Walk With Money » Groceries

PenFed Eliminating Bonus Cash Back on Groceries

Robert Wilkinson — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 05:05:21 +0000

Hmmm… I just ran across some bad news related to the PenFed cash back credit card. Here’s the scoop:

Effective March 1, 2011, PenFed will no long offer 2% cash back for supermarket purchases. You will continue to earn 5% cash back on gas purchases made at the pump and 1% on everything else, including your supermarket purchases. If you have any questions, please contact us at 800-247-5626 seven days a week or PenFed.org.

Bummer. The 5% cash back on gas is still a good deal, especially since there are no spending tiers, but this will otherwise end up being a very pedestrian reward card.

If you have this card, will you be changing your reward card strategy?

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3 Reasons Why Buying Groceries Online Is Great

Robert Wilkinson — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:00:28 +0000

Call me a weirdo, but I love grocery shopping

It’s the truth. For me, an afternoon in the supermarket is like a Sunday on the couch for a football-worshipping straight guy. I covet my time alone, wandering through rows of perfectly positioned products that are quietly clamoring to hop in my cart. Seriously, it’s my bliss.

At least it used to be, anyway.

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy a jaunt to the supermarket. But if you live in an urban area, you know what it takes to get there and back in one piece. It can be a nightmare braving stop-and-go traffic, navigating the crowded aisles, waiting in line, and lugging those tempting goodies home without help.

Fed up, I looked for an easier way to put food in my fridge. That’s when I discovered that I could order groceries online and have them delivered straight to my door. I expected to pay much more, if only for the convenience, but it turns out that if you’re savvy like me you can save time, money, and energy — and still have space in your schedule to prepare a four-course feast.

1. You Can Save Time

This is a no-brainer. By eliminating the travel and wait times you’d spend if you went to the market in person, you’ll free up more of your day to do the things you want to do. When you order online, there are no lines, no going back to previously scavenged aisles to get something you forgot, and no standing behind a lady trying to sweet talk her way into using expired coupons. You’re in and out in flash. Make the process even speedier by creating a list beforehand so you’re not twiddling your thumbs trying to decide what you need — and ultimately buying things you don’t.

2. You Can Save Money

I know what you’re thinking — how in the name of Winn Dixie can buying groceries online actually preserve cash? I’ll give it to you straight:

New customers almost always receive their first few deliveries free. Otherwise, browse the Internet to find coupon codes for other specials, like 20% off your entire bill, for instance. Great deals often can be found if you’re willing to look for them.
Sitting at your desk and clicking food into your “cart” isn’t the same as when you’re standing eye to eye with all the junk you shouldn’t buy. Shopping online will drastically reduce your impulse buys, which probably account for 30% of your in-store purchases and 100% of your increased waist size.
Because you’re having the groceries delivered instead of schlepping all those bags home by your lonesome, you can stock up on things you need (not Oreos!), resulting in even more discounts for bulk buys. And if you find an online grocer that accepts coupons or has weekly sales, even better.

3. You Can Save Energy

Where I live, going to the grocery store is a workout. I have to walk several blocks to the market just to turn around and walk back with more than I can carry. I thought I was clever by investing in a pushcart one time, but that didn’t work out either. I packed it to the brim then had to push it uphill for a quarter-mile. When I got to the top, the thing toppled over, busting a few eggs and a $ 4 jar of dip. It goes without saying that I had to wash my mouth out with soap when I got home. Now I say screw it. If my husband can’t pick me up in the car or if it’s between the months of November and April, I’m shopping online. The delivery folks pack everything neatly and drop it right on my doorstep. I never have to break a sweat. Plus I get to check out the muscled-up man-candy that arrives bearing delicious gifts. That, in itself, is worth every penny.

Where to Order Online

You don't have to live in a bustling metropolis to have your groceries delivered. NetGrocer.com and Amazon Grocery are two of the best nationwide outlets that offer doorstep service with few restrictions. The one caveat with most coast-to-coast shippers, however, is that packages can contain non-perishables only. For frozen or fresh foods, opt for a regional supplier, a comprehensive list of which can be found on Mashable. There you'll also find links for online grocers that specialize in hard-to-find international, multicultural, and organic goods.

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Review: Better Groceries for Less Cash

Robert Wilkinson — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:20:02 +0000

Every Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book or other book of interest.

Better Groceries for Less Cash by Randall Putala has a subtitle that pretty clearly describes what you’ll find inside the covers: 101 Tested and Proven Ways to Save on Food. While organized into chapters, this fairly short book’s main purpose is to simply relate a lot of methods for saving money on food purchases.

