Gas Savings Blog

Archive for April, 2009


Posted on April 28, 2009 - by admin

Saving Money On Trips to the Vet

Last week we took my pooch “Sawyer” to the vet. The final bill came to around $160.00, which shocked me. Since the services had already been done, I had to pay… and then of course I promptly kicked myself in the but.

So how could I have saved myself some money.

1. Call around to all the vets in your town and ask about prices in your area. Ask about how much a yearly check up would cost and ask them to list everything they do and the costs of each.

2. My visit included heartworm pills (which I should have bought online). I know that your family pet is very important to you so speak with your vet about the “right” kind of heartworm pill you should use. Check individual pet stores on line as well as comparative shopping sites.

I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday.


Posted on April 26, 2009 - by admin

Save Money when buying a used car - OOG

Saving Money When buying a used car
Out of Gas Newsletter - Issue 37 April 25, 2009

This issue brought to you by

Plus Size Wear to Work

Saving Money The Nitty Gritty - Buying A Used Car

Make sure you save / Print your information in a folder.

Here are some tips when buying a Used Car.

One important thing to remember. Used car inventories at car lots have declined, when that happens you can expect to pay more for a used car if you go to the lot than you did last year.

1. Decide what car that you want - we gave you some guidance on that in our issue on Buying A New Car
2. Ask around to your friends, family and neighbors and ask them if they have heard of someone selling a car.
3. Make sure you check the blue book values on the car and make sure to check out carfax. Reports are around $30.
4. Test drive the car and take it to a mechanic. Even if you go to a car lot and they say it’s went thru a million checks, take it to your mechanic.
5. Make sure to check out the used car lots in your area. Once you have some general prices make sure to check out…

Ebay - http://www.motors.ebay.com/
Auto Trader - http://www.autotrader.com/
Cars.com - http://www.cars.com/go/index.jsp

Next Issues and what’s up:

Car -

Gas
Maintenace

Entertainment -

An Overview
Doing the Audit
Entertainment alternatives


Posted on April 22, 2009 - by admin

Having Fun With Earth Day

Earth day doesn’t have to be boring… here are some fun places to go with your kids online for a little fun.

A game about saving energy - http://www.energyhog.org/

A mystery involving toxins and your home - http://toxmystery.nlm.nih.gov/

Some coloring pages and crafts - http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/earth.html

A whole page of stuff from the EPA

http://www.epa.gov/kids/game.htm


Posted on April 19, 2009 - by admin

Saving Money on Tweets Weekly Updates for 2009-04-19

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Posted on April 18, 2009 - by admin

Save Money when buying a New Car OOG 36

Out of Gas Newsletter - Issue 36 April 18, 2009

Saving Money on
This issue brought to you by

Design Firms St. Louis Missouri

++ Savings Tip of the Week

If you’re thinking about Buying A New Car then you want to check out these spreadsheets first.

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/download.htm

Saving Money The Nitty Gritty - Buying A New Car

Make sure you save / Print your information in a notebook.

Make sure that you have downloaded the spreadsheets I mentioned above.

Step 1 - Figure out (as close as possible) the car that you are going to buy.
One thing I would suggest in doing would be to find the ‘true’ cost of owning that car. A helpful tool for that can be found here.
http://www.edmunds.com/popupinfo/abouttruecosttoown.html

Is it within your budget use the budget template spreadsheet from the Car Buying Tips

I was talking to a guy that owned a tire dealership and he was talking about how people were floored when he told them the price for four tires on their shiny sports car would be over a grand… so think before you buy. Get insurance quotes too.

Step 2 - Find the new car price from the following websites -
Invoice Dealers
Cars.com
http://www.myride.com/buy/index.html

Step 3 - If you’re going to trade in your card - figure out what its worth.
Cars.com
My Ride

Step 4 - Find out any incentives that may be available.

www.edmunds.com/incentives/step1.jsp

Get the Sunday paper - watch the advertisements on your local TV station. Jot rebates and incentives down in your notes.

Step 5 - Get your credit score - Find out if you could get a car loan elsewhere - Up 2 Drive is a good place to start.

For the actual buying of the car I would highly suggest you check out this site (it’s better than many of the paid books out there and it is free).

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/car3.htm

Next Issues and what’s up:

Car -

Buying a Used Car (Tuesday)
Gas
Maintenace

Entertainment -

An Overview
Doing the Audit
Entertainment alternatives


Posted on April 16, 2009 - by admin

Could they make it any harder to put it together

The eliptical that I ordered from Nordic track got here yesterday. We debated between the Autostrider 800 and 990. The only difference between the two was the 990 has a power ramp… and that ramp added an extra $300 so we went with the 800.

http://www.nordictrack.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category2_-1_10301_12401_19053_Y

We comparisoned shopped (of course) and their website had the best price when we ordered it.

