WORTH A LOOK

We at CHEAPIOSITY spend a lot of time on the internet. A lot. Some people call our perpetual surfing anti-social, but we call it research. Whatever. What’s in a name? When we find something worth reading, we’ll post a link just for you. We’re always thinking of you. Even though we don’t exactly know who you are….
...

Here's a very cool page linking you to printable coupons and bargains galore:

couponing.about.com

We came across a very interesting article in the New York Times about getting better deals at the megastores. While it’s nice to know that the country’s newspaper of record has legitimized the return of haggling, we here at CHEAPIOSITY weren’t aware it had ever gone out of style…don’t be shy. It’s your money.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/business/23haggle.html?em&ex=1206417600&en=1f71cf57986b3fa8&ei=5087%0A

On The Today Show (March 3, 2008) there was a terrific segment about saving money and calories. Check it out for yourself:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/23441460/

Why we buy: The truth about shopoholics.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23450003/

Making Kids Money Savvy: Try These Four Financial Tricks.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120468099339812197.html?mod=hpp_us_personal_journal

Protecting your savings accounts: http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnwin0708/limits.html

How to avoid hidden hotel fees.

http://www.smartmoney.com/dealoftheday/index.cfm?story=20080221-hidden-hotel-fees&split=0

101 Fantastic Freebies from PC World. Nothing's cheaper than free.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,143642/article.html

The best and worst college savings plans.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120830955932118243.html?mod=pj_main_hs_coll

Hotels that are offering gas incentives.

http://www.smartmoney.com/dealoftheday/index.cfm?story=20080414-hotels-offering-gas-incentives

How to sell gold jewelry.

http://www.smartmoney.com/dealoftheday/index.cfm?story=20080418-selling-gold-jewelry&cid=1012

10 myths about investing and finances that trip up people.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/basics/2008-04-17-myths-mistakes_N.htm?csp=34

Does collison damage cover you in you use a credit card for a car rental?

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_8625501?source=rss

If you find anything you think might prove interesting to our cheap and growing fanbase, write us and we’ll link.

Read more!

THRIFT SHOPPING

Don’t you wrinkle your nose at us. Some of the best stuff in our closets came from thrift stores. In fact, just about every designer label article in CHEAPIOSITY's closet came from thrift stores. Many pieces came with their original tags attached too. You’d be surprised how many compulsive shoppers shop for the thrill of the hunt and donate unworn designer duds. Trends rarely last more than a season; paying full price for a trend is wasteful. The really fashion-forward folks donate trends the moment the rest of us Muggles hear of them. You can usually find the latest fashions for a couple of dollars at good thrift stores well before the department stores have consigned those trends to their discount racks..

If you’re vigilant and cautious, you can find incredible bargains. Oh sure, there’s a lot of junk too, and very few thrift stores have changing rooms so clothes-buying can be a bit of a gamble. Arm yourself with a tape measure and promise yourself you’ll donate back anything that doesn’t truly flatter you.

For sewers and crafters, it’s well worth buying clothing for the unique buttons or trim. When you’re buying a jacket or pants for only a couple of bucks, you can easily afford a trip to the tailor to customize the fit. Some enterprising souls thrift shop for quality and vintage items and resell on eBay or at their own yard sales at huge profits.

Our favorite thrift stores dry clean and launder items before adding them to the floor. (Still, we make a habit of washing everything before we wear, just to be safe.) The better thrift stores don’t display or sell items with obvious defects; therefore, stains, flaws or tears may be harder to see. Examine your purchases carefully; most thrift stores have a no-returns policy.

Really good thrift stores arrange garments by color or by size and category, making it a pleasure to shop. Other less well-run establishments present more of a challenge, but you may appreciate your brilliant finds even more if they’re hidden in piles of unspeakable rubbish.

The thrift stores we avoid tend to smell like a junior high school locker room on a very bad day. Sometimes, in a pinch, we’ll proceed there with caution, but we carry hand washing gel in our car, and everything we buy gets thrown in the washer as soon as we get home. Chewing gum helps us cope with the odors while in the store.

