Money Blue Book

Because I rely on public transportation for the vast majority of my work related commute, I don’t track gas and oil price fluctuations as closely as someone who drives regularly. While I do notice the indirect correlative effects of pricier gas in the way of higher food prices (and wow are food prices getting more expensive these days), I don’t usually realize how high gas prices have spiked until I find myself pumping my own gas. While returning home from a cross country drive to visit a friend in another state this weekend, I noticed I was running low on gas. I scanned the interstate highway horizon for the cheapest regular gas price I could find, and was stunned at how far up gas prices had risen. Only a few weeks and months ago, gas prices were still holding steady at $3.00 a gallon. Now they’ve climbed to within the $4.00 striking range. I filled up my Honda Accord and looked at the final tally – $44.50. Nearby I could hear the profanity-laden mutterings of other disgruntled drivers as they filled up their vehicles with pricey gasoline. Next to me a big pick-up truck pulled up – definitely a $125.00 filler-upper.

Until the fuel scientists and federal government decide to seriously combat the problem of high gas prices and fuel shortages with subsidies and research grants for the development of alternative energy, all we can do as consumers is to try to find common-sensical ways to reduce our fuel consumption and minimize what we pay at the pump. Public transportation options through car pooling, riding public buses, and taking the subway are some of the frugal ways to save money on gas by ditching the car altogether, but for some people those aren’t feasible solutions – and for others, they simply love their cars too much. Buying a hybrid gas and electric powered vehicle is another way to save gas money. However, buying a hybrid requires a sizable upfront investment that is not suitable for many at this time. Thus, I want to turn my attention primarily to helping drivers like myself who own plain old fossil fuel gas guzzlers. Even for regular drivers like us who jet around in our old fashioned gas powered vehicles, it doesn’t mean we have to give up an arm or a leg at the gas station.

Here Are A Few Simple And Easy Ways To Save Money On Gas:

1) Lighten Your Car and Keep Your Vehicle Engine Well Maintained and Tires Properly Inflated - The heavier your vehicle, the more gas is required to power it. For example, if you drive one of those large Good Humor ice cream trucks as your primary vehicle, you are most definitely going to consume much more fuel than if you drove a tiny compact Honda Civic. Thus the lighter you can make your car, truck, or van, the more fuel efficiently your vehicle will run and the less gas it will consume, thereby saving you more money on gas.

For the longest time I use to store stacks of water bottle pallets in my car. Whenever I bought 24-packs from the grocery store, rather than lugging them up to my apartment, I usually left the 4 or 5 large pallets in the trunk until I needed one. Little did I realize at the time how much unnecessary weight I was adding to my vehicle – forcing it to consume more fuel to power it. Any excess weight you can eliminate from your vehicle will help you save money on gas in the long run, and this includes from both personal cargo and passengers.

Other than reducing your vehicle’s weight, you can also ensure optimum fuel performance by keeping your tires properly inflated, as air has a natural tendency to seep out. By keeping your tires well inflated, you minimize the surface contact area they have with the road, thereby ensuring that less friction is created when you drive, which results in better gas mileage. Keep in mind that in cold weather, tires tend to be a little saggy as air compresses in cold temperatures. In warmer weather, tires puff up as air expands. I always make it a point to check my car tire pressure at the start of every new season to keep them in line with developing weather and changing temperatures. Your proper tire pressure number can be obtained from that little sticker in your driver side door jam or from your vehicle owner’s manual. I always keep my car manual in the glove compartment with a little yellow tab on the tire pressure page just in case I need to reference it.

You should always keep an eye on your engine light as well, to make sure the engine is running at peak efficient performance. If it’s making strange gurgling noises or running a bit sluggish, it may be time to take it to the car repair shop. Proper and regular oil changes help to keep your car running smooth and well lubricated, however be sure not to spend unnecessary money performing oil changes too frequently. Follow your vehicle’s manual for oil change guidance to avoid falling into the oil change trap.

2) Adjust Your Driving Habits To Maximize Fuel Efficiency and Reduce Drag – For those of you fortunate enough to have a fuel efficiency gauge on your dashboard, you may have noticed that certain driving activities cause fuel consumption to drop and other activities cause fuel consumption to increase.

