I bought those plastic bags that you put clothes in and then suck the air out with your vacuum cleaner and I have to say, they rock. I got my winter down comforter to about one freaking inch thick! And it’s sealed so it dosn’t get musty. It’s great for guest pillows too. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.
My wife and I are religious Discover users as well. We too pay off the balance each month, so we pay Discover nothing, and get a $20 gift card almost every month (10 out of 12, usually). Love it.
Before I got my latest Consumer Reports, I was this/close to getting a Little Giant ladder system. I need a ladder, and I could see using it as a scaffold-thingie. I was taken in by Richard Karn jumping around on it, I think. Mesmerising! Think a moment-of-inertia jello experiment on a ladder!
-Cem
I really like the automatic shower cleaner (the one that sprays itself, right?) I started with a clean shower when we moved in on June first. One time (I think in July) I rinsed the whole shower down by throwing pitcherfulls of water at it. Even my mother thinks I scrub it out religiously. Nope! Just push the little button when I’m done showering!
Didn’t like the Shark, huh? Rats. I was thinking of getting it, because my whole place is hardwood, and sweeping several times a week doesn’t seem to keep up with the dust bunnies and “crunchies” underfoot.
WhyNot,
DON’T get the shark. I had one. Damn thing broke the first time I used it. Friends of mine had one as well. It broke in a month.
It’s craptastic.
Oh good, maybe I can still get my shower cleaner then 
The Shark works, but it is not as Amazing!! as I hoped. It is a nice little sweeper though and does well at getting bits and crumbs off hard floors, if that is what you want it for it should be fine. I wanted it primarily for pet hair and it is not as good at that, I still have to use the Swiffer after I use the Shark. But the Swiffer is not as good as the Shark at getting up crumbs and bits. I had hoped I could just use one.
I have not yet bought one of those Swiffer vacuum combos which may be the answer to all of life’s problems but I think if I come home with yet another floor cleaning gadget my husband will send me and my cleaning gadgets away forever. However I do feel justified in getting that shower cleaner if it works since I seem to be the only one who cleans the shower.
One thing the Shark does do is clean up broken glass and that has almost made it worth the price by itself for me. No more getting up all the little shards with your hands, just use the sweeper to pick them up. So it is good for some things, just not at keeping my house pet-hair free as I had hoped. I suppose I need a Dyson or something for that though.
Infomercials are my weakness.
I have a super slicer. Don’t know why, but I “had” to have one. It slices, it dices, even does Julian Fries!
I have been thinking about getting a Little Giant Ladder. My BIL has one and I used it when we were running wiring through his house while under construction (just a frame with a roof). It was really handy and did everything that was shown on TV…
Did CR pan it? I’ve got one and it’s a darn good ladder. A bit heavy, but never given me any uncertainty about being up in high places.
Same here for both of those, though I am thinking of switching to a Discover card. IIRC, you get 1% back…which is the same as the Amazon card, but you can use it for anything, not just Amazon.
Well, yes, but I just graduated recently. I’m too proud (or too stupid, depending) to take much of my parents’ stuff, so I’m basically furnishing an apartment from scratch, very slowly. I always need something; it’s just a matter of going off to find the something I have in mind right then.
I don’t know what CR had to say, but I do know that you can get generic equivalents (like the Gorilla ladder) for about 1/3 to cost of Little Giant.
I have a Gorilla and love it.
Damn FoodTV network…
Started watching, had to have new knives, new cookware, new fancy standup mixer, new potato slicer, fancier cuts of meat, olive oil, new pants, new shirts, new heart valve…
Darn you Emeril! Darn you straight to heck!
Hmmm. Well, I guess that might be helpful if you buy things other than books.
“I buy books. If there is money left over, I buy food.”
The Body Shop’s Love Your Body card. Yes, it gets me discounts and presents that amount to more than what I paid for it. Last time I stopped in they gave me one of those pricey little body butters that I love so much.
However, I bought it mostly because I wanted to be in the club. 
Soon I will sadly give up my American Express card. With the points I’ve accumulated in the past two and a half years, I just picked up a 1000W surround sound system with 5-disk DVD player. And I still have more points!
Myself, I’ve fallen victim to Alton Brown. He has a list of kitchen “essentials” (I’d link to them, but he’s apparently redesigned his website and hasn’t updated that section). My boyfriend and I have bought almost every thing on the list, and we haven’t been sorry yet. The salt cellar and the Magnum pepper mill are my favorites.
I couldn’t ever bring myself to call me a ‘victim’ of Alton Brown’s… his recipes are exceedingly simple, and reasonably healthy combinations…
However, any show with a tag line of “Pork Fat Rules”, well, it should’ve set off my radar a little quicker!!
(and the heart valve is a joke… it’s just since starting to watch FoodTV, well, our kitchen, and our waistlines, have expanded!).
Why give it up?
We’ve done the same thing with our small ad agency. We got the corporate Amex cards, enrolled them in Membership Rewards, and then started paying for ad buys with the card whenever possible. So for every purchase $1 million worth of advertising for a client, we’re able to put maybe $500K of it on the card, depending on which vendors accept the card.
This gives us another 30 days of float, plus the points. Did I mention I’m going to St. Lucia on my honeymoon?
Several years ago, my wife and I attended a whiskey tasting that was billed as “The Great Whisk(e)y Debate,” hosted by the Jim Beam (bourbon whiskey) and The Dalmore (Scotch whisky) distilleries. Both are owned by Fortune Brands. After the preliminary comparison tastings (Jim Beam was represented by its Small Batch Bourbons), the participants were allowed to enjoy as much as they wanted of anything, including the 30-year-old Dalmore.
We’ve bought a lot of bourbon since then, and, with a few exceptions, it’s all been distilled by Jim Beam (including Knob Creek and Booker’s); The Dalmore is well-represented in our bar as well.
From our perspective, “The Great Whisk(e)y Debate” was a supremely successful marketing ploy.
I’ve pretty much fallen for the same on. And based on your location, it’s the same chain, since only an hour or so down the road from you. I’m even doing most of my grocery shopping there now, instead of going to the one that’s further away but has lower prices in general. Because, hey, I can walk to the one where I get the gas discounts, so I don’t use any gas going there, and I can easily accumulate a dime off every week - more now that they’ve added in their 1 cent off per gallon for buying certain items or combinations of certain items.
Beyond that, I don’t fall for them often, but this one has me hooked. I’ve got 25 cents off a gallon now, and I need gas this weekend.
I’d love to get one of those for my dad, but IIRC the total cost was about $450. That’s a bit out of my price range.