Look for sale days; many stores make major markdowns one day a week. Our favorite store discounts their oldest merchandise (easy to spot by the price tag color) 60% on Sundays and 40% every day. Our second favorite store discounts everything in the store 50% on Wednesday mornings. These policy insures a rapid turnover.

Wooden furniture is an excellent buy; upholstered items can be a bit more risky. Shop for picture frames; you can always discard the “art.” Look at the bones, not the surface of wooden items. A lick of paint or stain can work wonders, and a little carpenter's glue can tighten a wiggly joint.

Appliances, unless they are sealed in their original packaging, probably aren’t worth the gamble. We have purchased all kinds of iffy items: linens, pillows, hats, stuffed toys. We simply machine wash them in warm water and dry them in the dryer; if they survive, we know they’re clean enough to display and use.

Donate your own used clothing and household goods once they’re no longer in heavy rotation. It’s the right thing to do, and it will help you declutter, making room for more thrift shop finds.

Yard sales and flea markets can be terrific places to browse and bargain-hunt. Sadly, in these Antiques-Roadshow-savvy days, it gets harder and harder to find real treasures, but real bargains are literally around the corner every weekend. You can always try to negotiate, but remember: There is a limit. Fifteen years ago, we ran a garage sale of our own. Men’s shirts were all marked two for a dollar, and someone asked if we could “do better.” At that point in the story, our memory gets a bit blurry, but we vaguely recall garments flying and voices rising. Even for CHEAPIOSITY, two shirts for a dollar is cheap enough.

FYI: Here's another terrific article about secondhand shopping for you to read.

Read more!

ANNUAL & SEMI-ANNUAL SALES

When CHEAPIOSITY goes shopping in a store, first thing we do is look at the SALES racks. There’s simply no good reason to pay full price unless you plan on leaving the price tag attached to impress shallow, stupid people. There are sales, and then there are SALES. Some annual (or semi-annual) sales are so popular -- and the payoff is so huge -- that consumers wait all year long to snap up their favorite brands and coveted products on the cheap..

· Filene's Basement

Sale: 'Running of the Brides'
Location: Flagship is in Boston, Mass.
(Also in New York, Georgia, Virginia, and Ohio)

When: Varies per location, typically in February or March.

Why It's Worth the Wait:
First held in 1947, The Basement's Bridal Gown sale has become a tradition among brides-to-be who mob the store in search of designer wedding gowns at ridiculous prices. Dresses worth thousands can be had for as little as $249.

· Victoria's Secret

Sale: Semi-annual sale

When: Each year in January and May

Why It's Worth the Wait:
The store brings out its signature pink bins and fills them with items up to 70% off. Keep in mind that the sale can start online almost a full month before hitting the bricks & mortar stores.

· Nordstrom's

Sale: Annual anniversary sale

When: Last two weeks of July

Why It's Worth the Wait:
Savings up to 40% draw hordes of bargain-loving summer shoppers. The sale also extends to its online catalog, Nordstrom.com. Even greater deals are available on leftovers at Nordstrom's Rack Stores, where unloved goods go for a song.

· IKEA

Sale: Annual sale

When: Late July to early August

Why It's Worth the Wait:
The prices are pretty reasonable on most things, and discounts can occasionally be found in the room where returned goods are kept (though they are sometimes damaged) year-round. But anyone looking for serious bargains has to wait for the once a year sale in late July to early August when stores knock 20 to 60% off selected merchandise.

· Williams-Sonoma

Sale: Semi-annual blowout sale

When: January and June

Why It's Worth the Wait:
Twice a year, the high-end purveyor of quality cookware slashes its prices on selected items by 50% -- even 75% -- off, making sometimes unaffordable items way more affordable.

· Hammacher Schlemmer

Sale: "Rather Famous" annual sale

When: Oddly, this "annual" sale is held several times a year

Why It's Worth the Wait:
The oldest continuously-published catalog in the U.S. offers many of its unique items for up to 65% off. If you were hoping for a water-repellent goat suede blazer or an Italian Merino ruffled cape, these sales may be your chance to snap up some pretty unusual stuff.

