Articles

• Save On Gasoline by Understanding Gas Stations - September 8, 2010

  Gas stations are a fickle industry.  They make almost all their profits on what you buy in the store not on the gasoline itself.  Very seldom are the items sold at a gas station a deal so I focus on how to get the best deal on the gasoline.

  Now there are a ton of websites dedicated to finding the lowest price on gasoline, but in a pinch you can know you are getting the best price in an area by understanding two things about gas stations: taxes and volume.

  Taxes are pretty straightforward. If you are on a trip and you are leaving a low tax state nine times out of ten you are better off filling up before you get to that state.  What most people don't know is that about 20% of your gasoline price is tax. The difference between each state in price is a combination of taxes and regulations.  If a state is high tax and high regulation (California) you will pay much more at the pump.  If a state is low tax and low regulation (Arizona) you can bet you will get a better deal at the border.

  Understanding volume is a little more complicated.  It is pretty obvious that some gas stations are in better locations and thus sell more gasoline.  These  stations are called "pumpers" and can receive shipments of gasoline as many as three times per day.  That is a ton of volume.  What that means for the bargain gas shopper is that the prices at these stations keep up with whatever the market is doing.  So if there is a lot of gasoline inventory, like what we are seeing this fall, prices will drift downward.  These high volume gas stations will reflect the falling price much faster than the gas station that is hidden behind a meat packing plant.  The down side is when prices are rising the pumpers will reflect this price increase much faster.  So you may have to endure the smell of the meat packing plant to get the best price but you can laugh as you drive by the people who are paying 10¢ more per gallon.

• Get Out Of Your Cell Phone Contract - September 1, 2010

  Getting stuck in a cell phone contract with a bad plan is a pain for anyone who has had that experience.  There was a time you had to just grin and bear it or wait for a new plan and sign a new two year agreement.

  CellSwapper and Celltrade are two services that allow you to swap your contract to someone else.  Both of these services allow you to do a transfer of liability to another consumer that will take your cell phone plan off your hands.

  Now why would anyone take over your plan?  There are a few reasons I could come up with.  Maybe they want to have a decent plan but a short contract, or they find your plan much better than the plan they just got out of.  Maybe they don't like the prepaid route and want to try one of the big 4 companies to see if they work well in their area.  As you can see there are potentially many reasons to make this transaction on the receive side.

  No matter what the reasons someone is willing to take your plan off your hands this is a good way to get out of your contract and away from the cell phone company you now hate (until the next one makes you angry).

• The Cheapest Way to Buy Printer Ink - August 31, 2010

  So I have tried all different ways to purchase printer ink.  It hurts my feelings every time my printer runs out of ink because I know the cost will be punitive.  I have found two ways to purchase ink that are much better than anything else I have tried.

  1. Refill it Yourself - You can buy kits that help you refill your ink cartridges.  I will tell you that this is not for the neat freak.  I got ink everywhere the first few times I tried this and my wife was not happy.  It is, however, the cheapest was to purchase ink and is easiest with the black ink or single color cartridges.
  2. Buy Re-manufactured Cartridges - You can get re-manufactured cartridges from the office stores but the absolute cheapest way to get them is online.  Here is my system that saves me a ton:
     • Go to BigCrumbs.com and sign in (if you do not have a BigCrumbs account sign up HERE)
     • Search for 123inkjets.com
     • Use the link in BigCrumbs to go to the website
     • Find your ink cartridges and purchase the re-manufactured version

  What do you save by buying the re-manufactured print cartridge this way?  I went to Staples.com and searched for re-manufactured cartridges.  I decided to use the Cannon CLI-8.  The re-manufactured color three pack and black together were $51.68.  I then went to 123inkjets.com and searched for the same cartridges.  The re-manufactured color cartridges with the black together were $32.96 (after shipping).  That is a hefty savings.  BUT WAIT!! it gets better.  When you use the link through BigCrumbs you get 22.4% cash back (that is C-A-S-H).  So the real cost is $27.70 or almost half the in store remanufactured price.

  These two ways are by far the cheapest way to buy ink.

