Photo: Cap001

Saving money in this economy can be a challenge. Many of us have already cut out big purchases and trimmed our budgets as much as we think is possible. But saving even a few bucks here and there really adds up. Here are five easy ways you can save a little extra money this year:

What are your favorite tips to save money?

Photo: Leto A.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2010!

Beef And Black Bean Chili

When the weather starts to get colder, one of my favorite things to do is make a batch of spicy, homemade chili. It’s delicious, the ingredients aren’t very expensive, and I can throw everything into one pot and forget about it until it’s ready. That’s especially handy during football season: start a batch in the morning and it’ll be perfect by halftime.

I tend to play around with the recipe quite a bit based on what I have on hand, or what’s on sale. This version uses both beef and black beans, but you could leave out the meat and add more beans for a tasty, vegetarian version. It also freezes pretty well, so you could make a batch when you have some extra time and heat it up for a quick meal when you’re busy. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5 lbs, beef, cut into small cubes (use what’s on sale, or the pre-packaged “chop suey” or “stew” cuts to save time)
• 1 tablespoon, canola oil
• 1 tablespoon, kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons, fresh ground black pepper
• 1 large vidalia onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon, garlic, diced
• 28 oz, low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 canned chipotle pepper, diced
• 24 oz, salt-free tomato sauce
• 4 tablespoons, favorite chili powder (adjust for desired heat level)
• 2 tablespoons, cumin
• 1 teaspoon, cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon, cocoa powder
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 30 oz, canned black beans, rinsed
• Optional toppings: shredded sharp cheddar cheese, corn chips, scallions, sour cream

PREPARATION:

1. Mix cubed beef with canola oil and season with kosher salt and black pepper. Brown in small batches over medium heat in a 4-quart, cast iron dutch oven. Transfer browned meat to a dish.

2. Dice the onion and sweat over medium heat until tender (about 10 minutes). Add garlic during last minute.

3. Return the beef to the pot and add chicken broth and chipotle pepper. Stir. Cover and simmer over low-medium heat for 1.5 hours.

4. Add tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, cocoa powder and cinnamon stick. Stir. Cover and return to simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Turn off heat and remove cinnamon stick. Test seasoning and adjust, as needed. Using a wooden spoon or potato masher, mash the beef until shredded (should fall apart rather easily). Stir in black beans, cover and let sit for another 15 minutes.

6. To serve, spoon into a bowl and top with shredded cheese, corn chips, scallions and sour cream, or your favorite toppings.

Serves about 8

Photo: (rae)sin

Starbucks rolled out its VIA Ready Brew instant coffee nationwide this week after limited testing in select markets. When I initially heard that Starbucks was moving into the instant category, I had serious concerns about the damage it might do to its reputation for offering affordable luxury to consumers. With a retail price of less than $1.00 per serving, VIA seems to simultaneously risk appearing both expensive, when compared to other instant coffees, and cheap, when compared to Starbucks’ own in-store java. A tough place to be, from a branding perspective.

Additionally, when most people think of instant coffee, high quality is not the first thing that comes to mind. But Starbucks has put considerable effort into developing VIA and claims that it tastes as good as its freshly brewed blends. Early evidence seems encouraging, as this youtube clip shows:

This weekend (October 2 – 5) you can see for yourself when you take the VIA Taste Challenge at participating Starbucks stores near you. They’ll even throw in a free tall coffee at your next visit.

I’m very interested to see what the quality is like. I’m also impressed with the job Starbucks has done to position VIA as an extension of its current brand. The convenience of the take-anywhere packaging opens up a number of new sales possibilities, from office workers to outdoors-types, in addition to allowing you to quickly make your own Starbucks at home. Starbucks is even asking customers to share recipe ideas using VIA. While instant coffee is very popular in Europe, it’s never really caught on in American. With VIA, Starbucks hopes to change that.

Have you taken the Starbucks VIA Taste Challenge? Can VIA win a place in the hearts of latte-loving Americans?

