In Part 1, we looked some of the ways you could score a discount on purchases in cold, hard dollars. But if you really want to eke the utmost value from your purchase, you should also take into account the many indirect benefits that are available: Credit card reward points: most credit cards issuers offer rewards programs that give you points for spending, therefore paying via credit card is a great opportunity to gain extra value every time you make a purchase. However, this is only beneficial if you pay off your full credit card balance each month – interest […]

We’re currently experiencing an interesting time in the economy, with the Australian Dollar losing around 20% value against the US Dollar after a sustained period of being close to parity. Big multinational businesses usually hedge money to smooth out small shifts, but the downturn has been persistent enough that many have moved to increase the prices of their products in response to the situation. What’s unusual however, is companies giving the market an early warning that prices are about to increase drastically. Apple did it towards the beginning of the year, much to the annoyance of its otherwise fiercely loyal […]

I first wrote about Costco way back in August 2009, but I wasn’t brave enough to be part of the first rush of people to visit. But after the crush of early crowds died down, I finally got around to seeing first hand whether the fuss is justified. It’s not as if I haven’t been to one of these before; on a trip to Canada many years ago I visited a similar monstrosity, and brought back a box of Hershey’s Cookies and Cream chocolate bars that I doled out to my friends. It might be a revelation for Australia, but […]