Festival of Frugality #166 – The Winter Is Almost Over Edition

Welcome to the 166th edition of the Festival of Frugality — The Winter is Almost Over Edition. Taking a break from the love related themes from the last two festivals, this week we bid farewell to the month of February and look anxiously towards the spring that is only a few weeks away. If you live in a northern climate, I’m sure you understand where I am coming from. Spring could not come soon enough.


spring1
Photo by Nicholas_T (Flickr)

Editor’s Choice

Frugal Tips


spring3

Photo by noahg. (Flickr)

Frugal Shopping


spring4
Photo by stpauliesgirl. (Flickr)

Frugal Philosophy

Frugal Reuse, Recycling, and Resale


spring2
Photo by spisharam (Flickr)

Frugal Finances

That’s all, folks!

Thanks for sticking around until the end. To learn more about the Festival of Frugality, head over to the carnival website. Next week’s Festival of Frugality will be hosted over at Green Panda Treehouse. Should be fun!

February 24, 2009 | Filed Under Spending Wisely | 31 Comments 

Ho Ho Ho – Holiday Cashback Shopping Bonuses

Ho Ho Ho – Holiday Cashback Shopping Bonuses Photo by Graylight

For better or worse, the holiday season is once again upon us, and while there are certainly reasons to be apprehensive from a frugality standpoint, there are some nice promotions being run by many of the cash back sites out there. 

If you aren’t using a cash-back portal when shopping online, you’re potentially missing out on some nice (free) rebates. For participating merchants, access their website through one of these shopping portals and shop normally — simply by including those few extra mouse clicks, you may earn a nice one to four percent back on your purchase.

Even better — these sites are especially rewarding during the holiday season with some great promotions.

Ebates Holiday Promotion

Ebates — which offers a $5 signup bonus — has kicked things off with bonus cash back at a bunch of merchants including:

  • Barnes and Noble – 8% (from 4%)
  • Drugstore.com – 7% (from 6%)
  • Overstock.com – 6% (from 4%)
  • Borders – 8% (from 4%)
  • walmart – 2% (from 1%)

FatWallet Holiday Bonus

Cash-back site FatWallet.com has its own holiday bonus, with extended cash back at an incredible number of merchants. I can’t even begin to list them all, but to name a few:

  • Banana Republic and Gap – 5.3% (increase of 2.0%)
  • Orbitz – $4.00 (increase of $1.00)
  • Home Depot – 6% (increase of 3.0%)
  • Drugstore.com – 9.0% (increase of 2.0%)
  • Stubhub – 6.0% (increase of 2.0%)
  • TigerDirect – 4.0% (increase of 1.0%)

Airline Mileage Shopping Portals

The airlines, of course, offer their own shopping rewards portals that reward you with “miles-back” rather than cash-back. A few airline promotions this holiday season include:

Any others?

November 7, 2008 | Filed Under Spending Wisely | Leave a Comment 

Earn Frequent Flyer Miles For Grocery Shopping

Earn Frequent Flyer Miles For Grocery Shopping Photo by ralphbijker

The Safeway family of grocery stores has a pretty neat program tied to their loyalty card — you can earn frequent flyer miles on your grocery purchases at absolutely no additional cost or effort. While the earnings aren’t huge — one mile for every two dollars spent — given how often I find myself at the grocery store, I have not been surprised to find the miles add up over time.

How To Earn Frequent Flyer Miles For Grocies

The Safeway family consists of the Safeway, Dominick’s, Vons, Genuardi’s, Pavilions, Tom Thumb, and Randalls.

The exact details of the promotion depend on what your neighborhood Safeway-family chain happens to be:

  • For Safeway, Dominick’s, Vons, Genuardi’s, or Pavilions, you can earn 125 United MileagePlus Miles every time you spend $250. That comes out to 1 mile for every 2 dollars spent, posted in $250 increments directly to your account. To sign up, head to http://www.grocerymiles.com/.
  • For Tom Thumb, you can earn 250 American Airlines AAdvantage MIles every time you spend $250. That comes out to 1 mile for every 1 dollar spent, posted in $250 increments. To sign up, head to http://www.frequentbuyermiles.com/tomthumb/.
  • For Randalls, you can earn 125 American Airlines AAdvantage Miles every time you spend $250. That comes to 1 mile for every 2 dollars. To sign up, head to http://www.frequentbuyermiles.com/randalls/.