• What We Can Learn From Texas About Housing - August 24, 2010

  I have been reading up on the housing bust lately and saw a map of foreclosure rates from 2005 and then another map, below it, that shows the rates after the bust in 2009.  I saw two thing that were very interesting.  The first was that very rural states in the middle of the country saw almost no change (chalked that up to low population, not a lot of homes, low foreclosure rates).  The other was that Texas, the second largest state in The Union also saw almost no change.  When I read around, the foreclosure rate in Texas only bumped up from 0.26% to 0.32%, but compared to other states of similar populations it came out pretty much unscathed.  It is more likely that this uptick was related more to the downward movement in the economy (people losing jobs) than the housing bust.

  I had to ask the question why?  It turns out that Texas has it written into their constitution that you can only borrow up to 80% of a home's value.  This means two things.  People who purchased a home were able to show enough discipline that they could save 20% of its value for a down payment and if a homes value were to go down these people would not be underwater in their mortgage, and thus, there is less motivation to walk away.

  At one point in time the entire country used to have the policy that you could not purchase a home without a 20% down payment, but over time, through poor government and business decisions, we have been allowed to borrow more and more of a homes value.  People have been taking equity out of their homes for all sorts of reasons and borrowing up to 100% of a homes value for lifestyle decisions and not out of necessity.

  I do not ever recommend taking equity out of your home , but if you do, it should be for the improvement of that property.  In other words you are using the home equity to improve the value of the home.  Stay away from consolidating debt or using home equity to pay for other things.  It is one of the main reasons so much of the country is hurting right now.

• Economy Causing Drop in HDTV Prices - August 12, 2010

  The cost to purchase an HDTV is still dropping quickly due to the new types of technology that has caused a  gap in the consumer market.  To understand the gap we need to split our consumers into three groups.  The first is the working poor.  The working poor are making it but barely.  Maybe they bought too big of a house, they lost a job and had to take a lower paying one to make ends meet or through a series of bad financial decisions they ended up here.  This group has very little disposable income.  They can scrape some money together but not a lot so they are looking to get a TV for under $400.

  The next group is the solid middle class.  This group is getting squeezed right now with higher costs and a lagging economy.  They are cutting back and may already have purchased a new HDTV so they are either looking for a great deal or waiting for the economy to pick up before they upgrade to something newer.  This group will possibly pay up to $700 dollars for a new HDTV but they would prefer to stay under $500 if possible.

  Both the above groups could have other circumstances that prompt them to buy a new tv like a child going off to college and taking the old one with them, but they will still not splurge on something really fancy for the time being.

  The last group is the buy what I want group.  They are doing great right now so they can buy what they want.  This group goes high end.  They are going to purchase the latest and greatest.  This means they are in the market for one of the new LED televisions or the 3D tv's.  They aren't even looking at LCD's or Plasmas because that it so 2008.  This group will be spending at least $2000 on a new HDTV.

  So as you can see this leaves us with a gap.  The gap in what the first two groups can purchase and the last group can purchase is pushing the price of some really nice televisions down to something reasonable.  The retailers are desperately trying to get people to purchase in the $1000 dollar range.  I am seeing ads for this price range all the time.  However, there is always a deal to be had for a great TV somewhere in the $300-$600 range depending on what size you get.

  This is an opportunity if you are in the market for a television.  Do not get sucked in by all the new features and such.  Your main reason for buying a TV is to watch television and movies and maybe play video games.  Anything else is just extra that you probably will not miss.

  The most recent great deal on a TV I have seen is at Wal-Mart.  You can get Sanyo 42" Plasma 720P HDTV for only $399.99.  The specs all look pretty good and it even has some nice little ad-ons.  If you use the link through BigCrumbs.com you can get an extra 4% cash back making this TV $383.99.

• Sniff! Sniff! Black Friday? - August 10, 2010

  I had a few people ask me about deals that were posted as a part of our tax free weekend.  They had been watching the circulars and noticed that the specials were not that special.  What happens is that retailers take into account the massive amount of traffic they will get on tax free holidays and do not lower their prices as much because it is not necessary.  This means that the deals are only going to get better as we get through the tax free holiday period.  The last tax free holiday is in Texas on August 20th-22nd (it is actually the only one left and may have little effect).  After that the stores will start focusing on Halloween and Christmas.  This is when we tend to see some of the best deals of the year as retailers try to grab as much business as possible before the end of the year.  It is faint, but I am starting to smell Black Friday coming!!

