This week, my wife and I went to Costco and picked up two bikes that we’d been looking at for quite some time. Some cycling purists would say that you should always get a bike from a local bike shop. While I agree that the personal service at a local bike shop is far better than at Costco (no explanation necessary), the reality is that there are two reasons we are getting these bikes and neither involve hardcore mountain biking or racing.

First, our little suburban area of Columbia is designed for biking. All the little shopping centers and parks and lakes are separated by an intricate network of walking and bicycle paths. On Wednesday, I rode around a nearby lake, through some paths, and popped out beside a little shopping center with a Subway to eat lunch with my wife and her co-worker. On the way back, I did some exploring and easily found the right path to take if we ever want to bike to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Hunan Manor, as well as our gym. Forget walkability scores, bikability is where it’s at.

The second reason is that I work from home and find myself doing a lot of intra-city driving to places where I am taking small roads. Why not replace the use of my car with a bike? Lower my already relatively small carbon footprint, get some exercise, and enjoy the fresh air! I’m not ready to sell my car but I’m certainly going to be using it less and less now that I have a bike.

The bikes were a good $200 a piece. While in the pantheon of bicycles, $200 is considered cheap, in the pantheon of bicycles I’d be willing to buy, $200 was about the limit. I understand that you get what you pay for and a “good bike” costs in the thousands, but I don’t know and cannot appreciate the difference. My wife doesn’t know and cannot appreciate the difference. For now, we can enjoy the heck out of our $200 bikes and then upgrade if necessary. We are acting our age financially.

For security, we bought two OnGuard Bulldog STD 5010LM Bicycle U-Locks as they were the highest rated sub-$30 lock by Scott Elder of Slate.com. He wrote about his experience trying to break into a whole bunch of bike locks and this one was the best of the bunch under $30. Again, you can spend much more for a beast of a lock (and those with $5000 bikes should buy a beast of a lock), but these should fit our needs just nicely.

Do you own a bike? Any tips or suggestions?

The price of gas has dropped by a significant amount the last month or so (though a barrel of oil popped up $6 yesterday!), we might be looking at the beginning of oil slipping out of the stratosphere (could be lowered demand, could be speculators running for the exits, who knows!?). This begs the question, will all of our energy consumption habit changes stick?

Whenever people think of high fuel prices, they think back to the energy crisis of the 70s. One big difference between this last energy crisis and the 70s was that in the 70s, there was rationing. If you wanted fuel, you couldn’t necessarily get any. In the energy crisis today, and I loathe to even call it a crisis, you can buy gasoline anytime you wanted to. It might have been close to four dollars a gallon but you didn’t have to wait in lines or wait for the right day to buy. I think that’s a huge difference.

Here’s the scary part. The last energy crisis should’ve been a wake up call … but we hit the snooze button. Here we are, dealing with our reliance on oil, and there’s nothing that says our changes and the presidential campaign rhetoric this will result in action. I never lived through the last energy crisis but the stories I’ve read show a time when that crisis had a greater impact on one’s life.

As a naturally frugal person, I didn’t make many changes to my life to conserve energy. I’ve always had an eye on the recurring costs of things like my car, so I’ve never had a gas guzzler. I own a Toyota Celica and my first car was an Acura Integra, both are efficient with fuel. I try to use as little energy as possible, even before electricity prices spiked dramatically in Maryland, simply because I didn’t want to pay for something I didn’t need to. Let’s be honest, I need the money more than the power company!

So I’m fairly confident that any changes I have made will stick because they’ve been so tightly integrated, I feel as though I never changed in the first place! How about you?

(Photo: notjake13)

Well well, it looks like we finally have the return of a long lost cash back favorite from a year or two ago… the coveted 5% cashback on supermarkets, drug stores and gas stations credit card in the form of the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards card.

A few years ago, there were a dozen of these types of cards. In the last year, that number dropped to zero. Those that did exist only offered it on gasoline and imposed ridiculously low limits such as the Discover Open Road card (gives 5% on gasoline but only up to $5 a month!). Back in the heyday, each were vying for “share of wallet,” the industry term for how much of your spending gets put on their card. They often earn a couple percentage points per transaction so the hope is that you use the card for more than the 5% categories, which is a loss leader for them (this ignores the finance charges, fees, and other charges they impose for a variety of reasons).

