I know that many of you are great shoppers when it comes to planning ahead.  Most of the women in my family are great about buying presents for Christmas throughout the year so that there is little stress for them when Chrismas rolls around.  Despite my best efforts I never seem to be able to accomplish this feat so I am always running around at the last minute looking for deals and ideas that make it not so expensive for me at Christmas.  I will continue to keep you updated with deals I find and will probably throw in some inexpensive ideas on items you can make.   Here are a few of the deals I am using to give to people for Christmas:

Restaurant.com – this website is great because it gives you a discount on the gift certificates, but right now using code “SANTA” you get 80% off their gift certificates.  This means you can give a $50 gift certificate for only $4.

Van Huesen Shirts on Amazon.com - Most of these shirts are discounted to $9.37 (down from $37) with free shipping.  The standard shipping takes up to  5 business days so they should get to your house no later than the 23rd

Target – Target has some of the best clerance items of any store.  To get a good idea of how to shop the Target clearance items check out my post “Target – The Clearance King“

With a slow down in the economy giving gift cards to people can end  up being a waste of money.  Yes, it is great to get a gift from someone and be able to shop at one of your favorite stores, but there are some new perils involved in using gift cards these days. 

Many of the smaller store fronts are starting to contract.  This means they are closing their doors in unprofitable markets.  A great example of this is Starbucks.  Starbucks is known for its overlapping territory deployment of retail locations.  This means that you could (and frequently did) end up with a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucks.  The closing of one of these type of stores will not affect people who live in larger cities due to the existance of many more, but if you live in a more rural area where there is only one of a store there is a real chance that it could close.  Linens N Things going into bankruptcy rocked a lot of markets and there may be more retailers to come.  So when purchasing a gift card for someone I wold stick to the major retailers like Target and Wal-Mart and stay away from the specialty box stores.

With the high cost of crude oil based fuels people need to start looking at vehicles that use alternative fules.  This three part series will cover alternatives that are available now.  Not possibilities for the future.

The last of the alternative vehicles that are currently avaiable is the Natural Gas vehicle.  This type of alternative fuel has been around for decades.  Many fleets of government vehicles run on Natural Gas.  This means that if you look for them they are available. There are two types of Natural Gas vehicles; Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquid Petroleum Gast (LPG).  Which one is best for you really depends on what fueling stations are in your area.  The best website I have found to get an idea of stations in your area is the Alternative Fuel Station Locator.

If there are no fueling stations that are convenient for you and natural gas is available at your home you can purchase a home fueling station from Phill.  This will cost you about $2k but if you drive long distances each day the savings are substantial.   How substantial?  Well, Natural Gas vehicles run at about the same mileage as gasoline but only costs around $1.50 per gallon equivalent.  

Other factors to consider with Natural Gas is that it burns so cleanly that you do not have to change the oil as much and the engines last longer.  A well maintained CNG engine should last for about 500k miles.  This means by the time your CNG vehicle dies on you we should have some other alternatives to talk about. 

For me CNG seems to be a great option.  The idea of fueling up at home is very appealing.  I hope this series has been fun and informative and that you will consider purchasing a vehicle that saves you money and allows for a little more supply in the regular gasoline market.  Making prices go down for everyone. 

I absolutely killed it at the grocery store yesterday.  I was so impressed with my haul that I called my good friend Joe Sangl to brag about the amazing amount of food that can be purchased if you are willing to couple the sales with coupons.  My wife and I are going to be hosting 5 teenagers at my home for the weekend for an event through our church so a good bit was snack food, but it also included dog food and yogurt which are items that we go through like crazy in my house.

The most interesting thing about this shopping trip was that I accomplished it at Bloom.  For those who are not familiar Bloom is an upperend grocery store.  Their main selling point is convenience.  The store is laid out logically, the carts have maps of the store on them so you can find items quickly, and they even have touch screen monitors where you can look up a recipe and, once found, a little printer prints it out for you with where all the items are located in the store.  Overall Bloom is one of the best shopping experiences around.  The trade off is you pay a little more for every day items if you do not shop the discounts.   So, of course, I shop the discounts and boy did it pay off this week.  Here are the numbers:

Regular price for all groceries after taxes – $67.18

Weekly promotional disounts – $29.02

Manufacturers Coupons- $10.05

Store Coupon – $10.00

Grand total – $18.11

That’s right $67.18 worth of groceries for $18.11.  That is a 73% savings off the regular price.  The key to this whole equation is the $10.00 store coupon.  You see Bloom has a rewards program called the Breeze Card.  They are still working on how the program works, but by signing up you are immediately put on the mailing list to receive $10 off coupons ( you have to spend $35 to get $10 off).  You get these coupons in groups of four and can use one each week over the course of a month.  If Bloom is doing this I will bet other grocery stores will follow or are already using similar promotions.  Check with your favorite chain to see if they do any special promotions for people on the mailing list and you could save a ton!

