Join the Polson Freecycle group!

Breaking news...Freecycle has come to Polson, Montana! So what is Freecycle(TM)? It is a group that is open to everyone who wants to "recycle" that special something rather than throw it away. Whether it's a couch, a fax machine, your perishables before you go on vacation, piano or an old door, feel free to post it. The one main rule is everything posted must be free. This group is part of The Freecycle Network, a nonprofit organization and a movement of people interested in keeping good stuff out of landfills. When you are part of the group, you get emails (either individual ones or a digest for the day) of the things that other people have to give away. You can contact the person by email and they choose who they would like to give their item to. If you are chosen, you make arrangements with that individual to get the item. This is a great site because it allows you to clear out those closets or garages of things you don't need and pass it one to someone who can use it!

You can enter your email address below to join the Polson Freecycle group. You do have to have a Yahoo! profile which you can quickly set up.

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Essential websites for the bargain hunter - Craigslist

If you are looking to sell/buy something, you should check out http://www.craigslist.org/ . You select the area you live in (in my case, the state) It is a great website where you can browse items you are looking for. Items are broken down into categories which makes for quicker searching. You can also list items to sell. The beauty of it is, it is free to use. To list an item, you post it (you can include pictures), then you confirm an email that is sent to you, that the ad is the way you want and it is posted.

I have made two purchases off of Craigslist. The first was a worm factory. My children were interested in buying a worm factory which you use to recycle your food scraps (not meat). I posted a wanted ad on http://montana.craigslist.org/ and a gentleman in Missoula contacted me and we were able to buy it for half the price of new. They lived in Huson, but his wife met me in Missoula and we were able to complete the deal. The other thing I bought off of http://montana.craigslist.org/ was a package of carpet pad. When we were having new carpet put in upstairs, I saw that a man in Florence had posted a package of new carpet pad. He had purchased carpet pad for his whole house and had an extra package that hadn't even been opened. I was able to purchase it from him for and save a couple of dollars per yard off the new price.

Of course, it is always good to check if you are getting a good deal. When I bought the carpet pad I had to research how much carpet pad there is in a new package (the seller did not know) and what it goes for other places to determine if I was getting a good deal. Right now I am watching for deer fencing to go around a garden I would like to put in next summer. Someone had listed some deer fencing. The price that they were asking was more than I could purchase it new at Ace...so be savvy!

Get a new hot water heater for free?

I was really excited to hear about the federal tax credits available for improvements that you make to your home in 2009. If you are looking at doing some home improvements (windows, insulation, water heaters, stoves) you should check to see if they qualify for a tax credit.


We are going to replace our 20 year old hot water heater. By getting one that meets the requirements, we will get a $300 federal tax credit plus we can get a $60 credit from Mission Valley Power for installing an energy efficient water heater. The hot water heater will cost approximately $350. So after the tax credit and energy rebate from the power company, it's purchase price is entirely covered and we get the energy savings that comes with a much more efficient hot water heater.


Get the complete details at http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits

Tips to having success with warranties

When shopping for a new item (especially a large ticket item), people often compare what kind of warranty the item has. That is a wise thing to do, but you will only benefit from that effort if you have a sytem in place to file those warranties so you can locate them later.

Statistically, it is never a good idea to buy an extended warranty on items at the store or through third party vendors. There's a great article on this at http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/07/warranties.asp

When you get home, tape your receipt to the owner's manual or information that you have cut off the box that gives you information on the warranty. Then file that receipt and manual away. Your filing system needs to be customized for your needs. When I was first married I had one file folder for each item that I had a manual for. That was way too cumbersome. Now I have one folder labeled warranties that all those receipts go into. Look at your life and figure out how many folders you need. One might work for you or you might want to consider making separate folders like kitchen items, tools, or electronics.

Then, when something breaks, take a minute to look through your warranties before replacing it. If it is a low ticket item (less than $20) it might not be worth walking through the warranty process to get it replaced. This is because you often have to send your defective product into the company at your cost.

Okay, so how about a happy story. My dear husband knows that I am often cold. For Christmas he bought me a heated mattress pad. I loved that mattress pad! After 4 1/2 years the controls started not working and erroring out. I can't tell you how disappointing it is to jump into bed expecting nice warm sheets and find out that the control errored out and it is freezing! I figured we would just need to get a new mattress pad. When we were getting ready to move, I was cleaning out files and I found the owner's manual and receipt and discovered that mattress pad had a 5 year warranty on it. I called the manufacturer and spoke with a very nice gal in their customer service department. She gave me instructions on how to mail it back to them and a return code to put on the outside of the box. She said as soon as they received it, they would be sending out the new mattress pad with a new five year warranty! I was happy to spend the $13.00 to send it back rather than have to pay $100 to get a new mattress pad.

