January 25, 2007 | Hot Hot Hot!

I don’t know if you remember that my kids named my Scheduler Roomba “Robot Jones.” Chris, an awesome Want Not reader, took it upon himself to send me his Roomba Red after he decided that it was not up to the task of vanquishing the hairballs his cat was leaving around. The children immediately named the Red “Robot Jane,” and I thought that Robot Jones had found his girlfriend.


The problem is, Robot Jane lives on the second floor. Robot Jones lives on the first floor, and informs me that he’s still lonely.

I don’t know if this is a price mistake or just an insane deal, but Buy.com is selling the Scooba 5900 for just $209.99 with free shipping. (It typically goes for over $300 at Amazon.) This is actually less than $12 off of Buy.com’s regular price for it, which is (obviously) significantly lower than Amazon’s price. And if you really want a laugh, go look it up on the iRobot site.

I’m not saying you should run out and buy one on a whim. But if you’ve been pricing them, this is the deal to grab.

[Robot Jones is a little miffed that I'm not getting one, but when I asked him how much money he'd be contributing, all he offered me was a dust bunny from underneath the couch. So.]

Groceries, Hot Hot Hot!

Here’s two grocery deals I spotted at Amazon this morning while I was trying to decide what to have for breakfast. (Oh, like you’ve never done that.)

Get 12 boxes of organic macaroni and cheese for just $12 (a 67% savings).

Or—because who wants mac and cheese for breakfast—choose from a variety of all-natural granolas at $12 for 6 pouches (a 43% savings).

Maybe you make all this stuff yourself, from scratch, and don’t need these deals. If that’s the case, I commend you. Also, I’m available for adoption, because I want you to be my mommy.

Quick Tips

I use the internet for most of my phone number look-up needs (Switchboard is my favorite), but sometimes I’m out and about and need someone’s number.

Knowing what you know about me, do you think I’m willing to pay what it costs to call directory assistance on my cell phone? I’ll give you three guesses… and the first two don’t count.

I’ve even been known to call a friend on my cell to ask them to look up a number on the computer for me. (It’s really a wonder my friends speak to me at all, isn’t it?)

But that’s all over, now. Introducing Free 411, which can be dialed from any phone at 1-800-FREE-411. If you dial it from a cell phone, you pay only with airtime (like any other call).

Needless to say, my friends are very excited by my discovery. I cannot imagine why.

(via Extraordinary Mundane)

January 24, 2007 | Everyday Wisdom, Questions Answered

Yesterday’s post on the Dos and Don’ts of credit cards prompted this comment from tennessee gal:

Delurking to ask a question. I am still in college and stumbled across your site through a link, but I love the freebies! I currently have no credit in my name and after trying to get my fiance a cell phone with no credit (they wanted a $1000 deposit), I decided I should get a credit card and use it to buy my gas each month. The point is to keep it simple. Something that I would be purchasing anyway, and I know I can pay off with my current job. My question is this: I’ve heard two different theories. One is that you don’t build credit buy paying off your credit card each month, that you should carry a balance on it. The other is that you should pay it off each month and that does build your credit. I am personally a fan of the second one where I pay it off each month and not carry a balance. I talked to Mom about this and she couldn’t remember how she built credit. And there are so many conflicting articles on the internet about this, I wanted to know your thoughts! I have not picked a card to get yet, so any suggestions you have would be welcome. Please help this college student going on the right track! (and I think I’m supposed to say that you are beautiful and ROCK!)

(That tennessee gal… she’s a quick learner. See how she sucks up to me on her very first question? She’s going places, I can tell.)

So how about it—do you carry a credit card balance simply to “build up” your credit? (more…)

Hot Hot Hot!

Today (1/24/07) only, you can take an additional 10% off at the DisneyShopping Outlet using coupon code OUTLET. And after you enter that code, you can stack code SPRING on top of it for another 20% off. (Just remember to log in before you shop, because Disney is weird that way about coupons.) [Edited to add: Looks like SPRING is a non-outlet code. You can still stack them if you have items from both the outlet and not, but it won't work on outlet items. Sorry 'bout that.]

They’ve got their winter clearance going with items up to 80% off, so there are definitely deals to be had. And I have a very hard time resisting stackable coupons. If they came with chocolate, that would be my idea of Utopia, right there.

Hot Hot Hot!, What to Wear

Right now there’s a huge clearance blowout going on at Catherines, with more markdowns that I could possible detail here, so you’ll just have to go have a look.

Sweeten the deal with one of the following coupon codes (all of which are good through February 1st, 2007):

776801508 — 20% off your total order, no minimum
776801706 — Free shipping on your $50+ order
776801607 — $20 off your $70+ order

(Don’t forget—even if you’re not a plus size, there are accessories like earrings which are one-size-fits-all.)

Hot Hot Hot!

Are you a blogger? Take this quick survey (it took me less than 5 minutes) and you might win an iPod shuffle.

Plus, the results of surveys like these are always interesting. There’s always someone who insists that they’re blogging for world peace, or whatever. Me, I blog for the fame and fortune. Yes, the strange looks people give me when I tell them I’m a blogger and the five bucks a month I make are thanks enough.

(Via verbatim.)

Hot Hot Hot!

I don’t know how long this one is running, but this is the first promotion I’ve seen from them since before Christmas.

Right now you can get free shipping at L.L. Bean on any order through this link. There’s plenty on sale, including several of their invincible backpacks which are worth every single penny at full price, and are now at least half off (some are even less than that). I sing the praises of those backpacks to anyone who will listen.

It’s possible that I’ve been living in New England for too long, yes. But those backpacks wear like steel, I swear.

Quick Tips

“Wow, Aunt Bertha… that was really, really… thoughtful… of you to give me a gift card to Harry’s House of Prosthetics. Thanks so much….”

Sound familiar? The holidays have come and gone, and you might have a few gifts cards that you know you’ll never use. What a waste, right? Not necessarily.

Unwanted gift cards can be exchanged for different ones, or sold for cash, and everybody wins. Here’s three sites to check out:

Cardavenue
Swapagift
Plastic Jungle

(I guess I have everyone around me well-trained; I haven’t had to face an unwanted gift card in a long, long time. But if you do, now you have options.)

January 23, 2007 | Groceries, Hot Hot Hot!

Here’s a promotion at Amazon designed for those of you who are counting calories or just dislike food that has taste. (I’m kidding! Ow, stop hitting me with those boxes of Splenda!)

Now through January 31st, 2007, you can save $10 off your $29+ purchase of qualifying South Beach Diet, Crystal Light, and 100-Calorie Pack items with coupon code NEWYEARS.

That stuff is pretty expensive, normally, so now’s a good time to stock up. Or switch to water and rice cakes. Either way.