Cheapwad Finds--Opposite of Blow That Dough!

[COcheesehead]

$1.99/month for a year of Hulu for new customers.

 

[11522914]

I don't think I knew just how much I should appreciate the fact that my truck and DW's vehicle each get free oil changes at the respective dealer for life.

My wife had this deal on her 2013 Camry until someone hit her car and totalled it a couple of years ago. [emoji34]

 

[Chuckanut]

Here's a real cheapwad offer. Get $5 back on any purchase of $5 or more at a Kroger store. I found it under 'Offers' on my Freedom Flex card. It is targeted so you may or may not have it.

In these days of high inflation and sub-optimal real interest rates, I will take every dollar I can get.

 

[Koolau]

Here's a real cheapwad offer. Get $5 back on any purchase of $5 or more at a Kroger store. I found it under 'Offers' on my Freedom Flex card. It is targeted so you may or may not have it.

In these days of high inflation and sub-optimal real interest rates, I will take every dollar I can get.

Since I was born where Kroger was ubiquitous, I never thought I'd say it, but I wish we had Kroger here in Paradise. "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." (Thank you, Joni Mitchell.)

 

[NW-Bound]

On Black Friday, I spotted $1 deal on an industrial Hall-effect current sensor. These were removed off equipment, but there's little that can go wrong with them. These are about $20 new.

Bought 20 of them, and have checked out a couple. Both checked out and agreed with specs.

These will be used on my solar power system.

 

[kgtest]

Just signed up for a free year of Paramount Plus thanks to being a T-Mobile customer.

I called to try and get this add-on, but the rep said it was not available for my Business Magenta Military Family plan. Dangit.

 

[kgtest]

My wife had this deal on her 2013 Camry until someone hit her car and totalled it a couple of years ago. [emoji34]

Dang! We bought the 2013 used, but that deal clearly wasn't transferable. Our new 2022 Camry only comes with a 10,000 and a 20,000 mile free oil change. Although they rotate the tires every 5,000 up to 25,000 so about 5 free tire rotations.

I don't like the idea of waiting until 10,000 miles to change my vehicle's oil (I secretly feel they are doing this to try and 'lower' the cost of ownership to better compete with Electric marketing lower COO.)

So I pay to get my oil changed every $5,000 miles in between the 2 free oil changes.

 

[Chuckanut]

I called to try and get this add-on, but the rep said it was not available for my Business Magenta Military Family plan. Dangit.

FWIW, this is the version that contains advertising. And they really load it up with ads. It's worth it for free. I would hate to pay even $5 a month and have to deal with so many ads so often.

 

[Chuckanut]

Dang! We bought the 2013 used, but that deal clearly wasn't transferable. Our new 2022 Camry only comes with a 10,000 and a 20,000 mile free oil change. Although they rotate the tires every 5,000 up to 25,000 so about 5 free tire rotations.

I don't like the idea of waiting until 10,000 miles to change my vehicle's oil (I secretly feel they are doing this to try and 'lower' the cost of ownership to better compete with Electric marketing lower COO.)

So I pay to get my oil changed every $5,000 miles in between the 2 free oil changes.

According to some, the 10,000 mile oil change interval was chosen for marketing reasons. Automakers wanted to add a longer warranty to the car as a selling point. They asked the engineers, "how often does the oil have to be changed so the car is highly reliable and won't need warranty service under our normal warrant?" The answer was every 10,000 miles.

At about 1:15 minutes in the video below the mechanic starts to talk about the minimum required maintenance to get the car through the manufacturer's warranty period. You guessed it. 10,000 mile oil changes will get you past the warranty period with no repairs needed. After that you are on your own. Good luck.

I want to keep my RAV4 until I have driven it to the distance to the moon, about 250,000 miles. So I change the oil every 5000-6000 miles.

 

[aja8888]

According to some, the 10,000 mile oil change interval was chosen for marketing reasons. Automakers wanted to add a longer warranty to the car as a selling point. They asked the engineers, "how often does the oil have to be changed so the car is highly reliable and won't need warranty service under our normal warrant?" The answer was every 10,000 miles.

At about 1:15 minutes in the video below the mechanic starts to talk about the minimum required maintenance to get the car through the manufacturer's warranty period. You guessed it. 10,000 mile oil changes will get you past the warranty period with no repairs needed. After that you are on your own. Good luck.

If you plan on owning the car for well over 100,000 miles, change the oil every 5000 miles. Sometimes I go to 6,000 if most of the miles are racked up on long drives.

