How My Husband Rocked Our New Van Purchase - A No-Regrets Guide to Buying a Car from Mr. Boredom Devastator

How My Husband Rocked Our New Van Purchase - A Car Buying Guide from Mr. Boredom Devastator

Sponsored post

When Cars.com asked me to write a sponsored post for them, it was perfect timing because my husband and I had just recently purchased a new-to-us van in preparation for becoming parents a few months ago.  I looped my husband in on the task of writing this post, since he is, in all modesty, a bit of a genius in the realm of car research-and-search.  So, say hi to my husband, Andrew (aka, Mr. Boredom Devastator), as he shares with you his fine-tuned system for locating and purchasing the best possible car for you!

*Andrew waves*  Hello Devastate Boredom readers! 

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Groupon Coupons - The #1 Way to Save Money on Your Next Online Purchase - Exclusive Codes, Secret Sales, and more!

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are honest, and my own, always!

Do y'all remember how revolutionary Groupon was when it first launched?  The deals!  The snarky humor!  I was just out of college and totally broke, so when I discovered Groupon it was a love at first click.  I even blogged about it.... awww, cute, broke, 20-something Sarah Eliza!

Fast forward six years and Groupon is only getting better, with the addition of Groupon Coupons!  If you're not already scouting online for coupon codes before you place an order on a store's website, you need to start now, and Groupon Coupons needs to be the first place you look.  Why, you might be asking?  What makes it different from any other coupon code collection site out there?

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Daily Deal Sites Totally Worth Knowing: Eversave & Jasmere in tha HOUSE!

First, there was Woot, daily bringing wacky, geeky, and otherwise random items to our computer screen at a  huge discount.  Other sites tried to use the daily deal format with some success, but the whole thing didn't really explode into our social consciousness until Groupon came along. I've been raving about how much I adore Groupon for the last year or so, and it would seem that the rest of the world loves it too, given the site's status as the fastest growing company ever.  Now there are daily deal sites popping up everywhere, but don't just write them off as wannabes... there are several really great ones!  My two newest favorites are Eversave and Jasmere.  I have to love these two in particular because several times now I've been able to snag really fabulous organic/natural, eco-friendly, and/or fair trade items at a big discount.  Going green can be expensive yo!  And both these sites have been really helpful in mitigating some of that money-pain.

Right now Eversave is featuring half off organic babywear from Funkoos, as well as a bonus deal on designer lotions and body products, and another on chic gift items.  The other fun thing about Eversave is that when you sign up for their email list you get an automatic $5 credit, so your first save will be that much better!  My favorite thing that I've bought from them so far was half off organic body products at Anthology... a site that I'd say is half Origins and half Ecco Bella, and all of it wayyy more affordable than either lol.  I wish I could have posted about Eversave while that deal was being offered, but the bummer with daily deals is that it's so hard to spread the word while it's still available... so I'm trying to make up for it by spreading the news about the site and letting you keep your eyes open on your own.  ;P

Jasmere is another favorite of mine, and what's even better, this month they're featuring all Fair Trade companies!  Today's feature is a site called Dsenyo, with super cute eco-friendly bags and totes that support community projects in Malawi.  The other cool thing about Jasmere is that the more people who buy it, the more the price drops for everyone... so the price can start at half off, and end up wayyy lower by the time the deal closes.

So yeah, head's up on these deal sites!  They're really helped me out with greening my house and beauty routine on a budget, and as Christmas approaches they're usually even handier as awesome, unique gift ideas that don't break the bank.  They're well worth checking out.  :)

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"Swagbucks"... dost my eyes decieve me, or is that free money headed our way?? Oh yes, it totally is.

A blogger buddy emailed me today asking me if I'd played around with swagbucks at all, and if so whether I'd recommend it...  I replied, why yes I do!  And it's pretty much free money, and fabulous.  

Then I started trying to remember why I hadn't posted about Swagbucks over here yet, and realized, oh right, it's because I've barely posted at all in the last two months.  Oops.  I guess I've been busy or something.  Which reminds me, two months ago today was my wedding day...  Happy two-monthiversary hottie hubbie!

So yeah, swagbucks is a search engine that pays you -- you'll never guess -- "swagbucks" for making searches.  Basically, it looks a lot like google, only with more sponsored links on top.  Those advertised sponsors = money for you.  Which is kind of fair when you think about it... google, bing, yahoo and everybody are all making money off of advertising while you search the web, and are all gathering information about you to sell to market researchers -- why shouldn't you get a cut of the cash?

Besides the search engine, which periodically "awards" you with swagbucks of varying amounts, you can do other things to earn "extra" swagbucks too -- taking surveys, hunting for codes on their blog, recycling your old electronics through them -- but generally I don't bother with any of that, I just use it for searches.  Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I use it more for navigation then I do actual searches.  I'll use swagbucks to get around to my email, favorite blogs, news sites, stuff like that.  If I'm doing any searching more complicated than "yogi organic tea" or "Atlanta library" or "my stonyfield rewards" or whatever I just switch back to google.  I installed a swagbucks plugin on the search drop-box in the top corner of my browser, so its super easy to switch back and forth if swagbucks gets annoying.

Anyway, your swagbucks can later be cashed-in for giftcards, prizes, paypal, Mp3 downloads, and lots of other stuff, but the best bang for your swagbuck is to trade them in for Amazon $5 giftcodes once you hit 450.  I've cashed in for almost $100 worth of Amazon money over the course of a year, so it definitely adds up!  And its more or less effortless cash. 

