Magnavox H2160MW9 DVD Recorder

You don't have to order cable or satellite to enjoy the benefits of a DVR. The Magnavox H2160MW9 HDD and DVD Recorder allows you to record television using a tuner.





Last fall we ordered a fiber-optic tv and internet service package that included a DVR--our first ever. We got instantly hooked on the DVR. However, I didn't like the fact that my children stayed GLUED to the television. So after a few months we cancelled the television service.




Then World Cup rolled around, and my husband really wished we had the DVR to record the World Cup games during work hours. That's when I went to work and found the Magnavox DVD Recorder. (Over my shoulder he just called it his "World Cup Savior...everything [he] hoped it would be.")



We're saving $70 per month on the television service, but still get the convenience of a DVR.



Tips:

• Amazon's price is the best deal I can find on the internet right now.


• All you need is a digital television and an antenna. You can buy an antenna on the internet, or follow this youtube tutorial to build one (my 13-year-old son built ours, and it works better than the store-bought one we had before).
  

Back from San Marcos: Part 1

We arrived in San Marcos Friday night.... Isn't it beautiful? It should be named one of the 7 wonders of the world.

We shopped Friday night, stayed at La Quinta in San Marcos (not impressed...I don't recommend it), then arrived back at the Outlet Malls by 9am. We shopped amongst other Spring Breakers, including travellers from Mexico, all day Saturday and arrived home by 10 pm. It was a busy place, but not overcrowded.

Evidence of a happy trip:

Full trunk (see above)

Empty wallet (see below)

Here are a few of my favorite purchases:

Original outlet price: $80.

Original price for the sweater: $99

Shorts: originally $69

Dress: originally $78

Roxy hats for bad hair days: originally $22 each.

Tips:

• Avoid traffic. We left at the wrong time, hitting Austin just before rush hour, which added an extra 2 hours to our trip.
• Bring snacks. Dining options are slim at the outlet malls.

This is only part 1, because in May I'm headed back for a birthday/Mother's Day trip with friends. Wanna come?

Headed to San Marcos Outlet...

The outlets in San Marcos, TX were named the "third best place to shop in the world" by ABC's the View. It is the biggest outlet destination in Texas, and the 3rd biggest in the world. Find more info in this post.

Thesaurus.com:

"Main Entry: heavenPart of Speech: nounDefinition: place where God lives; wonderful feelingSynonyms: Arcadia, Canaan, Elysium, Shangri-la, Utopia, Zion, afterworld, atmosphere, azure*, beyond, bliss, dreamland, ecstasy, empyrean, enchantment, eternal home, eternal rest, eternity, fairyland, felicity, firmament, glory, great unknown, happiness, happy hunting ground, harmony, heights, hereafter, immortality, kingdom, kingdom come, life everlasting, life to come, next world, nirvana, paradise, pearly gates, promised land, rapture, sky*, the blue, transport, upstairs, wonderland "

This is where I'll be, what I'll be experiencing this weekend.

This is what my husband calls it:

"Antonyms: hell" (from Thesaurus.com)

I'll report back in a few days...

Try to have a weekend as fun as mine!

Free TV and Movies

From Thriftyfun.com:

"Hulu.com

is a free website where you can watch movies, TV shows, missed episodes;

all for free with no membership."

By Diane from Denver, CO

Need Help Finding a Deal?

The Bargain Huntress loves to go on the hunt for you!

Email bargainbasics@gmail.com.

Include the following information:

Item you're looking for (inlcluding any specifics, such as color, size, etc.).

Price you'd like to beat.

Digital Camera: Part Deux

Suzanne* writes:

"Hi Becky. Our digital camera died on Mothers Day. John and I are pretty bummed about it. I thought I might surprise him with a new camera for Fathers Day. I liked the info you had gathered earlier for yourself on cameras. But I want to know if you are still happy with the camera you bought now that you've owned it and used it for a while. I think you got it for a steal because I cannot find it for that price anywhere - at least anywhere that I know of. Could you recommend some websites for me to shop? Or tell me a little more about the runner up cameras you considered that I could find for a comparable price? My budget is $120. Thanks!"

