Cutting Out Coupons

I came to a realization today as I was making my turkey sandwich for lunch. When I was adding the salami (what, you don't put salami on your turkey sandwiches?) I looked at the price tag and started to do some math--see, I bought the store brand over the name brand because it was $1.50/lb. cheaper. (woo-hoo!) Net savings: 40¢.

That's when I started thinking about all the other things that are supposed to save me money but aren't actually worth it.

My wife and I decided a couple weeks ago that it's OK to use credit cards to buy gas again. Yes, there's a higher price (and why that's tolerated, if not illegal, is beyond me--try that in any other retail establishment) but the difference to fill the 10-gallon tank on my Corolla is 60¢ extra on a near $30 purchase.

One of the reasons I like using cards is I get to download the activity into Quicken and keep track of my spending. Having to [remember to] collect all the receipts and enter all the info manually or, worse, having to write down or remember every purchase is something I'm just not going to do. (I'm lazy that way.) To me, it's a nominal fee for the convenience.

Plus, there's a bunch of rewards cards that offer up to 2% cash back on purchases--like gas--which offset some if not all of the cost.

Now, there are research studies which say that people tend to spend more when they use plastic over pulling tangible cash out of their pockets. But I'm not heading out to the mall for back to school clothes, I need gas. Spending this way just requires a little discipline (which I don't have).

This lack of discipline is why I'm only taking cash the next time the wife and I go to Costco. We can't seem to get out of there for under $100. Go in for some food and cleaning supplies, and come out with an XBox, 2 coats, 4 pairs of pants and a new coffee machine. Oh, sure, they were cheap, but until we saw the ridiculously low prices, we weren't in the market for them. You also have to be able to recognize a bargain when you see one. The toilet paper was half the price of the supermarket, but now I need a place to store 72 rolls in a two-bedroom condo. If you're not buying for the football team picnic or stocking your underground bunker, you probably don't need the two 20-lb. vats of peanut butter or mayonnaise.

You need to do a cost-benefit analysis. Figure out the cost per square foot of your home, then figure out if that space is best suited for saving a few bucks on condiments. Also, how much do you make an hour that you'll take the time to clip and organize 25¢ coupons and have it worth your while?

I think it was Gary Marcus in his book Kluge, when talking about failures in reasoning, who points out that most of us would drive across town to save $25 on a $50 toaster, but wouldn't bother to save $25 on a $2500 flat screen TV. We reason (or, rather, fail to) it's about percentages, that 10% isn't enough of a savings for the effort, when really we should be deciding if $25 is enough to drive across town - either it is, or it isn't.

My wife just found a new job; I just lost one. (I didn't really lose it--I still know where it is, I just don't go there anymore.) Finding ways to save money is important to us. We stopped buying organic milk and eggs, which were twice and up to three times more expensive, respectively. But combing through circulars for an hour or two to save 40¢ on substandard cold cuts?

If they win, YOU LOSE

Dear friend:

If the insurance companies win, you lose.

If reform passes without the choice of a public health insurance option, if insurers can keep denying care for pre-existing conditions, and if you can't afford health insurance, the insurance companies will keep making money while you will keep losing out. It's really that simple.

We must fight back.

Today, thousands of people across the country are taking the fight directly to the insurance companies. We'll be presenting the insurance companies with a list of demands: Stop denying our care and stop using our premiums to lobby against health reform.

Click below to fax your insurance company these demands. A copy will be sent to the Senate Finance Committee who are starting debate on the Baucus Bill today:

    http://healthcareforamericanow.org/page/speakout/sick

For years the insurance companies have expanded their total stranglehold over health care. They make record profits. The make life-and-death decisions. And they're spending millions of dollars on campaign contributions and lobbyists to defeat reform - over $770,000 per day!

That's your money they're spending to defeat health care reform and the choice of a public health insurance option.

You're a customer and a person with a voice, so you can fight back. Click below to fax your demands to the insurance industry and join thousands who are doing the same thing today:

    http://healthcareforamericanow.org/page/speakout/sick

Your message will get to your insurer, your Members of Congress, and Members of the Senate Finance Committee, who are starting to work on the Baucus Bill - a bill that gives the insurance industry everything it wants.

Thank you for fighting back against the insurance industry - the real enemy in this debate.

Let's clog up their fax machines! Click here:
    http://healthcareforamericanow.org/page/speakout/sick

With your help, we'll be the ones who will win.

Thanks!

No Compromise

my 3-yr-old understands negotiation better

clipped from pol.moveon.org Pass Obama's health care plan Last night, President Obama challenged Congress to "meet history's test" and finally fix our broken health care system. He pledged to seek common ground between Democrats and Republicans, and assured them all: "My door is always open." Republicans responded by heckling, booing, and hissing. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) screamed out "You lie!" as the President defended his health care plan against false right-wing attacks. We can't afford to let right-wing extremists like Joe Wilson hold health care reform hostage. As Obama put it, "the time for games has passed. Now is the season for action." Let's send a message to Congress, demanding swift action to pass real health care reform. A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to your senators and representative.

Why does Hitler get such a bad rap?

But then why do people try to equate Obama to Hitler, if he was such a nice guy, Pat?

clipped from www.mediabistro.com First They Came For The Nazi Apologists... If only the powers that be at msnbc.com understood that Adolph Hitler actually was a man of peace, they wouldn't have acted so rashly in removing their site's link to a Pat Buchanan column essentially blaming England for World War II. no worthy news organization should employ a commentator who engages in such vile fiction. if you want to read Buchanan's column ("Did Hitler Want War?"), written to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Germany's invasion of Poland, it's here (screen shot below). Be ready, though: It truly is a litany of lunacy.

You can't fix stupid

for me, “I don’t think evolution should be associated with our school" says it all

oh, and I really want one of those shirts - brilliant marketing, if you asked me

clipped from thinkprogress.org Missouri school district bans t-shirts for acknowledging evolution. “I don’t think evolution should be associated with our school.” Law professor Jonathan Turley notes, “Evolution is not a religious issue. Extremists want to make evolution into a religious question, but it is not.” “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”