Mrs. Stew does the majority of the grocery shopping in our home. She knows where to find the deals, which coupons are best and what we need. She does a nice job of feeding our family of five for as little money as possible. Every once in a while, she asks me to pick up one or two items on the way home . . . usually a mistake.

I do several things wrong when I go to the grocery store. Sometimes I purchase the wrong item and sometimes I do not get the least expensive option. I am working on the former problems and I have not made a huge mistake in those areas for a while. The one habit that I still have not quite handled is buying bulk. I almost cannot help myself. If Mrs. Stew needs one or two of a particular item and I see a “4 for . . .” or “10 for . . . ” sale. I get as many as possible. If we need peanut butter, I head straight for the bulk foods aisle. If we need toilet paper, I get the biggest package possible.

However, while buying in bulk can be a good cost containment strategy, I have learned that it is not always the most frugal option. Here are some buying in bulk pitfalls:

overspending your budget

A bulk buy can sometimes blow your budget. A bulk buy almost always costs more up front and can cause you to run a budget deficit for that month. You might think that you will make it up next month because you will not have to buy more of that particular item . . . but it does not always work out that way.

consuming faster than normal

A bulk buy means that you have more of a particular item lying around the house. Those of us who like to snack or eat things because they are “there” might just eat more and not really save any money in the long run. If bulk buying is going to save you money, you need to have good self-control. If I see that there is a really big box of Cheerios in the pantry, I might have a second bowl, even though I do not really need it.

might not actually be cheaper per unit

This one is sneaky and I have fallen for it more than once. Store managers know that most of us assume that buying in bulk is cheaper. Be sure to check the unit cost before you buy. The other area is with warehouse stores that have a membership fee. If you do not shop with the membership card often, you are not saving money!

spoilage before it can be used

Sometimes I do this with bananas. Three dozen bananas just seems so cheap, but if you don’t eat them in a week, you will need to make banana bread or throw the rest out. Fruit is almost impossible to buy in bulk, but there are other items that can go bad – bread, dairy products, meat, eggs, etc. If you do not have a big freezer, be careful what you buy in bulk.

boredom

Most people can only eat certain foods a certain number of times during a month. A lack of variety can cause you to waste or even throw food away.

buying more than necessary

Before you buy in bulk, make sure that you actually need the item. The truth is that sometimes you just don’t need two gallons of vanilla extract or the bulk size oregano.

Here are some items that are almost always good to buy in bulk if you find a good price:

• paper products – toilet paper, kleenex, paper towels
• light bulbs
• canned goods
• diapers
• coffee
• laundry detergent

Do any of you have any bulk buy stories?  - Article by Stew

Photo by Shannon at Zeer

• Teen money management mistakes I've learned a great about personal finance over the years.  Much of it through writing...
• Money Saving Monday Tip Roundup Photo by: rjs1322 It's new years eve and almost the start of a new year....
• Money Saving Monday Tip #9 - Use Craigslist I like to sell things online. Garage sales are great, they are an easy way...
• Homeschool Finance When my wife and I started to have children, we never thought that we would...
• Why Debit Cards Are Better Than Credit Cards Yesterday a couple of credit card related articles showed up on Get Rich Slowly. One...

I used to have a full leather bag for my laptop but I didn’t really like it for 2 reasons.

#1 It was too big. This was really convenient when I was going to school but now I am drained by its weight and am constantly bumping into stuff while walking.

#2 It clearly showed that I have a laptop. When you work in a big city, you don’t necessarily want everyone to know that you are carrying a laptop with you.

So after 10 years (yes, the leather bag was also starting to fall apart), I had decided to go for a different type of bag for my laptop: a messenger bag. I really like the concept as it is much lighter and it is not as obvious that you have a laptop.

I really wanted to get something less square than the classic Targus laptop bag you see everywhere. I was looking for something light, useful but also original (near fashionable ).

This is why I entered the phrase “cool laptop messenger bag” and after a few clicks on different websites I ended-up on Ebags.com. I really like their site, it was easy to find what I was looking for.

I particularly enjoyed the “you may also like” section on the right side and bottom of every page. This is pretty similar to the Amazon buying experience. As a result, I was able to find what I was looking for: a practical and original laptop bag. On top of that, they offer Free Shipping On Orders Over $75 at eBags.com

There are a few pictures, with color changing options, along with comments and ratings for all bags. This also helped to influence my purchase. Since the purpose for the bag was to carry my laptop everywhere, all the time, I needed a bag tough enough to follow me throughout the day. Since I was opting for a messenger bag, I was a bit concerned about its durability.

Ebags customer service was efficient too

I was ordering my laptop bag while watching TV (big mistake!) and talking with my wife at the same time. Since I was just “a click away” from ordering my messenger bag, I didn’t think it would require much attention… stupid me!

Once I checked out, I must have accidentally clicked on “go back to the homepage” button without noticing.  When I turned my head back to the screen, the messenger bag had disappeared and I was back on the homepage.