The two actions that requires the most fuel to perform are those that demand rapid performance such as quick stops and quick accelerations. Forcing your car to suddenly stop by hitting the gas pedal requires more fuel than letting your vehicle roll to a natural halt. Similarly, when you jam the gas pedal to accelerate quickly, a lot more gas power is needed to bring your vehicle into sudden rapid motion than a slow, gradual building of speed.

If you want to save money on gas by maximizing your car’s fuel efficiency, learn to become a driver of moderation. Don’t accelerate or brake suddenly. Look and scan ahead to anticipate your next movement so that you can cruise to stops and allow gentle accelerations. By adopting a more temperate driving approach, you can easily boost your fuel performance and gas mileage by 10-20% or more. Obviously highway driving is best because you are able to maintain a consistent speed, thereby ensuring peak fuel performance. The stop and go driving style of rush hour traffic is the worst when it comes to fuel efficiency.

As for reducing wind drag, the key to remember is that drag is most pronounced when you are traveling fast. For most vehicles, peak fuel efficiency usually occurs at the highest transmission gear at lower speeds. At higher speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour, wind resistance increases exponentially, forcing your car to work harder to maintain the same speed. If you are a fast driver like me or spend most of your time on the highways, you should drive with your windows up to improve gas performance and save money. On slower local roads, driving with the windows down isn’t as big of a wind resistance issue.

3) Use Regular Gas and Avoid Premium Gas Unless Recommended By the Manufacturer – Other than the oil change myth, the premium fuel myth is one that many drivers unwittingly buy into. These days, cars don’t need more expensive premium fuel to run smoothly and resist engine wear. Other than price, the thing that separates regular fuel from premium fuel is octane content. Regular gas has an octane rating of 87, mid grade gas is 89, and premium gas is usually about 91 or 92. Octane has nothing to due with fuel power or the cleanliness, but rather refers to the ability of the fuel to resist engine knocking or pinging, which occurs when the fuel air mixture ignites abnormally or prematurely in your engine, causing inefficient explosions. Improperly timed firings can potentially inhibit proper performance and may ultimately hurt your engine hardware. However, modern cars contain engine sensors that regulate knocks and pings that work just as well with regular fuel as with premium. Most cars derive no appreciable benefit from using premium fuel, and usually only high performance vehicles, particular ones equipped with superchargers or turbochargers require higher octane fuel.

As always, the best advice is to follow what your car manufacturer advises on the matter. If you car owner’s manual calls for only regular fuel, then there is no reason to use higher grade fuel. Some manuals will indicate that premium fuel is either recommended or suggested for best performance, however regular fuel will usually work just as well. Only when premium is actually indicated to be necessary and required should you spend extra money on premium gas.

4) Seek Out Generic Gas Stations That Offer The Cheapest Gas Prices – When I buy gas, I scout for the gas station that offers me the lowest price for regular grade gas. I pay absolutely no attention to the brand – acknowledging no distinction between Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Sunoco, Citgo, or Cletus’ Gas Shack. In my opinion, the fuel they offer are all substantially the same. The only difference between one gasoline brand from another is the type of additives mixed in with the fuel. Supposedly as the marketing hype goes, the additives keep your engine running cleaner. However, current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations already mandate detergent additives for all fuel mixtures. Thus you shouldn’t buy into clever advertising buzzwords or catchy additive names that pricier oil companies use to make their fuel brands seem more impressive than they actually are. All you will be doing is throwing good money away.

Of course, there will always be suckers out there who will insist that one fuel is better than the other for whatever brand loyalty or placebo reasons. If it’ll make you feel better to use a brand of fuel like Exxon as opposed to a lower priced one like Citgo, then be my guest. Personally, the only reason why I would avoid a particular low priced gas station would be if they only took cash payment and not credit cards.

5) Use Gas Credit Cards To Earn Cash Back Rewards and Gas Rebates – I use credit cards for everything, and using a gas credit card to earn cash back rewards on fuel purchases is no exception. Gas credit card rewards vary but the best offers are currently floating in the 5% cash back range. Take a look at my list of gas credit card rewards for the best ones. If you fuel up often, saving 5% cash back rebate on every gas station purchase can help you save a lot of money over the course of a year. Of course, if you have trouble handling the use of reward credit cards, you may want to stick with cash.

As gas and oil prices continue to push vigorously into higher unprecedented levels, my wallet lets out a single quivering tear drop. But when I find myself mired in the unmoving water boarding torture that is rush hour traffic – I end up rooting for higher gas prices so that financial natural selection can put a slowdown to the serious problem of traffic jams gone wild.

