I live alone, but even then, I think Costco saves me money. A gallon of their milk is currently about $1.95 and i think it's fair to say i go through almost a gallon in a week, so multipy that by 52 weeks and you pay for your annual membership fee.
The other place where I know i save big is on their 44 lb. box of clumping cat litter; compare that to supermarket prices and you'll be amazed.
I have wasted food there, like the gouda cheese that got moldy. I won't get that again.
Still, i hate the crowds, parking and lines; the only time I can tolerate going is as soon as they open in the a.m. they should really expand their hours.
I have a JVC XV-N370B that the above hack is not working on. I power it on, open the tray, and press zero on the remote 3 times, but no menu appears. I've tried powering off and back on again, I've tried it after it failed to read a region 2 disc. No dice. Any suggestions?
I happen to enjoy warehouse shopping and choose to go on a weeknight when it's not crowded. It's worth the fee to me because: it's subsidized through my work and I then split the rest with a family member. I also prefer some things in bulk and SOME of the prices are better. I've been getting all my vitamins there and find clothes at a huge discount. Every Saturday they offer so many food samples it's like going to a buffet for free. ( I don't consider this a benefit of membership though, nor do I go every week. Just an interesting aside) If you like something, sometimes the numbers don't have to add up for it to be "worth it"
I'm going through this right now. A friend of mine whom I knew was having financial problems wanted to buy a product that is produced by the company I work for. I get it at a discount, so I purchased it for her with the understanding she'd pay me back. The check's been "in the mail" for the last month.
It's not a huge amount of money ($100), but I'm more irritated by the fact that she's lying about having mailed me the reimbursement than just having the cojones to tell me she doesn't have the money. Of course I'm primarily slapping myself because I knew she was lousy with money and never should have agreed to buy it for her.
I borrowed £5k from my brother back in January this year to start a new business after being made redundant and you know what comes next...The business didn't work out, I can't pay him back and now he has lost his job as well meaning that it has caused a massive rift between us. I feel dreadful and can't even look him in the eye because he needs the money as much as I do now. Wish I could turn the clock back.
I've never had to deal with amounts more than $20, but here's my take on this:
Almost all of my "loans" to and from friends has been over coffee or dinner out--usually because one of us will say, "Hey, let's go for coffee" and the other won't have any cash on hand that day. Since we usually go to cheap places, it's never too much. And what happens is that one of us will end up buying the other's coffee/meal to "cancel out" a previously acquired debt. If it doesn't come out to the exact amount borrowed, it's just not a big deal, as long as it's close. A friendship that can end over a few bucks here and there is a friendship that should never have started to begin with.
We only have a BJ's within driving distance of our home.
I recently found out they accept coupons and you can use them in ADDITION to the coupons BJ's prints in the store flyer and the ones they mail to your home. For example, they had a $14 bottle of Tide with a $2 off coupon. I added my $2 off coupon to this and bought it for $10. Comparing the size of the bottle to the grocery store, I saved about 40%.
Also, the gas prices are usually 4 to 5 cents cheaper per gallon. The bakery makes birthday cakes about 1/2 the price of the grocery store and twice as tasty!
I definitely recoup my $35 annual fee every year.
Last year, I was too ambitious- making 3 quilts as gifts, doll clothes for my girls, and even some outfits for my son's doll. I made smaller gifts for co-workers. December was terribly busy and I felt like I had to spend my time in my sewing room.
This year, I am not going there. I am still making outfits for my girls' dolls, but no big projects or plans. I just am not doing the office gifting thing. Period. And my family gift list will be cut to the quick. I am planning to give more practically- and purposefully of my time over the course of the year, rather than feeling like what I give during the holidays is demonstrative of my level of affection for the recipient. We as a family have spent more time with grandparents and in ways that help them in doing this. My daughter helped my mom with a garage sale; hubby stepped up assisting with lawn work and shoveling; I spent tons of time helping my mom when my stepfather was in Hospice. Etc. So far, I am planning to help my mom with some house renovations- I intend to pay for some elctrical rewiring and a new kitchen light fixture. It won't go under the tree- but this is what she wants and needs.
Between shopping sales, using (doubled) coupons, and hitting our local bump and dent place, we paid more going to Sam's Club. (Yes we used a list and yes we used stuff up.) Even when the card was free through my husband's work. Keeping a price book was the big eye opener.