With more people struggling to make ends meet these days, it’s not surprising that coupon use was up 23% in the first half of 2009. More surprising are the results of a recent study by The Nielsen Company including:

• Households earning more than $70,000/year are more likely to be heavy coupon users than U.S. households in general.
• Households in affluent suburban or comfortable middle-class neighborhoods are also significant coupon users.
• Low-income households and residents in rural or struggling urban neighborhoods are more likely to be low- or non-coupon users.
• Lighter coupon users in 2008 are likely to be heavier coupon users in 2009.

Such findings may indicate that the current recession has renewed interest in thriftiness, and has been especially tough on wealthier households.

“…coupons are back in vogue.”

- Todd Hale, The Nielsen Company

Technology may also play a part, making it easier than ever to use coupons. Stephanie Nelson, author of the upcoming  The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half, runs a popular printable coupon web site called couponmom.com. I also previously reviewed alice.com, which automatically applies clipless manufacturer coupons to your order. What remains to be seen is: will these affluent shoppers continue to use coupons when the economy turns around?

Have you found yourself using coupons more?

Long the domain of book and music retailers, online shopping hasn’t really caught on with the toilet paper and laundry detergent crowd. Alice.com, a new site that lets the manufacturers of many popular consumer packaged goods sell directly to customers, hopes to change that.

Manufacturers have been feeling the profit-pinch lately, both from recession-weary consumers and giant “middle man” retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target, eager to save shelf space for store brands.

Launched as a public beta in June (and named after the beloved housekeeper in The Brady Bunch), the site gives members access to thousands of name-brand toiletries and other household goods, including Crest, Kleenex and Tide, via shop-at-home convenience. The site also provides:

• Free shipping on every order – some planning is required, as there is a six product minimum per order, but this is a must-have feature in my book
• Clipless manufacturer coupons – competitive prices without the time spent clipping coupons
• Recommended products and reorder alerts – if you’re like me and never remember to buy the Charmin until you’re down to the last roll, this can be a life saver
• Multiple shopping options – shop by room, sort by the best deal, stick with your favorite brands or pick from a large selection of green products
• Convenient way to track spending – charts and graphs help you visualize spending trends, analyze coupon savings and refine your budget
• Interaction with online community – the “neighborhood” adds a social media twist to the site where members can create profiles, share tips with other members and provide feedback to the company. There’s also a growing following on facebook and twitter (@alice).

I’ve placed one order of typical household items and was very impressed with the convenience. It took maybe 15 minutes to complete my order, which arrived via UPS in two days. The potential time savings of being able to stock up on necessities in your free time should make this a very popular option for busy parents and professionals. Prices were much cheaper than other online retailers, and slightly cheaper in total compared to my local Target.

With the selection, savings and free shipping, I could see the site as a great way to send “care packages” to college students away from home or to aging parents, who may not be able to get to the store very often.

If only Alice could help do my laundry.

What features would make you more inclined to buy household goods online?

Ask any college student, and they will likely agree that one of their biggest expenses each semester is the cost of buying textbooks.  Professors notoriously like to teach the most cutting-edge theories, and publishers are more than happy to produce new editions of the same books almost annually.  The result?  Rising textbook costs, breaking budgets all over the country.  The internet has helped offset some of these costs, with sites like amazon.com and half.com giving students access to cheaper new and used books.  Still, buying books means a huge outlay of cash every semester for something you’ll need for a few months and then, likely, never use again.

“Annual per student expenditures on textbooks can easily approach $700 to $1,000 today.”

- Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, 2007

Much like netflix changed the dvd industry, a slew of online textbook rental companies are changing the way students can get books.  Most offer a large selection of competitively-priced textbooks, for terms ranging from one month to a full semester.  Many also let you extend the rental period or purchase the book outright, if necessary.  Once the semester is over, most offer a prepaid shipping label to send your books back to the company.