Essential websites for the bargain hunter - slickdeals.net

As a bargain hunter who loves to find a great deal, I would like to review some of the websites that I have found to be very useful. http://www.slickdeals.net/ is a community of bargain hunters that post their best finds on the Internet. The site is well designed and easy to navigate.

On the http://www.slickdeals.net/ home page they list the price of the item, any applicable coupon codes, and what the shipping charges are. These great deals are in a long list (not put in categories) . When a deal is no longer available, they note that the deal has expired.

There is also a list of coupons codes that you can use when you are making a purchase at stores on the Internet. You can search the coupons alphabetically by the store name, by whether they are new or expiring, or by subject (apparel, technology, or others).

There are also forums to read on a whole host of subjects relating to getting deals (ie. coupons, freebies, rebates), a blog, and a whole list of tools.

The tools they currently have listed are slickdeals mobile, Amazon fillers, credit card deals, price lookup, global search, store ratings, and product reviews. Slickdeals Mobile allows you to get alerts that are formatted for your cell phone. Amazon fillers is great because Amazon often offers free shipping if you spend a certain dollar amount. These fillers help you find something the amount you need to get that free shipping. They also have an extensive list of credit cards with rewards...but I personally don't use or promote credit cards. The price listing allows you to enter the product you are looking for and it will give you the price from various online merchants. The global search...There is also a list of Store ratings. Before buying from a retailer, you can see what others have experienced when they worked with them. There is also a whole section of product reviews, so when you are considering a purchase, you can read reviews from others who have purchased that exact item.

Get paid to go energy efficient with Mission Valley Power

If you live in an area that Mission Valley Power services, it is a no-brainer to switch to energy efficient light bulbs. If you have a different power company, check with them to see if they offer incentives for going to energy efficient bulbs. Mission Valley Power gives you a $2.50 credit on your power bill for each energy efficient light bulb you install into your home.

Yesterday I was at Costco in Missoula. The 6 packs of their energy efficient light bulbs cost $4.99 ($10.99 less a $6 instant rebate). Their light bulbs for bathroom vanities cost $3.49 ($10.49 less a $7 instant rebate).
We don't have a large home, yet we have at least 30 light bulbs in our house. And 8 vanity lights. So, if we bought new bulbs at Costco...
5 packs light bulbs $4.99= $24.95
2 packs vanity bulbs $3.49= $6.98
Total = $31.93
Now for the rebate from Mission Valley Power
38 bulbs x $2.50 = $95.00

So in the end, by upgrading all my light bulbs which will save ME in energy costs, I spend $31.93 on light bulbs and get a $95.00 credit on my power bill. That means I come out $63.07 ahead and I will save on my power costs for the next 7 years (average lifespan) that I have those light bulbs. You can print off forms and see different items you can get energy rebates for at http://missionvalleypower.org/rebate_forms.htm

When you are making other purchases, check out to see if rebates are available for things like appliances, water heaters, home electronics and office equipment if they are energy star. There are also rebates for insulating and windows. We had the crawl space of our home insulated. The rebate we received was a credit on our power bill for 75 percent of the cost of having it insulated! Now we get to reap the benefit for the lifetime of owning this home.

So check out those energy rebates and see how much you can save!

Free tea at Starbucks in Safeway

Hello Polson friends...
On the back page of your Safeway ad there is a coupon for a complimentary Tall Tea (12 oz) beverage of choice from Starbucks...they are introducing their full-leaf tazo tea lattes and tazo tea infusions. The coupon expires on January 20th. If you need a coupon, they always have extra Advertisers with ads in the entry way going into Super 1.

Do I really need that?

It's January and there are bargains to be had. The question to consider...is that item I am looking at buying going to improve my life? I have been checking out http://www.slickdeals.net/ most days. They have a list of great deals that is constantly updated. However, I almost never need any of those things...they don't sell groceries! So if I buy things I don't need, just because I can save a lot off the list price, is it a good deal? Obviously not. It's no bargain to have to manage stuff you don't use or need! However, if I happen to see items on there that I have been watching for and can get a really good deal...now that is bargain shopping.