· Garnet Hill

Sale: Post-Holiday sale

When: January

Why It's Worth the Wait:
This catalog merchant holds a great post-holiday sale and carries a wide line of impressive goods. It offers women's and children's clothing and household items from linens to furniture. During the sale, a wide selection of its products are available at savings ranging up to 75% off. Garnet Hill offers e-mail sale alerts to clue you in to upcoming bargain opportunities.

· Hot Topic

Sale: Half-off clearance items

When: Usually in early spring and late summer

Why It's Worth the Wait:
A couple of times a year, Hot Topic puts all of its clearance items on a half-price sale. Unfortunately, these sales are usually not announced until the absolute last minute; in fact, even the store employees aren't told about them until the day before the sale begins.

· Brooks Brothers

Sale: Preferred Customer sale

When: January and June

Why It's Worth the Wait:
The suits normally cost a minor royalty's ransom -- the Golden Fleece two-button pinstripe, for example, retails for $1,600. However, the company's semi-annual sales knocks 25% off much of its stock. If you open a Brooks Brothers credit account at that time, you can bump this discount up to 33%.

· Menards

Sale: Fit-in-a-bag sale

When: Possibly August

Why It's Worth the Wait:
In this promotion, Menards sends full-sized grocery bags out with a sales flyer. Shoppers can fill the bags with whatever they wish (subject to some restrictions), and items in the bag are then discounted by a percentage (which varies from sale to sale, but last August's was 15%) off the normal price of the items in the bag. A Menards spokesman declined to confirm the sale.

· Henri Bendel

Sale: Semi-annual sale

When: January and late August

Why It's Worth the Wait:
Twice a year, even the grand dame of New York elegance marks down goods in order to clear the way for the latest runway hits. In late August and January, savvy shoppers from all over the country find their way to the mansions to score clothes, accessories and some cosmetics to carry home in Bendel's trademark white and brown striped bag.

· Manolo Blahnik

Sale: Sample shoe sale

When: Possibly in May and November

Why It's Worth the Wait:
If you want to get $500 shoes, for say, $100, you'll have to keep on your toes. The sale is never announced until just a few days before the event. Usually, they are on any given day in May and November, but in 2004, they had a sale in the month of February; earlier this year, they had one in January.

· Vera Wang

Sale: Sample/clearance sale

When: Late November

Why It's Worth the Wait:
Wang's fashions can be also be found in Saks, Neiman-Marcus and Marshall Fields, but only in NYC does this killer deal take place. Past sales have found shoppers fighting over gowns and using aisles as dressing rooms to score 75% off of Wang's dresses that cost up to $10,000.

· Lincoln Highway
Multi-State Yard Sale

Sale: BUY-WAY Yard Sale

When: August 7-9, 2008

Why It's Worth the Wait:
If you want to find your bargains in a more interesting al fresco manner, check out the longest yard sale in America. It stretches out from West Virginia to Illinois along the Lincoln Highway (old U.S. 30 in most places).

. Bath and BodyWorks

When: June 1-15

Why It's Worth the Wait:

Items up to 50% off (and sometimes more). Check website for details: www.bathandbodyworks.com

Read more!

APRIL BARGAINS

TELEVISIONS

The fiscal year ends in March for most Japanese companies, which means discounts for you as they get rid of old models to make room for this year's.

COOKWARE

Graduation and wedding season are around the corner so look out for big promotions on kitchen goods from retailers.

VACUUMS

Most vacuum companies release their new models for the year in June. Take advantage of the price drop of older models.

APPLIANCES

Retailers will be bringing out the savings as everyone looks to update their home for spring.

EASTER ESSENTIALS

With the end of the Easter season, retailers will be "spring cleaning" their Sunday dresses. Gear up for next year.

Read more!