Looks like they’re making a come back with the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards card is leading the way.

Any catches? Yes, there are a few. Like all Citi cards, the cashback now comes in the form of ThankYou Network points rather than straight up cash. Those with student loans can convert the points into “cash,” making it a truly 5% cashback card. If you don’t have student loans, you’ll have to take it in the form of gift cards to get a full percentage value. You can always sell the gift cards and still get close to 5% cashback in the worst case.

Another catch is that the 5% promotion is for the first 12 months. I normally don’t like promotional offers (with the exception of when the Citi CashReturns had 5% cashback on everything) but right now this is the only card that offers 5% on the “everyday shopping” category (which includes supermarket, drug stores and gas stations). There are a couple alternatives if you’re looking for a gas cashback credit card, but none exist (to my knowledge) for supermarkets.

Finally, the only limit on cashback is an annual limit of 75,000 ThankYou points - it’s unlikely you will reach that limit ($15,000 in spending in the 5% categories!).

Some other features that may be of interest: 12 month 0% APY balance transfer, no annual fee, 1% cash back on everything else. The 12 month 0% APY balance transfer is nice but it has a balance transfer fee of 3% with no limit, I’d pass on that. The no annual fee is standard and the 1% cashback on everything else is also pretty standard.

Overall, I think this card is a good option if you’re looking for a way to shave 5% off your supermarket and gas bills.

Update: Other 5% Cashback Cards

Since writing the post, I’ve received numerous emails about two other credit cards that offer cash back in this category: Blue Cash from American Express and the Chase Freedom card.

Blue Cash from American Express. The Blue Cash from American Express offers 5% cashback at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations with no limit whatsoever. The card also offers a 0% balance transfer for 12 months with a 3% transfer fee capped at $99.

Chase Freedom. The Chase Freedom card is a slightly different type of cashback card in that it gives you 3% cashback in your top three spending categories (which can change based on your spending each month). It’s not a 5% card, despite what some people claim, but I mention it because it’s better than 1% and they offer $50 cashback after your first purchase.

I’m surprised it took this long for someone to produce a list of the top ten cars in price per miles per gallon but Consumer Reports finally came through. We all know that hybrid vehicles are great fuel efficient cars but we also know that there is a waiting list for the Prius, hybrid vehicles are expensive (with many of the hybrid vehicle tax breaks expiring), and take nearly a decade to break-even on gas prices. It turns out that the most fuel efficient car, dollar for dollar in price, is the manual transmission Honda Fit Sport at $464 per MPG, edging out its base-model non-sport sibling and the base Toyota Prius.

Here are some thoughts I had about the list:

• If you’re trying to do any break-even comparisons between cars, you can use this list to help you. Look for a pricier car with a higher MPG and you can calculate the break-even versus a cheaper car. For example, the $23,780 Toyota Prius with 44 MPG will catch up to the Mazda3i ($17,290, 30 MPG) in terms of base cost + fuel when the odometer hits ~152,978 miles at $4/gallon gasoline. That’s a lot of miles huh?
• Four Hondas are on the list, including the Fit and Fit Sport taking the top spot. Three Toyotas (Scion is a subsidiary of Toyota) are on the list along with a Hyundai, Nissan, and the lone “American” car the Mazda3 (Mazda has Japanese origins but is now a Ford brand, hence the quotes).
• I’m surprised to see only three manual vehicles on the list because manuals often get great fuel mileage and because manual transmissions vehicles are usually cheaper than the automatic ones, usually resulting in lower vehicle costs. A great frugal tip on cars is that you can save a few hundred dollars to a grand on a car if you buy a manual.
• I’m not surprised to see that these are all small vehicles (you could argue that the Fit is smaller than small).
• The difference between #1 (Honda Fit Sport) and #10 (Scion tC) in price per MPG is pretty significant - $194 per MPG.

Full table after the jump.
(read full article…)

This story is one of those “one in a million” type of events but fortunately it worked out in the protagonist’s favor. What happened was that someone was accused of stealing gas, was pulled over 200 yards away from the gas station, but was let off because they had printed the receipt and proved the gas was paid for. The story appeared on the Consumerist today. While everything probably would’ve been OK otherwise, the receipt diffused the situation pretty quickly.