Once you sign-up, everything will be automatic. Simply use your grocery loyalty card to accumulate credit; every time you checkout, your receipt will update you on how close you are to your next award. Once you cross $250, they will be automatically posted to your account. Pretty cool!

Too Much Trouble? No.

Think that frequent flyer miles are too much trouble? Or is 1 mile per 2 dollars simply not worth it to you? Think again!

  1. This is free – it costs you absolutely nothing — its an additional benefit from Safeway to their existing offers for customers.
  2. This is automatic – it costs you no time once you sign-up. No follow-up — they’ll post automatically.
  3. This is a great way to keep miles alive.  One of the chief complaints about frequent flyer miles (after availability and taxes) concerns expiration. Did you know that any activity will keep your United or American account open for another 18 months? If you’re like me, you’ll spend well more than $250 in 18 months at the grocery store, so you might as well use that as a way to keep those miles around.
  4. It adds up. It is not fun to think about how much we spend at grocery stores, but its true.

Great Safeway Customer Service

Finally, I just want to make a quick comment about the great customer service that Safeway provides — they have people answering emails from 7 AM to 10 PM MST Monday-Friday and they promise a quick turn around. When I emailed them this afternoon, I heard back within a few hours from a real person who had taken care of making an adjustment to my account. Really seems unheard of these days, so I think it is worth a quick recognition.

(Not a big grocery shopper? Don’t forget, you can also earn frequent flyer miles for dining out!)

October 24, 2008 | Filed Under Rewards Programs, Spending Wisely, Travel | Leave a Comment 

Tipping: Psychological Warfare?

Tipping: Psychological Warfare? Photo by rick

I already devoted my last post to talking about the article “Why Tip?” from this weekend’s Times Magazine, but there is one more aspect that I can’t resist commenting on. The quote:

Cassinelli prided himself on earning big tips. “I could always upsell my tables’ liquor and desserts,” he said… There are other tricks at waiters’ disposal. Studies demonstrate that waiters can increase their tips by introducing themselves by name, squatting alongside tables, touching diners and drawing smiley faces on the backs of checks.

Yikes! When I read that, I had a whole series of flashbacks to all of these moments at the end of a meal where I undoubtedly was influenced by some of these strategies.

Is tipping some sort of game of psychological warfare?

So What Are These Strategies?

It wasn’t hard to figure out what “studies” the article was referring to — Cornell Professor Michael Lynn published a paper in 2004 called “Mega Tips — Scientifically Tested Techniques to Improve Your Tips.” It is a fascinating read on how customers respond to their waiters or waitresses.  Some of his the strategies his research found effective include:

  • Wearing something unusual
  • Introducing yourself by name
  • Squatting next to the table
  • Repeating customers’ orders
  • Smiling at customers
  • Writing “thank you” on the check
  • Calling customers by name

There were also some sillier suggestions, including touching customers, forectasting good weather, and entertaining the customer with a joke. All of these strategies had some sort of demonstrable impact during Professor Lynn’s research experiments.

Building a Connection – OK?

There seems to be a common theme between all of the “tips for tips” that I mention above — they all have to do with strategies a server can use to build a connection with customers. If customers like you more and are happier, they will tip you more — makes sense.  

Looking back, I know I have been influenced by several of these strategies — inevitably, I feel more generous when the check says “thank you” or the server starts with an introduction. At first, this was a little unsettling to me; it didn’t sit well with me that I had allowed myself to be influenced by things like this. But is there really anything wrong with it?