I hate living, visiting, or even driving near cities with bad traffic. Unfortunately I happen to live near a major metropolitan hub that Forbes Magazine views as the city with the worst overall traffic in the United States – Washington D.C. I was rather taken back when I read that since I had always assumed the smoggy Southern California city of Los Angeles claimed that title, but then the dubious distinction doesn’t exactly surprise me. The D.C. Beltway certainly deserves that title as the highway is always filled to the brim with honking drivers.

Why does the local suburban crawl population in our area keep expanding every year? It only adds to the ever growing traffic congestion problem in the region where I live and grew up. Just because the public schools in suburban Maryland and Virginia are some of the best in the nation and the federal government places the vast majority of its jobs in the city doesn’t mean everyone have to move here. Why not move to say – neighboring West Virginia or the Appalachian area of Southern Virginia? I hear they have plenty of empty space and farm land that can use some occupying. But in all seriousness, the traffic in our nation’s capital is utterly insane and spiraling out of control. It is absolutely abnormal and I refuse to accept this dysfunctional bumper to bumper driving as the price of living in a popular metro region.

The American Love For Driving Is Getting Out Of Control And Needs To Be Reigned In

I have friends who spend hours and hours in traffic everyday and see the routine as perfectly normal – they’re simply used to it. When I ask them how they deal with the emotional agony, and wear and tear to their vehicles caused by repetitive stop and go traffic every morning and afternoon, they simply shrug and say they’re used to it. Most seem to have accepted this lot in life as simply part of the personal daily sacrifice needed to live in a city that offers great schools, great malls, great culture, and great jobs. Unfortunately I’m not as accepting of this plight as they are. Perhaps it’s because I’m a life-long public transportation commuter. Since college, I’ve only commuted by car to work a few times before. The vast majority of the time I take public transportation through the D.C. Metro – our underground subway train system. D.C. Metro is very convenient and reaches most of the major employment centers in the city. Fare prices are reasonable and the subway cars are generally well maintained. However, many people simply refuse to give up driving.

It’s truly a national obsession – Americans are infatuated and in love with their cars. Most refuse to give up their love of driving and insist on clogging up the highways with their one occupant vehicles every morning. They insist on being able to enjoy the convenience of commuting to work on their own and see driving their cars as the ultimate liberating American experience. But how liberating is it really when you are stuck in rush hour traffic for a 2 and a half hour commute each way for a total of 5 hours, when the total back and forth commute should have taken only an hour?

Back when I was a child (I sound like an old guy – but I’m only in my late 20’s), my family only owned a single car – a compact red Toyota Corolla, for a family of 4 people. It was occasionally inconvenient to share just one vehicle, but we managed well and relied primarily on public subway transportation. Nowadays, families have multiple cars and even children are now getting their own. With the hyper-consumerism mentality of today’s younger generation, it’s almost expected that each teen gets to have his or her own ride to drive around in. In some households, the number of vehicles, motorcycles, sport utility vehicles (SUV)’s, trucks, and recreation vehicles even dwarfs the number of individuals that make up the household as people nowadays own accessory vehicles such as fancy sports cars for special driving occasions. Eventually, all of these vehicles end up on the highways at the same time – stretching road handling capacity to the breaking point.

Yesterday I needed to run some errands during the day in an area inaccessible by subway so I decided to take my car – bad mistake. I hopped into my car and proceeded to my destination. On my way back home, I didn’t realize it was afternoon rush hour until it was too late. By the time I had winded onto the 495 Beltway there was no turning back – the die had been cast and I had become a member of the afternoon herd. I was only a mere 15 miles from home, but my slow chug through heavy rush hour traffic took 2 hours. The constant tapping of the break pedal was frustrating to no end.

Thankfully, High Gas Prices Will Help Control The Number Of Future Cars On The Road And Thin Out Rampant Traffic Jams

That’s why even with today’s spiraling and increasing gas prices at the pump, there’s a silver lining. With higher oil and gas prices will inevitably come a shift and change in American driving habits. The higher cost of driving will force many to think twice about storming onto the roads, and force solitary drivers who commute every day to work by themselves to buddy up and join a car pool. For those who absolutely must commute by themselves, this will require them to re-evaluate about where they need to go and plan ahead to maximize their gas usage. Higher gas prices will help eliminate traffic congestion and allow those who really need to drive to have a better and more efficient transportation experience. Yes it will financially affect me as well, but the price to pay will be worth the greatly improved driving experience.

