Bikes: Since the 2009 bike models start arriving in September, many bike stores discount last year's models. True biking afficianados may appreciate the improvements, but we biking muggles can save a bundle buying older stock. Merchants need to floor room.
Major Appliances: Like bikes, the new models debut at stores in September and October. Unlike bikes, old major appliances take up large amounts of floor and warehouse space. Savvy shoppers can find deeply discounted appliances if they're willing to settle for state of last year's art.
Housewares: As houseware companies launch their Fall/Winter lines, be on the lookout for sales on Summer lines. Do you detect a theme?
Grills: Barbeque season ends after Labor Day, so look for major markdowns on grills.
Small Electronics: In the fall, many manufacturers release at least one new product....pay attention and watch prices drop on last year's model.
Trees, shrubs and perennials: Most nurseries don't want to hold onto these until the Spring, so pick up bargains now while the ground is still warm.
Wine: Starting in September, wine makers will be releasing wine from last year's harvest, so look for price reductions particularly in the high supply wines.
So…the CHEAPIOSITY bottom line. Ride your new slightly outdated bike. Replace your older major appliances and housewares with last year's models. (Don't replace major appliances for nw bells and whistles. Be environmentally responsible, and hang onto them until it makes sense to replace them.) Cook outside in the fall and winter on your new grill. If it's miserable out there, your stash of cheap wine will keep you warm, and new plants will provide cover from any inclement weather. Oh, and use your savings to treat yourself to a new-ish phone.
If you're the kind of person who needs the latest and greatest to boost your ego and impress other people with your blatant “I stood in line to pay retail” consumerism, face it right now. You are reading the wrong blog.
It’s that time of year. College students are heading back to campus, taking most of their parents’ hard-earned money with them. After ponying up for tuition, room and board, there’s one more big outlay to start off every semester – the textbooks. While a parsimonious parent conceivably could convince his or her progeny to take classes that don’t require any reading, this little economy might ultimately impact negatively on the student’s quality of education.
Brace yourself for some serious sticker shock. A college student typically spends an average of $700 to $1,100 on textbooks annually. The market for new textbooks is estimated at $3.6 billion this year. According to a 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office, the price of textbooks nearly tripled between 1986 and 2004, rising an average of 6 percent a year. (During this same period, inflation rose a mere 3 percent a year.) In California, the state auditor reported last week that textbook prices have skyrocketed 30 percent in the past four years. WOW! Last month, Congress passed legislation forcing textbook publishers to release more information about their prices. The legislation also requires selling textbooks separately rather than packaged with a companion CD or workbook that makes for a more expensive purchase. However, these provisions will not take effect until 2010.
Here at CHEAPIOSITY, this kind of information turns our stomachs (and simultaneously drains our family coffers – a founding staffer’s daughter is back East matriculating in private college as you read this post) so we’ve sent our crackerjack staff out to the worldwide web to bring you some alternative solutions that will help you and your almost-grown yard-apes. After negotiating your financial aid package, you can hardly bargain-shop on the big-ticket elements of higher education like tuition, room and board, but you might be able to save some serious moolah on textbooks.
Electronic Textbooks:
Six of the major textbook publishers (including McGraw Hill, Pearson, Cengage, etc) have started a website, http://www.coursesmart.com/, which sells subscriptions to digital copies of textbooks. You purchase subscriptions for the length of time needed, and there’s a limitation of how many pages you can print, and they can’t be returned. www.flatworldknowledge.com/ offers free online textbooks and charges students fees to download or print them. Also take a look at http://www.ichapters.com/ and http://www.springer.com/. Check individual publishers to see if they have eTextbook sites, as well as http://www.cafescribe.com/, and don’t forget to ask your college bookstore if they offer access to eTextbooks.
Price Comparison Sites:
Since almost anything can be bought online these days, take a look at price comparision search engines specific for textbooks, like: http://www.bigwords.com/, http://www.cheapesttextbooks.com/, http://www.booksprice.com/, http://www.half.com/, http://www.bookholders.com/ for both new and used books. Let’s not forget Barnes & Noble (http://www.bn.com/) or Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/) or eBay (http://www.ebay.com/).
Textbook Rentals:
When their school term is over, most students head back to the bookstore see what they can get for their unwanted books.
