December 24, 2015

Amazon Subscribe and Save Filler Items Under $2 for December 2015

Updated list of items under $2 eligible for Amazon Subscribe & Save :

Pac-Kit 12-018 Benzalkonium Chloride Antiseptic Towelette (Box of 10) = $1.15

PediFix Visco-gel Corn Protectors, Smaoo, 2 Count = $1.27

DEWALT DW4518 4-1/2-Inch by 1/8-Inch by 7/8-Inch General Purpose Metal Cutting Wheel = $1.32

Pac-Kit 1-009 Fabric Adhesive Light Woven Flexible Knuckle Bandage, 3" Length x 1-1/2" Width (Box of 8) = $1.32

Pac-Kit 12-015 Antiseptic Povidone PVP Iodine Wipe (Box of 10) = $1.33

Luden's Great Tasting Throat Drops, Honey Lemon, 30-count = $1.35



Curad Rolled Gauze, 4 Inches X 4.1 Yards = $1.46


PureBites Beef Liver Cat Treats, 0.85-Ounce = $1.69

Softsoap Liquid Hand Soap, Moisturizing with Aloe, 7.50-Ounce = $1.69

True Lime Limeade Stick Pack, Black Cherry, 10 Count (1.06oz) = $1.70

Barilla Protein Plus Spaghetti Pasta, 14.5 Ounce = $1.70



I'm citing the price for each item including the 15% discount that you'd get with 5 items which is the point here.

I try to list a variety of items so you'll have a better chance of seeing something on this list that you'd actually get use out of so its not just bought and wasted.

Warning :  If you use items off this list then make sure to watch them and cancel your subscription if you no longer want them or if the prices go up.   The cheap items I find seem to change pretty quickly so they may have large price hikes or be removed from the subscribe and save program.

Prices change!   Note the list will get out of date within days or weeks.  I'll probably post a newer list before all of the above items are gone or have price increases.  But if you can't find something good here you can always go to Amazon and search for Subscribe & Save and sort based on prices and poke around to find something cheap to use as a filler.

I've discussed before how you can get a  better discount on Amazon Subscribe and Save purchases if you order 5 items at once.  However if you don't buy a lot of stuff then it can be hard to come up with a 5 item order.   However if your products are worth enough then it can be worth it to add some filler items to get up to 5 items to get the 15% discount. 

Say for example, you want to buy a couple cases of Pampers Swaddlers Diapers  that run $45.97 each with a normal purchase.   With Subscribe and save you'd get a 5% discount.to get the price down to $43.67.    But if you have 5 items in your S&S order then it is only $36.78 or a $6.89 savings.   And if you're buying two of those then thats double or $13.78.    Adding the 4 cheapest items listed here to the S&S order would only cost you $4.99 total with the 5 item discount so its worth buying those items to get you a net savings of $8.79.

Note if you don't want the filler items and only use them to get a 5 item discount then you can of course always give away the food items to someone you know or donate them to the local food bank.


--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

December 23, 2015

Couples Should Buy Two Tubes Of Toothpaste

Do you squeeze the toothpaste from the end or do you do it wrong and squeeze from the middle   Do you fail to put the cap back on the tube when you're done like some sort of half crazed Visigoth?   If you and your significant other does these things differently then you may have some squabbles about the topic.   Its one of things couples fight about (youtube link)  If you're not openly fighting about it then it may be brewing resentment that will explode in a few years.    Its probably an uphill losing battle to change these kinds of habits.   Maybe you're trying and failing.   But why live with the problem at all when you don't have to?

So... buy two tubes so you each have your own.  Problem solved.   You're welcome.

With just one tube you may end up bickering over how its used.   With two tubes you can use your toothpaste however you see fit and it won't give your wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend anything to argue about.   Its that easy to fix this problem, yet people seem not to do it.   Plus as an added bonus you can also each pick your own preferred flavors or variety of toothpaste.

And one of the best parts about using two tubes simultaneously doesn't cost you any more than using one tube at a time.   Each of you will use the paste as fast as you use it then buy another.   Toothpaste isn't going to expire on you either.   Theres no financial downside to buying two tubes.

Granted this exactly nobel prize worthy idea and I'm sure many of you out there already have your own tube of toothpaste.   But I'm sure theres lots of people who share a tube for no specific reason.   And doing so can cause unnecessary, easily avoided friction.

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This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

December 21, 2015

ShopYourWay Points - I Got $165 Worth of Stuff at Sears / Kmart for $37

I've been a ShopYourWay (SYW) rewards member for a while but not really used it too much.   A long while ago we bought an appliance at Sears and I signed up then because they had a deal where you get something like $50 in SYW points for spending over some threshold amount like $300 or similar.   I just cashed in the $50 on something and then didn't think about it for years after.  

Lately I signed up for PureTalk and got a SYW bonus for that.   I also got a $10 bonus from some other purchase I made in a promotional deal.    I turned around and had about $28 in points all the sudden and then I saw some "surprise points" show up on my account good for a limited time promotional deal.    I think they also had a coupon or something plus they were offering free shipping if you spend $35 or more.   I used my points and got $37.13 worth of clothes.

Then I saw a thread on Fatwallet about several items being sold at Sears with 100% points cash back (now expired).  In other words if you pay $x for the item you'd get $x points.  Thats like getting the items for free basically, but you get your cash back in points.   You can find a list of current weekly member deals for Sears and a list for Kmart too.

