here–Clear (formerly Clearwire) 4G, and they are pricing it aggressively. Currently, if I find a friend who is wanting to sign up as well, we can get two mobile connections for a fine price per month for life.
That might be worthwhile.
Clear is also available in other areas of the US, although not in nearly as many as the big players; for instance, I can get coverage in Philadelphia where I’ll be for the Livestrong Challenge, but not in California.
I’m thinking seriously about this one.
Costco is my usual default place to get toilet paper–like most members, I believe non perishables tend to cost less there. But I recently decided to compare the price of a local cleaning supply store–Crestek–to Costco for toilet paper. Crestek, I believe, supplies many local businesses (maybe hotels) with toilet paper.
I am not going to compare per sheet or per ply, just how much a roll comes out to.
This past week Costco had their Kirkland house brand of toilet paper selling at 36 rolls for $20.49.
Crestek has 96 rolls selling for $63.00.
A little math says that Costco’s rolls go for about 57 cents each; Crestek’s for 66 cents.
So, at least in this case, Costco wins.
I’m a runner. I’m not great at it by any means, but I do it. In fact, I just finished my third race of the year, the Great Aloha Run, even though I didn’t do as well in it as I hoped (you can read about it in my other blog, Athletic-Diabetic.com).
When you’re a runner, you need to change shoes pretty frequently. Shoes can be pretty expensive; my running partner at work spends about $90 when the Asics she likes are on sale. Changing two to three times a year is an expensive proposition.
I settled on Avia for running shoes awhile back, although lots of my friends are liking Asics. My Avias are about on their last legs, so it was time for a new pair–and in fact, my work shoes, a pair of black Nike high tops, are also about to give out.
So off I went to Ross Dress for Less, where I was lucky to find a new pair of Avias as well as a pair of Asics in my size; I bought both, and the Asics will be my new work shoes (I find it useful to have work shoes I can run in if necessary). The two pair were about $50.
A lot less than the close to $200 they’d be otherwise.
Granted, the folks at Ross are not experts on running–in fact, they’re probably not expert on any of their merchandise at all, since they are often liquidating items they may never see again. But as usual, careful shoppers who know what they’re looking for can do quite well at a discount store.
I’m really happy with my new Avias. Went for one run with them already and will do another on Sunday.
We haven’t done one of these for awhile, but I thought I would take the cobwebs off of this series since I have a Costco coupon book right in front of me. That said, this one doesn’t impress me all that much, but I figured I’d delve in and list for you what I thought were the best coupons from this month’s book:
Up to $2 off Diet or Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi
$3.50 off Quilted Northern Ultra Plush Bath Tissue
$2.50 off Kirkland Signature Liquid Laundry Detergent
$4 off OxiClean
$3 off Crest Glide Deep Clean Floss (I love this stuff but it’s expensive!)
The usual disclaimers on Costco apply: because the quantities are often large, non perishable goods are best; things that will last forever and you’ll need (toilet paper, anyone?) tend to be wise purchases, although we will compare Costco prices on this to a local cleaning supply store soon.
Have fun!
In January I blogged about trying to find some options as far as buying eyeglasses online. While there were lots of sites to look at, the one I chose was GlobalEyeglasses.com. I looked through a few different pages and ended up buying a Skoda frame and basic lenses. I entered my prescription–I did have to do a quick measurement of the distance between my pupils, which I measured with a measuring caliper I have for bicycle parts–paid with my credit card (through PayPal!), and waited.
It did take awhile for the order to come; in fact, it took over a month and I had to email them about it (I suspect there was some kind of issue with the order but they didn’t admit to it).
But once they came, they were perfect.
And with shipping, they cost all of $17.99.
Yes, $17.99 for prescription glasses. And I’m getting “reimbursed” through my flexible spending account.
If you’re not in a rush for new glasses, I’d highly suggest GlobalEyeglasses.com. I can see again, and what I see is a very light dent to my budget!
Price increases don’t thrill me, but honestly, GEICO has been great to me in the time I’ve had them. They’ve paid claims quickly and with no headaches and they’ve reduced my rate at least once, considerably.
I got my new policy and the price has gone up.
But less than two bucks over a six month period.
That’s the kind of increase I’m fine with paying. Insurance is a necessity, and I want great service when I need it, as well as a great price. It’s why I stick with them.
One of the things Geeks love are Moo cards, mini sized business cards that are given away casually at Tweetups or anywhere else.
To promote my Livestrong Challenge effort, I recently had some mini sized business cards printed, but being price conscious (as usual) I looked at alternatives to Moo, including Zazzle, and ended up at 123Print.com. Their competitor to Moo is called the WeeBee.
They printed and shipped quickly and due to the size of my order shipped free. They are very nicely done–the little sticker for the URL is due to my own error which I blogged about not long ago.
I’m quite happy with the quality of these and I’d suggest considering 123Print.com when you next want to order cards like this!
On my recent trip to Oakland, I (ashamedly, as a Geek) never thought about checking in online until a lady in front of me at Honolulu International Airport said she checked in online. I’m not sure her boarding process–through the maze of agricultural, baggage, and TSA checkpoints–was any quicker, but it made me think about trying it on the return leg of my trip.
The morning of my flight, before I left my hotel, I logged into United.com and used their online check in. It was pretty quick and allowed me to print my boarding pass (although since I had no access to a printer, I didn’t do so), but it also offered me a bit of a savings on a checked bag: $2 off of $20.
Now, $2 is not a huge amount of money by anyone’s standards, but $2 is still $2, and a ten percent discount is still a reasonable discount for quickly doing something online I’d have to do in person anyway. Sure, I wish it was $4, $5, or $10 instead, but $2 in my pocket is better than $2 more to the airlines.
