Save Money Haggling At Discount Tire

A few years ago I bought two new tires at a local Discount Tire store. When they quoted me the price of the tires, I asked if that was the best they could do. The salesperson said he could take an additional 10% off, which he did.

Unfortunately, one of these tires recently went flat as I was driving on the freeway because of a small nail in the tread. Knowing the age of the tires and looking at the tread on the flat tire as I was putting the spare on, I was thinking I should probably have both tires replaced.

I took the car in to the local Discount Tire and they assessed the tread that was left, and both front tires were in the yellow zone on the depth gauge. They recommended both front tires be replaced, and offered to replace the flat tire for free under the road hazard warranty, and offered to replace the other tire for $83 plus shop fees. I had the receipt with me from the previous purchase that showed I had paid $74 for each tire a couple years ago, and asked the person helping me if he could match that price. He said he could, and reduced the price of that tire to $74, so just by asking I saved $9 plus tax.

I've been buying tires from Discount Tire for years. While they don't offer Discount Tire coupons or promotion codes per se, they do offer great prices, and often have $50 to $100 rebates available on certain tires.

If you ever buy tires or rims from Discount Tire, when they quote you the price, I recommend you ask for a 10% discount, or ask if that's the best they can do. Chances are they'll offer you a better price!

See more money saving tips.

What Is Warren Buffett Doing?

A friend of mine forwarded an article to me this week that was written by Warren Buffet. It's quite excellent.

Warren Buffett is one of the most respected investors of our time. In the article, Mr. Buffet relates how the markets have performed since the Great Depression, and talks about how he's investing during the current financial crisis.

Check out the article by Warren Buffett titled Buy American. I am.

Ever Hear Of A Hippo Water Roller?

If you're like me, you didn't know what a Hippo Water Roller was until today.

Also known simply as a "hippo roller", the Hippo Water Roller is an ingenious invention that let's people in poor, remote areas collect and transport 24 gallons of water at a time by rolling it in a special plastic barrel.

According to the Hippo Water Roller website, the rollers are manufactured in Johannesburg, South Africa. One roller will serve seven people directly and many more indirectly. One Hippo Water Roller costs $100 and will last 5-7 years, though the website says that some of the Water Hippos distributed over 10 years ago are still functional. I just ran the numbers, and by my calculations if a hippo roller lasts 5 years it will cost about 5 cents per day to provide 7 people with fresh water. That's less than one penny per day per person!

Check out their website for more details, and consider making a donation to help people have fresh water every day. I just did. You can even check out the Wikipedia article on the Hippo Water Roller. Now every time I turn on the tap I think about how fortunate I am, and I think about someone in a land far away using their Hippo Roller!

Beware Of Phishing Scams

Phishers are taking advantage of the recent financial crisis to scam people and obtain their sensitive personal information.

I ran across a great article today on the topic published by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Here's an excerpt from the article:

"Phishers send attention-getting emails that look like they’re coming from the financial institution that recently acquired your bank, savings and loan, or mortgage. Their intent is to collect or capture your personal information, like your credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information. Their messages may ask you to “update,” “validate,” or “confirm” your account information."

In the article, the FTC provides tips to help avoid getting hooked by a phishing scam. I highly recommend you read the Federal Trade Commission article on phishing titled Bank Failures, Mergers and Takeovers: A “Phish-erman’s Special”.

Another great resource is the OnGuardOnline.gov website, which contains tips from the federal government and the technology industry on how to guard against internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information.

Money Saving Tips For Moms

If you're a mom looking for money saving tips, or a mom who has money saving tips you want to share, then you might be interested in the Walmart money saving tips video contest. Check out the videos that have been submitted by other moms, or make and upload a video with your favorite money saving tip and you could win $6,000 in groceries!

A total of ten grand prize winning moms will each receive a $6,000 Walmart Gift Card, which is about equal to a years worth of groceries for the average family of four that shops at Walmart. With the Christmas season right around the corner, how handy would that be?

Just create a video with your favorite money saving tip and submit it by November 14. You can even submit a different video each day during the contest. As of the date of this post, moms have already submitted 47 money saving tip videos (or about 7 per day).

Check out the Walmart Mom Money Saving Tips YouTube page for details, and to check out the money saving tips each mom has already posted. As more and more videos are submitted, the website should develop into a great resource for moms looking to save money!

Wal-Mart And Costco Holding Their Own

I just read today that retailers in general are doing worse than expected, but Wal-Mart and Costco are both holding their own right now. I think I know why.

When I go to Wal-Mart or Costco and find something I like, I don't have to worry much about whether the price is competitive. I know it is. The first few times I went to Costco or the Wal-Mart Super Center near my house I priced out several items, and compared the prices to local grocery stores. On average I saved 10%-15% shopping at Wal-Mart or Costco.

And now I just have to tell you about the Costco frozen Ground Beef patties (maybe I'm reminded of them because I just ate one tonight!). If you have a Costco membership and you haven't tried the Costco frozen Ground Beef Patties, you've got to give them a try. We learned about them from some friends a while back, but I have to admit I wasn't too enthused about frozen burgers. I mean, how good could they be? Anyway, they went on and on about how good they were so that convinced us to give them a try. We did, and now we're hooked. You just can't beat the value they offer, and you don't have to mess with forming hamburger patties by hand.

