frugal underground

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We’ve all heard both sides to the argument on being frugal vs being cheap.

While both can lead to cost savings for a household, the former is more about getting quality products at lower costs, while the latter is getting something simply because it has the lowest price (or comes free!) without much thought to its make, functionality, and how it could affect other people (not leaving a tip in a restaurant for instance IS cheap).

Adults can live without those unnecessary luxuries or make those small “sacrifices” in the name of frugal living and being eco-friendly. But just how much of our frugality should be applied to buying for our kids without crossing the line to cheapness? Here are some great ideas for frugal moms, which can bring in huge savings for you without sacrificing your young ones’ comfort and little pleasures.

Having at least three children or more will definitely make a dent on your clothing budget. When shopping for kids’ clothes, try the following:

A child’s birthday that’s just around the corner can be a stressful time for parents because birthdays are typically associated with costly parties. As frugal moms know, birthday treats don’t necessarily have to be bank-breaking. A few suggestions:

Now, I’d like to think that the ideas mentioned above were certainly within the bounds of frugality. So what for me would be ‘cheap mode’ for kids? Off the top of my head, just two:

As with everything else, it’s all a matter of perspective. What may be frugal for some, could be thought of as cheap by others.

As a parent, do you have these “frugal vs cheap” debates within yourself?

I once had a roommate who refused to shop at discount and second-hand stores because she didn’t want people to think she was poor.

She would rather be seen as rich than smart.

The sad thing is that her attitude is all too common these days:  with teenagers in the house I see it all the time.  They want the newest and most fashionable everything - even if it’s overpriced crap - just because it is in style.

There isn’t much you can do about a teenager’s sense of style,  some of them haven’t figured out how to wear pants yet; but it’s always possible to try and instill good habits when it comes to spending money.

This is even more important when they’re spending my money.

Today’s topic is bargains, discounts, and second-hand stores:  and why the emphasis on having people think she was rich only made my roommate look foolish. Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to Amazon’s Black Friday sale, I’ve also come across a few more noteworthy online sales. (I’ll update this post as I come across other exceptional deals.)

If you need a new desktop computer, you’ll have a hard time beating this deal from PC Direct; I’m not going to list all the specs here, but in my semi-professional tech opinion, this is the best computer deal I’ve seen in a long time.

Knitters looking to round out their needle collections might want to consider Lion Brand’s great deal on a circular needle set. Less than $20 (plus shipping, I imagine) gets you seven 29″ circular needles from size 10.5 to 35!

Here in the U.S., the day after Thanksgiving has picked up the moniker of “Black Friday.” Seems a little dismal, but it’s almost a holiday of its own—part frugality, part insanity. It’s a “competitive shopping” extravaganza of too many people clamoring for too little inventory.

Personally, I’m not a big Black Friday shopper. I’m usually too lazy to go buy a paper, find the good sales, and drive all over town. That said, I’ve gotten some great deals in the past, and if you have a list of Christmas present recipients but don’t know what you’re getting them, it can be a good strategy for frugal shopping.

This year, though, I was amused (and secretly delighted) to see that Amazon is doing a big Black Friday sale of their own. No doubt they’ve done this before and I just didn’t notice, but for a homebody like me, it’s good news.

They don’t have details on what’s going to be available, but they promise hourly deals from 6am to 6pm PST. It’s also worth checking out their creative “Customers Vote” deals—it’s the only place I’ve seen a chance of getting a Wii for $79.

Photo by NURR

You should always have a plan when you are going to spend money. Consider just three areas where we regularly save by planning.

Groceries. Planning the meals to cover a week or two weeks will help you stick to a budget. Instead of buying food on impulse, you can plan each meal ahead and get the necessary ingredients. You should also make sure that you check the levels of household cleaners and toiletries. Avoiding an extra trip to the store will bring down the chances of an impulse purchase.

Entertainment. Everyone likes to get out and have fun. If you really need to get out once in a while, plan an inexpensive night out. Set the amount you will spend and stick to it. If you use cash only, you will be more inclined to stick to budget.