I waited a few minutes to see if I would receive my order confirmation by email… Nothing. Since I usually get an email right away, after 5 minutes I went back to the site and ordered a new bag (I just couldn’t wait to get rid of my old and scrappy laptop bag!). I shut my computer down after my purchase and went back to my TV show.

Before going to sleep, I checked my email one last time and… I noticed I had ordered 2 bags. I immediately contacted Ebags customer service via email.

The next morning (7AM), someone from their customer service department contacted me to tell me that they will “try” to stop my second order but couldn’t guarantee anything. I was a bit frustrated since they had said it could take up to 3 weeks to receive my messenger laptop bag. I replied back explaining the situation and waited. Some 5 hours later (by noon), I received a confirmation from the same guy saying that my duplicate order was cancelled. About 2 weeks later, I received one very cool messenger laptop bag

Final appreciation of my Case Logic Messenger Laptop Bag

As you can see in the pictures, the bag is pretty small and convenient. I really like the look and the size. It’s now easy to walk through the underground city (metro stations) among a ton of people. There is also enough space so I can carry a book or two along with pens, gum (essential, good for the memory you know) and never leave home without them items: iPod and cell phone charger (I always forget to charge them at home ).

It looks pretty tough and so far I don’t foresee any problems with the material. The only think I would add to my laptop bag is a small handle so I can also carry it without having to put the strap on my shoulder.

In the end, I am quite happy about the bag, the customer service, the site overall and also about the price. I was expecting to pay around $100 for a new bag and it cost only $60! 5 stars for the case logic messenger laptop bag!

Disclaimer: this was not a paid review. I wrote it simply because I really liked my shopping experience and especially the bag! So if you are looking for a Briefcases and Laptop Bags go at eBags.com

Author: Mike.

• Don't make the Dr. Evil error of assuming This is a guest article by Jeff who writes at Caddickisms where he shares his...
• Blue Hippo computers - The Truth I listen to the radio in my car while traveling, and it seems like almost...
• How to secure your eBay account Photo by: leafar This morning I received an email from eBay stating that my email...
• The Friday Gathering - Need some advice edition Photo by:Point-Shoot-Edit My wife and I were having a discussion last night about our house....
• Select CD Rates Review Looking for a good (does it still exist?) certificate of deposit rates? I believe I...

Last week, Mike wrote about some ways to use a day-to-day credit card. Most Gather Little by Little readers might have been a little surprised by the topic and the point of view because glblguy has always been completely averse to credit cards – and for good reason.

While I share all of glbl’s reservations about using plastic, we find it almost impossible to avoid “swiping” for at least some of our purchases. It is true that we had to learn our lesson the hard way. Credit cards allowed Mrs. Stew and I to spend far more than we could afford in our early years of marriage and we are still suffering some of the effects today. There was also a time period where we did not use our credit cards at all. Shortly after that, we had almost three dozen active cards between us . . . but that’s a story for another day.

We now use only one credit card and only for specific purchases. It is a rewards card, in fact, the rewards are so good that the company has since stopped issuing this particular card, even though they honor our original agreement. We typically earn $300 to $400 in cash back per year and for the last three years, we have done a good job of controlling our spending so that our credit card has worked for us and not against us. FYI, due to where we live in relation to the rest of our family, we are considering a switch to a airline credit card in order to earn free flights.

We do not use credit cards for the following:

We learned early on that it was a bad idea to use our credit card for groceries – especially me. There is just something about a grocery store that convinces a person to spend more than necessary. I mean, who cannot use more food? The combination of stomach pressure and credit card enabling caused us to get into trouble. When we started using a credit card again, we made the decision that groceries were a “cash only” purchase.

Clothes, again, credit cards can be better salespeople than the actual salespeople. And store brand credit cards can be the worst because they always have such great deals for people who use the credit card backed by that company. Clothes are off-limits.

We do use our credit card for the following:

Gasoline is a necessity that there is no getting around and it so happens that our particular card offers the highest rewards for gasoline purchases. I do not believe that using cash would reduce our monthly fuel bill at all.

My job requires me to have a moblie phone and my wife also has her own phone. We do not have a household landline. Our wireless bill every month is charged to our credit card. This bill earns rewards and saves me from having to schedule another bill on time.

This last category might sound like a potential pitfall: we use our card when we go out to eat. There is great temptation to spend more than we can afford when using a card in this scenario. There is also greater pressure to go out to eat more often because of the card’s enabling. However, so far, it has not been a problem. My wife works a great deal and I like to give her at least one meal “off” a week. There are times when I give her a break by cooking a meal at home myself, but it turns out that there are only so many times that a family will endure scrambled eggs and Mrs. Stew can never find the cooking utensils after I use them.