I bought $57.46 worth of stuff and I spent $45.87 out of pocket.    I got a 32 GB and 16GB microSD cards for our cell phones.  I got an HP mobile wireless mouse and HP keyboard too.   I paid using my Discover card which is currently offering 5% promo cash at Sears and they have 10% discount deal as well so I ought to net about $6.88 cashback too.  That makes my actual costs about $38.99 net.

I then noticed I had more surprise points to spend on a deal as well.   I bought another $35.13 worth of clothes and then I also got $35.96 worth of paper towels at Kmart.   For those I will also got $1.08 and $1.05 cash back from Ebates.    This makes my total net cost just $36.86.

In total I got about $165 worth of merchandise for just under $37.    Some of that stuff isn't worth the full price to me.  I don't really need an HP keyboard so that wasn't really worth spending money on.   The paper towels I got are definitely worth the money I paid on those.   I'm using the 32GB card but I could have gotten that for around $9 versus the $20 price Sears had.   All the clothing was certainly a good deal for the prices.   Between the paper towels and the micro SD I definitely got my moneys worth.   So its more like I bought an SD and a pile of paper towels for ~$37 and I got ~$70 worth of clothes, a 16GB SD, a keyboard and a mouse for free.


--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

December 18, 2015

Best of Blogs for Week of December 18th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

MyMoneyBlog discusses a Financial Independence Heat Map: Starting Age vs. Savings Rate
Note it ignores social security.

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December 16, 2015

$100 SYW Credit for $38 Via Transfering Tracfone to PureTalk

I noticed the ad pictured on the right when I was on the Kmart website.    Its saying if you transfer your cell phone to PureTalk they'll give you $100 ShopYourWay credit.   I've actually been using PureTalk for my own cell phone most of this year and I'm happy with them myself.   But here's a thought... you could get a cell phone like cheaply with Tracfone, transfer that line to PureTalk and cash out the $100 credit.   I figure you could do this for as little as  $35.

Note I have NOT tested this and its just theory.   However I don't see why it won't work.

1. Buy a Tracfone and minimal service.  Theres a $10 phone on Amazon.   You can get then get 30 minutes of airtime online at Tracfone for $10.   Thats $20 total for the Tracfone.
2. Activate your Tracfone and get your new phone number.
3. Transfer your service to PureTalk and sign up for their $5 plan.   The SIM is $3.
4. Pay for the PureTalk plan for 3 months.
5. After 3 months you should qualify for the $100 SYW credit.

Total cost $38 for $100 SYW credit.

* edit - I forgot to mention that you'd also have to have a phone compatible with PureTalk.  You can't generally use Tracfone phones as they don't have SIMs.   But any phone compatible with PureTalk would work.

I might try this myself but I have a PureTalk account right now and the deal is only good for new PureTalk service, so I think I'm probably disqualified.

Here is the fine print on the $100 offer :

$100 bonus point offer valid from 8/1/15 - 12/31/15. $100 Bonus point offer only valid for new Pure TalkUSA service when porting your current cell phone number from your current provider over to Pure TalkUSA. $100 in bonus points will be posted to your Shop Your Way account after your third billing cycle with Pure TalkUSA. $100 offer cannot be combined with other promotional offers and is not stackable. The ongoing 5% back in points every month is based on qualifying purchases, excluding sales taxes and other fees. By accepting Shop Your Way member benefits and offers, you agree to the Shop Your Way terms and conditions, available at www.shopyourway.com/terms. Use of the term "partner" in these materials is intended to convey a valued business relationship and does not indicate the existence of a legal partnership, joint agency or other relationship involving shared ownership or shared liability with Sears Holdings Corporation or any of its affiliates.
--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

December 15, 2015

5% Cash Back Promos for Q1 of 2016


Here are the 5% cash back promotional categories for Q1:

Discover card :  Gas Stations & Ground Transportation

Citibank Dividend : Home Depot and Home Furnishing stores

Chase Freedom :   Gas Stations and Local Commuter Transportation


Pretty good deals for Q1.   Gas stations on two cards and Home Depot from Citi.

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December 14, 2015

Ebates has 500 Stores With Double Cash Back With 7% off at Walmart

Ebates* has some pretty good cash back bonus rates today.   The 7% back at Walmart is particularly high.   They have 500 stores with double cash back (or more) today.    Some notable stores :

Walmart 7%
Magazines.com 50%   ( plus promo code HOHOHO for $5 off)
Groupon 10%
Livingsocial 10%
Sears 6%   plus $5 off $50 with SEARS5OFF50
Nordstron 6%
Macy's 12%
JCPenney 10%
Toys R Us 5%
Lenovo 10%
J Crew 10%
Under Armour 10%
Kohl's 10%
Blue Mountain 30%



Standard Ebates blurb:To get cash back from Ebates you need to be signed up with Ebates.  Then simply go to Ebates to get the referral to the store before you do your shopping.  I also get a referral bonus if you use my links to sign up with Ebates.   



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This article contains referral links which will pay this site a referral commission.

December 8, 2015

A Formula For Calculating The Best Usage Of Your Pantry

I've been thinking about optimizing our pantry usage lately.   We've got different items in there that are consumed at different rates, go on sale at different rates, are different sizes and cost different amounts.   I realized our pantry use isn't all that efficient.   We've got stuff that sits in there forever and is hardly used.   We've got some stuff that doesn't cost much and we don't save much by stocking up on during sales versus simply buying it at full retail as needed.   Larger items take up a lot of room and are less effective use of space versus smaller items.