Major purchases. You can save a fortune if you explore your options. When looking for a car, furniture or major appliances, there is much room for error. Think about quality. It might not be the best choice to buy the cheapest thing out there, because it may not last as long. Check the consumer ratings on the brands you are considering. You don’t have to pay top dollar, but cheap isn’t the way to go with certain things.

MightyBargainHunter.com provides interesting tips on finance, saving, spending, and bargains. And who doesn’t like a good bargain blog? As mentioned in the tagline, this blog is about more than just bargains, though. Other categories discussed include banking news, debt reduction, frugal living, investing, real estate, green living, personal finance, and making money.

The Mighty Bargain Hunter, otherwise known as MBH, is a rather elusive fellow — try as I might, I was unable to find any information about him. Anonymity aside, he (I determined this after reading that he had a wife) posts every few days on a new topic. He seems to follow financial news very closely, so if that’s something that interests you, be sure to check out his thoughts each week.

Most of MBH’s posts are lengthy, so if you’re looking for a quick read, check out the bullet points — these generally highlight the most important information in each entry. Also, every Sunday, he posts a “Roundup” for the previous week, sharing blog posts from Money Blog Network and other blogs in his RSS reader.

Although the posts are well-written and generally quite interesting, I don’t think the information is always relevant to readers. I would like to see fewer posts about what MBH bought on eBay or at a yard sale (these types of entries are quite numerous) and more that are universal enough to apply to everyone’s frugal lifestyle.

If you really love eBay, estate sales, and yard sales, MBH has some interesting inside tricks and tips. He even has a four-part (maybe more to come) series on how to make money with an eBay store.

I also thought the MBH blog is a little cluttered — wall-to-wall text with very little breathing room. Granted, there’s a ton of information included in this blog, but the design could definitely benefit from some more white space and simpler navigation. Try not to be distracted by the color-coordinated Google ads on the left.

One thing I really liked about Mighty Bargain Hunter is the wealth (no pun intended) of worthwhile links to personal finance blogs, frugal living blogs, investing blogs, and debt reduction blogs. It’s quite obvious that MBH is an avid finance reader and does his homework on behalf of his own readers.

In addition, MBH provides the disclaimer that the advice presented on the blog is not to be construed as personalized advice. He recommends seeking professional advisers to address individual needs. It appears that he will occasionally answer e-mails and questions from his readers in the blog, so if you plan to ask MBH a question, keep the aforementioned disclaimer in mind.

Lastly, you can subscribe for a weekly e-mail “feed digest” and receive MBH info directly. If you look under the “Features” section, you’ll also find links to the Catacombs, which offer free bargain hunting articles, as well as links to the Carnival of Debt Reduction and MyPoints. If you have the time to read and explore Mighty Bargain Hunter, there’s plenty of valuable information to be found. Get hunting!

Have you ever gone to a yard sale? There are plenty of great things that people don’t want or need that could be perfectly useful to you. Here are some yard sale shopping tips.

Photo by abac077

First, you will want to have a plan. Make a list of things that you may be looking for a bargain price on. You might be looking for a gift for someone, furniture, toys, books, or clothes and all of those things can be found at many yards sales. You might be surprised at what you find. Find out where and when sales are happening, and show up early for first pickings.

When you get there, keep your eye open for the things that you listed. Also, look for things that you could resell for a profit.

The great thing about yard sales is negotiating. Use your negotiation skills to talk the seller down to a lower price. If they really want to get rid of the items, or there are damages or defects, you can use that as leverage to come away with a better bargain.

Not everyone offers a good discount at the sale. If you think you can find the item new for the same price or lower, the price is just too high. Try to negotiate if it is just an item or two that you really want. If everything seems a little over priced, try another sale.

If you truly want to begin a frugal lifestyle, you should strive to never pay full price if you can help it. For almost anything you need, you can shop around and find a bargain.

When it comes to children’s clothing, you definitely want to get things on sale. Since children are always growing, it doesn’t make sense to buy them expensive clothes or shoes. Unless you have several children to pass down the clothes to, it isn’t a wise investment.

Photo by Bargain Betty

The best time to shop is one month before seasons officially change. All of the winter clothes will go on clearance sales as spring starts, and all of the summer clothes will be on clearance sales right before the fall. Shopping on special holiday sales and back to school season will save you a ton.