In most major national and international metropolitan areas such as New York City, Tokyo, and in most densely populated Asian and European cities, city inhabitants have adapted well to a public transportation lifestyle. Many who live in traffic clogged cities don’t even own cars and get around fine on foot or via public subway trains and buses. There really is no reason why we must all be driving around huge clunking vehicles when a smaller vehicle option would do just as well. I’m looking forward to the day when higher gas prices eliminate most of the hulking SUV’s from the road and replace them with tiny two-man cars or even personal Segway scooters.

Of course, for such major driving and oil consumption habits to change, gas prices would have to increase and surge even more – double or triple from their current levels to maybe $8.00 or $10.00 a gallon. I’m sorry car lovers and driving enthusiasts – but I’m secretly rooting against the development of alternative fuels and the adoption of electricity, hydrogen, and ethanol powered cars. All they’ll do is make it cheaper to drive and substantially increase the number of drivers already on the road. In the alternative, if cheaper fuels are developed, I’m all in favor of some type of driving tax or federal traffic toll. Something needs to be done to reduce the number of cars overflowing our roads, choking up our infrastructure, and creating perpetual bottlenecks.

If you’ve ever encountered sites on the internet that claimed to offer brand new laptop computers, mp3 players, or even plasma TV’s for free, I’m sure most of you jumped to the immediate conclusion that they must all be scams. Well, on some level you may be correct and your initial instincts serve you well. But the misleading deception is not that they don’t actually give out laptops, it’s that these so-called free laptop offers do require some up front financial commitment and mandatory participation in a few monthly subscription programs. However, if you have a keen eye for seeking out deals that require the least amount of out-of-pocket effort, and know how to manipulate the rules by taking advantage of free trial offers, it’s possible to walk away with a brand new laptop for only a fraction of its fair market value.

What I’m about to share may be time consuming and require almost anal, obsessive compulsive organizational skills, but the potential payoff at the end is quite substantial. For those of you who need the laptop or fancy electronic gadget right away, you probably won’t have the patience for what this process demands. The procedure takes some time to complete and requires a lot of waiting – up to four months usually from start to finish. To successfully game the system and earn your almost free reward product you will need to be detail-oriented and willing to exercise patience and follow directions to the letter. If you follow these instructions, you should be able to beat the gift reward system and earn your prize – whether it be a free laptop, Ipod, Xbox, Playstation, or even a free plasma TV. The gift reward process does work, but it is heavily dependent on your own persistence and ability to successfully micromanage your offers to completion. If you are the type to give up easily or freak out in despair at the first sign of trouble, I don’t recommend any of this for you since you will likely crash and burn. For everyone else – good luck!

Background About Gift Reward Websites That Offer Free Laptops and Other Free Promotions

You may have heard about these websites that offer customers the chance to earn a free gift reward – usually an expensive prize like a notebook computer or even a plasma television set. I see these offers all the time and sometimes I even hear a few success stories here and there from friends (as well as a few horror stories) – but I never paid them much attention. I always assumed they were either spam offers or websites run by scammers. However it looks like some of these free gift reward companies are now branching out into mainstream media – running radio commercials, television spots, and featuring online banner advertisements on various websites.

These companies usually run a large number of similarly designed websites touting free laptops, free iPhones and an assortment of so-called free products. In exchange for you signing up yourself and/or referring a few friends to some of the company’s paid services, the company is willing to offer you a free reward. Some programs only require that you yourself participate in select offers, while others require you to refer friends, family, and strangers. Personally I recommend staying away from referral programs since I think they are too much trouble. Ultimately, the reward provider makes money because the sponsors and affiliate programs they promote pay them a lot of money in the form of incentives and commissions for advertising their products. By requiring you and I to sign up for paid products and subscriptions, the prize company makes a lot of money through referrals, which they in turn use a portion of to buy gift rewards for those that qualify for redemption. The way to beat the system is to make sure you cancel your paid programs before the end of free trial periods, or at the very least after fulfilling the prize terms to minimize your overall expenditure. Even for those gift reward programs that limit the number of cancellations to a certain number, you can still seek out the least costly programs to participate in for the mandatory length of time.