Then, once you're hooked, the way to REALLY start racking up the points is to start referring people.  Like if I were to refer you, my beloved reader, I would get extra credit for the first 1000 swagbucks you "won" from searches.  Which is to say, if you feel like playing with swagbucks, you should totally use my referral link muahahahaha.   ;P

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/misseliza123

Give it a go!  It's an easy way to wind up with a bit more spending money.  :)

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Awesome New Deal Site "Jasmere"... aka, Organic Free-Trade Coffee Anyone??

When it comes to deal sites, Jasmere is one of the newest and coolest kids on the block, and if you're a fan of organic, free-trade coffee, you need to head over and meet her TODAY.

If you've heard me rave about Groupon then you'll figure out pretty quick what Jasmere is about... only with the added perk that the more people commit to buying that day's deal, the lower the price goes for everybody!  Jasmere focuses on online retailers, and so far I've seen them feature everything from Vive Sana Organic Sunscreen (oh yea, you better bet I bought that one... and yes, it's amazing stuff), to natural body products, to organic linens, to leather phone and laptop cases, and lots more!  Pretty much any "specialty online retailer" might be featured from day to day, but so far I'm loving all the organic/natural products I've seen.

Today's deal is for a sampler set (3 lbs of coffee total, but 6 types) of free-trade, organic coffee, from Grounds for Change.  It looks delicious.  The sampler includes:

• Mexico Chiapas
• Peru Cafe Feminino
• Guatemala Forestal
• Agate Pass Blend
• Solstice Blend
• Equinox Blend

There's a decaf sampler too but I'm a caffeine girl myself so if you're interested in that one you'll just need to hop over there for more info.  :P

Right now it's going for $18 (normal retail $40).  And if more people buy, the final price might be even less than that!  Even if coffee's not so much your thing, you might still want to sign up for Jasmere's daily alerts... odds are there will be something up your ally soon enough!

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Fun and Wacky Awesome Deals this Weekend...

Some of my favorite online sites have great sales and deals this weekend so I thought I'd pass them on to y'all!

Threadless is a fabulous, funky t-shirt site, with new community-submitted designs each week, chosen by open vote. As a result their t-shirts feature a huge range of styles, from humorous, to artsy, to geeky, to random. This weekend is their 10 year anniversary, and they're having a massive $10 t-shirt sale to celebrate. I've been shopping their site (and sporting the best t-shirts on the block!) since 2007. I . Check them out before the sale ends Saturday (oh eek, it ends at 10 AM central time... I didn't realize that until just now. Go quick, quick!!).

I'm also super psyched about Atlanta's Groupon this weekend: Spa massages and facials more than half off at Jazmin Spa. They have three locations and seem pretty fabulous... HAPPY!! Also, if you are sitting there feeling jealous because you are not in Atlanta, chances are there's something cool available in your city too. San Fransisco has half off a luxury bus ride to Reno or Lake Tahoe. Cincinnati has 65% off of two hours of handyman services. Chicago has half off of a helicopter ride or lesson; New York has 70% off of a singles dating event; Houston has half off laser tag and go-kart racing; Charlotte has half off fine dining at a restaurant named Sonoma -- and I could go on, but there are about 50 cities now and I don't have that kind of time. That brief overview gives you an idea of the kinds of things you will often see available though, and it just now occurred to me that I could totally keep an eye on the groupons for a different cities when I'm planning a vacation, etc, so I'm pretty psyched about that. All the deals I mentioned are good through the weekend; a new deal is available each weekday as well.

Think Geek is also having a clearance sale, though mostly I just window shop and email links to people with subject lines like, zomg this is totally you bahaha or rofl. I think I have to buy this. My favorite sale items include the Empire Strikes Back 30th Anniversary Playing Cards (which I actually will probably buy... the Force is strong with me), Curiously Strong Magnets, The Kitty Bi-Plane Play House, the Refill Required t-shirt, and -- oooooh noooo I'm being sucked into the Think Geek abyss... must... retreat...

I'll let y'all do any clicking from here, but take note of the Think Geek coupon codes too. Have fun with that!

Note: Some of these are referral links. Thanks!

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Friday Frivolity: Vote for Somebody to Live off of Groupons...

Y'all are already aware how much I love Groupon, right? It's a daily deal site, like Woot and Pennywise, but features city-specific restaurants, events, gyms, spas, museums, bakeries, dancing lessons, etc etc. I'm kind of obsessed with it, and it's a fun way to find out about new things to do around town even when your bank account is a little slim. They feature most of the big cities across the US, and are expanding rapidly to others.

Anyway, recently they started a "Live Off Of Groupon" contest/promotion: "We will choose one person to attempt to survive for one year with nothing but a laptop, cellphone, and an unlimited supply of Groupons. If successful, that person will receive $100,000!"

It looks pretty awesome, and if I weren't engaged and in grad school I totally would have applied, gotten accepted, and become famous blogging about my adventures during the course of that year. ;P Alas, I won't be winning the $100,000, but everyone should still head over to check out the videos of the six finalists and vote on your favorite. The clips are pretty freaking awesome. At first I was all about Josh Stephens, because, heck, he turns into a superhero and defeats a grizzly bear with groupons, but Ross Cook-Golesh won me over. Yes, despite his horrible mustache. I just don't think anybody who dreams of being a photo-journalist should be doomed to chopping up raw meat all day... *subliminalmessageVoteForRosssubliminalmessage*

You and I might not be in the running to live off of them and win $100,000, but Groupon rocks the show just the same. You should check them out if you haven't already... awesome deals are headed your way. And if you're already well-acquainted with them, what's been your favorite deal so far? I think my favorite is yet to come... I have an hour-long massage scheduled for April at a reeeeally nice spa that I purchased for $10. Counting.the.days. ;P

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Ten Favorites of 2009! aka, Groupon Makes Fun Indulgences Affordable Again!!

