Among all the hustle and bustle of the coming holiday season, this is the time of the year a great many companies will have open enrollment for their health care insurance plans. This is when employees can change or are forced to change the their health insurance. With health care costs going up and the amount of coverage going down, there may be some non-employer provided options that is better.

It was not to many years ago when my employer provided a family health care plan which included dental, and optical. The trade off was a deductible of only $10 per office visit, and only $5 per medication. Unfortunately, those days are long gone.

Last year I took a quick look at Open Enrollment. A couple weeks back I did a look at Health Insurance Overview. Today, I would like us to look at other Health Insurance Options. We don’t have to be lock into just what our employer has to offer us. Some of these other options maybe give us better coverage at a equal to or better price.

We are less than two months away from Christmas Day. The holiday shopping seasons officially starts in less than three weeks, with Black Friday. Already we are starting to see hints about Christmas shopping, and where the best deals will be at.

Commercials from Wal Mart stating the best deals will only be from them. Kmart has ran some commercials about how we need to use their Lay-A-Way plan as part of our Christmas shopping. Many other stores have already started displaying Christmas decorations.

Websites like TheBlackFriday.com have been posting what items are being sold and for how much. Then retailers like Target are wanting you to create an online account to see their Black Friday deals. Even the online retailers like Amazon.com are offering special deals from Black Friday thru Cyber Monday.

Cars are getting much better in how far you can drive on a gallon of gas. We are seeing more and more cars that have electric battery assist to help you go farther on a gallon of gas. Unless you want a large hauling capacity vehicle a 40 MPG rating is a reasonable expectation.

Because we are reducing our demand for fossil fuel the cost for gasoline is slowly dropping. Currently the price of crude oil is ranging between $93 to $110 a barrel. The $93 market is the where the majority of the crude oil is selling at.

The local Jackson’s gas station dropped their gas prices by 10 cents over the last couple of weeks to $3.55 per gallon. When I saw it, I expected for the the price go back up in a few days by at least five cents, but it has not. Their price has remained the same. I have seen some other major brand gas station dropped their price to as low as $3.49 per gallon. According to GasBuddy.com within five miles of our home Fred Meyer is selling their gas for $3.36 per gallon.

Where do you going shopping? How much do you spend when you go shopping? By answering these two questions, I can tell you what you like to buy, and how much research you do before buying. Mostly likely I can see areas where you can save money.

Help me help you save money. Send me a months worth of your receipts. I can tell if your are an emotional shopper or a frugal shopper. When you do send me those receipts, I will send you a $20 gift card, if I use those receipts in future posts.

There is an alternative motive behind getting having you sending me your receipts. This is my way of finding where you are shopping, what your are buying, and what things you want me to research for you. Then I can take this information and plan further post around your purchases.

Don’t worry, I am not going to use your name or email address other than sending you the $20 gift card.  All you have to do is scan your receipts into PDF format. then email them to me at efcussins@theshoppingnazi.com as an attachment. Put in the subject line Receipts.  If you are having trouble emailing them, email me and I will set up a PO box for you. So start collecting those receipts. 

Do you realize, in the United States, the average car repair is $1,500? Did you know the average vet bill is around $400 for a cat? Are you aware that most human health care insurance plans cover only a fraction of any major medical expenses? Considering the uncertainty of today’s job market, we need to some money in saving for those unexpected expenses.

Just a couple years ago, in 2009, the average savings account would not even cover the bills for a family for one month. According to all the numbers I can find it is not much better today. It is time to get our financial house in order and have a healthy savings account.

Saving is more than just putting money in the bank. Savings is putting the right amount of money in the right bank. Why? Savings account are not designed to store money up for a rainy day. An expected return is required. Neither do we need to have our money in a bank getting a high interest rate when that same bank is charging us all sorts of fees.

There are times where I like to sit back at the mall or some street fair and watch people walk past. Other times I like to sit down with people and listen to what they have to say. I want to know who they are and what they are thinking.

One of the observations I have made about people who have a lot of money is they as a rule don’t like to spend it. People who have very little money like to spend any extra money they get. That is why I have observed the vast majority of wealthy people walking around wearing clothes off the rack at Sears, JC Penny’s or the local thrift store. These people hang on to their money. When they are willing to spend a little extra as long as they can get extra quality.

These same people are very cautious about not wasting food. Food does cost money. Wasting food goes far beyond not eating everything on their plate at dinner time. It encompasses managing the food bought to what is eaten. The amount of food that is thrown out because of spoilage can add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars.

My efforts to not to throw out food and waste money has gotten me into trouble a few time. I would look in the refrigerator for leftovers. Then I would choose my lunch or dinner by the leftovers in the refrigerator. Many a time I didn’t pay close enough attention to how long the chicken or some pasta dish was in the refrigerator. 

For over two years now I have been posting to TheShoppingNazi.com. Finally, a culmination of all those post is here for you in the form of an eBook.  The eBook is titled Shopping with The Shopping Nazi.  On October 1, 2011, TODAY! Shopping with The Shopping Nazi will be on Amazon.com. It will be in a format so you can read it on a Kindle or any tablet or cell phone.

You can Get the PDF version at WritersOut.com. Get it in the Kindle format at Amazon.com 

In Shopping with The Shopping Nazi you will not find any Quotes from Adolf Hitler.

I can guarantee no celebrities were harmed in the writing of Shopping with The Shopping Nazi.

You will not find any mention of Lady Gaga in Shopping with The Shopping Nazi.

You will find how to save money one product at a time. You will get tips on getting the best possible quality at the best possible price.

Today’s post can have several titles. It could be call Price Comparison. It could be called Good Better Best. Or it could even be titled Finding the Best Possible Quality at the Best Possible Price. However, I have title it Website for Finding What You Want. All the titles summing up what I have written.

On the internet there is a lot of websites offering the best deal for almost everything you can think of buying. If you believe what you read, you may just be losing quality and money. Why?

Everyone who puts up any kind of website wants to sell you something. They can make it look good. They can make it look like you are getting a real deal, by quoting a suggested retail price and their discount of 50% or more. They tell you it is high quality and you should buy it now.

There are two things about this mere statement “Discount of 50%” that is misleading. First, it is a foolish waste of money to pay suggested retail price, or even manufacture’s list price for anything. That number is what suckers pay. Second, the 50% discount is telling me there is some other place where I can possibly get the very same item for less money. So what do I use for a frame of reference for when pricing any goods or services?

There is no shame in renting as opposed to buying and owning. The old stereotypical mindset which says it is cheaper to buy to own over renting is has been proven to be wrong. I am not talking just about buying a home. There are times renting a cars, tools, and other items cost less than buying out right.

When it came to working on my car, if I needed a specialty tool or widget, I would buy it. I would count that tool or widget as part of the cost of doing the repair myself. I didn’t take into consideration the fact I would maybe only using that specialized tool only once. What resulted was having a shed half full of tools I only used once or twice.

My neighbors and friends capitalized on stupidity. When it came time for them to need some specialty tool or widget, they would come by my place and check if I had it. If I didn’t have it they would go down to the local tool rental store.