Don’t Shock The Wrong German Shepherd!

January 27, 2009 · Filed Under , · 2 Comments 

You may be asking yourself, “Kyle has officially lost his marbles, what does that post title have to do with coupons?” I will try and tie the 2 together later. So I grew up on a small farm and my Dad had a few sheep, pigs, cats, and a couple dogs. In particular, we had a beautiful black German Shepherd named Simba. Yes, after the Lion King movie. So that tells you this was early 90’s. One year we had her bred and she had 5 puppies. We sold all of the puppies except one, which my Mom was going to train and keep as a pet. So far so good.

Well, my Dad also had some chickens and guess what? Dogs love to chase chickens! Love to break their necks and throw them around as well. So in an attempt to keep the barnyard from looking like a poultry ridden ‘Jones Town’, my folks kept the dogs pinned up unless they were out with them to monitor Simba and her daughter, ’Molly’. But from time to time, the inevitable happened and a dog would nail a chicken and kill it. So in an attempt to train the dogs to leave the chickens alone, my folks invested in a shock collar. The collar would go around the dogs neck and it had a remote which you would push and send a small electrical shock to the dog when they were drooling near the chicken coup.

This was working well until one unfortunate dog day afternoon. I was home from college and my Mom had the shock collar on Molly (important point). We were all outside with the dogs and Simba decided to chase a chicken, my Mom saw this and panicked and without thinking hit the shock collar button on the remote and poor Molly, who was leisurely taking a nap on the driveway got ‘ZAPPED’! Never saw a dog wake up so fast and jump a few feet in the air all at once! Not sure, but I think that is the wrong way to train a dog! Meanwhile Simba was running crazy after a chicken. Moral of the story, buy a shock collar for each dog. Actually the real moral of the story is never have a German Shepherd on the same farm as chickens. Or is the moral don’t take a nap on the driveway? I am so confused now.

What better way to tie this story together than with a few pet store coupons: :-)

Petsmart.com
Save 15% off your $40 or more online purchase.
Coupon Code: PAWSPER
Expiration: 1/28/2009
See All My: Petsmart Coupons

Petco.com
Save 10% off your Entire online purchase.
Coupon Code: affexe
Expiration: 1/29/2009
See All My: Petco Coupons

Pet Food Direct.com
Save 10% off your Entire online purchase.
Coupon Code: PER10PCT
Expiration: 3/31/2009
See All My: Pet Food Direct Coupons

1-800-PetMeds.com
Save 10% off your Entire online purchase.
Coupon Code: PETE
Expiration: 1/31/2009
See All My: 1-800-PetMeds Coupons

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Financial Outlook for 2009

January 21, 2009 · Filed Under , · Comment 

All the experts, who I admit, often don’t know their butt from a hole in the ground, say that ’09 will be worse than ’08, with the economy starting to turn around in 2010. The financial indicators all point to this.

But I am a glass half-full kind of guy. My optimism is spurred on by housing prices that are starting to have a sense of reality. People that are starting in the housing market finally can afford to buy a home. This is certainly the first step to recovery and healing.

Time of opportunity. I see the current economic situation and all I see are opportunities. The main opportunity I see is in real estate. The ability to buy a short-sale home or foreclosed home for an incredible discount. This may very well be the best buying opportunity in real estate in our lifetime!

Stock market is on sale! All of this gloom and doom from the media has many taking their money out of the stock market and watching from the sidelines. HUGE MISTAKE! If you are under age 50, you are making a real error. The stock market is on sale! Do not look at stocks as distressed goods, instead see it as an incredible opportunity. Even if you continue to invest and the stock market continues to go down, great! All that means is that when you add a small amount more to your 401k every month, you are getting more shares for your money. This will make you a lot of money in the long run. Do not run away, stay in the game.

Thoughts? As usual, I look forward to your comments!

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Phone Bill? Who Needs It!