I have to say, 2009 was a good year. A lot of awesome things happened during those 365 days... I started a blog, cemented my already raging addiction to the phenomenon known as Lost, got serious about going more green and being smart with my money, adopted two lovable sci-fi themed cats, got accepted to grad school, and something else I can't think of right now... what was it? Ugh this is going to drive me crazy... oh RIGHT! I got engaged!! ;P

To kick-start the decade (and my lagging writing skilz), I figure I'll stir things up a bit by highlighting a rather random selection of some of my favorite components of the past year. Since I've been meaning to write about Groupon for a while now, and it does indeed happen to be one of my new favorite things, it seems like a great place to start!

"Groupon" was coined from the combination of the words "group" and "coupon," and it is pretty much brilliance all around... every day there's a new deal organized by city, in which a business sells their services at a discount of at least 50%. These businesses range from tea houses, to fine dining, to indie art galleries, to spas, to bellydancing lessons... and that's only to mention the ones I've actually purchased myself! A typical deal might be to pay $30 for $90 worth of spa services, or $10 for a $25 gift certificate for a restaurant. There are also no stipulations for the total amount you have to spend at the restaurant or business (such as you might find using restaurants.com), so providing that you stay within budget a groupon certificate can cover the full cost of your meal or outing.

Groupon offers daily deals for 40+ cities, from Atlanta (OBVI!), to Chicago, to Phoenix, to Washington DC. Check it out!! Today's deals for Atlanta are on half-price museum admission or $20 for a horseback riding lesson, and New York's deals are on a wine and cheese tasting or half off at chocolate.com. Hmm, you probably don't have to live in New York to cash in on that last one! Sweeeeet! What will your deal be? Even if you don't love today's you'll probably be really excited about tomorrow's, so sign up for the daily email updates and something amazing will turn up soon enough. With more than 1,272,019 groupons sold and more than $63,143,960 saved... it's pretty much guaranteed! And that works for me. :)

This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday, over at We're THAT Family, and Thrifty Thursday over at Coupon Teacher. Be sure to head over there each week for lots of great tips and ideas!

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Good Eats the Thriftie Way: Free Organic Canned Tomatoes Reminder!

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I mentioned in a monthly budget update that $1/1 Muir Glen coupons can score shoppers of the Organic Mindset and/or Thriftie Persuasion some cheap or even free organic tomatoes. Well, it just so happens that the coupon I mentioned then is available again this month on coupons.com, hurrah! Most recently at Publix this coupon resulted in tomato paste for .09 and diced fire-roasted tomatoes for .59, so even if you don't normally eat organic it's well-worth your while... Muir Glen also makes killer tomato sauce, so no matter what you pick it's pretty much yum all around.

My newest budget challenge is feeding my boyfriend fiance and myself (we live separately but do our grocery shopping together) on $40 a week... and yes, that would include lunches for work. We've got a wedding to save for now, so I'm going to be stepping it up a notch. ;P Further Thriftie updates on will be forthcoming, and until then, enjoy some free organic tomato products!

*Note: The links above are affiliate link -- if you click on one and print coupons, not only do you save money, but you help me save towards a wedding! ;P I mean, every little bit helps, right? If you would rather use a non-affiliate link for any reason, you can access the site here instead: coupons.com

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May/June/July Shock-and-Awe Savings Review

It's been a while since I've done one of my monthly Shock-And-Awe Savings Reviews, but I haven't stopped saving! The Thriftie lifestyle is continuing at full speed over here, even if I have neglected to record my progress.

The first few months of this year I was concentrating mostly on building up an emergency fund, but since I've worked that into a comfortable cushion, I've put a lot of energy into paying down my loan the last couple of months instead. It added up! May alone I was able to pay $900 into my loan, and June was a little less spectacular with about $500, but I was quite pleased with both nonetheless. July I was aware I was going to have to pay the deposit on a new apartment soon (end of August it will be) so I only paid the automated $192 on my loan and set money aside for that instead.

By the strategic combination of coupons and sales I was able to get a ton of stuff free or under $1 the last few months: toilet paper, deodorant, toothpaste, razors, Luna bars, organic Ragu pasta sauce, Kraft Barbecue sauce, mustard, Hebrew National hot dogs, Pace salsa, spices, pineapple juice, Sabra hummus, Starbucks ice cream, rice, Wheat Thins, and other things I've lost track of... I was trying to find them all down in my receipts just now, but I don't really care about it enough to deal with all that paper. (haha! Score one, Sarah Eliza against Sarah Eliza's OCD tendencies...)

I'll be roommate-less beginning August and the rent in my new place will be more than 25% higher than what I'm paying currently, so my finances will have to be even tighter soon if I'm going to make any loan progress. At the end of this month I'm going to take a good hard look at my spending patterns and make any necessary adjustments. If nothing else, I can live off of rice and pineapple juice for a while, right??

I'm planning on heading into grad school in the spring (Master's of Teaching, here I come!) and the idea of more loans is a little daunting to say the least, but I know it's an investment I need to make. Plus, it'll be fun to go back to school, and I will be very glad to leave the life of "office drone" and "cubical zombie" behind me. I'm going to be the chalk-and-textbook-toting school-equivalent to Rosie the Riveter. New adventures await! And until then, I'll be wielding the tools of a Thriftie to get me closer to where I want to go, and keeping y'all posted on my progress and observations. ;)

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Guest Post: Why I Bought an Apple TV Rather Than A Cable Subscription

Today I'm doing a blog swap with Carrie from It's Frugal Being Green; she has kindly consented to discuss her experiences with a great potential alternative to cable TV over here, while I write about the top 10 sources of free-and-legal MP3s over there. Carrie is a blogger buddy from the opposite coast who shares a lot of my favorite obsessions, so be sure to check out her site for more great ideas and material!