Also, when it comes to groceries, appliances, DVDs, books, or just about anything you may want to buy, wait for the sale. Look for used ones in good condition and use coupons and/or club discounts.

Photo by pt harriet

You should never underestimate the power of the coupon. You may think, “What difference will it make if I save $0.25 on bread this week?” When you are tight on funds and have numerous bills to pay, every little bit helps. Clipping coupons can really save you money in the long run.

Here are some coupon rules:

Don’t go out of your way to buy items that you don’t need just because you have a coupon. Unless it is free, you will save more by not buying it.

Wait until the item goes on sale to use the coupon. (Many stores also offer double or triple coupon weeks, and you can hang on to coupons until then and save even more)

Don’t be afraid to try a new brand. If it costs less, why not try it?

You can find coupons in your local Sunday paper, right in the store, or online. All you have to do is visit a reputable coupon site, like SmartSource.com or CoolSavings. There are many more sites that offer coupons. The best way to save is waiting until the item goes on sale at your local grocery store to use the coupon. You can save hundreds of dollars per year!

Photo by Aditya Bhelke

One great way to save money is to buy things in bulk. For example, we all need toilet tissue, right? It may cost you a great deal less to buy a twelve roll pack than a four pack in the long run. The price per roll is typically less for a large pack.

If you pay close attention to the size to price ratio, you can get more of your money’s worth by getting larger packages. Larger jars of mayonnaise are usually cheaper per ounce than smaller jars. Paper towel, ketchup, peanut butter, rice, and just about everything else will cost you less in the long run if you grab the bigger bag, box, or container. If you know that you will use it all without it spoiling, buy the big one.

You can find larger packages that are cheaper per ounce, bottle, or roll at most supermarkets. If you are anywhere near a Costco, or BJs, you can get a membership there. These stores specialize in bulk packaging, and will save you tons of money on just about everything you buy. Wholesale club memberships sometimes have a small fee, but the money that you save is much more than the cost.

My sister just alerted me to today’s Amazon Gold Box offer: Your choice of either the Pinzon 10-Piece Stainless-Steel Cookware Set or the Pinzon 10-Piece Hard Anodized Cookware Set for $69.99 (free shipping, too).

Conventional wisdom suggests buying cookware a piece at a time, because with sets, you often end up with pieces you don’t really use (but paid for anyway) and sets are often low quality. However, if you actually need pots and pans, I think this case is an exception because both sets are highly-rated and contain the basics without a lot of obscure pieces.

My sister just moved into her own apartment last week and has very little in the way of kitchen stuff, so this is a great option for her (she’s planning on getting them), and if you’re in similar need of cookware, this may be opportunity knocking. Even if you miss the one-day sale, keep an eye on these items; Pinzon is known for producing good quality stuff at low prices, and Amazon frequently has sales on Pinzon products.

I’m a little behind-the-times on this, but I had to smile when I saw that Target is now selling wedding dresses (see the press release).

The prices range from $89.99 to $159.99 (as of this writing), which actually is pretty close to what I paid for my dress if I remember correctly. They’re generally nice looking dresses, though obviously you have a much smaller selection than if you are looking in a more traditional budget.

Many folks are questioning whether or not people will buy wedding dresses from a big box store like Target, but to me, the bigger question is the online aspect. Current reviews suggest that some brides absolutely love their dresses (though I’m sure this appeals more to the pragmatic type than the princess type), while others are disappointed. To me, that suggests a lack of accurate expectations.

More buyer reviews will help somewhat, but I think Target would do well to use one of the virtual model services, or at least provide much more detailed information and photos that brides could look at before ordering. Some of the complaints have been size-related, and that’s totally avoidable just by offering fit info in excruciating detail.

I’m not planning on ever buying another wedding dress, but my personality is a great match for these dresses: I hate going and trying on dresses endlessly, I’m frugal, and I’m pragmatic. I expect that the dresses will sell well if Target makes them just a little easier to commit to.

I am one of the many people who are better at “paying back” than “saving up” for bigger ticket purchases. That’s obviously not a good reason to use credit cards (or any other form of debt), but that’s my personality.

So what is a spender to do when faced with this dilemma? Anyone remember layaway?

