The Chronic Consumer

One of the best ways to save money while shopping is to join a “members only” type of club. Two common ones that everyone knows about are Sam’s Club and Costco, where a yearly membership fee allows you to save big money on bulk items at various warehouse locations around the country.

There are many more shopping clubs like these, and I encourage you to look around to find one that fits your needs — particularly if you’re planning on spending a lot of money soon.

For example, now is the time when people start thinking about home improvement projects that they’d like to undertake during the year. These projects can be anything from painting to buying new furniture to installing new tiles in the bathroom or kitchen, all of which can cost a bundle.

That’s where a directbuy membership can come in handy. This would give you access to members-only showrooms where you can enjoy deep discounts on a huge selection of home-related products from top manufacturers. Considering the fact that most retailers significantly inflate the prices on these products, buying a membership is a smart move.

So be sure to check out clubs and memberships the next time you’re planning to make a major purchase. You could end up saving a bunch of money by joining!

I’m not much of a cook, so I base a lot of my shopping decisions on convenience and ease. That’s why my freezer is always stocked with food products that can be heated up in a jiffy. One of my all-time favorites in this category is Stouffer’s French Bread Pizza.

I’ve been enjoying Stouffer’s French Bread Pizza for at least 15 years now. I have it at least a couple times per month, and even after all these years, I still haven’t gotten tired of it.

The idea is simple: each box comes with two individually wrapped pieces of French bread, topped with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese. They can be heated up in the toaster oven (my personal choice) or the conventional oven, and they come out crispy, chewy, and absolutely delicious!

There are a bunch of different flavors to choose from, such as Deluxe, Three Meat, Sausage & Pepperoni, Pepperoni & Mushroom, and more, but I usually stick to plain ol’ cheese.

Stouffer’s French Bread Pizza is a hit with kids too, so it’s really a great product to have on hand at all times!

I’ve been wearing glasses for more than a decade now. At first, I only had to use them while driving; however, my eyes have become progressively worse over the years, so now I have to wear glasses almost all the time.

Due to this increased use, I’ve found that I have to replace my eyeglasses far more frequently than before — because of scratched or broken lenses, bent frames, or just because I lose them. At more than $100 per pair, the cost of replacing my glasses really adds up.

That’s why I’m very excited about my latest great discovery: www.ZenniOptical.com. They offer a huge selection of complete prescription eyeglasses in very stylish frames (plus a case) for as little as $8.00!

Zenni Optical has frames for men, women, and children, and they sell prescription bifocals, sunglasses, and goggles as well.

There’s no way I could find a better deal than that anywhere else, so the next time I have to get a new pair of glasses, I’m going to check out the Zenni Optical site first!

I think I’m ready for a smartphone!

I’m getting tired of having to lug around three or four different devices every time I leave the house, so I’m planning to take the plunge and buy a smartphone as soon as my current cell phone contract expires.

I’ve already been checking out some of the different offerings, and I really like the BlackBerry 8320 Curve. It has all the features I want, such as a full QWERTY keyboard; video and audio playback (so I can watch videos or listen to MP3s); 2.0 megapixel camera with zoom and flash; and of course WiFi connectivity so I can browse the Internet while I’m on the go.

In addition, the 8320 Curve looks fantastic, and is very lightweight at just 3.9 oz.

I’m putting this baby on my Wish List, and hope to be able to buy it within the next six months or so!

With several of my friends ready to become first-time mothers in the coming months, I’ve been spending a lot of time answering questions about all the things they need to do to get their homes ready for their new arrivals.

While childproofing measures aren’t essential just yet (newborns can’t get into much trouble on their own), appropriate baby furniture is. Having the right dresser, bassinet, cradle, and changing table is important for staying organized and maintaining your sanity in those first frantic weeks.

And of course we can’t forget about baby cribs, either. Newborns spend a lot of time sleeping, so your choice of crib is critical as well. You want something that is cozy and comfortable, and that will last for a couple of years. I usually recommend buying discount products, but with baby cribs, I feel that it’s better to spend a bit extra to make sure you get an excellent product.

Helping my friends get ready to welcome their new babies home makes me a bit nostalgic for the time when my son was a baby. Maybe I should talk to my husband about having another one before it’s too late!

I’m not much of a music fan, so I never paid attention to the Guitar Hero video game series. I’d heard of it, of course, and knew that the games were wildly popular, but it just didn’t seem like something that I’d enjoy playing.

However, the hype surrounding the release of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was impossible to ignore. Even my husband was intrigued, so he decided to take a break from his usual war and racing games to download the demo for Xbox 360. After playing for an hour or two, we were both hooked, and decided to go ahead and buy the bundle, which includes the guitar controller.

Gameplay: The gameplay is very straightforward. You select a character, select a song to play, and then push buttons on the guitar controller (or standard controller) to correspond with the scrolling notes of the song. The notes are all color-coded, so it’s not as though you have to read music or anything like that.