Don't take no for an answer

My son who is 9 has a business. He collects ink and toner cartridges from friends and businesses. He then recycles those cartridges. Large cartridges he sells to a remanufacturing company and small ink cartridges he takes to Staples which has an ink cartridge recycling program . Stapes mails reward checks monthly for their ink-recycling program. For some reason Benjamin didn't receive the rewards checks for all the cartridges he had returned since July. At first, I thought it was because they only sent out the checks quarterly...then I just didn't get around to checking into it. In December, I emailed to inquire what was going on. He received one of the three rewards checks he had earned. I emailed again about the other two rewards checks. Two weeks later, I called and was assured both rewards checks had been issued and were on their way, but my son only got one of the checks. So I called again today to check on where it was and the representative told me they do not re-issue rewards checks that have expired. I explained the situation and she said there was nothing she could do, but she would have the gal that had told me the two rewards checks were coming call me. I didn't get a call, but an email from her saying they do not re-issue expired checks. I emailed her back and very politely explained the situation that my son had not gotten his checks and that I didn't believe USPS could lose three different checks and that I thought the issue must have been on their end. I shortly got an email back from her saying, "As a one-time courtesy, we have issued a new Reward with an extended expiration date." My son is very excited to be getting that $18 reward check that he had returned cartridges for. I guess the thing to remember in these situations is perseverance counts...if you don't stay on it, it won't happen. I also used one of the phrases that I learned in Financial Peace University when I was told they couldn't re-issue the reward check. In my email I said, "and if you are not able, refer it on to your manager or someone who can rectify the situation." Though it was work to get those rewards, I appreciate that Staples re-issued the check!

Saving on rental cars

In November our family took a trip down to Arizona. We were able to get great flights out of Missoula, MT..more on that later. While shopping for a rental car we checked out the rental companies rates online. Prices varied greatly. For the airport we were flying into, we found that Alamo had the best rates. They wouldn't let me book it online with my debit card, so I had to call down to Phoenix and book it directly at the airport. They weren't able to give me quite as good of a deal as was advertised if I booked through http://www.alamo.com/, but they assured me it was the best rate they could give me. I also was able to verify that there wouldn't be any extra holds put on my debit card when renting the car. When comparing prices I also checked out what coupons were available. Alamo had a coupon for one free day with a week long rental. I took that with us when we rented the car. We also checked with our insurance company to find out if our car insurance covered us in the rental car. They verified that we had the same coverage as we had for our own vehicle (but it wouldn't cover loss of usage fees in case of an accident). So we were able to waive any extra insurance that was offered. The total for our 8 days with unlimited miles was $186.43. (Hertz was going to charge $340 for those 8 days!) Alamo had great customer service and were very quick and efficient at check-in.

Should you pay more for quality?

When does quality count? Does it matter? Is it worth the extra cost? The answer is yes and no.

If you want to have something for a long time, there's a good chance you need to invest in quality. My husband has a Air Canada duffel bag that he has had for 15 years. This bag has survived trips on buses, cars and planes and is still in great shape. It wasn't the cheapest in terms of price, but it was good quality and shows very little wear after all this time. In this case, it was definetely worth investing in quality. You have those items too. Take a look in your closets. What did you have that just won't wear out? You invested in quality when you purchased those items.

There are other purchases where quality may or may not matter. Personally, I haven't found that a $4 toothbrush lasts me any longer than the special 2 pack I bought for $1.79. When it comes to aluminum foil, it depends on what my purpose is in using it. If I am wrapping up baked potatoes, the cheap aluminum foil works fine for me. However, if we are barbequing salmon, I wouldn't even bother if I didn't have heavy duty aluminum foil. When it comes to food, we've all heard about name brand and generic labels at times being produced at the same factory (of course this isn't always the case). Sometimes there is a huge difference in quality and sometimes there isn't. So, look for those areas where quality doesn't matter to you and see if you can save!

Magazines for 90% off the list price

Today I saved big on two magazines my husband wanted for his business. I had the check written for WIRED and the card filled out for Entrepreneur to send in. Today on http://www.slickdeals.net/ I saw they had some great deals on magazines at http://www.discountmags.com/ for 3.50 a year. I ordered the Weight Watchers magazine. I don't do WW, but am always interested in eating healthy and good recipes. When I put the Weight Watchers magazine into my cart at CheapMagazineSite.com the site offered me the opportunity to get other magazines for $5 a year or $8 a year. WIRED was one of those magazines for $5. I was so glad I hadn't sent in the check yet, so I voided my check and ordered it from discountmags. It lists for $59.40. The lowest I had seen it was $10. So when I got it for $5 it was a great deal! For Entrepreneur I found the best deal using ww.CheapMagazineSite.com (which just searches all the discount magazines sites and shows you which one has the best deal) was http://www.magazines.com/. This list price is $59.88 and the cheapest I had seen it was $11.97. I was able to get it for $6.97. They had the needed discount coupon listed at CheapMagazineSite.com. If you enjoy magazines, you can get them at a great price if you shop around and are patient.