CD and DVD clearance at participating Borders Books are 50% off. Some exclusions. In store only. Read the fine print for a list of non-participating stores.
Get $50 off patio sets of $200 and up at Big Lots between April 17 and 24, 2009.
Get a free angus chili hot dog when you buy one angus chili hot dog at the regular price at Wienerschnitzel now through April 25, 2009. Print the coupon here.
EBates is offering higher automatic rebates at select green retailers, including beauty supplies, housewares, and gardening products.
Select spring shoes are 50% off at Shoes.com this Saturday, April 18, only. All Naturalizer shoes are 20% off Saturday and Sunday. No coupon code needed.
Gaiam is offering 20% off Earth-friendly best sellers with coupon code EDEMC. Ends April 23, 2009.
Restaurant.com offers 70% off $25 gift certificates that normally go for $10, bringing the cost to $3. Use code FEAST. Expires April 20, 2009. Watch out for strict redemption rules.
JCPenney offers 10-20% off as part of a friends and family sale on many items. Print the coupon here. Online use code FRIEND20 or mention it when ordering from the catalog (800-222-6161). Valid April 19, 2009 only. Some exclusions.
Thanks, Tina!
A few weeks ago my friend started a recession garden to calm her fears about the recession. If she got laid off and couldn’t find a job, at least she had food. Now “sprouties” are appearing in her tiny patch of dirt and she is ecstatic. Green beans! Radishes! Lettuce! She has never enjoyed eating lettuce so much.
“Now the seeds are all sown and, like a miracle, food is growing in my yard,” my friend wrote in the LA Daily News, where she works. “Along with the green things, I regrew some sense of purpose. ”
If you are interested in gardening and/or coping with economic stress, I highly recommend reading her story.
I recently submitted a video to Mike Michalowicz, who runs The Toilet Paper Entrepreneurs. In the short video I ask Mike how, as an entrepreneur with no budget, do I convince my spouse to invest in PR? Watch the 2:47 video and his answer here (episode 14).
The last time I suggested readers nix their land line for a cell phone or computer phone line I was practically booed off the blogosphere. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad. But I was surprised how resistant people were to giving up their land lines.
I’m not campaigning for the end of land lines again, but I am pointing out the cost of two alternatives. A reader named Diana prompted this post when she asked:
Have you ever checked out Vonage, or any of the internet phone line companies? Our AT&T bill is so high for very small usage and I have been wondering about Vonage. Rather nervous about trying it because if you are not happy and want to go back to AT&T, you have to get a new phone number and I imagine they impose fees for reinstating service. We’re not ready to give up a landline for cell phone only.
To help out Diana, and anyone else looking to lower their phone bill, I compared the price of two phone services that operate through your computer. Both require a high-speed Internet connection.
Vonage (most customers can use for 911 calls)
Plan 1: Unlimited local and long distance calls in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico costs $10 for the first 3 months, and $25 per month after that. You also get free calls to five pre-selected European countries. Includes voicemail, caller waiting and caller ID. Caveats: must be a new customer and sign up online. Yearly cost: with taxes and fees it comes to $326.53. Effective monthly cost: $27.21.
Plan 2: Upgrade to $35 a month for 25 visual voicemails and directory assistance. Caveats: must be a new customer and sign up online. Yearly cost: with taxes and fees it comes to $448.35. Effective monthly cost: $37.36.
Plan 3: For $18 a month you can downgrade to 500 outgoing minutes (you have unlimited incoming minutes) for calls to the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. Additional minutes are 3.9 cents each. Includes call waiting, voicemail and caller ID. Caveats: must be a new customer and sign up online. Yearly cost: with taxes and fees it comes to $289.84. Effective monthly cost: $24.15.
Skype (cannot be used for 911 calls)
Plan 1: Download Skype software and it is free to call any other Skype number. Monthly cost: free.
Plan 2 (monthly subscriptions): $3 per month for unlimited calls to landlines and mobiles in the US and Canada. $6 per month for unlimited landline and mobile calls to one country of your choosing. $13 per month for unlimited landline and mobile calls to 40 countries. You can make outgoing calls but not receiving incoming calls as part of these monthly subscription plans. If you want to receive calls you must purchase an online number, which costs $30 for a full year if you have a subscription. Otherwise it is $18 for 3 months or $60 for a full year. Yearly cost, excluding taxes and fees: $36, $72 or $ 156 depending on the plan. Monthly cost: varies.
Plan 3 (pay as you go): Buy Skype Credit to pay a la carte for making calls and sending text messages. You pay a flat rate of 2.1 cents per minute to over 30 countries or pay the going rate to a specific country. Connection fees apply. See all of Skype’s pricing here. Monthly cost: varies.
