Get Your Grocery Bag Rebate!

The Armchair Fiduciary spent the last week in Ireland on vacation. One thing that is abundantantly clear is that the Emerald Isles are green in more than one way. The landscape is, of course, incredibly green after what appears to have been a summer full of nothing but rain according to Irish radio stations. However, what is also clear is that this is a country full of recyclers. There are blue and red and green bins everywhere to recycle pretty much everything. Indeed, on a trip to the grocery store I discovered that they don't even offer grocery bags. You are supposed to bring your own. If you do want a bag you have to pay for it (I think it is a government levied tax). Now my hat isn't totally off to the Irish. I'm not entirely sure this policy is having the ideal effect because it seems like everyone makes 1,000 trips to the grocery store per week with only one bag in hand. What they are saving environmentally by using less plastic bags they are probably spending in gas for all those trips.


However, this got me thinking. Indeed bags probably do cost grocery stores a lot of money. In the U.S. how simple would it be for a grocery store to offer you a rebate to bring your own bags (the 10 a typical once per week U.S. shopper has)? The rebate could even be slightly less than the cost of the bags so it would be win-win for the store and the customer. Well the green geniuses at Whole Foods have already thought of this. If you bring your own bags to Whole Foods they will give you a 5 cent per bag rebate. Why doesn't every grocery store in the U.S. do this? This is a no-brainer. Write your local grocery store (if you can't afford only Whole Foods) and lets start saving some money and the environment people!

Want to make your most special date of the year affordable? Don't forget lastminute.com

Until a few weeks ago I had never heard of lastminute.com. However, upon further inspection, this is one cool site with lots of good deals. The premise of the site is simple, when hotels and airlines still have available rooms or empty seats headed into a particular day and or weekend they do a lot better selling them for something than leaving those rooms or seats empty. Lastminute.com is dedicated to making that inventory available to you.

I think it could be the ultimate spur of the moment, show stopper, add some spice to any relationship kind of date. Here's the idea. The next time things are feeling stale set aside a particular weekend for a lastminute.com excursion. Just tell your significant other you have a plan for that weekend and to stay free. Then when Friday rolls around go browse the site and find the cheapest deal that tickles your fancy. For instance, this weekend airfare and a hotel in Boston is less than $200 per person. This bit of spontaneity is sure to appreciated by your significant other and will probably be one of the coolest dates you do all year at a significant discount to retail price.

Mistakes to Avoid When Renting a Car

I was out of town this weekend and consequently had to rent a car. There are basically only 3 rules you need to know in when you rent a car.

1) Never take the rental company's insurance policy unless you don't have a car of your own with auto insurance. The rental company's insurance is generally a $25-$40 per day rip off because your insurance already covers rental cars. If you don't have your own car and insurance you should definitely buy theirs (better overpriced insurance than none at all).

2) Never take the "fuel option" which involves paying modestly expensive prices for a full tank of gas and then being allowed to bring the car in empty. There is very little chance you drive the car back into the rental place on fumes and, unless you do, you are giving the rental company free gas. You are generally much better off topping the car of on your way back to the rental place and returning it "full." Unless you are always pressed for time you will come out ahead filling up yourself.

3) Be sure to report any problems with the car before you leave or you may be held responsible for the damage. This is especially true if you are a "frequent renter" (e.g. Hertz #1 Club) and don't need to check in at the desk. I one time drove a terribly smokey smelling car for a whole weekend because I didn't bother to complain about it before I left; it just wasn't worth it.

Happy driving!

Save a Bundle on Your Family Vacation: Rent Directly from Property Owners

With gas prices north of $3.00 and the dollar going straight down, whether you travel at home or abroad chances are your vacation is going to be a little more expensive this year than last. Wouldn't it be nice to save a little on accommodations? Well, instead of heading to that Holiday Inn or Marriott, stop by some of the sites listed below and rent a condo or vacation home directly from the owner. In many cases the prices listed are highly negotiable since the owner's usual alternative to having you rent is to have the place go empty, so don't be afraid to ask for an even better rate than what is posted.

http://www.homeaway.com/
85,000 vacation homes are listed here. They also recently bought VRBO.com and integrate listings from several sites.

http://www.vrbo.com/
The original Vacation Rental By Owner site with over 75,000 vacation homes listed.

http://www.cyberrentals.com/
Another VRBO-type site with 39,000 and a homeaway affiliate.

http://www.greatrentals.com/
A site very similar to VRBO, but with only 29,000 listings. Also a homeaway affiliate.