January 2007 - Bargain Value

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Bargain Value - January 2007

A Beautiful Vacation Bargain

January 25th 2007 06:25

Imagine, a picturesque little cabin out in the middle of nowhere, gated and on about half an acre of land. Wildlife and nature all around, beauty as far as the eye can see. The cabin comes with hot and cold running water and electricity. How much would you expect to pay for this type of accommodation in Montana in the height of tourist season?

Would you believe $45 a night? That’s what my wife and I paid for our Honeymoon Cabin in Western Montana. We enjoyed 10 days in the isolated patch of Montana. In the cabin were two books full of notes from those who had visited previously and we added our names. On our way home, we saw eight deer coming out on the road and got to take some pictures. It was a slow drive, but humans rarely get to see that many deer up close.

How did we get such an idyllic location? We reserved a Forest Service cabin. The US Forest Service has many cabins and lookouts they no longer use or use rarely. Rather than having them lie vacant, they rent them out.

I should be fair and note that most cabins are not as nice as ours. Indeed, a fair many cabins are quite rugged and rustic. If you love the great outdoors, though, the cabins are for you. However, depending on your skill as a hiker, you’ll want to choose carefully which cabins you reserve.

Forest Service cabins are an inexpensive vacation option. You can search all the forest service cabins at the country and even make online reservations at reserveusa.com

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Posted By: AdamG - Category: Online Resources

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Thursday Bargain of the Day: Your Old Friend Kirby at Better Deal

January 24th 2007 06:23

One job I’m glad I failed at is my attempt to sell Kirby Vacuums. When you come on to work for Kirby, it’s emphasized what a great vacuum it is. Indeed, a Kirby is a fine machine. It’s made of stainless steel, so it’s harder and switches into different modes. It is a versatile contraption if you buy one of the latest “G” series machines. It can be used as a portable (though a heavy one), a shop vacuum, and even can help you easily shampoo your carpet. The features of a Kirby are a mile long, but the price was outrageous: $2,000.

It didn’t work out selling these in a town with high poverty. I sold not a single one. Afterwards, I found out some unethical things about the company and its practices and how it manipulated the elderly into buying the vacuums. Such practices brought disrepute on a fine machine.

The good news is that if you’re ever struck by a salesman presenting the Kirby or another machine like it, the best course of action is to thank them for their time and then hit Ebay. On Ebay, I found a fairly knew Kirby for around $500.

That’s still quite a bit to pay for a vacuum, I didn’t buy it. The Kirby is a luxury item unless you have very nice carpets to maintain and time to use all the attachments. Still, if you’ve got nice carpets, it could be a long term investment, but not as expensive as the salesman at your door might make it for you.

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Posted By: AdamG - Category: Online Resources

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Get on the Skype Train

January 23rd 2007 06:18

One of the huge sources of high bills are cell phone companies. In fact, many people abandon their regular landline for the cell phone and get Wifi internet. The challenge with cell phones is that if you go above your minutes, you are hit hard for the extra minutes, 30-40 cents a minute is not unheard of.

Into this situation comes a revolutionary way to save you money on your telephone bills called Skype. If you’ve been in college in recent years, you’ve no doubt heard of it. Skype allows you to call anyone in the world with a telephone number from your computer. Up until last December it was a greater bargain in that you paid nothing for domestic calls.

You do pay now, but it’s not much. Skype is also running a sale that you should consider taking advantage of. $14.95 per year unlimited phone calls in the United States an hour to most overseas locales.

I would say this plan is not for everyone. It was not was for me last year, as I made few long distance calls and most were on weekends when my cell phone plan picked up weekend minutes. This year, I’ve launched a political podcast and as such burn a minimum of 100 anytime minutes every week, plus working for a presidential campaign, I have to call several locales all across Idaho and you know what that means…cell phone minutes. I saw a big bill in my future, but then Skype presented a solution. Now, I can save my cell minutes for situations that require them and to top it all off, my wife can call her family in Ohio anytime at no additional cost.

When could paying for a Skype service make sense:

-If you go over your cell phone minutes and you use your phone at home.

-If you use a lot of long distance or our paying a monthly fee for long distance. Some folks don’t have a huge long distance bill because most phone companies give flat rate plans. Out here, Qwest has a plan where you pay five cents a minute with a maximum of $20. Now, if you’re paying $20 a month for long distance on your Landline, it makes sense to pay $14.95 (or even $29.95) a year for Skype and to avoid that charge. With “always on” Internet, you can pretty quickly access Skype to make any non-emergency calls you have.

Even if you don’t feel like paying for Skype, Skype also has a free version where you can call other people with Skype IDs. So you and your family can set up Skype accounts and call each other whenever you want at no charge.

Now is a great time to take advantage if you want to get a great bargain on unlimited minutes. The deal is only good through the end of January, at which point the price will go up to $29.95 a year.

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Posted By: AdamG - Category: Online Resources

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Monday Bargain of the Day

January 22nd 2007 06:15

For those of you not quite into the digital camera age yet, one of the best ways to get in on it is to check out Overstock.com's digital camera section. The cameras are affordably priced (several under $20), though I should note, a tad cheap. Most people don’t have high definition cameras for normal photography, so that’s fine.

If you’ve always been curious about digital cameras, these cheap little cameras can serve as an introduction. If you enjoy the digital camera age, you can always upgrade later, but you have to start somewhere and this is a good place to start

[ Click here to read more ]

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Posted By: AdamG - Category: Online Resources

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Is the Used DVD Market Changing?

January 16th 2007 04:30

Last year in a long post on DVD box sets, I wrote:

“With DVD Box Sets, you’ve got to have realistic expectations. You’ll get a bargain on a DVD Box set, but it’s not going to be at the insane level of 80-90% discounts seen on regular movie DVDs. One thing to understand is that with the advent of DVD box sets, many older TV shows were made into box sets, and they do not drop in value nearly as much as the newer DVDs

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Posted By: AdamG - Category: Online Resources

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The Birthday Tracker

January 10th 2007 06:38

One area I’ve come up short in bargain hunting this past year is the area of gift giving. It’s not that I’ve spent “too much” usually, but rather that I’ve not planned my spending so I’ve not gotten the optimal gift.

Indeed, it seems like birthdays, Father’s Day, and Mother’s Days are crisis of epic proportion, but they shouldn’t be! We all know these days are coming, so why not plan for them

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Posted By: AdamG - Category: Bargain Philosophy

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It's a Wonderfully Frugal Life

January 9th 2007 06:33

I watched, Frank Capra’s classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” this past Christmas. Thinking about it later, I was struck by one of George Bailey’s overlooked virtues. Everyone appreciates George’s selflessness, hard work, and courage.

But have you ever thought how George, in his wonderful life was the exemplary saver? In fact, without George’s savings, his life and it’s impact on others wouldn’t be so wonderful

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Posted By: AdamG - Category: Bargain Philosophy

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