Burgeoning Affluence

Box Tops For Education (BTFE)

2006-02-20T14:41:00.000-05:00

Earlier this month I wrote about my family's addiction to Pillsbury Toaster Strudels, so I thought I would write about another great way to give back to your community. On most General Mills products (Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, etc.) there is a Box Top For Education worth $0.10 to a school in your community. The more products you purchase with these on them, the more you can support schools in your community.

You can also have a portion of your online purchases go to the school of your choice, if you use the BTFE Marketplace. There is also a BTFE Credit Card you can use to increase the givng. I do not use either of these methods.

Simply clipping the BTFE off of the products we purchase usually nets over $30 each school year. If you do not have a school you would like to support, you could always sell them on Ebay!

Eating Out - Strategies to Save Money

2006-02-18T21:20:00.000-05:00

I have a weakness in that I like to go out to eat, which ends up costing me too much money. I thought I would outline my ways of trying to save money, when I am too lazy to cook or succumb to my eating out urge.

1. Keep foods I like that are easy to prepare at home at all times.

This way I can fight off the temptation to go out and get something. Unfortunately, that does not always work, so my next step is:

2. Get fast food.

This usually comes in the form of McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, Subway etc. I can usually satiate my cravings this way for under $5. If this does not work, my next choice is:

3. Go to a more "upscale" fast food restaurant.

These places include Fazolis (not all that upscale), Panera Bread Company, Qdoba/Chipotle Mexican Grill, Quiznos (a step up from Subway), etc. If these places don't seem to satisfy my urge, then I go to my next step:

4. Go to a buffet style restaurant.

These include Chinese Buffets, Ponderosa, Old Country Buffet, Ryan's Steakhouse, etc. Basically, you get a lot of food for a decent price and do not need to leave a big tip. If this doesn't work then I:

5. Get take out from a restaurant.

At least this way I avoid a tip and beverage costs. At minimum I'm saving 20% of the cost of eating out. If all else fails:

6. Get it over with and eat to your heart's content.

May as well not suffer too much.

If you get to step 6, try to start back at step 1 the next time.

Freebie: Real Arcade's SPLASH

2006-02-18T07:52:00.000-05:00

Just noticed on the Comcast.net page that Real Arcade was offering another Full Version Arcade Game for FREE. I have done several of these over the past year and have enjoyed their games. Of course, they want you to pay for their service, but it is not mandatory to do so.

Seems like a fun game. Hurry - the offer ends on 3/31/06!

Real Arcade's Splash

$200 from CitiBank Checking Account

2006-02-17T15:58:00.000-05:00

CitiBank is running a great offer right now giving you $200 for opening a checking account and then paying a Citi Credit Card bill with their Bill Payment. The savings vehicles aren't great, but they do allow you to get a competitive rate (if you use the CD option).

I decided to open their EZ Checking Account that requires $1500 to be in the account, which can be spread out among all of their products. After 120 days I should receive the $200, plus during that time period my account will be earning Thank You Points that can be redeemed for Gift Cards and also interest from their Money Market Account and CDs.

It looks like a great deal.

Sold My First IPO of the Year: Spansion (SPSN)

2006-02-16T18:06:00.000-05:00

I received 100 shares of the IPO, SPSN, in December @ $12/share and watched it go up to $13 and sit there for a while. It moved up to $14, then back down under $13 and floundered in that range for a long time. Luckily over the last few days it made a nice move over $15. I got out at $15.45, thus giving me a YTB (Yield to Broker or yield after commission) of 23.33% - not too shabby on a stock I thought would be a dog.

SPSN was a spin off of AMD, who makes microprocessors - your computer may be using one of them. They are Intel's (INTC) main competition, but continually run into fiscal problems. They seem to take some market share from Intel only to give it right back. SPSN has a lot of debt (thus my thought it might be a dog), but seems to have done well for the 41 business days I held it.

Why 41 business days? My allocation of IPO stocks is determined by the length of time I hold them. The best "rating" is to hold over 40, the next 20 then 5. If I flip them too quickly and too often, my ability to be allocated shares in upcoming IPOs becomes severely limited.

For more IPO info, I have found IPO Home to be a great source.

