Day In The Life of Baz

Why I Don’t Use Coupons

Usually, I’d be against the whole coupon thing. I can hear you now, “But Baz, coupons save money. Aren’t you all about saving money?” I can’t use grocery store coupons. The reason is because the coupons are always for the high priced version of what I’m looking for. There are tons of Kellogg’s coupons but none for the Great Value brand that I buy at Walmart. Even with the coupons, the cheaper brands usually work out cheaper.

The Exception

The exception is for electronics. For electronics, people usually buy the name brand versions anyway. This is where coupon codes come in handy. The last ones I remember using where Buy.com coupon codes. I got myself a blue tooth headset for next to nothing.

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A few days ago I was driving down to go to the store. It was early afternoon. Since summer is fast approaching, it has been hot down here for some time now, but that day it was a beautiful 69 degrees outside. I got in the car, rolled down the windows and enjoyed the window blow in my hair face. It was a great day.

I was sitting at a red light in a little bit of traffic and I noticed something that shocked me a little bit. I could see condensation dropping from the car to the left of me. Yep, all the windows were rolled up and, no doubt, the A/C was on. Now, to recap, we’re not on the highway doing 60 mph so we don’t need the windows up to reduce drag. We’re on a suburban street with a speed limit of 40 mph and we’re sitting at a light. And it’s bloody 69 degrees out. I peered into the window and noticed that an elderly woman was driving, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt: maybe she has some sort of problem, maybe she can’t stand the sun.

After a long trip and a wonderful weekend in Wichita Falls, I got back to Plano and gas was still $2.79 at my favorite RaceTrac gas station. I could not believe my luck. I purposefully did not fill up in Wichita Falls because it was like $2.89 up there. When I came back down, I was wondering whether or not I had made a mistake. I expected to be slapped in the face on Monday with gas at $3.10 or something, but I wasn’t. I went through Monday almost empty and finally filled up today.

My luck seems to have held out so far, but with the summer quickly approaching, I’m not looking forward to shelling out $3.00+ per gallon. I suppose it cannot be avoided. I do have the slight comfort of using my gas card, that gives me an introductory (first 3 months) rate of 6% cash back on gas purchases. So at $3.00, it would be the equivalent of paying $2.82. 18 cents, not a big deal right? Wrong, it’s a very big deal to me. I’m sure if gas was 18 cents cheaper right now it would be a big deal to you.

For years now, I’ve wondered. Why do people talk about having four (4), five (5), and sometimes seven (7) or more credit cards? They claim that each one has its purpose. I found that hard to believe. In my mind, you should only need one, and your choice should be simple enough: pick the card with the lowest interest rate. It all seems so simple in my mind. You may have two or three if your lowest rate card, doesn’t coincide with a proper available limit. But essentially, your choices should be limited, so why the hell should people need tons of credit cards? Now, I know better :).

First of all we need to pick a car wash. There are drive throughs with brushes, there are drive throughs without brushes, and there are the self service car washes. I’ve tried all three and I’ll have to go with the last one. When I was in the drive through with the brushes, it sounded so violent when I was in there. It seems that even the soft touch car washes are hard on the car. The brushless wash or laser was as they called it was interesting. First of all, it was ridiculously expensive. Also, when I got done my windows and mirrors were still dirty.

This leaves me with the self service hand washes. I love these, except for the foaming brush, but I’ll touch on that later.

1. BYOS - Bring Your Own Supplies

Don’t rely on engine degreaser and tire cleaner from the hose. First of all, they shoot mass quantities of it out from a hose, how effective can it be? You’re much better off grabbing some supplies over the counter at your local Auto Zone or my personal favorite, Walmart.