TV: DIGITAL CONVERSION

As if we don’t already have enough to worry about, now they’re running ominous messages on our TV screens telling us that the entire country is converting from analog to digital TV signals on February 18, 2009..(date changed to June 12, 2009)
...
Eek! What does that mean? What will happen to us? Is this like when they told us we were going metric? Do we have to buy a new watch?
...
What are we supposed to do? Throw out our older TVs and buy new ones? Do those grand poobahs think we’re made of money? What will happen to all our junked tube televisions? Imagine all that toxic waste.
...
We can’t take any more planned obsolescence. Not to sound like an old crank but… LP. Reel to reel tape. Eight tracks. Audio cassettes. CD’s. MP3’s. Video cassettes. (Fortunately, we missed that whole Beta debacle.) DVD. Hi-Def. And now BluRay. Enough already.
...
Here at CHEAPIOSITY we don't throw out TV’s until they're dead. And even then, we dispose of them ecologically and mindfully. So what does all this digital conversion mean to the cautious consumer?
...
Even if those continuous crawls are meant to alarm you, don’t panic. If you already subscribe to a satellite, cable, dish or whatever else your phone company or local conglamerate offers, you probably have to do nothing. Check with your service provider to be sure; assume nothing. Waiting till the last minute is not a good policy.
...
If you are still using an antenna for your television reception, you are going to need a converter box.
...
These converter boxes are expected to cost between $50 and $70 and will be available at most major electronics retail stores. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration have begun accepting requests for two $40 coupons per household to be used toward the purchase of the converter boxes.
...
To request your coupons, consumers can apply online at http://www.dTV2009.gov/. The government also has set up a 24-hour hotline to take requests, 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009)
...
When they ordered the transition to digital broadcasting, Congress set aside $1.5 billion for the coupon program, which will fund 33.5 million coupons and other costs. These coupons come in the form of a gift card with an expiration date of approximately 90 days. When you receive your card/coupon, check the expiration date and make sure to use it within the allotted time period to insure you get the savings. With the card/coupon comes a list of the stores in your area that will carry the converter boxes. Don't procrastinate....get your boxes now or you may be forced to pay full price. As you now, for all of us at CHEAPIOSITY, retail is a dirty word.
...
Don’t take our word for any of this stuff. Here’s the official scoop:
...
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/televisions/non-digital-tvs/digital-converter-boxes/digital-tv-converter-boxes-first-look-3-08/overview/digital-tv-converter-boxes-first-look.htm
...
http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=340120
...
Bottom line: Don't throw out your old TV....it will probably last a lot longer than the new ones. Those giant plasma and LCD screens are super cool and flashy, but we all know prices are bound to go down soon. If your aging TV is still limping along, you can trade up for very little cash. Tons of non-CHEAPIOSITY readers are dumping their uncool but perfectly reliable TV’s and replacing them with the newest stuff. Our old 40” Mitsubishi tube set died last week, and before racing out to spend a couple of grand on a new set, we checked Craigslist and found a replacement for under two hundred dollars. There were literally HUNDREDS of people getting rid of their TV sets for pennies on the dollar; some were even FREE. Check around in local newspapers and on Craigslist.

Read more!