• Energy Efficiency Rebates - August 5, 2010

  Many states are still offering  rebates for purchasing more energy efficient appliances for your home.  This was part of the cash for appliances program rolled out by the federal government.  You can check to see if your state still has money left for their program HERE.

  Now if your state has used up their money do not fret there are other programs out to get you a some money back for upgrading items to Energy Star compliant items.  Just go to this form type in your zip code and check any box that applies to something you may be interested in purchasing.   If there are any rebates the site will find them for you.  Categories include appliances, fans, heating and cooling equipment, home electronics, lighting products, office equipment and residential water heaters.  If you were already looking at purchasing one of these items you may be able to get an even better deal!!

• Back to School Sales Tax Holidays - July 19, 2010

  Here are all the sales tax holidays I could find for the various states.  Remember to watch the "deals" on these days as many stores will not lower their prices because you are getting a percentage off already.

  Alabama: August 6th-8^th -- books up to $30/item, clothing up to $100/item, computers up to $750/item, and school supplies up to $50/item

  Connecticut: August 15th-21^st --clothing and footwear up to $300/item

  Florida: August 13th-15^th --clothing and books up to $50/item and school supplies up to $10/item

  Illinois: August 6th-15^th --clothing, footwear, and school supplies up to $100/item

  Iowa: August 6th-7^th --clothing up to $100/item.

  Louisiana: August 6th-7^th --the first $2500 of the purchase price of all “tangible personal property,”

  Maryland: August 8th-14^th --clothing and footwear up to $100/item

  Mississippi: July 30th-31st. --clothing and footwear up to $100/item

  Missouri: August 6th-8th. --clothing up to $100/item, computers hardware up to $3500/item, computer software up to $350/item, and school supplies up to $15/item

  New Mexico: August 6th-8th.--clothing up to $100/item, computers up to $1000/item, associated peripherals up to $500/item, and school supplies up to $15/item.

  North Carolina: August 6th-8^th --clothing and school supplies up to $100/item, computers up to $3500/item, computer supplies up to $250/item, instructional materials up to $300/item, and sports/recreation equipment up to $50/item.

  Oklahoma: August 6th-8th. --clothing up to $100/item.

  South Carolina: August 6th-8th. --clothing, clothing accessories, footwear, computers, printers, school supplies, software, and a variety of housewares.

  Tennessee: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing up to $100/item, school supplies up to $100/item, and computers up to $1500/item

  Texas: August 20th-22nd. Includes clothing, footwear, book bags, and school supplies up to $100/item

  Virginia: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing and footwear up to $100/item and school supplies up to $20/item

• Should Smokers Be The First To Go? - July 8, 2010

  I just read about a hospital system in Georgia that has decided it will not longer employ smokers.  They just made this policy change and gave all employees 90 days to stop smoking or they will be fired.  This development brings to questions of whether this is fair.  Can we descriminate against smokers?  From strictly a business standpoint I have to say yes we can.

  Here are the facts about smoking.  People who smoke are sick more often, they are setting themselves up for greater risk of major health problems, they take more breaks than non-smokers, and smoking create a poorer working environment because smoke stinks.  All these factors affect a business.  Health problems create higher premiums and cause people to miss days of work this leads to increased employee costs across the board but also leads to lower productivity.  People who take more breaks are less productive this costs the company money.  And the smell of smoke on a smoker is repugnant to someone who does not smoke.  This creates a distraction and lower productivity from the people around the smoker.

  All these factors affect an employers bottom line.  This makes me think that in a time where payrolls are being cut and jobs are short, as an employer, why wouldn't you keep the people that allow your business to make the most money and drop those that are more expensive?

• BOA Trying Out In Lieu - July 7, 2010

  Bank of America is testing a new program on 100,000 distressed home owners.  This new program is called deed in lieu of foreclosure.  This means a person hands back the keys and moves and the bank does not go after them for the loan.

  This may seem crazy but when you think about what happens to home (too frequently) when they are foreclosed this is possibly a brilliant move by BOA.  If you can get people to voluntarily leave instead of forcing them out they are less likely to destroy the property.  This also costs less in legal fees for the bank.  To build even more good will BOA is offering between three and fifteen thousand dollars to help the struggling home owner relocate.

  As far as the persons credit goes this is still a knock but not nearly what they would get if they were to go into foreclosure.  Lets hope this trend leads to less foreclosures and a healthier market for homeowners.