There are other things that we put on the card, but most of these are incidental, though planned purchases, such as doctor visits, contacts/eyeglasses and airplane flights. I keep a sharp eye on our credit card purchases and there has never been a month where we did not pay off our balance in full. That said, I respect who do not use credit at all and encourage most people to avoid plastic as much as possible. - Article by Stew

Photo by Brave New Films

• 10 Good uses for a credit cards Photo by: shortiestar3000 - Teething toy? Maybe not... I am not a fan of credit...
• Which is better: Cash backs reward or points? This article is part of the Ask the M-Network series.   Gina submitted a question and...
• 10 Creative ways to cut-up your credit card Photo by: Fauxen This article is part of a group writing project started by Lynnae...
• Why Debit Cards Are Better Than Credit Cards Yesterday a couple of credit card related articles showed up on Get Rich Slowly. One...
• Credit Card Companies - How to really stick it to them My disdain for credit card companies and their unethical practices isn't a secret.  I've written...

As our economy continues to sputter along, wise people will do everything possible to reduce debt and hold down costs. If you happen to be someone who is or lives in a household that is subject to very little debt, you have an opportunity to take advantage of some of the bargains that are out there. This is a great time to be in the market for a car, a house, clothes, food or almost anything else.

And there are some new ways to make sure that you get the best possible price. For instance, I have discovered that there seems to be more interest in bargaining or “haggling” than there has been in recent years. In our culture, the art of haggling has almost never been used over the past 40 to 50 years. Haggling is about to make a big comeback. I once heard a marketing campaign for a car dealership that was advertising the “no dicker sticker”. They seemed to think that people were not buying cars because of the hassle that came with settling on a price, so they advertised that “the price you see is the price you pay”. Every time I saw the commercial, I said to myself that “everyone knows to never pay sticker price for a car. Furthermore, I like to bargain, especially when it comes to a car. If I pay sticker price, I am probably overpaying significantly for that car.” I never went to that car dealership – first, because I almost never buy cars from a big dealership and second, if I did go to a dealership, I most certainly want to argue about the price.

I first learned to bargain while going to garage sales with my mother when I was a kid. She never paid the stated price and many times she practically stole the items that she was purchasing. We went to rummage sales all the time and I grew up thinking that people always bartered at rummages. So when I set up my own yard sale, I overpriced everything and did not sell all that much. I was anticipating that people would offer me less than the price on the tape. Almost no one did and I ended up having to carry all that stuff back inside. People were walking away simply because they did not have the guts to ask for a lower price.

I recently picked up a great toy for my children at a rummage sale around the corner from our house. I eventually purchased the item for 25% of the asking price – of course I initially asked for 35% less, the seller bargained and we eventually settled on a price. I walked away thinking that I got a deal and the seller got rid of an item that was probably in the way and made a little cash on the side.

Rummage sales aren’t the only place to ask for a lower price. I do it all the time at the company I work. We buy a number of items in bulk and I always ask for a discount based on volume or even extra business. I’ll say something like, “if you give us item A for $——-, then we will also purchase item B from you”. I always try to get add-ons or bulk prices, etc. Once we go a steak-egg-hashbrowns-toast-oj-coffee breakfast for $3.80 per person.

I recently acquired a new mobile phone for a bargain price. The thing about wireless phones is that the company makes almost no money off of the phone. They want you in a plan – that’s where the money is. Of course, I could have chosen from several models that were free “with plan”, but I kind of need a smartphone for my day job as well as blogging. Texting, Twitter, Facebook, Gmail,  and more are all applications that I use on a regular basis – on my phone. The phone that I decided that I needed was from the Blackberry family and the sticker price for someone in my situation was $185. I hemmed and hawed around for a few minutes and the salesperson offered it to me for $75. I hemmed and hawed a bit more and then left the store ostensibly to go ask my wife if she approved of this purchase. When I returned with Mrs. Stew an hour later, we hemmed and hawed some more and after about 15 minutes, the salesperson offered it to me for $40. I took the phone home.

I have started to used haggling in more and more places that I frequent. Here are some strategies that make bargaining more effective:

• Make your first offer ludicrously low.
• Be willing to walk away . . . and do it!
• Be honest about your intent to purchase. Do not go through this exercise if you are not legitimately planning to buy.
• Make them say a number first – especially with cars. The first person to say a number, will be the one to get the short end of the bargain. I have made this mistake more than once.
• Don’t let them know that you really, really want it.
• Have no shame – not in an abusive way, but don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. The worst they can do is say no.
• Be a frequent customer.
• Be as informed as possible about prices for equivalent items at other vendors.

I recently sent this email to one of my vendors:

Thanks for the price quote, Chris.You always come in lower . . . but one of these days, I’m going to get you.

I will let you know when we are ready to order.

This is a vendor who I have worked with for several years and who always gives me the best price, but I want him to know that I am always looking for a better price. So far, my business has gone to him, but one of these days . . .

