Everyone has heard (read) us rave about Redbox for their cheap rentals and numerous kiosks, but they have gotten better.  Why? Because they will now be carrying Blu-ray disks for a whopping $1.50.  That’s a pretty sweet deal and maybe enough to get people on the fence about buying a Blue-ray player to actually get one.  Although, I still stand by a media computer docked to the TV with a Blue-ray drive, but that’s not really the point.

Redbox admits that they don’t have the Blue-ray discs in every kiosk yet, but you can check out their site to see if they are near you.  The plan is that Redbox will eventually have Blue-ray discs in all of the locations by the fall.

I recently finished my first marathon and spent about 5 months training and around $200 on a GPS watch to help me track my progress. For anyone serious about biking or running and you have yet to try a GPS training gadget, you have got to give it a try.  Knowing exactly how far you have traveled and the exact pace you are going is key to tracking your progress and reaching your goals. Not to mention, it’s just pretty cool.

Now, you can give GPS training a go for free!  The Endomondo Sports Tracker application for your cell phone is now available that can give you most of the benefits of an expensive watch without any of the costs. This nifty application will not only track your runs, but when integrated with their website, you can find a summary of all your workouts, keep an eye on your friends latest workouts, see your workouts on a map and more. I guess the only downsize is you’ll have to figure out a way to carry or strap your phone on you during your run, but if you have a memory card in your phone, you can then use your phone as your GPS trainer and MP3 player.

Currently, the free application works with Nokia, HTC, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, HP, Eten, Palm, and Garmin devices.

Give it a try, for $0.00, you cant go wrong.

Wow, I wouldn’t normally buy this, but its too cheap not to!”

Be sure you are buying what you can afford.  Oh yea…and don’t trample anyone….
Sam’s club
Acer Aspire One 10.1″ Netbook – $197.00
HP G71 17″ LED Notebook w/Blu-ray – $499.00
Olympus FE-4000 12 MegaPixel Camera – $98.00 ($30 savings)
JVC 1080p Blu-ray Player – $129.00
Garmin Nuvi 255w GPS Navigation System – $119.00 ($10 savings)
Hitachi 42″ 1080p LCD HDTV – $598.00
Phillips 52″ 1080p LCD HDTV – $1198.00 ($50 savings)
Vizio 47″ 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV – $997.00

Staples

Target

KMart

I’ll update these as I find them.  Just got my Google Wave invite…be back in 3 hours.

Its hard to really condone some of these phones simply because, not only are they wicked expensive, but in order to fully realize their potential, you have to buy into data plans that (per MB) are way more expensive than the data connection going to your house. [Remember this?]

Billshrink.com has put together a nice little huge image that captures a lot of the finer details of what these devices shake out at.

(Click to enlarge)

I received a link from a buddy of mine the other day to a site that kind of blew my mind.  Swoopo.com is a discount shopping site with lightening fast auctions that seems to work really well.

My first thought in seeing a site like this is to try and figure out the sites angle in how they make money.  Usually if thats not apparent, then there is usually something amiss, but Swoopo makes it clear how it operates:

1. Register with the site, supply your contact info and purchasing information.  (Site uses https, but you may get a flag that not all content is secure.  Check your browser)
2. Purchase credits in order to bid on items.  Each bid costs about $.60 (cheaper if bought in bulk, natch), and every time a bid is placed, a small amount of time is added to the ending auction time.
3. There is no ‘reserve price,’ so if you found a rediculously expensive item, like a MacBook Pro or 47″ plasma and you are the winning bidder when time runs out, thats what you have to pay.  Could even be $100.
4. The average savings are listed across the site as well as the MSRP of the item and it seems exciting.
5. Here’s their video:

Ok, so there must be a catch right?  How can all these items be let go for so cheap?  I am not sure to be honest with you.  My first thought is that they are making money on so many people bidding at about $.60 a pop but I haven’t done the math yet.

The other hold back I see is that unless you have budgeted for something specifically, yit would be very easy to fall into the trap of “It’s just too cheap NOT to buy this.”

A few weeks ago, Frank and I went to Harbor Freight to look around and it was the same sort of thing: you had to really be sure that what you wanted to get you knew you were going to get somewhere else any way.  Otherwise it was very possible that you would end up coming home with tools that you had no business owning.  Deals are incredible there as well…might write about that too sometime.

So take it slow and do lots of window shopping and be aware that this site feeds of the compulsion to buy things you don’t need.  For those things you do need, take a look and see if you can swoop in.

Expires on November 1, 2009.

Groupon is a relatively new site that aggregates new deals at awesome prices with an element of community involvement.  Not only is it great for consumers, but it is great for business as well.  Want to find deals that are more tailored to where you live?  They have that too.  The ability to discuss with other users is a nice feature and seems to have a very clear approach as opposed to others.  Send deals to friends quickly or simply tweet the deals.

