Posts Tagged ‘deals’
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Not sure if this is a national promotion, but I just got a coupon handed to me at my local Albertsons grocery store (which is owned by SuperValu) stating that if you buy a $250 gift card you can get $20 free or a $300 gift card to get $30 free. As I mentioned last year, this is a tremendous deal! Groceries are something we all are going to spend money on over the next year whether we like it or not, so why not save 10% while you’re at it. Where else can you guarentee a 10% return on your money?
I can’t seem to find any details about this promotion online, but the bottom of the coupon states that it is valid “now through tax day” and to “see customer service for details.”
Ciao,
Franco
My favorite meal at my work cafeteria is the mid-week taco salad special. Utilizing a well thought out strategy, this tasty treat can be one of the best deals in town.
The cafeteria at work operates on a unique system known as “lunch lady arithmetic.” Unlike regular arithmetic (or math if you will), lunch lady arithmetic varies from day to day. The price of any given item in the cafeteria is determined by an unknown baseline value (very few prices are actually posted) plus or minus some variation from the mean. The variation is largely driven by the type of item and the lady that is ringing you up. Prepared food like eggs and oatmeal have a much wider distribution than packaged items like chips or milk. So one day you go in and pay $2.44 for some scrambled eggs and an English muffin while the next day it may ring up at $3.21 or potentially something with a one handle if you’re lucky. This kind of risk/reward makes the simple act of eating at the cafeteria an exciting adventure.
I would like to officially introduce Frugal Franco’s first guest post. A friend of mine, who goes by many names but we’ll call him the Bargain Burro, recently submitted a diary esk dictation of a memorable Black Friday. Enjoy!
Franco
Tuesday
I went over to my friend’s house and had to listen to him brag about his new flat screen TV all night. I sure would love to steal his thunder by getting a bigger one for less money. Fortunately, black Friday is right around the corner.
It’s that time of year again…time to camp out in sub-zero (unless you live in a warm weather state) temperatures on the rock hard concrete to grab the door buster sales at your favorite retailer. For those that haven’t partaken in this glorious ritual, I highly recommend it (actually, I highly recommend getting your little brother to do it while you sleep in a nice warm bed and then swoop in as the doors open to save big bucks on a new flat screen TV…thank little bro!). For those that would like to get a jump start on the process and map out the best deals at each store, check out this thread at Fat Wallet for scanned copies of all the upcoming Black Friday ads. Happy Thanksgiving!
Franco
Books:
Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein. A biographical look at the forces and events that shaped the world’s most sucessful investor.
The Davis Dynasty by John Rothchild. A biographical look at one family’s investment acumen over three generations of investment management.
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip A. Fisher. A classic investment book that explores some of the aspects that differentiate superior companies from the pedestrian ones.
Active Value Investing: Making Money in Range-Bound Markets by Vitaliy Katsenelson. An excellent book that lays out the “Quality, Valuation, & Growth” framework for buying and selling stocks.
I am constantly plagued by the need to “get a good deal” on everything. Overpaying for things is only slightly higher than “a sharp stick in the eye” on my list of fun things to do. With that in mind, I still realize that it is impossible to get a bargain on everything in life and when these times present themselves it’s best to just roll with the punches. To best illustrate this point, let me tell you a story that happened to me last weekend.
Forbes recently posted an article entitled 13 things you can get for free. If you can navigate around all the flashing ads embedded in the article on msn, I highly recommend everyone take a read. Some of my favorites included free (legal) TV show viewing, last minute cruises, and legal advice, but the most interesting by far had to be the “cyber grandparent.” Just check it out!
Franco
Deals, or the appearance there of, are very effective tools for getting Joe Consumer to spend money. The problem is that the better the deal, the worse the profit is for the seller (a.k.a. “the man”), and everyone knows that the objective of any good business is to maximize profit. Enter the “packaged deal.”
A packaged deal accomplishes two things for the seller’s benefit: 1) the assurance of a “deal” persuades consumers to drop their guard and open their wallet and 2) on average, packaging things together gets people to spend more money than they originally intended. With these two weapons in hand, we the consumer have been snookered into such purchases as the Bee Gees box set, vacations to odd destinations, and way too many Abraham Lincoln postcards. When looking at packages, one needs to first decide what they really want, then evaluate what is included in the package, and finally determine if the package is cost effective.
The other day I was driving around with some friends and we were hungry and in a bit of a hurry. To save time, we decided to call in our sandwich order at one of my favorite local delis. Not having the number on hand, I called 800-GOOG411 which is a service Google provides for free directory assistance. The process is completely automated, does an excellent job finding the listing you want in the city you want, and connects you for free (they also will send you a text message of the requested phone number if you so desire). For those that like to text message, you can also use Goolge SMS.
This little corner of cyberspace is used to share my thoughts on saving money, putting that saved money to work, and ultimately using your money to help others.
As the name suggests, I’m frugal. I’ve always know the value of a dollar and would definitely put myself in the “saver” camp rather than the “spender” group. Don’t get me wrong…spending money is great fun, but I’ve never been one to spend my hard earned cash on frivolous pleasures. You have to work pretty hard to get me to open up my wallet and the best way to do that is to throw me a deal.