Thinking about it a little I came up with the following factors that impact the effective use of our pantry :
It makes sense to buy stuff that has the biggest sale discount.     You'd rather have items that save you a lot in the pantry versus stuff that saves you little.
We should fill the pantry with smaller items so the smaller the better.  Best to squeeze as much stuff in there as possible.
The longer it takes to consume an item the worse.    This is because you have to store the replacement items in the pantry thus taking up space longer and minimizing your savings.

This leads me to derive the formula for valuing items in the pantry at :

Pantry value = savings / (size * consumption time)

Savings : is the amount you save on the item by buying it on sale or discount versus simply paying the standard cost at the grocery store.   This is based on the assumption that you go to the grocery store every week or as necessary and can readily buy items at a standard price.   If items never go on sale theres no need to store them in the pantry.   But if you find the item on sale $1 less than normal and stock up on it then you save $1 by putting the item in the pantry.

Size : is just a calculation of the cubic volume of the product in inches.  You can use any measure for volume you want really but I just chose inches.   Bigger items take more room and are thus less efficient use.

Consumption time : is how long it takes you to use that item and thus how long its going to be taking up space in the pantry.   If you rarely use an item then it will sit in the pantry longer and use up more space and this is less efficient then items that take space longer.   Would you rather save $10 by storing an item for a year or save $0.25 each week by storing and replenishing an item every week?

Lets compare two items we have in our pantry :

Item #1: Cheerios
A 20 oz. box of Cheerios is about 12" x 10" x 3.25".   Thats 390 cu. in.  I go through a box a week basically, as I eat a couple big bowls for breakfast.       I can get those for $3.40 at Boxed.com or similar price at Costco.    If I just buy them at the local grocery store the price tends to be more like ~$5 for a similar size box.   So I save about $1.50 by keeping Cheerios in the pantry.    But I only need to have 1 box on hand at any given time and on the other hand I don't want to be going to Costco or making Boxed.com orders every other week just for Cheerios.  

Item #2 : mac & cheese
Normally the mac and cheese we get is about $1.75.   Its not the cheap stuff.   But it is on sale for $1 a box every month or so.  We go through 1 box a week.   Each box is 6"x 8" x 1" for 48 cu. in.    They tend to go on sale about every 2 months.

The formula for pantry real value is =   ( Saving ) /   ( volume * consumption )

So for the Cheerios example I'm saving lest say $1.50 but I can buy them every week so sales period is 1.   The volume is 390 cu in and I go through a box in 1 week.    $1.50  / 390 *1 = 0.0038

By contrast the noodles are saving me $0.75 and their volume is just 48 cu.in. and they are consumed in a week.   So the formula is then 0.75  / 48*1 = 0.0156

The mac and cheese has a higher pantry value so if I were choosing real estate in the pantry I'd definitely want a box of mac & cheese over a box of Cheerios.    But what about a 2nd or 3rd or 4th box?

It takes me 2 weeks to consume a 2nd box.   It takes 3 weeks to consume the 3rd box and so forth.

That changes the formula to 2nd box = 0.75/48*2 = 0.0078 and 3rd box = 0.75/48*3 = 0.0052, 4th = 0.75/48*4 = 0.0039 and 5th = 0.0031.    Its not until the 5th box that storing the extra mac and cheese becomes less cost effective for the space versus storing the cheerios.

Storing 1-4 boxes of mac and cheese in the pantry is better use of the space than saving a box of Cheerios.   However saving more than 4 boxes of mac & cheese is less effective pantry use than a box of cheerios.


--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

December 4, 2015

Best of Blogs for Week of December 4th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

MyMoneyBlog talks about Winterizing – Sealing Up Old Windows With Plastic Shrink Film

DoughRoller tells us How to Consolidate Credit Card Debt with a P2P Loan

PlanetMoney audio podcast about food bank economy Episode 665: The Pickle Problem

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December 2, 2015

Discount Gift Card Promotions on Ebay


Ebay has a Gift Card Promotion going on right now.    They have a good amount of variety so theres likely something usable by most folks.

Sephora $25 for $22.50, $50 for $45, $100 plus $10 for $100

iTunes $100 for $80

JCPenney $50 for $48.50

Applebee's $50 for $40

Wine.com  $50 for $40

Michaels $50 for $40

Bas Pro Shops $75 pluse $15 ebay gift card for $75

Build a Bear $50 for $40

Hotels.com $100 for $85

Gilt $50 for $40

Claire's $50 for $40

Aeropostale  $50 for $40

BedandBreakfast.com $100 for $85

Jiffylube  $50 for $40

Logan's Roadhouse   $50 for $40

Legal Sea foods  $50 for $40

AMC theatres  $50 for $40, $25 plus free popcorn for $25

Sports Authority $100 for $85

Sheetz $30 for $25




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November 20, 2015

Best of Blogs Week of November 20th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

DoughRoller gives us 23 Powerful Tips and Tools to Eliminate Debt

The site ValueWalk has an interesting finding with  39% Of Stocks Have A Negative Lifetime Total Return    Seems awful, but I think its really just a reflection of the fact that a certain % of businesses fail.    The data does include delisted stocks.  Plus a certain % of active stocks are in the process of failing.


Note: due to the Thanksgiving holiday next week I don't plan to do a roll up on the 27th.

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November 9, 2015

Cherry Moon Farms Shipping Costs $9.99 or $14.99

Cherry Moon Farms sells gift basket type stuff.