We help our friends as we can. It's hardly ever money. It's more like, "I got this great deal on peanut butter at Sharp Shopper (our local bump and dent place) do you want some?" They never ask for help either. It's unofficial reciprocal keeping an eyeball out for each other. That makes it quite fun.
However one particular family member is the toughie. She's a poor mananger and every so often calls everyone for bail outs (gifts, not loans). When we say "no", she wonders why we don't just put our own needs on a credit card or something.
6 years ago I helped a friend start an Australian side of their software business (they already had a Canadian side running fine). After much pressure from them I brought $4000 worth of stock. I wasn't expecting to make any money from it, just be able to pull my money back out in a few months time once they were on their feet. At the time they printed me out a stock certificate and everything. Soon after I brought the stock, my friend's marriage fell apart and she moved back to Canada without letting me know (when I spoke to her she said it was just a break, but she never came back). I waited a year or so and decided I wanted to buy a house. Asked her if I could take my money out and she said that I didn't read the fine print and my money was tied up for 5 years. I accepted it as my dumb fault for not reading the fine print, but then asked if she could send something letting me know how my money was going. I didn't get any response from her. 3 years ago I got really pissed and I spammed every address I could find on their companies' website, letting her dad know what was going on (it was her dad's company). She gave me 1000$ from her own account, and said the rest would come the month later. Now all my emails are ignored and when I call up she's always out. It makes me angry because it's not a small company they are running. Their website is still operating, they are still trading. But because I am in Australia and they are in Canada legally I've been advised it's not worth the effort to chase them up. I'll never lend again no matter what the cause.
If you loan money to friends, you'll lose your money, or your friends, or both.
Evolutionary psychologists have a fascinating take on this and similar topics: it has to do with the inherent conflict between our innate, rather primitive economic sense and the more sophisticated economic rules that modern societies live by. Steven Pinker's How The Mind Works (a great book) has an excellent explanation.
I know several business owners, and they really don't care about going green. They use it as a gimmick to try and save money, but to really lure people in. It's a great structural trend that should continue for a while.
It's best not to lend in the small amount range of $100-$1,000. Anything under $100, it's fine, you're not going to go broke if you don't get paid back. But mentally, you will just boil, and that's just horrible.
However, if you are going to lend, feel free to lend be a larger amount i.e. $1,000+. The amount will be so large, you are likely doing them a big favor, and it is such a big amount your friend will have no choice but to pay you back. Only great friends borrow that much, and that's the irony.
The most I lent was $35,000. It was a bridge loan until his funds were released due to a divorce. It was fine.
As a single mom of a college student who is away at school I still find Costco membership to be worth it.
First off they have an optical dept. My contacts are 12.00 per box (6 pr) vs 32.00 elsewhere. At 24.00 vs 64.00 every 3 months the savings add up. Both my daughter and I wear glasses and the exams and glasses cost alot less too.
Secondly, they have a pharmacy. Drugs are considerably cheaper here especially when I didn't have insurance. A pain killer I was given when I broke my back was $74.oo for a weeks supply at a pharmacy but only 22.00 at Costco! My cholesterol Rx is ALOT cheaper as well as antibiotics. You can also use the pharmacy without a membership and the rx's are cheaper than the chains and independants but it is cheaper still to have a membership.
I've bought toiletries and saved quite a bit, small appliances of good quality plus gifts, toys, and books/cds/dvds. And I get film developed too! Now thats a savings right there.
Food I buy even with only me at home - fruits/vegetables, frozen and dairy and sometimes meat - but I need to make sure to cook and seperate to freeze as soon as I get home.
I also bought my bed and my daughters and the price was good and they are sooo comfortable I'm happy with my purchase every night!
I haven't used some of the other services mentioned by others but I know I will in the future. I'm not sure how others are not making back the membership fee - unless they are only purchasing food but even then.. its easy to get $50 in savings in a year.
Approximately 20 years ago, I loaned a "friend" money. She had a small child and I assumed she needed it for a baby emergency. Later I found out she used it to get her nails done.
Needless to say, I never got my money back. It was worth it to find out the kind of person she was.
My philosophy: If I don't have it to give, I don't have it to loan.
The one time I loaned money, I learned that a person who can't manage his or her own money certainly can't manage mine enough to responsibly pay back a loan.
A few years ago, an acquaintance I'd known less than six months had the gall to ask me to borrow money, citing an emergency need to pay her auto insurance.