International travel is a very sticky endeavor.  You have to make sure you have your passport (which these days is no small task) and make sure you do not get ripped off.  The truth is there are traps all over the place to traveling internationally.  Even the cruise industry is really sneaky with the way it does things.  So how does an amateur avoid all these extra fees and weird tax policies?

Get a travel agent.

Yes I said it.  An experienced travel agent can be a real asset when planning overseas vacations.  For a small fee you can save yourself hundreds of dollars.  Just a few examples of things I had to search long and hard for that could be common knowledge to a good travel agent.

–The cruise industry started adding a fuel surcharge that did not appear until after you had booked your cruise.

–England is one of the most expensive places to fly.  It is less expensive to Fedex your bags to your hotel and then fly into France and take a train to England.

–Your cell phone will cost you a fortune to use overseas and on a cruise (even if you are docked).  You are better off going prepaid

I am sure there are tons more of these little tips that are annoying and require way too much time to hunt them all down.  An experienced travel agent can really save you in these situations.

The problem is, the travel industry is in the dumps with the emergence of the Internet.  So finding a good agent can be difficult.  The best way is to get a recommendation from a friend or family member.   This way you know that you are getting a quality person.  If your friends and family do not travel then you can try the ASTA.  This is a reputable group and can really help you narrow down your choice.  If you are looking to take a cruise a good place to try would be the CLIA.  In searching on these pages I picked up a lot of great info and was cued into some good travel agents.  Happy Vacationing!

Standard travel is different depending on with whom you talk.  For me standard travel, in the realm of vacations, is limited to either driving or flying to somewhere inside the U.S.  If you do not live in the states this would mean inside your country or, in the case of Europeans, continent.  This is by far the least expensive way to vacation.  By staying in your own country you do not need a passport to travel.

When staying in a hotel, flying, or renting a car I have yet to find a better way to score a deal than using Hotwire and Priceline in conjunction with each other.  You can see my post on this strategy Here.  In that same post I explained how VRBO.com works.  This is another great way to save money on housing while on vacation and is a recommended site.

For the more adventurous I have recently learned of the National Parks and Federal Recreation Land Pass.   This looks like a great deal if you enjoy the out doors and go to national parks frequently.  For $80 a year you plus three adults can get into the parks for no charge (kids under 16 are free).  This also covers standard amenities fees at any of these parks.  BUT WAIT!!! If you are a senior (62+ years old) the deal gets really sweet.  Instead of $80 the pass is $10.  And instead of being a one year pass it is a lifetime pass.  This means you can camp at national parks for a one time fee of $10.  Now in many ways this is not a great deal because you paid a lifetime of taxes for this to be available, but why not take advantage of what is there.  Either way for most families this is a good deal when you consider how much a week long stay could cost you.   A good example is everglades national park.  You can enjoy the great out doors and the amazing environment of the everglades and then easily take a day trip over to Miami for some urban fun.  Just one trip would more than pay for the $80 pass and any more you made during the year would just be a steal.  You can check out all the park locations here.

Since we talked about standard travel today I will be covering a little bit of what I consider non-standard travel tomorrow.  See you then.

I came across a website called Drive Cam.  It is simply a way to watch for risky driving behavior. Their main focus is companies with fleets of drivers, but I see this as a real way to reduce your insurance if you have a teenager in your home.  My niece, DOBS (which stands for daughter of black sheep), is now sixteen and starting to learn how to drive.  Frankly she is scary.  Black Sheep is the only one who is willing to ride in the vehicle with her and he is a battle tested veteran of the U.S. Army.  Almost nothing phases him.

With this program you get a camera inside the vehicle plus they make recommendations for how to improve the driving habits of the driver.   This seems that it would comfort an insurance company and give you a chance to ask for a lower rate when insuring a young driver.  If they do not comply at first maybe after a year with documented evidence of good driving you could get them to budge a little.  Plus you get to know where your teen is going.  This probably will not go over well with the newly independant but their safety and your insurance rates are what is at stake.