There are four different skill levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert. The degree of difficulty increases with each level, so even though you’re essentially playing the same songs on each level, it’s still different. For example, the notes come faster, you have to use more controller buttons, and you have to play chords instead of single notes.

Game Options: There are a few different gaming options to choose from in Guitar Hero III. First, you can choose Quickplay to play a single song from the catalog. Second, you can choose Career Mode, wherein you work your way up from backyard garage band to international superstardom by progressively “beating” songs, finding new sponsors, and getting better and better gigs.

There’s also a Career Co-op mode that allows you to work through a career with a friend, and an online mode that allows you to engage in online play with people around the world.

Reaction: As a first-time player of the Guitar Hero series, I had mixed reactions to Legends of Rock. On the one hand, I absolutely love the concept and think the game is a blast to play — but only on the Easy level! My husband and I both have a lot of trouble on Medium, and we already know that there’s no way we’ll ever beat the game on Hard or Expert.

We’re both pretty dexterous, and my husband is especially proficient at all kinds of video games. But the jump in difficulty from Easy to Medium seems to be pretty extreme in this game. Maybe others who have played the first and second versions can chime in with their opinion; I’d love to hear what you think about the difficulty levels in Guitar Hero III.

Playing the game with the guitar controller is very cool, albeit a bit harder than with the standard controller since you have to strum as well as push the color buttons. Even so, it wouldn’t be half as much fun on a regular controller!

Overall, my husband and I both like Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. The bundle was pretty expensive at $100, but the purchase was worth it for us. There are so few video games that we can both play together, that we gladly paid more for this one!

It looks like we’ll be getting our new vehicle in February, as planned. We’ve been waiting to see what our financial picture would look like after Christmas expenses and taxes were accounted for, and now we have a pretty good idea of where we stand.

We’re getting a truck, which means my husband is going to have to buy a bunch of accessories for it. For example, we need a truck bed liner to protect the paint from scratches, a tool box to securely store my husband’s tools and motocross equipment, and perhaps even a tonneau cover for when there aren’t any bikes in the back.

In addition, we’ll likely need a bed extender so the bikes can fit in there even with the tool box taking up space in the back.

This stuff is going to cost a bunch of extra money, so we’ll probably end up buying them one at a time as our budget permits. The bed liner definitely has to come first though!

Because I work from home, I’m constantly dealing with productivity problems. I have a hard time staying on task, and not surfing the Internet or watching TV when I’m supposed to be working. So in order to help combat this problem, I recently purchased a Polder Digital Timer, with the goal of setting time limits for all of my tasks. I’m much better at getting things done when the clock is ticking, and figured this product would help.

The Polder Digital Timer comes with several features that I absolutely love. For example, I can set the timer to count up or count down. I was specifically interested in the countdown timer because then I can give myself, say, 15 minutes to complete a task and have the alarm beep when the time was up. Much easier than having to keep an eye on a traditional count-up timer.

Another feature that attracted me to this timer was the way I could choose from three different alarm notifications: vibration, sound, and light. I love this because I can use the sound alarm when I’m by myself, and can use one of the other two alarm types when there are other people around so I don’t disturb them. Fantastic!

And finally, I love the little things about this Polder Digital Timer. It has a stand so I can easily keep an eye on the time without having to take my hands off the keyboard to pick it up. It has a very large display that’s nice and easy to read. It takes standard AA batteries so I don’t have to hunt around for obscure replacements.

Overall, this is an awesome little device that I hope will help increase my productivity for the long run. I’ve been using it for about a week now, and have noticed definite improvements in my work habits. As a result, I highly recommend the Polder Digital Timer. It’s the best $10 I’ve spent in a long time!

My diamond engagement ring came from an upscale jewelry store that charged much higher prices than everyone else. I guess they figure that their name had offered the kind of cachet that consumers would willingly overpay for, so they have no qualms about their price points.

My husband had never bought that kind of jewelry before, so he didn’t really know what he was getting into. If he could go back in time, however, I’m sure that he wouldn’t have paid so much just for a name brand.

When it came time to purchase our matching wedding rings, we made much smarter decisions. We stayed away from the high-priced stores, and ended up getting two platinum bands of superb quality for a fraction of what we would have had to pay elsewhere.

After seven years, our rings still look as beautiful as the day we exchanged them in a small, oceanside chapel in Hawaii.

I know a lot of people out there like to collect brand-name timepieces as much as I do, so I thought I’d pass along a good site I found. It’s called thetimezone.com, and offers a wide range of fine watches at discount prices. All of the products sold on the site are authentic, and come with the original packaging and serial numbers intact.

I spent some time browsing through their collection today. I found a really nice Montblanc watch that I would love to own, as well as a couple of ebel watches that would look fantastic on my husband.

I’ve bookmarked thetimezone.com, and will definitely go back when I’m ready to purchase another luxury timepiece!