LOL
I told her I'd think about it. I never called her back, never answered another of her phone calls, and deleted every message she left.
I have a downloaded version of Editpad (version 3.5.3) which I have used for several years for most of my text editing when I'm on a Windows machine, including writing source code. On my Ubuntu systems, rather than either vi or emacs I use gedit since it's less esoteric. I'm a Linux user more than a Linux guru and didn't come into computing via the Unix route. I did use Edlin for a short while very early in my DOS 2.1 days.
You can also check out www.DealOz.com , DealOz compares 200 bookstore prices and free discount coupons too. Their coupons are valid and have saved over $500 on my textbooks.
Thanks for the comments, everybody - and I agree that a good way to view a loan to a friend is as a gift, so that the potential for disappointment is better managed.
I also like @M Wong (#4)'s system with friends of developing a slush fund, and it is truly a function of being a well-organized and trustworthy bunch of people to begin with - which helps.
I really like @kazari (#11)'s point about expectation being what kills a friendship. I would add that expectation + lack of communication is the nail in the coffin.
Well like most forms of saving money it takes a little homework. You need to be able to be sure what the cost of supermarket vs Costco times quantity that you use (or can store). We go once a month to a Costco about 30 minutes away and easily pay for the membership, and will be going to the executive ($100-2% rebate) next time the membership is due (or they have a switch over deal). Just my wife and Daughter, but you have to buy smart and not waste money on large quantities that you would be better to buy on weekly sales from grocery store. Also be sure you are comparing like quality of goods
Post by "Karen" in June about adding water to bought moon sand - it works perfectly fine. When my daughter has left the ld off for a long time, we have had to add water. It takes quite a while to work it in, but it worked fine. She also added glitter, again, fine.
I live alone, but even then, I think Costco saves me money. A gallon of their milk is currently about $1.95 and i think it's fair to say i go through almost a gallon in a week, so multipy that by 52 weeks and you pay for your annual membership fee.
The other place where I know i save big is on their 44 lb. box of clumping cat litter; compare that to supermarket prices and you'll be amazed.
I have wasted food there, like the gouda cheese that got moldy. I won't get that again.
Still, i hate the crowds, parking and lines; the only time I can tolerate going is as soon as they open in the a.m. they should really expand their hours.
I have a JVC XV-N370B that the above hack is not working on. I power it on, open the tray, and press zero on the remote 3 times, but no menu appears. I've tried powering off and back on again, I've tried it after it failed to read a region 2 disc. No dice. Any suggestions?
I happen to enjoy warehouse shopping and choose to go on a weeknight when it's not crowded. It's worth the fee to me because: it's subsidized through my work and I then split the rest with a family member. I also prefer some things in bulk and SOME of the prices are better. I've been getting all my vitamins there and find clothes at a huge discount. Every Saturday they offer so many food samples it's like going to a buffet for free. ( I don't consider this a benefit of membership though, nor do I go every week. Just an interesting aside) If you like something, sometimes the numbers don't have to add up for it to be "worth it"
I'm going through this right now. A friend of mine whom I knew was having financial problems wanted to buy a product that is produced by the company I work for. I get it at a discount, so I purchased it for her with the understanding she'd pay me back. The check's been "in the mail" for the last month.
It's not a huge amount of money ($100), but I'm more irritated by the fact that she's lying about having mailed me the reimbursement than just having the cojones to tell me she doesn't have the money. Of course I'm primarily slapping myself because I knew she was lousy with money and never should have agreed to buy it for her.
A true cheapskates guide should have had dont leave a tip, no matter how good the meal or service was.
I borrowed £5k from my brother back in January this year to start a new business after being made redundant and you know what comes next...The business didn't work out, I can't pay him back and now he has lost his job as well meaning that it has caused a massive rift between us. I feel dreadful and can't even look him in the eye because he needs the money as much as I do now. Wish I could turn the clock back.
I've never had to deal with amounts more than $20, but here's my take on this:
Almost all of my "loans" to and from friends has been over coffee or dinner out--usually because one of us will say, "Hey, let's go for coffee" and the other won't have any cash on hand that day. Since we usually go to cheap places, it's never too much. And what happens is that one of us will end up buying the other's coffee/meal to "cancel out" a previously acquired debt. If it doesn't come out to the exact amount borrowed, it's just not a big deal, as long as it's close. A friendship that can end over a few bucks here and there is a friendship that should never have started to begin with.