Yes, someone could argue that wearing something unusual or squatting next to the table doesn’t really do anything to the service that warrants an increase in tips, but I’m not sure that matters. If I end up tipping more because of something my server does, it is because I am in a happier mood or feel a closer connection with the waiter or waitress; in other words, the meal has been more enjoyable, which seems like just as good of a reason to increase a tip than anything else.

Upselling, however…

I left out the most important strategy for a server to increase his or her tips — sell more. Given that most tipping is on a percentage basis, if you sell more, you get more. It is easy to forget this, but waiters and waitresses have a vested interest in selling you more expensive items.

It bothers me when I read quotes from waiters like the one at the beginning — “I could always upsell my tables’ liquor and desserts”. Asking for the waiter’s advice is always a strategy that should be taken with a grain of salt — I would hope that to get an honest evaluation, but the cynical part of me always has to wonder whether the price of an item comes into play. I hope for and expect to get a somewhat neutral opinion.

In fact, I wonder if “upselling” is not a risky path for a waiter or waitress — I get annoyed by upselling, and if I pressured into buying something I don’t really want, I’m likely to not only not oblige, but also be less inclined to leave a generous tip.

Good To Know

With the exception of upselling, I think most of these strategies are perfectly fair game, and I’ll probably continue to respond to them on some level. But I think its also a good idea to know what you are getting yourself into.

Any one have any other experiences with waiters or waitresses trying to increase their trips? Any good stories? Let me know!

October 14, 2008 | Filed Under Frugal Philosophy, Spending Wisely | 25 Comments 

(More) Quick Tips on Textbooks

BooksPhoto by wohnai

One final post to wrap up the textbook season…

General Tips

A lot of this will seem like common sense, but…

  • Star early. You are not the only one who is going to be looking for your books. If you can get started well before school starts, all the better.
  • Make a list of the books you need, and more importantly, their ISBN numbers. Having a list of ISBN numbers will make internet shopping significantly easier!
  • Check any book exchange websites your campus might offer. I have never been terribly impressed by the ones I have seen, but you might get lucky. Definitely worth checking out before buying a new copy.
  • Check out a site like BigWords.com, which allows you to enter a bunch of ISBN numbers and they’ll try to find the best combination of stores.

Beware the Trap of Small Book Shipping

Keep in mind that with many online stores, the shipping price will be roughly the same regardless of the book size. That $4 book is going to look a heck of a lot more expensive when you account for the fact that shipping it might cost $4 in itself. This is an easy trap to fall into with sites like Half.com that can make books seem incredibly cheap upfront; make sure you are really getting a good deal! Often times it is a better deal to buy all of your smaller books at a store like Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble that offer free shipping over $25, rather than buy the books individually.

Buying From Amazon.com?

  • Unfortunately, Amazon.com rarely offers any sort of discount codes, and does not participate in any of the cash back portals.
  • You can get free shipping for orders over $25
  • Earn 5% back when you make purchases using the Citi mtvU Visa Card, which counts Amazon.com (not the marketplace) as a bookstore.

Buying from Half.com?

  • Half.com often has discount promotions going on, but these are usually limited to first time customers only.
  • Half.com participates in several cash back sites, including 3% back when you purchase through Ebates.
  • Watch out for shipping charges — they can add up!

Buying from Barnes and Noble?

  • Barnes and Noble offers its own $25 membership card that saves you 10% off all of your purchases; in my experience, it usually applies to textbooks purchased online. I also have saved quite a bit of money using this membership card at my Barnes and Noble Campus Bookstore buying office supplies.
  • Barnes and Noble almost *always* has discount codes that can save you money available; usually members have access to better coupons, but even non-members can save some money. FatWallet.com has a discussion thread that tracks Barnes and Noble coupon codes, and that is always my first stop when buying from Barnes and Noble.
  • Barnes and Noble offers free shipping at $25.
  • Barnes and Noble participates in several cash back sites, including 4% back when you purchase through Ebates.
  • Unfortunately, Barnes and Noble’s website does not count as a bookstore for the Citi mtvU card. In store purchases, however, do count, and will earn you the 5% back

Any other tips on textbook saving?