Another solution is to rent textbooks. At sites like: http://www.chegg.com/, http://www.bookrenter.com/, and http://www.campusbookrentals.com/, students pay as little as a third of the retail price and then return it at semester’s end. Buying a used book can be even cheaper than renting so compare prices before making your decision. Remember too that renting may not include supplementary materials like workbooks or CDs, so know exactly what you’re renting. Finally, keep in mind that you are renting the book. You must return the book in good condition or you will have to buy it outright. If you habitually tend to go highlighter-crazy or break the spines or dog-ear pages, renting might not be the ideal system for you.
Free Downloads:
Yes, you can actually get free textbooks to download. Sites like,: http://www.freeloadpress.com/ offer free downloads by selling advertising to supplement their costs. Sites like http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page have over 25,000 titles. These titles are older or out of copyright texts. The problem with these sites is lack of selection, but it’s definitely worth a look.
The Bottom Line:
Remember to comparison shop. Sometimes it’s cheaper to buy used then to rent. Know what you’re buying or renting….does your purchase include the workbook or CD you need? Maybe you want to buy a used textbook and a new companion workbook. Mix and match, buying only what you need and avoiding bundled items if you don’t need them.
If you do buy textbooks, used or new, take it easy on them. Condition counts.
You can always sell them at your student bookstore or online with a click of your cursor on an online site like: Amazon. (For busy students, Amazon has even come up with an even easier system to sell all your unwanted textbooks called EasySell. You ship them the textbooks you don't need any more, and, for a nominal charge, they sell and ship them for you.)
Think of it as recycling with benefits. Think green. As in dollars and the environment.
UPDATE AS OF 9/2009: Take a look:
http://www.usnews.com/education/paying-for-college/articles/2009/09/02/4-ways-to-get-college-textbooks-free.html?PageNr=1
In keeping with our motto of living a first class life at economy prices, we thought we should talk about buying high end items. (Here at CHEAPIOSITY, we’re not really high end clothing shoppers. We wear our CHEAPIOSITY uniforms to work in the testing lab, and we express ourselves on Casual Fridays, and of course once a year, we break out the good stuff for the office Christmas party. That said, it is our understanding that some people actually enjoy spending big bucks on designer clothing and other big name big ticket brands. We can only assume that such really big spenders might enjoy their purchases even more if they got really big bangs for their really big bucks. Hence, this post.) High end bargains can be found in the USA and around the world. And we have scoped them out especially for you.
Bear in mind that this post is only focusing on high end items, so don’t write us that we left out your favorite outlet mall. (You never write. You never call. Is it something we said?)
The first place to look is http://www.premiumoutlets.com/centers/; these are Premium Outlet Malls both in the USA and parts of Asia and Mexico City. They are pretty well spread out throughout the US, so it may be worth an outing to the one nearest you. If you find yourself in Tokyo or other Japanese cities, or Seoul, Korea, you’ll find high end bargains galore.
When in Milan, Italy, it would be well worth your while to visit http://www.marni-international.com/. There, you will find discounts of 50%, but you don’t have to travel as far as Milan to find Marni. They have stores in many other countries where deflated dollars and inflated Euros go farther. Also in Milan, check out: D’Magazine (http://www.dmagazine.it/). This outlet is in the Fashion District, and on a good day, you’ll find Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, and Gucci at up to 90% off. Still have room in your bag for more bargains? 50 kilometers from Milan, on the Italian/Swiss border is Foxtown (http://www.foxtown.com/) in Mendrisio, Switzerland. Not only are there outlet stores (Dior to YSL), but restaurants and a casino to keep you busy. (Don’t mind us; we’ll be back here, thrift shopping, eating leftovers from TGIFriday’s, and buying Lotto tickets. Sigh.)
If Prada (www.prada.com) is your thing and you’re in the area, a trip to Montevarchi, Italy may be in order. There you’ll find discounts of 50% or more. Now, don’t get confused, the Prada outlet is called Pellettieri d’Italia. Non-Prada-philes may ask why. Well, little ones, before Prada was Prada, Miuccia Prada’s fashion house was known as Pellettieri d’Italia, and they kept the name for the outlet. You will also find discounts on their second-tier line Miu Miu. The outlet store is in the Tuscany region of Italy, 45 minutes to an hour's drive from Florence.
Now that you’ve traversed Italy, you’re looking damn good. Time to trek north to Helsinki, Finland and do a little something special for your house. You don’t want your house to feel neglected, do you? Check out Helsinki’s famous Arabia Kitchen and Bath outfitters? http://www.arabia.fi/. There you find discounts up to 70% off on everything including the kitchen sink. They even have a shipping service to help you shlep it all home to wherever.
