Products to avoid at dollar stores

Dollar stores really can save you some money, although if you are a frugal shopper, you may find better deals on certain merchandise elsewhere.  However, there are a number of things that Consumer Reports strongly discourages you from buying at a Dollar Store, even if the price is the cheapest around.  These items include:

• Electrical products including extension cords, lamps, and other products which might have fake UL labels, undersized wiring, or other substandard components
• Jewelry, especially including kids’ jewelry, due to past problems like recalls concerning high lead content
• Medications because of problems with expiration dates
• Vitamins because Consumer Reports found that many of them did not contain the amount of nutrients listed on the label of the product

Saving money is a good thing, but make sure the product you buy is really a good value, and worth spending your hard-earned money to buy.

Easy ways to save on postage

Here are a few quick and simple ways to save on postage:

• Buy Forever Stamps - These stamps carry the promise of always being valid for mailing up to 1 ounce of mail at the current first class rate.  These stamps have been available for a few years now.Today, you can buy these stamps for 44 cents each.  Even if postal rates go up (and the post office has given every indication that rate increases will continue for the next few years), you can use your Forever Stamps to mail a letter without adding postage.  As an added benefit, you can avoid some trips to the post office to pick up those 1 or 2 cent stamps.
• Buy stamps at a discount - Some locations, including Costco, have postage stamps available at a small discount.  If they have Forever Stamps, go ahead and stock up.  You’ll lock in the current postage rate for a long time, and you’ll even save a little money buying the stamps in the first place.
• Use Tech CU’s Bill Pay service - No, I’m not a Tech CU employee, but I really like their Bill Pay service!  And it is free.  You can pay just about any bill within the US, whether you receive the bill electronically or receive a paper bill.  If possible, Technology Credit Union will send the funds to the payer you specify electronically.  However, if an electronic payment is not possible, Technology Credit Union will print a check and mail it for you, with our credit union even picking up the postage costs.  Besides postage, you will save on how often you have to print checks and buy envelopes.  And as an added bonus, you can pre-schedule these payments so you never miss a due date (and avoid late fees).  Now that is quite a deal!

So save a few cents here and there on postage, and before long you will have some extra dollars to deposit into your Grow Your Green Savings Account.

Could prepaid cellular save you money?

If you are the type of person who requires the latest smart phone or iPod, or who has their cell phone permanently attached to their ear, then this tip may not be for you.  But if you just need a phone for basic use, and usually find that you have a ton of unused minutes each month, then you just might be better off with a prepaid cellular plan, although even some “power users” of may benefit.

All of the major cellular companies offer such plans, but they are often not even advertised.

One major advantage for many folks is that these prepaid plans do not require a credit check.  This is because if you don’t prepay, or don’t purchase more minutes before your minutes run out, the phone just stops working (except for emergency 911 calls).  However, even if you have good credit, these plans may work to your advantage.

As always, when using such plans, understand the fine print, as the terms and charges vary greatly, and do occasionally change.  Some plans charge you a set amount each month for an unlimited number of calls.  Other plans charge a set amount per minute, but your minutes expire in as little as 30 days.  Yet other plans may charge low per minute fees, but also charge a set fee on any day that you use the phone, even for as little as a single minute.

One advantage of most of these plans, is that the normal fees and taxes with a post paid subscription plan are not added to the bill (in actuality, these fees and taxes are built into the price per minute you pay up front).  Still, having no hidden fees often feels like a much more straight forward deal between you and the phone company.

Personally, I prefer a straight forward plan.  My wife and I converted a normal monthly post paid plan into a prepaid, and even kept our phone number.  We first purchased 1000 minutes for $100.  Since we immediately accumulated more than $100 in total purchases with the company, the minutes do not expire for a full year.  There is no per day usage or other monthly charges added.  Taxes and other access fees are built into the $100 charge.  Domestic roaming and long distance are included.  Both incoming and outgoing calls count against the 1000 minutes, including all night and weekend calls; in other words, all minutes are created equal.  If you have leftover minutes at the end of the year, and you purchase additional minutes before the year is actually up, those remaining minutes then roll over into the new year without expiring.  Lesser numbers of minutes cost less, but are actually more per minute.  Also, when purchasing fewer minutes, the minutes normally expire in 30 to 90 days (however, if you’ve accumulated $100 in total purchases of minutes, the expiration is extended to 1 year for all purchases).