For those who don’t, layaway was a service that many stores used to offer (but most have discontinued, thanks to the popularity of credit cards). Instead of buying something now and paying for it later (the credit card model), layaway let you pay for something over time for a small, fixed fee (if there was one), and have the product stored for you until you’d paid for it. Maybe not as fun as instant gratification, but much more responsible and frankly, more satisfying in the long run.

Well, as it turns out, the fabulous Internet has enabled layaway to make a comeback. Enter eLayaway, the online service that gives you the old layaway benefits with modern technology. There are some smart features, like auto draft from a checking account to make it easy to stay on top of it, and automatic shipping when the item is paid for.

The only downside is that there aren’t very many participating merchants at the moment. I expect this is a short-term problem, because they’ve made their pricing very attractive to merchants (much cheaper than credit card processing if there’s any sales volume at all) and merchants will be able to use this service to differentiate themselves and show they are thinking of their customers’ best interests.

Found via Springwise.

It is an Apple-crazy week in my house. I’ve been thinking about getting a Mac mini for some time now (for my business), and the time came quite clearly when Daniel’s motherboard died last week. It’s old enough that it can’t be cheaply replaced, so we’re going to do a bit of a computer shuffle, with the Mac being the key.

I looked on Apple’s site to see what retail was on the model I wanted, and then went comparison shopping. I checked Apple’s refurbs, Amazon, and other various sites. In the end, I got a great deal on eBay (have I mentioned that I love eBay?): a couple hundred dollars less than retail.

Wednesday, my sister Leanna and I went into KeyBank to sign up for checking accounts and take advantage of their awesome free iPod nano promotion. I already have a great MP3 player, but I think an iPod will make a great Christmas present. Leanna’s boyfriend also signed up last weekend, so we used him as a referral, making him a nice $50 and getting $25 each just for mentioning that.

I also have to say, the employees at this particular KeyBank location were amazing. I’m probably going to write a post in my (yet to be unveiled) business blog about their fantastic customer service. Based on this one visit, I have a much better opinion of Key than I did last week.

Anyway, the deal with the iPod offer is that you sign up for checking and also for either direct deposit (not an option for me, being self-employed) or a credit card. Sixty days later, you’ve got yourself an iPod. The account guy helping us said that this promotion has been stunningly successful; they hit the expected number of new accounts weeks earlier than they had planned, and Key extended the promotion for a week. Bring on the iPods!

And the most recent Mac development: Leanna is currently training to do some work (as an independent contractor) for me. Coding, template building, that kind of thing. Her computer is now a little over five years old (and it wasn’t cutting edge when it was new), so she’s been looking for a laptop to replace it. She ended up deciding on a Mac, too, both because it will make it easier to work with me, and because of all the fabulous things we keep hearing about them from other web developers.

We looked locally (she was hoping to get rewards points on her low-limit credit card by splitting the transaction) but the deals just weren’t there. eBay wasn’t really top-notch, either—one guy was offering a great deal but his feedback had all sorts of comments about really slow shipping (like 2 months slow!), so we opted for Amazon. They’re offering a nice $100 rebate, which took the price down to both her budget, and the price of comparable Windows machines.

We signed up for the Amazon Prime trial, and Leanna opted to pay the $4 to get the computer delivered Next Day Air. It will arrive this afternoon and she’ll spend much of the holiday weekend working on her coding skills.

All in all this week, we’ve saved a grand total of $770 off retail on Apple products. Not bad for a little research!

A month or two ago, I received an email from someone who had seen this blog and wanted to tell me about his own frugal site. I get a few of these emails each month, but this one hit me at a crazy busy time, and I didn’t take the time to look at his site until now.