I had to put an item into my cart and go all the way past entering a payment method to the last steep to find the shipping cost.   Their standard delivery charge was listed as $14.99 for the item I selected.   Buried in a discounts coupon page they have a reference to shipping starting at $9.99.
Their customer care site does not seem to do anything but point to itself.

So it seems their shipping charges are $9.99 or $14.99 for standard delivery.   The item I tested to buy was relatively small and cheap.  

The reason I'm posting this is that I didn't see anything at all on the site as I was shopping until the very last step before I hit the final 'submit order' button.

I have a code for $10 off a purchase at Groupon so I was browsing around there looking for nice deals.  I have to spend $20 to get the $10 off.  If I find the right deal then that can be a great bargain.


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November 8, 2015

GDP Per Capita By Metropolitan Area 2014

The figures below are straight off the BEA.gov website using their interactive tables.

Here is the top 20:

Area 2014 Rank
United States   $      52,526 --
Midland, TX   $     162,786 1
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA   $     105,482 2
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT   $      94,349 3
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA   $      80,643 4
Casper, WY   $      76,174 5
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA  $      75,874 6
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH   $      74,746 7
Trenton, NJ   $      73,719 8
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC   $      73,523 9
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV   $      72,191 10
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA   $      70,830 11
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX   $      70,097 12
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA   $      67,256 13
Boulder, CO  $      66,927 14
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX  $      66,168 15
Anchorage, AK   $      65,838 16
Sioux Falls, SD   $      65,593 17
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA   $      64,991 18
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT   $      64,946 19
Madison, WI   $      63,910 20

What I see in the top 20 is big urban areas and a few resource rich areas with mining  or oil money.

And a national map :
(click image for full size)


After I wrote this TheBigPicture linked to a graphic map created by howmuch.net

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November 6, 2015

Best of Blogs for Week of November 6th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

MyMoneyBlog tells us the myRA Starter Retirement Account Launches Nationwide

They also give us a 529 College Savings Plans: State-by-State Tax Benefit Comparison 2015

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November 4, 2015

Amazon Subscribe and Save Filler Items Under $2 for November 2015

Updated list of items under $2 eligible for Amazon Subscribe & Save :

Pac-Kit 12-015 Antiseptic Povidone PVP Iodine Wipe (Box of 10) = $1.02

Slim Jim Giant Smoked Snacks, Tabasco, 0.97-Ounce Sticks (Pack of 24) = $1.03
(this is a 24 pack and the other flavors are over $20 so this may be a short lived pricing error)

Luden's Great Tasting Throat Drops, Honey Lemon, 30-count = $1.42

DEWALT DW4518 4-1/2-Inch by 1/8-Inch by 7/8-Inch General Purpose Metal Cutting Wheel = $1.44

Pac-Kit 1-009 Fabric Adhesive Light Woven Flexible Knuckle Bandage, 3" Length x 1-1/2" Width (Box of 8) = $1.48

Hale Tea Black Tea, Raspberry, 1.5-Ounce = $1.74
Lahaha Green Tea Leaves, Mint, 12 Count = $1.80
English Tea Store Loose Leaf, Organic Osprey Gunpowder Green Tea Pouches, 4 Ounce = $1.82

Coastal Scents Lip Smack, Oasis, 0.80 Ounce = $1.82
Butter & Sea Salt (2 oz Bag) (popcorn) = $1.82

PureBites Beef Liver Cat Treats, 0.85-Ounce = $1.89

Softsoap Liquid Hand Soap, Moisturizing with Aloe, 7.50-Ounce = $1.89
  Maybelline New York Expert Wear Eyeshadow, Pink Wink, Singles, 0.09 Ounce = $1.89 (Also available in other colors)
  Ardell Fashion Lashes Pair - 128 = $1.89
  Sam Mills Sandwich Creme Cookie, Vanilla, 10.6 Ounce = $1.90
  True Lime Limeade Stick Pack, Black Cherry, 10 Count (1.06oz) = $1.90
Dial Liquid Hand Soap, Himalayan Pink Salt & Water Lily, 7.5 oz. =$1.90
  Suave Professionals Split End Rescue Conditioner, 12.6 Ounce = $1.90
  Alba Botanica Terratints, Blaze Lip Balm, 0.15 Ounce = $1.97
  Vaseline Lip Therapy, Creme Brulee 0.25 oz = $1.70

Barilla Protein Plus Spaghetti Pasta, 14.5 Ounce = $1.90

True Lime Limeade Stick Pack, Black Cherry, 10 Count (1.06oz) = $1.90

These are over the $2 limit but they are a relatively good deal and probably something a lot of people might want :

CLIF CRUNCH - Granola Bar - Chocolate Peanut Butter, 1.48 oz, 5 Two-Bar Pouches = $2.83



I'm citing the price for each item including the 15% discount that you'd get with 5 items which is the point here.

I try to list a variety of items so you'll have a better chance of seeing something on this list that you'd actually get use out of so its not just bought and wasted.

Warning :  If you use items off this list then make sure to watch them and cancel your subscription if you no longer want them or if the prices go up.   The cheap items I find seem to change pretty quickly so they may have large price hikes or be removed from the subscribe and save program.

Prices change!   Note the list will get out of date within days or weeks.  I'll probably post a newer list before all of the above items are gone or have price increases.  But if you can't find something good here you can always go to Amazon and search for Subscribe & Save and sort based on prices and poke around to find something cheap to use as a filler.

