Something Shiny

I stopped into the local dollar store today and fell in love all over again. Sure, much of what they have is junk, or sells for less than a buck elsewhere, but if you know what to look for, the dollar store is a fantastic tool in the frugal toolbox.

An upcoming trip had me looking for some small personal hygiene items, a headphone splitter and a USB wall charger with multiple USB connections. First, I hit Radio Shack looking for the charger and the headphone splitter. They had a bulky charger for $25 and the headphone splitter for $8. I passed on both and went to Dollar Tree. I checked prices on a couple things, went over to Target to find the things I couldn’t get at Dollar Tree, and then went back to Dollar Tree to finish off the list.

What I bought at Target:

• Shaving cream: $1.07 (couldn’t find shaving creme small enough to get on a plane at Dollar Tree).

What I bought at Dollar Tree:

• Headphone splitter: saved $7 as compared to Radio Shack
• Toothpaste: saved about $.50 as compared to Target on 3oz, both Colgate
• Deodorant: same price but larger size and preferred brand at Dollar Tree
• Band-aids: Didn’t even bother to see if Target had Band-aids for a buck
• Disposable Razors: I have a nice classic safety razor, so I just needed something ultra disposable, 10 for $1 at Dollar Tree

I wound up getting some impulse items at the Dollar Tree, but in the end wound up spending less on everything than I’d expected thanks to the folks at Dollar Tree.

Hurry, only valid through 9/18. Regularly $40, you can save 1/2 off Media Mall’s streaming app that brings Hulu, Netflix, and other online streaming sources to your TV. I know PS3 has a free solution to do the same thing and Xbox has a some of the functionality included with an online account, but as a Wii owner, I’d been left out in the cold. The Wii version does operate differently and is still in beta so be sure to try out the 14 day free trial.

Follow the link below the diagram for the deal.

PlayOn Media Streaming Software for Xbox 360, PS3, & Wii $20 – Slickdeals.net.

I was never impressed by the prices at either the 1-800 Pet Meds or Pet Rx web sites. Apparently Betty White doesn’t come cheap. Anyway, Drs. Foster and Smith is actually appreciably less expensive than either of the big name, online pet prescription and supply sites. When your dog is so big (135 pounds) that she needs to take two heartworm pills a month, one for large dogs and one for medium dogs, you’ll take all the savings you can get. Plus, if you use EBates, you can get an extra 3% back for free (plus a $5 bonus for new EBates members).

The picture to the right is actually the 135 pound dog in question. Say hi to Berit (Ber).

Quick, hurry y’all and get some free Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. Well, the grounds anyway. You’ll have to provide your own water and preparation apparatus.

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• Reinvent the Dunkin’ Donut and win $12,000, Seriously! (curbsidebooty.blogspot.com)
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• How To Brew Good Coffee At Home (raunchyjohnson.com)

Alright, so now you know you can find coupons on RetailMeNot, and best prices on sites like PriceGrabber, but do you really want to check all the best prices on the comparison sites against RetailMeNot for coupons? No, no you don’t.

That’s where the deal sites come in to play. There are even more deal sites out there than there are price comparison sites. Some are great, some are little more than advertisements for the retailers the site has affiliate agreements with and the “deals” may not really be all that good.

A good deal site will post cases where low prices can be stacked with other coupons or additional deals that sweeten… um, the deal.

My recommendations are as follows:

• Tech Bargains: mostly tech, quite a few deals posted a day
• Slick Deals: mostly tech, only five to ten deals posted a day outside of the holiday season
• Combyo: a deal aggregation site that collects and reposts deals from multiple other sites
• Deal Catcher: well diversified, many posts per day

Many sites also have forums where members can contribute deals they find. Often if you’re looking for a deal on a specific model, or niche product, searching the forums can be a good place to go hunting.

Recently I posted about RetailMeNot.com which is a great way to make sure you get the best deal you can at a particular online retailer. But, how do you find the right retailer?

There are tons of price comparison sites around the net that will let you compare prices (including shipping) across multiple online retailers. The catch is, not all retailers participate with all (or even any) price comparison sites.

A couple of the best include:

• Price Watch: best for tech gear
• Price Grabber: better for non-tech gear

The RetailMeNot folks recently unleashed their own tool on the masses: Beat My Price. Like RetailMeNot, it depends on users to feed it information and since it’s new, it’s not the best tool in the price comparison tool box. But, given the quality and usefulness of their other tools, it’s definitely worth keeping on your radar.

Awesome! Target has the “kids’” night vision “toy” for $50 this week. According to reviews around the net, it’s actually pretty decent at the full retail of $90.

Hurry hurry hurry. The deal only runs until the Black Friday madness begins.

Perhaps it’s time for Judy Blume to revisit Then Again, Maybe I Won’t?

Once you’ve found your best price via your price comparison site of choice you’re checking out and you see that box, the coupon code box. But you don’t have a coupon code… is there a valid coupon you could be using? Suddenly you’re seized by a paralysis…

RetailMeNot.com offers a crowd-sourced coupon/discount repository with a couple of convenient ways to check for additional coupons/discounts once you’ve settled on a particular retailer.

1. Visit the RetailMeNot.com site and search for coupons by retailer
2. Use their Firefox browser extension
3. Use their browser independent bookmarklet (right click on the link and bookmark it, then click the bookmark while browsing a site to open a new RetailMeNot window)

Regardless of the method you use, it’s a quick and easy way to make sure you actually are getting the best deal you possibly can.

Sign up for a Sony Style credit card, and get $150 off your first purchase of $300 or more. The Sony Readers start at $299 and $299 – $150 = considerably less than $309 (the Kindle minus Oprah’s discount).

Sony Reader

Credit Card Offer

So, Oprah has confessed her undying love for Amazon’s Kindle. So what? Isn’t is still the same device that forces you to pay retail sale price for books and doesn’t let you sell them when you’re done? Yes. But some people just don’t want to use their local library or have crazy gadget lust and are always looking for the next great mediocre thing. If this describes you, save some cash ($50) and use the coupon code OPRAHWINFREY when you check out.

BTW, for those of you who don’t obsessively follow gadget prices, the Kindle just dropped from $399, to $359 which means the after coupon price is $309.

Kindle: Amazon’s Wireless Reading Device

Hey, do you have more remotes than hands? Do you have to write a novella for someone to watch your TV when you’re not around? Check out this deal on a smart remote over at Amazon.

Alright, never mind. It was $70, but now it’s back up (way way up).