MAXIMIZING AIRLINE MILES AND OTHER TIPS

MAXIMIZING AIRLINE MILES

& OTHER PERKS

...
Here at CHEAPIOSITY, we love to collect airline miles and then use them for free (and upgraded) airline tickets. We also use our miles to pay for our hotel stays and other goods and services offered by the various airlines and their partners. In this economy, a free or practically free vacation is a huge perk; still, we hear that some people don’t bother because they think it’s too much trouble....
...
This reminds us of a story. Doesn’t everything? When a CHEAPIOSITY founding team member was quite young, her little cousin Debbie invited her to her birthday party. After the guests left, Debbie was showing off her gifts and her room and just generally flaunting her birthday girl status, and in a moment of high spirits and misguided largesse, she tossed a few loose pennies into a trash can. When Cousin Debbie left the room, little Miss CHEAPIOSITY made a furtive and guilt-ridden dive for the loose change, shoving the money inside the patent leather Mary Janes she’d worn for the occasion. The change made for a lumpy and uncomfortable limp for the remainder of the day, and Miss CHEAPIOSITY worried she’d be discovered as a thief and a scrounger by her aunt or uncle or even her parents. Still, thirteen cents was thirteen cents. Needless to say, airline miles are not something we at CHEAPIOSITY take for granted or part with easily...
Let’s talk you through all the red tape and rigamarole.
It’s not as complicated as it may seem. Once you get the hang of it, your whole life becomes sort of a giant game show. Grocery Shopping For Miles! Gas Buying For Vacations! Bill Paying For Free Stuff Later!
...
Let's talk about credit cards. Almost every credit card extant offers some kind of perk whether it's cashback, money towards a car purchase, airline miles, or charitable donations. These cards charge annual fees depending on the perks; fees can range from free to $450 for the American Express Platinum Card. Interest rates vary as well depending on the card. Here’s something you might not have considered. You can negotiate your interest rates and finance charges. Imagine that. Negotiate. Call the credit card company and negotiate the rate down; you'll be pleasantly surprised how much lower they will go. Think about it from their point of view. They would rather get less in finance charges from you than to offer credit to a credit risk who defaults. A friend of ours got his interest rate down to 9% by being persistent. CHEAPIOSITY trained him well.
...
Of all the perk choices out there, we choose mileage. Of course, that’s because we travel quite a bit. It’s what we do. If it’s not what you do, then mileage is probably not the optimum choice for you. Duh.
...
Some credit cards are airline specific while others allow you to transfer mileage to multiple airlines. Each card has its pluses and minuses; after exhaustive research and considerable soul searching, we are ready to make some recommendations. Admittedly, this recommendation is based solely on our individual (yet extensive) experience and our subjective (if expert) opinion and our (practically unrivaled) thrift, dear reader: we use an airline specific credit card and the Starwood American Express Card.
...
Here's the deal. First, pick the airline you prefer and the one you use the most. With luck, this is the same airline. Make sure said airline has many partners and flies internationally, and if you haven't already done so, join their frequent flier program immediately. Joining is FREE. Usually, when you sign up, they even give you a few thousand miles as incentive. (Your airline should have a major hub nearby so you don’t have to fly too far because chances are you’ll have to change planes there. For instance, Delta’s hub is Atlanta. American has hubs in Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.)
...
We like American Airlines (again, just our personal preference) because they fly to most of our usual domestic destinations and because American Airlines is part of the One World partner program. These partners effectively cover the rest of the globe...or at least the parts we want to visit.
...
Once you choose your preferred airline, find a credit card that gives you miles on that airline. If you are applying for an airline miles credit card, make sure the annual fee is reasonable and affordable for you, that you get the first year’s membership free and that you get at least 15-25,000 miles free for joining. Check that you are getting other perks that almost all credit cards offer: like car rental insurance, purchase protection, etc.
...
Also make sure that they offer other perk programs attached to airline miles, like dining programs. Our card’s dining program lets us register our credit card and earn miles for our dining purchases with additional bonus miles for patronizing the dining program's partners. Since we use American Airlines, we use Advantage Dining.
https://aa.rewardsnetwork.com/accountsetup.jsp

...
There are many other reward offers as well. You can earn additional valuable airline miles with the money you spend on hotels and shopping.
...
We also use The Starwood Hotels American Express Card. Starwood Hotels include: Sheraton, Four Points, St.Regis, Westin, Le Meridien, Luxury Collection, W Hotels, and more. Be sure to get Starwood points for joining and your first year membership for free. (You know the drill.) https://www143.americanexpress.com/cards/home.do#.
...
You earn points for every dollar spent on the Starwood card. You simply transfer those points to your mileage frequent flyer program. Starwood has 30 airline partners. Check what the deal is with your preferred airline; not all airlines are partners. Especially, check the ratio for exchange; for example, Starwood and American Airlines are partners, and the exchange ratio is 1:1 - one point = 1 mile. However, United Airlines’ ratio is a less favorable one at 2:1, meaning 2 Starwood Points = 1 United mile.
...
When we transfer 20,000 Starwood Points, we get a 5,000 point bonus. When we transfer 20,000 Starwood Points, we get 25,000 American miles. That’s a lot. We also exchange Starwood points for our hotel stays at Starwood properties, and with their Cash & Points program, we use less points and pay a greatly discounted amount for a room. For our stay at a Starwood Category 4 hotel, we would use 4,000 points and pay only $60 a night. What's a Category 4 hotel?? Go read about it on the Starwood Amex link....we can't do everything for you. (Suffice it to say it's four times better than a one-star hotel.) There are many other point exchanges for goods and services which you can read about on the link.
...
To maximize our travel savings, we use our credit cards for just about everything. Every point counts. We use our credit cards to pay our landline phone bill, mobile phone bill, cable bill, groceries, gas, dry cleaning, and other purchases. We are not encouraging you to accrue credit card debt, but if you are going to pay those bills anyway, why not get miles or points when you do? When you only write one check, you save on postage. Better yet, pay online and save the postage. In a previous post we told you about http://www.MileMavin.com, which will give you help maximizing your miles/points.
...
You can see how easy it is to accumulate 25-35,000 miles or more. That many miles would be good for a free domestic airline ticket. Before using your miles, remember to check the actual ticket price. If New York to Los Angeles is on sale for $199 roundtrip, save your points for when the prices go up or for a less popular destination. Of course, if you don't have the $199 and still want to go, then use your miles.
...
One last bit of advice.....you must book ahead to get what you want. If you have the foresight to plan, you should try to book 4 to 6 months in advance. If you want to go to Europe in the summer and expect to get a free ticket when you book in May....dream on, those opportunities are long gone. Bear in mind that airlines only hold a few seats on each flight. They won’t tell you exactly how many. It’s one of those sweet mysteries of life.
...
In December, 2007, one of the members of Team CHEAPIOSITY went to Santiago, Chile in Business Class in exchange for 90,000 miles. He paid only $55 in tax for a $7000 ticket. That’s the kind of bargain we love. He stayed at a Luxury Collection Hotel using points and cash, paying a ridiculously low $60 a night including breakfast. See? With a little planning, you really can live a first class life at economy prices!