The reality is that not all customers will successfully complete the reward redemption procedure and many end up paying more money for unnecessary services than the ultimate value of their reward. The prize system works because the company knows that a sizable portion of customers will fail to follow the rules and procedure and not fulfill the terms to qualify for their reward. This method of working the odds is also how credit card companies make so much money off of promotions like 0% balance transfer offers. They count on a certain percentage of people to fail to make the business enterprise financially profitable. But you can choose to be part of that percentage that does succeed. If you follow the rules to the letter and document your receipts, as well as stick to the terms and conditions, you may be one of those that come out on top.

Some may say these types of offers are nothing but scams, but frankly they are really no different than your so-called reputable mobile phone company offering you a “free cell phone” with a new 2 year long term cellular contract. The word “free” is loosely defined these days in the business world. These companies and websites probably need to put a bigger asterisk by the word “free,” and indicate more prominently that additional terms and conditions apply. However, I think consumers need to take it upon themselves to read the fine print more carefully. In the world of free gift reward websites, the word “free” does not mean that the customer pays nothing out of pocket whatsoever – there is no such business model that could survive this way. When they say “free”, what they mean is that the customer pays nothing directly to obtain the product, say a free laptop, but may have to subscribe and enroll in a few participating product promos to qualify. These product offers frequently do require financial commitment, but only for the length of time required for reward program fulfillment (usually 1-2 months). In many cases you can cancel the paid monthly subscriptions within the free trial period without incurring a charge. Of course, each reward program’s terms and conditions vary so please read carefully.

Separating Scam Sites From The Safe, Legitimate Gift Reward Programs

You should never trust any reward site without first performing a detailed investigation into the company’s business practice and identity, and thoroughly going over its terms and conditions. Just because a website looks legitimate doesn’t make it so. You must also verify its identity to make sure you can trace and track down the company’s customer support staff before engaging with it. As a lawyer myself, I always want to know the identity and primary business location of the company I’m dealing with in the event I need to file a lawsuit against the company for any possible future breach of contract or civil fraud claim.

One thing to note is that these free gift reward companies are not the most pristinely run operations. Their business model naturally generates a lot of angry customers and commentators who are particularly vocal about expressing their views on websites like Rip Off Report. However, you should also keep in mind that the world is frankly filled with quite a few absent minded people who simply cannot follow directions. While I’m sure the majority of the scam reports are legitimate, I think there is a substantial number that are written by disgruntled people who simply failed to follow directions and rules set forth by the company. The terms and conditions written by the company is a obligatory contract between you and them that goes into effect once you sign up and start participating in their reward program. It’s important to follow the terms in great detail. Of course, this only applies to legitimate gift reward websites.

To Separate the Scammers From the Legit Businesses, You Must Do the Following:

1. Verify Its Identity – The quickest and most direct way to verify a company’s identity is to examine the information listed on the website. There should be a Customer Support, About Us, or Contact Us section where the company lists its identity and contact information. Legitimate websites ought to be transparent and you should be able to find and verify business identity information with relative ease. If you find a website that does not provide a telephone number or mailing address, I would advise you to be extra careful. Scam websites usually only include an anonymous contact form, without including an actual mailing address or verifiable phone number. There are also other ways to verify a company’s legitimacy, including checking out the website’s Who Is Internet registry information. Legitimate companies usually list their registry information openly, complete with actual addresses and verifiable phone numbers. If the company’s information is hidden or anonymous, you should be extra careful and suspicious.
2. Check Its Business Track Record – I usually run a few Google word searches to see if the company’s name comes up anywhere. This helps with verifying identity and checking out the company’s business track record. I’m looking to see whether it has a history of scamming people and whether it’s under investigation. Oftentimes gift reward companies will show up on sites like Rip Off Report, but you shouldn’t be immediately deterred by these consumer reviews without further investigation of your own. Use your own judgment about the reward provider and determine for yourself how trustworthy and reliable the program is. Remember, even great mainstream companies are bound to have a few customers here and there that simply have an unfounded grudge against them. You should also look the company up on the Better Business Bureau website. Keep in mind that companies frequently have multiple aliases and run similar operations under different names. If you find a phone number, you should try test calling to see if you can speak to a live person to verify the company’s authenticity.
3. Read The Terms And Conditions Carefully – It’s crucial to read the terms and conditions of the website very carefully. I recommend saving the terms and conditions web page to your desktop by going to your browser window menu and selecting “Save As”. This will allow you to retain the text in the form you found it and will help you keep a record in the event some sneaky company decides to secretly change their terms and offers without letting you know. Remember, this is your contract with the company. If something goes wrong and you must file a civil lawsuit or pursue a legal complaint against the company, this contract will lay out the details of your claim.