With the rising gas prices tons of people have been purchasing smaller more fuel efficient cars.  The problem come in that many people do not run the math in deciding whether or not to dump the old gas guzzler.  Now if you car dies it makes sense to get a more fuel efficient car, but if you are making payments or have paid the car off it gets a lot more complicated.  Through listening to Clark Howard on the radio I was turned onto the Political Calculations website.  The link goes straight to a calculator that will let you know whether it is wise mathematically to trade in your gas guzzler.  It even gives you a link to determine the operating costs of just about every car running on American roads.

After playing around with the calculator for a while I was able to determine that it pretty much does not make sense to to trade in a vehicle that is paid for if you are going to have to make payments on the new vehicle.  Even if this saves you a lot of gasoline it will not offset the cost of the payments.  Here is what I filled in to get the new car to be equal to the old car in cost per month, assuming the old car was paid off.

Total miles for the year: 20k

Cost for Gasoline : $5/gallon — I know this is high but I wanted to see what effect the cost of gasoline really had on the equation

Miles per Gallon:  Old- hwy 17 city12  New – hwy 35 city 26

Monthly payment: 378 – this is the average car payment in America

Semi annual insurance- Old $500  New $650

Montly Maitenance Cost – Old $180  New $90

This extreme situation made the two come out to within one penny of each other on a monthly expense basis.  This means, that if you are done with payments, the cost of running that vehicle is so low that it only makes sense mathematically to run the puppy till it dies.  Sure she has a few dings and then engine makes a growling sound similar to a bear, but those little traits just give her character.  Most of all she’s still saving you a bundle over that sleek newer model with the high gas mileage.

So you read my two posts and thought they were interesting but just are not sure if the work involved is worth the savings.  For your pleasure I have kept the receipts from my last four shopping trips.  Some of you will be appalled at the food I buy but there is some good stuff there too.

Publix – Publix is an expensive place to shop when buying items at full price, but they tend to have a good number of buy one get one free deals and they have one item each week that if you spend ten dollars on Sunday or Monday they give it to you for a penny.  Here is what I purchased at Publix yesterday and last monday.

2 boxes of Total cereal and 2 boxes of Cheerios cereal– regular price $3.49 a piece — on sale for 1.75 and had coupons for $1 off two — final price per box $1.25

4 pack of Yoplait YoPlus yogurt (bought 5) — regular price $4 — on sale for $2.00 and had coupons for $1 off — final price per pack $1, per cup 25 cents

3 bags Totino’s pizza rolls — reg price 3.69 — sale price 1.84 and had coupon for 40 cents off which publix doubles — final price $1.04

6 boxes hamburger helper (yes I eat this stuff about once a week) — regular price $1.99 — on sale for $1 and had coupon for 80 cents off three — final price per box 83 cents

Northland fruit juice — reg price $3.89 — sale and final price $1.95

Pasta Sauce — regular price $2.69 — sale and final price $1.35

Bertoli Olive Oil — reg price $6.99 — sale and final price $3.50

4 Pack of Publix Bath Tissue — reg price $2.39 — sale and final price 1 cent

Loaf of Publix white bread — reg price $1.09 — sale and final price 1 cent

Totals — Reg Price $66.92 — Savings $42.63 — final price $24.29 or 64% off

Bloom – I like they layout of Bloom but they are also a higher end grocery store so their regular prices are a bit higher than Wal-Mart or other low cost stores.  Once again their sales are really good.

3 Bouty Paper towels  — regular price $1.19 – sale price $1 plus 25 cent coupon – final price 75 cents.

2 Edy’s ice cream — reg price $5.29 – sale and final price $2.65

Pre-Made salad – reg price $3.49 – sale and final price $1.75

Bloom boneless skinless chick breast — reg price $9.53 – sale and final price $4.31

Totals – Reg Price $27.35 – Savings $13.58 – Final Price $13.77 or 49.7% off

Bi-Lo — I  used to do most of my shopping here because it is convenient to my home.  I still do a portion of it but make sure to only get the best deals.  Their regular prices are lower than Publix or Bloom but not quite as low as Wal-Mart.  I really don’t shop at Wal-Mart because it is out of my way and they really do not run sales on groceries.

