I am a big fan of Cherry Coke, so whenever it is on sale it’s like a little taste of Christmas.

We went to King Soopers, where they are selling 12-packs of Coke Products at 4 for $11.  This is already a pretty good deal considering it is $2.75 per 12 pack, or $0.22 a can. That’s cheaper than the off-brand soda in the machines at Wal Mart!

But, this wouldn’t be a “How We Save” post until we saved more money on top of this great sale.  On each box of Coke Products right now, The Coca Cola Company is putting $1 off 2 12-packs of Coke Products.

Since we bought 4 12-packs we were able to use two of those coupons.

So we got 4 12-packs for $9.00!  That is $0.18 a can!

An aside which is not how I am saving money so much as making it, but it has something to do with the deal above:  A co-worker and I have been selling sodas for $0.50 a piece at work in the office fridge.  We put the sodas on the shelf with a cup and ask people to pay “on their honor”.  Normally, we make between $0.11 – $0.18 (avg. $0.14) a can.  With the deal above, our profit goes from 29% to 64%! That is a great markup and means that my co-worker and I can actually pay for another 12-pack out of our profits after selling only 9 cans.  This deal may actually help us break even on our little venture.

You know all that crap you have sitting around in your closets that you almost never use?

Sell it.

Get on eBay, Craigslist, wherever and sell your stuff.  It is amazing how much money you can get for all that crap you have laying around.

My suggestion, use craigslist.  It is faster, easier and less of a pain in the butt.

Meet people in secure locations, like Starbucks, and sell them your stuff that you don’t use.

“One man’s closet full of crap is another man’s Christmas presents for the family!”

This is the question that Mint.com asked me when I was trying out their “online money management website”.

Mint is a piece of software that will download transaction history information from your bank’s website, and put it up against your other account information to create a comprehensive reporting of where your money is going.

The trick is, if you are like me and spend alot of cash, it doesn’t explain everything.  The things it does the best with are your electronic transfers.  The times when you used your debit card to pay for things.

Some features that I liked:

It hooked into Sallie Mae and all my bank accounts, and then it calculated my net worth.  I don’t like my net worth, but to be able to monitor it here was very cool.

It will give you graphs that show you how your total spending breaks down.

It will help you set up a budget and monitor your spending.

If your account gets low, it sends you an email.

If you have an “alert” like a finance charge from the bank, it will tell you.

I ran into some problems with a cell-phone carrier, who hasn’t.  Right?  You can read a diatribe about what happened here: Been Cheated By: Sprint.

What I learned in this situation was that using the telephone support, while convenient, is a pain in the butt and not worth the time.  Going into a store, and dealing with a real person is way better.

I worked with the manager at the store near my house when I had a problem (not the first, not the last), and she got to know my face.  When she had the problem taken care of, I told her “I’ll see you when it happens again”. Her response “Hopefully, you will not have problems any more”.

Two weeks later, I was back in the store.  She fixed the problem, apologized, and as I left I told her that I would see her again when it happens again.  She replied with the same answer as before.

When I went back in the store with the last problem, she wasn’t there, but her employee called her and they worked together (the manager at home with her daughter) to find a solution.  Corporate found a temporary solution, but it was ludicrous and I was done dealing with the issues.  I asked her to cancel the cell contract, and to have the carrier pay for the cancellation fees.  Since the manager knew me, and had personally dealt with my problems, she was able to convince the carrier that I had been harassed enough and that they needed to let me go for free.

The Moral: when you have a problem with a company, deal with the same person repeatedly so that you can have some history with them.  Then when it is time to get some real work done, they know what is going on and can take care of the problem immediately and conclusively.

I have been told in the past to not spend the extra money for the warranty, because it isnt worth it.  But, I have learned in the real world, it is.

I live with the philosophy that Murphy’s Law is just waiting to raise some hell. So, I do my best to try to keep him at bay by preparing for the worst.  This means warranties.

Ok, here’s what I have learned:

1. If I buy something and a warranty is offered, I will wish I had the warranty as I throw the item away and go to buy a new one
2. If I buy the warranty, I usually end up wondering why I bought it because I didnt need it.  The item worked the way it should, and I end up replacing it when I am sick of it, not when it breaks.

I admit, there are special cases here.  But, if you go with #2, the special cases are not an issue. Case in point: you have to cash in on the warranty.  Problem solved, you get a new gadget.

A story (some names have been changed):

My dad and step mom are the thriftiest people I know. They do everything possibly to save money, and well…who can blame them.  However, when they bought their Gigantitron Projection TV for their living room, they spent the extra money on a warranty.  When the TV stopped working, they took it in, and the repair man couldn’t get the part they needed.  So, Huge Mart replaced the TV with an equivalent sized, same brand, Plasma for free.

This is a true story. If you dont get the warranty after that, I dont know what is wrong with you.

The last story, also true, happened to me.  Twice.

I have an iPhone, because I am a closet (OK not so much), technophile and I had the opportunity to get one (long story, I will post about this later).  I had the phone for about 7 months when the phone locked up and wouldnt do anything but give me the little white apple image.  So I took it in, and the apple store handed me a new phone.

Then I lost my iPhone headphones (made by apple), the ones with the mic, and bought new ones on ebay.  They were knock offs and didn’t work.  There was no return policy and it was not even worth trying to contact the seller.  So, I bought official Apple iPhone headphones from an AT&T store.  7 days later, the mic stopped working. So, I walked back into the AT&T store, and was given new ones with no problems or questions.

The point of the story is, Apple ensures their products (this is like a warranty – but not as good as AppleCare), so long as it is something they did wrong in manufacturing or design and  if you take care of what you bought from them, they will replace it for free.

If you buy smart, and get warranties where you can, you will be much better off by avoiding Murphy and handling the exceptions to the rule.  Sometimes, planning ahead pays off.