Photo by silverfox09

• Financial Peer Pressure, Stop The Influence! I remember high school like it was yesterday. While I had many good times, overall...
• Money Saving Monday Tip #9 - Use Craigslist I like to sell things online. Garage sales are great, they are an easy way...
• Chromed: How to Look Cool and Waste Your Money While driving down the road the other day, I saw a car that looked very...
• Be a discriminating customer, a diligent employee and a generous entrepreneur The free market is not perfect. We all know of stories about unethical or corrupt...
• Walmart: There is a price for cheap Photo by: tom.arthur I have this love/hate relationship with Walmart. I love the fact that...

I received an interesting comment on my Deals of the day sites article I wrote that said:

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to clear my box of these tantalizing offers.

The comment made me wonder how many people buy items from deals of the day sites on impulse…probably a bunch.  I’m not much of an impulse shopper anymore, but I certainly used to be.  I thought I’d share a few tips on how to use these sites to your advantage without wasting money on items you don’t need.

Keep a list

Whenever I find that there is an item I’d like to have I add it to a list I keep in Evernote (I’ll be writing about Evernote soon).  These aren’t things I need right away, and frankly some of them aren’t even things I really need but just things I’d like to have.  Items on my list right now include things like: 8GB SD card for my camera, printer/fax/scanner combo device for my office, iPod, a Moleskin, etc.

Each morning while I am waking up and waiting for my brain to kick in, I check Deal of the day tracker and specifically look for items on my list.  If it’s not on my list I don’t buy it.  Trust me, I’ve been tempted a few times, but I set rules and boundaries for myself.

Allocate a budget item

I have a line item in my budget for my personal spending.  Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don’t, but it’s money set aside for things like want/need.  If I don’t use it, it either rolls into another budget category if needed, usually to pay down on our debt.

Another option is to allocate budget for it, and if it shows up on a deal of the day site, buy it if not than just do your best Googling and buy it from a normal retailer at the best price.  This would obviously be on more non-discretionary items like the fax/printer/scanner device I really need for work.

Don’t buy right away

At this point some of you are saying: But, what if it’s not on my list, but it’s an incredible deal and something I would really use?? Assuming you have money in your budget for it, here’s what I would suggest: Wait.  Check the Deals of the day sites in the morning and if you see something and have convinced yourself to buy it, walk away.  Come back a few hours later after you’ve had time to think through it and evaluate whether you really want to spend the money.  If you’re still convinced AND you have the money in your budget, than go ahead.  Sure, you’ll risk possibly missing out on it, but they’ll be another one.

What tips do you have for using deals of the day sites?  How do you guys avoid impulse buying on these sites?  Share your tips!

Photo by: sfllaw

• What is a budget? Photo by: adamjinj I enjoy reading and spend a decent amount of time each week...
• 95+ Money Saving Tips - From the readers! Last week I invited readers and bloggers alike to share (or blog) your favorite money...
• 3 steps to smart shipping spendings In today's climate of bad economy and higher fuel prices it is natural we need...
• How To Get Your Finances Under Control - Step 4 Create a Budget AND Follow It! This article is step 4 of the series called How to Get Your Finances Under...
• How to Get Your Finances Under Control - Step 2: Set Financial Goals Once you have recognized that your finances are out of control and walked away from...

As the holiday season approaches, I begin to think about wonderful music, good food, colorful lights, family and friends, and debt.  Yes debt.  The holiday season was one of the times in the past where I unfortunately had a tendency to significantly increase the balance on my credit cards.

I would never plan ahead for Christmas and buy my presents all at the last minute and using a credit card.  Each year I would thoroughly convince myself that I would just pay it off quickly after the first the year.  Each year I would never due that.  I would pay the minimum payments and always find some excuse on how to spend the extra money.  As a consequence, each month my debt would grow significantly due to the interest and continued use of the cards.

A few years back, I vowed to never let that situation happen again.  Here’s how you can to:

Set a Holiday budget

One of the biggest problems is that people don’t set any spending limits.  For some reason, people seem to think that the holidays are an excuse to spend whatever they want.  They also seem to think that the bigger and more expensive the gift, the more meaningful it is.  Simply not true.  Some of the best gifts can cost little to nothing.

Set a budget.  The way we do this is by listing off each friend or family member and we place an amount next to them.  We don’t exceed that amount.  If the total of these amounts is more than you have in your normal budget or Holiday savings (see below), then you either 1) Cut each person’s amount by some percent or 2) Remove people from the list and send them a nice card instead.

Feel bad about not getting someone a gift?  Think about it this way, if you were the person on the receiving end, would you want to receive a gift that put giver in debt in order to get it for you?  I sure wouldn’t…I’d feel terrible.

Begin saving for the Holidays early

This is the single biggest (and easiest) thing you can do to avoid debt during the holiday season: save early.  Right after the holiday season is over, my wife and I decide in advance how much we’ll need for the next holiday season.  We factor in any travel, presents, food, or whatever else, and then add in a “fudge factor” of say 10%.  We then divide this amount by 11 (you want your savings available a month before December) and set-up automatic withdrawal’s into a dedicated savings account just for Christmas (we use ING Direct).

You must me disciplined though and don’t spend it!  Saving in advance is the no-stress, no debt way to pay for the holidays.  It avoids the bad moods, frustration and doom and gloom involved with using credit cards.