How To Beat the Gift Reward Process and Earn Your Almost Free Laptop Or Plasma TV

The first step is to obviously find a site that offers so-called free rewards. There are many of them out there and I don’t recommend any of them in particular, but they shouldn’t be too hard to find. In the future I will cite a few website examples and discuss my experiences with specific programs, but for now I leave the program search to you. Most of them show up in searches for “free laptops”, “free ipods”, and “free plasma TV’s”. Keep in mind that not all reward programs are legitimate.

Every reward program is different and specific terms and conditions vary so it’s important you actually read each program’s contractual details carefully before you even think of participating. However, their business models and the way they work are generally the same. There are two types of free reward programs – sites that don’t require referrals and sites that do. Personally I hate referral programs because I don’t like to bother my friends and family with spam and somewhat shady offers. If I’m going to get involved in some make money scheme/scam or reward program, I’d rather it only affect me and leave everyone out of it. That’s why I advise everyone to avoid offers that require referrals altogether. They are too much of a hassle and will likely upset the people you send those offers to. Once again, always seek out the fine print. Read everything carefully.

1) Before you start, be sure you have properly verified the identity of the reward website and make sure you have assured yourself that the business is indeed trustworthy. Make sure you document every step of the way by saving to your computer the contents of all offer listings and pages containing terms and conditions. You should also take a screenshot of each page or make a paper printout of the offer terms. Having full documentation is very important and will ultimately save you from a major mistake. It may mean the difference of you receiving your “free” laptop or finding yourself disqualified from receiving your reward.

2) Usually the reward website starts out by asking you to select your free reward. This part is meant to sucker you in and get you overly excited about the prospect of receiving an expensive product like a laptop, Ipod, desktop computer, or cell phone. Make your selection carefully since you usually can’t change your reward choice later after it’s made. The site will usually require you to submit your e-mail address right from the start. Never enter your primary personal e-mail address. You should always use an alternate or fake one from Yahoo, Gmail, or Hotmail because your account will be spammed. However, the spam is part of the program concession and needs to be tolerated if you are to fulfill the program’s terms.

3) Next, the website will usually ask you where it should send your free gift. This is when you have to enter your name, phone number, and address. Keep in mind that the mailing address you submit will likely be the target of any paid promotion they send you and may cause you to receive some junk mail for at least the duration of the promotion. If you want a fake phone number, you can always generate a free phone number online.

4) Some programs require that you refer a certain number of people and get them to sign up for the same product offers. I highly advise against getting into programs that require referrals. You don’t want to alienate your friends, family, or even strangers over this. I prefer non-referral websites since you work on your own and don’t have to annoy anybody. If your reward website is asking you to submit a list of your friend’s e-mail addresses, ditch them and move on to another website.

5) The program will usually run you through a long list of short introductory surveys and ask if you want information on any number of products from pills, to coupons, to student loans, to strange male enhancement products, to crazy nutritional supplements. Just say no to all offers and make sure you clearly click no to every request. Clicking yes will likely result in unnecessary junk mail or unwanted promotional samples to be sent to you. Furthermore, none of these initial offers usually count towards your “free” reward product.

6) The next part demands the most work and requires extra attention to detail-oriented record keeping. After the intro survey, you will likely encounter one or multiple web pages filled with advertisement offers. You will be instructed to select a certain number of product offers from each page by clicking on the desired link and signing up through it. There can be anywhere from 5 to 40 total offers that you have to choose from. Depending on the program details, you may have to select anywhere from 5-10 of them total (but of course it varies). Usually as you progress from one offer page to another, the product terms become more restrictive and expensive. The first page usually contains the least expensive products followed by more expensive and more difficult to fulfill offers. Some reward websites may require you to pick a certain number of offers from each page. For example, one notable reward website separates offer pages by “silver”, “gold”, and “platinum” labels – requiring 2 offers from “silver”, 2 offers from “gold”, and 6 offers from the more restrictive and expensive “platinum” page.

