Ignore Expiration Dates

February 19, 2010

“Best by,” “Sell by,” and all those other labels mean very little.

By Nadia ArumugamUpdated Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010, at 10:18 AM ET

There’s a filet mignon in my fridge that expired four days ago, but it seems OK to me. I take a hesitant whiff and detect no putrid odor of rotting flesh, no oozing, fetid cow juice—just the full-bodied aroma of well-aged meat. A feast for one; I retrieve my frying pan. This is not an isolated experiment or a sad symptom of my radical frugality. With a spirit of teenage rebellion, I disavow any regard for expiration dates.

www.slate.com/id/2244249/

By eric | Posted in Conservation, Green, Shopping | Tagged | Comments (0)

Best Buy Optimization Is A Big Stupid Annoying Waste Of Money

January 4, 2010

By: Meg Marco on January 4, 2010 8:28 AM

This “warning” appears on a Geek Squad sales info folder. Over the past year, a number of you have been telling us that, due to “pre-optimization” of computers, it’s difficult — sometimes impossible — to walk into a Best Buy and leave with the advertised deal (in effect, you would be paying a $39.99 surcharge over the computer’s advertised price). We decided to look into your complaints. We sent the Consumer Reports secret shoppers to 18 different Best Buys in 11 states, and one of our shoppers was denied the price advertised for a specific model because only pre-optimized computers were available. When the Consumer Reports engineers compared three “optimized” computers to ones with default factory settings, there was no performance improvement. In one case, an optimized laptop actually performed 32% worse than the factory model.

http://consumerist.com/2010/01/consumerist-investigation-best-buy-optimization-is-a-big-stupid-annoying-waste-of-money.html

By eric | Posted in Computers, Shopping | Comments (0)

Why You Shouldn’t Buy From Ikea

July 23, 2009

“Face it, when your $20 bookshelf broke you just threw it out and went back for another one, right? And why not, they’re so cheap!! (And there’s a bus! And where else can you eat lingonberries?!……) But our demand for highly disposable wood furniture has made Ikea the third-largest wood consumer in the world. Not to mention that the average consumer drives 50 miles round trip to get that $20 bookshelf.”
http://consumerist.com/5321404/why-you-shouldnt-buy-from-ikea

So basically, what this is saying is… Your buying crappy stuff, that then fills landfills cause it does not last, you waste tons of gas to get there and you end up hurting the environment and could have bought a $50 bookshelves that would have lasted you longer…

By eric | Posted in Green, News, Shopping | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Quest for jean shorts that fit me and look good.

June 20, 2009

I decided to give JCPenny’s another try after not liking the little jean shorts they had 1-2 years ago. Well, I was not happy with what they had. They at least had them on sale for reasonable prices this time for $20. I decided to give up till I had time to go to other stores. I went out with a friend today and we saw a Salvation Army store in Warren, Michigan. We decided to go in and look around. I found a few music CD’s and decided to try my luck at their jeans. I did find one similar to JCPenny’s and another pair that are a lighter color in my size for $4.99 each. The lighter ones were a little worn in front, but not too bad. Not only did I get 2 jean’s for half the cost of one at JCPenny’s. I supported a non-profit that helps others.

By eric | Posted in Shopping | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)