We only have a BJ's within driving distance of our home.
I recently found out they accept coupons and you can use them in ADDITION to the coupons BJ's prints in the store flyer and the ones they mail to your home. For example, they had a $14 bottle of Tide with a $2 off coupon. I added my $2 off coupon to this and bought it for $10. Comparing the size of the bottle to the grocery store, I saved about 40%.
Also, the gas prices are usually 4 to 5 cents cheaper per gallon. The bakery makes birthday cakes about 1/2 the price of the grocery store and twice as tasty!
I definitely recoup my $35 annual fee every year.
For me two ways to make it worth the price:
1. Split the membership with someone else, so it is only $25 a year per person
2. I use it for a prescription that I use daily - the difference between Costco and CVS is more than the $25 it costs me a year to be a member.
Last year, I was too ambitious- making 3 quilts as gifts, doll clothes for my girls, and even some outfits for my son's doll. I made smaller gifts for co-workers. December was terribly busy and I felt like I had to spend my time in my sewing room.
This year, I am not going there. I am still making outfits for my girls' dolls, but no big projects or plans. I just am not doing the office gifting thing. Period. And my family gift list will be cut to the quick. I am planning to give more practically- and purposefully of my time over the course of the year, rather than feeling like what I give during the holidays is demonstrative of my level of affection for the recipient. We as a family have spent more time with grandparents and in ways that help them in doing this. My daughter helped my mom with a garage sale; hubby stepped up assisting with lawn work and shoveling; I spent tons of time helping my mom when my stepfather was in Hospice. Etc. So far, I am planning to help my mom with some house renovations- I intend to pay for some elctrical rewiring and a new kitchen light fixture. It won't go under the tree- but this is what she wants and needs.
Between shopping sales, using (doubled) coupons, and hitting our local bump and dent place, we paid more going to Sam's Club. (Yes we used a list and yes we used stuff up.) Even when the card was free through my husband's work. Keeping a price book was the big eye opener.
We help our friends as we can. It's hardly ever money. It's more like, "I got this great deal on peanut butter at Sharp Shopper (our local bump and dent place) do you want some?" They never ask for help either. It's unofficial reciprocal keeping an eyeball out for each other. That makes it quite fun.
However one particular family member is the toughie. She's a poor mananger and every so often calls everyone for bail outs (gifts, not loans). When we say "no", she wonders why we don't just put our own needs on a credit card or something.
6 years ago I helped a friend start an Australian side of their software business (they already had a Canadian side running fine). After much pressure from them I brought $4000 worth of stock. I wasn't expecting to make any money from it, just be able to pull my money back out in a few months time once they were on their feet. At the time they printed me out a stock certificate and everything. Soon after I brought the stock, my friend's marriage fell apart and she moved back to Canada without letting me know (when I spoke to her she said it was just a break, but she never came back). I waited a year or so and decided I wanted to buy a house. Asked her if I could take my money out and she said that I didn't read the fine print and my money was tied up for 5 years. I accepted it as my dumb fault for not reading the fine print, but then asked if she could send something letting me know how my money was going. I didn't get any response from her. 3 years ago I got really pissed and I spammed every address I could find on their companies' website, letting her dad know what was going on (it was her dad's company). She gave me 1000$ from her own account, and said the rest would come the month later. Now all my emails are ignored and when I call up she's always out. It makes me angry because it's not a small company they are running. Their website is still operating, they are still trading. But because I am in Australia and they are in Canada legally I've been advised it's not worth the effort to chase them up. I'll never lend again no matter what the cause.
Great post! I talk constantly about the benefits of public transportation to anyone that will listen.
On the other hand I love riding my bike and the commute time is shorter. I'm often torn about riding to work or taking the bus so I can read.
A wise person once said:
If you loan money to friends, you'll lose your money, or your friends, or both.
Evolutionary psychologists have a fascinating take on this and similar topics: it has to do with the inherent conflict between our innate, rather primitive economic sense and the more sophisticated economic rules that modern societies live by. Steven Pinker's How The Mind Works (a great book) has an excellent explanation.
I know several business owners, and they really don't care about going green. They use it as a gimmick to try and save money, but to really lure people in. It's a great structural trend that should continue for a while.
Financial Samurai
Places like Costco is definitely a waste of money for the consumer. You tend to OVERBUY and therefore OVER CONSUME.