For light or even medium usage, this type of plan might be perfect.  If you only use 100 minutes a month, the $100 of minutes lasts for 10 months, and your net cost is only $10 per month, includnig taxes!  If you only use 80 minutes per month, then at the end of the year your net cost was only $8.33 per month and you still have 40 minutes left to carry over to the next year if you buy another refill

To save even a few more dollars, do some searches on the web for prepaid cellular refills at a discount.  But, be careful and make sure the deals are legit.  One place I found for this that has worked well for me is www.callingmart.com.  And if you follow my advise about searching for online coupons here, you may be able to save even more (we often buy $100 calling cards good for 1000 minutes for as little as $88 to $91 each)

If you are interested in these sorts of plans, a good rundown (but possibly dated) can be found on the USA Today website by Kim Komando at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kimkomando/2009-01-29-prepaid-cellular_N.htm

So, if your phone usage happens to match these kind of guidelines, look into prepaid cellular and save some green!

Free (or cheap) phone calls from home

We have all heard the ads on TV and radio for various companies offering very cheap phone service (compared to the traditional phone company).  While these may be good services, it is possible to do even better, with totally free phone calls, thanks to the internet.  The technology used in these low cost and free services is VoIP (Voice Over IP).  Basically digitizing your voice call and sending it in packets over the internet, instead of over the regular phone lines.

Various well established services are offered through some of the biggest names in technology, offering free calls, even international calls.  Sometimes these are only computer to computer calls, but there are even ways to make free phone calls to non-computer users.

Of course, players tend to come and go in this type of space.  And while currently free, companies may start charging for service in the future.  So, read the fine print before you sign up.

Here are some of the major players:

• • voice.google.com – While technically in Beta, Google has an interesting service that works.  You sign up on the site for the Beta, and when you are accepted (there is a wait, which can vary), you will choose a phone number in an area code you chose at signup.  This is a free number, which others can call to ring your home phone, your cell phone, or any other number you specify.  The free incoming phone number can even ring multiple phones, in order to find you.  Furthermore, you can later go on the website, enter a regular phone number within the US that you wish to call, and Google will call that number for free.  Other features include things like transcription services and voicemail.  They even have offered a few free business cards with your new Google Voice phone number printed on it.  Calling international numbers can be done for reasonable fees.  As I said, quite an interesting service.
  • www.skype.com – Currently owned by ebay, but plans are in place to spin this business off.  Offers free computer to computer calls worldwide, including video conference calls and 3-way calling.  All you need are speakers and a microphone on each computer.  Also offers both domestic and international calling to regular phones for reasonable fees (most countries are 2.1 cents per minute plus a 2.1 cent connection fee).  We’ve used this to make cheap 3-way calls between nieces down the street talking on their computer and nieces in other states talking on their phone.  We’ve also used this service in foreign countries to make calls back to the US to stay in touch with our families (we carry a laptop on our vacations, both for keeping in touch, as well as backups for our digital photos)
  • voice.yahoo.com – A combination of free computer to computer calling with Yahoo Messenger, and a paid service for domestic and international calls through a 3rd party company called Jajah.

Here are a few other such VOIP phone services I’ve seen but never used, so you should investigate more before attempting to use them:

• www.icall.com – free 3 minute phone calls within the US and Canada using their web interface.  They seem to promise free unlimited phone calls if you download their application.
• www.evaphone.com
• www.callingamerica.com

Does penny-pinching pay off?

In less than three years, Carrie Rocha and her husband, Marco, paid off $50,000 of non-mortgage debt and accumulated a six-month emergency fund and other savings by clipping coupons, buying store brands and reducing unnecessary expenses.

Rocha, of Maple Grove, Minn., says the couple realized they were spending more than they made and started cutting expenses across the board. But rather than tackle huge expenses, they started small. Full story

Pill splitting, if appropriate, can save money

Before I begin, a warning: Before you try pill splitting, CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR.  Not all pills should be split (it can actually be dangerous in some cases to split a pill).  And some doctors may not believe in pill splitting, since they want you to get exactly the right amount of medicine each day (when you split a pill, each half may have slightly differing amount of medicine).  Some patients also may not be suitable for pill splitting (they might accidentally take a whole pill).  Bottom line again: CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR.

Now that the warning is out of the way, what is pill splitting?  Pill splitting is taking a pill, and cutting it in half.  So, if you normally take a 25 mg pill once a day, you would now take 1/2 of a 50 mg pill once a day (and take the second half the next day).  The result is that you use 1/2 the number of pills you otherwise would use, but still get the amount of medicine that you in some cases.