Get rid of your credit cards

Even with these tips, are you still concerned you’ll be tempted to use your cards?  Easy solution: get rid of them.  I cut mine up two years ago and haven’t needed them once.  I have an emergency fund instead.  Not comfortable with cutting your card up?  Than make them difficult to access.  Lynnae at Being Frugal froze hers.  You could also give them to a relative you trust for safekeeping or place them in a safe deposit box.  Anything that will make them difficult for you to access.  Making you take time to find them will force you think about using them.  I still highly recommend just getting rid of them altogether, but realize this is a big step for some.

Prioritize and Just say no

So you’ve gotten rid of your credit cards, but are just now reading this article.  2 months doesn’t give you enough time to save for everything.  Prioritize everyone on your list and begin removing people with lower priority.  I know this seems harsh, but it’s an absolute must.  Instead, make them a handmade gift, or write them a nice personal note and card.

If you’ve bought them something in the past, and are concerned with how they’ll feel about only receiving a card this year, than just be honest.  Explain to them about how you’ve bought the gifts in the past using money you really didn’t have.  Tell them you’re trying to get your finances turned around and that you just can’t afford something this year, but that next year will be different.  No reasonable person would get upset with a explanation like that.  If they do, than I would strongly question their relationship and their motives.

ooooOOOOoooo

The holidays used to be a very stressful time for me.  With each swipe of the credit card I would wince, knowing I was just going further and further in debt.  At the time, I saw no other option.  Now I know better, there are lots of options.

Don’t postpone this decision until next year, make it now.  Don’t make that New Year’s resolution you’ll never follow, make a commitment to yourself right now to go credit card free this year.  Begin the process now of turning around your financial life.  I promise, it will make next year’s holiday season far less stressful!

• What should I do with tax refund? - Ask The M-Network This article is part of the Ask the M-Network series. Samantha submitted a question and...
• Credit cards and doctors visits I was reading over on CNN Money this weekend that a health care market research...
• Saving Money with Wachovia's Way2Save Wachovia bank recently announced a new program called Way2Save. If you watched the super bowl...
• Keeping it real: Confessions of a personal finance blogger Photo by: dreamer07 I've been debating writing this article for a few days now. Confession...
• A Guideline Budget - How Do You Compare? I am currently reading The World's Easiest Guide To Finances. So far, it's a good...

Back in May, we purchased a Nintendo Wii.  Not being one to spend money frivolously, it was a purchase I really struggled with.  I used to frivolous, and that was one of the many reasons we got ourselves in a bit of a financial mess.  But after discussing it with my wife for a long time we finally decided to purchase one.

I was fortunate enough to actually be able to find one and we used our economic stimulus package money to pay for it.  The day we brought our Nintendo Wii home, plugged it in and started playing it changed our lives.  I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true.

The evening routine

My kids have had various game consoles for a while.  My wife and I aren’t big gamers, but I do enjoy playing to occasional round of 3rd person shooters or Neverwinter Nights with some friends online using our computer.  My wife on the other hand is more a puzzle/arcade game fan using her computer.  We did have a Nintendo 64 for a while, but as we had more kids we just didn’t have the time to play.

So each evening I would sit in my chair on my laptop, my wife in her chair on her laptop and we would each do our own thing (typically with the TV on the background).  We would talk and share funny articles on the internet, share sites with each other, etc. This has been pretty much our routine now for the past 2-3 years or so.

Well low and behold over that past 2-3 years we’ve slowly put on weight.  Not a quick weight gain, but a very slow.  One of those were you don’t really notice it until all of the sudden one day your pants won’t snap and you can’t see your feet anymore.  This realization occurred about the same time we purchased the Wii.

Since then, we’ve been on a diet and trying to be more active.  It’s so hot here in the Carolinas right now that being outside and active is just miserable, let alone not healthy.  We even tried joining our local YMCA, but taking our kids and trying to workout is more work than the exercise itself.

Nintendo Wii

Enter the Nintendo Wii.  The Wii is an interesting little box.  It’s not real fancy, at least from the outside and the graphics aren’t anything all that amazing.  To be honest, I don’t think it looks much better than the Nintendo 64 we had more than 10 years ago.  It does remind me of an Apple product though in that you just plug it in and it works.

What sets the Wii apart though are the wireless controllers.  When you play a Wii game, you don’t just sit there on your posterior exercising your fingers away while the rest of your body goes numb.  With the Wii, in most cases you have to stand up and move.  The Wii assigns you a “Mii” that is an on-screen character that represents you.  To make your Mii do things, you use the controller.  So if you want to throw something, you use you arm and make a throwing motion.  If you want to lift something, you use the controller in a lifting motion.  Playing Wii golf?  You actually do a real golf swing.