You can learn more here, as well as subscribe to get their deals everyday in your email.

Let us know what your experiences are in the comments below!

Sure we may have referred to this before but I wanted to bring it up again real quick: AVG Free is a fantastic, simple, effective and completely free.  Not only does it protect from viruses, but spyware as well.  Here is a complete list of what is offered, and if you like it, you can pay a few bucks and get even more coverage.  Definitely worth it given most users level of use. Download and check it out!

http://www.myp2pforum.eu/

Myp2p is a peer-to-peer (P2P) website that allows users to stream content like live TV and sports.  The site offers multiple external P2P channel links, but before you can view the stream, you need to install the proper viewer (their software page is located at: http://myp2p.eu/software.php?part=software).  It seems that a lot of the streams use TVAnts.  After the correct software is installed, you can click the tabs at the top of the page to view the available streams.  For example, if you click the “MLB + Baseball” link on the homepage, you will be taken to a message board and all of the days MLB games are listed in the “Baseball Today” post.  Nearly every MLB game usually has a stream available.

http://channelsurfing.net/

Channelsurfing.net is a lot easier to navigate and play compare to the above choice, but the viewing options seem to be limited.  Again, this site has both live TV and sports streams such as: CNN, MLB Channel, Showtime, MSNBC, ESPN, NBA Channel, and Comedy Central to name a few.  This site seems to primarily require Windows Media Player to view the streams.  One you first log onto the site, scroll down towards the bottom of the page, there you will find all of the free channels centered in a long line going down the page. Simply click and enjoy.

www.hulu.com

Lastly, I will mention Hulu, which has become a popular site for online TV and movie viewing.  The difference with Hulu is that it’s an on demand web site, which means it doesn’t show live TV, rather episodes that were previously aired.  Hulu is much more advanced than the above options, for example it allows users to add shows to their favorites and receive updates when new episodes are available.

In this short talk from TED U, Joachim de Posada shares a landmark experiment on delayed gratification — and how it can predict future success. With priceless video of kids trying their hardest not to eat the marshmallow.

A global craze we are seeing now is the iTunes App Store, where we saw that they latest news was the 1 billionth app sold/downloaded.  That is a ton…Surely within all that there are some tools to save you money, right?  If you have an iPhone (and we aren’t saying go get one necessarily) but take a look.

Bank of America - Free
This mobile banking app allows you to connect directly into your account to check available balances, pay bills, transfer funds or locate ATMs and banking centers on the go.  Free if you have an account with them.

E*TRADE – Free
Trade anywhere with one of the most powerful mobile trading applications on the market.  Fully synchronize with your online portfolio in real time.

Bloomberg – Free
A trusted source for financial news, more than 280,000 professionals use Bloomberg to get news and analysis for the worlds markets.

Mint – Free
Track, budget, and manage your money on-the-go by signing up online and getting this app.  Your transactions are automatically loaded for you as your profile is completed.  Automatically synchs.

Daily Finance – Free
Provides real time stock quotes, tracking for multiple portfolios, customizable news from over 3,000 sources and professional charting.

PayPal – Free
Allows you to send money securely to friends and family and make simple purchases on the go.  Fast, easy and secure, its the industry leader in money transfer.

Check Please Lite – Free
Calculate the tip or split the bill between multiple people.
Balance - Free
Keeps track of the balance of one of your accounts.  Meant to replace a paper check book, Balance maintains the credit and debit to your account.  You can also export the transactions to your computer.

Morning Star – Free
Make smarter investing decisions with Morningstar Mobile.  Get ratings on mutual funds and exchange traded funds.

Spend Lite – Free
The free version of Spend, this is a simple budget manager that allows you to create an unlimited number of daily or weekly budgets.  Keep track of your money (Lite allows 5 weekly budgets) and allows you to keep accurate records of everything you purchase.

ATM Finder – Free
Find ATMs located around the world using your iPhone GPS by entering an address or airport location from where ever you are.  This means you can skip the part where you put YOUR location, it already figures that out for you.

Home Budget Lite - Free
An expense tracker designed to help you budget, track and possibly control your monthly expenses at home.  Watches both income and expenses, you have control.

Save Benjis - $.99
This app gives you the best internet prices while you shop in the real world.  Compare prices on your iPhone for millions of products from hundreds of stores.  When you find one you like, get it right through Save Benjis.

That last one we kind of snuck in there, its not on the free list, but I felt that it should be included.  The iTunes App store doesn’t really lend itself to linking but if you go onto the iTunes Store and find Apps and sort by the Finance category, you will find more apps than you can shake a stick at.  These were just the ones I liked the best.  (Apple, or the Apps vendors’ didn’t give me a penny to mention anything here.)