I recommend completing all of your required offers in one sitting to better track your reward completion. Before you sign up for any offer, read through each product carefully, saving and printing out the pages of the ones you are interested in. Here is where you compare offers and determine whether the particular offer is too expensive or has too restrictive of a return policy. Most of the advertisers do offer free introductory trial periods ranging from a week to a month. Before the trial period is up, you are usually free to cancel and get your money back, minus shipping and handling (although sometimes shipping is also refunded). Remember that you are committing yourself to these product offers. Make sure the individual products have return and refund terms that are clearly stated so you don’t get stuck with a permanent supply of useless furniture, foreign language tapes, or herbal supplements you don’t need.

7) Signing up for mandatory product offers will require the use of a credit card. I don’t recommend using a debit card because you want the purchase protections offered by credit cards in case something goes wrong and you either need to cancel your card number or need to protest an unauthorized transaction. Some of these advertisers have a habit of overcharging or continuing to charge even after customer cancellation. Thus you want all the purchase protection you can get.

8) I can’t overemphasize the importance of documenting everything. You should create a table, chart, or spreadsheet of all your product offer names followed by the offer details, including the page the offer was found on (“gold”, “silver” etc), estimated weekly or monthly cost, proposed cancellation date, and a section to indicate whether the item’s fulfillment has been verified by the reward program provider. If the reward provider limits the number of program cancellations, you will want to clearly delineate that on your spreadsheet.

Save every single piece of material you have on all offers you participate in. Run screen shots, print out pages, and save entire web pages that contain information about terms and conditions. In the event something goes wrong, you will need this documentation to prove that you genuinely fulfilled the terms of the offer and are qualified to receive your almost-free gift reward. You don’t want to go through all this for nothing.

9) After submitting your minimum required number of offers, you should regularly check your account to see when the offers have been fulfilled. Usually reward providers require you to fulfill their terms in 60 days to qualify for your “free” laptop or whatever reward you selected (the length of time varies). Your account should have a link location where you can check your gift reward status and verify that the advertiser products have been fulfilled and completed. Usually the advertisers are responsible for notifying the free reward center that you have successfully completed their offer, but that is not always the case. Sometimes the companies forget to report back to the reward provider site. In that case, you will have to bring forth your printed out proof or scanned documentation to verify that you are in compliance. That is why complete documentation is so important. These reward companies are notorious for forgetting to log your program completion.

10) If the terms and conditions permit returns, you should return most of the products you ordered. If that is the case, you should do so at the earliest opportunity to halt the monthly subscriptions fees and prevent yourself from going over any free trial period. Be sure to return the product for a credit and refund if that is required. Once again, make sure you document all returns as well. Note that some reward provider programs limit the number of product cancellations you can make – so keep that in mind before you cancel a product. You don’t want to violate the terms.

Final Thoughts About These “Free” Gift Reward Programs

Keep in mind that you are responsible for all federal, state, and local taxes for rewards that you receive since the rewards will likely be deemed taxable income. While tax reporting policies vary, many legitimate reward providers will report your gift receipts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to comply with federal and state tax codes. On your own tax return, you will likely have to report the fair market value of the items received.

In my next post about How To Get A Free Laptop, I will review the Gift Reward Center. They run a whole bunch of online websites that you may have seen before but never paid much attention to. They’ve endured a whole slew of legal and customer complaints, but after changing their terms and policies, they seem to have stayed in business. Currently they are deemed a legitimate business by the Better Business Bureau despite numerous complaints. Their business practice leaves a lot to be desired but so long as they are a legitimate operation, their gift reward system can be beaten.

A few years ago I had the misfortune of living in the ghetto inner city of Baltimore. I had no choice – that was where the geniuses at the state of Maryland chose to locate their state run graduate schools. Why they chose to place the school building in a dangerous area surrounded by homeless people and drug hangouts still baffles me. The city is saturated with a population comprised of drug addicts, violent thugs, and opportunistic car thieves.

Along with two other roommates, I lived in a quaint row house near the law school in an area primarily occupied by students. Here, I thought my roommates and I would be safely shielded from the neighboring slums and criminal activity. I was wrong. Within the span of two years, a classmate friend of mine was robbed in person and a neighbor who lived across from our row house had her home burglarized (canned food was stolen, of all things). Furthermore, both of my roommates’ street parked cars were broken into. My old red Toyota Corolla survived the criminal onslaught valiantly for while, but it too finally succumbed to the inevitable break in.