The truely neat thing is that it just works.  The Wii is really am amazing piece of technology and an idea I think will change gaming going forward for good.  See, when you play the Wii you get tired, you break a sweat, and you’ll be sore the next day.  Of course it’s so fun though, you’ll do it again the next evening.  When you play a game on the Wii, you aren’t just playing but exercising.  It’s the what I’ve been looking for for a long time: a way to exercise and have fun.

Working out and spending time together

The Wii has been life changing for us as it’s gotten us up out of our chairs, working together playing games, interacting and at the same time losing weight.  Our kids (who we let play a little) love watching us play to, so it’s become a really fun family event.

I’ve also been very concerned and disciplined with myself and my kids about not playing games too much, but with the Wii I truely don’t feel guilty since I’m exercising. Nintendo of course realized this whole exercise concept early on and developed the Wii Fit to target exercise.  While we don’t have a Wii Fit yet we do plan to get one.  Currently, they are as hard to find as the basic Wii’s were a year or two ago.

We’ve played all the Wii Sports games, then purchased Mario Kart, but our latest addiction…er…game is Boom Blox.  Boom Blox is like playing Jenga.  You have to work together to solve Jenga like puzzles to gain points.  The problems encourage team work and is really fun and challenging to play.

Cost/Benefit

Thinking back on the Wii purchase, I look at it now as more of an investment than expense.  The Wii has had a very positive influence on my family including helping us all get in a shape, spending more family time interacting and having a good time and frankly with Boom Blox it’s challenged our thinking and maybe sharpened our minds a little.

When I purchased the Wii, I never thought I would get these benefits our of it.  My wife and I were just looking for something that might be fun to do together every so often.  I can honestly say, the Wii is one of the best things I’ve spent my money on in a while.

I know there are those of you out there doubting the whole exercise thing.  Sure, it’s not the same as a full aerobic workout, but try a few rounds of boxing sometime and see if you don’t think different.

How about you?  Do you have a Wii?  What are your thoughts on it?  Have you been considering getting one?  Add a comment!
Photo by: Hachimaki

• Ask me anything - The Answers Photo by: goldberg About 2 weeks ago, I gave my readers a chance to ask...
• The Friday Gathering: Nintendo Wii Edition Photo by: Jessica Driver I mentioned last week that we paid off our Chase card...
• Save Money At Amusement Parks 1 Timothy 4:4-5 Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of...
• Save money while traveling A frugal vacation is almost an oxymoron, but there are some small ways that our...
• Do you appreciate what you have? My teenage son came home the other day.  He told his Mom and me that...

I’ve mentioned in a few posts in the past that I enjoy playing Dungeons & Dragons*.  Call me a geek, but it really is an incredible game, much like playing a novel where you are the main character.  Recently, Wizards of the Coast (the makers of D&D) released the 4th edition rule set and along with it new rule books and adventures.  The new rule set not only makes the game better (or at least in theory) but it’s an incredibly smart marketing move for WOTC (Wizards of the Coast) as it encourages everyone that plays to upgrade their books and adventures.  I recently learned what my price for convenience is.  Let me explain…

The local bookstore vs. Amazon

I went to our local bookstore this weekend to purchase one of the new rule books.  They had plenty of copies and the price was $34.95.  As I paged through the new book I realized I had forgotten to check price on the internet to see if I could get a better deal.  I pulled out my blackberry and did some quick searching, and realized I could get the same book from Amazon for $23.07, as savings of $11.08, pretty significant.

About that time, my wife came over and asked if I was ready to leave.  I explained the price difference and said I would rather go home and just order it online.  My wife, being the awesome spouse she is quickly said “Don’t forget you have to pay shipping and we get 10% off using our discount club membership.”  I whipped out my blackberry again and looked up the shipping price and applied the discount.

To complicate matters, the book I wanted qualified for Amazon’s “super shipping” and of course, I was $1.93 short.  The shipping charge would be $3.99.  Applying the 10% discount to the store cost, shipping from Amazon, and figuring in tax the difference was now $6.52.  I thought about just ordering another book to remove the shipping but quickly realized I would end up paying more out of pocket overall and honestly didn’t need anymore books to read.

The Dilemma

The dilemma: Pay $6.52 cents extra to get it now, or wait 5 days to receive it from Amazon.  I seriously thought about this for a good 5-minutes along with trying to determine if I was being a cheap-skate or just being frugal.  I ended up buying the book after my wife saying “If $6.52 kills us, we have bigger problems.”  Very true, but she also knew how bad I wanted the book.

I’m not sure if this was the right decision or not, but I did enjoy reading the book over the weekend. This whole dilemma really made me begin to wonder, what exactly is the price for convenience?  I know for me, it’s at least $6.52.  What bothers me though is paying that extra $6.52 really bugs me.  Should it?  What’s your price for convenience?  Do you struggle with small amounts like this? Small amounts add up over time.  Share your thoughts, add a comment!

* I realize that some people, including some of you, may have strong opinions about D&D as it relates to being Christian.  While I fully respect and understand your viewpoints, I don’t fully subscribe.  I believe that practicing witchcraft and or sorcery is in conflict with the Bible, but playing a game or even reading a fantasy novel does not.  The important thing from my perspective is being able to fully seperate fantasy from reality.