September 24, 2008 | Filed Under Spending Wisely | 2 Comments 

Cash “discounts” at Gas Stations

While I was out running errands a week or two ago, I noticed a gas station that was doing something that I had not yet encountered before:

Thanks to the blurry nature of my cell phone’s camera, I might have to clue you in: the six prices represent both the cash and credit cost of the three qualities of gas. In other words, this gas station is offering a discount to customers who pay with cash. Regular unleaded will cost you $3.75 a gallon if you pay with cash, but $3.85 a gallon if you pay with credit.

Of course, this is certainly not a new development — for the last year or so, it has been well covered in the blogosophere and press. But this is the first time that I have run across it, and as someone who tries to make most purchases on a credit card to leverage rewards and benefits, I am both annoyed and troubled by this direction.

The Logic

The rationale that gas stations give for this change is fairly straightforward — it costs gas stations more money to process a credit transaction than a cash transaction. As this LA Times article notes:

With each price increase, more people use credit cards to buy gas, taking a bigger bite out of station profits. A dealer typically pays a 10-cent transaction fee plus 2% to 2.5% of the total fuel sale for each customer.

In other words, as gas gets more expensive and people spend more per fill-up, the per-transaction cost goes up for gas stations.  Furthermore, gas stations are already feeling financially squeezed to begin with. So, as a result, many have taken to offering a cash discount for those who choose not to use credit cards, which is allowed under Visa/MasterCard merchant rules, assuming that they offer it as a “cash discount,” rather than as a “credit surcharge.” The Consumerist explains the distinction well:

This prevents people who pull over because they saw the posted price from getting an unpleasant surprise when they go to pump their gas. You should report this gas station to your credit card company.

Annoying

Of course, as someone who advocates using a credit card (responsibly) as much as possible, this is a disappointing development. I wholeheartedly agree with Raymond over at Money Blue Book who listed many of the benefits of paying for gas with a credit card:

  • Credit cards offer rewards for spending; a card like the Chase Freedom card would give you 3% back on gas purchases
  • Credit cards dramatically speed up the time it takes to complete a gas transaction; with cash, you will have to walk in to pay.
  • Credit cards provide a sort of automatic record of your spending, useful for budgeting and accounting purposes
  • Credit cards don’t require you to carry cash, which can be annoying to have to keep on hand

It is also a frustrating development given that gas stations are not unique in this credit card merchant arrangement; nearly every store has a similar structure that has variable costs that go up with the value of the transaction. The logic has always been that consumers are likely to spend more often and in greater amounts if they can pay via credit, which justifies the costs to merchants. Why do gas companies suddenly need to deviate from this? It is true that gas stations are unique in that people are not going to alter the amount they purchase at any given time much, but I could definitely see people being willing to fill up more spontaneously if they can use credit.

The Math: Credit Card Rebate vs. Cash Discount

Now, each time I visit a gas station, I’ll have to quickly figure out which is the best deal: using my Chase Freedom Card, with 3% cash back at gas purchases, or the cash discount. The gas station I mentioned earlier was offering a ten cent discount for cash purchases.

  • At the current prices, the cash price is $3.75, while the credit cost is $3.73 after discount, so while the credit card rewards are heavily diluted, the Chase Freedom card is still a better deal.
  • As a general rule, with a ten cent cash discount, the Chase Freedom card is a better deal as long as the gas is over $3.33
  • With a five cent cash discount, the Chase Freedom card is a better deal as long as the gas is over $1.67

Ominous Future?

Even worse, some gas stations are simply outright declining to accept credit cards. As No Credit Needed pointed out, this presents the concern that one day you may find yourself needing gas in an area where no gas stations would accept credit. While this is perhaps an unlikely scenario given that cash discounts are becoming more widely permitted and accepted, it is still a frightening prospect. I plan on holding out with my credit card at the pump as long as possible, but the writing may be on the wall.

