Category: Best and Worst

Quite a humbling site.  Granted it is based on cost of living, but goes to show how much costs are inflated and how much we want.

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

Just for fun, put in a few other values like $100, $1000000, $15000.  Be sure to change to your currency 🙂

So you can get free credit reports from annualcreditreport.com for free once a year from the 3 reporting bureaus, but does that really help you when it comes time to apply for credit?  While you can see and correct errors, you cannot see your credit score or the new FICO score for free unless you sign up for services and go through the cancellation of a free trial if you got pulled into one to see your score.

Free Credit Score with no apparent strings!

I signed up for creditkarma.com today and while it only looks a TransUnion, it was nice to be able to check by score without any hard inquiries 🙂  They have lots of tools and comparisons.  Now all I need to do is find out what score is needed by rental car companies to rent a car with a debit card.  That is really what I needed the score for.   I did not want to make a trip to the rental counter only to find out that my score was not acceptable.

So after hunting a bit…no one seemed to shed light on what would work, but since I am going to rent from an Airport, lots of options, though not many deals, likely available. 🙂

Credit Karma

I am a sucker for sales.

That is probably all that needs to be said.  Oh..the other thing, I usually go for the best product at the best price which means I shop often online and get tagged as “cheap,” though I really am just a smart shopper.  Okay, searching for a coupon code for a car rental to plug in a checkout is a little on the “cheap” side 🙂

My favorite Site…Amazon

I am too “Cheap” to pay $79 a year for a prime membership to get orders shipped faster, but I do always select super saver shipping when available and will order more than one if I think I can use it in order to save on shipping later.  I also “subscribe” to items such as snacks and shaver cleaning cartridges in order to get a discount.   I also use Amazon as my gauge when making purchases.  Now that I have a data plan on my phone, I can open up the amazon app, scan barcode or search for the product and see how much new and used ones are since Amazon or merchants on Amazon, seem to sell everything.  Recently when at Bestbuy I picked up an almost half price open box Denon receiver for my home theatre and when checking on Amazon, noticed that I was getting a great deal and new on Amazon was only $1 off retail unlike other brands where you save 30% or more.  I was shocked at how the item was not on sale and also how good a deal Best Buy was making me 🙂

• Free 5-7 day standard shipping over $25 on eligible items.  Free 2 day if you are a Prime Member.
• Great pricing and the ability to buy new or used from merchants that are backed by Amazon’s reputation and customer service.

Other Sites I Frequent…

• Bonktown.com – Road Biking Stuff one item at a time  (Combined ship option, 50%+ Off, a new item every 30 minutes, normally a closeout item)
• Woot.com – Electronics one item at a time  ($5 Ship for up to 3 of an item and usually a great deal.  About half the time refurbished electronics, one item a day until they sell out!  On Tuesday you get a 2 pack of an item, and usually once a week there is a clearance of low inventory in what is referred to as a “Woot Off” and a new item is presented every time the current item sells out.)
• Livingsocial.com (50% off random services, limit 1 per person, one day only)
• Groupon.com (50% off random services, seemingly no limit, one day only)
• KGB.com (Good deals, but they don’t seem to change often.)

Recently on the deal sites…

• New Memorex Blu-Ray with Wifi connection and Netflix Streaming for $90
• $9 for 2 Movies Tickets from Fandango (No theatre restriction 🙂 )
• $4 for an AMC Anytime Movie Pass
• $10 for a $20 Amazon Gift Card
• $25 for $50 and $15 for $30 at two local Italian Restaurants

Bonktown for my biking stuff is a little different.

• You can add items and pay only an extra $1 shipping instead of the usual $7  for up to 9 days if you hold your order.
• Usually a past model year item, but more than %50 off typically a different bike related item every 30 minutes.
• This company also has many other sites that offer hiking, mountain biking, camping equipment, etc.
• If  only the combined shipping worked for all of the sites I would probably order more.

I am a discount shop-a-holic!

So there you have it in a single headline.  I do like to shop, but only if the price is right!  Will talk about grocery shopping another day.  I like the Harris Teeter Buy 2 Get 3 Free promotions…but only buy if I want/need an item 🙂