Archive for January, 2008

« Older Entries

Great CVS Run Today!

January 29th, 2008

I had the opportunity to take a long lunch today, so I decided to make a big CVS run today. A few of the special package deals with the ECBs have been marked down this week, and since you get the ECBs with purchases through January 31, there are some really good deals to have. Here is the rundown of my deals from today (multiple cards and transactions):

  • 10 Cottonelle Bonus Packs (20 rolls each) – $4.99 each
  • 9 J&J Cotton Swab Bonus Packs – $2.49 each
  • 2 Ascencia Breeze2 diabetes monitors – $9.99 each
  • 1 Diet Pepsi 12 pack – $3.34
  • 1 Bag Cool Ranch Doritos 12.5oz – $2.00
  • 1 Milky Way – $0.69
  • Merchandise Total – $98.32
  • Total CVS Coupons used – $9.00
  • Total Manufacturer Coupons used – $30.00
  • Total ECBs used – $52.91
  • Total OOP – $6.77
  • Total ECBs Earned – $57.98 (plus $10 from the Pepsi deal completed today)

So after it is all said and done, I came away with 200 rolls of TP, 9000 cotton swabs, 2 glucose monitors, and some junk food for $1.70. Also, the glucose monitors each have $9.99 rebates, so once those rebates are received I will actually make $17.46 from today’s transactions (deducting out the price of the stamps).

The interesting part of the run was that I encountered another CVSer at my first store. She saw five packs of the Cottonelle loaded up in my cart and asked if I was restocking them (she apparently thought I worked there). I pointed her to the ones that were left and asked her if she was a SlickDeals person (she was a HotCouponWorld user instead). Oddly enough I saw her again two stores later when we met up at the glucose monitor shelf to clear out the remaining Breeze2’s. Luckily for me, she had several of the manufacturer coupons for the monitor she didn’t need anymore and gave to me. I then made my way over to the next store and saw her walk in as I was checking out with more TP. Great minds think alike I guess.

4 comments »

Posted in CVS, Deals

Tags:

Got a side business? Track it with Microsoft Office Accounting Express for free

January 28th, 2008

Do you run a website for profit? Sell on eBay for profit? Do freelance work on the side? In any business it is important to track your income and expenses so you can know exactly what you are really making.

Our friends over at Money Smart Life recently blogged about Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2008, which is available as a free download. While I have not used the program myself, MSL noted that the program is much more robust than most of the other free accounting software out there. If you are interested, you can download the software here.

1 comment »

Posted in Freebies

Tags:

The Interest Rate Cut and the Death of the App-O-Rama

January 24th, 2008

As most everyone is aware now, the Federal Reserve this week dropped the Federal Funds rate by 75 basis points (0.75%). This is great for borrowers, but not so great for savers. Several online banks have already dropped their high yield online savings accounts drastically in response to the cut. This is on top of cuts last year.

One advanced cheap bastard technique this hurts is what is referred to in many circles as the “App-O-Rama”. This is the practice of investing money from promotional balance transfer offers on credit card borrowed at a low interest rate in high-yield savings accounts at a higher rate. It works great when you can take a 0% APR offer and invest it in an insured account at 6% APY as was possible this time last year.

However, now that most accounts have dropped below the 5% APY threshold and many below 4% APY, the app-o-rama is becoming less and less worthwhile. Couple that with many credit card companies removing maximum caps on balance transfer fees and the technique becomes minimally profitable, if at all. It is an even less appealing proposition when you consider the hit your credit score would likely hit from conducting an app-o-rama.

So what is a saver to do in an environment where interest rates are headed south? It isn’t really profitable to play the app-o-rama game anymore. I’ll probably pay off my outstanding balance transfers as they become due and get out of the game. As for my excess cash that isn’t from balance transfers, I’ll probably start aggressively paying down the mortgage on the house. Hoarding cash earning 4% APY or less isn’t really worthwhile when you are paying 5.375% on a mortgage. Since I won’t be spending as much time managing the app-o-rama game, maybe I’ll have more time to tackle my financial to-do list.