At a bit over 1 minutes the mechanic discusses the minimum maintenance needed to get the car past the manufacturer's warranty. Surprise. It's 10,000 mile oil changes.

I my car restoring days (ended a few years ago), I have sent oil samples from engines at various miles on the oils to Blackstone Labs for detailed analysis. Good synthetic oil will easily go 10 K miles and still have some of the additive package left. In Europe, where motor oil costs a fortune, users go long distances, sometimes 20 -25 K miles before an oil change.

It's really all about the oil quality (spec) and service designation. Some oils here in the states are designed to go 25 K miles without a change (Amsoil brand is one)

 

[ERD50]

... At about 1:15 minutes in the video below the mechanic starts to talk about the minimum required maintenance to get the car through the manufacturer's warranty period. You guessed it. 10,000 mile oil changes will get you past the warranty period with no repairs needed. After that you are on your own. Good luck.
...

I'm not buying it. "get you past the warranty period with no repairs needed" isn't the same as "your car will fall apart after the warranty period is up, due to 10,000 mile oil changes versus 5,000 mile oil changes".

I'm not going to watch a whole 40 minute video to find out (but I can guess) - does he ever do a scientific comparison of a fleet of vehicles with 10,000 miles changes, versus a fleet with 5,000 mile changes? That's the only way to prove anything. The rest is very likely old myths based on biased observation and out of date data.

-ERD50

 

[ncbill]

I'm not buying it. "get you past the warranty period with no repairs needed" isn't the same as "your car will fall apart after the warranty period is up, due to 10,000 mile oil changes versus 5,000 mile oil changes".

I'm not going to watch a whole 40 minute video to find out (but I can guess) - does he ever do a scientific comparison of a fleet of vehicles with 10,000 miles changes, versus a fleet with 5,000 mile changes? That's the only way to prove anything. The rest is very likely old myths based on biased observation and out of date data.

-ERD50

Yep, it's ridiculous to expect in 2022 a synthetic oil needs changing every 5-6k miles.

Most of my older fleet (newest 2007) use synthetic and get changed once a year.

 

[SonofCohoes]

According to some, the 10,000 mile oil change interval was chosen for marketing reasons. Automakers wanted to add a longer warranty to the car as a selling point. They asked the engineers, "how often does the oil have to be changed so the car is highly reliable and won't need warranty service under our normal warrant?" The answer was every 10,000 miles.

At about 1:15 minutes in the video below the mechanic starts to talk about the minimum required maintenance to get the car through the manufacturer's warranty period. You guessed it. 10,000 mile oil changes will get you past the warranty period with no repairs needed. After that you are on your own. Good luck.

I want to keep my RAV4 until I have driven it to the distance to the moon, about 250,000 miles. So I change the oil every 5000-6000 miles.

I just watched this yesterday, good stuff to know.

 

[kgtest]

I'm not buying it. "get you past the warranty period with no repairs needed" isn't the same as "your car will fall apart after the warranty period is up, due to 10,000 mile oil changes versus 5,000 mile oil changes".

I'm not going to watch a whole 40 minute video to find out (but I can guess) - does he ever do a scientific comparison of a fleet of vehicles with 10,000 miles changes, versus a fleet with 5,000 mile changes? That's the only way to prove anything. The rest is very likely old myths based on biased observation and out of date data.

-ERD50

He doesn't specifically call out the fleet comparisons, but people in the comments do, which is worth what we pay for it...similar to this forum's comments.

He tore down the engine and it was clear where the pistons damaged the cylinder heads in the particular engine he was working on. He even showed where the failure started. Actually quite honestly one of the more informative mechanics video's I've ever watched...and I've watched a LOT!

I am on my second Camry with the same block as he is working on so it was very relevant to me. As he said in the vid, it's not a "chevy" which can be machined to spec a little easier.

I don't have a problem bringing my vehicles in for oil changes every 5,000 miles. I think I have no less that 7 shops within a 7 minute drive from my home.

Just had my 15,000 mile toyotacare service completed tonight. They rotated the tires, washed the car, and probably didn't do much of anything else. They did say they did the ole 25 point inspection, but why would I trust them to be honest...a lot of people aren't. I will do my own inspections.

I've been working on vehicles for 25 years now and have learned what some of the common issues are. The newer vehicles seem to hold up a little better (or maybe I don't beat on them quite as bad). I still had an issue with our last Camry at 33,000 miles where the torque converter went out and the Warranty covered it. Took a little saber rattling to get the master mechanic to agree the noise was of concern...and I had basically already diagnosed what the problem was through research and other owner's testimony who had similar issues. They replaced it and the issue was gone.

