Peg Kerr's Journal

Mathmatician Garth Sundem has a useful calculation to help you plan your holiday shopping.

(Follow Garth Sundhem on Twitter at @garthsundem).

Here's a really excellent article about the collaborative consumption movement, i.e., the concept that by sharing resources, people can reduce waste and reduce costs. It includes a list of over seventy links to websites that aid in sharing commodities such as travel resources, housing, food, clothing, personal finance resources, transportation, landscape/gardening, media (books, games, movies, etc.), and there's a special section for students, too.



Learn more about Collaborative Consumption at the website, on Facebook and on Twitter (@collcons).

( What I did today to make the world a better place )

From Lifehacker here:

Would you like to browse Groupon, Citysearch, Restaurants.com, and individual store web sites, or look at them all on a Google Map? The Dealmap, a mashup of web-based coupons, is betting you'd like the latter.

Type in your ZIP code or street address, and optionally narrow by category, and the Dealmap plots the offerings from the usual web coupon suspects, plus some deals from chains and franchises, onto your standard Google Map. In and around Buffalo, I saw mostly a collection of Restaurant.com "$25 for $10" certificate deals, but also a few coupons I wouldn't have caught elsewhere, like paint deals and bookstore offerings. If your city has a fervent Groupon following, you'll see that deal on the map, too. It's a free offering, doesn't require sign-up to explore, and seems pretty handy for bargain hunters.

Also on Twitter (@thedealmap) and Facebook here.

by using the Japanese art of Furoshiki cloth:

I posted about this back in 2007, but it's worth posting about again. I just got a $48 refund this week at Kohl's (the girls' winter coats) using this extremely nifty application.

From get_rich_slowly (here)

Price Protectr is a smart little web app that helps consumers save money after they’ve purchased big-ticket items.

There are lots of stores out there that offer price protection policies — when the price drops on an item you’ve purchased, they’ll refund you the difference. But there’s a catch…it’s up to you to watch prices. Price Protectr makes it simple to keep track of your purchases and get your money back. It’s free. It’s easy. It’s free and easy money. How often do you get that offer?

Here’s how it works:

1. Buy something from one of 160 supported merchants, including Amazon, Costco, Kohl's, Target, etc.
2. Find the item you bought online. Copy-and-paste the URL to Price Protectr.
3. Enter your e-mail address. (Price Protectr promises not to spam you.)
4. Sit back and relax. If Price Protectr notices the price drop at any time during the protection period, you’ll receive an e-mail. There's no charge for this service, and you don't get spammed. It's all free.

[the Get Rich Slowly editor adds:] I’ve never paid much attention to price protection guarantees. I’ve never understood how I could make them work. I don’t pay close attention to ads, and I’m certainly not going to keep going into a store for thirty days after I buy something just to save a few bucks. But Price Protectr sounds like a great way to make this process painless.

The site also includes:

A blog featuring useful tips, including the official PriceProtectr how-to.
A deals page with special offers from supported businesses.
And, of course, a FAQ with answers to common questions.

Hope you might find this useful.

Okay, I'm doing a favor and passing on some information I got from dlandon. The second one I knew about and had already implemented, and the first one I had looked at earlier but mistakenly thought I didn't qualify. dlandon's post made me look at it again, and hey! What a cool program.

First, there's UPromise: www.upromise.com. It's a website that gives you money for spending money. They have several ways this works:

1) You can get their own credit card, the Citi Upromise card. If you do, you get 10% extra college savings on thousands of grocery and drug store items, 10% extra college savings at 8000+ restaurants, and 1% college savings everywhere you shop. This was what I saw when I glanced at this program in a cursory fashion a year ago. I thought, geez, I don't want another credit card; we're trying to reduce our debt, and so I didn't look any further. My mistake. You see, there are OTHER ways you can use the program, even without signing up for their credit card:

2) You can register your own credit or debit card that you are already using (up to ten of them). If you use it at a restaurant that has an arrangement with Upromise, you get anywhere from 1 - 25% of the cost of your order deposited into your college savings account. I discovered that my local coffee shop, Tillie's Bean, is signed up: everytime I buy a cup of coffee there, 4% would go to my Upromise account.

3) there are other merchants that have Upromise arrangements. Get 1 cent a gallon every time you fill up at an Exxon or Mobile, using a credit card you've registered. Every time you rent a Budget truck. Every time you book through travelocity. Every time you use shutterfly.

4) you can get a percentage of the money you spend at participating grocery stores and drug stores. If you already have a CVS pharmacy card, for example, just register it with Upromise--and then every time you swipe it at the drug store, you're also putting money into your Upromise account. You can also check for ecoupons on the Upromise site. No need to even print them out: just click on them on the website, and then when you swipe your card at the grocery store, it'll save you money AND put money into your college savings.

6) you can click through their site to shop online with a long list of very familiar retailers: Barnes and Noble, Target, Gap, JoAnn Fabrics, Macy's, Banana Republic, LL Bean, etc. A percentage of your order will go to your Upromise account. It's legit, their member partners donate the money (I'm sure they've done studies on how much extra revenue it drives) and, of course, upromise tries to sell you a 529 account. But, seriously, why not? it's a really long list, and during special promotional periods you can get back up to 6%! It's free money deposited into an account you create.