*Names have been changed to protect a surprise.

First, I ABSOLUTELY still love my camera (Canon Powershot A590IS). Now that I've had it for a few months, I'm practically a professional photographer. :)

However, Suzanne's right. I can't find it anywhere online for the price I paid--unless it's used or refurbished.

So, here are some new options:

Samsung S860: $79.99 at amazon.com

Pros: It's compact and the cheapest of my bunch.
Cons: Offers minimal features.

Olympus Stylus 840: $99.95 at amazon.com.

Pros: Highest optical zoom (5x) in my bunch.
Cons: Average features.

Canon Powershot A480: $118 on Butterflyphoto.com.

Pros: 10 megapixels is the most in my bunch, good manual controls, great menu system.
Cons: Tiny zoom, minimal external controls.

Canon Powershot A470: $86.99 on amazon.com.

Pros: Takes great pictures, and takes them fast.
Cons: Chunky body, average features.

WWBD: Using the same spreadsheet as last time, I determined that the Canon Powershot A470 is the best deal right now. If you don't like the yellow, you can pay $5 more to get the silver or blue.

Tips:

• Evaluate objectively. Since there are so many different options available, I built a spreadsheet based on important features, price, etc, to score each camera. It's easier for me to determine the best deal this way.
• If someone can find a better price, (Chris J., I'm talking to you...) please let Suzanne know before she buys! You can be king or queen of my blog for the day.
  

Bargain Huntress Faves: Costco

For all-around bargain hunting, Costco is my favorite place to go. I love to wander up and down the aisles looking for treasures. It's also conveniently located right across the street from my gym, so I'm there a LOT. Here's a blog post by my niece describing Costco-induced emotion.


And here are some of my favorite finds:

I regularly visited this red vase on the shelf at Costco until the price came down to Bargain Huntress level.

The HP G60 was originally priced by Costco at $699 (around $1000 at other stores offering comparable specs). When the price dropped to $649 at the same time Costco offered $100 off, I made my move.

Pretty much the same story as the red vase. I just waited until the price was right.







That's right! $1.50. I happened to get lucky today. This container, which is enough to feed my family of 7, was priced incorrectly at $4.56. It should have been around $14. On top of that, Costco issued a coupon for $3 off this dish.

Other items I regularly buy:

• Milk, eggs, cheese are consistently cheaper than the grocery store.
• Shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste.
• Diapers and wipes.

Tips:

• Know Costco's pricing. An item ending with .97 is on sale. One ending with .00 is a closeout. I once got cartons of 24 yoplait yogurts for $1.00 each. When they want something to go, they price it to fly off the shelf.
• Don't wait too long, if you have to have it. It may never go on sale and Costco might not carry it again. It's part of Costco's marketing strategy to encourage the consumer to buy NOW.
• I have nothing against Sam's. Costco just hooked me first. I'm sure Sam's is great, too.
  

Printer Ink

It's time to replace my black ink cartridge (HP 92).

I normally buy a combo pack from the Costco warehouse, but this time I'm not satisfied that's the cheapest way to go. Perhaps I'm tired of shelling out so much money for ink (that my kids use to print an entire page of black).

Here are the options:

• Costco.com sells one cartridge for $14.98.


• Amazon.com sells a twin pack for $24.08.


• The Amazon marketplace sells a recycled twin pack for $13.78.


• I also found an ebay seller that sells a 6-pack of recycled ink cartridges for $29.90.

WWBD: I just placed a bid on ebay for a 6-pack, starting bid: $24.95 ($4.16 per cartridge). There are no bids and the auction is over in a few hours, so I feel pretty confident I will win. I set my highest bid as 29.50, so if someone outbids me, I can go back and get the other one I just listed above.

Tips:

• Don't outbid me!


• Try a google search, ebay search, and an amazon search to find the best price for your particular print cartridge.