Powerball Result

2006-02-16T18:05:00.000-05:00

Of course, I didn't win.

Powerball

2006-02-15T20:28:00.000-05:00

I broke down and purchased one Powerball ticket, since the prize money is at $300 Million. I know that logically it's stupid, since my chances of winning are almost nil. Oh well, it's nice to dream!

The odds of winning are staggering. My odds to win the whole thing are 1 in 146,107,962.00 - not much better than if I had not bought a ticket at all. I have a 1 in 68.96 chance of winning $3 and a 1 in 36.61 chance of winning something. The rest of the odds can be found on the Powerball site. As the immortal Lloyd Christmas said: "So your telling me there's a chance!".

I just need to remember that I have a better chance of getting hit by lightning, dying in a car accident, freezing to death ... You get the picture.

Prosper.com

2006-02-15T16:13:00.000-05:00

There is a very interesting thread discussing the merits/demerits of Prosper.com on Fatwallet. Prosper.com is a micro-lending site where individuals like myself can make small loans to other individuals, small businesses, etc. at a set interest rate over a 3 year period. They provide a grading system based upon the borrower's FICO score (click here to learn more about their Credit Grades). You can then decide to lend at whatever rate they are willing to pay. To mitigate risk, they suggest to make numerous small loans so that one or two defaults will not have a huge impact on your total loan portfolio.

A similar concept has been done in the UK, called Zopa.com. In fact, Zopa might be coming to the US soon.

Since I do not have control over Prosper.com and how it does it's due diligence, I am not going to join the site, though I will keep an eye on it, because it does show a lot of potential. For your reading pleasure, here is a Business Week article entitled Prosper: The Ebay of Loans?

Upromise Credit Card

2006-02-15T12:41:00.000-05:00

I have augmented my 529 savings through Upromise by using the Upromise Credit Card by Citibank. I use this card for almost all of my purchases and get 1% of those purchases deposited into my Upromise account.

As a nice bonus, I receive a 10% bonus when using this credit card on most Upromise participating brands. For example, when I purchase a 2-liter of Diet Coke for $1, I will have an extra $.11 (1% for the purchase + 10% bonus) along with the normal $.01 that would be deposited into the Upromise account.

My 529 for my daughter has gone up very quickly using this Credit Card.

For other opinions on this credit card, click here.

Upromise

2006-02-14T22:14:00.000-05:00

Another way that I get more from my dollar spent is through the Upromise program. You can get a percentage back for participating brands you buy at the grocery or drug store. On top of that, you can get money for purchasing through the website, eating out at a participating restaurant or getting your clothes drycleaned.

Some participating brands are Coca Cola (certain products), Kimberly Clark, McDonalds, Exxon/Mobil stations and Bed Bath and Beyond.

I have been very happy with it, especially since I have linked it to my daughter's 529 account.

GMAC Bank

2006-02-13T21:24:00.000-05:00

I have now taken the plunge and successfully opened an account with GMAC bank. I had done a lot of reading on Fatwallet and other personal finance blogs regarding online savings accounts and did it even though there is no sign up bonus.

I will more than likely open another account for the signup bonus and better rate, like HSBC's $25 signup and 4.8% yield, but I felt that GMAC's bank to bank transfer speed far outweighed it's short term yield disadvantage (ING and HSBC yields will realign in April).

For a nice comparison of HSBC and GMAC accounts check out this thread. For another good online savings account comparison check out mymoneyblog.

Comcast Cable Internet Haggling Failure

2006-02-13T16:51:00.000-05:00

I tried to get my cable internet bill lowered by using the tactics outlined on Fatwallet, but was unsuccessful. The CSR tried to be as helpful as possible and "talked to her manager" several times, but ended up holding her ground. She said that the full year rate that I pay ($472.50) is much lower than the $57.95 monthly rate a non-subscribing Comcast Cable customer would pay. She said any short term promotion she would use would be offset by this $57.95 monthly cost.

I thought she was quoting me the business price, since my recollection was that the cost was $42.95 per month, but I checked the Comcast website and was shocked to see this in the fine print of their promotion:

"This promotional offer applies Non-Comcast video subscribers. After promotional period, regular monthly service rates apply, currently $57.95 for Non-Comcast Cable subscribers."