Guest Post: Why I Bought an Apple TV Rather Than A Cable Subscription

I've never paid for cable TV. The one year I spent living in a college dorm, cable TV was included and I found it to be a total mind suck. I'd stay up until 3am watching reruns of early nineties sitcoms.

However, there are a few cable TV shows I enjoy. I could wait until a year or more after their release and buy the DVDs. Or I could buy an Apple TV and then download the episodes of the TV shows I want to watch the day after they're originally aired and skip the transportation and packaging costs on the environment involved with buying physical media.

Apple TVs are boxes manufactured by Apple that hook up to your TV and sync with your iTunes library so that you can enjoy your media on your television rather than on your computer. They start at a cost of $229.

Over the past year I have purchased the following shows:
Birds of Prey (an awesome show, that unfortunately only lasted one season, from the creators of Smallville but with a Batman theme rather than a Superman theme) - $24.99 on iTunes
Sex and the City Seasons 1 and 2 - $22.99 each on iTunes
Stargate Atlantis Seasons 4 and 5 - $36.99 each on iTunes
Tin Man - $4.99 on sale at the time on iTunes
True Blood Season 1 - $34.99 on iTunes
The Tudors Season 1 - $19.90 on iTunes

I spent a total of $204.83 on media over the past year. For the equipment to get started and a years worth of media, I spent a total of $433.83.

The cheapest cable package available at my location would have been $29.99/mo or $359.88 for that year. Add in HBO (which is a premium channel) so I could watch several of the shows I'm interested in and I would have been paying $15/mo more for a total of $539.88 a year.

Not only did I save $106.05 in this first year (and I'll save more in future years because I won't need to buy a new Apple TV each year), but I've saved my valuable free time. I'm watching exactly the shows I want to watch at exactly the time I want to watch them, everything is commercial free, and I don't feel obligated to watch things I wouldn't otherwise want to watch to feel like I'm getting more for my money.

Carrie blogs at It's Frugal Being Green. Carrie is a 25 year old woman living alone in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her blog explores frugality and going green as methods to live within her means and fight the occasional obsessive compulsive hoarding urge.

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Blog Carnivals... The Best of the Best!

My current excitement is perhaps out of proportion... (because I'm hugely excited... haha!) but several of my posts have been included in blog carnivals this week!

You can find my post Free Music by the Mile.. (gallon? bushel? ipod?) included in the Festival of Frugality: I May Be Living in Incredibly Pain, but at Least I'm Living Frugal Edition hosted this week at My Life Roi...

You can also find it at The Carnival of Pecuniary Delights 3: Money Box Edition, hosted this week by Miss Thrifty.

And lastly, you can find my post Generating Shock-and-Awe Shopping Savings at the Carnival of Twenty-Something Finances: Baseball by the Numbers Edition hosted over at Stretchy Dollar.

Each of these collect some amazing tips and ideas for frugality and living a simple (but full!) life... You can find posts spanning everything from investing, to organic coupons, to DIY projects. Definitely go check them out if you haven't already!

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Rapid Kitchen Evolution & Money-Saving Techniques for the Uncertain Cook

"Cook at home, cook at home!" We constantly hear that one of the key methods of saving money is to whittle down expenditures in the food/restaurants/groceries department. However, that's easier said then done for many people... in fact, the non-cooker or recent college graduate might certainly comprehend that she would save money by eating in more often, but if she's standing in front of a refrigerator that contains only yogurt, beer, french onion dip, a carton of milk, and eggs that under happier circumstances would likely be hens by now, the situation is indeed dire -- with a high likelihood of producing a few cries of "woe is me!" and then a quick run to Wendy's instead of any actual options for a home-cooked meal. Even under a slightly better-case scenario, where the refrigerator might contain an actual onion instead of the onion dip, and a few oranges or a bag of slightly wilted spinach too, the frustration would probably be largely the same. A person can only eat so many spinach-and-onion omelets before breaking down and going out for a three-course meal...

In any case, grocery bills can add-up horrendously, especially during that space of time when a person takes his or her own nutritional welfare firmly in hand for the very first time and decides to make a go of "that cooking thing." In fact, this one pretty much comes down to being one of those ironic situations where you must spend money in order to save money. So! To begin. Students of frugal living, please ready your pencils.

No matter where you are in your kitchen-skills evolution, the first thing you will need to do is to make yourself a meal-guide overview for the upcoming week or two. Start slow in easing away from the more expensive/unhealthy habits you might have, making choices according to your priorities. For example, if every day you're unhappily handing over money at a food court for lunch, resolve to bring it from home the next Monday and Tuesday (starting out strong early in the week, before you can lose your enthusiasm...) and decide what will be easiest to prepare and transport without boring yourself to death with a PBandJ. Or, if you went to great lengths to avoid admitting to your coworkers at the Christmas party that your idea of cooking is EasyMac, then maybe you will choose to focus on finding some healthier options in the frozen meals / pre -prepared food category, while tentatively experimenting with cooking a few simple meals a week. A word of encouragement: "Recipe" is just another word for "directions" -- I promise! You obviously can read, as evidenced by your presence on this blog, so the most difficult part is already mastered...  ;)

Or perhaps you are slightly further along in your kitchen development.. If you already do a bit of cooking and sometimes remember bring your lunch from home, but generally find your kitchen shelves naked and depressing, and yourself aimless and uninspired when dealing with them, then the next step is to go online and click around some recipe sites. Your goal is to make a Master List of Ingredients for four or five recipes in particular... Preferably ones that overlap, at least when it comes to the perishable ingredients that might otherwise spoil forgotten in the back of your refrigerator. Begin by purchasing the ingredients for just one of the recipes, and then proceed with strategic grocery shopping to gradually build up a pantry of things that will actually be helpful to have on hand.