There's a reason why Costco is making a ton of money. Think about it.
Buy "variably" and only what you need.
Financial Samurai
It's best not to lend in the small amount range of $100-$1,000. Anything under $100, it's fine, you're not going to go broke if you don't get paid back. But mentally, you will just boil, and that's just horrible.
However, if you are going to lend, feel free to lend be a larger amount i.e. $1,000+. The amount will be so large, you are likely doing them a big favor, and it is such a big amount your friend will have no choice but to pay you back. Only great friends borrow that much, and that's the irony.
The most I lent was $35,000. It was a bridge loan until his funds were released due to a divorce. It was fine.
Financial Samurai
As a single mom of a college student who is away at school I still find Costco membership to be worth it.
First off they have an optical dept. My contacts are 12.00 per box (6 pr) vs 32.00 elsewhere. At 24.00 vs 64.00 every 3 months the savings add up. Both my daughter and I wear glasses and the exams and glasses cost alot less too.
Secondly, they have a pharmacy. Drugs are considerably cheaper here especially when I didn't have insurance. A pain killer I was given when I broke my back was $74.oo for a weeks supply at a pharmacy but only 22.00 at Costco! My cholesterol Rx is ALOT cheaper as well as antibiotics. You can also use the pharmacy without a membership and the rx's are cheaper than the chains and independants but it is cheaper still to have a membership.
I've bought toiletries and saved quite a bit, small appliances of good quality plus gifts, toys, and books/cds/dvds. And I get film developed too! Now thats a savings right there.
Food I buy even with only me at home - fruits/vegetables, frozen and dairy and sometimes meat - but I need to make sure to cook and seperate to freeze as soon as I get home.
I also bought my bed and my daughters and the price was good and they are sooo comfortable I'm happy with my purchase every night!
I haven't used some of the other services mentioned by others but I know I will in the future. I'm not sure how others are not making back the membership fee - unless they are only purchasing food but even then.. its easy to get $50 in savings in a year.
"Neither a borrower nor a lender be..."
That's me.
Approximately 20 years ago, I loaned a "friend" money. She had a small child and I assumed she needed it for a baby emergency. Later I found out she used it to get her nails done.
Needless to say, I never got my money back. It was worth it to find out the kind of person she was.
My philosophy: If I don't have it to give, I don't have it to loan.
The one time I loaned money, I learned that a person who can't manage his or her own money certainly can't manage mine enough to responsibly pay back a loan.
A few years ago, an acquaintance I'd known less than six months had the gall to ask me to borrow money, citing an emergency need to pay her auto insurance.
LOL
I told her I'd think about it. I never called her back, never answered another of her phone calls, and deleted every message she left.
It took her a while but she finally got it.
*shaking my head*
I have a downloaded version of Editpad (version 3.5.3) which I have used for several years for most of my text editing when I'm on a Windows machine, including writing source code. On my Ubuntu systems, rather than either vi or emacs I use gedit since it's less esoteric. I'm a Linux user more than a Linux guru and didn't come into computing via the Unix route. I did use Edlin for a short while very early in my DOS 2.1 days.
You can also check out www.DealOz.com , DealOz compares 200 bookstore prices and free discount coupons too. Their coupons are valid and have saved over $500 on my textbooks.
Thanks for the comments, everybody - and I agree that a good way to view a loan to a friend is as a gift, so that the potential for disappointment is better managed.
I also like @M Wong (#4)'s system with friends of developing a slush fund, and it is truly a function of being a well-organized and trustworthy bunch of people to begin with - which helps.
I really like @kazari (#11)'s point about expectation being what kills a friendship. I would add that expectation + lack of communication is the nail in the coffin.
Well like most forms of saving money it takes a little homework. You need to be able to be sure what the cost of supermarket vs Costco times quantity that you use (or can store). We go once a month to a Costco about 30 minutes away and easily pay for the membership, and will be going to the executive ($100-2% rebate) next time the membership is due (or they have a switch over deal). Just my wife and Daughter, but you have to buy smart and not waste money on large quantities that you would be better to buy on weekly sales from grocery store. Also be sure you are comparing like quality of goods
Post by "Karen" in June about adding water to bought moon sand - it works perfectly fine. When my daughter has left the ld off for a long time, we have had to add water. It takes quite a while to work it in, but it worked fine. She also added glitter, again, fine.