I researched the rental prices for a sample of five textbooks that a typical MBA student might need to read, using some of the more popular web sites.  For comparison, I also found the purchase prices to own both new and used copies of the same books.  The table below shows the average price per book for a semester rental, not including any shipping costs (prices accurate as of 7/18/09):

I’ve used some of these sites and have never had any issues receiving or returning books.  Keep in mind that each is slightly different, so make sure to read through all of the details for every site.  For example, some sites will charge you extra for returning books with writing or highlighting in them.  If you doodle or need to highlight to study, those sites might not be for you.  Also, the sites with the lowest average price did not necessarily have the least expensive copies of all books, so it pays to check multiple sites before you order.

Before you head back to campus this fall, you may want to spend some time checking textbook rental prices online.  The savings can be substantial.

Are there any other sites that you’ve used to rent textbooks?

Image via Wikipedia

Starbucks. For some, the word conjures up images of comfy chairs, smiling baristas and steaming lattes. For others, especially given the current economic conditions, it screams “overpriced,” “corporate greed” and “waste of money.” Over the years, Starbucks has worked hard to move its unique culture further into the mainstream (remember to call a “small” a “tall”). It worked equally as hard to increase sentiment enough that consumers were willing to pay a (rather substantial) premium for its products. While Starbucks has made a lot of money by selling the “Starbucks experience” to the average Joe, what happens now when Joe is out of work?

Since Howard Schultz returned to the role of CEO in 2008, Starbucks has developed new product offerings at an astounding rate. Many of these items, such as premium drip coffee and breakfast foods, have been directed primarily at the value-minded customer. It is no coincidence that both Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s hastened their respective pushes into the growing coffee business during this time. The enormous marketing departments of each wasted no time in labeling their Seattle-based competitor “Fourbucks,” for the presumed average price of its drinks. As the economy worsened, Starbucks continued to take a beating in the media, with many an expert reminding consumers that one of the easiest ways to save a few bucks was to cut out the daily trip to Starbucks.

In early 2009, Starbucks began offering $3.95 “Pairings,” which included a tall coffee and a breakfast sandwich or oatmeal. While the company has not gone so far as to call it a “value meal,” the message to price-conscious customers is clear: we are affordable, we need your business. In-store advertisements and menus have also been changed to highlight lower-cost offerings. It may help make the company more competitive in the short-run, but how might this impact the Starbucks brand in the long-term? Can a company reliant on a premium image remain competitive by cheapening its product? When the economy does turn around, will Starbucks have trained its customers that it is “just another coffee place?” At what point does “affordable luxury” become too affordable?

The past few trips to the supermarket, I’d seemingly noticed a shortage of my favorite brand of orange juice, Tropicana’s Pure Premium (pulp free, of course), and an increase in the number of generic store brands for sale. Without giving it too much thought, I assumed the recession had made it difficult for families to afford luxuries such as premium juice, and moved on to the next aisle. Apparently, I wasn’t alone.

Tropicana recently announced that it was reversing its decision to change the long-time labels, including the iconic straw-in-orange logo. Although the new packaging had been in use for less than two months, the period saw sales plummet by 20%. While the company denies any connection, my personal experiences would indicate otherwise.

Anyone who denies the subtle effectiveness of branding would be hard pressed to argue with these results. Especially with a commodity-type product like O.J., nuances such as placement on a shelf, packaging or logos can be the difference between a sale and the next aisle.

Have you had similar experiences with Tropicana, or another product? What other brands have such a powerful “zombie loyalty” effect on shoppers?

This article from the Wall Street Journal examines a growing trend of states inviting residents to submit suggestions on how to spend nearly $800 billion in stimulus funds. While some suggestions may have merit, such as expanding a transit line in Virginia, others border on excessive and selfish. Two items stood out:

• Ohio expects to receive about $3 billion that has not yet been allocated to current programs. Wasn’t the point of stimulus to jump start current projects that were ready to go, but for the financing? Why are states receiving funds if they don’t know what to do with them? At what point does stimulus become spending just to spend?
• A number of the suggested uses are merely requests for government hand-outs, under the guise of “stimulus.” Mary Kay make-up might help job seekers feel better about themselves, but it’s not going to pull the country out of global recession.

It seems that overspending and greed are two things that got the country into a mess to begin with. Now, we’re expected to believe that overspending and greed will help get us out?

On what types of projects do you think the government should spend funds to stimulate the economy?