I was disappointed a little in putting it together. It wasn’t that the instructions were written in Greek but every bolt on the thing took a lot of effort (and I mean lots of grunting). It was almost like they hadn’t put in some threads. Also we had a hard time lining up the arms… they must have a nanometer of tolerance. The arms on the left side we ended up taking off the machine (the arms assembly), putting them together and then putting them back on the machine.

Early results on the exercises (from the girls) are they love it. They both rode it about 20 minutes or so and aren’t too sore this morning. I’ll give you some more updates and a more thorough review as we continue to use it.

Enjoy your Day!


Posted on April 12, 2009 - by admin

Saving Money on Tweets Weekly Updates for 2009-04-12

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Posted on April 11, 2009 - by admin

Saving Money on Your Car - OOG 35

Out of Gas Newsletter - Issue 35 April 11, 2009

We would like to wish you and your family a wonderful Easter.

++ News -

I saw this in Smart Money http://www.smartmoney.com/

Five ways to Stretch Your Retirement Savings.

1. Wait to Retire. Each year that you wait to retire can increase the Social Security you get from Uncle Sam by about 8%.

2. Move. Many people save by moving to a cheaper location. Some save money by selling their home and renting.

3. By a used car - keep the old car longer. We discuss this some in our feature article below.

4. Spend the right cash. Spend money in regular IRAs before tapping Roth IRAs. Use bond holding before stock holdings.

5. Much is spent on Restaurants and Travel - try cutting back.

++ Savings Tip of the Week

A good Resource - http://www.cheapcheapcheap.com/

Make sure to check out the “weekly ad” link - it gives you a link to all the major stores ads - all in one convenient place.

We have a twitter account so we can send updates when we find good deals… one thing that is the only time we’ll tweet.

You can follow us here - http://twitter.com/savingmoneyon

Saving Money The Nitty Gritty - You and Your Car

We’ll be talking about Saving money on your Car / Automobile expenses over the next few weeks.

Your car is one of your biggest expenses next to your home. Years ago if you bought a used car it was impossible to know exactly what you’re getting, now you can have a pretty good idea of what your getting. With this recession though there has been a flood of used car buying, and although many dealers have their inspections and warranties, there inventory is getting lower and they are being less choosey. This means they are selling older cars with more miles.

With the current situation with the auto makers, everyone is a little tense if you talk to them about buying a new car… will the company even be in business when the warranty runs out? We’ll talk about those things in some upcoming posts and give you some ways to make sure that you’re getting an awesomen deal.

Tuesday we’ll give you some money saving tips on buying a new car.

Next Saturday we’ll give you some tips on saving when you buy a used car.

Next Issues and what’s up:

Car -

Buying a New Car (Tuesday)
Buying a Used Car (Weds)

Gas
Maintenace

Entertainment -

An Overview
Doing the Audit
Entertainment alternatives


Posted on April 10, 2009 - by admin

Four Ways to Save Money on your Trip to the ballpark

Below are Four ideas for saving money on your next trip to a Baseball Game.

- Tickets

If you’re going to a major league baseball game it will cost you some bucks. Average price for the nose bleed section is around $30 - add to that parking for around $20 and you’re way over the $100 mark for a family of four, before you enter the stadium. If you love baseball there are some cheaper alternatives.

Why not try a minor league game. These players are hungry for the big leagues and play there hearts out.  You will definitely save some cash too. The Lexington Legends (a minor league team near where we live) prices start at $5 bucks and the best seats in the house are $16.50.  Special promotions are going on all the time.

–Eats

Eat before you go into the park, either at home or have a tail gate party. Take a cooler in if the ballpark allows outside drinks and if not hydrate well before going into the game. Make sure you have a cooler filled with drinks for after the game.

– Soveneirs

If you want to buy some memorbilia don’t do it at the ball park, since prices can be double of what you would normally pay.

– Make it a party

Invite family and friends. Have a pot luck tail gate party. Car pool, share expenses, but most of all have fun.

Have a wonderful Friday!!


Posted on April 9, 2009 - by admin

Do I have the Conficer Virus / Worm

There was a lot of talk this past weekend about the possibility of the Conficer Worm to ‘wake up’. Not much happened but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have it. One way that you can find out if you’re protected is to go to the following url.

http://www.talkbiz.com/confickertest/

The worm blocks contact with the security websites - so if you can see the pictures then you probably aren’t infected… if you can’t see the images, then follow the instructions.


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