Vonage seems to be a more direct replacement for a landline, while Skype is great for folks who make a lot of international calls or are not worried about giving up their landline.
How much do you pay for your land line? Would you save money giving it up for a computer phone line?
A loyal reader named Glenn emailed me with this dilemma:
Hi Julia. The last time I wrote about the $100 WaMu offer, it generated some…interesting reading material. You might still be getting new comments on the subject of ethics to this day. As for me, I put it behind me. However, I am forced to dredge it up again. You probably already know that WaMu was recently bought out by Chase. Now WaMu’s name is being replaced by Chase. I received an offer in the mail from Chase offering a $100 gift card to anyone that opens a free checking account. Can you say de ja vu? Obviously, I would like to take advantage of this offer which expires June 3. However, I don’t know if I would qualify since Chase would have all banking records and information from the WaMu database. Do you feel like donning your investigative reporting hat and looking into this a bit closer or just take a pass on it and assume that it’s the very same offer as before? I know I sound like a greedy opportunist, however, I cannot pass up too-good-to-be-true offer. I guess I am part mercenary. Thanks for your time.
So my question to you is, assuming Glenn is eligible to participate, should he?
Bromoney is a blog that reviews CD rates, credit cards, interest accounts and other bank deals. The site occasionally has posts on financial news, like what is happening with failed banks.
Bromoney is written by Brandon Rowe, who uses income from his site to support his running career. “After being self-employed for a few years I was forced to learn about ways to save my business money through reward credit cards and good CD and savings banking products,” he emailed me. “So I decided to start a banking blog as a resource on good rates for bank accounts and credit cards.”
Brandon launched his blog in December 2008 and posts about once a day, including weekends.
This is paid content. Interested in buying a sponsored post? Read my Advertise page.
Hubby and I wrote two fat checks today and are consoling ourselves by taking advantage of some of the many tax day freebies. Yahoo found 18 deals, including ones for free ice cream, free cinnamon rolls, free tacos, free gift cards, and more.
Wine.com offers $10.40 off on any order over $99 with promo code TAXSAVINGS. Expires April 15, 2009.
Walgreens.com is offering 15% off online orders with coupon code TAXED, which is good for up to 5 uses per account through April 20, 2009. Caveats: does not apply to pharmacy or photo orders, gift card purchases, taxes or shipping charges. Online only.
PF Chang’s is offering 15% off to diners today.
Participating Dunkin Donuts are offering a free doughnut when you buy a cup of coffee today only.
A site called Bargain Shopper Lady found three more tax day deals, including a free Redbox rental.
More freebies here, courtesy of a link my Dad shared.
What did I miss? Please share tax day deals by leaving a comment. Thanks!
If you yearn to see a new city through the eyes of a local, instead of staying in a hotel, consider CouchSurfing.com. The site connects travelers with hosts offering free accommodations, according to a recent NY Times story.
Couch Surfing is not just “about finding free accommodations around the world- it’s about participating in creating a better world,” the site says. “We strive to make a better world by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives.”
Couch Surfing was started in 2003 by a guy named Casey Fenton, who liked seeing foreign cities through the eyes of a local better than those of a guidebook. Now, six years later, the site has more than 1 million members. It is supported by member donations and volunteers.
To deal with safety concerns, Couch Surfing members can vouch for other members, hosts can have their address verified, and members are rated through positive and negative feedback.
There are hosts in 56,966 cities in 231 countries across the globe. Joining is free. For more about the site, read their About page.
A recent NY Times ad highlighted 16 different iPhone apps that can help save money, including 9 that are free. Highlights:
RN Dining – “As a member of the Rewards Network, you can save up to 15% at select restaurants. RN Dining is the easy, convenient way to find participating restaurants in your area.”
Mint.com – “Manage your bank accounts, monthly bill payments and other finances. With its constantly updated information, it’s an easy way to keep a close eye on your budget.”
RepairPal – “Locate reliable mechanics and get estimates for your vehicle repairs. And if you need roadside assistance, one tap of your iPhone will connect you to a helpline.”
All Recipes.com – “Want to dine in more? Put thousands of money-saving recipes in the palm of your hand. You can also view instructional photos, read user reviews and share your favorite dishes.”
And one I plan to download very soon:
Small Spend – “With handy charts and graphs, this app makes it easy to see exactly where your money’s going so you can make adjustments in your spending habits – and start saving money.”
Dear readers,
I just sold my first in-house ad! This means that you will soon see a sponsored post appear on Bargain Babe.