While the fabled bargains in Hong Kong are not what they used to be, it would be worth a trip to Joyce Warehouse at Horizon Plaza for find discounts on designer clothes starting at 40% off.
Well, there you have it. While no list can be all-inclusive, this is a good place to start for some of the best high end outlets around the world. Happy shopping! Drop us a postcard. Sniff.
Unless you live in total isolation and haven't seen a newspaper, circular or TV, you have already realized that it's BACK TO SCHOOL sale time. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that August's the ideal month to stock up on school and office supplies, clothing, furnishings for dorm rooms and student apartments, school related electronics and computers. If it's school- related, now's the time to buy it.
We miss our school days...buying our new Buster Browns for fall, shopping for our school wardrobe and fighting with our moms in the Sears dressing room, wondering who our teacher might be, worrying about missing the school bus on the first day, plotting how to keep the schoolyard bully from stealing our lunch money, choosing just the right lunchbox and notebook -- cool enough to fit in yet ironic enough to amuse our close friends all year long. Maybe we're actually relieved to have survived the trauma. But we digress. As is our custom.
In the retail world, summer is over*, so look for clearance sales on summer-oriented items from bathing suits, clothes, to outdoor grills. Retailers need space for the fall items, and you can still get a couple months use out of them this year what with our new and vastly unimproved Crazy World Weather. (Oh sure, President Bush, there's no such thing as global warming. Let's call it global weirding.)
*In the real world, summer is almost over so it's high time to lower those standards and have that last desperate romantic summer fling. Summer isn't summer without some regrets.
August is our Nation's harvest time, so make it a point to visit a Farmer's Market or stop at a roadside stand or just take advantage of the abundancy of fresh produce on sale at your local supermarket. Of course, if you want to be really cheap like we are, this is the perfect time to start canning and freezing the fresh produce for the winter. We're sure that's what domestic goddess and icon of home and hearth Martha is doing right now. (Bringing in the harvest singlehandedly and canning for the winter wearing a cunning little apron she sewed herself and a hat she wove out of twigs and berries. How festive.)
Do you know what Peridot is? Yeah, we didn't either until we Googled it. It's August's birthstone, it's green, and many Jewelers have them on sale for gifts this month.
Finally, there are less than 150 days before Christmas. (Before you get your P.C. panties in a bunch, Chanukah starts December 21, and Kwanzaa is December 26.) But who's counting? We're counting. Call us crazy, but here at CHEAPIOSITY, we plan ahead so the financial bite of our overwhelming generosity doesn't kill us in December and January. It's never too soon to start thinking about the holidays. The stores are already decked out in full-on Halloween. Time flies in the marketplace. Our year tumbles to a close, accelerating exponentially. So start your smart holiday gift-buying now.
Movie night isn’t cheap these days. Not with full price adult admissions running $12-14 in some cities. The smallest container of popcorn goes for around five bucks...a couple more bucks to quench your thirst with a soft drink…and why is that patented movie theater room-temperature low-pressure water fountain always on the blink? Throw in parking fees and a babysitter, and it’s little wonder the multiplex aims almost exclusively for free-spending teenagers.
Netflix and Blockbuster are viable options….but sometimes you want to get out of the house and let someone else pay for the air conditioning. Besides, some movies just plain play better on a big screen with a big crowd.
A family of four rushing out for the latest Pixar or Disney offering on opening weekend can expect to shell out upwards of $75, not to mention the ubiquitous marketing tie-ins. Talk about sticker shock. Paying full price for movie tickets is tough to justify, knowing you’ll probably own the video for around ten bucks in six months.
Here at CHEAPIOSITY, our team of experts have pondered the issue and come up with a few tips that just might make your next trip to the movies a little less expensive:
Seek out free showings. (Well, duh, CHEAPIOSITY. Free would be cheap. But how...?) Major movie chains sometimes offer free family matinees. Regal Theaters offer Free Family Film Festivals, for matinee showings of family films, mid-week. Check your local theater chains to find out if such programs exist near you.
Clip coupons. Check all circulars (grocery stores or otherwise) for discount coupons. Once you’re on the lookout, you’ll be surprised you never noticed them before.