Once you have figured out your priorities for the week and have done any necessary recipe-research, create the meal-plan that will support your efforts. Don't view it as a strict guide, or as a taskmaster, but simply a tool to keep you aware of what food is readily available to you... hopefully helping to avoid both waste and the desperation-fueled purchase of Double-Stack Cheeseburgers at nine o'clock at night. When possible, shop sales to supplement your growing master list of ingredients, and frequently recycle these ingredients into new recipes as well. Keep the recipes that you have tried and liked in a centralized location... and if you are really inspired, develop a repertoire of four or five quick recipes that you could pretty much make in your sleep.

This approach to kitchen-life obviously requires you to sit down and do a few minutes work, and then muster the self-discipline to follow through with the plan you develop, but the nutritional and financial paybacks are well worth it. Keep it up for long enough, and it will become second nature… and French-onion-orange-yogurt omelets will thankfully become a thing of the long-forgotten past.

For anyone who might think this post looks vaguely familiar... I wrote it originally a couple of months ago, but it kept begging me to give it a bit more polish and some air, so here it is again. ;P And hopefully the fact that my writing nags me doesn't make me any more certifiable then usual...

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Generating Shock-and-Awe Shopping Savings...

Just to summarize for anyone who might be joining us more recently... for the last year and a half I've been honing my Thriftie skills and have gotten them pretty decently sharp by now. My level of dedication makes it more or less qualify as a hobby for me, but one that meshes beautifully with necessity and a tight budget. Here are the four "wheels" that make the "Thriftie-shopping-mobile" navigate smoothly lol.

1. Utilizing coupons. This is the place to start. You can either procure coupons from newspaper coupon inserts or by printing them off of various sites... a subject I discussed pretty in depth in my post a while back, "Coupon Craze 101". One thing to note is that a lot of bloggers have a coupon.com sidebar on their sites, and get "commission" for clicks... I always make a point to print my coupons there rather than from the site itself, as an easy way of helping out some of my favorite folks. :)

A lot of people have elaborate systems for organizing their coupons (I personally clip out the ones that I'm especially likely to use and keep them categorized in a dollar store photo album) but you can just as easily save full inserts and then use sites like Taylortown Preview to search the insert listings to find coupons for specific brands/items when you see them on sale. You can also use that site, and many others, to buy specific coupons that you know will be valuable enough to justify it (I haven't had done that as of yet, but I can see how it could be worthwhile for some things). Some people will swear that if you hold on to one week's coupon inserts then the majority of the items therein will be on sale exactly a month later, but personally I haven't found this to be very true so take it with a grain of salt. Lastly on this topic... keep in mind that a coupon is worthless if the brand-name item still ends up being more expensive then the generic.

2. Matching coupons with sales... Your coupons become gold rather than pennies when you match them up with store sales. You can obviously do this yourself by looking through the ads in the paper, but let's be honest, that's just silly when other people are already doing it for you! For the most complete listings of store sales matched to coupons, The Grocery Game is definitely the way to go, mostly because they also track price fluctuation to identify whether an item is "rock bottom" or whether the sale just isn't actually that great and you should hold out. There is a small fee associated with access to the site's store lists, but you can try them all for a month for $1 (if you try it out and use me as your referral source -- misseliza123 at gmail dot com -- I'll get really excited! :P). I find it is especially worth the time I save for those certain stores with less decipherable ads (coughKrogercough). I gave a lot more tips and advice regarding The Grocery Game in my previous post "Thriftie Shortcut #1", so you might want to look at that too if you're still figuring the site out. A free resource for similar coupon/sales match-ups is Southern Savers, but there are plenty of other blogs that do the same thing... I mention that one specifically because they have a clean format and information on a wide range of stores rather than just one or two. If your preference is organic items, be sure to hit up Fiddledeedee! for those Publix match-ups as well.

3. Savvy shopping at CVS. This one is huge for affordable hygiene / personal care products... Each week CVS has new "Extracare buck" offers that basically give you store credit for purchasing certain items. Simple enough, right? The way to make this promotion system extra advantageous is to use ECBs to buy items that give you more ECBs, making a lot of your purchases free or close to it. (For more detail and/or tips, I posted about this previous in, "The Secret Life of the Savvy CVS Shopper.") If you buy ECB items with coupons, sometimes you'll even get back more credit then you actually spent. This system usually works best for items like toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, etc, and it helps if you don't care whether you're buying Crest or Colgate... there isn't much room for brand loyalty when you're bargain shopping.

4. Perks of online shopping. The most simple way of saving money on online shopping is to always check for coupon codes on sites like retailmenot and MSN shopping. Sometimes you'll get especially lucky, and the two seconds of typing involved will result in 20% off and free shipping! If you have school loans, or are saving for a child's education, sign up for Upromise and install their toolbar, which will automatically alert you if the site you are browsing offers money back for Upromise users. If it does, you will need to log in to your account and access the site via their links, but that's a small amount of effort for anything from 1-6% back on your total purchase. Similar (reputable) sites for money-back include ebates and cashbaq -- I used cashbaq to get a really great deal on an entertainment book for my area, but usually stick with Upromise myself (*ugh* school loans...). I love it when I can make an online purchase through a Upromise link, with a coupon code, and paying with a rewards-program credit card... stacking three nearly effortless methods of saving money.

That's an overview of the four ways to get your footing as a frugal guru... If you're reading this and are already a first-class Thriftie, then I want tips! I'm always looking for ways to refine my own tactics and gain strategic efficiency, so help me out here! ;P

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Forget Cable! Part 1: Free TV the Devestating Boredom Way

...and of course, what I mean by TV "the devastating boredom way" is "just the good stuff, yo!" I know that all my fellow Lost fanatics are already experiencing withdrawals from the lack of a new episode this week (as I was telling my friend at Casablanca, if it turns out that the show is a mind-control device being employed by some kind of cult, I will be among the hopelessly ensnared...) so I figured I'd try to fill in the horrible TV gap until next week with this excellent compilation of (legal) free TV available online. Who needs cable -- you've got me!