Does anyone else have experience with these “cash discounts”?

September 16, 2008 | Filed Under Spending Wisely | 8 Comments 

New Kid On The Block: VirtualDiscountCard.com

As I have mentioned, I always try to earn cash back when I make a purchase online. On a basic level, it is simple and easy to do; just a few extra clicks before making a purchase. But truly maximizing cash back is usually a challenge, as cash back amounts vary by site — Ebates, FatWallet, etc — and its difficult to tell if you’re getting the best deal.

Cash
Photo by dyobmit

RewardsDb.com – Find The Best Online Shopping Rewards

That is why I have always been a fan of RewardsDb.com — a site that allows you to enter any online merchant into the search box, and it returns any online rewards that it knows about. For example, enter Barnes and Noble.com, and you’ll learn that (at this time) you can earn 6% back from Live Search, 4% back from Ebates, 1.5% back from FatWallet, 5 miles per $1 from Continental Airlines,  4 ThankYou Rewards points per $1 from Citibank, and many, many more. Its a great resource for comparing and figuring out what works best for you.

A New Cash-Back Site: VirtualDiscountCard.com

I was excited recently, then, when I noticed that the same guy behind RewardsDb.com has started a new cash-back site of his own — VirtualDiscountCard.com. VirtualDiscountCard.com is incredibly simple — no need to sign up for an account; all you need is an email address with a PayPal account. Then, each time you visit VirtualDiscountCard.com, you simply enter your email address and shop, and 45-90 days later, VirtualDiscountCard.com deposits the money into your PayPal account, automatically. They describe it best – “Each cashback reward will be deposited individually to your PayPal account once it is earned – there is no minimum to withdraw, no request to make, no extra hassles.:

VirtualDiscountCard.com seems to offer very competitive cash back rates. One merchant in particular with which they offer cash back caught my attention — StudentUniverse.com, which I have not seen participate in any other cash-back sites. Make a purchase at Student Universe through VirtualDiscountCard, and you’ll get $6.30, which is pretty cool in my opinion.

Why am I so excited about VirtualDiscountCard? It removes many of the annoyances that exist with other cash-back sites. At other cash-back sites, you often have to reach a minimum threshold before you receive payment, and at many sites you have to proactively “cash-out” when you have earned enough money. VirtualDiscountCard bypasses all of that, giving you payment for each individual payment automatically, and at great rates.

I will admit that at first I was concerned about whether or not the site would work given how simple it seems; as a result, I had been holding back my review until I successfully received cash back. Low and behold, right on schedule, I received an email the other day notifying me that I had received a $6.30 PayPal payment from VirtualDiscountCard.  Nice.

July 22, 2008 | Filed Under Spending Wisely | 1 Comment 

Booking Air Travel? A Tip to Maximize Cash Back

While earning cash back on most internet stores is surprisingly easy, earning cash back on air travel has, at least in my experience, always proven to be a unique challenge. However, it seems that William Shatner can once again prove useful.

Shopping Carts
Photo by Dan4th

The Cash Back Challenge

As a general rule of thumb, any airfare results that you get on one travel website should also be available on other websites – in other words, that same fare you pulled up on Expedia should be bookable on Orbitz or even the airline’s own website (there are of course exceptions: student airfare, consolidator fares, special airline deals, etc.).

You may notice that the price sometimes varies by a few dollars — this is usually because major booking websites like Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz tack on a booking fee for your purchase raising the price by a few dollars.

This becomes problematic when you look at what sort of cash back is generally offered on travel sites. For the most part, very few airlines offer cash back for purchases made on their website; some offer a meager return, some (like American Airlines, which I frequently fly) offer nothing. On the other hand, booking websites like Orbtiz, Travelocity, etc. offer sizable cash back but that five dollar booking fee often wipes out (or worse) the benefit from potential cash back. Until recently, this meant that it was pretty much a wash: either get the cash back and see it get wiped out by a booking fee, or skip the cash back and skip the booking fee.