So you tell me, great idea Peg, but I don't even have a kid. You can still participate! Designate the money to go to a nephew or a friends' kid (heck, you could designate the money to go to Fiona and Delia if you want---and if anyone is interested in doing so, let me know, and I'll send you an invite.) You could also designate that the money go to a school that you choose. How about supporting your local community school?

Secondly, 529 accounts. They are special accounts that allow you to save for your kid's college education, and the interest earned/growth is all tax free. You control over when the kid withdraws it/what they use it for, because it's up to your discretion - not the kid's. Some states (not MN, unfortunately) even let you deduct it on your state taxes. But most importantly? Many states offer matching grants if the parents meet income requirements (ie, don't make too much). In Minnesota they will give you up to $400/year as a matching grant. Frankly, if you qualify in the low income bracket, it's a no-brainer. Even if scraping together $400 is tough (and I know for some of you it might be), $400 over 18 years is $7,200. And you *know* your kid's unlikely to get that much when they hit eighteen and start trying to find scholarships/grants.

So, anyway, worth checking out. Different states have different options (though you can invest in any state's plan you want, the benefits vary widely), different fees, and different tax policies, but take a look at www.savingforcollege.com for more information.

I posted about this back last December, but it's worth posting about again. This handy little website just netted me a $64.02 refund today!

From get_rich_slowly (here)

Price Protectr is a smart little web app that helps consumers save money after they’ve purchased big-ticket items.

There are lots of stores out there that offer price protection policies — when the price drops on an item you’ve purchased, they’ll refund you the difference. But there’s a catch…it’s up to you to watch prices. Price Protectr makes it simple to keep track of your purchases and get your money back. It’s free. It’s easy. It’s free and easy money. How often do you get that offer?

Here’s how it works:

1. Buy something from one of 70 supported merchants, including Amazon, Gap, Costco, and Target.
2. Find the item you bought online. Copy-and-paste the URL to Price Protectr.
3. Enter your e-mail address. (Price Protectr promises not to spam you.)
4. Sit back and relax. If Price Protectr notices the price drop at any time during the protection period, you’ll receive an e-mail.

[the Get Rich Slowly editor adds:] I’ve never paid much attention to price protection guarantees. I’ve never understood how I could make them work. I don’t pay close attention to ads, and I’m certainly not going to keep going into a store for thirty days after I buy something just to save a few bucks. But Price Protectr sounds like a great way to make this process painless.

The site also includes:

A blog featuring useful tips, including the official PriceProtectr how-to.
A deals page with special offers from supported businesses.
And, of course, a FAQ with answers to common questions.

Hope you might find this useful.

From get_rich_slowly (here)

Price Protectr is a smart little web app that helps consumers save money after they’ve purchased big-ticket items.

There are lots of stores out there that offer price protection policies — when the price drops on an item you’ve purchased, they’ll refund you the difference. But there’s a catch…it’s up to you to watch prices. Price Protectr makes it simple to keep track of your purchases and get your money back. It’s free. It’s easy. It’s free and easy money. How often do you get that offer?

Here’s how it works:

1. Buy something from one of 70 supported merchants, including Amazon, Costco, Target, and The Sharper Image.
2. Find the item you bought online. Copy-and-paste the URL to Price Protectr.
3. Enter your e-mail address. (Price Protectr promises not to spam you.)
4. Sit back and relax. If Price Protectr notices the price drop at any time during the protection period, you’ll receive an e-mail.

[the Get Rich Slowly editor adds:] I’ve never paid much attention to price protection guarantees. I’ve never understood how I could make them work. I don’t pay close attention to ads, and I’m certainly not going to keep going into a store for thirty days after I buy something just to save a few bucks. But Price Protectr sounds like a great way to make this process painless.

The site also includes:

A blog featuring useful tips, including the official PriceProtectr how-to.
A deals page with special offers from supported businesses.
And, of course, a FAQ with answers to common questions.

Hope you might find this useful.

I managed to order Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - The Complete Recordings soundtrack, list price $75, for $27.10.

Here's how:

Barnes & Noble website offers it for a 15% discount: price drops to $63.73.

I have a Barnes & Noble member card: price drops to $57.35.

I did a Google search on-line for "Barnes & Noble coupon code" and found this page which offers a coupon code which drops the price on one item 50%. My final price: $27.10. (Note: you have to use a MasterCard when you place your order.) The coupon expires 11/11/07, while the soundtrack is not released until 11/13/07, but that's okay; you simply have to place the order before the coupon expires, and they'll ship it out on the release date.

I had a MasterCard with a $0 balance which I used to place the order, and I dropped a check in the mail to the credit card the same day so that I won't be carrying a balance.

I feel unbelievably smug.

From get_rich_slowly: At a blog called "The Frugal Law Student" Brett has pulled together a ton of useful stuff here, including online money management tools, offline software, investing tools, spreadsheets, books, and more. Well worth bookmarking.