(I recommend right-clicking, because as far as I can tell they don't open to new windows from my blog.)

Alphabetically by genre we have:

Drama:
Heroes
Jericho
Kings
Lost

Comedy:
30 Rock
Arrested Development
The Gilmore Girls
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Just Shoot Me
My Name is Earle
The Office
Seinfeld

Mystery (detective/cop shows):
Bones
Burn Notice
Castle
House
Leverage
Lie to Me
Life
Veronica Mars

Sci-fi/Fantasy:
Angel
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Dollhouse
Firefly
The Hitchcock Hour
The Medium
Star Trek
The Twilight Zone

Other (aka... if you're desperate):
Friends
Fringe
Monk
Psych

My childhood TV favorites:
Andy Griffith
The Flintstones
Gilligan's Island
I Dream of Jeannie
Scooby-Doo

Can you tell that my family didn't have cable when I was growing up? Also, that I'm a big Joss Whedon fan... I'll be following up later with a post of reviews, but if you interested in some free on-demand TV, or maybe even thinking of phasing out cable altogether, this is the way to go! Until then, if you need me I'll probably be off hiding somewhere, lest my roommate come after me in a rage for putting Friends on the "if you're desperate" list... *gulp*

Note: Let me know if there are any amazing shows that totally need to be on this list, but by some horrible oversight I've left off... I'm always looking to expand my TV repertoire. (dude, I managed to spell repertoire right on the very first try. That's so unlike me...)

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Freebies to Start the Weekend Off Right

Guess what! Tomorrow (Saturday) is free ice cream day at Bruster's! You might ask what is required of you in exchange for a waffle-cone full of no-cost deliciousness? Why just a little public humiliation of course. That's right, it's a pajama party at Bruster's and you're invited. When I was growing up my family never ever would have missed PJ weekend -- the whole family made our robe-and-slippers-clad way to Bruster's every year quite faithfully. One random weekend when we were especially sugar-starved, our family planned out a whole scam of how we were going to show up at the ice cream shop in our PJs and pretend to be confused about the day, in the hopes that the scooper-people would take pity on us and sneak us a couple of cones... Planned, but never enacted -- we kept our self-respect that far anyway. It's a fun little event though, especially for kids and/or sugar-addict adults with a high embarrassment threshold, so check it out!

Animal lovers, now it's your turn! Get a sample of Greenies' Dog or Cat Food here. You eat healthy, why shouldn't your pet?? I hope I hope I hope I'll have a cat soon... keeping my fingers crossed...

If you've got highlights or other hair coloring than this next sample is for you -- it's L'Oreal "Ever Pure" shampoo, a "sulfate free color care system" designed to protect your color from fading and stripping. I've liked some of L'Oreal's other color-protecting shampoos, so I dare say
the advertising might even be true...

Enter this "contest" for a free burger at Ted's Montana Grill! Vegetarians, y'all can go ahead and skip this one... I give you permission. But being a huge fan of Ted's myself, I have a hard time imagining any omnivores being like, 'eh, that's not so exciting...' though I'm sure non-vegetarian Ted-haters are out there somewhere just the same. I like Ted's a lot for the food, but also enjoy them for the environmental aspect, getting a huge kick out of the powdered soap, non-plastic straws, and toilets with the flush-options. It kind of feels like playing in an exhibit from "Future Land" at Disney World. But yeah, whatever your motivations are for liking Ted's, this is a great promotion!

Lastly, for the Bible-reading, Christ-following readers, here is a great page of free Christian audiobook downloads. I'm not particularly familiar with the one featured for this month, but there is material from NT Wright, Charles Spurgeon, and John Piper offered as well, so I'm pretty sure you can find some worth-while listening.

That's all for this week! Have some fun with freebies to start your weekend off right. :)

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Top 5: Free Music by the Mile... (gallon? bushel? ipod?)

I love music. Passionately, sometimes obsessively. I also love expanding my music collection, but being a Thriftie, I don't love paying for that collection. However, I have scruples and principles, and by that I don't mean Russian money and school disciplinarians, I mean the type of conscience that glowers at me resentfully if I even think about using KaZaa or ripping a library CD. So, since acquiring my MP3s legally is a priority, and I don't really enjoy lining the coffers of iTunes more than I have to, I've accumulated rather a stockpile of interesting options for finding and/or acquiring legal music for free or cheap. Here are the top five.

1. eMusic.com. This site is a subscription service that sells you a monthly chunk of downloads for far cheaper than you can get elsewhere -- I've been an avid user for a couple of years now. You may be thinking, What?? Advocating an automatic monthly expenditure is *not* appropriate behavior for a Thriftie... But wait! Don't lose faith in me so quickly. Even if you not interested in the actual subscription service, you can still receive 25 downloads for free just for trying it. And really, if you're a music junkie like me, this is probably an expense you can justify to yourself, based on an amazing selection (unless you're looking for the really huge labels that is...) and what ends up being very affordable downloads. This is kind of like a virtual, musical Costco where you can buy Indie/oldies/cool music in bulk. You can find everything from Frank Sinatra to Dar Williams to M. Ward here, so you shouldn't have trouble discovering something you like. Helpful hints for eMusic: Your download "allowance" doesn't roll-over by month, so create a calender reminder for yourself somewhere so you don't lose any on the 31st. If you sign up and later your pocketbook wants a break, you can put your account on hold for up to three months without having to actually cancel anything. The site also offers a good number of free downloads organized by genre, so be sure to take advantage of those to find new music, and use eMusic's refer-a-friend service to score even more free MP3s.

