Harmonics flooring – Yes, it’s worth the savings

If you’re like me, you enjoy doing home improvements yourself so you can save some money and have the satisfaction of accomplishing something. If you’re a bit more like me, you’re afraid you’re going to blow a wad of cash on something that’s way over your head and end up wishing you’d hired a pro.

If you’re quite a bit more like me, you’ve invested in the Harmonics line of laminate flooring available only at Costco. You installed it yourself. And you’re happy.

Yes, as further evidence that we’ve drunk the Costco Kool-Aid in this family, we took the Harmonics plunge this past spring. I’ve admired the quality of this product ever since the store started carrying it. Then last year they introduced the wide-plank mahogany and I thought, “This might be it.” Then came the hand-scraped (looking) chestnut this year and I thought, “Now this is it.” Those beveled edges. The way the dark wood veneer throws off a subtle burgundy when the sunlight hits it. Wow, this stuff pops. It’s ours.

More advice on Harmonics flooring after the jump.

The fall shopping challenge: Dell EPP vs. Costco

I just received the big C’s fall shopping special promo mailer. There’s something about getting anything from Costco in the mail that makes that 10-yard trek to the mailbox after work worth all the effort. If for some reason you don’t get this mailer, you can see all the fall promo items on teh inter-tubes. “Fall” into savings. Get it?

For some reason my eyes fell on a particular item in this offering – a Dell XPS computer bundle, including Word and PowerPoint. Now, it’s been almost four years since I bought my Dell Dimenson 8400 system through Costco.com. I’ve been very happy with it and I haven’t really kept up with Dell’s progress in marketing newer, better computing packages. I knew that the XPS line used to be the higher-end, gamer-friendly boxes. Now it seems it has entered more of a mainstream marketing target.

My employer offers discounts on Dell systems through the Employee Purchase Program. Last time after much research I opted for Costco because they had a better deal on the three-year warranty, plus the free customer assistance by phone. So I started to wonder if my computer tanked all of a sudden, which direction would I go now? Assuming I needed another new monitor (not likely) and I was looking to invest in another long-term PC system, which avenue would lead me toward a better deal on this exact package?

Give your Costco membership some ‘Leverage’

There’s a web site called LeverageCard.com that allows you to track and manage all your various gift cards, rewards memberships, loyalty programs, and other little plastic things that hang from your keychain. Good idea! But this site even lets you exchange gift cards and – by some freaky process I haven’t examined yet – earn interest on your memberships. Yeah, that’s what they say.

But here comes more news for you Costco members. Apparently through LeverageCard you can now purchase Costco membership certificates which you can then use to earn promotions and coupon booklets when you re-up each year. Sweet!

The first thing you need to do is register with the site, which is painless. Then you need to make sure your Costco membership is not automatically renewing and billing to your AmEx True Rewards card, if you have one. All you have to do is call Member Services to take care of that detail.

Then comes the uncertain part – using these fancy membership certificates to renew and get these coupons. Since I’m just learning about this myself, I’m going to try it and find out how it works. Then I will report back to you. I say, for free stuff, it’s worth a try.