• Money Saving Monday Tip #4 - Keep a Price Book A fews weeks ago we decided to start keeping track of the prices for various...
• How to read an appraisal I mentioned in my Friday gathering last week that we received the appraisal on our...
• And the winners are... I want to thank everybody for commenting in our first contest. I must admit that...
• When will I recieve my $250.00 stimulus check As part of the 2009 stimulus package, President Obama made sure that everyone was included. ...
• Money Saving Monday Tip Roundup Photo by: rjs1322 It's new years eve and almost the start of a new year....

I have this love/hate relationship with Walmart. I love the fact that they have pretty much everything you could ever want all in one place. I find their stores easy to navigate and the their overall selection excellent. Their prices are hard to beat as well. While they aren’t always cheaper on everything, I’ve seldom found any local store offering a lower price than Walmart.

My wife loves Walmart. We have a supercenter literally 5 minutes from our house which is both convenient and dangerous. My wife even does our primary grocery shopping their due to the low prices.

Here’s the problem: I literally HATE going to Walmart. I hate going their so much, I’d rather pay extra money to avoid it. Here’s why:

Parking

Unless you go early in the morning, say before 10:00am or you go late in the evening after 10:00pm finding a decent parking place is difficult. It seems that our Walmart is always packed. I don’t mind walking, but parking in the back forty when it’s 90+ degrees outside isn’t my idea of fun.

As if finding a parking space isn’t bad enough, just getting to one without getting in an accident is challenge.  Walmart’s are so busy, the parking lot reminds me of interstate traffic during rush hour. There are cars and people everywhere and avoiding hitting one or the other requires intense focus. I get stressed out every time we make that left turn into the main parking lot. Maybe I should invent a new game for the Wii…hmmmm.

People everywhere

Unfortunately, we aren’t the only one’s that have recognized the great selection and prices Walmart offers. The rest of the world has as well, and I think they all visit our local Walmart. I am amazed at how many people are actually in the store at most any given time. Navigating the store is far more difficult than navigating the parking lot. While I don’t find the aisles particularly narrow, I do find them full. When you get 3 or 4 people on each aisle all trying to go their own way with those big’ol shopping carts, it’s a bit chaotic. As with parking, just walking around the store stresses me out and frankly just puts me in a bad mood.

Checking out

While difficult to deal with, I am willing to deal with the parking, the chaos and the people to get the lower price.  After all, you have to give up something for lower prices. Few things in this world are free or without cost right?

What I have the biggest issue with at Walmart is checking out. When you arrive at Walmart, it takes a little longer to find a parking space and a little more time to get what you need due to the people and the size of the store. What takes literally forever is waiting in line.

Not sure about your local Walmart, but ours probably has 30-40 registers. I would be surprised if we have ever been there and there were more than 50% of them open. Most times it’s more like 10 are open.  Lined up at the ones that are open are usually 5-10 people with full shopping carts. On average, I’d say we spend anywhere from 15-30 minutes waiting in line, depending on how busy the store is.

The icing on the cake

For me, Walmart just isn’t worth it.  For my wife though, it’s completely worth it. She doesn’t like waiting, but feels waiting a little extra is the price you pay for the discounted prices, so we wait anyway. What really does me in, and this occurs probably 50% of the time, is walking out the door and having the theft alarm go off. Far too frequently, the cashier fails to correctly deactivate the anti-theft system on some item we’ve purchased.

As a result, we get accosted by the senior citizen greeter at the front door who has to sift through all of the items we’ve purchased to find the offending item. They must then write down all the details of the item, validate your receipt and once again attempt to deactivate the anti-theft device. If you have more than one item, you may as well find a chair.

My time is valuable to me

I know my main issue is lack of patience, but at the same time my time is important to me. Instead of waiting at Walmart, I could be playing with my kids, playing Wii with my wife, working on our house, working on a new web project, or writing an article for one of my blogs. All of which are far more better uses of my time. The extra time and stress I waste at Walmart just isn’t worth the cost savings to me. To be honest, I’m not even sure what the real cost savings is.

Walmart: Why can’t you raise your prices just a bit and keep more of those lines open? Or how about coming up with a system where you you have extra lines and charge a premium for the people that go through those “express lines” ? I’d pay!

How about you? What’s your take on visiting Walmart and the cost of saving money? Am I just on a crazy rant or does my argument make sense? Add a comment!

• Money Saving Monday Tip #4 - Keep a Price Book A fews weeks ago we decided to start keeping track of the prices for various...
• Retailers want your economic stimulus money Over the past couple weeks I've seen TV commercials, print ads, signs and fliers from...
• Becoming a saver when you like to spend Photo by: peterme The following is a guest post by Lynnae of Being Frugal.net, a...
• Money Saving Monday Tip #12 - Repair Your Own Car Seldom will your car require maintenance that you can't do. Most car repairs and maintenance...
• Don't buy a dog As many of you know, we recently moved to the mountains.  When we lived in...