Enter Priceline

Priceline.com has changed the situation, though. Priceline.com is usually known for the “Name Your Own Price” feature, where you can bid on hotel and airfare; however, Priceline also offers traditional bookings just like any other travel website. What makes them different is that Priceline now does not charge a booking fee — so that itinerary you found on Orbitz that includes a $5 booking fee would cost you $5 less at Priceline.com. Priceline also offers generous cash back at several sites including FatWallet (4% back at time of writing) and EBates (2%).

I recently helped a friend book a $250 airline ticket that she found on United’s website. By choosing to book it at Priceline instead, she got the same itinerary for the same price that United.com offered, but also earned 4% cash back through FatWallet; that’s $10 saved – not bad!

So keep Priceline in mind next time you’re looking to book airline tickets.

June 29, 2008 | Filed Under Spending Wisely, Travel | 2 Comments 

Three Quick Steps Before Check-Out To Maximize Online Shopping

Just about ready to buy that new product online? Hold up – by taking a few quick steps, you could end up saving even more money on your final purchase without much effort.

Before making any purchase online, I always do three things: check for cash-back affiliate links, check for online coupons, and use a credit card that maximizes my reward.

Step One: Check For Cash-Back Affiliate Links

Shopping Carts
Photo by Dan4th

As I’ve mentioned previously in my post on cash-back affiliate websites, it is almost a cardinal sin to make a purchase at an online store without first checking to see if you can earn cash back by  using one of the cash-back websites like Ebates, Cashbaq, or FatWallet. There’s little to no effort involved on your part — if one of the sites offers cash back for the store from which you are about to purchase, all you have to do is start your shopping session by using the link at the cash back site.

The website Rewardsdb.com makes this process even easier; when you’ve decided to purchase from a store — say Drugstore.com — all you have to do is go to RewardsDB.com, enter Drugstore.com, and it will tell you all of the sites that offer cash-back at Drugstore.com and what they offer, making easy to very quickly determine what your options are.

Step Two: Check For Coupons

The beauty of the internet is that there are very few secrets — and that is especially true with regards to any coupon or discount codes a store releases. There’s no need to search extensively, but a quick trip to RetailMeNot.com or a Google search for “ABC Store Coupon” can often turn up useful discount codes that you might otherwise not have known about. Never hurts to look!

Step Three: Use a Credit Card That Earns Rewards

Finally, you can make a further dent in the final cost to you by using a credit card that offers rewards suited to your purchase. For example, the Citi mtvU Visa Card offers (an equivalent) 5% back at a bunch of categories that includes Amazon.com. Even a general-purpose card that offers something like 1% cash back can make a dent.

These three steps really don’t take that long — a quick search of some place like Rewardsdb.com, a quick search of some place like RetailMeNot.com, and then using a rewards credit card — but the savings can really add up.

Any one else have any tips to share?

June 25, 2008 | Filed Under Everyday Strategies, Spending Wisely | Leave a Comment 

Gift Cards: Why I Hate “Open-Loop” Cards

Dear Uncle Robert,

I know you mean well. I really do appreciate the fact that you still send a gift over the holidays even though I am now old enough where it is no longer an “obligation.” But please reconsider giving me these Visa-branded $25 gift cards, otherwise known as open-loop gift cards since they can be used anywhere that Visa is accepted.

Open-Loop Cards Make the Buyer Look Silly

Hotel Room
Photo by pandemia

For one thing, it pains me that anyone, especially a family member of mine, would buy these things, given the activation fee associated with it.  Yeah, it is only a few dollars, but it seems silly that you paid $3 or $4 dollars on a $25 gift card. I was looking at American Express Gift Cards the other day, and the most basic version has a $4 activation fee. Yikes. You really could have simply given me cash (which, last I checked, has no activation fee), or even a normal gift card to a major merchant.

Really, this point isn’t so much for me as it is for you. I hate to see you waste money. Read more

June 20, 2008 | Filed Under Everyday Strategies, Spending Wisely | 5 Comments 

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