January 13, 2009 · Filed Under , · 7 Comments 

I am considering the option of dropping our land line phone and giving the axe to our phone company. The other day, I was listening to one of my favorite Radio shows, The Clark Howard Show and he was talking about some great options on how to get rid of the home phone and save some serious cash. We pay on average $40 a month which comes out to an annual savings of $480. No small potatoes. Here are some great ideas he had:

  • Magic Jack - This product has a 30-day free trial. Basically it works by plugging the MagicJack into your computer via a USB port, then you just plug your land line phone jack right into the MagicJack and start making calls. Sounds to good to be true, but Clark is always talking about it. If you like it, after your trial expires, you can buy the MagicJack for $39.99 and then pay only $20 per year for the service. Anybody ever used it?

  • Skype.com - Allows you to use your computer to make and receive phone calls. Totally free if the person you are calling is also on Skype! Really cheap otherwise, like 2 cents a minute. This is great for me as my sister lives in Australia and we can talk to each other for free, even with video if we both have our web cams hooked up. Very cool!

  • Your Cell Phone – If you already have a cell phone and you have coverage at your home, just use it as your main phone line. This wouldn’t work for us because our cell phone coverage is real spotty in our home since we live out in the country.

Have any of you used these services or got rid of your land line to save some money? I’d love to hear your story!

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Major Appliances: Anatomy Of A Great Deal

January 9, 2009 · Filed Under , · 7 Comments 

As I mentioned a couple days ago, I bought my wife a new LG front loading washing machine for Christmas. It was kinda pricey, but my wife is the type of person who rarely buys stuff for herself that makes her life easier, so I wanted to do that for her! And with 3 kids and a ton of laundry, this will definitely make her life easier and she is thrilled with it so far. Plus, it will lower our water bill and our gas dryer bill which I am thrilled about!

Being a bargain hunter and major coupon geek, I was able to find a great deal on our LG washing machine. Here is what I did.

The item in question – LG 4.2 Cu. Ft. 9-Cycle Ultra Capacity Washer

Our Local Best Buy Price:
List Price – $999.99
Delivery Charge – $70.00
Sales Tax – $65.25
Total Cost – $1,135.25

After checking out Best Buy, I said to myself that surely I can find a better deal. So guess what? That’s right, I went online! My first stop, PriceGrabber.com. I entered the make and model of the washing machine and PriceGrabber.com quickly gave me a list of online merchants that sold it and their asking price. Gotta love technology! I found that US-Appliance.com was offering the same exact washer for $899.10 with FREE Shipping! But wait, it got even better. Since I am in California and US-Appliance is in Michigan, I had to pay ZERO sales tax. WooHoo!! Here is how much I saved:

US-Appliance Price:
List Price – $899.10
Delivery Charge – $0.00
Sales Tax – $0.00
Total Cost – $899.10

Bottom Line: I saved an incredible $236 by doing 5 minutes of research and not just assuming that my local big box store was going to be the best deal I could find. I think Howie Mandel would say, “Great Deal.”

On a side note, there is a local appliance store in my town that I like to give my business to and I actually called them to see if they could match this price. They said they couldn’t as the retailer (US-Appliance) was not a local competitor. It is getting harder and harder for local stores to compete, especially as Americans are tightening their wallets in our struggling economy. If money were no object, I would much rather give my money to the local business. But money is a major object for myself and our family of 5. I am sure US-Appliance buys in such large quantities that they can undercut the price of almost all other stores.

Have you found similar deals on major appliances or electronics? Looking forward to your comments!

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Karma Police Nailed Me Again!

January 6, 2009 · Filed Under , · 4 Comments 

First of all, I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

Sorry for my lack of blogging recently, been real busy doing work and family stuff. Got back yesterday from a great weekend away in the Sierra mountains. It was fun to play in the snow with the kids and then leave. Not sure I could handle dealing with the white stuff day after day. But anyways, I plan on getting back to a regular blogging schedule shortly. Which means 2 or 3 new posts a week. More if the mood strikes.

But I had to share a funny (or some might say sad) story. For Christmas, I bought my wife a new front loading washing machine which she had been hinting at for months. I got a great deal with free shipping! So it shows up yesterday and guess what…………..our dryer broke!!! Are you kidding me!! Even though she loved it, I am thinking it is the Karma police nailing me for buying my wife an unromantic, highly efficient, household appliance for Christmas that will lower our water bill.

So I have the repair man coming out today to take a look at the dryer. Ironic much? Sometimes I just want to pack up the essential and find a nice 100 acre parcel in Montana and live off the land.

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