1 comment »

Posted in Banking, Credit Cards, Debt, News/Trends, Savings

Tags:

Tips for happily managing finances in marriage

January 24th, 2008

In one of the more interesting blog postings I’ve seen in a while, Brooke from DollarFrugal.com writes about ten ways to use personal finance to strengthen your marriage. There were some very good thoughts included, with my personal favorites being the following:

1. Having open lines of communication. This one is probably the most obvious and the most essential. Money should not be a taboo subject. Both parties should have a say in how the money of the family is handled.

2. Setting a check and balance limit. I think this is a good thought, although my wife and I don’t do this as formally as is suggested. We are lucky in that both of us have similar attitudes about money and we trust each other not to make large unnecessary purchases. Of course anything large we discuss, but we don’t have a set limit.

3. Attacking finances as a team. In this point, it is noted that the spouse who manages most of the financial matters (paying bills and such) should maintain a list of account information for the other spouse should something ever happen. I totally agree, although I still haven’t done this to the extent I would like.

The rest of the list can be found here. Studies often show that financial issues are one of the leading causes of divorce in married couples, which is another reason to make sure that your financial house is in order.

No comments »

Posted in Basics, Tips

$100 bonus from OptionsXpress for new account funding (exp 3/31/08)

January 22nd, 2008

Here’s a simple bonus deal for everyone – right now through March 31, 2008, OptionsXpress is offering a $100 bonus for opening a new account and funding with at least $500. It is worth noting that there is no trading requirement, so just open and fund the account and you are done until it is time to close the account and withdraw your funds. According to the terms, customers should receive their money on or before April 10, 2008. There are no hidden fees on the account, although I could not find anything saying a minimum amount of time the account had to be kept open.

No comments »

Posted in Deals

Tags:

New CVS Coupons – 16 unique codes (exp. 2/3/08)

January 17th, 2008

Here is a new batch of CVS coupons for all of your deal making. These coupons technically have not been released yet, however the links are active on their website. As always YMMV when trying to use more than one of these in the same transaction, especially if you don’t meet the cumulative required purchase amount. All coupons expire 2/3/2008, although in most cases the coupons will continue to work about two weeks past that date.

$2/10 CVS Brand Link
$3/15 (3178) Link
$4/20 (3150) Link
$4/20 (3177) Link
$5/30 (3151) Link
$5/30 (3176) Link
$5/30 (3182) Link
$10/50 (3155) Link
$15/75 (3156) Link
$3/15 (3181) Link
$4/20 (3157) Link
$4/20 (3180) Link
$5/30 (3161) Link
$5/30 (3179) Link
$10/50 (3165) Link
$15/75 (3166) Link

If you are new to CVS deals, you may want to read my series of posts on how to do CVS deals starting here.

Credit to UnixWorks on Fatwallet and AdamsMom on AFullCup.com for posting these.

1 comment »

Posted in CVS, Deals

Tags:

Free H&R Block DeductionPro 2007 Software Download!

January 15th, 2008

Here’s a useful tool for those of you who itemize your taxes and donated household goods to charity last year. The fine folks over at SlickDeals found a link to a download of H&R Block’s DeductionPro 2007 software that is free of charge. Just click on the link below and you’ll have the software in no time.

DeductionPro 2007 Software Download

I have used DeductionPro for the last several years since I got it free after rebate in a TaxCut software bundle. The software is still sold as a stand-alone product, however it is also included in the premium versions of TaxCut for 2007. It is a great tool for tracking donations and provides suggested values for many common items. It will also generate the necessary forms for your return and export the data to TaxCut for your return preparation. My only complaint about the software would be that I would like to see more items listed, but I’m basing my opinion on the 2006 version, so that may have improved with this version.

I would caution anyone would itemizes household good donations to use one of these types of programs instead of just trying to guess the value of the item. If we try to guess we often fall on the low side (I guess most of us think about what would the item fetch at a garage sale and not its true market value), so these types of programs help to make sure we get the full deduction we deserve.

Good luck!

No comments »

Posted in Charity, Freebies, Taxes

Off-topic: Will the writer’s strike ever end? How shall we entertain ourselves?