Because the gentleman was kind enough to include a summary of what the site does, I’m copying it here:

DealMine.com is aggregating member discounts and rewards from loyalty programs, credit cards, associations (AAA, AARP), unions, etc and matching them up to comparison shopping technology. The idea from a consumer perspective is that as popular as comparison shopping is, the information they provide is limited to price, tax and shipping info and that does not provide all the information and consumer needs to make a purchasing decision. For example, the average consumer has nine credit cards, belongs to four rewards programs and at least one association or club (sources: FairIssac and Colloquy) all of which have member benefits and have not been aggregated anywhere before in a way that makes them easy to use. We help consumers discover deals they didnt even know they had available like 10% off at Target.com with AAA or $15 off at Bluefly with Visa cards…

The site features two types of searches. The first is into the directory to compare discounts or rewards like this one for car rentals currently featuring over 100 deals: http://www.dealmine.com/deal-directory/Travel-discounts/Car-Rentals/49

The other search on the site is actual comparison shopping where prices at various stores are matched up to affinity/membership discounts and benefits. See below for an example of a “Compare Prices” search on jeans: http://www.dealmine.com/compare-prices.php?s=jeans

The site currently features discounts and rewards from 29 member programs and is growing quickly.

I was impressed at the concept when I read the email. It seems like a tool that could help a certain market segment (namely, us, “the cheapskates”). And goodness knows I’m part of way too many rewards programs, and don’t keep track of them nearly as well as I ought to.

I tried out the site to see what I thought. My impression: a touch clunky, but extremely useful. The registration process includes a spot where you tell DealMine what rewards programs you’re part of, and then future searches are customized to your actual memberships.

I was impressed at the options for filtering and sorting on a product search. For instance, I did the example jeans search, and found loads of bargains on pants. But then I saw I could filter to show only five-pocket jeans, or bootcuts, and limit it to deals under $20. That’s handy.

I went on to find a lovely pair of bootcut jeans at Sierra Trading post that were under $20 shipped, and would net me 4 hotel rewards points per dollar. I didn’t buy them (that’s still a lot of money for jeans, in my opinion, and I don’t need any right now), but it was a good exercise in seeing the potential benefit of this site.

My biggest concern? Whether I will remember to use the site. I’d like to see them offer a search plugin to the Search Bar in . That would make it much more likely that I’ll return when it’s time to buy.

Yesterday morning, I was reading the Excess Voice newsletter by Nick Usborne. The topic of the newsletter is copywriting, of all things, but it started me down a path that had some surprising results.

In this issue, Nick was talking about the importance of being aware of new technologies and services as they relate to your business. His point was that, whether or not you choose to employ these new technologies, your competitors might, and you should be making an informed decision. To illustrate his point, he rattled off a number of interesting new technologies and examples.

One of these was MotorMapUSA.com. Nick was using it as an example of a “mashup”—two services sort of “glued” together to make a more useful service. In the case of MotorMapUSA.com, they have combined the features of eBay Motors (buying and selling vehicles via online auction) with those of Google Maps (locating things by proximity). By combining these sites, you end up with a map of vehicles listed on eBay that are near your location.

In my opinion, this is huge.

While most people haven’t used eBay yet for vehicle purchases, the numbers are starting to pick up. I think it’s going to become more and more common to shop for cars through a number of online tools, especially as these mashups make it easier. The problem with car shopping on eBay, though, is that there are tons of great deals—but most of them aren’t convenient. It’s great to find a vehicle for $1000+ below Blue Book value, but if it’s halfway across the country, then you’re going to have to figure out how to transport it, adding expense and hassle. Granted, sometimes the bargain is worth it, but most of us won’t go to the effort.

By showing only local vehicles for sale, MotorMapUSA.com eliminates that inconvenience. Since eBay Motors is still a relatively little-used shopping tool, and most people are only interested in local vehicles, you have a great advantage with the auction format: less competition. You also have the advantage of a limited time frame (rather than a seller who is glad to wait around for a higher offer). Additionally, the seller might have a different perspective than the average private party seller.

I’ll tell you what happened yesterday as an example. We’ve been saving up for a new vehicle. We have one that is seemingly always on its last legs, so we wanted to be prepared if it suddenly died. We also need a different type of vehicle—last summer we had our properly-installed bike roof rack fly off our car, complete with two spendy bikes. So we wanted either a little pickup truck or a minivan that can carry our bikes securely (we bike a whole lot).

While I was checking out MotorMapUSA.com (just because it sounded like a great idea), I saw a few trucks listed. I looked at them out of curiosity, and found one that was particularly interesting. It had all of the features we wanted (4-wheel drive, a small extended cab to haul passengers in a pinch, not overly large) and the current high bid was significantly below what we had been considering paying for a vehicle. It also only had four hours left on the auction.

