In the month of December, Staples was offering a 20 pack of AA or AAA batteries for $12.99, but you’d get $12.99 back in Staples rewards. You could purchase up to 10 packs and get the $12.99 back. I ended up getting 8 packs of batteries.

So, I spent $103.92 on the batteries and I recently got my Staples Rewards voucher in the mail for that amount.

Then, I used that $103.92 voucher plus a coupon to buy items that were nearly free after rebate. This will allow me to turn the Staples Rewards voucher into a series of actual rebates checks that I will be able to take to the bank and deposit.

Here’s how I did it.

160 AA & AAA Duracell Batteries : $103.92
American Express 5% Cash Back : -$5.19
Brother 575 Fax Machine : $59.99
Rebate : -$50.00
Brother PT1090 Label Maker: $34.99
Rebate : -$25.00
Brother PT1090 Label Maker: $34.99
Rebate : -$25.00
$25 off $100 Coupon (purchased from ejunkie.com) : $0.93
Coupon : -$25.00
Staples Reward Voucher : -$103.92
TOTAL: 71¢

And, if I can make a few dollars selling the fax machine and label makers on eBay, I will have actually made money by purchasing those batteries.

• … stopped for gas 51 times (vs. 52 times in ‘08)
• … averaged 19.3 mpg with the Highlander (vs. 19.5 mpg in ‘08)
• … drove 11,630 miles (vs. 12,235 miles in ‘08)
• … spent $1,409 on gas (vs. $2,095 in ‘08)
• … paid anywhere from $1.65 to $2.71 for a gallon of gas (vs. $1.64 to $4.09 in ‘08)

So, gas was cheaper in 2009, I drove less, stopped for gas less times and spent less on gas.

Ain’t dat some shiznit?

1. DVDs : Netflix and Cable Video-On-Demand services are taking hold.
2. Home Phone Service : Go cell-phone only. Consider Skype.
3. External Hard Drives : Switch to online backup services.
4. Unpopular Smartphones : Fewer developers are likely to create applications and other products that cater to those phones.
5. Compact Digital Cameras : These cameras produce pictures that more accurately represent what’s in their viewfinders, but they cost a lot.
6. Newspaper Subscriptions : Replaced by a growing online media presence – much of which is accessible for free
7. CDs : Uh, hello. This is a no-brainer.
8. New College Textbooks : Shop for used textbooks to save up to 90%.
9. Gas Guzzling Cars : Gas prices are going back up.
10. Energy-Inefficient Home Appliances : The government is offering a federal tax credit of up to $1,500 on energy-efficient home upgrades through Dec. 31, 2016

I agree with all of them except numbers 2 & 3.

Home Phone Service : For us, it’s still not cost effective to drop the land line. We use it too much, especially when Tina works from home. And, we’re getting such a good deal with BellSouth right now that it wouldn’t make sense to switch to a VoIP service which would, probably, end up costing more. So, we’re keeping the Home Phone Service for 2010, and probably beyond.

External Hard Drives : I don’t trust online back services. I mean, I trust them to back up with music and even my pictures, to an extent. But, images of old bank statements and tax returns? Please. Those need to stay in my control, not someone else’s.

What do you think?

I bought a TechNet subscription (with a coupon code, TYVM) and upgraded yesterday.

I’m finding Windows 7 much faster than Vista, much more intuitive and just all around better. So far, so good.

Looks like Microsoft might have nailed this one down.

About a year ago, when we still subscribed to DirectTV, I did a comparison of our current service to AT&T U-verse. At that time, U-verse would have ended up costing us a couple of dollars more each month than what we were currently paying.

Our situation is different now. We no longer subscribe to pay TV service like cable or satellite, save for Tina’s Netflix subscription and my occasional Amazon Unbox purchase.

And now, AT&T is offering up to $400 back for signing up for U-verse. So, let’s do that math … because, well, I ain’t got nuthin’ else better to do right now.

Currently, we pay…
Cable/Satellite
$0
BellSouth
Unlimited Local & Long Distance : $35
DSL: $18 (6 Mbps/512 Kbps)
Taxes : $15
TOTAL : $68

Comparable service from AT&T U-Verse would look like this…
U200 TV : $64
2 Additional Receivers : $14
Unlimited Local & Long Distance : $30
High Speed Internet: $43 (6 Mpbs/1 Mpbs)
Estimated Taxes : $20
SUBTOTAL : $171
- $67 ($400 rebate ÷ 6 months)
- $10 ($60 auto-pay bill credit ÷ 6 months)
TOTAL : $94

After 6 months, we would cancel the TV service and go back to just phone & Internet service which would be about $88 each month, still higher than we were paying to BellSouth right now for the same stuff.

Since $94 is not less than what we’re currently paying ($68), I guess we’ll keep things the way they are.