Read more!

GAS

With gas prices skyrocketing, a few words need to be said about saving money on gas. The biggest and best moneysaving tip we can offer is this simple one:

DON’T DRIVE SO MUCH.
...
Walk. Use a bicycle. Stay home.
...
If you’re fortunate enough to live somewhere with decent public transportation system in place, USE IT. And count your blessings and your savings while you’re doing it.
...
For those less fortunate souls, think CARPOOL. Yeah, we know, carpooling may not the coolest way to ride. But it’s the smartest and the cheapest and the greenest. Don’t thumb your nose at us. Check out: http://www.erideshare.com/ This site offers everything you ever wanted to know about sharing rides and can tell you who's in your area that would like to share....Ask around. Don’t be shy.
...
A friend of ours asked around looking for a carpool and met her husband-to-be. Sounds like the premise for one of those Sandra Bullock chick flicks we avoid at the multiplex. To be entirely truthful, that never actually happened to anyone we know. But it could. And Sandra Bullock would be adorable in the role.
...
Remember, the people in your carpool don’t have to be your best friends. Books, audio books, iPods, and naps (real and pretend) will kill the commuting time if your seatmates are not fascinating conversationalists. Think about your planet. Think about your wallet.
...
Okay, we know…some of you don't have access to public transport, or it’s too far to consider walking or biking, and you just don’t want to ride-share because it’s far too inconvenient…stop whining. We’re here for you. Let's talk about saving at the pump.
...
Go to: http://www.gasbuddy.com/ There, they will tell you the cheapest gas prices in your area so you don’t waste gas driving around bargain-hunting.
...
Try to buy gas on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, because prices are better on those days. (We don't know why. They just are. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, as our Great Aunt Ollie used to say. Then again, the woman used to order boiling water in restaurants to make her own soup with vegetables she carried in a big smelly carpetbag. You have to pick and choose what advice you want to follow with these distant relatives. )
...
Also, it makes sense (and cents) to avoid buying gas near freeways and expressways because prices tend to be higher there as a rule.
...
Finally, you’ve no doubt received an email promising savings at the gas pump and/or proposing boycotts to bring down gas prices. We strongly suggest that before you forward these specious and omnipresent little gems to your unsuspecting list of friends and colleagues, you take the time to check the efficacy of the claims therein. CHEAPIOSITY’s rumor-checking website of choice is Snopes.com
Check this link for a well-reasoned example of their investigative work:
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp

Take a look at, 9 Ways to Save on Gas: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121146450169714089.html?mod=money_page_left_hs
...
In short, though, follow the advice you probably heard at your mother’s knee. If something sounds too good to be true, it’s probably bunk.
...

Read more!