I thought, “What the heck?” and called Daniel. The listing had many pictures, so we both looked them over. We could see from the listing that the seller was a local new car dealership. Daniel called them to ask a few questions, and it turned out that it was a trade-in on a new Volvo, and the dealer mostly just wanted to move it. I’m guessing that for a new car dealership, it is much easier and less resource-intensive to sell the trade-ins on eBay than to run a used car lot or farm it out to other dealers.

Since the truck was just a few miles away, I went to look at it. It had been accurately described on the listing (this didn’t surprise me since the seller had lots of great ratings) so there weren’t any surprises, but it was nice to look it over and feel confident—I was able to check things like even tire wear, look for any engine compartment leaks, smell the interior, that kind of thing.

I came home, studied the Blue Book values more carefully, and talked to Daniel some more. We decided to bid on it, and set our maximum bid at about $800 under Blue Book (we wanted a bargain, after all!). I’m not a “professional eBayer” so I didn’t attempt to do any bidding tricks, like waiting until the last minute; I just put the max bid in and let it go.

It’s kind of odd to sit and think, “I might be buying a truck today.” But when the auction ended, we had won it for about $200 under our maximum bid (sales tax came to just about $200, though). We started the transfer of the savings money from HSBC, went down to the dealership, signed all the papers, wrote them a check (that was convenient, since most private party sellers want cash—a little tricky since all of our bank accounts are with Internet banks and we usually keep the maximum daily ATM withdrawal limit low for security), and drove home with our new truck.

Could we have gotten a better deal by scouring the local papers and looking at a bunch of vehicles over the course of several months? I’m sure we could have. But this was definitely a case of a “convenient bargain.” The shopping process took a grand total of four hours, most of them passive, and we got a good vehicle for less than it is worth.

Like everything else, you have to weigh your priorities: are you more interested in spending the time to save the money? Or spending the money to save the time? We felt like this was a great compromise between the two, and I’ll be recommending the MotorMapUSA.com service to anyone who’s car shopping.

I was making a pasta salad yesterday and decided to go all out… I bought sun-dried red bell peppers.  (I know, I’m really living large here!)  The salad was quite tasty, and the peppers were a delicious touch, so this morning I was thinking about the logistic of the peppers.

I have a dehydrator that doesn’t get used as much as it could, and while I imagine it wouldn’t be exactly the same as sun-drying, it seems like it would be a passable imitation.  “Think how much money I’ll save by doing it myself!” I thought gleefully.  Until I actually double-checked my receipt, that is!

Turns out that for me (at this time of year, at the store where I do most of my shopping), buying the sun-dried peppers is less expensive than buying fresh bell peppers and dehydrating them myself (not to mention the extra labor involved!).  The sun-dried peppers were $1.50 for what appears to be about two peppers; the fresh were the same cost per pepper!  Later in the season I expect that the fresh peppers will drop to about $.88 each, but it’s still cheaper to buy them already dried.

Just goes to show that the pricebook can reveal even the surprising deals!

I just discovered AddALL and am hooked. AddALL is a book price comparision site that’s getting me better results than all of the methods I’ve been using, and their sister sites (A Magazine Area, A Music Area, and A Movie Area) will help you in the same way when you’re looking for magazines, CDs, and videos.

What makes these sites so great? Their core functionality. I frequently use Froogle, which does a decent job, but Froogle doesn’t give me the final price… I have to visit the merchants’ sites and figure out shipping costs for myself. Sometimes these merchants make them hard to find. The price that Froogle gives me is usually not the price I’ll end up paying.

Not so with AddALL and friends. When I search, I tell them that I’m in the Continental U.S.A. (for shipping costs) and Idaho (for tax rate). All of my search results include shipping and taxes, so I can tell upfront that I will be paying exactly $22.98 for “Art Of Project Management” to be delivered to my doorstep (significantly cheaper—and easier!—than my previous plan to buy a discounted B&N gift card and purchase the book with my sister’s prefered B&N card).

I like that AddALL is book-specific (and the other sites are medium-specific). That means that the merchants are pre-selected with the intention of pointing people to books, and I don’t have to worry about all of the off-topic results I get with Froogle or eBay.