2. Free-and-legal MP3 blogs such as Fingertips, Muruch, and 3hive. These blogs provide a wealth of free MP3s each week, each accompanied by an insightful, engaging review of the song and artist. Helpful hint for music blogs: If possible, take advantage of streaming music options to listen to the full range of what's available while minimizing the clicking involved. Search 3hive and Muruch by artist if you're looking for somebody in particular, or check out Fingertips' alphabetical master artist list. I dare you to look up an artist there and not get sucked into browsing! Fingertips also has great "Top 10" that highlight the most popular recent downloads. Finally, be sure to note that these MP3 postings frequently have a shelf-life (since they're usually made available for promotional purposes), so don't procrastinate on downloading any interesting ones. If you don't know where to start, check out Fingertips for Sam Philips and TV on the Radio, and then Muruch for Caroline Weeks. You'll never look back.

3. Label and artist websites. This one takes more research, but can be a real goldmine... Labels like Barsuk and Asthmatic Kitty often post multiple MP3s for each of their bands. You can get everything from old Death Cab, to Mates of State, to Sufjan Stevens and friends here. Artists' websites frequently do the same -- Josh Ritter being probably the best example. So. Much. Music. I'm pretty sure they'll be playing Josh and Sufjan in heaven, so get a head's start now. They're just that good.

4. Weekly free downloads on iTunes and Amazon This one is more obvious, but Amazon recently had a track from the new banjo album from Steve Martin (yes, the father of the bride himself), and not too long ago iTunes highlighted a great download from Nigerian artist Asa, so there are definitely winners here if you keep your eyes open. Helpful hints on iTunes: Don't forget that iTunes has a total of three free downloads per week -- the one highlighted predominately, then a "Discovery download" (which was where I found Asa), and a"Cancion de la Semana" as well. Obviously the last one is in Spanish, but even if you don't speak the language, you can enjoy the rhythm! Helpful hints for Amazon: Sign up for their MP3 email alerts here via the Amazon Delivers link... or, to cut down on inbox clutter, follow them on twitter for updates on the best deals. I found an immensely discounted Weepies album this way, so it can make a great addition to your twitter-life...

5. Streaming sources, such as Pandora, Last FM, and Relevant TV. Pandora is probably the most accessible online music player, creating "stations" based on your favorite artists and groups, and allowing you to customize further from there depending on your likes and dislikes. Last FM is another solid option, with a social networking component that can allow you to connect with friends and other listeners with similar tastes in music. Relevant TV is the streaming music video channel that first introduced me to Interpol and Regina Spektor, and currently is highlighting Au Revoir Simone and Conor Oberst (though selections change continually).

I could go on to discuss my favorite music podcasts as well, but I think that might be enough for now. I'll end with pointing you on your way to a hilarious preschooler's interpretation of cover art. Have fun downloading -- let the flood of music begin! Keep me posted on any jewels you find... and if you have sources of free-and-legal music that I haven't stumbled across yet, let me in on those too!

Note: Please consider any artist I mention here as highly, highly recommended.Edit: At the end of July I expanded this list into the top 10 sources of free-and-legal downloads, in a guest post over at It's Frugal Being Green. Check out the new additions, and then come back by to tell me what you think!

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My oh-so-insightful take on The Simple Dollar vs I Will Teach You To Be Rich...

If you're a denizen of the financial blogging-sphere, then you've probably noticed the recent post-exchange between Trent of The Simple Dollar and Ramit of I Will Teach You To Be Rich. I just twittered about being indignant with Ramit about the whole thing, and to my surprise he actually responded.

So, I wanted to try to explain my thoughts, because a twitter-response just wasn't cutting it. I'm going to assume everyone's familiar with the exchange and not waste time explaining it -- so quick do a bit of reading if you're not.

1) The whole month-long-challenge deal -- when the original stance The Simple Dollar was highlighting how "small things" can be worthwhile over a longer period of time -- just doesn't work at all. Trent has dealt plenty of times with large-scale financial changes, so it's not like he's saying those things aren't imperative. I would really say his stance in general is that small things should follow the big changes, in order to keep frugal development 'evolving.'

2) If you're struggling or stunted financially (with school loans to pay and (at least for right now) a job that nobody could properly call a career, I lump myself in this group) then little things do matter. I myself measure my Thriftie investments based on whether the hourly time/money exchange comes out to at least what I'm making at my current job, so I can see if you have a higher income then the small things may appear neglible. However I felt as though Ramit's post didn't take into consideration that some people aren't at that point yet (and some will never be), and so came across as arrogant. Perhaps he does take that into consideration and doesn't mind alienating that segment of the blog-reading population... his seemingly devil-may-care-whose-feelings-I-hurt kind follow-up to Charlie's comment (it's in green if you keep scrolling down) would seem to fit with that. The overall tone came across as mocking. And if I'm scraping and pinching just to make an extra school-loan payment each month, then I'm going to find that offensive and perhaps eventually join the ranks of the alienated.

3) Ramit seemed to have taken Trent's comments personally. The whole, 'I woke up one morning to find my beautifully baby has been attacked!!" thing didn't feel humorous, it seemed as though Ramit honestly felt threatened by an alternative point of view. I felt like I needed to admonish Ramit that if everybody agreed with and followed his exact method, it wouldn't be his method at all it would be the norm... And I think he didn't mean it to be taken seriously like that, so perhaps the tone of the writing was just open to being misconstrued.

