4/28/07 Newsletter

"Deals that are nifty by Sister Thrifty"

Years ago I created a big spreadsheet for all the grocery stores around town, trying to decide which store was the least expensive. Of course, the price of items changed from week to week, making one store the better deal one week and a different store less expensive the next, depending on sales. One thing I noticed was that some of the best deals to be had consistently were found at the big warehouse clubs. My favorite is Costco. A study by the Economic Research Service at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture shows that you save a substantial amount of money shopping at warehouse clubs and Wal-Mart Supercenters. Hey, anywhere you can buy tires and cool whip is quite a store.

The study was done over a five-year period, and, on the same quantity of an item, you will save from 5 to 20 percent. As a result, those stores represent about a third of grocery store spending these days. Costo even pays cash back at the end of the year up to 2% of purchases. Alternatively, regular supermarkets use "high-low" pricing, where some items are extremely cheap and others are marked up significantly. The supermarkets tout the low, sale items in advertisements to lure you in, but they hope you'll buy the higher-priced ones when you're there. The only bad thing about the big clubhouses is you have to be able to resist some of that great stuff and be be able to control impulse buying.

What's going on with Vonage these days? People who have loved the service are upset that the company may go under. Some say it's highly likely that the company will go bust. Not only is Verizon attacking the company in court, but Vonage has also done a poor job of satisfying customers in recent months. You probably want come up with a back-up plan for when the company shuts down, and you might want o check out sunrocket.com. Sunrocket has a different business model, whereby you pay for a year up front. It's $199 a year, plus junk fees, and you get unlimited calling. It works out to about $17 a month. The one unknown is how people will port their numbers once Vonage goes bon voyage. The company won't be concerned with helping people port their numbers to another company once they've gone under. So, you probably want to make the switch now. Other VOIP services are Packet8 and Lingo. Check them out.

May 1st is National Pizza Day at Pizza Hut. They are giving away one slice of pizza (cheese or pepperoni) per person between 3 and 5pm. This is going to be nationwide, with advertisements on TV and in USA Today on May 1st.

This week's freebies features a ton of stuff for your car:

Automotive Lubricant Sampleshttp://www.nyeautomotive.com/ask.htmSample Kit from Caplugs.comhttp://www.caplugs.com/kits.aspFree Car Care Guideshttp://www.carcare.org/car_care_guide/consumer2.shtmlCar-pons - Free Automotive Couponshttp://www.car-pons.com/Free Car Keychain for Surveyhttp://autosurvey.hitart.com/Sample of Armour All Glass or Cleaning Wipeshttp://www.aa-ownercenter.com/index.phpFree National Corvette Museum Magnethttp://www.corvettemuseum.com/freegift/Sample Bottle of Dri Wash 'N Guardhttp://www.waterless.8m.com/request.htmlFree Cheap Car Insurance Quoteshttp://usaautoinsurance.org/Automotive Interiors & Accessories, Inc. - Sample Request http://www.automotiveinteriors.com/samples/carpeting_$3.htmFree Auto Carpeting Sampleshttp://www.autostyles.com/acsallsamples.htmFree 2007 Fuel Economy Guide http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/altfuel/feg_orderform.htmlSample of Knight Shield Professional Car Care Productshttp://www.knightshieldinc.com/ContactUs.htmFree MagnaFine Auto Air Freshenerhttp://www.magnefine.com/forms/form.htmlPennzoil More Miles Club http://www.pennzoil.com/moremilesclub/default.htmlSample of Speed Brite Auto Wax & Cleaner http://www.galladechem.com/speedbrite/sample.htmFree Tire Gauge Keychain for Car Ins Quote Survey http://yourcar.headplug.com/Free Automotive Film Sampleshttp://www.gilafilms.com/free-samples.htmFree Car Air Freshener Sampleshttp://airfresheners.homestead.com/Sample2.htmlFree Samples for Auto Body Shopshttp://www.autobodyonline.com/samples.cfmFree Swissol 60 Page Car Care Handbookhttp://www.swizol.com/E/US/KontaktHandbook.htmFree Water Washable Air Filter Oil Samplehttp://www.qwiktimeproducts.com/page2.html

That's it for now. Have a GREAT week!
CENTSerely,

Sister Thrifty