January 15th, 2008


So the buzz today is all about how American Idol is back for a seventh season. Why is it such a big deal? It has always been popular, but is probably more so this year because of the writer’s strike putting most of network TV into rerun hell. I am getting so tired of seeing the same shows over and over again, and I only get to watch TV when the babies aren’t crying (which is rare) so I know it is even worse for everyone else. I might watch AI during the auditions to see if they discover the next William Hung, but after we get through the folks embarassing themselves I just don’t find it that entertaining.

So what are we to do until the strike is finally over? If you don’t care to spend more time with the family and catch up on your reading, there is always new user-generated content online at places like YawpBox . User-generated content is often very entertaining just because you never really know what the expect. One of my all-time favorites is the video showing the guy beating Super Mario Brothers 3 (Nintendo 8-bit, baby!), taking all of 11 minutes to do what I spent a good part of a childhood summer trying to do 15 years ago. To me that is awesome!

There are a couple of neat contests over at YawpBox right now. In the TV section you can create content that will be used in a real television show. The world may have the opportunity to see if you can create better content than the late night talk show pack, who without their writers are doing miserably. The other cool contest is the Lex & Terry challenge. On their nationwide radio and TV shows they give a specific assignment to viewers to generate their own content in a certain category. You can find the categories that have been used on the site in the Lex & Terry section. Using YawpBox you can create your own content and put it out there for the world to see. You gotta love the power of the Internet! Thanks Al Gore! =)

User-generated content may not have the glitz and glamour of a Hollywood production, but at least it will pass the time until there is something good to watch on TV again.

No comments »

Posted in Off Topic

Have you heard any of these lies from the boss?

January 14th, 2008

I found a really interesting post over at Money Smart Life entitled “10 Lies Big Companies Tell Their Employees”. Sadly even though I’ve only been working for 7 years, I have heard all 10. You can find the complete list over at Money Smart Life, but here are my personal favorites:

1. “Our Salaries are Competitive in the Market” - Yeah, right! That’s why everyone is leaving for similar jobs elsewhere. Sadly, my experience has been that if you want to have a salary at market, you have to be in the market. Loyalty unfortunately isn’t rewarded in most cases. It seems like most places have a small cap on percentage increases which isn’t always in sync with the market. Usually the only way to true-up your salary to market is to go somewhere else.

2. “We Reward Excellence” - Not necessarily a lie, but it is certainly misleading. You can be a superstar, but your upside potential is often limited to a pay range specified by HR. Meanwhile, those who are doing the bare minimum will still in most cases get a cost of living increase each year. Does the superstar get more than the slacker? Probably. But is the superstar sufficiently rewarded when comparing his contribution to that of his slacker counterparts? Probably not.

3. “More Money Won’t Make You Happy” – What the hell do you think most of us are working for? It isn’t for the free coffee and ready access to a copy machine – it is for the money! Money isn’t everything of course, but it certainly means a lot more to me than gimmicks like ice cream socials and casual Fridays. Because you let me wear jeans occasionally doesn’t mean I’ll overlook the fact my salary is too low.

What is you favorite lie from the boss? How often have you heard these before?

2 comments »

Posted in Working

Tags:

Another CVS make money deal on the Contour monitor! Week of 1/13/08 Only

January 13th, 2008

I posted last week about two money-making deals for purchasing blood glucose monitors at CVS. This week brings another deal. Purchase the Contour blood glucose monitor for $9.99 and earn $9.99 in ECBs, limit 1 per card. Those who follow these deals or read the post last week also know there is a CVS coupon for $50.00 off (found in the CVS Diabetes booklet), which will probably be adjusted to the $9.99 price, making the monitor free plus you get the ECBs, earning you a profit of $9.99!

If you can’t find the coupon from the CVS Diabetes book, there was also a manufacturers coupon for $30 off back in November. Either coupon will produce the same result.

Remember that the Breeze2 deal is still on until the end of the month. It uses the same coupon, has a price of $9.99, and produces $9.99 in ECBs. The limit on this deal is five per card. I finally found one of these on Saturday, and found a penny on the ground too. That brings me to $158.00 in “Frugal Funds” for 2008 so far.

No comments »

Posted in CVS, Deals, Frugal Funds

Tags: