January 2, 2009
From Wikimedia Commons
I have a friend who is kind enough to help me replace my brake pads. Normally the dealership would charge me $170 to do this. After calling around a bit, however, I discovered that brake pads that fit my vehicle (08 Honda Accord) are not being sold at any auto-parts stores and are only available through the dealership or online. Well, after checking both the quote from my local dealership was between $61 - 75 (they gave me 2 different prices) and the lowest online price was $44. Fortunately, that online price was also tied to a local (within an hour) dealership. So I called around closer to me to see if anyone would match that price. When they did, I (actually my wife) went and picked them up at the $44 price, thus saving $17 or 27%. I need to go buy brake fluid, but after brake fluid my total cost should be around $50 which is only 29% of what it would’ve cost me otherwise. Thanks Jerry!
Total Cost Before Savings: $170
Total Cost After Savings: $50
Total Discount: 71% off
December 30, 2008
From Wikimedia Commons
Outback, Red Robin, and other major restaurant chains gave bonuses this holiday season to those who “gave” gift cards. The Outback version of this was buy $100 in gift cards and receive a $20 bonus gift card yourself. Can anyone calculate the rate of return on your money for that investment? That’s a 20% (20/100 = .2 = 20%) return on your investment. So, if you eat at outback 3-4 times a year, as my wife and I do, this might be a good investment for you.
What’s the catch? Well, with Outback’s deal you must use your bonus gift card any time between Jan 1, 2009 and Feb 10, 2009. For us, that isn’t a big deal - we’d be more than happy to go to a nice steak dinner for $20 (40 - 20 = $20) in the next month and a half. Anyway, these are only a good deal if you already frequent these establishments. If you don’t eat out, or you don’t eat out at these particular restaurants, don’t bother with these deals. However, if you do eat at these places, these offers can be good investments.
If you’re wondering about the image, I did a search for “bonus” on Wikimedia Commons, which is where I get all my images, and this was the most interesting result that appeared, so I used it.
December 20, 2008
ING Direct: Still Paying Bank Fees? You masochist you.
About 5 months back my wife and I were encouraged to open an account with ING Direct. We did and we love it. I’ve since closed down my old traditional bank account to move to dealing with ING Direct nearly exclusively. The good part about ING Direct is their higher-than-normal interest rates and prompt service. They’ve been nothing but kind to us. And you might be a little skeptical of a purely only banking company, but it’s very secure (I’m not kidding at all) and, of course, FDIC insured. So you really don’t have to worry.
Additionally, they’ve been kind enough to start a referral program that benefits both the referrer and referee - the referrer gets $10 for the referral and the referred get’s $25. The only thing the referred has to do is open their account with $250. In essence, you get a 10% return on your money on day one. As you’ll notice, there aren’t many places you can get an immediate 10% return. If you would like to sign up for an online checking (Electric Orange) or savings (Orange Savings) account with ING Direct, send me an email and I’ll send you a special referral email that you can use to get the deal.
One last note about this, the Orange Savings Account gives you a 2.75% interest rate on your money currently, which is a really good deal. The Electric Orange Checking Account grabs a .5% interest rate for a balance under $50k, which is better than no interest that most checking accounts offer. If you would like either of these, again, let me know and you’ll get a $25 bonus credited to your account when you sign up with an opening deposit of $250.