The way pharmacies and the drug manufacturers price their prescription drugs means that there may be some cost savings for you and also the insurance company.  The insurance company might pass some of those savings on to you.  Pill splitting works best in terms of saving money with tier-2 or tier-3 prescriptions (those brand name drugs, when you can’t get a generic alternative)

I actually got a letter from my insurance company telling me about their pill splitting program.  It listed 3 medicines that they thought could be safely split, one of which I take on a long-term basis.  If my doctor agreed, and changed my prescription appropriately, then I would only have to pay 1/2 of the normal copay amount for a 90 day supply of pills.  This resulted in immediate savings.  It should be noted that not all insurance companies pass on such savings to their customers (my doctor was surprised that my insurance company offered these savings).

If you don’t have insurance, the savings can be even more pronounced.  Here is a quick bit of information on a couple of types of pills that my insurance company suggested for pill splitting.  The example pricing was what Costco listed on their website when this article was written:

Lipitor          30 pills               100 pills
10 mg            $  88.27               $ 288.66
20 mg            $ 124.61              $ 410.81
40 mg            $ 124.61              $ 410.81

Cozaar         30 pills               100 pills
25 mg            $  58.49               $ 175.79
50 mg            $  68.69               $ 220.72
100 mg          $  94.21               $ 294.39

In the examples given, if you have to take 1 pill per day of 20 mg Lipitor, it would cost you about $4.15 per day for a 20 mg pill.  But it would only cost $2.08 per day for 1/2 of a 40 mg pill.

So, if your particular medication happens to be a good candidate for pill splitting, and your doctor agrees, you might be able to save some hard earned money by taking advantage of pill splitting.

If you’re interested in whether this can work for you, speak with you doctor. I can’t stress this enough:  CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR.

Free stuff can save you some money! Duh!

Yes, I know that headline sounds like spam, a late night infomercial, or a scam.  Fortunately, the reality is that one can really get some free things via the internet (occasionally it will cost you a couple of stamps).

One of my favorite places here in the Bay Area to find out about free things is a segment on KGO Television (channel 7, the local ABC affiliate).  The segment, on most Fridays, is called “Finney’s Friday Free Stuff.”  Most weeks they offer 2 free things that you can get for just the price of a couple of stamps (one stamp to mail an envelope to them, and a 2nd stamp for the return self addressed stamped envelope).

I’ve received coupons for full sized products including juices, smoothies, light bulbs, etc.  I’ve received coupons for free food at restaurants and fast food places.  I’ve received free tickets to attractions like Raging Waters, Great America, and Gilroy Gardens.  I’ve received $5 gift cards to places like Starbucks as well as other stores.  And I’ve received various samples of things (items like shirt collar stays).  The variety is immense.

You never know what will be on each week (note that some weeks they do not offer any products).

There also is a blog that lists other free things available on the web (which have been reasonably checked out to avoid the scams).

• Finney’s Friday Free Stuff - This is the current link to the Finney’s Friday Free Stuff page.  I’m actually not sure if it changes weekly or not, but if it does, you can find the page by going to www.abc7news.com and clicking on “7 On Your Side” on the left menu of the page.
• Michael Finney’s Consumer Blog – This is a general consumer blog which, on most Fridays, features free stuff (sometimes more than can be found on the newscast and/or regular web site).  Also contains a link to the regular free stuff site at the top of this particular web page

So, save your hard earned money and try out Finney’s Friday Free Stuff.

Saving your hard-earned money with rebates

See a great deal online….maybe you can do better.  Many websites offer cash back, points (to be used for merchandise or gift cards), or frequent flier miles for online shopping.  You can get as much as 10% or even 20% back in some cases, and this is sometimes in addition to any special deals, free shipping, or other online coupon codes you may find.  The savings can add up (and when you get that rebate check, put it into your Grow Your Green savings account!)

Note that some of these websites require you to use a certain credit card to make purchases.  Most require that you shop through links you receive in email or through links on one of the rebate website itself.  A few allow rebates or points on registered credit cards (sometimes even for shopping in a store).  Some require that you allow certain cookies through the web browsers.   In some cases, you cannot use other coupons and still get the rebates/points/miles, so make sure that you really are getting the best deal (sometimes a coupon will save a lot more….maybe try both, you might get lucky and get the rebate even though the rebate site says that using a coupon is not allowed)

Be sure to follow the rules of each website, keep track of rebates/points until they credit to your account, and if you don’t get a credit you think you deserve, contact the rebate site to complain (I’ve usually gotten credited going this route)

One site which lists other sites that offer points, frequent flyer miles, and/or rebates is www.evreward.com.  Just enter the website you want to shop, and evreward.com will show you many of the shopping websites that offer cash back, frequent flyer miles, and points.