First aid Alcohol – Reg price $1.09 – sale and final price 76 cents

4 pack Jello pudding (bought 3) – Reg price $3 – sale price $2.50 plus had 50 cent coupon that Bi-Lo doubles – final price $1.50 or 37.5 cents per cup

7.65 lbs lean ground beef – Reg Price 3.99/lb – sale price 1.99/lb – final price$15.28

Totals – Reg Price $40.69 – Savings $20.11 – final price $20.59 or 49.4% off

Grand Totals – Reg Price $134.96 – Savings $76.32 – Final Price $58.64 or 56.6% off

That is just what I  did at the grocery stores.  That doesn’t include the amazing deals I got at the major pharmacies.  Now my grocery budget for the month is $200.  I am a little a head of schedule on my shopping but I will not be spending any money for the rest of the month on ground beef, chicken, paper towels, and a few other items.  By stocking up I am able to spend the remaining money on foods that are more fun to eat like steak or seafood (one of my wife’s favorites).  I realize my eating is not the best but hey I had salad and yogurt in there.  See you tomorrow for wednesday deals and coupon codes.

I am a picky eater, but if I like a food I will eat a ton.  My favorite is pizza. I could eat pizza every day without blinking an eye.  This would drive my wife insane and is partly to blame why I have needed to lose weight.  The point is I am not some skinny rail of a person who lives off of air.  I eat a good amount of food.  That is why when I tell people that my wife and I are able to eat well only spending $200 on groceries and $140 for dining out each month I get some looks of disbelief.  I will be honest, we are not organic food people.  If you are going to eat organic you are going to pay a premium.  If we had any organic stores in our area that were reasonable, like a Trader Joe’s, I would probably transition a portion of our spending that way, but we don’t so I stick to the traditional grocery store food.  So how do I keep costs so low?  Just a few simple principles

Shop at multiple stores
Not everyone can do this.  If you live in an area with only one grocery store you will have to forgo this principle.  However if there are multiple stores around you that means more sales from which to take advantage.

Know the price of things
When you shop at multiple stores the regular price of items is different at each store.  you need to know this so that when a % off deal comes along you know whether it is really a deal or not.  A good example was this last week two stores had Edy’s ice cream on sale buy one get one free.  One store sold it for $5.19 regular price the other $6.29.  That is a significant difference and I was able to catch it because I knew that $6.29 seemed high.  The only way to get used to this is to pay attention to the sales ads and to the items you purchase at regular price.  Of course you should…

Never purchase items at regular price
I purchase very few items at regular price. The only items that I can think of that I get frequently at regular price is dog food, because we feed our dogs one specific brand, and milk, since we get it directly from a creamery. For pretty much everything else I will adjust what we eat each week to the sales that are available. Now I know there are times that you have to do this, especially as you first start out.  However over time you should be able to pretty much eliminate the need to purchase regular price items. You can do this when you…

Stock up when there is a great deal
This piggy backs on knowing the price of the items you are purchasing.  By stocking up on these everyday items you will only have to purchase them when they are on sale.  This means the first few months you may have to spend  a little more on groceries as you start to stock pile everyday items like razors, cereal, meat, etc.  Right now I have enough razors to last for at least a year, eight pounds of ground beef and three pounds of chicken breasts in the freezer.  I got the razors for free after the rebate and coupons and the meat at 50% off the regular price.

Use Coupons
I am not a big fan of clipping coupons.  I just started using them at the end of February.  The savings that I have seen as a result of using coupons has been astounding.  I am now a firm believer in using coupons and buying the Sunday paper every week.  This has not changed my dislike of clipping coupons so I started to…

Use the Web
The Internet has so much out there to help with using coupons.  The two sites that I use are couponmom.com and The Grocery Game. Both websites work pretty much the same.  Each week they put out a list of deals at various grocery stores and match them with coupons for you.  The sites even go so far as to tell you what paper the coupons are in.  So if I were buying razors at CVS it would tell me the sale price, what circular to get the coupon out of, the final price and the percentage off.  You can sort the list for each store using the various categories.  I sort by percentage off and stock up on the best deals.  Coupon Mom is my primary site because it is free.  I has all major drug stores, wal-mart, target, and three grocery stores for each state.  For many people it will have all the info they need.  Unfortunately two of the stores for my state don’t do business in my area and Wal-Mart is not close enough to be used for every day shopping. So I purchased a Grocery Game subscription.  Grocery game does give you more info and lets you pick which stores you want to get lists.  It tells you when to stock up on an item using a color coded system.  It is a good product but may not be for everyone.  The cost is only $10 for 8 weeks on one store and $5 for each additional store.  I purchase two two stores and in one week make up the cost of the subscription in savings.  This also saves me the hassle of cutting out all the coupons.  I can go to a specific circular for each coupon and cut out the ones I need.  If you are interested in signing up for The Grocery Game they do give referral credits.  If you are so inclined then contact me and I will send you an invitation.

Because this section on groceries is so long I am going to hold off on how I save on eating out until Monday.  See you tomorrow for more free samples.