If you are lucky enough to have a few spare personal minutes at your workplace then why not try to use them to your economic advantage?  The internet is a frugal man’s best friend and down time—maybe I should call it procrastination time—at your desk can be spent in the following cost saving ways while surfing the web at the office.

Consumer Research. Most of the purchases I make, both big and small, I first research online until I’m comfortable with the item and price.  If I don’t do this, I tend to second guess my buying decision and usually conclude that I wasted my money.  It’s a process that drove my wife crazy at first, but now, even she is starting to rationalize nearly everything she buys.  Some may argue that this takes time and time is worth money, which I would agree with.  But for me, being comfortable with my spending and ensuring myself the best deals is gratifying and reassuring.

Just last week, I saved some money using this method.  I have been needing an office chair for my computer at home.  I use to use a wooden chair that I think was made more for decoration than actual sitting, needless to say, it wasn’t very comfortable.  I went to a few stores close by to where I live, including Staples and Best Buy.  I have to tell you, I wasn’t prepared for the prices of computer chairs! For a decent looking chair that was comfortable, cost close to $200 or more.  I took some down time at work, thanks to Congress being in recess, and found a chair online at a nearby store (this way shipping is free) for $100 that was the exact same chair for $200 at a competing store.

Travel. A good example of a productive timewaster at work is subscribing to frequent emails feeds of specials at your favorite stores, preferably those you shop at out of necessity.  An email that I receive every couple of days is from airfarewatchdog. With most of our family living in the Midwest, we find ourselves flying back often for weddings, graduations, etc.  This service provides us with an email with the cheapest possible flights leaving from our closest airport to nearly every major and minor city I choose.  The times the flights are offered may not always matchup with your plans, but if you are flexible, you will likely find yourself saving hundreds on flights.

Another great way to save on flights, but requires some of your time, is to check sell.com frequently for airline vouchers.  Just last week, I bought two $100 vouchers on Northwest Airlines (the only airline that flies to my hometown) for $18/piece, saving me $164 on my flight.  This can be intimidating to some, but it’s quite simple.  You pay with PayPal and the code you need to enter at checkout when buying the tickets is emailed to you.  This is a good habit to get in, especially if you are constantly using the same airlines.  Also on sell.com are complete roundtrip vouchers, these are worth purchasing if your flight cost more than the voucher.

Flyers. Use some of your spare time to browse the online flyers for the stores your sure to visit over the weekend, rather than ignore the flyer upon entering the store because you are in a hurry.  For example, plan your meals for the week based off what your local grocery store is having good deals on.  Buy your toilet paper in advance of needing it at Target because of a ridiculous deal.  Or just browse flyers to gauge the best possible prices for items or services you may need in the future like tire changes, brake work, duct cleaning, etc.  Just being aware of what certain services should cost, will save you money when it comes time to actually needing it.

Coupons. I think most of you would be surprised to the number of coupon codes on the internet that are free and can save you a substantial amount of money.  If you have the time, at most online checkouts, you will see a section where you can enter a discount code.  Usually, this is ignored, because we never have a code.  But, there are countless websites out there that have online web codes and a simple google search will provide you many options.  It cant hurt to look, if you have the time.

What other ways do you spend down time at work that ends up saving you money?  $

Netflix. What?! Don’t take away my movies!  I know how exciting a movie in your mailbox may make you when you come home for work, but how happy are you shelling out $20+ a month?  Movies are great, don’t get me wrong, but there are better and cheaper methods for renting them.  I’m still a huge fan of Redbox.  Check out their website and see if one of their boxes is close to your home.  Movies are $.99 and free on Mondays.  Some things are worth repeating, Redbox movies are $.99 and free on Mondays.  Are you watching 20+ movies a month with Netflix?  We would never pay for way more food than we could possibly eat month after month, why are videos any different?

Phone Bills. Obviously we can’t live without a phone, but many of us are doubling up on coverage and in the process, doubling up our expenses.  I recently wrote about switching to a pay-as-you-go monthly service on your cell phone, which is a great option for those of us that sparsely use our cell phones.  Home phone lines seem like something we are supposed to have because our parents had them; they give us a sense of stability.  But why have a home phone line that you only use to hang-up on telemarketers?  Ditching this could save you upwards of $30/month.

Satellite Radio. If you would of asked me 10 years ago if people would ever consider paying for radio, I would have said you’re nuts.  Now, I’m one of them paying each month for Sirius/XM radio.  I love listening to talk radio and random radio stations on the way to what can be long commute in and out of Washington, DC, but I’m starting to doubt the worthiness of this expense.  I seem to be looking for better songs more than actually listening and most of the talk shows I enjoy most are on ESPN radio, which is free.