I've discussed before how you can get a  better discount on Amazon Subscribe and Save purchases if you order 5 items at once.  However if you don't buy a lot of stuff then it can be hard to come up with a 5 item order.   However if your products are worth enough then it can be worth it to add some filler items to get up to 5 items to get the 15% discount. 

Say for example, you want to buy a couple cases of Pampers Swaddlers Diapers  that run $45.97 each with a normal purchase.   With Subscribe and save you'd get a 5% discount.to get the price down to $43.67.    But if you have 5 items in your S&S order then it is only $36.78 or a $6.89 savings.   And if you're buying two of those then thats double or $13.78.    Adding the 4 cheapest items listed here to the S&S order would only cost you $4.99 total with the 5 item discount so its worth buying those items to get you a net savings of $8.79.

Note if you don't want the filler items and only use them to get a 5 item discount then you can of course always give away the food items to someone you know or donate them to the local food bank.


--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.


October 30, 2015

Best of Blogs for Week of October 30th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

Clark Howard's site has a Work from home guide

DoughRoller has a list of 10 Top Rated Online Colleges     And it isn't just scammy for-profit schools, but instead well regarded public schools mostly.

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October 25, 2015

Why Do Restaurant Tip Rates Inflate? Slower Increases in Food Prices & Minimum Wage


A while ago I asked Why Do We Tip So Much?   I'd been puzzled why we used to tip only 10-15% but now the norm is 20%.

Just now a thought occurred to me... maybe the reason the standard expected % rate for tips has gone up is that food costs didn't go up as fast as wages?   Its a possibility.   I mean if a burger cost $1 in 1980 and is now $2 then a 15% tip in 1980 would be 30¢ and 60¢ today.  Just about doubling.   But what if wages tripled in that period?    Tips wouldn't have kept pace with inflation so it would make more sense to have a higher % tip.

In 1984 the 15% tip was typical (noted previously).   Today we expect 20% tips.

What has the cost of restaurant food done in that same period?

For that lets look too data chart from the Fed. :
Consumer food prices (away fro home ) were up ~155% from 1980 to today.

Now compare that to income.  From the census 

In 1984 median income was $10,417 and by 2014 it went up to $28,757.

From the early 80's to today, restaurant food prices went up ~150% and wages went up ~180%.

In 1984 the minimum was $3.35 with a 50% tip credit.   So workers would have gotten $1.67 per hour in tips.  (minimum wage history)    Minimum wage for tipped employers (with the tip credit) has been stuck at $2.13 per hour since 1991 where it is today.

 Median hours worked for waiters and waitresses is around 35 hours a week.  

Nationally today waiters and waitresses average $10.40 an hour.   (BLS data)    With a $2.13 minimum they're getting $8.27 in tips on average.

From an old Occupational Outlook Handbook said that "In 1984, median annual earnings (excluding tips) of full-time waiters and waitresses were $9,400."

I'm finding it hard to believe that annual wages for waiters were that high excluding the tips.    I'm thinking that might be an error and that they probably mean to say including tips instead.

If I start with annual wage of $9,400 in 1984 and then work forwards then it goes as follows:

$9,400 in total wages in 1984 would have been a combination of minimum wage and tips.   Assuming a weekly work week of 35 hours that works out to $5.16 per hour.   Minimum wage in 1984 would be $1.67 so they would have made $3.49 per hour in tips.   Thats then $6351 in tips and $3039 in wages.   Assuming a 15% tip rate then the food served would have to be about $42,340 a year to get to that $6351 tip total.

$42,340 in food in 1984 would then grow to $107,967 per year in 2015.
For the $9,400 in 1984 to grow the same as wages in general that would have to hit $26,320 today.
Minimum wage on 35 hours a week would give just $3913  so they'd have to make $22,407 in tips.
$22,407 in tips a year on $107,967 of food equates to just about ... drum roll.... 20% tip rate today.

So theres my answer :

Due to slower increases in minimum wage pay for tipped employees and slower increases in food costs tips would have to go from 15% to 20% in the past 30 years in order for tipped workers to retain the same relative incomes.

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October 23, 2015

Best of Blogs for Week of October 23rd

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week



Bloomberg had an article discussing You've Been Offered a Ton of Money. Should You Take It?

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October 21, 2015

How Wasteful Is It to Leave The Fridge Door Open

Whenever I see the refrigerator door left open for too long I can almost feel my blood pressure go up.    I react like someone has attached a vacuum hose to my wallet and is sucking $20 bills out of it.    I don't really know why I have such a automatic negative reaction to an open fridge door.   Maybe my parents drilled it into me as a child growing up or maybe I just have a instinctual dislike for what I consider wastefulness.   But turns out its really not all that bad.

I looked at several sources and it seems the consensus agreement is that  leaving the fridge door open a little while too long doesn't waste much energy to be concerned about.

A Reddit thread discussed the topic a while ago.   Someone there did the math to calculate the energy it requires to cool down the air that escapes when you open a fridge door for 20 seconds.  They concluded that it takes "0.0002 USD to heat all that air".    