If drive-ins still exist in your area, check them out. (Good luck finding one.) They may have per-car specials, children generally get in for free, and the price of admission will be cheaper and so will the concessions. And so will the picture and sound quality. But hey, it’s a night out. Sorta. We love a drive-in. Are we dating ourselves even suggesting this option? Probably...
Look for Independent Theaters. They will offer current films, a few weeks after release and at much reduced prices….sometimes as much as 70% off a chain’s price. Very often they will feature special matinee prices as well.
Many chains offer discounts on tickets if you buy in bulk. Also, Costco and other warehouse stores sell movie tickets in prepackaged quantities at a discount. Not-for-Profit organizations sometimes get bulk deals from Theater Chains at greatly discounted prices. There is one downside to this: these tickets are not always good for special engagements (like the first 2 weeks of a movie’s release) so always check for restrictions before making your plans and purchases.
Avoid on-line reservations sites. Almost all of them charge a surcharge of a $1 or more per ticket. They are sites like http://www.fandango.com/, http://www.movietickets.com/, etc. However, sometimes you can buy directly from the movie chain online, where there is no handling charge. Policies change from chain to chain, so check their sites carefully.
If you going to buy snacks, buy the largest sizes and share….at least you’ll get more bang for your buck. Some nefarious CHEAPIOSITY staffers sink so low as to sneak in snacks and avoid the concession inflation problem altogether. Other more scrupulous CHEAPIOSITY staffers have heard tales of folks getting tossed out on their ear for violating theater rules in this regard. Your call.
Go to the movies at off-times. Weekday matinees are discounted. Some chains have “twilight” showings (so you can go right after work) at a discounted rate. It goes without saying that weekends and holidays are the days to avoid if you want to save a buck. ). One of the ‘senior’ members of Team CHEAPIOSITY wanted to see a well reviewed foreign film at his local art theater and discovered a Senior Matinee price on Wednesdays for $4, considerably cheaper than the usual senior price of $7, and a whopping 60% less than the normal $10 adult admission.
Join theater chain loyalty clubs, so you can take advantage of discounts. Check theater chain websites (You can find links to most of the major chains here: http://www.tdi-online.org/tdi/fs_moviechains.html Check these sites for discount coupons to print out and take to the box office and other offers and contests worth your time and pre-planning. For a few examples, Regal Entertainment group http://www.regmovies.com/ is offering a sweepstakes online for a free year of movie tickets, and their super saver tickets will save you up to 40%. Southern California's Laemmle Theatres http://www.laemmle.com/shop2/index.php?cPath=21_27&page=1&sort=2d offer significant discounts on admissions and concessions bought online and in large quantities. AMC Theatres https://nationalsales.amctheatres.com/ offer Summer Camp bargains and the usual bulk discounts on tickets and concessions. Our local art film theater provides a frequent viewer card as incentive; after six tickets, the seventh movie is free.
Another way to get cheap movie tickets is to see if your employer has a corporate program with any of the big movie theater companies. Many companies make a corporate arrangement with theater chains, allowing employees to purchase unrestricted movie tickets for only $6 each. It doesn’t hurt to ask. A perk's a perk.
If you’re self-employed, see if your home business can get in on a corporate purchase plan with area movie theaters to get cheap movie tickets. You may need to buy your tickets in batches of twenty five or fifty, but if you see movies frequently, the savings will pay off pretty quickly. If you’re a member of the National Association for the Self Employed, you can also get cheap movie tickets (as well as other terrific advice, support and information) through them.
If you belong to a credit union or business association, see if they offer a discount movie ticket program. If you’re a student, see if your school has cheap movie tickets to offer you. Many banks, unions, clubs and other associations participate in bulk discounting as well. Ask around.
Check with local community groups and schools to find Entertainment Books; these fundraisers are filled with a wide range of coupons and usually include heavily discounted movie theater tickets.
Free movie tickets are often part of cross-promotional campaigns. Some brands (usually cereals and soft drinks) and supermarket chains offer free tickets with purchases. Watch out for these offers and plan ahead. For example, the famous chocolate maker Hershey’s advertises an offer in which one must collect 16 points from specially marked packages of Milk Duds Candy, Whoppers Malted Milk Balls, or Hershey’s Bites Candies to exchange for one free movie ticket.
Free movie screenings are available in many cities; you can look for passes and opportunities online. There are plenty of sites to check; try this one: FilmMetro
As you can see, there are ways to avoid paying full price. So go to the movies. Just don’t be a chump about it.
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