My wife and I already do a lot of things to reduce our grocery bill, from using grocery lists to making meal plans and clipping (some) coupons. Yet we still look for ways to trim our food costs even more, so this book was a welcome read.

While Better Groceries for Less Cash is organized into chapters, the focus of each chapter is simply to deliver a few specific tips on how to save money on some aspect of grocery shopping. So, rather than giving my usual chapter-by-chapter review, I picked out ten interesting tips to share and discuss.

Start your own cookbook The key to saving money on food preparation while still getting delicious meals is simply knowing how to cook. Randall suggests simply making up your own cookbook where you jot down notes on what works for you for every new thing you try. Just list the steps you take in a way that you can understand later. If it doesn’t quite work, note that and make a change to your steps (changing cooking time from seven minutes to eight, for example). Then try doubling the quantity (six eggs scrambled instead of three) and seeing how that works. It’s all about learning how to do it so you feel confident with raw foods.

Ignore lying signs Just because there’s a big sign advertising a great deal doesn’t mean that it’s really a great deal. Often, it’s the same old bad deal you’d get otherwise – they just put up a sign to make it look good. Stick to your list and ignore the “sales” you find inside the store unless you’re absolutely sure that they’re great buys.

Clip for products, not for brands If you need toothpaste, clip every toothpaste coupon you can find. Then, when you go to the store to buy the toothpaste, you can match the coupon to the toothpaste brand with the best price (possibly one on sale in the store). This often results in items that have an extremely low price, sometimes even free.

Ignore the picture ...

$20 Lottery Scratch Off Tickets

Robert Wilkinson — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:20:43 +0000

Last week, as my beautiful wife was waiting in line at the supermarket checkout aisle, I wandered around. I don’t really appreciate waiting around for much of anything. It is a mixture of impatience, interest deficit, and boredom, but in the time between putting the groceries on the belt and taking our bags to leave, I usually wander around the front of the store. I appear at the piles of firewood, the coffee stand, some of the headlines on the newspapers, and I ended up searching at the cornucopia of scratch off lottery tickets in the automated dispenser.

That is when I observed that it sold twenty dollar scratch off tickets. (that is one of them to the right) Twenty bucks… one card. The card probably had a bunch of games on it but the concept that there would be not one but 3 various $twenty scratch off tickets was absolutely mind boggling. I was astonished. (as you can see, the letter “r” on my phone does not work that fantastic any longer)

What can make it even more remarkable is that it’s generally accepted that scratch off games provide ...

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Ask the Readers: What will You Buy with Your Tax Refund? (Win Turbo Tax Prizes!)

Robert Wilkinson — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:20:37 +0000

By Linsey Knerl

We've already asked whether you look forward to tax time, and people are just now starting to see their refunds (or bills) filtering through their home offices. We want to know what you plan on doing with that refund -- if you get one. OR what you believe people should be doing with their refunds. (Now's your time to preach!)

Do you use it for something special, like a big screen TV or computer?
Do you save it for a long-term investment?
Are you likely to use every penny for bills (like that enormous heating charge you received last month?)
Do you work really hard to make sure you don't even get a refund back -- you use it throughout the year for groceries and gas?

Give us your tax purchasing tips, behaviors, or observations. We want to know what you'll be doing once that refund check hits your mailbox (or checking account). In return for sharing your heart on the matter, you'll be entered to win one of two gifts from Turbo Tax -- good for Tax preparation and filing.

See more about Turbo Tax and their tips for getting the most on your return at their blog!

Win a Tax Filing prize from Turbo Tax!

We're doing two giveaways — one for random comments, and another one for a random tweets.

How to Enter:

Post your answer in the comments below, or
Tweet your answer. Include both "@wisebread" and "#WBAsk" in your tweet so we'll see it and count it.

If you're inspired to write a whole blog post, please link to it in the comments or tweet it.

At the end of the drawing, we'll update this post to include (and link to) ...

Three Products That Rock My World

Robert Wilkinson — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:20:33 +0000

By Andrea Dickson

In a consumer world, I am among the least savvy of consumers. I buy stuff on a whim, often without doing my research, and am frequently disappointed in what I end up buying. But every now and again, I find a product or service that is so incredibly awesome, so life-changingly helpful, that I can't stop telling people about it. Here are three of my awesome finds of the past year. Have you found a product that you think is the bomb? Tell us about it in the comments before Sunday, February 21 at 12:00PM Pacific Time, and you'll be entered into a drawing for an Amazon gift certificate for $25!