The Portland General electric utility did a study on wasteful fridge use.  
"It turns that if you never opened the door, they would use about half the annual projected energy consumption listed on the familiar yellow EnergyGuide cards"
They measured how much energy is used by keeping a door open different amounts of time from 5 seconds up to 10 minutes.   Unfortunately (and very annoyingly) they didn't label the actual values so they've just got unlabeled bar graphics.    At least they confirmed that the longer the door is open the more it uses.    But I can't easily tell if its even directly proportional or not.   I zoomed into their graphic using paint and then added gridlines to count the unit height of the bars.   Seems the usage per time isn't proportional.  I figure it roughly :

seconds energy
5 1
10 2
30 2.5
60 3.5
120 6.5
300 20
600 29

They also look at opening and closing the door two times versus leaving the door open for a longer period to see if its better or worse to open and close when you get an item and return it or just leave it open the whole time.

They concluded its better to open and close twice than to leave it open based on their measurements.   Suppose though that it depends on how long you take.   If it only took you 30 seconds total that would be less energy than if you opened and closed for two 10 second intervals based on their data from how much energy it takes to leave a door open a specific period.

Michaelbluejay.com says that :
"Home Energy magazine says door openings account for 7% of fridge energy use, assuming 42 door openings a day.  But the Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida (link no longer available) says poor open/close habits waste 50 to 120kWh a year, which would be 10-24% of a 500 kWh/yr. fridge.  They don't say whether this is too-frequent opening, or leaving open too long when opening, or both."

But that seems to contradict what Portland General said when they concluded that half of the energy use is when you never open the door.

So we've got anywhere from 7% to 50% of usage based on opening/closing the door.   That variation may be due to the changes in fridge design.   Maybe as they've gotten more and more efficient they require less energy to remain cold when the door is cold so now opening/closing the door uses up more of the consumption versus the past.  Just a theory.

A Phys.org article Energy mythbusting: The truth about those energy-saving tips cites research from a Michael Blasnik saying :

"the moment you open the door, the cooled air rushes out, and it's a fairly trivial loss, he said. Most of the refrigerator's coldness is held not by the air but by the contents, and those contents won't warm up significantly in the time it takes you to decide between the leftover pizza and last night's meatloaf.
Obviously, leaving the door open all the time would waste energy, because your refrigerator would never stop running, Blasnik said. But closing the refrigerator door quickly will save you a dollar's worth of power a year at most, his research shows."

If we assume that worst case 50% number then thats a few bucks  month.   A full size 24' cubic fridge uses about $90 a year.   Half that is $45 a year.   Thats 12¢ a day roughly.   People open and close their fridge probably a couple dozen times in a day and total usage there is probably more like 1/2¢ per door opening/closing.    If I assume that this is a normalish 10s period and then use the chart Portland General made then we could guess it wastes maybe another 1/2¢ to leave a fridge door open a full minute instead.

Ideally I'd really like to measure it myself by using a kill-a-watt meter to measure actual usage for leaving a door open varying times like Portland General did.   But I don't have the ability to do that easily.  I'm not going to mess with our fridge at home like that just out of curiosity.   Suppose it won't do any real harm but it just isn't convenient.  Maybe next time I have a rental vacant I can do some testing, but that would be an empty fridge and may not be valid comparison.

No matter how I cut it, best or worst case scenario we're talking in the order of anywhere from $1 to $20 a year in total cost from someone leaving fridge doors open for longer periods of time.   It could be as little as 0.02¢ to leave a fridge open 20 seconds to 1/2¢ to leave a fridge open for a full minute.

It of course adds up over time and its not good to leave a fridge open for long periods without reason.   But leaving a fridge open for a minute or so really only costs a fraction of a cent worst case.  Its nothing for me to get bent out of shape about.

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October 18, 2015

Free Domino's Pizza Delivery with ShopRunner


I just posted a list of the merchants that offer free Shoprunner shipping.   I noticed Domino's was in the list.   At first it seemed odd to me, but actually it is a nice benefit of Shoprunner.    Domino's normally charges a $2.99 delivery fee for home delivery.   But if you're a Shoprunner member you can get delivery for free.   Thats a $2.99 savings every time you order a pizza.

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List of Merchants on ShopRunner

Shoprunner offers free shipping for a coalition of a variety of online merchants.

If you have an American Express card you can get Shoprunner for free.

Below is the current list of merchants participating in Shoprunner.   This list is dynamic and will change over time so best to check Shoprunner to make sure a specific merchant is still in.

Adam's Golf
AEO Factory
Aerie
AG Jeans
Alexis Bittar
Alice & Olivia
American Eagle
American Giant
Andrew Marc
AT-A-Glance
AutoZone
Babies R Us
Beauty.com
bebe
Bergdorf-Goodman
Bergner's
Blue Nile
Blue Sky Scrubs
Bon-Ton
Boston Store
Brooks Brothers
Callaway Apparel
Calvin Klein
Carson's
Casio
Charm & Chain
Chefs Catalog
Claire's
Cole Haan
Cubavera
David's Cookies
Day-Timer
Domino's
Drugstore.com
Eastern Mountain Sports
Easy Spirit
eBags
Eddie Bauer
Elder-Beerman
eToys
Everything But Water
Fanatics
FansEdge
FAO Schwarz
Fathead
Five Star
Fragments
FragranceNet.com
Franklin Covey
FTD
GH Bass
GNC
Gore Apparel
Halsbrook
Helly Hansen
Herberger's
Hersheys
Hudson Jeans
Icing
Jacobtime
Jimmy Jazz
Jockey
JR Dunn
Kooba
Kule
Lancome
Lord & Taylor
Lucky Brand
MacMall
Mead
MLB
Moosejaw
Nascar.com Superstore
NBA
Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus LastCall
Newegg
NFL Shop
NHL
Nic + Zoe
Nine West
NYDJ
Olly Shoes
OnlineShoes
Original Penguin
Pajamagrams
Pajamajeans
Pennington & Bailes
Pentax
Perry Ellis
PetSmart
QART
Rafaella
Rebecca Taylor
Reebok
Reeds Jewelers
Select Blinds
Shoes.com
Shop PBS
Shoplet
Sleepyheads
Sole Society
Spanx
Speedo
Staples
Stuart Weitzman
Taylor Made
The Jeweler's Wife
The Limited
The Organized Parent
The Perfume Spot
Threads 4 Thought
Tidy Nirvana
Tiger Direct
Timberland
Tommy Hilfiger
Tory Burch
Toys R Us
Under Armour
WatchWear
Wilson's Leather
Wireless Emporium
World Wide Stereo
Younkers