I never print out that receipt. My logic is that I won’t ever need the receipt because I’m not going to return the gas so why waste the paper? Recently I had been printing out receipts to track my gas mileage (I wanted to compare the performance of the car before and after a 60,000 mile tune-up I had done a few weeks ago) but normally I don’t even bother.

This story won’t change my mind about my approach (I still won’t print them out because this is one of those “freak accident” type scenarios) but it certainly gives one pause. You can always recycle it when you get home.

Always Print Your Gas Pump Receipt As Proof Of Purchase [Consumerist]

(Photo: riza)

In early June, Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s mentioned a need for another stimulus check. Then, in late July, there were rumblings in Congress that Democrats were looking to put together another stimulus package that may or may not include a check to families. There was a move by Democrats to try to pass the aspects of the first stimulus package, which included a check, that were struck down in the name of expediency.

Senator Obama released this six-page policy paper that outlines a two-part stimulus package.

Part 1: Emergency Energy Rebate Checks: The first part would include an “emergency energy rebate.” Individuals would receive $500 and married couples would receive $1000. The checks would be paid for over five years by a windfall tax on oil company profits. The six-page document explains the nature of the checks but doesn’t illustrate how the windfall profits might be taxed (granted, given the political nature of the document, it might be out of scope).

Part 2: $25B State Growth Fund & $25B Jobs and Growth Fund. The second part has itself two parts. The State Growth Fund would help prevent state and local cuts in services like education and housing assistance as well as alleviate the need to increase taxes, tolls, and fees. Many states are feeling the pinch as housing prices fall, foreclosures rise, and real estate tax revenue falling. The Jobs and Growth Fund is really an infrastructure bill that would support maintenance of highways, roads, and bridges; as well as fast-track school repair projects. There is no mention of how this would be funded.

My Thoughts: I didn’t like the stimulus checks but having listened to their use in the 70s in Greenspan’s anecdotal Age of Turbulence, I’m not wholly against them as a mechanism for thwarting an economic slowdown. However, it’s becoming increasingly evident that the checks are as much about politics as they are about prevent a slowdown. While I would imagine the economic policy advisors on Obama’s staff are well versed in macr- and microeconomics, I wonder how much of it is influenced by a desire to win in November.

That being said, people are getting pinched. Not everyone is getting pinched, but a lot of people are and additional funds would help some remain solvent. My concern is that with a deficit nearing half a trillion dollars, we’re sacrificing our future prosperity for relief today. This is exactly the same thinking that gets many people into deep credit card debt. “Just a little more relief…”

Finally, what are the chances this actually happens? Democrats had difficulty extending unemployment benefits and those go only to those who have already lost their jobs. You can argue that some people getting the first stimulus checks didn’t need them, but unemployment benefits only go to those who are unemployed! It’s difficult to say if this plan would even fly, but it makes for an interesting discussion. So, what do you think?

(Photo: chadwho1ders)

In the current world of $4 a gallon gasoline, everyone is looking for an edge. Whether it’s additives that don’t really work or little gadgets that don’t really work, we’re looking for anything that will squeeze out a couple more MPG from the car we already have.

The next logical step is to ask whether the gas at various gas station companies makes a difference. For the longest time, I believed that the gas from Exxon was better than the gas from Costco. I did empirical studies where I saved my gas pump receipts and calculated my average MPG and the Exxon gas did give me 2-3 MPG extra. However, after further research, I believe that my driving behavior and routes had a greater effect on fuel efficiency than the label on the pump.

The gas from one company is essentially identical to the gas from another.

Government law requires that all gasoline certain detergents that help prevent fuel injectors from clogging. This means that all the fancy brand name gas stations and their fancy “additives” are all required and that all gas contains them. Some say that the detergents from brand name companies go above and beyond but my perspective is that you only want the minimum standard, which is required of all gasoline. Why do you want more detergent than you really need? I don’t want more detergent in my gasoline, I want as little as possible because that gives me more gasoline! (I’m only kidding, the added volume in detergent is tiny)

Many gas brands share pipelines. According to a Smart Money article on what Gas Stations Won’t Tell You, Chevron gas stations might sell gas refined by another company like Shell or Exxon Mobil, with the difference between their gas being a quart of detergent added to an 8,000 gallon tanker truck! After a little digging, I found these maps of pipelines in the US and there aren’t that many pipelines. There are certainly as many pipelines as there are gas brands, so the fact that they mix and match isn’t that surprising.