Useless Insurance. Many of us have overlapping insurance coverage and have no idea.  For example, many people pay extra each month on their car insurance for towing and entry into their vehicles when their keys are locked inside.  These same people may also belong to AAA, which provides the same services.  Look deeper into your insurance policies and see where you can cut the fat, or in some cases, cut the insurance completely.  Credit card insurance is one you can probably get rid of, especially if you don’t carry a balance.

Gym Memberships. Lets me honest, are you getting your monies worth?  If you find yourself going to the gym once or twice a week, your likely better off choosing free, but still healthy choices like running, playing recreational sports, and On Demand exercise routines.  Rather than keep shelling out the monthly expense, purchase equipment that will last forever and provide free exercise down the road.  With little to no money you can: run, play tennis, lift dumbbells, do sit-ups and pushups, ride bike, walk, countless abdominal routines, and more.

Magazines/Newspaper Subscriptions. Maybe you love reading the newspaper or getting new magazines in the mail, but do you find yourself struggling to keep up with them?  At times I feel like its work to keep up with the Washington Post and the few magazines I get.  The solution may be to cancel or cutback on the subscriptions.  For example, just get the weekend paper delivered and on the weekdays you actually have time, pay the $.35.  Consider canceling some of you magazines and only keeping your absolute favorite subscriptions.

What have you cut from your monthly budget? $

I’m always amazed at the amount of money people manage to spend during their busy workweeks.  In fact, many of us have to actually go out of our way in order to purchase something on Monday-Friday.  I know that what I’m going to say is unrealistic for some, but it’s rare for  my wife and I to spend any money during the work week. Really, there isn’t a reason to.

Prepare for the Week. The less you have to run to the grocery store and Target, the less you will likely spend.  Prepare for you week to ensure that you will have everything you need to get you to the next weekend.  Buying groceries is one of the key’s to spending less during the workweek.  It’s easy to think, oh I’ll just grab a sandwich at lunch tomorrow and get groceries after work on Monday.  This then turns into, I’ll just grab a bagel and coffee for breakfast then grab a quick lunch and get groceries after work on Tuesday.  It’s a vicious but easy cycle to find yourself in and the amount of money wasted on overpriced and unhealthy food is astounding.  Eating out a few times can really rival your entire weekly food expenses.

You Probably Don’t Need it. Whatever is you find yourself running to the mall to get after work, you probably don’t need it.  The same goes for e-shopping at work on a slow day, we all like to look, but it can lead to premature purchases.  Not to mention, its very easy to get sucked into additional unintended buys online, with qualifying free shipping type deals.  You worked a long day, go home and enjoy yourself, everything you could want is likely already there waiting for you.

I realize you have to spend money, but I think you would be surprised how often you can sidestep it.  Like I said at the beginning, it’s very rare for my wife and I to have a charge on our account during the workweek.  We have our food for the week, including breakfast and lunch at work and we don’t feel like venturing out into the retail world after work.  Of course, spending money only on the weekends isn’t any better than on the weekdays, but the point really is the more prepared you are and the less you have to “go shopping,” the less your bound end up buying.  And for us, the less we spend and the more we save, the easier it becomes to control spending urges. $

Many homes have since ditched the once traditional concept of a desktop computer and primarily use a laptop for their computing needs.  While I love our laptop for browsing while vegging on the couch, I still enjoy having a powerful desktop, but that is beside the point.  What many of us probably don’t know about our laptops is how to properly use them to get the most of out of its energy consumption and battery longevity.

Does your laptop battery seem to last half of the time it used to?  It’s a pretty common complaint, but it’s something that can be avoided, if not just delayed.  If you leave a laptop battery in your computer all the time and keep it plugged in, then it is constantly drawing power, regardless if it’s 100% charged or not.  Because it is constantly drawing power, even if you’re not using it, you’re throwing away money in energy.  Granted, it’s not a huge percentage of your power bill, but it’s still wasteful energy consumption.

On top of wasted energy, keeping your battery plugged into your laptop all the time significantly reduces the longevity of the battery itself.  If you have ever had to purchase a spare battery, you know they aren’t cheap.  The solution to milk the most from your battery is to take it out while your laptop is plugged in.  The reason is constant charging of the battery reduces its capacity to hold a charge.  Just simply pop your battery back in when you plan to unplug it.

Another quick tip is to make good use of your hibernate and standby modes.  I have my laptop set to go into standby after it sits untouched for 10 minutes.  It takes 5 seconds to turn back on, but costs nothing to idle in standby.

Although these are small tips in trying to save your pennies, it’s worth knowing. $