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October 16, 2015

Best of Blogs for Week of October 16th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

DQYDJ points out that You Need to Have Savings In Your 20s
because apparently some people actually think otherwise

Dough Roller discusses Student Loan Consolidation vs. Refinancing–Do You Know the Difference?

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October 13, 2015

Percent of Income You Should Save If You Start Saving For Retirement At Various Ages

The general rule of thumb I've seen quoted for how much you should save for retirement is usually around 10% or 15% depending on who you ask.   This kind of rule of thumb is based on some assumptions and one of those assumptions is how long you save.    I would expect that the number of years its assumed you work and save into retirement is probably around 30-40 years based on someone working most all of their adult life.   In other words the rule of thumb takes it for granted that you start working at some age like 25 years old and you save the 10-15% your entire working life until you retire around 65.    So it assumes you work 40 years and save 10-15% that whole time and then benefit from the growth of your retirement account over that same 40 year period.   Now this is fine for figuring general retirement plans.    But hey, we all know that a lot of people don't start saving the first day they start working.   Some people end up changing careers, etc and may have to play catch up with retirement savings at a later date.

If you start saving at varying ages then how much of your income should you save towards retirement?

He is the short answer :

age target %
22 10%
25 12%
30 15%
35 19%
40 24%
45 29%
50 37%
55 46%


So simply put if you start saving from $0 on the age in the left column then you ought to try and save the % of your income in the right column.    A 22 year old could target retirement savings of 10% but a 50 year old ought to save 37%.

I figured the table above based on the following assumptions.   a) your income will increase 3% a year, b) your investments will grow at 8% annually, c) you'll use the 4% withdrawal rate at retirement, d) you'll receive social security payments enough to replace 20% of your working income, e) you won't need to replace ~7% of your working income due to lack of social security/medicare taxes during retirement, f) you also wont' need to replace the % of income towards retirement savings

So working through an example.   Say you start your retirement savings at age 35.   If you save 19% of your income then that will grow over 30 years to be enough to replace about 53% of your working income.   Your working income less 7% for SS/medicare, less the 19% savings gives you about 74% of your income to live off during the working years.  If your social security replaces 20% of your working income then replacing 53% of your working income with your retirement savings will give you the same money post retirement that you lived off during working years.

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October 9, 2015

Best of Blogs for Week of October 9th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

MyMoneyBlog points out you can use Plastiq: Pay Tuition, Rent, or Taxes With Credit Card at 1.5% Fee   The 1.5% deal is for Mastercard only.

PlanetMoney talks about healthcare spending in their podcast Episode 655: Pay Patients, Save Money

RetireBy40 celebrates their 5 years Blog Anniversary
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October 8, 2015

Cheapish Options for Shutterfly $20 off $20 Deal

Shutterfly has a promotion to get $20 off of an order of $20 or more.   Use promo code FIRSTGIFT now through October 13th.

But theres a big catch,, shipping is not covered.   Shutterfly shipping is kinda pricey.   I think part of their business model is to make profits off shipping and offer steep discount deals on their regular prices.  I mean who doesn't like a 100% off sale ... until you see that shipping is $8.99.     But theres still great products on Shutterfly and $20 off $20 is a good deal as long as the shipping is reasonable.   You can get a variety of personalized photo items for a few books.   Magnets, mugs, prints, etc.

Here's a list of items I found and the net cost (mostly if not entirely the shipping) if you use the current $20 off deal :

1. Metal Book Display Easel for $0.99   (note these seem to have poor reviews)

2. 8-9 custom greeting cards for $5.99
For example the Flurries And Flakes Christmas Card

3. Photo Plates  for $5.99

4. Five 8x10 photo prints for $2.99

5. 133 of the 4x6 prints for $7.99 which works out to 6¢ each

6. 19 5x7 prints for $1.99 or 20 for $2.49 (50¢ for one more print is hardly worth it)

7. Photo mug for $7.99

8. Three 3 x 5 (or 3x3 or 2x3) magnets for $6.49

9. set of 4 2x2 magnets for $3.99 or two sets for $9.22

10.  Two 4.5 x 5 magnets for $5.24 or 3 of them for $8.06


I've bought their photo mugs, magnets and photo books and have been happy with the quality.    The website is pretty good too.

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October 2, 2015

Best of Blogs for Week of October 2nd

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

Barry Ritholtz of The Big Picture discusses ‘Never buy a boat’ and other rash financial advice

PlanetMoney has some interesting discussion of price clubs like Costco and the new Jet.com site with their podcast The Anti-Store

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September 29, 2015

Promo Codes for $15 Off at Boxed (with a little work)

Retailmenot.com has a number of $15 off promo codes for Boxed.com

Find codes at the Retailmenot.com site

It may take a little work to find one that works.   It appears they are codes to refer friend with 5 uses each.   The codes all appear to be 5 digit random alpha numeric codes.   It looks like the codes are only good for your first order at Boxed.    I tried applying a second code and it told me I can only be invited once.    Also looks like minimum order for the code is $50 but I'm not 100% sure on that point as I can't test it again.   But $15 off a $50 purchase with free shipping is a good deal.   Boxed.com prices also seem pretty competitive.