The patties are 78% lean, each patty is 4 oz and they come in a 6 lb. bag. Costco also sells sirloin gound beef patties and we've tried these, but we prefer the regular ones as they taste better to us. I don't know the exact price off-hand, but like I said earlier, it's because I've lost the habit of checking prices when I shop at Costco.

We cook the hamburger patties as follows: Turn on a skillet to medium heat and spray with PAM. Add the patties and cook a couple minutes until the edges start to thaw and turn red. Sprinkle on garlic powder, onion powder, McCormick Pepper Season-All and a bit of fresh ground black pepper to taste. Turn after another minute or two and repeat the spices on the other side. Cook to desired doneness and serve. They go great with corn on the cob, green beans, and mashed potatoes. They're also great on the grill!

We Deserve It Dividend Email

An email is making the rounds right now titled "We Deserve It Dividend" that proposes that rather than bailout financial institutions, the money should be divided among all U.S. residents of legal age. It states that if the $85 billion proposed bailout of AIG were divided among approximately 200 million adult Americans, we'd each get $425,000 and could pay off our mortgage, pay off college loans, buy a new car, and so on, crisis solved.

Problem is, the math is wrong.

First of all, according to the U.S. census bureau, the current U.S. population is estimated at 305 million, not 301 million. Check out the Census Bureau's United States Population Clock web page for details.

Secondly, if you divided $85 billion ($85,000,000,000) by 200 million (200,000,000) we would get $425 each, not $425,000.

While I'm sure nobody would turn down the $425, I'm not sure what kind of house one could buy with it! And this wouldn't solve the problem of injecting new money into the financial system so new loans can be made.

Funny how emails can get passed on like that without someone turning on a calculator!

Save Money With InStyle Fragrances

A while ago my wife bought me the Instyle Fragrance named "An Impression of Eternity". InStyle fragrances are impressions of the world's most popular fragrances, cost about one third the price, and are available online and at local Walgreens stores.

She was shopping at our local Walgreens store and ran across the InStyle fragrances. She said this particular one smelled just like Eternity to her and cost a lot less, so she thought I should try it. I was skeptical at first, but I've been using it for months now and I can't tell the difference at all between the InStyle fragrance and Eternity for Men. The InStyle fragrance smells just like Eternity and lasts a long time. I have the 3.4 oz cologne spray, which is currently priced at $11.99 plus tax. What a deal, considering the same amount of Eternity would set me back about $36!

One can save $24 buying an InStyle fragrance, and as I detail here, saving $24 is equal to earning $36. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the current average hourly wage in the U.S. is about $18, so saving money buying one InStyle fragrance is equal to working about 2 hours!

InStyle impressions available for women include White Diamonds, Opium, Obsession, White Linen, Tommy Girl, Acqua Di Gio, J Lo Glow, Angel, Chanel #5, Beautiful, Eternity, Pleasures, Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue, and Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely.

InStyle impressions for men include Polo, Polo Blue, Eternity for Men, Cool Water, Drakkar Noir, Aqua Di Gio, and CK One.

You can check out the Instyle Fragrance website for more information and to see the list of available fragrances, and you can buy them at your local Walgreens store or online at this InStyle Fragrance Search Results page at Walgreens.com. If you order online you'll pay sales tax and a small shipping charge (the charge for shipping most orders weighing 10 pounds or less to the 48 contiguous states is $5.49).

Give InStyle impressions a try and let me know what you think! Is this a good way to save money and get more bang for your hard-earned buck?

Top 50 Online Retailers

Stores magazine recently released a list of the Favorite 50 Online Retailers shoppers like most. Researchers asked over 8,000 consumers two questions:

1. What website do you shop at most often for apparel items?
2. What website do you shop at most often for non-apparel items?

No website names were suggested, and the top 50 list was created based on the number of times each retailer was mentioned. The top 10 were as follows:

1. Amazon.com
2. eBay.com
3. Walmart.com
4. BestBuy.com
5. JCPenney.com
6. Target.com
7. Google.com
8. Overstock.com
9. Kohls.com
10. Sears.com

This ranking aligns with our web stats, as we currently provide coupons for Amazon.com and Overstock.com and our Amazon.com Coupons page gets the most traffic by far, followed by our Overstock.com Coupons page.

You can read the full article on the Online Retailers Shoppers Like Most and see the full list of the Top 50 Online Retailers.

Happy Shopping!

New Overstock.com Real Estate Search

Overstock.com sent me an email today informing me about their new Real Estate Search, so I checked it out.

There are currently 3.7 million properties listed, and one can search by zip code and type of property such as Classifieds, Distressed, Foreclosures, For Sale By Owner (FSBO), Timeshares, Auctions, Online Auctions and Rentals.

I typed in my zip code and it displayed a results page that contained several ways to refine my search, plus this very interesting graph showing the price distribution of homes in my area:



At the top left of the graph there's a button where one can search the actual database that realtors use, which is the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) database. Upon clicking this button I was taken to a page with 605 home listings, mostly for residential, single-family homes but with a few land only properties, as well as some multi-unit and commercial listings.

Below the graph was a listing of matching properties, some of which were flagged with an "O-Hot Value" label, indicating the property may be a better relative value in the local market.

After test driving the site and performing a few searches, I have to say the website is very easy to use. Check out the new Overstock.com Real Estate Search and see what you think!