If there was a difference, we’d know about it by now. The power of the free markets is very strong, if a particular brand of gasoline was definitely superior, we’d know. We’d know because it would be more expensive because the higher performance would justify the higher cost. Since there isn’t a brand that exists with significantly superior performance at a higher price, it’s clear that they’re all pretty much the same (and these brands have been around for decades).

If you really want to make a difference, you can save more money by buying the cheaper gas and then adding a fuel injector cleaner with every oil change. I’ve used many a fuel injector cleaners, which you can find in any auto parts store, but can’t really say I can tell. The mechanic friends of mine say that while it can’t hurt, don’t bother getting expensive cleaner, just get the cheap stuff.

Oh, another tip, don’t buy higher octane than you need, it’s a waste of money.

(Photo: ella_marie)

With the price of food and gas where it is, everyone’s looking for an edge and for more and more people, myself included, that edge is in maximizing what you can get out of credit card cash back reward programs. Credit card companies charge vendors a hefty percentage to process credit card transactions (AMEX and Discover charge the most, that’s why they often have the best cashback programs), so doesn’t it make sense that they pass along some of that to you? Of course it does!

So here are eight tips I use to ensure I get the most cash back out of credit cards, hopefully you will find them useful as well.

1. Know Your Spending

Every card is tailored to a slightly different person and a slightly different spending profile. They’re looking to get a slot in your wallet or purse and so they sometimes offer strange groups of eligible cashback categories in order to get there. The best way for you to figure out which card is best for you is to check your budget and see where your spending is.

Unfortunately, gone are the days when supermarket purchases offered 5% cashback but purchases at gas stations and auto maintenance offers are still around. For me, the answer is combining Costco’s cheaper gas with either their Costco TrueEarnings card, which offers 1% cash back, or the American Express SimplyCash Business Card, which offers 3% cash back. You can get Costco gas without a membership in some areas.

Here are some popular categories and the cards I use (if applicable):

• Movies: Citi mtvU gives 5% ThankYou Rewards, which I turn into cash for student loans. You can also submit grade reports for free ThankYou points.
• Books (& anything at Amazon.com): Again, Citi mtvU card.
• Gas: Costco TrueEarnings card, I use it at Costco for 2% cashback on gas. This only makes sense if you already have a Costco membership.
• Everything Else: Citi CashReturns offers 1% plus a 20% bonus for the first year.
• Home Improvement: The Home Advantage Card from Bank of America offers 2% at home improvement stores in the first year, I don’t use this card because I don’t spend a lot in this category.
• Office Supply: If you buy a lot of office supply equipment, the American Express SimplyCash Business Card gives 3% cashback in this category, I don’t use this card because I don’t spend a lot in this category.

There are certainly more cards out there but those are the ones that were ever on my radar given my spending categories.

2. Skip Stuff, Get Cash

I always opt for cash back because it makes the math easier and you can never have “loss” in the conversion. I know some people like to get “stuff” but often times, if you check out the catalogs, the conversion of points to products is never in your benefit.

Let’s take the simplest example of a gift card on the Citi ThankYou network. Each ThankYou reward point is worth approximately a penny, meaning 100 points equals one dollar. If you were to trade in your points for a $5 Barnes & Noble Gift Card (Item 1111022), it would cost you 1,000 points - or $10 worth of points! Of course as you get to larger gift cards, the exchange rate is more favorable ($10 gift cards cost only $15 in points) and it only starts to become even when you reach the $25 gift card level, depending on the vendor. The loss is most obvious with gift cards but it happens with stuff too because you’re often paying retail value in points.

3. Don’t Get A Zillion Cards

In my list above, I mentioned that I didn’t get the AMEX SimplyCash or the Home Advantage card because I didn’t spend a lot there. From time to time I do spend money at Home Depot or Lowes in spurts, as I will soon do to repair drywall damage in the next week or so, but it doesn’t make sense to load down your wallet or purse with a ton of plastic you don’t use regularly.

First, applying for a lot of credit cards will damage your credit score for a little bit. Second, you risk losing track of them if you don’t use them regularly. Maybe you forget to pay a bill or one of the cards falls out when you’re running around, losing track can wipe away an entire year’s cash back in one unfortunate incident. Finally, who wants to carry around all that extra weight anyway?