Some of my favorite sites for points/cash back/miles are:

• www.evreward.com – type in name of site you want to shop, presents many of the rebates available, along with some coupon codes
• www.discovercard.com/shopdiscover – 5% – 20% cash back for using Discover Card
• www.upromise.com – shopping rewards for college savings plans, or can request a check
• www.mypoints.com – accumulate points from shopping/reading email to redeem for gift cards
• www.escrip.com – donations towards local schools for shopping/dining
• www.chase.com/rewardsplus – bonus rewards for online shopping
• www.thankyou.com – associated with Citicards; points towards gift cards and merchandise
• www.bing.com/cashback – Microsoft’s cash back program for shopping
• www.aa.com/aadvantageshopping – American Airlines frequent flyer miles for shopping (all of the other major airlines and some hotel chain sites have equivalent shopping portals)

Just remember, spending to save money sometimes means you are just spending too much, so be sure to spend only on things you truly need, and keep to your budget!

Can you really make money by taking online surveys?

The answer is YES… but don’t quit your day job!  While one can earn a small amount of money taking internet surveys, you really do not earn that much money on them.  Furthermore, you will have to give out additional information about yourself.  If you sign up for all of these sites, you will spend most of your time answering surveys.  If you fill out the wrong survey, you might end up on a junk email list.  Almost all surveys have some kind of qualification mechanism; you may get invited to start the survey, but you may be disqualified before you finish, and therefore do not earn the stated reward.

Some of my favorite sites for taking online surveys are:

• www.mypoints.com – Occasionally emails a survey, and also earn points towards gift cards for reading and clicking through emails, as well as shopping
• www.e-rewards.com – Earn “money” that can be used towards magazine subscriptions, frequent flyer miles, hotel frequent stay points, free movie rentals, etc. for answering personal and business surveys.  Invite only (although you can usually apply for an invite on the website)
• www.pinecone.com – Probably my favorite survey site, also includes some product tests that are sent to your home.  Pays $3 per paid survey and product test, plus some other screener surveys that are just for a raffle entry.  Invite only (can sometimes be hard to find a person who can invite you)
• www.surveyspot.com – Surveys for cash that can be credited towards a Paypal account
• www.greenfieldonline.com – Surveys for cash that can be credited towards a Paypal account or mailed as a check
• www.testspin.com – Surveys for cash that can be credited towards a Paypal account or redeemed for an Amazon.com gift certificate
• www.myview.com – Surveys for cash that is credited towards a Paypal account
• www.buzzback.com – Surveys for a check or credited towards a Paypal account
• www.epoll.com – Earn points that can be redeemed for various gift cards
• www.globalopinionpanels.com – Earn points that can be redeemed for a check in the mail
• www.harrispollonline.com – Earn points towards various merchandise
• www.opinionsquare.com – Earn points towards various merchandise

There are many other such sites, just don’t use all of your time trying to earn money on them!  Remember, never just click on a survey from a site you’ve never heard of without first checking them out.  You may want to use disposable email addresses for some sites just in case you get junk mail.  Don’t give any information out that you are uncomfortable to give out (once you have done surveys for a while, you get a good feel for what surveys are real, and which are not).  And finally, have fun!

Use coupons, price comparison sites

So, you think you found the best price on an item.  Did you?  If you haven’t checked out at least one price comparison site, haven’t done a search for online coupons, and haven’t linked to the site via a rebate site (see my separate post entitled Saving money with rebate sites for online shopping), then you probably haven’t actually found the best price.

So, how do you find price comparison sites.  You can do a search on any of your favorite search engines for a price comparison site.  You can also sometimes just type in a model number into a search engine, and some of the results may actually be on price comparison sites.  You can also just check out some of these price comparison sites directly:

• www.pricegrabber.com
• www.shopzilla.com
• www.price.com
• www.mysimon.com
• www.bing.com/cashback – both a cash back site, and a price comparison site
• www.froogle.com – Google’s price comparison site
• www.dealnews.com – while not a price comparison site, input a product model/name, and see what price/deals they have found

Finding a coupon is also easy.  Type in the name of the online store, along with “coupon code” into your favorite search engine, and you may find some.  You can also go to one of the following sites for coupon codes:

• www.retailmenot.com
• www.fatwallet.com
• www.dealnews.com (and click on coupons)
• www.evreward.com – besides listing cash back opportunities, also lists some coupon codes

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