4) The thousand-dollar stake of the proposed "challenge" and the implication that frugal ideas can somehow be patented as 100% unique also was problematic. Trent is a freelance writer with a family --sure, I'm sure he's doing fine now, but did you really expect him to *snap* agree to what appears at first glance to be a rather dubious contest? Ramit is acting like frugal ideas can somehow be patented as mine vs yours, when in actuality Trent has highlighted many of the same topics (investments, dealing with credit card debt, things to know about insurance, etc) plenty of times, so the whole month of "your tips" vs "my tips" would overlap hugely. A whole lot more thought would have to go into a proposal like that to make it "scientific" (groups of similar socio-economic status, for one thing, and similar levels of financial savvy already possessed for another) so it seems as though the "challenge" was made with the knowledge that it wouldn't be accepted. And so, perhaps made just to make Trent look bad... which in my opinion made Ramit look bad (or at least, calculating, which maybe isn't "bad" but definitely unscrupulous).

I've been subscribed to both blogs since October, so I'm not claiming to have knowledge of either of their individual "doctrines" of either up until that point, past the limited clicking I've done in their archives. I very much value Ramit's more aggressive tactics in many cases (like with his post on negotiating auto insurance) and have greatly benefited from a lot of his advice, so I don't mean to seem harsh, but I feel as though his challenge was either not well thought out or not well-intentioned. I hope the former.

My dispassionate assessment is that with two very different styles and perspectives on approaching money-management and finances, the two blogs end up sandwiching the topic. I just wish they would step back far enough to gain perspective on the marvelous lunch that together they provide for their faithful blog-readers. :P

Disclaimer: The title is meant ironically.

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Shock-And-Awe Savings Review

Best Free-and-Under-a-Dollar items last week:

CVS:
Colgate Advanced Toothpaste: free (money back in extracare bucks + $1 overage w/ coupon)
6-hr Energy Shot pack: free (money back with extracare bucks)
BodiHeat heat wraps: 1.00 (after money back with extracare bucks)

Publix:
Coffeemate Italian Creme creamer: .17 (w/ internet printable coupon)
Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamer: -.11 (sale + printable coupon and yup, that's a negative)
Betty Crocker Cookie Mix: .50 (sale + coupon)
Quaker Oatmeal To-Go: .80 (sale + coupon)

Kroger:
2 Reeses Whips candy bars: free (coupon + sale)
2 Rosarita Refried Beans: .75 e (coupon +sale)
Ocean Spray Cran-Grape Juice: .98 (coupon + sale)

Net out-of-pocket: $3.84 Ordinary Total: $30.27

Check out the sidebar for additional internet printable coupons. :) Last week was a good one... join the Thriftie revolution today!

Note: I'm actually pretty intimidated by these energy shot things... They *ID* you when you purchase them. As in... you have to be 18, because according to the register clerk they can be "habit forming.. for young kids you know..." Let's hope my moral fiber is strong enough to withstand the heathenish temptations of their oh-so-powerful caffeine buzz. Also, be careful not to spill them on any upholstery, because apparently they can eat through leather. Can't wait to give them a go... muahahaha!

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Clickin' Through Thursdays

TV: Lost. *spoilers alert* Err, what? I've definitely come to the conclusion that I don't like all the rapid-fire flashing; I wince and grimace along with the characters and by the end of this episode was starting to feel a little crazy. Love the time-travel... hate the bright light/loud noise component. Also, Faraday's mother was unexpectedly sinister in that last moment and I got the distinct impression that they were going to start sending the Oceanic 6 (and Desmond, unhappily... why oh why did Penny let him out of her sight??) back to the island in shifts. Which is confusing, to say the least, because I thought they all had to go back at one time... so maybe I misread what was going on. I only have one new theory derived from this episode... perhaps Faraday's parents were part of the Dharma project? That would explain his mom knowing so much about the island, and the person Charlotte saw as a child who she thought was Daniel could perhaps be his dad. The other explanation would of course be that Daniel himself in the future goes back in time to vainly try to warn her, but as he would at that point be well aware of the futility of it, you would think he would have refrained. So... we shall see.

Also, fans of Lost have got to check out this "Perspective" video by Rhett & Link... it's highly amusing. The video is at the top right of the page, but there's a lot of other stuff on their site so click around a bit and see what you find. There's also an interesting and brain-twisting discussion of the time-travel complexities shown on Lost so far, and what it could mean for the rest of the show, here. (I have to kind of agree with the first comment on the post... "Brain. Explodes.")

Music: In the style of Sara Bareilles and Ingred Michaelson, check out an entire album by Mieka Pauley offered free right now on Amazon. Another new one to me is Marisa Nadler, whose album Little Hells is due out next month... her music is described on her record label's site as enveloping the listener "in splendid gauzy moods" and filled with "a gorgeous sense of serene hope." I can always do with more serene hope, and I like the free mp3 they're offering, so I'm definitely planning on looking for more from her. And in other news, I swear that I'll feature music other than female singer/songwriters in this category next week... I really do enjoy a wide variety of sounds, honest...

Shopping: Gotta love this robot-esque alarm clock, which in essence runs away from you when it's time to wake up each morning, forcing you to track it down before you can turn it off. And presumably, thoroughly waking you in the process. Created by a fellow Emory grad, this clock "is kind of like a misbehaving pet, only he will get up at the right time." If you have $50 worth of trouble waking up each morning, Clocky will be an endearing and helpful investment... and available in many colors to match your bedroom decor! If anybody is inspired to purchase one, you've got to let me know how it works, and whether its kind of like having your own miniature Wall-E on wake-up patrol...

Free stuff for grown-ups:
Total cereal

Ensure

Eucerine Calming Creme

Betty Crocker Warm Delights (this one is only good for new subscribers to their newsletter)

EmergenC

Organization printables

Dove Shampoo

Beyond Bodi Heat heating pads

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