This morning I received an email from eBay stating that my email address had been changed. I often get email from eBay, Paypal, and various banks stating things like this, along with requests to update my personal information, and even claims my identify has been stolen and I need to login immediately. Most of these emails come with a convenient link that will take me to wherever I need to go, to do whatever the email is wants me to do. Since I work in the computer industry, I am all too familiar with the phishing techniques used by crooks to trick you into giving them your id, password, and personal information. My initial response to this email was that it was just another phishing email and just about deleted it. Fortunately I didn’t…

The email looked as follows:

Dear [[my eBay ID]],

Thank you for submitting your change of email address request. Instructions on completing the change have been sent to your new email address. Once the process is completed, your eBay-related email will no longer be routed to this email address.

If you did not make this change, check with family members and others who may have access to your account first. If you still feel that an unauthorized person has changed your email, get help here:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/isgw-account-theft-reporting.html

Change of email address request was made from:
IP Address: XX.XXX.XX.XXX
ISP Host: XX.XX.XX.XXX

Thank you,
eBay

This email caught my attention for three reasons:

1. There is no link to eBay asking me for information or prompting me to do anything. The only link to eBay is to a help page.
2. The email contains IP addresses. This of course could still indicate it’s a phishing email, but I’ve not seen phishing emails contain IP addresses like this before.
3. The email says “Instructions on completing the change have been sent to your new email address“. I didn’t receive an email.

Suspicious, I logged into my eBay account just to check things out. When I logged in, eBay automatically takes me to “My Ebay” page and I noticed immediately that I had two Indy 500 tickets for sale! First off, I’m not an Indy car fan at all and second I certainly don’t have any Indy car tickets to sell. Hmmmm…

I then checked my personal information, and noticed my email had been changed. I immediately went over to my settings and changed my password. I next contacted eBay “live support” to report that someone had breached my account. Ten minutes later, the Indy tickets were removed from my account and my email address back like it should be. Compliments to eBay, as it was a very smooth process, which made me realize this must occur fairly frequently. This became even more evident when I asked them if they were going to follow-up on the “thief”, and they kindly told me no that due to the large amount of reports they receive, they can’t possibly follow-up on every request.

I researched the IP address that eBay stated changed my email address, and I contacted their Internet Service Providers abuse email to report the issue. Their initial response was less than hopeful. They told me to get a warrant issued from the international police (the ISP is in Canada). I replied expressing “my concerns” with their reply, and they are now being a little more helpful, although I doubt they will really do anything.

What baffles me, is how this happened. My wife and I are the only one’s that use my eBay account. Again, given I work in Information Technology (IT), I am very aware of phishing and have educated my wife as well. Further more, she rarely uses my eBay account. I use it fairly frequently to buy things, including supplies and equipment for my saltwater fish tank, but don’t recall even receiving any emails from eBay in the past few weeks.

I guess it’s possible my password could have just been cracked, but I’m even skeptical of that, as it’s a pretty secure password. I’m going to continue to review past emails and try to think through how this may have happened. I’ll let you know if I find anything out.

Tips from eBay on securing your account

Here are a few tips I learned today on how to secure your eBay account:

• Don’t use the same passwords for your personal mail account and your eBay account. Even better, don’t use the same passwords for any sites. To make this easier, use a password management program like MySecurityVault PRO.
• Be aware of “spoof” emails and websites that pretend to look like eBay, but aren’t. These sites try to trick you into logging in and/or providing personal information by looking exactly like the real eBay site. Don’t ever click on links from emails, always go straight to the site my navigating using a bookmark or by keying in the web address directly. eBay does have a technology called SecureGuard that runs inside of the eBay toolbar. The toolbar will warn you when you are on a spoof site. Always forward potential spoof emails or spoof websites to eBay’s spoof email, Google Calendar to remind yourself to do this.
• Install and run security software on your computer. This includes anti-virus software, spyware protection, and firewall software. Norton Internet Security 2008 is an excellence choice.
• Monitor your account for suspicious activity. Check your account information and preferences periodically to insure they haven’t been modified. If you do see anything unusual, report it immediately.
• Consider a Paypal Security Key as an extra layer of security when logging onto eBay and/or Paypal. After the experience I had today, I ordered mine earlier this evening.

Have you ever had your eBay or PayPal account compromised? Have you ever received a spoof email? Share your story, add a comment.

• A reader question: Budgeting and reminders Photo by: pfly I recently gave my readers an opportunity to ask me pretty much...
• Why be frugal? Photo by: mugley This is a guest post by Steward from My Family's Money, a...
• Using a firewall account with ING Direct I'm pretty vocal about how much I love ING Direct.  One of the many features...
• Ask me anything #6 I give the readers of Gather Little by Little a chance to ask me anything....
• Select CD Rates Review Looking for a good (does it still exist?) certificate of deposit rates? I believe I...