Mighty Bargain Hunter

A $75 fire service subscription fee is a bargain

Seriously.  If you have to subscribe to your fire department, there really is no reason not to.

This method of paying for fire service in advance — a bit like paying Triple A for their services — has gotten recent national attention due to the aftermath of the dark side of this arrangement: no pay, no spray.  Whether by oversight or by a willful roll of the dice, if your membership isn’t current when your house catches fire, firefighters will arrive and watch your house burn to the ground, and perhaps spray your paid-up neighbors’ properties if the fire on yours gets out of control.

Harsh?  I prefer the term “fair”

I don’t think any reasonable person would wish a house fire on anyone.  To say that what happened to Gene Cranick and more recently to Vicky Bell is unfortunate would be a huge understatement.  But if the fire department made exceptions for anyone, the precedent would be set and no one would pay.  Vicky Bell and her boyfriend “were aware but thought this would never happen to them” and called the fire department, hoping that they were bluffing.  Instead, they were added to the list of examples of what can happen if you don’t keep your fire subscription up to date.

Seventy-five dollars a year works out to less than 21 cents per day.  It’s not free, but it’s hardly unreasonable.  It’s certainly worth having the cavalry come in to save your stuff and perhaps your life.

If this is how your jurisdiction operates, pay it.  It’s a true bargain.  Fire can happen to you.

Posted in Bargains, Insurance | 4 Comments »

Restaurants, tips, and gift cards

A couple of weeks ago we had dinner with a friend visiting from Hawaii.  We had a $100 Visa gift card in hand to put a big dent into the bill.

We were confused when the card came back declined.  At first we checked the balance on the card because we thought that they had given us less than they had promised (it was for a rebate).  That wasn’t the problem: we knew how much was on the card, and we didn’t overcharge that amount.  We finally talked to the manager of the restaurant, and he suggested in the future that we first try to charge half of the gift card’s value to see if that takes, and then try the other half.  “Sometimes it works the first time; other times it doesn’t,” is what he told me.

In any case, the meal finally got paid for, and we didn’t even have to stay to wash dishes.

Here‘s what I think might have happened

I did a search for hold on gift cards and ran across this FAQ from Visa:

“When using your Visa Gift card to initiate a transaction at a merchant where a tip may be included, be sure your balance is sufficient to cover an additional 20% above your total bill. If the bill, plus estimated tip, exceeds the available balance on the card, the purchase will be declined …”

Since our bill was larger than the amount on our card, there was no 20% wiggle room.  Somehow they did manage to debit the gift card even though the total bill was larger than the balance on the card.

It makes sense that there should be a buffer for the tip for two reasons: (a) the tip isn’t forgotten as it can be with gift card, gift certificates, etc., and (b) the server can treat the gift card basically like a credit card when it comes to writing in the amount of the tip: there’s room for most tips right on the card.

The main lesson we learned is that there are easier places to spend a Visa gift card than in a restaurant; the declination because of the tipping cushion was a distraction.  Had we just bought groceries with it, there probably would have been no issue.

Posted in Dining, Rewards | 5 Comments »

You’ll want to cook your own goose if you miss this online money saver

Stores online and offline are fighting tooth and nail for your money this holiday season.  The deals are far from over, of course.

If you’re planning to save yourself a whole boatload of stress and buy most (all?) of your gifts online this holiday season, then I hope that you’ve become well-acquainted with rebate portals like Mr. Rebates.  If not, then here’s a super-quick introduction to saving money with Mr. Rebates:

1. Sign up.  Once you’re in your account starts with $5.
2. From now on, instead of going directly to Target’s website (for example) to buy stuff, go to Mr. Rebates and click through to Target from there.  Just one extra hop.
3. Mr. Rebates keeps track of what you buy, and you get a cut of your qualifying purchases deposited into your account.  (This is currently 4% at Target.)
4. Once you’ve got $10 or more in available rebates, you can request payment through PayPal or by check (in the US and Canada).  It’s that easy!

I used Target as an example but there are well over 2,000 online merchants for which you can get some kind of kickback from Mr. Rebates.  What’s more, Mr. Rebates is offering extra rebates on nearly a quarter of these merchants.  For example, PetSmart’s rebate jumped from 5% to 12%, and this will stay in force through Christmas Eve.  One I may take a peek at is Skullcandy (from 5% up to 7%); I’ve got my eye one some headphones.   Check out the link in the upper right of Mr. Rebates to get the link to the full list.

I’ve loved Mr. Rebates.  They pay on time, too.  The rebates hit my PayPal account promptly at the beginning of the month following my request.  I wish I had found them a long time ago.

Posted in Deals and Steals, Holidays, Shopping | 3 Comments »

Want to start up a blog? Do it today and save on hosting

I’ve talked about investing in yourself in the past, and one great way to do this is to start a blog (like this one).  Regardless of what interests you, if other people are interested in the same thing, you’ll find an audience, and that audience can help you to build up a side income.  (Odds are you’re an audience member of others, so maybe you see what I mean.)

The best long-term strategy for starting up a blog is to (a) register your own domain name that embodies what you want the blog to be about, and (b) register for web hosting that is separate from the domain name hosting.

• Why register your own domain name?  The main reasons are to build up your brand, and to control ownership of the traffic that comes to your site.  You could get a free site at blogspot, but that’s sending traffic to blogspot, not you.  It’s well worth it in the long run to get your own domain. (Most of mine are registered at NameCheap.com and I’ve been happy with their service.)
• Why register for web hosting separate from your domain hosting?  Again, there are free hosting packages, but ultimate control of the traffic goes to them, rather than you.  They may do what you want now, but they can change the rules at any time.  If you have your own web hosting, this is much more in your control.  Also, it’s best to register your domain separate from your hosting (even if your host offers a free domain with a hosting package) again because of control — you don’t want both your domain and your hosting tied to the same company if something bad happens.

Posted in Bargains, Deals and Steals | 4 Comments »