This is about green not green.

Starbucks recently rebranded or relogoed. If that's a  word. They're still very much the same brand.

Anyway, a re-logoing for any company means the added expense of all new logoed materials. For starbucks, I would think (perhaps naively) the brunt of this would come in the form of napkins and cups. I would be really interested to know how they dealt with that. That would be so cool, if they dwindled their inventory before the relaunch.

Speaking of paper cups, I've likely mentioned here before that we make 95% of the coffee I drink at our place and I often have a travel mug in my bag. It bears repeating, some chains give a dime discount when you bring your own cup (akin to certain grocery stores when you bring your own bags). However if you're forgetful, like me, and you think you'll lose your travel mug, as I have before, do NOT fret.

One of our friends bought a sleeve of paper cups and lids because he realized it was cheaper to make at home and take in that disposable cup than to buy a disposable cup at Starbucks.

So in short: If you don't trust yourself to not lose your travel mug but still want to enjoy something of the savings for home brewing, pick up a sleeve of the paper cups with lids. Its still likely cheaper than the coffee shop and you can "pitch in" when you're done. No travel mug to remember or lose.

free samples ...

We'd get little packets of cinnamon cream of wheat, or gum or instant coffee or this or that and my wife would ask where they came from.

They're everywhere and for everything, these free samples. The simplest aggregate listing of daily free samples, or at least my favorite, is posted daily on the gizmodo.com blog. Find "The Best Deal of the Day" entry and scroll to the bottom to find the Hobomodo heading for their list of free sample sites. On the scroll down, also enjoy some pretty sweet deals on home entertainment, electronics, computers, gaming and peripherals.

In short:

Gizmodo.com


and enter "dealzmodo" in the search field for their latest deals OR;

Like the Dealzmodo on the Facebook.

Good night.

Portable and cheap snack.

Don't want to buy a snack in the middle of the day but want something the slightest bit substantive?

Boil an egg. Keep it in the shell. Put it in your bag.

Why?

The shell is strong. The egg is reasonably priced as part of a dozen. The stomach is fed.

Keep a few little salt or pepper packets in the bag for seasoning.

Overdue fees ...

If you rent, borrow, or use something that's not yours, there is potential for you to return it later then you should.

For example, here in the NY Public Library, they have a wide selection of movies but if you keep them beyond their due date, you'll be dinged 3 dollars. So what was once free is now infinitely more expensive.

If you borrow, rent, or use something that is not yours, upon rental, put a reminder in your phone, day planner or email that will notify you in advance of it's due date so that you can enjoy your borrowed goods to their fullest and still return them to their rightful owner.

Late fees add up, don't think they don't.

But if you find yourself the recipient of a late fee, make sure when you pay it, you get a receipt acknowledging closure of that debt. I've heard of people paying their library fines (up to 8 or 10 dollars) not getting a receipt, only to find out payment wasn't recorded. Boo.

In short: Return things on time. But if you don't and you have to pay a fine, get a receipt. Everybody wins. The lending body gets theirs and you get record of your payment.

Fly me to the ... Gateway to the West!

Despite airline baggage increasing in price (very rarely and under certain conditions do you get free baggage; some even charge for carry-on.) people are turning to air travel more and more. Airlines are making profits again and know their services are in demand. So what is a cost concerned customer to do.

The cost of air travel and our current subjective and corporate economic status found us contemplating not flying to see family over Christmas. Tickets were 600-700 on a good day and often more, particularly as the season got close, prohibitively so.

What are a couple of newlyweds trying to be responsible in the face of high flight prices to do?

This instant, found us dabbling with Priceline. You know the ones where Bill Shatner goes to bat for you.

Actually, we had used other discount flight aggregators before but my wife was browsing around Priceline to see what it was about. She found flights for almost half of what they cost on other sites. The only cost, in my mind, was one of convenience. You wouldn't know when you were flying until you booked. Small price to pay to spend Christmas with part of the family.

The key; bid low. If your bid is rejected, they'll tell you and you can bid again. Simple as pie. Is that an expression?

In short: If you're flexible and like taking a chance, Priceline has saved us, and could save you, hundreds of dollars on flights.

Loyalty programs ...

Loyalty is one of my favorite traits. I won't anthropomorphize corporations to suggest they exhibit something resembling human loyalty but they require our patronage and it would be an incredible adjustment to live without some of their services.

A lot of them will reward you (so to speak) for your patronage. I think this is likely because for these financial decisions, economy will often trump loyalty. Can you blame us?

One of those corporations that tries to reward you, I was happy to learn, is my bank.

Bank of America offers free admission to museums across the country. What this means is that if you are a holder of one of their debit or credit account and go to these museums on the first weekend of the month, POW! free.

What kind of perks do your cards and memberships have?

Here's one that was staring me in the desk the whole time ...

I'm not sure of the monetary savings (specifically) involved in this one but it is good for the pocket book and the earth.

At work or at home, it's likely you've begun recycling paper. Very often, that recycled paper only has print on one side. What about that other side? What about it indeed? For the last couple of years, we've been trying to use both sides of the paper, for writing and computer printing. Rather than putting a (half-used) piece of paper directly into the blue bin, begin a pile of the stuff to put that other side to good use.

I would not, however, use recycled paper for documents I need to mail to government or business offices, or for resumes. Maybe that's just me. But in general, you'll get twice as much use from a sheet of paper.