The ChicoBag - $5 each

The world is full of reusable shopping bags. Heck, my car is full of reusable shopping bags, which ironically, I never use, much less re-use. While I care about the environment, I suffer from a medical condition known as hyperpneumo craniosis (air headedness), which means that I will end up at the front of the grocery line, only to realize that all of my reusable shopping bags are still in the trunk of my car, or in the front seat, where I put them so that I wouldn't forget them in the trunk when I went inside the store.

This is why I love the ChicoBag: it's a sturdy nylon shopping bag that can hold lots of groceries (or anything else you need to buy), but that folds away into its attached pouch. When all closed up, the ChicoBag is no larger than a Yukon potato, which is small enough for me to fit three of them into the front pocket of my purse. Thus, I am never forced to run out to my car to fetch a mess of folded shopping bags. I just whip the ChicoBag out of my purse and unfold it, impressing cashiers and baggers with my organizational skills.

I bought my ChicoBags at Whole Foods, and thus, my bags are emblazoned with the Whole Foods logo, but the upside was that I spent approximately $3 for each of them, since Whole Foods orders them in bulk and resells them. I can't stress just how much plastic I have avoided using since I bought my ChicoBags (and yes, I know that nylon is a synthetic polymer).

Goo Gone - $5 for 8 oz

I recently had a near-mental breakdown over the state of my toaster oven. Covered in crumbs and melted cheese, and displaying prominent smoke stains, its very existence filled me with anxiety. It just sat there on my kitchen counter, flaunting its filthiness. Latent OCD gripped me and shook me to the core, and I attacked the toaster with a bottle of Windex, some scouring pads, rubber gloves, the Dyson, and a look of utter madness. My boyfriend and dogs cowered in the next room, wondering from whence this crazed cleaning beast had appeared.

After approximately a half hour of scrubbing, vacuuming, and sweating, the toaster looked only marginally better, still displaying signs of smoke stains and fingerprints. Desperate to remove a sticky droplet of some disgusting substance on the ...

Basics of Budgeting 2

Robert Wilkinson — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:20:28 +0000

Monitoring Your Expenses

Now that you are fiar with how a lot earnings money you have coming into your house, it has turn out to be time for you to spend attention to the expenses that you have on a month-to-month basis. You ought to begin with the regular payments and the fixed payments that you make, such as your rental payment or home loan payment, insurance coverage payments, automotive payments, financial debt payments and taxes. For most individuals, these expenses are generally pretty fixed in nature and that indicates that the amount due each and every month is going to be fairly unchanging, at least for a although.

Now that you have listed out all of your fixed month-to-month expenses, the next thing that you are going to want to do is to dig down a little bit deeper to figure out exactly where the rest of your money happens to be going. You ought to get out your checkbook register, or get a copy of your latest financial institution assertion to assist you figure out all the solutions in this step. Jot down how a lot you are spending on issues like groceries, utilities, entertainment, subscriptions, and clothes and so on. It is important to be honest with your self about how a lot you are spending on these issues if you want to get the most out of the budget that you are creating.

Right here is the Bottom Line:

Now you ought to have all of the info that is needed in purchase for you to create a good operating budget. What you need to do is to complete up the month-to-month earnings that you have and then the month-to-month expenses that you have. When you subtract your month-to-month expense complete from the complete of your earnings for the month, where does the quantity fall? If you have a constructive quantity, then congratulations are in purchase simply because you are really earning much more than you spend. If you have a damaging quantity, then budgeting is going to be that a lot much more important to you simply because it will assist you identify the deficiencies in your financial plan so that you can address them as nicely as treatment them sooner rather than later.

Now you ought to be able to visually see how a lot you are falling brief, and this will make it feasible for you to make the essential adjustments in your spending or your saving in various locations of your lifestyle so that you can make improvements in your situation. More frequently than not you will discover that a few little and simple adjustments in your spending routines can truly go a lengthy way in improving your financial situation. Eat out less frequently, cancel a magazine subscription, drop down a tier in your Netflix plan, and you will be surprised at how effortlessly you can balance your budget and set your financial plans in motion in a constructive direction as soon as once more.

Photo Credits: (nutmeg)

Originally posted 2009-09-14 03:13:eleven. Republished by Blog Publish Promoter

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American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card: 15,000 Points Sign-Up Bonus + Double Points on Gas & Groceries

Robert Wilkinson — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:20:07 +0000

American Express is promoting a new charge card called the AmEx Premier Rewards Gold Card, which is different from their other Gold/Gold Rewards/Platinum/Precious Metal cards.