I buy oil changes in bulk, I think its 5 for $120 full synthetic. I think they did raise the price though a little but I still have 4 left on my card, plus the 1 remaining free one from the stealership.

My wife puts on 30,000 miles a year...That's an oil change every 2 months. I put on 10k a year, so one every six months. So 8 times a year I need to get my vehicle serviced.

I also go to the dr once a year for a physical, get blood work done, get my colonoscopy, dentist twice a year, get my vision checked annually, flu vaccine and all that jazz. I realize some people wouldn't bother to do that either...but you know the saying...

YMMV

 

[Jerry1]

I like every 5000 miles just for the simplicity of it. Easy to remember and always just inside the change interval suggested by the oil monitor. It’s usually around 30% remaining. Close enough.

 

[Bruno]

It looks like ER could have a thread on OIL CHANGES alone.

 

[Sunset]

I do the 5K mileage for our cars, which works out to once per year roughly.

I used to do it at 3K decades ago, so consider going to 5K pretty nice.

I never trusted that the stealership really put in full synthetic instead of normal oil, especially as I requested and paid for full synthetic, but they put that 5K sticker on the window.
I even called them , and the person said, the mechanic just puts 5K on by habit but that I had real full synthetic....

I do my own oil now, so could stretch it out if I was feeling lucky

 

[EastWest Gal]

When Sirius merged with XM, they offered a lifetime membership. Four devices. That was in 2008 when we had two cars. We added it to my son’s car in 2009 when we bought it for him as a senior in high school. We have a device at the house still, waiting for another car. Not to mention the phone app on all our devices.

$250. Fourteen years ago. No subscription fees at all.

 

[ncbill]

When Sirius merged with XM, they offered a lifetime membership. Four devices. That was in 2008 when we had two cars. We added it to my son’s car in 2009 when we bought it for him as a senior in high school. We have a device at the house still, waiting for another car. Not to mention the phone app on all our devices.

$250. Fourteen years ago. No subscription fees at all.

I bought a bunch of "store demo" Sirius radios off eBay for as low as $10 that still remain activated.

 

[folivier]

Ok, here's my story. Years ago a friend talked me into buying a lifetime membership for RVGolf which would allow us to park our RV at golf courses overnight. Only used it once or twice. Then RVGolf was bought out by Harvest Hosts. When HH transferred my membership they lost my account. After a couple months and a few phone calls they finally found it. They decided to upgrade me to a HH lifetime membership also. We've used HH quite a few times and will continue using them. I think the RVGolf was about $200.

 

[easysurfer]

I stumbled onto a 6 quart multipurpose cooker (similar to an Instant Pot) at Aldi. Marked for clearance for only $24.99. It has about 7 different cooking functions along with an air fryer lid to work as an air fryer.

I think the cooker listed originally for $99.99 then slashed to $49.99 then with no [-]suckers[/-] takers, got slashed to $24.99 clearance price when I snatched it up.

 

[Sunset]

I stumbled onto a 6 quart multipurpose cooker (similar to an Instant Pot) at Aldi. Marked for clearance for only $24.99. It has about 7 different cooking functions along with an air fryer lid to work as an air fryer.

I think the cooker listed originally for $99.99 then slashed to $49.99 then with no [-]suckers[/-] takers, got slashed to $24.99 clearance price when I snatched it up.

That's pretty amazing considering someone desperate for a Christmas gift could have bought it...

 

[easysurfer]

That's pretty amazing considering someone desperate for a Christmas gift could have bought it...

Luck was on my side. I did go to the store shortly after it opened up (not looking for bargain just to avoid the crowd).

The cooker was the last one there. I almost didn't even go to that aisle but the store was restocking the aisle I was looking at and blocking things so I had time to kill and browsed when saw the cooker.

Only thing is now I want a smaller cooker. Getting greedy. I've been one who heard of the Instant Pot but thought it's probably just a gimmick. But after trying this cooker out, and seeing that my current set up is a bit old and clumsy, I'm looking for a smaller day to day cooker. This one is still a keeper if I make larger quantities and can't go wrong for the cheapskate price of $25.

 

[Koolau]

^^^^^^^

We two are very much into one-pot cooking. Years ago we found a small cooker that looks cheap (and was) but has served us faithfully for many years. Don't even know the brand. Not nearly as fancy as the one you show. But it is a "slow" cooker with only 3 settings. Something even I can use! Good for you, finding such an elegant cooker for a low price!

 

[NW-Bound]

If we saw that, would not resist buying it to put up in our 2nd home. We do not live there full-time, but for $25, why not have it just in case?