I usually parked my car along the street where our row house was located. One day I came home from class only to discover that the small rear side window panel on the passenger end had been smashed to pieces. Auto glass shards were strewn across the back seat, but nothing was taken. Everyone in Baltimore City knows that you must never leave any personal property visibly sitting in your parked car that may attract thieves. Even a pack of coke or a few pencils become priority targets for the passing drug addict. I thought I had been abiding by the rule pretty well until then. I had even adopted the practice of emptying out my glove compartment and leaving it wide open to advertise the fact that it was empty. Of course this didn’t deter Baltimore City’s finest. As an older Toyota model, my car wasn’t equipped with an audible car alarm, making it an attractive break in-target – and now my car had just become another city statistic. After grumbling and sighing out loud at my misfortune, I filed a pointless police report and then set out to get the auto window glass pane fixed. Since my Geico auto insurance didn’t cover glass breakage, I’d have to find my own way to fix it cheaply.

Save Money By Repairing Your Car With Pried-Off Used Car Parts Found At Your Local Auto Junkyard

Since my car was an old hand-me-down from my parents, I had little incentive to spend a lot of money on parts or labor to get the window fixed. I tried patching it up temporarily with clear packaging tape, but that just made it look even worse. It certainly didn’t impress the girl I was dating at the time. Finally I decided the busted window had to be replaced. But rather than going to an auto parts or auto glass store and paying $200 to get the small glass pane repaired, I decided to pursue the frugal route – by visiting a local auto junkyard to locate the parts myself.

A friend recommended a local junkyard in the Baltimore, Maryland region so I decided to give it a try. Interestingly enough, the name of the auto landfill was called “Crazy Ray’s“. Calling itself an auto parts garden rather than a junkyard didn’t make the place any prettier. The place was a huge outdoor dirt and gravel lot filled with stacks and rows of beat up vehicles. I guess this is where old and abandoned cars came to die. Many of the cars and trucks were old and rusted, while others were relatively new but dented and wrecked due to obvious involvement in traffic accidents and fender benders. It was kind of eerie to see some brand new vehicles in the stockpile all mangled up, and knowing that someone used to drive that car.

If you drive an old vehicle and want to be cheap or frugal like me, an auto junkyard is the perfect place to get your used auto parts because you can usually find what you need for much less. These auto junkyards are essentially do-it-yourself lots where you salvage whatever components you want from the wreckages and later pay for whatever items you take. The cars are only lightly categorized and sorted by model into basic domestic or foreign piles. Because wrecked vehicles are not always efficiently logged as they are towed in, they usually can’t really tell you where to find your vehicle model – only a general direction of where they may be. They don’t have a steady stock of inventory as it is constantly rotating depending on what vehicle selections they haul in. Returns and refunds for used parts are usually not allowed.

So after I paid my $1 entrance fee, I walked into the huge outdoor scrap yard to begin my auto part hunting adventure. A large sign at the front entrance humorously reminded me that all removed nuts and bolts must be paid for upon exit – “No jacking allowed!”

For those of you thinking of taking the junkyard approach, I recommend that you wear clothing and shoes you wouldn’t mind getting dirty in. You are likely to get some mud and grease on your hands and clothing. You should also bring along hand tools like a hammer, screwdriver, and crowbar, since you’ll need them to pry your desired part off your target vehicle. Walking around, I noticed I wasn’t alone as there were plenty of other people walking around, pulling old engines and metal plates from vehicles. After walking and searching, I finally came upon a Toyota Corolla that matched my model series. I examined the window glass. While a few glass panes were cracked, the one I wanted was still in excellent condition. I immediately went to work – using my crowbar and screwdriver to pry the glass plate and rubber frame from the car window. I’m not sure how I managed to do that without breaking or scratching the glass, but I managed to get it off in one piece. After much sweat and manual effort, I trekked back to the front entrance and paid the fee for the used auto part.

Examining How Much I Saved By Using Junkyard Parts

A brand new glass pane component for my car window would have cost me $100-$150. At the junkyard I only paid $18 for the used car window pane. Some car enthusiasts know how to install the glass pane themselves. Since I’m no car expert, I chose to pay another car repair shop $30 for installation labor. All in all I spent $48 to fix the window. If I had gone to an auto glass repair shop, parts and labor would have cost me $200 or more. Of course, the cost savings adds up even more if you’re talking about replacing multiple components such as a light covers or hubcaps. At the end of the day, I went home quite pleased at my cost savings. Not a bad frugal solution to patch up an old beat-up wreck.