• Save the planet. Ordering recycled print cartridges keeps them out of the landfills. (You know me, Ms. TreeHugger...) Refilling them yourselves is even cheaper, but pretty messy. I like the idea of having someone else refill them for me.

Panasonic DMR-EZ48VK DVD/VHS Player

My parents found this dvd recorder/vhs player at Costco for $279 and asked me to do my Bargain Huntress thing for them.



Step 1:

Go to cnet.com to check their review of this item.



Step 2:

Since cnet rated this item "very good," and it has all the features my parents want, I skipped searching for another dvd player that might be comparable or better.



Step 3:

Search this item with Google Shopping using the exact item description found in the title of this blog post.



Step 4:

Weigh price options (including shipping) with seller reliability. It turns out that the best price for a brand new one (ignoring the sellers that got poor ratings) is at Costco.



Step 5:

Check amazon.com, overstock.com, and ebay.com, since not every item out there shows up on Google shopping. The dvd player was listed on ebay (by a seller with stellar feedback) for $144.95 + free shipping. The caveat--it's refurbished. However, that just means the packaging was slightly damaged or opened. It was not rebuilt or repaired. Furthermore, the seller offers a 90-day warranty (the same as Costco). My parents decided refurbished would be acceptable.



Step 6:

Order it!



Tips:

• Double check. Before you hit the "buyitnow" button, be sure it's the exact item you want, in the condition you want. (Note to self: Double check the shipping address, too. I accidentally shipped it to my home instead of my parents'. That means this Bargain Hunt is costing me $15 in shipping to get it from my house to theirs. I could kick myself!)

More on the Canon Powershot A590 IS

I didn't rave enough about my new camera (Canon Powershot A590 IS). Yesterday I found a little free time (thanks, Susette!), so I played with the camera using tips from an article on thepioneerwoman.com. My camera has so many more features that are easy to use than my last camera (may it rest in peace). My photography experience is nil. I just happened to see the above article and thought it would be fun to test out the new camera. Here are some of my favorites:

I'm calling this "Seashell by Blue Vase" (catchy, eh?)

"Shell We Dance?"

"Shell-f Life"

"Flute"

"Frilly Fake Flower"

"Good Morning, Daffodil"

"Carolina Jasmine--Home to our lizards"

"Candle on My Mantel"

"I Should Wash My Talavera"

___________________________________________________

Tell me which is your favorite! (I guess I got a little silly with the names--remember, I'm remedially creative. Please submit better names, too!)

Here's the bargain tie-in: You can use your own shots as art for your home.

Tips:

• Take lots of shots. Advice courtesy of thepioneerwoman.com. But she's right. I took about 150 shots around my home and got these 9 that looked good.
• Group by theme. Pick several shots that have the same color splash (e.g. I could take several different shots of the shell next to the blue vase) or the same type of object (e.g. I could take several shots of different shells) to make an artistic grouping for your wall. Make sure the frames match as well for the best result.

Follow ups: Digital Camera Deal and Ipod

It feels like Christmas this weekend--a new digital camera and a new mp3 player!

Digital camera first:

I only considered point and shoot, which eliminated all the digital SLRs. Also, on my previous post, Hilary and Chris J commented that image quality really doesn't improve much from 8 megapixels (MP) to 10. Every website I consulted agreed with that comment, so I shopped for any camera with 8 MP or more. Finally, I use cnet.com for reviews on any electronics I buy, so their ratings are included below.

The cameras (and their features) that made the final cut follow:

Canon PowerShot SD1100IS

• 8MP


• 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom


• Amazon rating: 4.6


• Cnet rating: 7.6


• Made the "Best 8 to 9 MP Digital Camera" list, "Best Compact digital camera" list, and "Best Budget digital camera" list on Cnet.com


• Best price: $119 at ontimedigital.com (+9.99 shipping)

Kodak EasyShare M893 IS

• 8 MP


• 3X optical zoom


• Amazon rating: 3.0


• Cnet rating: 7.0


• Best price: $99.99 (+5.49 shipping) from Amazon marketplace

Canon PowerShot A590IS

• 8MP


• 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom


• Amazon rating: 4.5


• Cnet rating: 7.8


• #5 of "Best Digital Camera" list, #1 of "Best Budget Digital Camera" list on Cnet.com


• Best price: $106 on butterflyphoto.com

Sony Cybershot DSCW150

• 8.1MP


• 5x Optical Zoom with Super Steady Shot


• Amazon rating: 4.2


• Cnet rating: 7


• Best price: $114 at Costco (+tax), comes with case

The winner is........

