The Diet Ice Cream That Beats Regular

A few posts ago, I asked which generic products you've encountered that are actually better than name brand products. Not just acceptable, mind you; but good enough that you'd prefer to buy the generic.

We'll do one better on this post. Have you found any diet products that are actually better than their "regular" counterparts? I know of only one example: Edy's Slow Churned ice cream. I don't think that Edy's claim of "One Day, All Ice Cream Will Be Made This Way™" is an overstatement.

Not only does this ice cream have 1/2 the fat and 2/3 the calories of regular ice cream, its texture actually surpasses that of any other ice cream I've had. There's one caveat though; I'd only say that about the vanilla-based flavors. The chocolate-based flavors are still great, but I'm not sure I'd say they're better than their regular counterparts. The flavor that I'm frankly basing most of this claim on is Cookie Dough.

Edy's can be expensive (not insanely expensive like Ben & Jerry's or similar products), so I feel compelled to defend my reputation of frugality by saying that I try to buy when it's on sale for $2.50 - $3.00.

Saving Money on Cost-Saving Products

I offer my apologies (just 4 of them; I'm keeping my remaining 98 for the future) to my readers who live in warm climates. This is another "just for the northerners" post.

Stores that carry products for winterizing your home are currently eager to get rid of them as they begin stocking their shelves with spring items. If you have considered doing some winterizing--such as covering windows with plastic sheeting--but have been turned off by the cost, now is the time to buy. In the past, I've been able to buy window insulation kits like the one pictured for $1 per box. Just stick them in a storage closet or your basement, and you'll be prepared to lower your heating costs next winter.

Detective Work Through the Power of Community

I received a call on my cell phone today from a number I didn't recognize. I didn't answer. Several hours later, I received another call from the same number. Again, I didn't answer, even though my curiosity fought me. The caller did not leave a message. For me, such a mystery is difficult to let go, so I tried a reverse phone number lookup on the web.

None of the free options yielded any results, and I'm too cheap and skeptical to pay for any reverse phone number lookup service. Between my wallet and my curiosity, my wallet always wins.

Thankfully I stumbled upon http://whocalled.us/. In an interesting application of collective intelligence, anybody can report the results of phone calls that they received from any source. For example, I could hop on http://whocalled.us/ an report that number 555-439-8821 called me twice in a day without leaving any messages. It would be even more useful if I had answered the call, found out who was calling and why, and then reported it on this site. I was appreciative that 35 people had taken the time to report the number that called me today, and some of those people had actually answered the calls--or returned the calls--and found that it was a spam type call from a college.

The next time I have a call from a number I don't recognize, I'm going straight to http://whocalled.us/ to see if it's been reported there. http://800notes.com/ seems to be the same type of service, though they listed 0 results for my search today when http://whocalled.us/ reported 35.

Save Time and Money on Your Garden This Year

My yard is slowly turning from white to green this week, as warmer weather chases the snow away. And not a moment too soon. I look forward to getting outside again, even if it does mean I have to start mowing my lawn. If only I had a robotic mower.

Whether you have a backyard paradise or just a small garden, watering you plants can be time-consuming and expensive. Even if you manage to remember to water, you have to make it a point to actually do it. And then, you have to watch your water bill go up, in part because traditional watering techniques can be very inefficient. Next time you run a sprinkler, watch how much water doesn't reach your plants.

Two tools can help alleviate these problems.

1. A watering timer. A watering timer connects to your outdoor faucet or a hose, and allows you to schedule your watering times via a digital or analog clock. I paid full price (about $29) for mine because I bought it in the spring. Our local WalMart sold them for $10 each at the end of the season. It sure is nice to set the timer and forget about it. Even if I'm on vacation, my plants are getting watered. And more importantly, my plants are getting watered even on days when I'm being lazy.
2. Soaker hoses. A soaker hose is a porous hose made of rubber. When the hose is filled with water (it's capped on the end opposite the faucet), water seeps out of the hose and into the ground. The soaker hose can--and should--be buried under mulch; you never see it. This watering method allows you to water only the regions you want watered, keeping your watering costs as low as possible.

Tip 1: My research indicated that you should connect no more than 100 feet of soaker hose together. If you find anything different, feel free to comment.

Tip 2: Get more bang for your buck out of the watering timer. Connect a splitter to your timer, allowing you to control up to 4 or 5 hoses. I used this method to split my soaker hoses into two 100-foot sections on the same watering schedule.

Impressive Generic

Occasionally, a store brand item surpasses "good enough" and actually performs remarkably well. Sam's Choice plastic wrap (not Great Value plastic wrap) is one of those products for me. I realize a wiki would be a more appropriate venue for this question (as would a web site with more than a dozen readers), but I'm in search of other items that happen to be both inexpensive and of excellent quality. So what have you found?

Teeny Tiny Profit Margin

I have no intention of turning this blog into a "deals and steals" site, but this particular deal pops up occasionally, and it's pretty impressive. The Black & Decker DCM18S Brew 'n Go Personal Coffeemaker is just $9.99 again at Amazon.com. The included mug is worth $4-5 alone, and a permanent filter is included (also worth a couple of bucks). I can't imagine that Amazon or Black & Decker are making much money on this one.

I mentioned this product in an earlier post. In fact, the service featured in that post (apricealert.com) is the reason I know about this deal.

The last time the price dropped this low, it was only for about 24 hours. And yes, you have to spend $25 to get free shipping.

Saving on Contact Lenses

With a little bit of effort, you can save a bundle on your contact lenses.

I found VisionDirect.com (part of DrugStore.com) to be a great place to buy contacts. Below is a comparison of VisionDirect.com to WalMart, where I got my eye exam.

	VisionDirect.com	WalMart
Cost per box (Focus Night and Day)	$48.95	$62.84
Volume discount per box (4 or more boxes)	$1	NA
Coupon (see dealcoupon.com for current coupons)	10% off	NA
Processing Fee	$0.95	NA
Shipping	Free	Free
Delayed cash back from FatWallet.com	7%	NA
Total for 4 boxes:	$161.49	$251.36

I've actually done better than the above example (my actual cost after FatWallet.com cash back was $152.57 this year), but the example uses currently available deals. Also, depending on how Internet tax works in your state, you could very well save another $14 in taxes over WalMart. That means if you hit all the deals at the right time, and if you save the taxes, you could save around $113--or 45%--over WalMart for a 1-year supply of these contacts. Also, buying at VisionDirect.com might get you some drugstore.com "dollars," but I'm not sure.

Manufacturer's rebates are common as well, and are typically reseller-independent. But as always, don't completely depend on rebates. Ciba denied one of my recent claims even though I followed their instructions.