4. Have Backup

You’ll want at least one card that will give you 1.2% cash back on everything (for the first year, there’s a 20% bonus on top of the normally 1% cash back offer) that you can turn to if you forget whether you can get better cash back rewards on a purchase. Most cards will have at least 1% cash back so finding one will be a cinch. The Citi CashReturns card is our backup 1.2% card because there is no limit (crucial) and they send a check automatically once you reach the $50 threshold. The only way you can do better is if you can find a card that will deduct the cashback right off the credit card statement (the American Express SimplyCash(SM) Business Card will do this) or find one with a higher cash back, which I haven’t seen yet.

5. Beware Low Limits

Discover Card’s Open Road card offers 5% cash back. Ordinarily that would be a screaming hot deal, but read the fine print and you’ll see “Earn a full 5% Cashback Bonus on your first $100 in combined gas and auto maintenance purchases each billing period.” Woah. $100 can’t even fill the tank for some people. So the 5% looks good at first glance but really isn’t that great.

6. Write Down Cashback Percentages

Get some scotch tape and write down all the categories and percentage cash back on the face of the card. Some cards offer rewards in categories you don’t normally spend in, by writing it down you can flip through your cards as you wait in line so you can maximize your rewards. For example, the Discover More card is part of a program where the 5% cashback reward categories change every quarter. There’s no way for you to keep track of what it covers this month because it changes four times a year, so rather than rely on memory, write it down and change it as the program changes.

7. Always Pay In Full

Never carry a balance. Any interest you pay will erase your reward totally and completely.

8. Stop Spending

What!? What kind of tip is this? It’s actually the best tip. On some things you can’t simply “stop spending,” like food and gas, but on others you might want to consider putting off the purchase for a few days, weeks, or months until the economic climate recovers a little. Skip that movie once a week or cook dinner more often, those little steps will save you more money than a few percentage points off your bill.

Do you have any tips or tricks to maximize your cash back? If so, please share!

(Photo by crocidillicus)

According to howstuffworks.com, the United States consumes about 400 million gallons of oil a day across 100 million households, or approximately 4 gallons per household per day. If you drive a 25 MPG car, that’s a hundred miles of driving a day. How does your household stack up? You using more or less than your four?

If we melt Greenland, we can get 50 billion barrels of oil. Actually, it’s already melting and oil companies already have oil exploration licenses to start poking around in Greenland. So, really we need to do nothing differently. Oh, and I heard penguins and polar bears make excellent soups so let’s melt the ice from under them too.

General Motors, as of the recent IRS report, has sold a mere 8,485 hybrid vehicles. By comparison, Toyota crushed the 60,000 limit and Honda just recently exceeded it. Ford is over halfway there. GM is, well, slightly slower out of the gate but remember the tortoise beat the hare.

The Tesla Roadster is a fully electric car made by Tesla Motors. On a single charge, it can travel 220 miles with an efficient of a reported 4.7 mi/kW·h which is the equivalent of 135 MPG. $100,000 is the price of one of the Tesla’s “Signature One Hundred” in all its tricked out glory. Fortune just published an article yesterday about the Tesla.

Have a great weekend everyone!

With gas around, or over depending on where you are, $4.00 a gallon for regular unleaded, are you car pooling more often? Here in Howard County, Maryland, the Park & Ride’s have been feeling the pains of more carpoolers as they rush to expand and meet the increased demand. On the whole, more people are car pooling but, at least amongst my friends, there hasn’t been a significant increase in the number of people sharing rides. Carpooling once a week is the quickest way save 20% on your gasoline bill (wrap your head around that amazing math!).

When I had a commute, I didn’t carpool with my wife. We could’ve, as I was only a minor detour, but we didn’t because of her hours (technically, it’s because of my laziness as you’ll see). Her commute takes about 35 minutes, mine was about 20, but she sometimes had to be in by around 7AM to meet with third shift. That meant she had to get on the road by at least 6:30AM. I wasn’t having any of that. The end of the day was sometimes even more unpredictable, sometimes she would be on the road by 6:00PM or 6:30PM. Sometimes she’d have to stay even later, it was simply too much work time for me… hence my mentioning it was really my laziness.

So, could we have carpooled? Yes, it’s not like we were in two totally different directions. We didn’t because I didn’t want to get up early and stay at the office so late. What’s your take on carpooling? Waste of time? Totally worth it?

(Photo by bitzcelt)