Canon PowerShot A590IS

Ultimately, I had a hard time choosing, so I made a spreadsheet to help me make the choice. I scored each feature (MP, price, rating, etc), then added them up to get my result. The Canon PowerShot A590IS won out. It arrived yesterday, and I love it! It takes great pictures and has tons of features that are very user-friendly.

Next...the mp3 player.

The features we wanted in an mp3 player included enough storage for all of our music and the ability to play videos. The choice came down to 3:

• Apple ipod classic 120gb, $219.95 at amazon.com









• 
  
  Apple ipod touch 8gb, $223.76 at amazon.com

• Microsoft Zune 120gb, #234.95 at amazon.com

The ipod classic from amazon edged out the Zune, mostly because we know the ipod; and the ipod touch didn't have enough built in memory. Just before ordering I checked Circuit City's liquidation sale, where the price for an ipod was $5 more than amazon, but the Zune was on sale for $174.95 (+ tax). Intriguing....I consulted with Chris J. (through his wife, Liz), who raved about the Zune, the only drawback being the annoyance having to convert the music library from itunes to the Zune software. So I pulled the trigger, and we now have a Microsoft Zune 120gb. It turns out the conversion to Zune's software was a snap. The software did it for me, except for songs purchased through itunes--still working on those.

Like I said, it feels like Christmas.

Tips:

• Decide what's important to you. It can be overwhelming trying to wade through the oceans of possibilities and information. Deciding on a few key features to begin with will help narrow down the field.


• Take notes. After you've collected all the information (price, specs, etc), you can more readily compare the choices.

Ipod

Ok, folks. Today I'm stumped. Usually that signals to me that I should wait to buy whatever item I've looked for, but I don't want to wait. My husband's Apple Ipod (aka my ipod--he never uses it, but he won it, so I have to call it his) Click Wheel 20gb just died. *sniff* *sniff* (tears are dropping onto my keyboard...) I get so bored at the gym without it!

My search has been for an mp3 player that has at least 20 or 30 gb of memory and can play videos. I'm used to the Ipod and Itunes, but I could adjust to a different system. However, everything I read on the internet says the ipod is the best. Microsoft's Zune player comes close, but doesn't have some of the features, the battery life, or as many available accessories.

The Apple Ipod Classic 120gb made it to the top of my list. The lowest price I can find for a new one is $220 on amazon.com. Is there a lower priced (not refurbished) one out there? I can't find it. Or is there another alternative that I can't see? I haven't seen it.

Can you help? I'll make you queen/king of my blog for the day if you can find me a better deal.

Digital Camera Deal

We have had a rash of electronics deaths in our household, one of which being my Fuji Finepix 2800Zoom digital camera. This camera has lasted for over 6 years, and I have loved it. It takes good quality pictures, 60 second movies, and has given me no trouble. I believe one of my 5 lovely children got their hands on it, unfortunately. (Or could it have been when I dropped it the other day? We'll just blame it on the kids....)

So now I am in the market for a new digital camera unless someone out there can tell me how to fix it. I have scoured the internet looking for repair helps to no avail.

Here's what I want:

• 10 megapixel or greater (for picture quality)


• at least 3X optical zoom (optical zoom is real zoom--lens-driven; digital zoom merely enlarges a portion of the image)


• a slim body that will fit easily in my purse


• a price around $100

When I purchased my Fuji Finepix 6 1/2 years ago, I paid over $300 for 2 megapixels and 6x optical zoom. Technology improves so quickly that I can easily find a camera with the features I listed for $100. The challenge remains to find the highest quality camera for that price.

I'll let you know what I find!