The post will be clearly identified so there is no question about whether it is a normal post (for which I never accept money) or a sponsored post (which is paid content).
Sponsored posts are one way I support Bargain Babe and pay my bills.
For more info please read my Advertise page.
~Julia
aka Bargain Babe
I spend my money differently than Hubby. Where I like to buy clothes and drinks with friends, he prefers electronics and computer hardware. You spent HOW much on a gizmo that backs up our computer drives? Oh my!
We spend differently and we don’t always spend the same amount of money, which is where it gets tricky. So how does a couple reconcile spending habits?
My friend is currently wrestling with this challenge. She is making changes in her life to spend less, but her spouse has developed hard-to-break spendy habits. He enjoys buying a morning muffin and coffee – and he’s known to return for a cookie and more coffee in the afternoon. Problem is his habit adds up to $200 a month, or $2,400 a year. Then there are the parking tickets because he forgets to put money in the meter. And so on.
So she showed him the money. She added up his spendy habits by month, multiplied by 12, and showed him the awful annual truth. He was piddling away their children’s education, their family home, and their retirement on Starbucks and fines.
He countered that he wants to enjoy his life, a legitimate feeling. If he wanted to live like a monk he’d join a monastery!
My solution is to find ways to enjoy each day without risking your financial future. In other words, compromise.
Not very sexy. But very savvy.
Instead of cutting out splurges entirely, reduce. Focus on making slow and steady progress – say 10-15 percent less spending per month – so that you can adjust your lifestyle in ways that will stick. Drink coffee instead of a latte. Forego the muffin. And always put one extra quarter into the meter.
Talk about your financial goals and keep them front and center. Latte now? Or private school later? Hmmmm…
You might also consider going back to basics and have a serious money talk with your partner/spouse. Free From Broke lists 10 important things to discuss.
UPDATE: A 2 cent increase on a 42 cent stamp is an increase of almost 5 percent, not a half a percent. I apologize for the error. Thanks to reader Luke who gently pointed out my fuzzy math. This means investing in sheets of Forever stamps IS a good idea unless your money is going to earn more than 4.5 percent elsewhere. Even so, it’s a decent return on something as valuable as stamps, assuming you don’t lose them.
PREVIOUSLY: The United States Post Office is raising their rates May 11, 2009, from 42 to 44 cents for a first class letter. You can buy Forever stamps now and use them after the rate hike, however. This saves you two cents per letter, or about a half of a percent.
So is it worth it to hoard Forever stamps?
“Hoarding Forever Stamps makes financial sense if you think postal costs will rise at a higher rate than your after-tax earnings on a money-market mutual fund — currently about 3.5 percent a year for someone in the 30 percent tax bracket,” writes Allan Sloan, a reporter at the Washington Post who looked into this question when USPS introduced the Forever Stamp two years ago.
In the end, hoarding Forever stamps is not a wise investment, except for the pleasure you get from paying a little less at the post office, Sloan says. Hmmm…I think that brief joy is just enough to convince me to buy a few sheets.
I live in an apartment so I’m starting my recession garden small: a single planter box of mint, sage, and rosemary (from top to bottom).
My three plants cost me $7.77 at OSH, which has a very lenient plant return policy. I kicked myself after I bought them because I remembered I still have $50 on a Home Depot gift card. Drat!
Buying herbs at the grocery store costs $1 to $1.50, which means I need to harvest five to eight batches of herbs to break even. I already had the dirt and the planter, so I am not taking into account those costs. I hope the mint does especially well because I love to make mojitos.
How is your recession garden growing? Email me a picture of yours with a comment about the plants and I will post the best on the blog!
More recession garden resources:
Growing food instead of grass: recession gardening
How a garden can save you $500
A recession garden may NOT save you money
Reader tips on recession gardens
I just learned about a Web site that aggregates deals from 23 individual sites like Woot.com, Slickdeals.net, and Amazon Goldbox. It’s called Bantler and it is very easy on the eyes.
On Bantler you can search for deals by newest, cheapest, money money saved, or products still available. You can also hide items you are not interested in buying, like clothing or wine.
When I recently checked the site they had a Swiss Army Champion knife for $40 (orig $78) from REI. Two other items I checked – a pair of Oakley sunglasses for $43 and three Wii sports accessories for $12 – had already sold out.
Bantler has a free iPhone app available on the homepage, too.
Thanks, Mark!
Get a 60-day free trial membership to BJ’s warehouse club, which has locations in 15 states. (None in California, unfortunately.) Print the coupon here. Expires July 6, 2009.
BJ’s accepts manufacturer coupons. Costco does not, neither does Sam’s Club. Costco and Sam’s Club do accept coupons they print, however.
