On the Cheap - Wal-Mart Expands $4 Drugs

Under pressure to offer something new with many competitors offering “deals” on prescription medicine, Wal-Mart has expanded their $4 prescription plan to include many common over-the-counter medicines, as well as offering 90-day supplies of prescriptions for only $10. This is especially good news for those of us not turned off by the store brands. You can view the list of over-the-counter offerings here, as well as the prescriptions here.

There is no word yet on whether Target or Kroger will be matching the new offerings, as they did with the $4 prescriptions.

Economic Stimulus Rebate Schedule

UPDATE: The program used by the IRS to distribute the Economic Stimulus Rebates is ready earlier than expected, and rebates have started to roll out to citizens on a schedule about one week earlier than expected. There is a FANTASTIC Frequently Asked Questions section on the IRS website, or here.

For those of you anxiously awaiting your tax rebate check due you on behalf of the Economic Stimulus Plan, here is the link to the IRS’s web site that shows the schedule of disbursements. Hopefully, you have already done your taxes, and you chose direct deposit for your payment/refund option. If so, you will receive your rebate check earlier than the rest of the people receiving rebates…. Yet another reason to have direct deposit.

WOW! What a Great Way to Eliminate Additional Debt

In one of the few breaks of my workday /sarcasm, I came across an article that I think I can add to. If you don’t carry enough plastic to charge up every item you come across, you will keep yourself from spending money that isn’t yours, or that you don’t have yet. I like the simplicity factor in organizing my life, and I find that having fewer options to pay for something really keeps me from saddling myself with additional debt. Take a gander at this story on Lifehacker, and the story that inspired it on Real Simple and consider how much you could save if you didn’t carry all 32 cards of plastic evil, and how much of a positive factor that will be in reducing debt via the Debt Snowball.

Since I have zero credit cards in use, I carry by two banks’ debit cards, my driver’s license, my old student ID from UGA (to get that sweet student discount, when I can), and the solid state memory card that allows access to my office in my front-pocket wallet that I simplified down to about three months ago. I am currently carrying my MTA MetroCard from my recent trip to NYC, just in case I come across someone also going there that I may be able to give my outstanding $.20 or so as a gift for their trip, or if we decide to actually go back for a Yankees game this summer. In the spirit of Earth Day yesterday, I can also save some paper as well by reusing the card instead of getting another one.

In the Spirit of Stopping Scammers

I came across this post on The Consumerist earlier today, and I think that I have to share it with everyone, especially if you do not read The Consumerist on a regular basis.

Since I have covered many slimy scams, I felt it was appropriate to share.

Thanks!

On the Cheap - FREE Online Money Management

Since we have a budget to keep, our checking, savings, retirement, credit cards (that we are working to pay off) may tear us in many directions to track them all. I have found that consolidating your account checking into one money management service is quite helpful for tracking your budgeted spending across all of the accounts that I have. With two checking, two savings, and a plethora of retirement accounts, I found mint.com to be the most advantageous online money management tool available. In addition to the consolidation of information into one place to check and a great visual tool to see your finances in relation to the budgets you have set, Mint also offers advice for saving money based on trends that it sees in your spending. For example, there is a possibility that I could save money by switching my cell phone service from T-Mobile to AT&T or Verizon, but Mint does not account for the fact that I have a family plan with four lines of service. In addition to the budgeting, savings suggestions, and consolidation, Mint also compares your spending to others using the service. If you are interested to see if your gasoline usage is on par with others in your area, Mint pulls up the information to compare you to your Mint peers. Also, they provide some very useful information from their partners, Mint.edu and The Motley Fool.

If Mint doesn’t tickle your fancy, check out Wesabe, Expensr, or Yodlee.