I am very excited. In my Discover Card cash back holiday gifting plan, I’m about to get another big help from the company. For the month of June, I’ll get a bonus 5% cash back on restaurant tabs. In the past, this has included fast food restaurants, but I can’t find out if they still count now.
I am trying to cut down on the eating out, but sometimes you just get caught around town.
Over the last three months, I’ve been keeping my grocery receipts to see if renewing the $50 Costco membership is going to be worth it. I’m sure that my household is very much like yours in that we have a number of staples that we go through steadily. The Excel sample below shows the cost comparison breakdown on some of those items.
As a basis for comparison, I used the lowest on-sale price that I received at my local grocery store. They do buy-one-get-one-free sales. Costco doesn’t.
Also, I did my best to equal out the price-to-quantity ratios.
So just looking at the prices, things come out pretty even. Before I began this, I had expected there to be a greater difference—with the benefit going to Costco.
But for me, there are other factors to consider:
Conclusion
If I use Costco for just these items alone on a twice-monthly basis (for rounding purposes), I will almost save back the $50 membership fee already. If I calculate in the other items I will purchase and the randomness of grocery store sales, I should come out ahead.
Convenience wise, Costco shopping is definitely a help.
So I guess when the renewal notice comes around, I’m signing back up.
This is the next step in my continued quest for less stuff and more money.
I’m getting rid of my old cds. Yay!
Yes, I have an mp3 player, but like many of you, I’ve kept my old cds—just in case.
Over the years, I’ve never had to reload my computer or my player (knock on wood). These days, back-up drives are so cheap and large, I have no trouble keeping other sets of my music files.
So finally, the cds are going out the door. Right now, I’m using two sources for buy back.
Second Spin works in much the same way as the online book buyers do. Enter the CD info into their system. They’ll tell you how much they’ll pay you for it. If you agree, package everything up and ship your collection to them. They will check everything in and send you a check or a PayPal payment. Easy.
I usually check the same cd on Amazon
This system has been working for me because Second Spin will often pay higher for the more popular titles while the more collectible and rare titles go for higher on Amazon. Of course, Second Spin is the immediate sale while you’ll have to wait for a buyer on Amazon.
If anyone out there has a reliable source to recommend to me, I would sure appreciate it. I still have half my collection to go.
