Present Professor » budget tips

Gift List: Great Gifts For Grown-Ups Who Never Grew Up

carli — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:45:41 +0000

1. 80’s Candy Box, $29.99. Includes such favorites as Wonka Bottlecaps, Atomic Fire Balls, Pop Rocks, ~~Good and Plenty~~ and more. (the box includes Good ‘N Plenty. I just have no evidence anyone actually enjoys them. Individual candy also available at Hometown Favorites (Make your own gift box! Choose your own adventure!)

2. Sesame Street Old School, Volume 2, $26.99. Picture it: 1974-79. Mr. Hooper is still alive. Elmo has yet to be formed out of a devilish blaze of red felt. Richard Pryor reinterprets the alphabet. And Fonzie and Richie Cunningham brush their teeth.

3. Nick & Nora footie pajamas, $24.99 at Target.

4. The Wild Planet Spy Gear Spyfire, $14.99, can shoot foam darts up to 25 feet via remote control–or, if you’d like, convert it to a handheld and go all Terminator with your bad self.

5. Lip Smackers lip gloss, under $5 (click here for stores) in fun flavors like cotton candy and Cherry Coke. Because you totally want to look your best for that hottie in your Spanish class.

Black Friday on an Uncolored Wednesday

carli — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:29:29 +0000

Just a quick note to send you to BFAds.net. They’ve got ad scans and item lists for most of the major national chains’ Black Friday sales. They’ve also got great updates on online sales. BFADS has been up and running for about 4 years now. At the beginning, they were threatened with cease-and-desist orders for running the top-secret ads that were leaked to them. Now, many of the big chains willingly release their ads to the site. You can almost always trust the information there. Happy shopping!

Class In Session: Coinstar is Free. . . Sometimes

carli — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:33:42 +0000

Most of you are probably aware of Coinstar machines–those green giants found in supermarkets nationwide. They let you pour in your change, and in return you get a nice, neat receipt that you can exchange at the cashier for real money.

The problem? Coinstar charges a whopping 9¢ (well, 8.9 to be exact) per dollar. That may not seem like much, but even if you’re only cashing in, say, $20 of coins, that’s $1.78 of money spent on absolutely nothing. That’s, like, 1.78 items on Wendy’s $1 menu, down the drain.

But Coinstar has partnered with various businesses to eliminate the fee for coin-counting. All you have to do is take your money in the form of a gift card or e-certificate, and the fee is waived. Availability varies by location, but some of the bigger-name participants include Amazon.com, iTunes, Circuit City, Borders, and Old Navy.

Use the cards to buy gifts or simply give them away as gifts (although, since the card’s value is equal to that of your spare change, your gift card might end up being for some strange amount, like, $35.21.)

You can also go to CoinstarisFreegame.com, where each day you can enter to win prizes such as gift cards and cash.

Cha-ching!