I am also appreciative that AddALL actually has a business model: when you purchase books through their site, they get a commission. I’m fine with that, and consider it a good thing. Too many “cool” sites started as hobbies or good ideas end up costing the creator too much to maintain and go away. The fact that there is a reasonable expectation of income for them (at no cost to me) gives me hope for the longevity of this excellent service. I’ll gladly buy though them!

Bottom line: this service is a fast, streamlined way to find the best final price for that book you’re pining for.

There are lots of reasons why it’s good to have some short term savings, a kind of cushion, if you will. Chief among them is that you won’t be overdrawing your checking account should your timing be a little off. But there are some other less-obvious advantages that can save you money.

The main one is that by having money in reserve, you can afford to “go without” some money in the short term to save money. A prime example of this is the various tax-free health savings accounts. By considering what your expenses are likely to be, and committing to cover them before they happen, you can save a significant chunk of change, depending on your tax bracket. This is the same idea behind various retirement options, too. Pay now to save later.

In our household, we’ve been using this idea to save money on recreation. One example is the health club. My husband is a semi-serious cyclist and wanted to keep in shape during the cold winter months, so we looked for a health club that offered cycling classes in addition to the weights that we should be using year-round. When we found the club we wanted to join, they quoted several different prices based on the term of the contract and the method of payment. Because we were willing to pay upfront for two years in advance, we are paying about half of the standard cost. Obviously this is only a good idea on something you will definitely use (we’re 6 months in and still going to the gym several times a week).

Here’s one that we’re planning on doing. Every year, our local ski hill sells season passes at an extremely low $199 per pass… but they only sell them at that price for one weekend. We just bought our passes for the 2006/2007 season, but we’re already thinking of 2007/2008. Here’s why: the ski hill runs a “cash card” sale just before they open (usually Novemberish, I think) where they sell these cash cards at 75% of their face value. Basically, get a $100 cash card for $75. These cards are accepted anywhere on the mountain and can be used to pay for lift tickets, lessons, whatever. What we’re focused on is that they can be used to pay for passes.

So come this November, we’re going to figure out what we will be spending in the full next year ($199 pass for me, $199 pass for Daniel, $120 for the lessons I intend to take, plus a little for food on the mountain) and we will buy a cash card with that full amount on it. In the end, we’ll be buying our passes for $150 each, my lessons for $90, and the overpriced food on the mountain for an amount that resembles a fair price. Sure, we have to plunk down $450 upfront, but we save a full $150 just by planning ahead.

The moral of this story? Whether you’re talking health care or retirement or recreation, you can often save a lot by paying upfront—so make it a priority to have the necessary short-term savings available.

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A while ago, I came across a store on eBay that interested me: The Organic Vanilla Bean Company. I added them to my favorite eBay sellers, and that was the extent of our relationship… until now.

In case you don’t know, vanilla beans are expensive. I thought the prices were kind of outrageous until I read about what’s actually involved in raising and harvesting vanilla beans… it involves precise timing and hand pollinating, if that give you any idea, so the cost is reflecting the work involved. I have a single vanilla bean stored in my pantry right now (a cool, dark place, you know). I’m afraid to use it. I keep thinking, “What if I use it and the recipe turns out lousy? I’ll have squandered my one vanilla bean.” Because at $8/bean or whatever, it’s not like I’m going to be buying more on a regular basis.

Last week I received the periodic eBay email featuring “Your Favorite Sellers”… and saw that The Organic Vanilla Bean Company had just listed some beans. I was feeling adventurous, so I thought, what the heck, and bid on one lot. It was a quarter-pound of 6-7″ grade A Tahitian vanilla beans, and the shipping was $3. A quarter-pound of that size is about 30 beans. I decided to bid something so ridiculously low that if I won the auction, it would be clear that God Himself wanted me to have those vanilla beans. So I bid a very random $6.38, and left for the weekend.

Imagine my surprise when I returned and found that I’d been offered a “Second Chance Offer” at my bid price! I didn’t hesitate. 30 vanilla beans for less than $10, shipped? Sign me up!

The point of this entry? Consider buying your gourmet food on eBay. You might save a bundle.