I’m actually just cleaning up stuff on my blog…and I decided to scan ebay real quick for “gift cards,” and there’s quite a few.  It’s a neat way to save money on your Christmas shopping, I guess?  You get bigger breaks for the big gift cards, but I wouldn’t risk my money on anything more than $100 on ebay.  This works all year round actually…easy 5%+ return on your investment!

Anyway, hope you all have a great Holiday Season.

-Freedumb & Brownie

I’m deciding between ordering a medium or large “coffee” drink, and low and behold, a large is _just_ $0.40 more! Seems like everything being sold has an “upsell.” Might as well “go large” since it’s just a few cents more, right? Well, I was kind of curious as to who really wins when you upgrade, so I decided to break it down…sort of. Because the numbers used aren’t “real,” but hey…It’s a start.

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I had the honor of submitting a guest column to the Frugal Duchess’ blog today, and I hope you have sometime to head on over and check it out!  I know most PF Bloggers and readers don’t live a Crapville life, but I’m sure you know some that do.

Thanks Sharon (Frugal Duchess)!

Just because you like the store.  If you don’t have a pet, pet ownership costs can be quite crazy at times–especially if your friend needs frequent trips to the vet, which can cost an arm and a leg.

Well, a few days ago I had a random discussion with someone about dog food, and we found we buy our food from the same place–a really small “mom & pop” type of store with great owners, a married couple.  As we talked, we both found that we no longer buy food from them because the brand of dog food they were selling didn’t work out for our dogs.  However, we both still go back to buy treats and other small things just because, well, we like them.  Similar to brand loyalty I guess?

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This post has to deal mainly with the Island of Oahu, but some of it may be applicable to other islands as well.  I’ll try to point out some of the sights, sounds, and tastes you have to check out while in Oahu…on the cheap…for the most part anyway.

Shopping

• Swap Meet:  Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesday @ the Aloha Stadium.  For the best deals, as long as you don’t care about brand names, this is the place to shop.  Never buy based on first price, haggling required!  You might even find a deal like 10 shirts for $10.  It can be a little hot on somedays, so bring water and drinks, unless you want to buy inflated drinks at the meet.
• Kahala Mall, Pearlridge, and Waikele Outlet:  Ala Moana and Waikiki shops get all the press, but there are other malls on Oahu.  Kahala is more of an upscale, laid back mall catered to locals.  Lots of small specialty shops.  Pearlridge, is a mixed crowd type of mall, lots of youngins choose Pearlridge because of games and movies.  Waikele outlet is great for good deals, just be prepared to deal with traffic.
• Costco for Macadamia Nuts:  Almost everyone brings back Macadamia Nuts from Hawaii…there’s no place cheaper than Costco.

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Like humans, dogs have issues with their health…sometimes they are just daily occurances like headaches, allergies, upset stomach, etc.  Unfortunately, they can’t tell us.  That’s why you know your dog best, and the decision to go to the vet or not, is best made by you.  Some telltale signs that a trip to the vet would be good are blood, lethargy, uncharacteristic behavior, excessive/obsessive licking/scratching, limps, and bumps.  That’s all I can think of for now, but I’m sure there are others.

This post is about some neat home remedies, tips, and tricks I’ve learned since I started raising my dog Brownie.  And I consider them all “frugal” because they are generally a lot cheaper than getting a prescription or getting them from a pet store.  Have a look…share yours!

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Okay, I don’t know if it’s really my “very best” money saving tip, but that’s the topic…Credit NCN for getting this “link-a-thon” started!

My tip:  WAIT.

If it’s a big ticket item (my definition of big ticket would be over $100), then I would put it down on my wishlist (a text document).  I would then do research on it.  Then I’d wait.

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Cash Back MasterCard for consumers to apply online.

This is a revised version of my original post, which was, uhh, lacking. I’m critiquing and revising my own post. Sorry you had to click on that. This one is a little better, I think. As always, though, please comment.

Of course, my first priority is to try and save, but if I’m going to be spending money anyway, might as well try and stretch each dollar. Everyone has their own tricks on doing this. I’ll share mine.

There are two categories, regular everyday items and “big ticket” items, over $100.00.

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Of course, first priority is to try and save, but if I’m going to be spending money anyway, might as well try and stretch each dollar. Everyone has their own tricks on doing this. I’ll share mine.

1. Citi Dividend Rewards for gas, groceries, and drug store purchases. 5%
Walmart, Kmart, Target…

2. Citi Professional Card for office supplies and eating out. 3%

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I wrote a post earlier about buying airline tickets, and I received one comment, but it was a good one, from Anonymous:

you actually post tips like this? 

I took that comment as sort of a jab at the fact that my post suggests cheating or taking advantage of a site like Expedia or Orbitz, but a comment I appreciate none the less. In fact, so much so, that I’m going to respond in its own post. I definitely don’t condone “using” another site simply to, well, take advantage of them. However, I do believe in the mantra, “the marketplace drives all decisions.” Even if I didn’t post it, I’m sure others have already been doing it.

So that being the case, the question becomes, “Is it okay to use _______ travel site for the sole purpose of finding the best price, and then booking it to the airline’s site to actually purchase the ticket(s)?”

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To me, the answer is a firm, YES! One of the reasons I blog is to share my knowledge of how I save money, not to benefit an airline or travel agency. If consumers start taking advantage of a service made available on a site like Expedia, Orbitz, etc. and then go and purchase tickets at the airline site, then maybe the business model at Expedia, Orbitz, etc. needs to change. For example, they could charge for the service of finding the cheapest flight. In any event, I definitely don’t condone cheating. To me this is not “cheating” the system, as consumers, we are the marketplace for travel sites like Orbitz and Expedia. Thus, if informed consumers start doing this more frequently, than the travel agencies need to make the change, not us. Wouldn’t you agree?