News, Tips and Resources for Online Bargain Hunters
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Amazon has just released a new set of coupon codes for this month and as usual I post them in a list sorted by amount so it is more convenient to pick those with the best value. Most coupons below expire December 31, 2008.
If you like these Amazon coupons, I also recommend you to check out these Amazon discount codes. The best part is that these codes don’t have an expiration date!
Last year Black Friday turned sour for me. I am scanning through this year deals picking the best places to shop and here is what I have found so far:
The merchants that don’t have brick & mortar stores are keeping up as well:
Overall discounts are much better this year around. Will see what happens tomorrow. Where do you shop this Black Friday? Please share your tips in the comments!
Kefir is a is a fermented milk drink very popular in Russia and other Eastern Europe countries. It is not very common in the US and the closest local match is drinkable yogurt but it contains a different type of bacteria and doesn’t exactly taste the same.
While in Ukraine I used to drink kefir regularly since I was a child and obviously when I came to the US I tried to find it in the stores. A popular US kefir producer is Chicago based Lifeway Foods (founded by a Russian immigrant by the way), you can find their diary products in Osco-Jewel and other stores.
A 32 oz. bottle of kefir sells for around $3.50 and not exactly a budget buy and so we often skipped it in our trips to the grocery store depriving ourselves from the great taste of the drink loved by many in the family. That changed recently after we discovered that we can make it at home with a very minimal effort.
All we needed is kefir grains which we got from our friends but you can buy them in some health food stores (ask for kefir starter). The benefits and savings are tremendous! 32 oz of milk is 65 cents, compare it to $3.50 that the same size bottle of plain kefir will cost. If your family drinks 2 bottles a week it will result in savings of around $300 a year!
The home made kefir is very beneficial to your health since it preserves the live bacteria - something diary products manufactures have mastered not too long ago (lookup the term “probiotic”). You can tailor-make kefir according to your individual taste: want it thin - use 2% or skim milk, want it flavored - add a fresh pureed fruit or maple syrup before you drink it.
The overall process is extremely easy and takes at most 10 minutes of your time daily. The cycle is 24 hours but if you ever get tired of drinking kefir every day you can put it in the fridge for a week or two and let it sleep there. The bacteria gets dormant (the life process slows down) and will give you the break you need.
1. Place kefir grains in a clean glass jar
2. Cover with 16-32 fl. oz of milk (depending on the amount of grains)
3. Cover with a cheese cloth and let it brew for 24 hours (or until it reaches desired sourness)
4. When kefir is ready, strain grains from kefir milk
5. Rinse the kefir grains with clean water and reuse for the next cycle
6. Enjoy your healthy drink!
Sources for more info:
Amazon Customer Vote is back! In case you missed it last year here are the highlights. Amazon will offer 3 deal for a vote in 6 rounds. The deal that gets the most votes in each round will be offered for sale at discount in a limited quantity. The other 2 deals will also be for sale but the discount will not be as good.
After you vote, check your email box the day before the round that has your deal. If you are lucky you will be notified and will have a chance to buy the discounted product. The rules emphasize that the sale is a race and that there will be more buyers than products available, so show up early if you don’t want to miss your deals.
Unlike the last year, you can buy any of the three deals and not just the one you voted for. I am not sure if the chances to be selected depend on your vote, and the rules don’t say anything.
Here is the deals offered for a vote and the percentage of votes they collected at the time I cast my own votes (in the parenthesis):
Round 1 - November 28
PS3 Blu-ray Sci-Fi Bundle for $199.00 (21%)
PS3 Blu-ray Action Bundle for $229.00 (28%)
PS3 Blu-ray Family Bundle for $199.00 (53%)
Round 2 - November 29
Eyeclops night vision for $39.00 (56%)
U-Dance for $35.00 (19%)
Razor PowerWing Caster Scooter for $49.00 (26%)
Round 3 - December 1
Samsung 46-Inch 1080p HDTV for $699.00 (63%)
Samsung TL34HD 14.7MP Camera for $139.00 (9%)
Sony Blu-ray Disc Player for $99.00 (29%)
Round 4 - December 2
Nokia N95-3 (Unlocked) for $199.00 (11%)
ASUS Eee PC 900 8.9-Inch Netebook for $129.00 (76%)
Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 60-Minutes for $49.00 (14%)
Round 5 - December 3
Navigon 8100T for $299.00 (27%)
TomTom GO 730T for $245.00 (68%)
GolfLogix GPS by Garmin for $149.00 (7%)
Round 6 - December 4
The Sopranos - The Complete Series for $130.00 (15%)
The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Collector’s Edition for $50.00 (7%)
KitchenAid Professional Stand Mixer for $69.00 (79%)
One deal I am especially excited about is the the ASUS Eee laptop. This particular model usually sells for 3 times the price! The deal I wouldn’t be worried about not getting is the TV. I am sure the prices will keep falling after Christmas and already now you can find very good deals on large LCD HDTV’s like this 42” Panasonic for $599.
Are you planning to participate? Which deal do you think is the hottest?
It is hard to find a bargain in the communication industry. The growth of internet and VOIP is bringing tons of options at our hands. Yet, today I found that at the rate of 13 cents per minute I am overpaying twice when I call my parents in Ukraine with WDT (my current provider). So much for being a pro- bargain hunter! 
If I were to stumble upon JustVOIP in my web browsing I would move on. The website design looks cheap and important pieces (like About page) are missing. I did not however. It was my friend who recommended the service to me today claiming he has been using it for some time and is happy with the quality. So I jumped right in.
To begin with, rates to Europe are really low. Many countries are on the free list (below) meaning it doesn’t cost anything to call if you use the computer for your part of the call. Rates to other countries are very competitive too. (Ukraine was €0.05 + call initiation charge of €0.05). Here are the free countries:
| Argentina | Hungary | Portugal |
| Australia | Ireland | Puerto Rico (+mobile) |
| Austria | Italy | Romania |
| Belgium | Japan | Russian Federation |
| Brazil | Latvia | Singapore |
| Bulgaria | Luxembourg | Slovak Republic |
| Canada | Malaysia | Slovenia |
| Chile | Mexico [guadalajara] | South Korea |
| Colombia | Mexico [mexico City] | Spain |
| Cyprus | Mexico [monterrey] | Sweden |
| Czech Republic | Monaco | Switzerland |
| Denmark | Netherlands | Taiwan |
| Estonia | New Zealand | Thailand |
| France | Norway | United Kingdom |
| Germany | Panama | United States (+mobile) |
| Greece | Peru | Venezuela |
| Hong Kong (+mobile) | Poland |
You need to install software to create an account. The program runs on Windows and is similar to Skype. You can use it for calling but you don’t have to. If you prefer the old-fashioned way of calling like I do then you can do it by initiating a phone-to-phone call from the web-page. Login to your account, enter where you are calling from and where you want to call to and JustVOIP will call both numbers and connect the call together.
In addition JustVOIP offers a US based call-in number that can act as a gateway for international calling but it didn’t work well when I tried it. I heard the prompt but dialing the number didn’t connect me to the party I intended to call.
After you create an account you can buy credits €10 a piece and enjoy the savings. Don’t buy credits if free service is all you plan to use. Ether way if you give it a try - please leave a comment and let everyone know how it has worked out for you.
Relevant reading:
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