Luckily, I am being reimbursed by my employer for the cost of my internet access. I just wanted to save them a few shekels.

MLM Knocking Again

2006-02-12T20:25:00.000-05:00

The MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) craze must be making a comeback, since I have been approached by two different people recently for two different "opportunities". They all seem to have the same framework and say that they are not MLM, but we all know they are. Anyway, I agreed to have lunch with the most recent one to see how the sales pitch will go.

Market America (about which my meeting is based) looks a lot like Quixtar, but seems to be smaller in nature. I'll be interested to see what the sales pitch is.

I have also been approached to become a rep for Primerica during the last month. I must be emitting some vibe!

Offline Couponing

2006-02-12T10:05:00.000-05:00

I sat down to read the paper today and look through the multitude of adds, as is my habit. Every Sunday, after reading the paper, I get the coupons and nicely cut out the ones that my family would need. I know there are definitely hardcore couponers out there, but I just don't have the time or inclination to go to lots of stores to stock up on merchandise. We religiously bring our coupons when we shop, but often forget to look through them or buy nothing that requires one.

We do have one product (Pillsbury Toaster Strudels, especially the Cream Cheese variety), that we seem to go through too quickly, so I knew I could use a multitude of coupons. I decided to check on Ebay for coupons and lo and behold it was the holy grail of coupons! I purchased 15 $.50 off 1 coupons (these can be doubled) and paid $1.38 with my Paypal balance hoping that the seller would send them to me. Only a few days later I had 15 coupons waiting to be used. I used the majority of them at Kroger when they were on sale for $1.67. With the doubled coupon my cost was only $.67! I spent $1.38 to get $15 in coupon savings. I have just purchased 20 more and look forward to getting them so we can more affordably feed our addiction.

Want to learn more about couponing? Click here to learn more than you ever wanted to know about couponing.

Valentine's Day Dinner

2006-02-11T21:04:00.000-05:00

Went out this evening to celebrate Valentine's Day with my wife to an awesome restaurant that we had never frequented called Flytraps. A friend had given us a gift certificate recently (friend's husband is a chef and very picky), so we decided to use it tonight.

The meal was superb! We started sharing an appetizer of carmelized pears and walnuts atop warmed brie accompanied by a delicous bread. Our meal consisted of a Hawaiian Maki with Orange Glaze and a Ten Spice Game Hen with a sweet and sour sauce. Along with the meal I drank a Blue Moon and my wife had a martini. After our entrees we had coffee with Bailey's Irish Cream. I felt like the guy in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, when they asked me if I wanted dessert (It's just wafer thin!), but we decided to split a cheesecake. We felt like we needed to walk a marathon to burn off all the calories.

After having thoroughly stuffed ourselves, I felt a little guilty that I did not use a cash back credit card to purchase the meal. Hey, a free meal is a free meal.

I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!

Grocery Store Charity

2006-02-11T14:40:00.000-05:00

I have always looked for ways to become more efficient when spending my money, so when I found a way to donate to my favorite charity through purchases I make every day at my grocery store I had to jump right on it. The Meijer Community Rewards program allows me to do this. Depending on the amount I spend, Meijer will donate up to 4% of my purchases to the organization of my choice. In my case, it is my daughter's school.

Of course, there are some caveats. First, you must use the Meijer Guest Card (big brother) at every purchase. Then you are not eligible until after your first $100 in purchases each month. Anything above the $100 (the first $100 is not included in the calculation) is eligible for the reward. Tax and certain purchases are not included. To entice you to use their credit card, Meijer further dilutes your rewards potential by mandating that only a monthly specified percentage (this month is 80%) of your eligible purchases can be used to calculate your rewards, if you did not use their credit card.

For example, if you purchase $400 of eligible items this month, you subtract the initial $100 and then take 80% of the remaining $300 (or $240) multiplied by corresponding rate. In this case the rate is 2%, since monthly purchases of $400 to $799.99 fall into this rate category. That means that $4.80 will go to my daughter's school! It's not much, but it does add up.

For more info, read their FAQ.