I had to try a few of the codes myself before I found one that worked.   The first 2-3 I tried said the codes were used up by users.   That indicates that the codes have a limited number of uses.   So I kept trying until I found a code that would work.   When I applied the code it told me that I was referred by someone and gave an email.  Then when I submitted my order it gave me a code to share with 5 friends to give them $15 off and give me a $10 credit after they completed an order.   So it seems these codes are referal codes people are sharing at Retailmenot.    Then once 5 people have used them they're not valid.   But if you check a few of the codes on Retailmenot you may find one thats still good like I was able to.

You can also get 2% cashback at Boxed via Ebates*

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*This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

How Does Jet Anywhere Cash Back Compare?

I reviewed Jet the other day.     Jet also offers a Jet Anywhere service to get you JetCash for purchases made at other merchants.    It works similarly to Ebates or other cash back portals but instead of getting actual cash you get JetCash which is a credit to use at Jet.


Here is a table showing some of the merchants and how the Jet rate compares to the best deal found on cashbackmonitor.com or Ebates :

Jet Best Ebates
1-800-Flowers
12.0%
8% 8%
24 Hour Fitness
7.0%
10% 5%
Ace Hardware
4.3%
7% 3%
Advance Auto Parts
6.4%
8.50% 5.50%
AllPosters.com
8.0%
10% 6%
Ann Taylor
15.0%
6% 2%
Apple App Store
10.0%
3% 0
Best Western
3.5%
5% 2.50%
BuyCostumes.com
10.0%
13% 6%
CVS Photo
5.0%
4.20% 0
eBags
10.0%
15% 12%
eHarmony
46.8%
65% 32.50%
Famous Footwear
6.4%
8% 4%
Gilt City
25.0%
8% 3%
Groupon
2.0%
10% 6%
Hotels.com
4.4%
6% 6%
iTunes
10.0%
8% 7%
Kmart
2.4%
7% 3%
Levi's
12.0%
8% 4%
Magazines.com
16.0%
40% 40%
MLB.com
7.0%
10% 5%
Petco
25.0%
10% 4%
QVC
20.0%
5% 2%
Sears
2.4%
7% 3%
Shutterfly
2.8%
5% 2%
Starbucks
4.0%
5% 2.50%
thredUP
4.0%
5% 2.50%
Tire Rack
4.3%
7% 4.50%
TurboTax
12.0%
15% 7.50%
Wine.com
20.0%
7% 2.50%

Its pretty mixed results.     Jet was the best deal in 10 out of 30 merchants.   Thats actually pretty good considering thats Jet versus all the other competitors.  Ebates was the best only 2 times out of 30.  

I should point out that I'm not accounting for promotional rates that the rebate portals offer for a limited time.   Its possible that any one of the rates above from Jet or the others is just a short term deal.

THere are some notable merchants where Jet has a stand out good deal.   Wine.com, Levi's, Ann Taylor and QVC are all paying very well at Jet versus the others.


Here is a list of the merchants at Jet with the highest JetCash rates:

Jet
Match.com
60.0%
eHarmony
46.8%
Udemy
40.0%
Care.com
36.0%
Magazine Reader Mall
32.3%
STOPzilla
32.0%
The Ladders
28.7%
Petco
25.0%
Gilt City
25.0%
Panda Security
25.0%
Hallmark eCards
21.5%
Weebly
21.5%
Yelp
21.5%
Wine.com
20.0%
QVC
20.0%
J Brand
20.0%
Motorola Mobility
20.0%
Nike
20.0%
Nine West
20.0%
Saks Fifth Avenue
20.0%
Shutterstock
19.0%
Magazines.com
16.0%
Dawgs
16.0%
From You Flowers
16.0%
Moleskine
16.0%
Ditto.com
15.8%
Ann Taylor
15.0%
Lord & Taylor
15.0%
Saks Off 5th
15.0%
Stride Rite
15.0%
Yoox
15.0%
Ghurka
14.2%
H&R Block
14.2%
Journelle
14.2%
Norton by Symantec
14.2%
Snapfish
14.2%
Spreadshirt
14.2%
ChicNova
12.8%
Estella
12.8%
TurboTax
12.0%
1-800-Flowers
12.0%
Levi's
12.0%
Bodybuilding.com
12.0%
FTD
12.0%
Personal Creations
12.0%
Stila Cosmetics
11.5%
Fiverr
11.2%
Blurb
10.8%
Case-Mate
10.8%
Classmates.com
10.8%
Code42
10.8%
Go Airlink
10.8%
Gray Line New York
10.8%
Lonely Planet
10.8%
Michael Stars
10.8%
Open Sky
10.8%
Parallels
10.8%
Soda Stream
10.8%
The Cools
10.8%
VenueKings.com
10.4%
eBags
10.0%
BuyCostumes.com
10.0%
iTunes
10.0%
Apple App Store
10.0%
Adidas
10.0%
Coastal
10.0%
Jewelry.com
10.0%
My M&M's
10.0%
Photos.com
10.0%

--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

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