Since this is the new card being pushed, it has the best sign-up incentives for new cardholders:

* Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards bonus points when you spend $1,000 in your first 3 months of Card membership. MR points are very versatile, and can be converted to 15,000 frequent flier miles in a number of programs (or 10 Southwest credits), or you can simply get $150 in gift cards at several stores like Home Depot, Crate & Barrel, or Macy’s. I think you can also get cash ...

Signs That Your Teen Needs Money Management Help

Robert Wilkinson — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:20:30 +0000

If you teen went off to college tomorrow, how soon would they call you asking for money? Would they be able to purchase their own groceries by the end of the month? Would they end up moving back into your basement when they cannot afford their apartment any longer? The idea of your teenager going into debt so early is definitely a frightening one, but it is a very real one as well. Does your teen have the money management skills necessary in order to survive out there? Here are some signs that your teen needs money management help.

- If your teenager has no "cash" concept, he or she probably needs money management help. It is really easy to overspend without realizing how much money you are using when you use debit cards, credit cards and the internet to do your shopping. If teenagers don't associate cash with their transactions, they will never really understand how much money they are spending. It is vital that you wean them off of debit and credit cards over the span of 30 days, forcing them to use cash instead so that they can see what it means to run out of money. Suddenly their necessities may seem much less necessary when their cash gets low.

- If your teen constantly "needs" things, he or she probably needs money management help. The only things that your teen really needs are sunshine, air to breathe, shelter, food and basic clothing. Teens don't need video games, CDs, cell phones or accessories. Break them of the "I need it" habit.

- If your teen is constantly running over their balance, then he or she probably needs money management help. If you find your teenager running over his or her cell phone minutes, or racking up NSF fees and overdraft charges, take this to be a serious sign that something is wrong. The unfortunate side of giving your teen some responsibility is that it can allow them to mess up a little. The first time you see them going over their limit, reduce their amount of freedom and instill some basic money management skills in them before they can have their responsibility back.

- If your teen is not working more for the money they need, then he or she probably needs money management help. There is an amazing formula that you need to learn for money management: If you want more money, you have to work more. Or work smarter. If your teen does not understand this formula, then you need to explain some of the principles of money management to them. Sometimes despite the simplicity of the concept, it does not occur to these teens that they may simply need to work harder or smarter to have more money in their pockets at the end of the week.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-12-26 05:48:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Frugal Soups and Stews: Great Solutions for Busy Weekends

Robert Wilkinson — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:20:14 +0000

Many weekends – like this upcoming one, for instance – our family is quite busy. We have guests over. We go on family excursions to places like the Science Center of Iowa. We shop for groceries. We go to club meetings. We go to church. We play for hours with the kids. We get caught up on housework – and on our reading. We play a few family games.

Sometimes, I’ll put aside time to prepare a really special meal, but many weekends, we look for ways to get a healthy and inexpensive meal on the table quickly. Even better are meals that are conveniently eaten by guests whenever they arrive.

Our solution, often, is a big pot of soup or a stew. Here are some of the tactics we use to keep guests happy and also tantalize our taste buds with a convenient, tasty, and healthy meal that’s also very inexpensive.

If there’s an opportunity, I’ll make stock during the week. Stock is really easy to make. All you have to do is roast a chicken or a bone-in pot roast in the oven. This just requires a roasting pan – put some salt and pepper on the meat, put it in the pan, put it in the oven at 350 F, and check the temperature after an hour or so and keep it cooking until it’s appropriately heated. Enjoy that meat for supper. Then, take the bones, put them in a crock pot, add a few leftover vegetables and any other vegetables you find tasty, toss in a handful of peppercorns, and turn the crock pot on low before you go to bed. The next morning, just strain off the liquid and save that liquid in a jug, tossing everything else. Voila! You have homemade beef or chicken stock! If you’re a vegetarian and prefer vegetable stock, just do the same thing without the animal bones – put leftover vegetables and any others you like for flavor into a crock pot, cover with water, cook on low overnight, then strain and save the liquid.

In my opinion, stock is the best frugal meal ingredient there is. You turn what would otherwise be thrown away into an incredibly flavored liquid that forms the basis for some absolutely mind-blowing soups that weekend – and all it costs is water, a couple minutes of effort, and maybe a dime or two of electricity.

I also cook extra meat on Thursday night. If I have chicken stock on hand and want to make a chicken-based soup, I’ll make some sort of chicken meal on Thursday night and make plenty of meat so I can have a couple of pounds of leftovers. The same goes for beef – I’ll cook extra of whatever beef we use, whether it’s hamburger, steak, or roast. ...